Épisode Victime sans coupable S02E02 - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Saison 2

[EXT. LAS VEGAS STOCK - NIGHT]

[INT. UNIVERSITY DORM - WOMEN'S BATHROOM - NIGHT]

MUSIC:  (Hip-hop music)
hey, baby, hey, baby,
yeah, baby, yeah, baby
hey, baby, hey, baby,
yeah, baby, yeah, baby
hey, baby, hey, baby,

(The camera follows a blonde-woman walking out of the bathroom wrapped in a
towel.  She walks through the hallway where other students and regular traffic
carry on without batting an eye in her direction.)

(She passes a bulletin board and a group of college guys in orange shirts.  The
camera turns and follows the guys back down the hallway where they stop and turn
around.  I guess they did notice the girl in the towel.  They run off screen
after her (or maybe toward something else they've seen).)

(A boy carrying a box of pizza passes the group and the camera follows him as he
walks down the hallway with the pizza box in his hand.)

(The camera turns away from the pizza boy and lingers on a particular blue dorm
room #410.)

CUT TO:

[INT. ROOM #410, PAIGE RYCOFF'S ROOM - NIGHT]

(The camera enters the room and passes by some suitcases in the middle of the
room.)

LYRIC:  (dissolves into jazz blues)
... I'm so tired of playing / playing with this bow and arrow / going to keep my
hideaway

(There is a blonde-haired woman standing by window.  Her back is to us and she's
staring at the rain as it pours outside.)

LYRIC:
... leave it to the other girls to play ...

(She turns around to look back into the room at her suitcases.  She's wearing a
long-sleeved, dark-blue shirt with WLVU in bold yellow letters in the front. 
She goes to the bed and picks up her coat.  As she puts it on, the phone rings.)

LYRIC:
... for I've been a temptress too long / give me a reason, won't you? / give me
a reason

(She answers the phone.)

PAIGE RYCOFF:  (on phone)  Yeah?  Hold the meter.  I'll be right down.

(She hangs up the phone and moves to the window.  She looks outside and sees the
taxi cab waiting out front.  The Taxi Cab Driver looks up and we see PAIGE
RYCOFF standing in front of the window.  She walks away from the window.)

WHITE FLASH CUT TO:

[INT. PAIGE-RYCOFF'S ROOM -- DAY.]

(CLOSE UP of plane ticket still in the side pocket of a purse.  The camera moves
up toward the window.  It's day.  We hear a police siren.  From PAIGE RYCOFF'S
room window, we see police cars and GRISSOM'S black SUV outside.  GRISSOM meets
up with BRASS on the walkway leading up to the dorm.)

CUT TO:

[INT. DORM - HALLWAY - DAY]

BRASS:   Paige Rycoff, freshman.  Couldn't stand the heat, dropped out of
school. 

GRISSOM:  Dropped out of sight. 

BRASS:  Booked a one-way ticket home to boulder.  Never got there.  Four days
M.I.A.

GRISSOM:  Missing persons.  First 24 hours are gold after that ...

BRASS:  ... quicksand.

(They arrive at the room.)

BRASS:  (to the officer outside the room)  Hey.

(GRISSOM and BRASS enter the room.  There are alot of officers inside.  Standing
and comparing notes and talking.  This annoys GRISSOM.)

GRISSOM:  Excuse me, but could everyone in this room do me a big favor ... and
leave?

(Off of BRASS' look.)

GRISSOM:  Please?

(BRASS nods his head.)

BRASS:  Thanks, fellas.  Thanks, guys.

(After everyone leaves, GRISSOM puts his CSI Kit down.)

BRASS:  (to GRISSOM)  You want me to go, too?

GRISSOM:  If you're very still, you can stay.

(GRISSOM puts on a pair of latex gloves.  BRASS crouches down low.  A police
siren sounds outside.)

BRASS:  She was definitely on her way out of here.

GRISSOM:  Lamp's still on.

BRASS:  Yeah, but she didn't take her suitcase, her purse ... or the cab she
called.

(BRASS stands up.  GRISSOM reaches into the purse and pulls out the ticket.)

GRISSOM:  It's like going to the vet without your dog.

[GRISSOM picks up the plane ticket from her purse.  The ticket contains the
following information:

PHONE MAIL ORDER
MONUMENT AIRLINES
RYCOFF, PAIGE
LAS VEGAS, NV
BOULDER CO
NON-REFUNDABLE

Nos. at the bottom:  00953046010 | 3 005 211 54 ... ]

BRASS:  Maybe she had a change of plan.  Or someone changed it for her.

GRISSOM:  No sign of struggle.  Everything's intact. 

(A quick look into the purse shows a small hairbrush with lots of hair on it,
her wallet and a notebook as well as other everyday things found in a purse.)

GRISSOM:  Nothing out of place.

(GRISSOM walks past BRASS and heads out the door.  The door closes behind him.)

(There's a knock on the door.)

BRASS:  (quietly)  Come in.

(BRASS opens the door and GRISSOM enters the room again.)

GRISSOM:  Door locks automatically and there were no keys in her purse.

BRASS:  Maybe they were in her pocket.

GRISSOM:  If they were in her pocket she could've walked right back in.  Why
didn't she?

BRASS:  One moment Paige Rycoff is here the next ... vanished.

GRISSOM:  People don't vanish, Jim.  It's a molecular impossibility.

HARD CUT TO:
END OF TEASER.
ROLL TITLE CREDITS:

[Captioning sponsored by CBS, CBS Productions and Alliance Atlantis Productions. 
Captioned by the Caption Center WGBH Educational Foundation]

(COMMERCIAL SET)



FADE IN

[INT. DORM ENTRANCE -- DAY]

(The students use their cards to enter the dorm through a turnstyle.  GRISSOM
and WARRICK stand off to the side as they enter.)

WARRICK:  They got this multiplex system -- there's eyes all over the place. 
There's eight floors, and four cameras per floor.

(They both look up at the camera that monitors the co-eds coming into the dorm.)

GRISSOM:  They have this system in place when you went to school here?

WARRICK:  With all the stuff me and my boys got away with, it's probably why
they have them now.

SARA:  Hey, scent dogs are on their way.

(SARA arrives at the dorm and is stopped at the entrance when she can't get
through the turnstyle.)

GRISSOM:  If you don't live in the dorm you can't get in.

SARA:  What about getting out?

CUT TO:

[INT. DORM - HALLWAY - DAY]

(CATHERINE and NICK walk through the hallway.)

CATHERINE:  Four hundred students, twelve uniform officers, ten minutes per
interview.  P.D. Should be done by Tuesday.

NICK:  Well, I'll take prints over people any day.

(GRISSOM, SARA and WARRICK meet up with them at the next corner.)

GRISSOM:  How about taking video?  There's cameras on every floor; one of them
must have seen something, please find it.

NICK:  Okay.

(NICK leaves.)

GRISSOM:  In this case, more is less-- the more time goes by the less chance we
have of finding this girl.

