CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015): Season 11, Episode 18 - Hitting for the Cycle - full transcript
A string of deaths, including a gamer found dead on his couch and a newly divorced man at the bottom of a pool, instigate a bet among the CSIs as to whether they've "hit for the cycle" - a homicide, a suicide, an accidental and a natural death all in one night.
- Oh, wow.
- What?
No. I-- I don't even want to say it.
- I don't want to jinx it.
- What are you talking about?
You guys playing freeze tag again?
Henry seems to be having a,
uh, Beautiful Mind moment here.
[imitates engine rewing]
The cycle.
Yeah, I just closed a homicide,
I think Ray closed
an accidental about an hour ago.
- And I logged a suicide.
- [Stokes] Well, there you go--
homicide, suicide, accidental.
Gentlemen... we here on grave shift,
are one natural death away
from hitting for the cycle.
[sighs]
I can't believe you.
- You said it.
- So, what's your problem?
A guy's pitching a perfect game,
you don't say
he's pitching a perfect game.
Do you know how long it's been
since grave hit a cycle?
Four years, seven months, 13 days,
two hours, and ten minutes.
Henry, we're men of science,
not men of superstition.
[Hodges]
Oh, my band of brothers,
we will hit the cycle--
of this I am certain.
I am so certain
that I propose a little action.
- A little action, huh?
- Yeah. Let's do it.
A wager to see
which CSI brings in the natural,
and thereby brings
the cycle home.
It's luck of the draw.
You can't predict
who's going to pull a natural.
It's a numbers game--
the more cases you get,
the more chances
you have to win.
And, uh, I'm on a roll, right now, boys.
I wouldn't bet against me.
Or me.
I got a body, right now,
in autopsy, that's looking
pretty au naturel.
[Hodges]
I got a hundred bucks on Nick.
And it's not because
you are the co-shift supervisor.
Thank you. I am also...
in on me for a hundred.
You know what?
Uh, make it $200.
- Like a man...
- All right, I'm in.
Yeah, and Hodges,
let Henry be the bank.
What, you don't trust me
with our future earnings?
[chuckles]
Come on.
[Andrews]
This is so wrong.
You don't just shove
dollar bills into the Holy Grail,
like she's some--
[whispers]
...you know.
That's true, Henry.
But this is Vegas.
Uh, we have a cycle
going on, people!
Anybody else want in?
Go see Henry.
Easy money, Sanders.
- It's like picking it up off the ground.
- Yeah, well, don't hurt yourself.
[Andrews]
Oh, come on!
No... Seriously?
♪♪ [theme]
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ I really wanna know ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
- ♪ Oh-oh-oh ♪
- ♪ Who... ♪
♪ Come on, tell me who are you ♪
♪ You, you ♪
♪ Are you! ♪
[Robbins]
Abdomen is distended.
Hard to the touch.
She's not pregnant.
Tumor, maybe?
That would be a natural.
Maybe the chick's just fat.
Stuffing her face
with Twinkies and chalupas.
Wouldn't be the first.
You'll have to excuse Kevin,
my new assistant--
transfer from L.A.
Just used to
hotter-looking corpses, Doc.
- [Kevin] Ah, that's gross.
- It's pus, Kevin. Beaker.
- That is a lot of pus.
- And one serious infection.
Question is, what caused it?
Infection.
That would be a natural, right?
Would you give the cycle a rest
for a second, please?
- Cycle?
- [Sanders] It's, uh...
when you get a homicide,
accidental, suicide,
and natural death,
all in the same shift.
Kind of like banging
a white chick, black chick,
Mexican, and Asian chick
all in one night, right?
Been there. Oof.
[Robbins]
The colon appears punctured.
Did you say she die at her desk?
I did.
[clears throat]
People like to chew on office
supplies while they're working.
Swallow them.
So... paper clip.
Accidents happen.
Definitely not a natural.
- [cell phone rings]
- Sorry to burst two bubbles.
We have another call out-- 419.
Well, where there is death,
there's hope.
[Sidle]
Hey, hey.
Welcome to the apocalypse.
- Aeron's Legion. Sweet.
- Meet DV8Avenger.
Huh! Nice chair.
[Brass]
So, at 4:38 a.m.,
we got a call from LeftBrain 528,
in Vancouver.
He was concerned
because his buddy was AFK
for the past five hours.
- AFK?
- [Sanders] It's "away from keyboard."
It's a gamer thing.
DV8's real name is Steven Pyles.
- Unfortunate name.
- You guys smell that?
Check under the blanket.
Um--
[clears throat]
... Mr. Pyles is wearing a diaper.
Guy's a serious gamer.
No time for bathroom breaks.
Right.
Didn't want to be AFK.
Well, good luck with this.
I'm out of here.
Whoo!
Sorry we're late to the party.
Grandma here was driving.
Oh, God, it reeks in here.
This isn't too good
for my hangover.
- Have you all met Kevin?
- Yeah.
Yeah, we've had the pleasure.
- Possible cardiac flush.
- [Kevin] Oh, you think?
Look it-- pepperoni pizza,
hot wings, French fries--
I'm just gonna go out
on a limb here...
and say that, uh,
Moby Dick stroked out.
Congrats. Got your natural.
Oh, Well, I guess we can all
go home then.
I don't know how you
do things in L.A.,
but in Vegas,
we wait for autopsy.
Yeah, you could do that.
86 degrees-- it's odd.
Based on lividity,
I'd say T.O.D. was
six to eight hours ago.
Body temp should be
higher than that, right?
More like 91 degrees.
Could be the AC,
or the guy just runs cold.
Doesn't rule out a natural.
No, but it also
doesn't rule out a homicide.
I guess we should get to work.
Sucks.
[Stokes]
Gardener found the body.
Homeowners are
on vacation in Europe.
Victim was house-sitting.
We got an I.D.?
Yeah--
Benjamin Fowler, age 39.
Supposedly, the guy just
went through a divorce
and was just crashing here.
Come on.
- [Langston] Forced entry.
- Yeah, looks like it.
I have a shoe impression here.
Herringbone pattern.
Glass still in the window frame
and on the ground.
Radial fracture,
right angle, rear side.
This window was broken
from the outside in.
[latch clicks]
Dead bolt still works.
So...
the perp tried to kick the door open,
it wouldn't budge...
So he breaks a window,
reaches in
and unlocks the dead bolt.
Whoo!
No TV. No tunes.
Somebody got ripped off.
Victim wanders into a robbery,
gets himself killed.
