csi: miami
just murdered (21/24)

The forensics drama series continues tonight. In this episode, an extremely messy divorce leads to three murders on the same day, and Delko finds his competence challenged in court.

Miami police are called to the waterfront where a couple are acting out their acrimonious divorce in a very public way. Laurie Atherton (Kelly Carlson, ‘Nip/Tuck’) is busy hacking apart her husband Hank’s boat with a chainsaw, while he retaliates by shooting holes in the deck to scare her. But matters become serious for the warring Athertons when police discover a body in their luxurious home nearby.

The murdered woman is Hank Atherton’s personal trainer, Mandy Felding, killed by a blow to the head. Inspecting the scene, the CSIs are surprised to find the house has been split in two by a wall of laser beams. “These lasers are dividing the whole house in half,” Wolfe explains. “The court ordered it until the divorce was final.” Hank resides in one half of the house, Laurie in the other, and their 17-year-old son lives between the two. “Welcome to divorce of the future,” remarks Horatio grimly.

It does not take long to establish that Mandy was having an affair with Hank Atherton, and prints from the vase that killed her are linked to her husband, Todd Felding. During questioning, Todd breaks down and confesses to murdering his wife after learning about her infidelity. But Horatio’s crew have no time to rest on their laurels when a second body is found next to Hank’s car, which he had reported stolen. This victim is Stan Lockwood, and a receipt in the car indicates he bought the vehicle that morning.

The CSIs interrogate Hank to find out why he lied about his car being stolen, only to discover that his wife had sold the car without his knowledge. “You said to sell it and give you half,” Laurie tells Hank, before presenting him with $100. Hank is furious to learn his wife sold his $200,000 car for only $200, but neither of them can explain how or why Stan Lockwood was murdered.

Boa Vista quickly makes headway when she finds the car’s keys abandoned in a mound of fire ants, and Horatio notices that the Athertons’ pool cleaner, Paul Warner, has fire-ant bites on his arm. Moreover, Warner’s shoe matches a footprint at the scene. The case against him seems watertight – only for his wily lawyer, Stacey Wakeman, to step in and challenge the evidence.

Wakeman asks a judge to dismiss all the evidence accumulated by Delko and questions the CSI’s competence following his near-fatal shooting (see the episode, ‘No Man’s Land’). “This criminalist sustained a severe brain injury only four months ago,” Wakeman tells the court. “He has memory lapses and is currently working major crime scenes without supervision.” The judge orders Delko to be removed from duty, and the CSIs have to find another way to pin the murder on Warner.

Meanwhile, the Athertons return to cause more trouble when they discover a safety deposit box containing all their valuables has been stolen from the bank. With their funds running low, Hank and Laurie are forced to sign over ownership of their house to their lawyers. But later that night, Hank’s lawyer is found stabbed to death in his office. With a third body now connected to the Athertons, Horatio seems to be looking at the costliest divorce in Miami history. Can he establish who killed the lawyer and why?