♪ ♪
(alarm ringing) WOMAN (over P.A.): Please report back to your offices.
No fire has been detected in the building. MAN: Hey.
Everything ready? Yeah. Where's Renee?
Probably still dealing with the fire department.
Makes this the perfect time.
Let's do it.
Valerie?
Uh, yeah.
Boss wants to see you in the conference room in ten minutes.
Am I in trouble?
He doesn't think I pulled the fire alarm, does he?
Just says he wants to talk to you.
♪ ♪ Um...
VALERIE: Hello?
Is anyone here?
ALL: Surprise!
Kent, you almost gave me a heart attack.
This all for me?
Well, technically, it's for all the second-quarter birthdays at Tabula Rasa Marketing.
The party budget's not what it used to be.
Well...
MAN: Excuse me!
Oh!
Oh, whoa, whoa.
Come on. We're trying to have a party here.
(clears throat)
Uh, stop looking at my underwear, perv.
No, I was just trying to deliver my package.
I'll bet you were. (laughter) No, not like that. I-- Give it to me, Chester.
It's Teddy.
(men chuckling, phone beeping) I gotta go. Something's come up.
Happy birthday, Valerie.
Thank you.
Let's have some cake, everybody!
(elevator bell dings) (Muzak plays)
(beeping) (loud rustling) (beeping continues)
(murmurs): What the hell was that?
Hey!
Can you hear me?
I'm stuck down here!
Hello?!
(metallic screech) (gasps) (screaming)
(gasping, shouting) Somebody get me out of here!
Somebody get me out of here!
Help!
(garbled radio transmissions)
Hold up here.
So, uh, you knew the victim?
Yes. Her name's Renee Dorsett.
She was the receptionist in our office.
Is my leg broken?
When was the last time you saw Miss Dorsett...
uh, alive?
She was at her desk this morning.
Ow! Ow, ow!
Okay, time's up, Officer.
I got to get this guy out of here.
(camera flashbulbs popping)
God...
You find anything up there?
I can't do anything till Tom shows up and gets rid of this body.
Loman's on his way.
CAINE: Mr. Wolfe?
The safety axe is missing up here, gentlemen.
The victim worked on the 19th floor.
How's it possible that she got axed and nobody saw it?
They may have covered it with the fire alarm, Mr. Wolfe.
So, let me get this straight.
The killer manages to get everybody out of the building, so that there are no witnesses.
He chops up the victim, sticks her on top of an elevator.
I don't know about you, but it seems like it takes hard work to kill somebody.
Harder... than people think.
♪ Yeah! ♪ Captioning sponsored by\h CBS and C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS
♪ We don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ Don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ No, no! ♪
(saw buzzing)
Hey, Tom, you still up there?
No, Ryan. I'm on lunch break.
Is there any chance we're gonna see a body anytime soon?
We just need to free her ankle from the pulley.
Her leg was tangled up in the pulley?
That must be \h what caused the accident.
As the cab went down, her \h ankle got caught in the pulley, causing the guide rail cable \h to slowly slip off the track.
When the line finally \h released, it caused a freefall until the emergency \h flyweights kicked in.
(alarm ringing) Calleigh and Jesse are up on the 19th floor.
We think that's where she was dropped into the elevator shaft.
Jesse, this is definitely where she was killed.
The fire axe is missing.
CARDOZA: Yeah, and I've got a lot of cleaned-up blood over here.
Looks like the killer wiped down Renee's blood.
The spatter pattern has been obscured.
(Renee screaming)
Well, there are about a thousand prints here.
It's going to be tough to tell which one came last.
(alarm rings)
Hey, Jesse, will you take a look at this?
CARDOZA: What's that?
I think it's dye gel.
You know, the kind they use to catch people who pull false alarms.
Yeah, I bet you our killer already tried to wash his hands.
Even if they did, water spreads it.
And the tiniest amount of fluid will activate a small amount in a crevice or fingernail.
You know what? This sounds like a perfect recipe for a court order to test these employees.
Hmm.
DUQUESNE: All right, listen up.
We're going to be testing everyone.
Uh, can I start with the three of you?
Line up over here, please.
Shouldn't we be home?
You know, like, with our families during this time?
One of our own was just murdered.
Unfortunately, one of your own may be responsible.
I need you to put your hands out, please.
You're clear.
Are-Are you saying that the killer might still be here?
That's what we're hoping.
Okay, you're clear. Thank you.
Oh, my God. Valerie?
You killed Renee? No. I didn't!
Okay, get everybody out of here now-- back to the office.
All right.
You pulled the alarm.
Uh, well, yeah.
