CSI: NY (2004–2013): Season 7, Episode 10 - Shop Till You Drop - full transcript

♪♪

- ♪ [Woman] I really can't stay ♪
- ♪ [Man] Baby, it's cold outside ♪

- ♪ I've got to go away ♪
- ♪ But, baby, it's cold outside ♪

- ♪ This evening has been ♪
- ♪ I've been hopin' that you'd drop in ♪

- ♪ So very nice ♪
- [people squealing, laughing]

[Man] ♪ I'll hold your hands,
they're just like ice ♪

- [Woman] ♪ My mother will start to worry ♪
- ♪ Beautiful, what's your hurry? ♪

- ♪ And father will be pacing the floor ♪
- ♪ Listen to that fireplace roar ♪

- ♪ So really, I'd better scurry ♪
- ♪ Beautiful, please don't hurry ♪

♪ Maybe just a half a drink more ♪

[Taylor] I can't believe you
talked me into shopping.



Are you coming?

What's the hurry?
It's just a department store.

Mac, please.
It's not about what's on the racks,

it's about what's in the windows.

♪ To break this spell ♪

♪ I'll take your hat,
your hair looks swell ♪

- ♪ I ought to say no, no, no sir ♪
- ♪ You mind if I move in closer ♪

- ♪ At least I'm gonna say that I tried ♪
- ♪ What's the sense in hurting my pride? ♪

- ♪ I really can't stay ♪
- ♪ Oh, baby, don't hold out ♪

[together]
♪ Baby, it's cold outside ♪

Jo.

Now? Really?

- Whoa, I'm so sorry, sir.
- It's all right.

Have a good night.



All right, shoppers, the moment
you've been waiting for

has finally arrived,

and on behalf
of Stonefield's department store,

let me be the first one
to welcome you all

to the 67th annual
unveiling of our winter windows.

[crowd applauding]

Now, if you'll join me, please,
in counting down from ten,

and we will kick off
the shopping season in style,

and afterwards,
I'll invite all of you to come on inside

and have savings store-wide.

- Are you ready?
- [crowd] Yeah!

Well, then let's do it.

Ten... nine...

- Where's the bag?
- What bag?

- Seven... six... five...
- [Danville] Let's go.

- You're coming with us.
- Four...

Three...

Two... one!

Shop till you drop!

Wow, isn't it amazing?

- It's pretty impressive.
- I wasn't talking to you.

[crowd gasping, screaming]

Whoa.

You see why I hate shopping?

♪ Out here in the fields ♪

♪ I fight for my meals ♪

♪ I get my back into my living ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪

So, it turns out our victim
was the store's general manager,

guy named Richard Grossman.

But from what I'm hearing,
his employees like to call him other names.

Why?

Lot of belt-tightening
going on around here lately.

Apparently, he liked to crack
a whip along with it.

Makes our boss
look pretty good.

I wouldn't go that far.

Hey, I heard that.

[laughing]

We're definitely looking
at blunt force trauma.

Pretty significant fracture

along the sphenoid bone, and...

There's some oddly textured
wound impression...

Could have fallen
against something, maybe.

Or been struck, hard.

You book our friend
the pickpocket?

I did.

And I sent his jacket
with that bloodstain you noticed to the lab.

Also, I'm running down a list of employees
who were on the clock tonight.

What about all the shoppers?

There's four floors
worth of them.

This place opened up
at 10 A.M. this morning.

They been coming
and going ever since.

Based on liver temp,
I'd say Grossman died...

no more than an hour ago.

Hey, you want me
to shut this place down?

Well, the crime scene's secure...

if we need you to go wide or close the doors,
we'll let you know.

All right.

Well, there's definitely signs
of struggle in this area.

[Danville]
Same here.

Mac, do you see any other wounds
on our vic's upper torso?

Negative.

Maybe this blood
came from our perp.

[grunting, panting]

[growling]

Whoever it was

stepped into some more
on their way out.

Ready to go shopping?

- For what?
- Our killer.

Didn't take long
for that trail to run cold.

Nope. So let's heat it up.

All right, I got blood
going this way.

Yeah, but that looks
like secondary transfer.

That print doesn't match
the one in the staging area.

But this print looks promising.

And here we are.

Hi.

Hi. I'll be right with you.

Actually, we need to talk
to you right now, thank you.

- Excuse me just a sec.
- [Woman] Sure.

If you're here to ask me about
what happened to Mr. Grossman,

I have no idea.

Did you see anyone
or anything suspicious

at your counter this evening?

Maybe somebody in a hurry,
maybe hurt.

Are you kidding?

Everyone's in a hurry
this time of year.

