CSI: Vegas (2021) s02e06 Episode Script
There's the Rub
1
Jeremiah was a bullfrog ♪
Was a good friend of mine ♪
I never understood
a single word he said ♪
But I helped him drink his wine ♪
- Oh, scusi.
- Hey! Idiot!
And he always had
some mighty fine wine ♪
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
Joy to you and me ♪
If I were the king of the world ♪
I tell you what I'd do ♪
I'd throw away the car
and the bar and the war ♪
Make sweet love to you ♪
Sing now, joy to the world ♪
- Ah, buongiorno, Silver.
- All the boys and girls ♪
Prego.
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
Joy to you and me ♪
I'm a high life flyer
and a rainbow rider ♪
A straight-shootin' son of a gun ♪
Joy to the world ♪
All the boys and girls ♪
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
- Joy to you and me. ♪
- Was I right?
Somebody knock it down to negative ten?
Yep.
Still got it.
You can take the girl out of Chi-town
You know, I came up solving
frozen-body cases like this.
I did everything you do, plus
Walk ten miles in the snow?
As a matter of fact
Where are your damn coats?
This is a coat.
That's a glorified jean jacket.
All right, you're gonna
end up like this fella,
whoever he is.
Do we know?
Do we know?
Max, come on.
That's Dario Donnelly, as in Dario.
Of Dario.
- Uh-uh.
- Come on, Michelin-star chef
of the restaurant we're standing in.
- Huge social?
- Oh.
Yeah, oh, that Dario.
You seem pretty excited.
It's kind of creepy.
So is this knife wound.
Mr. Dario barely bled from it.
It's almost like he was stabbed
after he was frozen.
Blood does freeze at about
the same temperature as water.
Yeah, but the blade's not very deep.
Stuck right between
ribs seven and eight.
I don't think it killed him, either.
Could be somebody was just decorating.
Who would do something like this?
The man was a massive talent.
He helped feed the unhoused.
He had incredible bone structure.
Looks like he was chiseled
by Michelangelo.
- Goodness gracious.
- This must be really hard for you.
To lose someone you follow on TikTok.
I think I'm being perfectly
professional about this.
Look, I'll check with security, but
it's a pretty good spot for a murder.
Out of sight of the cameras out front.
Uh-oh, look at this.
"I'm so sorry"?
Wow.
Nice of the killer to sign his work.
But not sorry enough to confess.
You're gonna be sorry, bub.
Hey, fanboy, get a shot of this.
"Fanboy".
Why do you think
they took off his shoes?
Couldn't tell you.
Don't be so sure the killer did that.
None of y'all ever heard of
paradoxical undressing?
Never seen it,
but I suppose it's possible.
What's possible?
- Go on.
- Freezing to death makes
your circulatory system stop working.
Blood stops pumping to your core,
warm blood collects
in your arms and legs,
making your extremities feel
scalding hot by comparison.
Your brain's not getting
enough blood, either.
You become delirious.
- You start shedding clothes.
- Yeah.
All right, so we can dust
for prints, but
Dario probably took off
his own shoes and socks.
That is textbook peripheral
vasodilatation.
Kind of hard to say what happened first.
He was definitely trapped
in here long enough
to freeze solid.
And it doesn't take that long.
Yeah, uh, could we do
Corpsicle 101 outside?
Uh-huh.
I don't want to become one.
Oh, man, I just can't warm up.
Oh, me, neither.
Okay, come on, you guys,
circle up, circle up.
Okay, the thing you gotta realize,
subarctic temperatures can
be a blessing and a curse.
Yeah, the ice man giveth,
the ice man taketh away.
Yes, let's start with "taketh away".
You cannot autopsy
a block of ice, right?
Uh, last time I called
the Butterball hotline,
they had some pretty simple tips
on defrosting.
But we ain't making dinner.
If we warm Dario over 38 degrees,
his flesh will start to decompose
while his internal organs
are still frozen.
Ugh.
What about time of death? Cause?
I mean, are we gonna
have to wait, like, days
till he warms up?
On some answers, yes.
But we will roll with
the evidence that we do have.
Well, maybe I can pull a print
from the message the killer left us.
Mm, we might find some on Dario himself.
That's something ice is good for.
Holds a latent, locks it in.
We should print the whole staff
since this was probably an inside job.
Yeah, you and I could go outside,
where the sun is shining.
- Uh, question.
- What's that?
Is someone feeling chilly?
Get out.
Get out. Come on.
Go to the fridge, get Dario,
take him back to the crypt.
And make sure you hold him upright.
- I don't need that man breaking in half, okay?
- Yep.
Am I a
You think I
You're not a suspect, Albert.
These are elimination prints.
- We know you touched Dario when you found him.
- Yes.
I go to help, but I see his eyes open.
I can never forget, you know?
Do you know if anyone
in the kitchen was angry
- at your boss?
- No.
Week before last, I-I start,
but I don't know anyone who hates Dario.
But he a tough man.
He remind me of, uh of my father.
Most of us hated Dario.
But those same people loved him, too.
He was tough, but he also cared.
Look what he did for
the unhoused of this city.
Dario was just a lot.
When's the last time you saw him?
Last night, after we closed.
He made family meal, like always,
then we all went home.
Who else has access to the kitchen?
Just us, the staff.
The customers were all gone.
You need an I.D. to get in
through the service tunnel.
It had to be one of us.
You don't seem upset.
Of course I'm upset.
I had so many plans for Dario.
I was going to make his life hell.
He cheated on me. Me!
You do know you're being questioned
for a murder investigation, right?
Now I'm never gonna get
the chance to get back at him.
It's so sad.
So you-you are sorry he's dead?
Of course I am.
He used to make this grilled cheese
Whoever killed him, they
never had that sandwich.
That man was a culinary genius.
But his whole public schtick
Saint Dario
that was 180 degrees off.
He was a raging egomaniac.
Nobody who worked in his kitchen
was ever good enough.
And you're the sous-chef,
so you got it worse than most, right?
See this?
"Silver".
That's what Dario called me.
Second place, 'cause I'd
never be a head chef.
But I wore it.
- He knew how to motivate.
- Motivated somebody
to put a knife in his ribs.
A knife with your initials
on it, right, Damien?
I saw it. It was mine.
But I left my knife kit here last night.
Anyone could have done it.
I'd never hurt that man.
Is that a luggage cart?
Uh-huh.
I explained what it was for
to the valets.
They said I could keep it.
I can't believe I'm about
to say this, but
- It's not cold enough?
- Not even close.
It must be some kind of cooking
oil to still be semi-viscous.
Okay, well, we need it frozen solid
if we're gonna make a cast
to look for latents.
Compressed air should make it easier
to make the Mikrosil cast.
Okay.
You know what's crazy?
Some people love this kind of weather.
They go skiing, they go snowboarding.
They move to places like Chicago.
And they love it.
Yeah, 'cause they can't hack the heat.
- That must be what it is.
- It totally is.
I mean, if you think about it,
we're the tough ones.
We're not the tough ones, are we?
People move to the desert to
help with their arthritis.
Of course we're not.
Jack, come on.
Have you ever seen frozen eyeballs?
I'm not not gonna look.
He doesn't like being stared at.
He didn't mention anything to me.
