ACT SIX

FADE IN:

INT. POST OFFICE LOBBY - DAY

Greg and Langston enter and find themselves at the back of a long line.

GREG
Time to make some new friends.

Greg digs out his ID and holds it up as he pushes past people to the front. Langston follows, offering a smile to the people that turn to glare at them.

At the front the postwoman and her customer both stare at Greg. He puts his ID and the composite of the postman in front of the postal worker.

GREG
Have you seen this man?

She shakes her head. At the same time Greg's phone rings. He ignores it.

GREG
I need to speak to the manager then.

She leaves to get the manager.

INT. POST OFFICE PO BOXES - DAY

The post office MANAGER stands with Greg and Langston. He's staring at the composite, honestly trying to think if he's seen the man. He finally shakes his head and hands it back to Greg.

MANAGER
I'm sorry. This isn't one of my people
and I've never seen him before.

GREG
Does this office service 1412
Hacienda Avenue?

Greg's phone starts ringing. He silences it.

MANAGER
Yeah.

GREG
This man is impersonating a postman
then. Has anyone reported someone
posing as a postman in that area?

MANAGER
No.

GREG
Could you maybe show this to your
workers and see if any of them
recognize him?

Greg's phone starts ringing again. He has to silence it again. Langston's phone starts ringing. He leaves to take the call.

MANAGER
Yeah. I can send it with the postman
in that neighborhood too, see if
anyone there has seen the guy.

GREG
That would be a lot of help. Thank you.

Greg digs a business card out of a pocket and hands both it and the composite over.

MANAGER
I'll call if I find out anything.

GREG
Thanks again.

Greg leaves

EXT. POST OFFICE PARKING LOT - DAY

Greg finds Langston at their vehicle. He looks like he has or is about to vomit.

GREG
What's going on?

LANGSTON
Catherine was trying to get a hold
of you. Julia was granted an involuntary
court-ordered admission for Nick.

Greg stares at him.

INT. NICK'S HOUSE - DAY

Nick is in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher. He looks up when the doorbell rings. He walks around the corner and opens it. On his doorstep is Catherine, and officers JEREMY Kemp and ROGER Drake. Immediately Warrick appears behind Nick.

WARRICK
It's time.

Nick almost turns to him.

NICK
What's going on?

Catherine starts to answer, chokes up and has to take a minute. She clears her throat.

CATHERINE
Guys, give us a few minutes, will ya?

JEREMY
I can give you five, then we have
to go, Catherine.

They walk down the drive to the waiting patrol car. Catherine looks into Nick's eyes.

CATHERINE
We... Julia was granted an emergency
involuntary court-ordered admission
on grounds you are a harm to yourself
and others, and have refused to submit
to treatment. I know you're friends
with Roger and Jeremy, so I asked if
they would take you to Northern Las
Vegas Mental Institute.

Nick doesn't move. He's waiting for the laughter, the punch line -- things that are not coming. He realizes that when she reaches for his hand. He pulls back.

CATHERINE
Nick, I promised them you would go
without a fight. Don't make me a
liar. Don't make this worse.

NICK
Worse? WORSE!? You're not about to
be locked away in a crazy house! She'll
find a way to keep me there. She's
always two steps ahead of me! She's
probably behind everything that's
been happening to me! She wants to
destroy me!

CATHERINE
You're acting paranoid, Nick. Stop it.

Catherine reaches out and he pulls back. She follows, cornering him. She puts her hands on the sides of his neck, holding his eyes.

NICK
I won't go. I'm not going!

CATHERINE
I swear to you on Lindsay's life
that I will get you out of this. I
will not stop until I do.

Nick starts crying as he slides to the floor. She kneels, holding him.

NICK
I told you I was crazy.

CATHERINE
No. You're not crazy, Nicky.

Warrick kneels down next to him.

WARRICK
Nick, I need you to trust me like
you've never trusted me before. I
need you to give into this. Just go
with them and hold on.

Nick looks at him.

NICK
You died. I will never trust you!

Warrick shakes his head.

CATHERINE
Look at me, Nick. Don't listen to him.

WARRICK
Have I ever asked you to do something
you couldn't do? Trust me. Just
give into this.

A frightening calm comes over Nick.

NICK
(exhausted)
I'm so tired. Tired of pretending
I'm sane. Tired of lying all the
time. Tired of seeing someone who
was my friend and now is my worst
enemy. I give up.

CATHERINE
Nick, don't give up on me. Be str--

NICK
It's okay. You don't have to do
anything, Catherine. I give up.

Nick climbs to his feet and walks out to the officers. Warrick stares.

