( rock music playing )
You're late. Thursday night traffic on the Strip. Every night traffic on the Strip. We're on a deadline. Let's go.
( siren wailing ) Man versus gravity.
Man lost.
I think that was his point.
Hello, Bob. Hey, Brian.
Grissom, what are you doing here?
What do you think? I didn't alert homicide.
Dispatch called. The body's on County property. Well, we're not looking at a crime here.
Bob explained it to me on the phone. His guy was alone up there. He jumped. This is suicide. Then why are you here, Sheriff?
Look, Roger Valenti was an unhappy guy.
Money problems, family problems.
He took the easy way out.
It's a tragedy, but it is not a crime.
Suicide, huh?
I don't know, Brian. On the day you decide to end your life why would you go to work?
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Who... are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who... are you?
Who, who, who, who?
I really wanna know
Who... are you?
Oh-oh-oh Who... Come on, tell me who are you, you, you Oh, you!
SHERIFF: 1,400 new beds means 1,400 criminals off the street. That old jail's maxed.
Prison population's increased by ten percent in one year. If this place isn't built soon, you do the math. You look like the Sheriff, but you talk like the Mayor.
Mr. Harris, you get an extra bonus for early completion? 20 grand a day. I'm ten days ahead. Wow, $200,000. You must work your guys pretty hard, huh?
GRISSOM: Where exactly was Valenti's work station? He had the whole floor to himself. Valenti was usually my first guy up. HE would drill the holes for the safety cables.
No one walks a new slab until the cables are looped around the perimeter.
Terminal velocity's 9.8 meters per second, squared. He would've hit the ground in under five seconds.
( distant siren wailing ) ( tapping lightly )
Did this belong to Mr. Valenti? Well, like I said he was the only one up here.
This drill is shorted out.
Do you think he "jumped" before or after he got the shock of his life?
GFCI would have prevented shock. What is GFCI? A ground fault circuit interrupter. Big words meaning you won't get electrocuted.
You see, if there's an electrical imbalance then the GFCI trips the circuit. and the tool is supposed to shut itself off.
But if the third prong of the plug is compromised, the interrupter won't work.
Will it, Bob? The third prong grounds the drill. Without it, the interrupter's useless. These prongs don't usually snap off by themselves.
Are all your workers this careless with their tools?
SHERIFF: You mind telling me what you're doing?
These cutters may have been used to tamper with the grounding prong. What happened to good old-fashioned dusting for prints? When your crime scene is 12 stories up... I don't want to take any chances.
I'm going to lock in these prints.
( hissing ) Hey, O'Riley, we got the 419.
Dylan Buckley-- 14 years old.
O'RILEY: Paramedics pronounced.
Coroner's on his way.
Was he home alone?
Not alone. And not his home.
Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, Crime Lab.
Dr. Leigh Sapien. This is her residence. WILLOWS: Oh, good.
Then you can fill us in. We were in the middle of a session. You're a therapist? Psychiatrist. And why were you seeing Dylan? Doctor-patient privilege. Privilege doesn't extend post-mortem. We can always get a warrant to get your records. No need. Dylan suffered from reactive attachment disorder. Issues with his mother. I'd been treating him for 16 months.
It's 10:00 at night.
Is this your home? I see my patients whenever they need me. On weekends, at night, at the office or here. Why don't you just tell us what happened? Dylan had an argument with his mother. He needed to unload.
He was complaining about his curfew blaming his mother for problems at school. Suddenly he began to convulse.
I tried to stabilize his head but it was a grand mal seizure.
Dylan was an epileptic.
He hit his head.
And when the convulsions stopped he was dead.
Did you try to revive him? Of course. Standard CPR. Cleared his airway worked his chest.
Uh, I take it this wasn't his first convulsion. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at age three.
Well, what are you doing?
Catherine, we need to get a tape lift here, please.
Look, I dialed 911.
I'm not hiding anything.
Well... I can see that.