Straight-up robbery-homicide.
Works for me.
Now, where the hell
is Super Dave?
Man, I want to get this one
wrapped up, get back in the game.
[Willows]
So this is DV8Avenger.
From what Sara said,
I'm glad you got that diaper off.
I had my new assistant do it.
- Kevin.
- Mmm.
Well, it's a perfect job
for that guy.
So, uh, you got any C.O.D.
on the gamer?
Well, our victim's gullet
was congested with vomitus.
- Undigested food.
- Mmm. What is that?
- Pepperoni?
- With onions.
Our friend's unhealthy
habits caught up to him.
But it wasn't his heart that gave out.
- What was it?
- His stomach.
Our victim experienced
a violent regurgitation.
Generally speaking, when someone
reacts to a choking gag-reflex,
undigested food
will be hurled back up
and be expelled
through the mouth and nose.
In this case,
that didn't happen.
Our victim succumbed
to food being trapped in the vocal folds.
Asphyxiation.
Kind of like what happened
with Mama Cass
and choking on her ham sandwich?
Actually, the coroner's inquest
found Cass Elliot died
from "fatty myocardial
degeneration, due to obesity."
There was no obstruction.
Well, at least Mama was a natural.
Ah, yes-- the cycle.
How much is the pot up to now?
It's a couple grand.
Crazy, right?
Hmm. How much you in for?
- $200.
- On whom?
Nobody. I mean, most people
die of natural causes,
without suspicious circs--
we don't roll on them.
So, I'm betting that we are not
going to be hitting for the cycle.
Well, you are a smart lady,
which is why you're
probably asking,
how was our victim unable
to expel the vomitus?
And I have an answer.
These healed contusions
along the tongue
say that our victim appears
to have had a history
of seizures.
Seizures caused by what?
I haven't had a chance
to review his medical records yet.
All I know is that a seizure
would've been a major
contributor to his death.
[Sidle]
Guess what I found in DV8's apartment--
carbamazepine.
Anticonvulsant used to treat epilepsy.
You know, I read a case
about a person diagnosed
with epilepsy
who suffered a seizure
while playing a video game.
You think a video
game killed our vic?
Preexisting condition,
but death brought on
by external circumstances.
You know,
I hate to say it,
but the needle's tipping
from natural to accidental.
So the cycle takes a backseat,
but it's still speculation.
I mean, we have no way of knowing
what happened to DV8
after he went AFK.
Actually, there is.
Serious gamers don't
just wear diapers,
they also record their games.
Like chess players,
they want to review their moves
and learn from their mistakes.
We did pulls all the hard
drives from his apartment.
I'll look through them,
see if I can find a recording
of our victim's virtual death.
Yo, dude, what the hell?
There could be biologicals
on that gun.
You just can't put it into plastic.
Yeah, I don't need a forensics
lesson there, Mr. Wizard.
The serial number's etched off.
I'm going to let it air dry.
I'm not putting it in the bag,
I'm putting it on the bag.
Believe it or not,
I know what I'm doing.
Whatever.
Dr. Langston, I presume.
You're the fella who crossed swords
with Nate Haskell.
Saw you on
America's Most Wanted.
Cool.
Kevin! Gurney!
Now!
Kevin, do this,
Kevin, do that.
I'm getting sick to my
stomach with your crap.
Hey, don't...
What was that?
I'm sorry.
He's from L.A.
That explains it.
Wrists are bound,
overhand knot.
[Langston]
That cord is from inside the house.
Restraints are loose.
He probably tried to set himself free.
Contusions on his face.
What appears to be
a broken nose.
All signs of blunt-force trauma.
[Phillips]
That's not what killed him, though.
It was a single GSW
to the back of the head.
Can't find the exit wound.
It's probably still holding.
More than likely the bullet's
still in his head.
[Stokes] No cash.
It's consistent with robbery.
So Mr. Fowler interrupts a burglary.
There's a struggle.
The killer punches him,
ties him up.
Then Fowler makes a break for it.
The killer follows after him,
shoots him in the back of the head.
What do you think,
new girlfriend?
Personal experience says
it's probably his ex-wife.
He's still wearing his wedding ring.
[gunfire, shouting over speakers]
[gunfire continues]
- Taking a break?
- [taps key, game playback stops]
Reliving the last exploits
of DV8Avenger.
Guy kept recordings
of all his games,
including the final two minutes
of the last game he ever played.
Now, DV8 was not just
playing Aeron's Legion solo.
He was playing MMORPG.
English?
Massively multiplayer
online role-playing game.
- Oh.
- Meaning...
there were a lot of people
playing against him.
- That is a lot of people.
- Well, it's Aeron's Legion.
See, we're talking 34th century,
when all of humanity
has been whittled down
to a small but contentious
band of warriors called
the Descendants.
Mm-hmm.
The point is,
you've got all these weapons,
but the only one
that you don't want to use
is the flash-bang.
Excellent distraction,
but takes major points off your score.
Greg...
- All right, well, during DV8's last game...
- Uh-huh.
one player pulled a radical move
and just started unloading
with flash-bangs.
54 in just one minute.
A move like that just deducts
points from your score.
You don't gain a single point.
Unless the point is to give
your opponent a seizure.
A type of attack
like this would do it.
The strobing imagery
in the game
generated a photosensitive reaction,
which produced impulses
that traveled through the optic nerve
and into the temporal lobe
of the brain--
frying the circuits,
triggering an epileptic seizure.
Who launched the attack?
NinjaAssassin.
So if NinjaAssassin knew
that DV8 was epileptic
and intentionally triggered a seizure,
we're looking at a homicide.
[gunfire over speakers]
[grunts]
[audience applauding]
Geeks and freaks,
give it up for Cyber Bowl 2011!
[cheering]
Aeron's Legion Semi Number One
pits two hot-wired warriors.
First, Las Vegas native
and future Hall of Gamer,
NinjaAssassin!
[cheering, applause]
[laughing]
Hi-yah!
Game on, gamers!
Whoo! Let's do this!
I think we found our assassin.
These people need to get a life.
I think you'd like video games.
You get to shoot people.
[Brass]
When I was their age,
I was on a real battlefield
with a real weapon
in a real jungle.
I don't need to play war
with my thumbs.
And uploading
from San Juan, Puerto Rico,
The Rico Suave of gaming,
last year's rookie
of the year, Murder-1!
[Sanders] You know what
the winner of this takes home?
A hundred grand.
A hundred G's?
- Now I want to shoot someone.
