(sirens wailing)
(panting)
MAN: Yo, watch out!
FLACK: Hey! Hey!
GIRL: Wait. Are you kidding me?
I thought you said this story was about a princess,
not some cops chasing some dude.
It is. I'm just setting it up.
Okay? See?
It's called backstory.
Well, how about getting to the front story?
Well, I...
Detective Flack is chasing the bad guy.
(grunting)
Where is it, Rennick? Where's what?
The gun you used to kill Roger Murray with.
Who? Hey.
I pulled a hamstring scaling that truck over there.
You don't want to mess with me right now.
Hey, man, come on! Listen to me.
We got your blood, we got your prints.
You're going away.
The only question is for how long?
It's in the pond.
Turtle Pond.
Near the dock.
Let's go.
OFFICER: Let's go.
RENNICK: I swear, I threw it in there.
(indistinct radio transmission)
Between the mud and the zero visibility,
I got nothing.
Might need more divers; it's a big pond.
Rennick's not getting away with murder.
Drain it.
Drain it?
GIRL: Ugh. Drain the pond?
How long is this gonna take?
Uh, well, not nearly as long as a lineup takes.
Your mom's gonna be... at least another hour,
and I don't see anybody rushing over here
to take my report, so I think we're stuck. GIRL 2: If you're a cop,
why can't you report your stolen car to yourself?
Um, well, 'cause I'm not a cop.
No, I mean, I work with cops.
Yeah, I do cop stuff,
but I'm a... I'm a crime scene investigator.
(video game bleeping)
Okay, fine.
Girls, I'll tell you about the princess.
So we're all in the Turtle Pond--
you know, in Central Park--
looking for the bad guy's gun.
TAYLOR: Everybody spread out.
(indistinct radio transmissions)
(beeping)
No way.
I found it.
I found it!
DANVILLE: Mac?
Another gun?
Another murder.
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
♪ Out here in the fields ♪
♪ I fight for my meals ♪
♪ I get my back into my living ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪
TAYLOR: Yeah.
Okay. I got it. Keep me posted.
She's been underwater for at least a couple of days,
so any evidence of foul play would definitely be compromised.
No purse, no ID, no cell phone.
So far she doesn't match a description
on any recent Missing Persons reports.
Blunt force trauma.
Enough to kill her.
Drain plug's missing.
She's tied down.
Well-thought-out suicide?
Mugging gone wrong?
Well, they didn't take her earrings.
Quite an elaborate way for a grab-and-go guy
to dispose of a body.
Eliminates mugging.
Quite a ball gown, so...
I'm not buying suicide.
That leaves good, old-fashioned murder.
So we've got a castle,
and a princess.
And an unhappy ending.
(indistinct talking)
GIRL: Is that what she was killed with?
No, um...
that actually was a piece of a spaceship.
Let's go.
♪ ♪
♪ I'm a sinner ♪
♪ I'm a liar ♪
♪ Want forgiveness ♪
♪ But I'm tired ♪
♪ I'm addicted ♪
♪ To the fire ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready for it ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready ♪
♪ I'm a victim ♪
♪ I'm a coward ♪
♪ Try to wake up ♪
♪ Don't have the power ♪
♪ I'm a daughter ♪
♪ In the choir ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready for it ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ I'm a shadow ♪
♪ I'm a creeper ♪
♪ Want forgiveness ♪
♪ Getting weaker ♪
♪ I'm addicted ♪
♪ To the fever ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready for it ♪
♪ Let go, I'm ready ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ No, no, no eyes, baby ♪
♪ No, no, no mind, baby ♪
♪ No, no, no smile, baby ♪
♪ No, no, no lies ♪
♪ Lay me down tonight ♪
♪ No lies... ♪
♪ Blood, I want it ♪
♪ Giving up the fight ♪
♪ Blood, I want it ♪
♪ Lay me down tonight yeah ♪
♪ Blood, I want it ♪
♪ Take me to the sky ♪
♪ Blood, I want it ♪
♪ Everything's all right now. ♪
Prints got a match to Ashley Braden, 26.