And as for hurt,
Mr. Grossman

probably could have died
right in front of me

and I wouldn't have noticed.

- Why is that?
- We were giving away free body beauty kits.

Body whatties?

These.

Each one contains ultra gel,
UV moisturizer,

and a pore-cleansing astringent.

For free?

It was all part of our big
winter windows promotion,

and we got totally mobbed.

Pass that one behind you.

Hi. Hi.

One per person.

There you go.
Thank you.

Have a great holiday, guys.

Are all your customers women?

No, there were men, too.

Everyone loves to get something
for nothing.

Tracy, would you mind
if I took a quick look at your shoes?

- These?
- Yeah.

Oh, those are so cute!
Did you get those here?

I got them at a discount outlet
in the Village.

Well, we'll let you
get back to work.

But if you think of anything,
would you let us know, please?

Yeah, no problem.

And you can have
one of these, too, if you want.

- Ah.
- That's cool. Thank you.

I mean, it's free.
I can take it home to the girls.

Danny.

Okay, there's no way those cute,
pointy heels are a match to our footprints,

and she doesn't look
like she's hurt in any way,

but there is blood
on this cotton ball dispenser,

and in this kit, the astringent
is probably %80 alcohol,

so I'm thinking that our killer went

directly to this makeup counter for a reason.

[Tracy] Hi. Welcome to Stonefield's.
Welcome to Stonefield's.

Thank you so much.
Welcome to Stonefield's.

There you go.
Hi. Welcome to Stonefield's.

[Danville] If he was injured
on that snowflake,

he would have needed
some quick first aid.

Let's find the bathrooms.

Family bathrooms usually
have a lock for privacy.

Boom.

Took at look at your résumé, Howie.

You did three bids for theft.

Is that right?

Getting caught that much

makes me think you're
in the wrong line of work.

Yeah, maybe pickpocketing
isn't your forte.

- You got no right to hold me.
- What, are you some kind of lawyer?

Hmm, I know enough.

I mean, you got no stolen items,
no evidence I committed a crime.

Well, that's where you're wrong.

I witnessed you stealing
that woman's wallet.

That's evidence enough
for grand larceny.

Well, I guess it's your word
against mine, then, huh?

Well, those are odds
I'm willing to take.

Most definitely,

and if you beat the larceny rap,

that still don't help you
with the murder thing.

What, you mean that gore fest
in the store window?

[laughs]

No, no way
you're putting that on me.

Hmm.

Well, then explain how
blood from the crime scene

ended up on the sleeve
of your jacket.

I got no idea.

Come on, you know so much
about the law,

you never heard
about felony murder?

It means if there is a homicide

during the commission
of another crime,

everyone involved in that crime
can be charged with murder.

Look.

Look, I just bumped
into her, okay?

Bumped into who?

Some lady at the store.

I was just in there warming up

and she comes bolting
out of the bathroom,

- and she bumped right into me.
- And?

And went about her business,
just like I did.

For God's sakes,
I'm a pickpocket,

not a murderer.

Jo, check this out.

This security camera
video was time-stamped

right after the murder.

Our pickpocket clearly
bumped into someone,

but I can't tell
if she's bleeding.

[Danville]
Wait a second, play that again.

Okay, stop.

Go from there.

Danny, freeze.
Zoom in on her face.

I've seen her.

Can't believe you're still here.

Oh, my God.

Are you okay?

Look, I'm sure you're
happy to be out of the cold,

but you haven't said one word
since we brought you in.

While the paramedics
were bandaging the wound on your back,

they noticed that you had

a lot of bruises and scratches on your body.

So what I'd like to do
is take some samples

from underneath
your fingernails.

It doesn't hurt at all.

Is that okay, Alena?

It is Alena, right?
Alena Maybrook?

According to the store record,

you're an assistant manager
at Stonefield's.

Did you kill
Richard Grossman, Alena?

All right.

Since you're not willing
to tell me what you know,

I'll tell you what I know.

Mr. Grossman was your boss.

Your blood was found

in the staging area
of that window where he was killed.

And you fled the scene,

made a couple of quick stops
at the makeup counter

and the bathroom
to clean yourself up.

Why?

Tell me what happened, Alena.

According to her background,
she's a regular girl scout...

model employee,
pays her bills on time, never jaywalks.

I'm sensing a "but" here.

Well, she may not have seemed
to be in too much of a hurry

to skip town when you
found her in that park,

but two weeks ago

she emptied her bank account,

cashed out her 401 k,

and bought
a one-way ticket to Aruba,

departure date-- tomorrow.

In my book that's no vacation.

It's an escape plan.

