ACT THREE

FADE IN:

EXT. DESERT ROAD - EVENING (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 6, 7:00 PM

Greg and Catherine walk in silence. Greg looks up and sees a farm far ahead.

GREG
Is that really a farmhouse or a mirage?

CATHERINE
Dunno.

The two fall silent again.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
I'm sorry about threatening to shoot you.

Greg laughs.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
What?

GREG
I guess two days later is better than nothing.

Greg stumbles and she catches him. He winces when she touches his skin and pulls away. The two keep walking.

GREG (CONT'D)
I'm so hungry.

CATHERINE
Why? Cuz all you had was a couple
energy bars and apple juice?

GREG
Yeah.

CATHERINE
Nick is doing the exact same thing.
So what are you two bet on? All he
would say is he has to lose ten pounds.

Greg grins. He'd blush if he weren't already red.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
So what's this bet about, Greggo?

GREG
Nothing.

CATHERINE
Come on. What's it about?

GREG
That looks like a farmhouse. Is
that the last farmhouse we passed?

CATHERINE
Greeeeggggggooooo.

He laughs.

GREG
Nick and I know this girl. She said
she's sleep with whichever of us
could get into this tangerine Speedo
she has. It's more like a race than
a bet. We have until New Years Eve.

CATHERINE
Let me get this straight. You two
boys are dieting so you can--

The farm is closer, and clearly not a mirage.

GREG
That is a farmhouse. The last one
we passed. How far did we drive
after we passed it?

CATHERINE
At least an hour.

GREG
I hope they have ice cubes. Lots of them.

CATHERINE
I'd settle for some shade and a phone.

Now they can see more details. Dead, half burned trees and the burnt out shell of a house. Head high weeds almost cover farming equipment, but the weeds have shriveled into dry shells without water.

At the back, half of the barn stands, and half is burned. The two stop on the road.

GREG
Wanna rest here for the night?
There's shade at least.

Catherine nods. They walk into the weeds toward the barn. At the back, broken bales of hay have been shoved into a loose pile. Some of the hay is singed.

The two drop into the hay. Both wince a little when hay pokes to their burnt skin, but they're too exhausted to move. Catherine starts to drift to sleep.

GREG (CONT'D)
(drowsy)
Catherine?

CATHERINE
Hm?

GREG
When this place was on fire, do you
think Capri gave the firefighters
directions? Do you think that's why
so much is burned?

Catherine starts laughing. The longer it lasts, the hard she laughs. Greg smiles, but continues slipping into sleep. Catherine's laughter dies as she drifts to sleep also.

INT. CSI - LAB - NIGHT

Riley is comparing fingerprints when HODGES sidles up to her. He places lab results on the table next to her.

HODGES
You've got male.

RILEY
I have mail?

HODGES
No. Male. You've got male.

RILEY
I don't understand.

HODGES
Male. You have... You know what?
Never mind. The hair is from an
unidentified male. Does that work
better for you?

RILEY
Yes. Anything fascinating about him?

HODGES
He's brunette, dyed his hair black
about six months ago, doesn't appear
to be ingesting any heavy metals or toxins.

RILEY
Thanks.

She turns back to her computer. Hodges looks up as Wendy runs past the lab.

HODGES
Must be a fire.

Riley glances up.

RILEY
Maybe you should go check that.

Hodges doesn't catch her sarcasm.

HODGES
I guess I should.

He leaves as the computer returns results. 'No Match' flashes on the screen. Riley is frustrated for a few seconds and then starts the search in another database.

INT. BARN - EARLY DAWN

SUPER: November 7, 6:24 AM

Out of the stillness of the night, a chorus of yapping, howling coyotes erupts. It yanks Greg out of sleep, but Catherine sleeps through it. She can't, however, sleep through him roughly shaking her.

GREG
Catherine.

She stirs.

CATHERINE
(sleepy)
What?

The chorus raises a few octaves as new voices join in. Greg scrambles around for the backpack, pulls it open and yanks out a flashlight.

GREG
CATHERINE!

The light comes on, shining in her face as she opens her eyes. She shields her eyes from it.

CATHERINE
What's wrong?

GREG
The coyotes are right outside. What
do we do?

Catherine gets up and walks over to a space in the wall. She draws her sidearm and fires off two rounds. It silences the chorus. She walks back to Greg and pushes the gun into his hands. He takes it, watching her lay back down.

CATHERINE
Wake me when they decide to eat you.

Greg makes a face at her. Catherine falls asleep again, only to be woken by Greg shaking her again.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Greg, stop!