Had a juvie record for a meth bust about eight years ago.
Been clean ever since.
Part-time student at Chelsea U, no next of kin.
No signs of pulmonary edema.
Means she was dead before she went in the water.
COD is subdural hematoma,
caused by massive blunt force trauma.
Analysis of the trace you recovered from the wound
suggests that the weapon was
a banded metamorphic deposit,
containing quartz, mica, feldspar and biotite.
She was killed with a rock.
Specifically, Manhattan schist.
Which doesn't help us, 'cause the city's full of it.
Time of death?
Well, given the water temperature,
and extensive skin slippage,
I'd say she'd been underwater approximately 60 hours
when you found her.
And how long before that was she killed?
Lividity is exclusively along her right side.
TAYLOR: Consistent with her position in the boat.
So she was probably pushed out into the water
within minutes of her death.
TAYLOR: Which would suggest
she was killed in the park,
quite close to the pond.
HAWKES: 60 hours...
puts it at Saturday night, around midnight.
Stomach contents revealed traces of Arothron hispidus,
also known as puffer fish.
Very expensive sushi.
And delicious.
Her last meal was to die for.
HAWKES: Fancy meal, fancy dress,
fancy party...
That begs the question, where was Ashley
before she was at the park?
SID: And who was she with?
I may have discovered evidence of a struggle.
I took subdermal photos.
TAYLOR: Very light discoloration.
Yeah, but then I found...
burst capillaries.
And in a circular pattern,
around her wrist.
Somebody grabbed her.
And she resisted.
Ashley didn't go down without a fight.
♪ ♪
CHRISTINE: I just want you to look me in the eye
and tell me nothing's wrong.
PHILLIPS: You're suffering from what's called anomic aphasia.
I can appreciate your optimism,
but you cannot do this alone.
(line ringing)
(beeps)
Christine, uh, when you get this,
can you call me?
I don't want to leave things...
Just call me, please.
TAYLOR: You got a match on the gun
from the pond? 100%.
Sent the ballistics report to the D.A.,
and Rennick's probably pled out by now.
What's that?
That is an excellent question, Mac.
I found this in the pond.
Strange etchings,
carbon trace from intense heat,
and radioactivity.
Not enough to be dangerous, just intriguing.
But here is the pièce de résistance:
I found particles combined of
nickel, iron and olivine.
Space dust.
That's right, M.T. Okay?
This is not of this earth.
GIRL 2: Nuh-uh.
Uh-huh. Nuh-uh!
Uh-huh! GIRL: So...
what'd the boss cop say?
Well, he said, um...
Fascinating.
Now clear the rest of the guns,
and don't ever call me "M.T." again.
All right.
Give me some good news.
My 14-year-old daughter broke up with her boyfriend.
(chuckles) And I found
a trace of flora wedged behind a rhinestone
on the back of our vic's shoe,
which suggests that she was dragged along the ground.
If EDNA can give us a match to a plant in the park,
it could give us the primary crime scene.
More good news.
I found a bloodstain on our victim's dress.
Not her own.
After three days in water?
It was under her arm.
GCMS analysis found aluminum sulfate.
A dye-fixing agent.
It's also an ingredient in antiperspirant,
which is why it preserved the bloodstain.
It is human, so I'm running it through CODIS right now
to see if we can get a hit.
There's also something unusual about the labels on her clothes.
Bargain basement brand, right?
Her dress... a designer label,
very expensive.
She's a part-time student.
How'd she afford a dress like that?
She didn't.
The tag's still on.
Clearly, she was going to return it.
A poor girl trying to look rich.
Cinderella story.
Hey, Jo? Yeah.
Last week, I was a bit short with you.
You made your point.
Already forgotten.
(computer beeps)
DANVILLE: Ah.
The face behind the blood trace.
TAYLOR: Joseph Skiver.
Steady. (grunting)
Check the interiors.
Nah, I got it.
(talking indistinctly)
Yo!
NYPD.
Why does that never work?
