*When they finally come, what'll you do to them ? *
*Gonna decimate them like you did to me ? *
Give me the rock.
No, no, no, no. Driver's side window on that truck. Right there.
Too easy, man.
Hey !
Think he's a little ticked off ?
Hey ! Stupid punks, get back here ! I saw you !
That tickles !
Do you wanna play ?
I'm Riley !
Oh, my God !
Do you wanna play ?
I'm Riley. You're special.
Now this is spooky.
Welcome to New York City's Premiere Doll Hospital.
I lived here my whole life. I never knew a place like this existed.
You never broke an arm off your G.I. Joe ?
Yeah, but I did it on purpose.
It was a casualty of war.
- Who's our vic ? - Russell McCulley.
He owns all of this.
- And the kid ? - Arvin Dooley.
He literally stumbled onto our vic and then called 911.
Somebody sliced his hand good.
Sliced right through the radial artery.
I got something here.
Arterial spray.
He was cut there.
Direction of the blood pattern says he stumbled back to here,
grabbed for the shelves.
And it all came tumbling down.
More than likely, died of shock before he completely bled out.
Why kill this guy ?
Doesn't appear to be a robbery. Cash is still in the register.
None of the dolls are missing, as far as we can tell.
And no sign of forced entry.
Although, the kid did say that it was open.
"Closed" sign is in the window.
I imagine the vic flipped the sign, but didn't get a chance to lock the door.
Left hand is clenched,
still holding on tight.
Cadaveric spasm. Quick and extreme rigor.
Something about this little doll
was worth dying for.
City Of The Dolls
Dr. McCulley usually stays after hours,
mostly to catch up on paperwork.
We close at 6:00.
Doctor ?
We try to make it like a real hospital.
We have admission and release forms, visiting hours.
It's for the kids.
When they drop off their broken dolls, we want them to feel like
we'll take good care of them.
Anything special about the doll that was in his hand ?
Secret Sofie.
She was admitted yesterday afternoon.
I believe the doctor repaired her.
I can get you the paperwork, Detective.
Miss Felton, can you think of any reason
why someone would want to kill Dr. McCulley ?
No.
Any disgruntled customers, former employees ?
Maybe he was having problems at home with the family. The smallest thing could help.
One lady returned her antique doll several times.
She was unsatisfied with the work, but that was months ago.
More recently, the doctor filed a complaint with WorldSend.
The parcel delivery service ?
Some of the dolls we repair come from out of state.
We carefully package them and send them back.
But lately, we've been getting calls. The items inside were broken.
Was Mr. McCulley married or in a relationship ?
Hopelessly single.
Although, there were a lot of women in his life.
Were you one of them ?
N o.
I wasn't that lucky.
Excuse me.
Possible suspect ?
No, I'm focused on the boxes behind him.
They have WorldSend overnight labels.
All are unopened, and the one on the bottom appears to have been wet.
Looks like it absorbed water from the bottom up.
Possibly from the snow.
Someone delivered those boxes last night.
No ligature marks, lacerations.
No abrasions. No bullet wounds.
No apparent external injuries, whatsoever.
I've got several nondescript capsules and a half glass of water.
But nothing that tells me
whether these are barbiturates or vitamins.
Possible O.D. It's certainly not suicide.
This is a "To do" list dated for tomorrow.
If you're gonna kill yourself, why would you waste your time planning
to pay bills and do laundry ?
She was a waitress.
Yeah ?
How do you afford this address
on a waitress' salary ?
Is it me, or is she smiling ?
Some souls find peace with death.
Yeah.
This isn't her glove.
Hey.
When Lauren didn't answer the door,
I became concerned.
We've only been neighbors for eight months, but I...
I feel like I've known her forever.
I know this sounds silly, but something just didn't feel right.
You know ? So I called the doorman.
You didn't assume she was at work or out running an errand ?
Yesterday, she told me she wasn't feeling well and would spend today in bed.
Carolyn. Are you okay ?
Oh, Dale, it's terrible.
- What ? What ? - Lauren's gone. She's... She's dead.
What ? What happened ?
This is Detective Bonasera. I'm Detective Flack.
Uh, Dale Straker.
Detectives ? I'm sorry, this is a homicide ?
All sudden and unexpected deaths are investigated.
Of course.