CATHERINE
(whisper)
Why didn't you watch out for him,
Warrick? You bastard!

She gets up and storms out, slamming the door behind her.

WARRICK
I am.

INT. CSI - BREAK ROOM - NIGHT

Archie is sitting at the table eating a sandwich with lettuce on it. He's reading an article in a magazine. Hodges comes in and gets his lunch, joining him.

ARCHIE
Quiet night.

HODGES
I'm busy. You should help me.

Archie smirks. He has no intention of helping Hodges. The two look up when Wendy blows into the room.

WENDY
What are you two doing? We don't
have time to eat!

They stare at her.

WENDY
You haven't heard?

ARCHIE
Apparently not. What haven't we heard?

WENDY
Julia committed Nick.

HODGES
How?

WENDY
She's a conniving witch that's
wasting oxygen is how. Catherine
and two officers picked him up an
hour ago. We have to figure out
what's going on with him. Come on.

Archie abandons his meal. Hodges watches them leave as he takes another bite of food. His eyes drift down to Archie's sandwich, particularly the lettuce. He suddenly bolts from the break room.

INT. CATHERINE'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Catherine is on the phone when Ecklie appears in her open doorway. He's dressed in sweats, a sweatshirt, and worn sneakers.

ECKLIE
How in the hell did she get him committed?

Catherine motions him to wait.

CATHERINE
I'm looking into it too, Greta.
Conrad just got here, I'll show it
to him, too. I'll call you back.

She hangs up and turns her attention to him.

CATHERINE
Doctor Green somehow got an emergency
involuntary court-ordered admission
on grounds that Nick is an extreme
danger to himself and others.

ECKLIE
Who approved it?

Catherine picks up a folder and pulls out the judgement, looking at it.

CATHERINE
It's signed by Judge Harper.

Ecklie snatches the paper away.

ECKLIE
That's impossible! He's a Supreme
Justice. He doesn't even handle
committals.

Ecklie looks at the paper. Plain as day is the Judge's name in print and his signature. She holds her hand out for it but he doesn't hand it back.

CATHERINE
Greta is looking into--

ECKLIE
Was this faxed?

CATHERINE
Yes. They usually are, Conrad.

He doesn't acknowledge her sarcasm. Instead he holds the paper against the light.

ECKLIE
Who received the original? Was it
delivered to the hospital?

CATHERINE
I don't know. Why?

She stands up and joins him. He points out marks on the paper.

ECKLIE
These dots shouldn't be here.

CATHERINE
Could have happened in transmission.

ECKLIE
Maybe, but this signature...

Ecklie lowers it, staring at the signature.

ECKLIE
Something isn't right about it.
Whatever Greta's working don't stop
her. I'm going to go talk to Judge
Harper.

He heads out the door.

CATHERINE
Conrad, it's two in the morning!

He doesn't come back.

INT. CSI - LAB

Riley is working on a computer that's running multiple searches. She's looking at men who look similar, but don't match, the composite of Nate. The screen suddenly populates.

A Jane Doe has been found in Carter, California. She is the spitting image of Miranda, but in the article family have identified her as Miranda Estevez.

Riley tracks down a phone number and places a call. M.E. HOWIE answers on the third ring.

HOWIE
Carter Crypt of Horrors. You kill
'em, we roast 'em. Howie speaking.

Riley doesn't know whether she should laugh or take him serious.

RILEY
Uhm... Hi. My name is Riley Adams.
I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I
was calling about a Jane Doe you
recently identified as Miranda Estevez.

HOWIE
Sorry, honey, she's been claimed.
You'll have to find yourself
another drowned girl.

Riley smiles, but she doesn't have time for jokes.

RILEY
I'm curious if there were any signs
of a struggle on the body? This is
the M.E., isn't it?

HOWIE
I am. There were. Bruises on her
wrists and ankles. Were you just
feeding me lucky guesses?

RILEY
No. Was there water in her lungs?
Was it consistent with the lake she
was found in?

HOWIE
Well, now, you've got some
interesting questions there. I
can't answer those questions, I
just cut people open. But the lab
guys downtown might know a thing or
two. I take it you don't think this
little girl was drown here?

RILEY
No. Someone saw her body at Lake
Mead, but when police arrived, it
was gone. The picture in the newspaper
matches our composite, though.

HOWIE
That does ring a few peculiarities.
The chief is in bed and gets real
mean when I wake him. Let me have a
chat with him when he comes in and
I'll have him give you a ring. Good deal?

RILEY
Yes. Thank you. Here's my number:
702-555-6436.

HOWIE
Right. Okay, young lady. You have
yourself a good night and we'll see
if we can't solve ourselves a
couple cases in the morning.

