[EXT. VARIOUS LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[EXT. RESERVOIR (STOCK) - DAY]
VARIOUS CUTS OF:
(A woman turns on the kitchen tap. Clear, fresh water pours into the glass. The woman takes a pill and drinks it down with the water.)
CLOSE-UP
(A toilet flushes. The water spins down the bowl.)
SHOWER HEAD
(A woman takes a bath. The water runs down her body.)
[EXT. RESIDENTIAL AREA - DAY]
(A man waters his bushes.)
(Another man washes his boat.)
(The water runs down the drain.)
CGI ZOOM down through the sewers, following the water through the various treatment pipes.
RESUME
(The water rushes out the drainpipe.)
PULL BACK and DOWN into the murky waters. A fish swims by. The fish is pulled out of the water by a fisherman's net.
(The fisherman in the boat puts his net down and sees the body dangling from the tree off shore.)
FLASH TO:
[EXT. LAKE - DAY]
(David Phillips tends to the body. Grissom and Nick are at the site while Brass fills them in.)
Brass: Guy in a boat spotted him this morning. No witnesses.
Nick: How did he get up there?
(Grissom snaps a photo of the tire tracks on the dirt.)
Grissom: I think maybe somebody gave him a lift.
(Nick takes his knife out.)
Nick: Okay, super, I'm ready to cut.
(David Phillips holds the body as Nick cuts the rope. The body is put on the gurney. David examines the body.)
Grissom: Lacerations to his chest.
Brass: Stabbed and then hanged. I guess he wasn't dead enough.
David Phillips: Rope burns on both palms.
Nick: He probably tried to pull himself up.
Grissom: Lift his shirt up, will you, David?
(David lifts the shirt and sees the victim's breasts.)
David Phillips: Whoa! I ... thought this ... guy was a guy.
Grissom: Check the plumping.
David Phillips: Full male genitalia.
Nick: Mutilated tranny strung up in a tree.
(Quick flash to: Some men hang up the victim as he cries and struggles.)
Man: Go! Go! Go! Go!
(They drive away, leaving the victim hanging from the tree.)
(End flash.)
Nick: Bet I know how he got up there.
Grissom: Hate?
FADE TO END OF TEASER ROLL TITLE CREDITS
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAKE -- DAY]
(Nick removes the tire print cast off the ground. He sets it aside and stands up to look around the area. He puts evidence marker #2 on the ground near some blood.)
(He puts evidence marker #3 on the ground near more blood. He puts evidence marker #4 near a pair of shoes. Nick picks up the cell phone left inside the shoe. He checks it and sees the message:
INBOX
PCYDEN:
I NEED IT TONIGHT
(He scrolls back.)
INBOX:
TO PCYDEN:
CAN YOU GIVE ME MORE MONEY THIS TIME?
PCYDEN:
OKAY.
(Nick puts the cell phone down. He continues looking around. He puts evidence marker #5 down near a couple of empty alcoholic bottles on the sand. Nick picks up a broken bottle and looks at the sharp glass edge.)
(Quick flash to: Someone breaks the glass bottle against the rock and slashes Brian Towne in the chest.)
END FLASH
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY - DAY]
(Robbins pulls out a small piece of glass from the laceration.)
Robbins: Lacerations aren't deep enough to have killed him. Ligature furrows canted upward. Scratches ... consistent with struggling to get free.
(Grissom picks up the rope and looks at it.)
Robbins: Preliminary COD's suffocation from hanging.
(Grissom looks at the driver's license.)
TOWNE, BRIAN
6487 HILLIS STREET
VERDANT GLEN, NV 89110
EXPIRES: 4-13-2008
WEIGHT 140 EYES GRN HAIR BRN
Grissom: Eighteen years old.
(Robbins snaps photos.)
Grissom: Brian Towne. Lived in Verdant Glen.
Robbins: Hmm. Twenty years ago, my wife wanted to buy out there, but there was no 215 freeway back then. The commute would've killed me. No physical signs of Klinefelter syndrome.
Grissom: So he's not an XXY.
Robbins: No, he's all skin and muscle. These can't be fatty deposits ... this is glandular tissue. His mammaries are swollen.
Grissom: Gynecomastia. Pre-op transsexuals take a lot of estrogen.
Robbins: I'll run an expanded tox panel, send out for a hormone screen.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
(The block where the Rampart Casino once stood is now a construction area.)
[EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY]
(The SIGN reads:
COMING SOON SPRING 2008
ECLIPSE HOTEL & CASINO
(Catherine and her mother, Lily Flynn, stand near the sign as they watch the construction going on in front of them.)
Lily: It wasn't easy being a Copa girl. When the curtain came down, we had to stay and decorate the Sands Casino into the wee hours.
Catherine: Ugly guys do gamble more when there's pretty girls to look at.
Lily: They weren't all ugly. And your father, in that tuxedo ... giving me the eye, trying not to grin, 'cause he thought floor managers had to be tough.
Catherine: So, Mom, who made the first move?
Lily: Sam. (She holds a chip.) Stuck this five-dollar chip in my hand and said, "Take it, you can't miss." I shot craps all night with Peter Lawford and cleaned up. I was right here the day Sam opened the Rampart, his first casino.
INSERT: FLASHBACK
(A young Sam cuts the tape.)
Lily: (V.O.) And we were going to be right here again when he opened the Eclipse.
(Sam turns and hugs Lily.)
END FLASHBACK.