Oh, um, you told them about the argument, right ?
No, I mean, it was... it was nothing, really.
Yesterday, we heard some voices coming from Lauren's apartment.
I don't know, but it sounded like it got pretty heated.
About what time was this argument ?
Just after 5:00, I think.
Could you tell what they were arguing about ?
No, it's not that. It was
the tone of the conversation that was disturbing...
to me, at least.
It ended with a door being slammed.
Was the other voice male or female ?
Female, definitely.
A very angry female voice.
I'm sorry.
Rhonda Chavez ?
Look, before you start into a really moving story
about how badly you need your package, I can't help you, okay ?
I'm not allowed to pull anything off the truck.
I got to deliver it to the address on the box.
I'd like to talk to you about Russell McCulley.
His doll hospital is on your delivery route.
Yeah, I know him.
You were there last night ?
I can't believe he called you.
What, now it's a crime to tell someone to mind their own business ?
- Depends on how you told him. - I suppose he said I threatened him.
Well, he accused me of being careless with his packages.
He called my supervisor. I get one more complaint, and I lose my job.
So, yeah, I got a little mad, and I got in his face about it.
- And then what ? - I left.
Did you leave by the front door or the back ?
- I didn't catch your name. - Detective Taylor.
Crime Scene Investigator. Which door ?
I went out the back door.
Every evening, same thing.
I park my truck in the alley. I get in, get out, get on with it.
It says "Fragile", I've had enough of you ruining my boxes.
Yeah, yeah. But the point is, I don't appreciate the accusation, okay ?
The door locks automatically behind me.
- Did something happen ? - Russell McCulley's been murdered.
What ?
What time was your delivery ?
Late.
It was my last stop. I'd say 6:30, quarter to 7:00.
After closing.
Other than Russell McCulley, was there anyone else in the hospital when you were there ?
No.
Anybody see you go in or out ?
No.
Like I said, it was late.
- How mad were you, Rhonda ? - Not mad enough to kill him.
Now, unless you're about to tell me that I have the right to remain silent,
I have to get back to work.
Excuse me. Um, I'm Harry Ellis, the next-door neighbor.
We were wondering how long would all this take ?
Most of the activity will settle down in a couple hours,
but it's gonna remain a crime scene.
Mr. Ellis, were you home yesterday around 5:00 ?
Yes.
Did you, uh, did you hear an argument coming from Ms. Redgrave's apartment ?
I heard something, but, like I said to the officers,
I've learned to tune out the noises.
So
it'll probably be a whole week or so before they can list the apartment on the market ?
Yeah, we usually don't let the realtors show a place
until we get the stink of death out of the carpeting.
Just thought I'd ask.
And the attitude is unnecessary.
Stomach cancer.
So it was as it appeared, hair loss due to chemotherapy.
Only 28 years old.
This type of cancer is rare in someone so young, but it does happen.
However, despite its advanced stage, it wasn't our cause of death.
Our COD was respiratory failure.
I can see the discoloration on the lungs. It's very gray here and here.
Surface hard and rubbery ?
Yes, Doctor.
There's a degree of damage to the organs
due to the cancer as well as the chemo treatments.
So there's very little that I can conclude.
Until we get the results back from tox.
Precisely.
How much time did she have ? In regards to the cancer.
Three to four months.
I wonder if she knew that.
Thanks, Sid.
Maybe we should revisit the idea of suicide. Or assisted suicide.
She might have wanted to end it on her own terms.
She had every healthy food, cancer cure product available in her home.
No, it didn't look to me like she was giving up the fight.
I think Lauren Redgrave really wanted to live.
My name is Sooo... fie...
All right. Mac...
I checked our doll for hidden drugs, cash, treasure maps.
Anything that would tell us why our vic held on so tight.
- And the verdict ? - Zero. I have no clue
why this doll was so important to him.
Any blood other than the vic's ?
Negative.
All we got is a... bad voice box. And Lindsay just took it over to the AV.
So we find out who owned Secret Sofie.
You're having as much fun with your doll as I've had with mine.
Yeah. You have that shard you pulled from the vic's hand ?
Yeah.
This little doll's arm... is our murder weapon.
Cheap Styrofoam.
Somebody grabbed it when the soup was still hot.
Flack.
Yeah, yeah.
It's always about the black glove.
