Body of Proof s01e03 Episode Script

Oh, thank you, sir.
I thought you were supposed to have the day off today.
I had the whole thing planned out.
A new book, an old Bordeaux and some stinky cheese.
- So, what happened? - Short-staffed, I guess.
Dr.
Matheson's wife had a baby.
I didn't even know he was married.
I'm shocked.
You printed it, right? Turn the infernal thing off, would you? - You're a liar and a cheat - Good morning, detective.
Soon to be afternoon, then night and then the whole monotonous shebang just Groundhog Day's back up on itself.
This girl could be hardly more than 24.
Twenty-three.
Elena Rosas' ID says she's from Wynnefield.
The body was discovered by the maid after she heard the gunshot.
Did she have any personal belongings, luggage? Just a purse.
There was a cell phone and a wallet but no money or car keys.
Maybe a robbery gone bad, huh? She's well-groomed, nicely-dressed.
She doesn't belong here.
There is a distinct lack of blood around the body and people don't usually die from a single gunshot wound to the arm.
And here's where you tell me she's actually made of straw or was born with three hearts.
How about you give me the cause of death so I can move on with my day? I'd be happy to, detective.
If I knew what it was.
Our victim paid cash and didn't sign the register.
Imagine that.
What was she doing in this place? I doubt it was for the continental breakfast and the free Wi-Fi.
Maybe she's a prostitute.
She was wearing a business suit.
It's not exactly the sexiest outfit.
Unless you're into that sort of thing.
Anyway, in typical no-tell motel fashion, our manager knows nothing.
Except that she showed up in a car.
And I quote, one of those "boxy" Japanese jobs.
And now it's gone.
Okay.
Hey, what's up with Bud today? - Oh, again? - Yep.
It's gonna be one of those days.
Oh, sorry.
I was just rearranging your instruments.
The new diener had them completely out of order.
How do you know what order I want them in? Well, you know, they don't call me Eagle Eye Ethan for nothing.
Nobody calls me that.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What was that all about this morning at the crime scene? What was what all about? You and Sam.
The arched eyebrows, the sighing.
You mean to tell me you didn't notice? There was a murder victim to attend to.
I think that takes precedence over Whatever it is you're going to tell me.
Bud's mood, the way he was barking at everybody? God, isn't he always like that? Buddy's having problems with his wife again.
I thought he was divorced.
You know, if you applied that laser focus you have to the people around you, you wouldn't have to ask.
Elena Rosas looks to be in very good physical condition.
She has two lacerations on the gums above the right upper lateral incisor.
There's some kind of dried liquid on her blouse.
Run that after you put the clothes on the drying rack.
No problem.
Also, swab this right forefinger.
Looks like there's some kind of blue ink on it.
Bruises on the right forearm.
Matching ones on her left.
Cuts in the mouth, bruises on the arm.
Looks like she might have tried to fight off her killer.
That's why she didn't bleed very much.
It's an ABC wound.
ABC? A, being the initial entry wound.
The bullet travels through the arm providing B, the exit wound.
And C is the re-entry wound in her torso.
And the arm was pressed against the body as she fell, preventing blood loss.
So she was killed by a shot in the arm.
Let's get some pictures.
- There's the bullet.
- It's in bad shape.
It's not unusual since it impacted several bones on its way in.
Looks like it punctured the ascending aorta.
She bled out internally.
So that's our cause of death.
I know that Bud and Sam are tearing that motel room apart, but it's gonna be near impossible for them to tie a deformed bullet to the shooter's gun without the striations.
Megan.
Come back to me.
Look at that.
Surgical clips.
She had brain surgery.
I have to see what was done to her.
Once a neurosurgeon The scarring looks to be at least a few years old.
Clean sutures.
Nice work.
- Oh, my God.
- What? What is it? This girl She was one of my patients.
How are you doing? How could I not recognize a former patient? I'm still wondering what tipped you off exactly.
Neurosurgeons all perform surgery in their own unique way.
It's almost like a signature.
Some drill more than one hole in the skull.
And for that particular surgery, I usually drilled three.
I also beveled the bone edges so that they were smooth and used five millimeter burr hole covers to cap the bone removal.
And those surgical clips Medical file came for you.
From Northeast General.
Isn't that where you? You're welcome.
