Sorry for the delay in getting this posted but my internet was being temperamental, so I couldn’t get it up any sooner. Let’s get on to this week’s episode shall we?
We begin by seeing a man face down in a cross-walk covered in his own blood. As Hawkes is examining our victim, he has a strange hallucination of the man suddenly waking up and telling him “You could have saved me!” He has some sort of flashback that hints at the fact that this is not the first time Hawkes has seen this man. Back at the lab, Hawkes tells Mac that he may have made a mistake and that he may responsible for the deathof our victim, Martin Stafford. He explains to Mac that earlier that day, he was doing his volunteer work at the hospital when he got a call about a couple in Central Park. Turns out the call was about Stafford and a female friend he was with. Stafford appeared to be drunk, so Hawkes ignored the fact that he was bleeding from the nose and told him to go home and sleep it off, also telling him that there are people who actually need his help and to stop faking it.
After examining the body of Stafford, he discovers that the tox screen was clear and begins to look for poisons that may be a little harder to detect in an autopsy. He also finds a piece of linguini on Stafford’s inner thigh and gives it to Danny to process, who finds fingerprints and a piece of hair on the pasta. The team learns that Stafford’s company had filed for bankruptcy over three months ago which they believe may be a motive for murder. Unfortunately for them, Danny was unable to get any hits off of the fingerprints and hair on the pasta. They each belong to three different unknown donors – none of which are in AFIS. Adam suggests that this piece of pasta came from a sploshing party, a party where people use their love for food as erotica. While investigating the sploshing party, Flack discovers that Stafford’s apartment is right across from where the party is being held, and that with a telescope, he is able to see right into the party as it is happening.
While investigating the victim’s apartment, Danny takes samples of all food and beverage found to test. Back at the lab, Adam discovers that the orange juice found in Stafford’s refrigerator has been spiked, and with something extremely flammable. Adam also expresses his irritation to Stella about the fact that Halyn has re-arranged his lab and that he can no longer find things as easily. Anyone else think all this severe hatred toward our new girl means a possible love connection for her and Adam sometime soon? Just my thoughts…
Meanwhile, the team learns the identity of the mystery girl that was with the victim the day Hawkes examined him in Central Park. Her name is Tracy Wallace, and Mac and Hawkes have now found her dead in her apartment – bleeding from the inside just like Martin Stafford was. After further investigation, the team learns that the poison used to kill both Martin and Tracy is an extremely powerful chemical that is often used to power rockets and is deadly to an humans insides. As they are trying to determine how such a powerful chemical could have been placed in the liquid without Stafford’s knowledge, they learn that Stafford was about to move and that his apartment was host to an open house. 10 people registered for the tour, but 11 signed the roster at the actual event. The mysterious 11th person signed in as Tholonius Cross.
As Stella tries to isolate all the fingerprints from the sign-in pen, Mac asks her if she has talked to Hawkes lately. She responds by saying that she doesn’t really know what to say to him and that she has higher expectations. They both question why he hadn’t noticed signs on poisoning when first examining Stafford and why he hadn’t told the team that night at the crime scene. Something fishy sure is going on…
That night, Hawkes is staying at a friend’s house when the police bust open the door in the middle of the night and arrest his friend Bryant Hamilton for grand larceny and embezzlement. Back at the police station, Flack thinks Hawkes is lying about having no idea or involvement regarding Hamilton, and so does Mac. Stella is finally able to isolate the most recent fingerprint on the sign-up pen belonged to John Simmons (aka our mysterious Tholonius Cross). Turns out Simmons used to work for Stafford at his company before it filed for bankruptcy and his wife works in cancer research where she has access to the powerful chemical used to kill both Martin Stafford and Tracy Wallace.
Mac and Hawkes then go to track down Simmons and end up in a foot race to catch him. They chase him to a fire escape where he plans to jump to his death. Although they are bothtrying to talk him out of jumping, Simmons insists that he has nothing to live for and that it doesn’t matter because with what he’s done he’ll never be able to see his wife and family again anyway. In an attempt to convince him, Hawkes then admits that he lost all of his money to a money manager who turned out to be a total scam artist. This is why he’s been sleeping on friend’s couches and volunteering at the hospital – because it gives him a place to sleep. At this point, Simmons lets go to jump but Mac and Hawkes are able to catch him.
Back at the lab, Hawkes admits to the rest of the team that he was too embarrassed to admit that he was “duped” and that is why he didn’t tell anyone what had happened. Mac throws him a set of keys and says that he has an extra room and that it’s not up for a discussion. Hmmm…I can’t really picture Mac with a roommate but we shall see…