Did he say something to you?
Because I
Hey. Am I interrupting?
Well, we're working and you're not,
so kinda.
I've offended you in some way.
- Not yet.
- Okay, well,
we're gonna solve this
little mystery another day,
but right now I'm here to check
on our friend there, Dario.
I thought Dr. Roby was
running point on this case.
She is, but she's still
coming back from injury, so I
- You want to help her.
- Yeah.
That's actually kind of sweet.
It's ridiculous but sweet.
- Why is it ridiculous?
- Because you lack
a magic wand to wave away
Newton's law of thermodynamics.
Frozen dude's gotta warm up slowly.
This poor man's blood vessels
have not only been stabbed
and shredded by ice crystals,
but his cells are also dehydrated,
causing the membranes
to collapse and weaken.
The faster Dario thaws,
the faster those ice crystals
fuse and squeeze his cells
into even tighter spaces,
ultimately deforming them.
Do you want us to deform Dario's cells?
Uh, no, I don't want to
deform Dario's cells.
Then my assistant will let you know
when this man comes up to temp.
Jack. Jack will let you know.
In the meantime, you guys mind
if I take some pictures?
- Be my guest.
- Thanks.
Jack, could you help me out here?
Uh, yeah. My pleasure.
All right, nice.
Great. Neck.
So, if I adjust the contrast,
we should be able to see
- One second here.
- What?
I may not have a magic wand,
but I do have a buddy that's
gonna help me pull those prints.
Thanks.
Try thinking warm thoughts.
I'm thinking roaring fire.
Thicker socks.
Some more socks on top of that.
Oh, come on.
Weird. The Mikrosil cast
gives us prints but not on every letter.
Maybe the killer wrote
certain letters faster?
I guess it doesn't really matter.
We got plenty to work with.
Nice.
Is this your natural state?
You're just chugging coffee all day?
Caffeine's got
nothing to do with my mood.
Oh, that's not crack, is it?
Ruthenium tetroxide.
That's the real fun stuff here.
One of your favorite
unstable molecules, is it?
I'd put it on my Mount Rushmore.
Probably number three.
If we want to find out
who touched Dario around
the time that he froze solid,
there's nothing quite like this
temperamental diva of a crystal.
All right, show me what
your Diana Ross of rocks can do.
Mask up.
Three, two, one.
Nice prints. Ruthenium tetroxide?
Yours are pretty crisp, too.
- Mikrosil cast?
- Mm-hmm.
I can't remember the last time we pulled
- so many usable prints from a scene.
- Mm.
The ice man giveth.
What's wrong?
The killer didn't leave us that message.
Dario did.
Those were his prints in the oil.
Dario the victim?
He's the guy who wrote "I'm so sorry"?
That's sad, isn't it?
To die so full of regret.
- But what was he apologizing for?
- Mm-mm-mm.
Maybe he spat in someone's food.
I mean, that is what
we all worry happens back there.
- Right?
- I am now.
Actually, that might explain
Hey, look at the oil from the message.
What are all the flecks mixed in it?
That's what I've been wondering.
But since Dario wrote the
message, not the killer,
now I'm thinking it might just be
some sort of cooking spice.
If it all went down in the kitchen,
- I guess it wouldn't be surprising.
- Mm.
Not so fast. Frozen body cases
will surprise you.
They always do.
- Here's something.
- Hmm?
The prints on Dario's body
belong to Valerie Bianco.
The hostess.
Chavez did say Dario
was cheating on her.
Maybe she
And Damien Pak.
The sous-chef? Wait a minute.
He did have beef with Dario.
The guy even tattooed his name
- And Albert Santoni.
- Well, the dishwasher.
I mean, at least we know why
his prints are all over him.
And Holly Prince.
The doe-eyed server?
I'm sorry, you mean to tell me
after all that work
and freezing my nose off,
all we know is half the kitchen
staff could've killed him?
I didn't say it'd be a good surprise.
I don't know what to tell you.
Dario really made my, uh
appetite whet last night.
Yeah, we found your fingerprints
all over his face.
You can probably find even more, uh
you know.
You seemed pretty upset when you
told me he was cheating on you.
You find that out before
or after you slept with him that night?
I'll be honest. It was after.
He wouldn't tell me who, but I know
it was someone at the restaurant.
A love triangle.
That sounds complicated.
I'm not proud of it. I slapped him.
That's all I did to him.
You had motive, access.
So did this other bitch, whoever she is.
If you find out who it was,
will you tell me?
- No.
- No.
So, what was the nature
of your relationship
with Dario?
We worked together.
Mm.
We found your prints on his hands,
on his jacket and on his neck.
We fool around s-sometimes.
It wasn't serious.
It just started a few weeks ago.
No one knows.
Actually, the other woman Dario
was sleeping with also knows.
What other woman?
There was another woman?
Wh Who?
Yes, I touch, uh, Dario many time
- when I find him.
- We know, Albert.
You had every reason to help
your boss when you found him.
But some of your prints
were on his neck.
Under his collar.
And that-that didn't make sense to us.
I don't, um I
Sorry, uh, my English
Where'd you learn Italian?
You study abroad?
I studied an Italian gentleman
before my ex-husband.
He's talking about Damien,
- the sous-chef?
- Mm-hmm.
Ask him how things were
between him and Dario.
Everybody's had an excuse so far
except for Mr. Pak.
He's the only one that
didn't show up today.
He's at the restaurant.
Yeah, Valerie's story seems plausible.
They all do, actually.
- He close to temp yet?
- No.
Not even gonna check?
You've got unrealistic expectations
about corpse thawing.
Yeah, you kind of do.
I just thought, 'cause
he's starting to smell.
What? I haven't smelled anything.
Did you bring shrimp empanadas
for lunch again?
- It was one time.
- Wrong, Jack.
It wasn't. Because
shrimp juice is forever.
No, no, it's coming from
Dario, and it's not shrimp.
It smells like, um
nuts?
I swear I'm not crazy.
I can't smell anything,
but do you mean like almonds?
Yes! Almonds. That's exactly it.
But if you can't smell it,
then how'd you know that?
Well, Dario's body still doesn't have
bluish postmortem lividity.
A corpse at room temperature
will experience livor mortis.
Blood succumbs to gravity
and pools at its lowest point.
That's when the deoxygenation
of the hemoglobin forms
- deoxyhemoglobin.
- Body turns blue.
But that never happened with Dario
because he was frozen.
- He remained pink because
- Gravity couldn't do its thing.
The fact that he's still pink tells us
there's something else
going on here, though.
Because hemoglobin and oxygen
can't detach from one another.
As Dario thaws,
his body starts to release
hydrogen-based gases.
Gases that neither Jack nor I
apparently can smell.
Which means that Dario may have
actually died from
Really?
I-I swear, I was following you
until two seconds ago.
If the gas smells like bitter almonds
It means you two are in
the 25% of the population
- that can't smell benzaldehyde.
- The chemical that gives
a distinctive smell
to both almonds and
Cyanide.
So this guy wasn't just
stabbed and frozen.
He was also poisoned.
Someone really wanted him dead.
So, which method was the cause of death?
I'll let you know.
In about three days.
Hey, Damien.
What you got there?
Some mint?
And rosemary and marjoram.
