A Mother Is Stuck Between A 'Rock And A Hard Place'

See Also: 'Rock and a Hard Place' Episode Guide

Blood is thicker than water.

According to CSI Files sources, "Rock and a Hard Place" opens on a bright morning in Biscayne Bay. A man and woman are riding jet skis, and they both know what they're doing. The woman tells the man that she's impressed with his ability to handle the jet ski, and he responds to her obvious flirtation by agreeing to race her to the outlet. They speed forward, heading toward the bridge up ahead.

The pair flash smiles at each other as they race, but the woman pulls ahead as they near their destination. When she announces that she's won, the man suggests that they go for the best out of three. She agrees, saying they'll start again on the other side of the bridge. She coasts through, but when she reaches the other side, she hears a crash that startles her, followed by a splash. The woman turns her jet ski around and heads back, calling out to the man, asking if he's okay.

The woman finds the man's bloodstained jet ski bobbing against one of the bridge's cement pylons. When she looks around for him, she spots his body floating facedown in the water a few feet away. His skull is cracked open, staining the water blood red. She is terrified.

Horatio arrives at the scene and surveys the damage to the jet ski. The woman, Mary Landis, stands with him. She says it's possible that the victim ran into the pylon, but she points out that he wasn't going too fast--they were just coasting. When Horatio asks the victim's name, Mary admits that she doesn't know. They met on the water, she said, and she thought he knew what he was doing.

Horatio goes over to speak to Alexx as several ME assistants lift the body bag onto a gurney. Alexx unzips the bag and looks at the wound on the victim's head. To inflict that kind of damage, she tells Horatio that the jet ski must have been going extremely fast. Knowing what Mary told him, Horatio makes another suggestion: the pylon didn't crack the man's skull--something fell from the bridge above and killed him.

The team goes up to the bridge to look for evidence of who might have thrown the murder weapon, wondering if they're dealing with a prank gone wrong. They find a small pill on the bridge. The Y2K inscribed on the pill connects back to their victim: Jim Barber. He was busted for selling the pills and did time in jail.

Calleigh speaks to a DEA agent, Brad Sylvestri, who remembers Barber and the Y2K pills. He tells her that they confiscated the pills from Barber, but he also says it's possible that the man had a stash hidden somewhere that he retrieved when he got out of jail. Sylvestri offers to look through Barber's file and try to find a name to help them in their search for the killer.

Delko and Horatio follow a lead to a hotel. Barber was wearing a wristband that the hotel uses to let guests access the pool. The hotel manager leads them to Barber's room, and Delko points out that it's a nice room for a man that just got out of jail. The manager tells them that the man had a security deposit and proof of employment, and that's all the hotel needed. When they get into the hotel room, Horatio notices that the sliding door to the patio is open, and there is a flash of movement beyond the door. He and Delko pull out their guns just in case.

The person standing outside slips through the door, hands raised: it's Mary Landis. That morning she said she didn't know the victim, but now she admits that she was just scared--she and Barber had a fling, and she came back to the hotel room to get her things. She tells them that her relationship with Barber isn't anybody's business, but Horatio informs her that she just made it the MDPD's business.

Meanwhile, Alexx is performing the autopsy on Barber's body. She looks at the shards of stone in his skull, which came from the murder weapon. They are pieces of a rare lavender slate, and they look very familiar to Alexx. She speaks to her husband over the phone, asking him where he put the slate they bought to landscape their backyard. He tells her it's been in their yard since it was delivered, and Alexx's heart sinks. Nobody could have stolen it without having access to their yard.

Alexx speaks to her son Bryan and asks if any of his friends have been into the backyard--one of the stones was stolen and used as a murder weapon, and she's worried about her son's possible involvement. Bryan tells her the only person he's seen in the backyard that day is Horatio. Alexx is shocked--Horatio already knows.

Please note that the above plot details have not been confirmed by CBS, Alliance Atlantis or Bruckheimer Films, and until such time you should treat this information as you would any other rumour. The above information comes from early script drafts and the details of the episodes are liable to change before the episodes are shown.

"Rock and a Hard Place" will air May 5 on CBS.

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