ACT TWO

FADE IN:

EXT. SUNSET VIEW APARTMENTS - NIGHT

Brass crosses the parking lot to an officer standing with Mr. And MRS. JACOBS. They're young and look shell-shocked.

BRASS
I was told one of you saw something?

Brass takes a notepad and pen from his jacket pocket.

MRS. JACOBS
There was an ambulance earlier tonight.

Brass stares at her as if she's joking but she's quite serious.

BRASS
You are aware that seeing an
ambulance, even in an apartment
complex, isn't that unusual?

MRS. JACOBS
This was. There weren't any lights
and I saw the paramedic leave that
woman's apartment.

She points at Capri's apartment.

BRASS
What time was this?

MRS. JACOBS
Around ten.

Brass scribbles notes.

BRASS
What color was it?

MRS. JACOBS
Blue and white.

BRASS
Did you get the name of the company?

She shakes her head.

BRASS (CONT'D)
How about a license plate?

Another head shake. Brass retrieves a business card and hands it to her. She takes it.

BRASS (CONT'D)
Okay. If you see anything else--

MRS. JACOBS
You know how they have numbers on
the side? I guess the number of the
ambulance, or something.

BRASS
Yeah?

MRS. JACOBS
This one had three fourteen, and
the four was crooked and didn't
look like the same writing as the
other numbers.

Brass quickly jots that down.

BRASS
Thank you. If you recall anything
else, let me know.

Brass walks away, making a phone call.

BRASS (CONT'D)
Hey Riley, I talked to the couple.
Naw. It was nothing. She said she
saw an ambulance out here, but aside
from a crooked number I'm not done
talking to witnesses. I'll let you
know if anyone else can tell us
something substantial.

Brass hangs up, walking toward another officer and witness.

INT. CSI VEHICLE - NIGHT (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 6, 5:00 AM

In the dark, Catherine is huddled on the middle seat, wrapped in a coat and blanket. Greg is curled into the passenger seat.

On each exhaled breath they exhale a white puff of steam. Frost has begun to form along the edges of the windows.

Catherine adjusts her position. The sound of her coat against the vinyl is loud in the closed vehicle.

GREG
Are you sure we should wait until sunrise?

CATHERINE
Yes.

GREG
Wouldn't it make more sense to
start back now? While it's cooler?
It's going to--

CATHERINE
No, Greg, it wouldn't. I don't feel
like wandering down a road we're not
even sure is a road with only a flashlight.

GREG
They don't even know where we are.

Catherine doesn't respond. Somewhere far off a coyote howls. Greg rests his head against the back of the seat.

He's almost asleep when nearby a pack of coyotes erupt with howls and yaps. Greg sits up straight, looking outside. His breath fogs up the window.

GREG (CONT'D)
(scared)
We should start back now.

The coyotes stop, as if his statement made no sense.

CATHERINE
Yes. Let's wander around, in the dead
of night, with the coyotes, Greg.

GREG
You know it's going to get over one
hundred today.

The coyotes suddenly burst into their eerie chorus. Greg lunges across the vehicle and fumbles for the switch to lock all doors. The sound of the locks engaging is loud, despite the nearby canine choir. Catherine now joins the chorus with her laughter.

GREG (CONT'D)
What?

CATHERINE
Good thinking, Greg. Lock all the
doors. There might be a mutant
coyotes with opposable thumbs out
there. It might open the door for
the other coyotes and
get us!

Greg shoots her a glare, but she can't see it in the dark.

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM A - NIGHT

Jackie and Catherine sit across from each other. On the table beside Jackie sits a stack of file folders with the LVPD logo on them. Jackie is reading one. To her left a video camera watches Catherine, an unbiased observer.

Catherine doesn't look uncomfortable about reversed role of suspect/interviewer. Jackie doesn't look up from the folder as she begins the interview.

JACKIE
Please state your name.

CATHERINE
CSI Catherine Willows.

Jackie flips to a page in the folder.

JACKIE
What was your relationship with
Capri Martinez?

CATHERINE
There wasn't any.

JACKIE
Does that mean you didn't know her?

CATHERINE
No. I didn't have a relationship with her.

JACKIE
What were your feelings toward her?

Jackie flips to another page.

CATHERINE
I didn't want her in a position
where lives were at risk.

JACKIE
Did you want her dead?

