[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - NIGHT]
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT./INT. VENETIAN HOTEL -- NIGHT]
(Billboard with the picture of the two fighters.)
(The guests walk on the red carpet to the front door. The doorman opens the door for them.)
(The hotel door opens and the guests walk inside.)
(Cut to: The fight inside.)
(Cut to: The sign outside the lobby reads: "STEELE vs. MOLINA", "Revenge of the Century" and "November 9, 2002".)
(Cut to: Inside the ring. / Photographers snap pictures.)
(The fighter throws a punch.)
(The MAN and The WOMAN wave to the crowd as photographers take their pictures. They enter the hotel.)
(Cut to: Fight scenes inside the ring.)
(The Man and the WOMAN walk across the hotel lobby. A MAN runs across the lobby floor. A group of young, black men saunter across the lobby floor after him. The leader wears a thick silver necklace.)
(Cut to: The Man and The Woman walk through the double doors and into the tunnel. Scenes of the main audience area.)
(Close up of the Everlast Belt around the fighter's waist.)
(The Man and The Woman walk under the tunnel. They enter the main audience area. They move to the side to take their seats. The audience cheers.)
(The camera moves in toward the main ring where the fight is happening.)
Man: (shouting) Put your hands up! Put your hands up!
(Bell dings. The round ends.)
Referee: That's enough!
(The audience applauds and cheers.)
(MOLINA raises his hands high in the air.)
(LAROI takes a seat in his corner.)
Trainer: Come on, Laroi. TRAINER: He's okay! TRAINER: We're going to dry it up, Laroi. TRAINER: We're going to dry it up.
(The Manager claps from outside the ring.)
(A woman in a bikini holds up a card and walks around the ring. She flirts with the man with the black cowboy hat on. The woman in red standing next to him is not pleased with it.)
Woman in Red: (hits the man next to her in black) Cut it out!
Cut Man: Suck it up. Suck it up, son. Suck it up, son.
From Molina's Corner: (in Spanish) Lo teine donde deseas! Me entiendes lo que te digo? El cuerpo ... siempre moviendo ...
From Steele's Corner: Laroi, listen to me! You keep your hands up, hear? He's killing you with that left.
Laroi: Bum don't got the heart to put me down.
From Steele's Corner: Yeah, well, you better start throwing your hands, hook to the body hook to the head, upper cut. Like we worked it in the gym.
(The Bell dings signaling the start of the next round.)
(MOLINA stands up and is ready. He immediately starts throwing a series of punches at LAROI.)
(LAROI STEELE is backed into a corner and is taking a beating. MOLINA turns to look at the REFEREE. Not seeing any sign to stop the fight, MOLINA throws a final punch that brings LAROI STEELE to his knees. He falls bleeding to the floor.)
Referee: One! Two! Three! That's it!
(MOLINA jumps up and holds his arms high in victory. The REFEREE checks LAROI STEELE. LAROI'S trainers rush into the ring to check on him. They crowd around him.)
Trainer: Laroi! Laroi, talk to me! Come on, Laroi! Come on, baby, talk to me. Laroi! Come on, get the doctor! Step it!
WHITE FLASH TO:
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL - FIGHT RING -- NIGHT]
(LAROI STEELE is face down in the fight ring. Above him are a pair of feet that turns and walks toward the side of the ring. GRISSOM and WARRICK approach the ring. BRASS is already inside the ring. BRASS sighs.)
Brass: Laroi, "The Fists Of" Steele.
Warrick: WFB Welterweight Champion. Nineteen wins.
Grissom: One loss. Boxers have died in the ring before. Why is this one a crime?
Brass: Casino management got a heads-up from the sports book. Five hours before the opening bell Steele goes from a two-to-one favorite to a five-to-one underdog.
Warrick: Fight fixing?
Brass: Yeah.
Grissom: That's a felony. And if death occurs during commission of a felony, that's a murder.
CUE TITLE MUSIC: (PRELAP)
(GRISSOM'S pager beeps.)
STOP MUSIC:
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. ROADWAY -- NIGHT]
(The OFFICER lifts the crime scene tape for GRISSOM as he makes his way to the site. CATHERINE is already there taking pictures.)
Catherine: Gang member.
Vega: Tenth street vandal
Grissom: Isolated incident or they having a war?
Vega: It's hard to tell. Vandals are based in L.A. But on a weekend like this ... brings knuckleheads in from all over.
Grissom: Witnesses?
Catherine: They were all in the bathroom.
Grissom: Aren't they always?
(GRISSOM looks down at the dead man. Next to his head is a flyer for: "STEELE VS. MOLINA", "Revenge of the Century", "Saturday, November 9, 2002" and "To Win a 2003 Corvette")
(GRISSOM'S pager beeps. He looks at it. The message reads: (11:24 pm) "Call Nick Stokes".)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. JEWELRY STORE -- NIGHT]
(The MANAGER holds an ice pack to her forehead. In front of her is a customer, MRS. RAMSEY. They're arguing with each other.)
Manager: We are just trying to be reasonable here.
Mrs. Ramsey: I am not giving this back unless I get my ring.
Manager: Mrs. Ramsey, it is not our policy to allow clients to ...
Mrs. Ramsey: Oh, really? I guess you need a new policy, don't you?
Manager: Now you are being unreasonable.
Mrs. Ramsey: Now you ...
(The argument continues in the background. Deeper inside the store, GRISSOM walks in. NICK is already there looking around.)
Nick: Smash and grab. Left that behind.
(NICK indicates the metal rod left inside the smashed display case.)
Grissom: How many guys?
Nick: One. Yeah. Waited till the manager was alone knocked her down and hopped the counter. Got away with a whole sack full of stones. It takes some stones to pull off a job like this.
(SARA walks in carrying her kit.)
Sara: Good evening, gentlemen. What have we got?
Grissom: (to SARA) Well, you and I have got a dead boxer. Nick, you're going to get to run this solo.
Nick: Yeah?
