See Also: 'Room Service' Episode Guide

At the start of this season's second CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's episode, it seems as if the CSIs will have to deal with three wildly different cases, as Grissom and Sara try to figure out whether a cabbie found dead in the wreckage of his taxi was simply the victim of an accident; Catherine, Nick and Brass head to a rundown apartment building where a nighttime shooting was reported; and Warrick, Greg and Sofia investigate the death of an up-and-coming movie star.

According to CSI Files sources, in "Room Service" Grissom and Sara will find the dead cabbie slumped over his wheel, his taxi wrapped around a bus shelter. But even a cursory examination reveals it's not the crash that killed him: he's got a bullet in his neck, and two bullet holes in the back of the car suggest he was shot while sitting in the rear passenger seat. Did someone hijack the taxi, then shoot the cabbie when they had no further use for his car? From the driver's dispatch log, Grissom and Sara determine that the cabbie took his final customer from a rural gas station to someplace on Oakey Boulevard. Grissom is surprised when he hears the latter address -- it's where Catherine's crime scene is located!

Grissom leaves Sara to handle the cabbie investigation on her own and quickly drives over to the apartment building. Brass and a few cops are still questioning the building's residents, unaware of the full extent of what may have happened. But then Grissom and Catherine notice a small hole in the door of one of the apartments that Brass and his men haven't yet gotten to. A quick chemical spot test reveals traces of lead, confirming their suspicion: someone fired a shot from inside the apartment. Brass tells the CSIs to step aside, and kicks in the door. In the corner of the apartment, he sees an Asian man, looking terribly scared -- and clutching a shotgun. Brass shouts at the man to drop his weapon, but he just stares back wide-eyed. Doesn't the man understand what Brass is saying? Or is he high on drugs, liable to shoot if Brass doesn't take him out first?

Completely separate from all of this is the case of Julian Hopper, 23, formerly Hollywood's hottest commodity, now just a dead body in a luxurious hotel suite. Warrick and Sofia begin the arduous task of interviewing the movie star's rather bizarre entourage, starting with his manager, 33-year old Eva Ortiz. She used to be Julian's wife, back when he was still a struggling actor, but says it was a mutual decision to make the relationship strictly business when he hit the big time. And then there's Blinky, Julian's professional best friend, paid to pick up girls and bring them to Julian's hotel room. Just before he found Julian's body, Blinky was apparently getting ready to entertain himself with one of his boss's leftovers -- he's still dressed in a bath robe, hesitant to stand up for fear he will reveal the embarassing result of an oversized dosis of Viagra. Warrick can hardly hide his disgust.

Warrick's opinion of Blinky doesn't get any better when he goes to the hospital to interview a girl who was found unconscious in another room in Julian's hotel suite. Her name is Kate, and a medical examination reveals traces of cocaine and a sleeping pill strong enough to put out a horse. Kate admits to taking the drugs, but says she didn't take any pill -- the last thing she remembers is partying with Julian, then being terribly disappointed when he picked another girl to go up to his room with him. Blinky led Kate away, offered her a drink, and then she can only barely recall Blinky making a move on her. Warrick says she can file date rape charges, but Kate refuses -- if word got out she ratted on Julian Hopper's best friend, that'd be the end of her groupie career. And besides, when Kate realises she was found half-naked in Julian's suite on the night she died, she's far too excited to think about Blinky for much longer. Man, are her girlfriends going to be envious when she tells this story!

The CSIs now know for sure that Blinky's a disgusting rat, but that's not enough to put him behind bars -- and it certainly doesn't help them get any closer to finding out who killed Julian. But then Greg finds a promising lead: security footage shows a known Las Vegas burglar sneaking into the hotel. Could Julian Hopper's death have been the result of a robbery gone wrong?

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.

"Room Service" is expected to air on the 29th of September, 2005.

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!