CSI’s episode “Merchants of Menace” began with images of a woman being held hostage as someone drew her photo. It turns out to be a flashback since there is a man holding a drawing as he encourages a customer to buy it. There is a man selling things geared toward serial killer items and one customer even has a prolific serial killer on his shirt, who was seen in an earlier season. A man is bidding a car that was used by an actual serial killer when a real dead body is found in the car. They all think he’s fake until his friend begins calling for help.
Morgan and Cooper identify the man as Damon Harlow, who works for True Crime Collectibles with a partner. The collectibles from actual killers came from various outlets, including the incarcerated prisoners themselves. The car the victim was found in belonged to Lucas Reem, who was recently executed after killing ten women 20 years earlier.
David tells Morgan the victim died around midnight and that he had stab wounds. The customers are still staring as they process the scene. Cooper talks to Harlow’s partner, who doesn’t know who would want to kill Damon.
Morgan is processing the car when she finds fresh prints. Greg comes in to help Morgan as she tells him about the prints. As David leaves to go get another camera since his memory is full, two customers come to try and take a photo with the body. Greg pushes them away and one of the cops takes their IDs. One of them is wearing a Nate Haskill shirt. Greg reams them out before sending them on their way.
Morgan tells Greg the prints came back to Nora Waters, whose sister was one of Lucas Reem’s victims. At the lab, Sara talks to Nora, who goes through the memory of watching her sister’s murder while she hid in the closet. Sara is shocked when Nora admits she was dating Damon. She had written him an e-mail a year earlier in disgust of what he did and he had taken her to coffee to talk about why he studied serial killers. She tells Sara she was in bed during his murder.
Cooper sees Nora’s dad, Bruce Waters, asking the receptionist where his daughter is. DB talks to him and Bruce admits he knew Nora was dating Damon and tells Cooper his daughter is fragile after what she went through. He tells Cooper he’d do anything for her.
Nick goes down to see Robbins during the autopsy. The victim died after 11 stab wounds that may have been from a Chef’s knife, like the one Lucas Reem used. He finds a bone fragment inside of Damon’s body, which may have been from an old injury. Robbins found he had gone through a lot of violence and they figure it could have been a reason he was fascinated with violence and Robbins talks about going to the Bonnie and Clyde car.
Nick takes the bone fragment to Hodges, who analyzed it and found that it had been sharpened and was made into a weapon. Henry comes to tell them the DNA found in the bone belonged to Lucas Reem himself.
Nick tells Cooper about the findings and then Morgan comes to tell them a photo from Harlow’s table before the murder showed a knife that was missing on the day of the murder. His business partner, Alex Friel, had said Damon dealt in shady business with bones of serial killers. They also know they need to figure out what happened to Reem’s bones to lead them where they are.
Cooper talks to Mr. Narvick about what happened to Reem’s body after his execution. He was in charge of the mortuary where Reem’s body was taken and he said it was stolen while he was taking a phone call. He hadn’t called police because it would ruin business and he wanted Reem’s victims families to believe he had been cremated. He did find a liquor bottle left behind by the thief and held onto it.
Finlay processes the liquor bottle for prints and they come back to a man named Todd Spanna. Nick recognizes him from Reem’s case file as the man who turned Reems in after seeing him wash blood off his hands. He has apparently been milking his connection with Reem since the murder.
Nick speaks to Spanna in interrogation. The man claims he had nothing to do with stealing Reem’s body and that anyone could have taken his liquor bottle. He tells Nick about the Blood Market, which is where people go to buy things regarding serial killers that are not legal, including snuff films and actual bones.
After getting Spanna’s user name and password info, Finlay goes into the site as Cooper comes for information. She is able to find out that a user by the name of DesertSky60 was tracking down the knives made from Lucas Reem’s bones and someone connected him with Damon. That user turns out to be Bruce Waters and Cooper remembered that Bruce was unhappy that Damon profited from others’ pain as Morgan comes to tell them she got a print from the table cloth at Damon’s table and it belonged to a male family member of Nora’s.
Nick and Cooper talk about Bruce, who hasn’t been seen since around lunchtime. In the lab, Sara talks to Nora and tells her that her dad looks guilty, but Nora says that Damon was helping them to find relics of Lucas Reem’s remains so they could be destroyed. They had found the person selling them and were supposed to meet that night. Nora didn’t want anyone to stop her dad.
Nick and Sara go to the lot where the meeting was supposed to take place. But they find Bruce’s body instead. He had been stabbed and a gun is found nearby. It was never loaded and they figure since Bruce didn’t have the money he said he did for the sale, then the killer called his bluff and killed him. The gun was Bruce’s to use for leverage. They find trace on his body and something inside his mouth.
Sara tells Morgan the object was black suede and that it was likely from a jacket. She finds a photo of Reem wearing a black suede jacket with fringe and that the strand in Bruce’s mouth had a DNA contribution from Reem. Morgan remembers an odd blood pattern at the car crime scene and deduces it came from the jacket. They figure the murderer of Damon Harlow is also the murderer of Bruce.
Nick talks to Spanna again, who is vague about what he knows regarding the jacket. He eventually tells Nick that the people from the Blood Market won’t talk to cops and Nick says he’ll pretend to be one of them. Spanna tells him about a party and Nick says he will bring something very valuable.
Nick goes to a building where a man lets him in after seeing what he brought, telling him to show Gunnar first. He goes upstairs where he sees people looking at items such as dolls, knives, and blood. Nick shows his piece to Gunnar, which is one of the items made by the Miniature Killer. He asks Gunnar about Lucas Reem items, who then calls someone named Jacob. He is wearing a black suede jacket with fringe on it and Nick tries to play it cool as he sees the rest of the Lucas Reem bone knives. Jacob sees his vein throbbing in his neck and puts the knife to his neck. After being warned to take it away, the cops arrive to put a stop to their dealings.
Henry processes the knives and the black jacket is also analyzed as Finlay talks to Jacob Warren. He seems to confess to the murders, as he talks about Lucas Reem being reincarnated inside his relics. However, Finlay gets a text from Hodges saying the jacket isn’t a match to the actual killer. She tells Jacob she knows the jacket is a fake and he says he only heard about the murder at work. Finlay gets him for an obstruction charge.
Sara tells Cooper that none of the knives were a match to Lucas Reem’s DNA and that one of the knives was a match to a serial killer from 15 years earlier. She found out the morticial who handled his body was Roy Narvick, who likely took the bodies for his own collection.
Cooper interviews Narvick, who says what he did was only a misdemeanor and he never killed anyone. He offers to give Cooper his client list in exchange for forgiveness of his own penalties. Morgan goes through the list as Greg comes in to talk to her. She tells him the same person bought the knives used in the murder and when she mentions “Dead Owl Creek,” Greg recognizes the name as one of the guys who ran under the crime scene tape from earlier.
Greg and the cops see Kyle looking at photos of Reem. He turns as Greg speaks to him about finding the jacket and knives in his car. Kyle goes on about being one with Lucas and Greg points out he will be closer to that because of the death penalty as he signals the cops to make the arrest.
Cooper talks to Nora, who talks about how the nightmare never ended for her father and it had led to his own life being lost as Greg leads Kyle through a crowd of people.
Image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com