ACT SEVEN

FADE IN:

INT. CSI - TOXOCOLOGY LAB - DAY

Mandy comes in, watching Henry carefully swab inside the syringe Greg found. He glances at her.

MANDY
Any luck?

HENRY
We'll know shortly. I take it we've
had no hits on the prints they found
in the vehicles.

She shakes her head. He clips off the swab in a tube and adds reagent. Henry shakes it, then puts the liquid in a vial and slips it into the mass spectrometer. He starts it, turning to her.

HENRY
Going home for a bit?

MANDY
No. Do you think Nick's crazy?

HENRY
We all are to work this job.

MANDY
Henry, I'm serious.

HENRY
Crazy's such a limited word. Most
people don't realize how many levels
there are to it.

MANDY
He talks to himself a lot. One day,
I found him in the garage talking
to someone like another person was
there. He was all alone.

She glances back, as if she wants to make sure she hadn't been overheard.

MANDY
I never told anyone. I didn't want
him fired.

Henry leans toward her, making her look at him.

HENRY
By that definition, Mandy, you'd be
crazy too. I've caught you doing
that several times.

She blushes.

MANDY
I didn't think anyone noticed.

HENRY
I read somewhere that talking to
yourself actually helps your cognitive
and reasoning skills?

MANDY
Really?

HENRY
Yeah. I guess you two are just more
advanced than the rest of us.

She gives his arm a hug. The two glance at the mass spectrometer when it beeps. Henry turns around and prints out the results.

HENRY
Oh, triazolam. We meet again. Gotta
go talk to Catherine.

He heads out in search of Catherine.

INT. CSI - MAIN LAYOUT ROOM - DAY

The light table is loaded with case files and more sit in boxes around the room. Langston, Catherine, Greg, and Riley are poring over them. They're searching for anyone in Nick's past that might link to what's been happening to him.

Ecklie comes down the hall -- he hasn't changed clothes yet. He walks up to Catherine, slapping down two plastic evidence bags: one contains the faxed involuntary court-ordered admission, the other is a writing sample from Judge Harper.

ECKLIE
Nick's out. I sent Jim to stay with
him until we catch these two. Ron--

CATHERINE
Brass is clear across town. You didn't
leave him home alone, did you?

Ecklie smiles.

ECKLIE
No, Catherine, I sent him somewhere
safe. With Judge Harper's sample,
Ronnie identified the order as a
forgery. We're looking for someone
who is very good at forgery, maybe
someone who he put away.

Ecklie leaves before anyone can respond. Catherine looks at the three.

CATHERINE
Start hunting down forgery charges.

The CSI sift through the files but one stands out to Catherine.

She picks up a photograph of Jeff Katrick and lays it between the composites of the postman and Saver's manager. She turns and puts them up on the lightboard.

CATHERINE
Notice any similarities, guys?

The three look at the photograph and composites.

GREG
That's the same guy. How... How
would Nick have missed that?

Catherine refers to the case file.

CATHERINE
He put this guy away seven years
ago, and the guy was wearing wigs
and makeup the two times Nick saw
him. Nick put him away for forgery,
theft through the sale of false documents,
and impersonating a city official.
His name is Jeff Katrick. Someone
check to see if he's released.

Riley turns around to a computer and pulls up his record.

RILEY
He was released six months ago, but
there's an outstanding warrant. He's
skipped probation since his release.

LANGSTON
So this man has fallen off the map.
Does anything in his file say he'd
know anything about the drugs Nick's
been exposed to?

Catherine flips through the pages. Riley turns to the computer, running a search.

CATHERINE
No. He never even finished high school.

Riley finds something.

RILEY
But Julia would. She married him
nine years ago and never took his
name. She's a registered nurse.
She'd know her way around most drugs.

LANGSTON
We checked her medical license. She
had a doctorate in psychiatry.

No sooner does he say that when they all know what happened.

LANGSTON
Correction, she had a forged
doctrine in psychiatry that her
husband most likely provided.

GREG
But why get out of jail and go
after Nick? He never did anything
to her.