Grissom: Yeah. We're tapped out. Welcome to fight night.
HARD CUT TO END OF TEASER ROLL TITLE CREDITS
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL - ARENA -- NIGHT]
(SARA opens her kit and takes out a pair of latex gloves. WARRICK works on the opposite corner.)
Sara: Okay. What are we looking for?
Warrick: Blinding agents in the vaseline, stimulants in the water...
Sara: So ... basically, everything goes to tox.
Warrick: Yeah.
Sara: Nice sport.
Warrick: Well, it's only dirty if you make it dirty. You know, boxing's about discipline.
Sara: It's two guys beating their brains out in a race for early-onset Parkinson's.
Warrick: No, no, you know, it's mind and body. (WARRICK stands up.) Mind and body. If you train one and not the other you're half a person. What'd you find?
(SARA looks in the plastic tub and finds nothing but bloody saliva. She fixes a smile on her face and keeps it there.)
Sara: Saliva.
Warrick: Oh, the spit bucket.
(SARA picks the bucket up and turns around to face WARRICK.)
Warrick: What's so funny?
Sara: Smiling, uh, represses the gag reflex.
Warrick: This is coming from the same woman who processed fecal fat from a ruptured colon.
Sara: Every crim's got at least one problem area. Mine's saliva.
Warrick: Want me to get that for you?
Sara: No, no.
Warrick: You're sure.
Sara: Mind and body, right?
(WARRICK nods and turns away to go back to his corner. SARA's left carrying the bucket.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL -- ARENA]
(Out in the stands, GRISSOM and BRASS talk with the REFEREE.)
Referee: Everybody knew they hated each other. They fought two times before. Title wasn't even on the line tonight. Just pride.
Brass: How'd the other fights go down?
Referee: I didn't get to ref them, but I saw them ... $39.95 a pop. Goddamned Pay-Per-View's just like stealing, but they were good fights. Laroi won both of them. First one was a knockout in the eighth off this sweet right hook. The other was a ... a TKO in the tenth, yeah. Uh, he really dropped the hammer on Molina that time.
Grissom: Well, evidently, Molina hammered back tonight.
Brass: Two previous wins by knockout ... tonight, he dies. What's up with that?
Referee: What do you mean?
Grissom: Did you notice anything out of the ordinary about either fighter? Slowed reactions, unusual strength?
Referee: All I noticed is that boy took one hell of a beating.
(GRISSOM nods.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. PARKING LOT -- NIGHT]
(CATHERINE examines the ground in between the parked cars. In the background, DET. VEGA also examines the ground.)
(CATHERINE finds a bullet. She puts down evidence marker #1 to mark the find. Near the bullet she finds a gun.)
Catherine: (smiling) I got a gun.
Vega: Make that two.
(CATHERINE looks up and sees VEGA holding up the second gun.)
(CATHERINE continues to look around. She finds a third gun inside the back seat of a gun. She puts down evidence marker #3 on the car and picks up the gun to look at it.)
Catherine: Put up a couple of booths we could have ourselves a gun show out here.
Vega: Disposable firearms.
(Quick flashback to: A couple of young men run in between the cars throwing the guns around as they flee.)
Vega: (V.O.) They know we can't link them to the weapons if we can't find the weapons on them.
Man: Let's go!
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Catherine: Smith & Wesson .40. High end.
Vega: They're stealing their way to better guns.
Catherine: And bringing them to Vegas for target practice. Great.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. JEWELRY STORE -- NIGHT]
(NICK examines the glass casing. He finds a smudge of blood on the glass inside.)
(Quick flashback to: The thief smashes the glass and starts grabbing the jewelry from the case. The thief reaches into the case and cuts his/her arm on the jagged edge. A large drop of blood falls on the glass in the case. End of flashback. Resume to present.)
(NICK reaches in and takes a swab of the blood.)
(The MANAGER hands NICK a slip of paper with the stolen items listed.)
Manager: That's everything he got.
Nick: What's it highlighted for?
Manager: It's a Riviera necklace. We loaned it to a couple for the fight and they refuse to return it until we return the ring that they brought in for cleaning.
Nick: Which was stolen along with the other items, right?
Manager: Exactly-- and they won't leave until we get this sorted out. Can you help me out here?
Nick: (declines) Sorry, mediation's not really my thing.
Manager: Thanks.
(NICK reaches for his phone and dials.)
Nick: Mm-hmm. O'Riley? Stokes, listen, I'm at a smash and grab. Lots of glass, a little blood. Do me a favor: Check the local hospitals. Anyone comes in with a forearm laceration, it could be our guy. Thanks, man.
(NICK hangs up. While he was on the phone, NICK notices MR. RAMSEY watching him.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL - LOCKER ROOM -- NIGHT]
(GRISSOM interviews ADELLE CROSS, the Fight Promoter.)
Adelle Cross: I promoted this match, Mr. Grissom. I spent sixteen months of my life stroking fighters, managers, handlers, and kissing a whole lot of ass that never got past junior high and I resent the implication that the fight was fixed, or that Laroi Steele's death was anything other than a tragedy.
(GRISSOM puts his gloves on and looks at the locker room.)
Grissom: These photographs are from...?
Adelle Cross: The last Steele-Molina fight.
Grissom: What, does he use them for motivation?
Adelle Cross: And for show. Boxing is theater.
Grissom: Well, according to your poster, this fight was about revenge.
Adelle Cross: Boxers fight for money. The rest of it is just hype.
(From the locker, GRISSOM takes out the gloves.)
Grissom: These Mr. Molina's?
Adelle Cross: Yeah.
Grissom: From tonight's fight?
(GRISSOM puts the gloves in a bag.)
Adelle Cross: Yeah. Technically, after a fit those gloves become property of the boxing commission.
Grissom: Right now, they're evidence, so they belong to me.
Adelle Cross: What do you think you're going to find on those gloves -- liniment? Like Sonny Liston used to blind Cassius Clay? The sport has come a long way since then.