Lily: I know you wanted to be buried with this, but I just couldn't let go. I can now. They're going to build your dream on it, honey.
(She kisses the chip.)
Lily: Take it. (whispers) You can't miss.
(She tosses the chip into the construction pit. The chip hits the sand.)
FLASH TO:
[EXT. RAMPART - NIGHT]
(The lights of the RAMPART Hotel and Casino flash in the night.)
INSERT: VARIOUS FLASHES OF SAM
(Lily wipes the lipstick off Sam's lips.)
(Sam walks with his arm around Catherine.)
(Cut to: Sam turns around.)
(Catherine waves to him.)
(Sam and Catherine)
(Sam dabs Lily's mouth with the edge of his napkin.)
(A gun fires. Someone shoots Sam. He falls backward. Catherine breaks his fall.)
(The RAMPART explodes and falls as the observers cheer.)
END FLASHBACKS.
[EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY]
(A couple of police cars arrive at the bottom of the pit. Their sirens wail as they arrive. Catherine and Lily stand on top near the sign as they watch.)
(Catherine goes down to find out what's going on.)
(The foreman talks with his worker.)
Foreman: I don't care if it's Jimmy Louise Hoffa. I want you to grab that jackhammer and bust up this concrete.
(Catherine shows the officer nearby her ID.)
Catherine: Supervisor Willows from Crime Lab. What's going on here?
Officer: Worker found a body.
Worker: I'm just following protocol. You find a body, call you guys.
(Catherine looks at the hand sticking out of the ground.)
Foreman: How do you know this is one of the Marquis Chimps?
Catherine: 'Cause they played the Frontier in Ronald Reagan's act. And only humans have a saddle joint. In fact, that's how we were able to swing out of trees and end up here. Opposable thumbs.
Foreman: Well, these casinos weren't built by saints, you know.
(Catherine takes her phone out.)
Catherine: Oh, I know. My dad built this one.
(She makes the call.)
Man: (on phone) Crime Lab.
Catherine: (to phone) Yeah, this is CSI Willows. I need to hand a case off to swing. Conflict of interest.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAKE (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. TOWNE RESIDENCE - BRIAN'S BEDROOM -- DAY]
(Warrick snaps photos in the bedroom. He closes the dresser drawer. He turns and opens the bedside table driver and finds a half-empty tray of bullets.)
(He looks at one of the bullets.)
(Warrick pulls the pillows off the bed as he looks for the gun. He checks under the mattress and finds a box. Inside the box, he finds the VERDANT GLEN WATER TREATMENT PLANT, the ANNUAL WATER ANALYSIS 2007 MEMO. The report is signed by JONAH QUINN, General Manager.)
(He puts the report aside. Also inside the box, he finds a tray with vials of water samples.)
(Warrick finds a second box under the bed filled with cash. He snaps a photo of it. Warrick counts the money.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. TOWNE RESIDENCE - KITCHEN -- DAY]
(Brian's mother, Lynn Towne, takes a glass out of the cupboard. She talks with Brass.)
Lynn Towne: I want to know who did this.
Brass: Well, that's what we're trying to find out.
(She fills her glass with water from the tap and drinks.)
Brass: Mrs. Towne, it would be of help if you could tell me a little bit more about your son Brian.
Lynn Towne: He was kind ... and sweet and ... didn't have an enemy in the world.
Brass: What about friends?
Lynn Towne: Not really. He was always so busy putting in overtime down at the ... water treatment plant. He loved to take long runs. Exercise is a natural cure for depression.
Brass: Was he depressed? I mean, there's a lot of medications here. Are these Brian's?
Lynn Towne: No. These are all mine. I had a mastectomy eight years ago. Cancer came back three months ago.
Brass: Oh. I'm... I'm sorry to hear that.
Lynn Towne: I never thought I'd outlive my son. Is there anything else?
Brass: Did you know a person with the last name Cyden? C-Y-D-E-N?
Lynn Towne: Paul Cyden. He's a family friend; he lives a couple blocks over.
Brass: So Brian knew him, too?
Lynn Towne: Oh, he was like a father to Brian after my husband died.
(Warrick enters the kitchen.)
Lynn Towne: Why are you asking about Paul?
Warrick: Ma'am, your son had a good deal of cash stashed away in his bedroom. Was he saving up for something?
Lynn Towne: I don't know. (Warrick and Brass exchange looks.) What's going on here?
Brass: Mrs. Towne, we think Brian was saving up for a s*x change operation. Were you aware of this?
Lynn Towne: My son was not a freak.
Brass: No, I didn't say that.
Warrick: Ma'am, we're not trying to upset you in any way.
Lynn Towne: (upset) I volunteered to let you in my house! And now I want you to leave. I want you to leave right now!
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -- DAY]
(Sara and Ronnie work on excavating the body while the construction workers continue working at other areas of the site. Ronnie puts the large stones aside.)
Ronnie Lake: In college, I wanted to be an archeologist, until I did a summer on a dig in Tunisia. Hot. But that got me into forensics. What made you pick Vegas?
Sara: Well, it.. uh.. it kind of picked me.
(Sara snaps some photos.)
(The foreman stands on the side and watches them. Ronnie uncovers a piece of jewelry.)
Ronnie Lake: Hey, check this out.
(Sara snaps a photo. Ronnie picks it up.)
Ronnie Lake: Turquoise and silver beads. I got the matching necklace at the Indian market in Santa Fe.
