You're gonna like my room.
You can see the entire Strip from my balcony.
And the bed.
I usually don't do this.
I mean, especially with somebody that I just met.
Yeah? I could tell that just by looking at you.
(Elevator pings)
Come on. Don't worry.
All right? You can trust me.
- OK? - Promise?
I never lie.
You...
are so bad.
Yeah. I am.
Hey.
Dispatch says "suspicious circs".
Yeah.
An anonymous called 911 at the same time the couple found him.
A male voice said,
"A man has collapsed at the Devon. Hurry."
- Where's the man? - He's unconscious, but breathing.
So paramedics took him to Desert Palm Hospital.
No bullet wounds, no knife, nothing.
- You got a name? - Bob Fairmont. Upscale home developer.
"A Fairmont home, you'll never roam"? His billboards are everywhere.
They took these pictures before they moved him.
Well, this is as phoney as a Chappaquiddick neck brace.
See how the clothes are all bunched?
Collar's off to the side. Leg fabric's gathered.
It's impossible to re-dress an unconscious person to look like they dressed themselves.
Notice anything about the suit coat?
Unless he's going to court or church
there's no way he buttons all three buttons.
Very good, Jim.
Why do they think they can fool us?
I'm gonna go to the hospital and talk to Fairmont's wife.
Call me if you learn anything.
Hey, guys.
I just pulled the manager out of a restaurant.
Bob Fairmont was staying in room 2927.
Catherine's parking the car.
Let's go up.
We'll meet you there.
OK.
Mr Fairmont was staying in Murder Central.
Murder Central?
- You never heard that phrase? - If I did, would I have asked the question?
Sara, you're with me in here. You guys get the elevator.
- All yours, girl. - Thanks.
Sara doesn't know what Murder Central means any more than I do.
Oh, Nick, give it up.
We got a death imminent to worry about.
My husband's in surgery. Can't this wait?
I'm sorry. No. He was found under suspicious circumstances.
Do you have any idea who may have re-dressed him or moved him?
He usually goes with women who look a lot like me.
Only younger.
And I'm embarrassed to say that I've been flattered by that at times.
Do you have a name?
I was very much on the outside of that part of his life.
I see.
I know. The room's talking to us.
They had champagne.
They were celebrating something.
No lipstick on either glass.
911 did say it was a man's voice that placed the call
Smell the musk?
Hint of bleach
Sexual intercourse.
They kept the drapes open.
A married man who's not worried about...
photographs, long lenses.
Well, he's either careless or...
arrogant, maybe.
Or he has a death wish.
34C.
If he was with a woman,
who was the guy on the 911 call?
Hand me that magnifier.
Thank you.
What have you got?
See those white speck s?
What do you think? Cocaine?
No, I don't think so.
How can you tell just by looking?
Never you mind.
Let's just get this to Trace.
OK. We're done in the elevator. You guys need a hand?
Do you want to dust the champagne bottle?
The average American hotel room is covered with stains invisible to the naked eye.
Yeah, but they're not all biological.
Some are soda stains, food stains, whisky stains. You know.
No matter how clean or expensive the room seems,
that's why I always travel with Nonoxynol-9.
You sound like you're making a commercial.
Nick, hit the lights, will you?
OK. We're looking for the freshest stains.
Soda, maybe.
Maybe champagne.
Someone's little soldiers.
Not fresh
Dry
More champagne.
Hmm
Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight.
OK.
I'll let you guys do the collection.
Oh. Thanks a lot.
Oh, and, Sara.
Last hotel room nearest the stairwell. Easy entry and egress for an intruder.
And if the victim fights back, 50% less chance of being heard.
Rooms only on one side. Murder Central.
You are so busted.
- I gave this to Trace. Why do you have it? - Because I deal in DNA
The smallest sliver of epidermal tissue.
- This is skin? - Scalp skin.
Itchy. Can be embarrassing in social situations,
especially if one is wearing a dark shirt.
Dandruff.
Good chance whoever moved the guy into the elevator...
had a bad case of seborrhoea.
Thanks.
Hey, Catherine. Do you think Sara would ever go out with me?
Sure.
As long as you don't tell her it's a date.
Hey Cath?
Are you on this Fairmont case?
House mogul caught with his pants on? Yeah.
I'm just rolling to the hospital to get his clothes. Why?
The Fairmont house was one of my first calls three years ago.
Are you serious? For what?
Shots fired. He shot himself while he was cleaning his gun.
- Wow! - Yeah.
After tonight, I'm wondering if that's what really happened.