Yeah, it's connected to the soup.
Yeah, I'm getting a little hungry for lunch.
Meet me there ?
Oh. Uh...
I mix a little bit of rat poison with scrambled eggs.
Gets them every time.
Sorry you guys had to see that.
Two for lunch ?
- No. - Ah... no.
Thank you.
I just need to ask you a couple questions.
Could you tell me who made a delivery last night to...
837 W. 57th Street ?
Sure...
That was me.
Great. Could you raise your right hand, please ?
We found your glove.
Three days ago, she was supposed to cover for me.
She didn't show.
I almost got fired.
We got into it over the phone.
I felt bad so I went to see her.
Did she explain why she didn't shown up ?
She said she was sick.
That's why I brought her the soup.
And that was... definitely a mistake.
How's that ?
She accused me of trying to kill her.
I don't want it.
It's poison.
It's soup, Lauren. It's your favorite. You're sick, you should eat something.
There's pesticides in the vegetables.
They use chemicals to manufacture Styrofoam,
and it seeps into the food.
And the meat is from chickens that are injected with horm...
- What is wrong with you ? - I don't want to die !
Lauren, what are you talking about ?
Get out !
Just get out !
You have lost your mind.
I'd never seen her like that before.
Did you bring Lauren anything other to eat than the soup ?
No.
All right.
Thank you.
Hey.
You didn't say how she died.
Arsenic poisoning.
It's your cause of death.
As you know, most common route of entry is oral ingestion.
Yeah.
And we can rule out the capsules we found at the scene.
They were nothing more than a collection of organic supplements.
There was no poison detected in the soup.
So that means we'll need to go
back to the apartment and test every food
and ingestible item that's there.
Histological examination of the organs
- indicates chronic poisoning. - Okay.
Usually I can tell the number of weeks, but because our victim lost her hair,
we don't have a sufficient sample to determine an accurate timeline.
Which would help us narrow down a list of suspects.
Who was in her life at the time of the poisonings ?
You know...
I used to date a lovely young lady who shed quite a bit.
My point being... when you return to the victim's apartment,
you might want to gather a few hairs from the shower drain.
I imagine she didn't wear her wig while bathing.
And any long blond hairs in the drain
would be from her,
most likely when she started to lose her hair.
Right.
Anything, Hawkes ?
I'm suspicious about everything and sure...
of nothing.
Ain't that the truth.
You hear that ?
Wow, he's good.
Yeah.
Really good.
You know...
I don't think Lauren told anybody about her cancer.
The Strakers didn't mention it and...
it was obvious that Darcy hadn't heard about it.
That's a tough thing to go through by yourself.
Must have been such a hard blow.
Now I understand why she went to bed with her wig and makeup on.
What if she died in her sleep ?
She wanted to look beautiful.
Yeah... and she did.
Hey, Hawkes, come here.
Take a look at this. Top of the tea bag.
Very top.
Staple's been moved.
Removed.
This one, too.
Okay, we got something here.
- Hey, Hawkes ? - Yeah.
The tea bags were tainted with arsenic,
iron, metal, sulfide and olivine.
None of these are listed as ingredients
on the tea bag box.
And the last four components...
create meteorite dust.
Meteorite dust ?
I don't make this stuff up.
Well, why is it in the tea bags ?
The unanswered question...
I know that they collect this dust from craters here on Earth.
It's predominately used in golf clubs.
It's odd, and unexplainable,
but it's not lethal.
It was the arsenic that killed Lauren Redgrave.
And the results of the...
atomic absorption test on her hair
says she's been slowly poisoned
over the last seven months.
This poison was found in tea bags
that anybody could pick up at an upscale drugstore.
You're thinking product tampering ?
I'm thinking maybe this is a lot bigger than Lauren Redgrave.
I dropped the doll off yesterday,
late afternoon after my faculty meeting here at school.
Is there anything special about your daughter's doll ?
Um, to Abby, Sofie was very special, but...
other than that, no.
Why'd you take the doll to the doll hospital ?
As Abby explained it,
Sofie's mouth would move, but the sound wouldn't come out.
Has she had the doll for a while ?
Over a year.
Miss Drake...
these are the last boxes.
Thank you, boys.
Luke, don't forget, tutoring on Monday.
And Jason, I expect your art history homework first thing.