Grissom: It's still two skulls and four fists. It hasn't come that far.
(GRISSOM looks at the top shelf of the locker where he got the gloves. He sees something.)
Adelle Cross: What did you find?
(He taps the shelf with his flashlight.)
Grissom: What appears to be a unique metal: Mercury.
Adelle Cross: Like in a thermometer?
Grissom: Amongst other things.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HALLWAY -- NIGHT]
(WARRICK and SARA walk through the hospital hallway. Seated in the hallway is a man with a bloodied cut on his forearm.)
Warrick: Looks like it was fight night for a lot of people.
Sara: It sure does. And some guys get paid a million bucks for it.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOSPITAL - ROOM -- NIGHT]
(WARRICK and SARA question JAVIER MOLINA who is giving a urine sample.)
Javier Molina: Sorry to keep you waiting, but, uh, commission rules, you know? Before and after a fight. Boxing and drugs don't mix, you know?
(He finishes and gives the sample to the man waiting in the doorway.)
Javier Molina: All yours.
(The MAN leaves. JAVIER MOLINA washes his hands.)
Javier Molina: So ... que onda? What's the crime lab want with me?
Warrick: Well, for starters, we need to see your hands.
Javier Molina: Why?
Sara: Is that a "no"?
Javier Molina: No.
(JAVIER MOLINA holds out his hands. SARA takes a swab of his knuckles.)
Sara: One more.
(SARA swabs his other hand.)
Javier Molina: Now, who do you think you're looking at -- Felix Trinidad?
(JAVIER MOLINA moves to look at his injuries in the mirror.)
Sara: (shakes her head) Who is that?
Warrick: Felix Trinidad is a fighter who was once accused of dipping his wraps in ice water before a fight. It turns the tape and gauze into a hardened cast. It's like punching with concrete.
Javier Molina: And it also shreds your hands. Mine are clean.
(JAVIER MOLINA picks up his thick silver chain necklace off of the shelf in front of him.)
Warrick: A fighter's lost his life. We're just making sure that there was no unfair advantage.
Javier Molina: All I did was out-punch Laroi. Okay, you think I wanted it to go down like this? I mean, people are going to remember me now like Ray Mancini when he killed that Korean guy. That's my legacy now. Ah, this wasn't my fault, all right? He brought it upon himself talking all that trash saying I could never beat him. (He puts his chain on.) Look ... he should have never came out in the seventh round. He could barely stand up. I knew it was over right then.
Sara: So why did you keep hitting because real fighters don't stop hitting until somebody makes them, all right? When you're in the ring, your life's in the ref's hands.
(Quick flashback to: Inside the ring, JAVIER MOLINA swings at LAROI STEELE. He waits and looks at the REFEREE. End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Javier Molina: Now, one word from that ref, and I would have stopped.
(Quick flashback to: Inside the ring, MOLINA turns away from looking at the REFEREE and swings at STEELE again.)
Javier Molina: (V.O.) But he never gave the word.
(End of flashback.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - BALLISTICS LAB]
(Cut to: Camera close up of a bullet being fired into water. Resume to present.)
(BOBBY takes the bullet out of the tank and walks it over to the scope. CATHERINE walks into the lab.)
Catherine: How we doing, Bobby?
Bobby Dawson: Hey. Well, good news. All the bullets pulled from the vic are from the same gun. Six right, .380.
Catherine: The bad news?
Bobby Dawson: We're oh for two matching the bullets to the guns y'all recovered. I did find something, though on one of them shells, if you want to take a look. It's set up for you over there.
(CATHERINE looks into the scope.)
Catherine: Could be biological. I'll send it to trace.
Bobby Dawson: Well, I hope it gets you somewhere 'cause all we got here is strike three.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOSPITAL - HALLWAY]
(In the hallway, a couple of kids play mock boxing with each other. WARRICK talks on the phone with BRASS. WARRICK and SARA make their way down the hallway.)
Warrick: Brass, Brown. I need as much information as you can give me on a referee.
(HANK PEDDIGREW calls out to SARA.)
Hank Peddigrew: Hey, Sara.
Sara: (to HANK) Hey. (to WARRICK) I'll be right there.
(WARRICK continues down the hallway. SARA stops to talk with HANK.)
Hank Peddigrew: I have something to show you.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. HOSPITAL - EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT -- CONTINUOUS]
(HANK and SARA walk across the Emergency Room lot.)
Hank Peddigrew: We gave Molina a ride in.
Sara: You did?
Hank Peddigrew: He didn't say much which is no big surprise, considering. There's not much in here but, uh, I know how you like to see everything.
Sara: Thanks.
(SARA climbs into the back of the Ambulance.)
Hank Peddigrew: We checked vitals, cleaned his lacerations and he wanted his hand wraps cut off, so we cut them off.
(SARA puts her kit down. The cut wraps are on the gurney in front of her.)
Sara: Is this it?
Hank Peddigrew: Right.
(She picks up a piece and looks at it.)
Sara: (smiles) He autographed it.
Hank Peddigrew: Nah, that's the inspector's signature. Whoever watched him wrap up.
Sara: It looks like there's some kind of metal in the gauze.
(Camera zooms in extreme close up to show the mercury in the gauze.)
Sara: Mercury, maybe?
Hank Peddigrew: No, there's no mercury in any of our instruments. We're fully digital. How do you think it got there?
Sara: I don't know.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- NIGHT]
(DOC ROBBINS goes over the preliminary findings for LAROI STEELE with GRISSOM.)
Robbins: Massive soft tissue damage, severe facial fractures. Are they letting guys go at each other with clubs these days?
Grissom: Only on cable.
Robbins: It never ceases to amaze me the damage one human being can inflict on another.
Grissom: Or how much damage a human body can sustain. A heavyweight can land a punch at a thousand pounds per square inch.
(Quick CGI POV to: Black and white top view of a boxer taking a hit. The view includes a red-colored brain inside the boxer's head. When the boxer takes the punch, the brain takes the hit.)