Isn't that where you used to work? Elena Rosas was one of her patients.
Six years ago.
She'd had an arteriovenous malformation in her brain.
Abnormal tangle of blood vessels that forms before birth.
You can live your whole life and not even know you have one.
But she slipped near a swimming pool causing hers to rupture.
You saved her life.
You think that would make me remember her.
You've had hundreds of patients before and after.
- You can't be expected to remember - Wait, I do remember her.
I couldn't embolize the deep feeders from the left middle cerebral artery because of the risk of aphasia so I mobilized the AVM nidus.
That's good, right? I can't remember Elena Rosas as a patient but I can remember her as a surgical procedure? A lot's changed since then.
Has it? - Where are you going? - I am going to apologize the way I can: Try to find her killer.
Excuse me.
I was told to see Dr.
Hunt? Mr.
Rosas.
- Oh, hey.
- Ethan.
Did you run those trace samples on Elena Rosas? Yeah.
Yeah.
The blue dye on her finger was too diluted to get a reading on.
But the crusty trace on her blouse was milk.
Milk? What kind? - Human.
- Go ahead and say it, Ethan.
Breast milk.
Go on.
Okay, I don't have to.
You just did.
- So her baby spit up on her.
- Except Elena wasn't lactating.
And we didn't see any changes in the shape of her cervical os.
So she's never even been pregnant.
Well, whose baby was it then? Well, we That test really doesn't give us a name.
Or am I missing something? I didn't expect to see you here.
You're no longer with Northeast General? No, I gave up my practice a few years ago.
I'm a medical examiner now.
Oh, so you've seen - My baby.
- I am so sorry, Mr.
Rosas.
You know, you were actually a big influence on her.
- I was? - Oh, you remember.
Elena's mother died when she was very young.
She grew up without many women around.
No role models.
And then she fell and needed the operation.
When she opened her eyes again, you were the first thing she saw.
This brilliant woman who gave her her life back.
She decided then she wanted to make a difference.
Like you.
Thank you for telling me that.
She became a social worker with Child Protective Services.
She sounds like an admirable young woman.
She was.
Hardworking, selfless.
Never took time for herself.
I urged her to move out of the house, to find somebody.
Maybe start her own family.
She said there were too many other families to take care of first.
How could anybody do this to her? We are going to find out, Mr.
Rosas.
I promise you that.
Elena's supervisor is on a phone call.
He'll be right with us.
- Where's Bud? - I convinced him to take a long lunch.
Because of his wife? - What? - Sorry about that.
Jeremy Nichols.
Can't believe what happened.
Mr.
Nichols, we just have a few questions for you.
How long did Elena work here? About a year and a half.
And your department oversees the city's foster care program? They also investigate any reported instances of child abuse or neglect.
That's correct.
So it would be pretty standard for Elena to get in the middle of volatile situations? All too standard.
Did Elena ever receive any threats? Well, if she did, she never mentioned any.
She was pretty tough.
I really admired her.
Can we see her cases? Sure.
We're all forced to bite off more than we can chew.
But Elena handled her share and more.
How do you mean? Well, we're pressured to close cases within 30 days.
But she did follow-up visits for as long as it took.
As long as what took? For her to be sure that the minor was being treated in a way that satisfied her and not just the system.
With our volume, you can start to see these kids as case files and statistics, but she really got to know each and every one of them.
Did Elena have ever any business at the Midtown Motel on Jackson Street? I can't see why.
That area's not even in her territory.
Then where was she supposed to be? Well, she had five home visits scheduled this morning.
I have no way of knowing which ones she got around to visiting.
I do.
She had dried breast milk on her blouse.
Do any of those cases involve a baby? Hello? You Holly Bennett? Sorry, we were on a walk when I got your call.
I came as soon as I could.
Here, baby.
I'll just be a second, okay? Elena was killed? I just saw her this morning.
We realize that, which is why we've come to ask a few questions.
Oh, sure.
What about? Child Protective Services stopped by a few months ago to investigate a possible domestic violence situation.
Yeah, it was just my boyfriend, Freddy.
He yelled a lot.
Yeah, Elena didn't find any evidence of abuse, but she did find cocaine.
Didn't she take your baby away from you until the two of you were drug tested? Yeah, those drugs were Freddy's.
