Season Finale. The CSIs investigate when the body of an unidentified young woman is discovered stuffed in an overturned shopping cart near a freeway underpass. Her horribly disfigured and partially decomposed face is a nightmare of blood, scabs and scars, as if she'd been shoved into a fan. A huge circular hole dominates her left cheek. Someone not only wanted her dead, Grissom reasons, but "they wanted her ugly." Adding to the mystery are the cart's other contents: an expensive handbag, fashion magazines and a leather day planner with notes written in code.
[EXT. LAS VEGAS (STOCK) - NIGHT] [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT] (A woman is preparing to take a bath. She wraps a towel around her naked body. She removes her underwear while the water in the tub fills with hot water and bubbles.) (She tests the temperature of the bath water with her foot.) (She adds bath oil/bath scent to the water.) [SCENE_BREAK] (Close up of a cosmetics kit being unrolled.) [SCENE_BREAK] (The woman is sitting in front of a dressing mirror. She is facing the mirror and her back is to us. We can't see her face. She puts her hair up and holds it in place with a hair clip.) (She selects a pair of tweezers from the cosmetics kit.) [SCENE_BREAK] (Top view shot of the bath tub filling with water.) (Cut to: The woman starts on her pre-bath ritual.) (Cut to: A top view of the bath tub with bath bubbles and a fashion magazine, "VEGAS" on the floor nearby. The water flows over the lip of the tub onto the floor. The water and bath bubbles cover the magazine completely from our view.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. WAITING ROOM -- NIGHT] (GRISSOM is reading a book. It's very quiet.) (The nurse looks up at GRISSOM. GRISSOM looks up at the nurse and we hear a cell phone ring. He answers his phone.) Grissom: (on phone) Grissom. (pause) I'll be right there. (GRISSOM stands and approaches the nurse.) Grissom: Please tell the doctor that I have to reschedule my appointment. Thanks. (GRISSOM doesn't wait for an answer. He leaves.) Nurse: She should be right with ... you. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. UNDER THE BRIDGE - NIGHT] (BRASS is there talking with a man with a clipboard in a jacket. He's standing in front of a shopping cart ... and there's a dead body in the shopping cart, but you don't really notice it.) (Behind them, GRISSOM'S SUV pulls up to the police tape, parks and GRISSOM emerges carrying his kit. He locks his car and approaches BRASS and the shopping cart with the body.) Grissom: Any I.D. Yet? Brass: Nothing but a blanket. (GRISSOM flashes his light on the body and we see that it's a woman and she has cuts and blemishes on her face. She's wrapped in a blanket and her eyes are closed. He looks around at the environment. He turns left and right and sees some homeless people sleeping on the ground with their shopping carts near them.) Grissom: She live here? Brass: Ah ... we don't know. Patrol called it in. Well, whoever she is she's not talking. (GRISSOM moves in closer to the body for a better look. As he does, her mouth begins to move. Her mouth suddenly opens and a rat crawls out.) Brass: Whoa. Grissom: I think she just ratted herself out. (Camera holds on BRASS.) HARD CUT TO: END OF TEASER. ROLL TITLE CREDITS [Captioning sponsored by CBS CBS productions and Volkswagen. Captioned by media access group at WGBH access.Wgbh.Org] [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. GROUND VIEW OF THE HIGHWAY - NIGHT] (The camera starts with the billboard and pans around the bridge to stop on an overhead shot of the crime scene. The Coroner's van pulls away. Police Radio Transmissions can be heard in the background.) (GRISSOM walks around looking for evidence to mark for collection. In his left hand, he holds yellow markers. The number showing on the next marker is #4.) (GRISSOM sees something on the ground and places the number 5 marker down next to something that could possibly be blood on a rock and a small pool of it near by. He continues to look around. He spots the shopping cart and approaches it.) (GRISSOM starts looking through the cart. He moves the blanket away and sees a purse underneath. He pulls out a day planner. He goes through the bag and sees six syringes on the bottom of the purse.) Grissom: (V.O.) Drug use? [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FORENSIC AUTOPSY] Robbins: No visible track marks. Tox screen came up empty except for botulin. Grissom: Food poisoning? Robbins: I'll know more when I cut open her stomach. Heard about the rat. Hope he didn't have any children. Take a look at these tiny puncture wounds in her forehead. Indicates repeated injections. You sure she's homeless? Grissom: Sometimes I'm not sure of anything. Robbins: Educated guess: Beautification. She was injected with pig botulism. (Flash to white. Flash CGI of syringe penetrating the skin in the forehead to the muscle beneath and liquid spurting out. The needle pulls out. End of CGI.) Robbins: Botox ... the ultimate wrinkle cream. Grissom: How did it get into her bloodstream? Robbins: Bad doctor. Missed the muscle. Shot directly into her supratrochlear vein. Grissom: Amazing the advances we make in science and the primitive uses we find for them. Robbins: People are still animals. Signs of possible torture. A lot of scarring. Some old, some new. Grissom: What about the crater in her check? Robbins: The dove-tail abrasion of the margins was caused by the scraping of the handle of some weapon. Tells me the blade was completely inserted -- more than once. (GRISSOM looks down at the woman's arm. We see only smooth skin.) Grissom: There's no ligature marks anywhere. I'd think she would need to be restrained for something like that, wouldn't you? Robbins: Give me a few hours; I'll know more. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] [SARA turns on the light for the overhead projector. She has the day planner open on screen. She flips the page to the date: 05/09/02 written in the top right corner. The page has the following: T 3 C 1023 - 10 ok X COW -4 A PGOSF [SCENE_BREAK] QP 4 1 EVO'D ...] (WARRICK walks into the lab.) Brown: Show and tell. Who? Sara: Showing but not telling. I found a day planner in the shopping cart. Warrick: Mm-hmm. Sara: It's written in code. "T to the third power. C 1023, minus ten O.K. equals zero." Warrick: Looks like ginkwork. It's the kind of thing speed freaks do when they've been up for ten days straight and they've already taken apart the radio. Sara: Yeah. I write everything down in shorthand. You couldn't read it. Warrick: Shorthand? Sara: Keeps things in order. Warrick: You're not a control freak or anything? (SARA doesn't look at WARRICK. She smiles and mumbles ... ) Sara: No. (WARRICK sees something across the room.) Warrick: Sara ... what's a homeless woman doing with a day planner and a $300 handbag? Sara: That handbag costs $300? Warrick: Yeah. Sara: How'd you know that? Warrick: I bought one for an ex-girlfriend once. Sara: Oh. (Camera holds on WARRICK as he glances back at SARA and chuckles at her reaction.