CATHERINE:  Four days?  We'd be looking for a body already.

WARRICK:  Well, hide and seek.  Let's go.

(WARRICK and CATHERINE leave.  The video camera watches them go.)

CUT TO:


[INT. PAIGE RYCOFF'S ROOM - DAY]

(SARA pulls out a clip board while she updates GRISSOM on the status of the
room.)

SARA:  I talked to her R.A.  Paige had put in a request to have all her mail
forwarded, including her security deposit.

(GRISSOM stares at the wall.  He notices something on the wall and takes a very
close look at it.  SARA watches as GRISSOM sticks his finger in it and ...
tastes it.)

GRISSOM:  Minty.

SARA:  Toothpaste-- poor man's spackle.  It's an old college trick-- covers up
the holes when the posters come down.

GRISSOM:  Ah.  Leave the room the way you found it, get back your full deposit.

SARA:  Five Hundred Dollars.  That huge money at her age if you actually get it. 
That's a big college racket, like buying books back?

GRISSOM:  Why would anyone want to sell their books?

SARA:  Two beds. Roommate?

(GRISSOM looks at his clip board.)

GRISSOM:  Jennifer Riggs.  Left school two weeks into the semester Brass checked
with the registrar.

(He puts his clip board back in his bag and from the low angle he's in, he
notices something across the floor.  He uses his flashlight to get a better
view.)

GRISSOM:  There's a void.  Something was here.

SARA:  Area rug?  Could've been used to conceal a body on the way out.

PAULA FRANCIS:  (o.s.)  The disappearance of ...

CUT TO:


[INT. DORM LOUNGE -- CONTINUOUS]

PAULA FRANCIS (TV ANCHORWOMAN): (v.o.) ... western Las Vegas university coed
Paige Rycoff has police baffled.  They're working on several leads.  And though
investigators are still piecing together ...

(The television set in the dormitory lounge is covering The Paige Rycoff story. 
There's a picture of Paige on screen and the words, "Breaking News" on the
bottom left of the screen.)

(The camera pans over to view the hallway just in time to catch two police
officers with two search dogs on leashes.)

CUT TO:


[INT. DORM - NEAR GARBAGE CHUTE]

WARRICK:  How's this strap right here, is this tight enough?

(WARRICK is assisting CATHERINE with her gear.)

CATHERINE:  Uh, yeah, fine.

WARRICK:  How about this one? (He tugs on another strap.)

CATHERINE:  Yeah, it's ... it's good, Warrick.

WARRICK:  Well, you know, you can get cadets to do this, Cath.  I mean, they're
used to obstacle courses.

CATHERINE:  Yeah, well, on missing persons, we can't wait.

WARRICK:  Yeah, well, it looks like a kill-and-dump to me.  I mean, the guy
waited for the coast to clear door to door, it's only ten meters ...

(CATHERINE pulls open the garbage chute door and peers inside.  There seems to
be some distance to cover between the fourth floor that they're currently on to
the ground floor below.)

(CATHERINE lets go of the handle and it snaps back shut.)

CATHERINE:  Hmm, snappy little sucker.  Somebody ought to fix that.

WARRICK:  Yeah?  Well, all right, after we find Paige.

CATHERINE:  Right.

(WARRICK opens the garbage chute door and assists CATHERINE as she get in it.)

CUT TO:


[INT. CAMPUS SECURITY CAMERA CONTROL ROOM]

(Through the green-tinged video, we see CATHERINE disappear into the garbage
chute completely.  The camera pans back and we see that we're watching four
monitors.  There's a hand-written note between the bottom two monitors that
reads:  "Absolutely No Drinks next to the monitors.  Thanks!")

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  Okay, here we're looking at the fourth floor.  It's real
time.

NICK:  Mm-hmm... I'm interested in any camera that covers Paige Rycoff's room.

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:   Oh, that's camera two.  Here, I'll put it on the large
monitor.

NICK:  Now, go back four days, one hour window 8:00 to 9:00 P.M.

(The video on the monitor shows co-eds walking back and forth in the hallways.)

NICK:  Fast forward.

(After several seconds, NICK sees something)

NICK:  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa -- hold on.

(The video goes back and catches a hand covering the camera with something
causing it to black out.)

NICK:  How'd you miss that?

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  Well, we don't catch every minute.

NICK:  Go back 15 seconds, replay in slow-mo.

(The video definitely shows someone reaching up and blacking the camera out.)

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  What is that?

NICK:  Camera captures 13% more than we're seeing on this monitor.  Picture
condenses to fit the aspect ratio ...

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  Pixel matrix, yeah.

NICK:  Mm-hmm.  Show me the under scan.  Stop.  (The video stops on the black
spot.)  Now go back five seconds before the lens was covered.  (The video stops
on a lighter view of the black spot just a frame or two before it gets really
dark.)  Freeze and magnify.

(The video freezes on a magnification of somebody's left hand up against the
wall.)

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  Hmm, somebody's hand.

NICK:  Looks like he pushed off the wall ... tossed something on the lens. 
Prints over people.  Thanks, man.

CAMPUS SECURITY TECH:  Yeah.

CUT TO:

[INT. INSIDE THE TRASH CHUTE - DAY]

(CATHERINE is inside the garbage chute looking for any evidence of a body
passing through it.)

WARRICK:  (over radio)  Find anything interesting down there?

CATHERINE:  Yeah, plenty, but not what we're looking for.

WARRICK:  How's the smell, good?

CATHERINE:  Funky.

(On her way down, CATHERINE sees something on the wall.)

CATHERINE:  Wait, stop.  Stop, stop, stop.

WARRICK:  (over radio)  What you got?

CATHERINE:  Looks like, uh ... (panting) Something or ... someone smashed up
against this chute pretty hard.

WARRICK:  (over radio)  What floor are you on?

CATHERINE:  Uh ... between, um ... first and second, I think.

WARRICK:  Well, if the body was dumped it would've been moving pretty fast by
then.

(CATHERINE touches the red substance and smells it.)

CATHERINE:  Pizza.  Keep going.

CUT TO:

[EXT. ALLEYWAY -- END OF CHUTE - INTO THE DUMPSTER -DAY]

(CATHERINE comes out of the chute feet first and lands in the dumpster.)

CATHERINE:  Ah.  Touchdown.  Uh, chute's clear.  Looks like trash is picked up
every morning.  We got nothing.

(CATHERINE looks over at the two frustrated search dogs at the entrance of the
alleyway ... )

CATHERINE:  Hey, Warrick, it looks like we're not the only ones chasing our
tails.

CUT TO:

[INT. PAIGE RYCOFF'S ROOM - DAY]

(Wearing red-orange protective goggles, SARA darkens the room.  Using a device
that shines a blue light, SARA's looking for body fluids in PAIGE RYCOFF'S room. 
Every drop she finds on the bed is circled for collection.)

