Sudden Death

Nightclub waitress Kirsten Banks is found drowned in a pool at the exclusive Dorset Club and the prime suspect for the murder is Brady Jensen, a college football star who decides to take to his heels pursued by Eric and Ryan. He manages to evade them but is soon looking down the barrel of Horatio Caine’s automatic and quickly arrested.

Dr Mercier examines Kristen’s body and determines that she hadn’t drowned in the pool – her lungs are filled with alcohol! She also discovers one of the victim’s teeth has been chipped, suggesting the alcohol was forced on her; and is surprised to find a piece of gold confetti in her lungs. Delko suggests Kristen died of ‘delayed drowning’, with death occurring several hours after the assault.

Horatio confronts Jensen and his new agent, Chip Ford, and their part in the story soon comes out. Jensen claims to have woken to find Kristen dead and called Ford who, to protect his young star, had thrown her body in the pool to make the death look like an accident. Both deny killing her, though.

Back at the lab, Mike Travers identifies the alcohol that killed Kristen as an expensive 1957 vintage champagne, a bottle of which was bought by wealthy customer Richard Ellison at the club just before midnight. Ellison claims to know nothing about the waitress’s death but when Horatio returns to the Dorset Club, he discovers that gold confetti had been released over Ellison’s table at midnight.

The team raid Ellison’s yacht and soon find the evidence they need – part of Kristen’s chipped tooth in Ellison’s jacket pocket. He’d become angry that Kristen had been spending time with Jensen and had forced his champagne on her. Unfortunately, it had entered her lungs and eventually resulted in her death. Ellison is arrested for involuntary manslaughter and led away…