Law & Order · S13, E17
Genius
A man is found stabbed to death under a cab. He was moonlighting for a cab driver he attended AA meetings with. The deceased is a former KKK member who is living in New York under an alias. The victim had a book, "A Season in Hell" and rare Cuban cigar on him when he was killed. The book purchase is traced to Nelson Lambert (Stanley Anderson), another author who claims he was extremely drunk the night before. Lambert has a long and detailed conversation about murder with Detective Green (Jesse L. Martin) over a few drinks, while Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) checks out his alibi. Lambert was at Helen's restaurant catering to the literati. He talks with Helen (Sonia Braga) and she informs him he was with another author named Clay Warner (David Wike). Clay's prints are found on the book and the detectives learn he had served time in Sing Sing on a drug charge. He also describes the type of killing (stab wound to the chest) that killed the victim. The detectives arrest Clay, but Lambert, who was Clay's patron saint while he was in prison, is now starting his "save the genius" campaign.
