 Episode Summary |
During a major golf tournament, a stray ball leads a golf star to a dead body in a golf cart. He was a club regular, Russell Huntley, and has been shot once in the neck. He apparently tried to stop the bleeding before dying with a golf club cover, but there are no clubs at the scene. Brass questions Mrs. Nagano, who is the ex-Mrs. Huntley. Her stepson Danny Nagano, who took her name, is in the tournament. The last time she saw them, Danny and Russell were arguing because Danny just beat Russell's record. Super Dave scans the body at the morgue to find the bullet, but there's no bullet to be found. Their bullet wound is actually a sharp force trauma. Catherine finds black plastic in the wound and Hodges finds a betting ticket from the eclipse.
Sara, Ray and Nick process the golf cart and find cast off on the inside of the roof. They try to determine where the primary crime scene was. Nick notes that there are two kinds of balls in the cart, possibly indicating two different players in the cart. Brass questions Danny and he reiterates his stepmother's story about his confrontation with his father. He calls to find out who was on duty at the clubhouse bar to verify the story.
Nick processes the golf balls from the cart. He finds Russell Huntley's prints, Danny's caddy's prints and the prints of Mrs. Nagano's sister. The sister has quite a record, especially disorderly conduct. Catherine finds the murder weapon was a graphite composite golf club. Nick goes to see Erin Nagano, the sister. He tells her a worker at a bar reported that she and Russell were fighting the night he died. She explains that her prints were on the ball because she always buys Danny a box of balls, it's his good luck charm. Hodges processes the grass from the cart to determine where it was driving, but it's too difficult to pinpoint.
Greg points out to Nick and Ray that Danny's caddy, John Dudek, used to be a pro, and then got suspended because of using a performance enhancer. Russell Huntley had been the person who reported him to the authorities. Ray visits the tournament to speak with John. He asks about the fingerprints and John suggests that Russell borrowed some of his balls. Catherine processes the betting ticket and finds that Russell bet $5000 on Danny's first round score. He bet against his son but lost when Danny had an amazing round. The team theorizes that Danny may have been cheating, and Russell valued the game above all else. They get a warrant for Danny's clubs and Brass questions him. They also take a sample of his blood. The toxicology screening comes back fine, and the clubs are okay but they discover the balls are harder than they should be, which makes them fly further.
Nick questions Erin because she works with lasers and was able to increase the hardness of the balls. She cops to it, but says she just gave the balls to John and didn't know Danny would play with them. She only asked for sex in return. John gave Danny the balls but Danny didn't know he was using them. Russell found out and was upset. Erin gives an alibi for both herself and John. Meanwhile, Hodges finally finds the primary crime scene based on a fungus found in the grass. Sara and Greg go to the primary crime scene and find the possible murder weapon and blood. Catherine speaks with Danny because both he and his stepmom were at the scene, based on gate access records. Danny says he didn't know the balls were tampered with and then switched to other balls the next day. Russell proved to Danny that the balls were tampered with on the driving range practice tee and tried to get Danny to turn himself in. Danny left just as Mrs. Nagano was getting there. She claims she never went to the driving range practice tee.
The team finds the head of the broken club and analyze it for prints. The only prints were to the victim, so both Danny and Mrs. Nagano are not guilty. Ray requisitions a special piece of equipment to determine how the club came off. They realize that the golf club flew up while Russell was banging it against the ground. In a million to one shot it flew up and struck him in the neck. His death was an accident.
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