- Gonna make a pork loin special.
- That's right.
You're taking over the restaurant
now that Dario's gone.
Is that why you were too busy
to come answer our questions?
Ooh, you mind if I take one of these?
Kind of what I was hoping to find.
Why's that?
You grind down enough peach pits,
and you get this compound
called amygdalin.
And do you know what that
breaks down into?
Uh, no.
Cyanide.
I'm gonna test this to see
if it's the same kind
that Dario ingested.
Come on, you didn't know that?
Cooking is chemistry, Damien.
I-I don't, uh I didn't
- So Dario was poisoned?
- And frozen.
And stabbed. And choked by you.
I'm not gonna apologize for that.
He apologized to me.
Back up.
We fought sometimes, yes.
Uh, physically. A shove. A smack.
I grabbed him by the neck when
he came at me the other night.
Why'd he do that?
I told him I was leaving.
I got a job interview,
and I was gonna
Baby bird's leaving the nest.
Yes, okay?
I saw him like a father. That's
why I would never hurt him.
You must be unfamiliar
with the stats on patricide.
No, no, no, we got over it.
We always do.
We made up by family meal.
You can ask anyone.
What about Valerie the server
or Holly the hostess?
Would either of them have
a reason to hurt Dario?
Actually, Valerie's the hostess,
and Holly's the server.
And as easy as it would be
for me to point fingers,
I really doubt it.
We all loved him best we could.
- Can I go now?
- Yeah.
Excuse me.
You doing okay?
I only ask because you
confused Holly and Valerie.
Yeah, I got, like, 12 cases on my desk.
It happens.
Sure. But I'm just curious, though.
You sleeping okay? Since your attack.
I'm just wondering.
- I've seen this kind of thing before.
- Uh-huh.
Actually, I've been there myself.
I know nights can be the hardest part.
Detective Chavez,
this is none of your
You were colder than me in that freezer,
even with your coat.
Your circadian rhythm's messed up,
and now you're a little foggy.
Wow, you got all the answers, huh?
- I'm just gonna tell you, try humming.
- Mm-hmm.
Uh, it releases melatonin or something.
- It worked for me.
- Mm.
Thanks. You're driving.
Oi-oi, there he is.
The man with the golden nose.
Cyanide, huh? That's the theory.
Unconfirmed.
We still can't test his body.
Hello, Chris. How are you?
Oh, I'm fine, Chris. Thanks for asking.
He won't get off his phone.
I think it's generational.
You're one year older than me.
So, I was thinking, even though we can't
test Dario, maybe we can
still figure out
how the poison got into his body.
Run some tests back at the kitchen?
Something he ate or drank
at that last supper they had?
Maybe. But the cyanide
only affected Dario.
I mean, no one else got sick.
Hey, what if Dario absorbed the cyanide
through his hands?
See, look. Dario was famous
for his spice rub.
No one knew what was in it.
No one was even allowed to touch it.
So, if the spice rub was laced
with the cyanide,
Dario easily could have
absorbed it through his skin.
I did find traces of a spice
in some of the letters
in Dario's message in the fridge.
And Dario always prepped
the next day's meat
at the end of dinner service,
so I've learned.
We should make sure
no one eats that meat.
A hundred percent.
Also, I cannot believe
I'm saying this, but
thank you
for spending the last
20 minutes on your phone.
It's a service I provide.
Beau.
Oh, you look broken.
Okay, hotshot, you try
adjusting the GC/MS sensitivity
so it has a chance
of detecting a compound
with a molar weight lighter
than carbon dioxide.
Mm, that's okay.
Now, it took a whole pot of coffee,
both PhDs to calibrate it,
but at 27.0253 grams per mol,
we'd never find the cyanide
if we weren't looking for it.
Okay, so let's look for it.
Let's do this.
Thank you.
Oh, that feels good.
Confirmed.
The rub was laced with cyanide.
But not enough to kill him.
- What do you mean?
- Dario's DL50 number.
That's the measurement at which
half the people his weight
would die, and half would
survive poisoning.
It's nine grams.
Well, what's the concentration
of the spice rub?
Seven-point-two.
I mean, it would knock him on is butt,
but it wouldn't kill him.
With that much cyanide,
it might cause seizure
or cardiac arrest.
Definitely loss of consciousness.
So Dario was alive, just paralyzed,
before someone locked him in the fridge
and froze him to death?
So, we're starting to
get a clearer picture
of how Dario Donnelly died.
He was exposed to
a nonfatal level of cyanide.
- Boss? Seriously?
- Hmm?
You are just as bad as he is.
I have some news here.
Yeah, sorry. So do we.
You know I'm all over Dario's social?
Look what someone just posted.
Somebody's really enjoying themselves.
- Okay, freeze right there.
- No pun intended.
That is not a picture
a killer took of a dead man.
You're right. He has
a little stubble here.
This is just shot
to make him look frozen.
I want to know where he got that photo.
What makes you so sure
it was just one killer?
We have prints from
four different people,
- most of whom had motive.
- Right.
More than one M.O., too.
Knife, freezer, cyanide.
Maybe one person started the job,
- someone else finished it?
- Maybe.
Or maybe when one killer didn't succeed,
he was taught to try, try again.
Look at his handle.
"LookPa, IMadeIt"?
Someone had daddy issues.
You think?
All right, this picture of Dario
came from Damien Pak's birthday party.
You don't say.
It was posted on a public account.
Anyone could've grabbed it.
Or maybe it was just
birthday boy himself.
You know, Dario also made
his Michelin-star grilled cheese
for family meal before he died.
So ?
So you get to go tell Sonya
we're tired of waiting.
And
that should do it.
- You love your job, don't you?
- I do.
All right, Jack, you're up.
All right. Watch and learn.
All right,
no pressure, Jack.
All right. You want to take
a look at this fella's
last meal?
And
we are in, baby.
Respect.
This guy could put it away.
Yep. There's the grilled cheese.
His entire last dinner's here,
and it's completely undigested.
Which means Dario had
to have been poisoned
right after family meal
- with the staff.
- Given how little
of this meal actually was digested,
the killer must've put him
on ice right away.
They got him in the fridge
lowered the temp to negative ten,
left him to die and the deed was done.
Or so they thought.
But the concentration
of cyanide was too low.
Wasn't even enough to keep him sedated.
You think Dario woke
back up in the fridge?
He had to. That's when
he took off his shoes and socks.
And that's when he wrote
the message on the glass.
At some point, the killer realized
his plan had failed
grabbed a knife from Damien's kit
stuck it between Dario's ribs
hoisted him on the meat
hook and left him to freeze.
Yeah. I buy that order of events.
Still doesn't tell us who killed him.
Or why Dario wrote "I'm so sorry".
Maybe he just regretted
eating the entire damn kitchen.
We got cheese, beef
lamb.
Could be lamb. Could be beef.
It's hard to tell.
There's peppers, onions
Jack, no one cares.
Really?
A great chef's last supper.
Not interested?
Oh, what-what were you saying?
About the beef and the lamb?
Uh, just that they look
exactly the same but they're
completely different
Thank you! Got to go!
animals.
Hmm.
You're right.
All the letters in the message
with Dario's prints
also have traces of the rub.
