Fern Lazlow! NYPD!
He's really dead?
It's not a dream?
Somebody get her some clothes.
You're under arrest.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Absolutely no defensive wounds.
Placement of these knives is precise.
No other sharp force trauma.
Each knife found its mark with the first strike.
We got a name.
Vic is Mitchell Bentley III, son of billionaire Mitchell Bentley Junior.
They should have stopped at two.
This guy was acquitted of attempted murder and rape in Central Park.
One and the same, and get this, the vic in that case, Fern Lazlow,
an ER nurse over at Queen of Mercy,
was seen running from this crime scene to her apartment.
When I picked her up, we found traces of blood.
I assume it's Bentley's because she didn't have a scratch on her.
- Looks like a case of revenge. - She certainly made her point.
# Out here in the fields #
# I fight for my meals #
# I get my back into my living #
# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah #
Gravitational blood trails.
Indicates he was moving in circles.
Why not just run away?
He didn't fight back, he didn't escape.
Maybe he didn't have a choice.
Let's get him back to Autopsy and see what Sid can tell us.
Maybe he can explain how Fern Lazlow, a woman half Bentley's size,
stuck four knives in his back and walked away without a scratch on her.
Excuse us.
- Any witnesses? - None.
Matt Fella, Head of Security for the museum, found her around 6:00am
when he came in to open up.
Discovered the body here, gun lying next to her.
Didn't touch anything, called 911.
I checked him out but not even a parking ticket. Seems shaken up.
Keys, phone, eyeliner.
Cash, 250 bucks. Doesn't look like a robbery.
She hasn't been here long. A few hours.
Acquire Black Card.
Five grand annual fee, quarter of a mil mandatory minimum spending.
Vic's name is Joanna Morgan, Formidable Advertising Corp.
Looks like somebody wasn't buying what she was advertising, huh?
Smooth outer edges. No powder burns. Looks like an entrance wound.
Turn her.
Oh, significant amount of tearing.
Larger wound, undefined edges. Looks like an exit wound.
We got a through and through. Shot in the back and through the chest.
Downward angle. Possible wrist fracture.
That's consistent with being shot in the back and falling forwards.
So... our shooter could have been standing right about here...
...pointing the gun in this direction.
I got two spent shells. We're looking for two rounds.
And so the bullet we're looking for should be in this area down here.
No bullet impact marks, indication of rounds,
even fragments, anywhere in that direction.
No signs of struggle or any injuries. They leave the gun behind.
Kind of looks like a hit.
Then why can't we find any expended rounds?
I heard of, "Leave the gun and take the cannolis",
but not, "Leave the gun, take the bullets. "
Alright, this is strange.
I found high concentrations of GSR on the front of Joanna's dress,
which contradicts she was shot in the back.
I found GSR inside the purse, meaning it was transferred from the gun.
Even stranger, the only prints on the gun were hers. It's Joanna's weapon.
Maybe the gun was fired away from the crime scene...
...and then put in the purse.
Maybe a test fire.
That's something a novice would do,
which means we're only looking for one round.
Her gun in her hands shot at close range? Maybe this is a suicide.
In the middle of the night, outside the museum?
No suicide note.
How does an entry wound wind up looking like an exit wound?
# The sun is gone #
# Must trust my sense That something's wrong #
# Consider the lives Of you and I #
# Deep down this world We all reside #
A striking visual, those knives in this young man's back.
OK, all of the knives
penetrated deep into the torso at close range with great force.
This wound was inflicted first.
It devastated the postural muscles. Walking would have become difficult.
- Standing up straight, impossible. - Yeah.
Your killer was very lucky, or very skilled.
The postural group is difficult to penetrate. It took a perfect shot.
So stabbing him here and here would have been easy,
since he was wounded and vulnerable.
Precisely. And the result?
Increased blood loss, lower blood pressure and acute pain.
These blades were barbed and difficult to extract.
This was the kill shot. It cut deep. Another perfect strike.
Transected the aorta, completely devastated the heart muscle.
He died instantly.
Why not just stab him in the heart?
I'm not sure, but your killer has intimate knowledge of human anatomy.
You should be looking for someone with a medical background.
A coincidence?
Bumping into a dead body outside your apartment, who, it turns out,
happens to be the same man recently acquitted of raping you?
I was coming home from the hospital.
I cut through the park.
You ran past your doorman. Didn't think to ask him to call 911?
You made no attempt to contact the police on your own.
I told you, I was upset.
But not so upset you couldn't dispose of your clothes or take the time
to try to wash away evidence!
I just wanted him off of me. Alright?
I didn't care about anything else.
Not buying a word of it.
