CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

"Beauty Deeper Than Skin"

TEASER

FADE IN:

INT. AUTOPSY A - NIGHT

On a metal tray lined with a sterile blue cloth, Doc ROBBINS lays out autopsy tools as if he were setting a table for a czar. On his desk he has a small TV that's airing the news about the 'Red Dress Killer.'

I/E. CSI VEHICLE

A drizzle falls steady over the thirsty desert. With NICK behind the wheel, the vehicle bounces up a rutted road running along a gully. He passes an ambulance leaving. Ahead is a police car with flashing lights and the coroner's wagon. He passes them, parking at the end.

EXT. GARBAGE DUMP - NIGHT

He gets out with kit in hand and flicks up the hood of his rain poncho. In the gully assistant M.E. DAVID is crouched next to a dead female half buried under trash.

She has been starved to death and her ash colored skin is stretched tight over her bones. She wears a red silk dress and a string of Mother of Pearls.

Her dead, sunken eyes stare at the overcast sky, but it's too dark to tell what color they are. Nick pulls out his camera and starts snapping photographs. The rain steadily grows heavier.

NICK
We gotta move her to the wagon, David. We're
losing evidence.

David waves the officer over to help them clear off the trash.

DAVID
(to officer)
Help me get her in the body bag. Grab her
ankles.

The officer hesitates.

NICK
Come on, man, we're losing evidence!

The officer grabs her ankles and he and David put her in the nearby body bag. David zips it up and easily picks her up and carries her to the wagon.

He lays her on the gurney and jogs around to the driver's side, hopping in. David drives away, leaving Nick to his work.

INT. AUTOPSY A - NIGHT

Robbins is adjusting the mic overhead. He doesn't look back when David wheels in the gurney. On the TV a talk show has come on and the host is laughing with fictitious actor and America's sweetheart, Jonathan Massie.

ROBBINS
That took a while.

DAVID
It's raining cats and dogs out there. I'm going to
get scrubbed and changed.

ROBBINS
Any I.D.?

David heads toward the back

DAVID
No. It's another starvation victim.

Robbins shakes his head.

ROBBINS
I wish they'd find this guy and throw the book at
him.

David disappears around the corner.

DAVID
Or drop him in an oubliette for a taste of his
own medicine.

Robbins smiles. He walks around the table, reaching for the zipper on the bag. It moves and he freezes for a moment. He slowly pulls the zipper back but all he finds is an emaciated woman in a red dress and pearls, with her sunken eyes closed.

Robbins easily picks her up and frowns a little. He carries her around the table and lays her down. Under the surgical light her skin looks like a mummy's -- grey-brown and parched.

He lays a hand on her arm. He turns, reaching for the liver thermometer, but stops. He turns back, staring at her now open eyes. They are a stunning tawny color. He leans over her. His breath catches when her eyes slowly move and focus on him -- she isn't dead?

Robbins hobbles over to his desk, yanks his stethoscope up, and he puts the eartips in as he hurries back. He finds her eyes have moved again, staring at something outside the light.

As Robbins leans in to place the diaphragm against her chest, her eyes slowly drift back to him. He forgets to breathe when he hears her very faint breathing and slow, drawn out heartbeat. He knows a huge mistake when he sees one.

David comes back into the room.

DAVID (CONT'D)
Do you want me to wash--

He stops walking and talking when he sees Robbins listening to her chest. This is not a normal autopsy procedure.

DAVID (CONT'D)
What's wrong?

Robbins yanks the eartips out. He flings the stethoscope on the surgical tray, scattering equipment across the floor. The woman has begun shaking lightly.

ROBBINS
Call for an ambulance. She's alive.

Robbins heads for a cupboard.

DAVID
What? No. I--

ROBBINS
CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE, DAVID!

David runs over to the phone and dials. Robbins rips blankets out of the cupboard and hurries back. He starts piling blankets on her. David hangs up, spinning around.

DAVID
They'll be here in ten minutes. Oh God! I
couldn't hear anything, Doctor Robbins. I--

ROBBINS
Go upstairs. Get every blanket, coat, and pillow
you can find. She's going into shock.

David runs out of the room. Robbins leans over to look in her eyes.

ROBBINS (CONT'D)
David couldn't hear your breathing or heart in
the rain. I can imagine waking up in the
morgue must be terrifying, but we'll take care of
you. We'll find who did this to you.

She didn't speak or respond, just slowly blink.

SMASH CUT:

OPENING CREDITS.

FADE OUT.

END OF TEASER