Quick. Name three human bones that can withstand a 12-story drop.
Bones of the inner ear. Malleus, incus, stapes. High cellular density completely protected by the skull. Why?
They appear to be the only bones not fractured or broken.
I want to see the entry and exit wounds. Gil, he wasn't shot. This is the guy that fell off the new jailhouse. Are we talking about the same case here? He fell after he was electrocuted. News to me. I didn't find any physical evidence of electrocution. Faulty drill.
There should be burn marks on one of his palms.
ROBBINS: Negative on the burn marks.
In most electrocution cases, capillaries rupture hemoglobin leaks into the perivascular tissue. Right. Creating a fern-like pattern on the chest.
His body contradicts your crime scene.
I don't care what his body says. This guy was electrocuted. It was not an accident.
What? I don't know what I'm looking for. Signs of charring or melting. You've done this before. Yeah, but we always go back to the body. The body tells the story. And in this case, the body says there was no crime, and you're not listening.
Why? Every now and then, we have to break the rules. Start with a conclusion and work our way backwards. Like, for instance when we don't agree with the coroner's report?
Like for instance in the 1800s when surgery was Russian roulette and the patients were dying on the tables. Germs. Until Louis Pasteur theorized that something we could not see-- microscopic organisms-- were attacking the patients. Relevance? Bodies tell us stories because we interpret them the way our predecessors taught us to. Just because we don't see something we're supposed to see doesn't mean that it's not there.
Wires are crossed.
Polarity's been reversed.
This confirms that someone tampered with Valenti's drill.
The rubber soles of his boots should have protected him from electrical shock.
That's why you're safe in a car during a lightning storm. You're insulated by the rubber tires.
Rubber's an insulator but metal's a conductor. What form of metal hides in plain view at a construction site?
A nail.
SIDLE: Hey. Hey.
How's that palm print Grissom got off those cutters? Good. I'm running it through AFIX right now. The good thing is that the jailhouse is a union gig and all the union guys are already in the database.
What I did for the print was I lined up a ridge detail from the partial that I found on each handle. Nice.
( sighs ) So... you think that guy fried before he fell? I don't know.
We found a nail in his boot. It could have pierced the protective rubber. It might have allowed electricity to course through his body. Bobby Dawson's taking odds.
Two to one, Grissom's wrong. Five to one, he gets suspended for shutting down that jailhouse. And ten to one... Fired?
( computer beeps )
GRISSOM: Sounds like you got a match.
BROWN: Hey, Griss.
How long you been standing there? Yeah, yeah, we do.
The, um... It's a former union guy turned night shift project manager. Robert Harris. Does that name mean anything?
Yeah.
Especially if you bet against me.
My prints are on the metal cutters because my prints are all over everything at the site. I'm the project manager. There's no mystery here. You're the project manager but you don't actually use all the tools, right? I'm vigilant about safety. I'm always inspecting the equipment, tools... Look, this is what's going to happen here. The construction site is going to reopen, and the investigation goes away. Sure. After the lab processes all the evidence.
Excuse me.
For the record, I don't like being put in the middle.
Who does? I did a little homework on the guy who took a nosedive after he was electrocuted.
Three days ago, he was voted union rep.
Demanded more overtime pay, pressed for a walkout.
Motive?
( whispers ): Right.
Well, in case you're interested Bob Harris was the Sheriff's best man.
Well, what was that about?
Ah, we're in a bowling league together. Can we wrap this up? Sure.
Someone tampered with Roger Valenti's drill.
And I have only one suspect. I read the coroner's prelim. There is nothing in it about electrocution. That's why they call it a prelim.
Mr. Harris, were you opposed to Roger Valenti's union activities? Of course not. I'm a union man myself. You're fishing, Gil. We're done here. Moving on.
Mrs. Buckley, do you have someone to drive you home?
Mrs. Buckley? Yes? Do you have someone to drive you home?
No, uh, thank you. I'll be all right.
Mrs. Buckley? Yeah?