I know how this looks.
I have every reason in the world to want to kill him.
But as much as I would have loved to...
...I didn't kill Mitchell Bentley.
Those are your prints.
That's from the coat you tried to dispose of, found at the scene.
Must have got caught on the fence.
How do you explain your prints on Bentley's neck?
I checked his pulse there.
- You said you checked his wrist. - Maybe it was both.
"Must have. Maybe. I don't know. " Prosecutor's gonna eat you alive.
The prosecutor?
Is this the same incompetent ass
that let that piece of garbage walk in the first place?
We're walking in circles, gentlemen.
That's all I'm telling you until I see my attorney.
She certainly has all the answers.
When you've taken time to plan a murder,
it's possible you've already considered all the questions.
Not one print, from Fern or anyone else.
I did find traces of aminomethyl propanol and methacrylate
on the handles of these two knives.
You can just say "hairspray".
I can't help it. Chemical compounds just sort of roll off my tongue.
Now, these are exact replicas of the knives we took from Bentley's body.
Watch this.
I'm thinking our killer concealed these weapons as hair sticks.
I also found epithelial cells from a female donor
on the handles of these knives, enough for a DNA sample.
We have no comparison sample from Fern.
Her attorney's making us jump through hoops.
Yeah, you can understand her distrust in the system.
Bentley raped and stabbed Fern, and then he was acquitted.
And now his murder takes away her freedom.
If she's the killer, she made that choice
instead of moving on with her life.
I know, but why now?
Why not two months ago or six months ago?
What made her snap?
What are you thinking, Mac?
This wasn't someone who snapped. This was planned.
Methodical, calculated, controlled.
In fact, I have a theory the method of this killing is a message.
It has something to do with Spanish-style bullfighting.
OK, you got my attention.
The knives were stuck into Bentley's body one at a time, methodically.
Those circular blood trails.
It's as if he's charging instead of running away.
In bullfighting, the matador stands in the ring and watches
as the bull makes a series of passes.
He looks for the animal's strengths and weaknesses.
When the time is right, he drives a knife into the muscles of the back.
This weakens the bull's muscles,
lowers his blood pressure, and provokes angrier attacks.
Almost the same as rupturing the postural muscles.
During the next phase, Tercio de Banderillos,
two barbed lances with decorative handles,
like those in Bentley's sides,
are thrust into each of the bull's flanks.
The final stage, Tercio de Muerta.
The matador thrusts a sword in-between the bull's shoulder blades
and through the heart - a quick, clean kill.
The planning, the premeditation.
This was torture driven from intense hatred.
Nothing quick and clean about it.
Brushing up on your autopsy procedures?
Just confirming my suspicions.
Though I hate to contradict a former colleague.
No harm, no foul, Sid. I was making a field observation.
There's a logical explanation for Danny's finding GSR
on the front of the dress consistent with an entrance wound,
and your contradictory finding of an exit wound in the same place.
The gun was fired with the barrel pressed tightly against her skin.
Rapidly expanding gases exploded out of the barrel,
forced into the space between the outer skin and the underlying tissue.
Pressure behind the gases
pushed back out through the outer layer of skin.
It made the wound larger and similar in appearance to an exit wound.
The black dress made GSR invisible,
but how could the back wound appear to be an entrance wound?
Support behind and directly up against Joanna Morgan's skin,
where the bullet exited.
That support prevented the outer skin
from expanding and tearing, like an entrance wound.
There was concrete, glass and steel where Joanna was found.
If she was pressed against something solid,
the round would have fallen to the ground, we didn't find it.
Maybe that support was another person.
The victim had a wrist fracture.
It was a radial dislocation.
Perhaps Joanna's wrist was bent violently back towards her
by someone strong, likely a man.
Our shooter was standing behind her.
Find that someone, find your bullet?
Oh, Sheldon, hold on. A parting gift.
Barely digested stomach contents, ingested shortly before she died.
From the way she dressed, she didn't dine alone.
This might help retrace her steps, find her killer. Thanks.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
I've checked every hospital in the city, no suspicious gunshot victims.
If Sid's correct, the bullet passed through Joanna into the shooter.
Wouldn't they seek medical attention?
- He's afraid we'll find him. - Maybe.
There was no blood at that scene other than Joanna's.
No evidence of any other gunshot in front of that museum.
We have Sid's theory that the shooter stood behind and up against Joanna.
Maybe Sid's theory's wrong. Stranger things have happened.
If he's not, we were looking in the wrong direction.
Our search area was based on Joanna being shot in the back not the chest.
We've got to go look in the opposite direction.
If the shooter dodged the bullet, it still might be there.
Specimen?
