Tess's Corner

Episode recaps by Tess Gerritsen

Don't Stop Dancing, Girl (Season 2, Episode 14)

Competition is fierce among the young girls at the Sapphire Dance Studio, and no dancer is more envied than talented young Dakota Ryan. When Dakota's mother Denise staggers onstage during a recital, trailing blood from a fatal stab wound, the obvious suspects are rival stage mothers who'd earlier tangled with Denise. But all the suspects have alibis, and during the autopsy, Maura turns up a puzzling find: the victim had extensive plastic surgery, drastically changing her appearance. Jane is equally surprised when she can't find any evidence of Denise's existence prior to ten years ago.

Who was the real Denise Ryan, and why was she hiding? Was she in the federal Witness Protection Program? The tight-lipped feds won't share a thing, and Boston PD is on its own as it searches for the dead woman's secret identity – an identity that may have killed her.

In the midst of their hunt for Denise's killer, Jane's team is rocked by personal news. Korsak's 16-year-old stepson, Josh, has been arrested for shooting a Boston police officer. Years earlier, Josh was wrenched from Korsak's life after a divorce. Still bitter about the years of separation, Josh wants nothing to do with Korsak, even though his father may be the only one who can prove his innocence.

As both investigations hurtle toward shocking conclusions, it will take Maura's scientific eye and Jane's lightning reflexes to stop a potential tragedy that no one can see coming.