I'm Nick Stokes from the Crime Lab. I've been assigned to your son's case. Crime Lab?
It's protocol.
We were just having pizza together. He seemed fine. And I dropped him off at Dr. Sapien's and... My husband passed away three years ago and now my... my baby's gone.
I understand.
If you'll excuse me, I need to go make arrangements. Sure.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
My youngest just turned 14.
Tough age.
Cause of death?
Cranial-cerebral injuries. Comminuted fractures of the occipital bone.
Injuries consistent with a grand mal seizure? First blush? Yes. Waiting on toxicology. In the meantime, check out his torso.
He's covered in bruises. Possibly from being thrashed during the seizure?
Possibly.
I found tan fibers on his boxers. You, too, huh? His body's covered in them.
Fibers on his body and his underwear but not on his shirt and pants, why? Well, maybe it was as simple as he wasn't wearing his shirt and pants. Okay, then at some point he was with his shrink in his underwear. Exactly what kind of therapy was this?
Gil Grissom? Yes. I have information about Roger Valenti. Call Jim Brass at Homicide.
I was the union rep before Roger. The walkout was my idea. Bob Harris threatened me and my family.
I wouldn't betray the union so I gave up my position at the Local.
Roger picked up where I left off. Why are you telling me this? Because it could have been me.
Cheese.
Milk.
Sweaters.
What do these things have in common?
Goat cheese, goat milk. Goat... sweaters? Angora. Ding, ding, ding. Fibers from the lady shrink, fibers from the boy. Both are angora. Angora is processed goat hair? Mm-hmm. Sheared, washed, spun and dyed.
Angora's 100% goat.
You didn't know that, Nick?
Must be a chick thing.
I need to see the body again.
No can do. Released six hours ago.
Final report? Another 24, but there's nothing in there to support Valenti was electrocuted. Doc, please?
You want to look at my notes?
So, what have you got?
I mean, anything unusual, even the mundane.
His troponin enzymes are elevated.
Troponin levels become elevated following ventricular fibrillation which could be caused by electrocution, right? Sure, but troponin's found in all victims of cardiac arrest, most of whom have not been zapped. Work with me, will you?
Uh, Vic also had an elevated concentration of iron in his blood-- six, seven times normal. Life-threatening? No.
What else? Well, it fits the bill of "mundane." His skin looked jaundiced.
Postmortem deoxygenation.
Dead or alive, your vic's epidermis is yellow.
Tell me about his testicles. What?
Okay, I'm working with you. Uh, I don't remember. I mean, genetics can be fascinating-- and there are things I take note of-- but I didn't focus on his genitals.
Thanks, Doc.
You're welcome.
What're you guys doing?
Waiting for an assignment. You got a new case for us? A new case? BROWN: Well, we heard the Sheriff put the brakes on the investigation. You didn't hear that from me, did you?
I think I smell something burning in the DNA lab.
Love to stay and chat, but... Greg... I hope that's not the crossword puzzle.
What about the nail that we pulled out of Valenti's boot? Dusted? No, because... Process the nail, please. And if you get a print... I'll compared it to Bob Harris's ten card.
Anything else?
Yes. Metal cutters. I need you to prove or disprove whether they were used to sever the drill's grounding prong.
And you're with me.
( Vivaldi's Four Seasons plays )
( music volume increasing )
Mr. Gesek!
You're conducting. ( music stops ) I didn't hear you come in.
Vivaldi, Four Seasons.
Vivaldi, Valenti.
Both Italians. It's like being in Venice.
Why are you here?
Do I need a lawyer? Have you prepped him yet? I was just about to commence draining when I got distracted. Yeah, I know, Venice. I need to see his testicles. I always thought there was something weird about you.
Excuse me. You can't just come in here and look at my guy's goods.
If I let you see them I have to let everybody see them.
But... perhaps we can work something out. What? Do you want us to pay to see them? That's a good idea, but no.
