It's Anything But Fun And Games In 'Child's Play'

See Also: 'Child's Play' Episode Guide

A jokester has the tables turned, and tragedy hits close to home for one CSI.

According to CSI Files sources, "Child's Play" opens on the hip club scene in New York City--Chelsea to be exact. One of the young party-goers is Essex Palmer. This guy doesn't wait in the line outside of the club, he goes right past the velvet rope. He enters the Cabana Habana club without missing a step while other people are turned away at the door. Essex walks up to the bar and orders some Louix XIII de Rémy Martin cognac. The bartender is impressed that he's willing to spend that kind of money, and Essex tells her that he's celebrating a big business deal.

When Essex pulls out his wallet, the bartender suggests that he starts a tab. When he puts his wallet back and leaves it sticking halfway out of his back pocket, a thug sees the easy opportunity. Essex notices a hot young woman at the other end of the bar and tells the bartender he'll pay for her next margarita. When the bartender turns her back in the process of making the drink for her, Essex leans forward to drop something in the glass.

The bartender delivers the margarita as Essex pulls out a cigar, trims the end and lights it. Meanwhile, the thug eases closer to lift the unsuspecting Essex's wallet. Then several things happen all at once: the young woman sees something in her drink and shrieks, the thug reaches for the wallet, and Essex takes a long pull off of his cigar. Suddenly, BOOM, there's an explosion in the bar.

Flack, Stella and Lindsay show up at the crime scene, and Essex Palmer's body lies on the ground with a gaping hole where his nose and mouth used to be. Flack interviews the hottie Essex bought the margarita for, and she is obviously pissed that he stuck a fake bug in her glass. As Flack discovers, Essex was a regular, and he liked to play jokes on people. Stella and Lindsay wonder who might have had it in for Essex and what joke he could have played that would have earned him a deadly exploding cigar in return.

Meanwhile, Ruben Sandoval pounds on Danny's apartment door and wakes him up. Danny promised to take him to get his bike blessed this morning. Danny obviously forgot, but he doesn't let Ruben down. Ruben's mother, Rikki, smiles from the door of their apartment down the hall and tells them to have fun. Danny takes Ruben to the church, and the reverend says a blessing for safety and happiness and sprinkles holy water over the bike. Ruben is excited and, on the way home, wonders out loud if his mom will let him ride the bike by himself now--he's ten, after all.

Ruben tells Danny to time him to the corner and takes off on the bike. As Ruben passes a bodega, a man runs out, followed by the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. In the pandemonium that ensues, Danny yells for Ruben to go home. They're a block and a half from their apartment building, and he wants Ruben out of harm's way. He doesn't realize that the bullet found a target...

When a body is found in an alley near the bodega, Danny and Hawkes go to the morgue. Danny is shocked to see that the victim is Ruben, his lifeless body a stark contrast to the vibrant little boy Danny had seen only a few hours before. Hawkes has to drag Danny away. Mac works the case with Hawkes as they try to track down the man that fled from the bodega. He robbed the store at gunpoint, and they need to find out if his gun matches the bullet they pulled out of Ruben Sandoval.

Flack, Stella and Lindsay follow their case to Laughing Larry, a joke shop owner who sells exploding cigars. He denies that one of the cigars from his store would kill someone, and he insists that he would have no reason to hurt Essex. The other man was about to make a deal that would help him out of his money troubles. Meanwhile, as Mac and Hawkes investigate Ruben's death, their quest to find the robber might not solve the case.

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.

"Child's Play" is expected to air December 12 on CBS.

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