In the Name of Law and Order (Au nom du maintien de l'ordre)

In the criminal justice system,

the people are represented

by two separate, yet equally important groups:

the police, who investigate crime,

and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

- And now, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Please welcome our final two contestants

for Miss New York Metro.

I know how hard it is for these young women to stand up here.

I was in their shoes just a few years ago

and I am honored to be back to judge.

To many of you, this pageant may seem like a zero-sum game,

but it's really about connection and sisterhood.

Tonight, however, we do have to pick a winner.

Our first runner-up is...

Miss Prospect Heights,

making our Miss New York Metro 2026, Miss Astoria!

Remember, we're all winners.

- They held the Miss New York Metro pageant here last night.

- She a contestant? - No, a judge.

Janitor found her this morning.

Oh.

Katie Harrington,

age 29.

Looks like she also works at the local news station.

Must have hit the carotid artery.

Yeah, she bled out fast.

You got a time of death?

MLI said, based on temp and rigidity,

between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.

All right.

Well, let's make sure we get the scissors dusted for prints.

- Any witnesses? - None.

Place had pretty much cleared out by that time.

- What about the security camera situation?

- Far as we know, no cameras in the dressing room.

- Well, I always heard these beauty pageants

were cutthroat, but...

You turned off all of the cameras?

We had 30 women backstage last night

in various states of undress.

They wanted privacy.

What about security guards?

One guard was posted backstage.

He see anything?

- Apparently he was FaceTiming with his girlfriend

at the end of the night.

It's usually an uneventful job.

We can barely fill an audience these days.

Why is that?

Too much competition...

YouTube, social media.

So there are fewer pageants these days?

Well, there used to be ten a year.

Now there were two.

- That really puts extra pressure on the contestants.

- And on the judges. - For sure.

Beauty pageants are still important to these people...

some of these girls, if they lose, think their life is over.

- We're gonna need a list of last night's contestants.

- I'm surprised these pageants are still a thing.

I mean, I thought we were way past that.

Yeah, I gave up on those years ago.

- Hey, video just landed from outside the theater.

Picked up someone running out the exit

by the dressing room at 10:25.

Can you freeze it there?

Not enough of the face visible for facial rec?

- No. - That hat.

What is that stitching?

Looks like they got it turned inside out

to hide the monogram or something... what is that, XLV?

Yeah, I don't think it's a brand.

Maybe Roman numerals?

- Do we have any other video of this person entering?

No, and it was freezing that day,

so half the people entering the theater were wearing beanies.

But I have some good news.

Found this interesting text from a Kailani Arizaga.

"Be careful how you vote. There are consequences."

Sounds like a threat to me.

- That name rings a bell. - Hold on.

Yeah, here.

"Kailani Arizaga, Miss Prospect Heights."

She was the first runner-up.

I've known Katie since I was 15.

She was like an older sister, a mentor.

So you liked her?

Loved her.

- Well, why did you send her that threatening text

last night... the one that said there'd be consequences

if she didn't vote the right way?

What are you talking about?

This one.

No, you got it wrong.

I wanted her to vote for someone else.

You wanted to lose?

I wanted to not win.

Why'd you do it in the first place?

My mom.

These pageants mean everything to her.

She says they can open doors, maybe even get me

a scholarship for grad school.

- Can you tell us where you were last night

after the pageant?

- Eating pizza for the first time in a year.

Got anybody who can back that up?

Yeah, a few classmates.

Kinda turned into a party.

I asked Katie if she wanted to join,

but she said she couldn't.

We gotta go.

Katie's dad just got in from Alabama.

Thank you.

- I still remember the day I helped Katie move in here.

Her mom had just passed.

Katie wanted to stay at home, look after me, of course,

but, uh,

I told her she had to follow her dreams.

Just knew she was meant for great things.

- Mr. Harrington, were you and your daughter very close?

Yeah.

We talked every day.

Was she having any problems with anyone?

Friends? A boyfriend?

- She was always too busy with work for much of a social life.

I encouraged her to date. Didn't want her to be lonely.

You know, there was this one guy,

kept chasing after her like a damn dog with a bone.

- He got a name? - I never made it that far.

Never even went out on a date, but he was persistent.

Kept calling her and sending her flowers.

Got a bit much for Katie, if I'm being honest.

Do you know where he worked?

How they met? Any detail will help.

- They met at some sort of cancer fundraiser,

and he was a hockey player.

That's all I know.

Any luck with the hockey player?

Yeah, I checked out Katie's Instagram.

Looks like the only cancer fundraiser

she attended in the last six months

was the United Hands Leukemia Gala.

Lots of photos of her and this guy named Alexander Hayes.

Looks smitten.

Hockey player?

- Rookie left-winger for New York's favorite hockey team.

Islanders?

Not funny.

No choir boy.

He just finished a five-game suspension

for smashing a stick into his opponent's head.

And here's the best part...

he posted a story last night at 9:30 p.m.

Location tag puts him two blocks away from the pageant.

- I adored Katie. - I would never hurt her.

- Well, you say adored. - We say stalked.

We talked to her doorman.

We know that you were sending her flowers,

hanging outside her building.

- Yeah, to... to show her that I liked her,

that I was serious about dating her.

- She had two extra deadbolts installed in her door.

Look, I was just trying to get a date.

It's called being romantic.

If she said yes, it's romantic.

If she said no, it's scary.

So what happened, hmm?

You get tired of waiting for her

to see how romantic you were?

Maybe you snuck into her dressing room last night?

What?

We know you were near the theater

where the pageant was held.

Right around the time of the murder.

- Hey, look, you guys are crazy, all right?

I was at a party last night with about 200 other people

and I was there until about midnight.

Instead of wasting your time talking to me,

you should look into the shady people

she was dealing with at work.

What does that mean?

She told me that as a journalist

she had to take big swings, to go where her colleagues

were too scared to go.

So if she was adding extra locks to her door,

I mean, it's because of that, not because of me.

You should go talk to her boss.

I wouldn't call her segments dangerous.

More like ambitious.

She was a smart woman, had a great gut instinct,

knew how to avoid trouble.

Sounds like you knew her well.

Well, I took her under my wing

when she first started here.

I got her out from behind the research desk,

made her a field reporter.

I was a producer on some of her segments.

Very nice of you.