I never touched the stuff and the test proved it.
I got Tessa back.
We checked every home she was supposed to visit and she never made it to any of them.
That's a long time to spend just with you.
Yeah, she noticed I was depressed.
- About what? - Freddy.
I kicked him out.
Thanks to Elena.
I mean, she said being a parent is a lot more than just biology, that you had to earn the right.
I don't regret it at all.
But, you know, sometimes it's hard being alone.
Did Elena hold your baby when she was here? Yeah, they were playing.
She's great with kids.
Tessa spit up on her.
She didn't even blink.
She would have been a great mom.
Do you have any idea where she might have gone after she left your house? I'm not sure.
But she did get a phone call.
Do you happen to know who that might have been? No, but she sounded a little stressed.
And she took off pretty quick.
I just wanted to see how things were going.
Sam is poring over Elena's case files.
I want to get a closer look at this bullet.
No, I actually meant how are things going with you? Fine.
I'm fine.
It's not that hard, you know.
To connect with people.
Just take an interest.
What are you talking about? Nothing.
So the bullet.
You were looking for something? Yeah, it is a.
32 and too deformed to run through ballistics, just like Peter thought.
But I thought I'd like to see if there was anything else.
Like that.
There's something caked on the bullet.
So it hit something before it entered our victim.
Yeah, but not something.
Someone.
You found another person's skin on the tip of the bullet? How do you know it doesn't belong to the victim? Elena Rosas was Hispanic.
That skin showed a distinct lack of pigment.
It's Caucasian.
I sent a sample to the DNA lab.
Maybe we'll get an ID.
Someone else was shot in that motel room.
The question is did the killer get shot in a struggle or do we have another victim out there? CSU processed the entire room and the only blood they found was Elena's.
There were no spatter patterns.
No spatter means no trajectory.
We have no way of knowing where Elena was standing when she was shot.
And no idea where the shooter was in the room either.
We did find a busted-out window in the bathroom.
May have been the killer's entry and exit points.
- But there were no biologicals.
- Where does that leave us? I'm still stuck on what she was doing in that motel room in the first place.
Holly Bennett said Elena got a phone call.
From a payphone.
Are we sure Elena that wasn't doing any other social services on the side? She wasn't a prostitute, okay? Fine, whatever.
What happened here? Okay, could you leave me alone? I'm just saying.
Sam spoke to Elena's father and he didn't know of anybody she was seeing.
But if she did wanna see somebody under the radar, that motel would be perfect.
I think he would know.
They were living under the same roof.
Even the most observant person in the world can miss what's going on right in front of them.
If you are so sure that she was hiding something, then let's go find out for ourselves.
Fine.
But we're taking two cars.
- Dr.
Hunt.
- I'm sorry to bother you, Mr.
Rosas.
This is my colleague, Detective Bud Morris.
- Sir, I'm very sorry for your loss.
- Thank you.
Would you mind if we came in? Oh, of course not.
Please, come in.
Please.
You mentioned that you encouraged Elena to get out more to try and meet somebody.
Did she ever follow your advice? No.
Like I told the other detective, she never went out.
Except for work.
Would you mind if we took a look at your daughter's bedroom? It's at the end of the hall.
If you don't mind, I can't go in.
Not yet.
Thank you.
I heard you took a long lunch yesterday.
What are you, my time clock now? You wanna talk about it? Talk about what? Your wife.
I can't take an interest? Why now, all of a sudden? Never mind.
She says I take her for granted, then I blow up.
Then she blows up.
Tells me I'm married more to my job than to her.
Then she's glad we never had kids.
I tell her somebody's gotta pay the mortgage and she gets pissed.
Kicks me out.
My stuff goes flying out the window and I find myself picking everything out of the bushes, wondering which hotel has the best minibar.
So much for sharing.
Check it out.
Philly Floral Works.
Elena had an admirer.
"Hope you reconsider.
" "Jeremy.
" Mr.
Nichols, you neglected to tell us you had a thing for Elena.
We spent a lot of time together.
It was natural.
For you.
Maybe not for her.
What were you hoping she would reconsider when you gave her the flowers? We had a dinner date last week but she cancelled.
Said she didn't feel right about going out with her boss.
Sounds like she was trying to tell you to leave her alone.
No, no.
She was just shy.
Found this by the trash.