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - A/V LAB] (CATHERINE walks into DUSTY'S OFFICE. DUSTY is taking a image of the victim's mutilated face and is reconstructing it digitally on the computer.) Catherine: Dusty, we got no hits on the fingerprints and no one fitting her description has been reported missing. Dusty: Oh, she's not missing? She's in my world. I'm just mirroring some good cheek on top of some bad cheek. Catherine: Okay. Dusty: I'll fix her forehead. (DUSTY works on clearing the injuries off of the victim's face so that they can better identify her.) Dusty: Her chin ... what a mess. Catherine: Mm-hmm. Dusty: I'm going to do a little cloning here. She actually had a really nice complexion. Perfect porcelain face. Catherine: What can you do about the hair? Dusty: It's a macro. What kind of hair do you want her to have? Blonde? ... like Courtney love? Catherine: Sounds good to me. Dusty: Let's give her some eyes ... blue. (DUSTY finishes the digital reconstruction and looks at the image of the woman. She frowns.) Dusty: I know her from somewhere. (This surprises CATHERINE.) Catherine: You do? Dusty: Yeah. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. GRISSOM'S OFFICE] (CLOSE UP of a "SHOWBIZ WEEKLY" magazine cover with a picture of Ashleigh James on it and her name in large type on the right.) [Above the magazine title, the headline reads: "Exclusive: Las Vegas Uncovered".] [On the left side of the magazine it reads: <<the magazine date>> VEGAS.com "Marvin Mancie / The Man and The Movie" "Samantha Coy / Soft-Spoken, But Shrewd" "Harlan Joseph / Banks of Success" "John Russell / R & B's Rising New Star"] [Headline on the bottom reads: "Bill Belt: magic act"] [Ad on the back of the magazine: "Great Expectations"] (GRISSOM glances down at the magazine and then looks back up at CATHERINE who put it there.) Grissom: Why are you showing me this? Catherine: The cover girl, Ashleigh James -- she's your girl in the shopping cart. P.D.'S tracking down her agency now. Somebody wanted her dead. (GRISSOM takes out the post-mortem photograph of Ashleigh James and looks at the two pictures side by side. The magazine cover on the left and the post-mortem picture on the right.) Grissom: They also wanted her ugly. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - NIGHT] (GRISSOM and CATHERINE get out of the car with their CSI kits just outside ASHLEIGH JAMES' loft. They meet BRASS outside. The officers behind him stand next to door #929.) Brass: It's called gentrification. Catherine: It's not doing anything to gentrify them. Brass: Tell that to the mayor. The landlord's on vacation. It's a good thing because he's got a swimming pool in his basement. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS] Brass: Ashleigh James apartment ... [CLOSED-CAPTION READS: BRASS: ... tub overflowed.] Grissom: Who turned the water off? Brass: The first officer on the scene found the door open. After that, he didn't touch a thing. Officer: (o.s.) Captain? Brass: Yeah, what have you got? (BRASS leaves the two alone to see what the officer wants. CATHERINE continues straight on into the loft. GRISSOM turns left and examines the many Ashleigh James pictures on the wall.) Grissom: Well, Narcissus would be proud. Catherine: Very much a woman, yet still a little girl. (The camera notes the three rag dolls on the bed that CATHERINE'S referencing.) (GRISSOM stops by a small table with burned candles and candle wax on the table top. There is also some white powdery substance on it.) Grissom: I thought Doc Robbins said the victim's tox screen came back negative. Catherine: No, she wasn't a user. But maybe the boyfriend was. (CATHERINE finds a man's toiletry kit in the cabinet. She opens it and holds out a man's razor.) Catherine: Let's hope he nicked himself. (GRISSOM holds up a scoop of the white powdery stuff and smells it.) Grissom: Smells like mint. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. PARKING LOT -- NIGHT] (The camera follows BRASS as he enters the parking lot where NICK and WARRICK are looking at ASHLEIGH JAMES' car. WARRICK is holding a camera.) Brass: Hey. Nick: Thanks. (BRASS tosses the car keys to NICK.) Brass: Find anything? Nick: No. Nothing. Brass: Anything out front? Warrick: Just a couple of homeless guys. (NICK opens the car and sees it littered with wrappers and other food junk. There are empty drinking cups and carriers. NICK picks up an empty wrapper and turns to BRASS.) Nick: You, uh, you sure this is the vic's? Brass: You are what you eat. (BRASS leaves. WARRICK starts to photograph the car.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - BATHROOM - NIGHT] (CLOSE UP of substance being scraped off the small side table next to the bathtub.) (CATHERINE sees GRISSOM busy collecting the sample and examines the rest of the bathroom.) Catherine: Blood in the sink. (She glances down and notes ... ) Catherine: None on the floor. (She sees plastic wrapped green and white enema boxes. The label says: ) [Traynor-Shepherd "For relief of occasional constipation and bowel cleansing" Comfortip(c) "The enema used most often in hospitals"] Grissom: (o.s.) Enema. The secret life of women. (GRISSOM holds up an empty plastic enema bottle.) Catherine: Don't generalize. It's not very scientific of you. Grissom: You're right. I'm sorry. [GRISSOM is going through the trash and pulls out a ziploc'd bag of excrement or vomit (don't know which one).] Grissom: Catherine ... (Camera holds on CATHERINE.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. PARKING LOT - ASHLEIGH JAMES' CAR -- NIGHT] [CLOSE UP of the junk food wrappers filling the back seat and the front seat. WARRICK picks up a magazine in the car. "POUT" (August 2001) with cover of ASHLEIGH JAMES. Headlines down the right side of the magazine: "31 secrets for a slimmer bottom half" (in yellow) "Test your compatibility with your partner" (in yellow)] Warrick: Hey. (WARRICK tosses the magazine to NICK.) Nick: Ooh, pretty girl. (WARRICK snaps more pictures of the junk food wrappers in the car.) Warrick: Yeah. Dangerous being a pretty girl in this town. (NICK reaches over and picks up a piece of paper in the car.) Nick: Listen to this: "Babe, he's not good enough for you. He doesn't have the history we do. You mean the world to me. I know you'll live to regret this decision." Warrick: Hmmm. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - CLOSET - NIGHT] (CATHERINE examines the contents of ASHLEIGH JAMES' closet. She looks through the clothes hanging there ... ) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT] (GRISSOM takes a photograph of a hand-sized smudge of blood on the wall.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - CLOSET - NIGHT] (CATHERINE looks around and notices a heavy black coat on the closet floor. She picks it up and examines it.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - KITCHEN - NIGHT] (GRISSOM opens the refrigerator door. The refrigerator is noticeably bare. There are a couple of yellow boxes on the second rack from the top. On the main shelf, there are bottles of water and a box rack or two of unused ampules. The box identifies it as ampules of "BOTOX".) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - CLOSET - NIGHT] (CATHERINE finds a hole in the coat. The coat seems out of place in ASHLEIGH JAMES' closet. CATHERINE exits the closet carrying the coat.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT - KITCHEN - NIGHT] (GRISSOM opens the utensil drawer and finds dozens of syringes. He picks them up.) (CATHERINE walks into the living room with the coat. She holds it up.) Catherine: Not exactly the victim's style. (Camera holds on GRISSOM.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. SIDEWALK OUTSIDE ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT -- NIGHT] (NICK and WARRICK are walking back from the parking lot. ) Warrick: What? You don't like cupcakes and candy bars? (In front of them, GRISSOM crosses their path without noticing them.) Warrick: Hey, Gris! Grissom! Nick: Hey! (GRISSOM doesn't respond. He keeps walking away from them.) Nick: Where's he going? Warrick: I don't know. (NICK whistles trying to catch GRISSOM'S attention. It doesn't work.) Warrick: Somewhere. Nick: C'mon. (The two leave him alone.) [SCENE_BREAK] [GRISSOM WALKING] Lyric: ... with eyes afire ... (GRISSOM walks a path started from ASHLEIGH JAMES' loft. He sees a homeless woman sleeping on the side of the building. He keeps walking.) ... I am drawn ... (He turns the corner and sees a homeless man playing with a dog on a leash in front of him. He keeps walking.) ... I am drawn to her ... (He turns out of the alleyway and onto the main lit road. He glances back at the alleyway and heads down the sidewalk. He passes the regular nightly foot traffic of well-dressed people enjoying the Las Vegas nightlife. He keeps walking.) (He rounds the final corner which takes him to the underpass where he's surprised to see ... ) [SCENE_BREAK] ... unbound ... (SARA is standing there. She turns when she hears him.) [FULL LYRIC: Come on. / With eyes afire / no one can see / the smoke from / the sweet crimes / covers me / I am drawn / I am drawn to her / like a moth to flame / she leaves me now / Unbound.] RESUMES: [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. UNDER THE BRIDGE - NIGHT] Grissom: What are you doing here? Sara: Contextualizing. Shopping cart in the lab is like a lion in a zoo. I needed to see it in its natural habitat. Grissom: Question: How did Ashleigh James get from her loft to this underpass? Sara: She didn't walk. Grissom: I'm pretty sure she was pushed. (Both SARA and GRISSOM look thoughtfully back in the direction of ASHLEIGH JAMES' loft.) (Then, like a dance, GRISSOM looks right, SARA looks right. Then GRISSOM looks left; SARA looks left. They're both thoughtful and thinking. They both turn to look to their right once more. Finally, SARA sees something.) Sara: Grissom ... is that Ashleigh James? (High above the highway overpass, ASHLEIGH JAMES' picture is on a billboard: ) ["Welcome to Las Vegas Yours to Discover. Call 555-JACKPOT"] Sara: She was under her own billboard. Grissom: Coincidence? Sara: Somebody was making a point. CUT TO BLACK. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (SARA'S writing in a note pad copying the code she sees up on screen. The right page of the day planner shows the following: ) CC/4 1 EVO'D 242 BC 304 BF 2 TU'D 900 S 16 G 12 noon ------------------------------ H??O 2 #1 GP/2 1 EVO'D 1256 BC 12 G 40 BF 2095? S 1 TU'D 116 TC 2 G [SCENE_BREAK] (SARA studies her notes when GRISSOM walks in. He's putting on his latex gloves.) Sara: Hey. You like crossword puzzles. How are you at deciphering codes? Grissom: Aren't you putting the shopping cart before the horse? In order to decipher a code you need to know the alphabet for the code. In order to know the alphabet, you need to know the author. (GRISSOM moves to look at the shopping cart.) Grissom: So, what's the cart telling us? Sara: About the victim? Grissom: Well, the victim had no relationship to the cart except for the fact that we found her in it. I'm more interested in the person who used to call this cart home. Sara: Well, aside from the leather day runner and the Kate Swan bag -- which appear to be from Ashleigh James's world -- you got mostly collectibles. Newspapers, review journals, the Sun ... various editions going back several months. A couple of tennis rackets ... (GRISSOM picks up a newspaper and begins leafing through it as SARA talks.) Sara: ... a broom, an umbrella, a pot ... I guess some kind of glove or something. (He flips the newspaper over and sees a full page photograph ad of ASHLEIGH JAMES.) Grissom: I stand corrected. (SARA picks up the next newspaper and notices the same thing: a full page photograph ad of ASHLEIGH JAMES on the back of the paper.) Grissom: I have a feeling whoever owned this cart ... was an Ashleigh James fan. (SARA grabs two magazines with ASHLEIGH JAMES on the cover: "SPA FASHION" and "POUT".) Sara: Or a fanatic. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. FRANK McBRIDE'S RESIDENCE -- DAY] (NICK pounds on the front door and WARRICK peers in through the window. A dog barks in the background.) Nick: Well, it looks like lover boy isn't home. (NICK peers into the window; WARRICK peers around the side of the house.) Warrick: Maybe he wrote her a letter and left town. It's trash day. Nick: I don't know, man. We don't even have a warrant. Warrick: It's on the street. It's fair game. (WARRICK lifts the cover off of the trash can and goes through it. NICK examines the other stuff on the street.) (WARRICK finds a paper package and looks inside. He opens it and spills out its contents on the car.) Nick: What did you find? Warrick: Photographic paper. (And like a puzzle, he pieces it together and finds ... ) Nick: That's Ashleigh James. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LOCATION SHOOT -- DAY] (Models in bikinis & bathing suits and Photographers taking pictures of what's made up to look like boats in Venice.) (ROD DARLING, the agent, notices one of his models struggling to get the top clasp hooked on her suit and approaches her.) Rod Darling: The cow says, "moo". Lola: I can hold my breath, I swear. Rod Darling: Lola, if you exhale, you'll burst the bloody seams. Lola: Rod, I'm sorry. I ... (He grabs her arm and leads her to the food table.) Rod Darling: The fitting was two days ago. Are you telling me you couldn't keep your face out of the trough for 48 hours? You want me to be your agent you better start doing your part, all right? (LOLA leaves upset. BRASS and CATHERINE approach ROD DARLING from behind him.) Brass: Rod Darling? Las Vegas Police. Rod Darling: You're here about Ashleigh, right? Catherine: Yeah. Rod Darling: Sorry about what happened but she wasn't a client anymore. I dropped her a couple of months ago. Catherine: Did you forget to pack? We found men's clothing and personal items at her place. Rod Darling: She was a screwed up kid looking for a father figure. (The camera shows BRASS' look then quickly refocuses on the blonde-haired man with glasses standing in the crowd some distance away. The man looks angry.) Rod Darling: One minute booking a photo shoot. The next minute, she's screaming for daddy. (The blond-haired man from the crowd breaks into a run and launches himself at the agent, attacking ROD DARLING with a knife. He manages to cut his hand.) Frank McBride: You son of a bitch! (BRASS apprehends FRANK McBRIDE.) Brass: All right, that's enough. Frank McBride: He killed her. He killed her! Rod Darling: (sporting his wounded hand) He's a psycho! (Camera hold on CATHERINE.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERROGATION ROOM] Frank McBride: Rod did everything he could to make her dependent on him and only him. She shut me out. Warrick: Is that why you tore up her photograph and tossed it in the trash? Frank McBride: You just don't get it, do you? Brass: No, I don't. I mean, I don't know. I care about a woman, I put her picture in a frame. Maybe put it on my desk but to tear it up and throw it in the garbage with old cole slaw that just doesn't say "love" to me. Frank McBride: If you were in love with an amazing woman and you knew she was throwing away everything that was amazing about her on some scum ... would you still want her picture on your desk? Brass: What did you use to cut up the picture? Same knife you were waving around at Rod? The same knife you used to cut up Ashleigh's face? [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERROGATION ROOM] Rod Darling: If you're suggesting I was sleeping with her, I wasn't. Catherine: You run out of drawer space in your place? Rod Darling: I was protecting my asset. Catherine: I don't know what that means. Rod Darling: You can't drive a mile in this town without seeing her face on a billboard on the side of a bus. Up in lights. The mantra in this business is you protect what's bankable in this business. Catherine: So you didn't sleep with her. You just "stayed over." You brought a change of clothes, razor blade, toothbrush ... blah, blah, blah. Rod Darling: Yeah. She needed constant attention, supervision. Leave her alone for a minute, fill in the blank. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (GRISSOM is picking through the coat found in ASHLEIGH JAMES' closet. SARA is looking through the microscope. They're both working quietly, when ... ) Sara: I got crabs. (GRISSOM stops and looks up from his magnifying glass.) Grissom: Excuse me? Sara: I got crabs. Take a look. (Through the microscope view, we see ... crabs. Lots of little crabs moving and moving and moving ... ) Grissom: Pthirus pubis. Feeds on human blood. They prefer the pubic and perianal regions because their legs are adapted to grasp hairs which are widely spaced. They don't usually nest in clothing. But when the clothing is being worn by someone with substandard personal hygiene ... (During GRISSOM'S mini-lecture, a Quick CGI clip of the Pthirus pubis climbing up two hair shafts with skill and grace. Flash to white.) Sara: Like one of the victim's neighbors. Grissom: We have a high-end handbag found in a street person's shopping cart a jacket covered in crabs in a closet full of designer clothes. What does that tell us? Sara: Tells me the victim not only had a visitor but that visitor was most likely homeless. Grissom: Tells me that whoever is missing a shopping cart is also missing his jacket. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. ALLEYWAY NEAR ASHLEIGH JAMES' LOFT -- NIGHT] (Once again, GRISSOM walks the homeless alleyway. He pulls the collar of his jacket up against his neck. As he walks down the same alley that ASHLEIGH JAMES traveled, he passes the homeless man and his dog. He sees a man digging through a trash can. He moves in closer to the man and looks himself into one of the garbage bins. He reaches inside the garbage bin.) Grissom: Good stuff in here. Tookie (homeless man): Hey, you got a smoke? Grissom: No. Sorry. Tookie: So, what good are you? (GRISSOM notices the pricey scarf that the man's wearing. It also has a red stain on it.) Grissom: It depends. (GRISSOM moves in a little closer to the Homeless Man to take a better look at the scarf. The Homeless Man takes a wary step back.) Tookie: Ooh, hey. Don't even think that you can play me, my man. Grissom: I'm not playing. I've got a gal named Sara, and she would love that scarf. What do you say? (GRISSOM takes off his jacket and holds it out to the man.) Grissom: Trade me. Tookie: Yeah. What the hell. (The man takes the scarf off and gives it to GRISSOM. He grabs the jacket as he does so. He turns away and resumes exploring the trash.) (GRISSOM turns on his flashlight and takes a closer look at the scarf he holds. A woman witnesses the trade and takes exception. Carrying a green plastic crate full of stuff, she approaches GRISSOM.) Cassie James: Hey. Hey, hey, Mister. Hey, Mister, that is Tookie's scarf. That is his scarf. (GRISSOM looks up just in time to pull the scarf away from the homeless woman's grasp as she tries to take it from him. He points the flashlight at her face. She shys away from the glare.) Cassie James: I gave it to him. That is Tookie's. Are you a Taker ... or are you a Giver, Mister? Grissom: I'm a Trader. I traded Tookie my jacket for this scarf. Cassie James: Yeah ... and fleas can tell time. Grissom: I think fleas can tell time. (She laughs and starts muttering to herself. GRISSOM notices the ring on her finger.) Grissom: That's a nice ring. (He looks back at his flashlight.) Grissom: I'll trade you (CASSIE JAMES puts down her green plastic crate she's been carrying. GRISSOM notices the rolled up cosmetics kit in it.) Grissom: I'll trade you for your kit, too. (CASSIE JAMES takes off the ring from her finger with a little difficulty as the ring is a tad too small for her finger and has been rubbing into her skin.) Cassie James: Ow. (She grabs the flashlight from GRISSOM and puts the ring in the palm of his hand. She holds the flashlight up and around looking here ... looking there ...) Cassie James: Now I can see what the dark looks like. Grissom: I've been trying to do that for years. (GRISSOM looks at the ring while CASSIE JAMES plays with the flashlight.