FADE IN:
[EXT. VARIOUS LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) – NIGHT]
[EXT. ROAD -- NIGHT]
(The road is busy, crowded with cars. Sirens wail in the distance. Keppler walks toward the scene with his kit.)
(He nods to Sofia and ducks under the tape the officer holds up for him. He meets up with Nick. Together, they head toward the burned house.)
NICK: The vic is Ross Neddy. Ex-con. Spent a couple years in Jean for
domestic assault. Just got paroled.
(They look at the dead body.)
NICK: Shop foreman says he's only been working here a few days.
KEPPLER: Out of the frying pan into the fire.
NICK: He is a crispy critter. I'd say the point of origin was him.
KEPPLER: He should have stayed in prison.
NICK: Mmm-hmm.
(Keppler sees the burned gasoline can next to the body.)
KEPPLER: Sloppy shop. This whole place is a fire hazard.
(David walks up to Nick.)
DAVID PHILLIPS: Okay if I move him out?
NICK: Yeah, he's all yours, Super Dave.
(Inside the room, Greg sweeps the floor with a hand-held device. It beeps.)
GREG: There was a lot of gasoline over here. (Keppler joins Greg.) Which
explains this V-pattern.
(Greg indicates the burn on the wall.)
GREG: Accelerant, a second point of origin. Most likely arson.
(Nick snaps a photo.)
NICK: Ex-con.
(Quick flash to: Someone douses the place with gasoline and lights a torch.)
NICK: (v.o.) Enemies on the outside ... two points of origin ... maybe we're
looking at a little payback.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
(Nick turns to Keppler.)
NICK: What do you think, Keppler?
KEPPLER: I think I'd better head back to the body.
(Keppler steps past Nick and heads out. Nick calls out after him.)
NICK: Hey ... you know what Grissom would say here, don't you?
DAVID PHILLIPS: Something ironic, I'm sure.
(David and the coroner pass by with the body. Nick nods.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- NIGHT]
(Keppler and David Phillips roll the body on the table onto its side. Keppler
looks at the back and cuts the shirt down the middle. He peels the material
apart and finds the body’s back is stapled together down the middle.)
KEPPLER: Looks like somebody took a staple gun to him.
CUT TO:
[CU: X-RAY]
(X-ray images of the bones in the body’s legs appear on the monitor as Dr.
Robbins and Keppler look at the images on screen. They reach the thighs and
they know they’re not looking at bones.)
ROBBINS: Those aren't bones.
(Keppler leans forward and looks at the monitor.)
CUT TO:
(Robbins removes the stables in the body’s back. He reaches in and pulls out a pipe.)
CUT TO:
(Robbins opens the back of the body’s upper right thigh while Keppler opens the
back of the body’s upper left thigh. Robbins removes another pipe.)
(Keppler removes an umbrella. The umbrella pops open.)
(oops.)
(Keppler moves the umbrella aside and finds Robbins spattered with blood.
Robbins looks drolly back at Keppler as he wipes the blood from his scrubs top.)
KEPPLER: That's bad luck, isn't it?
SMASH TO
END OF TEASER
ROLL TITLE CREDITS
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN:
[INT. CSI – FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- NIGHT]
(Robbins goes over his findings with Keppler, Nick and Greg.)
ROBBINS: ABC piping is sometimes used to replace bones that have been donated
for transplants.
KEPPLER: So that the body looks right at open casket?
ROBBINS: Right.
GREG: They use umbrellas and broomsticks for that, too?
ROBBINS: Not that I've seen.
(Greg looks at the bottom of the umbrella and notices a distinct logo.)
KEPPLER: Wait a minute, they killed the guy and torched him; there's no open
casket. What's the point of stuffing the body?
(Nick has his hands in the body.)
NICK: Looks like the long bones are gone ... ditto for the spine ... tendons
and cartilage ... most major veins ... phew.
ROBBINS: They took the heart valves, too.
(Nick looks at the part of the heart that’s left.)
KEPPLER: So somebody murders an ex-con, then commits arson to make it look like
an accident just so that they can harvest his bones and tissues?
ROBBINS: That's big business -- disc replacement, joint replacement, bypasses--
more demand than supply.
GREG: Why leave the kidneys, the heart and the liver? They're worth big money,
too.
ROBBINS: Organ donation is heavily regulated. Bone and tissue aren't.
GREG: COD?
ROBBINS: At this point, indeterminate. All I can say right now is based on the
level of decomp, he's been dead at least a week.
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – BULLPEN – NIGHT]
(Sofia talks with Joe Boony.)
JOE BOONY: You think I'm selling body parts? Come on, you're wasting your
time. I sell refurbished engines. I don't know jack about body parts.
SOFIA: No one's looking for a down-and-out ex-con. It's less risky than drugs.
(He points to the photo of Ross Neddy.)
JOE BOONY: I hired Ross to weld metal together. Even if I killed him -- not
saying I did -- but if even if I did, I'd just burn the body as is, not re-pipe
the guy. And I definitely wouldn't burn him at work. Fire station's a block
away.
SOFIA: How do you know Ross? You meet him in the joint?
JOE BOONY: I was out before he even went in. I picked Ross up with a bunch of
other guys looking for work outside that big hardware store on Herrick four days
ago.
SOFIA: When was the last time you saw him?
JOE BOONY: Four days ago. He'd been working nights.
SOFIA: Really? 'Cause the coroner said he's been dead at least a week.
JOE BOONY: You calling me a liar?
SOFIA: I'd believe a dead guy over an ex-con.
JOE BOONY: Ouch.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS (STOCK) – DAY]
[EXT. NORTON RESIDENCE -- DAY]
(Brass, Warrick and Sara duck under the crime scene tape on their way to the
large plush house.)
WARRICK: Living large.
BRASS: Mm.
WARRICK: Place this big in MacDonald Ranch -- what's the occupation?
(Brass looks over his shoulder at the man leaning against the car.)
BRASS: That's, uh, Bill Dorton. You know, Dorton Homes. Biggest homebuilder
in town. He built mine.
