CSI: NY s04e08 Episode Script

Ta-da.
"Wow!" would be a really good thing to say right about now.
You don't like it? No, no.
It's, it's, it's beautiful, but, uh, it doesn't exactly fall under the category of "let's get together for a drink sometime.
" Well, it's it's not as impressive as it looks.
I'm the manager at the bistro downstairs, so I happen to know all the right people.
Um, Drew, I-I just need to be very clear Come on.
You might be able to resist me, but can you really walk away from an '82 Opus One, and a view like this? One glass.
One glass.
My biggest heartbreak? Four years ago.
Steve Bartman.
Steve? He interfered with a foul ball during the playoffs.
Cubs never recovered.
It's the closest we've come to the World Series since.
Stella, I'm kind of getting the feeling here, I'm not scoring any runs.
I mean, that Steve Bartman story, that's, that's my fastball.
Look, Drew, you You're a very charming man Wait, before you say anything else.
I've got a mean curveball.
I I can't accept that.
The rooftop drinks and all the gifts that you're sending to the office, it's just, you know, it's way too aggressive and not my style, and And you're not looking for a relationship.
Uh, that's work.
I've got to go.
Thanks for the drinks.
You're welcome.
You got here quick.
I was in the neighborhood.
This martini ad party goes off every Friday night around 9:00.
Yeah, I walked by it earlier; it was going full swing.
It's the hottest ticket in town - for the past two months.
- Huh.
Tonight, the billboard was attacked.
Jenna Donovan, Dead in a Mirado martini.
Live-wire electrocution? From the looks of it, I'd say someone ordered Death straight up.
I'm assuming these aren't part of the ad campaign.
Party crashers? Those might explain why I found several deep indentation marks on the surface of the billboard.
Some of the witnesses are sporting significant bruising.
It would take quite a bit of force to cause that much damage with a tennis ball.
e were no other reports or evidence of broken windows in the surrounding buildings, and no other billboards were damaged.
So you think one of the partiers up there was the tart? Flying ts balls ain't exaca deadly weapon.
Maybe they were just trying to send a message.
I don't know.
But somebody out there took aim, fired and ended up killing someone.
Let's find them.
The advertising business is pretty competitive.
That's one of the most coveted billboard locations in Times Square.
Hmm.
Are you suggesting that one of your competitors might've been behin All I'm saying is, if my billboard gets shut down, we'll have a bidding war for that space.
pa Now, was anybody on the billboard that wasn't supposed to be there? No, they were all models.
Damien insisted on hiring them all personally.
I'm going to need a copy of the guest list.
Any threats before the party? Not tonight, not in t entire two months we've been doing this.
What's the best time to contact you in case I have any other questions? You can contact me pretty much anytime.
I practically live here.
Mm.
EMT 32-05, we have a female victim, approximately 25 years old, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Bleeding has stabilized.
ETA to the ER is approximately four minutes.
Hey.
Can you here me? Can you hear me?! Brandi, I'm Detective Messer from the Crime Lab.
Can you tell me what happened? Hey, b y.
Hey, you're doing real good.
Okay? Okay, beautiful? You stay with me.
You You're doing good.
You're gonna be okay, Brandi.
You're in an ambulance.
I need to ask you some questions.
Now, can you tell me anything- any description of who did this to you? You're gonna be fine, baby.
All right? You're gonna be fine.
And I'm not going anywhere.
I'm right here.
She's losing consciousness! I need to intubate! We need to go code 10! Come on, guys! Let's move! Stay with me.
Robbery and two gunshot victims.
Brandi Parsons is on the way to Trinity General.
Bullet wound to the head.
Danny's gonna try and get a statement.
Restaurant robberies aren't very lucrative.
What'd these guys get? Credit card mbers and tips? Club Prowl has a cash-only policy.
NYPD brass threw a fit last year when it opened.
How much was stolen? Uh, about 35, 000.
Most of the money came from the safe in the back room, the rest from patrons' wallets.
Ted Barclay.
Struggled with the shooter.
Tore off his mask.
Trying to get a composite from some of the patrons, bost were on the ground, didn't get a good look.