Ms. Drake, we checked the doll hospital's phone records.
Mr. McCulley called you last night ?
Yes, he left a message on my voice mail.
I could pick up the doll anytime I was ready.
But right now... I do have to pick up my daughter.
Sure...
- Thank you. - Thanks.
Maybe this isn't about the doll at all.
Maybe he just used it to defend himself.
Grip was way too tight.
You ever been to the scene of a shooting where the vic's hand is actually frozen in place ?
You can actually... take the gun...
slide it right into the palm.
Perfect fit.
That means he was struggling with his attacker for the gun.
Same thing happened here.
You know ?
- You hungry ? - No, I got to get back to the lab.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, me, too. Me, too.
This is no ordinary doll.
Pretty expensive... not very many made,
but her big selling point is that she can keep a secret.
The owner of the doll can record a message...
a secret...
and then play it back again.
I've been tinkering with it...
I saw them kissing again.
This time, they were naked, and I saw everything.
They kept saying things like,
"Ooh, touch me there. That feels good."
It was a bad touch. Shh... It's a secret.
Sounds like she caught two people in a compromising position.
The doctor fixed the doll and heard the secret.
Do you murder somebody over it ?
Depends on who was getting compromised.
Go back to the top.
I saw them kissing again.
This time they were naked and I saw everything.
- They kept saying things... - Wait, go back.
... and I saw everything. They kept...
Pull up the back the background.
I saw them kissing again.
This time, they were naked, and I saw everything
That's some kind of a bell.
This little girl saw something in her elementary school ?
I guess we won't know until we ask her.
Abby, Sofie told me that you two have a secret.
Do you want to tell me what it is ?
No. I don't think she would like it.
I'm sure Sofie wouldn't mind.
I don't think so.
Secrets are like promises.
And you have to keep them.
I'm sorry.
She won't tell me, either. I tried on the way over here.
It's okay, sweetie. You're being very good.
Abby, I promise you won't get in trouble.
No one's going to get mad.
In fact, nobody even has to know that you've told me.
You can tell me.
No... I can't.
The good news... only one box was tainted.
The box in Lauren Redgrave's apartment.
The bad news, Harry...
is this little price tag.
It tells me that the box came from your store.
So someone tampered with my products.
And it's just a coincidence that your next door neighbor bought the only tainted box ?
I didn't poison her.
Did you know your price tag stamp could be identified much like a gun ?
It leaves a very specific identifying mark.
Unique only to that stamp. No other stamp has it.
This is all very interesting,
but why would I kill her ?
We asked ourselves the same question.
And you know what ?
You had already given me the answer.
You were interested in her apartment.
Do you hear what you're saying ?
That I'd kill somebody for a space ?
- It's a closet. - With a view.
Maybe knock the wall down
that separates your apartment from hers.
Wasn't that your plan eight months ago, Harry ?
I... I have no idea what you're talking about.
Well, then let me take you back to the beginning.
You see, we couldn't figure out how Lauren Redgrave
could afford that apartment on a waitress' salary,
so we did some research.
And what we learned was...
the previous owner, George Milfy,
left it to his favorite waitress in his will.
That must have really pissed you off.
You know what ? Yeah, it did.
We're a co-op.
And we screen potential tenants.
Those are the rules, and George Milfy broke them from his grave.
Well, who knew his will would supersede the rules ?
I didn't kill her.
I wouldn't do that. I don't murder people.
That little girl was a tough cookie. I couldn't get any more information.
When we recovered the doll at the scene it wasn't working.
But the nurse said McCulley had repaired it.
So it must have been damaged again in the struggle.
If the doll doctor heard the same message we did,
he might have believed that Abby witnessed something inappropriate.
That would explain the phone call he made to Abby's mother that night.
But it's not the kind of thing you leave on somebody's voice mail.
But the fact remains, the doctor held on to that doll.
Somebody wanted it because they knew what was on it.
Okay, that swatch you cut from the doll's clothing, anything on it ?
Salt... potassium acetate, which is consistent
with the stuff that they use to melt the snow and ice out on the streets.
That leaves the print on the murder weapon.
No match in any database.
Okay, go back to it, dig deeper. We need to find something that gets us to our killer.
You're going to have to do more than just stare at it.
I'm waiting for it to talk to me.