I'm starting a new business. Crime scene cleanup. I'm going to want some referrals.
I'll put you on the list.
Testicular atrophy. They're the size of peas.
Poor guy.
Yeah, that's rough. And the significance of this evidence? Hemochromatosis.
Valenti had elevated levels of iron in his blood. yellow pallor, shrunken testicles... I think he's been ingesting trace amounts of iron over a long period of time. Why'd he eat iron? Trace amounts are odorless, tasteless. He probably didn't even know.
You're saying he was poisoned? No. Iron molecules take a long time to build up. Could have been his diet repeated blood transfusions, excessive smoking possibly hereditary abnormalities. So, where does this get us? One step closer. Mr. Gesek? Stick a syringe in his carotid all the way to his clavicle.
You want his blood? One pint, to go.
Warrick.
Hey. I got a thumbprint off that nail. Cool. Only a partial. Print lab's running a comparison.
Whatever happened with those metal cutters? Serrations didn't match up. They weren't used on the grounding prong.
What's in the envelope? Roger Valenti's blood. Grissom wants it packaged in plastic. I don't know. Don't ask.
You want lunch?
Later.
STOKES: Hey, Catherine. Yeah?
You ever been in therapy?
Who hasn't?
Didn't save my marriage.
And you were okay sharing your problems with a complete stranger? You rather I tell them to you?
Somebody order a warrant? Yeah. Mustard and relish. Hold the onions. I hope it's a general.
Epilepsy. Eyewitness physician dials 9-1-1.
Coroner's not making any noise. You're lucky to get a limited. What do you mean, we're lucky? We've got fibers on a 14-year-old kid and the shrink's clothing. Which would have got you nothing. But I did a background check on the good doctor.
While back, she had her license suspended. Sex with a patient.
Teen's parents filed a complaint with the A.P.A. Sex with a minor. Suspension's a joke. Should have lost her license, minimum. Yeah, well, this time, maybe she will.
Okay, Gris.
Valenti's blood.
Packaged, ready to go. Thank you.
You want to fill me in here? I mean, this wasn't covered in any science class I took.
Well, iron is a conductive mineral.
I want to know if there was enough iron in Valenti's blood to conduct electricity.
That's far out. Yeah, well... we'll see.
Plug in the blood.
( slight buzzing )
Angora fibers?
What does that have to do with anything?
Excuse me. I don't appreciate being treated like a suspect. Then maybe you should wait outside.
Do you consider me a suspect? Because that's how I'm feeling. ( clicks ) ( beeps ) ( humming ) Fine. Don't answer me. It's your choice.
That's the funny thing about choices. Once you make them you have to live with them.
Dylan Buckley was just a boy.
He trusted you and you abused that trust.
Linen closet, top shelf.
Was that blanket here... on the floor? Were you and Dylan under it?
It's going to be okay.
That's it. That's it.
( grunts ) STOKES: He was a 14-year-old kid.
What's the matter with you? He resisted; you persisted. Then what? Look, I don't know the basis of your allegations but I have never crossed the line with a patient. That's not what your rap sheet says. "Rap sheet"? Sex with an underage patient. I was a resident. He was 17. We were in... Look, no criminal charges were filed. It should have been expunged from my record. It doesn't make you any less guilty. Lady, I'm not a saint but I am not a killer or a child molester.
Dylan Buckley was an epileptic. He had a seizure. He hit his head.
That's the truth. You don't like it, you can leave.
We got what we came here for.
What's going on with you? I'm on a case.
We're on a case.
Right.
Hey, is that from the deli?
Egg salad sandwich. You want half? No. Can I have your pickle?
Yeah.
You can have it.
Oh, that's a nice one.
( buzzing ) You turned my pickle into a light bulb. I'm electrocuting it. You sure are.
That would explain that smell.
This is how I cooked my hot dogs in college.
Check out the burn marks.
There are none. Just like Valenti's body.