- Yeah!
[Emcee]
Fire up your controllers.
It's game on, bitches.
[crowd cheering]
- [gunfire]
- Yeah!
Okay, let's go.
Las Vegas police.
[Emcee]
Hold on, guys.
[Man in crowd]
Get outta here, man!
Game's over...
bitches.
[booing]
[crowd shouting]
Am I in some kind of trouble?
This isn't about
the Girls Gone Wild file share, is it?
You, uh, you know this guy, Ninja?
Oh, man!
Who filleted DV8Avenger?
No wonder he didn't
show up for the semi.
Dude, put that thing away.
So you can toss fake
grenades at a guy,
but you can't stomach seeing
what it did to him?
What are you talking about?
DV8Avenger was playing
against you when he died.
Virtually.
I didn't actually kill him.
I-- I mean I have killed him
on the fields of Crador.
Though, admittedly,
he had the edge.
[Brass]
Hey, real world.
Did DV8 ever mention to you
that he had a medical condition?
He had a lot of conditions.
Yeah, like epilepsy.
Did you know that?
Kind of.
2009, El Paso finals,
I saw DV8 popping pills.
Figured they were uppers.
Told him I was going
to the judges...
Yeah, and he told you they were
his epilepsy meds.
Kind of.
[Brass]
And you kind of knew
that all the flash-bangs you threw at him
would trigger a seizure.
Look, I'm an athlete.
I'm a competitor.
I was looking for an edge.
I get it. 100 grand.
You can't die from a seizure.
That's a fact.
I looked it up.
It's on WikiMeds.
I think you're gonna
kind of need a lawyer.
Hey, Doc.
I know, I know,
you want a quick C.O.D.
so you can get out of the pits
and get back into the race.
It's not just me, man.
I got a lot of people
riding on me.
Yeah, well, for the record,
I am not among them.
Oh, yeah? Well, who'd you
put your money on, Greg?
You might as well just
give it to me right now.
I hold my cards close to the vest
and my cash even closer.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
What's up with this guy?
I found these fibers
in his chompers.
They match
the restraints on his wrists.
He was probably trying
to undo that knot with his teeth.
Mr. Fowler's X-rays.
Extensive damage
to the cervical vertebrae
and the occipital bone.
You see the beveling?
Inside to out.
So the bullet went out
the back of his head.
We initially thought
that exit wound was an entry wound.
The real entry wound
is in the oral pharynx.
No soot around the hole,
so he was shot from
at least three feet away.
Mouth open.
No!
[screaming]
[Robbins]
It's a penetrating wound.
Through and through.
Okay, so the bullet's got
to be back at the house.
Well, if you're lucky, you might catch
a natural on the way over.
[chuckles]
[chuckles]
[weeping]
Thanks.
I'm very sorry
for you loss, Mrs. Fowler.
What happened to Ben?
He was house-sitting
for some friends.
There was a break-in.
He was shot.
The house in Seven Hills?
The Alexanders' place?
You know them?
They were friends,
before the divorce.
People choose sides,
you know how that goes.
Yes, I do.
Tell me...
when was the last
time you saw Ben?
Just a couple of days ago.
He got pulled over for DUI.
He called me, I bailed him out.
I took him back to the house.
I got to go.
I just poured you a glass of wine.
Come on, stay, please?
I'm tired. I don't want
to do this anymore.
You won't have to, I promise.
- [both gasp]
- Ah, shoot! I'm sorry.
You know, what, next time,
just call somebody else.
Olivia, please wait.
You're all I got.
I was the last person
in the world that he could call
and I turned my back on him.
Sounds like he was
in a pretty dark place.
He wasn't always.
He lost his contracting business.
Couldn't find another job.
Started drinking, gambling.
Just got out of hand.
I filed, he left.
I thought when
the Alexanders' took him in,
that he'd be okay.
I just wish I could
take back what I said.
I never did stop loving him.
[sobbing, sniffling]
Why didn't you find
the bullet the first time?
We thought it was still in him.
Are you questioning my work?
I've got one large riding on you.
Relax.
It's got to be in the pool.
Oh, no-- I'm having
a good hair day.
Well, maybe neither one
of us has to get wet.
No!
A little ballistics,
a little case closed,
and then Team Stokes is on the hunt
for the elusive natural.
- Go, Stokes.
- A little faith, baby.
Ah, here to lay down
some more action?
Actually, I'm here
for my tox results.
Right. Found sleeping pills
in your gamer's bloodstream--
Zolpidem.
High therapeutic levels.
A gamer on zolpidem?
That's like a sumo
wrestler on diet pills.
Yeah. Listen,
thanks to you guys,
I'm really busy here.
The point is, your victim was staring
at the inside of his eyelids
when those flash-bangs were going off.
So NinjaAssassin's off the hook.
So, why would a hardcore gamer
pound sedatives
the night before the big game?
Maybe someone spiked his joystick.
Can you solve this someplace else?
What about his stomach contents?
Yeah, it just went
to the top of my stack.
I'll have it in twenties.
Or 20 minutes.
Forget it.
I just got flowers
from one of the day shift guys.
Does he know you're married?
Yeah.
He was wishing me luck in the cycle.
Henry found zolpidem
in our vic's system.
I'm guessing this
is how it got into there.
You know, I did find
a prescription bottle
for zolpidem in the trash,
but it belonged
to somebody else,
and there was still
a few pills in it.
You know the rules--
I couldn't collect it
because there was no
direct link to the case.
- Did you get a pic?
- I did.
[Sidle sighs]
Label got wet.
But I think
I can still scan the bar code.
Bottle belonged
to an Evan Ferrari.
All right, well, based on DV8's
social calendar,
my bet is that Mr. Ferrari is also a gamer.
[explosions, gunfire over speakers]
[crowd cheering]
It's like finding
a nerd in a haystack.
Maybe she can help.
Excuse me.
I'm with the Crime Lab.
Yeah, I remember you.
And your sidekick,
Commander Buzz Kill.
Listen, sugarbug,
we're looking for Evan Ferrari.
So if you don't want
another buzz kill,
just point him out to me.
[crowd cheering]
The blonde.
That's Evan Ferrari?
Sweet ride.
[sniffles]
I knew something was wrong.
I kept calling him,
but no answer.
But then when he didn't show up
to the semifinals...
poor Stevie.
Did he have a heart attack?
How well did you know Stevie?
- He was my boyfriend.
- Really?
I'm sorry for your loss.
We found your zolpidem
in his apartment.