Guess the flowers didn't work.
Believe me, I am a connoisseur of failed romantic gestures.
Bet you that rejection pissed you off.
- Lift up your shirt sleeves.
- What for? Caucasian skin was found on the bullet that killed Elena.
Take off the bandage, please.
Look like a bullet wound to you? No.
It's a bite mark.
- Are we done here? - You're not exactly off the hook.
Elena had cuts in her mouth and bruises on both arms.
You get violent with her? Okay.
Okay.
I went over to her house the day before she was killed.
With the flowers.
Her father was out.
She read the card and she just started freaking out.
- How so? - Shaking, clenching her jaw.
It was like she was having some kind of seizure.
- What did you do? - I tried to help her.
That's when she bit me.
How long did the seizure last? I don't know.
Not more than 20, 30 seconds.
- What did you do after? - She was upset.
She told me to take the flowers and leave, so I did.
That's the last time I saw her, I swear.
Curtis, have you seen Ethan? Wait.
There it is.
Your victim's brain? And our prime suspect is saying she had a seizure.
- What? - Nothing.
That look's never nothing.
I was just wondering how you've been.
Because I took two personal days? They don't roll over, you know.
No, that's not what I meant.
L What'd you do? Anything fun? You've been riding me since you got here.
And now you wanna get to know me better? Fine.
Be like that.
The truth is, there's not much to know.
Ethan, on the other hand, now that boy's interesting.
How so? He's an accomplished chef of Indian food, likes extreme camping and has memorized every James Bond movie.
- Really? - Oh, yeah.
Girl, he's got layers.
Thought you'd like to know.
The DNA came back on the foreign tissue from that bullet.
PD matched it to a kid named Sean Wilcox, released from juvie two days ago after serving time for weapons possession.
Apparently, he's got a cell phone.
They're triangulating the signal now.
Hands up.
On your head.
Go back inside, nothing to see.
Sean Wilcox.
Let me guess.
You cut yourself shaving? You knew Elena Rosas.
She was your caseworker.
She was assigned to you a year ago when you were still in foster care.
She found that gun on you.
Maybe you figured you'd get revenge.
- It wasn't like that.
- You fled the scene in her car.
I didn't kill her, okay? When she busted me, I never wanted to see her again.
But she kept coming to juvie to check on me, week after week.
Finally I asked her, "Why don't you leave me the hell alone?" You know what she said? Said a lot of people would fail me but she never would.
She'd be there to help when I got out.
She was the first person to ever really come through for me.
And now she's dead.
Elena rented that motel room for you, didn't she? Yeah.
She said she'd float me till I got a job.
What happened at the motel yesterday morning, Sean? Miss Rosas showed me the room.
She gave me a key.
Then she had to go to work.
I was tired.
I turned on the TV, fell asleep on the bed.
- For how long? - Couple hours until she came back.
Checking on me again, I guess.
I heard her open the door, I got up.
I bent down to pick my shirt up off the chair and then, boom, a shot.
- Coming from where? - I don't know.
Didn't even know I was hit until I stood up.
- And then I saw her.
- Okay.
If you didn't shoot Elena, why run? Who's gonna believe me? You? Excuse me, I need to change that bandage.
That is some infection.
- You have Culturette swabs here? - Yeah.
Get me four swabs, please.
Didn't see the shooter.
In a 15-by-20 room.
You really think he shot himself in the neck and then killed Elena? I've seen weirder.
You read his file.
That kid's had a rough go.
You don't come back from that after one helping hand.
Elena sounds more like a force of nature than a helping hand.
Okay, so if he did kill her, then why didn't he keep running? I mean, why was he at that wrecking yard only five miles away from the crime scene? Maybe that wasn't a coincidence.
Sean? Hello? Who is this? Philly P.
D.
And you are? Vincent Stone.
What do you want? To know why Sean Wilcox called your number six times the past day alone.
- He in some trouble? - I don't know.
You're the one who spoke to him.
You tell us.
Of course I talk to him.
I'm like a father figure to Sean.
Only constant he's had in his life.
Well, considering he's now a murder suspect, that doesn't speak highly of you, does it? - Murder? - Are you familiar with Elena Rosas? Never heard of her.
Let's try that again.
You got blue dye on your neck.
You know, it's funny.