WARRICK: Huh.
(They reach the front door.)
BRASS: Oh, uh ... you'd better throw on some booties.
CUT TO:
[INT. DORTON RESIDENCE – LIVING ROOM – DAY]
(The body is on the carpeted floor between the coffee table and the couch. The
carpet is soaked with blood.)
BRASS: Margo Dorton, age 39.
(Sara puts her kit down. Warrick snaps photos of the body and surrounding
areas.)
BRASS: Her husband said he returned from a business trip and found her like
this. No sign of a forced entry. My guys are gonna go talk to the neighbors,
see what they say about their relationship.
(Brass turns to leave.)
WARRICK: What did he say?
BRASS: According to him, it was a honeymoon every day.
(Brass leaves. Warrick turns and looks at Sara. Sara shrugs.)
SARA: Maybe ... she was having a honeymoon with someone else.
WARRICK: That'll be good motive for the husband.
(Sara notices the patch of blood-free couch.)
SARA: There's a void here. Maybe someone was sitting on the couch, or someone
was sitting on the floor in front of the couch.
WARRICK: But then where's the "someone else"? I mean, why kill her and not the
lover?
(Quick flashback to: Bill Dorton sits on the couch and is kissing someone else.
His wife walks in.)
WARRICK: (v.o.) Maybe the husband was the one having the honeymoon and the ...
the wife walks in.
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
WARRICK: He kills her, tells his lover to beat it.
SARA: I'd buy it. Unless the husband's alibi checks out.
CUT TO:
[EXT. DORTON RESIDENCE – FRONT – DAY]
(Brass talks with Bill Dorton.)
BILL DORTON: Airport. I was coming home from the airport. It's a business
trip. Caught an early flight to surprise Margo. I want your best cops on this.
I contributed a lot to this community.
BRASS: Absolutely. Let's establish a timeline. What time did your plane land?
BILL DORTON: Around 10:30.
BRASS: 10:30. And you arrived here at ...
BILL DORTON: Midnight.
BRASS: Well, it took you an hour and a half at that time of night to get from
McKaren to here?
BILL DORTON: (crying) A half an hour waiting for baggage check, and half an
hour to find my driver, and a half an hour to get home.
[INT. DORTON RESIDENCE]
(Warrick finds a ticket and key in Margo’s purse.)
WARRICK: Look at this. Valet ticket. Nice purse. Nice dress. Maybe safe to
say she went out last night. Maybe this will tell where.
(Sara finds some hair.)
SARA: Maybe this ... will tell us who.
(Warrick snaps a photo. He looks down and sees the trail of blood.)
WARRICK: I'm gonna follow a little lead I got.
(Warrick follows the blood drops into the bathroom. The blood drops lead to the
toilet. There’s a drop on the seat. He takes a swab sample of it. There’s
also a stain on the floor. He tests the stain. It’s positive for blood.)
WARRICK: (v.o.) Well, I found a circular blood transfer in the bathroom ...
(Warrick reports his findings with Sara.)
WARRICK: ... about three inches in diameter.
(They look around and see the bottle on the table.)
SARA/WARRICK: Champagne bottle.
(Sara checks it.)
SARA: Looks like it's been wiped down.
WARRICK: Looks like we found our murder weapon.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – FORENSIC AUTOPSY]
(Keppler cuts off a finger and sticks it in a liquid-filled sample container.
He adds some powder to the container and shakes it.)
[INT. CSI – PRINT LAB]
(Back at the lab, he injects the solution into the finger, then takes a print
off the finger.)
(He runs the finger through the database and finds a match to a ROGER LAPINSKY.)
(He runs the name ROGER LAPINSKY through SPYDER FINDER. He finds an obituary.)
[CU: HEADLINE]
(The online headline reads: Roger Lapinsky Dies at age 37.)
NICK: (v.o.) So the crispy critter isn't Ross Neddy?
[INT. CSI – HALLWAY -- DAY]
(Keppler shares his findings with Nick.)
KEPPLER: Nope.
NICK: Let me get this straight. The ex-con digs up a corpse, scoops out a few
body parts to sell, then fills it back up with PVC and umbrellas, then torches
the body where he works to make it look like he's the victim?
KEPPLER: Cops don't come looking for you if you're already dead.
NICK: But if this Lapinsky guy was already dead, then how come the doc didn't
find traces of embalming fluid?
KEPPLER: He's Jewish.
NICK: So what?
KEPPLER: Observant Jews don't believe in embalming or donating organs. It's
part of their faith. They think the body should go out the way it came in.
NICK: So, this isn't just about desecration of the body, but of the family as
well.
KEPPLER: Mmm-hmm.
NICK: I'll get a court order for the exhumation.
(Nick heads off in one direction, Keppler heads off in the other. We stay with
Keppler.)
[INT. CSI – KEPPLER’S OFFICE – DAY – CONTINUOUS]
(Keppler walks into his office and puts his cup down on the desk. He looks
through his mail and stops on a particular envelope. He opens the envelope.)
(Inside is a funeral program for:
AMY MCCARTY
JUNE 28, 1969 – JANUARY 22, 1983
You are cordially invited to a celebration of life in remembrance of Amy.
January 22, 2007
7:00 pm
St. Martine’s Church
5689 Gelson Way, Trenton, New Jersey
(Keppler sits down. He flips the program over and finds a note:
We missed you this year kiddo.
Be well.
Fr. Anthony
(Keppler takes a deep breath. He looks at Amy’s photo on the cover.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – TRACE LAB]
(Hodges is looking through the scope when Warrick walks in.)
WARRICK: What you got?
HODGES: Well, looks like your killer wigged out on your vic.
(He steps aside and Warrick looks through the scope.)
HODGES: Use the polarizer. The pink fiber's modacrylic with low birefringence.
Most likely made of elura.
WARRICK: Synthetic hair. So much for DNA.
HODGES: And the substance you found in the toilet -- if it looks like vomit and
smells like vomit, it is.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – HALLWAY – DAY]
(Sara reports her findings to Catherine.)
