Catherine, Sara and Warrick are left without a body or crime scene when a snuff film shows the real murder of a young woman. Meanwhile Grissom and Nick are trying to find the identity and killer of a body found in a tool chest, covered with fire ants .
THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT [EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - NIGHT] [EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY STRATOSPHERE TOWER / MOON (STOCK) - NIGHT] [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FILM DEVELOPERS - NIGHT] (GRISSOM and CATHERINE stand next to a film projector and watch the film on screen. The FILM PROCESSOR, who called it in, stands on the opposite side of the projector. On screen, she's showing them the p0rn film she recently developed.) (On screen, the man finishes and the woman lies back on the bed.) FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): Okay, this is where it got weird. (On screen, the man pulls the woman off of the bed by the wrist. He holds her up close, his back to the camera. He pulls a knife. The woman struggles to get out of his grip.) (The man puts the knife against the woman's neck.) Woman: (on film) Don't ... (He pulls the knife and cuts the woman's neck, blood spatters everywhere. The woman struggles to breathe, then falls to the floor and out of camera frame.) (CATHERINE isn't unaffected by the film.) FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): I've processed hundreds of bogus snuff films. But this, this one just felt different. Catherine: (closes her eyes for a moment) Yeah, it should. arterial spray was real. (GRISSOM watches grimly as the blood drops on the camera lens slowly slide downward.) Grissom: It's not fake blood. It's human. That was a murder ... on 16 millimeter. HARD CUT TO: END OF TEASER ROLL TITLE CREDITS [SCENE_BREAK] THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FILM DEVELOPERS - NIGHT] (GRISSOM puts on his gloves to handle the film.) Grissom: Has this pornographer sent you film to be developed in the past? FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): I'm sure he has. We get raw film from hundreds of adult film companies. No names, just those private boxes. You can film p0rn, develop it, sell it, buy it but you can't send it through the U.S. Mail. Catherine: I've got several envelopes here from various private shipping companies. Grissom: We'll be taking those with us as well. FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): Whatever. (GRISSOM'S cell phone rings. He answers it.) Grissom: Grissom. Brass: (over phone) It's Brass. INTERCUT WITH: [EXT. HENDERSON ROAD - NIGHT] Brass: I got a D.B. Out on Henderson Road. Grissom: I'm already on a case. Brass: Yeah, well, reconsider. I mean, these ants came flying out of the body. They're taking chunks out of the coroner. The CSI day guy says he's not going near the body again! Grissom: They're fire ants, Brass. Keep everyone away from the colony. They're evidence. (Behind BRASS, DAVID PHILLIPS tries to get the ants off of him.) Brass: Reconsider. Bring bug spray. Grissom: No bug spray! [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. HENDERSON ROAD - NIGHT] (BRASS escorts GRISSOM to the dead body.) Brass: So a kid was driving along and spotted the tool box. He thought it would look good in his pickup truck. So he looked inside and freaked out. Ran to call for help. (GRISSOM and BRASS reach DAVID PHILLIPS.) David Phillips: Hey ... Grissom. You ever see anything like this? (DAVID holds his arm out for GRISSOM to look at. There are angry puffy bite marks on his arm.) Grissom: Well, any species that finds itself in a place it doesn't belong can do this kind of damage. What are you using? David Phillips: Cortisone. Grissom: That'll help. (GRISSOM and BRASS continue on to the body.) Brass: You know, I heard that these things can kill a deer. Is that ... is that right? Grissom: Well, with enough colonies they can kill people. Brass: What about our person? Grissom: Well, only if they also learned how to put him in a box and dump him in a ditch. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. HENDERSON ROAD - NIGHT] (The tool box lid opens. Inside is a dead body eaten away down to its bones. The entire body is covered with fire ants.) (Behind him, BRASS coughs at the smell.) Brass: Man or woman? (GRISSOM brushes away some of the flying ants from his sight.) Grissom: Ant hill. They're using this body as a colony site. I'm going to have to take this box and the specimen back to the lab as is. These insects are evidence. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - HALLWAY -- NIGHT] (CATHERINE and DET. SULIK walk in the hallway as he fills her in on the info about the snuff film.) Det. Sulik: I followed up on the private mail depot for our snuff movie. The place has got over a thousand boxes no records of renters and they deal in cash only. Catherine: Dead trail. Det. Sulik: Yeah. Catherine: I got Archie to digitize that film blow up a head shot of our victim. (CATHERINE hands DET. SULIK a photograph of the woman.) Det. Sulik: I find any missing persons that match her description, I'll beep you. Catherine: Thanks, Sulik. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - LAB -- NIGHT] (SARA is looking at the film negative with a magnifying glass. CATHERINE walks into the lab.) Catherine: Find any fingerprints? Sara: I should be able to. Imaging components on a filmstrip are held together by gelatin. Same stuff that makes jell-o jiggle, but they're smudged. I can tell you that the film was manufactured in 2002 by a big company. Homicide's contacting them now to get a buyer's list. (CATHERINE puts on a pair of gloves.) Catherine: Won't help. Pornos buy "short ends" from legitimate clearing houses. Saves money and they're impossible to trace. Sara: (impressed) Really? Catherine: I pulled a porno ring using teenage girls a couple years ago. Learned all you want to know about the adult entertainment industry. (CATHERING picks up a film negative strip and looks at it through a magnifying glass.) Catherine: Hell of a way to go. (SARA'S silent for a moment.) Sara: I always thought that snuff films were an urban myth. I mean, outside of urban Bangkok. (CATHERINE puts the film down and looks at SARA.) Catherine: FBI's official position on snuff films in the U.S. Of a? No such thing. Sara: What's their unofficial position? Catherine: Single film goes for hundred grand ... original negative. (CATHERINE goes back to looking at the negative.) Sara: And this snuff filmmaker decided to send his film out to get processed. Catherine: Greedy doesn't mean smart. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - OUTSIDE FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- NIGHT] (DOC ROBBINS struggles to put on his protective suit around his leg. Next to him, GRISSOM also puts on his suit.) Robbins: Come on, you bitch! I'm allergic to red ants, you know. (GRISSOM puts his head gear on and works to put his gloves on. ROBBINS does the same.) Grissom: Yeah? I put them on my eggs. Robbins: If they're dead, I hope. (They both enter the autopsy room.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- NIGHT] (GRISSOM and ROBBINS carry the body to the examining table. The entire room is covered with plastic to keep the insects inside. GRISSOM starts to sprinkle white powder along the edge of the table.) Robbins: Something tells me that isn't black flag. Grissom: Ecozone pyrethrum. Toxic to ants, fleas, roaches and silverfish. Robbins: And how does an entomologist feel about putting ants to death? Grissom: I view them as martyrs in a scientist's holy war. Robbins: I see. (looks at the body) Man without a face. Grissom: Timeline for death? Robbins: Hard to say between the insects and the elements. At least a year. Grissom: It smells more like two. Robbins: Multiple fractures of both clavicles. (Quick CGI POV to the right clavicle of the body. The ants and grime disappear and only the clean bone is left for us to view. The bone breaks.) Robbins: (V.O.) Right clavicle healed ... broken four months before death. (The bone heals up. Camera moves over the ant-infested body to the left clavicle and focuses in on the second break.) Robbins: (V.O.) Left was more recent ... hairline fractures are still present. (End of CGI POV. Resume to present.) Robbins: Give me a hand turning him over, will you? (They turn the body over.) Grissom: What are these? (GRISSOM sticks his fingers in two almost identical wounds on the body's back.) Robbins: I'm not sure. Sharp impact wounds to the interscapular. Same trauma here in the vertebrel. Grissom: Stab wounds? Robbins: I can't say. Uh, maybe some round weapon of some sort. Grissom: What, two feet apart? More like 18 inches. (GRISSOM sees something. He digs in his pocket for a forceps and removes something from the body. He holds it up.) Robbins: What? Grissom: A pupa case. Robbins: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Grissom: It's a good thing. If I can postdate the pupa I can establish an entomological timeline. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - AUDIO/VISUAL LAB -- NIGHT] (WARRICK and ARCHIE work on getting information from the snuff film.) Warrick: Okay, all right, let's run this back again from the beginning. This time without the sound. (ARCHIE clicks on the keyboard and the film rewinds.) Warrick: All right. (They reach the beginning of the film where the woman is on the bed and the man in the robe walks into the room. The man disrobes.) Warrick: Stop. (ARCHIE punches a key on the keyboard and the film pauses.) Warrick: Can you zoom in on his back? (ARCHIE boxes and enlarges a mark on the man's back.) Warrick: What is that? A mole? Archie Johnson: Non-cancerous. Warrick: You think? Too bad, the b*st*rd. (The film resumes.) This room is like a dime a dozen it could be anywhere in Vegas. Between the drapes can you get any other detail outside of that window? Archie Johnson: Uh ... I'll reverse the polarization see if we can get any more information from this frame. Warrick: That looks like a blob outside of the window. It's spherical. Archie Johnson: Blow it up. Times ten. Warrick: The Stratosphere Tower. South face maybe? Using that Stratosphere Tower as a point of reference could you triangulate and pinpoint the street that this was filmed on? Archie Johnson: (smiles and nods) I can. (ARCHIE gets to work.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY -- STRATOSPHERE TOWER (STOCK) - DAY] [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. MANDOLIN TOWER HOTEL - DRIVEWAY -- DAY] (DET. SULIK, CATHERINE, SARA and WARRICK make their way up the driveway.) Det. Sulik: Hotel's in receivership. The security guy says the elevator still works. Warrick: We're going to need to talk to him. Det. Sulik: Soon as he gets off the phone with the owner. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. MANDOLIN TOWER HOTEL - LOBBY -- DAY] (The group walks into the lobby. CATHERINE pauses and looks around. She stops and stares at a lamp in the lobby. WARRICK notices and stops to stand next to her.) Warrick: What's up? Catherine: (looking at the lamp) Oh, nothing. Only difference between Kitsch and beautiful is time. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - GRISSOM'S OFFICE -- DAY] (GRISSOM is holding a stack of bug samples in baggies.) Greg: (o.s.) Heard you're doing a timeline on the ant man. Grissom: Slow day in DNA, Greg? (GRISSOM starts to tape the baggies to the glass board.) Greg: Yeah. (pause) You know, I, uh ... I can take notes. (GREG walks up to GRISSOM from the other side of the glass board and pulls out a small notepad and pen.) Grissom: Very good. Go right ahead. (GRISSOM starts the timeline. He talks out loud as he writes.) Grissom: (writing) Week zero: Body dies. Week two: Green blowflies arrive ... and leave their pupal casings. (GRISSOM grabs one of the baggied samples and tapes it under "Week 2". He continues.) Grissom: Week four: Black soldier flies move in. At Week 28 ... they leave their pupa casings. (GRISSOM grabs the second baggied sample and sticks it under "Week 28". He continues.) Grissom: Now, the presence of winged reproductive fire ants suggests that their colony was in existence for at least a year. (At this, GRISSOM takes the final bag and tags it at the end. He writes a large "52" over it and circles it. He continues.) Grissom: Now, since we found no more pupa casings after the black soldier flies left at week 28, we know that this is when the fire ants must've first arrived. (GRISSOM writes a "1" and circles it.) Grissom: So, calculating the gestation period between ants and flies, we get... (GREG starts counting. He reaches over and grabs the blue pen.) Greg: One year plus the 28 weeks ... the guy's been dead 19 months. (GREG writes a big "19" on the board and circles it.) Grissom: (pleased) Very good. It's an approximation, but it's a start. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. MANDOLIN TOWER HOTEL - HALLWAY ON FLOOR -- DAY] (As they walk down the hallway, CATHERINE assigns the rooms to each of them.) Catherine: Well ... Sara, you take that one. (SARA enters the first room.) Catherine: Warrick, you go there, I'll go in here. (They each walk into their assigned rooms.) [SCENE_BREAK] (CATHERINE walks into her room and looks around.) (Cut to: WARRICK is inside his room and holds up a large clear image of the stratosphere tower from the film. They try to find the room by matching the tower in the negative to the tower in the window. He looks at the negative and pulls it down to look at the window: no match.) (Cut to: CATHERINE holding up the large clear image against the window. She looks at the image and pulls it down to look at the window: no match.) (Cut to: SARA holding up the same large clear image against the window. She looks at the image and sees the stratosphere tower line up perfectly with the tower in the window.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. MANDOLIN TOWER HOTEL - ROOM 918- DAY -- CONTINUOUS] Sara: Hey, guys? (CATHERINE and WARRICK walk into the room.) Sara: We got it. Warrick: (looking around) Somebody moved out all the furniture. Catherine: And painted the wall. (CATHERINE puts her kit down.) Warrick: If they can't see it, we can't, huh? Catherine: Right. (WARRICK puts his kit down and picks up his ALS. He shines it on the wall. Under the light, the blood spatter is obvious.) Catherine: Arterial spray (Quick flashback to the knife slicing through the woman's neck. She gasps. The blood spatters on the wall. End of flashback. Resume to present.) Sara: (pointing) There's a void. Could be a face? Catherine: Yeah, maybe. Sara: How does somebody cross the line where killing a woman is a turn-on? Catherine: Oh, I don't think snuff makers cross a line, I think they start on the other side of it. Sara: Biology determining pathology. Warrick: Yeah, some people were just born bad. Catherine: Where's that security guard? [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. MANDOLIN TOWER HOTEL - LOBBY -- DAY] Det. Sulik: How long you been a day guard here? Security Guard: Four months. But I don't know anything about this murder you're talking about. Warrick: Do you anything about who painted Room 918? Security Guard: No idea. (CATHERINE notices the white spots on the SECURITY GUARD'S shoulder.) Catherine: You should try a scalp conditioner. Security Guard: What? Catherine: Your dandruff. (on closer look) Oh, my bad ... primer. Alkyd-based. Never comes out in the wash but you already know that. (CATHERINE walks behind the SECURITY GUARD. Her eyes widen as she finds something unexpected.) Catherine: (alarmed) Warrick? (WARRICK goes to stand next to CATHERINE and he sees it, too. There's a large mole on the man's neck, above his shirt collar.) Warrick: You were in that snuff film. Catherine: You stabbed that girl. Security Guard: I let them use the room to make a movie, that's all. Warrick: Yeah, we saw you in the movie. You and your nice mole. Security Guard: The guy threw in another two hundred ($200) if I had s*x with the girl. She was hot, so I figured why not? Did her and left. She was breathing fine. Warrick: So when you came back in the room and you saw the blood on the wall did you think to call the police? Security Guard: I didn't want to lose my job. Catherine: Oh, touching. (to SULIK) Arrest him. Det. Sulik: Turn around. (SULIK cuffs the SECURITY GUARD and leads him out of the lobby.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (GRISSOM is busy stirring something in a large pot on a hot plate.) Teri Miller: (o.s.) I see you're now learning to cook for yourself. (TERI MILLER walks into frame. GRISSOM looks up at her.) Grissom: Well, I had to, Teri. I heard you were married. Hopefully not to a criminalist. (She chuckles.) Teri Miller: You think I'm stupid? He's a teacher. Grissom: Well, congratulations. Teri Miller: Thank you. So what's the special occasion? Grissom: I have someone I'd like you to introduce me to. (GRISSOM pulls out the strainer he's holding and the clean skull with it. TERI leans in and notices something.) Grissom: What, did I miss something? Teri Miller: Actually, yes. (GRISSOM twists his arm and looks on the other side of the skull. He picks up the forceps and removes a cooked beetle.) Grissom: It's a dung beetle. Teri Miller: Probably hid in the nasal cavity. Grissom: The ants ate everything but the exoskeleton. Teri Miller: Mm-hmm. Grissom: So he was probably murdered near some large animals. Maybe a farm or a zoo. Anyway, as to who ... I'll leave that up to you. Teri Miller: (smiles) Will do. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - AUDIO/VISUAL LAB] (Back at the Audio/Visual Lab, WARRICK works on the film on the computer. He takes screen captures of the man in the film at two different points of the film. One screen cap is of the man before he sleeps with the woman. The other screen cap is of the man after he sleeps with the woman, just before he kills her and when puts his robe back on.) (He pulls both screen caps side by side on the monitor and does a height estimation of the two men. The computer runs a comparative scale and comes to the conclusion that the man on the left is 5'10.00" tall; and the man on the right is 5'11.75" tall.) Warrick: Damn, Security Guard was telling the truth. There is another guy there. He's almost one and three-quarter inches taller than the security guard. Sara: Our minds must've filled in the negative space. Catherine: Look, the Security Guard just left the room. You see the door shadow right there ... at the foot of the bed. Sara: The camera stopped moving. Warrick: That's because he's not behind it, he's in front of it. Catherine: Well, then, that's our guy. There's got to be some way to I.D. him. Warrick: I have enlarged and re-enlarged every frame. There's no tats, there's no birthmarks, nothing. Catherine: What about the rest of the room? Warrick: The film picks up everything there is to see, Catherine. We've seen everything. Sara: Maybe there's a short end. Warrick: What? Sara: Pornos use short ends of film which means they never know when the film is going to run out. Catherine: Roll out. Camera slows down, the last frame stutters gets hit with more light. (Quick CGI POV to: Front view of a film camera. The camera turns to the side to show the view screen on the bottom. As the reel runs out of film, the picture on the view screen stutters and gets brighter as more light goes through. Camera zooms in on the view screen and shows the bed with blood spatter on the camera lens. The screen stutters and gets even brighter. End of CGI POV. Resume to present.) Warrick: So there's more visual information on the negative. Catherine: Right. Good editors always cut the roll out. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FILM PROCESSING PLACE -- NIGHT] (The FILM PROCESSOR leads CATHERINE and SARA to the room where the bins are kept till collection. Outside, it's raining.) Catherine: So all your editors' cuttings are in there? FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): Yep. Negatives and unused dailies. Collection guy comes by once a week. Silver on the film makes it environmentally unsafe for landfill, so ... Sara: Be nice if people were as concerned about the women in these films ... FILM PROCESSOR (WOMAN): I am the one who called y'all, remember? Knock yourselves out, ladies. Sara/Catherine: Thank you. Thank you. (The FILM PROCESSOR leaves them.) Catherine: Bins of sin. (CATHERINE and SARA put their kits down.) Sara: Well, looks like mostly 35 millimeter. Our 16 should've settled ... at the bottom. (CATHERINE grabs the bin and tips it over. She pours all the negatives out on the ground.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - GARAGE -- NIGHT] (NICK examines the tool kit that the "Ant Man" was discovered in. He opens the lid and examines it inside. Inside, he notices something. He finds a piece of metal on the bottom of the kit.) Nick: (quietly) What the heck is that? [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- HALLWAY] (GRISSOM holds the bagged piece of metal that NICK found in the tool box. They walk down the hallway as NICK fills GRISSOM in on the information about the metal.) Grissom: What did trace say? Nick: Carbon steel. There was some rust on it. Grissom: Carbon steel? 19th century. Mostly used for surgical instruments. Nick: Well, you found some stab wounds on the vic, right? Underneath all those ants? Maybe it's somebody's old scalpel. Grissom: This prong-like extension could be part of a repeating pattern. Nick: Geometrical extrapolation? Grissom: That would give us possibilities. Nick: You got a pencil? (NICK turns into the nearest lab. GRISSOM follows.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (NICK places the metal on a sheet of graph paper. He traces the shape of the piece on the paper.) Nick: From the tip down, the slope looks to be slightly curved. Now, if I extend that trace outward ... (NICK repeats the pattern shape on the paper. It looks ruffled when he's done. He looks at GRISSOM.) Nick: What do you think? Blade of saw ... Grissom: Keep doing the math, maybe we won't have to guess. Nick: You see how the base of the fragment curves downward? Suggesting something circular. (NICK picks up a compass and places the piece of metal on the outside of the circle. He draws the same pattern, only around the circle.) Nick: Repeating pattern. Circular saw, maybe. (GRISSOM picks up the piece and holds it up close to his face.) Grissom: This doesn't seem sharp enough for a saw. (He puts it back down on the paper. NICK picks it up.) Nick: Wait a minute. (smiles) I've seen one of these before, man. A spur ... cheap spur. Grissom: What's that old cowboy expression? Got to see a man about a horse. Nick: (nods) Yeah. Grissom: That reminds me. I've got to see a woman about a face. (GRISSOM leaves the room.) Nick: Yee-haw. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. FILM PROCESSING PLACE -- NIGHT] (CATHERINE and SARA sit on their kits and go through the film strips one by one.) Sara: You notice all the guys in these movies are wearing condoms? Catherine: Yeah, industry policy. Ever since '98. Even have a quarantine list: Who's positive, who's not. And that security guy wore one, too. Pretty surprising for unregulated p0rn. Sara: Maybe she made him wear one. (SARA lifts up a negative and smiles.) Sara: I got it. Catherine: You did? Sara: I got it, I found it. Catherine: Thank god. (SARA hands the strip to CATHERINE and she looks at it.) Catherine: Hot frame, all right. (She shakes her head.) I still can't see who it is. Sara: You can see a little more of the room, though. There's a small table and a lamp in the left corner. (CATHERINE sees it and smiles. She also recognizes the lamp.) Catherine: Good eye, Sara. (Camera zooms into the frame and it changes color.) Catherine: Yeah, that Kitsch lamp. Somebody moved it out to the lobby. I'll have Warrick go back to the hotel and grab it. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (Close up of the clean skull with markers already stuck on it. TERI MILLER works methodically on reconstructing the skull. GRISSOM watches her over her shoulder.) Grissom: Tissue depth markers. Twenty-one of them, right? Teri Miller: Sixteen actually. Excluding five nasal markers. Grissom: Like I said ... Teri Miller: (smiles) This one's very interesting. (She picks up the skull and turns it around to show GRISSOM.) The occiput the bump on the back center of the head unusually flat. (Dissolve to: TERI securing the molding clay on the skull's chin. She also puts in the skull's left eye.) Teri Miller: The eyes have epicanthal folds. A triangular flap of skin that gives a vaguely asian appearance. (Dissolve to: TERI securing the right ear to the skull.) Teri Miller: You see how the bridge of the nose is poorly developed? Almost too small for the size of his head. Grissom: The ears seem slightly odd. (White flash to: TERI is working on the right ear.) Teri Miller: Like the nose they too, are disproportionate to the head. Almost childlike. (Dissolve to: TERI finishing the face reconstruction and dusting the forehead with a brush.) Teri Miller: These elements are small for the head which, in itself, is almost too short and wide. Your victim was born with trisomy of the twenty-first chromosome. Grissom: Down's syndrome. (Finished, TERI turns the bust around toward the camera. Camera holds on the figure.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (A photo of RANDY TRASCHEL runs through the fax machine.) [SCENE_BREAK] Brass: So I sent out a community fax to every Downs syndrome link in Clark and the surrounding counties. Special Olympics-type groups, societies, schools and I got lucky. Randy Traschel, age 25. Been missing for seventeen months. Grissom: I guess my ants were off a little. (BRASS hands GRISSOM a sheet of paper with RANDY TRASCHEL'S picture and information: [Name: Randy Traschel Address: 2074 Westfall, LV, NV, 89 ... D.O.B.: 02/25/77 Age: 25 Missing: 17 months Last Employer: Las Vegas Ranch ] Grissom: "Last employer: Las Vegas Ranch." (he thinks about it and makes a connection) Horses. (beat) Dung beetles. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH -- DAY] (BRASS, NICK and GRISSOM walks down the front dirt road to the ranch.) Brass: Hey, where's the tote board? Every time I see a horse, I want to place a bet. Smells like Belmont Park, doesn't it? Nick: You ever ridden a horse, Grissom? Grissom: Nope, just roller coaster (They make their way toward the corral where most of the men are. (One of the older men sees them, turns and approaches them.) Pete Banson: Howdy. Pete Banson. Ranch manager. Brass: Howdy. Jim Brass, Las Vegas police. This is Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes of the crime lab. Pete Banson: What seems to be the trouble? (BRASS holds open the picture of RANDY TRASCHEL.) Brass: Have you ever seen this man? Pete Banson: Yeah, he's one of my stall muckers. Hired him about two years ago. A little slow in the head, but got the work done. And all of a sudden, he up and disappeared never heard from him since then. Grissom: Did he ever ride horses for you, Mr. Banson? Pete Banson: No, he just mucked the stalls and went home. Nick: Who mucks your stalls now? Pete Banson: Look, guys, am I in some kind of trouble here? Nick: A former employee of yours was murdered. Now, who mucks? Pete Banson: Enrique. He's an illegal. Brass: Shocking. Where is he? [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (WARRICK and CATHERINE go through the short-end frame by frame. WARRICK puts a sheet of paper in front of the camera so that they can better see what they're looking at.) Warrick: There's the lamp I got from the lobby. The bulb is red ... in the film and here. Catherine: Guy thinks he's Zalman King, playing with the lighting. Warrick: I guess he was going for a certain look. (WARRICK turns around and looks at the lamp. Something occurs to him.) Warrick: You know, if I had screwed a hot light bulb I'd probably lick my fingers. Catherine: Saliva. (Quick CGI POV to: A camera close up of someone licking their fingers then twisting the red light bulb off. End of CGI POV. Resume to present.) Catherine: Guy replaced it with a red bulb. Got residual saliva on it. I'll process for DNA, run it through CODIS. (CATHERINE takes the red light bulb from WARRICK and leaves the room.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (The computer printer beeps. CATHERINE takes the computer results. It's the CODIS match results. She reads it and leaves the room.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. URBAN LAS VEGAS -- DAY] [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT./INT. SAMPSON RESIDENCE - DAY] (The door bell rings and the front door opens to DET. SULIK and CATHERINE. DET. SULIK holds his badge open.) Det. Sulik: Douglas Sampson? (A man leans against the door frame.) Douglas Sampson: Yeah. Catherine: The same Douglas Sampson who did three years for sexual assault and battery? (DOUGLAS SAMPSON coughs.) Douglas Sampson: Did. Past tense. Det. Sulik: We want to talk to you about a recent homicide at the Mandolin Tower Hotel, off Fremont. Douglas Sampson: I'm working. (Both CATHERINE and DET. SULIK turn around. Standing behind them near the car with WARRICK is the SECURITY GUARD. He looks at DOUGLAS SAMPSON and nods to them.) (They turn back to DOUGLAS SAMPSON.) Catherine: Take a break. (DOUGLAS SAMPSON moves away from the door. DET. SULIK and CATHERINE enter the house.) [INT. SAMPSON RESIDENCE - DAY -- CONTINUOUS] Douglas Sampson: Take ten. Give it a rest, guys. (The man and the woman in front of the camera put their clothes back on and leave the room.) Catherine: I bet I could guess your exact height. Douglas Sampson: What? Det. Sulik: That guy out front just confirmed you shot a snuff film with this girl at the Mandolin Tower Hotel. Douglas Sampson: I've stayed there over the years. I never saw her with that guy out front. Catherine: We've got you on film, killing her. Douglas Sampson: If you had me from any angle I could be identified you would've arrested me already. Catherine: We've got ourselves a film student here. DOUGLAS SAMPSON: I'm one of the best in adult film and I'm going to be making the jump to mainstream, you watch. Catherine: Financed by a snuff film? Douglas Sampson: You have no right to be in my house. I'm not breaking any laws. I have a permit for adult film production. You leave now or I'm going to file a complaint. (DOUGLAS SAMPSON sniffles and wipes his nose.) Catherine: Getting a cold? Maybe you should raise the heat. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. SAMPSON RESIDENCE - DAY] (CATHERINE and DET. SULIK walk down the front walkway.) Catherine: Hey, what do you got? (WARRICK has been busy examining SAMPSON'S car parked out on the side of the road.) Warrick: This is Sampson's car, right? Some soil up in his wheel well. He washed the tire and forgot the well. Catherine: Butterscotch? Warrick: Yeah. Remember that body dump a couple years back? Catherine: Yeah. Warrick: Down near the Colorado? Catherine: Bidahochy range. Butterscotch-colored soil. Det. Sulik: I'll radio the sheriff up there. And the Park Rangers. Catherine: Great. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. LAS VEGAS RANCH -- DAY] (BRASS, GRISSOM and NICK question ENRIQUE who is busy working.) Brass: You never met this man? Enrique: No. Brass: Stop the shoveling. Take a closer look. Enrique: All I know about him is they call him "Stubs." Nick: Stubs. What is that, some kind of nickname? Enrique: I guess. I hear the cowboys joking about him. I think they call him that because of his fingers. (GRISSOM walks away and looks around. He picks up the hay fork and looks at its prongs.) Brass: Did the other cowboys ever make fun of him? (NICK looks down at ENRIQUE'S spurs.) Enrique: I really don't know. Nick: Do you ride, Mr. Vasquez? Enrique: Every day. Nick: You wear spurs when you ride? Enrique: When I'm breaking a horse, yes. (GRISSOM listens to the response and walks back to the group.) Brass: You don't call this breaking a horse, do you? Enrique: I forgot to take them off. Nick: I'm going to need to take a look at those spurs, Mr. Vasquez. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (In the lab, GRISSOM takes the spurs out of the plastic evidence bag. One of the teeth is missing. He spins the spur. He picks up the broken piece of metal found in the tool box with the body and matches the two together. Camera zooms in to show that it is a match.) (GRISSOM smiles.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERROGATION ROOM -- DAY] (NICK questions PETE BANSON. NICK puts a photograph on the table.) Nick: Enrique said he got those boots an spurs from Hero's Row. Pete Banson: Mm-hmm. That's where the cowboys toss all their unwanted gear. Nick: And they just leave them there for anyone to pick up? Pete Banson: It's either that or Goodwill. Nick: Hmm. Mr. Banson, the pro Rodeo Association banned sharp rowels on spurs back in the early '70s because they were found to be cruel to horses. Pete Banson: Yeah, I know all about that. I don't particularly agree with it 'cause as far as I'm concerned horses are on this earth to service human beings. There's an order to this. Grissom: Well, somebody on your ranch is stuck in the '70s. Do you have any idea who this spur could belong to? Pete Banson: Billy Rattison. Pro bronc rider. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - HALLWAY] (A cell phone rings. WARRICK answers it.) Warrick: Brown. Det. Sulik: I think we got your snuff film girl. Warrick: Where? Det. Sulik: [CLOSED-CAPTIONED: By the river.] Warrick: Okay, I'll be right there. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. RIVERBED - DAY] (WARRICK makes his way toward the body. OFFICERS stand in the background.) (The body is dirty and covered with grass and debris. It's also wrapped in a large curtain. WARRICK kneels next to the body.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY] (Camera opens on the monitor with a close up of SUSAN HODAP'S face. CATHERINE and SARA walk in.) Robbins: Warrick stick you with post? Catherine: He's working evidence from the riverbed. Sara: You going to be able to I.D. her? Robbins: Already did from her dental records. Susan Hodap, 26. Exsanguination from a trans-section of the carotid artery. Slicing stab. Catherine: Any chance of finding any serration marks on the bone? Robbins: To tie to a knife? Eh, that'll entail a boil, but sure, I can try. What I can tell you conclusively is that Susan Hodap was already on borrowed time. I tapped her cerebral spinal fluid didn't wait for a batch, had the lab run it solo. She was HIV positive. (CATHERINE turns and looks at SARA.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- LAB] (CATHERINE and SARA sit behind the computer.) Sara: Susan Hodap ... Catherine: There it is. (CATHERINE runs her finger across the screen that reads: Hodap, Susan ... HIV + ...) Catherine: Tested positive six months ago. Sara: I can't believe that p0rn actors' monthly health records are on the internet. Catherine: Yeah, right. The rule is, the actor tests positive twice they go on permanent quarantine. (They find the second listing under May 2002: Hodap, Susan ... HIV + Quarantined ... ) Sara: That's why she ended up in that snuff film. She got bounced out of regular p0rn. Catherine: Walked right into her own death scene. The thing is ... p0rn director may have, too. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH -- DAY] (GRISSOM and NICK make their way toward BILLY RATTISON'S truck.) Nick: This would be a pretty cool little truck if it weren't for the shiny new toolbox. Grissom: Yeah. And it might be his. (PETE BANSON walks over to them.) Pete Banson: See you boys are back again. Grissom: Mr. Banson, is this Billy Rattison's truck? Pete Banson: Yes, sir. It is. Grissom: We need to speak with him. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH -- DAY] Billy Rattison: I don't know nothing about no damn retard. Grissom: He wasn't a "retard," Mr. Rattison. He had what we call Down's syndrome. Billy Rattison: I don't care what he had. Always sticking his nose where it don't belong. (Quick flashback to RANDY TRASCHEL noticing the snuff box on the corral metal fence. He grabs it and takes it to BILLY RATTISON. He holds it up to him.) Randy Traschel: You left this? Billy Rattison: I left it on the post. I don't want it in my pocket when I ride. (BILLY RATTISON takes the piece of snuff in his mouth and throws it at RANDY TRASCHEL. It hits him in the face.) Randy Traschel: Damn! (RANDY TRASCHEL steps back to wipe it off as the other men watching laugh. End of quick flashback. Resume to present.) Grissom: The, uh, toolbox in your truck, is that new? Billy Rattison: Nope. Bought it a couple months ago. Somebody stole the last one. See, we got a big problem with that around here the help walking off with stuff. Grissom: Nick, where did you acquire this photo? Nick: Pro rodeo Association. (GRISSOM takes a photo out of the envelope he's carrying. He shows the photograph to BILLY RATTISON.) Grissom: That is you. Billy Rattison: Yeah. Grissom: Do you remember where this was taken? (BILLY RATTISON takes the picture and looks at it.) Billy Rattison: Looks like bronc finals, Wichita, Kansas. Spent a month there training for the finals. (He gives the photo back to GRISSOM.) Nick: But you live here normally, right? Billy Rattison: (nods) Mm-hmm. Grissom: What month, exactly? (GRISSOM puts the photo in front of BILLY RATTISON again.) Billy Rattison: (sighs heavily) This photo here ... uh, March, 2000. Nick: 19 months ago. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH - DAY -- CONTINUOUS] (GRISSOM and NICK walk through the stalls to leave the ranch.) Nick: Your ants put the time of death at 19 months Rattison puts being out of town at 19 months yet Randy Traschel's been missing 17 months so... (chuckles) ... now what? Grissom: We need a more precise timeline. Nick: Yeah ... so ... back to the bugs? Grissom: On to the rust. Nick: Ahh. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - HALLWAY / LAB --- DAY] (SARA walks through the hallway.) Warrick: (o.s.) Damn. (A flying phonebook flies out of the lab door and hits the floor in front of her with a thud just barely missing her. She turns and enters the lab. WARRICK is inside looking at the curtain hanging in front of him.) Sara: Why are you throwing phone books? Warrick: (frustrated) 'Cause a beaker gets glass all over the place. Sara: What's wrong? Warrick: It's this curtain that the p0rn girl was found wrapped in. I've got no prints, no second donor. I've got nothing to link this p0rn guy to the girl's murder. It's just driving me nuts. Sara: I'm fine. Warrick: I'm sorry. Are you okay? Sara: Yeah. You missed me by a mile. We may have something. Warrick: Really. Sara: Right here. I wanted to show you. (SARA holds up a single film frame negative for WARRICK to look at.) When he's stabbing her, she's bleeding all over him. Warrick: Well, a void proves that, but we still can't prove it's him. Sara: Yeah, but her blood might. Catherine and I suspect transference. She had HIV. Warrick: Well, how are we going to get a sample of Sampson's blood? Sara: Warrant, based on the butterscotch dirt that you found on his car. Warrick: (pleased) Oh. I like that. Sara: You might want to apologize to the phone book. (SARA turns and walks out of the lab.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERROGATION ROOM] (Inside the room, a Lab Tech draws a sample of DOUGLAS SAMPSON'S blood while a detective stands nearby and watches.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI - AUDIO/VISUAL LAB] (GRISSOM and NICK work on the piece of metal with ARCHIE.) Grissom: We sliced the shard into layers of one hundred microns to measure the level of oxidation. Moisture from the body hits the carbon steel and then corrosion begins. (Quick CGI POV to: Camera zooms from RANDY TRASCHEL'S body in the box and pans down the box from his head to his feet. The camera finds the single piece of metal near his feet, drops of moisture on it.) Grissom: (V.O.) And we can be certain that there was moisture right away. (End of CGI POV. Resume to present.) Nick: So it's like slicing the mold off of bread ... Grissom: ... and measuring it. The rust penetrated the thirteenth layer and just barely in the fourteenth. Archie, run the weather. Archie: National weather service for Las Vegas. Average relative humidity 30.29. Temperature 22.61 Celsius. Grissom: So, corrosion versus time ... Archie: May 2000. Nick: Spur exposure time was exactly 17 months. Grissom: And we can testify to this. Nick: Missing persons was right. The ants were off. Grissom: Yeah, so was Rattison. He was in town. [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. CSI -- GRISSOM'S OFFICE] (GRISSOM puts a photo of the ant-infested body on his desk alongside other photos. He picks up a ruler and puts it down on the table.) (He then takes a rubber band and stretches it between two pencils till he hits eighteen inches, the length between the puncture wounds on the body.) (He holds it at this length, lifts it up and looks at it. Thinking about it, he deliberately tilts the tips of the pencils inward.) (He gets an idea.) [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH - DAY] (Curly, the bull, with his large horns is contained so that NICK can measure the distance of his horns.) Nick: (shakes his head) Two feet. Grissom: We have reason to believe the wounds that killed Randy Traschel were made by one of your bulls. Pete Banson: That's why we cut the horns, to prevent such. Nick: We're looking for horns with points attached. Grissom: Yeah. We need to see your other bulls. Pete Banson: Curly's the only one I got. [SCENE_BREAK] [EXT. LAS VEGAS RANCH - DAY -- CONTINUOUS] (BILLY RATTISON walks past the corral and sees BRASS, NICK and GRISSOM standing next to his truck.) Billy Rattison: What do you all want now? Brass: We're waiting on