(alarm ringing)
I thought I smelled smoke.
I think I smell a lie.
Did you kill Renee Dorsett?
No. No, no, no.
The... (chuckles) The only reason I pulled the fire alarm was because I had to pick my boyfriend up from the airport.
Oh, that makes perfect sense.
I know I sound crazy right now, but it really was the only way.
I needed more than the allotted 60-minute lunch break to get to the airport and back, and...
Renee's desk is right in the middle of the floor.
She sees everything.
Okay, correct me if I am wrong. Renee was the receptionist.
More like office Nazi.
My boyfriend said that he called a dozen times yesterday, but I never got any of the messages.
Why not?
Little Miss Hall Monitor never gave them to me.
I don't know what she says to the boss behind their closed-door meetings, but I'm pretty sure she's getting people fired.
Sounds like motive.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you and Renee Dorsett never really got along.
Look, I wasn't the only person who had a problem with Renee.
Who else?
Only everyone else in the office.
Jerry!
She's coming down!
(grunts)
Okay, very nice.
Let's get this young woman some transportation, please.
(indistinct radio transmission)
I got something.
What'd you find?
Looks like a piece of ceramic.
Came off the victim.
Could indicate a struggle.
Could you drag the stepladder back in here?
Hey, Tom, there's a picture of a little boy on here.
I don't think Renee was a mother.
In fact, I believe Tripp mentioned her next of kin being out of state.
This could've been left by our lumberjack.
Huh...
Uh, Ryan, um, uh... uh, could I come down the ladder?
We, uh, found this next to the body.
It... looks like a piece of a coffee mug.
SIMMONS: Yeah, and on it was a photo of a red-haired boy.
According to your coworkers, that's your son?
Yeah, the coffee mug was a Father's Day gift.
I was kind of wondering where it went.
WOLFE: Well, then I guess I'm wondering why your Father's Day gift ended up next to Renee Dorsett's body.
Anything left on the drying rack is fair game.
Somebody probably just walked off with it.
Walter?
Walter, you're being a little creepy.
Yeah? Watch this.
Why does this picture look like it came from a magazine?
SIMMONS: It is, 'cause that boy is not his son.
He's a catalog model.
Where'd all this, uh... kids' art come from?
I did it.
Yeah, look, my last job, you know, I was always stuck with weekends, overtime.
All the moms and dads got to have their, you know, half-days and their choice of vacation weeks.
This job, just wanted to even the playing field.
And Renee Dorsett sniffed it out.
She was gonna report you.
I slipped up, she figured it out, we had words this morning.
Renee, you're overreacting!
Nobody got hurt!
Please don't tell the boss.
I never tell him anything.
I don't want to get laid off again just 'cause I don't have as many dependents as the next guy.
God, parent-teacher conferences, pediatricians' appointments, field trips.
What exactly were you doing with all that time off, Kent?
Yeah. You can't lie about having a son.
You need to come clean.
You just... Hey!
I don't take orders from secretaries, okay?
WOLFE: So you two have a heated argument this morning, then she ends up dead.
Hey, I had nothing to do with her murder.
You gotta believe me.
No, actually, we don't have to believe you... Dad.
CARDOZA: All right, Ryan and Walter took our faux family man downstairs.
I thought you could use a hand at Renee's desk.
What about the office assistant?
We're checking the airport security cams right now to corroborate her story. Hang on.
You hear that?
(thumping) Yeah.
I thought the building was secure.
The uniforms were instructed not to let anyone back.
What is that?
(thumping continues) It's headed to the other room!
H, he's headed back your way!
(thumping continues)
(man grunts) (yells) Get your hands where I can see them. My back!
Get your hands where I can see 'em, right now!
Ow!
Right now.
Put your hands on your head. That's it.
What were you doing in the ceiling?
What were you doing up there?
I was living there.
Go look for yourself. You'll see.
You were living in the ceiling?
Do you have any idea how much money these cubicle monkeys waste each month on rent, huh? Yeah, well, not me.
I have a plan. I'm saving up for a down payment.
See, I think that you were spying on Renee Dorsett.
That's why you were up there.
I wasn't spying on anybody.
Then why did you run from me?
I just don't want to get in trouble.
Well, mission not accomplished.
(groans) Geez, Louise... this dude really was living up here.
Yeah. I think we should just bag everything, see if we can tie any of it to the murder.
Okay.
Oh...
Oh, look at that, huh?
I guess we caught Teddy on his lunch break.
You'd think a coworker getting murdered might ruin a man's appetite.
Well, unless...
it was his idea.
DUQUESNE: So, the bloody towels were a match to our victim, but the ceiling dweller's feigning innocence.