SARA: The champagne glasses were negative for DNA, and Mandy found nothing but
smears and partials on them. And the blood from the champagne bottle just came
back to the vic.
CATHERINE: Any good news?
SARA: Well, I called the phone number on the valet stub. It was a company
called Chariot Parking. They operate the parking lots at thirty restaurants and
nightclubs.
CATHERINE: Oh, well, that narrows it down.
SARA: Actually, it does. The ticket on Margo Dorton's key ring came from a
batch at the Over-Under Cabaret.
CUT TO:
[INT. OVER-UNDER CABARET]
(Warrick and Sara enter the club. Warrick stops a dancer and shows her a
photo.)
WARRICK: Excuse me, have you seen this man?
(She looks at the photo and shakes her head.)
DANCER: No.
WARRICK: No. Thank you.
(Warrick and Sara continue through the club.)
ANNOUNCER (over speakers): All right, guys! Listen up! Get ready for
tonight's panty auction!
(The crowd applauds.)
(Sara walks up to a worker and shows her the photo.)
SARA: Hello. Have you seen this man?
DANCER: No.
(Dancer leaves.)
ANNOUNCER: All right. For our first pair, starting at the low price of $50,
Cotton Candy! Doesn't accept checks, just cold, hard cash.
(The first dancer appears on stage. She’s wearing pink underwear and a pink
wig.)
WARRICK: Check out the pink wig.
(The crowd goes wild. Sara holds up her badge just as the dancer takes her
panties off.)
SARA: Bid!
(Cotton Candy stops. Sara smiles at her.)
FADE OUT.
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN:
[INT. OVER-UNDER CABARET]
(The officers hold Cotton Candy as Warrick handles her pink wig.)
COTTON CANDY: Come on, come on. Why you got to take the wig? Wig's part of my
act.
(Warrick hands the pink wig to Sara.)
COTTON CANDY: Y'all are straight stealing from me right now! Hello!
WARRICK: I'm crying for you.
(Sara examines the wig.)
SARA: Synthetic. Same color and texture as the one that we collected off the
vic.
(Warrick motions to the officer, who puts handcuffs on Cotton Candy.)
COTTON CANDY: Whoa, wh ... Hey, hey, hey! Look, look, look, look, look. Look,
we didn't even have sex, okay? It was all touchy feely. Jerky treats.
WARRICK: What are you talking about?
COTTON CANDY: The guy I took into VIP right before panty auction. Look, man,
all we did was touch.
WARRICK: Why do you think you're being arrested?
COTTON CANDY: Solicitation, right?
SARA: No, actually. We found this hair on this woman's dead body.
COTTON CANDY: Margo? She's dead? And you think I killed her?
WARRICK: With or without the help of her husband.
COTTON CANDY: No, no, no. Look, man, I never seen dude in that picture. And
Margo, yeah, I'll admit, I slapped the ho around last night, but I didn't kill
her.
SARA: You slapped her around?
COTTON CANDY: She's always hanging out with my fiancé, okay? I couldn't take
it anymore, so ... yeah.
(Quick flashback to: Margo is walking when Cotton Candy runs out and tackles
her.)
COTTON CANDY: (screams) Bitch!
MARGO DORTON: Get off of me! No!
MAN: Hey, hey, hey, hey!
(A man grabs Cotton Candy from behind and pulls her off Margo.)
COTTON CANDY: Get off!
(End of flashback. Resume to present.)
SARA: Why would Margo Dorton be hanging out here with your fiancé?
COTTON CANDY: He works upstairs.
WARRICK: Upstairs?
COTTON CANDY: Look, honey, they don't call this the Over-Under for nothing, all
right?
SARA: What's your fiancé's name?
COTTON CANDY: Jesse.
WARRICK: Take her downtown. We're going upstairs.
COTTON CANDY: Are you serious? I didn't do anything.
(Warrick and Sara leave Cotton Candy with the officer. He puts handcuffs on
her.)
COTTON CANDY: (o.s.) Come on, man.
[INT. OVER UNDER CABARET -- UPSTAIRS]
(Sara and Warrick walk through the corridor. On each side of the hallway are
rooms. They peer into room 16 and see a man and a woman sitting at a table.)
(They continue to the next room. In room 17, there’s a gathering inside.)
(They stop at the next room where two women are looking through a binder full of
photos of men.)
SARA: Is this a restaurant?
WARRICK: If it is, I'm scared of the menu.
(There’s a bar and a bartender in the large room at the end of the hallway..)
WARRICK: The bus boy looks likes he's in charge of stocking the champagne. I'm
gonna have a word with him.
SARA: Okay.
(Warrick walks away.)
(The head host walks up to Sara.)
HEAD HOST: Would you like a Meet Book or do you have a steady host?
SARA: Uh, actually, it's my first time. What exactly goes on here?
HEAD HOST: This is a host club, a place where men entertain women. It's the first of its kind in Las Vegas. They started in Japan. Take your pick.
(He offers her a thick binder. Sara takes it and looks through it.)
HEAD HOST: Hosts get paid by the bottle. There's a two-bottle minimum. Bottles range from $50 to $5,000.
SARA: What's a $5,000 bottle of champagne taste like?
HEAD HOST: We only sell one brand of champagne. It's the host attached to the
bottle that determines price.
SARA: Oh. Everything is legal in Clark County.
HEAD HOST: Miss, we don't sell sex here.
SARA: What do you sell?
HEAD HOST: A relationship. Isn't that what most women want?
(She flips through the book and stops at a photo.)
SARA: I don't know. But I know what I want. I want Jesse.
HEAD HOST: Who doesn't? Let me see if he's avail.
(He takes the binder from her, turns and leaves Sara. Sara looks inside the
room where one man sits with three women. The host approaches the man and talks
to him. It’s Jesse.)
[WARRICK]
(Meanwhile, Warrick has a chat with the bus boy.)
