csi: miami
broken home (16/24)

The forensics drama series continues tonight. In this episode, a double homicide at a wealthy family home throws suspicion on a successful doctor. Meanwhile, Delko’s colleagues are concerned by his return to work so soon after his shooting.

Horatio and Tripp are at the home of the Montavo family, where their neighbour, Edward Crowley, lies dead from a blow to the head. Crowley was found by his daughter, Heather, who was babysitting at the Montavo house when he staggered in through the door and collapsed. The cops are struggling to make sense of the scene when Tripp discovers the body of Mrs Crowley outside, her neck slashed by a garden tool.

As Heather Crowley struggles to accept the inexplicable death of both her parents, the cops puzzle over the disappearance of Mr and Mrs Montavo, who failed to return home the previous night. Wolfe makes some progress when he finds prints on the window matching a local doctor by the name of Mike Lasker. When questioned, the smooth Dr Lasker admits he was outside the house the night before. “Dave Montavo borrowed some tools from me,” he explains. “Last night, I stopped by to see if he was around.”

The case then takes a curious turn when Dave and Renee Montavo are picked up by police. They say they have spent the night crashed out in their car after attending a neighbour’s party. “Let me get this straight,” Horatio says. “A double murder occurs in your home and you’re claiming you were blacked out in your car?” But the Montavos’ story checks out when tests confirm that their drinks were spiked with a sedative at the party.

Suspicion falls on Dr Lasker once more when police find out that he was also at that party. Forced to confess that he drugged the Montavos, Lasker hits back by calling Dave Montavo a thief. He says that items always go missing at neighbourhood parties – and that Montavo is to blame. Lasker explains that he drugged the couple to buy himself time to snoop around their house and locate the stolen property.

Horatio tests Lasker’s claim by conducting a search of the Montavos’ home. Sure enough, police uncover a stash of stolen items including property belonging to the doctor. But the culprit turns out to be the Montavos’ 12-year-old son, Justin – a kleptomaniac in the making who routinely sneaks out of the house to raid his neighbours’ homes. Justin confesses to his part in the evening’s bizarre goings-on, but not before he spreads the blame by revealing that Heather had her boyfriend, Zach, over while she was babysitting. Acting on this new lead, the police go to detain Zach, who tries to flee on his motorbike. The detectives soon uncover a twisted love triangle with murderous consequences, when forensic evidence suggests that Zach was sleeping with Heather’s mother...

Elsewhere, Delko reports that one of the items purloined by Justin was in fact stolen from a woman on the other side of town. Curious to know how this bracelet became caught up in the case, Horatio discovers that its owner – Lucile Clarke – passed away a month ago, under the care of one Dr Mike Lasker. When Tripp learns that at least six of Lasker’s patients have died in suspicious circumstances, the doctor takes on a very sinister complexion. “I’m thinking serial killer,” Tripp says. Was Lasker keen to retrieve the bracelet from the Montavo house because he knew it could tie him to his crimes?

Also this week, the CSIs are surprised to see Delko back at work so soon after being shot in the head (see episodes 14 and 15, ‘No Man’s Land’ and ‘Man Down’). Their fears seem to be well founded when he makes a simple error and ruins key evidence. “We may have lost our shot at the killer,” Calleigh tells him. Can Delko redeem himself and supply the breakthrough the team needs?