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) - NIGHT] [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - TRACE LAB] (GRISSOM picks up the scarf sealed up in an evidence bag.) Grissom: Greg ran the blood on this scarf. It matches the victim's. (He puts the bag down.) How about the blood on the knife? Nick: Yeah, we got a match, too, but it's not the vic's. Warrick: Yeah, McBride clipped Rod Darling's right hand during his little hissy fit. Blood's his. And McBride's knife does not match these wounds. (WARRICK hands the post-mortem photograph of ASHLEIGH JAMES' to GRISSOM. He looks up at the scissors, tweezers and other stuff from the beauty kit GRISSOM acquired from CASSIE JAMES.) Grissom: The tools of the trade; the weapons of beauty. Warrick: Yeah. If other people inflicted as much torture as women inflict upon themselves, there would be lawsuits. Nick: Someone forgot to clean these, too, for a long time. Positive for blood all over the place. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - LAB] (GRISSOM walks down the hallway reading the file folder he's carrying when GREG catches his attention.) Greg: Grissom ... I, uh, ran the DNA on the epithelials from the homeless lady's ring. Grissom: Cassie? (GREG hands GRISSOM the print out results.) Greg: It's like prince and the pauper. No. Princess and the pauper. The Princess is a dead supermodel. Grissom: Yeah. And her Pauper sister could be the killer. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. -- NIGHT] (GRISSOM holds out a hot dog in front of him like bait.) Grissom: Hot dog? (CASSIE JAMES looks up and takes it from him. He holds up the packet of ... ) Grissom: Relish? Cassie James: (points at the packet and shakes her head) Mmm ... with all those preservatives, no, no, no. I-I don't want to be preserved, thank you very much. No. I mean, I mean ... do you know what-what relish can do to your insides, huh? Grissom: I'd have to investigate. Cassie James: Yeah, well, you know, you should. I mean, you know because our insides -- they can kill us. Grissom: So, you're pretty careful about what you eat? Cassie James: Yeah, you know, you-you have to be careful, you know 'cause what goes down, you know it's got to come out. It's got to come up. Out. (GRISSOM chuckles.) Grissom: Newton's theory twisted again. Cassie James: (smiles and points her hot dog at GRISSOM) Everybody's twisted. (GRISSOM nods. CASSIE stands up and we note that we are ... ) [EXT. PARK BENCH -- NIGHT] Grissom: How about your sister? Cassie James: My-my sister didn't have a sister. Protein's good, you know? C-carbs are bad. This is bad. (CASSIE JAMES hands the hot dog bun back to GRISSOM and starts nibbling on the plain hot dog.) Cassie James: That's bad. Grissom: Hey, Cassie, you know that scarf you gave Tookie? Cassie James: Yeah, I know it. Grissom: Did your sister give that to you or ... did you steal it from her? Cassie James: I should have stole it. Because sh-sh-she stole from me. Grissom: What did she steal from you? Cassie James: My life. (Camera holds on GRISSOM.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. MODELING AGENCY -- DAY] Rod Darling: I admit I gave up on Cassie. Washed my hands. Ashleigh was the only one who still gave a damn. Get together with her every couple of weeks. Make sure she had a decent meal, shower, clothes on her back. Catherine: And what did you do for her? Rod Darling: Let me tell you something. For every piece of meat, there has to be a butcher. Catherine: So, you led her to the slaughter? Rod Darling: Free will. (ROD DARLING points to a "SPA FASHION" cover hanging on the wall.) Rod Darling: Recognize this one? Catherine: That's Cassie. It's the homeless sister. Grissom: How long ago was this taken? Rod Darling: Three years. See, Cassie got deep into freebase. No shortage of sleazebags around to keep her supplied. I knew she had this sister in Wichita falls. (Quick Flashback showing us a photo shoot.) Photographer: All right, Cassie, let's go. Come on, chin up. Colin, will you get in there and get her hair out of her face? Cassie James: (panics and steps away) Don't touch me! (tearing through the clothes rack) I hate this! I hate this place! I hate it! I hate my life! (to ROD DARLING) Get away from me! (CASSIE starts muttering to herself. ROD DARLING looks off to the side where we see ASHLEIGH JAMES standing there. She looks worried for her sister. ROD DARLING has a look in his eye when he recognizes untapped money making potential. End of Flashback. Flash to white.) (Close up of photograph of ASHLEIGH JAMES.) Rod Darling: One look ... that was it. Camera ate her up. Catherine: So, in Cassie's mind, she was a victim here. Makes sense that she'd be angry. Rod Darling: Angry was five flights up. Cassie was an obsessed basehead. Cocaine already had her paranoid. Once Ashleigh started modeling, everything became this big conspiracy. Naturally, yours truly was Satan. Grissom: Cassie threw her life away and her sister Ashleigh recycled it. (Camera hold on GRISSOM.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - LAB] (Close up of the following page of the notebook enlarged on the wall. This is only what we can see.) [*** BLOCK ONE *** TO 12 NOON *** P/2 1256 BC 35 BF 2095 S 1 T'V'O 116 TC 7 G *** BLOCK TWO *** FROM 12 NOON *** NAGD BFJ3 EVEN NIAGD! PD/4 2 EVO'D 120 BC 10 G 30 BF 850 S 2 T'V'O' 55 TC 16 G ] Grissom: It's like a crossword puzzle, isn't it? Once you pick it up, you can't put it down. Sara: And go home? No way. You know, this day runner belonged to Ashleigh. Sara: "BFJ3". BF: Bellagio Fountain. (SARA looks at GRISSOM and smiles. Seems like a challenge is being issued.) Grissom: J3? Date? January 3rd? June 3rd? July 3rd? Uh, third "J" month, July? Sara: That's what I thought at first. Grissom: Parking space in a parking garage? Sara: Nope. "Once you pick it up, you can't put it down." Grissom: J3 ... J3 ... city or state grid map? Sara: You're cold. What's one thing a model always knows? (GRISSOM shrugs. He doesn't have a clue.) Sara: Who's shooting her. Three Js. Jay Jay Jarrett. Grissom: Who? Sara: Famous photographer. Compliments of P.D.: Ashleigh James's employment contracts for the last year. And, as an aside she stopped working two months ago. Grissom: Why? Sara: Good question. (SARA sighs.) Sara: Maybe the answer is in one of these pages. (SARA flips through the pages of the day planner.