Da Vinci's Inquest

Episode 1

Not So Pretty Now

44 mins

Da Vinci investigates the death of three people in three separate incidents. The first is a homeless woman commonly known as the pigeon lady, her dead body found on a church's steps where she could usually be found feeding the pigeons. Da Vinci is concerned that the church's newly implemented nighttime closed door policy may have exacerbated the death. Beyond determining the cause of death, Maria finds among the pigeon lady's possessions an interesting news article which may provide a clue as to why she was at that specific church. The second is a sixteen year old woman named Alice Fellows. Although she was high on ecstasy which could have contributed to the incident, she was killed in a hit and run. What little information the authorities have is the offending vehicle is a silver Mercedes for which they have a partial license plate. Later, McNab gets a positive identification of the vehicle and its high profile owner, who claims the car was stolen. The third is a charged money launderer named Michael Zang, who purportedly shot himself in the office of his lawyer, Richard Norton. Because Da Vinci believes that Norton isn't telling the entire truth about the death, Da Vinci calls in Homicide to apply a little pressure on Norton. Zang's wife Vera, who is called in to provide testimony, has other things on her mind. With Da Vinci preoccupied with these cases, Lou takes his first case as a coroner. It is of an aboriginal youth named Roy Cardinale, whose dead body is found by the railroad tracks. He was seemingly killed by a train running over him, but there is evidence that he was severely beaten before his death. Beyond physical evidence at the site, Kosmo and Leary, who lead this investigation, learn a bit more about Roy from Constable Carter, who tells a story of a relatively harmless and well liked petty criminal but who was well known to all those in the police department on patrol. On other business, Suki tells Kosmo and Leary of an incident at Brian's storage garage. Their investigation of him has stalled otherwise. On more personal matters, Kosmo tells Leary about someone that is interested in him. That and a request by Carter are some of the first steps for Leary to a more stable existence. And Da Vinci ultimately gets the news about whether he got the Chief of Police job.