But the letters without Dario's prints
are spice-less and smooth.
They're completely different animals.
So Dario didn't just write
some letters faster.
It's almost as if
an entirely different person
wrote them.
While wearing a rubber glove.
So, we know he wrote the "Y".
And an "S".
And the "M".
And another "S". But not in that order.
"M".
"S".
Ooh. Wordle?
No. Just trying to figure out
what Dario was telling us.
Oh. CSI Wordle.
Looks like that man,
in his dying moments, wrote
" messy".
"Messy"?
That's all you got?
Yeah. Final answer. "Messy".
You're just missing the "E".
He was dying.
Freezing.
Maybe he forgot to write it.
Actually,
look.
Between the "M" in "I'm"
and the "S" in "so",
there's a little smear.
There's your "E".
Somebody wiped it away.
Messy.
- Messy.
- Messy.
What do you think it means?
That's dead plate number six, people.
It's not GBD if you
just let it die on the pass.
Yes, Chef!
Look who's top chef now.
Damn it, Sancho, the board hasn't moved.
- Come on.
- Sorry, Chef.
Funny how that worked, huh?
He's got the demanding boss playbook.
I don't have time right now.
No, no, no. That's not how this works.
You're living the dream here,
huh, Damien?
You got the kitchen,
the title, the power.
You kidding me? I am short-staffed.
You people confiscated my meat.
The kitchen's a mess.
And everyone's forgotten how
to cook rib eye medium rare.
So you don't like
the kitchen a mess, huh?
Got to have Messy or it gets messy.
Whoa, what-what are you talking about?
She's talking about half
our freaking problem.
Messy's not here, and we need him.
Washing dishes,
Johnny-on-the-spot, you know?
Messy is a person?
Yeah. You met him.
Guy hasn't shown up to
work since Dario died.
Said he's too shaken to work
after what happened.
God, he's such a delicate paisan.
Wait a minute, so Albert is Messy?
Does everybody call Albert "Messy"?
Most of us. It's the nickname
Dario gave him.
"It's Messy. Where's Messy?
Come here, Messy". I don't think
he ever bothered to learn
Albert's real name.
Why?
Dario was telling us who killed him.
Yeah.
Until he got caught.
- Hey.
- Hey.
LVPD has an ATL out for Albert Santoni,
but no bites yet.
You got anything?
You mean proof? No.
Just questions.
What do you mean?
Okay.
Like, how does someone
with a thin grasp
of the English language
have the wherewithal to change
"Messy" into "I'm so sorry"?
That's a good question.
- It's not like he had much time to think about it.
- Right?
- I checked cameras.
- Mm-hmm.
He was out the door before half
the staff exited the casino.
There you go.
Yoga or Pilates?
Pilates.
Does that help you with, um
what you're going through?
Usually.
- Breathe.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
He's talking to himself. After we left.
Breathe.
Just give it a minute.
Then we'll stroll out of here
like Keyser Soze.
What happened to his accent?
And who mutters in a second language?
Using pop culture references.
Who is this guy?
A killer who lied to the police.
We got to get a warrant.
Nicely done.
Yeah.
Took me long enough.
Yes, hey, it's Max.
We need a warrant.
Hey.
Hey.
I'm just gonna say it
it's an awfully nice place
for a dishwasher.
Same address
on Albert's W-2, but
the name doesn't match his mail.
You think he's using a fake
identity to wash dishes?
Who does that?
Peter "Nesico-lotchy",
apparently.
Hey.
I think you're gonna need
to update that ATL.
Peter "Nesico-lossy"?
I think you're both pronouncing
it wrong, but at least
he's not lying about being Italian.
Look, I'll call it in, but
I don't know, this place
doesn't look too crazypants.
Mm-hmm.
Are we sure this is the guy?
Well, whoever it is, he's the guy
who posted the Dead Dario Dance.
Oh.
Oh, this looks promising.
Oh.
So that's what this is.
Albert or whatever we want to call him,
he was obsessed with Dario.
So he adopted a new identity
as a dishwasher
to get close to him. Why?
That, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure
Dario chose the wrong guy to nickname.
Look at these dates. Peter didn't start
researching Dario till a month ago.
Wow. Guy moves fast.
He's already been
at the restaurant three weeks.
Peter knew his way around graphic arts.
He created Albert's fake green card,
his fake Social Security card,
made that fun video.
"Albert" may be new, but
I doubt it was this guy's first
time at the fake I.D. rodeo.
I wonder if
"Peter" is real, either.
He is. I have the transcript
here from Peter Nesicolacci's
most recent criminal trial.
"Most recent"?
We got his whole tale of woe here
in the pleading. So, he's assumed
different identities before.
His parents are Italian,
but he grew up in and out
of abusive foster homes
here in Vegas.
Been in and out
of the system ever since.
He ever killed before?
Uh, not that LVPD knows,
but he has a history
of assault and battery.
What about obsessive behavior?
Stalking?
We think Peter changed
his name and pursued
the dishwashing gig
to get close to Dario.
That would be a new one for this guy.
But put him
in a stressful work environment
with an abusive boss and
Oh. Oh. Uh
Stop! Stop!
Peter!
Wait!
Stop!
Control, H-11.
Requesting backup.
Suspect headed to the roof.
Peter!
Hey!
All right. Hey, Peter,
Peter, Peter! Okay. All right.
All right, there's
nowhere else to run, man.
Can we stop?
Let's stop.
Oh, I can't go back in.
Now, now, Peter, listen,
just talk to me.
- No, you don't understand.
- What?
There's no hope for me out here, man.
- None.
- Hey. Okay, but this was
the plan, right? This You
wanted us to know what you did.
Right?
That's why you posted that video.
That wasn't for you.
Okay.
Who was it for?
You wouldn't understand.
Hey, hey. Hey, try me.
Try me. Come on.
Talk to me. I've seen a lot
of things on this job, man.
We can talk. We can talk this through.
It's just us, man.
Talk to me.
Peter. Come on, man.
We can talk.
Hey, Peter, don't worry about them.
Peter. It's just us.
- Peter, talk to me.
- No, no.
Peter, don't worry. It's just us, man.
Hold on.
Hey, hey, Peter, stay with me. No. No!
After all that,
Albert or whatever his name was,
he's gone?
Do CSIs always come around like this,
- after the fact?
- No.
But, um
I think this belongs to you.
I'll tell you this.
Trauma has a way of bubbling up
when we think it's buried.
Albert, the guy you knew as Messy,
had been beaten on his whole life.
It doesn't make sense.
But he changed his identity
to get as close
as he could to a man he looked up to.
I think he really idolized him.
Yeah, a lot of people did.
I think that he was not prepared
to handle the truth
about who he really was
and how he treated people.
Probably not.
You know, Damien,
I think you and I came up the same way.
Except I was on the basketball courts.
And every coach I ever had
they'd just push me.
'Cause I had something,
something they needed.
And then when I became a coach
I-I did the exact same thing.
What happened?
Veronica Butler.
Who's that?
A player who burned out and quit.
She was the best
college player I ever saw.
And you might know her name
if it weren't for me
just pushing her so hard.
You know, it costs a lot
to get good at something.
And it costs more
to become a good leader.
Heavy is the head.
Good luck, young man.
Come on.