BUS BOY: Never seen the old guy before, but the lady, a bunch. Last night, she
got blasted on by one of the strippers downstairs.
WARRICK: Really?
(Someone retches. Warrick turns and sees two men run into the men’s room.)
WARRICK: Are they doing what I think they're doing?
BUS BOY: Hosts get paid by the bottle. So they drink more than their stomachs
can handle. Always see blood in those toilets.
(Warrick nods.)
[SARA]
(Jesse approaches Sara.)
JESSE HOTTMAN: Ah, just off work, huh?
SARA: Just on, actually. Sara Sidle, Crime Lab.
JESSE HOTTMAN: Oh. What can I do for you?
SARA: Do you know this woman?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Ah. Lady Dorton. Yeah, she's one of my relationships.
SARA: Could I ask you a few questions about her?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Okay. Um, I don't like to talk about my relationships out here.
Let's take it someplace a little more intimate, yeah?
SARA: Okay.
(He takes her hand and leads her away.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – GARAGE]
(The coffin is wheeled into the garage. Keppler puts on his gloves.)
NICK: The coffin had only been in the ground for about a week. Dirt and sod
were pretty loose, so it was relatively easy to take out and put back in.
KEPPLER: You guys sure do a lot of exhumations here.
NICK: As many as we have to.
(Keppler and Nick each grab a cover. They open the coffin and find it empty of
a body.)
KEPPLER: Nobody home.
NICK: No surprise.
(Keppler takes out his flashlight while Nick snaps photos of the inside of the
coffin.)
(Keppler finds a piece of cloth caught in the wood.)
KEPPLER: Look at this. (He picks it up.) Lapinsky may have been burned in
this shirt, but I doubt he was buried in it.
NICK: Dead men don't wear plaid. (Nick finds something.) Wait a minute. Is
this blood?
(Nick points to the red spots at the bottom of the box.)
(Quick flash to: Someone opens the coffin, catches his sleeve on the wood and
tears it with some of his skin. End of flash.)
KEPPLER: Dead men don't bleed.
(Nick snaps photos of the blood.)
CUT TO:
[INT. OVER-UNDER CABARET -- UPSTAIRS]
(Sara talks with Jesse Hottman.)
SARA: How did you meet Margo?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Uh, she picked me from the Meet Book.
SARA: And then what?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Uh, she wanted what most women want.
SARA: What's that?
(He offers her a drink. She declines.)
SARA: No, thank you.
JESSE HOTTMAN: The dream.
SARA: And that's you.
JESSE HOTTMAN: 50 G's I make a month says I am. Who doesn't want to be swept
off their feet?
SARA: I am not sure it's something that I would pay for.
JESSE HOTTMAN: Yeah, but you don't want to spend your whole life waiting for it
either. Right here, right now, a woman can have a relationship with a man who
only wants to please her -- who can make her laugh, wipe away her tears, give
her the confidence to be herself.
SARA: And how many of these relationships do you have?
JESSE HOTTMAN: I can handle about twenty-five at a time.
SARA: Is a woman named Cotton Candy one of them?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Yeah. She's been financially worshipping me for a while.
SARA: Now, she says that she is your fiancée.
JESSE HOTTMAN: That's good. Means I'm doing my job.
SARA: She told me that she and Margo had a scuffle.
JESSE HOTTMAN: Yeah. Um ... my relationships do get jealous sometimes,
especially when one has more money than the other and can monopolize my time.
Is that why you're here, because of that little catfight?
SARA: No. Um, Margo Dorton was ... bludgeoned to death with a bottle of
champagne.
JESSE HOTTMAN: Margo was ... killed?
SARA: Yeah.
JESSE HOTTMAN: And you think Cotton Candy killed Margo?
SARA: What do you think?
JESSE HOTTMAN: Um ... I wouldn't know.
SARA: Would you know if Margo took you home the other night?
JESSE HOTTMAN: I don't see my relationships outside of here. You know, if it
does happen, it marks the end of the relationship. I mean, by having sex with
me, a woman's reached her goal. There's nothing more I can give her.
SARA: Did Margo's husband know about you?
JESSE HOTTMAN: She told me she was divorced.
SARA: Well, Jesse ... I'm, uh, sorry for your loss.
(Sara stands up and leaves.)
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) – DAY]
[INT. CSI – DNA LAB – DAY]
(Wendy reports her findings to Keppler.)
WENDY SIMMS: I ran the blood from the coffin through CODIS, and I got a hit,
but it's not Ross Neddy.
KEPPLER: So he's got a partner.
(Wendy sits at the computer.)
WENDY SIMMS: Well, DNA matches a Heidi Sultz, who did time for domestic assault
and is currently out on parole.
KEPPLER: That's funny. Ross Neddy did time for domestic assault, too. Maybe
they're sparring partners.
CUT TO:
[EXT. SULTZ RESIDENCE – DAY]
(Sofia and Keppler get out of the SUV.)
SOFIA: This is Heidi's last known. According to her PO, she's been trying to
straighten out. She's detoxed, got a job. She's dumped Ross Neddy.
KEPPLER: She may be taking the right steps, but she definitely hasn't cleaned
up.
(They head for the front door.)
CUT TO:
(Heidi opens the door.)
MITCHELL: Las Vegas PD.
SOFIA: Heidi Sultz?
HEIDI SULTZ: What's going on?
SOFIA: You're under arrest.
HEIDI SULTZ: Why?
SOFIA: Where's Ross?
HEIDI SULTZ: I haven't seen that dog in weeks.
MITCHELL: Anyone else living here with you?
HEIDI SULTZ: Yeah, my baby and my new boyfriend, Charlie.
KEPPLER: Where are they?
HEIDI SULTZ: Out back, hanging out.
SOFIA: Put her in the car.
(The officer takes her to the car.)
CUT TO:
(Out back, the baby’s in the playpen while Charlie is sleeping in the nearby
chair. Sofia takes out her gun.)
SOFIA: Ross. Wake up, sugar.