So if she did kill Grossman,
it was probably premeditated.

Hey, Adam, you get anywhere
with that USB port

Jo found at the crime scene?

Uh, not yet, but whatever it's a part of

probably belonged to the victim.

I found prints that were
a match to Richard Grossman.

We didn't find
an electronic device along with it.

Maybe Alena took it when she fled?

Yeah, it's possible,

but she had nothing on her
when Jo brought her in.

Well, check this out.

This wrought iron branch
was collected from the display.

Uh-huh.

Well, it looks like the ones in the window.

Yeah, except they were
all soldered into place.

But this branch was found
under the turntable

and the blood pattern
is impact spatter.

Suggesting it was used as a club.

Plus the markings at the end

match the wound impression
I found on Richard Grossman's skull.

So maybe the killer picked it up

from the spare supplies
in the staging area,

used it to take him out...

and then threw it down.

You know what they say.

Sticks and stones
may break your bones...

Looks like this one was
used as our murder weapon.

♪♪

♪ Let's sit down by the track ♪

♪ And wait in the dark
for the train to pass ♪

♪ Don't question what you know ♪

♪ Gotta let it come and let it go ♪

♪ Wanna be the best in town ♪

♪ Gotta keep on moving
till they all fall down ♪

- Yo, Mac.
- Let me guess.

She gave you a full confession.
Our job is done.

Wouldn't that be nice?

No, she still won't say a word.

But something I found
at the crime scene

is speaking volumes--

piece of glass from one
of those window lamps

actually had human flesh
burned into its surface.

Got a hit in CODIS
to a Pascal Denton.

Now, he's Stonefield's
window display designer.

It turns out before
he was a designer,

he was a regular at Rikers.

Did six months
for assaulting a police officer.

Any connection to the victim?

Well, we found his prints

on the wrought iron branch
used as the murder weapon.

On top of that,
Grossman fired him a week ago.

Gives him motive.

Still doesn't explain
how Alena fits in.

No, but this will.

She and Pascal got engaged
six months ago.

So all this time we thought
she was there alone with Grossman.

Maybe her fiancé was there, too.

Where is he now?

Pascal Denton.
NYPD.

[objects clatter]

Danny, coming your way!

Stay down!
Don't move!

Got him?
I got him.

- I didn't do anything.
- 2.5.

Pow.

My partner and I...

we give each other
a hundred imaginary bucks

every time a crook says
he didn't do anything.

Thanks to you, 2.5 million.

- I don't like cops.
- Oh, yeah?

That why you broke
an officer's collarbone ten years ago?

That's not how it happened.

All right, I was heavy
into the street art scene.

Commonly known as vandalism.

He was chasing me
when he fell off that ledge.

Is that what happened
with Richard Grossman?

Did he club himself

with a piece from your window display?

What are you talking about?

What, Grossman got hurt?

There you go,
acting all innocent again.

That little jackass was very
much alive last time I saw him.

Then how'd your burnt skin
end up on a broken light at the crime scene?

Easy. I was trying
to snap his weaselly neck.

You want to explain this to me?

It's a holiday display
with no holiday in it.

- Where are the snowmen?
- This is my interpretation.

Well, let's see how you
interpret this.

- You're fired.
- Can't do that to me?

No?

[Denton cries out]

That's where you're wrong.

That's the last time
I saw Richard Grossman.

So how do you explain
your fiancée ending up there?

- What, Alena?
- Mm-hmm.

I haven't spoken
to her in six months.

Not since she broke off
our engagement.

One day we're planning
a summer wedding.

The next,
she gives me my ring back

and says never
to talk to her again.

Pascal Denton's telling the truth.

We heard back from the banquet room

where they were getting married.

And the deposit check had been
sent back six months ago.

Honeymoon was also canceled.

And judging by the state
of the scabbing on Pascal's arm,

there's no way
he got that burn last night.

Did he give you any sense
why Alena broke off the engagement?

- No clue.
- Well, I can certainly tell you this much.

That victim you're standing
over was also an attacker.

- How so?
- Take a look at these wounds.

First we have the scratches
on the face and neck.

Then there's the bite marks
on his left hand.

Not to mention contusions

and inflammation
in the groin area.

And put all that together
with the defensive wounds

you found on Alena,

and I don't have to tell you
how this looks.

He had 60 pounds
and four inches on her.

So maybe
she didn't have a choice.

Meaning Alena Maybrook
is guilty of nothing but self-defense.

You know, Alena,
I was always taught to respect the dead,

but I got to tell you.

Guys like Richard Grossman
make it tough.

It took a subpoena,

but the store's HR department

finally turned over a stack
of harassment complaints

against him by other employees.