Sara: (shouts) Everybody stop! (Ronnie is surprised.) Stop what you're doing!
Foreman: What is the problem now?
Sara: We have just found evidence that this might be a Native American burial site. We have to notify the Inter-Tribal Council. Until they say so, nobody touches anything.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY -- DAY]
(Grissom turns the corner. Henry catches him.)
Henry: Hey, Grissom. About your hanging victim. The one with the "chesticals." (jokes) The man boobs ... uh, the ... (sees Grissom's serious look) ... gynecomastia, sorry.
(Henry gives him the report.)
Henry: Quant hormone report. Androgen's low. Estradiol's high. It's 250 picograms per milliliter. Arogester one, too.
Grissom: Estrogen level is five times the normal amount for an adult male.
Henry: It's consistent with a pre-op transsexual.
Grissom: Yeah, but there's no other pre-op drugs in his system. No spironolactone, no flutamide, progesterone.
Henry: Maybe he's a "do-it-yourselfer."
(Grissom looks at Henry.)
Henry: Okay.
(Henry turns and leaves. Grissom continues down the hallway.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAKE -- DAY]
(Paul Cyden puts his cooler in the boat. His phone rings. He answers it.)
Paul Cyden: (to phone) Hello?
Brass: (from phone) Paul Cyden?
Paul Cyden: (to phone) This is he.
(Brass hangs up as he and Catherine walk on the dock toward Cyden. He sees them.)
Brass: Paul Cyden. I'm Detective Jim Brass, this is Catherine Willows, from the Crime Lab. I'd like to ask you a couple questions about Brian Towne.
Paul Cyden: What a great kid. I can't believe he's gone.
Brass: When was the last time you talked with him?
Paul Cyden: Oh ... uh ... honestly, I don't remember.
Catherine: Oh, you don't remember yesterday? Calling him? Texting him?
Paul Cyden: Brian occasionally does odd jobs for me.
Catherine: How odd?
Paul Cyden: I ... uh ... study water. I'm a hydrologist, retired, but I still do consulting. Brian was helping me with a project.
Brass: Well, it seems to me, according to your messages, Brian was the project.
Paul Cyden: You're way off base.
Catherine: Then you won't mind giving us your fingerprints and DNA?
Paul Cyden: Not if you have a court order.
(Brass's phone rings.)
Brass: Look, you can do this the hard way or the easy way. But trust me, we're going to get this done.
(Brass answers his phone.)
Brass: (to phone) Yeah, what's up, Doc?
INTERCUT WITH:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY - DAY]
(Robbins is on the phone.)
Robbins: (to phone) Yeah, Brian Towne's mother is here. She wants to see the body.
Brass: (to phone) Okay. If anything of interest pops up, why don't you text me?
Robbins: (from phone) All right.
(Brass hangs up.)
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY - DAY]
(Robbins opens the morgue cabinet for Lynn Towne. She looks at her son and touches his hair.)
Lynn Towne: He needed a haircut.
(She starts to lift up the sheet and she stops.)
(She cries.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - DNA LAB -- DAY]
(Wendy is working on the two beer bottles found at the lake. Nick appears in the doorway and looks inside. He lingers. As the computer trills, Wendy turns and looks at him. Nick's back is to the door as he waits for the results.)
Wendy: Are you lurking around here for results?
Nick: No. No, no. I wouldn't do that. I was just ... uh... I was getting a cup of coffee.
Wendy: Actually. You can come in.
(Nick walks in.)
Nick: Why, do you got something?
Wendy: I do. I got a two-fer. I got epithelials from the rope from multiple contributors, and one of them ... drank from the bloody beer bottle.
(She pulls up the ID results.)
Nick: Larry Ludwig. Convicted of aggravated assault and DUI. Bring up his parole record.
Wendy: Okay.
(The record appears on screen.)
Nick: There you go. He works at the same water treatment plant as my victim.
Wendy: Thought you were getting coffee.
(Nick looks at his cup.)
Nick: Right.
(He picks up his cup and heads out.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - NIGHT]
[INT. VERDENT GLEN WATER TREATMENT PLANT - NIGHT]
(Larry Ludwig walks up to Warrick and Nick.)
Larry Ludwig: You sure you fellas don't want masks? The smell in here makes some people puke.
Warrick: Mr. Ludwig, can we see your palms, please?
Larry Ludwig: What, you gonna tell me my future or something?
Warrick: Depends on what I see.
Larry Ludwig: I don't think so.
(The manager, Jonah Quinn, joins them.)
Jonah Quinn: Gentlemen?
Larry Ludwig: Hey, I was just getting back to work, Mr. Quinn.
Jonah Quinn: Jonah Quinn. General Manager.
Warrick: I'm Warrick Brown.
Nick: And I'm Nick Stokes, we're with the Vegas Crime Lab. We're here investigating the death of one of your employees, Brian Towne.
Larry Ludwig: I told them I had nothing to say, sir.
Jonah Quinn: You have my permission to question and search any of my employees.
Larry Ludwig: They don't have warrant, Mr. Quinn. They're just... they're just fishing around, sir. Anybody who doesn't want to cooperate with the police in trying to find out who killed Brian - (shouts back to everyone else watching and listening to them) -- can clean out their lockers and search for another job! (quietly to Larry) Weren't they asking you a question?
(Larry nods.)
Nick: Go ahead and take off your gloves. Show us your palms.
(Larry takes his gloves off and shows them the marks on the palms of his hands.)