CATHERINE
That's not true, Greg. Nick took a
long time getting this guy to trust
him and become friends. She probably
hates everything there is about Nick.
But even then, Nick never knew
about the wife. None of us did.

LANGSTON
That explains why she was being so
unprofessional with him.

RILEY
Which part? She hated him or she
wasn't even a psychiatrist?

LANGSTON
Both. We can have her arrested once
we find her.

CATHERINE
We could only arrest her for
practicing medicine without a license.
That would keep her in jail for a
few years, if the judge doesn't just
give her probation. And then her
and her husband will just come after
Nick again. If we want them to go to jail until Nick's old and crotchety,
we need a smoking gun. It's in this
evidence somewhere.

The three agree.

RILEY
I'll keep searching for Nate
and Hugh.

GREG
I'll hit the DNA again.
Might find something more.

LANGSTON
Would you like me to go over trace and prints again?

Catherine nods. The three leave and she starts packing case files.

INT. CSI - TRACE - DAY

Hodges is anxiously waiting for results. The printer spits them out at the same time he sees Catherine walking by. He knocks on the window, waving her in. She steps inside the room.

CATHERINE
I'm in a hurry, Hodges. If this is
on another case, it can--

HODGES
Greg gave me some moss that was
found in Nick's pickup. I just got
the results from it.

CATHERINE
That was weeks ago. Why are you
just running it?

HODGES
He said it was low, low priority,
and then I forgot all about it. But
it's going to help us.

CATHERINE
How?

HODGES
It's Grimmia Americana. There are
only three known populations worldwide:
one in west Texas, one in Arizona,
and the Newberry Mountains. So I went
over the trace brought in from the
rental car, the first one that was
returned unscathed after Nick's second
blackout. There was moss in it too,
this time on the driver's side. Someone
from that area has been in both vehicles.

CATHERINE
Someone who would want Nick to look
crazy, you mean.

HODGES
Yes. Someone like that.

Catherine makes a phone call as she walks out.

CATHERINE
Greg, start searching properties in
either Julia or Katrick's name in the
Newberry Mountains. And then get
those properties to the officers.

INT. THE WALL - DAY

The Wall is a secret hideaway of the graveyard shift, is a room in the basement tucked away at the back of records.

It looks like a college frat house living room, and includes an ugly gold sectional along one wall and a very worn dark blue recliner.

There is old wooden table has been varnished to protect the chalk doodles on it. Warrick's sitting on the table, staring at the wall.

But the grandest, most significant decor, is the list of 'rules' the graveyard crew has amassed and written in chalk on the walls.

Nick lies on the sectional along the back wall. He's using a closed beer as a cold compress for his head.

BRASS (O.S.)
I bet you'd feel better if you just
drank it, Nick.

Nick looks up at him, then away. Brass sits down in a recliner, looking up at the rules.

BRASS
Haven't been down here for a while.
Doesn't look like anyone else has
either. No new rules after 557.

He waits for a response but doesn't get one.

BRASS
Hey, how is Warrick?

Nick doesn't answer.

WARRICK
I told you he knows. Just tell him, Nick.

BRASS
You talk to him often. Well, not as
much as when you first came back. You
two seem to be doing better about that.
Working out the kinks, I guess.

Nick live with the burden of this secret anymore.

NICK
He's dead and I see him all the time. I'm crazy.

BRASS
Naw. You're not crazy Nick.

NICK
Ecklie should have left me in the
hospital. I'm sick and crazy.

Brass thinks that over. He shakes his head, looking at Nick.

BRASS
I heard this story once about people
who handle rattlesnakes. One group
scratches themselves a little at a time
with the snake's fangs, getting a
little deeper and a little more
venom in them. They're scared of
what'll happen, scared to try living.
Then this other group takes one big
bite. Some of them die. The ones that
don't, are stronger. Have you ever heard that?

Nick and Warrick stare at him.

WARRICK
Has he gone nuts?