CATHERINE
No. I just wanted her gone, I
wanted my fellow CSI, and myself,
to be safe, and I wanted EMS to be
able to find locations of emergencies.
Capri was keeping that from happening.

JACKIE
November of last year, you had a
confrontation with Capri. Let's
talk about that.

INT. DISPATCH CENTER RECEPTION - DAY (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 8, 10:45 AM

Catherine and Nick rush through the door and stop short. Greg sits in a chair. All of his exposed skin is a sickly yellow or red or black, and in some spots blistered.

Soot and dirt covers his clothes. EMT Casey kneels next to him, working carefully to push an I.V. needle into his arm. Standing at the call center door is a second paramedic.

CATHERINE (O.S.)
..AND IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, THE
DAMNED THING STALKED US MOST OF THE

FUCKING DAY!

NICK
(to Catherine)
I got Greg. Go.

INT. DISPATCH CENTER - DAY (RE-ENACTMENT)

In the center of the room Catherine is confronting Capri Martinez. The dispatcher has a darkening black eye.

Catherine looks just as bad as Greg and is outraged. Two men are holding her back. A man and woman are holding Capri back.

CATHERINE
YOU NEVER CHECKED THE DIRECTIONS!
YOU'RE JUST COVERING YOUR ASS WITH
THAT LIE! TO DO IT TO ME IS ONE
THING, BUT GREG... HE DEFENDED YOUR
SORRY EXCUSE OF A DISPATCHER ASS
SINCE YOU STARTED! HE TRUSTED YOU!
YOU ACT LIKE THE WORLD OWES YOU
SOMETHING. THE ONLY THING THE WORLD
OWES YOU IS A MATCHING BLACK EYE!

CAPRI
I am going to sue you for this one!

Catherine pulls free, tearing several blisters in the processes. Pain doesn't stop her from grabbing Capri and slamming her against the wall. She pins Capri with her arm against the dispatcher's throat.

CATHERINE
If you breathe even one word to a
lawyer, I will destroy you.
This
was my town before you were even a
thought, little girl! You push me
any further, and I will run you out
of town like the bitch you are. Do
you
feel me?

Capri doesn't answer right away. Slowly she nods. Catherine falls back. She turns, staring at Grissom. He puts his arm around her, leading her away.

BACK TO SCENE

Jackie closes the folder.

JACKIE
I'm curious why you didn't go
straight to the hospital when you
reached help that day.

CATHERINE
I wanted her to see, for once, what
happened from one of her 'mistakes.'

JACKIE
What would you have done if she
hadn't quit that day?

CATHERINE
Pester her supervisor every day,
point out every little mistake she

made, until he fired her.

Jackie sits the folder in a box by the table.

JACKIE
Thank you. I'll call if I have any
more questions. Have a good night.

CATHERINE
No questions about where I was when
Capri was murdered?

JACKIE
You were at 164 Rose Hip Circle.
You suggested the death was a
suicide. The officer on scene tells
me you decided it rather quickly,
but held off on your report until
the M.E. could confirm your findings.
Good procedure followed. And now
you're free to return working on
that case, Mrs. Willows.

Catherine gets up and leaves.

INT. CSI - CORRIDOR - NIGHT

In the hall Nick and Greg are still waiting. She sits down between them but in a chair closer to Greg.

NICK
How was it?

CATHERINE
As good as an I.A. interview can be.

The three watch Jackie. She's on her cell phone, talking to someone. Catherine lays her hand on Greg's leg.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(gentle)
How are you holding up, Greggo?

GREG
(emotionless)
Fine.

CATHERINE
I'll notify her next of kin.
We'll need to--

GREG
She doesn't have any family.
How am I going to tell...

Greg chokes up. Catherine moves her hand to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

Nick is starting to realize there's something going on with Greg that he doesn't know about.

CATHERINE
I'm here if you need to talk. Okay?

Greg nods.

Catherine gets up and leaves. Nick watches Greg, but doesn't speak.

INT. APARTMENT 152 - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Catherine is working his way through the room. He stops at the couch. There's a half finished dinner plate and cup of soda. Bride and wedding magazines are spread across the couch.

He notices an open notebook and snaps a picture before picking it up to read it.

It's a list of things to do before the big day. Many of the words have been written correct but backwards. Next to a couple of them, in someone else's handwriting, the words have been corrected.

