A woman's dead body is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft in a...research lab? She's pretty dead in pink (a filthy formal dress), and whoever killed her strangled her three or four times with her pantyhose and then sliced off her breasts (which are nowhere to be found). Date gone wrong? The presence of lock-picking tools in the victim's purse suggests she's the one who broke into the building. "Murder's a high price to pay for breaking and entering," says Elliot. Well, that's for the voters to decide, Elliot. Vote yes on Prop 245!
Victim: Tina Snow, 21, a student at Hudson University. She's got a rap sheet, mainly for breaking and entering, trespassing, that kind of thing. There's a high-end art gallery in the building, so maybe she was upping the thieving ante? Her arrests never involved a partner, but Olivia wonders if maybe this time she was working with someone else who turned on her. The rape kit was negative, but Tina's blood-alcohol level was three times legal limit, plus there was GHB in her blood. Olivia wonders why someone would give her a date-rape drug and then not follow through. "Maybe he couldn't rise to the occasion," smirks Fin.
The detectives interview Tina's roommate, who says Tina's into "freaky stuff." The freaky stuff consists entirely of, apparently, staying out all night and not going to class. Never heard of that going on at university! But Tina had problems, too: the school was threatening to kick her out for not paying tuition -- she owes 12 grand. Her parents aren't helping, because they're from Arkansas and aren't happy their daughter went away to Sin City (they must have seen the movie -- no wonder they're kind of freaked out). The detectives also find a lot of ash in Tina's room -- her roommate says Tina used to get cards in the mail, which she'd burn and then go out. And she'd come back covered in mud.
The increasingly photogenic forensic unit has analyzed the dirt found on Tina's dress. It contains finely ground Manhattan schist. "Well, that narrows it down to Manhattan," snarks Fin. There's no plant material whatsoever in it, so Chester immediately figures that it came from tunnels, and then has to explain to a befuddled Fin that sunshine helps plants grow. No plants, no sunshine. "So which tunnels are full of schist?" asks Fin. "They're all full of schist," says the forensic guy. Couple that with some fancy technology that reveals the words "Astoria platform, ten fifteen, nineteen thirty" on a charred piece of paper from Tina's room, and the detectives have a lead: the Astoria platform, October 15 (today) at 7:30 PM (written in military time, and about an hour ago on the show). Only one thing: there's no Astoria platform, points out Fin, who I predict is at some point going to snap at Chester when Chief Knows Everything shows him up for the millionth time. "Actually, there is," he says.
And the detectives go spelunking in abandoned subway tunnels, while Chester gives everyone a history lesson on the Astoria's old subway platform. Fin is all, "Let me guess: your people built all the buildings and the subway too," and the answer is, not surprisingly, yes. Which means I can't make that joke yet again.
It's like a Bobbsey Twins adventure, the four detectives down there, shining their flashlights around. They come across some sort of underground screening of a movie (maybe someone with a deeper knowledge than mine of old movies can identify which one) and they all scatter when the detectives barge in. The detectives nab someone's video camera, as well as the guy who appears to be hosting the event, someone who wants to be either Clark Gable or the lead singer of the Killers. You know? Thin mustache. Old-style suit. Looks in the mirror and hopes people think of him as "dashing." "I got nothing to say," he tells Elliot, but Olivia's holding the video camera. "This will do all your talking for you," she says.
In the interrogation room, we watch a playback of this guy on camera saying, "This is Agent Mayhem reporting for the Silk and Cyanide Corps." I guess they're trying to embarrass him into confessing? The guy's real name is Edgar Rabinowicz, and he explains that the Silk and Cyanide Corps are "secret agents of adventure." "Like James Bond," says Olivia. Exactly. Only gayified slightly, I suppose. Edgar says the whole city is their playground: "Danger lurks around every bend of the tunnels, on every rooftop." There's a week's worth of material on the video camera, including "Agent Mayhem" clambering around the underground, being shown up by Tina Snow, in the same pink dress she was found dead in. He tells "Agent [Something]" -- I can't make it out -- to slow down, and she mocks him, asking him if he can't keep up with a girl. "Shut up, bitch!" he snaps. Very suave. James Bond's catchphrase. Something you'd hear bandied about at one of Gatsby's soirees. Elliot tries to bully Edgar into admitting he killed Tina for showing him up and cut off her breasts to make her one of the boys, and Edgar drops the "suave" routine and says Tina was alive when they left her, at the Mata Hari bar after their "mission."
