Hide and Seek

And CSI:NY is back!

NEW YORK! Stella walks in slow motion through a traffic jam as some yellow police tape flutters menacing in the wind. She crosses it, pauses and looks as if she thought she heard or saw something. She goes into the building the tape is in front of as the show tries to be a horror film, complete with lone yellow balloon. Watch it pops. This lighting does not favor Melina at all. She spots more yellow tape, crosses it and tries to turn on the lights. Gee, they’re out. She spots some sort of red drink seeping into the carpet, red dressing dripping off a piece of lettuce and then—a sound! She pulls her piece and approaches a cabinet. She puts her gun away as she spots a scared little boy. A shadow passes behind her and she gives chase as a storm kicks up. She calls for back-up.

And gets hit. By a truck. Oh, Stella. The person from the other car gets out and the woman tries to help Stella out. But then she disappears as…

It is revealed to be a bad dream on Stella’s part. You’d think she’d dream herself some better lighting.

CUE THE WHO!

LADY LIBERTY! Sad music plays as we return to Stella, looking forlornly out a window. Mac comes to jar her from her vigil. She says she’s waiting for the results of an autopsy and Sid banished her for hovering. She tells Mac that the victim is Marina Garritto, the sister of a missing 8 years-old boy in a 15 years-old case. She would call Stella like clockwork every Monday asking for updates, trying to generate new leads. Stella couldn’t take her call the past Monday because she was busy. Marina was then rushed to Trinity Hospital the night before with a gunshot wound. She was DOA.

And Sid rules her death a suicide. Stella flips out, refusing to believe that Marina committed suicide. She storms out of the lab, leaving Mac to apologize for her behavior. Sid’s disappointed too. He remembers the Garritto case, informing us that Marina and Luke were twins. Stella put Luke’s DNA in the database in hopes it would match somewhere. But nothing came of that either.

We see Marina, alive, talking about waiting for her brother.She believes he’s alive, waiting for them. It seems she’s talking to a support group, I guess. She imagines he’s alive, but she always sees him as 8 years-old.

Hi, Lindsay! She and Danny as well Hawkes try to help Stella. Lindsay suggests that it’s odd that women use guns for suicide. But Hawkes found a suicide letter sent to family and friends. She also closed her bank accounts, made a donation, set her affairs in order. Everything suggests that Marina committed suicide. Stella doesn’t believe so. She recalls meeting Marina a few years back when the woman came to report her brother missing, bringing his hat for DNA. Stella talked with her and knows that she would not give up.

NEW YORK! Hey, is that Mac’s Mystery Brunette from the St. Patty’s episode? Adam meets her and flirts, informing us that she’s an ER doctor. Mac meets her and dismisses Adam, taking Mystery Brunette to his office. She brings a delivery of Marina Garritto’s clothing and gets to look at the crime scene. She’s surprised that Marina’s death was ruled a suicide. She mentions instantaneous rigor and says she was in the Air Force reserves, serving as a doctor in Afghanistan. She and Mac have military in common. Mystery Brunette says that she noticed Marina’s hand clenched as if holding on to something for dear life when she died.

Stella is excited to hear this, thinking it means Marina struggled before she died. She was grabbing on to something to save herself. But what? And why?

Stella goes to Marina’s apartment, where she has a wall dedicated to her brother’s case. Stella goes to a closet, finding clothes. She sees a picture of Marina and Luke as children. Flack couldn’t find any witnesses though one guy thought he heard something, called the police. Flack thinks that Marina shot herself, regretted it and tried to get help. Stella thinks that Marina was shot, struggled and tried to get help. They both agree the phone was what Marina was clutching, but the why they disagree on. Flack notes that there is no sign of forced entry and mentions everyone has a Marina Garritto. Stella asks him to keep looking and he agrees. She opens a closet and a guy pops out. Stella and Flack pursue him to an indoor pool. She spots a broken…something…before getting hit on the head and falling into the pool. Flack, in the lobby, hears a shot while we cut to Stella struggling in the water with the guy. Her gun rests on the bottom of the pool. They continue to struggle. Until we see blood. Flack shoots at the guy, hitting his leg. Completely unconvincing acting, there, buddy. “Ow.” Right. Flack goes after Stella.