Our murder victim had the same thing on her finger.
So? So the new pepper sprays are infused with colored dyes.
It makes it easier to identify attackers.
You know Elena Rosas now? Fine.
I met the broad two days ago.
Only because she came here looking for me.
Trying to tell me to stay away from Sean.
So you got violent, she defended herself.
Violent, no.
Pissed, yeah.
Told her to get the hell off my property.
She wouldn't leave, when I grabbed her arm, she sprayed that crap all over me.
Now why would Elena tell you to stay away from Sean unless you were part of his troubles in the first place? That gun that Elena found on Sean didn't belong to him.
It belonged to you, didn't it? Elena got a call right before she was killed from a payphone two blocks from here.
Oh, you didn't want that call traced because that was the call that sent Elena hurrying back to the motel to take care of Sean.
And that's when you killed her.
That's a really good story.
Why don't you come back when you have some proof, all right? I'm going back to work.
Hey.
What are you doing? A bullet grazed one of our suspects and the wound showed an advanced infection.
I sent a swab to Microbiology for a culture and sensitivities and a culture for fungus and AFB.
But I'm also doing my own Gram stain.
To see what infected it.
Do you mind if l? No.
So You like James Bond, right? James Bond? What, are you kidding? You want a little wine with that cheese? No, thank you.
I mean, unless you like James Bond.
You like to cook.
What's your specialty? I'm not following that.
I don't cook.
You don't go extreme camping? - I don't even know what that is.
- Well, then what the hell do you like? I don't I'm sorry, I don't know.
I'm I like I like this.
The job, the science.
I got you.
Hey.
- I do too.
- Yeah.
You see the India ink anywhere, Eagle Eye? Check that out.
What is that? Sean Wilcox had a fungal infection in his wound.
Cryptococcus neoformans, to be exact.
- Morris.
- Where are you? Back at the motel.
If we can put Vincent Stone in the room, we got him.
Sean Wilcox got infected with a Cryptococcus neoformans fungus.
You get it by being near pigeon droppings.
The dried feces can become airborne contaminating anything in its vicinity.
I'm sure this has a point besides utterly grossing me out.
Don't you get it? The bullet transferred the fungus onto Sean's skin.
It must have passed through something with the fungus on it before hitting him.
- Like a dirty window screen.
- Like a dirty window screen.
Nice one, doctor.
The shot didn't come from inside the room.
Because the shooter was standing outside.
Let's do a little role-playing here.
If we believe Sean Wilcox, he was asleep on the bed.
Remind me to boil myself later.
All right, so Elena came in here.
All right, and she fell here, which means She was standing about here, all right? So Sean gets up, he grabs his shirt The bullet flies through the screen, grazes my neck and sails right into your arm.
- Too late? - Oh, no, you're right on time.
You see that hole in the screen? Don't touch it unless you want bird poop disease.
You're the shooter.
Line up with us.
Got it.
The shooter was standing right about here.
Casing ejects back to the right.
Truck here, truck here.
Our killer left a.
32-caliber casing behind.
Breech marks can tie the casing back to the gun that fired it.
One thing.
We don't have the gun.
I thought you said that Vincent Stone was behind Sean's weapon possessions charge.
Well, my hunch and a bullet casing do not a warrant make.
And I don't see Stone inviting us to search his property for guns.
I know one person who may be ready to help us.
Officer, may I have a minute, please? Sean, we've become aware of a few things since we last spoke.
Did you know Elena confronted Vincent on your behalf? - What? - She blasted him with pepper spray.
Told him to leave you alone because she knew that you used to work for him.
Doing what, Sean? I don't wanna talk about it.
You know, Vincent doesn't have a record, but he's no saint.
He lets guys like you do his dirty work for him.
Selling guns, moving stolen cars.
That's why you ran back to him after the murder.
Because it's what you know.
Sean, did you ever think that maybe that was exactly his plan? Okay, I'm gonna tell you something that most people don't know.
I was a foster kid.
Yeah, I bounced around for a while and then I got lucky.
You know, I got adopted into a good home.
Loving parents, three sisters.
Instant family.
But some of those scars never fade, Sean.
I know that you think that Vincent may have been helping you out.
When you got nothing, any hand that reaches out to you in the darkness just seems like it's worth grabbing hold of.
