Synopsis  

An inbound plane’s passengers become the victims of an onboard thief, but when one of the passengers is found dead, the petty crime turns into a murder investigation.

On a flight to from Newark to Las Vegas, Janet Riggins (a local) is hit on by a young man (Kenny Green) who is later robbed on the flight. While she does not appear to be missing anything, she is found dead on the side of the road by the airport, seemingly having been thrown from a fast moving vehicle. The man who hit on her is seen sporting a new black-eye around the same time. Kenny saw Janet at baggage claim and confronted her about his stolen watch. When he takes her phone, she decks him and runs off.

Janet Riggins’ ID turns out to be fake, and her phone a throw-away burner. After landing, she called Jefferson Nalley, a local janitorial serviceman, who IDs her as Heather Morrison. Hank Gardener, an elderly man on the flight, turns out to be the thief, who says Heather had a bag full of Benjamins, and was the victim of abuse (a fact that the autopsy confirms). Her abusive husband comes to the morgue to see his wife’s body, and is abusive towards Doc Robbins, saying that Nalley was to blame. Of course Nalley blames Mr. Morrison and explains he connected Heather with ’the Wolf’ who was going to help her disappear. Heather had not yet paid ’the Wolf’ and when she’d been robbed by Hank, had reason to worry.

The ID was made at a company that Nalley’s janitorial service cleaned for on Fridays, which allows the CSIs to track down all the purchases to Jefferson Nalley. The stoner kids ID Nalley’s van, placing him at the body dump site. Nalley confesses there was no ‘wolf.’ It was all him, and when he told Heather, she freaked out. He hit her to try and calm her down, which sent her into a rage and she attacked them. In the struggle, he shoved her from the car.

Review  

Sara and Nick work the murder case together. When two stoned punks with laser pointers target Nick, Sara is quick to shove him down and draw her weapon to protect him.

When Nalley is dismissive regarding Heather’s pleas for help, both Sara and Nick treat him coldly. In the interrogation later, Sara is bitter towards Nalley and his ‘rescue’ attempt.

Notes  

• Nick and Sara tease each other about getting away from it all.
• Sara, the physics major, does the math to calculate the speed of the car in her head.

Quotes  

Greg Sanders But I did meet ‘The Goat’. Guy will eat anything for a dollar.
Sara Sidle Beard? Pierced ear? I had to get evidence out of him one night.

Jefferson Nalley I loved her.
Sara Sidle No you didn’t. If you did, Jefferson, you would have pulled over.