LYRICS: 
Water falling down / a hundred meters
colored by the sun / in day-glo colors
always dragging me around / through beams of light
blinded by the sun ... (music fades)

CUT TO:


[INT. CAMPUS SECURITY CAMERA CONTROL ROOM]

(From the monitors, we see NICK working near the video camera.)

CUT TO:

[INT. FOURTH FLOOR HALLWAY - DAY]

(NICK gathers the handprint off of the wall.  That he even found it impresses
SARA, who approaches him from behind.)

SARA:  How did you know where to print?

NICK:  Knew where to look.  How about you? 

SARA:  DNA, blood and semen.

NICK:  We shoot, we score.

CUT TO:


(CAMERA CLOSE UP of GRISSOM.  He's looking downward and has a thoughtful look on
his face.  Around him, we hear the muffled voice of a man and a woman who both
sound upset.  We can barely make out what they're saying.  The more they speak,
the clearer their words.)

MRS. RYCOFF:  No one is telling us anything.  It's been four days.

MR. RYCOFF:  I mean, the police aren't talking to us.

MRS. RYCOFF:  We have no information.

MR. RYCOFF:  It's gotten crazy.

MRS. RYCOFF:  I want to know how this could happen.  (The voices are crystal
clear and pierce through GRISSOM'S thoughts.)  Mr. Grissom.  What are you doing
to find my daughter?

[INT. HALLWAY - DAY]

(GRISSOM looks up and sees MRS. and MR. RYCOFF.  Both are anxious.)

GRISSOM:  I'm thinking.

MR. RYCOFF:  How many men are on this case?

MRS. RYCOFF:  Have any leads?!  Any?

MR. RYCOFF:  Are you looking anywhere else?

GRISSOM:  When we get any new information, I'll let you know.

MRS. RYCOFF:  What can we do?

GRISSOM:  Just let me do my job.

MR. RYCOFF:  This is our daughter, we can't just be observers.

MRS. RYCOFF:  No, we won't.  We're part of this.

GRISSOM:  Look.  What no one's telling you is that the only tangible connection
you have left between you and your daughter is the evidence that my team is
collecting and how we interpret it.  So, please ... let me think.

(MR. and MRS. RYCOFF leave.)

CUT TO:


[INT. CSI - A/V LAB]

(GRISSOM is standing in front of the video monitor watching the video footage
taken the night PAIGE RYCOFF went missing.  CATHERINE walks in and stops next to
him.)

GRISSOM:  You showered.

CATHERINE:  Thanks for noticing, Gil, you're very observant.

(He plays the video over again and steps up closer to the video screen till he's
standing right in front of it.)

GRISSOM:  Yeah? Well ... I can't tell what I'm observing here.  What does that
look like?

CATHERINE:  A five-foot-eleven workaholic.

GRISSOM:  (turns around)  Sorry.

CATHERINE:  It looks like somebody carrying... something.

GRISSOM:  Paige Rycoff was missing a rug from her room.

(NICK walks in holding up a file.  He's enthusiastic.)

NICK:  Hello.  Got an ID off my print.  I know who covered the cameras.

GRISSOM:  Good.  We know what he might've carried out.

CUT TO:


[INT.  INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY]

(A photograph of a hand print is placed on the table and pushed forward toward
the man sitting there.  The co-ed sitting in his orange "Omega Zeta Pi Pledge"
T-shirt glances down at it.)

HENRY McFADDEN:  It's a hand.

GRISSOM:  It's your hand.

HENRY McFADDEN:  Okay, if you say so.

NICK:  Hey, your fingerprints say so.

(Quick Flashback shows HENRY McFADDEN putting his hand on the wall and boosting
himself up to put a dark blue hand towel over the hallway camera.  Flash to
white. Resume Present.)

HENRY McFADDEN:  Okay. I'll cop to it.  But I'm not copping to it alone.

(Quick Flashback shows four other guys in orange running down the hallway
carrying furniture between them.  Flash to white.  Resume Present.)

BRASS:  Pledge prank.  You boosted a carpet and a couch?

HENRY McFADDEN:  We borrowed-- we borrowed some stuff from the lounge but we
were going to return it.

BRASS:  When?  After you graduate?  What else did you take, Henry?

HENRY McFADDEN:  Ohhh ... two lamps, coffee table, couple rolls of toilet paper. 
Look, I'll pay for it.

NICK:  Why the fourth floor?

HENRY McFADDEN:  Uh ... the fourth, fifth, and seventh floor have the primo
goods.  Okay?  Fourth floor's closer to the ground ... less stairs.  Faster we
can get out of the building and into the van faster we get out of there.

GRISSOM:  Do you know Paige Rycoff?

(HENRY McFADDEN becomes less flippant and quite serious at GRISSOM'S question.)

(Quick Flashback shows PAIGE RYCOFF standing at the window and turning around. 
Flash to white.)

HENRY McFADDEN:  Yeah.  Yeah, but I had nothing to do with ... with that or
whatever happened to her.

BRASS:  But you do know her.

HENRY McFADDEN:  Well, yeah.  You know, we live in the same dorm.  We're in
Economics 101 together, so what?

NICK:  So what?

HENRY McFADDEN:  Paige and I dated once or twice.  She wasn't my type.  If you
haven't noticed ... I'm in the system now.  The talent pool's pretty deep.

NICK:  She dumped you. 

GRISSOM:  Guy like you, it had to be a blow to your ego.  Maybe you tried to
change her mind.

HENRY McFADDEN:  All right, come on, listen.  It wasn't like that.  It wasn't
like that at all.  Come on, Paige was seeing another guy.  Someone who was "more
mature" than I am.

BRASS:  You got a name on this other guy?

HENRY McFADDEN:  No. She never said.

BRASS:  You can go.

(HENRY McFADDEN stands to leave the room.)

BRASS:  But the stuff gets returned.

HENRY McFADDEN:  Yes, sir.

(He leaves the room.)

NICK:  From hot to cold in a minute.

GRISSOM:  This is the worst place you can be on a missing persons ... a dead
end.

CUT TO BLACK.

(COMMERCIAL SET)



FADE IN.

[INT. CSI LAB - DAY]

(The television set is on.  PAIGE RYCOFF'S parents are on with the label "MR and
MRS RYCOFF" in the lower left corner.  The techs in the lab are watching the
television coverage.)

PAULA FRANCIS:  (on tv)  The parents of western Las Vegas University freshman,
Paige Rycoff.  They join us now to discuss their daughter's disappearance.  Mrs.
Rycoff, did your daughter tell you why she was leaving school?

MRS. RYCOFF: (on tv)  We're a close family, and Paige just felt she needed to be
home ... with us.

PAULA FRANCIS: (on tv)  But why leave mid semester?

MRS. RYCOFF: (on tv)  I asked ...

MR. RYCOFF: (on tv)  ... she was going to make a fresh start back in Boulder.

(Outside the Lab, through the glass window, GRISSOM also watches the television
coverage.  SARA appears beside him.)

SARA:  I need you in the lab.

GRISSOM:  You know, when a tree falls in the forest even if no one's there to
hear it, it does, in fact, make a sound.