Riley smiles but before she can reply, he hangs up. She goes back to her search for Nate.

INT. SUPREME JUSTICE HARPER'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT

The doorbell is being rung incessantly. Judge Hank HARPER comes out of his bedroom tying his robe shut and muttering curses. He passes his daughter's room as she steps out.

HARPER
Go back to bed, honey.

He goes down the stairs and throws the front door open. Ecklie is waiting on the other side, he thrusts the faxed copy of the order into Harper's face and starts talking before the judge can.

ECKLIE
Did you sign this, Hank? Because if
you signed this, we are going to go
rounds about it. Did you sign this?

Harper rips the paper from Ecklie, flicks on the foyer light and reads it. He looks up at Ecklie.

HARPER
Who's Nicholas Parker Stokes?

ECKLIE
One of my CSI.

HARPER
Why would this Doctor... Doctor...

ECKLIE
Doctor Julia Green.

HARPER
Why's she want him committed?

ECKLIE
I didn't come here to talk about
who's doing what. If you signed it,
I'm here to collect on a really big
favor you owe me, and get Nick out. If
you didn't sign it, I need you to
verify that and I'm going after a
psychiatrist's license tonight.
Which do I need to do here?

HARPER
Maybe this Nicholas belongs in the
mental hospital.

ECKLIE
Do I need to go tell Helen it's not
me you go fishing with every other
month? I'm sure your boyfriend
wouldn't mind.

Harper looks over the top of the paper at Ecklie. He turns so he can see the paper better. He frowns at it.

HARPER
The K isn't right.

ECKLIE
What?

HARPER
This isn't my K. I've heard you've
been working every loophole for some
CSI that tried to strike his
supervisor. Is this the one?

ECKLIE
They were both under duress and it
was a huge misunderstanding on both
their parts. I was there and saw it.

HARPER
Must be a really good CSI if you're
willing to blackmail me into
getting him out.

ECKLIE
There wouldn't be any blackmail
involved if this is a forge, would there?

Harper hands the paper back.

HARPER
This isn't my signature. I suppose
now I need to go to the station and
give you a writing sample?

ECKLIE
Please.

HARPER
Mm-hm. I have to go get dressed.
I'll meet you there in a half hour.

ECKLIE
Don't get lost, Hank.

Hank shuts the door in Ecklie's face.

INT. GRISSOM'S OLD OFFICE - NIGHT

Riley is working on a laptop at her desk. Greg comes in and sits down next to the desk.

GREG
I heard you have something.

She hands him a thick folder and keeps working.

RILEY
I found Miranda. She really does
exist, but her last name is Estevez,
not Thornton. According to this she
was a patient at a home for mentally
handicapped. She had a job assembling
toys at a nearby factory and she was
doing well. Then, one night, she just
disappeared from the house. The other
thing Nick got right is that she was
a paranoid schizophrenic, but
according to the interviews from the
nurses at the home and her family, she
wasn't as bad as he said when she
was on her medicine.

GREG
So when Nick saw her, she probably
wasn't on the meds. But what was
she doing in Las Vegas at Doctor
Green's office.

RILEY
That's a connection I haven't found
yet. Any news on the postman?

GREG
Nothing. God! We have a whole lot of dead ends.

RILEY
Hey. We'll figure it out. Nick's
depending on us to.

GREG
I'm not giving up on him. Nothing's
wrong with him.

She looks peculiarly at him.

RILEY
I didn't say anything was wrong
with him.

GREG
I know. I just feel like everyone
thinks there is. I'm feeling
defensive, I guess.

RILEY
We'll figure this out.

Greg gets up and goes over to his desk, opening his laptop. The two start working on leads, hoping for something.

INT. OFFICE CORRIDOR

Arlene walks down the hall, sifting through her keys. She reaches the door to Julia's office at the same time the psychiatrist opens it. Julia's loaded down with boxes and bags, and the women are surprised to see each other.

ARLENE
What are you doing here this early?
You never get in before eight.

JULIA
I'm quitting. Cancel all the
appointments and then you're free
to go. Your last check will be
mailed to you.

Julia tries to push past her, but Arlene stops her.

ARLENE
You can't just quit like this and
leave me hanging!

JULIA
Yes. I can. That's a luxury I get
as your boss.

Julia pushes past her. Arlene stares at her back. She turns and steps into the office.

INT. JULIA'S OFFICE - RECEPTION AREA - DAY

The room is bare. All the pictures, the plants, the magazines, office equipment except for the phone and a mouse, are gone. She has nothing left to do except walk away.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT SIX