Body of Proof Episode 1.06 Society Hill

Daphne Zimmer is the editor of Society Fair magazine. Well, she was until her body was found floating in the pool at her Chestnut Hill mansion. Even though there are signs of a struggle, Megan determines that the victim has been dead for at least two days. Oh, and one more thing. Megan's mom was Daphne's friend.

There's a lock of hair floating in the pool that doesn't belong to the victim. Megan asks Curtis to analyze some blow fly maggots found in the victim's ear to lock down time of death. Ethan gets to dissect the hair. Megan wants to find the hair donor herself at the Society Fair offices. The place is filled with busy little workers. None of them seem to know that their boss is dead.

Daphne's assistant, Stephen Burkett, is a nervous hair-twirler who claims he hasn't seen the boss lady for five days. Megan discovers acrylic nail marks in the victim's skin. They belong to her office manager, Lauren Matthews, who says she had pull Daphne away when she went ballistic on a copy editor.

Surveillance video shows Stephen Burkett getting angry after a phone call with Daphne five days ago. He was ticked because she sent him to Chicago to get a scarf. Bud says, "That's the most ridiculous errand I've ever heard of." That coupled with the fact that Daphne was holding Stephen back from writing professionally could be a motive for murder.

Megan says the timeline doesn't fit for Burkett to be the killer. She also learns Daphne suffered from kidney problems that probably began after she'd been beaten up about a year ago. Peter believes her unreported assault may be linked to department store magnate Colin Lloyd. Daphne printed a story that cost him millions. Megan realizes the only way to question this guy without his lawyers around is to crash a black tie party. Guess who's coming to dinner?

Peter rents a tux and Megan dons a dandy dress that she surely won't ever be wearing in the morgue. Our favorite medical examiner poses for a picture with her prime suspect. She plucks a piece of hair from Colin's head before he can even say cheese. CLICK! The picture's snapped, the suspect is ticked and Megan's mom, Joan Hunt, is humiliated.

The photo Peter took shows Colin to have an eye disease that he passed on to his son, Timmy Akers, who just happens to be an intern for Society Fair magazine. Timmy doesn't get along with dear old dad. In fact, he's the one who gave Daphne the inside scoop on Colin Lloyd. Timmy ran errands for her. He'd get things like bottled water because she was always thirsty and a space heater because she was always cold.

Ethan finds traces of arsenic and lead in the hair. He asks an unusually happy Kate to help him do further analysis. Ethan wonders what has his boss so giddy. It could have something to do with those secret phone calls she's been taking. In other news, Curtis locks down the time of death as two days which makes Stephen Burkett a viable suspect once again. The fact that he was secretly feeding aspirin into Daphne's sensitive system to keep her home sick is enough to get him for involuntary manslaughter. But Megan isn't satisfied.

Megan realizes that micro-bleeds around the heart suggest Daphne's cause of death was electrocution. Kate and Ethan determine the mystery hair is over a hundred years old. Other elements found on it may have come from a keepsake locket like the one Lauren Matthews wears. As it turns out, Lauren was upset about a writing competition Daphne opened up to everyone. She confronted her boss at her home. An argument escalated to the point where Lauren tossed Daphne and her plugged-in space heater into the pool. Case closed.

Megan is pleasantly surprised when Peter invites her out for drinks with the gang. She won't be able to join them though. Her mom asked her to dinner as part of a truce for the problems they've had in the past. Megan shows up a few minutes late, but mom doesn't seem to mind. She says, "I didn't give up on you, you know?" This little tidbit makes Megan smile.