SARA:  Yes. Somebody must have seen or heard something.

GRISSOM:  What have we got?

(They leave together.)

CUT TO:


[INT. CSI LAB]

(Spread out on the table are various items all belonging to PAIGE RYCOFF.  From
make-up to a tweezer, nail clipper, eye-lash curler ... it's all there.)

GREG:  Well, this is one way to get her DNA.  Bring me her whole life.

SARA:  It's called zeal, Greg.

GREG:  Or overkill.

GRISSOM:  It's called protocol.  Let's get on with it.

GREG:  Okay, well, I, uh, got Paige's DNA from her toothbrush.  I compared it to
the blood and semen that Sara found on the mattress in her dorm room.

SARA:  Blood's not hers.

GRISSOM:  Not hers?

SARA:  That's not all.  Check out the tox screen.

(SARA hands GRISSOM the report.  He pulls out his glasses and reads.)

GRISSOM:  Rohypnol?

SARA:  Date rape drug.

GRISSOM:  What about the semen?

GREG:  Well, the vaginal contribution to the semen stain is a match to the
blood.  Whose blood, don't know.

SARA:  We may have two victims -- one missing, one raped.

CUT TO:

[INT. CSI - A/V LAB]

(On the screen, NICK and CATHERINE review video footage from cameras covering
the parking lot on the night PAIGE disappeared.)

NICK:  There's our boys about to move their "borrowed" furniture.

CATHERINE:  Advance it to 8:27 P.M.

(NICK hits the remote and the video advances from 08:26 to 08:27 pm.)

NICK:  Okay, I think the table's set.  Cab double-parked.

CATHERINE:  He calls up.  Paige says that she'll be right down.

NICK:  And he becomes the world's most patient cabbie.

CATHERINE:  And just like he tells Brass ... he waits 15 minutes. 

NICK:  13 minutes.  27 seconds  According to the timecode.  Close enough. 
(grabs his gear)  Let's get back out in the field.  Tech can finish up here.

CATHERINE:  Hey, where's the fire, bud?  We're just getting started.  These
security cameras are the only witnesses we've got.

(NICK sighs.  He puts his bag back down.)

NICK:  I'll, uh, settle in.

CATHERINE: Good idea.

CUT TO:

[EXT. RESIDENTIAL SIDEWALK - DAY]

(GRISSOM, BRASS and SARA walk down the sidewalk in front of JENNIFER RIGGS'
parents' home.)

BRASS:  Jennifer Riggs -- missing girl's roommate.  She dropped out of school,
too about a month and a half ago.

SARA:  That dorm room is cursed.

GRISSOM:  Is this her parents' house?

BRASS:  Yeah.  Possible sexual assault so I thought I'd wait for the whole team.

SARA:  You thought you should, uh, wait for a female.

CUT TO:

[INT. JENNIFER RIGGS' RESIDENCE - DAY]

PAULA FRANCIS (TV ANCHORWOMAN):  (v.o. over tv)  A video shot during the first
week of school  Offers fresh insight into the 18-year-old's personality.  We can
see that Paige was an average, apparently happy and healthy freshman, looking
forward to ...

(The camera starts on several photographs on the wall:  one is JENNIFER RIGGS
high school cap & gown graduation photo, another is of JENNIFER RIGGS with her
parents.  The camera skims over two other childhood photographs, both of
JENNIFER RIGGS.  The television set is on in the living room with a report about
PAIGE RYCOFF on.  The video shows a close-up of PAIGE RYCOFF swimming.  The
camera moves on to the living room where the interview with JENNIFER RIGGS is
taking place.)

JENNIFER RIGGS:  How did you guys even find out about me?  I mean, I-I didn't
report it.  I just ... ran.  And I left school.  Nobody knew, not even Paige.

SARA:  Jennifer, we found forensic evidence in your old dorm room.  We  believe
you were sexually assaulted while under the influence of Rohypnol.

JENNIFER RIGGS:  And now you guys think the guy that attacked me had something
to do with Paige's disappearance?

SARA:  Two women.  Same dorm room. 

GRISSOM:  We're looking for a connection. 

BRASS:  Will you tell us his name?

(She takes a shaky breath.  SARA notices her discomfort.)

SARA:  Do you want to talk alone?

JENNIFER RIGGS:  You don't understand.  I can't remember.  I never could
remember.

GRISSOM:  That's one of the side effects of rohypnol.  I'm sure he was counting
on that.

JENNIFER RIGGS:  There was this party ...

(Quick Flashback of a man going through a door and shutting it behind him.  He's
carrying a body over his shoulder.  Cut to:  Shadow of a man taking off his
shirt.  Flash to white.  JENNIFER RIGGS on the bed.  She's awake but completely
out of it while in the background, the shadow of a man taking off his pants. 
Cut to:  The man in his boxer shorts standing over JENNIFER RIGGS on the bed. 
Flash to white.  Resume to Present.)

BRASS:  Who was at this party?

JENNIFER RIGGS:  It was a floor party.  That's why I had to leave school. 
Somebody that I was living with attacked me ... and I was never going to know
who.

(SARA nods her head then glances back at GRISSOM.  Camera holds on GRISSOM.)

CUT TO:

[INT. CO-ED DORM - ELEVATOR - DAY]

(The dorm elevator moves up the second, third and stops on the fourth floor. 
Inside the elevator, GRISSOM, WARRICK, and SARA waits for the elevator door to
open.)

SARA:  (o.s.)  Why would a rapist voluntarily give up his DNA?

GRISSOM:  Officially, we're looking for the individual who abducted Paige Rycoff
not the student who raped Jennifer Riggs.

[INT. CO-ED DORM - HALLWAY - DAY -- CONTINUOUS]

(The elevator door opens and the three walk out.)

WARRICK:  Oh, so as long as the students participate voluntarily we can use
their DNA as we e fit.

SARA:  Ah, the old Bait and Switch.

WARRICK:  The ole' Smart and Legal.

SARA:  Yeah, but what if someone refuses?

GRISSOM:  That's what we're hoping for.  De facto suspect.

(They round the corner where all the men living on the fourth floor are lined up
against the wall.  There are several officers there.)

CUT TO:


[INT. HALLWAY -SOME TIME LATER]

(The men are lined up and SARA is taking a swab sample of their DNA.  WARRICK is
behind her collecting the swabs as she finishes them.  She finishes one and
hands it to WARRICK then moves to the next co-ed.)

SARA:  Open.

(The N.D. STUDENT clears his throat and doesn't.)

SARA:  Are you refusing?

N.D. STUDENT:  I haven't brushed my teeth.

WARRICK:  Hey, mouth boy, she's not going to kiss you.  She just wants your DNA,
okay?

(The N.D. STUDENT opens his mouth and SARA takes the sample.)

CUT TO:

(A top angled, camera vide of the collection in the hallway.)

CUT TO:


[INT. CSI - DNA LAB - DAY]

(CLOSE UP of a cotton swab tip being cut into a small plastic sample container
(sorry, can't see what the writing on the container is).  The container next to
it already containing a swab sample is E05.)