He's on a cayenne pepper and lemon juice diet.
Lose 20 pounds in 20 days.
Some girl at a bar told him his baby fat was cute. Vanity!
Thank you, Kendall.
How are we doing?
The blood on the outside of the bandage was the vic's.
No surprise there.
I found marks on the outside of the bandage
consistent with it being worn on the bottom of a shoe.
I think the void on the adhesive side
is part of a shoe tread print, but not one in our database.
Bandages on soles of new shoes keep them from slipping.
Anything else?
That tiny little chad that hitched a ride - being election week,
more than a few possibilities, I'm looking into them.
Good work. What about you?
The fibres that Stella found on Mitchell Bentley's pants
are from a black napkin.
There's three places in the area that serve black napkins,
and only one of them is open late.
That place is called um...
Casa del Matador Grill.
- Casa del Matador? - Yeah.
That's where Bentley met Fern before he attacked her.
That could be our connection to Spanish bullfighting.
It's where he had his last meal, too.
Eat something.
They are pretty, but I don't recognise any faces.
Does this guy ring a bell?
Yeah, everybody knows that bum from the news.
- Hard to believe he'd come back. - Was he with anyone?
A smoking hot brunette in a red dress.
She made the reservation under Florence Nightingale.
I'm thinking fake name.
- Real sharp, Larry. How'd they pay? - Cash. She picked up the tab.
Left a nice tip considering she was so ticked off.
- At him? - No.
They got along fine but she lost a contact.
Never found it. Didn't want any help. Refused to leave a business card.
Show me where they sat.
She was sitting right there. He was sitting right here.
Thank you.
- Something's stuck on this chair. - Yeah?
Huh. It's pretty beat up.
Hard to tell what it is.
I will leave that... up to you scientists.
Thank you very much.
Diamond mink eyelashes Flack found at the Casa del Matador Grill.
10 grand a pair.
They stick onto your real eyelashes and stay on for two weeks.
We get a DNA profile?
Nothing usable,
but they're not sold in many places so I'm looking into it.
I'd love to know who's rich enough to lose five grand and not stick around.
Someone who doesn't want to be found.
That guy look a little too interested to you?
He's probably just shaken up after finding the body.
Angell said he's a boy scout.
Besides, he doesn't have a gunshot wound.
Alright, point the gun at me.
Definitely could have gone through the love handles.
That's too low, wise ass.
The trajectory angle was upward, front to back, and probably...
Stop fighting me? Ready?
Over the shoulder if it missed completely.
Boom!
- Missing bullet's here somewhere. - Great.
The pillar makes it hard to figure out the exact angle of trajectory.
Think Mr Boy Scout over here will let me pop off a couple rounds?
I got a better idea. Go back to the car, get the first aid kit.
OK.
It's not a Trumark 008, but it'll do.
I can't believe you won't let me shoot it.
We'd be here all day.
What, did you shoot pebbles at squirrels back in Montana?
No, boys. Now, stand back and try to keep up.
Adjusting for the decrease in velocity
from the through and through,
I'll recreate the trajectory. This should give us a general search area.
Boom.
Ooh, and there's our three.
The through and through from Joanna has to be here.
Quite impressive.
I can't believe that contraption actually worked.
And all three shots were perfect?
Let's just hope this cheap piece of lead holds some valuable answers.
Hey, yo, Dennis the Menace, wait up.
Blood from the bullet turns out to be a mixture of Joanna Morgan's
and an unknown male's - bullet went through our perp.
A through and through and through and through?
The angle of trajectory through Joanna Morgan is into the chest,
upward and out the back.
We're looking for a suspect with a bullet hole around his shoulder.
You're not really here because I made an insurance claim
on a set of diamond mink eyelashes?
Mitchell Bentley was murdered. What do you know about it?
Everything. It's all over the news.
You were with him last night.
- I was. - What was your relationship?
He's a sexual predator who bought his way out of a conviction.
I'm a publisher who was going to sell his story.
You often have dinner with sexual predators?
Only when I can make money. Casa del Matador was a nice touch.
He was uncomfortable at first, but he loosened up after a few drinks.
Things went so well, we took an after-dinner stroll.
We walked a few blocks. I decided to catch a cab.
I left him standing at the kerb very much alive.
- Where did the cab take you? - Penn Station.
Would you be willing to provide a DNA sample?
No. If you have a card, leave it with my secretary.
I've got a train to catch.
I'd keep an eye on this story.
I have a feeling there's more chapters to be written.
And we'll keep an eye on you.
Enhanced image of the shoe print on the bandage.
It's been driving me crazy. I looked at this a hundred different ways.
- I figured it out. - I've never seen this.
