FLASH IN.
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) -- NIGHT]
INTERCUT WITH:
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - NIGHT]
(We see the blurry figures of Trip Wilmont and Paula Levine kissing passionately.)
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) -- NIGHT]
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - NIGHT]
(Clothes are rapidly being removed.)
[EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - PATH TO DORM - NIGHT]
(Camera follows several college kids walking toward the dorm. Camera rises to show the two figures in Trip Wilmont's window.)
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - NIGHT]
(Trip Wilmont and Paula Levine kiss passionately.)
[EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - PATH TO DORM - NIGHT]
(Camera rises up closer to the two figures in Trip Wilmont's window.)
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - NIGHT]
(Paula Levine removes her slippers. She and Trip Wilmont continue to kiss. More clothes are being removed and dropped on the floor where they stand.)
(Trip opens a sleeping bag on the floor. He and Paula lie on it and continue kissing. In the foreground, lit candles on the dresser burn. Trip removes Paula's bra and they continue to kiss.)
CUT TO:
[EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - PATH TO DORM - MORNING]
(Police cars are parked in the front. Camera pulls back to the dorm front where Brass shows Grissom, Greg and Sara into the building.)
BRASS: Freshman dorm, coed. Two DB's on the third floor -- Trip Wilmont and Paula Levine. Both 18.
[INT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - HALLWAY - MORNING]
(Brass, Grissom, Sara and Greg continue through the corridor to Trip Wilmont's room.)
GREG: Hey, Grissom, when you went to college did you live in the dorms?
GRISSOM: Surely, you jest.
(Sara laughs.)
SARA: You know, they say a B.A. is worth a million dollars in extra income over a lifetime.
GRISSOM: Yeah, but the present value of college tuition is about the same amount.
GREG: So you're saying college isn't worth the expense?
GRISSOM: I guess it depends on what you learn.
BRASS: So this is Trip's dorm room. When he missed a big b-ball game this afternoon, his coach called his R.A. His R.A. got the kid next door to jimmy the lock
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - MORNING]
(The officer standing at the door opens the dorm room.)
BRASS: (o.s.) Paramedics pronounced and took off. The coroner's en route.
(Brass stops just outside the dorm room to let Grissom, Sara and Greg inside.)
(On the floor next to the bed are the two bodies. Sara looks around the room. She notes the stereo system, beer bottles and candles.)
SARA: Music, alcohol, candles. Kid was a regular Romeo.
GRISSOM: "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo"
(Greg appears between Grissom and Sara holding the open condom wrapper.)
GREG: Condom wrapper.
(He looks at them and shows it to them.)
GRISSOM: So much for safe sex.
SMASH CUT TO
END OF TEASER
ROLL TITLE CREDITS
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN.
[EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS (STOCK) - DAY]
DAVID PHILLIPS: (v.o.) Sara, do me a favor and open the window, please.
[EXT. COLLEGE DORM - WINDOW -- DAY]
(Through the window, we see David Phillips and Grissom standing in the dorm room.)
SARA: Sure.
(Sara walks over to the window and opens it.)
SARA: You feeling okay, David?
DAVID PHILLIPS: Yeah.
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - MORNING]
(David Phillips shines his flashlight on the dead bodies to look at their skin color.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Take a look at the skin coloration on both victims. (David Phillips kneels down for a closer look.) Their bodies are slightly pink.
(Grissom lingers in the doorway.)
GRISSOM: And you're thinking "pink" skin tones are a common effect of carbon monoxide fumes.
(David Phillips looks back at Grissom and nods. Greg is kneeling near the bodies.)
GREG: (points) That vomit's also consistent with exposure to C.O.
(Grissom notes the vomit on the rug.)
GRISSOM: We'll need a sample of that vomit.
(Greg reaches over to get a vomit sample.)
(Grissom's phone rings; he answers it.)
(Greg collects a vomit sample and puts it in a sample container.)
GRISSOM: (to phone) Grissom. Okay, I'll be right there. (He hangs up.) My testimony's up in the Hoyt case. I gotta go. I see no common source for C.O., so you'll have to use the detector. (to Sara) You're running point.
(Sara smiles as Grissom turns to leave.)
CUT TO:
[INT. COLLEGE DORM - HALLWAY - MORNING]
(The coroners wheel the gurney down the hallway. At the end of the hallway, Brass interviews Susan, the R.A., and Zack Capola.)
SUSAN: I knew something was wrong. Trip lived for basketball, and it was the semis, so there's no way he'd miss a game.
ZACK CAPOLA: Yeah, I saw Susan banging on his door, so I used my pocketknife to jam it open.
BRASS: Had you done that before?
ZACK CAPOLA: Yeah. All the time. Whenever Trip would get drunk and lock himself out, he would bang on my door.
BRASS: So you and trip were friends?
ZACK CAPOLA: Me and Trip?
BRASS: (nods) Mm-hmm.
ZACK CAPOLA: No. I'm not really the type of guy that Trip Wilmont would hang out with.
BRASS: BRASS: So I guess that's a no?
ZACK CAPOLA: Yeah. But we had Spanish 102 together. Sometimes he'd roll over to my dorm, and I'd help him with his homework.
BRASS: Did you help him, or did you do it for him? Look, it's not the Spanish Inquisition.
ZACK CAPOLA: For a jock, it could have been a lot worse but, no, we weren't friends.
BRASS: Okay.
CUT TO:
[INT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - MORNING]
(Greg dusts the door handle for prints while Sara is in the back of the room near the window checking the carbon monoxide levels. She kneels down on the floor checking the levels near the floor. Greg takes out the ALS and checks the door handle for body fluids. Sara's hand-held device reads '0'.)
SARA: No trace of carbon monoxide.
(Greg finds something on the door handle.)
GREG: There's a trace of semen on the door handle.
[EXT. TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM - HALLWAY - MORNING -- CONTINUOUS]
(Greg steps out of the room to the next-door neighbor's and finds body fluids there, too.)
GREG: This one, too.
(Sara steps out of the room. Greg removes his goggles and looks at her.)
GREG: Trophy condoms.
SARA: Trophy condoms?
GREG: When a stud scores, he announces his victory by putting his spoils on his neighbor's doorknob.
SARA: Oh. Well, my bet is Trip scored a lot.
(Suddenly, there's an explosion and a scream.)
(Sara and Greg look at each other.)
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - BATHROOM - MORNING -- CONTINUOUS]
(Sara and Greg walk into the bathroom.)
SARA: Everyone okay?
(There's a commotion in the bathroom. Someone reaches for his bathrobe while a boy and a girl stand in front of the stall. There's water all on the floor and bits of porcelain on the floor. We hear gushing water coming form the stall.)
SARA: Excuse me.
(The kids move aside. Greg steps into the stall and turns the water off. Sara can't help by chuckle.)
GREG: Spontaneous toilet combustion?
SARA: (laughs) Or a college prank.
GREG: You think this has anything to do with the case?
SARA: Twenty feet away from two dead kids. We got to check it out. Guess you should, uh ... start processing.