Mm.
Jeremiah was a bullfrog ♪
Was a good friend of mine ♪
I never understood
a single word he said ♪
But I helped him drink his wine ♪
- Oh, scusi.
- Hey! Idiot!
And he always had
some mighty fine wine ♪
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
Joy to you and me ♪
If I were the king of the world ♪
I tell you what I'd do ♪
I'd throw away the car
and the bar and the war ♪
Make sweet love to you ♪
Sing now, joy to the world ♪
- Ah, buongiorno, Silver.
- All the boys and girls ♪
Prego.
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
Joy to you and me ♪
I'm a high life flyer
and a rainbow rider ♪
A straight-shootin' son of a gun ♪
Joy to the world ♪
All the boys and girls ♪
Joy to the fishes
in the deep blue sea ♪
- Joy to you and me. ♪
- Was I right?
Somebody knock it down to negative ten?
Yep.
Still got it.
You can take the girl out of Chi-town
You know, I came up solving
frozen-body cases like this.
I did everything you do, plus
Walk ten miles in the snow?
As a matter of fact
Where are your damn coats?
This is a coat.
That's a glorified jean jacket.
All right, you're gonna
end up like this fella,
whoever he is.
Do we know?
Do we know?
Max, come on.
That's Dario Donnelly, as in Dario.
Of Dario.
- Uh-uh.
- Come on, Michelin-star chef
of the restaurant we're standing in.
- Huge social?
- Oh.
Yeah, oh, that Dario.
You seem pretty excited.
It's kind of creepy.
So is this knife wound.
Mr. Dario barely bled from it.
It's almost like he was stabbed
after he was frozen.
Blood does freeze at about
the same temperature as water.
Yeah, but the blade's not very deep.
Stuck right between
ribs seven and eight.
I don't think it killed him, either.
Could be somebody was just decorating.
Who would do something like this?
The man was a massive talent.
He helped feed the unhoused.
He had incredible bone structure.
Looks like he was chiseled
by Michelangelo.
- Goodness gracious.
- This must be really hard for you.
To lose someone you follow on TikTok.
I think I'm being perfectly
professional about this.
Look, I'll check with security, but
it's a pretty good spot for a murder.
Out of sight of the cameras out front.
Uh-oh, look at this.
"I'm so sorry"?
Wow.
Nice of the killer to sign his work.
But not sorry enough to confess.
You're gonna be sorry, bub.
Hey, fanboy, get a shot of this.
"Fanboy".
Why do you think
they took off his shoes?
Couldn't tell you.
Don't be so sure the killer did that.
None of y'all ever heard of
paradoxical undressing?
Never seen it,
but I suppose it's possible.
What's possible?
- Go on.
- Freezing to death makes
your circulatory system stop working.
Blood stops pumping to your core,
warm blood collects
in your arms and legs,
making your extremities feel
scalding hot by comparison.
Your brain's not getting
enough blood, either.
You become delirious.
- You start shedding clothes.
- Yeah.
All right, so we can dust
for prints, but
Dario probably took off
his own shoes and socks.
That is textbook peripheral
vasodilatation.
Kind of hard to say what happened first.
He was definitely trapped
in here long enough
to freeze solid.
And it doesn't take that long.
Yeah, uh, could we do
Corpsicle 101 outside?
Uh-huh.
I don't want to become one.
Oh, man, I just can't warm up.
Oh, me, neither.
Okay, come on, you guys,
circle up, circle up.
Okay, the thing you gotta realize,
subarctic temperatures can
be a blessing and a curse.
Yeah, the ice man giveth,
the ice man taketh away.
Yes, let's start with "taketh away".
You cannot autopsy
a block of ice, right?
Uh, last time I called
the Butterball hotline,
they had some pretty simple tips
on defrosting.
But we ain't making dinner.
If we warm Dario over 38 degrees,
his flesh will start to decompose
while his internal organs
are still frozen.
Ugh.
What about time of death? Cause?
I mean, are we gonna
have to wait, like, days
till he warms up?
On some answers, yes.
But we will roll with
the evidence that we do have.
Well, maybe I can pull a print
from the message the killer left us.
Mm, we might find some on Dario himself.
That's something ice is good for.
Holds a latent, locks it in.
We should print the whole staff
since this was probably an inside job.
Yeah, you and I could go outside,
where the sun is shining.
- Uh, question.
- What's that?
Is someone feeling chilly?
Get out.
Get out. Come on.
Go to the fridge, get Dario,
take him back to the crypt.
And make sure you hold him upright.
- I don't need that man breaking in half, okay?
- Yep.
Am I a
You think I
You're not a suspect, Albert.
These are elimination prints.
- We know you touched Dario when you found him.
- Yes.
I go to help, but I see his eyes open.
I can never forget, you know?
Do you know if anyone
in the kitchen was angry
- at your boss?
- No.
Week before last, I-I start,
but I don't know anyone who hates Dario.
But he a tough man.
He remind me of, uh of my father.
Most of us hated Dario.
But those same people loved him, too.
He was tough, but he also cared.
Look what he did for
the unhoused of this city.
Dario was just a lot.
When's the last time you saw him?
Last night, after we closed.
He made family meal, like always,
then we all went home.
Who else has access to the kitchen?
Just us, the staff.
The customers were all gone.
You need an I.D. to get in
through the service tunnel.
It had to be one of us.
You don't seem upset.
Of course I'm upset.
I had so many plans for Dario.
I was going to make his life hell.
He cheated on me. Me!
You do know you're being questioned
for a murder investigation, right?
Now I'm never gonna get
the chance to get back at him.
It's so sad.
So you-you are sorry he's dead?
Of course I am.
He used to make this grilled cheese
Whoever killed him, they
never had that sandwich.
That man was a culinary genius.
But his whole public schtick
Saint Dario
that was 180 degrees off.
He was a raging egomaniac.
Nobody who worked in his kitchen
was ever good enough.
And you're the sous-chef,
so you got it worse than most, right?
See this?
"Silver".
That's what Dario called me.
Second place, 'cause I'd
never be a head chef.
But I wore it.
- He knew how to motivate.
- Motivated somebody
to put a knife in his ribs.
A knife with your initials
on it, right, Damien?
I saw it. It was mine.
But I left my knife kit here last night.
Anyone could have done it.
I'd never hurt that man.
Is that a luggage cart?
Uh-huh.
I explained what it was for
to the valets.
They said I could keep it.
I can't believe I'm about
to say this, but
- It's not cold enough?
- Not even close.
It must be some kind of cooking
oil to still be semi-viscous.
Okay, well, we need it frozen solid
if we're gonna make a cast
to look for latents.
Compressed air should make it easier
to make the Mikrosil cast.
Okay.
You know what's crazy?
Some people love this kind of weather.
They go skiing, they go snowboarding.
They move to places like Chicago.
And they love it.
Yeah, 'cause they can't hack the heat.
- That must be what it is.
- It totally is.
I mean, if you think about it,
we're the tough ones.
We're not the tough ones, are we?
People move to the desert to
help with their arthritis.
Of course we're not.
Jack, come on.
Have you ever seen frozen eyeballs?
I'm not not gonna look.
He doesn't like being stared at.
He didn't mention anything to me.
Did he say something to you?
