CSI: NY s07e17 Episode Script

Our school crest, symbol of our history.
Founded in 1918, The Archford Academy has always been a beacon for academic integrity.
The key to our abiding success as a college preparatory school, which has produced numerous Ivy League graduates, begins in the classroom.
* Hey * * Hope you fall on your face * * May you come down so hard * * May you rot in your cage * * Stop * * This is where you get off * * You can rattle your bones * * But the hammer will drop * - Ooh.
- And for those of you concerned with Archford's demanding workload, know that our teaching staff is always available, whatever the need may be.
We find that the team dynamic and physical exercise promote humility and well-being.
Well, I'd like to thank all of you for coming.
I hope to see a number of you in the fall.
Remember, Archford is a place where students are fully equipped to walk tall toward their future.
* You answered my yearnings * * Now hear my good-bye * * The tables are turning * * You live and then you learn * * Then you die * I know.
I still can't believe it.
The digital grapevine is in full effect.
Here's our vic.
Olivia Prescott, 17 years old.
And the undisputed valedictorian of the senior class.
Hey, buddy.
Can we get these kids cleared out of here, please? All right, let's go.
Any of them catch anything besides a postmortem snapshot? Come on, move these people back here.
No.
I got officers taking statements, but so far, nothing concrete.
Just rumors and speculation.
According to her schedule, she just finished her free period.
So she wasn't coming from a classroom.
Well, this is Archford Academy.
Kids have deep pockets.
They shop on the Upper East Side.
She could have left the campus.
Significant blood loss.
Couldn't have gone far.
She was murdered right here on the school grounds.
Usually, you tell your kids to be safe walking home from school, not through it.
"Ad Vitam Paramus.
" Means "we are preparing for life.
" Well, someone at Archford had a different idea.
* Out here in the fields * * I fight for my meals * * I get my back into my living * * Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah * Laceration to the back of the skull.
Injury to the occipital bone.
Took a lot of force.
No visible defensive wounds.
Doesn't look like she struggled with her killer.
A head trauma injury like that usually means a significant amount of spatter.
Our vic staggered away from the primary crime scene.
Witnesses say she came from that direction.
Did you see the looks on those kids' faces? They're never going to forget this day.
I still remember every detail of the night my friends were murdered.
Let's hope one of them remembers every detail of what happened here.
You got a hall pass, young lady? All right, that'll do.
Medium velocity blood spatter right here.
So this is where Olivia Prescott was attacked.
C.
O.
D.
was an injury to the back of the head.
That's consistent with the edge of the sink.
This is her backpack right here.
Seems like she was a smart girl.
"Calculus C.
" Lord.
I never knew there was an "A" or a "B.
" Oh, we've got shoe tread marks on the toilet seat.
That's kind of a weird way to do your business, no? When I was in school, our mirrors were so high, we had to stand on the toilet to get a full view.
Well, there's no mirror across from this stall.
That would suggest that someone was hiding.
Lying in wait.
Who would want to kill Olivia? Everyone wanted to be her.
Popularity has its price.
- Anybody hate her for it? - No.
You couldn't even if you tried.
Some girls fight for their popularity, you know.
They'll claw and scratch their way to the top.
But Olivia never had to.
Maybe somebody wised up.
Tried to take her spotlight? No.
Olivia was in a league of her own.
Everyone knew that.
And they respected her for it.
Mrs.
Prescott, do you know if your daughter had problems with anyone in school? Olivia's always been very well-liked in school.
What about boyfriends? With her academic load, Olivia didn't have much downtime.
She was always so bright.
She was head of the student council.
She was captain of the debate team.
Has she ever been involved in drugs? Partying, drinking? Absolutely not.
Is there any way this could be an accident? I mean, maybe she fell and hit her head, right? I'm sorry, but everything seems to indicate that this was a homicide.
It just-- It doesn't make any sense.
Never does.
I promise you, we'll do everything we can to find who did this.
It's okay.
Sid? Uh, I was just thinking about my niece.
She's not much older than our victim here.
She's a beautiful girl.
C.
O.
D.
was epidural hematoma.