(Sara turns and leaves Greg in the stall. Greg rolls his eyes and sighs.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY -- DAY]
(Det. Vartann walks through the hallway. He looks in the break room and doesn't see anyone. He turns and continues his search down the hallway. He looks in the next office and finds it empty as well.)
(Det. Vartann turns and continues down the hallway. He sees Conrad Ecklie reading a file and walking through the hallway toward him.)
DET. VARTANN: Conrad.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Hey, detective.
DET. VARTANN: Homicide called you guys over an hour ago. 4-19 at the Tangiers. No one's responded. Not even the coroner.
(Ecklie stops in front of the reception desk to check his messages.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Have you tried Grissom or Catherine?
DET. VARTANN: Catherine's on a case, I think. Grissom ...
CONRAD ECKLIE: Oh, that's right. Grissom's in court.
DET. VARTANN: Oh. And Sofia's still on her task force leave. Both shifts are tapped.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Did you check ... ?
DET. VARTANN: I checked the board. No one's available ...
(Ecklie shakes his head absently, his back to Vartann so he doesn't see the
light in Vartann's eyes.)
DET. VARTANN: ... except for you.
(Ecklie turns and looks at Vartann. Vartann shrugs.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: I'm the Assistant Lab Director.
DET. VARTANN: I know. But you're still qualified to process a scene, right?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Yes, I am. (Vartann nods.) I'll dust off my kit.
(Ecklie tosses his messages back on the reception counter, picks up his book and
looks at Vartann.)
DET. VARTANN: Meet you there.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(Robbins stands between the two tables with the bodies on it. Sara knocks on
the door lightly before entering.)
SARA: Hey, doc.
ROBBINS: Two dead bodies. Both were in perfect health.
SARA: I am so hoping that you have more in your report than that.
ROBBINS: There are two toxins which can turn a body pink postmortem.
SARA: We already ruled out carbon monoxide.
ROBBINS: Which leaves one -- cyanide ingestion. Interesting fact about cyanide
-- not everyone can smell it.
SARA: Right. It's a genetic quirk.
ROBBINS: Unfortunately, I don't have that ability.
(The doors open. Hodges enters as Sara turns around to look at him.)
HODGES: "The nose" has arrived.
SARA: Hodges has the genetic quirk?
(Robbins nods.)
HODGES: It's a blessing and a curse.
(Hodges walks into the room. Robbins points to the table with the sample
contents.)
ROBBINS: Stomach contents of both decedents. Hodges, start your sniffer.
(Hodges picks up the first container and sniffs it. He puts it down and picks
up the second container and sniffs that as well. Robbins and Sara look at each
other as they wait for Hodges' verdict.)
HODGES: Hints of stale beer and ... cheese whiz. But I don't smell any
cyanide.
ROBBINS: Thank you.
HODGES: Anytime.
(Hodges puts the container down, turns and heads for the door.)
SARA: Well, all due respect to "the nose," I would still like to send a sample
of blood to tox.
ROBBINS: It's already done.
SARA: Is there anything else?
ROBBINS: Nothing on or in the body indicates cause of death. Nothing consistent
with homicide whatsoever.
SARA: Two college kids die under mysterious circumstances. Let's treat this as
a homicide till we know otherwise.
(Robbins nods.)
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. PARKING GARAGE -- DAY]
(OFF ECKLIE: Ecklie steps out of the vehicle. In front of him past the crime
scene tape, Det. Vartann stands with the body and an officer.)
DET. VARTANN: (to the officer) Finally. Yeah, well three hours. All right.
Thanks.
(Ecklie ducks under the crime scene tape and heads over to Vartann.)
DET. VARTANN: Crime scene's getting cold.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Had to refill my powders.
(Ecklie looks at the body and puts his kit down. Vartann fills him in.)
DET. VARTANN: I found a rental car agreement in the glove box. James
Billmeyer. New Jersey. He's not registered at the hotel. Probably stopped by
to lose a few bucks.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Did the coroner step in the blood?
(Ecklie snaps a couple of photos of the bloodied prints leading away from the
body.)
DET. VARTANN: No. We're still waiting on him. That shoe print belongs to Mrs.
Vivoldi. (Ecklie looks up at the woman talking with the officer.) She called
it in. We been waiting on you to take her statement.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Let's do it.
DET. VARTANN: Yes, let's do it.
(Vartann turns and heads over to Mrs. Vivoldi. An officer holds the crime scene
tape up for him and Ecklie.)
DET. VARTANN: Thanks.
(The officer talking with Mrs. Vivoldi steps away. Det. Vartann and Ecklie
interview Mrs. Vivoldi.)
DET. VARTANN: Ma'am, sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Detective Vartann. This
is Conrad Ecklie from the crime lab. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?
MRS. VIVOLDI: I'd mind if you didn't. I am the one who found the body.
(Det. Vartann and Ecklie nod and smile.)
DET VARTANN: Yes. At the time, were you walking to or from the hotel?
MRS. VIVOLDI: I'd had just finished lunch with the girls. We say "girls," but
we're, you know, women. I don't find being called a "girl" derogatory.
DET VARTANN: That's good. To or from?
MRS. VIVOLDI: I was walking to the car. (She points to her car. Vartann turns
to look.) The SUV? A gift from Oscar. Thirty years with the same man.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Congratulations.
MRS. VIVOLDI: Thank you. Are you married?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Divorced.
MRS. VIVOLDI: Oh. And you?
(She looks at Vartann.)
DET. VARTANN: (squirms) Uh ... ma'am, so you were walking to your car ...
MRS. VIVOLDI: Walking to the car, and I think I stepped into gum or something
...
(Quick flashback to: Mrs. Vivoldi walks and steps in the blood. She looks down
and screams when she sees the body.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
(Ecklie looks down and notes the blood on Mrs. Vivoldi's shoes.)
MRS. VIVOLDI: That's when I called 911. (pointedly at them as she checks her
watch) Which was about, um ... two hours ago.
(Vartann looks around. Ecklie shakes his head and apologizes.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: I'm sorry, ma'am. We've been very busy.
MRS. VIVOLDI: Oh.
CONRAD ECKLIE: I'm going to need your shoes. We'll get them back to you. Even
wash off the blood.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. CSI - INTERVIEW ROOM -- DAY]
(Sara interviews Mrs. Levine, Paula's mother, and Tripp Wilmont's parents.)
MRS. LEVINE: (crying) I just talked to Paula yesterday afternoon. She was on
her way to the library. She had a biology final this morning. She shouldn't
have been in a boy's room.
MRS. WILMONT: None of this makes any sense. Trip was a serious athlete. He
would never sleep around the night before ...
MRS. LEVINE: (offended) Sleep around?
MR. WILMONT: It's not like your daughter was Trip's girlfriend.
MRS. LEVINE: Ms. Sidle ... I need to know. Did trip take advantage ... ? Did
he ... force himself on Paula?
MRS. WILMONT: (interrupts) My son would never force himself on anyone.
MR. WILMONT: Trip could have any girl he wanted.