Watch it, watch it!
Hey, buddy.
Nice move.
I'm not holding, man. Search me all you want.
Here's something you've never heard a cop say:
I'm gonna take your word for it.
Let's go.
FLACK: Assault, fraud, burglary, possession of meth,
trafficking in meth,
trafficking in proscribed wildlife.
"Proscribed wildlife"?
I'm diversifying.
How about murder?
Yeah, stick it all on me.
I'm a pincushion, baby.
Just for giggles, who'd I kill?
Ashley Braden.
Ashley's dead?
Mm-hmm.
(sighs)
God.
And you think I did it 'cause I got a rap sheet?
DANVILLE: We found your blood
on her clothes.
What? How'd you cut your hand?
Are you kidding me? I would never...
That's not the answer I'm looking for, Skiver.
Uh... it's a bite, feeding the toucan.
Those things are nasty. (chuckles)
Thought you were going to come up with something lame.
When did you last see Ashley?
Uh, Saturday night, at her place.
She told me she couldn't see me anymore.
Didn't want to give her boyfriend the wrong idea.
She was all dressed up...
She was going out?
Yeah.
With Richie Rich.
The boyfriend.
He was throwing some big thing
at the castle in Central Park.
Does he have a name?
She wouldn't tell me.
Sounds to me like Ashley dumped you.
That must've made you pretty angry.
You don't understand.
When I met Ashley,
her folks had just been killed in a car crash.
She was alone.
And, yeah, she got into a lot of dark stuff 'cause of me.
That's what made me pretty angry.
When she told me she was moving on,
yeah, it broke my heart.
But I was happy for her.
How did your blood end up on her dress?
I don't know.
Must've been when I was giving her a hug good-bye.
I would never do anything to hurt Ashley.
You believe him?
He was alone most of the evening,
no one to corroborate his alibi.
His blood's on our victim's dress.
A toucan? Really?
Had a cousin that worked with birds.
They can be vicious.
We need to put Skiver in Central Park at the time of the murder,
with that rock in his hand.
And then there's always the new boyfriend. Run with it.
In the meantime, we're going back to the crime scene.
All right.
EDNA matched the leaf to Hibiscus moscheutos.
It only grows around here.
Who catalogs every plant in Central Park?
I'm guessing single guy,
no kids.
Is that it?
Boom.
Let's see what we can find.
Did she just use my word?
♪ ♪
FLACK: Hey, Mac.
Park operations put me onto
the caterer of Saturday night's party.
I should have the guest list ASAP.
I understand there was some serious money
in Belvedere Castle the other night.
Over 300 people. Manhattan's elite.
That's a lot of suspects.
Hoping the guest list can narrow it down
to Ashley and a plus-one.
The boyfriend?
Got my fingers crossed.
This area open to the public?
Only during private events.
All those people,
and not one of them reported Ashley Braden missing.
Why?
♪ ♪
(computer beeps)
(footsteps approaching)
DANNY: You ever see me
rip up a check for 50 grand, do me a favor and shoot me.
Consider it done. Okay.
'Cause the paper that Sid found on the vic's body
is a match to the check that I recovered at the crime scene.
HAWKES: Also found blood trace on a jewelry clasp.
It doesn't belong to Skiver.
Neither does the check.
DANNY: It does connect to Ashley Braden.
I filled in the missing letters.
Fits like a glass slipper, no?
$50,000 check made out to our vic.
Hmm. Not much left of the signature.
No.
It ends with E-L-L-O, or-or I-L-L-O.
(phone rings)
Taylor.
Hey, Mac.
So Ashley Braden was a guest
of the vice president of the Coronation Group.
A guy by the name of Matthew DiBello.
DiBello. Matthew DiBello.
Perfect.
Hold on.
That's our guy.
I'll meet you there.
Boom.
FLACK: Do you know an Ashley Braden?
Yes, why?
When was the last time you saw her?
Saturday night.
We had a corporate function.
And how did that go?
Fine.
No issues with Ashley?
We... had words.
What's going on?
