Synopsis  

A husband and wife, unhappily married, have a night alone which ends when the wife is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in a pool of blood. The case unfolds ambiguously, as the evidence points to an accident or a murder, but neither conclusively. The husband, Ray, was married before and his first wife died of a stroke, falling on the stairs; this is later proven correct by exhumation and autopsy. His recent wife, Becky, doesn’t show the classic signs of a fall, however, which confuses the CSIs, who are being pressured by the DA for this high profile case.

Both Ray and Becky were having affairs – Becky with her boss and Ray was being bitten by a dentist (played by Hudson Lieck) – and Ray was being blackmailed about his. The CSIs determine it’s Becky who’s blackmailing her own husband, threatening to tell herself if he doesn’t pay up. Becky was convinced Ray was hiding away money from her, and this was her plan to get it back. Ray’s daughter, Susan, had caught onto her step-mother’s affair, and after luring Becky into the house, beat her to death with a cane.

Through it all, Ray insists he slept through it, but the CSIs are quite sure he and the daughter are covering for each other. But they can’t prove it.

Review  

Sara drives Nick and Warrick to the scene; there, she processes the stairs and is the first one to realize that the victim didn’t fall as was reported. Sara shares an interesting scene with Grissom in the wife’s bedroom. They discuss the reasons a couple may sleep in separate rooms (Sara saying snoring and other mundane reasons). Grissom suggests that they were suffocating each other. Sara comments on sex and romance and gives Grissom a look. Grissom walks off without commenting and they go on to find evidence in the case and move on.

Sara and Catherine work well together puzzling out who wrote the blackmail note. Sara’s a little surprised to think the wife was blackmailing her husband. Sara and Greg check out the husband’s home office, and discover a bloody fingerprint on the phone.

Notes  

• Sara’s propensity for driving shows up again: she drives Warrick and Nick to the crime scene.

Quotes  

Sara: You know, you don’t have to sleep in the same bed together to have sex or … have romance.

Sara: Two viable prints, both in a light coat of lube. One was Becky’s and the other is an Adam Gilford. Work card is in the system. He’s an executive at Western Airlines.

Sara: Lovers and co-workers. That never works.