Wallets on the table, bodies on the ground, right now! Hm.
Hey, Mac.
Gunshot wound to the femoral artery- it didn't take long.
A leg is not a normal targ@A when you're shooting to kill.
Gunshot wound is close-range.
Probably happened during the struggle, n accidentally went off.
Unfortunately, the bullet looks deformed.
S Not sure it'll be usable for striae.
Brandi Parsons fell nsere when she was shot.
hm Based on the footprint pattern and the void, NK our shooter killed Ted first, was almost at the exit, then doubled back to shoot our female vic.
Ted attacked the shooter.
Brandi was shot in the back of the head, which indicates she retreated.
Why would two opposite reaions incite the exact same response from our killer? Brandi's been tending bar at Club Prowl for the past six months.
She's still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up.
We've been dating for about two years.
Weird thiniris, I was coming there to walk her home.
Surprise her, you know.
And then, right when I get there, they're rolling her out on a gurney.
You're going to be okay, buddy.
Thanks for saying that.
De ctive.
How is she? Based on her MRI, the bullet grazed the parietal lobes of her cerebrum.
So it entered the soft tissue.
It didn't hit any bones? That appears to be the case.
All right, so that's something you can retrieve, right? I need the bullet as soon as possible.
Removing the bullet might be too risky.
But our neurosurgeon, Dr.
Gavin Moore, will know more about that possibility when he has her in surgery.
It's scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.
But for now, Brandi's stabilized.
So do you know if she's allergic to any medications? @V God, I should know that.
uld know.
She's flying out of Houston first thinrstomorrow morning, but I could call her now.
That would be helpful.
Is Brandi able to talk? She's sedated.
I need to ask her a few questions.
I mean, her statement might be the only chance we have of getting the guy who did this to her.
I'm sorry, Detective, but we can't wake her now.
But you're welcome to wait around, and if I feel she's up to talking, I'll let you know.
All right.
Thanks.
NK The marks don't provide the same accuracy as bullet holes, but the trajectory lasers have spoken, and it's unanimous.
That's got to be our launch pad, give or take a few floors.
Okay.
How many more floors do you wanna check? Relax.
Your GQ will stillllwaiting for you when we're done.
Shh, shh, shh.
Did you hear that? First sign of life since we got here.
Sounds like it's coming from over here.
NYPD.
Open up.
Hey, Champ.
Wanna do the honors? Is it gone? I wasn't trying to hurt anybody.
Then why'd you shoot tennis balls at the billboard, Nick? I tried to ignore it.
But it just kept dogging me, night after night.
On and off, on and off, on and You know something, Nick, you're starting to piss me off.
So why don't you do me a favor, take a nice big gulp of that coffee, gather your thoughts and start from the beginning.
Don't you get it? I couldn't fight it anymore.
I'd been sober for two and a half years.
Things were good.
Got the late shift job inputting data at the sports research lab, and and then it started.
I couldn't fight it anymore.
I I started drinking again.
I- Nick, I've had guys in here blame their criminal behavior on wives, bosses, even the devil.
But, I gotta tell ya, this is a new one.
You're telling me you were driven to this by a shiny red light? I'm a recovering alcoholic.
Every day is a battle.
And that tennis ball shooter is the only weapon I had.
I just wanted to make it stop.
Whoo! Yeah! Go away! Whoo! Well, mission accomplished.
Now you can dry up in Sing Sing.
Wait a minute.
I'm really gonna go to prison? I A finger? Yep.
And judging from the size and bone cells, we're probably looking at a digit from a bird, rodent or reptile.
It was covered in denatured alcohol, a bone preservative.
And once I can narrow down the species, it'll give me a better shot of figuring out where it came from.
And that'll hopefully lead us to our killer.
Yeah.
Thanks.
I love this job.
So many surprises.
Yeah, well, don't keep it to yourself, Hawkes.
What do you got? DNA I collected from the ski mask didn't give us a database hit.
But it does match traces of dried semen I collected from Brandi Parsons' clothing.
She had sex with our shooter? So she knew him.