Grissom: (V.O.) The energy of the punch is transferred through the cerebrospinal fluid compressing the brain against the skull temporarily disrupting neural activity. (The boxer falls to the ground.) Like a short circuit. Too many short circuits and the brain shuts down.
(End of CGI POV. Resume to present.)
Grissom: And hence, a knockout.
Robbins: This guy should have been so lucky.
Grissom: This, uh, bruising under the chin seems heavy.
Robbins: Yeah, I thought so, too. I did a postmortem angiogram.
(They walk toward the x-rays on the display.)
Robbins: It's a basilar subarachnoid hematoma the result of a massive ...
(Quick Flashback to: The boxer receives a punch. Blood spurts out through his mouth. His head twists around to absorb the punch.)
(Quick CGI POV to: Inside the neck where the artery breaks and bleeds out.)
Robbins: (V.O.) ... vertical blunt force trauma to the chin. The sudden forced rotation of the neck tears the vertebral artery ...
(End of CGI POV. End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Robbins: ... and blood pours out into the surrounding soft tissue.
(GRISSOM turns and walks back toward the body. ROBBINS follows.)
Grissom: It's called an uppercut.
Robbins: You say tomato and I say Cause of Death ... Gil, I never had you pegged as a fight fan.
Grissom: I'm not, really. My first year as a criminalist, I thought boxing would be a good place to observe live blood spatter. So, I went to a couple of bouts. There wasn't much spatter. Some interesting bruise formations, though.
Robbins: So, uh, this is a socially acceptable live-subject laboratory for you?
Grissom: (shakes his head) Yeah. Not in this case.
(A TECH walks in and hands ROBBINS a file. He looks at it.)
Robbins: Thank you.
Grissom: Preliminary tox?
Robbins: Yeah. (ROBBINS takes a moment to read the results. GRISSOM leans in to look at the body.) Professional athlete. Would have expected performance enhancers -- uh, creatine, dianobol. This man had sufentanil in his system.
Grissom: Sufentanil? A sedative?
Robbins: Yeah.
Grissom: So, if the fighter won't take a dive ... help him take a dive.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL -- LOBBY]
(BRASS re-questions the REFEREE.)
Referee: What's my cousin got to do with the fight?
Brass: Your cousin bet 20 large on Javier Molina at five-to-one against.
Referee: Hey, he's always been a lucky guy.
Brass: Yeah, I know, I'm sure he is. Well, you know how this works. I mean, you hear the fight's fixed you tip off your cousin for a piece of the action he tells a couple of friends, so on, so on. They make a bet at the last minute, and the odds go south.
Referee: Hey, big fight, money moves around.
Brass: Oh, yeah, that's cool. This is Vegas. Money flows. As long as it doesn't flow out of your pocket. (pause) Maybe that's why you let the fight go on so long. Yeah, you see a fighter in trouble you give him a standing eight. If he comes out a winner, you're in the poorhouse.
Referee: So, what are you saying, that if I'd stopped the fight Laroi Steele would still be alive? (BRASS doesn't say anything.) You charging me with something?
Brass: No. Not yet.
Referee: You know where to find me.
(The REFEREE walks away.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOSPITAL: ]
(The curtains open. NICK and O'RILEY question RANDY WATKINS.)
O'Riley: Randy Watkins. I'm Detective O'Riley. This is Nick Stokes of the crime lab.
Nick: (steps up) Hi, there. Where'd you get the cut on your forearm, man? You practicing for a job at Benihana?
Randy Watkins: Hey, this is a hospital. I got doctor-client privilege here, huh?
Nick: Well, you don't get any privileges, Randy. You're wearing stolen property.
(NICK notices the new watch on RANDY WATKINS' wrist.)
O'Riley: Let me trade that bracelet in for this one.
(O'RILEY puts a cuffs on WATKINS.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - DNA LAB]
Greg: (announcer's voice) Ladies and Gentlemen, in this corner wearing red leather coming from the great fighting city of Everlast, USA ...
(GREG turns around and puts the plastic bag with JAVIER MOLINA'S gloves on the table in front of GRISSOM and WARRICK.)
Greg: The gloves that Javier Molina wore when he killed Laroi Steele. This is a piece of boxing history. Do you know how much this would go for on ebay?
Grissom: Greg, the residue on the gloves, what is it?
Greg: Half inorganic salts: Magnesium, potassium, etcetera and half organic derivatives: Urea, choline and uric acid.
Grissom: Sweat.
Warrick: Occasionally found at a boxing match.
Grissom: Oh, but wait. (GREG turns around and picks up another bag.) In this corner fighting way out of his weight class coming from ... that place that textiles come from a cotton swab soaked in sufentanil.
(GRISSOM looks at the evidence bag.)
Brown: Sufentanil? I did recover this swab from the victim's corner.
Grissom: Time to talk to the cut man.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. PRACTICE GYM ]
(BRASS and WARRICK question LAROI STEELE'S CUT MAN.)
Cut Man: I would have got a bonus if we won. Why would I mess with the guy who pays me?
Brass: Why is for the lawyers.
Warrick: Your corner, your swab, your drugs.
(Quick flashback to: The CUT MAN sticks a swab up LAROI STEELE'S nose and instructs.)
Cut Man: Suck it up.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Cut Man: (turns around) I been doing this 28 years. Back when every cut man around was using monsels solution getting it in kids' eyes blinding them. I wouldn't touch the stuff. And I didn't hurt Laroi. I been in his corner six fights. Every one, he fought hard and never stiffed me. Him dying was a tragedy.
Warrick: Molina trains here?
Cut Man: Yeah, maybe. He owns the place.
Brass: And you're looking for work.
Cut Man: Work comes to me.
Brass: Well, here's something else that's coming to you.
(BRASS hands the warrant to The CUT MAN who puts on his glasses to read it.)
Cut Man: What, you want me to give you my bag?
Brass: We're not asking.