Warrick: Well, now, they look like rope burns.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(Robbins and Sara talk over the bones.)
Robbins: Did you know that there's a Paiute reservation in the heart of Las Vegas? It's only an acre, but it's right up on North Main.
Sara: Do you think that we found the bones of one of their ancestors?
Robbins: Well, the fusing of the plates and shape of the skull indicate a 30-year-old of the Mongoloid race.
Sara: Which does include Native Americans.
Robbins: And Southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders. But take a look at the teeth.
(Sara looks at the teeth under the light.)
Sara: I don't see any dental work.
Robbins: But there are caries.
Sara: Cavities.
Robbins: Right. Teeth from ancient tribal graves usually have distinctive wear marks ... uh ... grooves from pipe-smoking, rope-making -- but no cavities. You look disappointed.
Sara: I was ... hoping, just once, Vegas would have to honor its past.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM]
(Nick and Warrick talk with Larry Ludwig. Larry fidgets with his ring.)
Nick: These tire treads were under a tree where Brian's body was found. (Nick puts the photos on the table.) They're from a Chevy Colorado. Isn't that what you drive?
Larry Ludwig: Yeah.
Warrick: You're putting a nice polish on that wedding band.
Larry Ludwig: Hey, this is between us, right?
Nick: Yeah, absolutely.
Warrick: Oh, yeah.
Larry Ludwig: All right... I did see Brian last night. Me and my buddy, we started out at a bar, threw a few back, you know, met some ladies. And the hot one, she said, "Let's go swimming."
(Quick flashback to: Larry drives his truck over to the lake with his friend and the girls in the back.)
(Brian sits on the bank with his beer. They join him.)
Larry Ludwig: Brian. What's shaking?
Brian Towne: Not much.
(Brian shares his beer.)
Brian Towne: Anybody want one?
Larry Ludwig: Yes, please.
END FLASHBACK.
Larry Ludwig: So the girls, they wanted to play Tarzan. So I pull my pickup truck underneath the tree, I grabbed a rope out of my utility box, and we all started stripping down and everything ...
(Quick flashback to: The girls grab the rope and swing into the lake.)
Girls: Whoo! Come on, it's fun!
(Brian grabs the rope and swings into the lake. He stands up and the girls laugh when they see his breasts through his t-shirt.)
Girls: Oh, my God.
Brian Towne: What?
(He tries to cover himself and the guys see it too and they start laughing as well.)
END FLASHBACK.
Larry Ludwig: I mean, the guy had boobs, man. I mean, you could see 'em right through the t-shirt.
(He starts to laugh, but stops when he sees Nick and Warrick both don't find it amusing at all.)
Larry Ludwig: I mean, we were all kind of cracking up about it, but ... um ... uh ... it kind of broke the party up a little bit.
Nick: No, you kind of broke up the party, man, when you cut him up with a beer bottle and you hanged him in a tree.
Larry Ludwig: Hey, man, I mean ... he ran off and we left. All right, I-I-I don't know what else I can tell you. I mean, you can ask Tony -- he works with me, too.
Warrick: Where did you go?
Larry Ludwig: I went to the ... I went to a motel with one of, one of the girls.
Warrick: These girls have names?
Larry Ludwig: Yeah, mine was ... uh ... she was named after some city in Texas. I don't know, like ... uh ... Dallas or Houston or something like that. The other one, she really wasn't that hot, so I don't know what her name was.
(Warrick stands up.)
Warrick: You better hope we find these girls.
Nick: We better not find any of Brian's blood in your flatbed.
(Nick also stands up. He and Warrick leave the room.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - LAYOUT ROOM -- NIGHT]
(Sara has the original Rampart plans spread out on the table as she works the layout of the construction site in proportion to the old hotel. Greg drifts into the room and looks at the plans. It hits him what he's looking at.)
Greg: Wow! (excited) The original plans for the Rampart. Opening day, New Year's Eve, 1964. Half of the hotel tower was still under construction, but Sam decided to have the party anyway. He's got the Midas touch, and help from the boys in Kansas City.
(Greg walks around Sara to look at the rest of the plans.)
Greg: This is the ultimate.
Sara: Don't you have work to do?
Greg: Deal me in.
Sara: Well ... the workers found the bones here ... (she points to her site layout) -- which corresponds to this area.
(Sara points to the plans. As she talks, a CGI IMAGE of the hotel building rises up from the plans. In the visualization, a body falls from the top and hits the bottom.)
END VISUALIZATION.
Greg: Bottom of the construction shaft. Wonder if it's Gus "the Beauty" Finkel. Snitch, disappeared in '64.
Sara: The skull shape is Mongoloid.
Greg: Maybe it's Eddie Chang, the Peking Pimp. Caught Dean at the Sands, went out for eggs, never came back.
Sara: Did the Peking Pimp ever wear anything like this on his arm?
(She shows him the photo of the bracelet.)
Greg: Nope. Just French cuffs and platinum blondes.
(Sara starts to roll the plans up.)
Greg: Careful with those. They're like the Dead Sea Scrolls of Las Vegas.
Sara: I have to go back to the scene.
Greg: I'm off the clock. You ... uh ... need a hand?
(Sara smiles at him.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE (STOCK) -- NIGHT]
[EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE -- NIGHT]
(Sara and Ronnie measure the length of the skeleton as Greg watches.)
Ronnie Lake: 67.5 inches.
Greg: (sighs):Not the Peking Pimp. He was only five-two.