(CUT TO:  GREG fills the following containers:  E15, E14, E13, E12, E11.)

(CUT TO:  GREG put the completed rack with the samples into the machine.  He
shuts it closed and turns it on.)

CUT TO:


[INT. CSI -- GREG'S LAB]

(GRISSOM walks in.  He's holding his pager.)

GRISSOM:  Friederich Miescher requests my presence?

GREG:  Figured out my code, huh?  Well, you know, my boy Freddy discovered DNA.

GRISSOM:  He's been dead a hundred years, Greg.  What do you got?

GREG:  Well, I ran the samples on COfiler(TM) and Profiler Plus (TM).  Then I
compared each specimen against the types obtained from the dried semen that you
found on the victim's mattress ...

GRISSOM:  Are we paying you by the word?

(GREG looks back at GRISSOM then silently gets the test results and puts them on
the table for GRISSOM to look at.)

GRISSOM:  Thirteen markers.  Thirteen matches.  One suspect.  Thank you.

(GRISSOM turns to leave.)

CUT TO:

[EXT. BASEBALL PRACTICE FIELD - DAY]

(CLOSE UP of a baseball coming out of a pitching machine and the batter waiting
for it, hitting it.  GRISSOM and BRASS cross the path with their hands out to
hold the next pitch.  They're on their way somewhere accompanied by two
officers.)

BRASS:  Kevin Watson, 19, room 407 just down the hall from our girls.  Athletic
director says he plays first base, bats right-handed.

GRISSOM:  Any record?

BRASS:  Three "D"'s and a "C," nothing criminal.  Number 25, just like McGwire.

GRISSOM:  Yeah? I wonder how he hits.

CUT TO:

[EXT. BASEBALL PRACTICE FIELD - DUGOUT - DAY]

(GRISSOM and BRASS are questioning KEVIN WATSON.)

GRISSOM:  Listen, Kevin, we know that you assaulted Jennifer Riggs.

GRISSOM:  Why don't you just tell us about Paige Rycoff.

KEVIN WATSON:  I don't know anything about Paige ... or Jennifer.

GRISSOM:  Well, I'll tell you what I know.  Jennifer Riggs was raped.  We found
semen on her mattress.  We matched the seminal DNA to you.

KEVIN WATSON:  Q-tip down my throat.  Thought you were here trying to find out
what happened to Paige.

GRISSOM:  We are.

BRASS:  So what did happen, Kevin?  You attack Paige, too?  Hell, you been in
her room before but unlike her roommate Paige fought back, is that it?

KEVIN WATSON:  I never touched Paige.  I wasn't even in town.  Three ball games
in Fresno.  We got back yesterday.  Check the roster.  Ask coach.

BRASS:  No, I'll do that but in the meantime, you're coming with us.  You're
under arrest for the use of a controlled substance in the sexual assault on
Jennifer Riggs.  Get him out of here.

(The officers take KEVIN WATSON away from the dugout.  GRISSOM has his hand up
on the wall.  He's not happy about the results of this interview.)

BRASS:  (to the officers)  Wait for me.  Wait for me in the car.

(GRISSOM turns as WARRICK joins the group.)

GRISSOM:  Another dead end.

WARRICK:  Yeah, I know, I talked to the coach.  Road trip.

GRISSOM:  We're losing her.

(Camera holds on WARRICK and BRASS.)

FADE TO BLACK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[INT. CSI - A/V ROOM]

(CATHERINE and NICK are still going thought the video footage of the parking lot
the night PAIGE RYCOFF disappeared.)

CATHERINE:  ... and there it is again.

NICK:  You know, that car circled the block six times between... 8:20 and 8:40
P.M?

CATHERINE:  All right, you loop around twice you're looking for a parking space. 
Six times ...

NICK:  You're up to no good.

CATHERINE:  Is that something hanging from the rearview mirror?

(NICK hits the rewind on the video.)

CATHERINE:  Why don't you zoom in on that.

(NICK does his magic and get a close up of a Las Vegas University Parking
Permit.  They smile at the find.)

NICK:  You know, it's easier to get a master's degree than a parking spot on
campus.

CATHERINE:  Right. Why don't you meet up with university parking and cross-
reference all silver Volvos.

NICK:  Right.

CATHERINE:  Oh, and Nick?

NICK:  Yeah?

CATHERINE:  When you find the car ...

NICK:  I know -- check the trunk.

(NICK leaves.)

CUT TO:


[EXT. UNIVERSITY PARKING - DAY]

(CLOSE UP of a Las Vegas University Parking Permit #27356 hanging from the rear
view mirror of a car.  GRISSOM and CATHERINE approach the car.  NICK is already
there.)

CATHERINE:  Silver Volvo. University I.D.

GRISSOM:  A world of possibilities reduced to a single car?

NICK:  Registered to Robert Woodbury, Philosophy Professor, tenured.  Detail's
almost got the latch.

(A technician jimmies open the trunk lock.  The hatch pops open.  GRISSOM and
CATHERINE lean in to examine the trunk's contents.  In the middle of the trunk,
there's something covered with a black, white and gray pattered blanket.  It's
large enough to be a body.  NICK removes the blanket and finds that it's a set
of golf clubs.)

GRISSOM:  Nick, tow it to CSI and process.  Cath ...

CATHERINE:  Office hours with the Professor.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  (v.o.)  Yes ...

CUT TO:

[INT. PROF. WOODBURY'S OFFICE - DAY]

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  ... I was near the dorm that night.

CATHERINE:  Professor Woodbury, you circled the block six times.

BRASS:  Let's start with an easy question.  Paige Rycoff was a student of yours.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Introduction to philosophy, yes.

(A light knock on the door just before a pretty student pops her head into the
office.  She's smiling.)

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Amanda ... uh, I'll talk to you tomorrow after class.

(The student leaves and the door closes.)

WILLOWS:  Cute.  Let me guess-- "C" student?

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Not if I can help it.

(GRISSOM notices a piece of something on the floor near the couch and picks it
up.)

CATHERINE:  And what kind of student was Paige?

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  She was a very bright, young woman.

GRISSOM:  "Some circumstantial evidence is very strong as when you find a trout
in the milk."

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Henry David Thoreau.  But that's just broken pottery.

GRISSOM:  My perception -- sign of struggle.

(This gets no response from PROF. WOODBURY.)

GRISSOM:  Okay, look, it's been six days.  If you have a legitimate reason for
being outside of her dorm, tell us.  If you have an illegitimate reason tell us
that.  Tell us something, so that we can move forward.

(PROF. WOODBURY looks uncomfortable.  Still, he says nothing.)

GRISSOM:  Again, my perception -- silence confirms guilt.

(CATHERINE and BRASS stand.  They're getting ready to leave.)

CATHERINE:  We found you. We will find what you're hiding.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  I'm married.

CATHERINE:  Yep. The ring indicates that.

