Open and Shut | |
Season | 3 |
Number | 6 |
Writer | Ann Donahue |
Director | Joe Ann Fogle |
Original Airdate | October 25, 2006 |
Navigation | |
Previous Episode: Oedipus Hex | |
Next Episode: Murder Sings the Blues |
Open and Shut is the sixth episode in Season Three of CSI: NY.
Synopsis[]
The CSIs are suddenly faced with two crime scenes when, while investigating the murder of a hotel concierge, they hear gunshots fired at the building next door and rush there, finding a woman clutching a gun beside two dead bodies. The second case hits close to home for Stella as the shooting death reminds her of her personal experience with her violent and now deceased ex-boyfriend.
Plot[]
During a rooftop swimsuit photo shoot, model Mandi Foster pitches a fit when attractive hotel concierge Sarah Jackson brings her the wrong kind of pillow. Hours later, Sarah is found impaled on a statue in the foyer, the victim of a fatal fall from the balcony. Mac takes one look at her trajectory and knows it wasn't an accident. Before they can remove Sarah's body, the CSIs hear shots fired, and rush to a nearby condo where Grace Thomason sits trembling by the bodies of two men: her husband, Daniel, and the man she claimed beat him to death with a hammer. Grace claims she shot the man in self-defense. Stella immediately empathizes with the traumatized Grace, recalling her own ordeal when her boyfriend Frankie attacked her and she was forced to shoot him. Hammerback discovers the address and a time, 10 am, written on the assailant's hand. The CSIs collect evidence from Grace's apartment, and Stella discovers a small amount of blood in the bathroom, where Grace claims she was taking a shower during the attack on her husband. Lindsay gets an ID on the man in Grace's apartment: Ron Blunt. Blunt had antipsychotics in his system, and Grace recognizes him as a limo driver who drove her husband home from the airport and spouted off crazy theories to him. Unsettled by the man, Grace called the limo company and got Blunt fired. Lindsay discovers the hammer was Daniel's and posits that the murder wasn't premeditated, irritating Stella. Mac cautions Stella to follow the evidence, but she counters that she can't help but be emotionally involved with the case.
Sid determines that Sarah's heart was pierced by a sculpture she fell on, and also finds a substance in fingernail marks on her arms. He notes an eternity bracelet she has on, as well as a hair on her thigh, which Mac identifies as camel hair used in artists' brushes. This leads him to Tony DeLuca, the photographer who snapped pictures of Mandi the day of Sarah's murder. Tony fesses up to hooking up with her, and says he took photographs for her as a favor to Mandi. A print on Sarah's body matches Mandi, but the model insists she was just checking Sarah for a pulse. When pictures of Mandi's meltdown from a video show up in a tabloid, Mac has his doubts. The pictures prove to be from a now-missing camera owned by Sarah. Mandi owns up to stealing the camera so she could release the video footage herself for publicity, and the CSIs arrest her on probable cause. However, when the substance on Sarah's body turns out to be bovine stem cells used in beauty products and Adam discovers silver and turquoise trace on the railing Sarah was thrown over, they turn to Mandi's stylist, Tess. Tess tried to take the camera from Sarah, thinking Sarah was betraying Mandi, and accidentally threw her over the railing. She tried to pull her back up, but lost her grip and watched helplessly as Sarah fell to her death.
When Hawkes notes the absence of blood splatter on Ron Blunt's shirt, he, Stella and Lindsay go to Grace's apartment to recreate the crime. They determine that not only would Ron definitely have gotten blood splatter on his shirt had he killed Daniel, but based on the pattern of several blood drops at the scene, he was too tall to have committed the killing. Stella tests blood she finds on Grace's bathtub and learns that it contains human brain matter. Grace showered after her husband was killed, not before, meaning she is the killer. Stella turns to the video from Sarah's camera to help her prove it and spots Grace wearing a different shirt not long before the CSIs turned up at her condo. Stella searches the condo and discovers the t-shirt Grace was wearing when she killed her husband stashed in a vent, complete with the expected blood splatter pattern. Stella confronts Grace, who lured Ron to her house to frame him for the murder of her husband and then kill him. Completely unapologetic, Grace likens herself to Stella, but Stella firmly insists they have nothing in common.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Gary Sinise as Mac Taylor
- Melina Kanakaredes as Stella Bonasera
- Carmine Giovinazzo as Danny Messer
- Anna Belknap as Lindsay Monroe
- Hill Harper as Sheldon Hawkes
- Eddie Cahill as Don Flack
Guest Cast[]
- Robert Joy as Dr. Sid Hammerback
- AJ Buckley as Adam Ross
- Dedee Pfeiffer as Grace Thomason
- Jill Latiano as Mandi Foster
- Hal Ozsan as Tony DeLuca
- Angela Sarafyan as Sara Jackson
- Lindy Booth as Tess Larson
- Keith Stone as Todd
- Greg Wrangler as Daniel Thomason
- Mark Simich as Ron Blunt
Trivia[]
- Grace Thomason bears an uncanny resemblance to Mark Winger and the murders he committed.
See Also[]
CSI:NY Season 3 | ||
People With Money • Not What It Looks Like • Love Run Cold • Hung Out to Dry • Oedipus Hex • Open and Shut • Murder Sings the Blues • Consequences • And Here's To You, Mrs. Azrael • Sweet Sixteen • Raising Shane • Silent Night • Obsession • The Lying Game • Some Buried Bones • Heart of Glass • The Ride-In • Sleight Out of Hand • A Daze Of Wine And Roaches • What Schemes May Come • Past Imperfect • Cold Reveal • ...Comes Around • Snow Day |