Sara: It looks like every bone in his body is broken.
(Ronnie snaps photos of the skeleton.)
Ronnie Lake: Check out the third vertebrosternal rib, left side. Isn't that a bullet hole?
Sara: Exit wound. Good call. Document it.
Greg: Nothing says "Mob hit" like shot in the chest, thrown down a construction shaft, and tucked in under a concrete blanket.
Ronnie Lake: For real? My first Mob hit. Cool.
Sara: You know, only the bones at the point of impact should be broken.
Greg: Then the implosion must have busted up the rest of him.
(Sara brushes away dirt from something she finds.)
Sara: Hey, Ronnie? Will you take a picture of this for me, please?
Ronnie Lake: Yeah.
(She snaps a photo. Sara picks it up.)
Sara: It looks like ... treated hide.
Ronnie Lake: Buckskin. Maybe your ME was wrong.
Sara: Well, only if the ancient tribes used sewing machines. The stitches are uniform.
Greg: You know, the showroom had this Wild West Revue with cowboys, and horses, and rifles, a real stagecoach. And Indians who shot flaming arrows that ripped off the dance hall girls' clothes. It ran from the day the Rampart opened until
(Sara stands up and looks at Greg.)
Sara: An Indian playing an Indian?
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. COMMUNITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[EXT. CYDEN RESIDENCE - FRONT -- DAY]
(Catherine and the officer head for the front door.)
Catherine: When I was growing up, there weren't any lakes in Vegas, just hotel swimming pools.
(She knocks. There's no answer.)
Catherine: I think Mr. Cyden might be dodging us.
(She peeks in through the window.)
Catherine: We've got a 419.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CYDEN RESIDENCE - FRONT -- DAY]
Catherine takes photos of Paul Cyden's body on the floor.)
Catherine: So you think that's a message or his dinner?
Nick: Well, that's carp. Nobody really eats those.
David Phillips: Body's in full rigor. Been dead at least ten hours. Appears to be ... one, two, three gunshot wounds to the torso.
Catherine: Probably rules out suicide.
David Phillips: No exit wounds.
Nick: I don't see a gun or cartridge casings anywhere. He has some fairly dense gunshot residue patterns. Shooter was only a couple of feet away, practically face-to-face.
Catherine: No signs of forced entry, no signs of struggle.
Nick: I bet he knew his killer.
Catherine: Maybe the same person who killed the tranny killed the boyfriend.
(Catherine looks at the photos.)
Catherine: Offer to buy his house dated... yesterday. Who tears up an offer in this tough market? "Purchaser: Jonah Quinn."
Nick: That's Brian's boss. I met him. This notebook charts hormone levels. No names, just numbers. There's over 40 test subjects here. If this guy was running some kind of underground clinic here, then where are the drugs?
(Catherine picks up one of the vials in the tray.)
Catherine: These could be hormones.
Nick: Warrick found vials like that in Brian's bedroom. Check that freezer.
(Catherine opens the freezer.)
Catherine: Carpe diem. Lots of them. Numbered and dated.
Nick: Shoot me a number.
Catherine: "R-41"
(Nick checks the notebook.)
Nick: "June 20, 2007."
Catherine: Why would he be giving hormones to fish?
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - TRACE LAB -- DAY]
(Hodges is looking through a scope when Sara walks in.)
Sara: Hodges? Here's the problem ...
Hodges: You know, that's just what Mom says when all I ask is to come home for Thanksgiving.
Sara: My John Doe is from 1964.
Hodges: Well, to quote Sherlock Sanders, "This town was built on dead bodies."
Sara: The National Missing Persons Database only lists four persons in '64, none of which are a match. It might help if we knew where he was from.
Hodges: Do I look like the Ghost Whisperer?
Sara: Every geographic area has specific levels of oxygen isotopes due to rainfall, climate and vegetation. And you can identify those isotopes in bones.
Hodges: You do know that those isotopes will only tell you where he spent the last three years or so of his life.
(Sara slides the container with the bone sample inside.)
Sara: I'll take it. It's more then we have now.
Hodges: If this works, I write the paper for the Forensics Journal, sole credit.
Sara: Deal.
(Sara walks away. Hodges picks up the sample and looks at it.)
Hodges: Me and my big mouth.
VARIOUS CUTS OF HODGES PROCESSING THE SAMPLE
INTERCUT WITH:
[INT. CSI - GARAGE - DAY]
(Greg is going through the large rock pieces around the skeleton.)
(Hodges continues processing the sample.)
(Greg puts the rock pieces together and makes a cast.)
(Hodges looks up the areas on the computer map. He finds something interesting.)
(Greg pries the rock pieces apart. Ronnie walks in.)
Ronnie Lake: Sara told me to document the detritus, but I see you beat me to it.
Greg: Oh, sorry, yeah, I kind of got carried away, but look at this-- it's the vic's right hand. He was holding on to something and when they poured the concrete on top of him, it made kind of a fossil.
Ronnie Lake: Whatever it was, we must have collected it, right? It's definitely not a gun.
Greg: No, you didn't find one of those.
(They look through the items.)
Ronnie Lake: Cigarette lighter?
(They compare the two. It doesn't match.)
Greg: No.
(Greg finds it.)
Greg: Hey. It's film. Uh, 35 millimeters used to come in a screw-top metal can like this. Whatever's on it must be important enough for Mr. Bones to hang on to it while taking a header. Later.
(Greg leaves.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY - DAY]
(Archie looks at the film while Greg sits at the computer monitor.)