No evidence of electrocution. Pickles are high in sodium content. And sodium is conductive, just like iron. Normally, the flow of electricity through a body generates heat. ( crackling and buzzing )
Burn marks are the physical evidence of that heat.
But... if the body offers no resistance to the flow of electricity-- no heat, no burn marks.
Roger Valenti's body offered up no resistance because of the excess iron in his blood. The iron conducted the electricity. Making his body one big wire-- path to ground.
In through his hand from the drill; out through the nail in the boot. No burn marks, but he was still electrocuted.
( crackling and hissing )
So, you've just proved murder.
I wouldn't break out that champagne just yet.
Don't go shooting the messenger. Thumbprint from the nail.
SHERIFF: Bob Harris's prints were not on the murder weapon. Is that what you're telling me? They were not on the nail. You see, I think that someone stuck a nail in the victim's boot and it evidently wasn't Bob Harris. In other words, you made a suspect out of an innocent man. Obviously, that wasn't my intent. Oh, good. Then maybe you'll want to bring that up in the newspaper article. What are you talking about? What newspaper article? The one I'm arranging for your public apology. I'm not making an apology. Oh, yes, you are. You don't go after a friend of mine sully his reputation and then walk away. Actions have consequences, Gil. Even yours.
I heard the Sheriff chewed you a new one. You get my message? Yeah, you want me to check out your "Deep Throat?"
Well, that was fast. Ian Wolf Union of Electrical Workers, Local 37. He wanted to make sure that I stayed on Harris for the murder of Roger Valenti. Doesn't that tell you something? I told him to talk to you. I'll check out the guy.
Gil, why do you do this to yourself? What? The guy's dead. It could have been suicide, accident.
But you've always got to push it. Just like any other case. You know what I think?
Adrenaline.
You need the rush.
But that's just me.
STOKES. Okay.
Thank you, David. No sweat.
Hey, he asked for it.
How many swabs does it take to process a blanket? I'm thorough.
The lab tested Dylan Buckley's blood for creatine kinase which would be elevated post-seizure... ...but Dylan Buckley's levels were normal.
I just got my own copy of the report.
Dr. Sapien lied.
You're racing me, Nick. We're driving the same car.
Nick!
Nick, I'll have you removed from the case.
You're confronting suspects before the evidence is processed.
You're flying solo, cutting me out.
What's going on?
Okay.
There are some people you're supposed to be able to trust, you know?
I was nine. And she was a last-minute baby-sitter.
All I can remember doing afterwards is sitting in my room in the dark, staring at the door waiting for my mom to get home.
But I've never told anyone before.
I'm sorry.
It's what makes a person, I guess.
I'm sorry, Catherine.
You checked me out. So what? Worst thing I've done is get a speeding ticket. And take a pipe to Roger Valenti's head four days before he died.
No, it wasn't on the foreman's report. Valenti's widow told me. It's a work site. Guys get in beefs all the time. But this guy died and Bob Harris had nothing to do with it.
Despite your efforts to make it seem that way. Look, I'm n saying another word till I talk to a union lawyer.
I pay my dues and these guys play hardball.
He's guilty.
Let's not make the same mistake twice.
SANDERS: FYI. 3O swabs in six hours? Not realistic, all right? Even for me. Come on, Greg, I thought you liked a challenge. What are we looking at here?
Lots and lots of epithelials. There were skin cells shed all over the blanket. Dylan Buckley's. Dr. Sapien's. You're two-thirds of the way there. I also isolated a set of cells from another individual. Identity unknown.
But when it's important to Nick here, I push further.
Seven of the 13 markers matched your dead kid.
Familial DNA. Father's dead, means we're looking at Mom. Naked kid under a blanket at his shrink's late at night and his mother's there.
Yeah, your case just entered a whole new dimension of weird.
Where's Mandy? She's cross-eyed from running our partial. I didn't want to lose any time, so I took over. The database is 70,000. It could still take a while. What if I narrowed the scope? To one. We got a suspect? Ian Wolf. Like the animal not the authors.