- [Brass] How many pills did you give him?
- What?
You crushed up his pills,
spiked his drink,
and put him to sleep forever.
I didn't crush any pills.
The only thing
that I had a crush on was Stevie.
He had trouble sleeping.
He was a gamer and...
there was always someone online
that was ready to thumble,
and he just could
never back down,
so, sometimes I would give him
sleeping pills,
but never more
than the recommended dosage.
I think you're lying.
And I think big Stevie got nervous
when his fine Italian
sports car girlfriend
was strutting her stuff
for a thousand amped-up geeks.
I work all kinds of events--
conventions, fight nights.
It pays the bills.
And Stevie knew that.
He liked a woman
with her own career.
You're a cyber league girl.
You don't make a lot of money.
So maybe some nerd
offered to pay you to dose Stevie,
knock him out of the tournament,
and share some
of the prize money with you.
No, I would never do that.
I loved Stevie.
And for the record,
I didn't need his money
or anyone else's.
I make enough off
my looks to have anything
that I could ever want--
except for a man
who can see past them.
So, the pot on the cycle
is up to four grand
if you want to get in on this.
If I want to gamble,
I'll go to a casino.
Fair enough.
I got back DNA on the blood
from the house.
Two contributors.
One was our victim,
the other an unknown male.
I may be able to help there.
I ran the prints.
Most came back
to our victim Ben Fowler,
a few unknowns,
but we did get one hit
in the system--
Carl Jansen.
[Stokes] Nice rap sheet--
burglary, larceny, assault.
Did you check with PD?
Yes. He's a loan shark.
I also checked
our victim's phone records,
and you can see, that our loan
shark has been calling him.
Calling him a lot.
Mm-hmm.
Well, Carl doesn't look like somebody
you want to owe money to.
These are your fingerprints,
this is your blood,
and I'm guessing that's your gun.
Used to shoot Ben Fowler.
How much did he owe you?
All right, Carl, come on now.
You save us a little time here,
we might be able
to return the favor.
Does that line ever really work?
Actually, it does.
It did with Armin Kosh.
Yeah, when you get out of the joint,
I'd suggest finding yourself a new fence.
Your boy gave you up real quick.
He paid you $3,000 for the items
that you stole from
the Alexander house.
After you put a slug in Ben's
head and dumped him in the pool.
Sounds like I need to have
a little talk with Armin.
Threatening to kill someone
in front of a cop?
That's not real smart.
I don't kill people.
Dead people don't make me money.
It's my blood, my prints.
I was there... to collect.
Just give me till Tuesday.
Tuesday, huh?
[groans]
Are you sure you won't forget?
Because I think you're gonna forget.
[groans]
I swear I won't.
I think you will.
That's why we're gonna settle right now.
Take the TV.
Take everything.
Guy owes me money.
Now, the way this works,
he's gonna owe me more money.
You want to hook me up
for stealing a TV?
Go ahead.
That's all you got.
Wow-- Kevin, charming.
I hate him...
to the very core of my being.
Oh, I hear you.
I don't even want to tell you
what he just said to me
in the washroom,
but do me a favor.
and take a good look at the D.B.
Thank you.
Dude, I'm rolling a natural here.
I told CSI Redhead I'm
putting five large on her.
I'm gonna score.
Then I'm gonna score.
If you think for one second
that Catherine would actually
lower herself--
There's no way this old lady
didn't die of old age.
[sighs]
Paramedics found her on the stairs.
- [tissue crackling]
- Dude, that's my corpse.
Shh.
Hear that crepitis sound?
She has osteoporosis.
Yeah, Grey's Anatomy, she's old.
Well, the injury indicates
that she probably fell
and fractured her femur;
caused a blood clot.
No way her death was a natural.
It was an accident.
Can we just keep this between us?
No.
Diagnose this, Quincy--
Why does my head ache
the more I'm around you?
[pills rattle in bottle]
Hey, got an AG waiver
on Evan Ferrari's phone and ISP.
Our cyber league girl wasn't
kidding about loving DV8.
If anything, she might have
loved him a little too much.
"Find another beer belly to rub.
DV8's mine."
"Text DV8 again and your phone
will blow off your fingers."
Do gamers have groupies?
Haven't you seen
The Social Network?
Hey, bank. Hope you got
my stomach contents there.
Look, I'm really sorry
I fell a little behind.
I can't believe I got roped
into being everybody's bookie.
So, your gamer didn't just
have zolpidem in his system.
The extended tox panel says
his pizza had an extra topping--
emetine.
[Sidle]
Hmm. Primary alkaloid in ipecac.
Used to induce vomiting.
If you knock somebody out with zolpidem,
and then feed him a pizza
with ipecac...
Hello Jimmy Hendrix,
good-bye DV8.
He chokes to death on his vomit.
So, Evan's pissed
at her boyfriend
for doing a little groupie-grabbing.
What do you got for me, LeftBrain?
You walked right into my trap.
[Sara]
She mixes him a nightcap.
[DV8] Don't think I don't need to see you
behind that rock to kill you.
There you are.
[Sidle]
Adds in some special sauce.
Looks like you could use
a midnight snack, baby.
[gagging]
I buy it.
But how do you prove it?
Well, we still have
her bottle of zolpidem.
Now we can actually print it.
I'll go get it.
And I'll print the pizza box.
If she served him his last meal,
that puts the pizza in her hand.
Pizza, pizza.
Sorry. I had to.
What are you delivering, Greg?
Oh, just our prime suspect.
Sara and I ran prints
on the pizza box and zolpidem bottle.
Both came back to a work card
for a Monica Gimble--
better known as DJ Drang.
She's working the
Cyber Bowl-- the emcee.
For a big guy in a diaper,
DV8 sure knew how to
attract some killer babes.
[Brass]
So you were moonlighting
as a pizza delivery girl.
Excuse me?
Well, you delivered
a pizza to DV8Avenger
the night he choked and
croaked... didn't you?
So I delivered
a pizza to a friend.
The man liked to eat.
No, I understand.
Hey, listen, I love pizza, you know?
I'm from the East Coast.
I like it, you know,
I like New York style pizza.
You know, I never had a pizza
to go that had ipecac on it?
It must be a Vegas thing.
You know, ipecac, you gotta get
it from an online pharmacy.
and you gotta use
your credit card.
And you used your credit card.
So, we got you for the ipecac.
And the lab guys told me
it was combined
with a drug called zolpidem.
And here's where it gets
a little salacious.