You haven't seen her for three days,
but you haven't reported her missing.
Because she isn't missing.
She's in Kansas City.
And you know that because...
I got a text from her Sunday morning,
saying she was going there for a few days to cool off.
That's not what happened, Matthew.
I don't understand.
She's was murdered.
Saturday night in the park.
Ashley?
No, no, no.
(door opens) She's in Kansas City.
Matthew, I was wondering... Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know you were in a meeting.
What's wrong?
Ashley's been murdered.
Oh, Matthew, what?
Detectives, this is my mother,
Krista DiBello.
Why don't you tell us a little more about the words you had with Ashley.
Ashley, uh, was late.
We argued.
She left.
Did it get physical?
Did I hit her?
No.
I grabbed her wrist.
Her jewelry must've scratched me,
but I never hit her.
FLACK: You know she had a history,
a criminal record, some shady friends?
That wasn't a secret, and it didn't matter to us.
Then why'd you write her a check for $50,000?
I didn't.
I've never seen that check before.
Is that your signature?
It must be a forgery.
A lot of people have access to your personal checkbook?
I can't explain that check,
but there's something you have to understand about Ashley.
She was honest with me.
I knew about her past,
and it only made me love her more.
There was no blackmail,
if that's what you're suggesting.
You won't mind if we take a DNA sample.
I think I should consult my attorney.
I thought you had nothing to hide?
KRISTA: Gentlemen, I understand you have to do your job,
but let me be very clear.
Matthew loved Ashley.
He never,
never could have hurt her.
I'll give you whatever you need.
GIRL: So did the prince
do it or not?
Ah.
Even if he did the crime,
he won't be doing the time.
Whoa, my story, my moral.
His reaction was genuine.
He didn't know Ashley Braden was dead.
Okay, but he's lying about something.
We need to track down Ashley's cell.
Do you believe in luck?
Well, uh,
Seneca said, "Luck is the intersection
of preparation and opportunity."
Well, then opportunity just knocked.
Do you know where the midtown Manhattan
meteorological station is located?
Belvedere Castle.
50 feet from where
I found a single blood drop, footprints
and a bizarre circular divot pattern.
Sid estimated the time of death
as around midnight.
On Saturday night at precisely 12:01 a.m.,
it started raining.
And then at 12:14, it stopped.
The circular divot pattern
was from somebody holding an umbrella.
Which means they had to be standing there
for at least some part of that 13 minutes. Right,
and also the pieces of the check that Danny found
across the lake, they also had water damage from the rain.
This umbrella duplicates the ring pattern
I found at the site.
Then I calibrated this pressure-sensitive mat
to register
the exact same depth
of penetration as the raindrops.
The only variable is the height
of the person holding the umbrella.
Right, now most people hold an umbrella
with their forearm at a 45 degree angle.
And at the site, I measured a depth of penetration
of 3/16 of an inch.
So, if I plug those
into a height formula...
Five-11.
That's brains, not luck.
So what about the blood you found?
Well, the umbrella protected it
from the rain.
Right, unfortunately... No hit in CODIS.
Right, but the footprints
that I discovered at the scene, they faced
away from the Belvedere Castle towards the pond.
Male, size 11,
slight over-pronation of the right foot.
No logo or brand name.
There's something even better. See that line?
It's pretty unique stitching.
There's only shoemaker that does that,
Felitti.
Not cheap.
So, we have footprints
across the lake,
outside the Belvedere Castle, pointing towards the pond
right around the time that we think Ashley was killed.
We have a witness. Yes.
(indistinct noise on headphones)
(indistinct transmission)
(loud rumbling static)
(indistinct voice)
You heard aliens talking?
You know, who knows?
I don't even know if they have mouths.
All I know for sure is
that it's some form of communication.
Sounds waves from the middle of the spaceship.
Which means I've discovered first contact.
Boo-yah. Mmm.
So what happened next with the dead lady?
Really?
Just got DiBello's swab.
It's his blood on the clasp that Hawkes found across the pond.
It puts him at the crime scene.