BRASS
You're a big bite survivor, Nicky.
Life has dealt you some pretty big
ones, but you've come back from them
every time. You've gotten stronger
each time, too, but this time around,
you needed a little help. So we can't
see your help. So what? If Warrick
was telling you to rob some place,
or kill someone, or do drugs, or
gamble like he used to, and you did
it, then I'd say you were crazy. But
all I've seen him have you do is work
the crime scene, be meticulous, do
your job better than ever. That's
not crazy. That's divine.

Nick looks at the rules.

NICK
I think all The Wall Crew knows
about him.

BRASS
I think you're right.

NICK
Think there's a rule for that?

Nick motions at the wall with his beer before he unscrews the cap. Brass laughs. He gets a beer from the refrigerator and settles back in the recliner.

BRASS
We have time to think about it.
Greg called, said he thinks he
found the two. Pretty soon, you'll
be safe again, Nicky.

NICK
The two?

BRASS
Julia and her husband, Jeff Katrick.

That surprises Nick.

NICK
Jeff was a white collar criminal
with no priors. I wouldn't have
pegged him for any of this. And
Julia? I didn't even consider her
on my list of suspects.

BRASS
That's why I'm the homicide
detective, and you're the CSI. It's
my job to distrust anyone who makes
my sane friends look crazy.

Nick and Warrick smile.

BRASS
Now... About that rule...

EXT. KATRICK'S CABIN - DAY

A Denali pulls up outside. Langston, Greg, and Riley get out. The place is brimming with police and an ambulance. A moving van sits right outside the front door.

They head for the front door as four officers escort Julia and Katrick out. Julia shoots them a scathing glare. Katrick tries to fight his way free. They pass the moving van, pausing to look at the half filled back.

LANGSTON
We almost caught them too late.

Officer Powell comes to the door.

JEREMY
You guys need to start in the basement.

INT. KATRICK'S CABIN – BASEMENT - DAY

Langston, Greg, and Riley descend steps lit from above into the black expanse of the basement. Langston sees the light switch on the wall and flicks it.

They find themselves immersed in the couple's obsession. Hundreds upon hundreds of surveillance photographs of Nick surround them. Mountains of newspaper clippings about him and his trials. Transcripts from his high school and college. Anything and everything to do with Nick.

GREG
I think we found the smoking gun.

Riley pulls on gloves, walking over to a table. There's a map of Nevada laid out and a spot is circled. It's in the middle of nowhere.

RILEY
What do you think this is? Another
hide out?

GREG
Could be anything.

Greg starts walking down one wall, trying to figure out where he should start photographing.

Langston spots a large canvas bag next to the table. He crouches down as he pulls on gloves and unzips it.

He finds rope, duct tape, two shovels and pick axes, gloves, and a small box. He opens the box and finds a 3 milliliter syringe inside and a bottle of modafinil.

LANGSTON
I think that spot on the map is
where they planned to bury Nick's
body after they killed him with an
overdose of modafinil.

The two gather around him, looking at the contents.

GREG
That'll help prove Nick wasn't crazy
or a drug addict. Should help get him
through the real psych eval faster.

RILEY
It's strange how comfortable I've become with him talking to Warrick. When I hear them talking in the next room I just smile.

Langston stands.

LANGSTON
It made finding him at large crime scenes easier. Were the two of them that funny in real life, Greg?

Greg doesn't answer when Riley and Langston turn to him.

RILEY
Were they?

GREG
I don't know what you're talking about.

RILEY
You don't really expect us to believe you don't know what we're talking about?

LANGSTON
We've known for a while Nick is hallucinating, and it's your previous co-worker, Warrick, that he's seeing. Everyone on the graveyard shifts knows it, most of the officers too, but we've just chosen to keep it in the department.

Greg stares for a moment again.

GREG
He's not crazy.

LANGSTON
No. He's not. I'm going to get bags.

Langston heads up the stairs. Greg holds Riley's stare. She smiles.

RILEY
I'll start photographing this end.

GREG
I'm serious, Riley. He's not crazy.

RILEY
I know. There's several he needs Warrick right now. But he's doing all the right things to banish him, and for now, it's enduring.

Greg returns her smile. She turns around and starts photographing. Greg heads for the other end to photograph.

FADE OUT.

THE END