Greg grabs her arm, pulling on it.

GREG
(panicked)
Catherine, get on your feet.
Catherine, get up now! NOW!

A feline growl makes her sits straight up.

She sees a cougar disappear from the light of Greg's flashlight. Catherine fishes out the second flashlight and with shaking hands, shines it in the opposite direction. They hear a noise and both lights go toward it. Another noise, the lights move in unison.

Catherine notices the ladder up to the hayloft. It's suffered heavy fire damage and half of it has fallen away.

CATHERINE
Let's go up there.

Greg shines his light up at the loft, then on her.

GREG
Are you nuts!? That's a death trap!

The cougar growls behind them and they turn to see the cougar lunges out of the darkness. Greg falls back. The cougar disappears into the dark as he hits the floor of the barn.

The gun spins out of his hand under the hay pile. Greg lunges up and scrambles up the ladder. Catherine is right behind him.

INT. BARN LOFT - EARLY DAWN (RE-ENACTMENT)

At the top he turns, shining his light down, and his eyes widen.

GREG
Not a dumb animal! Not a dumb animal!

Catherine climbs onto the loft behind him and turns. The cougar is showing its intelligence and climbs the ladder like a tree.

Catherine grabs the ends of the ladder and gives it a push, discovering it's been nailed.

CATHERINE
Help me get this free. We have to stop it.

Greg grabs the other side and start working it loose.

GREG
I thought they didn't bother people.

CATHERINE
I guess they do.

GREG
I thought they were afraid of people!

CATHERINE
I'm not a cougar expert, Greg! Push!

The ladder comes free suddenly and the two almost fall out of the loft.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Shake it off. We have to pull the
ladder up.

They rock it back and forth until the cougar jumps off and then quickly pull it up. Greg follows the cougar with his flashlight as it paces and yowls.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
I'm going to kill Capri.

GREG
Not if I get to her first.

INT. BARN LOFT - DAY (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 7, 2:22 PM

Catherine and Greg sit at the edge of the loft, watching the cougar. Where rivers of sweat haven't reached, they're covered in black sweat. Their bare skin is red and blistered.

The animal sits below, waiting patiently. They are suffering from the first symptoms of severe hydration: rapid breathing, difficulty staying awake, swaying while sitting.

CATHERINE
(mutter)
I am going to kill Capri.

Greg just blinks.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
I'm going to rip her hair out by
the roots and strangle her with it.

Greg sways and almost falls over the ledge. He catches himself and pulls back.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Knock her ass out...

GREG
Give it a rest.

CATHERINE
You're going to defend her?

GREG
She's not here. You've been going
on about her for hours. I'm tired
of listening to it. Stop. Just stop.

Catherine doesn't argue. Greg sways again. He lies back on the loft floor, closing his eyes.

GREG (CONT'D)
So tired.

Catherine's eyes began to droop.

A low creak starts across the floor, followed by pops. The noise grows louder, but the CSI are oblivious to it. Greg opens his eyes in time to watch Catherine disappear from sight as the boards disintegrate under him.

CATHERINE
GREG!

She grabs for him too late.

INT. BARN - DAY (RE-ENACTMENT)

Greg lands hard on a broken beam and knocking the wind out of him. The noise frightens the cougar out of the barn.

Greg rolls off the beam, clutching his side. He can't get a full breath of air.

Overhead Catherine rattles around. The ladder slides off the edge of the loft and slams against the floor. Catherine scrambles down, jumping off the last few feet.

She freezes when she hears the cougar growling outside, looking toward it. She can see it slowly slinking through the weeds toward them.

GREG
Cat... Catherine... I can't... I can't... Get... A breath.

Catherine doesn't respond to him. She's focused on the cougar. She drops to her knees and starts sifting through the hay.

She finds something solid and pulls it out. It's a piece of charred wood. She throws it at the cougar. It snarls at her.

She starts patting again, getting more frantic the closer the creature gets. Her hand finds the gun just as the feline lunges.

She spins and shoots, missing. The cougar bends in the air toward Greg. She shoots again. It lands short of Greg and bounds off into the weeds.

Catherine runs over to him and pulls him onto his feet, ignoring his cries of pain. The two start toward a hole in the barn wall, disappearing into the weeds.

INT. CATHERINE'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Catherine is reading a report as WENDY makes a sharp turn into her office.

WENDY
Catherine, I got the results back
from the sperm and saliva on Capri
Martinez. I--

CATHERINE
All evidence has to go through
Riley first.

WENDY
I know but Catherine the DNA is--

CATHERINE
I know whom the DNA belongs to.

