CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Suckers

Written by Danny Cannon & Josh Berman
Directed by Danny Cannon

The CSIs are called to the Mediterranean Hotel on a homicide call, but it turns out the body in the swimming pool is a dummy -- literally -- dumped there to cover up the real crime, an antiquities heist.

Once Grissom figures out the CPR demonstration dummy hasn’t been electrocuted, he and the team realize the real action is in the exhibition room of the hotel, where an ancient and priceless Japanese samurai sword, the most valuable in the collection being shown there, has gone missing. A groggy security guard, bound and gagged, claims to have seen nothing before he was hit in the head. The hotel only utilizes surveillance cameras on the casino floor, so the CSIs must start the investigation from square one. For instance, Grissom wonders, why did the thief leave behind the duct tape used to quiet the security guard? And why would the thieves want swords when they could have casino cash? When only the security guard’s prints are found on the duct tape, Grissom knows they are being conned, but he has no idea how big a con it really is.

Meanwhile, Catherine and Warrick report to a dilapidated house where a female dead body has been discovered with a punctured jugular. David Phillips, the coroner, thinks she’s been bitten, but the marks aren’t consistent with human teeth. “What about fangs?” Phillips asks, revealing that their victim, Angela Sommerville, has a pair of her own.

Even though the young woman bled out from her wounds, there is no sign of her blood anywhere in the vacant house, but there is evidence suggesting occult, ritualistic activity. Her parents admit that Angela had been dabbling in vampirism, which leads the CSIs to an underground blood bar. There they meet Lazarus, who had what he calls a “donor” relationship with Angela. He insists that he follows the guidelines of the Black Veil to never mistreat a donor, and that he broke up with her, but he didn’t kill her. A DNA test tells them Lazarus speaks the truth -- he didn’t bite her. But it’s actually the vial of her own blood that Angela gave to Lazarus to wear around his neck that holds the clue to who killed her…someone with less scruples than Lazarus.