ROSS NEDDY: (absently) Hey, baby. (He opens his eyes and sees Sofia.) My
name's Charlie, Charlie Keefer.
SOFIA: Get on the wall.
(Charlie stands up.)
ROSS NEDDY: I got ID. It's in my jeans.
(The officer pulls the wallet out of Charlie’s pocket. He tosses it to
Keppler.)
KEPPLER: Where'd you get this, the dollar store? Have a seat, Ross.
(Ross Neddy sits down.)
KEPPLER: This is your third strike, pal. Right now you're looking at a minimum
of 25 years. You want to talk to us? We can make sure it doesn't get any
worse. What do you say?
(The baby fusses in the playpen.)
ROSS NEDDY: Daddy will be right there, sweetheart.
SOFIA: It's ten more for falsifying an ID. Fifteen for grave robbing. Arson,
that's another ten.
KEPPLER: Desecrating a corpse, ten; another twenty for trafficking body parts.
ROSS NEDDY: Body parts? No way. I thought those cuts were from, like, an
autopsy.
SOFIA: So you admit to digging up Roger Lapinsky?
ROSS NEDDY: I've been out two months and the best job I can get is five bucks
an hour welding engine parts together. They wouldn't even let me flip burgers.
Heidi just had the baby. It wasn't like it was gonna hurt anyone.
(Quick flashback to: Ross and Heidi dig up a corpse and set it on fire.)
ROSS NEDDY: (v.o.) We dug up someone my age, took him to work. Made him look
like me. And then we torched it.
(End of flashback.)
ROSS NEDDY: All I was looking for was a fresh start. Best way to make it
happen was to kill myself.
KEPPLER: Should've stuck with the five bucks an hour.
FADE OUT.
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN:
[INT. CSI – FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- DAY]
(Robbins goes over the preliminary findings with Catherine.)
ROBBINS: Whoever did this, must’ve been pretty angry.
CATHERINE: Let me guess, multiple BFT?
ROBBINS: You got it. Fractured skull, broken nose, cheek bones. Take a look.
Defensive wounds consistent with a cylindrical object.
CATHERINE: Warrick found a bloody champagne bottle at the scene.
ROBBINS: That'll do the trick. But the death blow came in the neck area.
Impacted her Adam's apple with so much force, ...
(Quick CGI to: The champagne bottle hits the side of the neck. The shock hits
the nerve, sending pulses to the brain, then down to the heart.)
ROBBINS: (v.o.) ... it sent a flex arch to the vagus nerve, causing a stimulus
to the heart. Bradycardia set in, causing the heart to slow and eventually to
stop.
(End of CGI flash.)
(Hold on the body of Margo Dorton on the autopsy table.)
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM – DAY]
(Brass and Catherine interview Cotton Candy.)
BRASS: So where'd you go after the fight with Margo?
COTTON CANDY: Back to the pole.
BRASS: You're a real workaholic, huh?
COTTON CANDY: Look, man, the more I work, the more I can be with Jesse.
CATHERINE: I know how hard it is to wiggle your ass all night. Now, why would
you want to spend all your hard-earned money on a guy whose job it is to be with
you and 24 other women?
COTTON CANDY: He doesn't care about them.
BRASS: Now you know this is not a real relationship. It's a business
transaction.
CATHERINE: He's doing the same kind of thing that you are doing on the pole for
the guys.
COTTON CANDY: Those guys, they can't see past this, okay? I am more than a
piece of meat to Jesse. Okay? He-he-he doesn't judge me. All right? He
doesn't blow me off. He makes me smile, you know? He heals me, he heals me
when I'm down. He makes me feel like I am Mrs. Steve Wynn.
BRASS: Hmm.
COTTON CANDY: Now we're going to get married, real soon.
BRASS: Can you show me some verifiable proof of where you were the night Margo
was murdered?
COTTON CANDY: I was in VIP with this pit boss, Joe Brodsky -- works at the
Olympia. But he's married and he'll probably deny it. But I can prove it to
you if you give me my wallet right now.
BRASS: Sure. Okay, go ahead.
(The officer puts her bag on the table. She digs inside and takes out several
hundred dollar bills, holding it gingerly by the corner.)
COTTON CANDY: There it is.
(She fans them out and puts them on the table in front of Brass and Catherine.)
COTTON CANDY: Right there. He paid me with those. Brand-new, straight from
the bank.
CATHERINE: And what would you like us to do with those?
COTTON CANDY: You're a CSI. You can take a print off of there, easy ... duh.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – GRISSOM’S OFFICE]
(Keppler is looking at the miniature diorama. Sara walks by and enters the
office.)
SARA: Hi. What are you doing?
KEPPLER: Just looking.
SARA: What do you think?
(He looks at the various dioramas in the plastic cases.)
KEPPLER: Meticulous. Obsessive. Clearly knows his way around a modeling kit.
SARA: Grissom didn't make those.
KEPPLER: No? Hmm. Fits the profile. Bugs in bottles, the Darwin desk set.
SARA: He's a bit of a collector of certain things.
KEPPLER: Yeah, I knew a guy in Philly like that. Kept a case of thumbs in his
closet.
SARA: Friend of yours?
KEPPLER: No, a serial killer.
SARA: Do you miss it?
KEPPLER: What?
SARA: Philly.
KEPPLER: No.
(Keppler leaves the office.)
(We hold a moment on the box on Grissom’s desk and additional mail piled up on
the box.)
(Sara takes a moment and walks up to the tank. In the tank, she placed the
cocoon and branch Grissom sent her.)
DISSOLVE TO:
[CU: LETTER]
(VARIOUS DISSOLVES: Grissom sits behind his desk and writes Sara a letter.
Parts of it read:
Sara,
Our parting was awkward. I don’t know why I find it so difficult to express my
feelings for you ... even though we’re far apart, I can see you as vividly as if
you were here with me ... I said I’ll miss you, and I do.
Sonnet #47
Betwix my eye and heart --
(He finishes the letter and looks at it. He folds it and puts it in an
envelope. He addresses the envelope:
SARA SIDLE
1623 WEST
(He stops and takes his glasses off. We hold on Grissom.)