The Mata Hari is a lot less suave than you'd think the agents of adventure would prefer, but I guess the name meant anything. The bartender, Cecilia, knows the group, as they kind of stick out. She remembers Edgar leaving, but Tina staying until last call as usual. The night in question, Cecilia left with some guy who was angry after being cut off by the bartender. "He was a total dick," explains Cecilia, but he seemed to be really into Tina. Cecilia's shocked to hear Tina's dead. A little too shocked, was my initial instinct. Olivia wants to know if Cecilia can describe him, but she's extremely reluctant. Olivia presses, pointing out that Cecilia was the last person to see Tina alive, so Cecilia agrees to sit down with a sketch artist.
The sketch proves effective only in generating hundreds of useless calls to the tip lines, apparently, and the detectives handle them with their usual grace and understanding. But then Olivia gets a call from a frantic Cecilia, who says the guy who left with Tina that night is at the bar. She says she's closing up and the guy is the only one there, and then she screams and doesn't respond to Olivia yelling into the phone.
Elliot and Olivia stroll rather casually into the Mata Hari, where there are stools strewn about, but no actual people. There's also, on the floor, a fairly accurate reproduction of the Venus de Milo -- in smeared blood.
Back in the squad room, the detectives are getting frustrated with their lack of leads -- Cecilia's been missing for four hours. Fortunately, some techie detective has run the blood smear through the Passing Knowledge of Art machine, because NO ONE RECOGNIZED THE VENUS DE MILO. He further connects the smear to artwork by one Robert Morten, whose paintings often depict the Venus in varying states of bloodiness and disembowelment. Yeah, but Robert Morten is serving eight life terms in Sing Sing, so this must be a copycat. Olivia says Morten tortured his victims for 12 hours, so if the copycat is really emulating Morten, they're rapidly running out of time to find Cecilia, and they decide to go to Sing Sing.
Morten's held by prison guards as Elliot and Olivia toss the guy's cell. Elliot even rips up one of Morten's paintings when Morten doesn't feel like co-operating by answering questions about partners or copycats. This means he and Olivia are going to play Good Cop, Art-Hating Cop on Morten, who is doing his best not be overshadowed by any famous "fava beans and a nice Chianti" scenes as he explains that the Venus de Milo speaks to him. And apparently he thinks women without arms and breasts are indeed beautiful. "Show me the crime scene photos, and I'll give you my critique," he says, but the detectives don't bite. They find letters from Morten's lawyers, which they're not allowed to open, and letters from people who are fans of his, one of whom might be carrying on Morten's work outside jail.
First stop: an art gallery with a stereotypical clueless art-loving couple who gush about "outsider art" and are thrilled that the value of one of their paintings is going to go up now that it's been copied in a crime scene. Fin, you might imagine, is less than impressed. up is Chester, interviewing some crazy teacher who writes Morten every week, visits him periodically, and is working on his appeal so she can marry him when he gets out. She's the president of the Free Robert Morten Committee, and the vice-president is...
...Jasper Grice, who was Morten's cellmate, hauled into the station for questioning by the detectives. Elliot says Morten told them how Bryce killed Tina Snow, the whole thing. Grice cops to it, saying he left her in an elevator shaft, choked her and cut her. Come on, it's only twenty-three minutes in! Olivia asks Grice where Cecilia is, but before Bryce can answer, Casey interrupts the questioning, and pulls Elliot and Olivia out to explain that Grice's boss already alibi'd him. Elliot's confused since Grice knows details that weren't released to the press. Cragen strolls up with worse news: a tape recording of a 911 call of a disguised voice warning Olivia to leave Robert alone or she'll wind up like the college student. You're never going to believe this, but Olivia doesn't want to back off, since if they do that, Cecilia's good as dead. The call came in right after the detectives picked up Grice, so they figure there's a connection and go back into the interrogation room to find out just what it is.
Inside, they confront Grice with his alibi, and Elliot makes fun of him for being a wannabe who sucks up to guys who have the balls to do things he won't. But here's his chance to be a hero. "All you have to do is tell us where Cecilia is," says Olivia. "That way you'll be forever linked to Morton," says Elliot. Issue ten, is Grice's answer. Who in the what now? Issue ten of Le Morte, the graphic novel inspired by Morten.
One trip to the Android's Dungeon later, and the cops have all the issues in their hands. Each cover matches a crime scene photo of Morten's victims, at least for the first eight issues. But in the comic book -- sorry, "graphic novel" -- Morten doesn't get caught. And issue nine features a bang-on drawing of a dead woman at the bottom of an elevator shaft. "Someone's picking up where Morton left off," says Elliot. Issue ten's cover features a Venus de Milo rubbed into a massive pool of blood in a bar, just like at the Mata Hari. Since they have only two hours, going by the theory that the copycatter is torturing the victims for 12 hours, to find Cecilia, Cragen tells them to "grab up" the sick mind that produces Le Morte.