Crime of passion? That's one possibility.
Or she was the inside guy.
They planned this robbery She together, de guy.
but before she got her cut her partner double-crossed her.
Your tennis ball shooter isn't responsible for Jenna Donovan's death.
She didn't die from electrocution.
She's got burns marks all over her body, Sid.
How is that possible? They're postmortem.
So, she was dead before she was electrocuted? Just moments before.
I'm still waiting for blood and Tox, but there was a significant amount of fluid in her lungs.
She drowned in the martini glass? No.
The fluid I found was endogenous to her body.
COD was pulmonary edema? Exactly.
Which is not consistent with electrocution or drowning.
Right.
She have a heart condition? No, this PE was non-cardgenic.
Got some bruising here on the shoulder.
Yeah, yeah, that's, uh, very recent.
And, uh, when I ran a CT scan, I noticed more evidence of a struggle.
Pre-mortem, subdermal bruising.
So the impact to the chest caused pulmonary edema which led to her death? Definitely seems to the cause, but I'm waiting on h@Vlogy to confirm that.
What really strikes me as odd is not how she died, but where she died.
Slow-onset pulmonary edema causes acute pain.
Most people would've jumped into an ambulance, not an oversized martini glass.
Wow.
What's all this about? A UNI brought over Jenna Donovan's purse from her dressing room at the ad agency.
Looks like she had quite a sweet tooth.
Yeah, along with fat burning capsules, appetite suppressants, water pills.
A typical meal plan for anyone about to wear next to nothing in the middle of Times Square.
Although, the candy doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Let's see what we're looking at big wad of cash, latex balloons, and some cotton balls.
You know, Lindsay, I don't think @Vthese lollipops are lollipops.
Heroin.
Well, that changes everything.
Certainly does.
At $40 a pop, we're looking at, uh, over $3, 000 in this purse.
And this handle is an exact matchto the bruise on Jenna's left shoulder.
So somebody went after the bag.
Or more specifically, what was in the bag.
But why wouldn't the attacker have taken the lollipops? She fought off the attacker.
At least in the first round.
Sounds like a motive for murder.
You've been here all night.
Why don't you go home, get a shower.
I'll stay on the track of the bullet.
Dr.
Moore, did you see Brandi yet? Are you gonna be able to help her? Intercranial pressure was causing her brain to swell, so- Sorry.
I performed a vertriculostomy to drain the cerebrospinal fluid which was successful, so we're ready to proceed with the surgery.
How risky is that surgery? Well, all surgeries carry risks, but- Yeah.
Excuse me.
Just a moment.
We got one dead guy.
We got a woman clinging to life.
All that misery for 35 g's.
It's pathetic, isn't it? If you're not going home, why don't you go get something to eat? Here's our killer.
It's all the information that we were able to get from our witnesses.
So we just need to find everybody with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
Hey, beautiful.
Just relax.
You're gonna be okay.
And I'm gonna be waiting for you when you come back, okay? Defib on monitor! You have to stop and shock her now.
Please stand back, stand back.
Charging.
Doctor! Clear! She's still in defib.
All right, go up to 360.
Clear! Let's go for one more.
Clear! Prep her for the OR.
I'll be there in a few minutes.
I need your help.
About an hour ago, I got a call from my brother Charles.
He's been kidnapped by somebody connected to your witness.
I was told if I don't let Brandi Parsons "accidentally" die, my brother will be killed.
That's why you hesitated just now.
That phone call wasn't some kind of idle threat.
My brother sounded scared.
How'd they know where to find him? I don't know.
We share a practice together.
They're probably going after you.
You weren't there, so they went for the next best thing.
Here's the address.
And I just got this message, sent from my brother's cell phone.
These guys really want Brandi Parsons dead.
Someone in the hospital is watching us.
I'll save the girl, Detective Taylor.
But please save Charles.
We've got a kidnapping.
What? Dr.
Moore's brother.
Get someone from your squad over to Charles Moore's medical office ASAP.
Brandi Parsons can I.
D.
the shooter, so maybe someone in her circle can, too.
Let's interview her landlord, her family, her friends.
