TEXT: Ext. Daytime. A property overlooking the sea, a garden party. Harrington Estate, Atherson, California Alex Harrington: Let's do it. Thank you, Sadie. Mm-hmm. My friends, I am so proud and happy to welcome you to this celebration of my son Xander, the new C. E.O. of Harrington Media. Where is the little cuss, anyway? Late for work already, not a good sign. Tara Harrington: Elizabeth, text him, would you? Elizabeth Stanfeld: I got it. Tara Harrington: Um, I am sure my husband has a very good excuse for his... (a disoriented man appears at the top of the stairs) Ah, there you are, Xander. (hand on his bloody neck, he collapses) Indoors (in the office Xander Harrington, Cho, Jane, Lisbon, Rigsby) Cho: That's what killed Xander Harrington, and this is where he was attacked. Now the blood trail starts here, right where the letter opener was found. The deputy coroner says it was a single stab wound to the neck. Lisbon: Mmm. Cho: Now the blow sends him backwards. He slams his head, goes down. He's dazed, slowly bleeding out for a good 20 minutes or so, then somehow gathers himself up and goes for help. Coroner couldn't believe he even made it out to the party. Rigsby: Party which was for him. Guy just got a big promotion. Had a wife and kid. How sad is that? Lisbon: Sad. Anything else? Rigsby: Well, according to the victim's father, there was a confidential business file on this desk that's gone missing. Nothing else taken. Jane: What was the file about? Rigsby: Plans for the "Daily Observer", newspaper. Debt restructuring, cost cutting, layoffs. Lisbon: Layoffs? Jane: Any "Observer" employees invited to the party? Ext. reception (At a table, 2 women, 2 men) Jane: So you're reporters for the, uh, "Observer."
SUMMARY:
Jane and the CBI team are called to the murder of Xander Harrington; a media mogul and a wealthy media corporation's CEO. The investigation leads to the Visualize Self-Realization Center -- a cult-like religious group whose leader, Bret Stiles, may have had an axe to grind following the publication of a critical story about his group. Jane frets when Stiles mentions the death of his wife and daughter.