(He pushes his bag toward WARRICK. WARRICK opens it and looks through it.)
Warrick: It's kind of primitive.
Cut Man: So is boxing.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- STAIRWAY]
(GRISSOM and SARA walk down the stairs.)
Grissom: Did you get anywhere with that mercury?
Sara: Yeah. Ensenada, Mexico. Molina has a personal physician down there. It turns out that mercury is used in a folk remedy for empacho. It's a chronic stomach condition.
Grissom: And Molina has it?
Sara: Medical history confirms it. The guy eats metal.
Grissom: It's not the eating that will get you. The poison's in the mercury vapor. It's toxic.
Sara: Well, I guess we're left with the sedative. Any luck?
Grissom: Greg's working on it.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - BALLISTICS LAB -- CONTINUOUS]
(CATHERINE'S in the Ballistics Lab with BOBBY DAWSON.)
Catherine: Three guns found at the scene. None match the bullets recovered from the victim. What does that tell us?
Bobby Dawson: The shooter kept his weapon.
Catherine: Means he likes his gun and may have used it before.
Bobby Dawson: Which is where the shell case and IBIS come in. I'll run it against the national database.
Catherine: Firing pin impressions and breech face marks a closer look.
Bobby Dawson: Well, okay. Got us a hit. Los Angeles County sheriff's department found shell casings from the same gun used in a gang murder two years ago.
Catherine: They get a conviction on the suspect?
Bobby Dawson: No. Guy beat the rap. "Timothy Fontaine, aka 'Tiny Tim.'" Member of the Snakebacks current residence unknown.
Catherine: I bet I could find where he stays in Vegas.
Bobby Dawson: Hey.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. POOLSIDE -- DAY]
Catherine: I guess Tiny's mother can be proud of her son for one thing. He sure knows how to clean a room.
Vega: Well, there is one Snakeback still in town.
Catherine: Who's that?
Vega: That guy right over there.
Catherine: What's his Dealio?
Jerome Anderson: Okay, I'm the man, I take care of my people.
Vega: That is Jerome Anderson. Aka, The Man.
Catherine: The man?
Vega: The man. Technically a former snakeback who shed his skin and worked his way into the real world. Record producer, clothing designer, sports agent.
Catherine: Why didn't you get a warrant for his room?
Vega: We're working on it. He's got an entire law firm on retainer.
(CATHERINE and DET. VEGA reach JEROME ANDERSON and his group.)
Jerome Anderson: ...Five percent here, ten percent there. Better get back in the ring, Laroi, and keep fighting. See, what Laroi needed was a giver not a taker. That's why he came to me, the man so I could stand by his side and give him honest representation. Police. Another thing that the man understands because he comes from the same place as today's athletes.
Vega: I'm Detective Vega. This is Catherine Willows from the crime lab. We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Catherine: Hello.
Jerome Anderson: The man ain't got nothing to hide.
Vega: We're looking for members of the snakebacks. A Timothy Fontaine, in particular.
Jerome Anderson: No idea. The man is here on business.
Catherine: So are we. Do you mind if I ask how the man got the burn mark on his neck?
(JEROME stands up.)
Jerome Anderson: Well, all the ladies say that the man is hot. I guess I must have just burned myself and forgot all about it.
(JEROME jumps up and talks with another man.)
Jerome Anderson: No, you didn't. Are you crazy? No, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Ooh, ooh ...
(The Man walking by leaves.)
Catherine: I guess you are hot.
Jerome Anderson: Oh, that's old. The man is all about the new.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - PRINT LAB]
(WARRICK is in front of the computer. GRISSOM walks in.)
Grissom: Did you get a hold of that cut man?
Warrick: Yeah, we found sufentanil in a bottle of coagulant in the guy's kit.
Grissom: Doesn't make sense. If the cut man did it why would he hold on to the evidence?
Warrick: I was thinking the same thing. I'm not convinced he actually knew it was in his kit. The prints that I got off the bottle came back to ... Gerry Barone, the victim's manager.
Grissom: And I thought Don King was bad.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERROGATION ROOM -- DAY]
(BRASS and WARRICK interview GERRY BARONE.)
Gerry Barone: The reason my prints are in the system is I'm a foster parent. Six kids in thirty years. Treated them like my own. Trained them, took them off the streets.
Brass: We know that. We know you're a good guy. So what made you dope up Laroi Steele?
Warrick: We found your prints on a bottle of coagulant. It was laced with a sedative. Found it in the cut man's kit.
(WARRICK sits down.)
Gerry Barone: I was trying to save Laroi.
Warrick: By drugging him?
Gerry Barone: We kept it out of the press but in their last fight, Molina hurt him bad.
Warrick: How bad?
Gerry Barone: The signs were all there in training-- sagging eye, drooping shoulder, brain damage down the road. Laroi couldn't handle another beating. But I couldn't talk him out of this fight. Molina got under his skin. Laroi wouldn't let it go. (beat) taught him not to quit.
(Quick flashback to: In the ring, LAROI STEELE takes a beating from MOLINA. GERRY BARONE drops the bottle into the CUT MAN'S kit.)
Gerry Barone: (V.O.) I was trying to get him out alive.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Gerry Barone: Laroi was 16 years old the first time I saw him fight. And the only thing faster than his hands was his mouth. There was this one time he made his sparring partner laugh so hard the man pissed his trunks before he hit the mat. (A look of pride for his fighter graces his face and laces his voice.) Can you imagine that?
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - MAIN DESK]
(NICK returns MRS. RAMSEY'S ring to her. MR. RAMSEY looks at the ring.)
Nick: Yeah. We arrested the guy and recovered all the jewelry.
Mrs. Ramsey: Thank you so much, Mr. Stokes.
Nick: Not a problem. I just need you to fill out some documentation and then I can release your ring back to you, okay?
Mr. Ramsey: That's not your ring.
Mrs. Ramsey: Of course it is.
Mr. Ramsey: I'm telling you, that is not the ring I gave you. That's a different cut.