The curved shape of the contusions confirms the sink is our murder weapon.
- Mm-hmm.
- Tox screens are clear.
No substance abuse of any kind.
However, I detect contact dermatitis on her knees.
A skin rash? It usually develops within hours of direct contact with, well, any number of allergens hay, mold, poison ivy, various cleaning products.
I swabbed the affected area.
Found traces of microorganisms, which I sent to the lab for processing.
Based on our interviews with students and faculty, there's 80 minutes unaccounted for prior to Olivia's death.
Is it possible for contact dermatitis to develop within that window? Absolutely.
Well, maybe whatever caused the rash could help tell us where she was.
Or even who she was with.
Uh, one other thing.
It's not a tattoo, and it's the only one on her body, but I just find it odd.
How does the smartest girl in school get an "F"? * Can somebody help her * * Lost and confused * * She's been here before * * But her mind ain't much use * * It's all so easy * * On your own * * 220 girl * * 220 girl * Mac, incubated the microorganisms Sid collected from our vic's knees, isolated three different variations: Penicillium, aspergillus and alternaria.
- Huh.
Mold.
- Exactly.
All three typically grown indoors, so I figured if we can locate them somewhere in the school-- We'll be able to place Olivia.
- Grab a supply of air-o-cells.
- All righty.
* On your way to nowhere * * Might as well stay here * * 'Cause when your eyes are shut * * You don't care * * You're not there * * It's all so easy * * On your own, 220 girl * * It's all so easy * * On your own * * 220 girl * * 220 girl * Can you imagine Lucy at a school like this? Girl was just murdered here, so I'll try not to.
It's a five-star education.
Courses built around the specific developmental needs of your child, an equal emphasis on arts and science, and a college acceptance rate that's in, like, the 95th percentile.
You memorize the brochure? I'm just trying to be prepared.
It's our daughter's future.
Well, I got news for you, sweetheart.
Lucy's gonna go to an old-fashioned, nice public school like I went to, okay? That's her future.
Not with these kids.
Okay.
Redness and the degree of dermatitis on Olivia's knees suggests she was here right before she was murdered.
I found a book of Greek tragedies in her backpack that had one of those Dewey ma-jig codes on the binding, like a library book.
The Dewey Decimal System? Yeah.
I could never figure that out.
Well, maybe if you'd gone to Archford.
Boom.
All right, this is a copy of the book I found in her backpack.
Tells us she was here, but it doesn't help us establish a motive.
She was kneeling.
She must have picked up the mold here.
Huh.
Looks like there was some activity going on back here.
Hmm! Whoa.
There's handprints all over this table.
Looks like the table was also repeatedly slammed against the wall.
Uh-huh.
Is that an ass print? - Honey, what? - Look.
Yeah, that does look like an ass print.
Babe, do me a favor.
Hop up on this table.
Yeah, but see, the hands would be like this.
Like that.
Looks like there was a little extracurricular activity going on back here, huh? Yeah.
So Olivia saw two people having sex.
You think that's worth killing her over? If it was a teacher dishing out some extra credit.
So she wasn't just checking out a book.
She was getting a little sex education.
That was a quick print search.
Think I'm gonna throw away that Archford brochure.
It's a student.
With a record.
Drunk and disorderly at 18, huh, Benjamin? - That's impressive.
- You can't just search my locker.
- That's private property.
- My private property, Mr.
Gold.
You waived your rights the day you were accepted.
Archford Academy policy.
What's this about? I don't know.
Maybe you want to tell us.
You get into it with Olivia Prescott, perhaps? - No.
- No? All right.
What do we got here? Wow.
Someone's getting detention.
Whoa.
What are you teaching these kids here? How do you like Principal Andrews' BIG exam? Principal Andrews' BIG exam? That's clever.
What can I say? I'm a professional.
Seem a little cocky for a kid who's looking at jail time.
Whoa, wait a minute.
Every one of these girls has signed a consent form and they're all of age.
You can take that up with our Sex Crimes unit.
Were you in the library today? Yeah.
But I'm-I'm there every day.
Got a lot of work done then? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
I didn't realize having sex was considered homework.