SARA: Mrs. Levine, the coroner found no evidence of assault. Did Paula ever
mention Trip to you?
MRS. LEVINE: No. I know she liked a boy on the basketball team. I never knew
his name. I guess it was Trip.
MRS. WILMONT: I just want to know what happened to them.
SARA: So do I.
FADE OUT
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN.
[EXT. (STOCK) - DAY]
[EXT. FIELD -- DAY]
(Catherine and Warrick shut the vehicle door. David Phillips is standing near
the body writing on the clipboard.)
(They head over to David Phillips, who is standing in the middle of the tall,
grassy field.)
WARRICK: This land used to be part of the Bennett estate.
CATHERINE: Bill Bennett? Guy who owns the Sahara?
WARRICK: Yeah. Huh. We used to come out here when we were in high school.
Used to be, like, a seven-acre lover's lane.
CATHERINE: I thought you said you were a dork in high school.
WARRICK: I was a dork in high school. I'm still a dork, but I had dimples. I
got a little action.
CATHERINE: I don't doubt that. Hey, Dave.
DAVID PHILLIPS: Oh, hello. The path to the body was made by the paramedics.
They pronounced and took off. ID'ed has Kevin Staniland, age 30 from Reno. I
figured before I processed the body, you'd want to photograph the crop circle.
WARRICK: Crop circle?
DAVID PHILLIPS: Well, it's a circle in the middle of a field. What would you
call it?
WARRICK: I guess it's a crop circle.
(They head toward the body.)
WARRICK: The guy has a blindfold on.
CATHERINE: Pin the tail on the donkey gone wrong?
(Catherine snaps a couple of photos as David turns the body over.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Lividity is fixed.
WARRICK: Lividity's fixed? So this wasn't a body dump? He died there?
CATHERINE: (looking around) The only pathway is from the paramedics. How'd he
end up in the middle of the circle?
(David looks up at the sky.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: I have an idea.
(Warrick glances up.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: I'll keep it to myself.
(Catherine smiles as David leaves.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - BATHROOM -- DAY]
(Greg works on swabbing the toilet porcelain pieces on a table in the bathroom.
Sara walks in.)
SARA: Hey. How's it going?
GREG: I swabbed every square inch of this toilet. So far, no evidence of
explosive powders or a detonation device.
SARA: Well, I spoke with maintenance. It is an isolated incident. There are
no other reports of exploding johns. How about methane gas? Maybe there's a
natural reserve under the dorm.
GREG: Theoretically, pressure could have built up, broken a sewer pipe and shot
up through the toilet.
SARA: (shrugs) Yeah.
GREG: I already checked. There's no methane gas in this region of Clare
County.
SARA: Well, there's got to be some logical explanation.
GREG: Well, if dorm food is as bad as I can remember, we should consider
explosive diarrhea.
(Sara can't help but smile at that.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(David Phillips snaps photos of the body. Nick and Warrick walk into the room.)
NICK: Crop circles?
(Nick laughs.)
NICK: Come on, Super Dave. Wasn't the alien autopsy embarrassing enough?
(Nick leans forward and looks at the body.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Given the circumstances, alien was not an unreasonable
conclusion at the time.
NICK: You need to get a girlfriend.
DAVID PHILLIPS: I'm engaged, but thank you. Could you just check out his
pants? There's grass stains on his knees.
Nick walks over and checks the victim's clothes.)
WARRICK: That's odd, because the grass around the victim was undisturbed.
(Nick notices a smell from the victim's underpants.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: His tighty whiteys were soaked in urine. Don't know if it's
pre- or post-mortem.
(Warrick glances down at the body and notices a white worm wiggling out of the
victim's mouth.)
WARRICK: Oh! Now, that's alien. What is that?
DAVID PHILLIPS: I've got to document this.
(David grabs the camera and starts snapping photos of the white worm.)
NICK: Oh, hang on. We have ourselves a tapeworm, gentlemen.
(David stops snapping photos. Nick uses a forceps and pulls the tapeworm out.)
NICK: This guy's been eating meat or fish infected with tapeworm cyst.
(Quick CGI POV of: An open mouth. Some meat or fish is fed into the mouth and
is swallowed down the esophagus. The food lands in the stomach.)
(A tiny CGI tapeworm cyst goes through the stomach.)
WARRICK: (v.o.) Yeah, that cyst grows up to be nice fat tapeworm that attaches
itself to the intestinal wall and sucks out all your nutrients.
(A close-up of the tapeworm as it attaches itself into the intestinal wall.)
(The CGI tapeworm grows.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
NICK: Yeah, and since this guy's already dead, the tapeworm needs to find a new
host. Only two ways out.
WARRICK: I'm glad it picked the mouth.
(They all chuckle.)
WARRICK: Well, the tapeworm could have made the guy sick, but it didn't kill
him.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - DNA LAB -- DAY]
(Sara enters the lab. Mia looks up.)
SARA: Hello.
MIA DICKERSON: Hey. Want to talk about semen?
SARA: Okay.
(Mia hands Sara the file folder.)
SARA: Okey-dokey.
MIA DICKERSON: The semen on the vic's doorknob and the neighbor's doorknob is
consistent with Trip's DNA. So, what I'm thinking is that Trip put a trophy
condom onto his neighbor's door and then transferred a trace of his reproductive
material back onto his own doorknob.
(Quick flash of: Trip puts the condom on his neighbor's doorknob. He chuckles
and heads back to his room.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
SARA: You've, uh, you've heard of trophy condoms?
MIA DICKERSON: (chuckles) Sara, I went to college.
(Greg walks into the lab.)
GREG: Ladies, I just spoke with Western LVU's student affairs officer.
Apparently, Trip's next-door neighbor, Zack Capola filed several grievances
against him. I'm headed over there now.
(Sara heads for the door.)
SARA: I'll drive.
(Greg follows her.)
GREG: (mutters) You always do.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(Robbins works on stitching up the body as he talks with Catherine.)
ROBBINS: So, crop circles and tapeworms, you got quite a case.
CATHERINE: Mm. You have C.O.D.?
ROBBINS: I have T.O.D., about midday yesterday. Cause of death less
definitive. Cuts and abrasions are superficial. There's no obvious anatomical
defect. And at this point, I'm going to have to check the default -- cardiac
arrhythmia.
CATHERINE: A young man's heart stops, and you don't know why?
ROBBINS: Tox and vitreous lytes are all normal. That's all you're getting from
me.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - ZACK CAPOLA'S ROOM - DAY]
(Sara and Greg talk with Trip Wilmont's neighbor, Zack Capola.)
ZACK CAPOLA: This is bunk. I was told my grievances were confidential. They
said my name wasn't even on the form.
SARA: Why was confidentiality so important?
ZACK CAPOLA: Ask him. You look like you were a jock in college.
GREG: Me?
SARA: Him?
ZACK CAPOLA: Whatever. Look, if it had gotten around that I had ratted out
Trip, the whole basketball team would have come down on me.