Yeah, it's also his blood near the footprints I found
on the landing at Belvedere Castle.
He's five-foot 11,
he wears size 11 shoes,
and he can certainly afford Felitti's.
Puts him in two places at the same time.
Is he our killer or our witness?
Somebody looks like they're in a hurry. Yep.
(gunshot)
(people screaming)
Everybody get down!
Drop that gun now!
Hey, drop it!
Drop that gun!
That was for Ashley, you son of a bitch!
Put your hands on your head right now.
Don't move. Don't move.
Get this hand up here. I need an ambulance
at the Coronation Group Plaza,
122 Broad.
Shooting, a man down.
Ambulance is on its way.
So the princess and the prince get killed?
No, he wasn't killed.
He just was in no shape to talk, which left us stumped.
What about the text the Bello guy got from the princess?
Ah, and that's exactly what the boss cop asked me to find.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
What happened to the spaceship?
(laughs) Another great question.
Any luck?
Still waiting on a cell tower
to pick up a signal from Ashley Braden's phone.
But that is not the reason why I called you up here, Sid.
What does that look like to you?
Uh...
maybe the molecular structure
of threonine?
No, think bigger.
Bigger. Um,
flights out of O'Hare. Bigger.
Okay, then, how about a star map?
Yes, thank you. I knew you'd get it. Yeah.
These lines right are radiating from Alpha Centauri,
the closet star to earth,
the closest source of extraterrestrial life,
and the most likely source
of this.
Uh, may I?
Easy.
Okay.
I found it in Turtle Pond, Sid.
Do you know what this could do?
Uh, protect a tabletop from a wet drink.
Launch an industry, okay?
Graphic novels, TV series, movie, theme parks, restaurants.
I already got a name for it.
ARea 52.
The A and the R are capitalized, because...
Oh, Adam Ross.
What up? Yes, very clever.
And ambitious.
Exactly, but since this is a ground floor startup,
I'm willing to give you, Sid, 49%
for only $284,000, yeah.
Dollars?
Uh, well, that sounds like a bargain.
You know, you'd be part of all major decisions.
I'd love to hear your business advice,
but of course, at the end of the day,
someone has to have the final say.
I understand.
In fact, I already have some advice.
Great, shoot. What?
Don't pitch this to anyone who can fire you.
(clears throat)
Whatever.
Jo!
This guy's pulling into every dead end
and alley in the city. What's up with that?
He's stopped again,
just around the corner. I'm gonna get out here.
Okay, well, um,
you know, I'll park and, uh,
I will, I'll catch up.
Jo?
That's it?
That's it.
Our killer must've used Ashley's phone,
and then dumped it.
You find any spaceships?
That's very funny, Jo. That's real funny.
Hey, you want any coffee?
I just found a place down the block.
Oh, I got it!
Wow.
(grunts) Oh, yeah.
(exhales)
The cell phone was... always sending a signal.
It just was in a Dumpster underground.
Till trash day, and the truck picked it up.
Look, if we cross-reference the truck route,
maybe it'll lead us to an address where the suspect is.
Good idea.
Garbage truck routes run along Fifth Avenue.
I parked right here.
What?
No!
No, oh, no!
This isn't happening!
Jo, somebody stole the car. Somebody stole the Avalanche.
Mac is gonna kill me!
Oh, Adam, you're brilliant. We got a name.
"DiBello."
Taxi!
That's great. I can handle this.
Yeah, you go.
I'll handle this... and my funeral arrangements.
Oh, my God.
(siren chirps)
(indistinct radio transmission)
You need to leave my son alone.
He's done nothing, and you know it.
You're right. But we're not here for him.
What? This is ridiculous. Why would you think
I had anything to do with Ashley's death?
Recognize this?
You used it to send a text
to your son, throw everyone off the trail.
That's it?
We also have an eyewitness.
Matthew is not going to help you.
You killed your son's girlfriend.
I'd say all bets are pretty much off.
I didn't kill anyone, and he knows that.
He was there, Mrs. DiBello,
when you put Ashley's body in the boat
and pushed it into the pond.