Okay, look you have to promise not to tell my parents.
I'm totally gonna be expelled for this.
Archford has a zero-tolerance policy for, like, everything.
I'm finished.
I can kiss my Harvard acceptance good-bye.
I can't make any promises until I get the information I need.
You understand? Start with Benjamin Gold and the details of what happened in the library.
Look, my productions have had numerous library shoots.
You'll have to refresh my memory.
Well, how about today's? The one where Olivia Prescott threatened to reveal your little secret.
Archford students are expected to be these perfect beings.
Ben's movie, the risk, it was a way to break a few rules.
It was exciting.
So Ben told me to meet him in the library.
He had his camera all ready to go.
Hit record, dropped his pants and I Okay.
Just fast forward to the part where Olivia Prescott caught him with his pants down.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Your costar, Becky, is sitting in the room on the other side of this wall.
We confiscated your camera.
The time stamp on your footage puts Olivia Prescott front row for your latest production.
She caught you in the act.
Threatened to turn you in.
And since "pornographer" won't look so good on a college transcript, you had to shut her up.
Olivia Prescott didn't catch us.
Then what happened after Ben called "cut"? I left.
Look, I didn't kill Olivia.
And she didn't threaten to blow the whistle on my production.
- Whew! - That was fun.
Who's back there? Oh, crap.
Olivia.
Look, I don't know what you just saw, but I saw enough.
Please, you-you can't go to Andrews.
They'll expel my ass.
Come on.
What do you want? Name your price.
What are you doing? You hopefully.
Where do I sign up? Olivia wanted to be the star.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Dog ate your homework? What's up? Okay, check this out.
I was processing Olivia Prescott's clothing, and I found this weird gray dirt on her blazer, so I ran it through GCMS, and I found a high concentration of sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride, which is, um, well, it's, ah it has the same chemical consistency as, uh, Martian soil.
What? Soil found on Mars.
Okay, so I should have Flack send out an APB on what? Five-foot-two, big head, almond-shaped piercing black eyes, last seen leaving Archford Academy in a flying saucer? You know, I just got the results back, and I don't want to go to Mac yet 'cause I just don't want him to think that I'm crazy.
Adam, I can personally guarantee you that Olivia's never been to Mars.
Based on the tears in the fabric of her blazer, the killer likely grabbed Olivia.
So the Martian soil had to be secondary transfer from the killer's hands.
But obviously, the killer's never been to Mars.
So got to figure out what Martian soil has to do with Archford Academy.
Okay.
Oh, God.
Okay, so what's up with you? Mold spores from Olivia Prescott's knees leads us to the library, where she witnessed an amateur pornography shoot.
Our suspect Benjamin Gold has a record, plenty to lose.
Sounds like motive to me.
But Benjamin claims that Olivia Prescott wanted to be in one of his pornos.
Oh, given a teenage boy's fantasy life, I'm not sure Ben is telling the truth.
But without evidence that puts Ben or his costar Becky in the bathroom, they're not suspects.
- And we're starting over.
- Maybe not.
Processed the trace you collected from the shoeprint in the girls' bathroom stall.
Intestinals from the pre-abdomen of an emperor scorpion.
How does an emperor scorpion find its way into a New York high school? Devilish-looking creatures.
But don't be fooled by their appearance; They're actually quite harmless.
I'm Mr.
Booker.
Biology.
How many of these do you have in your classroom, Mr.
Booker? We had five.
"Had" being the operative word.
Yesterday, one of our more petulant students thought it would be funny to scare one of his female classmates.
Hey, Emmy.
Are you going to that party on Saturday? What party? Um, never mind.
Who was the unlucky girl? Emmy Thomas.
She's an incredibly bright girl, but a frequent target of her fellow classmates.
Why's that? Well, the blazers aren't the only form of unification amongst these students, Detectives.
From what I can tell, Archford breeds a specific type of teen.
We're well aware of the students' academic achievements.
No, I'm talking about outside the classroom.
Socially, these kids can be pretty brutal.
Emmy's a knock-off of the real thing.
Brains? Yes.
But style, sophistication? No.
Is there any connection between Olivia Prescott and Emmy? They're two different species.