See what they know.
Her boyfriend Paul mentioned that her mother's on her way in from Houston.
Her mother? Brandi Parsons doesn't have a mother.
She died ten years ago.
Closest family member I found is an aunt in North Carolina.
I dot think Paul Larkin is her boyfriend.
Have you seen Brandi Parsons' boyfriend? He left about five minutes ago.
Has he been in on this the whole time? He just jumped in the ambulance.
He said he was her boyfriend.
I mean, is this kid coected to our shooter? You had no way of knowing, Danny.
We'll find him.
Yeah, I'm gonna find him.
I'm right here.
Her hand in the ambulance.
Paul was kissing Brandi's hand.
Swab it and collect samples from anyone else who had contact with her so we can eliminate their DNA.
We have one advantage.
What's that? Paul Larkin doesn't know we know he's in on it.
We have the edge, let's use it.
These are from the surveillance camera across the street from Club Prowl.
Paul Larkin was there early, scouting the place.
I've run his name through the system, got nothing.
We need to find the minutes right before and after the robbery, get a clear image of our killer, see if we can find out who he is.
He's our best chance at finding our hostage, Charles Moore.
This is right around 11:15.
The shooter must have gone out the back door and called Paul.
It doesn't look like murder was part of the plan.
Kidnapping probably wasn't, either.
And if I fast-forward, here's where Paul Larkin jumped into the ambulance and said he was Brandi Parsons' boyfriend.
These guys aren't exactly pros.
Based on the footprint pattern the killer left at the scene, shooting Brandi wasn't premeditated.
He came back into the room to shoot her.
We thought he was eliminating his partner in crime.
You're backing off the theory of a double cross.
Our shooter's semen was on Brandi's clothes.
These two knew each other.
If his mask hadn't been pulled off, she never would've recognized him.
It's you! She was shot because she was able to I.
D.
the killer by name.
91X? It's the address of a jewelry store on St.
Mark's Place.
So, how does this connect with Jenna Donovan? Well, it all adds up to one very unique ring.
The pieces of broken glass I found in Jenna's handbag- they were part of a convex lens.
A magnifying glass.
Right.
It was the centerpiece of the ring.
I also found DNA on the band that matched DNA from a hair I found in the prongs.
Not Jenna's.
Well, w does Well, inside the convex lens was a grain of rice which was inscribed with the address, 91X.
It also had a Japanese kanji.
I looked it up.
Its translation is "magic.
" Magic? Our heroin lollipops tested positive for high levels of fentanyl.
Lindsay, when fentanyl and heroin are mixed, the street name is magic.
Fentanyl? That's a pain killer for cancer patients.
Which explains why Jenna didn't feel any pain from the pulmonary edema.
And with the amount of product and cash she was hauling around, she was probably a user and a dealer.
Magic.
Yeah.
Cool.
How did you know? We got something that matches.
Well, where did you get that? Jenna Donovan's handbag.
You know her? Should I? Well, we thought you might keep a record of people who order special request jewelry.
Oh, the kanji rings aren't special requests.
They're actually one of our biggest sellers.
Oh.
Still didn't answer our question.
Do you know Jenna Donovan? We found jewelry from your store with a kanji that matches the tattoo on your back.
We also found a hair- a red hair- caught in the prongs of a broken ring.
Your hair is red.
I don't know her.
I'd get rid of that cat if I were you.
I didn't kill her.
Patti, come on.
These magic lollipops are like the hot new thing.
Look, I told you- I'm sorry she's dead, but those lollipops aren't worth killing for.
Listen to me.
I already got you on possession of heroin.
Just a hop, skip and a jump to murder if I work this right, and for your information, I'm very good.
Especially since Jenna's dead body shows us that she was in one hell of a fight right before that party.
Okay, yeah.
I went to go see her right before her big splash on the billboard, and we got into it.
Patti, what are you doing here? I'm about to start work.
Look, I just need a few, all right? Hey! Ow! Stop it! I told you on the phone- no money, no candy.
I've been coming to you for six months.
You know that I'm good for it.
Leave.