This is the seasonal “Stella’s in danger” episode, isn’t it?

We see Stella getting treated before cutting to Marina again. She remembers her mother crying, the police, an ice cream truck. Luke’s bike was on a stoop but not Luke. Marina says it was hard that she looked like him and was a constant reminder of what her family was missing. She said she hated her face and her mother died a year later. We cut back to the present as Mystery Brunette treats Stella. Mac goes to visit and Stella protests sick leave. They reveal Stella’s attacker was Marina’s step-father. Stella believes that Marina found Luke’s killer—the step-father.

Adam gets to go to the pool with a skimmer. He finds a yellow pillow, blood…and then we go to Marina’s body. She touched something she was allergic reaction. Hawkes is surprised Sid called him down for a second opinion, but Sid’s a little uncertain. Hawkes tries to cheer his friend up. Sid asks after Stella, glad she’s okay. Meanwhile, Lindsay’s back at Marina’s apartment. He picks up a rather disgusting French fry, which isn’t a fry. She runs a test on it, finding that it is furniture foam. But just that one. The rest are french fries. Lindsay found GSR on the foam. She has an idea, telling Hawkes to get Adam to bring the yellow pillow. I’m thinking homemade silencer. And Lindsay proves it. Mac tells the gang that Marina was murdered. No one committing suicide worries about muffling the sound. He went back to the apartment to get the other pillow because he over-thought things—he was worried people would connect the missing pillow back to him. Stella though knows they have to put a gun in Tony’s hand.

Danny goes over Marina’s clothes, watching some fabric shrink before his eyes. Meanwhile, Adam tracks the gun used back to a robbery but by a different person. They think the Step-Father got it from him. Mac puts pressure because he knows the Step-Father will skip town. Danny calls his wife over to watch the Amazing Shrinking Material. It is material only sold in Step-Father’s textile business. It was made with nickel, causing Marina’s rash. And it was what Marina was clutching too as she died. It was a clue to her killer, which uncurled as she cooled and was collected by Mystery Brunette as clothing.

We go back to Marina, saying how she saw her Step-Father kill her brother after Luke mouthed off. She kept quiet because she was afraid her mother wouldn’t love her anymore and eventually, she just forgot.

And is ANYONE going to remember that Flack shot Step Father?

NEW YORK! Stella goes to Danny. He and Flack believe Step-Father’s using forged documents to get out of Dodge. They go to pick him up as Stella discovers a letter from Marina. She tells Stella she remembers everything, a repressed memory coming back to the future triggered when she went back to the scene of the crime.

At a bar, Step-Father gets antsy. He gets fake documents, then meets Danny and Flack. He protests it was an accident as Danny continues to read him his rights. Meanwhile, Hawkes leads a team down to Marina’s childhood home. Stella says Marina figured it out. Flack and Hawkes discover a locked trunk. Stella says that Marina was going to let the search for her brother go. Her letter was mistaken as a suicide letter because she was dead, it was a letter saying she was going to let her Step Father go. Meanwhile, Flack and Hawkes found Luke’s body.

Stella goes back to Sid and apologizes. Stella reveals that Marina was going to move to Boston. Meanwhile, Flack calls his “Marina”—Mr. Brennan. He asks to meet with the man in hopes of generating answers. And Mac finds Stella asleep on the couch again, tucks her in and leaves.

Marina recalls thinking that Luke was hiding their secret place, a cabinet. But he wasn’t. He was hiding in a place she would never find him.

Aww.

That was actually pretty interesting. It was a nice touch to keep cutting back to Marina’s letter and nice way to work in Mystery Brunette.

Next week: Hawkes had a sister? And now he needs to be saved from prison? Again?

Quote of the Episode:

“We’re not always right but it’s always because we’re wrong.” –Hawkes to Sid