Your fingerprints are on the bottle,
and Evan Ferrari's name is on the script.
So we know you know her.
The question is how well?
We're just friends.
"Just friends" with benefits?
We thought you were
in on it together
until we read the e-mail
where she dumped you.
You were girlfriend and girlfriend.
You shared everything.
You shared the zolpidem.
But you didn't share her
newfound taste in men, right?
I thought she was going
through some weird experimental phase.
- Yeah, I know what you mean, I saw the guy.
- Right?
I mean, if you're going to
go join the other team,
at least make it a model or a jock,
not... Jabba the Hutt.
The bastard even
threw it in my face.
How his thumbs had
given her more pleasure
than she'd ever known.
So he had to go.
I loved Evan,
and he stole her from me.
And then he's
about to win the Cyber Bowl,
walk away with a hundred grand?
He didn't deserve any of that.
So you spiked
his pizza and his soda.
I knew the fat pig
couldn't turn down free food
and a little come-on.
Double bonus!
I just wanted to wish you luck.
Want some company?
[gagging]
I thought, fat guy,
stuffing his face,
chokes on his own vomit--
who's going to investigate that?
Let me guess.
Me?
Hey, Catherine,
I ran ballistics on our bullet.
It came from the gun in the pool,
but the gun's not in the system.
Well, it's not like we expected
loan shark Carl to get sloppy.
So I got a call from the
Alexanders' insurance adjustor.
He accounted
for all of the electronics
that Carl boosted
from the house,
but there was one additional
item missing-- a sculpture.
Is it valuable?
Worth about ten grand,
so Vice talked to Carl's fence,
he never saw it,
and PD's canvassing pawn shops.
- We'll see what we get.
- All right.
This case will just not
die a natural death.
I pulled some very interesting trace
from your gun.
Uh, more specifically,
from the front sight--
human tissue.
The killer's?
Unfortunately for Nick's
and my apparently ill-advised wager,
it belongs to the victim.
Tissue from his tongue.
So the killer shoved the gun
into Fowler's mouth.
That's not possible.
There was no GSR
around the wound.
Maybe Fowler
was shot underwater?
[Stokes]
Hmm.
Sorry, boss.
It's just a theory.
I mean, we're all under
a lot of pressure here, but...
All right, so, if you found
tissue from the victim's tongue
on the sight,
that means that not only was
the gun inside his mouth,
but that it was upside-down.
And a gun in this position,
looks more like
suicide than murder.
Which is consistent
with Ben Fowler's state of mind.
Divorced, in debt...
What about the break-in?
The guy was tied up
and dumped in the pool.
- You saying it was staged?
- No.
The evidence is saying it.
[Stokes]
The shoeprint on the door was a match
to a pair of Ben Fowler's shoes.
So, he kicks in the door,
punches a hole in the window,
then tries to make it all
look like a break-in.
[Willows] Doc Robbins found
rope fibers in the victim's teeth.
And Hodges proved
that it is possible
to tie yourself into knots.
[Stokes]
So he wasn't trying to loosen his restraints.
He was trying to tighten them.
[Willows]
Apparently.
And when he fired
the gun underwater...
the flames were extinguished,
which explains why there
was no GSR in his mouth.
Now why would he go
through so much trouble
to make a suicide look like a homicide?
Because he wanted
to make amends.
Look, the man's life
was in pieces.
He's divorced,
he'd gotten pulled over for a DUI.
His ex-wife had to come bail him out.
That couldn't have felt good.
Then Carl Jansen beats him up.
And while he's watching
Carl and his thugs
tear apart his friend's home...
maybe Ben thought there
was a way for him to be a man again,
to be a husband, a provider.
[Langston]
The pawnshop owner I.D.'d Ben
the morning of his death.
Said he came into shop
and pawned the sculpture.
- A thousand bucks.
- A million, actually.
What do you mean?
Ben didn't take the cash.
He had the pawnshop wire
the money to an insurance company.
[Willows]
Life insurance.
[Langston]
Had a million dollar policy.
He was behind on some of the
payments, but he used the money
from the sculpture to pay off
the remaining balance.
[Olivia Fowler]
He killed himself so I could have the money?
You said you never
stopped loving him.
Well, clearly, he never
stopped loving you.
You know, when a man
lets his wife down, loses her...
sometimes he can lose himself.
When your marriage fails,
what no one tells us
is that it makes us feel
like we've failed somehow.
I'm not sure who failed who.
Last body of the shift.
Dare I ask?
Homicide.
Liquor store robbery.
Single GSW.
So much for hitting the cycle.
[Phillips]
Unbelievable. It's one shift,
five homicides, two suicides,
three accidentals,
not a single natural.
All it takes is old age,
heart attack, stroke, aneurysm.
Well, you and Kevin
get our vic washed up and prepped.
Then go home.
Got it.
Kevin.
♪♪ [rap on headphones]
Wake. Up.
Kevin, I need help.
Okay, you are such a sack of...
Doc?
David, don't be a snitch,
just wake him up
so I can fire him.
Uh, he's dead.
Yeah, he said
he had a headache.
He's been popping
aspirin all day.
Thought he was hung over.
[Robbins]
Blown pupil.
Aneurysm.
Well, there's your natural.
We completed the cycle.
- Yeah.
- But nobody won.
Au contraire.
I did.
You found the body,
did you not?
- Yeah. So?
- My money was on you.
Most natural deaths
aren't investigated by CSI.
But when a body drops,
you're always there.
Even when the body
drops in your lap.
Sorry, Kevin.
[sighs]
Uh, are you calling 911?
No, I'm calling Henry.
[chuckles]
- What?
No. I-- I don't even want to say it.
- I don't want to jinx it.
- What are you talking about?
You guys playing freeze tag again?
Henry seems to be having a,
uh, Beautiful Mind moment here.
[imitates engine rewing]
The cycle.
Yeah, I just closed a homicide,
I think Ray closed
an accidental about an hour ago.
- And I logged a suicide.
- [Stokes] Well, there you go--
homicide, suicide, accidental.
Gentlemen... we here on grave shift,
are one natural death away
from hitting for the cycle.
[sighs]
I can't believe you.
- You said it.
- So, what's your problem?
A guy's pitching a perfect game,
you don't say
he's pitching a perfect game.
Do you know how long it's been
since grave hit a cycle?
Four years, seven months, 13 days,
two hours, and ten minutes.
Henry, we're men of science,
not men of superstition.
[Hodges]
Oh, my band of brothers,
we will hit the cycle--
of this I am certain.