BRASS:  Your car's on the way to the crime lab.  We're going to need to search
your home.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  She was never in my car; she was never in my house.

BRASS:  Where has she been?

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Here. That's how the vase broke, because we were ...

CATHERINE:  Physical.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Amorous.

CATHERINE:  Oh, so you cared about her?  But obviously not enough to come
forward.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  And tell you what?  That I cheat on my wife with my
student who is missing and I have absolutely no information?

GRISSOM:  If it was important enough for you to hide it's important enough for
us to know.

CATHERINE:  Any idea where she might be?

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  No. I ... I went to the dorm.  I-I did. I went to, I
don't know, maybe to stop her maybe to say good-bye one last time but at the
very least, I wanted to see her.  But she never came down.

BRASS:  Let's take a ride in the black-and-white.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Can I meet you there?  I-I'm not going anywhere.  I just
need a little time to explain all this to my wife.

BRASS:  No, I understand.  I'll send an officer with you, just in case.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Thank you.

CUT TO:


[INT. CSI -- GARAGE -- DAY]

(NICK is taking photographs of the car's trunk.  SARA is going through the
contents of the golf bag that she has spread out on the floor near the car. 
They're processing PROF. WOODBURY'S car.)

(CUT TO:  NICK inside the car.  He finds some strands of light-colored hair
caught under the passenger seat head rest.  He picks it up and looks at it
closely.)

FLASH TO WHITE:



SCENE #31:

(CLOSE UP of a single strand of hair being examined and compared with another
strand of hair under a microscope.  GREG is looking at the samples in his lab
under a microscope.  SARA is standing near him.)

[INT. CSI -- GREG'S LAB]

GREG:  Medulla, cuticle and cortex are a visual match to the hairs I pulled from
Paige Rycoff's brush.  The roots have skin tags. 

(NICK joins them and looks at the sample in the microscope.)

NICK:  Means hairs were ripped at the root.

(Quick Flashback to:  A hand pulling hard on PAIGE RYCOFF'S hair.)

PAIGE RYCOFF:  Ouch!

(Flash to white.  CGI Close up of a hair at the root and it being pulled out. 
Flash to white. Resume Present.)

SARA:  Too bad this doesn't get us any closer to finding Paige.

NICK:  She was in his car.  It gets us closer to our suspect.

CUT TO:


[INT. POLICE DEPT - INTERROGATION ROOM]

(Standing outside in the hallway is SHARON WOODBURY.  The camera pans over
(through the wall) into the interrogation room where PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY is
being questioned by GRISSOM and BRASS.)

BRASS:  Let me remind you, you have the right to counsel.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  I don't need counsel.  The only person I was hiding from
was my wife.  She knows everything now.  So ask your questions.

GRISSOM:  We found some of Paige's hair in your car.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Well, that's impossible because she's never been in my
car.  Are you sure it was hers?

GRISSOM:  You mean, uh, will it stand up in court?  Yes, it will.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Well, maybe it was on my sweater or something.

GRISSOM:  Four strands of hair pulled out by the root, on the passenger's
headrest.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  I don't know ...

BRASS:  How about this one?  A phone call made from your house to Paige's dorm
room the day she disappeared.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  I only use my cell phone when I call her -- not my
office, not my home.

BRASS:  12:16 P.M.,  Four minutes long.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Faculty lunch that day, 12:00 to 2:00, every department
head.  And it will stand up in court.

GRISSOM:  Professor Woodbury, does your wife work?

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  (reacts to the question)  No. 

(GRISSOM tilts his head for the PROFESSOR to answer the question.)

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  (softer)  No.

(Camera hold on BRASS.)

CUT TO:

[INT. POLICE DEPT HALLWAY]

(Everyone is standing out in the main hallway.  BRASS is questioning SHARON
WOODBURY while her husband and GRISSOM watch.)

BRASS:  So, are you home during the day?

SHARON WOODBURY:  Sometimes.

BRASS:  Were you home around twelve o'clock on the day that Paige Rycoff
disappeared?

SHARON WOODBURY:  I don't remember.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  Sharon, someone called Paige from the house, and it
wasn't me.

BRASS:  Mrs. Woodbury do you have the keys to your husband's car?

SHARON WOODBURY:  We share it. It's our car.

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  How long have you known?

SHARON WOODBURY:  About this one or all the others? I knew that she was
different.  And I wasn't about to let some kid walk away with my marriage so I
called her up, took her for a ride explained the facts of life to her-- wife,
three kids, mortgage.  She said it was over, she was going home.  Didn't say
why; I didn't ask.

GRISSOM:  Mrs. Woodbury, I think you're leaving something out. 

PROF. ROBERT WOODBURY:  They found Paige's hair in the car and they think ...
did you attack her?

SHARON WOODBURY:  No.  I wanted to.  I almost did.  She went to get out of the
car.

(Quick Flashback to SHARON WOODBURY driving the car (with parking permit hanging
from the rear view mirror).  PAIGE RYCOFF is in the passenger seat.)

SHARON WOODBURY:  (to PAIGE)  You are 18. What the hell do you know about love?

PAIGE RYCOFF:  I don't need to take this.

(PAIGE opens the door and moves to get out.  Her hair gets caught in the
headrest.)

PAIGE RYCOFF:  Ow!

(She leaves anyway.  Flash to white.  Resume Present.)

SHARON WOODBURY:  I stopped her.  Apologized. We talked.  And I dropped her off.

(A cell phone rings.  GRISSOM reaches for it.)

GRISSOM:  Excuse me.

BRASS:  Yeah.

GRISSOM:  (to phone)  Grissom.

(GRISSOM'S eye brows rise as he listens.  He doesn't say anything.)

CUT TO:

[EXT. GARBAGE FACILITY -- NIGHT] 

(A coroner's van passes the camera.  GRISSOM with his CSI kit walks toward
WARRICK who is waiting for him.  There are police officers there and inaudible
radio transmissions in the background.)

GRISSOM:  So, is it her?

WARRICK:  I don't know. I just got here myself.  Some homeless guy searching for
hidden treasure finds a body.  P.D.'S here on the scene.  We got first looks.

(Both men duck under the yellow police tape that the officer holds up for them.)

OFFICER:  Right there.

(The OFFICER holds out his flashlight making the beam of light hit on the area
that they want GRISSOM and WARRICK to check out.   GRISSOM picks up his
flashlight and holds it to the spot.  The OFFICER leaves.)

(WARRICK and GRISSOM pass the blocks of garbage.  They stop when they come upon
the find.  PAIGE RYCOFF'S face peeking through the mess.  She's dead.)

(GRISSOM sighs.  WARRICK nods his head.)

WARRICK:  (softly)  Yeah.

FADE TO BLACK.

(COMMERCIAL SET)

[INT. FORENSIC AUTOPSY BAY]

(CLOSE UP of PAIGE RYCOFF on the M.E.'S table.)

