- A notorious private investigator becomes a central figure in an investigation into a phony 911 call that ends in death, and he uses information he's gathered about Calleigh and Eric to get them thrown off the case.
- Miami PD Commander Briggs's SWAT team, responding swiftly to a call, shoots the villa owner Michael Maddox. He was just carrying a kitchen-knife for self-defense, no crime had been committed. The call is traced to the home of Neil Jackson, against whom Michael had a real estate legal complaint. However it is revealed that the voice on the call was not his, and Neil claims there was an intruder watching from a tree. Skin is found there, and the DNA is that of dodgy P.I. Kurt Rossi, who was hired by Michael to prove widow Lucy Maddox's alleged adultery, which she calls paranoia. She suspects Michael's hedge fund business partner Peter Cullen. Paint on Michael's car proves his car was involved in a collision with that of Charlie Decker, who is forced to admit that he is Lucy's lover. The caller was female, the line rigged by neighbor Danny to Cullen's office, his assistant phoned the SWAT - and is found shot in her car. Rossi dusts his law degree off to defend Cullen, who is found with powder traces, but plays dirty to discredit both Eric and Calleigh, so as to taint the evidence. Horatio finds another angle to tie the knots and sets a trap.—KGF Vissers
- Ominous music plays on the soundtrack. A hysterical man describes an attack to a 911 operator. A swat team approaches a mansion, breaking down the door. A man carrying a knife emerges, yelling: "I'm not scared of you!"
The SWAT team shoots him dead. A blonde woman, his wife, screams! "Noooooo!"
Horatio Caine is on the scene.
"Sergeant, I'm confused," growls Caine. "I don't see any blood on that knife."
Frank notes that the 911 call mentioned children, but there are no kids to be found. Caine tells the defiant SWAT Sergeant to wait outside.
"No kids, no gun," says Frank. "He must have grabbed the knife for self defense. What the hell happened here?"
"Frank, it's called a crime scene investigation," growls Caine.
YEEEOOWWWW! Cue opening credits.
Caine questions the dead man's wife outside of the mansion. She claims that her husband was brandishing a knife to protect her.
"My husband was a good man, Lieutenant," Mrs. Maddox says. "And you took him from me."
Back at the office, Ryan listens to the frantic 911 call. Calleigh wonders where the call originated. Ryan says it came from the home of a Neil Jackson, the Maddox's next-door neighbor.
Calleigh questions Neil Jackson. "Do you know what swatting is, Mr. Jackson?" she asks. "It's when someone places a fake phone call to 911, causing SWAT to respond to a non-situation. It results in the injury of innocent people."
Jackson says he wasn't even home that morning. Calleigh mentions a lawsuit Jackson had filed against Mr. Maddox as a possible motive. Jackson denies everything, recalling a man hiding in his tree yesterday. Perhaps this mysterious man made the call?
Back at the scene, Natalia tells Eric that Jackson's voice doesn't match up with the 911 call. They examine the tree. Natalia finds skin on the bark and swabs it. Back at the lab, the swab reveals a name: Kurt Rossi, a private investigator with a record of his own.
Caine visits Rossi at his office. The two know each other well.
"I understand you were on Neil Jackson's property yesterday," Caine growls.
Rossi admits he worked for Mr. Maddox, who had hired him to find out if Mrs. Maddox was cheating. Rossi was in the tree when Jackson came home. Rossi says that Lucy Maddox might be up to something.
Caine interrogates Lucy Maddox. She denies having an affair, saying Michael saw "conspiracies everywhere." Another man Michael suspected: Peter Cullen, his business partner. The two were feuding at work.
Lucy reiterates her intention to sue the police, saying that the SWAT team even smashed the bumper of her dead husband's car. Caine is suspicious.
Back at the scene, Eric and Calleigh examine the car. It wasn't the SWAT team, explains Calleigh. The paint streaks indicate a vehicular impact of some kind. Eric notes that the car has an event data recorder. He plugs it into a computer.
"It's possible the SWAT call was meant to finish Maddox off after the accident," says Calleigh. Eric spots a plate number on the recorder.