But you can ask Emmy herself.
Do you want me to put this up top? Okay.
Thanks.
Sure.
Emmy Thomas? And Allen Wilson.
Pleasure.
I thought the judges didn't arrive until tomorrow.
- We're not - That's okay.
Just give me a minute to set up here.
The lava lizard's color-changing abilities are not unique to its environment-- its environment being the Atacama Desert in Chile.
We are hoping to isolate its chromatophores to-- I'm sorry.
We're with the New York Crime Lab.
We need to speak with you, Emmy.
Where'd you go after your biology class yesterday, Emmy? - I don't remember.
- Let me help you remember.
- You were hiding in the bathroom.
- How do you know that? We found your shoe prints on a toilet seat.
It's the same bathroom where Olivia Prescott was murdered.
You can't connect my shoe print to the bathroom without a practical reference, which I never gave you.
Mr.
Booker told us about the joke with the scorpion.
- He did? - Yeah.
Traces of scorpion intestinal tract were in the tread pattern we lifted from the toilet seat.
He also mentioned this wasn't the first time you were singled out by your classmates.
Why would he tell you that? - Did Olivia ever single you out? - No.
Embarrass you in front of your peers? - What do you care? - Care? Because Olivia's dead.
We just want answers.
Now, what were you doing in the bathroom? I ducked out of class after that schmuck James Howland put the scorpion by my bag.
I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of laughing at me.
So I went to the bathroom to get away from everybody, when two girls from my class came in.
Ah, what a stupid bitch.
I mean, she didn't have to step on the thing.
Whatever.
The girl's so damn skittish.
Tap her on the shoulder, she jumps, like, nine feet in the air.
I thought it was funny.
I hear she has to take diet pills to keep her figure.
Well, they're really working for her.
And they were obviously talking about me, so I stood on the seat.
Pretty good at being invisible when I need to.
When they were finished ripping me apart, I left.
We're gonna need those girls' names.
Cynthia Evans and Rachel Halstoy.
When they're not puking in the toilet, they're usually at cheer practice.
Is there anything else that I can do for you, Detectives, or are you done unpacking my personal life? No.
Thanks for your time.
- No.
- Emmy Thomas's story is confirmed.
Flack interviewed the two cheerleaders, and they both admitted, without remorse, that they made fun of Emmy in the bathroom, knowing the whole time she was there.
That is so cruel.
If they were on my squad, I'd kick 'em to the "D" team.
You were a cheerleader? Don't act like you weren't.
So, Benjamin Gold's letter of consent, found in the vic's backpack.
It was filled out, signed by our vic Olivia Prescott.
Looks like Olivia was ready for her close-up.
Maybe Gold is telling the truth.
Plus, we don't have anything that puts him in the bathroom.
But Gold's statement does explain where Olivia was during her free period.
According to the timestamp on the camera, Olivia was alive 50 minutes into the 80-minute free period.
So we just have to figure out what happened during that 30 minutes.
It's got to be in the evidence.
We're just not looking close enough.
Since when were Stalin, Khrushchev, and Beria ingredients in water? Never.
I don't think there's 1947 calories in it, either.
Where did that water bottle come from? Vic's backpack.
Yeah.
"Multiple choice.
1 "T.
D.
" Truman Doctrine.
- "2MP.
" - Marshall Plan.
"3NSA.
" National Security Agency.
National Security Act.
Agency wasn't formed till 1949.
Everything on this bottle has been replaced with information pertaining to the Cold War.
All the answers to the test.
It's a cheat sheet.
It's impressive.
I mean, not like I ever cheated or anything.
Olivia was the smartest girl at that school.
She wasn't a cheater.
And this would explain the transfer of the "F.
" Lindsay, go to the Archford Academy Web site.
I want to know what exams are on the schedule for today.
AP World History.
Looks like Olivia Prescott might've caught a cheater.
Give it to me! - Hawkes.
- Hey.
So I processed our bottle cheat sheet and Olivia Prescott's prints are all over the outside.
Well, that's consistent with the smudged letter "F" Sid found on the vic's thumb.
Ink must have been pretty fresh.