Mrs. Ramsey: Now I wore this ring on my finger every day for five years. I think that I ...
Mr. Ramsey: I bought you that ring. Who do you think spent the week looking for the perfect stone for our first anniversary?
Nick: Sir, I matched every item recovered to a log provided by the jewelry store piece for piece.
Mr. Ramsey: Then maybe you should explain to me why I'm not looking at my wife's ring.
Nick: I need to explain to you?
Mrs. Ramsey: Come on, Mack.
Mr. Ramsey: How do I know you didn't switch this ring out?
Nick: Man, I would N ... 'cause that's not the way it works.
Mr. Ramsey: Oh, we screw the out-of-towners and nobody's going to care, right?
Nick: Are you making a formal accusation?
Mr. Ramsey: You bet I am.
Nick: Knock yourself out, Big Dog. Forms are at the front desk.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - A/V LAB]
(WARRICK watches the pre-fight press conference video with SARA.)
Warrick: Okay ... it's about a month ago at a pre-fight press conference.
Steele: (on video) Check it out, he lost the last couple of times. I'm the one who did all the whupping. And I'm just going to do a three-peat, baby, you know?
Molina: (on video) What I'm saying is anytime, anyplace, Laroi.
Steele: (on video) You can't wait to get whupped, is that it?
(On the video, MOLINA stands up.)
Sara: Steele is slurring his words.
Warrick: Fast forward to the fight. (WARRICK starts the tape.) Watch his shoulder, how he keeps dropping it.
Sara: The manager was right. Pugilistic dementia.
Warrick: They say eight out of ten boxers suffer some form of brain damage later on in life.
Sara: The greatest-- muhammad ali. Steele must've known what was happening to him.
Warrick: He would never admit it. Fighters need to psych themselves up before a fight. They got to believe they're going to win. Or they'd never fight.
Sara: In a way, every opponent Laroi Steele fought contributed to his death. (wonderingly) I don't know if he was incredibly stupid or just ... brave.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM]
Lawyer: We'll contest this on the grounds that your request to the Judge was based on a specious connection to the Snakebacks.
Catherine: Contest all you want. It's still coming after the fact. Open.
(JEROME ANDERSON turns toward CATHERINE and opens his mouth. CATHERINE turns her head away.)
Vega: The warrant was based on physical findings.
Lawyer: A burn mark? Could have happened anywhere.
(CATHERINE takes the sample.)
Catherine: Well ... Jerome is under the misguided impression that he's a one-man pyrotechnic display. Watch too many movies and kids start to think that people actually shoot like that.
(Quick flashback to: JEROME ANDERSON fires the gun as he holds it sideways. The empty shell ejects and hits him on the side of the neck, leaving the small burn mark. End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Lawyer: The most you're going to prove is my client was in the vicinity. Period. That's it.
Catherine: If his DNA matches what we found on the shell casing we'll be able to extend the scope of the warrant.
Lawyer: If it matches.
Vega: File says you're a smart guy. Three years in Georgetown. Why turn stupid all of a sudden? Give us the guy we're looking for.
Catherine: Look, we all know that you forget what the word "Loyalty" means as soon as you step away from the mirror so what do the Snakebacks get you?
Jerome Anderson: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, baby.
Catherine: I thought that's what college was for.
Jerome Anderson: (chuckles) I went to school. In fact, I have carefully analyzed business models of African American entrepreneurs such as Darian Daze at Dis-Kard Enterprises which grosses $250 million a year. And my analysis has led me to understand that an emerging CEO needs to have as solid a command of flow charts and spreadsheets as he does a bad-ass street rep. And let me tell you something, Sweetness, I got it all coming and going. So the more you try to stress me the more you're just selling me to the people on the streets.
Catherine: So crime pays.
Jerome Anderson: Oh, don't hate the player, hate the game.
Catherine: Right, you don't make the rules, you just exploit them.
Jerome Anderson: Ain't that a bitch.
(He smiles.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- LAB]
(NICK looks at MRS. RAMSEY'S ring under the scope. He swabs the ring.)
(Cut to: NICK takes the stone out of the ring. He compares it to a real diamond. He shines light on it and sees the difference immediately.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY -- CONTINUOUS]
(NICK walks out of the lab. He runs into GRISSOM.)
Grissom: Nice work on that jewelry heist.
Nick: Yeah, well, it's not done yet, but ...
Grissom: You got the guy.
Nick: Oh, yeah, it was a little rough. We had to check a few ER's, but we snatched him up.
Grissom: Being efficient is not a bad thing, Nick.
Nick: Yeah. Why are you tossing me a softball and putting everyone else on real cases?
Grissom: You wanted to work solo.
Nick: Yeah, but it's like Night of the Pifflings out there and I'm on a smash and grab.
Grissom: Pifflings?
Nick: (explains) Puffin offspring. First time out of the nest every year they crash land in this town near iceland because they are attracted to the lights of human civilization. It's the same way people flock to Vegas for a fight.
(For a moment, GRISSOM stares a NICK. Then his face lights up as though he's finally figured it out.)
Grissom: Animal Planet.
(GRISSOM turns and walks down the hallway.)
Nick: (calls out) How come when you talk about bugs everyone says you're a genius but when I talk about birds everyone says I watch too much television?
Grissom: I don't know. Look, the next night of the pifflings you get the first dead body.
Nick: Copy that.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - LAYOUT LAB]
(GRISSOM turns the corner and walks into the room. ROBBINS is already there with SARA and WARRICK. On the table are x-ray photographs.)
Robbins: The victim suffered tripod fractures of the zygomatic arch in two places. There's also a fracture of the orbital floor. (Points to a x-ray photo.) This tripod fracture of the zygoma that caused the flattening of the victim's face. It indicates that he was struck with an extremely powerful blow.
Grissom: Which couldn't be caused by normal boxing gloves.
Sara: We checked Molina's gloves. There's nothing in them or on them.
Grissom: We're missing something.