So you want to tie him to the body.
Fingers crossed.
Six-and-a-quarter inches.
Consistent with our axe.
All right, and you think that's the first attempt?
(alarm ringing) (screams) (gasping) (screams)
This is odd.
Was Renee a smoker?
No.
Look in the cabinet over there.
I believe I have some nail polish remover.
What are you thinking, Tom?
You'll understand soon enough.
What's the matter, Tom?
Don't you like her shade?
No, I don't care for it.
Wait a minute. Are those...?
Transverse white lines on the fingernails; aka Mees' lines.
She was being poisoned.
Mees' lines are generally the result of small-dose poisoning over a long period of time.
Maybe whoever did it just got impatient.
I'll run tox, let you know exactly what we're dealing with.
(device trilling) Tom's saying he found arsenic.
(device trills) Yeah, not enough to kill her, but enough to make her really sick.
(device trilling) (device beeps)
(device trilling) Wait a second.
(device beeps) Here, test this.
(device trills) (device oscillates) (beeps three times) Someone was tainting her food.
Yeah, and I think I know who.
I told you-- I don't know how those got there.
What about this, Teddy?
We found that in your hideout, and I need you to know that someone was poisoning Renee.
I wouldn't poison anyone.
Are you sure about that, Teddy?
Look...
I'm not proud of this, okay, but...
I take other people's leftovers, you know, to eat, so I don't have to spend money on f...
So, you did steal this sandwich.
Yeah. Yeah, I always got the best stuff from Renee.
She was always on some kind of diet... Put your hands on the table, please.
Notice the white lines, Teddy?
The white lines means the poison is affecting you, too.
Oh, God, am I gonna die?
I need to know who else had access to Renee's food.
I-I don't know. They-They ordered out from a different restaurant every day.
A name.
Uh, the same person delivered it.
Um, Valerie Metcalf, the office assistant.
Thank you very much, Teddy.
Thank you very much.
Calleigh, listen...
(indistinct radio transmission) (sighs) I totally aced poli sci, and this is, like, unreasonable search and seizure and invasion of privacy, so whatever you find is poisonous fruit.
That's exactly what I'm looking for, Ms. Metcalf, poisonous fruit.
Renee was being poisoned. You brought her her food.
That gives me probable cause to search you.
This looks like Element 33 to me.
We can talk about it here, or we can go down to lockup.
Fine. Busted.
It was just a little bit.
I wanted to give her the case of the runs, not the Anna Nicoles.
You were poisoning her for weeks.
Yeah, well, she was always telling everyone what to do, and if you didn't listen, then she'd announce your personal business like she worked on TMZ.
Hey, Valerie, the pharmacy called.
Your herpes medication is ready to be picked up.
Oh, and they close at 6:00.
Renee, what is your problem?
Have you ever heard of a Post-it?
I thought you'd want to know now.
(scoffs) (murmurs): Sorry.
Okay, gotta go.
So, you wanted revenge.
Any day without Renee was a good day.
I just wanted to make her sick enough to stay home.
Look, I was only using a teensy-weensy bit at a time.
Well, it's just a teensy-weensy felony.
♪ ♪
WOLFE: Hey, H.
Take a look at what I found on Renee's desk.
"You've ruined my life.
You'll pay for what you've done."
Mr. Wolfe...
this is a death threat.
There's no signature. Maybe we could trace it back to one of her coworkers.
Note the date.
WOLFE: It's June, 2007. That's over two years ago.
Yes, before Renee went to work at the ad agency.
I guess it looks like someone's been trying to kill her a lot longer than we thought.
(sighs) I should have been a receptionist.
DUQUESNE: How does a single woman afford this house on $30,000 a year?
Maybe she has a rich family.
I want one of these.
All right, let's focus. We need to figure out if someone outside of the office wanted her dead.
Well, look at this. I mean, somebody was definitely in a hurry to get out of here. These tire tracks look fresh.
Okay, so maybe the confrontation began here and then ended at the office.
I'll check it out.
I guess that means you and I will take the inside.
I guess it does.
(camera shutter snapping)
♪ ♪
So, what was Renee Dorsett doing two years ago?
You mean, aside from receiving threatening letters?
Well, I'm thinking if we can figure out what she was doing back then, we might be able to learn who sent her the letter.
Check that out.
WOLFE: Yeah, our victim got an MBA from one of the most prestigious business schools in the country.
So, why was she working the front desk?
It says here that in 2007, Renee Dorsett was a vice president of a major investment firm.
Oh, yeah? Well, I got a checking register right here from a couple years ago.
And?
And, starting in 2007, she made...
monthly payments to a local cemetery.