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT -- INTERROGATION ROOM] Brass: Nobody could blame you for being mad, Cassie. I mean, your sister took your career and you wanted to get back at her. If you couldn't have success, she couldn't either. Isn't that right? Cassie James: The v-victims have victims, too. Brass: So, which one of you is the victim? Cassie James: I-I know... you know, I know, I tried to warn her. About the in-in and-and outing and the ... and the pick-pick. And the-and the and the counting the counting and the counting. I mean, I did, I tried. That's why I tried to really, really save her. I mean, I tried to save her. Grissom: You tried to save her? Your sister? Cassie James: Right. She could never be, you know ... she could never be ... pretty enough. And she could never b-be ... sk-skinny enough. And sh-she could never be ... perfect enough. And sh-she could never be any-anything enough. (Quick Flashback showing us ROD DARLING approaching ASHLEIGH JAMES from behind and whispering in her ear: ) Rod Darling: Hey, fat girl. I got what you need. I got it. (He holds out some cocaine for her to sniff. She does. ) (End of Flashback. Resume on CASSIE JAMES back in the present in the interrogation room. She's whimpering at the thought ... at the memory. Her eyes blinking rapidly.) (Resume Flashback of ASHLEIGH JAMES ... that flashes briefly into CASSIE JAMES then back to ASHLEIGH JAMES. ROD DARLING holds out more cocaine for ASHLEIGH to take and she does.) Rod Darling: (to ASHLEIGH) One more. (The memory gets confusing as ASHLEIGH changes into CASSIE ... and CASSIE finishes up taking the cocaine.) Rod Darling: (to CASSIE) Good girl. (End of Flashback. Resume on CASSIE JAMES back in the interrogation room.) Cassie James: (whispering) Mm. I mean, that's why I did, I did. I tried to stop her. (GRISSOM watches CASSIE, her head turned away from him. Her expression very sad at the memory.) Cassie James: (choked up) I tried to stop her. (she looks at GRISSOM) I tried to stop. (Quick Flashback to ASHLEIGH JAMES throwing up. Cut to CASSIE JAMES. Both sisters alternately flash in the memory. The switch between sisters continues. Both sisters suffering their own little hell. Each living the same life. Camera holds on CASSIE JAMES. Flash to white. End of flashback.) (Resume on CASSIE JAMES back in the interrogation room. She whimpers and breaks eye contact with GRISSOM. He blinks.) Brass: She's a needle freak. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Grissom: Yes, she does. (CASSIE moans. Her eyes blinking rapidly. GRISSOM holds eye contact with her.) Grissom: You tried to stop yourself, didn't you? But you couldn't. (This is too much for CASSIE to take. She jumps the table and launches herself at GRISSOM. GRISSOM stands, trying to catch her. She grabs his neck and pins him against the wall, screaming and yelling at him.) Cassie James: It's you! It's you! It's you! You! You! (The officers in the room and BRASS move to restrain her.) Brass: That's enough! (They pull her off of GRISSOM who's left standing there watching CASSIE.) Brass: All right, read her her rights. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FORENSIC AUTOPSY BAY] (CLOSE UP of post-mortem ASHLEIGH JAMES' face lying on the autopsy table. Camera moves to give us a lovely top view of the contents of the pan that DOC ROBBINS is working on. Or was working on. We see the red Y-shaped blood stain on the sheet covering the body. GRISSOM walks in.) Robbins: I found blisters in the back of her throat. Grissom: What? Forced oral? Robbins: That's what I thought until I noticed worn enamel on the tooth. (holds up a tooth for GRISSOM to look at) In conjunction with this red mark on the knuckle of her middle finger. (lifts up her right hand from beneath the sheet to show GRISSOM) Which made me realize it wasn't sexual abuse. Grissom: Eating disorder. (Quick CGI Flash of ASHLEIGH JAMES sticking a finger down her throat. Accompanying gagging track and sloshing water for sound at appropriate cues. Camera continues down ASHLEIGH JAMES' throat ... all the way down till it hits the good stuff coming back up ... and up ... and up all the way back up ASHLEIGH JAMES' throat where the camera stays one step ahead of it ... till we get behind it and see it pass her teeth on its way out. How fun. End of CGI Flash. Resume on DOC ROBBINS.) Robbins: She was bulimic and anorexic. Which explains the down on her skin. (he pulls away the sheet from her left shoulder) Lanugo. Characteristic of premature babies and anorexics. Grissom: She doesn't seem that skinny. Robbins: Not this week. Last week, or the week before, who knows? Binge-and-purge. Grissom: Till her entire system is in a state of shock. Robbins: You know what's next. Grissom: Body starts feeding on its own muscle. Is that what killed her? Robbins: Uh, starvation and purging weaken the immune system. But cause of death: Failed kidney, fueled by septicemia. Grissom: Blood infection. Caused by the injuries to her face? Robbins: Probably, but she's been septic for at least a month. She has anemia borne of chronic disease. Her red cell count's low, iron's low. ESR is extremely high. Grissom: So she didn't just die. She's been dying for a long time. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. GRISSOM'S OFFICE] (Clicking sound of metal balls hitting each other. GRISSOM'S thinking. There's a knock on his door. He looks up as CATHERINE walks in.) Catherine: What do you know that's good? Grissom: Cassie James's psych profile. [He hands the file to her. From what we can see, the report reads: LAS VEGAS ... 2974 WESTFALL AVENUE LAS VEGAS, NEVADA ... PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION REPORT / CASE ... NAME: CASSIE JAMES / DATE ... EVALUATION: CLASSIC PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC ... patient appears to exhibit an unstable grasp of reality. During my o... ... multiple disorders while being examined. During routine questioning ... ... further questioning she exhibited classic signs of schizophren... ... a raging hatred of anything beautiful. She ... ] Catherine: "Classic Paranoid Schizophrenic". Grissom: Which explains why the interrogation room was too hard on her. For schizophrenics, you know, the tighter the space, the more unbearable the feelings tend to be. Catherine: Well, if you ask me that's not the only psych evaluation we need. Grissom: Ashleigh James? Catherine: That poor girl. Definitely lacking in the self-image department. Grissom: She suffered from septicemia, indicative of chronic abuse. But ... what if Cassie wasn't the one who inflicted Ashleigh's facial wounds? Catherine: Well, we know it's not the ex-boyfriend -- no evidence. Not the agent -- wouldn't jeopardize an asset. And if it's not Cassie, who's left? Grissom: I don't know. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - TRACE LAB] (The camera pans over the evidence on the table: Starting from the left, there are two full page ads from two newspapers side by side. The newspaper on the right has marker #13 on it. Marker #17 free-floats above the newspaper ad on the left. Next to and above that is the stack of mail procured from ASHLEIGH JAMES' car with marker #18 on it. Next to the newspapers are two magazine covers. Next to that are four close-up post-mortem photographs of ASHLEIGH JAMES' face. The rest of the table is covered with junk food containers, cups and various wrappers from the car.) (SARA is organizing the things on the table. She's grouping all the wrappers together. She collects the wrappers and stops. Something on the wrapper she's holding catches her eye. She goes back to the notebook on the overhead.) Sara: (mumbling to herself) T 3. 1834 BC. [The camera closes in on the block of the day planner that SARA'S reading. T/3 1834 BC 48 BF 870 S 90 TC ] Sara: 48 BF ... (SARA goes back to the table and picks up the stack of wrappers for the snack food "Tweenks". She flips it over and looks at the snack contents listed at the back of the package.) (She clears a spot on the table and pulls out a pen from her pocket. She begins to chart her theory based upon the information on the wrappers in her hands.) Sara: (mumbling to herself as she writes) T 3... 1834 BC ... 48 BF. (SARA goes back to the notebook and reads the information on the minus side of the column.) Sara: 2 EVO'D ... 8 G ... (she looks up) 1 TU ... [The camera shows us the minus side of the day planner: 2 EVO'D 8 G 1 T'U'D 7 G (SARA'S figured out ASHLEIGH JAMES' code. And yet, there is no joy with the revelation. A sad look of sympathy at the knowledge lingers with the discovery.) Sara: (quietly) You must have been so desperate. (Camera holds on SARA.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - PRINT LAB] (CATHERINE is at the computer. She's running a print comparison. GRISSOM is sitting next to her.) Catherine: Cassie James's prints from booking on the left. Prints from the loft faucet on the right. Do we have a prom date? Catherine: All right, well ... (CATHERINE puts the right print over the left print. The bottom of the screen flashes, "Match for Cassie James".) Catherine: Cassie James was definitely in her sister's apartment. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- HALLWAY] (GREG walks out of the break room with a cup of saimin (or ramen) and a mouthful of noodles.) Nick: Hey, man. What you eatin'? Greg: Little college cuisine. Nick: That stuff will kill you, you know. Greg: Hasn't killed me yet. Warrick: Greg-o, find any time between meals to check out Grissom's scrapings? Greg: You mean Ashleigh's fingernail scrapings? Warrick: Yeah. Greg: Yeah. Nick: And? Greg: Got a match. Warrick: To Cassie, her sister. Greg: No. To the vic. Nick: Ashleigh? Greg: Yeah. The DNA under her fingernails was her own. Excuse me. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. GRISSOM'S OFFICE] (SARA is sitting on a stool next to the image of ASHLEIGH JAMES' day planner on the television monitor.) Sara: ... So what I realized was bulimia is a zero sum disease. That's why she has a plus sign over here and a minus sign over there. Whatever went in had to be exactly canceled by what went out. Catherine: You're talking about BDD: Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Sara: Yes. One theory suggests it's neurobiological. Another psychological -- that people with extreme sexual or emotional anxiety unconsciously displace their feelings into the arena of appearance, because it's more manageable. Nick: You feel like crap, blame your face. Warrick: Or your skin, or your hair or that zit on your forehead. Catherine: I knew this dancer. Every night she'd stare at herself in the mirror for three hours. Sara: Meticulous grooming, when a person suffers from BDD becomes a destructive compulsion. There's one line in her daybook that keeps repeating over and over and over again: "I'm not even." Warrick: So you're saying she knew she was slipping. Sara: No. (she points to the screen) She literally means even. A large number of BDD sufferers are convinced that they're not symmetric. That one side of their body or their face doesn't match the other. Grissom: All animals prefer symmetry in their mates. The male Japanese scorpion flies with the most symmetrical wings gets the most mates. Warrick: So, really we're not talking about being beautiful at all. Grissom: In terms of entomology being beautiful is about being even. It signals the fitness to procreate. Nick: So, we're not really talking about looks. We're talking about survival of the species? Sara: The bottom line is the same: Control and Perfectionism. That's what her code was all about. [SARA adjusts the monitor to focus in on a particular grid in the day planner. This is a different (+)/(-) grid: HBWC / 3 3 EVO'D 1590 BC 14 G 90 BF 2 T'U'D 3930 S 9 G 114 TC Sara: Let's take "HBWC/3, 1590 BC, 90 BF, 3930 S, 114 TC." Three hamburgers with cheese. (Quick Flashback to ASHLEIGH JAMES eating the hamburgers quickly in her car. End of flashback.) Sara: Content 530. 530 times three is where she gets 1590 BC. That's BC for "bad calories." And at 30 grams a pop 90 grams of BF. Nick: Bad fat? Sara: Yeah. The rest of her formula involves sodium, total carbohydrates and the actual weight of everything she ate. (CATHERINE closes her eyes at the thought.) Grissom: And so, she was, uh ... operating like a scientist seeking a perfect formula to take her pain away. Sara: Or disappear altogether. Which brings me to the minus side of her equation. She would write down the number of times she T'U'D, threw up, in this case twice-- or EVO'D. Nick: "Evo'd"? Sara: Moving her bowels. The directions on her disposable enema box use the term "evacuate". So, after her burger binge, she "3 EVO'd, 14 G, 2 T'U'D, 9 G, 3 #1." She evo'd three times. But her calculations didn't stop there ... "G" stands for grams. (Quick Flashback to ASHLEIGH JAMES carrying a ziploc'd baggie to the scale. Flash to white. ASHLEIGH JAMES looking down at the weight with a worried look on her face. Flash to white. Resume to present.) Warrick: Fourteen gram ... wait a