Because I
Hey. Am I interrupting?
Well, we're working and you're not,
so kinda.
I've offended you in some way.
- Not yet.
- Okay, well,
we're gonna solve this
little mystery another day,
but right now I'm here to check
on our friend there, Dario.
I thought Dr. Roby was
running point on this case.
She is, but she's still
coming back from injury, so I
- You want to help her.
- Yeah.
That's actually kind of sweet.
It's ridiculous but sweet.
- Why is it ridiculous?
- Because you lack
a magic wand to wave away
Newton's law of thermodynamics.
Frozen dude's gotta warm up slowly.
This poor man's blood vessels
have not only been stabbed
and shredded by ice crystals,
but his cells are also dehydrated,
causing the membranes
to collapse and weaken.
The faster Dario thaws,
the faster those ice crystals
fuse and squeeze his cells
into even tighter spaces,
ultimately deforming them.
Do you want us to deform Dario's cells?
Uh, no, I don't want to
deform Dario's cells.
Then my assistant will let you know
when this man comes up to temp.
Jack. Jack will let you know.
In the meantime, you guys mind
if I take some pictures?
- Be my guest.
- Thanks.
Jack, could you help me out here?
Uh, yeah. My pleasure.
All right, nice.
Great. Neck.
So, if I adjust the contrast,
we should be able to see
- One second here.
- What?
I may not have a magic wand,
but I do have a buddy that's
gonna help me pull those prints.
Thanks.
Try thinking warm thoughts.
I'm thinking roaring fire.
Thicker socks.
Some more socks on top of that.
Oh, come on.
Weird. The Mikrosil cast
gives us prints but not on every letter.
Maybe the killer wrote
certain letters faster?
I guess it doesn't really matter.
We got plenty to work with.
Nice.
Is this your natural state?
You're just chugging coffee all day?
Caffeine's got
nothing to do with my mood.
Oh, that's not crack, is it?
Ruthenium tetroxide.
That's the real fun stuff here.
One of your favorite
unstable molecules, is it?
I'd put it on my Mount Rushmore.
Probably number three.
If we want to find out
who touched Dario around
the time that he froze solid,
there's nothing quite like this
temperamental diva of a crystal.
All right, show me what
your Diana Ross of rocks can do.
Mask up.
Three, two, one.
Nice prints. Ruthenium tetroxide?
Yours are pretty crisp, too.
- Mikrosil cast?
- Mm-hmm.
I can't remember the last time we pulled
- so many usable prints from a scene.
- Mm.
The ice man giveth.
What's wrong?
The killer didn't leave us that message.
Dario did.
Those were his prints in the oil.
Dario the victim?
He's the guy who wrote "I'm so sorry"?
That's sad, isn't it?
To die so full of regret.
- But what was he apologizing for?
- Mm-mm-mm.
Maybe he spat in someone's food.
I mean, that is what
we all worry happens back there.
- Right?
- I am now.
Actually, that might explain
Hey, look at the oil from the message.
What are all the flecks mixed in it?
That's what I've been wondering.
But since Dario wrote the
message, not the killer,
now I'm thinking it might just be
some sort of cooking spice.
If it all went down in the kitchen,
- I guess it wouldn't be surprising.
- Mm.
Not so fast. Frozen body cases
will surprise you.
They always do.
- Here's something.
- Hmm?
The prints on Dario's body
belong to Valerie Bianco.
The hostess.
Chavez did say Dario
was cheating on her.
Maybe she
And Damien Pak.
The sous-chef? Wait a minute.
He did have beef with Dario.
The guy even tattooed his name
- And Albert Santoni.
- Well, the dishwasher.
I mean, at least we know why
his prints are all over him.
And Holly Prince.
The doe-eyed server?
I'm sorry, you mean to tell me
after all that work
and freezing my nose off,
all we know is half the kitchen
staff could've killed him?
I didn't say it'd be a good surprise.
I don't know what to tell you.
Dario really made my, uh
appetite whet last night.
Yeah, we found your fingerprints
all over his face.
You can probably find even more, uh
you know.
You seemed pretty upset when you
told me he was cheating on you.
You find that out before
or after you slept with him that night?
I'll be honest. It was after.
He wouldn't tell me who, but I know
it was someone at the restaurant.
A love triangle.
That sounds complicated.
I'm not proud of it. I slapped him.
That's all I did to him.
You had motive, access.
So did this other bitch, whoever she is.
If you find out who it was,
will you tell me?
- No.
- No.
So, what was the nature
of your relationship
with Dario?
We worked together.
Mm.
We found your prints on his hands,
on his jacket and on his neck.
We fool around s-sometimes.
It wasn't serious.
It just started a few weeks ago.
No one knows.
Actually, the other woman Dario
was sleeping with also knows.
What other woman?
There was another woman?
Wh Who?
Yes, I touch, uh, Dario many time
- when I find him.
- We know, Albert.
You had every reason to help
your boss when you found him.
But some of your prints
were on his neck.
Under his collar.
And that-that didn't make sense to us.
I don't, um I
Sorry, uh, my English
Where'd you learn Italian?
You study abroad?
I studied an Italian gentleman
before my ex-husband.
He's talking about Damien,
- the sous-chef?
- Mm-hmm.
Ask him how things were
between him and Dario.
Everybody's had an excuse so far
except for Mr. Pak.
He's the only one that
didn't show up today.
He's at the restaurant.
Yeah, Valerie's story seems plausible.
They all do, actually.
- He close to temp yet?
- No.
Not even gonna check?
You've got unrealistic expectations
about corpse thawing.
Yeah, you kind of do.
I just thought, 'cause
he's starting to smell.
What? I haven't smelled anything.
Did you bring shrimp empanadas
for lunch again?
- It was one time.
- Wrong, Jack.
It wasn't. Because
shrimp juice is forever.
No, no, it's coming from
Dario, and it's not shrimp.
It smells like, um
nuts?
I swear I'm not crazy.
I can't smell anything,
but do you mean like almonds?
Yes! Almonds. That's exactly it.
But if you can't smell it,
then how'd you know that?
Well, Dario's body still doesn't have
bluish postmortem lividity.
A corpse at room temperature
will experience livor mortis.
Blood succumbs to gravity
and pools at its lowest point.
That's when the deoxygenation
of the hemoglobin forms
- deoxyhemoglobin.
- Body turns blue.
But that never happened with Dario
because he was frozen.
- He remained pink because
- Gravity couldn't do its thing.
The fact that he's still pink tells us
there's something else
going on here, though.
Because hemoglobin and oxygen
can't detach from one another.
As Dario thaws,
his body starts to release
hydrogen-based gases.
Gases that neither Jack nor I
apparently can smell.
Which means that Dario may have
actually died from
Really?
I-I swear, I was following you
until two seconds ago.
If the gas smells like bitter almonds
It means you two are in
the 25% of the population
- that can't smell benzaldehyde.
- The chemical that gives
a distinctive smell
to both almonds and
Cyanide.
So this guy wasn't just
stabbed and frozen.
He was also poisoned.
Someone really wanted him dead.
So, which method was the cause of death?
I'll let you know.
In about three days.
Hey, Damien.
What you got there?
Some mint?
And rosemary and marjoram.