I am so certain
that I propose a little action.
- A little action, huh?
- Yeah. Let's do it.
A wager to see
which CSI brings in the natural,
and thereby brings
the cycle home.
It's luck of the draw.
You can't predict
who's going to pull a natural.
It's a numbers game--
the more cases you get,
the more chances
you have to win.
And, uh, I'm on a roll, right now, boys.
I wouldn't bet against me.
Or me.
I got a body, right now,
in autopsy, that's looking
pretty au naturel.
[Hodges]
I got a hundred bucks on Nick.
And it's not because
you are the co-shift supervisor.
Thank you. I am also...
in on me for a hundred.
You know what?
Uh, make it $200.
- Like a man...
- All right, I'm in.
Yeah, and Hodges,
let Henry be the bank.
What, you don't trust me
with our future earnings?
[chuckles]
Come on.
[Andrews]
This is so wrong.
You don't just shove
dollar bills into the Holy Grail,
like she's some--
[whispers]
...you know.
That's true, Henry.
But this is Vegas.
Uh, we have a cycle
going on, people!
Anybody else want in?
Go see Henry.
Easy money, Sanders.
- It's like picking it up off the ground.
- Yeah, well, don't hurt yourself.
[Andrews]
Oh, come on!
No... Seriously?
♪♪ [theme]
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪
♪ I really wanna know ♪
♪ Who are you? ♪
- ♪ Oh-oh-oh ♪
- ♪ Who... ♪
♪ Come on, tell me who are you ♪
♪ You, you ♪
♪ Are you! ♪
[Robbins]
Abdomen is distended.
Hard to the touch.
She's not pregnant.
Tumor, maybe?
That would be a natural.
Maybe the chick's just fat.
Stuffing her face
with Twinkies and chalupas.
Wouldn't be the first.
You'll have to excuse Kevin,
my new assistant--
transfer from L.A.
Just used to
hotter-looking corpses, Doc.
- [Kevin] Ah, that's gross.
- It's pus, Kevin. Beaker.
- That is a lot of pus.
- And one serious infection.
Question is, what caused it?
Infection.
That would be a natural, right?
Would you give the cycle a rest
for a second, please?
- Cycle?
- [Sanders] It's, uh...
when you get a homicide,
accidental, suicide,
and natural death,
all in the same shift.
Kind of like banging
a white chick, black chick,
Mexican, and Asian chick
all in one night, right?
Been there. Oof.
[Robbins]
The colon appears punctured.
Did you say she die at her desk?
I did.
[clears throat]
People like to chew on office
supplies while they're working.
Swallow them.
So... paper clip.
Accidents happen.
Definitely not a natural.
- [cell phone rings]
- Sorry to burst two bubbles.
We have another call out-- 419.
Well, where there is death,
there's hope.
[Sidle]
Hey, hey.
Welcome to the apocalypse.
- Aeron's Legion. Sweet.
- Meet DV8Avenger.
Huh! Nice chair.
[Brass]
So, at 4:38 a.m.,
we got a call from LeftBrain 528,
in Vancouver.
He was concerned
because his buddy was AFK
for the past five hours.
- AFK?
- [Sanders] It's "away from keyboard."
It's a gamer thing.
DV8's real name is Steven Pyles.
- Unfortunate name.
- You guys smell that?
Check under the blanket.
Um--
[clears throat]
... Mr. Pyles is wearing a diaper.
Guy's a serious gamer.
No time for bathroom breaks.
Right.
Didn't want to be AFK.
Well, good luck with this.
I'm out of here.
Whoo!
Sorry we're late to the party.
Grandma here was driving.
Oh, God, it reeks in here.
This isn't too good
for my hangover.
- Have you all met Kevin?
- Yeah.
Yeah, we've had the pleasure.
- Possible cardiac flush.
- [Kevin] Oh, you think?
Look it-- pepperoni pizza,
hot wings, French fries--
I'm just gonna go out
on a limb here...
and say that, uh,
Moby Dick stroked out.
Congrats. Got your natural.
Oh, Well, I guess we can all
go home then.
I don't know how you
do things in L.A.,
but in Vegas,
we wait for autopsy.
Yeah, you could do that.
86 degrees-- it's odd.
Based on lividity,
I'd say T.O.D. was
six to eight hours ago.
Body temp should be
higher than that, right?
More like 91 degrees.
Could be the AC,
or the guy just runs cold.
Doesn't rule out a natural.
No, but it also
doesn't rule out a homicide.
I guess we should get to work.
Sucks.
[Stokes]
Gardener found the body.
Homeowners are
on vacation in Europe.
Victim was house-sitting.
We got an I.D.?
Yeah--
Benjamin Fowler, age 39.
Supposedly, the guy just
went through a divorce
and was just crashing here.
Come on.
- [Langston] Forced entry.
- Yeah, looks like it.
I have a shoe impression here.
Herringbone pattern.
Glass still in the window frame
and on the ground.
Radial fracture,
right angle, rear side.
This window was broken
from the outside in.
[latch clicks]
Dead bolt still works.
So...
the perp tried to kick the door open,
it wouldn't budge...
So he breaks a window,
reaches in
and unlocks the dead bolt.
Whoo!
No TV. No tunes.
Somebody got ripped off.
Victim wanders into a robbery,
gets himself killed.
Straight-up robbery-homicide.
Works for me.
Now, where the hell
is Super Dave?
Man, I want to get this one
wrapped up, get back in the game.
[Willows]
So this is DV8Avenger.
From what Sara said,
I'm glad you got that diaper off.
I had my new assistant do it.
- Kevin.
- Mmm.
Well, it's a perfect job
for that guy.
So, uh, you got any C.O.D.
on the gamer?
Well, our victim's gullet
was congested with vomitus.
- Undigested food.
- Mmm. What is that?
- Pepperoni?
- With onions.
Our friend's unhealthy
habits caught up to him.
But it wasn't his heart that gave out.
- What was it?
- His stomach.
Our victim experienced
a violent regurgitation.
Generally speaking, when someone
reacts to a choking gag-reflex,
undigested food
will be hurled back up
and be expelled
through the mouth and nose.
In this case,
that didn't happen.
Our victim succumbed
to food being trapped in the vocal folds.
Asphyxiation.
Kind of like what happened
with Mama Cass
and choking on her ham sandwich?
Actually, the coroner's inquest
found Cass Elliot died
from "fatty myocardial
degeneration, due to obesity."
There was no obstruction.
Well, at least Mama was a natural.
