CSI: NY

You gotta be kidding me!

Hey!

You're dead, kid! You hear me?!

You're frigging dead!

I knew I shouldn't have done the Stairmaster this morning.

It's a long way down.

It's even longer coming up, trust me.

130 steps.

I finally counted after the third trip.

Well, he's in more pain than I am.

The satchel belongs to our vic. I found his I.D. inside.

His name's Greg Barbera. 26 years old.

Some kind of robbery?

Cash and cards were still in his wallet.

You said there were witnesses?

Not on the stairs, but a couple of passersby

saw him being chased down Fort Washington

before he turned the corner and wound up here.

They described the guy chasing him

as male, early 30s, about five-eight, medium build,

wearing some kind of red jacket.

This kid took one hell of a fall.

The question is, was he pushed?

Looks like we'll have to back up a few steps

to figure that out.

Morning, Mac.

Looks like our vic sustained significant injuries:

elevated skull fractures,

signs of vertebral compression, compound breaks

to the clavicle and femur,

dislocated wrists and ankles.

I have his chart right over here.

- Hawkes. - Yeah?

- You're covering. - Covering?

Where's Sid?

Sid? Uh...

Well, um, apparently,

he's just running a little late again today.

That's the third time this week. What's going on?

You know, I really don't know, Mac.

All his staff could tell me is

that he wouldn't be here till later this afternoon.

So we don't have a preliminary autopsy report

of any kind for Greg Barbera?

- No, not yet. - Means we still don't know

whether his death was an accident or murder.

No. But judging by the shape that this kid is in,

if I still had Sid's job and had to answer that question,

I'd probably take the day off, too.

I see you got left holding the bag.

Wouldn't be the first time.

Oh, the purple wad

that you found?

It's violet-flavored gum.

Violet flavor?

Like the flower?

Yep. Makes for a nice bubble bath,

but I don't think I'd want to chew it.

I don't remember seeing this at my local newsstand.

Wonder where it's from.

I don't know, but I can tell you

that it is not Greg Barbera's.

I got foreign male DNA from saliva trace.

- No hit in CODIS. - Okay.

What about all these packages?

These are scheduled deliveries

from a company called Boroughstar Courier Service.

According to the contact I spoke to,

Greg Barbera has been a bike messenger there

for the past two years.

That's weird. If he's a bike messenger,

where's the bike?

All of our witnesses saw him running on foot.

Did they happen to give you a schedule

of his stops for the day?

Yes, they did.

Okay, if I understand this correctly,

9:00 a.m., he had a pickup in Midtown.

10:00 a.m., he was to have a drop-off downtown.

So what was he doing all the way up in

Washington Heights at 9:30?

Clearly something that wasn't on the schedule.

Oh, are you serious? $3.99?

What do you want from me?

Hello, Mac Taylor.

Christine, did I get you at a bad time?

No, perfect, actually.

How do I murder a produce guy and get away with it?

Well, you could always hit him over the head with a coconut,

but you'd be better off using that for a piña colada.

Yeah.

Point very well taken.

Besides, overpriced coconuts probably warrant something

closer to a misdemeanor

rather than a full-blown felony, right?

Yeah. Hey, uh, listen, I've got something I want to give you.

Oh, what's that?

Well, it's kind of a long story.

Is there someplace we could meet?

Yeah, sure. I'm on my way to work after this.

Why don't I text you the address, and you can stop by,

say, around 7:00?

Great. I'll see you then.

All right, so I got us fully tapped into

the new NYPD Counter terrorism Surveillance system here.

Then let's try to review street cam footage

from the time and area where witnesses reported seeing

Greg Barbera being chased.

Okay. We don't have an angle on the stairs

where his body was found,

but we can at least start there and then back up

to a video feed of adjacent streets.

Assailant was described as early 30s;

medium build; five feet, eight inches tall; wearing red.

Okay, red is good. I can work with that.

So, all the objects or individuals wearing red

will be isolated.

All right. Now let's focus on Fort Washington Avenue

where the bulk of our witnesses

saw Greg Barbera being chased.

Stop there.

That's Barbera.

And this guy is clearly in pursuit.

Then let's get a better look at him.

Big Brother's watching you, buddy.

All right, let's try to sharpen that image

and then run the facial recognition software.

Come on.

Scott Perfito.

Priors for narcotics trafficking

and outstanding warrant for possession.

All right. We know who you are.

And boom, now we know where you are.

Scott Perfito! NYPD!

Fire escape!

Karma's a bitch.

I should be in a hospital resting.

They already gave you a clean bill of health and

released you into our custody, Mr. Perfito.

Well, my arm still hurts

and my head hurts, too.

How about your pride?

That must be smarting a bit.

What is that supposed to mean?

It means we found almost

a half a kilo of cocaine in your apartment.

Believe me, that's not how it looks.

Oh, we do believe you,

because it's not all coke.

In fact, the last batch you pulled

from this delivery envelope was a combo of baby formula,

caffeine and lidocaine.

We found traces of the same in Greg Barbera's delivery bag.

Now why do you think that is?

I look like a scientist?

No, but I am.

The baby formula gave it the right look and consistency.

The lidocaine was to make your gums numb.

And that pharmaceutical-grade caffeine was there

to give you a good solid buzz.

Which probably lasted just long enough for Greg

to grab the money and run, right?

He sold you a bag of fake drugs.

What if he did?

It ain't a crime to buy bogus blow.

No, but between your outstanding warrant and the few ounces

of real cocaine we found in your apartment, you're done.

And then you had to go and kill the guy.

I didn't kill him!

Did you or did you not chase down Greg Barbera

after he'd delivered the goods?

Yeah, of course I chased him.

What the hell was I supposed to do?

The bastard took my money!

Quit running, kid, you're only making it worse!

And then you pushed him down the 187th Street stairs.

No, I didn't.

- Oh, come on. - I'm telling you I didn't.

He made it about 20 feet down, and then

he totally patched out.

Fell the rest of his way on his own without any help from me.

And then what?

Then I took my damn money back.

And...?

And I got the hell out of there.

You didn't think to call

- for any kind of help? - Help? For him?

He was a double-crossing bitch who stole three grand

and got exactly what was coming to him.

Vic's name is Jimmy Philbrook.

He was spotted by a group of lnwood Hill nature enthusiasts.

I'm thinking they're probably not so enthusiastic anymore.

That's painful.

Yeah.

I don't know how he ended up this far off the path.

I found his wallet 30 yards back that way

next to some loose soil and erratic shoe print patterns.

Could be initial signs of a struggle.

Yeah, that's not the half of it.

Here, get a load of this.