A La Cart

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CSI EPISODE
A La Cart
Season	8
Number	2
Writer	Sarah Goldfinger, Richard Catalani
Director	Richard J.Lewis
Original Airdate	October 4, 2007

A La Cart is the second episode in the eighth season of the American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, set in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Synopsis

The CSIs investigate the death of a go-cart driver whose football helmet-wearing head is found on a highway and the murder of a mens' magazine owner at a restaurant where patrons dine in complete darkness. Meanwhile, Grissom and Sara face repercussions for their relationship.

Summary

A football helmet with a boy's head in it is found on the road. The CSIs follow the blood trail and find the rest of his decapitated body farther on down the road. The boy is identified as Vincent Bartley; his older brother, Matt, tells the CSIs his younger brother wasn't on the football team. Black powder in Vincent's hair is found to be tire rubber trace, specifically the kind used in go-cart wheels. A staffer at the go cart recreation center tells Greg that Vincent was there racing another kid a few days ago, and she identifies the other boy as Rodney Banks. Rodney tries to run, but Nick catches him. Greg finds a bloody belt belonging to Vincent in the back of Rodney's truck. Rodney tells the CSIs he asked for an off course cart race at night. They took to the road and Rodney won, but when he looked back, he saw Vincent in the cart--without his head. When Vincent's car ran off the road, Rodney used the boy's belt to tow his cart back to the rec center. Nick and Warrick use a dummy to figure out if Vincent could have been decapitated by a truck as he rode, and determine that this was what must have happened to the boy.

Catherine, Warrick and Brass investigate the death of Hampton Huxley, the publisher of Hux magazine, who was dining in a unique restaurant with two of his "Kitties." The restaurant, owned by Pippa Sanchez, centers around "blind dining": patrons literally dine in the dark. Someone took advantage of the restaurant's ambiance to kill Hux. Dr. Robbins finds a pen point in Hux's brain, revealing that Hux was killed by a fatal strike to the head. Brass and the CSIs question the two Kitties April and Shasta, a newly engaged couple and a sleazy guy who felt up April, but are at a loss until they find the murder weapon in April's purse. April maintains her innocence and the CSIs suspicions turn to Pippa, whom they learn is a former Kitty--until they find the print of a blind waiter named Michael on Hux's toupee. Michael confesses that Pippa used him to help create the restaurant and then cast him aside, so he decided to ruin her by framing her for a high profile murder. Grissom and Sara run into trouble of their own when Ecklie questions them about their relationship and tells them that a relationship between a supervisor and an employee is forbidden. Sara switches to the swing shift to avoid a conflict of interest.

Cast

Main Cast

• William Petersen as Gil Grissom
• Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows
• Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown
• George Eads as Nick Stokes
• Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle
• Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders
• Robert David Hall as Dr. Al Robbins
• Wallace Langham as David Hodges
• Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass

See Also

• List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes
• CSI:Crime Scene Investigation Season 8
• Category:Images from A La Cart