minute. You're telling me that she weighed her bowels? Catherine: Yeah. We bagged it. Sara: Input and output down to the last quarter gram. Warrick: Well, that makes sense why the blood and skin under Ashleigh James's fingernails is a perfect match to Ashleigh James. Grissom: She attacked herself. (Quick Flashback back to the teaser -- to ASHLEIGH JAMES sitting in front of her vanity mirror as in the teaser. Her hair is up. She's wrapped in a towel. She reaches for her cosmetics kit. The reflection in the side mirror shows a reflection of ASHLEIGH JAMES' face mutilated. Flash to white. Blood drips into the sink. Flash to white. Side camera view of ASHLEIGH picking and digging at her own face. Flash to white.) Grissom: (V.O.) I mean, Ashleigh was convinced that everything about her needed to be fixed. The real problem was inside her head. She couldn't deal with that so she tried to fix the outside. Hence, the digging and picking and purging and bleeding. (End of flashback. Resume to present. Camera on GRISSOM.) Grissom: To us, it would be torture. To her ... some sort of release. Catherine: Which is why Rod cut her loose. She was no longer "bankable". Warrick: Also why Frank was so angry at Rod. Nick: Yeah, he destroyed Frank's vision of her. Grissom: So the victim and the killer became one and the same. The very nature of addiction -- whether it be self-medicating herself or self-mutilating -- is that the very behavior we use to survive it becomes a behavior that ends up killing us. Nick: But wait, that still doesn't answer how Ashleigh ended up in a shopping cart by the freeway. Grissom: Well, the fingerprints explain that. (Quick Flashback to ASHLEIGH JAMES struggling out of the bathroom. She falls against the wall leaving a bloodied handprint behind. Flash to white. She barely makes it over to her bed where she collapses on it in a heap. Flash to white. CASSIE appearing in the doorway and finding her sister on the bed. Flash to white. CASSIE shutting the faucet off. Flash to white. CASSIE crying over her sister and dragging her off the bed. Flash to white. End of flashback. Resume to present on GRISSOM.) Grissom: I think Cassie was trying to take care of her sister. She pushed her to a place where she thought she'd be safe. Where she thought she could see herself for how beautiful she really was. (Quick Flashback to ASHLEIGH JAMES in the shopping cart. CASSIE is pushing her to the bridge. The billboard can be seen in the distance. Flash to white. CASSIE kisses her sister's hair and cries. Flash to white. CASSIE walking away, leaving her sister in the cart below the billboard. Flash to white. End of flashback.) (Resume to present. Camera on pictures of CASSIE JAMES' mug shot on the right and ASHLEIGH JAMES' magazine cover on the left. WARRICK is looking at the photographs he's holding. He asks the final, lingering unanswered question: ...) Warrick: What happened to these girls? (WARRICK looks up at ... GRISSOM who glances over at ... SARA who looks across to ... NICK who turns to ... CATHERINE who shakes her head and closes her eyes. Everyone is lost in their own thoughts. Camera holds on CATHERINE.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. BUSY SIDEWALK - DAY] (CASSIE is back out on the street. GRISSOM is with her carrying her shopping cart to the sidewalk. He puts it down as CASSIE starts rummaging through the sidewalk garbage bins.) Grissom: I'm sorry about your sister, Cassie. Cassie James: The dead don't bleed. Grissom: True. Death does have some advantages. Would you like me to help you get in a shelter? Cassie James: No, I would need a shelter from a shelter. No, no, no. Out here, I can hunt and I can range and I can find the things that I need out here. I mean, you never know what you need until you find it. Grissom: Or until you lose it. Cassie James: I mean, all we are is what we try to get rid of. Fat and newspapers and loneliness and cat food cans. And there are going-away people and there are left-behind people but, you know, everybody's secrets ... everybody's secrets are the same. Grissom: Were your and your sister's secrets the same? Cassie James: My sister didn't have secrets. Her secrets had her. That... I told you I didn't ... I don't know. I mean, you know, y-y-you-you can pick through a million lives and never have one of your own. Grissom: Looking for things, analyzing them ... trying to figure out the world -- that's a life. Cassie James: You never know what you need until you find it. And the next thing I find it might be the thing that changes everything. Grissom: What will you do when you find it? Cassie James: Sleep ... the most perfect sleep. (GRISSOM stops walking and watches CASSIE continue on ahead of him pulling her cart behind her. She's muttering to herself ... continuing on with her life.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS (STOCK) -- DAY] [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS - SIDEWALK -- DAY] (The camera follows GRISSOM as he walks along the sidewalk. The usual noise of the bustling city is gradually reduced to general muffled sounds and the occasional clear, identifiable sound.) (GRISSOM stops to look at the water fountain and we can hear the sounds of the water fountain as he stops to look at it. Even that sound is muffled and unclear.) (He moves to cross the street and is startled by the sound of a car screeching to a halt when it's nearly upon him. Only then does he stop. Something's terribly wrong.) (GRISSOM continues across the street and stops when he gets to the other side. We still can't hear anything other than muffled unrecognizable sounds. GRISSOM stands there and looks out at the silent world in front of him.) Grissom (v.o.): Obviously most of crime scene investigation is about seeing. But much of it is about hearing as well. Listening. Knowing how to listen. Not just to what people are saying but how they say it ... how their tone of voice matches their facial expressions or body posture. So, even if I read lips and know what they're saying ... it's not enough. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE] Doctor: We're both scientists, Mr. Grissom, so let me tell you the science. You've got otosclerosis. Basically, this means a bony growth has begun to form around the base of the stapes. What this does is prevent the stapes from moving and passing vibrations to the inner ear effectively neutralizing sound waves. Grissom: (nods) It's hereditary -- my mother. Doctor: Most doctors think so. But there's no way to know when it's going to show up and there's no way to reverse it once it does. Grissom: Right. How long do you think? Doctor: (shakes her head) I don't have that answer.
The Hunger Artist