Archie: Black and white Tri-X stock. It's pretty grainy. Photographers like it 'cause you can shoot fast.
(Archie puts the film on the scanner.)
Greg: It's like finding pictures of Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.
(The film negatives appear on the monitor. They reverse the image.)
Greg: The party was on the rooftop. Bring up that last shot on the roll.
Archie: Hmm.
(Archie enhances the image.)
Archie: Let's see if we can take a better look at that.
(He clears it up and it shows a ledger:
TOTAL $58,720.00
STATE $ 2,771.00
FERGUS $ 1,900.00
Greg: Looks like the casino take on opening day. Everybody got a cut -- the feds, the state -- and something called Fergus.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. COVERED GREENERY AREA -- DAY]
(Grissom is at the worktable. He's wearing coveralls and a beekeeper's mask. He picks up a smoker. Sara walks in. She's also wearing coveralls and a beekeeper's mask.)
Grissom: Oh, I love it when you dress up.
(Sara laughs)
(Grissom carries the smoker over to the bees. Sara follows him.)
Sara: Well, you know, whatever it takes to get some time with you. How's the study going? Any sign of Colony Collapse Disorder?
Grissom: Nope, so far it's healthy.
(He uses the smoker.)
Sara: Nothing too healthy about smoking.
(He puts the smoker aside.)
Grissom: Well, the scent confuses the guard bees. They won't emit the pheromone that tells the colony there's an intruder.
(He opens the box to show the frames and bees inside.)
Sara: Don't worry, he's harmless.
(Grissom takes out a frame.)
Sara: Who's who?
Grissom: These are the workers -- infertile females.
Sara: They don't sting?
Grissom: No, not unless you swat one, or close one up in your hand, or freak out. Go ahead, take off your glove.
Sara: Eh... all right, I trust you.
(Sara takes her glove off. A bee lands on her hand.)
Grissom: See? It's cool.
(Sara smiles and watches a bee walk along the back of her hand.)
Grissom: The worker bees defend the hive, procure the pollen, make the honey, nurture the larvae and pupae in each of these brood cells.
(Sara watches the bee on her hand. Grissom watches Sara.)
Grissom: You know, maybe we should get married.
(Surprised, Sara looks at Grissom. He looks at her.)
Sara: Ouch!
(She turns her hand over to show the swelling on the palm of her hand.)
Sara: Oh, oh ... Ow.
Grissom: I'm sorry.
Sara: Ow.
(Grissom picks up the smoker and uses it.)
(Sara laughs.)
Grissom: No, no, don't, don't, don't pick it out. Makes it worse, releases the venom into the bloodstream. It's better to scrape it.
(Grissom takes out his pocketknife and starts scraping the sting from Sara's hand. He works intently. Sara watches him.)
Grissom: So, uh... what do you think, you know, about...
Sara: Yes. Let's do it.
Grissom: Yeah?
(They lean forward to kiss - and their masks bump.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY -- DAY]
(Hodges finds Sara walking through the hallway.)
Hodges: Hi, Sara. You look like you're having a good day.
Sara: Thanks.
Hodges: Got your isotope results.
(She looks at the results.)
Sara: My John Doe lived in Southeast Asia?
Hodges: Yeah ... uh ... more specifically, southern Vietnam. Like I said, this test only dates back to the last three years of his life.
Sara: In '64 ... soldier? Consultant, refugee? Thanks. Hmm.
(Sara leaves.)
Hodges: Let me know if you get an ID. It'd be a great touch for the article.
(Hodges turns and heads back into his lab.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - GRISSOM'S OFFICE -- DAY]
(Catherine pushes the cooler on a cart past the doorway to Grissom's office. She looks in and sees Grissom at his desk, daydreaming.)
Catherine: Hey, what are you up to?
(He looks at her.)
Grissom: Nothing. Why?
(Catherine looks at the cooler. Grissom stands up.)
Grissom: What's in the cooler?
(She opens it.)
Catherine: Carp. Paul Cyden died holding one. He had a freezer full of them, some kind of an experiment.
Grissom: Huh.
(Grissom walks over.)
Grissom: I can process those fish if you like.
Catherine: Do I know how to turn you on or what?
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - BREAKROOM -- DAY]
(Warrick is eating lunch when Nick walks in.)
Nick: Hey. Heard you were looking for me.
Warrick: Yeah, our friend Larry Ludwig -- he's sharp as a marble, but his alibi checked out. We found the motel and the girl.
Nick: Really?
(Nick sits down and sighs.)
Nick: What's her name?
Warrick: (amused) Tucson.
Nick: Ah, yes. Tucson, the capital of Texas.
(They both chuckle.)
Nick: Well, Paul Cyden's DNA and fingerprints finally arrived.
Warrick: Well, I'll run it, but I don't think it'll matter. I think Brian killed himself.
Nick: You think he just climbed that big ol' tree all by himself?
Warrick: Yeah.
Nick: Okay, yeah. What about the mutilation?
Warrick: Self-inflicted. It took a while, but Mandy was able to recover some prints from the beer bottle, but it came back to Brian.
(Quick flashback: Using the broken bottle, Brian uses the sharp edges to try and cut his breasts out.)
(He looks up at the rope hanging from the tree. He climbs up and puts the rope around his neck. He jumps off the branch.)
(End flashback.)
Nick: So this was a hate crime.