I know that.
But Vincent is a bad guy, okay? And Elena knew it.
And she put her life on the line helping you out.
And that may have gotten her killed.
So, what? What do I do now? You do the right thing by the only person who ever came through for you.
If Vincent is selling illegal guns, you need to tell us where they are.
- Look at you.
- Yeah, early dinner date.
Who's the mystery man? Just a guy.
It's still pretty new.
- Well, good luck.
- Thanks.
- So you wanted to see me? - Yeah.
I just wanted to say congrats on the Cryptococcus finding.
Yeah, it's nice when pigeon crap can serve a useful purpose.
Yeah.
That's an understatement.
They seized over a hundred guns from Vincent Stone's property.
Was one of them the murder weapon? We don't know yet.
They have to test all the.
32s to match the casing to the gun that fired it.
And it would've been helpful if there had been a print or some DNA on the casing but there was no such luck.
The only thing trace analysis found was rice flour, of all things.
Rice flour? Can I see that? What? What is it? They can fire all the weapons they want, but they're wasting their time.
Vincent didn't do it.
Let me get this straight.
I've got four CSUs working overtime test-firing all of Vincent Stone's guns to prove he committed murder but instead, you want me to arrest someone completely different, based on flour.
Rice flour, actually.
Fortified with Bifidobacterium infantis.
- It's a probiotic.
- Like the good bacteria in yogurt.
Helps digestion.
He made sensible eating choices.
Good for him.
It's not for adults.
It's for babies.
Hence, the infantis.
It's in baby cereal.
Wait, the bullet casing had baby food on it? The shooter transferred it to the bullet when the magazine was being loaded.
Vincent Stone doesn't have kids.
Right.
But I know someone who does.
- Yes? - Step outside, please, Miss Bennett.
What is it? Jeremy.
Excuse me.
Where are they going? Excuse me.
You know why we're here.
You killed Elena Rosas.
What? No.
- Why would I do something like that? - That's what we were wondering.
When Elena came to your place three months ago and found those drugs I told you.
Those were my ex's.
I didn't I tested clean.
But cocaine can clear the system a day after ingestion.
Elena knew that.
That's why she came here yesterday.
She catch you using again? Threaten to take your baby away? What? You guys have it all wrong.
Really? Anything a mother puts in her body can end up in her breast milk.
- So? - So your baby spit up on Elena.
Remember? You admitted it.
I ran a tox screen.
Your milk contained metabolites that are specific to cocaine.
- You passed the drug to your kid.
- What? No.
Every time a social worker suspects drug use, a drug test is automatically ordered.
- Elena was going to order one on you.
- No, no.
You knew Elena would keep you to that test.
You knew you'd fail and that you'd lose your baby for good.
So you followed Elena to the motel.
Sean? You killed somebody who actually cared about you and your child.
And now you've lost them both.
No.
No, no, no.
Please, baby.
Tessa.
Tessa.
You can't do this.
Stop it.
You're under arrest for the murder of Elena Rosas.
- She's everything I have.
- You have the right to remain silent.
Please.
She's everything I have.
Please.
Tessa.
I wanted to be the one to tell you.
Did her job have something to do with it? You have any kids? A daughter.
It's so difficult to raise children, isn't it? All the work you do trying to protect them from the world.
But the hardest part of all? Letting them go.
I knew her work was dangerous.
My heart tightened every time she left in the morning.
But I couldn't stop her from doing what she loved.
Elena touched so many lives.
I witnessed it myself.
By helping those who are too young and too innocent to help themselves, what she did will long outlive her.
Outlive all of us.
Thank you.
Don't you ever sleep? Actually, I came to see you.
Well, if this is about work, I just - I can't, not right now.
- No, no, it's not.
You're divorced.
How'd you know when it was? Oh, I didn't.
He did.
As usual, I just I missed all the signs.
Yeah, recurring theme in my life, I guess.
How are you and your wife doing? Well, I can't go back.
Not for a couple of days, at least.
It's just I'm not ready to give up, you know? Not just because I'm Catholic.
I loved Jeannie since the day we met.
It'll all work out in the end.
It's the middle that's the hard part.
I can't sew.
You know, neurosurgery is a lot like sewing.
I think I can handle it.
See you tomorrow, detective.
Tomorrow, doctor.