CSI: Miami

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Vengance

Written by Sunil Nayar & Corey Miller
Directed by Norberto Barba

Miami’s Biltmore Hotel plays host to the Wavecrest High School Class of 1990 Reunion Weekend, its ballroom filled with participants wearing the event’s requisite photo name tags. A locked “time capsule” is positioned on the stage, and poster-sized photos of prominent students fill the room, including one of star quarterback Patrick Hale. In his room, Hale prepares to join his classmates when he is struck from behind with two hard blows to the head; he falls to the ground and lies in a spreading pool of blood.

On the scene, Horatio and Alexx begin their investigation. Tripp holds back the crowd of Hale’s curious classmates. Horatio IDs the murder weapon, an unopened bottle of Dube champagne caked with dried blood. He also notices a spot of smeared blood on the tile floor. Horatio gets called to another crime scene and Calleigh and Wolfe are called in to take over.

Hale’s wife, Jennie, is being consoled by Krystal Sneed, the class busybody. When the body haulers pass Jennie, she notices a hickey on Hale’s neck and becomes furious at his infidelity. Krystal opines to Tripp that classmate Michelle Day, who was considered “loose” in high school, might very well have given Hale the hickey. Michelle admits she and Hale used to secretly “hook up” in high school, and did so in his room before the reunion started, for old times’ sake, but denies his murder.

Horatio arrives at the scene of another murder; the victim is Bob Keaton, the guy who is supposedly serving time for killing his brother, Ray, and whom Horatio had recently spotted at another crime scene (Episode 320). Horatio knows this scene has been “processed” and the chances of finding evidence will be slim, but Delko combs it anyway. Alexx determines that Keaton was wearing a wire. Horatio lifts a print from the wire’s adhesive on Keaton’s body.

During autopsy, Alexx finds a note in Hale’s pocket: “I know about the curve. You’re a dead man.” Ryan determines it was written back in high school. Using the school’s yearbook, Calleigh and Ryan match the note’s handwriting to Kevin Banks, who admits he wrote it. Fifteen years ago, Hale stole the science midterm, and his excellent score set the grading curve so high that Banks’ lower score kept him out of Vanderbilt. He wrote the note out of anger at the time, but claims he didn’t kill Hale over it.

Delko ID’s the print from Keaton’s body as David Park’s, a Government employee. Horatio suspects Park is working for the CIA or DEA, but Parks won’t give Horatio any details and furthermore, warns Caine to forget about the whole thing.

Yelina confronts Horatio about the possibility that Ray could be alive. Horatio promises to let her know if and when he learns the truth. Alexx finds a muzzle stamp from the killer’s gun on Keaton.

At the Biltmore, Calleigh questions Dan Winslet, an insurance salesman who says he didn’t attend Wavecrest, but who solicits new clients through class reunions. He admits Jennie Hale bought a policy on her husband the night before he died. Ryan confirms trace found on the murder weapon to be sand unique to the Bahamas; Calleigh recalls reading in the yearbook “the senior class trip to the Bahamas was awesome.”

Ryan stops Krystal before she’s about to leave the hotel and confirms a bottle of Dube champagne the seniors brought back from the Bahamas was in the time capsule. Michelle was the only other person who had a key to the capsule. Michelle admits she took the Dube from the capsule because it was Hale’s favorite and she wanted to share it with him during their rendezvous, but he brushed her off after sex and she left in his room when she stormed out. Michelle also mentions to Calleigh what a loser Winslet still is by showing up at the reunion even though he dropped out freshman year. Calleigh’s determined to find out why Winslet would lie about his reason for being there.

The trace Delko found at the Keaton crime scene is cocaine. Horatio knows by the “cut” that the cocaine is Julio Pena’s. They question Pena, who admits he was with Keaton and brought along a trigger-happy assistant named Luis Rivera, who he says shot Keaton. As Delko prepares to cuff Pena, a shot is fired and Pena is felled by a shot to the head. Rivera is located and questioned, but denies he killed either Keaton or Pena.

Ryan frisks Winslet while Calleigh searches his briefcase. She discovers a blood stain on his PDA and Winslet confesses he murdered Hale, explaining the grudge he carried all these years. In high school, Winslet told the coach that Hale had blown off practice. In retaliation, Hale wrapped Winslet in duct tape from head to toe. Winslet was so humiliated, he dropped out of school and still has scars on his body from the duct tape.

Alexx discovers Pena has stomach ulcerations as well as burns and lesions on both hands, indicating exposure to serious amounts of radiation. Horatio and Delko search Pena’s house and locate an x-ray machine. The serial number is traced to Richard Thomason. While Horatio questions Thomason, Park bursts in and takes over from Horatio. Park later tells Horatio he’s had Thomason under surveillance for a long time and once again warns Horatio to stand down, this time adding that if Ray’s not already dead he might soon be if Horatio keeps digging.

Horatio admits to Yelina that Ray could very well be alive.