- Some type of grid. - Or...
...a map.
What shoe would have a map of the subway on its sole?
An Ian Burton. It's their trademark.
This image is actual size.
You can see the lines fit perfectly into the map.
So the bandage was stuck on the bottom of one of those shoes.
A size six, recently purchased.
Lan Burton on West 4th is the only place that sells them.
I'll get a list of buyers, last couple of months.
Let's hope our killer's on that list.
Four older brothers and a detective sergeant for a father?
Did your old man dust you for prints when you got home from a date?
If it was up to them, I wouldn't have known boys existed until I was 21.
I'm sure boys knew you existed.
Was that a line, Flack? Did you just bust out your game on me?
- What? - It was, wasn't it?
- Look at you, you're blushing. - My game!
Game? I have no game.
If I did, that's probably as good as it gets.
I think it's pretty good.
Detectives? Oh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?
You two have been trailing me for the last couple of hours.
Now, if you are going to follow me,
you may as well have a copy of my itinerary.
We've got lunch at Stangs in 15 minutes.
That might be a bit expensive on your boyfriend's salary.
The rest of the day is here...
Saks, Bloomingdales. I've got a meeting at 4:00pm in the office.
I jotted down my cellphone in case you have trouble keeping up.
Have a nice day.
That woman pisses me off.
What are you looking for?
Something to help me put her in handcuffs the next time I see her.
Not bad for a guy on a city salary.
Thank you.
Hey, Adam.
I'm comparing the DNA sample of Amber Stanton's hair Flack found in the car
to the DNA sample recovered from the knives
Sid removed from Mitchell Bentley's back.
Alright, one positive hit puts Amber in cuffs.
No match.
Amber Stanton was so coy and confident.
She wanted me to know she was involved in the murder.
I hate to say it, but all the evidence points to Fern Lazlow.
Mac, hold up.
This receipt links our victim, Joanna with your victim, Mitchell Bentley.
Her name came up on a list of customers
who recently purchased Ian Burtons.
Now the only question is,
how did Joanna Morgan's shoes end up at Mitchell Bentley's crime scene?
What do these three women have in common?
They were all victims of past sexual assault.
Amber was raped seven years ago, suspect never caught.
Joanna was raped five years ago, suspect released on a technicality.
And then there's Fern Lazlow.
Raped by Bentley, he's dead. She's our prime suspect.
Let's concentrate on the other two women.
Amber and Joanna have a lot in common.
They're CEOs at their own companies, both divorced,
both live in the suburbs in big houses and work in Manhattan.
But they don't shop in the same stores,
eat in the same restaurants or call the same people.
There's not one common phone call on record.
The missing piece is Joanna's killer.
He was wounded at the scene.
His identity will help us work out the connection between these cases.
We know Bentley raped Fern and Amber was the last one to see him alive.
One piece of evidence is still outstanding.
The chad Kendall recovered from glue on the bandage.
She's ruled out absentee ballots, legacy punch card systems...
Let's get her to rule something in.
Dig into those case folders, see if you can find anything we missed.
What's so urgent? I thought we were done with Joanna's stomach contents.
We were. Foodwise, the contents were unremarkable.
But I did stumble upon a very aggressive foodborne bacteria.
I've never seen it and it took me a while to determine the source.
They're Brucellosis listerial bacteria cells.
They don't come along often.
This bacteria is unique.
It allows itself to be ingested
by healthy immune system cells called phagocytes.
Once inside the healthy cell,
the bacteria steals the internal machinery of the phagocyte,
causing it to mutate.
The bacteria then hitches a free ride on the phagocyte
into the digestive tract, wreaking havoc on the intestines.
So, Joanna Morgan had a severe case of food poisoning.
If she'd lived, she would have become ill,
as would anyone who ate there that night.
He would have needed medical attention.
The hospital would have reported it.
Which could help lead us to that someone who had dinner
with Joanna Morgan the night she died, possibly our killer.
- You said the healthy cells mutated. - I did.
Human hairs can do the same thing.
They're the only tissue except for bone marrow
that have a high rate of mitotic activity.
That high rate of division can cause a small number of hairs to mutate
resulting in an altered DNA profile.
So maybe Amber Stanton's hair is one of those mutated hairs?
It's possible, which would explain why it didn't match DNA
on the knife that killed Bentley.
This is quite the closet! It's bigger than most living rooms in the Bronx!
Detective Taylor better have applied for this search warrant properly.
- My lawyers will have a field day. - Not before we do.
Where are the shoes that were in here?
They're gone. I threw them away.
- You threw away $400 shoes? - Is that against the law?