Frank pulls over the car with the matching plate. It belongs to a Charlie Decker, who admits to have had a fender bender earlier. Caine finds a wrapped gift in the back seat of Decker's car. It is addressed to Lucy. Charlie admits that he is having an affair with Lucy.
Back at the office, Frank and Caine question Charlie. Charlie says Maddox rammed him intentionally. Charlie says Michael Maddox threatened him -- not the other way around.
Ryan, meanwhile, is still examining the 911 call. He discovers a strange rumbling sound. It turns out the sound is actually an airplane -- the caller had somehow manipulated the call. Reversing the effect, the voice is revealed to be a woman's.
Ryan examines the phone box outside of Neil Jackson's yard. A technician pulls up in a van. Ryan accuses the technician of tampering with the line. Ryan has discovered a line inset attached to Jackson's phone line. The technician admits he did it for "a little side money" and traces the call back to Peter Cullen's office.
"Horatio, you might want to visit Michael Maddox's partner," Ryan says into his cell phone. "Because the 911 call came from his office."
Caine visits Peter Cullen's office. Cullen is not there, although they do discover a voice transformer on his assistant's desk.
"We've got a murder weapon," Natalia says.
Suddenly, Cullen appears. Caine asks if Mr. Cullen is aware that his assistant Debbie placed the 911 call. Cullen is confused, but admits that Debbie hated Michael for selling off the company.
Caine and Natalia race to the parking lot to find Debbie. Gun drawn, Caine opens a car door to find Debbie shot once through the heart.
Calleigh examines the bullet. It comes from a gun registered to Peter Cullen. Frank, warrant in hand, searches Cullen's office for gunshot residue. He finds a gun instead. Cullen is arrested.
Outside the police station, Rossi urges Caine to drop the case against his client Cullen.
"One thing you'll learn about me? I got eyes, ears everywhere," Rossi says.
"Join the club," growls Caine.
Rick says an old videotape showing Calleigh reading off note cards at a crime scene demonstrates she doesn't know proper procedure. Rossi has used this to question the warrant based on Calleigh's ballistics test. Calleigh has been pulled off the case. She is furious.
Eric confronts Calleigh in the break room. "Why didn't you tell Stetler the truth -- that the notes were mine?" he asks. Calleigh explains that Eric might have come back from his gunshot wound "too fast" and she covering for him.
Calleigh challenges Eric to find the killer now that she is off the case. Eric accepts the challenge. One montage later, Eric finds GSM -- gun-shot mist -- on Cullen's jacket.
"We got him," Ryan says.
Eric confronts Rossi and Cullen with the new evidence. Rossi scoffs and produces a tape of Eric in therapy indicating that his memory loss might be worse than believed. Rossi has discredited another member of the CSI team. Cullen walks free.
Caine and Eric meet in the hallway. Eric is furious. Caine seems sanguine.
"It doesn't matter what he has on us," Caine growls. "Because we're going to destroy him first."
Caine and Natalia examine Charlie Decker's car. Caine discovers that Decker must have hit his breaks before the crash -- effectively causing the accident -- because the "paint transfer is too high on the car."
Caine questions Decker. Decker admits that Rossi hired him to hit and then incite Michael Maddox. After the accident, Decker threatened Maddox, saying he was going to come to the man's home and take Lucy. When the SWAT team burst through the doors, Maddox thought it was Decker.
Later, Decker confronts Rossi and Cullen at lunch. Decker urges Rossi to tell Cullen what went down with Maddox. Rossi rips open Decker's shirt to reveal a wire.
"Who are you to try to take me down?" Cullen asks.
Decker says the cops had him "dead to rights" and that he had no choice.
"My secretary was worried about the same thing," Cullen says. "Do you know what happened to her? I put one in her chest."
Says Rossi: "I got SWAT to kill Michael Maddox. You know what they're going to do to you in prison?"
Suddenly, Caine appears.
"That will be all, Mr. Decker," he growls.
Caine picks up the pepper grinder -- a second recording device.
Rossi pleads for mercy. Caine slides on his sunglasses and walks away. No dice.
Later, Calleigh and Eric collect discs from Rossi's vault. One label reads: Horatio Cane.
Case closed ... or is it?
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