We now know
that he attacked you, too.

You've been through so much, Alena.

You called off your wedding
six months ago.

Now you're having to deal with this.

Tell me what is going on.
Talk to me.

I really can feel your pain.

I just wish I could read your mind.

It may not have been premeditated,

but she still killed the guy.

- Tell that to the new district attorney.
- Who, Krasnoff?

You got to be kidding me.

Given the science
supporting self-defense

and the lack of evidence
for any premeditation,

he's unwilling to press charges.

Did you explain to him
that he's a dumb-ass?

You know the game, Don.

- She's been in custody for 24 hours.
- Yeah, I know.

I'll process her
and get her out of here.

But, Mac, let me ask you this.

What if we crack this puzzle,

and she's already used
that ticket to Aruba?

We'll cross that bridge if we have to.

She certainly worked a lot.

According to Stonefield's
payroll department, starting six months ago,

Alena Maybrook went
from working under 40 hours a week

to over 70.

That doesn't make sense.

Why suddenly start
working so much

when you know your
boss is a scumbag?

Did Alena file one
of the harassment reports against him?

No.

But she was a documented witness
to some of his sexual misconduct

with a sales clerk named Tracy Parker.

That's our girl from
behind the makeup counter.

Looks like she fought to have him
fired and brought up on charges.

But the complaint
was ultimately dismissed,

and Grossman got to keep his job.

Store manager-- one,
assistant manager-- zero.

Makes your blood boil.

Well, it probably pissed off Alena, too.

My thoughts exactly.

We found some of her blood

at the same counter where Tracy works.

The two of them definitely shared

some past negative experience
with our vic.

Then go back to Tracy Parker.

If Alena did decide to kill
Grossman out of vengeance,

she might know more
than what she told you before.

He said if I didn't go out with him,
he would cut back my hours.

I was barely putting food
on the table as it was.

So you agreed to date him?

I'm a single mom
with two young children.

What choice did I have?

Well, I certainly wasn't
judging you, Tracy.

I think what that man
did was inexcusable.

No, I was judging myself.

I should have been stronger.

I should have stood up for myself,

but I was too scared,
too embarrassed.

Until Alena came to you?

She'd overheard
some of Grossman's advances.

Said she would stand by me

and make sure
he got what he deserved.

Were those her exact words?

No, you don't understand.

She didn't want him dead.

She wanted to stop him

from taking advantage
of other women.

And when Stonefield's
refused to punish him,

maybe she found
another way to do that.

No. That's not the type
of person that she is.

What type of person is she?

Alena let me leave early every night

so I could put my kids to bed.

She would even close out my register

and do inventory for me.

I'm 100% certain,

if Alena really did kill Richard,

she absolutely had to.

Hey, the broken USB port that Jo found
near the body at Stonefield's--

I finally ID'd the source.

Video camera.

Oh, no, not just
any video camera, okay?

This is a Rivio 1080p pocketcam,

and it is the latest and the greatest
in high-def recording.

So I'm thinking the USB connector
might have broke off

during the struggle.

[grunting]

[Taylor]
We already know Grossman's prints

were on the connector,

so if the camera belonged to him,

maybe there was something else
on it Alena didn't want anyone to see.

Hmm. Trouble is, though,

it wasn't in any of her
personal belongings, you know?

Maybe she ditched it
somewhere inside the store.

Let me see that camera.

I know where it is.

I saw him duck out
of the crowd over here.

Son of a bitch.

- Thanks.
- Thank you.

[Man]
You got it.

Our pickpocket palmed
the camera from Alena's coat

when he bumped her in the store.

He dumped the bag here
just before we caught him.

Yeah, but what the hell good
is that to us now?

- Hey, Adam.
- Huh. You're just in time.

So, did you get the
video camera working?

Uh-uh, God Himself couldn't get
this video camera to work.

Sewage water and electronics
just don't mix.

So we're not able to see
what was recorded on it?

I didn't say that.

See, cameras like this
store their data

onto solid state memory cards.

Now, they usually have
a higher tolerance to damage

than other sensitive circuitry.

Usually?

I used a silica desiccant

to absorb as much moisture as possible.

And...

here comes the moment of truth.

Alena let me leave early every night
so I could put my kids to bed.

She would even close out my register

and do inventory for me.

This wasn't about revenge.

This was about money.

I cross-referenced Stonefield's
cash register reports

with Alena Maybrook's
work shifts over the past six months.

Any substantial shortfalls?

Only minor ones--
eight bucks here and five bucks there.

Well, why didn't Stonefield's
investigate the discrepancies?