SARA: You are a straight-A student. We've reviewed your academic records. The
distractions must've pissed you off.
GREG: You had problems with his loud music, banging on the wall, used condoms
hanging on your doorknob.
ZACK CAPOLA: A handful of used condoms would have pissed you off, too. Look,
what are you getting at?
GREG: We're trying to figure out what happened to Trip and Paula. Earlier you
said he wasn't such a bad guy.
ZACK CAPOLA: Because I didn't see a need to badmouth the dead. But you want
the truth, he was an ass, okay?
(Greg turns and looks at Sara.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI -- MORGUE -- DAY]
(The door opens and Robbins walks in. He finds Conrad Ecklie inside.)
ROBBINS: Well, Conrad, can I help you?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Where have you been?
ROBBINS: I posted three bodies and then I took a time-out.
CONRAD ECKLIE: A time-out?
ROBBINS: A personal hour. A few weeks ago, my Siamese had kittens. I went by
the house to check on 'em. They're just about weaned. You want one?
CONRAD ECKLIE: I'm allergic. So tell me about James Billmeyer. Guy found at
the Tangiers.
ROBBINS: I'm just about to post him. Per my prelim, there was an abraded
laceration to the right occipital scalp, and a penetration of the epithelium,
but not the galea. It's not what killed him, but I'll know the full story once
I open him up.
(Robbins opens the morgue cabinet to get the body and finds that it's empty.)
ROBBINS: I saw David put him in here.
CONRAD ECKLIE: So where is he?
ROBBINS: I'm not sure.
(Robbin pushes Ecklie aside and checks the cabinet next to the empty cabinet.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Maybe he's taking a time-out.
(Nope, there's a body in there.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Maybe David probably moved him.
ROBBINS: He had no reason to.
(Robbins opens a third drawer and finds a body in that one, too.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: A few years back, a body was prematurely sent to a mortician.
Remember that?
(Robbins shuts the cabinet and checks the cabinet above. It's empty.)
ROBBINS: This is weird.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Maybe someone in your department mislabeled the corpse?
ROBBINS: It's highly unlikely.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Fine. When you find him, get back to me.
(Ecklie turns and leaves.)
(Robbins shuts the cabinet door.)
FADE OUT
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN.
[INT. CSI - HALLWAY OUTSIDE ECKLIE'S OFFICE]
(David waits nervously in the hallway outside of Ecklie's office. Through the
door, he hears Dr. Robbins' muffled, angry voice.)
(The door opens and Dr. Robbins steps out. He walks past David.)
(David enters the office.)
[INT. CSI - ECKLIE'S OFFICE - DAY]
(Conrad Ecklie sits behind his desk. David shuts the door behind him. He
stands in front of Ecklie's desk. Ecklie does some paperwork. David waits.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Sir?
CONRAD ECKLIE: We have a situation.
DAVID PHILLIPS: I know. A body disappeared.
CONRAD ECKLIE: No, no. Mr. Billmeyer didn't disappear. He's missing. There's
a difference.
DAVID PHILLIPS: Sir, this isn't my fault.
CONRAD ECKLIE: You prepped him for autopsy, right?
DAVID PHILLIPS: Yes, sir.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Walk me through that.
DAVID PHILLIPS: Walk you through what?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Everything you did to Mr. Billmeyer.
DAVID PHILLIPS: Okay, um, I brought him into the washroom ...
(Quick flashback of a visual of David's narrative. David is snapping photos of
the body ... )
DAVID PHILLIPS: (v.o.) I photographed the body, took hair and fingernail
cuttings, emptied his pockets, removed clothing, washed his body, tagged him. I
put him into the cooler and ...
(David pushes the body in the cabinet.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: I haven't seen him since.
(Ecklie stares at David.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: What?
CONRAD ECKLIE: I was just thinking, David. I've lost my keys, sunglasses, even
a wallet.
DAVID PHILLIPS: (interrupts) Sir, this really isn't my fault.
CONRAD ECKLIE: But I've never lost a body.
DAVID PHILLIPS: I didn't do anything.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Find him, Phillips, or this goes on your record.
DAVID PHILLIPS: What would you like me to do?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Get out!
DAVID PHILLIPS: I don ...
CONRAD ECKLIE: Get out. Out!
(David turns and leaves the office. Ecklie sighs.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY]
(Doc Robbins is on the phone.)
ROBBINS: (to phone) Six-one, brown hair and eyes, about 200 pounds are you
sure?
(David steps into the room.)
ROBBINS: (to phone) All right, thanks. (He hangs up.) I've checked every
mortuary and funeral home in the city, no luck.
DAVID PHILLIPS: Right, 'cause you never authorized a transfer.
ROBBINS: David, are you familiar with the Latin word necrostuprum?
DAVID PHILLIPS: Body snatcher?
(Robbins nods.)
ROBBINS: We didn't mislabel or misplace the body. Someone took it.
DAVID PHILLIPS: If you wanted to steal a body, wouldn't it be a lot easier to
go to a hospital or university facility?
ROBBINS: (nods) Absolutely, which means somebody wanted this particular body.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - STAIRS / HALLWAY]
(Nick and Catherine walk down the stairs.)
NICK: Some of the leading theories on crop circles include extraterrestrials,
wind vortexes, earth energies, and of course, hoaxes. But in 1985, farmers near
one U.S. military base suspected the source of a recent incident to be the down
wash from a helicopter's rotor blades.
(Quick flash of: [FIELD - DAY] A helicopter hovers low in a field and starts
to rise.)
NICK: (v.o.) The spinning of the blades caused the chopper to rise ...
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
NICK: ... forced the air downward, in effect, bending the grass below.
CATHERINE: For every action, there is an opposite but equal reaction.
NICK: Since I'm a skeptic when it comes to aliens and earth energies, ooh. So
we started with the chopper.
(Nick and Catherine step into the A/V lab.)
[INT. CSI - A/V LAB - CONTINUOUS]
(Catherine takes the seat next to Archie Johnson.)
CATHERINE: Hey, Archie.
ARCHIE JOHNSON: Oh, hey. (points to the monitors) Nellis sent over the radar
surveillance. Current feed goes back 48 hours. This is where your decedent was
located.
NICK: Decedent's T.O.D. was approximately 12:00 noon, yesterday.
ARCHIE JOHNSON: Using echo and doppler shift we can determine an object's
speed.
(He manipulates the radar information over Bennett Ranch.)
CATHERINE: Freeze the frame, Archie.
ARCHIE JOHNSON: Found your chopper. It's holding steady. Airplanes can't do
that.
CATHERINE: (smiles) Let's see who owns it.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - TRACE LAB]
(Neil Jansen is in the lab when Sara walks in. She's looking at her pager and is
surprised to see Neil Jansen when she looks up.)
SARA: Hey, I got your 911. Don't you work days?
NEIL JANSEN: Ecklie keeps moving me around. Your pink college kids were both blotto.
SARA: Yeah, there were beer bottles at the scene. That's not a surprise.
NEIL JANSEN: You want a surprise? Check this out. Now, I know you and Greg tested
the scene for carbon monoxide, but did you check for carbon dioxide?