Partial overlay. Perfect match. Now we've just got to place him at the crime scene. Warrick's on it. I got a warrant for his tool belt metal cutters included.
Doc?
The kid in his underwear-- tell us about the Y-incision. Leftovers from my anniversary dinner. Congratulations. Thanks.
Same tan fibers I found on the outside I found on the inside. Mouth, nasal passages, both lungs. He was wrapped in that blanket. Mm-hmm. Head-to-toe.
Mrs. Buckley, we know that your son didn't have a seizure.
We also know that you were at Dr. Sapien's house with Dylan the night that he died. He was in his underwear wrapped in a blanket fighting for every breath. I loved my son.
That's what every parent says.
This... This was therapy. I had tried everything else.
Taken him to so many specialists. But I couldn't reach him. So we... We tried the... We... I have to tell them.
It's called rebirthing.
Rebirthing? It's a technique used to treat extreme behavioral disorders. Idea is to turn back the clock. Wipe the slate clean. Allow the child to rebond with his mother. WILLOWS: What is the blanket for? It represents the birth canal.
So you wrapped Dylan up... ...beat the hell out of him and hocus-pocus, he's supposed to love you again?
Rebirthing may not be a recognized therapeutic procedure, but it's not illegal. Last time I checked, murder is. I begged her to do it. SAPIEN: All other methods of therapy had failed. Dylan was becoming more belligerent, withdrawn, even dangerous. I just wanted my son to love me. That's all. Dylan was a willing participant. He was 14.
DR. SAPIEN: I instructed Dylan to lie down on the floor.
In a fetal position.
As part of the process I asked him if he wanted to be reborn to his mother. He said yes.
Now we're going to close the womb.
And twist it.
So, then what happened?
Things got out of hand? He changed his mind? WILLOWS: Somewhere in the middle of an angora birth canal? It is time to be reborn.
That's it, Dylan. Push harder, push harder!
That's it. Try again.
A little harder, come on. Mom, stop it! I can't breathe! Push hard. Mom, please just stop. Do you want to be reborn or stay in there and die? Quit pushing on me, please! Mom, please, Iwat this to stop. Maybe we should. No, this is what happens.
We can't stop now. Trust me. This is a normal response.
I thought it was part of the process. It is. She told me that that's what he was supposed to say.
That babies don't want That's right. to come out. That's right. That that's why it's such an ordeal for the woman.
So you pushed on him like a mother in labor?
Come on. Push harder. No, Mom, I can't breathe!
( Dylan groaning ) Push harder! ( groaning ) That's it. ( groaning ) Okay.
Honey?
Dylan? Honey?
When we opened the blanket, his eyes were closed.
I thought he was pretending to be asleep.
So much for your... therapy.
Excuse me.
( door closes ) And that's why we tried to hide it. We knew you wouldn't understand.
Twin moons of Venus. Overlap to one.
Striations match.
SIDLE: Wolf stuck a nail in Valenti's boot compromised the drill and cut the grounding prong with his own cutters. This seems like a lot of work to kill a guy. Not for an electrician.
I'm going to find Brass.
Hey, Griss.
I think I can speak for both of us when I say I'm sorry that we let you down. We quit before we should have.
Yeah, you did.
( hammering and drilling )
Mr. Wolf.
We got you for murder.
Premeditated. You know this from my cutters? They're just part of the story.
GRISSOM: You spiked Roger's boot with the nail compromised the insulation.
You reversed the polarity in his drill.
You cut the grounding prong, planted evidence... and killed a man.
( electrical charges buzzing )
You're under arrest. ( handcuffs clicking )
SHERIFF: Grissom.
It's all you, man.
Sheriff.
Well, you got the bad apple.
Yeah, how about that?
Just in time for my big public apology.
I may be changing the tenor of that piece somewhat.
You won't be the goat but you won't be the hero, either.
Good. I'll leave that to you. That's why we will continue to work well together.
Grissom.
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