I'm gonna pull his file and check it out.
Let me know.
I will.
Nice shot.
Reservoir's still wet.
Why did he throw it?
I'm only impressed if he aimed.
I wonder if the woman has any idea she left her DNA behind.
Not rocket science. The man's inside, the woman's out.
Wife says the guy's a player. She doesn't know the women.
Did you tell her about the 911 tape?
The male voice? I just got back from Central Dispatch. The tape's lost. New computer system.
Any earwitnesses?
The dispatcher says it could have been a woman whispering.
Or a very old person, gender indeterminate.
That's about as good as an eyewitness.
(Phone rings)
Grissom.
What?
I'll be right there.
No lunch.
We got a time?
All indications are he was braindead from the time he collapsed at the hotel.
- From? - An artery outpouches
Blood floods the subarachnoid space
The heart still beats, but the brain's dead. And it doesn't regenerate.
Aneurysm from trauma?
Infection?
Genetic predisposition. Both parents went that way.
It increases a person's chance of stroke tenfold.
He looks like an athlete.
Braindead at 38, otherwise healthy and strong.
Is this a Frankenstein?
I was wondering when you'd ask.
Prime donor candidate. Next of kin signed off.
How many organs did they take?
- Eight in under two hours. - Man, those harvest doctors move, don't they?
Go, go, go!
Here comes the liver. Ready with a basin.
And here we go.
New basin, please.
Ready and... you got it. Here we go.
I'll notify the PD about the organs.
So, I was thinking...
...maybe we could take our break at the same time.
Later this shift.
Together.
Sure.
Really?
Semen. No surprise there.
Well, without the DNA sample from the hotel guy, this test is pretty useless.
I am more interested in who the woman is.
Just like the bra, I'm gonna need a reference of her DNA in order to do anything.
What the heck...?
What?
Stripes.
Stripes?
Transverse white bands that appear six weeks after the onset of symptoms of toxicity.
- You got a closer view? - Hm.
They look like Mees lines to me
Could be liver mortis.
Or white striae, indicative of heavy metal poisoning.
You can't count on a photo to draw that kind of conclusion. We need the body.
Don't take this wrong, Dr Robbins,
but how do you release a body that's been re-dressed and dumped in an elevator?
I deal with cause of death, which was an aneurysm.
And therefore natural.
And, based on that, his body is released to a mortuary.
And the whole transplant thing didn't raise a flag.
I thought I'd raised a flag with the good doctor
when I told him I was going to notify the Police Department.
But evidently I miscommunicated again.
Great.
All may not be lost. Here.
Body of Robert Fairmont
released at 0400 hours
to the Desert Haven Mortuary.
I know that place.
If they haven't embalmed him, we could still test his blood for poisoning.
Good. I'll drive.
You're not coming?
You found it, you run with it.
You can do it. Take Nick.
OK.
How long's he been in here?
92 minutes at 1,600 degrees. What exactly was it you wanted to see?
- His fingernails. - I'm very sorry.
Who approved this cremation?
His wife, Julia Fairmont.
The same person who approved the organ transplants.
- You told me your husband was in surgery. - He was.
Surgery to take his organs, not to save his life.
He was technically...
dead.
He wanted to donate his organs. I was following his wishes.
Why are you being so hostile?
Someone was poisoning your husband.
What?
We don't know the dose or the duration.
But we do know the type of poison.
We processed your husband's remains.
Most poisons would be completely burned off by cremation
But heavy metals are very resistant to neat
This heavy metal is called... selenium.
Did you notice that your husband's breath might have been garlicky?
Garlicky?
The body will excrete dimethyl selenite. It smells just like garlic.
No.
Did you notice the white stripes on his fingernails?
We didn't see each other a lot.
Bob was busy building his company.
Did that bother you, him never being home?
I think it would bother any woman.
Did you know that the most common choice of premeditated murder among women is poison?
They cite its passivity.
I did not poison my husband.
You cremated his body.
He wanted to be cremated. I cremated him.
He wanted to donate his organs. I did that, too.
Now, if there's nothing else, I will be at home preparing for my husband's memorial service.
Do you want us to notify you?
Of what?
When we find out the exact amount of selenium given to your husband,
and over what period of time.
I thought you couldn't tell.
Your husband's gone, but his organs are still out there.
Oh, good, yes.
I would like to be notified.
Straight up, am I going to die?
You have only a small fraction of the poison that was in your donor's body.
One organ. With nothing new coming in,
it should work its way out.
I must have had a hundred tests. How did you doctors miss this?