Ah, then you might want to buy it a drink first.
This is all we got on our case.
And you know what Mac says, right ?
- Dig deeper. - Dig deeper.
You remember the Hutchinson murder ? Bleecker Street ?
Oily print.
Yes, I do.
If it's not the print itself, maybe it's something in the print.
Exactly.
Thank you.
Stella, I heard your vic had cancer, huh ?
Yeah.
Sad. It's very sad.
- Get that done, okay ? - All right.
What are you doing ?
You don't got to do that.
I was taught if you show someone a little respect
you might get more than what you came for.
You, uh, play good cop, I'll be bad cop.
- I'm going to keep my shoes on. - Okay.
Guess you didn't grow up with hardwood floors.
No, I didn't, actually. Bronx marble.
- What's that ? - It's linoleum.
Once sec.
So, we found a fingerprint on the murder weapon that killed Mr. McCulley.
Also we found traces of a substance called rhodium
- on that same fingerprint. - What does that have to do with me ?
We saw you loading jewelry into your car the other day, Ms. Drake.
Rhodium is used to plate white gold.
You obviously know something about jewelry plating.
Actually it's about the physics of art.
One of my new classes. I'm teaching my students
to take ordinary pieces of costume jewelry
and turn them into extraordinary works of art.
I think this ordinary fingerprint that we found on the murder weapon...
might belong to you.
I'm sure it does.
When I dropped off Abby's doll, Mr. McCulley was helping another customer.
While I was waiting, I was fidgeting with the arm
of a broken doll that was sitting on the counter.
I hope you don't imprison people based on such pedestrian evidence.
How did you know it was the arm we were talking about ?
Detective Messer simply said
the print was found on the weapon that killed the victim.
Well, it must be what you were referring to.
It was the only thing on the counter when I was there.
Where were you on the night of the murder, Ms. Drake ?
Are you suggesting that I'm a suspect in his death ?
You didn't answer my question.
I was at a PTA dinner.
You got a phone number of someone that can confirm that ?
Absolutely.
Thought you were going to play good cop.
There's something about that woman.
Yeah, I know. She had all the answers, huh ?
- Danny... - Yeah.
Let's see if she has an answer for this.
Tony.
- It's a rush. - Okay.
I intercepted your DNA results.
The blood on the eyeball you found in Monica Drake's hallway ?
- Yeah ? - It's a match to Russell McCulley.
You're making me nervous, Mac, you got that look.
What look is that ?
That one that says, we're not quite finished, cancel your plans for the evening.
The doll's eye was outside Monica Drake's apartment,
which puts Mr. McCulley's killer in her building.
Wait, I'm confused, it sounds to me like you're saying
that the killer is somebody other than Monica Drake.
Her alibi was confirmed, she was nowhere near
the doll hospital at the time of the murder.
But Mac, we found the eyeball outside her door.
Outside, Lindsay.
Defense attorney will argue it's a hallway where anyone has access.
We got rhodium on a print
and the vic's blood on the eyeball.
I'd say that's enough to get a search warrant.
Okay.
So let's find something inside the apartment,
preferably the doll doctor's blood.
Monica Drake knows the killer.
Looks like Ms. Drake's been quite busy.
More semen samples here than a fertility clinic.
What do you got ?
It's kind of a white powder.
There's more on the floor.
Seems kind of out of place,
considering how clean the rest of the apartment is.
That's great, but we need blood, not anything ?
Not a drop.
There it is.
See it ?
The windows.
There's snow.
Window on the left and the window on the right have the same drift pattern.
Yeah, and the snow on the center window's disturbed.
Somebody climbed through that window.
We got salt.
Same as on the doll dress.
Our killer entered the doll hospital from here.
I don't know, Mac, there's no fire escape ladder,
there's not even a dumpster, how's he get from down here to up there ?
- I mean, if that readout's correct, we're looking for someone from the Knicks. - No.
We're looking for Rhonda.
At best, it's circumstantial evidence.
You know, we can connect Ellis to the teas and motive,
but we can't prove he poisoned Lauren Redgrave.
And since we didn't get a confession, that don't add up to much.
Let's just go back to Darcy Sullivan.
Rat poison is arsenic, and we did find traces of arsenic in her glove.
Yeah, but when did she have access to that particular box of tea,
and what's her motive ?