I tried to reverse engineer the label.
It's made with materials you can find at any art store.
But I did find another set of prints on the inside of the label.
Let me guess.
They're not Olivia's.
Correct.
Running a search through AFIS now.
Chances are, it's another student.
Well, they might not be in our database.
They can't all be as enterprising as Benjamin Gold.
Let's try and find another way to determine who that print belongs to.
You got it.
I'll take Martian soil for $200, Alex.
Hey.
So Archford's policy is that they only print up tests the day of the exam.
Means somebody hacked the teacher's computer.
Exactly.
Hmm.
Well, the school's computers are all networked.
Should be able to trace the source.
Tried that.
Found nothing.
Well, it's not impossible, just ballsy.
What? What is it? What are you talking about? It's called Remote Desktop Access.
It's a program that can be installed on pretty much any computer.
You indicate the host computer.
Then the client computer.
Then you have direct access to their desktop.
Wait for it to sync and Is that Mac's? - Yeah.
- That's pretty impressive.
Yes! Uh! I'm the man.
It's not Martian soil.
Just got off the phone with Archford.
They've never suspected any of their students of cheating.
They never suspected any of their students of murder, either.
Every school has cheaters.
I guess they're just trying to preserve their reputation.
They've got to do something to justify those $80,000 tuition checks.
I mean, I know that these kids are under a lot of pressure.
But I don't understand why anybody puts so much effort into cheating.
Did you find any more of those hidden cheat sheets? No.
Just the bottle.
Though I have to admit it, that was rather ingenious.
I know, right? I wish I'd thought of that for Mr.
Hamilton's math class.
Olivia had everything going for her, right? Yeah.
Grades, looks, respect.
But there was one thing missing.
Girls like Olivia have boyfriends.
Isn't that presumptuous? No.
Remember, kids at that age define themselves peers and passion.
There was no mention of a boyfriend or a-- Listen to this.
"Olivia, I know our time together has been brief, but I'd love this relationship to continue.
" - I got it! - What? The Martian soil-- well, the supposed Martian soil.
It's not really from Mars.
Where's it from, Adam? Well, it took some heavy digging because there was no reference sample on file, but I prevailed.
What up? Yeah.
Okay.
Due to its dry environment, the levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride nearly mirror the climate of Mars.
It's really soil from a remote desert in Chile.
The Atacama, to be exact.
The lava lizard's color-changing abilities are not unique to its environment-- its environment being the Atacama Desert in Chile.
You know, Allen, I'm not a biologist or anything, but I'm pretty sure chameleons change color just the same.
You had to go get a lizard from the deserts of Chile.
That's a mighty expensive science project.
My parents vacation in Chile.
They brought him back as a present for my science project.
Yeah.
We found evidence of your lizard's terrarium dirt on Olivia's clothing.
You seem like a smart kid.
Not smart enough to remove one important thing from your water bottle cheat sheet.
You forgot to remove the original bar code.
Because of that, we were able to track the bottle back to its manufacturer, check their shipping logs, find out which supermarket it was sold in.
Good thing Mommy uses credit cards.
You and Olivia had a weekly study session going.
So what happened? She discover your little cheat sheet the day before the exam? It's grounds for expulsion, isn't it? I imagine Olivia threatened to turn you in, you had an argument, she grabbed the bottle, ran to the ladies' room hoping you wouldn't follow her.
Olivia, please! Give it back! You're gonna screw up the curve for the entire class! Olivia.
Olivia! Get out of here, Allen.
No! Give it back! No, that didn't happen.
That ain't gonna hold up in court, Allen.
I didn't kill Olivia! "Olivia, I know our time together has been brief, but I'd love this relationship to continue.
" Does that sound familiar? That's your handwriting.
Checked it against a couple of your exams.
Olivia was a popular girl.
Beautiful.
All those one-on-one study sessions? I'm not a cheater, and I'm not a murderer.
Maybe you saw your relationship with her as something more, and that all went south when she caught you cheating.
Fine.
You got one thing right at least, okay? I did like Olivia a lot.
And I would never do anything to hurt her.
And she didn't catch me cheating.