A heavy metal like selenium is so rare that it's not part of our screening protocol.
You don't look like a doctor.
No, sir. No, I'm not.
I'm Nick Stokes. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab.
- I'll be right outside. - Thank you, Doctor.
I was hoping I might be able to get a sample of that new kidney of yours.
A sample?
Biopsy. A sliver.
You mean open me up again?
Maybe... an invasive scope.
The only way I can get an accurate barometer of the poison in Mr Fairmont's system
is through one of his organs.
I'm sorry, young man,
but this is my kidney now.
I waited four years
I can't have anyone cut into me for it.
I just can't.
No, hey. Yeah, I understand.
Thank you for your time.
I like your watch, man. That's cool.
It broke while I was down in surgery
Stuck on 11 o'clock. Think the Lord's trying to tell me something?
Yeah. Get it to a watch repair shop.
I hope you get to feeling better, Mr Mercer.
Nick struck out on the kidney. I got four no's over the phone
and one yes from a recipient in Illinois. Heart.
Useless. Heart has no memory for poison.
Why can't we cut the middleman and just check the wife's house for selenium?
All right. I know something about constitutional law. I get probable cause...
Sara.
I was just looking for you. Still up for a break?
Sorry, Greg. A hot case.
I'm going to look at Nick's champagne bottle. How's our DNA?
Uh, the inside-outside, we're still looking for a reference for comparison.
But the epidermals are looking promising.
Nice.
You wanna clue me in?
Sara and I are just going out for dinner.
On the case, Grego.
Oh. Right.
Excuse me,
I'm Claudia Gideon, Bob Fairmont's secretary. I came for his property.
Sorry. Miss Willows already asked for it.
His property is part of our investigation. I'm afraid I have to take it.
Fine. Just doing my job.
Yeah, me too. Did you work for the Fairmonts three years ago when Mr Fairmont was shot?
I was out sick that day.
Interesting.
You have dandruff.
Is that really proper etiquette?
It is when I'm on a case.
Do you mind?
Where did you say you worked?
I'm gonna ask you again.
Were you in that hotel room with Bob Fairmont?
I was not, no.
But you did re-dress him and place him in the elevator?
- You don't know what you're talking about. - That's dangerous to say to a scientist.
(Clears throat) Dandruff
is nothing more than sloughed-off skin.
It has a nucleus, just like a cell in your arm or your big toe.
These 13 DNA markers
from this dandruff cell
are a match to the dandruff that I recovered from your sweater.
You were there...
at the hotel
OK.
Mr Fairmont told me earlier that day to meet him in his hotel room at nine to pick up some papers.
When I got there, he was in bed, naked,
unconscious
He always told me "Reputation before health No scandals"
I dragged him to the elevator.
Let me guess.
You snuck out down the stairwell?
- Who was Fairmont partying with in that room? - I don't know.
You won't mind if we compare your DNA to the vaginal contribution
of a condom that we recovered from Mr Fairmont's room?
Sure, go ahead.
Good. We'd like to show you something else.
About that accidental shooting three years ago at your boss's house.
In this re-enactment Fairmont snot himself while cleaning his gun
The story just doesn't add up.
I think I fell for it because I was new
and I wasn't too eager to talk to another guy about him almost shooting off his manhood.
This is the room as it was then.
Based off of my crime scene photos.
This is crime scene reconstruction new school
Works backwards. Reverse time.
The bullet hit here.
The only logical place for that bullet to have been shot from
is four metres away one metre high
He didn't accidentally snoot himself Someone snot him
We're thinking it was you.
The admission form from the ER, 09/06/98.
The person who brought Fairmont in on the accidental shooting
was you
I didn't shoot him.
You didn't poison him either. All these bad things just happen.
I'm on call 24 hours a day, OK.
Mr Fairmont beeped me. I drove out to the house and I took him in.
Where was his wife?
You'd have to ask her.
Yes, I shot him. He was supposed to go riding with me.
He didn't show up until two in the morning. No calls, nothing.
I was...
hurt.
So, you just sat there in the dark
and aimed south of his belt
I just wanted to scare him.
It was a business meeting.
I swear. It wasn't like before.
I was thinking about you the whole time.
So, why didn't you tell the truth then?
I wanted to, but Bob wouldn't let me.
He said it would ruin his career.
Fairmont Family Estates.
Well, I'm presenting this case to the DA, even if it is three years old.
My husband's dead.
We had our problems, but I loved him. I don't...
I don't much care what you do now.