Why do you bother? Mitchell Bentley was a piece of garbage.
It doesn't matter who the victim is, it's the killer we're after.
Only one food poisoning outbreak matches the bacteria
discovered in the vic's stomach.
Came from Kalergios Grill.
I ran checks on names the Health Department sent.
A guy named Steve Kaplan showed up at ER
with a severe case of food poisoning.
Kaplan made a big scene at the ER. Demanded prescription pain killers.
For food poisoning? Must have been more than just a bad stomach.
And get this, Kaplan was acquitted of the 2004 murder of a model.
Kaplan was Joanna Morgan's target.
He's the missing piece. He fits the profile.
A man who got away with murder.
We need your signature, Mr Kaplan.
So, you were the one who pulled me out of bed to come down here?
Not bad.
We appreciate you coming under the circumstances.
If this paper helps with my lawsuit against those bastards who, uh,
poisoned me, where do I sign?
It's an affidavit saying you became ill after dining at Kalergios Grill.
Says on your rap sheet you're right-handed.
Got shoulder trouble?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't think about it.
What do we have here?
Sorry, did I hurt you? Painkillers aren't prescribed for food poisoning.
You know something, I like her.
Yeah, you like her, huh? You like her as much as you liked Joanna Morgan?
Whoa, whoa. Wait a second.
She pulled a gun on me, buddy. She tried to kill me.
That's self-defence.
- How did you know her? - I met her on the internet.
She, uh, she couldn't get enough of me.
Then when I, uh, I saw her picture, I, uh, you know, I had to have her.
Pay attention here, lover boy. How did you end up at the museum?
She said she liked to have sex in dangerous places.
I mean, we, uh, made it to the top of the museum steps,
and, uh, she started to shake real bad.
Then she turns around and she's got a gun in her hand. She hesitates.
We struggle, the gun went off.
Hey, it's not what I had in mind for the evening,
but like I said before, self-defence.
If it was self-defence, why did you run away and not call the police?
Man, who's gonna believe a guy who just beat a murder rap?
You're going to be charged with murder, Mr Kaplan.
It's up to your attorneys to raise a claim of self-defence.
Well, well, well, well.
You guys do your job, and if my lawyer is on the ball,
you'll be testifying in my defence.
I hope your lawyer does drop the ball.
Hey, do me a favour? Get this moron out of my face.
This was stuck to the bandage you put on the bottom of your new shoes.
It's a chad from a Long Island Rail Road ticket.
If I'm being charged with taking the railroad, I confess.
Commuters are creatures of habit.
They... they sit in the same car.
Even the same seat.
They see the same faces every day.
Relationships form that can last years and never leave the train.
That's where you met Joanna Morgan.
On the train.
You became close friends, so close, in fact, you even exchanged gifts.
It must have hurt to have to throw away those shoes,
because they were a gift from Joanna.
I found a piece of wrapping paper and her prints all over the box.
She was like you, wasn't she?
Beautiful, smart and happy on the outside.
Scarred and angry on the inside.
You shared the pain of being victims.
The two of you were going to avenge other victims
you felt were wronged by the justice system.
Joanna intended to kill Kaplan and leave his body
on the steps of the museum for Matt Fella to find
because Steve Kaplan killed Matt's fiancée and got away with it.
Amber Stanton left Mitchell Bentley's body for you to see.
She knew you worked a double on Thursday nights.
She also knew you cut through the park.
Mitchell Bentley stole a piece of my soul when he attacked me.
Cutting through the park was my way of telling him
he wouldn't steal anything else.
And I was scared.
I would hold my keys right between my fingers.
You're very brave.
Why would Amber kill Bentley for me?
She did it more for herself.
Your case was well publicised. His acquittal made people angry.
She didn't count on the fact your instincts as a nurse
would lead to you being incriminated.
You don't have to say anything, but we have the evidence.
We matched hairs from your brush
to the DNA on the knife that killed Mitchell Bentley,
so you're going to prison.
We became instant friends, Joanna and I.
I started saving a seat for her.
Excuse me.
As time went on, our conversations grew more intimate.
She confided in me about being raped.
I confided in her.
She was wonderful. Driven, smart.
She fit perfectly into my life. A 45-minute-a-day friendship.
Neither of us had time for it to be anything more.
When did the two of you decide to become judge, jury and executioner?
Whenever I see a useless piece of human trash
walk away without consequence, I feel violated again.
Bentley was smiling.
Kaplan was going about his life as if nothing had happened.
So you became a predator, a killer.
I think of myself as an arbiter of justice.
Stand up.
Killing out of vengeance is not justice, Miss Stanton.
Justice is conscience.
And when you lose that, you have nothing.