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) – DAY]
[INT. CSI – HALLWAY – DAY]
(Nick walks out into the hallway and is surprised to see Greg. Greg is carrying
a folder.)
NICK: Hey, thought you had a deposition.
GREG: Oh, it got postponed. So I did a little follow-up on tissue procurement
companies in the area. Turns out there's only two in the state. One is out in
Summerlin. It's called Longevity Tissue Services. Check this out.
(He takes out a web page printout and points to the logo in the corner.)
NICK: That's the same logo you found on the umbrella that was in Lapinsky's
leg.
GREG: Yeah. It's the Chinese character for "long life.”
CUT TO:
[INT. LONGEVITY TISSUE SERVICES – LOBBY – DAY]
(Sofia talks with the owner, Ty Miloni, while Nick looks around the office.)
TY MILONI: So, what can Longevity do for the LV Police?
SOFIA: We need to know if your company received tissue or bone from a Roger
Lapinsky.
TY MILONI: What's the problem?
SOFIA: There might not be one.
TY MILONI: All right. Well, I'd be happy to check. Will you excuse me,
sweetie?
(He goes to the computer and types in a search. The computer beeps.)
TY MILONI: Yep, there he is. Roger Lapinsky, 37 years old, died of cardiac
arrest. It's tragic.
SOFIA: We're going to need a copy of his records, and we're going to need to
confiscate his parts.
TY MILONI: And if you don't tell me what's going on, you're going to need a
warrant.
(He turns the computer monitor away from their view.)
NICK: This is a criminal investigation. Those parts are evidence now.
CUT TO:
[INT. LONGEVITY TISSUE SERVIES – STORAGE – DAY]
(Nick takes a bagged bone out of the refrigeration unit.)
NICK: You know, I was always under the impression that the body parts were to
be removed at the hospital.
TY MILONI: Major organs have to be removed at the hospital and then
transplanted into the new patients within four to six hours, but bone and tissue
can be removed at any point and stored for up to five years.
SOFIA: Who gives you access to those parts?
TY MILONI: I always have signed consent from next of kin.
NICK: And?
(Nick takes the bones and tissue and puts them in a chest.)
TY MILONI: Most funeral homes have tissue recovery coordinators. They choose
who the parts go to. If you have a good reputation, you have a better chance of
getting the parts. I help the dead help the living.
SOFIA: According to your records, Roger Lipinsky's body parts came from the
Silver Hills Mortuary.
TY MILONI: If that's what it says.
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – LAYOUT ROOM – DAY]
(Warrick is placing the crime scene photos on the table. Sara walks up to him.)
SARA: Hey.
WARRICK: So you heard Cotton Candy's alibi checked out?
SARA: Yeah.
WARRICK: And Brass talked to Mr. Dorton's limo driver. Confirms his story, he
got home way past TOD.
SARA: I don't get it, Warrick. The vic is in a good marriage, and she's
spending thousands on a "fake" boyfriend that she's not even having sex with.
WARRICK: It doesn't make any sense. Like this void on the sofa for instance.
It suggests the presence of a third person, but we don't have any evidence to
back that up.
SARA: Maybe it's not a person. Maybe it's a thing. Rectangular, roughly,
what, 11 by 14 inches?
WARRICK: It was obviously important enough that the killer took it.
SARA: What if he didn't take it?
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) – NIGHT]
[INT. DORTON RESIDENCE – LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT]
(Sara is back at the crime scene looking at the blood spatter on the couch. She
looks around the area. She heads to the bookshelf and looks at the items on the
shelf. She finds that the albums are out of sequence – 1986, 1988, 1987, 1989.)
(She takes the 1987 album off the shelf and opens it. She flips through the
pages and finds a couple covered with blood. Its labeled, CHRISTMAS 1987.
Photos are of a young Margo carrying a baby.)
(Sara looks at the blood void on the couch and visualizes the photo album open –
one side on the side of the couch, the other side on the floor.)
(Quick flashback to: Margo Dorton is on the floor between the coffee table and
the couch. She’s on the open photo album as the killer attacks her. End of
flashback.)
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM -- NIGHT]
(Sara shows the photo of Margo and the baby to Bill Dorton.)
SARA: Whose baby is this?
BILL DORTON: Margo's.
BRASS: I remember, Bill, you telling me that you didn't have kids.
BILL DORTON: We don't ... or I don't. She gave him up right after we met. She
was seventeen. And I didn't want any kids.
SARA: Who'd Margo give the baby to?
BILL DORTON: The biological father, but he was a drunk. Last we heard, the kid
ran away.
SARA: She was looking at these photos when she was killed.
BILL DORTON: Yeah. She started taking them out ever since she hit menopause.
BRASS: Wasn't she a little young for menopause?
BILL DORTON: They call it premature menopause and she was having a tough time
with it. The mood swings, the "brain fog," the emotional detachment.
SARA: The finality of not having any more children.
BRASS: Bill ... did you know that Margo was frequenting um ... a so-called host
club, and paying money to a male escort?
BILL DORTON: No. She was paying for sex?
SIDLE: She was paying ... for companionship.
(Bill closes his eyes.)
CUT TO:
[INT. SILVER HILLS MORTUARY]
(Salvatore Heinz, a certified tissue recovery coordinator, is working on the
latest body. We hold on a TISSUE RECOVERY certificate hanging on the wall.)
(Keppler and an officer walk in.)
KEPPLER: I'm looking for Salvatore Heinz.
SALVATORE HEINZ: You got him.
KEPPLER: Mike Keppler, Las Vegas Crime Lab.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Sorry if I don't shake. I, uh, hope you don't mind if I keep
working here. I'm kind of on a deadline. That's mortuary humor.
KEPPLER: I'm sure it never gets old. We're following up on a body that came
through here. Roger Lapinsky.
(Keppler shows Salvatore Heinz a photo.)