There's two reasons a woman shoots a man. She either loves him or hates him.
Or both.
That's the sample Catherine pulled off the secretary's blouse
and the hotel man's clothes. Same source.
The secretary moved the body.
We just interviewed her. She copped to moving him.
We're looking hard at the wife and the poisoning.
The secretary has dandruff.
We know
Dermatomycoses seborrhoea. We got it.
Topical eczemas like that require prescription medication.
The primary ingredient of those medications, selenium sulphide.
I don't feel right about doing this.
This is your residence. Everything in Claudia's office is your property.
She could be back from dinner at any moment
This shouldn't take long.
That's mine.
Why do you keep your shampoo in your office?
Shampoo full of the same poison found in Bob Fairmont's remains.
- I don't know. - Ah, you have to do better than that.
Maybe I picked it up at the pharmacy on lunch and put it there. I don't know.
Cream cheese.
Garlic cream cheese.
Hides the bitter aftertaste.
It explains away his bad breath.
I did not poison him.
We'll see.
Aren't you going to arrest her?
I haven't done anything.
Other than poison Bob.
Poison? I'm the one who looked out for him.
You? I ran his home. I entertained his clients.
Who made all of his dental appointments?
His haircuts? Who got his taxes in on time?
Who covered for his mistresses?
Why did he need mistresses?
Ladies, don't go there.
This is yours and these are yours.
There's the door.
We build a case before we make any arrests.
Hey, Mr Mercer.
I got your message. You wanted to talk to me?
Did you find out who poisoned Mr Fairmont?
No.
No, sir. I have found selenium in his office,
but without actually knowing how much was in his system...
What if I could tell you?
My body's rejecting the organ.
The doctor says it's nothing to do with poison. It's antibodies.
I'm sorry.
I told you this watch stopped while I was down in surgery.
Funny
It's like it knew all along the kidney wasn't gonna take.
Anyway if there's one last good thing I can do
before I leave this earth...
So...
I will do this.
Warrick won't even split a sandwich with me, and this guy is willing to give us his kidney?
You asked for it.
Yeah, that's my point.
Carl Mercer risks dying sooner to help our investigation, but who protects his rights?
He has free will.
Well, so do I. I want to retract our request.
I don't think any investigation for the dead is worth hurting the living.
What?
Guys
You're not gonna believe this.
Often it is the simplest things that seem so difficult.
I was trying to match the partial from the champagne bottle to these known prints.
It was upside down.
Must nave grabbed the bottle
upside down to pour
So?
Who was he with?
Mrs Fairmont.
What? Player was in the hotel cheating with his own wife?
I was trying to...
rekindle our marriage.
I got the room,
brought the champagne.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
He squeezed me in between business meetings at the hotel.
You didn't think to tell me that when we first talked?
No, because you asked me about him being re-dressed in an elevator.
And, besides, when I left him,
he was... alive,
watching the news.
Oh, so he had a stroke alone after you left?
Argh!
I'm not a doctor. I don't know when he had it.
CSI is testing that champagne bottle for selenium
I didn't think poison caused strokes.
You seem to know a lot about poison for not being a doctor.
I know a lot of things about a lot of things.
But that doesn't mean that I killed my husband.
Yeah.
But what never lies?
Fairmont had three gold crowns.
They should have survived the cremation.
At least partially. Heavy metal, after all.
His wife
had them removed at the mortuary.
That's a new meaning to the phrase "gold-digger".
Actually, that's how the phrase got started.
People used to dig up the bodies to extract the gold.
Now they just marry them.
In some countries this would be enough to have her arrested for murder.
What's the most important component in a poisoning?
Poison.
Patience.
(Groans)
Mrs Fairmont?
Mrs Fairmont, are you feeling OK?
Yeah, I'm fine. Argh!
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Maybe I just need to sit down for a minute.
Sit down here in the car for a sec.
Hey, girl, relax, relax, relax.
Yeah, I need an ambulance. Vegas PD west parking lot.
What's going on? I called the hospital. She's been released.
ER doc gave her a shot of hydropazeen. Sent her on her way.
Hydropazeen?
That's an anti-emetic.
Used to counteract heavy metal poisoning.
Which means somebody's been poisoning our suspect.
I don't know how it happened. Maybe she poisoned herself.
Why would she do that?
Why would she hide my shampoo in my office?
- Do you know she did that? - It wasn't her husband. He was already dead.
She's trying to frame me for killing him.
Do you have any evidence that she did kill him?
She had his gold fillings removed.
Doesn't that tell you something about her?
