When a young secretary from City Hall, Dianne Johnson, turns up raped and killed on a beach, medical examiner Dr. Quincy suspects more than the Open-and-Shut Case his superiors want to see. However, prying into the series of deaths that results and the corruption that caused it all could be murder.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Dissonant Serenity: When forced to give a lecture to recruits before he can do anything else involving the case, Quincy makes the required autopsy as grotesque as possible while giving a blase commentary about the gruesome details. None of them make it more than a few minutes.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While Lee complains about how horribly the visit to Mexico went, she mentions the x-rays they have in memory of the event. Then Quincy realizes the killer, who disguised one of his victims' deaths by crashing a car, probably also had to get x-rays, which could incriminate him.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Partway through the episode, Quincy performs an autopsy as some rookie police officers observe. They all pass out, but all we see are the tools used and the cops dropping.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Dianne's predecessor got murdered by her boyfriend, who then drove the car off a cliff in an attempt to cover up the fatal injury. It worked until Quincy got involved.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: One of Dianne's former coworkers shows little hesitation in telling Quincy she disliked the woman, who she describes as a pushy ladder-climber who specialized in rising by seducing her bosses.
- Vomiting Cop: Invoked. Forced into giving a lecture to rookies mid-case, Quincy purposely lets the demonstration become as gruesome as possible. More than one of the recruits has to dodge out to throw up.
- Vorpal Pillow: The killer murders an accomplice by choking him and covering his face with a pillow to finish the job.