Warrick: Yeah. He hated himself.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - LAB -- DAY]
(Grissom is working on the carp when Hodges walks in and looks over his shoulders.)
Grissom: Yes?
Hodges: Oh, sorry, just a bad habit from ... um ... when we worked the Miniature case together.
Grissom: That was fun, wasn't it?
Hodges: I thought so.
(Grissom points to the carp.)
Grissom: What do you see?
Hodges: Well, those are eggs-- it's a girl.
(Grissom opens up the fish.)
Hodges: And those white organs would be gonads. Male and female parts. Simultaneous hermaphroditism? Stop me if you already know this, but some fish do change s*x naturally.
Grissom: Not carp.
Hodges: I heard of a study when I was attending a forensics consortium in DC. Feminized male bass were found in the wastewater effluent of the Potomac River.
(Grissom's eyes widen. He turns and picks up a vial of water from the tray.)
Grissom: It's the water.
Hodges: Yeah, it was full of excreted pharmaceuticals and what they called "personal care products," all of which supposedly altered the endocrine system of the fish and their young.
Grissom: Good, Hodges. Well, now that we're working together again ...
(Grissom opens the cooler and takes a carp out. He puts it on Hodges' outstretched hand.)
Grissom: ... take at least two organ samples along with blood. Send them with these water samples to our clinical lab for hormone quants.
(Grissom puts the tray of water vials in Hodges' other hand. He leaves the room.)
Hodges: You got it, partner.
(Hodges is left holding the carp.)
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI -- BREAKROOM -- DAY]
(Greg talks with Lily Flynn. She points to a man in one of the photos.)
Lily: Melvin Fergus. He was a gaming commissioner. "Honest Melvin."
Greg: Well, it looks like Honest Melvin was on the take. Bribing a public official could cost you your gaming license. Maybe our dead guy found out about it and somebody found out about him finding out about it.
Lily: Who was this dead guy?
Greg: Some wisenheimer with extortion on the brain. Maybe a reporter.
(Sara walks in.)
Sara: Hi, Lily.
Lily: Hi.
Sara: Uh, Wendy ran that tooth. Pre-CODIS, but DNA confirms that our John Doe was Native American, so it was one Indian's burial ground.
Lily: There was a reporter and I'm pretty sure he was an Indian. (pause) Lee George. He'd just come back from Vietnam for Life magazine and he was doing a piece on Vegas.
Greg: Do you remember if he was at the party?
Lily: Yeah, in this little Indian costume -- bracelets on his biceps, and boy, did he have biceps. Trust me. If anybody hurt him, it was Benny Dunbar, Sam's bodyguard. (She points to him in the picture.) That lump in his jacket ain't a heart full of love.
INSERT: FLASHBACK
(It's the grand opening of the Rampart. The ribbon is cut. The crowd cheers. Lee George snaps a photo along with the others. The party continues.)
FLASH TO:
(Lee George is in the back office looking through the ledger. He finds a torn piece of it and takes a photo of it. He immediately takes the film out of the camera and puts the film in the metal film container. He puts his camera back together.)
(He hears a sound and picks up the camera to pretend to take a photo of the ledger. Benny Dunbar walks in.)
Benny Dunbar: I'll take that camera, kemosabe.
(Lee George tosses the camera at Benny Dunbar and runs out of the room.)
FLASH TO:
(Lee George is up in the unfinished areas of the hotel. He tries opening the door only to find it locked. He runs to the next door. Benny Dunbar turns the corner. He shoots Lee George in the back.)
(He tosses Lee George off the building and down the shaft. He turns and leaves.)
END FLASHBACK.
Sara: Either Benny tossed him or he jumped. We'll never know.
(Greg picks up his hat.)
Greg: This is great stuff for my book.
Sara: Your what?
Greg: Oh, this little piece on Vegas history -- stories that didn't make the papers.
Lily: Honey, if you need to know anything, just ask me. I was there.
Greg: Well, how about if I take you to dinner tonight? A bottle and a bird. We'll talk about the Peking Pimp.
(Greg and Lily leave the room arm-in-arm.)
Lily: Eddie Chang. They shipped him home in pieces.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - LAYOUT ROOM -- DAY]
(Grissom shows the Verdant Glen community and stream as he talks about the plant with Nick, Warrick and Catherine.)
Grissom: Twenty years ago, Verdant Glen was far enough outside Vegas to get the right to use well water for drinking. They also got approval to remove waste water at a private plant. There, it was cleaned, creating "grey water," which was used for secondary purposes -- watering lawns, washing cars, everything but drinking. The treatment plant then stored excess grey water in the reservoir.
Nick: Where they let the kids fish and swim.
Grissom: It passed every water quality test.
Catherine: And the carp from Paul Cyden's freezer had high levels of estrogen plus other prescription drugs.
Grissom: Brian's level and tox panel correlate to the carp. Cyden was collecting water samples from the reservoir, the tap, and the treatment plant.
Nick: Thanks to Brian.
Grissom: According to Cyden's research, the hormone levels in the tap water are nearly equal to the water in the reservoir.
Catherine: I thought they drink ground water.
Grissom: They do. Cyden was convinced that the ground water was contaminated.
Catherine: How?
Grissom: He discovered that the reservoir was improperly lined, allowing the grey water to leech into the ground water.
Nick: Well, if that's the case, then why didn't the other boys develop breasts?
Grissom: There's a good chance that others have been affected, especially children who were born to women who were living there while they were pregnant.
Catherine: Because the womb is the only place a human lives in fluid ... like a fish.