Give me this We knocked each other around, but when I left, she was just as alive as I am.
That knocking around lead to an injury that caused her death, Patti.
What's that mean? What's going to happen to me? Ask your lawyer.
Our vic's body couldn't help but remind me of my Great Uncle Andy.
Oh, hearing that is enough to make any model break into tears.
Oh, no, there's no physical resemblance.
Although he was in freakishly superior shape for an octogenarian.
But, no, what I mean is, Uncle Andy would never finish telling a story.
Every time you thought he was done, he'd find something more to say.
So you're saying that Jenna Donovan's body is telling a different story, which means that Patti's off the hook.
The subdermal bruise didn't kill Jenna.
Affirmative.
When I reviewed the tox report, her antibodies were spiking off the charts, like she was fighting some type of pathogen in her system.
So a virus or a parasite could have caused the pulmonary edema.
It's possible, but I haven't been able to find anything specific yet.
Although, in my attempt to do so, I decided to reexamine the burns on Jenna's body.
The majority were thermal- caused by theelectrocution- but at least one burn on her left arm is more consistent with a chemical burn.
And I have to admit, so far, I can't explain it.
And there's one more thing that I found curious.
Yeah.
Microscopic organisms.
Diatoms.
Which would be irrelevant if they hailed from a freshwater source, but these are marine diatoms.
ey were in her stomach.
So, she would have had to swallow saltwater.
What exactly was in that martini glass? Dr.
Moore's brother is still out there.
Keep trying to locate a signal from Charles Moore's cell phone.
And Danny, you call me the second you have something.
Mac, I made a positive I.
D.
on the finger.
It's from corynorhinus townsendii.
How did the finger from a bat wind up in our killer's ski mk? I don't know, but because it was preserved, I called a few stores that sell bones as specimens.
Long or short list? Very short list of one.
I know they're not very formal I.
D.
's, but all my current employees are in these photos.
We have very low turnover here.
That's him.
He said his name is Paul Larkin, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me something different.
Well, he was honest about his first name, but his last name's Campbell.
Let me guess: he didn't show up for work today.
How did you know? Is he okay? Well, that's what we're trying to find out.
Here's what you were asking about.
How would it have broken off? I don't know- customers aren't allowed to handle them.
They were locked up, so, an employee must have keyed into the display case.
Ready for tonight? Dude, what are you doing here? I got everything.
Put that away.
His work station's over there.
We're going to need his address, and with your permission, we'd like to look around, maybe take a few fingerprints, DNA samples.
Well, you're welcome to check it out, but we don't touch anything without gloves.
Mac.
Paul Campbell's work glove? Bingo.
DNA you swabbed from Brandi's hand is a match to the DNA I swabbed from a print inside Paul's glove.
Forget that.
I just picked up a signal from Charles Moore's cell phone.
It's coming from Paul's apartment.
NYPD! Paul? NYPD.
Come out with your hands up.
Oh, they're gone.
Yeah.
Paul doesn't live here alone.
Signs of a struggle.
Charles Moore was duct taped.
Looks like it took the kidnapper more than a few tries to get him that way.
All right, we need to find out where they went and who's sharing this dump with Paul.
All right? Everything's in Paul Campbell's name.
Phone, credit card, cable.
His roommate doesn't exist, at least not on paper.
But he does electronically.
I located the user's history.
Circumvented the security access to his e-mail.
Name's James Petty, and he requested blueprints for every building surrounding Club Prowl.
Nice.
That could be our shooter-slash-kidnapper right there.
You find something, Messer? Hey, zoom in on the right corner for a second.
You see that? You tipping me for my zooming skills? The Treasury Department started embedding blue and red fibers into currency to prevent counterfeiting.
Yeah, the fibers are consistent.
At some point, they probably realized that all the stolen cash couldn't fit in the box, so they dumped it out to find a bigger one.
In the process, one of the bills must've ripped and got caught on the edge.
So these guys are mailing the money somewhere.
It's a smart move, not keeping cash on them or in the apartment.
If you can raise the ink from the pouch, maybe we can get an address.