For what?
I don't know.
You know, the more we learn about this victim, the less she makes sense.
Well?
Uh, I'm afraid I can't identify a specific vehicle with motor oil.
If you had a car for me to compare it to...
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
You still haven't run it through the FTIR?
I don't expect you to know this, but all of the motor oil used in this country has the same basic chemical structure, the same chemical makeup.
This is a waste of my time and yours.
Okay, Give it a try. I have a hunch.
Based on what?
Based on the tire treads I found at the scene. They were bias ply, and they were awfully narrow.
What does that mean?
It means, "Run the sample."
All right, fine.
At least now, you've got me interested.
Well, that's good.
You find a girlfriend yet, Travers?
(clears throat) (computer trilling) (sighs) Normal. Normal.
Hold up.
What is it?
1,600 parts per million of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate.
Is that strange?
It's very high.
I mean, it's been decades since that amount of phosphorous has been allowed in motor oil. So, we're talking old oil.
More likely, an older car.
You know, a lot of, uh, classic car collectors do use oil specifically designed for their older cars.
A classic car. You see?
I knew there was something up with those treads.
Well, southern Florida's got the perfect climate for classic cars.
Now, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands.
How are you going to find the one that ran over your victim's lawn?
Well, you know, I'm going to start with our known suspects, Travers.
I'm Mark Bullock.
I understand you gentlemen want to see me?
Yes, Mr. Bullock.
You have lemon peel in your tire tread.
Okay. Is that a crime?
It is when you get it doing donuts in Renee Dorsett's front yard, smart ass.
(tires squealing) (crashing) I'll show you.
(tires squealing) (pots shattering)
Wait, now, ho... hol-hold on...
You vandalized her property just this morning, Mr. Bullock.
No. No.
It was yesterday.
You want to tell me what happened?
I got this call that HR wanted to see me today at 4:30.
Now, we all know that's the kiss of death.
So, you-you blame Renee for that?
Mark?
What the hell are you doing?
(laughing) Hey. (car door slams) Let's see if your stupid lemons win any ribbons this year, bitch.
Have you lost it? No, no.
But I-I am going to get fired.
But you already knew that, didn't you?
What? No.
I-I'm sorry. Mark, I didn't know.
Yeah, right. You're the one who told the boss that I brought my dog to work, didn't you?
So, you were pissed when she got you axed, so you axed her in return? Is that the story?
No, no. Now...
Now, I was angry at first, then I-I realized it wasn't her fault.
I had it all backwards.
I told him, um, that that was your service dog.
I don't have epilepsy...
I know.
Ren-Renee, what are you talking about?
They've been laying people off for months.
And I've been in this business long enough to see the signs.
I didn't want anyone, you know, from our department to-to suffer.
You were covering for me?
You've been riding our backs all this time 'cause you were protecting us?
Yes.
I know a few people who maybe might be looking for a good jingle guy. I'll-I'll put you in touch.
After you help me replant my garden.
So, it was her complaining that actually saved your job.
Yeah. That's what I think.
It's just too bad that she died before the rest of the office realized it.
I'm going to have to take you in while we check out your story.
(cell phone rings, beeps on) Mr. Wolfe.
So, I tracked down the cemetery that Renee Dorsett was sending checks to. And?
She was having flowers delivered to a gravesite every month.
This is the caretaker of the cemetery.
Officers. I'm Luis.
Hi, Luis. Thank you for coming in.
And, um, this is the plot that, uh, Miss Dorsett paid me to tend.
Paige Shoreham.
LUIS: She was 28 when she died.
Luis, did Renee mention how they knew each other?
I think they must have been close.
She came every Friday.
And she always brought flowers.
I tried to console her, uh... I asked her what was wrong.
Did she say anything?
She said she was, uh, going to hell.
Okay. What were the flowers, Luis?
Um, the same every time.
Uh, purple hyacinth.
Renee Dorsett was asking for forgiveness.
Yes. The question is, forgiveness for what?
I got the police report on Paige Shoreham's death.
Great. Let's check it out.
(electronic trilling) Let me clear some room here.
All right, well, it looks like we've ruled out any foul play.
It was a clear-cut suicide.
Girl jumps from bridge.
There were witnesses.
Yeah, she even left a note.
You know what? Pull that up.
Let's see if she wrote the note under duress.
Wait a second.
What?
I scanned something in.
Yeah, right there.
This is the threatening letter that Ryan found on Renee's desk.
On the right is Paige Shoreham's suicide note.
Calleigh, look at the handwriting.
It's the same.
Exactly.
Okay, so Paige sent Renee the letter.