- Gonna make a pork loin special.
- That's right.
You're taking over the restaurant
now that Dario's gone.
Is that why you were too busy
to come answer our questions?
Ooh, you mind if I take one of these?
Kind of what I was hoping to find.
Why's that?
You grind down enough peach pits,
and you get this compound
called amygdalin.
And do you know what that
breaks down into?
Uh, no.
Cyanide.
I'm gonna test this to see
if it's the same kind
that Dario ingested.
Come on, you didn't know that?
Cooking is chemistry, Damien.
I-I don't, uh I didn't
- So Dario was poisoned?
- And frozen.
And stabbed. And choked by you.
I'm not gonna apologize for that.
He apologized to me.
Back up.
We fought sometimes, yes.
Uh, physically. A shove. A smack.
I grabbed him by the neck when
he came at me the other night.
Why'd he do that?
I told him I was leaving.
I got a job interview,
and I was gonna
Baby bird's leaving the nest.
Yes, okay?
I saw him like a father. That's
why I would never hurt him.
You must be unfamiliar
with the stats on patricide.
No, no, no, we got over it.
We always do.
We made up by family meal.
You can ask anyone.
What about Valerie the server
or Holly the hostess?
Would either of them have
a reason to hurt Dario?
Actually, Valerie's the hostess,
and Holly's the server.
And as easy as it would be
for me to point fingers,
I really doubt it.
We all loved him best we could.
- Can I go now?
- Yeah.
Excuse me.
You doing okay?
I only ask because you
confused Holly and Valerie.
Yeah, I got, like, 12 cases on my desk.
It happens.
Sure. But I'm just curious, though.
You sleeping okay? Since your attack.
I'm just wondering.
- I've seen this kind of thing before.
- Uh-huh.
Actually, I've been there myself.
I know nights can be the hardest part.
Detective Chavez,
this is none of your
You were colder than me in that freezer,
even with your coat.
Your circadian rhythm's messed up,
and now you're a little foggy.
Wow, you got all the answers, huh?
- I'm just gonna tell you, try humming.
- Mm-hmm.
Uh, it releases melatonin or something.
- It worked for me.
- Mm.
Thanks. You're driving.
Oi-oi, there he is.
The man with the golden nose.
Cyanide, huh? That's the theory.
Unconfirmed.
We still can't test his body.
Hello, Chris. How are you?
Oh, I'm fine, Chris. Thanks for asking.
He won't get off his phone.
I think it's generational.
You're one year older than me.
So, I was thinking, even though we can't
test Dario, maybe we can
still figure out
how the poison got into his body.
Run some tests back at the kitchen?
Something he ate or drank
at that last supper they had?
Maybe. But the cyanide
only affected Dario.
I mean, no one else got sick.
Hey, what if Dario absorbed the cyanide
through his hands?
See, look. Dario was famous
for his spice rub.
No one knew what was in it.
No one was even allowed to touch it.
So, if the spice rub was laced
with the cyanide,
Dario easily could have
absorbed it through his skin.
I did find traces of a spice
in some of the letters
in Dario's message in the fridge.
And Dario always prepped
the next day's meat
at the end of dinner service,
so I've learned.
We should make sure
no one eats that meat.
A hundred percent.
Also, I cannot believe
I'm saying this, but
thank you
for spending the last
20 minutes on your phone.
It's a service I provide.
Beau.
Oh, you look broken.
Okay, hotshot, you try
adjusting the GC/MS sensitivity
so it has a chance
of detecting a compound
with a molar weight lighter
than carbon dioxide.
Mm, that's okay.
Now, it took a whole pot of coffee,
both PhDs to calibrate it,
but at 27.0253 grams per mol,
we'd never find the cyanide
if we weren't looking for it.
Okay, so let's look for it.
Let's do this.
Thank you.
Oh, that feels good.
Confirmed.
The rub was laced with cyanide.
But not enough to kill him.
- What do you mean?
- Dario's DL50 number.
That's the measurement at which
half the people his weight
would die, and half would
survive poisoning.
It's nine grams.
Well, what's the concentration
of the spice rub?
Seven-point-two.
I mean, it would knock him on is butt,
but it wouldn't kill him.
With that much cyanide,
it might cause seizure
or cardiac arrest.
Definitely loss of consciousness.
So Dario was alive, just paralyzed,
before someone locked him in the fridge
and froze him to death?
So, we're starting to
get a clearer picture
of how Dario Donnelly died.
He was exposed to
a nonfatal level of cyanide.
- Boss? Seriously?
- Hmm?
You are just as bad as he is.
I have some news here.
Yeah, sorry. So do we.
You know I'm all over Dario's social?
Look what someone just posted.
Somebody's really enjoying themselves.
- Okay, freeze right there.
- No pun intended.
That is not a picture
a killer took of a dead man.
You're right. He has
a little stubble here.
This is just shot
to make him look frozen.
I want to know where he got that photo.
What makes you so sure
it was just one killer?
We have prints from
four different people,
- most of whom had motive.
- Right.
More than one M.O., too.
Knife, freezer, cyanide.
Maybe one person started the job,
- someone else finished it?
- Maybe.
Or maybe when one killer didn't succeed,
he was taught to try, try again.
Look at his handle.
"LookPa, IMadeIt"?
Someone had daddy issues.
You think?
All right, this picture of Dario
came from Damien Pak's birthday party.
You don't say.
It was posted on a public account.
Anyone could've grabbed it.
Or maybe it was just
birthday boy himself.
You know, Dario also made
his Michelin-star grilled cheese
for family meal before he died.
So ?
So you get to go tell Sonya
we're tired of waiting.
And
that should do it.
- You love your job, don't you?
- I do.
All right, Jack, you're up.
All right. Watch and learn.
All right,
no pressure, Jack.
All right. You want to take
a look at this fella's
last meal?
And
we are in, baby.
Respect.
This guy could put it away.
Yep. There's the grilled cheese.
His entire last dinner's here,
and it's completely undigested.
Which means Dario had
to have been poisoned
right after family meal
- with the staff.
- Given how little
of this meal actually was digested,
the killer must've put him
on ice right away.
They got him in the fridge
lowered the temp to negative ten,
left him to die and the deed was done.
Or so they thought.
But the concentration
of cyanide was too low.
Wasn't even enough to keep him sedated.
You think Dario woke
back up in the fridge?
He had to. That's when
he took off his shoes and socks.
And that's when he wrote
the message on the glass.
At some point, the killer realized
his plan had failed
grabbed a knife from Damien's kit
stuck it between Dario's ribs
hoisted him on the meat
hook and left him to freeze.
Yeah. I buy that order of events.
Still doesn't tell us who killed him.
Or why Dario wrote "I'm so sorry".
Maybe he just regretted
eating the entire damn kitchen.
We got cheese, beef
lamb.
Could be lamb. Could be beef.
It's hard to tell.
There's peppers, onions
Jack, no one cares.
Really?
A great chef's last supper.
Not interested?
Oh, what-what were you saying?
About the beef and the lamb?
Uh, just that they look
exactly the same but they're
completely different
Thank you! Got to go!
animals.
Hmm.
You're right.
All the letters in the message
with Dario's prints
also have traces of the rub.
But the letters without Dario's prints
are spice-less and smooth.