I had his watch and ring removed, too.
Do you want to see them? They're in a box at home.
You realise that doesn't look good?
It can look however it wants. I have nothing to hide.
You mean since you yourself have been poisoned?
Why don't you ask Claudia Richards about that? First my husband, then me.
Why would she want to kill either one of you?
I don't know.
Maybe because he refused to leave me for her.
I had to wash his grungy coffee mug every night.
I had to clean his toenail clippings off of his desk.
Why would I ever ask Bob Fairmont to leave anyone for me?
So you think it was all in Mrs Fairmont's head?
He always said she was crazy.
OK, that's it. Look, we're not leaving here till we get to the bottom of this.
Then I hope she talks soon.
Greg?
Hey.
I was just printing something out for you.
On your hot case.
From the internet?
Yeah, I was on break, had some time.
Hey.
Sorry I drew a blank on the wife.
I could really... really just kiss you right now.
So, this is Claudia.
Ten years ago her husband John Gideon
Claudia's rich husband also died young. 35.
She donated his organs and cremated his body.
We don't have to chase down these organs.
Ralph Parks rejected the organ that he got from Claudia's husband.
An organ with a memory, maybe?
The most. Liver.
He died two months after receiving it Back in '93
Lived one state over, in Arizona.
I have the cemetery address.
- Hey, Sara, I got the warrant. - Awesome.
We'll keep you posted.
Embalming certainly retards the decomposition process.
Well, it doesn't stop the smell.
The liver's degraded,
but any metals should still be there
We'll find out.
Nick, did you get anything?
Hey, Sara. Yeah. Sodium selenite.
Selenium.
280mg.
For a 180Ib man.
That's murder.
It would have been murder for a 300Ib man.
This is different than the shampoo compound.
Yeah, it contains polysorbate 80 and vitamin E.
That combination is found in selenium supplements injected in animals.
Animals? Like cats, dogs?
Mostly livestock. Grazers.
To make up for the lack of selenium nutrient in the soil.
How did Claudia get access to this stuff?
A dairy farm.
Gideon Dairy & Cheese.
Largest supplier of milk in Connecticut, in fact.
Brass talked to a local chamber-of-commerce type about Claudia's husband.
You want to know who his secretary was?
Yeah.
Our Julia Fairmont
Ten years ago,
you played secretary
and you played wife.
To John Gideon.
We never said we didn't know each other previously.
And I wasn't playing I was a nard-working secretary
And you loved your husband right up to the day he died?
Of 240mg of selenium.
Animal selenium. The kind used for cattle.
Well, we did live in grazing country. Although I have to say,
Julia knew more about livestock than I did. She rode horses.
I took the job because Mr G let me board my horse at the family stables.
I hated the stables.
The smell. Never stepped foot in them.
Implicating you. The secretary.
I don't believe this.
Bravo, ladies.
You have got this down to a science.
Why did it happen the first time?
Hubby ignored you or abused you,
or you got sick of him fooling around?
So you started slipping the cow stuff into his chocolate milk?
So, the two of you struck a deal.
I'm coming into a lot of money.
No. We are.
And then what?
You two realised how quickly you could run through a couple of million?
So you went looking for another mark here in Nevada?
But the difference is that you actually loved Bob Fairmont.
You shot him because he was cheating.
But that didn't get in the way of your...long-term goals,
did it?
(Tap on window)
I just came from the DA.
Their attorneys were there as well.
Based on everything we have, the DA is not gonna move forward. He says it's a reject.
- Brass doesn't have anything? - Brass is still in the field.
You're free to go.
Where's the ladies' room?
It's down the hall to your right.
Thanks.
Pardon me.
Well, no big surprise. We have proof of poison, but no way to prove which one of them did it.
I like either one of them for the murder.
"She said, she said" defence is never gonna fly.
They'll raise each other as a viable suspect
- just like they did with us - That's what the DA said, verbatim.
See you back at CSI.
Wait. What...?
So, what, just let them move on to another state, another husband?
It's not always up to us.
Sara!
Look.
I know this isn't news to you,
but sometimes science isn't enough.
What are we doing?
Digging up graves,
chasing prints...
if it's no good in court?
If the killers win?
It isn't a competition. We don't win.
The courts are like dice
They have no memory. What works one week doesn't work the next.
I know that. I do.
I know that.
That's why I'm mad.
But see, if you get mad, then they do win.
You just said...
This is one of your riddles, isn't it?
One of life's riddles.
But hey!
The good news,
there's no statute of limitation on murder.