Nick: That reservoir is supposed to be lined to prevent contamination.
Grissom: Obviously, it's not. Or the lining's defective. Which is the decision I think Cyden had come to right before he was shot.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM -- DAY]
(Nick and Brass talk with Jonah Quinn.)
Jonah Quinn: You don't know where he got those samples. Cyden could have pulled them from raw sewage for all I know. And just for the record, that reservoir was built to code. You show me one complaint, one documented illness from that water.
Nick: What about Brian Towne?
Jonah Quinn: Listen ... it's a tragedy ... but his mother has breast cancer. You don't think it's that gene pool that might be polluted?
Brass: Let me ask you something. Why did you offer to pay such a big price for Paul Cyden's house?
Jonah Quinn: He's a nut. He was trying to sink me. His research was wrong, but perception is reality these days. I admit it. I was trying to buy him off. Would have been money well spent.
Nick: But he turned you down. Is that why you shot him?
Brass: I mean, with Brian gone, you're in the clear.
Jonah Quinn: Look, I don't need a gun; I've got lawyers. And I would like to speak to them now.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[INT. CSI - BALLISTICS LAB - DAY]
(Catherine gives the bullet to Warrick.)
Catherine: Here's the bullets pulled from Paul Cyden.
Warrick: Thanks.
(He looks at them under the magnifying glass.)
Warrick: Well, all three are jacketed hollow points with a center post. Hydra- Shok. Only one company makes them--Federal. You know what? Cath, I found a box of this same ammo in Brian Towne's bedroom. Five bullets missing.
(Catherine sits down and checks the computer to see if Brian Towne bought a gun. Warrick looks at the bullet under the scope.)
Warrick: Got five lands and grooves, right-hand twist. Could've been fired from a Smith and Wesson, Ruger, or a Taurus.
(Catherine comes up with a computer result.)
Catherine: Brian bought a Ruger SP 101 revolver two weeks ago.
Warrick: Damn. The mother had access to that gun and motive.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. HOSPITAL (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. HOSPITAL]
(Catherine talks with Lynn Towne.)
Lynn Towne: I was too busy taking care of me ... to see what was wrong with him. The signs were there.
Catherine: Mrs. Towne, don't blame yourself. You had a teenager who was depressed and not communicating and you push too hard and they pull away ...
Lynn Towne: I should have pushed. If I had gone through his room before he died ... maybe then ...
Catherine: Is that when you found his gun?
Lynn Towne: I was trying to understand why. I went through his e-mails. Paul was taking him to LA. I trusted him, and all those years that he pretended to be our friend ... He killed my son.
Catherine: Mrs. Towne ... he was trying to save your son, not hurt him. We found this letter on Paul's computer. You need to read it.
(Catherine gives the letter to Lynn.)
Paul Cyden: (V.O.) "I have decided to alert you to this grave matter prior to contacting the EPA. It is my professional conclusion that the water in this community contains unsafe levels of pharmaceutical contaminants, which have caused irreparable harm to wildlife and humans. One specific example is the case of Brian Towne. His endocrine system and physical body have been 'feminized' due to chronic ingestion of the water at Verdant Glen."
Catherine: He was going to blow the whistle. I think that's what Paul was trying to explain to you when you went over to confront him.
Lynn Towne: I worked two jobs to keep us in our house because ... because Brian loved it so much. And being there is what killed him.
[SCENE_BREAK]
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - NIGHT]
[INT. CSI - GRISSOM'S OFFICE -- NIGHT]
(Grissom and Catherine talk with ADA Kirkson.)
Kirkson: The feds have already swooped in to investigate the water problem.
Grissom: Do they plan to prosecute Jonah Quinn?
Kirkson: They'll try, but Quinn isn't the only one involved. Verdant Glen is now owned by a conglomerate -- the Altimera World Group. They'll bring in experts to contradict the research, discredit witnesses. They'll say that there are chemicals in everything that we eat, touch, breathe. It'll be in litigation for years.
Catherine: What about Brian's mother?
Grissom: Are you going to prosecute her?
Kirkson: Did you recover the murder weapon, find her prints in blood at Cyden's house, or get a signed confession?
Catherine: Her son's gun plus motive -- that's not enough?
Kirkson: She's a widow with breast cancer who lost her only kid.
(Kirkson stands up.)
Kirkson: No way I'd get her in front of a jury and ask them to convict. Nice work though.
(She leaves.)
Catherine: Lynn Towne goes free.
Grissom: It's all out of our hands now.
Catherine: That's not enough for me. If their lawyers can hog-tie the EPA for years, someone's got to go around them. They've got to take Brian's story and the research to the press. I mean, if ... if it's happened here, what's to say there aren't other Brians out there?
Grissom: You can't give information about a case to the media. You'll get fired.
Catherine: As a mother, maybe I don't care.
Plan: A: a tainted water supply; Q: What is the hanging death of a possibly hermaphroditic male connected to? A: the day crew; Q: Who investigates 40-year-old skeletal remains found at the site of a recently imploded casino? A: Grissom; Q: Who proposes to Sara? A: Greg; Q: Who reveals he is writing a book about the history of Las Vegas? Summary: The hanging death of a possibly hermaphroditic male is connected to a tainted water supply, while the day crew investigates 40-year-old skeletal remains found at the site of a recently imploded casino. Grissom proposes to Sara, and she accepts; Greg reveals he is writing a book about the history of Las Vegas.