here's keith morrison. >>> five to seven minutes, the time it takes for a cigarette to burn.he time it takes to tamp down a craving. or cover up a crime. or mark the time between life and death. it was mother's day weekend 1989, the los angeles suburb of whittier. that's when it p happened in a condo there, where they found the burned-down smoke at the heart of mystery. or maybe smoke screen is what it was. in the start of a search that would go on 14 years and would lead, well, who would have believed it? certainly not rhonda flemming and her 25-year-old sister christy who were scheduled to take her mom to a brunch that morning. >> we were going to meet at my mother's house. i just called christy, just to check in, and the line was busy. a few minutes later i called again, line was gbusy. i called, called, called, her phone was busy all saturday morning, which seemed strange. >> so rhonda went to her mother's house anyway, thinking her younger sister would show up. but -- >> christy wasn't there which was very unusual because she was always on time. never, ever late. and my

nbc's keith morrison joins us with a preview of "recipe for murder." keith? >> thank you. hello. are the kind of people who simply cannot stand to lose, not anything, not in business or in life. so imagine the case of a deli owner whose signature dessert, the killer cake, just won't turn out right, and whose wife just won't accept his terms for divorce, and supposing that person tries to hire someone to kill her. only that someone turns out to be, of course, he doesn't know it, an undercover fbi agent. here's a taste. right here began a precarious dance between the fbi agent and the man who always liked to call the shots. a man who didn't know that this time the shots were being called on him. assuming that in this dance the would-be hitman could win sandler's trust. he's an undercover agent. we agreed to conceal his identity. >> there are things about somebody you can talk about and open conversation that makes you agreeable and understanding you can talk. >> what kind of bike you got? >> harley. >> which one? >> road king. >> oh, that's a bike. dude, you live in the world, baby

we'll have keith morrison on.cover operations to save a wife and mother who had no idea she was ever in any danger. the entire mission was secretly recorded by the fbi. we'll have more on that. contessa picks up things at the top of the next hour and she's got with her, nicholas christof. also ahead, new developments in the murder of summer thompson, the girl whose body was found in landfill last october. >>> plus, the reunion we're talk about. sarah palin, john mccain together again. can she help mr. mccain win? [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between,