Consumed (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)

"Consumed"
Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 21 (#67 overall)
Directed by	Steve Shill
Written by	Dick Wolf (creator) René Balcer (developer) Warren Leight (story)
Production code	E4524
Original air date	March 28, 2004
Guest stars
Larry Pine Bill Sage Karen Sillas Richard Council Brian O'Neill Christine Farrell
Episode chronology
← Previous "D.A.W." Next → "Semi-Detached"

"Consumed" is the third season finale episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Plot summary

Three Hispanic men are found dead, all shot within a 10-minute period in an apparent hate crime. Examining the bodies, Goren and Eames discover that they were hit a total of six times, exactly matching the number of shots reported by residents and indicating that the shooter had good aim. A bullet casing at the third scene is soon matched to an NYPD service firearm used by Officer Thomas Callahan, whose behavior has become erratic since he was involved in a self-defense shooting. Callahan turns up in a subway tunnel, having fallen off the platform and broken his leg, with no memory of how he got there.

As the detectives investigate, they learn that Callahan is a bachelor and that Beth Landau, his neighbor, goes to great lengths to look after him, including cooking meals and ironing his laundry. Interviews with other officers and around the neighborhood point to his habit of drinking in bars until last call, oddly stiff movements at these times, and difficulty waking up in the morning. In the hospital, Callahan is kept under close watch and heavy sedation, since he is now the prime suspect in the three shootings. At Goren's request, Carver has the sedation stopped; Callahan's sudden change in demeanor reveals that he suffers from parasomnia. His firing range records indicate that he is a poor shot, suggesting that someone else killed the men and took advantage of his condition to frame him.

Beth is actually Elizabeth Post, who has been involved in a seven-year divorce proceeding. Her husband Bingham has been in jail this entire time on a contempt of court charge for failing to disclose assets that she was trying to claim, while she found herself cut off from the money and had to make her own way. Eddie Mercado, the first man killed and an old friend of Bingham's, played in a piano bar and often worked cruises to the Cayman Islands, smuggling money from Bingham's account there back into the United States. Though he would have carried a fake book to help him through his gigs - one that would almost certainly have had the account number in it - no such item was found on the body. Believing at first that Elizabeth may have hired a private investigator to track Eddie's movements, the detectives instead find evidence that she did that job herself. She has also put in time at a firing range and become an excellent shot.

The Posts come to a reconciliation of sorts, with Bingham being released from prison to meet with her so they can make plans to split the $15 million he had in the offshore account. They are interrupted by Goren and Eames, and Goren opens a bottle of wine the two had intended to share. From it he pours out a pile of ashes and a wire spiral binding - the remains of Eddie's fake book, which Elizabeth burned in an act of revenge. Without the account information in the book, neither she nor Bingham will be able to touch the money.

Bingham is shocked to learn of what his wife has done, but he gets an even bigger surprise when the detectives explain the shootings to him. Having found Eddie, Elizabeth shot him with Callahan's weapon while the half-asleep officer was with her. She took him along as she killed the other two men, disposed of the gun, and let Callahan wander into the subway, not caring what happened to him after that. Elizabeth is arrested for the three murders, while Goren and Eames reflect on the futility of her obsession with vengeance.

Cast

Vincent D'Onofrio	Det. Robert Goren
Kathryn Erbe	Det. Alexandra Eames
Jamey Sheridan	Capt. James Deakins
Courtney B. Vance	A.D.A. Ron Carver

External links

• IMDb
• Official Website