Before she killed herself.
You know what? Let's find out more about Paige.
Does she have an obituary?
Well, she should.
Here it is.
"Paige Shoreham was distraught after being fired from her job at Gressinger McDowell, an investment firm."
Gressinger McDowell is where Renee worked.
Think it's a coincidence?
No, I don't.
I think this is the connection we want.
"Despite windfall profits in 2007, "Gressinger McDowell decided to ax its workforce by 20%."
Calleigh, look right here.
Says, "The initiative-- "an attempt to maximize productivity and profits for the firm-- was initiated by Renee Dorsett, vice president."
Okay, so Renee Dorsett fired Paige.
Paige committed suicide.
Renee felt responsible for Paige's death.
Maybe that's why she decided to be a receptionist.
She didn't want to have to fire anyone ever again.
You can change all you want. You can't escape your past.
You know, that obituary said that Paige had a fiancé.
Will you see if you can find him?
Sure.
(computer trilling, beeping) His name is Jeffrey Lipton.
Oh, my God, that's the guy from the elevator.
What does Paige have to do with anything?
She was your fiancé, for one.
We were, um...
we were saving up for the wedding when she passed.
DUQUESNE: Jeffrey, we know that Paige and Renee Dorsett had history.
Yeah, you know, I... I'm sorry.
This really isn't a good time.
Why?
Planning a trip, Mr. Lipton?
I need you to leave my property.
We need to get some evidence ASAP.
Otherwise, Jeffrey Lipton's gonna split town.
Hey, Jesse, are you still by the courthouse?
Oh, good. We need a warrant.
CARDOZA: Well, I searched Jeffrey's house, and I didn't find the clothes that he was wearing this morning.
Yeah, I'm not having any luck with the, uh, suitcase either.
Don't you think it's strange that Jeffrey Lipton kills Renee Dorsett and throws her down an elevator shaft, and the elevator was working fine all morning till the moment he steps in?
What do you think, she was trying to, uh, avenge her own death from the grave?
CARDOZA: I don't know, but if so, we are really letting her down.
Gentlemen, Jeffrey's missing clothes.
CARDOZA: Wow.
The hospital was planning to dispose of them tonight.
Huh. Well, let's take a look at this.
These strands are fibrin.
Dense centers to the spatter.
(device trilling)
Yeah, they've got a fried egg appearance.
It's consistent with partial blood clotting.
CAINE: Which would make sense, because Renee was killed before she fell through the elevator shaft.
Well, look at this.
Well, this blood's a little different.
(device trilling) Look at that.
CAINE: Gentlemen, that drop of blood was fresh when it hit the shirt. CARDOZA: All the spatter from the elevator should be gravitational, low-velocity.
Yeah, but this one has an elliptical shape.
It suggests that the blood came in horizontally, not vertically. Yeah.
Yeah, the size and tail mean this is medium-velocity.
I think we're looking at perimortem backspatter.
Created by an axe to the head.
(alarm ringing) (screams) (squishing)
So you, uh, killed Renee during the fire alarm.
Are you kidding me?
The blood on your shirt confirms it, Jeffrey.
I got Renee's blood on me when she fell into the elevator.
After you killed her.
(screams) (squishing)
Bet you had the surprise of your life when you saw her body hanging there, after you killed her this morning.
(gasping)
I took the job at Tabula Rasa just to get near her.
So you planned on killing her the whole time?
I wanted to figure her out. It didn't make sense that she was working as a receptionist.
Paige's suicide really changed her life, didn't it?
(laughs) Well, not as much as it changed mine.
You think this is funny?
Do you?
I worked with her for over a year.
I watched her, and I waited.
(alarm ringing) Is anybody else up here?! Hello?!
Renee? (gasps) I been, uh, I been wanting a moment alone with you for a while now.
Okay, Jeff, it's just... it's gonna have to wait.
We gotta get downstairs now.
What are you doing with that?
You killed my fiancée. What?
Paige Shoreham?
Jeffrey, I'm sorry.
I have completely turned my life around since then.
No! And...
No, you're exactly the same.
(screams, gasps) (screams) (squishing) (alarm continues)
(alarm continues)
(grunts)
(alarm continues)
Take him.
♪ ♪
(elevator bell dings) Oh! Hi.
Oh, what's up, Tripp?
Hey, good-lookin'.
Hey. What's up?
(Muzak plays) (electrical zapping) On second thought, I think I'll take the stairs.
(all chuckle) I forgot my...
Ah... that's not a bad idea.
Really? Yeah.
Oh, come on.
(zapping continues) Captioning sponsored by\h CBS and C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH\h access.wgbh.org