SARA: No. I've been a CSI eight years. I have never processed a C02 scene. I
mean, you'd need a ton of that gas to cause serious damage.
NEIL JANSEN: It's a first for me, too. I found traces of blood in Trip's vomit. C02
levels are usually .03%. His levels were 8%. Lethal.
SARA: C02 replaces oxygen on hemoglobin molecules. At 8%, those kids would've
literally suffocated on a cellular level.
(Neil nods.)
NEIL JANSEN: Still doesn't explain why they were pretty in pink. Carbon dioxide,
unlike carbon monoxide, doesn't affect skin coloration.
SARA: So what did?
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - LAB]
(Det. Vartann takes out some of the victim's clothing from the box. He rolls
his eyes and looks at Robbins.)
DET. VARTANN: What are we expecting to find here?
ROBBINS: Someone went to a lot of trouble to steal James Billmeyer ... maybe
there's a clue in his personal effects.
(Robbins takes out the items from Billmeyer 's travel kit.)
DET. VARTANN: So you're a CSI now?
(Robbins looks at Vartann.)
ROBBINS: If I were, I would have printed the cooler.
DET. VARTANN: Really? Maybe you should just put together a list of everyone
who had access to the morgue.
ROBBINS: Law enforcement personnel, (sighs) CSIs, paramedics, funeral home
personnel, maintenance workers, hospital workers, janitors ... people that get
lost in the building ...
DET. VARTANN: Yeah, that sounds good.
ROBBINS: Two pairs of socks, two pairs of underwear, two T-shirts.
DET. VARTANN: That tells me the guy was going to be staying in Vegas for two
days.
ROBBINS: Your powers of deduction are remarkable, detective.
DET. VARTANN: Thank you.
(Robbins takes out a WESTERN AIRLINES cocktail napkin and finds writing on it:
JACINDA HENDLER
973-555-0198
{heart} CALL ME!
ROBBINS: "Jacinda Hendler, call me." Written on an airline napkin.
DET. VARTANN: Decedent probably met her on the flight, possibly hours before he
died.
ROBBINS: (scoffs) You think?
(Vartann reaches over and grabs the napkin out from Robbins' grip.)
DET. VARTANN: I'll run it down.
(Vartann turns and leaves the room.)
CUT TO:
[DMV NEW JERSEY DRIVER'S LICENSE]
AUTO OPERATOR LICENSE
JAMES BILLMEYER
2371 HANNOVER ST.
MORRISTOWN, NJ 07360
[INT. CSI - INTERVIEW ROOM]
(Det. Vartann and Conrad Ecklie interview Jacinda Hendler.)
JACINDA HENDLER: Yeah, I know Jamie. He's a sweet man. He was supposed to call
me. What happened to him?
CONRAD ECKLIE: He died.
JACINDA HENDLER: Oh, I'm sorry. Why'd you contact me?
DET. VARTANN: Well, your name was in his pocket.
JACINDA HENDLER: Napkin. We, uh, we met on the plane.
(She laughs.)
JACINDA HENDLER: And, uh, there was only one blanket, so we ... shared it, and
I got a little frisky, and ... anyway, there was a kid sitting two seats away,
so ...
CONRAD ECKLIE: So you gave him your number ... to meet up later?
JACINDA HENDLER: Yeah.
DET. VARTANN: Do you have any idea who may've killed him? Or who might want
his body in its current condition?
JACINDA HENDLER: No. Jamie told me that he-he was flying in to party with some
pals from high school in Seven Hills. Said he'd invite me over. Figured he
blew me off. It-it happens. I mean ... I have a healthy self-esteem.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Good for you.
JACINDA HENDLER: Yes.
CUT TO:
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - TRIP WILMONT'S ROOM -- DAY]
(The officer standing in the hallway outside Trip Wilmont's dorm room opens the
door. Sara and Greg duck into the room under the crime scene tape blocking the
door.)
SARA: (to the officer) Thanks.
(Sara sighs. Greg snaps the camera.)
GREG: What exactly are we looking for?
(Greg puts his kit down on the floor.)
GREG: Most sources of carbon dioxide come from ... (looks around) ...
factories, cars and volcanoes, not something we're gonna find in a dorm room.
(Greg picks up a journal notebook from the side and looks at it.)
SARA: Maybe somebody pumped the gas in through a vent.
GREG: Uh, sex journal.
(Greg opens to the journal and looks through a couple of pages.)
GREG: Lists of girls ... dates ... and sexual activities.
(Sara looks around the room.)
SARA: Boys and their conquests.
GREG: I've never even heard of some of these.
SARA: Really?
GREG: Never mind.
SARA: Would you help me move the bed, please?
(Greg puts the journal aside and helps Sara move the bed.)
SARA: There's a fresh hole in the wall. Splinters are on the inside. Someone
drilled in from the other side.
CUE SOUND: (PRE-LAP) KNOCKING
CUT TO:
[INT. CAMPUS DORM -- ZACK CAPOLA'S ROOM -- CONTINUOUS]
(The door opens to Sara and Greg.)
ZACK CAPOLA: Hey.
SARA: Hi, Zack. Mind if we come in?
ZACK CAPOLA: Why?
(Sara and Greg walk into the dorm room. On his walls are posters of cars.)
GREG: Ah, you're a car buff, huh?
ZACK CAPOLA: I guess.
GREG: Yeah, me, too. I always wanted a Testarossa. What about you, what's
your dream car?
(Sara moves Zack's bed and finds the hole in the wall.)
ZACK CAPOLA: Uh, I don't know.
SARA: Zack, can you explain this hole in your wall?
ZACK CAPOLA: I didn't even know there was one.
(Zack walks in closer to look at it. He sighs.)
SARA: I think maybe we should step outside. Your room is now a crime scene.
CUT TO:
[EXT. HELICOPTER TOURS -- DAY]
(Close up of the banner sign:
LAS VEGAS
HELICOPTER TOURS
CALL: 702-555-0101
(In the background, a helicopter lands. Warrick and Catherine get out of their
SUV and head over to the helicopter. The pilot steps out of the helicopter and
walks over to them.)
CATHERINE: Are you Morgan Wendel?
MORGAN WENDEL: Yeah.
WARRICK: We're from the crime lab. We have information that put your chopper
at a crime scene yesterday, around noon.
MORGAN WENDEL: You're here about Kevin.
CATHERINE: That's right, yeah.
MORGAN WENDEL: I'll tell you everything, but I want immunity.
CUT TO:
[MONITOR]
(The host talks into a microphone. Kevin Staniland is sitting next to him
wearing a blindfold.)
HOST (MAN): All right, Kevin!
KEVIN STANILAND: Yeah! Whoo!
HOST (MAN): I want you to prepare to jump!
KEVIN STANILAND: Without a parachute? (The host nods.) That's my stunt?! No
way!
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY]
(Catherine and Nick are in the interview room with
HOST (MAN): (from monitor) Dude, the name of the show is "Going All the Way."