(GREG walks in.)
Greg: We have a problem.
Warrick: Pile it on.
Greg: Well, in the interests of posterity I took it upon myself to establish provenance for the killer gloves I mean DNA-wise. On my own time, of course of which I have precious little so that should count for something.
Grissom: (exasperated) Greg, why are you always doing this?
Greg: (simply) Because you make me nervous. (beat) My point is, the epithelials found on the surface of the glove. They're not Laroi Steele's. Those aren't the gloves that killed him.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. LOCKER ROOM - DAY]
(WARRICK breaks the lock on the locker and opens it. GRISSOM remains a distance away and looks around.)
(WARRICK picks up the boxing gloves.)
Warrick: Gloves look brand-new. Padding's still stiff. It's like they've never been used.
(WARRICK bags the gloves. GRISSOM still looks at the locker from the distance. WARRICK finds something on the ground.)
Warrick: What are all these dots?
(He picks it up. Camera zooms in for a close up.)
Warrick: Looks like a little piece of red leather.
(WARRICK keeps a sample. GRISSOM kneels down and looks at the grating on the ground. Camera zooms in for a close up.)
Grissom: Hmm ... and more mercury.
Warrick: Well, Molina does take it for his stomach, right?
Grissom: He's a sloppy eater.
Warrick: Hmm.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. PRACTICE GYM -- DAY]
(GRISSOM and WARRICK enter the gym.)
Grissom: Mercury's volatile. It emits a toxic vapor at room temperature.
Warrick: So you're saying if I find the vapor I find the mercury.
(WARRICK plugs the machine in. He turns off the lights. He and GRISSOM check out the boxing ring and the various gym apparatus.)
Warrick: Grissom.
(GRISSOM looks at and sees the vapors.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- LAB]
(SARA takes out MOLINA'S tape. She pieces together the signature for "ADELLE CROSS".)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM -- DAY]
(BRASS and SARA interview ADELLE CROSS, the fight promoter.)
Brass: That your signature?
Adelle Cross: Yeah. That's my signature. So what?
Brass: Well, according to fight rules you were supposed to watch Molina wrap his hands and sign them, then watch him put on his gloves and then sign those.
Adelle Cross: Which is what I did.
Sara: Okay, you signed his wraps but the gloves that we found were not the gloves used in the fight. Molina switched them.
Adelle Cross: There's no way.
Brass: You watched Molina glove up?
Adelle Cross: Not exactly.
(Quick flashback to: JAVIER MOLINA is getting ready in the locker room. His gloves aren't on yet. He tells everyone to get out.)
Javier Molina: Come on. Get her out of here.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Adelle Cross: Look. It was a big fight. There was a lot of pressure. You've got to give the fighters a little space.
Sara: So, no one saw him put his gloves on.
Adelle Cross: I guess not.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. HOTEL LOBBY]
(MRS. RAMSEY walks through the lobby with NICK.)
Mrs. Ramsey: I should have called you first to apologize for my husband's unfortunate outburst.
Nick: You know what? You should apologize. But not for your husband.
Mrs. Ramsey: Excuse me?
Nick: You know damn well your diamond isn't a diamond. It's a substance called moissanite.
Mrs. Ramsey: Really?
Nick: Really. White light refractions and inclusions of your stone are inconsistent with a real diamond's.
Mrs. Ramsey: Then the thief must have switched the stone before you caught him.
Nick: The thief ... Yeah ... I don't think so. Because before the store could clean your ring I was able to collect DNA.
Mrs. Ramsey: Wow, that's very thorough of you. Isn't it?
Nick: You know, it's my guess you switched out the stone some time ago because judging from your husband's response he knew nothing about it.
Mrs. Ramsey: Mr. Stokes, can I ... ? You're from Texas, aren't you? 'Cause I can always tell.
Nick: I'm a criminalist for Clark Country, Nevada.
Mrs. Ramsey: Yes, well, one's body might reside elsewhere but one's heart never really leaves home, does it? Look, all you have to do is say that you recovered a fake diamond which is the truth.
Nick: So you can file a false insurance claim which is a felony? Better yet, why don't I have an adjuster come over to your place and check out all your rocks see which ones are real and which ones you've switched out? No? Look, if you find yourself in a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. You know what I mean?
Mrs. Ramsey: Sounds like a plan.
Nick: Put it in motion.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- LAB]
(GRISSOM watches as they wheel in racks of clothes.)
Grissom: I guess clothes do make "The Man."
Catherine: In this case, "The Man" makes the clothes ... and produces the music ... and represents the athletes ... when he's not involved in street shootings, of course.
Grissom: And when you asked him what he was wearing the night of the murder, he couldn't remember?
Catherine: As far as he's concerned murder is just another way to separate himself from the Calvins and Ralphs of the world.
Grissom: Calvin and Ralph?
Catherine: Klein and Lauren. Fashion.
Grissom: Oh. Well, for most CSIs, fashion is irrelevant.
Catherine: Speak for yourself. The only thing between me and a wardrobe like this is a few extra zeros on my paycheck.
Grissom: Well, what's standing between you and this Tiny Tim character?
Catherine: The mojave. Highway patrol is out looking for our guy. Odds are that Tiny Tim is back in L.A. Evidence disposed of along the way. That means my last chance of connecting the dots is somewhere along these racks. Fibers, GSR, blood.
Vega: Hey. Guess who never left town?
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. -- NIGHT]
(VEGA shows CATHERINE the body. A 10 of clubs playing card is tucked in the victim's shirt.)
Catherine: Calling card?
Vega: 10th street vandals.
(CATHERINE leans down and looks at the firearm next to the victim.)
Catherine: .380 automatic. Tiny's favorite piece.
Vega: Odds are it traces back to the original murder.
Catherine: Same as it always does.
Vega: Somebody gets dissed.
(Quick flashback to: The fight. The first victim walks along side the ring. He's on the phone and just happens to step on JEROME ANDERSON'S foot.)