Well, because, like a lot of big stores,

they have what they call
acceptable deviation,

which means,
any cash that's missing from the till

under the amount of ten dollars
they basically write off.

And as an assistant manager,

Alena would have overseen
a lot of those registers.

Yes. 112, to be exact.

So if she pocketed an average
of seven dollars per register,

twice a day for six months...

She would have stolen over
a quarter of a million dollars

right out from under their noses.

Grossman discovered
she was stealing from the store,

and she killed him
to keep her secret safe.

Have Flack issue a robbery warrant

for Alena Maybrook.

I want all available units
out looking for her.

Search the airports, the store,
her apartment, the works.

She's not going to get very far.

What do you mean?

Well, I had a hard time
amplifying the DNA

in her blood you collected.

So I looked at it under a microscope,

and I detected high levels of leucocytes.

Did you get her medical records?

Yeah. I did.

She's been diagnosed
with T cell lymphocytic leukemia.

She's dying.

[children laughing, chattering]

Alena, thank you
for meeting me here.

I'm glad we could finally talk.

Me, too.

We know about your illness.

How long do you have left?

Doctors gave me three months.

That was six months ago.

I'd been too busy planning a wedding

to pay attention to all the stomachaches.

There must have been
treatment options.

Sure.

Surgery, radiation,
aggressive chemotherapy,

all with a combined one year
survival rate of under 15%.

You still had a fighting chance.

A chance at what?

Languishing in some hospital bed?

Torturing my body
day in and day out

just to prolong the inevitable?

No, thanks.

If it was me,
I would want to live

as long as I possibly could.

That's what I thought at first.

But in the end,

I decided that, for me,

quality was much more
important than quantity.

The registers at Stonefield's
tell a different tale, Alena.

As long as you kept the amounts low,

no one noticed you were stealing--

no one except Richard Grossman.

He used what he knew
to extort you, didn't he?

What did he ask for
in order to keep your secret?

Oh, you don't need
to stop on account of me.

Carry on.

I know all about your little crime spree.

I even decided to make
a movie out of it.

Please, Richard.

I can't lose my job.

I'm not doing this for myself.

No, no, no.
No need for that.

Consider this between us.

Nobody needs to know.

I realize times are tough.

You have to get what you
can on the side, right?

I completely understand.

Of course,
if I'm going to help you...

I may need a little help myself.

That's enough to give you motive.

Honestly, that's enough
to give anyone motive.

I thought it would be a one-time thing.

But not for him.

After that, I couldn't
live with myself.

Day by day,
I was losing my life,

and he was trying
to rob me of my humanity.

Enough was enough.

I don't care.

Turn me in if you have to,
but I am not doing this anymore.

That's no way to treat a guy
who's saving your life.

You're not saving
me from anything.

It's even hotter when you struggle.

What are you doing?

[grunts]

- [Grossman grunts]
- Stop it!

That's right, baby.
That's right.

Aah!
[grunts]

[grunts]

I knew I was hurt.

I just had to try to pull
myself together and go.

Gotta love the irony.

I'm in the middle of dying,
and I wind up killing a guy.

Grossman's death solved
a lot of your problems.

It wasn't my problems
I was worried about.

When you find out you're dying,

a lot of things
run through your mind.

For the first time,
my life had a definite end date.

The last thing I wanted was
for people to see me waste away.

So, I decided
to turn in my resignation.

Alena, I know why you're here,

and I want to assure you,
your job is still safe.

I'm sorry?

It's been a particularly
rough quarter.

Many of your colleagues
are going to need

to find other employment
after the holidays.

But people have families.

Of course they do.
Try to look at it this way.

You're lucky to still be a part of ours.

Easy for him to say.

While he was sitting in his office,

there were people out there
in the store, working their asses off.

Those same people were
going to lose their jobs

without advance notice.

No bonuses, no benefits,

and no time to find a new job
before the new year.

All of this,

while the store was spending
thousands on windows.

I stopped feeling sorry
for myself after that.

I couldn't resign.

I decided to stay on the job

and help someone in some way.

There's something so poetic
about snowfall.

Snowflakes don't have
a long life span, but...

they leave such
an unforgettable mark.

You wouldn't talk
because you were stalling.

When you realize
you're going to die soon...

a part of you wants to make sure

there was a reason why you lived.

I turned the case
over to robbery division.

By the time they look at it,

she may not be alive to prosecute.

This is why I so love window shopping.

She stole from the store,
which was wrong,

but she was trying to help people,
which was right.

And it just shows you,

you just don't have
to buy everything you see.

Sometimes you can stop

and take a minute and look,

and try to find something to admire...

and then move on.

I'll buy that.