He didn't see anything.
DANVILLE: We found your footprints and blood,
and the rain gave us the exact time,
so we know you were there,
and we know you saw something.
It was dark.
You know, Matthew,
I have a son that's not much younger than you are,
and I, oh, I treasure his loyalty.
But more important than that, I value his principles.
If he were to encounter a wrong,
I trust that he would come forward
and do the right thing
no matter who did it.
I'm sorry. I can't help you.
And the more I learned about Ashley,
the more impressed I am.
She had so much to overcome.
But no one does anything alone.
She needed a partner in life,
and she finally found that in you.
Someone stable and supportive.
Someone she could make a life with.
Someone she could count on.
That's what your mother did to her.
And you may not be able to bring Ashley back, Matthew,
but there is something you can do for her.
She's still counting on you.
(knocking)
Matthew would like to talk to his mother.
How are you feeling?
What do you mean?
How is your shoulder?
My shoulder will heal.
Matthew, you've been shot.
Honey, you're grieving.
Why am I grieving, Mom?
Matthew...
Why am I grieving?!
Because you lost a friend,
who will be missed... You hated her guts!
She didn't like high heels,
she-she wasn't Catholic, she didn't come from money.
She was a drug addict and so was her boyfriend.
I was her boyfriend.
She was wrong for you, Matthew. She didn't belong.
So you killed her?
She was a virus!
She was being introduced to people
worth tens of millions of dollars,
and she is saying "lovely to twalk to you."
I thought if you saw her all dressed up
you might give her a chance.
She hated putting on a show,
but she did it for you, to impress you.
Ashley, wait!
We have to talk about this!
No, we don't.
So that's when you went after her.
I figured this was my chance.
To kill her?
To bribe her.
Take this.
I never wanted her dead.
It's $50,000.
I just wanted her gone.
What do you think I am?
(grunts)
TAYLOR: You took her bracelet?
My bracelet, given to me by my grandmother.
(voice breaks): I had no idea Matthew was watching.
I didn't put it together until the police told me
that Ashley was dead.
Didn't realize I'd seen her murder.
The D.A. will have more questions.
And your mother...
I don't care about her.
Am I free to go?
Yes, you are.
Whoa, that prince's old lady is cold.
Is she gonna fry?
No, they don't fry people in New York,
but she is gonna go away for a very, very long time.
Ooh, there's Mama.
(mouthing)
Wait. What about the end of the spaceship story?
Well, that's all I got for right now.
I tell you what?
This story is just beginning.
Cool.
All right.
Come on.
Bye. Bye.
That dude, he's gonna be richer than Carmelo.
Bye.
Heading home, Detective?
No, no, I gotta get back to the...
the, uh...
The lab?
(chuckles) The lab, yeah.
It's been a long day.
There you go. Thank you.
(keys beeping, line ringing)
(beeps)
Christine, uh, it's... it's me.
We need to talk. I'm, uh...
There is something wrong.
To send your message, press one.
To delete your message, press two.
(phone rings)
When are you gonna tell him?
They found the Avalanche.
Oh, great. Where?
Impound.
You parked in the red zone.
Next time, put the placard in the window.
And when did you find this out?
I've had a lot on my plate today.
Well, you know, so did I.
It's a lot more important than sitting here.
Well, maybe this will help: Mikhail Gorbachev.
Mikha...
Gorbachev. What?
(indistinct sounds playing from computer)
Phobos One?
Not from Alpha Centauri?
Kazakhstan.
Martian probe launched by the Russians
in 1988. They lost track of it, but...
...looks like one piece of it
found its way back home.
Yeah. Animal sounds, car horns, the word "earth"
recorded in 37 different languages, 1988's Top Ten hits.
This was Russia's interplanetary greeting card.
There had some good stuff in '88.
"Red, Red Wine,"
"Kokomo," "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
Do you remember that?
Yes, I do.
♪ Here is a little song I wrote ♪
♪ You might want to sing it note for note ♪
♪ Don't worry, be happy. ♪