Wendy is speechless for a few seconds.

WENDY
You know? And you're not doing anything?

CATHERINE
I am doing something. I'm watching
the case. Please take your results
to Riley.

WENDY
Is there a good reason he was with
her, Catherine?

With a sad smile Catherine nods. Wendy looks at the sheets, then him. She turns and leaves.

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM A - NIGHT

Jackie holds the door open for Nick as he walks in. He sits down in the 'suspects' chair. She joins him, pulls out a folder. Jackie taps the record button on the camera.

JACKIE
Good morning. Hope I didn't keep
you waiting too long.

Nick doesn't respond, and she doesn't appear to notice. She sets the folder aside.

JACKIE (CONT'D)
State your name.

NICK
CSI Nicolas Stokes.

JACKIE
What was your relationship with
Capri Martinez?

NICK
There wasn't any.

JACKIE
Did you like her? Dislike her?

NICK
What you want to know is if I
wanted her dead, isn't it?

JACKIE
Did you?

NICK
No.

JACKIE
Didn't you push to have her fired,
Mister Stokes?

NICK
Yeah. So?

JACKIE
Well, if she's dead, she certainly
won't be working as a dispatcher
again. She was rehired two days ago.

NICK
I didn't know she was rehired.

JACKIE
That seems strange. Several EMS and
CSI did. I'm curious why you didn't.

NICK
Ma'am, I didn't care about Capri
and wasn't in the least bit interested
in keeping tabs on her.

JACKIE
For the sake of argument, what
would you have done if you had known?

NICK
Demanded they fire her again.

JACKIE
Thank you for your time.

Nick is surprised by the comment.

NICK
That's it?

JACKIE
Yes.

Nick gets up and walks to the door. He stops, turning back. She's looking at another folder.

NICK
Don't you want to know where I was
when she was murdered?

JACKIE
You were on route to a call in the
window Capri was murdered. The length
of time it takes to get from the
lab to the crime scene was twenty
minutes. You made it in eighteen.
Have a good morning, CSI Stokes.

Nick leaves. In the hall Greg is waiting alone. Nick stops in front of him, but Greg doesn't look up.

NICK
Good luck.

Nick walks away without waiting for an answer.

INT. CSI - LAB - NIGHT

Under the fume hood is the tubing used to kill Capri. Riley watches the smoke slowly fill the area. She doesn't look up when Henry leans in to watch.

HENRY
What's this?

RILEY
Tubing that was used to strangle
Capri Martinez. What do you have?

Henry hands her a folder without taking his eyes off the item.

HENRY
Tox from your assault last week.
That looks like the tubing they use
for intravenous lines.

Riley sits back, looking him in the eye.

RILEY
You are a damned genius!

HENRY
I know I am. What does that have to
do with anything?

Riley runs out. Henry points at the tubing in the fume hood.

HENRY (CONT'D)
You left your tubing... Riley?
Riley? Okay. I'll... Take care of
it. Okay?

She doesn't turn back. Henry turns to the fume hood, staring at it.

EXT. DESERT ROAD - NIGHT (RE-ENACTMENT)

SUPER: November 7, 10:30 PM

On the verge of collapse, suffering third degree sunburns, Catherine and Greg are moving at snail's pace. Their dehydration has reached such a critical stage that they are no longer sweating.

The road they're on has become a well-maintained back road. The sound of an approaching car starts off low and far away. Catherine hears it and stops. She looks back. Nothing there. She looks ahead.

Over the hill they're climbing, headlights can be seen growing brighter. Catherine picks up the pace to catch up to Greg. She slides a hand around his arm.

CATHERINE
Greg. There's a car coming.

Greg pulls away, keeps walking. Catherine grabs his arm, staying with him.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
There's a car coming, Greg.

Greg stops. She smiles until he suddenly collapses. She falls to her knees beside him, shaking him.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Greg. Greg wake up. Greg!

She turns, hearing the car getting closer. She turns back to Greg, shaking him. She can't revive him. Catherine stands, facing the direction the car's coming.

The direction of the car changes. It's moving away. The headlights fade as it turns.

Catherine takes a couple steps toward it. She turns her head when she sees headlights bounce along a road that leads down into a valley.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Come back.

The car doesn't listen. It stops and the lights go out. Seconds pass and lights come on in a house that had been hidden in the dark.

CATHERINE (CONT'D)
Please come back. Please.

When the lights turn off in the house, Catherine sits down next to Greg. She picks up his flashlight and switches them both off. Somewhere in the desert, the coyotes start their chorus.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT THREE