Law & Order

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.

No, no, no, leave those.

I'll take care of it.

I promised your mom I wouldn't let you be late.

It's all right. I'm carpooling with Annie.

Her mom's picking me up.

Did you finish that "Scarlet Letter" thing?

The homework thing? Yes, Dad.

And I'm ready for the math test, so stop worrying.

You'll understand one day.

I already do.

They're almost here. Bye, I love you.

Love you.

Love you more.

Love you the most.

Yeah, Jalen, what's up?

Somebody really put this poor girl through it.

Based on rigor, she died within the last eight hours.

Multiple stab wounds.

No obvious signs of sex assault,

but petechial hemorrhages in the eyes

indicate neck compression.

More later. ID?

Bag her hands.

Not a lot of blood, considering.

Could have been stabbed post-mortem,

killed elsewhere, dumped here.

What's up with her ear?

Looks like an earring was ripped out.

A clump of hair was cut.

Souvenir collector?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

It sure would be nice if we could ID her.

Detectives, we think this might be the vic's bag.

Officer, you never move evidence.

Give it. It's too late now.

Christina Watkins.

That's the author.

"Cinnamon Girl: My Sweet and Spicy Life as a Waitress

at a Five Star Restaurant."

Why would the killer leave that here?

Maybe he wanted us to know that she was somebody.

A promising young author making an exciting debut.

Okay, talk to me.

Our vic is Christina Watkins. She's 28.

She published a memoir last month about working

at a downtown restaurant.

She was found by a city employee at Highbridge Park.

So uptown, underpopulated, remote area of the city.

Let me guess, no video?

And no blood trail.

And no witnesses who saw how she got there.

What about a murder weapon?

Didn't find one, but wounds indicate

a sharp, angular blade

sharp enough to cut off some of her hair as well.

So she was tied up, and an earring was torn off.

Are we thinking there might have been a ritual element?

Not going there yet.

Do we know where she was beforehand?

Working on a timeline.

We found her phone on Upper Broadway,

four miles from the crime scene.

It had been run over a few times.

Are there any texts, calls in the cloud

that might tell us who she was with?

Just a couple messages after 10:00.

One for an Uber she canceled just before midnight,

and another to a Scott Baker, who seems to be her roommate.

We found this photo of them together on social media.

Are those the same kind of angular blades

as the murder weapon?

Who is this guy?

He calls himself a man with an edge.

What?

Christina's dead?

That's insane.

Were you two an item?

No.

She was all about her writing.

There was a party at the restaurant where she worked

to celebrate last night.

Were you there?

No.

I had to be at my regular gig at the Flying Hatchet.

What's that?

It's an ax throwing bar in Williamsburg.

Alcohol and sharp objects. What could go wrong?

How late were you there until?

3:00 in the morning.

I'm the manager. I had to clean up.

When you got home, was Christina here?

No.

I thought she might have hooked up with someone at the party.

Do you have a location of this soiree?

The Yellow Ribbon.

I can't believe this.

When did Christina leave?

Around midnight, I think?

She was feeling a little off.

Do you know if she left with anyone?

No, but I was kind of distracted.

There were a lot of VIPs.

People really wanted to come out and celebrate her success.

She was really beloved by everyone.

And nobody gave her a hard time about what

she wrote in the book?

Not that I saw.

But I know there was some commotion

when Tina went out to the corner to wait for her Uber.

This is you, 11:50 last night outside Yellow Ribbon?

Yeah, I just left the party. I saw the two of them arguing.

He was...

Drunk.

He started ranting and raving at Christina, so I, uh...

You jumped in to protect her, is that right?

Yeah.

Yeah, he was so aggressive, right?

So I... I pushed him away. Thankfully, he just walked off.

I'm... I'm no hero, trust me.

I'm not like you guys.

So, um, when this drunk guy...

Excuse me.

After this drunk guy walked off,

where did Christina go? Did you see?

Did she hail a cab, start walking home?

What happened? I wish I knew.

I'm not really sure. What about you?

Where'd you go? Home.

I had a really early call time this morning.

Yeah.

Um, anything else, guys?

I'm really sorry. I have to get to set.

Just one last thing.

The guy who was harassing her, do you know who he was?

Yeah, I'm afraid so.

Why are you afraid?

Because he's a friend of mine.

Victor Bernini.

The chef.

What's up?

Uh, we... we're looking for a Victor Bernini?

Join the club.

Uh, what does that mean?

He was supposed to meet me here around midnight.

He never showed. He never showed?

Mm-hmm.

Um, do you have any idea where he would be?

No, I just crashed here when he blew me off.

Hmm. Yeah.

To be honest, I actually don't know him that well.

Uh, we just get together and party once in a while.

Did he mention stopping by his old restaurant

early in the evening? Yeah.

Yeah, he seemed pretty torqued about it.

In fact, he's generally pretty torqued these days.

Thank you. Mm-hmm.

So Victor Bernini is nowhere to be found.

Well, we're waiting on cell phone, credit card,

and EZPass records.

And you think he’s a credible suspect?

Multiple arrests for DUI and disorderly conduct.

Plus, he got into an argument with the vic

shortly before the murder.

I thought he was some kind of world-renowned chef.

He is, but this guy goes hard in the paint.

I mean, a lot of drugs, a lot of drinking.

It seems like he's spiraling. Meaning?

He was forced out of his own restaurant by investors,

and he just declared personal bankruptcy.

Okay, so Bernini's having a rough time.

Why would he go after Christina Watkins?

I've been reading her book.

She's not very flattering.

Victor comes off like a drugged-out sex addict.

Two days after that book was published,

that's when he got pushed out of the restaurant.

And then his staff celebrated for a week after his exit.

See, the point here is, Victor is a person of interest.

The sooner we lay hands on him, the better.

You might not have to wait that long.

Operations just notified me

there's an EDP job at Yellow Ribbon.

It's Bernini.

Okay, guys, watch yourselves.

Drop it now! Let go! Put it down!

Blue coming through.

Hey, Victor, what's going on?

Chef!

Yeah, you got her, Chef. Put the knife down.

You've already taken everything I have.

I'm not letting you take this place too.