And why would anyone poison someone who was already so close to death ?
They didn't know she had cancer.
I answered the unanswered question.
- Really ? - Yes.
With a violin ?
This is gonna be good.
Now, I want you guys to look right here,
okay ?
Rosin.
They use it to coat bows of string instruments, it makes the tone better.
- Exactly. - Okay...
Sometimes metals are added
to rosin
to create different tonal qualities.
One of those metals
is meteorite dust.
The unexplained ingredient in our tea bag.
Okay. Wait a minute, this is not just about a room with a view,
this is about space.
Gentlemen, we have the right motive, just the wrong neighbor.
Oh, you really are a brilliant musician, Mr. Straker.
Thank you.
But a very patient killer.
Arsenic poisoning over the last seven months.
Right after Lauren Redgrave inherited the apartment from George Milfy.
No. You've got the wrong person.
No, no, we had the wrong person, see, your neighbor,
Harry Ellis, he was our first suspect.
Just knocking down the wall between his and Lauren's apartment, he gains a view.
But your plan was for a nursery.
That's why you killed her, right ?
You don't understand, Lauren,
Carolyn and I were like family.
Guess that's what made it so easy to execute the poisoning.
Tell me something, Dale, did you ever put arsenic in any other food ?
Then maybe Carolyn made a nice casserole, took it over to Lauren's house ?
You used your wife and Lauren's friendship to gain access to Lauren's apartment, food...
Look, this is crazy, look, I did not poison Lauren Redgrave.
Oh. But you did.
See, rosin's very messy,
it gets sticky, sticks on your hands, gets underneath your fingernails.
You didn't even think about that when you were putting your arsenic in the tea bags, did you ?
I-I want to, uh, talk to my lawyer.
Good. You can explain to him what sealed your fate.
It's always the simplest things.
There you go, Lauren's "To Do" list :
pay bills, do laundry, and, oh, "Give Dale $7.95."
The price of a box of tea.
Oh, um, Mr. Straker ?
Just wanted to let you know,
Lauren had terminal cancer.
She only had three months to live.
So, this is where I parked it,
just left of the door.
Gives me plenty of room to load and unload.
Salt.
That's how salt got on the shoe.
Yo, Mac, I think I've seen this before.
Thank you, boys.
Luke, don't forget about tutoring on Monday.
Looks like we've got trace.
She told you to break in to the doll hospital ?
That's not how it happened. Ms. Drake had nothing to do with this.
Come on, Luke. She sent you there to steal the doll, isn't that right ?
- Hey ! What are you doing ? - Give me the doll !
But you messed up, you were only supposed to get the doll,
- not kill Russell McCulley. - It was an accident !
A terrible accident !
I mean, he should've just given me the doll.
You panicked...
so you went to her.
I think he's dead !
- Where's the doll ? - I'm in trouble, I didn't get it.
You've got this all wrong.
The secret your daughter was keeping was yours.
She walked in on you...
"tutoring"
Luke Fisher.
- Mommy, you all right ? - Yeah, that feels good.
Mom ?
Mommy ?
Abby... sweetie, go to bed.
And you asked her to keep it a secret, right ?
But she decided to share it with someone,
someone she trusted.
I saw them kissing again. This time they were naked,
and I saw everything. She kept saying things like, "Ooh, touch me there,
that feels good." It was a bad touch. Shh...
- It's a secret. - Abby, cookies are ready.
That bell we heard came from your kitchen.
You would have never known about it if the doll hadn't been broken
and the doctor hadn't heard the secret.
That's why he made that call to you the other night, 'cause he was concerned.
She kept saying things like, "Ooh, touch me there, that feels good."
I just thought you should hear that.
Abby has such a vivid imagination.
And she would've told me if she saw something like that at school.
I'll pick up the doll tomorrow.
Why'd you do it, Luke ?
If people found out, they wouldn't let us be together.
Now, I got a secret for you.
No one knew that what Abby witnessed...
was you and Luke Fisher.
There's nothing on that tape that says it was you.
I saw them kissing again.
This time they were naked, and I saw everything.
To anyone else, that could sound like...
two high school kids going at it behind the bleachers.
But to your guilty conscience,
it sounded just like what it was :
you and a teenage boy.
Does it matter at all that I love him ?