abstract
| - A student is found shot to death outside a ritzy prep school in Murray Hill. The detectives have a hard time identifying the body, and it takes them a lot of legwork to track down his identity. But a special key he was wearing around his neck is traced to an upscale apartment building in the area. The victim is Scott Wilder, the son of very powerful and wealthy real estate magnate Peter Wilder and his wife Johanna. They're devastated at the news of Scott's death, but they say that they hadn't spoken to him in two years. Briscoe and Green track down Scott's girlfriend, Karen Drucker, who admits that he was involved in some drug deals. They also discover that another woman, not matching Karen's description, was seen arguing with him outside the school. The woman, Jessie Lucas, had left a card from a gynecologist with Scott, and when Karen found it, she threw him out. They suspect that Jessie was sleeping with Scott, but Jessie admits what was going on. She claims that Scott was her brother. Apparently, Peter had an affair with Jessie's mother, Brenda, and she was told that Peter was her father. But a kinship test came up negative, in other words, she and Scott weren't related. But Jessie also admits that the night Scott died, she and Scott were still going to extort $250,000 from Peter in exchange for keeping quiet. Jessie backed out at the last minute, and now the detectives suspect Peter of killing Scott. Peter admits that he was with Scott the night he died. Scott apparently had taken Peter's gun without his knowledge. When Peter showed up and refused to pay the money because he found out Jessie was not his daughter, Scott, losing to Peter yet again, took the gun and pointed it at himself. Peter tried to grab it, but Scott put the gun to his own head, and pulled the trigger. Peter has to live the rest of his life without Scott, and also without Johanna, who is so appalled that she has left Peter.
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