That would be one Harrison Thomas, who gets quite upset when the detectives start rifling through his apartment (they have a warrant). The camera makes sure we see that Harrison has a tattoo of a circle with a line through it on his neck, so we know that's going to figure later. Thomas has an alibi, and he certainly doesn't appreciate Olivia making fun of his Ted Bundy undies. Elliot thumbs through a copy of issue ten, noticing that the comic book Morten says he took the victim to the only place that feels comfortable. "Where is this?" he asks Elliot. You'd think somebody should have already looked through the issue with the cover featuring the victim for any clues BEFORE NOW, but here we are. "Robert's childhood home," explains Harrison. And that's where Elliot and Olivia find, on mattresses in a filthy room overrun by rats, a bloody and unconscious Cecilia.
In the hospital, Olivia visits a recovering Cecilia, who doesn't remember anything after sitting down with the sketch artist. Yeah, that's the GHB, explains Olivia, informing Cecilia of the cuts to her chest that are going to require plastic surgery. Cecilia places the blame squarely on Olivia, since if she'd never talked to Olivia, this never would have happened, and asks her to leave.
Back at the squad room, Olivia's annoyed to find out that the comic book artist's alibi checks out, griping about him being allowed to continue to peddle his sick fantasies. Cragen sets her straight by telling her Harrison didn't kill Tina or attack Cecilia: "Find out who did." Fin, holding a pizza box, tells Olivia that her pizza is here. Olivia irritatedly says she didn't order a pizza, and Fin points out it has her name on it. Olivia still doesn't want it. Nobody says, "Hey, hasn't someone threatened Olivia's life?" Fin goes to chuck the pizza out, but in Law & Order's extremely half-assed contribution to NBC's We're Full Of Greenly Goodness theme, Chester tells him to recycle the box: "Don't you care about the environment?" Chester volunteers to eat the pizza, and says his grandfather built it. "Double pepperoni. It'll kill you," says Fin, and Chester throws the box on his desk, whereupon it explodes. And actually fails to kill Chester.
As the victims, including Chester, all with non-life-threatening injuries are all outside getting wheeled into ambulances, Cragen tells Olivia she's off the case. "That bomb had your name on it," he says, unforgivably forgetting to add "literally." Olivia protests, naturally. But Fin's off to do some damage: "Somebody tried to bust my eardrums, I'm going to bust they ass," he snaps.
The forensic guy strolls up with photos comparing the stab wounds of Tina and Cecilia. Same kind of blade, but Cecilia's wounds taper off. Judging by the angle and depth, he'd bet they were self-inflicted. Olivia is all, "Look, a new lead! Pretty please?" and Cragen ends the shortest imposition of desk duty ever.
Searching Cecilia's apartment, Olivia and Elliot find evidence that Cecilia knew Morten: autographed artwork, correspondence dating back years, and an ID badge showing Cecilia to be an intern of the law firm representing Morten. So new theory: Morten wanted Cecilia to kill Tina, which she did, and then covered it up by staging her own assault.
The detectives go over the letters with Cecilia and Morton (separately). Cecilia says Morten knew her dad, who had been in prison with him. While she speaks lovingly of Morten, a more callous Morten smirks as he recalls how Cecilia drank up the words of devotion "like punch at the prom." He told her to get the job at the law firm, because then her visits wouldn't have to be recorded in the log book; while Cecilia says it was so she could help with the appeal, for him it was all about the conjugal visits. "She was a virgin. I plucked her," he says.
Olivia gently prods Cecilia into talking about how there was something missing in her life until she met Robert. "And he filled that hole," says Olivia, not knowing that that's pretty much what Morten is saying too. "But when he left you, that hole got much, much bigger," says Olivia, and Cecilia nods. She won't admit to killing to Tina, but Olivia's already moved onto why Cecilia picked Tina, and notes that Tina looked a lot like Cecilia. "I think you were trying to hurt yourself when you killed Tina," says Olivia. "I wish I would have died," says Cecilia, breaking down, sobbing.
Meanwhile, Morten says Cecilia was and "artistic offering" to him. He can prove Cecilia killed Tina: he knows where the breasts are buried. As the police dig up the breasts, buried at a cemetery, Morten asks for a peek. Olivia wants to give him a peek at her fist, but is fortunately restrained by Elliot, so she doesn't wind up getting this all thrown out on a technicality: this is enough evidence to charge Cecilia with murder.