Catherine: (V.O.) Wrong place, wrong time. It doesn't take much to set someone off.
(JEROME ANDERSON stands up and pushes the man aside. He starts running across the lobby as he did in the teaser. JEROME ANDERSON and his gang follow behind him.)
(They catch up with him in the parking lot. One of the gang fires the gun killing the man in the parking lot.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Catherine: The snakebacks kill a vandal. Then the vandals kill a snakeback.
Vega: Everyone goes home satisfied.
Catherine: Round and round and round it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows.
(CATHERINE snaps a photo.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- LAB]
(WARRICK and GRISSOM walk through the hallway on their way to the lab.)
Warrick: There was this one case where a boxer put lead shot in his gloves to increase his punching power. And also ancient greek limapulists used a glove weighted with metal, called a "cestus."
Grissom: You making a classical reference?
Warrick: Yeah. I thought you'd like that.
(They walk into the lab where SARA is looking through the scope.)
Grissom: Question is, if Molina was using mercury to load up how'd it get into his gloves?
Sara: Well, he injected it. (SARA rolls away from the scope allowing WARRICK to look through it.) Those circular pieces of leather that you found in Molina's locker are the same diameter as a 14-gauge needle.
Grissom: Well, mercury's incredibly dense.
(Quick CGI POV of the needle piercing through the red leather glove and inserting the mercury inside the glove.)
Grissom: (V.O.) It could easily be contained in the leather in the form of a boxing glove.
(End of CGI POV. Resume to present.)
Sara: The boxing gloves weighed eight ounces so the question is, would a few ounces of mercury be enough to cause the damage that we observed on the victim?
Warrick: Right.
Grissom: I smell an experiment.
(GRISSOM looks at SARA. SARA smiles.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- LAB]
(GRISSOM ties the gloves on WARRICK.)
Warrick: All right. Normal gloves. (WARRICK takes his position in front of the punching bag.) Ready.
Sara: And ... go.
(WARRICK starts punching the bag. The machine records the force of the hits. WARRICK looks over at SARA.)
Warrick: Good?
Sara: Little more. (SARA looks at WARRICK and smiles.) Good.
(WARRICK stops.)
(Cut to: SARA loads the gloves with mercury. She hands the gloves to GRISSOM.)
Sara: Loaded gloves.
Warrick: Ready?
Sara: And ... go.
(WARRICK hits the punching bag.)
Warrick: Ooh, these things are heavy.
(The monitor recording the force of the punches goes on "OVERLOAD". SARA stops WARRICK.)
Sara: Good. Good, good.
(WARRICK stops. He raises his hands and walks over to see the results.)
Grissom: And mercury kills Steele.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM]
(SARA, BRASS and WARRICK re-question JAVIER MOLINA.)
Javier Molina: Boxing is a combat sport. Sometimes fighters die, okay? That's all part of the game.
Lawyer: Laroi Steele's death was a tragedy not a murder.
Brass: It became when your client injected mercury into his gloves.
Sara: And your hands, Molina literally, became lethal weapons.
(Quick flashback to: MOLINA warming up in the locker room. He opens the locker and takes the syringe. He injects the mercury into the tips of the gloves.)
(Cut to: In the ring, MOLINA fights STEELE. When he's not throwing a punch, his hands are down at his sides.)
Warrick: (V.O.) Heavy gloves. That's why you kept your hands to your side. It also kept the mercury on the tip of your glove.
(Cut to: MOLINA punching the bag during practice. Little beads of mercury fall to the floor. Cut to: MOLINA throwing punches in the ring.)
Sara: (V.O.) With every punch a little bit got forced down through the padding through the seams and on to your hands. That's how it got on your wraps.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Warrick: And into your lungs.
Sara: And finally out into your urine. We tested the sample that you gave the boxing commission after the fight. It came back positive for mercury.
Javier Molina: I have empacho. I take mercury for my stomach problems.
Warrick: We didn't find mercury in your stomach. We found it in your locker, on your gym bags, on your wraps ...
Sara: When the fight was over, your trainer cut the tape off your gloves and you took the pieces and put them in the hamper along with a pair of sparring gloves, just in case anybody wondered what had happened to them.
Warrick: But the real gloves were in your gym bag at that hospital, weren't they?
Sara: Steele had already kicked your ass ... twice before? Must have been humiliating.
Javier Molina: You push a man too far, there are consequences.
(Quick flashback to: At the press conference, LAROI STEELE smiles at MOLINA. MOLINA glares at STEELE. Cut to: MOLINA in the ring glaring at STEELE. Cut to: MOLINA punching STEELE. End of flashback. Resume to present.)
Sara: You knew there was no way you could beat Steele in a fair fight.
Warrick: The best way to punish a guy is to beat him to death in the ring in front of two million people on pay-per-view.
Javier Molina: (smiling) That's boxing.
Brass: No, that's murder. I'll see you in court.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. OBSERVATION ROOM/HALLWAY -- CONTINUOUS]
(GRISSOM watches from the Observation Room and smiles. He leaves the room and walks through the hallway.)
Officer 1: So that means the title's vacant, right?
Officer 2: Not for long. I heard it's Lopez versus Lewis at Caesar's in six months.
(GRISSOM shakes his head and leaves.)
Plan: A: A boxing champ; Q: Who dies in the ring after taking a brutal beating from his nemesis? A: Grissom; Q: Who finds evidence that points to murder? A: a nearby parking lot; Q: Where does Catherine work a crime scene? A: Catherine; Q: Who works a crime scene where a Los Angeles gang member was gunned down? A: a rival gang; Q: Who killed a Los Angeles gang member? A: Nick; Q: Who investigates a jewelry store robbery? Summary: A boxing champ dies in the ring after taking a brutal beating from his nemesis, but Grissom finds evidence that points to murder. Outside, in a nearby parking lot, Catherine works a crime scene where a Los Angeles gang member was gunned down, apparently by a rival gang. Also, Nick investigates a jewelry-store robbery.