ROBBINS:  I've seen things like this before.  When I worked in Arlington,
Virginia, every winter homeless trying to stay warm take a nap in a dumpster
wake up in a garbage compactor. Mulch.

CATHERINE:  Warrick and I searched the trash chute at the dorm.  It was clean.
There was no reason to check the dumpster.

GRISSOM:  So you're saying she was killed by the compactor.  Crushed to death.

ROBBINS:  No, she was crushed post-mortem.

GRISSOM:  And you know this how?

(ROBBINS lifts up the cloth covering and shows a scrape of skin.)

ROBBINS:  Tissue in the extremities was yellow and dry.  Means blood wasn't
pumping through her veins when she went through that compactor.

CATHERINE:  So what did kill her?

ROBBINS:  Massive internal bleeding.  Her spleen ruptured.

GRISSOM:  From what?

ROBBINS:  Blunt-force trauma.

CATHERINE:  Point of impact?

ROBBINS:  Rib cage.  Ribs weren't crushed.

(CGI Flash:  Camera moves from above PAIGE RYCOFF focusing on her chest. It
moves down to the cloth.  CGI takes over and shows us how inside PAIGE, a
cracked rib ruptures something. Blood squirts out of the rupture.  We hear
heartbeats.   Flash to white.  Resume Present.  Camera on GRISSOM.)

ROBBINS:  They sustained a single blow.

GRISSOM:  Type of weapon?

ROBBINS:  I-I have no idea.  I'm still trying to straighten her out.  Truth? I
may never know.

CATHERINE:  Now what?

GRISSOM:  Well, you followed the lead, it went cold.  Now it's hot again.

CUT TO:

[EXT. ALLEYWAY AROUND DUMPSTER -- DAY]

(The entire team is working the scene.  CATHERINE is near a tarp on the side of
the road.  NICK and GRISSOM are working on the dumpster exterior while WARRICK
nd SARA are inside the dumpster.)

WARRICK:  I found some blood.

SARA:  Yeah.  Not much, but enough to work with.

GRISSOM:  Okay.  Photograph it, swab it.  Let's get it back to the lab.

CATHERINE:  If it's hers, maybe that's why the scent dogs lost their trail.  The
odor from the dumpster would've ... thrown them off.

NICK:  Hey, I think I got something here.  Check this out.  The whole dumpster's
beat to hell.  This one spot's fresh.

(GRISSOM looks at it closely through his magnifying glass.)

GRISSOM:  Nick's right - the vehicle paint chips metal flecks in the color coat.

CATHERINE:  There's some matching chips on the ground.  (She collects it.)

SARA:  Still, there's no reason to think there's a connection between the paint
transfer and Paige.

GRISSOM:  No reason to think there's not.

NICK:  Possibly a hit-and-run?  Means the vehicle had a high ground clearance.
Maybe an SUV?

CATHERINE:  It would explain the blunt-force trauma.  Point of impact was her
abdomen.

(Quick Flashback to that night in the alleyway.  A car is speeding through the
alley and swerves around another car.  Tires screeching.  Flash to white.  A
figure walks out past the dumpster.  The car swipes the dumpster with a thud and
hits PAIGE RYCOFF head on.  End of Flashback.)

WARRICK:  Driver tossed her in the dumpster to hide his crime.

GRISSOM:  Or "her" crime.

CATHERINE:  Mrs. Woodbury.

GRISSOM:  She's still a viable suspect.

CATHERINE:  But with a silver car.

SARA:  She could have rented, borrowed it from a friend.

(NICK'S looking up the garbage chute.)

NICK:  Still, why was Paige even down here?

GRISSOM:  Look, let's stick to the "how" -- we'll deal with the "why" later.

CUT TO:

[INT CSI LAB]

GRISSOM:  The car that impacted the dumpster was originally white then painted
red, and now it's black.

(GRISSOM and NICK are looking at the results of the paint analysis from the
sample taken from the garbage dumpster in the alleyway.)

NICK:  There's two coats of primer between each paint job.  Quality work --
probably a dealership.

GRISSOM:  Every paint has a unique light absorption rate.  We I.D. The paint, we
get to the car.

NICK:  Really?

(NICK hits the space bar on the computer and another screen pops up.  It's the
light absorption analysis that identifies the car and year.)

NICK:  Cherokee, '89 or '90.  Three paint jobs, all factory stock.  Stone white,
flame red and there's your midnight black there.

GRISSOM:  Well, this narrows our scope.  Call Brass.

NICK:  Done.  An hour ago.

CUT TO:

[CSI HALLWAY]

(GRISSOM walks out of the lab.  He's on his way somewhere when he's met up with
WARRICK.)

WARRICK:  Where you been?

GRISSOM:  I can't be everywhere, Warrick and they banned human cloning.

WARRICK:  I just left Sanders.  The blood from the dumpster matches Paige.

(GRISSOM turns around to WARRICK.  NICK appears and catches them both.)

NICK:  (to GRISSOM)  Hey. Brass just called.  He's down at P.D.  Paint to car;
car to driver.  Suspect's down there -- he's looking for you.

(GRISSOM leaves.)

CUT TO:

[INT. POLICE DEPT. - INTERROGATION ROOM]

(GRISSOM makes his way through the hallway to the interrogation room where BRASS
is with MARK DOYLE, the driver of the car that hit the dumpster.)

BRASS:  Expectant father.

MARK DOYLE:  My wife's pregnant.  Almost nine months.  She beeped me.  I was
trying to get home.  Couldn't believe the traffic.

BRASS:  (sighs)  You always drive through campus?

MARK DOYLE:  We live on the other side of fraternity row.  It's a straight shot
from my office but I get to the freshman dorm, nothing's moving.

BRASS:  What time is this?

MARK DOYLE:  Around 8:30, I guess.

BRASS:  So you took a shortcut?

MARK DOYLE:  Yeah, I thought I was having a baby so I gunned it down the alley.

GRISSOM:  Then what happened?

MARK DOYLE:  I veered to avoid the parked van.  It was wet ... and I swiped the
dumpster.

(Quick Flashback of MARK DOYLE driving his car.  It's raining outside.  There's
a van on the side.  The car tires screech and swerves to avoid the van and hits
the dumpster on the other side.  Flash to white.  End of flashback.)

MARK DOYLE:  If I had hit a car, I would've stopped.  It ... it was just
dumpster.

CUT TO:

[INT. CSI GARAGE]

(CATHERINE is examining MARK DOYLE'S car with a magnifying glass.  Behind her,
GRISSOM holds the flashlight.  Everyone's there.)

CATHERINE:  Paint transfer's green, just like the dumpster.

GRISSOM:  Doesn't mean he didn't also hit a body.

WARRICK:  We have sprayed, U.V.'D -- no hair, no fibers, no blood anywhere.

SARA:  It was a clean strike against the dumpster.

(NICK rolls out from under the car on a dolly.  He sighs.)

NICK:  Your guy didn't hit Paige.

CATHERINE:  And we've chased another lead to a dead end.

SARA:  We still have Mrs. Woodbury.

