1st to Die

David and Melanie Brandt have just been married in a ceremony held in a San Francisco hotel. They are in a hotel suite celebrating, when David gives Melanie earrings as a wedding gift. As they discuss the gift, someone knocks on the door. Melanie goes into the bathroom to try on the earrings and David answers the door.

When David Brandt opens the hotel room door, Phillip Campbell congratulates him and hands him a bottle of champagne. As David studies the bottle, Phillip stabs him in the chest. David falls to the floor. Phillip assesses his feelings, surprised he was capable of the crime. He hears Melanie’s voice coming from the bathroom. Melanie rushes toward David, but Phillip stops her and plunges the knife into her too. When she is dead, he carries her into the bedroom.

Lindsay visits her doctor to receive test results from a recent physical. The doctor tells Lindsay that she has “Negli’s aplastic anemia” (14), a rare blood disorder where the body is no longer able to make red blood cells. The doctor tells Lindsay this condition can potentially be fatal.

Lindsay can continue to work, but she will have to undergo intensive treatment. The doctor wants her to meet with a hematologist immediately, but Lindsay receives a page from her partner, Warren Jacobi, calling her to the scene of a double murder.

Lindsay arrives at the Hyatt still reeling from the news the doctor has given her. She learns she is in charge of the scene as she makes her way to the 30th floor. The first body is near the door. The bodies were discovered by the assistant manager of the hotel when the couple failed to check out as planned. Lindsay checks the man’s wallet, and then follows Warren into the bedroom where the bride is posed on the bed, still in her wedding dress.

Lindsay notes the bottle of champagne and a folded tuxedo jacket near the male victim. Lindsay gives Warren instructions to interview all the wedding guests, including the groom’s parents. Lindsay then rushes to the elevator because she feels herself becoming emotional.

Phillip Campbell hangs around outside the hotel, enjoying the fuss that he knows is about the crime he has committed.

Cindy Thomas is a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her beat is normally local interest, but she is the only one available when news of the double murder comes in. Cindy knows this is her chance to prove herself, so she bluffs her way into the hotel. Inside, she talks to the bellhop pretending to be a frustrated guest, which is how she discovers what room the murders took place in.

Cindy gets to the door of the suite and sees the male victim before one of the cops confronts her and quickly escorts off the scene to the elevator Lindsay has just boarded. In the lobby, Cindy follows Lindsay into the bathroom where Lindsay attempts to hide her emotional state. Cindy offers words of comfort, but Lindsay suspects it is a ploy to get information and blows Cindy off.

Lindsay returns to her office at the Hall of Justice where she and Jacobi go over what little evidence they have gathered. Lieutenant Sam Roth comes into the room late in the evening and yells at them because Cindy has written an exclusive on the murders. Lindsay realizes the whole day has passed and she hasn’t called the hematologist.

Lindsay goes home, walks her dog, Sweet Martha, and makes dinner of pasta and sauce. She thinks about how much she dislikes being alone: She is divorced, her father left the family when she was young, and her mother died when she was in college. She has a sister named Cat, but Cat doesn’t live close.