Ah, yes-- the cycle.
How much is the pot up to now?
It's a couple grand.
Crazy, right?
Hmm. How much you in for?
- $200.
- On whom?
Nobody. I mean, most people
die of natural causes,
without suspicious circs--
we don't roll on them.
So, I'm betting that we are not
going to be hitting for the cycle.
Well, you are a smart lady,
which is why you're
probably asking,
how was our victim unable
to expel the vomitus?
And I have an answer.
These healed contusions
along the tongue
say that our victim appears
to have had a history
of seizures.
Seizures caused by what?
I haven't had a chance
to review his medical records yet.
All I know is that a seizure
would've been a major
contributor to his death.
[Sidle]
Guess what I found in DV8's apartment--
carbamazepine.
Anticonvulsant used to treat epilepsy.
You know, I read a case
about a person diagnosed
with epilepsy
who suffered a seizure
while playing a video game.
You think a video
game killed our vic?
Preexisting condition,
but death brought on
by external circumstances.
You know,
I hate to say it,
but the needle's tipping
from natural to accidental.
So the cycle takes a backseat,
but it's still speculation.
I mean, we have no way of knowing
what happened to DV8
after he went AFK.
Actually, there is.
Serious gamers don't
just wear diapers,
they also record their games.
Like chess players,
they want to review their moves
and learn from their mistakes.
We did pulls all the hard
drives from his apartment.
I'll look through them,
see if I can find a recording
of our victim's virtual death.
Yo, dude, what the hell?
There could be biologicals
on that gun.
You just can't put it into plastic.
Yeah, I don't need a forensics
lesson there, Mr. Wizard.
The serial number's etched off.
I'm going to let it air dry.
I'm not putting it in the bag,
I'm putting it on the bag.
Believe it or not,
I know what I'm doing.
Whatever.
Dr. Langston, I presume.
You're the fella who crossed swords
with Nate Haskell.
Saw you on
America's Most Wanted.
Cool.
Kevin! Gurney!
Now!
Kevin, do this,
Kevin, do that.
I'm getting sick to my
stomach with your crap.
Hey, don't...
What was that?
I'm sorry.
He's from L.A.
That explains it.
Wrists are bound,
overhand knot.
[Langston]
That cord is from inside the house.
Restraints are loose.
He probably tried to set himself free.
Contusions on his face.
What appears to be
a broken nose.
All signs of blunt-force trauma.
[Phillips]
That's not what killed him, though.
It was a single GSW
to the back of the head.
Can't find the exit wound.
It's probably still holding.
More than likely the bullet's
still in his head.
[Stokes] No cash.
It's consistent with robbery.
So Mr. Fowler interrupts a burglary.
There's a struggle.
The killer punches him,
ties him up.
Then Fowler makes a break for it.
The killer follows after him,
shoots him in the back of the head.
What do you think,
new girlfriend?
Personal experience says
it's probably his ex-wife.
He's still wearing his wedding ring.
[gunfire, shouting over speakers]
[gunfire continues]
- Taking a break?
- [taps key, game playback stops]
Reliving the last exploits
of DV8Avenger.
Guy kept recordings
of all his games,
including the final two minutes
of the last game he ever played.
Now, DV8 was not just
playing Aeron's Legion solo.
He was playing MMORPG.
English?
Massively multiplayer
online role-playing game.
- Oh.
- Meaning...
there were a lot of people
playing against him.
- That is a lot of people.
- Well, it's Aeron's Legion.
See, we're talking 34th century,
when all of humanity
has been whittled down
to a small but contentious
band of warriors called
the Descendants.
Mm-hmm.
The point is,
you've got all these weapons,
but the only one
that you don't want to use
is the flash-bang.
Excellent distraction,
but takes major points off your score.
Greg...
- All right, well, during DV8's last game...
- Uh-huh.
one player pulled a radical move
and just started unloading
with flash-bangs.
54 in just one minute.
A move like that just deducts
points from your score.
You don't gain a single point.
Unless the point is to give
your opponent a seizure.
A type of attack
like this would do it.
The strobing imagery
in the game
generated a photosensitive reaction,
which produced impulses
that traveled through the optic nerve
and into the temporal lobe
of the brain--
frying the circuits,
triggering an epileptic seizure.
Who launched the attack?
NinjaAssassin.
So if NinjaAssassin knew
that DV8 was epileptic
and intentionally triggered a seizure,
we're looking at a homicide.
[gunfire over speakers]
[grunts]
[audience applauding]
Geeks and freaks,
give it up for Cyber Bowl 2011!
[cheering]
Aeron's Legion Semi Number One
pits two hot-wired warriors.
First, Las Vegas native
and future Hall of Gamer,
NinjaAssassin!
[cheering, applause]
[laughing]
Hi-yah!
Game on, gamers!
Whoo! Let's do this!
I think we found our assassin.
These people need to get a life.
I think you'd like video games.
You get to shoot people.
[Brass]
When I was their age,
I was on a real battlefield
with a real weapon
in a real jungle.
I don't need to play war
with my thumbs.
And uploading
from San Juan, Puerto Rico,
The Rico Suave of gaming,
last year's rookie
of the year, Murder-1!
[Sanders] You know what
the winner of this takes home?
A hundred grand.
A hundred G's?
- Now I want to shoot someone.
- Yeah!
[Emcee]
Fire up your controllers.
It's game on, bitches.
[crowd cheering]
- [gunfire]
- Yeah!
Okay, let's go.
Las Vegas police.
[Emcee]
Hold on, guys.
[Man in crowd]
Get outta here, man!
Game's over...
bitches.
[booing]
[crowd shouting]
Am I in some kind of trouble?
This isn't about
the Girls Gone Wild file share, is it?
You, uh, you know this guy, Ninja?
Oh, man!
Who filleted DV8Avenger?
No wonder he didn't
show up for the semi.
Dude, put that thing away.
So you can toss fake
grenades at a guy,
but you can't stomach seeing
what it did to him?
What are you talking about?
DV8Avenger was playing
against you when he died.
Virtually.
I didn't actually kill him.
I-- I mean I have killed him
on the fields of Crador.
Though, admittedly,
he had the edge.
[Brass]
Hey, real world.
Did DV8 ever mention to you
that he had a medical condition?
He had a lot of conditions.
Yeah, like epilepsy.
Did you know that?
Kind of.
2009, El Paso finals,
I saw DV8 popping pills.
Figured they were uppers.
Told him I was going
to the judges...
Yeah, and he told you they were
his epilepsy meds.