You signed a contract. Now, do it!
(Kevin is shaking his head.)
KEVIN STANILAND: Jumping out of chopper's not going all the way -- it's
suicide!
HOST (MAN): Listen, man, you don't have a choice, Kevin. You already ate raw
meat, you stuck your face in a beehive. You don't go all the way, you don't get
nothing! Come on, Kevin!
KEVIN STANILAND: No!
(The host laughs.)
KEVIN STANILAND: What are you doing?!
HOST (MAN): Wait a minute, wait a minute. Dude, dude, check this out, get a
shot of this.
(The host pulls Kevin toward him while looking at the cameraman.)
HOST (MAN): Get his crotch. Get his crotch. Come here.
(The camera goes down for a shot of Kevin's pants.)
HOST (MAN): Our first contestant peed his pants.
(The host gets into the camera.)
HOST (MAN): (shouts) Re-a-li-ty! Come on, let go! You can't fake this.
(He turns to Kevin.)
HOST (MAN): Now, Kevin ... go, baby!
(He pushes Kevin out of the helicopter.)
(Kevin screams. The host laughs.)
HOST (MAN): (to the camera) Keep going, keep going. But here's the thing.
We're only four feet up. Joke's on him. Let's check it out.
(He motions out the helicopter door.)
HOST (MAN): (shouts) Kevin! Kevin!
(Camera shows Kevin on the ground. He's not moving.)
HOST (MAN): (o.s.) He's not moving.
(The host looks at the camera and motions.)
HOST (MAN): Turn off the camera. Turn off the camera! Turn ...
(Catherine and Nick talk with the host and his lawyer.)
CATHERINE: Kevin thought that he was being pushed out of a helicopter a
thousand feet in the air, but ...
(Quick flash of: [HELICOPTER] The host yells as he pushes Kevin out of the
door.)
HOST (MAN): (shouts) See you later, Kevin!
(Kevin falls to the ground.)
(The helicopter, #N388, hovers over the ground.)
HOST (MAN): (yells) Hey, Kevin?
(The host looks out at Kevin on the ground.)
HOST (MAN): He's not moving.
(The host jumps out of the helicopter to check on Kevin and realizes that he's
dead. He heads back into the helicopter.)
HOST (MAN): Come on, let's get out of here!
(The host jumps into the helicopter. The helicopter leaves.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
LAWYER: Did you have a warrant for that tape?
CATHERINE: The pilot gave us the name of the cameraman, who supplied the tape
voluntarily.
HOST (MAN): Look, I assured Kevin all our stunts were safe. And they were.
Besides, he signed a waiver; I'm not guilty of anything.
CATHERINE: When you saw that he wasn't moving, you just took off. That sounds
like guilt to me.
NICK: You scared him to death. He had a heart attack. So the signing of a
waiver doesn't make it any less criminal.
CATHERINE: When the jury sees that tape, you'll be going all the way ... to
jail. Second-degree murder. Twenty-five to life.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT -- FRONT -- DAY]
(Conrad Ecklie gets out of his car. He turns the alarm on and heads over to the
crime scene.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: I hope this is a fire drill.
(He walks under the crime scene tape toward the bench on the grass. Robbins is
standing in front of the bench examining the body.)
ROBBINS: Conrad. We found our body.
(Sure enough. On the bench is the missing James Billmeyer wearing a party hat
and a cigar stuck in his mouth.)
(Ecklie looks at the body.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Looks more like he found us.
(Robbins turns and looks at Ecklie.)
FADE OUT
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN.
[EXT. LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT -- FRONT -- DAY]
(Ecklie snaps a couple of photos of the body. He turns to Robbins.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Doc, I want you to process the body ASAP.
ROBBINS: Yeah, Conrad, I'll get right on it.
(David Phillips is standing and looking at the body sitting on the bench.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Ah, yes-- the guy we left on the bench.
(David turns to leave. Robbins follows him.)
ROBBINS: (scoffs) Right.
(Ecklie reaches for an evidence bag. Behind him, Grissom walks by. He's
dressed in a suit.)
GRISSOM: Hello, Conrad.
CONRAD ECKLIE: I thought you were in court.
GRISSOM: We had a one-hour recess -- I'm on my way back now. And this must be
Mr. Billmeyer. I'm so glad he's back.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Very funny.
GRISSOM: You might want to have Hodges analyze that cigar. Oh, and the print
tech is free. He could, uh, spray the party hat with ninhydrin.
CONRAD ECKLIE: I think I remember how to do my job, Gil, thank you.
GRISSOM: I love it when you wear your gloves.
(Grissom leaves.)
(The body on the bench tilts to the right and slowly falls sideways on the
bench.)
(Ecklie looks at it and shakes his head.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - ZACK CAPOLA'S ROOM -- DAY]
(Zack Capola talks with Sara and Greg.)
ZACK CAPOLA: I swear, I don't know how that hole got there. And if you think
that I had anything to do with Trip's death, you're wrong. I was in L.A. for
four days. I had just gotten back, and I saw Susan banging on his door.
(Quick flash to: [HALLWAY] Susan knocks on the door just as Zack walks down
the hallway toward his room.)
SUSAN: Trip, are you in there? Open up. If you can hear me, open the door.
Please?
ZACK CAPOLA: Hey, are you all right?
SUSAN: Yeah, Trip missed a game. I thought something's wrong.
(Zack drops his duffle bag on the floor and knocks on the door.)
ZACK CAPOLA: Trip?
(He takes out a pocket knife.)
ZACK CAPOLA: Hey, man, we're coming in.
(Zack pops the lock on t he door. The door opens.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
SARA: Can anyone verify that you were in L.A.?
ZACK CAPOLA: The whole dorm can verify it. I was visiting my boyfriend. It
was his birthday. We went to the auto show.
GREG: Does anyone else have access to your room?
ZACK CAPOLA: No, I've got the only key, but like I said, it's easy enough to
break in.
(Sara notices the burn on Zack's finger.)
SARA: What happened to your finger?
ZACK CAPOLA: I'm not sure. I had just gotten back from my trip, and I saw
something on the floor, so I picked it up. It kind of burned me or something.
SARA: And that didn't seem weird to you?
ZACK CAPOLA: I'm in college. A lot of things seem weird to me.
(Sara smiles.)
SARA: Okay. This thing ... that burned your finger, where is it now?
ZACK CAPOLA: I tossed it.
(Sara looks at Greg.)
GREG: Excuse me.
(Greg ducks under the crime scene tape and enters the room. He heads over to
the trash bin and checks it.)
GREG: I don't see anything but a couple pieces of balled up paper and a soda
can. Nothing incendiary.
ZACK CAPOLA: It was there. I don't know what to tell you, man.
SARA: All right, Zack, we are not going to take you into custody, but we are
going to need access to your room for the rest of the day.
ZACK CAPOLA: Okay. I'm late for ancient history. Can I go?
SARA: Sure. (Sara points to the officer standing in the hallway.) And this,
uh, this nice officer ... he's gonna be your "study buddy."