Back at the station, everything's wrapping up into a neat little package. Olivia's at home getting some shut-eye, and Elliot's heading there too. Fin's off "busting they ass" somewhere, which leaves Munch, who is NOT IN THIS EPISODE AGAIN, and Chester, who's scanning the surveillance tapes for the pizza bomber. He says sleeping's not good for a concussion. Regardless, I imagine there'd be a couple of other cops working the case, considering how it involved a wacko almost blowing them up. Anyway, Chester says they've found the guy on tape but can't a look on his face. Well, keep it up: maybe you'll find an identifying characteristic like a neck tattoo. Elliot takes off, saying his pregnant wife needs peanut butter and a taco, and he and Chester bond over how bitches be crazy when they all pregnant and shit.
Chester calls Olivia's cell phone to give her an update; she's just arriving back at her apartment with a bag of groceries. It doesn't worry her that she needs to screw in a lightbulb in her apartment's hallway. As Chester's talking to her, he finds the pizza delivery guy has a neck tattoo of a circle... "With a line through it?" asks Olivia. Yep. Apparently this guy was careful to hide his face from cameras, wear a ball cap, and strike during shift change so as to take advantage of maximum confusion, but he never thought to wear a turtleneck or something to cover the tattoo.
As fast as she can say "comic book geek," Olivia enters her apartment and gets attacked by said comic book geek, brandishing a knife. She yells over her cellphone that she's been stabbed, and Chester reacts with about as much urgency as he would if Olivia had asked him to feed her goldfish while she's on vacation. But it takes more than a mere knifing to stop Olivia. She bashes her attacker several times with a heavy book. Later, after getting checked out, she wonders how many more people there are out there ready to kill for Morton.
Cecilia's defense attorney, played by Beverly D'Angelo, claims Cecilia would never have committed murder if she hadn't met Morten. Blah blah blah precedent, blah blah blah sexual abuse, blah blah blah, and then Casey says something about Cecilia getting an internship for the purpose of "booty calls under the cloak of privilege." The judge says he'll allow a guilty plea by reason of mental defect.
Trial time! Cecilia's on the stand, prodded by her lawyer to talk about the hold Morten had on her, climaxing with Cecilia unbuttoning her shirt to show the wounds she inflicted upon herself, hoping she'd die. Casey takes in the horrified gasps of the jury, and decides it might be deal time.
She meets with Morten, who pops a boner over her "porcelain skin." She ignores his creepiness to ask if he ever told Cecilia to kill Tina, or ever heard her tell him she was going to kill anyone else. Nope, he says. She wants to call him as a witness for the prosecution, and he agrees on the condition that he get transferred to a federal prison, which has, apparently, better food, better accommodations and a better class of prisoner. When she hesitates, he slimily asks her if the jurors cried after Cecilia's testimony. Tight-lipped, Casey agrees to the deal.
We get to see Morten enter the courtroom, like a boxer making his way to ringside. The courtroom is full of his supporters, by which I mean "people who seriously need to get lives." Morten even has the audacity to wink at Cecilia, who brightens at the attention.
On the stand, Morten changes his story, and says he did tell Cecilia to kill Tina, but how she did it was up to her, since every artist has to make their own choices. "You consider yourself an artist," says Casey. "I think my work speaks for itself," he says, and Casey shows him photographs of the dead Tina, and asks him to compare this work to his own. "It lacks understanding. Depth. With the human canvas, you have the opportunity to do true action painting. Where is the energy? Where is the spatter? This is lifeless dreck. A cheap knockoff of my work. Whoever did this is a talentless hack." Cecilia freaks out this, screaming that she did it for him. And I really hope the bailiffs got fired, because she's able to get to the witness stand and throw her arms around him. Not to hurt him, but to tell him she loves him and to beg for him to tell her the same. He doesn't, and she's carried, screaming from the courtroom.
Morten is led outside to a waiting police van, throngs of his supporters cheering from behind police barricades. Casey's also there, and tells him he did great. "Did you like it? Bet you didn't know what was going to happen ." Morten got Cecilia off; she's going to the psych ward, but Casey's not worried about losing the case; she thinks that's where Cecilia belongs (plus, Casey's kind of used to losing). He thinks Casey's going to back out of their deal, but she says he is indeed going to a federal prison. "You're going to love Florence super-max. Twenty-three-hour lockdown. No visitors, no mail, no phone calls. No human contact for the rest of your life." We made a deal, he protests. "It's a masterpiece. How do you like my work?" she spits, as he's led, bitching, to the van.