SALVATORE HEINZ: You know, he does look familiar. I believe he's spending his
eternal rest at Horizon Meadows Cemetery.
KEPPLER: Not anymore. Someone dug him up.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Aw, geez. You know, sometimes I wonder what the heck is going
on with the world these days.
KEPPLER: His major bones, veins and tendons were all stolen.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Recovered! Not stolen. I'm a certified tissue recovery
coordinator.
KEPPLER: Oh, yeah? That where you learned how to stuff the bodies with
umbrellas?
SALVATORE HEINZ: That was a one-time thing. I ran out of PVC pipe, and, uh ...
so I improvised.
KEPPLER: Understandable.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Look, it was a closed casket service, and uh ... I have a
signed consent form.
KEPPLER: Where? If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at that.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Sure. Anything for LVPD.
(He goes to the filing cabinet and opens the drawer. Keppler follows him and
notices the stack of umbrellas from Longevity Tissue Services.)
KEPPLER: I take it you do a lot a work with, uh ... Longevity Tissue Services?
SALVATORE HEINZ: Some.
(He looks back and notices Keppler looking at the umbrellas.)
SALVATORE HEINZ: Those are just promotional items.
KEPPLER: Handy in a pinch, huh?
(Keppler sees the death certificates on the desk. The filing cabinet drawer
closes and Salvatore Heinz hands Keppler the file.)
SALVATORE HEINZ: Lapinsky, Roger. It's all yours. I got copies.
KEPPLER: Thanks.
SALVATORE HEINZ: COD, cardiac arrest.
KEPPLER: Everything seems to be in order here.
SALVATORE HEINZ: Like I said.
KEPPLER: Thanks for your time.
(As Keppler heads for the door, his phone rings. He answers it.)
KEPPLER: (to phone) Keppler.
ROBBINS: (from phone) Robbins here. Want a COD on your Frankenstein?
KEPPLER: (to phone) Beat you to it -- cardiac arrest.
ROBBINS: (from phone) Not according to histology. Roger Lapinsky died of
leukemia.
(Keppler puts his phone on speaker mode and holds it out so Salvatore Heinz can
hear.)
KEPPLER: You want to repeat that, Doc?
ROBBINS: (from phone) Sure. Roger Lapinksy died of leukemia.
KEPPLER: Thanks. (He hangs up.) If you don't mind, I'll, uh ... stick around
here till the warrant comes.
FADE OUT.
(COMMERCIAL SET)
FADE IN:
[INT. CSI – LAYOUT ROOM]
(Keppler shows Nick the two death certificates.)
KEPPLER: I got a copy of Roger Lapinsky’s death certificate from Carson City.
This is the one we got from the mortician, that old nut job, see? Changed the
COD.
NICK: It turns out, Ty Miloni ... is a bit of a hustler as well.
(Nick shows Keppler a copy of a LAS VEGAS GLOBE article.)
NICK: Those umbrellas were a promotional gift for a vitamin telemarketing
company he ran a few years back.
KEPPLER: This guy isn't even a doctor.
NICK: He did drop out of chiropractic school.
KEPPLER: You're telling me that any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a sign can open up
a tissue bank?
NICK: Well, if you're FDA registered, yeah.
KEPPLER: How do you get FDA registered?
NICK: You just fill out a form. In the last three years, 37 of the bone and
tissue donors were from Silver Hills Mortuary that went to this Longevity
clinic.
(Nick shows Keppler the database list with the items highlighted.)
NICK: COD in 23 of those cases was cardiac arrest. And most of those decedents
were in their thirties and forties.
KEPPLER: That's a lot of young heart attacks. We're going to go through all
these COD's and match them up against the official death certificates.
NICK: And do more exhumations.
KEPPLER: The only thing I'm wondering -- is the mortician hustling the tissue
bank guy or they're working together.
[CU: EVIDENCE/PROPERTY BAG LABEL]
(It reads:
AGENCY: CSI CASE NO. 1716
ITEM NO. OFFENSE.
SUSPECT: LVPD 0702011716NS
VICTIM
DATE AND TIME OF RECOVERY: 2-1-07
RECOVERED BY: NS
DESCRIPTION AND/OR LOCATION
DESKTOP EVIDENCE
S. HEINZ
SEALED BY: NS DATE: 2-1-07
(Keppler puts the items down on the table. He looks at the two death
certificates and then notices the desktop calendar. He takes the calendar out
of the box and looks at the indentions on the paper.)
(He scans the paper in the computer, then dusts the paper to bring out the
indentions.)
(Quick flash of: Salvatore Heinz writes over the signature, then flips to the
death certificate to forge the signature. End of flashback.)
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM 1]
(Keppler shows Salvatore Heinz a photocopy of the various signature indentions
found on his desktop calendar.)
KEPPLER: Dr. Stewart, Dr. Klein, Dr. Combs, Dr. Jones.
SALVATORE HEINZ: That's not my handwriting.
KEPPLER: Well that's the point of forgery, isn't it, Mr. Heinz? A man dies of
leukemia, and his body comes into your mortuary, and you decide to ... sell his
spare parts for a few extra bucks. Only problem is, nobody wants to buy
diseased body parts, so you make a new death certificate, change the COD, sign
off with a legit doctor's signature, and cash a check from Ty Miloni.
INTERCUT WITH:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM 2]
(Sofia interviews Ty Miloni.)
TY MILONI: I'm so disappointed with Mr. Heinz. He always seemed so honest.
SOFIA: Have you ever followed up on any of the patients who received parts from
the Silver Hills Mortuary?
TY MILONI: No. That's the hospital's job. But as far as I know, none of the
recipients have ever complained.
NICK: Maybe that's 'cause they're not around anymore. We followed up on
several patients who received Silver Hills bone and tissue from your clinic and
now seven of them are dead. Three from hepatitis, three from cancer, and one
AIDS-related. The same thing ironically killed the donors.
SOFIA: One of those victims was a 15-year-old healthy high school soccer
player. You gave him a contaminated kneecap.