They're completely different animals.
So Dario didn't just write
some letters faster.
It's almost as if
an entirely different person
wrote them.
While wearing a rubber glove.
So, we know he wrote the "Y".
And an "S".
And the "M".
And another "S". But not in that order.
"M".
"S".
Ooh. Wordle?
No. Just trying to figure out
what Dario was telling us.
Oh. CSI Wordle.
Looks like that man,
in his dying moments, wrote
" messy".
"Messy"?
That's all you got?
Yeah. Final answer. "Messy".
You're just missing the "E".
He was dying.
Freezing.
Maybe he forgot to write it.
Actually,
look.
Between the "M" in "I'm"
and the "S" in "so",
there's a little smear.
There's your "E".
Somebody wiped it away.
Messy.
- Messy.
- Messy.
What do you think it means?
That's dead plate number six, people.
It's not GBD if you
just let it die on the pass.
Yes, Chef!
Look who's top chef now.
Damn it, Sancho, the board hasn't moved.
- Come on.
- Sorry, Chef.
Funny how that worked, huh?
He's got the demanding boss playbook.
I don't have time right now.
No, no, no. That's not how this works.
You're living the dream here,
huh, Damien?
You got the kitchen,
the title, the power.
You kidding me? I am short-staffed.
You people confiscated my meat.
The kitchen's a mess.
And everyone's forgotten how
to cook rib eye medium rare.
So you don't like
the kitchen a mess, huh?
Got to have Messy or it gets messy.
Whoa, what-what are you talking about?
She's talking about half
our freaking problem.
Messy's not here, and we need him.
Washing dishes,
Johnny-on-the-spot, you know?
Messy is a person?
Yeah. You met him.
Guy hasn't shown up to
work since Dario died.
Said he's too shaken to work
after what happened.
God, he's such a delicate paisan.
Wait a minute, so Albert is Messy?
Does everybody call Albert "Messy"?
Most of us. It's the nickname
Dario gave him.
"It's Messy. Where's Messy?
Come here, Messy". I don't think
he ever bothered to learn
Albert's real name.
Why?
Dario was telling us who killed him.
Yeah.
Until he got caught.
- Hey.
- Hey.
LVPD has an ATL out for Albert Santoni,
but no bites yet.
You got anything?
You mean proof? No.
Just questions.
What do you mean?
Okay.
Like, how does someone
with a thin grasp
of the English language
have the wherewithal to change
"Messy" into "I'm so sorry"?
That's a good question.
- It's not like he had much time to think about it.
- Right?
- I checked cameras.
- Mm-hmm.
He was out the door before half
the staff exited the casino.
There you go.
Yoga or Pilates?
Pilates.
Does that help you with, um
what you're going through?
Usually.
- Breathe.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
He's talking to himself. After we left.
Breathe.
Just give it a minute.
Then we'll stroll out of here
like Keyser Soze.
What happened to his accent?
And who mutters in a second language?
Using pop culture references.
Who is this guy?
A killer who lied to the police.
We got to get a warrant.
Nicely done.
Yeah.
Took me long enough.
Yes, hey, it's Max.
We need a warrant.
Hey.
Hey.
I'm just gonna say it
it's an awfully nice place
for a dishwasher.
Same address
on Albert's W-2, but
the name doesn't match his mail.
You think he's using a fake
identity to wash dishes?
Who does that?
Peter "Nesico-lotchy",
apparently.
Hey.
I think you're gonna need
to update that ATL.
Peter "Nesico-lossy"?
I think you're both pronouncing
it wrong, but at least
he's not lying about being Italian.
Look, I'll call it in, but
I don't know, this place
doesn't look too crazypants.
Mm-hmm.
Are we sure this is the guy?
Well, whoever it is, he's the guy
who posted the Dead Dario Dance.
Oh.
Oh, this looks promising.
Oh.
So that's what this is.
Albert or whatever we want to call him,
he was obsessed with Dario.
So he adopted a new identity
as a dishwasher
to get close to him. Why?
That, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure
Dario chose the wrong guy to nickname.
Look at these dates. Peter didn't start
researching Dario till a month ago.
Wow. Guy moves fast.
He's already been
at the restaurant three weeks.
Peter knew his way around graphic arts.
He created Albert's fake green card,
his fake Social Security card,
made that fun video.
"Albert" may be new, but
I doubt it was this guy's first
time at the fake I.D. rodeo.
I wonder if
"Peter" is real, either.
He is. I have the transcript
here from Peter Nesicolacci's
most recent criminal trial.
"Most recent"?
We got his whole tale of woe here
in the pleading. So, he's assumed
different identities before.
His parents are Italian,
but he grew up in and out
of abusive foster homes
here in Vegas.
Been in and out
of the system ever since.
He ever killed before?
Uh, not that LVPD knows,
but he has a history
of assault and battery.
What about obsessive behavior?
Stalking?
We think Peter changed
his name and pursued
the dishwashing gig
to get close to Dario.
That would be a new one for this guy.
But put him
in a stressful work environment
with an abusive boss and
Oh. Oh. Uh
Stop! Stop!
Peter!
Wait!
Stop!
Control, H-11.
Requesting backup.
Suspect headed to the roof.
Peter!
Hey!
All right. Hey, Peter,
Peter, Peter! Okay. All right.
All right, there's
nowhere else to run, man.
Can we stop?
Let's stop.
Oh, I can't go back in.
Now, now, Peter, listen,
just talk to me.
- No, you don't understand.
- What?
There's no hope for me out here, man.
- None.
- Hey. Okay, but this was
the plan, right? This You
wanted us to know what you did.
Right?
That's why you posted that video.
That wasn't for you.
Okay.
Who was it for?
You wouldn't understand.
Hey, hey. Hey, try me.
Try me. Come on.
Talk to me. I've seen a lot
of things on this job, man.
We can talk. We can talk this through.
It's just us, man.
Talk to me.
Peter. Come on, man.
We can talk.
Hey, Peter, don't worry about them.
Peter. It's just us.
- Peter, talk to me.
- No, no.
Peter, don't worry. It's just us, man.
Hold on.
Hey, hey, Peter, stay with me. No. No!
After all that,
Albert or whatever his name was,
he's gone?
Do CSIs always come around like this,
- after the fact?
- No.
But, um
I think this belongs to you.
I'll tell you this.
Trauma has a way of bubbling up
when we think it's buried.
Albert, the guy you knew as Messy,
had been beaten on his whole life.
It doesn't make sense.
But he changed his identity
to get as close
as he could to a man he looked up to.
I think he really idolized him.
Yeah, a lot of people did.
I think that he was not prepared
to handle the truth
about who he really was
and how he treated people.
Probably not.
You know, Damien,
I think you and I came up the same way.
Except I was on the basketball courts.
And every coach I ever had
they'd just push me.
'Cause I had something,
something they needed.
And then when I became a coach
I-I did the exact same thing.
What happened?
Veronica Butler.
Who's that?
A player who burned out and quit.
She was the best
college player I ever saw.
And you might know her name
if it weren't for me
just pushing her so hard.
You know, it costs a lot
to get good at something.
And it costs more
to become a good leader.
Heavy is the head.
Good luck, young man.
Come on.
Mm.