you, actually. Mr. Rattison, we have reason to believe you were in town the month that Randy Traschel was murdered. Grissom: Could you tell us what used to be here? (GRISSOM points to a hole in the hood of the truck.) Billy Rattison: My belt buckles. Somebody stole it last year, like I said. Grissom: You do get a lot of stuff stolen, don't you? Mind if we look around your truck? Billy Rattison: Sure. (GRISSOM opens the lid to the tool box and starts looking through it's contents.) Brass: (to BILLY RATTISON) Don't get any tobacco juice on my shoe. (GRISSOM digs and pulls things out. Then he sees it. Under the saddle, he finds a mounted set of bull horns with its points in tact. He takes it out of the box and holds it for NICK to see.) Grissom: Got a tape measure? (NICK measures it from point to point.) Nick: Eighteen inches. Grissom: Phenolphthalein. (NICK tests the horn tips. The swab turns pink.) Nick: Positive for blood. Grissom: Looks like the only thing stolen around here was Randy Traschel's life. (GRISSOM looks behind NICK at BILLY RATTISON.) Grissom: Mr. Rattison, want to explain this? (Quick flashback to: Riding practice at the corral at night. BILLY'S on the bronco. He falls on the ground. When he looks up, he sees RANDY TRASCHEL smiling on the side.) Billy Rattison: (angry and humiliated) What you laughing at, huh? You want to come over here and try it? (RANDY loses his smile. BILLY RATTISON walks up to RANDY.) (Cut to: BILLY ties RANDY'S hand to the bronco saddle. When he's done, he steps back and laughs.) Randy Traschel: No. No.! I didn't mean it! No! (The bronco is let loose. After a moment of hanging on, RANDY falls to the ground, injuring his shoulder. BILLY and the other guys stand on the side and laugh. RANDY gets up clutching his shoulder. He's in pain.) (Cut to: BILLY walking away and RANDY running to catch up with him.) Randy Traschel: Wait, Billy! Wait! (BILLY turns around, grabs RANDY and throws him toward his truck. RANDY hits the bull horns which hang from the hood like an ornament.) (BILLY stops at what he's done.) (Cut to: BILLY putting RANDY'S body in the tool box and trying to close the lid. It won't close, so BILLY sticks his foot inside to push down RANDY'S body so that the lid can close. The spur breaks off.) (End of flashback. Resume to present.) (GRISSOM walks past BILLY RATTISON. He turns around and leans toward him over his shoulder. BILLY doesn't turn around.) Grissom: By the way, the definition of the word "retard" is "to hinder" or "to hold someone back." I think your life is about to become 'retarded'. (GRISSOM walks away.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT -- OBSERVATION ROOM - DAY] (CATHERINE and SARA are in the observation room watching DET. SULIK begin to question DOUGLAS SAMPSON.) Det. Sulik: Okay, one more time, for the record: You have never had sexual intercourse with Susan Hodap? Douglas Sampson: I told you, I've never even met her. Det. Sulik: I know, but I got to ask. You've never had s*x with her? Douglas Sampson: Not ever. (CATHERINE smiles. SARA nods her head. They both leave the observation room.) [SCENE_BREAK] [INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT -- INTERROGATION ROOM -- CONTINUOUS (The door opens. CATHERINE and SARA walk in.) Catherine: You still have those chills, Mr. Sampson? Feeling hot, achy? Back of your throat scratchy? Douglas Sampson: Yeah, it is. Catherine: Original flu happens at the onset of HIV. Seroconversion. Usually presents two to six weeks after the exchange of fluids. Douglas Sampson: Exchange of fluids? Catherine: That temperature is your body working up a resistance to the virus. Douglas Sampson: HIV? Me? Now, come on. You just took my blood a few days ago. Catherine: A private lab can run a virus test within a day. CDC doesn't broadcast that. Tests are very expensive. Sara: We dipped into the budget ... just for you. Douglas Sampson: You're playing me. I don't have HIV. Sara: Susan Hodap had it. The exact same strain that you have. Catherine: We had that lab do what's called a phylogenetic analysis of your HIV's DNA and Susan's. (CATHERINE puts the results on the table in front of DOUGLAS SAMPSON. He looks down at it.) Sara: As you can see, the genes are identical. Which means Susan gave it directly to you. Douglas Sampson: But we never had s*x. Catherine: You did stab her, though. And at that moment (Quick flashback to DOUGLAS SAMPSON in the room after he stabs SUSAN HODAP. Blood splatters on him. Camera zooms in as more blood continues to splatter on DOUGLAS SAMPSON'S face and into his eyes.) Catherine: (V.O.) ... her arterial blood hit your eyes entering your body through the conjunctival membrane. (DOUGLAS SAMPSON raises his hand holding the knife and wiping the blood from his eyes. End of quick flashback. Resume to present.) Sara: Non-sexual transmission is extremely difficult but obviously it's possible. (Quick flashback to: Camera close up of the blood on DOUGLAS SAMPSON'S face.) Sara: (V.O.) Susan's blood was absorbed into your bloodstream. (Quick CGI POV to: Camera zooms in to the eye and to SUSAN HODAP'S blood on DOUGLAS SAMPSON'S eye, near and around the blood vessels.) (End of CGI POV. End of flashback. Resume to present.) (DOUGLAS SAMPSON stares at the womeen. He doesn't say anything. Catherine: Where the new HIV cells immediately started attaching to your healthy white blood cells. Gets inside one, replicates about 2,000 times. Disables the host cell, pinches back out, infecting more good cells ... lowering your immune system until your body loses its ability to fight off even the simplest invader. Sara: Of course, the strains will have changed by then and you and Susan Hodap will have a different strain of HIV. The sooner you see a doctor, the better your chances for longevity. Catherine: But for now, we got you. (DOUGLAS SAMPSON says nothing. He's completely surprised by what they're saying.) Catherine: You killed her. (DOUGLAS SAMPSON looks over at SARA.) Sara: I guess she killed you back.
Snuff