TY MILONI: Oh, my God.
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM 1]
SALVATORE HEINZ: He came to me!
KEPPLER: You harvested diseased body parts and sold them under false pretenses.
SALVATORE HEINZ: He told me what to do. He ... he said it was safe!
KEPPLER: But you didn't have to do it, did you, Mr. Heinz? You took money, and
people died. Now, whether or not we got him -- we got you.
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM 2]
TY MILONI: You've got nothing on me. I don't care what that .. little body
snatcher tells you.
SOFIA: The families are going to sue you and your company into bankruptcy.
TY MILONI: They can try. That is what signed release forms are for.
NICK: You're reopening a very nasty, old wound for them, now.
TY MILONI: Uh-uh. I didn't do anything.
SOFIA: Because of you ... they're going to have to rebury their mother, their
father, their son, their daughter.
(Ty scoffs.)
NICK: Ty ... let me tell you something. I'm gonna come down to that clinic ...
and I'm going to go through it piece by piece by piece. And if something
doesn't jibe, I can assure you, sir, I will find it.
TY MILONI: Well, that is your job, isn't it?
NICK: Yes, it is.
TY MILONI: And you'll have my full cooperation.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY (STOCK) – DAY]
[INT. CSI – HALLWAY – DAY]
(Sara reads a file and shares her findings with Warrick.)
SARA: I did a little background on Jesse, the host. He was in and out of
eleven different foster homes. Brass accessed his juvie records. He had
multiple arrests for prostitution, and drug possession.
WARRICK: Kid had a hard life if he had to take it to the streets to make a
buck.
SARA: We still need his DNA, and if he did kill Margo, he's not just gonna give
it up.
WARRICK: What about the vomit that we found in the toilet at the crime scene?
SARA: What about it?
WARRICK: Well, the hosts drink a lot and throw up a lot. Busboy says he always
finds blood in the toilets. If Jesse's a host, chances are he's throwing up
blood, too.
CUT TO:
[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT – INTERVIEW ROOM – DAY]
(Sara interviews Jesse Hottman. She shows him the DNA results.)
SARA: Jesse, we found your DNA in Margo Dorton's toilet. I thought that you
said that you didn't see your relationships outside of the club.
JESSE HOTTMAN: Unless, of course, the relationship is ending.
BRASS: Oh yeah, that's a cold word for it -- for murder.
JESSE HOTTMAN: I didn't kill her, all right? I ended the relationship and I
bounced. Champagne got me sick.
BRASS: No, I don't think it was the champagne, Jesse. I think it was Margo.
She was coming to see you for a couple of months, spending a lot of money, you
were running your pro-game, you know, doing the host thing. Holding her hand,
touching, consoling her. Laying on the old Jesse magic. But then she laid some
pretty heavy information on you.
(Quick flashback to: Margot talks with Jesse.)
MARGOT DORTON: I want you to come home with me.
JESSE HOTTMAN: So you want to end the relationship?
BACK TO SCENE.
BRASS: I guess you thought, you know ... here's Margo, this cougar ... wants to
take me back to the love pit, end the relationship. Sexy time. But it didn't
turn out that way, did it?
(Quick flashback to: Margot and Jesse are sitting on her couch. Jesse tries to
kiss her. She pulls away.)
MARGOT DORTON: Jesse, I ...
(He tries to kiss her again.)
JESSE HOTTMAN: Shh ...
(She pushes him away.)
MARGOT DORTON: Jesse, no.
(She smiles at him.)
MARGOT DORTON: Look, um ... I have something I need to show you. Okay?
(She stands up and gets the photo album. She shows him photos of her with the
baby.)
MARGOT DORTON: This is you. I'm your mother, Jesse. I've waited my entire
life to tell you this. I love you. I'm sorry.
(He picks up the champagne bottle and beats her.)
MARGOT DORTON: No!
(She falls to the couch.)
(CUT TO: Margot is dead on the floor, the photo album under her. Jesse looks
around. He runs to the bathroom, puts the champagne bottle on the floor and
throws up in the toilet.)
(He picks up the bottle and wipes it.)
BACK TO SCENE.
BRASS: You look a little pale, Jesse. Are you getting this?
JESSE HOTTMAN: She lied to me. Said she hired some private investigator to
find me. Said she'd been building up the nerve to tell me the truth. Said she
had a lot to make up for. And that, uh ... I could have her car. And that I
didn't have to work anymore.
SARA: You thought those were lies?
JESSE HOTTMAN: (nods) Yeah, lies to get closer to me. All my clients have
their tactics. But hers was ... insane.
SARA: She wasn't lying to you, Jesse. You have 13 alleles in common. You
killed your mother.
JESSE HOTTMAN: (upset) Then take me to jail. You know, call me a killer ... a
murderer, whatever, but don't tell me I have a mother ... because I don't. I
never did. And I never will.
CUT TO:
[EXT. LAS VEGAS CITY LIGHTS (STOCK) – EARLY EVENING]
[INT. CSI – KEPPLER’S OFFICE]
(Keppler sits behind his desk, looking at the funeral program for AMY McCARTY.)
(He shakes himself and slips the program back into his folder. He gets up and
leaves the office.)
CUT TO:
[INT. CSI – HALLWAY OUTSIDE FORENSIC AUTOPSY]
(Keppler heads for autopsy. Nick walks out, his arms full of evidence bags from
the Longevity Tissue Services.)
NICK: Hey.
KEPPLER: Need some help?
NICK: Aren't you off shift?
KEPPLER: Yeah. Are you?
NICK: Yeah. Yeah, thanks. I'll be back in a minute.
(Nick leaves.)
[INT. CSI – FORENSIC AUTOPSY -- CONTINUOUS]
(Keppler walks into Autopsy. There’s a dark-haired woman on the table. When
Keppler looks at her, he sees AMY McCARTY in her white nightgown.)
(We hold on Keppler.)
VOICE: (whisper) Keppler?
(Keppler turns around and looks behind him.)
FADE TO BLACK.
THE END.