ZACK CAPOLA: Thanks.
(Zack leaves with the officer right behind him.)
GREG: Well, what are you thinking?
SARA: Name a chemical compound that can burn skin and can also disappear into
thin air.
GREG: The only thing I can think of is dry ice.
SARA: And dry ice releases carbon dioxide as it sublimates.
GREG: Yeah, but can you put enough dry ice in Zack's room to raise the amount
of carbon dioxide in Trip's room to a lethal level?
SARA: Is that a dare?
CUT TO:
[THE DARE]
(Sara, wearing a mask, opens the cooler and starts stacking the blocks of dry
ice against the wall between Zack and Trip's rooms.)
(In Trip's room, Greg is wearing a mask and holding the monitor as he checks the
CO2 levels in the room.)
(TOP VIEW DOWN: Sara continues to stack the dry ice against the wall.)
(Camera pans over the separating wall into Trip's room as Greg monitors the CO2
levels. The monitor changes from 1.1 to 1.2.)
GREG: Level's only 1.2. We need more dry ice.
(Sara continues to stack the dry ice against the wall.)
(The monitor changes from 4.9 to 5.0 to 5.1.)
(Camera pans back into Zack's room where Sara continues to stack the dry ice.)
(Back in Trip's room, the monitor is up from 7.9 to 8.0)
CUT TO:
[INT. CAMPUS DORM - HALLWAY - DAY]
(Sara and Greg step out of the rooms.)
SARA: It took thirty pounds of dry ice to reach the lethal level of saturation.
BILL: On the floor, where the sleeping bag was.
SARA: Carbon dioxide is one and half times heavier than air. You know, it's
conceivable that if Trip and Paula had been sleeping in his bed, they might
still be alive.
GREG: I think I know why the bodies turned pink.
SARA: Really?
GREG: Dry ice is cold. The dry ice significantly lowered the temperature in
both rooms, and the drastic decrease in temperature can turn a dead body pink.
We see it all the time when we pull dead bodies from frozen rivers.
SARA: (nods) Nice, Greg. You know, if Zachary is telling the truth, and he
simply burned his finger on a remnant of dry ice, who put it there?
GREG: I'll have P.D. run a credit card check on everyone in the dorm, see if
anyone recently purchased a large quantity of dry ice.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(Robbins goes over the body with Ecklie.)
ROBBINS: Your decedent smells like a pine tree.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Whoever stole him probably sprayed his body with disinfectant to
cover up the stench. You got cause of death?
ROBBINS: Yeah, he died of a heavy heart. Heart weighed 50 grams instead of
300. Hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
CONRAD ECKLIE: So his heart stopped, he keeled over, hit his head on the
pavement.
(Quick flashback to: [PARKING GARAGE - DAY] James Billmeyer gets out of his
car, collapses and hits his head on the concrete.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Do you think he was aware of his condition?
ROBBINS: Oh, I know he was. I sent blood to tox ; he was taking atenolol. A
heart that size, he was a walking time bomb.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Anything else?
ROBBINS: Yup, our guy chugged a beer, after he died. Lungs were full of foam.
CONRAD ECKLIE: So somebody poured it down his throat?
ROBBINS: Wouldn't be my postmortem beverage of choice, but to each his own. So
did you get any prints off that cooler drawer?
CONRAD ECKLIE: Three. Two were yours, one was David's. See you later.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - PRINT LAB -- DAY]
(Neil hooks up the party hat in the fumer and shakes the spray can. He sprays
the party hat. He closes the fume hood and waits.)
(Time lapses and pink fingerprints appear on the party hat.)
[INT. CSI - TRACE LAB - DAY]
(Hodges takes a sample of the burned tobacco straight off the tip of the burning
cigar. He puts the ashes in a tube and tests it.)
SHORT TIME CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - TRACE LAB - DAY]
(Conrad Ecklie walks into the lab.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Anything?
HODGES: Just so you know, I moved all your trace evidence up to the top of my
pile.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Well, thank you. Why don't you quit blowing smoke and tell me
about the cigar?
HODGES: Huh. Low in nicotine, high in furfural. I compared it to other
tobacco samples from the exemplar collection. It's consistent with the Perdomo
Reserve brand. I took the liberty of calling a cigar society. They referred me
to the Vegas distributor. Spoke to him directly. Perdomos are very high-end.
(Neil walks into the lab.) He only made one sale this past month. It was to a
guy in Seven Hills.
(Neil scrunches his face at the smell in the lab.)
NEIL JANSEN: Smells like my grandfather. Am I interrupting?
HODGES: Actually, yeah. Conrad was about to pat me on the back.
(Ecklie smiles.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: What do you got for me, Neil?
NEIL JANSEN: Lifted four clear prints from the party hat. They all came back to
Preston Hayburn, from Henderson.
(Hodges quickly looks down at his results.)
NEIL JANSEN: He's a paramedic. Would've had access to the morgue.
CONRAD ECKLIE: Good work, Neil. Good work.
(Hodges holds out a sheet of paper to Ecklie.)
HODGES: I have a number.
NEIL JANSEN: Oh, me, too.
(Neil hands Ecklie his own sheet. Ecklie looks at it. It reads:
HAYBURN, PRESTON
Re: qhey.es. 190021, 05309258.sjj0987 DATE: 2/2-
RESTRICTED - EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION
ATTN: LVPD 189929287873.0919_0199
LVPD - NO CRIMINAL RECORD
EMPLOYMENT AMBULANCE EMT
1111 NEVADA ONLY RECORD
C11/AD0/198828-91988288377_1290
DOB: 7/19/69 SEX: M RAC/CAUC
HGT: 5'10" HAIR: B EYES: B
6622 NELSON DR.
HENDERSON, NV
89123
CONRAD ECKLIE: The woman he met on the plane said he was heading to party in
Seven Hills. I'll start there and then I'll head to Henderson. Okay?
HODGES: Yes.
(Ecklie leaves the lab. Both Hodges and Neil are smiling.)
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. CSI - GARAGE - DAY]
(Sara and Greg stand in front of a toilet that Greg procured for an experiment.
The toilet is in a plexiglass protected area. Surrounding the toilet are stacks
of sand bags.)
GREG: I found this toilet behind my apartment complex. It's, uh, volunteered
for an experiment.
SARA: It's moving.
GREG: I put dry ice in the bowl.
SARA: So you're thinking that the killer might have put his excess dry ice in
the dorm toilet.
GREG: When the ice was flushed, it would've lodged in the drain trap. As the
ice sublimated and gas was released, it would've built up, causing the toilet to
explode.
SARA: Good theory.
(The toilet water starts to bubble.
SARA: I spoke with Brass.
(Greg motions for them to move further away from the toilet experiment.)
SARA: Zack's alibi checks out. He was in L.A. all week.
GREG: And, uh, P.D. checked credit card records. No one in that dorm bought
dry ice on credit.
(They step out of the experiment area. Greg closes the door. He puts his
fingers over his ears.)
