The fifth series of the crime drama spin-off focusing on an elite group of New York cops continues. This week, the detectives probe the death of a man who was washed ashore after falling off a cruise ship. The victim’s gambling debts suggest his death was suicide, until Goren and Eames find evidence that it was in fact a carefully staged murder. Police investigate when the body of Ben Williams, a respected education adviser, is found washed up on the banks of the East River. The victim was drunk when he drowned and has a nasty gash on his head. But did he kill himself or was he murdered?

It does not take long for Detectives Goren and Eames to establish that Williams was an inveterate gambler who kept his massive losses secret from his wife. Owing to the discovery of an anti-seasickness patch on the victim’s neck, the cops believe Williams may have been on a boat – and Goren has an idea as to the type of vessel. “A gambling boat,” he surmises. “Casino cruises dock near where his body was found.”

The cops find out which ship carried Williams as a passenger and question the crew about his movements. They learn that he was last seen being put to bed by two friends after getting into a disagreement with a kid named Joey Frost. It emerges that Joey had just thrashed Williams in a high-stakes poker game, leaving him in debt to the tune of $500,000. “He didn’t just beat Williams, he humiliated him,” the dealer recalls.

Goren and Eames go to see Joey Frost (Lou Taylor Pucci, who co-starred with Vincent D’Onofrio in ‘Thumbsucker’), an obnoxious and self-confident poker ace, who insists he had no motive to kill Williams as the man owed him money. Williams’s huge debts, coupled with the news that he had recently taken out a life insurance policy which pays out for suicide, all suggest that he killed himself so his family could cash in on the money.

With the case seemingly falling into place, the detectives pay a visit to Williams’s home, where they meet Phil Lambier, his brother-in-law. Lambier reveals that he covered Williams’s debts in an effort to keep them secret from his wife, and even staked him the money to enter the game on the cruise ship. But the detectives are most intrigued to learn that Williams worked on fishing boats in his youth. If that is the case, why would he need to use seasickness patches?

The ME then reveals that Williams’s body was in fact covered in patches, which in sufficient quantities can cause drowsiness. It would seem that somebody used them to dope Williams before throwing him overboard – suggesting he was murdered after all. Goren and Eames now suspect that somebody killed Williams and made it look like suicide so that they could collect his life insurance.

Goren then finds another piece of the puzzle when he uncovers evidence that none other than Phil Lambier chartered a helicopter to fly Joey Frost to the cruise ship. It seems Lambier went to great lengths to have Williams and Joey play each other at the poker match, but why? The only answer is that Lambier wanted Williams to lose big, and using Joey’s ace poker skills was one way to ensure that. “Phil wanted to protect his sister,” Goren explains. “He knew that Ben was worth more dead than alive, so he flies Joey in to destroy Williams.” A crushing defeat in the poker game would make it seem that Williams had killed himself – and provide the perfect cover for a murder.

However, the cops cannot prove that Lambier wanted his brother-in-law dead; nor can they say exactly who tossed Williams overboard. In a bid to find out exactly what happened on that ship, Goren turns his attention to Joey and starts to bond with the lad once he learns of his tragic family history. It transpires that Joey was raised by Lambier after his father was murdered and still looks up to him. Can Goren break through this hero worship to make Joey see that Lambier has used to him to lure a man to his death?