I was helping her cheat.
Olivia singled me out.
I didn't know why at first.
She just said that it would be mutually beneficial, which was fine with me.
I got to spend time with someone as gorgeous as Olivia in exchange for help with a few classes.
She wasn't doing too well, her grades were slipping.
And as she got busier with all her stuff-- So she asked you to help her cheat? The teachers are smart, but technologically illiterate.
All I had to do was activate the remote desktop connection on their computers, and I could view all of their files.
The bottle was my idea.
Olivia liked that.
Do you have someone who can confirm your whereabouts at the time of Olivia's death? I had a meeting with Mr.
Dorsey.
He's the dean of the math department.
You got into Georgetown.
Why help her cheat? Because even an Archford education can't teach you how to win five minutes with a girl like Olivia.
I don't get it.
Motive seems there.
Yeah, but the science can't put Allen in the girls' bathroom.
He may have grabbed her, but that could have happened anywhere in the school.
Can't be far off.
People commit murder for one of three reasons: money, revenge, and jealousy.
Oh.
Hi.
You again.
We just want to ask you about your science project with your friend Allen.
Uh sure.
We were partners, studying the color-changing properties of the Chilean lava lizard.
We found trace of the lizard's terrarium dirt on Olivia Prescott's blazer.
That's from your project, Emmy.
I told you, I didn't really even know Olivia.
You know, when I was your age, I had a big old mouth full of braces.
Kids made fun of me all the time, but I had a backbone like yours, and I never let it get to me.
Good for you.
But matters of the heart-- a little different.
It must have really hurt to see him spend all that time with Olivia.
- Him? - Allen.
This is the school paper.
That's a note he wrote to Olivia on her copy.
In that photo, you're in the background looking at him.
I can see it in your eyes, Emmy-- the jealousy.
His obvious affection for Olivia must have been hard to watch.
What happened when Olivia came into the bathroom? When I was in the third grade, the student who memorized the most numbers in pi won an ice cream sundae for the rest of the week.
Allen and I tied.
And we've been best friends ever since.
He's the sweetest guy on the planet.
The only one who doesn't judge you by the way that you wear your hair or your clothes.
He noticed me for me.
Not like the rest of my class.
And we had each other.
Until Olivia Prescott asked Allen to be her study partner.
She knew exactly what she was after, and exploited Allen to get it.
Let's go.
- Did you see her hair the other day? - Yes.
Disgusting.
- So do you have it? - Yeah.
Oh, my God, you're amazing.
Be careful.
It's still wet.
Oh.
Seriously, you have no idea how much this is gonna help.
It's all on there? The cheating.
To keep up her grades, get into an Ivy League university and keep up her image.
Yeah.
Multiple choice, key words, dates, everything.
- Just don't tell anybody, okay? - Duh.
Now get out of here before someone gets the wrong idea.
Thanks.
He's helping you cheat? Were you just spying on us? Oh, my God, you totally were.
You need to keep your perfect academic record-- that's fine by me.
- Just leave Allen out of it.
- We were just studying.
In the bathroom? No.
What are you gonna do? Turn us in? That'll get your little boyfriend in trouble, too.
He's not my boyfriend.
Mmm, but I see the way you look at him, Emmy.
It's the same way he looks at me.
Small price to pay for an "A.
" For years, I've had people make fun of me.
And that's okay.
At least I was aware.
It made me sick to my stomach seeing Olivia batting her eyes at Allen in exchange for his hard work.
He risked everything for her, and she-- He didn't deserve it.
Olivia Prescott didn't deserve to die, Emmy.
I regret killing Olivia.
I really do.
But what I don't regret is standing up for my best friend.
You think Allen Wilson had any idea? That his best friend was capable of murder? That his best friend was in love with him.
It's funny the things we choose not to see.
Yeah, well, wouldn't hurt for parents to open their eyes, either.
People have got to remember the world these kids are living in every day.
Even in a place like this, they're learning all kinds of things that aren't on the curriculum.
You just wish someone would have told Emmy that high school isn't the end of the world.
It's just the beginning.
Guess that's the kind of lesson you can't learn in school.