GREG: There's only two retail outlets in twenty miles that sell it, and no
one's purchased a large quantity of dry ice in the last few weeks.
(The toilet water starts to bubble and shake. Sara and Greg turn to look at the
toilet.)
(The toilet explodes.)
(Sara laughs.)
(Greg removes his goggles.)
GREG: Well, I think I explained the explode-a-potty.
SARA: Greg, maybe the dry ice wasn't purchased. I mean, we are looking at a
university. Science department would probably keep the stuff on hand. Science
major would have access.
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - INTERVIEW ROOM -- DAY]
(Sara and Greg interview Susan.)
SUSAN: I was his R.A. The guy lived for basketball, beer and girls. Didn't
want much to do with dorm activities.
GREG: Have you ... seen this before?
(Greg takes out Trip's sex journal.)
SUSAN: No.
GREG: Trip kept record of his, uh, relationships with women. Your name is in
here. Three times. On, uh, February 2nd, you hooked up for the first time.
Looks like second base. On February 9th, you rounded third, and on February
18th, he got a grand slam.
SUSAN: He wrote that down?
(Greg sits down.)
SUSAN: We had sex, I admit it. No big deal. I didn't tell you guys because
I'm not exactly proud of it, okay?
SARA: Trip and Paula died from carbon dioxide gas. We already know that you
have access to dry ice, and as a materials science grad student, you are
familiar with the chemical properties.
SUSAN: This is crazy.
SARA: Last week, you checked out forty pounds of dry ice from the campus lab.
SUSAN: My thesis is on metallurgy. I use dry ice to test the physical
constrains of certain metals.
SARA: I also spoke to your advisor, who told me that your experiments require
two pounds of dry ice, at most.
(Susan doesn't say anything.)
SARA: He broke your heart. He led you on, he let you believe it was serious,
and after you went all the way, you were history.
(Quick flashback to: [TRIP'S ROOM] Susan is in the sleeping bag on the floor.
Trip is getting dressed.)
TRIP WILMONT: Look, this has been a wild ride, but if I gave you the impression
that I want a relationship, then, uh ...
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
SUSAN: I was an idiot. I had been consulting my female advisees not to take
that kind of crap.
GREG: You knew Zack was in L.A., so you broke into his room during the day and
drilled a hole in the wall.
(Quick flashback to: [ZACK'S ROOM] The door opens. Susan enters. She pushes
the bed away from the wall and takes out a drill.)
(She drills a hole in the wall.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
GREG: Later that night, you returned.
(Quick flashback to: [ZACK'S ROOM] Susan opens Zack's door using a knife to
open the lock. She pulls in a blue cooler and starts stacking the blocks of dry
ice against the wall.)
(When she's done, Susan leaves the room.)
(In the next room, Trip and Paula are sleeping on the floor.)
GREG: (v.o.) Trip and Paula were asleep, passed out from the alcohol. When
the ice evaporated, the gas engulfed the room, killing them.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
SUSAN: I didn't know Paula was there, and I never meant to kill Trip.
GREG: So drilling the hole in the wall and leaving the ice behind was an
accident?
SUSAN: No, no, look. Trip's room is 16 feet by nine feet. I used exactly the
right amount of ice just to make him sick. If he had been in the bed three feet
above the ground and not on the floor ... I just wanted him to miss his
basketball game. Trip only slept on the floor when he had girls over, and he
never had sex before a big game. He shouldn't have been on the floor.
SARA: Your science was perfect; your instincts were not so good. And you
miscalculated one huge factor: The sex drive of a college jock.
CUT TO:
[EXT. SEVEN HILLS (STOCK) - DAY]
[INT. JACKSON RESIDENCE -- DAY]
(The doorbell rings. Charlie Jackson walks down the stairs.)
CHARLIE JACKSON: Who is it?
DET. VARTANN: (through door) L.V.P.D.
CHARLIE JACKSON: Shoot.
(Charlie answers the door. Det. Vartann and Conrad Ecklie are on his front porch.)
CHARLIE JACKSON: Can I help you?
DET. VARTANN: Are you Charlie Jackson?
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah.
DET. VARTANN: Do you know a James Billmeyer?
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah, we went to high school together.
DET. VARTANN: Are you aware that he passed away?
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah, yeah, it was a big blow; we were close.
CONRAD ECKLIE: You mind if we come in?
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah, come in.
(Ecklie and Det. Vartann step into the house.)
(Ecklie looks around at the pocker table, the half-filled beer glasses, party
hats and cigars on the table.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: You, uh ... smoke Perdomo Reserve?
(Ecklie uses the glove and opens the cigar box.)
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah, on special occasion. Why?
(Ecklie smells a cigar. He turns and looks at Charlie Jackson.)
CONRAD ECKLIE: Do you know a Preston Hayburn? Paramedic from Henderson.
CHARLIE JACKSON: Yeah, he, James and I were tight. We went to high school
together. What's this about?
DET. VARTANN: Cut the act, Charlie. We know that Preston had access to the morgue. We believe he stole James Billmeyer's body, maybe brought it here. But what we don't know is why?
CHARLIE JACKSON: All right, James was dying. He had a bad heart, everybody knew it, so we flew him out here for one last bash, and Preston got called to the Tangiers and it was Jamie. The poor guy died in the parking lot.
CONRAD ECKLIE: And then what? You decided to throw him a dead man's party?
CHARLIE JACKSON: (shrugs) Well, we already bought the booze.
(Quick flashback to: [PARTY] The party is in full swing. Someone gives James Billmeyer a cigar, sticking it between his lips. They light the cigar and give James a drink of beer.)
(Someone else snaps a digital photo of the gang together - complete with dead James Billmeyer in the center.)
(The party continues. Someone sprays air freshener on James. James falls forward and hits the food on the table face first.)
(The party continues.)
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
CHARLIE JACKSON: He was my best friend, you know?
(Charlie sits down.)
DET. VARTANN: It's a class D felony to steal a corpse with the intent to sell or mutilate. I'm not really sure how to classify "partying with the dead."
CHARLIE JACKSON: Look, I know how it looks, but if you knew Jamie ... it's what he would've wanted. And we did return him.
DET. VARTANN: You're still under arrest. Obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit theft. You're looking at one to four years, Charlie.
(Charlie stands up and nods.)
CHARLIE JACKSON: He would have done it for me.
(Ecklie and Vartann look at each other.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI - FORENSIC AUTOPSY - NIGHT]
(Finished for the day, Robbins shuts his laptop closed. He gets up and starts to head out.)
(He stops, turns around and goes back to the morgue cooler. He opens the cabinet door and looks inside to make sure the body is still there.)
(Satisfied, Robbins shuts the door.)
(Inside the cabinet, the camera pans down to the body's toe tag:
CLARK-COUNTY
CORONER'S OFFICE
NAME: BILLMEYERS, JAMES
DATE: 02/25/05
CASE NO. 05-3796
427 CAISNO RD.
ROBBINS
ECKLIE
(Camera holds for a beat, then ...
FADE TO BLACK
THE END.
Fait par Wella