NICK:  Or her husband.

WARRICK:  Oh, we've got tons of motives.  Not a stitch of evidence.

GRISSOM:  H.L. Mencken once said, "There's an easy solution to every human
problem -- neat, plausible ... and wrong."  So if the solution to our problem is
not neat, plausible and wrong; then it could be messy, unlikely and right. 
Right?

GRISSOM:  A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil we get a hurricane of the coast
of Florida.  Chaos theory.

NICK:  Here we go.

GRISSOM:  Random events; the wholesale rejection of linear thought. 

WARRICK:  Physics meets philosophy. 

GRISSOM:  If we apply it to Paige Rycoff and our case at this particular moment
in time then we can say, "Life is unpredictable." 

CATHERINE:  No one can predict more than a few seconds into the future.

NICK:  I predict I'll still be standing here one minute from now.

WARRICK:  Where are we going with this?

GRISSOM:  Paige was in her dorm room and then ended up in the dumpster. 
Somewhere between her dorm room and the dumpster is our answer.  That's where
we're going.  Coming, Nick?

(Everyone leaves.  Nick smiles as he's caught.)

WARRICK:  Nice try, Nostradamus.

CUT TO:



[EXT. LAS VEGAS (STOCK) - NIGHT]



[INT. PAIGE RYCOFF'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT]

(CLOSE UP of GRISSOM.)

GRISSOM:  Look out the window.  What do you see?

(SARA'S standing near the window.  She turns and looks out the window.  The
camera switches back to GRISSOM.  Stop/motion time/lapse camera view moves from
GRISSOM to the window where we see PAIGE RYCOFF turn around to look back at
GRISSOM.)

PAIGE RYCOFF:  (SARA/PAIGE'S voice)  Traffic. My cab is waiting for me.

GRISSOM:  So what do you do next?

PAIGE RYCOFF:  Grab my suitcases ... get out of town.

(The suitcases appear in the room.  PAIGE RYCOFF moves to pick up the
suitcases.)

GRISSOM:  Stop.  Suitcases never left the room.  You didn't take them with.

PAIGE RYCOFF:  I've been cleaning all day.

GRISSOM:  Because you want your security deposit back.

PAIGE RYCOFF:  Yeah, I have to leave the room exactly like I found it. 
(sentence ends with SARA/PAIGE'S voice)

GRISSOM:  So what's missing?

SARA:  Two box springs, two mattresses two desks... two lamps, two chairs, two
dressers. 

(She thinks about it.)

SARA:  Trash can?

(She looks for it.)

SARA:  And it's missing. 

GRISSOM:  What's the last thing you do after you've done the cleaning?

SARA:  Take out the trash.

CUT TO:

[INT. DORM - FOURTH FLOOR - HALLWAY]

(GRISSOM knocks on the door of room 412.  A woman opens the door.)

GRISSOM:  Hi. Could I borrow your trash can? 

CUT TO:
 

[INT. HALLWAY JUST OUTSIDE PAIGE RYCOFF'S ROOM -- CONTINUOUS] 

(SARA opens the garbage chute door.)

SARA:  Paige dumps the trash, goes back to her room.  How does she end up in the
dumpster?

GRISSOM:  You're thinking too linear.  Chaos Theory, remember?  Just dump it.

SARA:  Okay.  (SARA almost drops the can down the chute.  She manages to save
it.)  Whoa.  Almost took my hand off.

GRISSOM:  Maybe you were quicker than Paige was.

(GRISSOM sees a student nearby and calls out to him.)

GRISSOM:  Excuse me.  Could you do me a favor?  We're doing a little experiment. 
Could you count to a hundred and then drop this can all the way down the chute? 
Thanks.

(He gives the trash can to the student.  Then turns to leave.)

GRISSOM:  Watch your fingers.

(They leave.  The student looks around and moves toward the garbage chute. 
Camera holds on student.)

CUT TO:

[EXT. ALLEYWAY - DUMPSTER - NIGHT]

(GRISSOM and SARA enter the alleyway where WARRICK, CATHERINE and NICK are
waiting.  The trash can falls through the garbage chute with a loud clang.)

CATHERINE:  What the hell is going on?

GRISSOM:  There was a busted spring in the chute.

WARRICK:  Oh, yeah, I had to prop that open when Catherine rappelled down.

CATHERINE:  Relevance?

GRISSOM:  The trash can was missing from Paige's room.

NICK:  You're thinking she accidentally dropped it down the chute.  Then how did
she end up in the dumpster?

SARA:  She wanted her security deposit back.

WARRICK:  And there's no easy access here.

CATHERINE:  Right, so ... she had to improvise.

(CATHERINE gets an idea.)

CATHERINE:  (to NICK)  Excuse me.

NICK:  Oh. Please.

(NICK moves out of the way.  CATHERINE positions herself between the dumpster
and the wall that the dumpster is against.)

CATHERINE:  This actually happened to me once before, with a set of keys.  Eddie
and I had this huge blowout.  He threw my keys in the trash.  All right, so
Paige ... leans over reaches for the trash can.

GRISSOM:  But just then, here comes Mark Doyle.

(Quick Flashback to top angle view of MARK DOYLE'S SUV gunning it down the
alleyway toward the parked van.  Cut to:  PAIGE RYCOFF squeezing herself between
the dumpster and the wall just as CATHERINE did.)

(Cut back to the back view of the car as it moves down the alleyway.  Cut to
PAIGE RYCOFF as she starts climbing up the dumpster.  Her weight against the
dumpster causes it to roll out from its position against the wall and into the
alley.)

(Cut to:  MARK DOYLE'S SUV swerving to avoid the van and swiping the rolling
dumpster.  It's impact sends the dumpster back against the wall with PAIGE
RYCOFF caught between.  She cries out in pain.  Flash to white.  It knocks her
unconscious and she falls into the dumpster with a thud.)

FLASH TO WHITE:

[INT. GRISSOM'S OFFICE]

(GRISSOM has just explained what happened to PAIGE RYCOFF'S parents.  MRS.
RYCOFF sits there stunned.  GRISSOM is sitting behind his desk.  CATHERINE is
standing behind him.)

MR. RYCOFF:  Let me get this straight.  You're saying a confluence of unrelated,
unfortunate events conspired ... to kill my daughter.

GRISSOM:  Yes.

MRS. RYCOFF:  No, no, no.  Somebody is responsible.

GRISSOM:  Mrs. Rycoff there is no one guilty of this.

MRS. RYCOFF:  Because you say so?

(MRS. RYCOFF stands.)

GRISSOM:  Because the evidence says so.

(MR. RYCOFF stands.)

MR. RYCOFF:  We'll hire an investigator, as many as necessary.  Someone killed
Paige and my wife and I won't rest until every question is answered.

(They leave the office.)

GRISSOM:  We told them what happened.

CATHERINE:  Yeah, but we didn't give them what they needed-- some closure.

GRISSOM:  Truth brings closure.

CATHERINE:  Not always.

FADE TO BLACK.