LANGSTON'S VIEW

Ghostly figures of Capri with her faceless fiancée appear on the couch. He's holding her as they plan their big day. They are in love and happy.

BACK TO SCENE

He sets the notebook down and walks into the kitchen.

INT. APARTMENT 152 - KITCHEN - NIGHT

The supper utensils, pots and pans are in the sink drying rack. On the table there are textbooks and homework for business classes at the community college.

On several essays there are the same mistakes as were on the list, and the hand that corrected the list has corrected all of these mistakes. The mistakes are indicative of a dyslexic individual.

LANGSTON
She was dyslexic.

Langston continues searching.

INT. APARTMENT 152 - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Riley spots a brown hair teetering on the edge of a vent. She carefully collects it with a pair of tweezers and holds it up to the light. Will it lead to a killer?

EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 6

Greg and Catherine walk side by side. Catherine has her sidearm. Greg carries an overstuffed backpack. They are hot, tired, and badly sunburned. Greg watches mirages of water come and go ahead of them.

CATHERINE
Greg?

He doesn't respond.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
(distant)
Greg, look at me. Greg?

Greg turns his head. A giant vulture hops along next to him watching him with cold eyes. The desert beyond is formed with odd angles in Technicolor -- at any moment Beetlejuice could jump out of the sand riding a giant worm.

GREG
Is your name Frank?

The vulture doesn't answer.

CATHERINE
(distant)
No, Greg, it's Catherine. Open your
eyes and look at me.

Greg jerks awake.

SUPER: 6:00 PM

Overhead dusk has sent soft pastel colors shooting across the sky. Greg closes his eyes and tries to wet his lips.

GREG
What happened? I remember we were
walking and then... I got nothing.

CATHERINE
You passed out.

GREG
For how long?

CATHERINE
A couple hours. How are you feeling?

GREG
Hungry, thirsty, would do anything
for a cold shower. How about you?

She smiles.

CATHERINE
Same. Do you think you can walk
some more? Until it gets dark?

Greg nods. She grabs his wrist and helps him to his feet. The two start walking again.

INT. AUTOPSY A - NIGHT

Riley enters to find Catherine and Doctor ROBBINS waiting. Catherine and Robbins' conversation drops when Riley enters, a very suspicious action. She says nothing as she stops next to Catherine.

The body of Capri Martinez lies on the table between them. She has several hickies that would have been covered by clothes.

CATHERINE
Go ahead.

ROBBINS
There are four gunshot wounds to
the chest. That didn't kill her
though. It slowed her down. I also
noticed she had a needle mark in
her arm, the only one on her body.
I sent blood to Henry and he came
back fast with the tox results. She
had a lethal injection of insulin.

RILEY
Was she diabetic?

ROBBINS
Not according to her medical records.

RILEY
How did you get those so fast?

Robbins continues, avoiding the question.

CATHERINE
What about the ligature marks?

ROBBINS
They are from the tubing. She asphyxiated
before she bled out or the insulin
could kill her. Whoever attacked this
young woman was very, very angry.

RILEY
Any sexual trauma?

ROBBINS
While she did have sex before she
died, there were no signs of trauma.

RILEY
She has a lot of hickies. Someone
liked her.

ROBBINS
(distant)
Yes, someone did.

Riley notices Robbins glance at Catherine. The older CSI says nothing.

ROBBINS (CONT'D)
Unfortunately, I had to send saliva
and sperm swabs to DNA.

RILEY
Unfortuantely?

CATHERINE
Did Bobby give you the ballistics
report yet? It wasn't a .44 was it?

RILEY
Why would you ask that?

ROBBINS
I don't have the ballistics report
back. I don't know what--

RILEY
What is going on here? What aren't
you two telling me? Doc practically
apologized for sending DNA for analysis.
You're asking about the caliber of
the gun, as if you have someone in
mind. I cannot work this case blindfolded.

CATHERINE
We can't answer that. I can't risk
you becoming bias on this case.

RILEY
You're trying to clear someone of
this, aren't you?

CATHERINE
I can't answer that, Riley.

She sighs, but she also understands.

RILEY
Should I tell you to leave?

CATHERINE
Probably. Don't overlook anything
in this case.

He leaves. Riley doesn't speak right away, and neither does Robbins. She looks up at him.

RILEY
Was there more?

He nods.

RILEY (CONT'D)
Continue.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT TWO