Oh, wow, you're doing science now? It's odd that they left it here.
They knew we'd find this place eventually.
Charles Moore's phone got us here.
Where is it? Sounds like it's coming from underneath the couch.
Boom.
It's Charles Moore's phone.
The question is, where is Charles Moore? I found our murder weapon.
Under a microscope? Come take a look.
It's an Irukanji jellyfish.
Microscopic, but fatal.
And Sid said One burn on her left arm is more consistent with a chemical burn.
Its poisonous tentacles caused Jenna's pulmonary edema.
Irukanji jellyfish can only survive in sea water.
True.
I think our olive is guilty of concealing a deadly weapon.
I found high concentrations of sodium chloride near a cut on the beach ball.
That's how they transferred it.
Our killer injected jellyfish-infested seawater into the beach ball.
And then finished blowing it up.
Then, right before Jenna was going to jump into the water, our killer cut a small slit in the ball, so the jellyfish could escape.
Who would go to all that trouble? I tested the spout, I found DNA from two donors, a male and a female.
I also found high levels of ketones, which is consistent with anorexia.
So maybe a rival model? Or an ad executive who has diabetes or on a low carb diet.
Lia and Damien had access to every part of that billboard, and the beach ball, not to mention the jellyfish.
One of them killed Jenna Donovan.
How do we prove which one? We get them to tell us.
Big fat dead end.
It was a long shot.
The ink's too diluted.
James Petty never stayed around in one place too much.
I guess he couldn't take the heat.
Thanks for the help, Doc.
I'm not even going to ask.
Mac, I bet when you hired me, you didn't know about my baking skills.
Doesn't look too appetizing.
It will in a second.
See, I couldn't lift the address off the pouch before, because it was too diluted.
The organic solvents in the ink will do that.
Yeah, but lucky for us, they can't stand the heat.
I stuck the package in an incubator oven for seven minutes.
And after the solvents evaporated, I could read the residue under the UV lamp, and I got an address.
Boom! Great work.
I also talked to Dr.
Moore- Brandi's going to be all right.
Let's hope we can return the favor, get his brother home safe.
Tell me where the money is.
I haven't seen it.
I just called Worldsend.
They said you signed for it! Special delivery.
Down on the floor! Hands behind your head.
Don't even think about it! Don't even think about it! Dr.
Moore.
Let's go call your brother.
He'll want to know you're okay.
Mr.
Boyfriend.
Detectives.
Your assistant said you'd be working late.
What's this? It's a warrant to get a sample of water from your tank.
What are you looking for? A murder weapon.
Irukanji jellyfish.
We think you have some in that tank.
They're almost impossible to see, but they can kill you with just one sting.
Do you know anything about this? No.
What's going on here? Jenna Donovan's death wasn't an accident; she was murdered.
- Murdered? - Actually poisoned.
By one of those guys.
Deliberately put into the beach ball.
Mr.
Barnes, who maintains your tank? Lia, she's been collecting jellyfish ever since her trip to Australia two years ago.
Lia, we need to talk.
This is ridiculous Where you going, Lia? You know, only two people handled that beach ball before Jenna.
Now, we have DNA that proves one of them was female.
If that happens to be a match to you, do you have anything to say then, Lia? Why would you want to kill Jenna? I don't know what you're talking about.
Well, hold on a second.
Lia, you handed that beach ball to me.
I was your target.
Why? You killed my career.
I created the martini mix campaign.
The slogan, the tone, even the girl in the martini glass.
It was all my idea.
But the night before I was supposed to pitch it, he took our CEO to a strip club, acted like the idea was all his.
So in order to get back at Damien, you decided to kill him.
You put the jellyfish in with the water, and then you had Damien blow up the beach ball.
It almost worked, too.
Except for the slit you made in the beach ball, didn't release the jellyfish until it got into Jenna's hands and she started batting it around.
I didn't know it would harm anyone else.
Irukanji jellyfish can't survive in freshwater.
You're right, but all it took was one landing on Jenna's arm to kill her.
Put your hands behind your back.
You're under arrest for the murder of Jenna Donovan.
Let's go.