Kind of.
[Brass]
And you kind of knew
that all the flash-bangs you threw at him
would trigger a seizure.
Look, I'm an athlete.
I'm a competitor.
I was looking for an edge.
I get it. 100 grand.
You can't die from a seizure.
That's a fact.
I looked it up.
It's on WikiMeds.
I think you're gonna
kind of need a lawyer.
Hey, Doc.
I know, I know,
you want a quick C.O.D.
so you can get out of the pits
and get back into the race.
It's not just me, man.
I got a lot of people
riding on me.
Yeah, well, for the record,
I am not among them.
Oh, yeah? Well, who'd you
put your money on, Greg?
You might as well just
give it to me right now.
I hold my cards close to the vest
and my cash even closer.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
What's up with this guy?
I found these fibers
in his chompers.
They match
the restraints on his wrists.
He was probably trying
to undo that knot with his teeth.
Mr. Fowler's X-rays.
Extensive damage
to the cervical vertebrae
and the occipital bone.
You see the beveling?
Inside to out.
So the bullet went out
the back of his head.
We initially thought
that exit wound was an entry wound.
The real entry wound
is in the oral pharynx.
No soot around the hole,
so he was shot from
at least three feet away.
Mouth open.
No!
[screaming]
[Robbins]
It's a penetrating wound.
Through and through.
Okay, so the bullet's got
to be back at the house.
Well, if you're lucky, you might catch
a natural on the way over.
[chuckles]
[chuckles]
[weeping]
Thanks.
I'm very sorry
for you loss, Mrs. Fowler.
What happened to Ben?
He was house-sitting
for some friends.
There was a break-in.
He was shot.
The house in Seven Hills?
The Alexanders' place?
You know them?
They were friends,
before the divorce.
People choose sides,
you know how that goes.
Yes, I do.
Tell me...
when was the last
time you saw Ben?
Just a couple of days ago.
He got pulled over for DUI.
He called me, I bailed him out.
I took him back to the house.
I got to go.
I just poured you a glass of wine.
Come on, stay, please?
I'm tired. I don't want
to do this anymore.
You won't have to, I promise.
- [both gasp]
- Ah, shoot! I'm sorry.
You know, what, next time,
just call somebody else.
Olivia, please wait.
You're all I got.
I was the last person
in the world that he could call
and I turned my back on him.
Sounds like he was
in a pretty dark place.
He wasn't always.
He lost his contracting business.
Couldn't find another job.
Started drinking, gambling.
Just got out of hand.
I filed, he left.
I thought when
the Alexanders' took him in,
that he'd be okay.
I just wish I could
take back what I said.
I never did stop loving him.
[sobbing, sniffling]
Why didn't you find
the bullet the first time?
We thought it was still in him.
Are you questioning my work?
I've got one large riding on you.
Relax.
It's got to be in the pool.
Oh, no-- I'm having
a good hair day.
Well, maybe neither one
of us has to get wet.
No!
A little ballistics,
a little case closed,
and then Team Stokes is on the hunt
for the elusive natural.
- Go, Stokes.
- A little faith, baby.
Ah, here to lay down
some more action?
Actually, I'm here
for my tox results.
Right. Found sleeping pills
in your gamer's bloodstream--
Zolpidem.
High therapeutic levels.
A gamer on zolpidem?
That's like a sumo
wrestler on diet pills.
Yeah. Listen,
thanks to you guys,
I'm really busy here.
The point is, your victim was staring
at the inside of his eyelids
when those flash-bangs were going off.
So NinjaAssassin's off the hook.
So, why would a hardcore gamer
pound sedatives
the night before the big game?
Maybe someone spiked his joystick.
Can you solve this someplace else?
What about his stomach contents?
Yeah, it just went
to the top of my stack.
I'll have it in twenties.
Or 20 minutes.
Forget it.
I just got flowers
from one of the day shift guys.
Does he know you're married?
Yeah.
He was wishing me luck in the cycle.
Henry found zolpidem
in our vic's system.
I'm guessing this
is how it got into there.
You know, I did find
a prescription bottle
for zolpidem in the trash,
but it belonged
to somebody else,
and there was still
a few pills in it.
You know the rules--
I couldn't collect it
because there was no
direct link to the case.
- Did you get a pic?
- I did.
[Sidle sighs]
Label got wet.
But I think
I can still scan the bar code.
Bottle belonged
to an Evan Ferrari.
All right, well, based on DV8's
social calendar,
my bet is that Mr. Ferrari is also a gamer.
[explosions, gunfire over speakers]
[crowd cheering]
It's like finding
a nerd in a haystack.
Maybe she can help.
Excuse me.
I'm with the Crime Lab.
Yeah, I remember you.
And your sidekick,
Commander Buzz Kill.
Listen, sugarbug,
we're looking for Evan Ferrari.
So if you don't want
another buzz kill,
just point him out to me.
[crowd cheering]
The blonde.
That's Evan Ferrari?
Sweet ride.
[sniffles]
I knew something was wrong.
I kept calling him,
but no answer.
But then when he didn't show up
to the semifinals...
poor Stevie.
Did he have a heart attack?
How well did you know Stevie?
- He was my boyfriend.
- Really?
I'm sorry for your loss.
We found your zolpidem
in his apartment.
- [Brass] How many pills did you give him?
- What?
You crushed up his pills,
spiked his drink,
and put him to sleep forever.
I didn't crush any pills.
The only thing
that I had a crush on was Stevie.
He had trouble sleeping.
He was a gamer and...
there was always someone online
that was ready to thumble,
and he just could
never back down,
so, sometimes I would give him
sleeping pills,
but never more
than the recommended dosage.
I think you're lying.
And I think big Stevie got nervous
when his fine Italian
sports car girlfriend
was strutting her stuff
for a thousand amped-up geeks.
I work all kinds of events--
conventions, fight nights.
It pays the bills.
And Stevie knew that.
He liked a woman
with her own career.
You're a cyber league girl.
You don't make a lot of money.
So maybe some nerd
offered to pay you to dose Stevie,
knock him out of the tournament,
and share some
of the prize money with you.
No, I would never do that.
I loved Stevie.
And for the record,
I didn't need his money
or anyone else's.
I make enough off
my looks to have anything
that I could ever want--
except for a man
who can see past them.
So, the pot on the cycle
is up to four grand
if you want to get in on this.
If I want to gamble,
I'll go to a casino.
Fair enough.
I got back DNA on the blood
from the house.
Two contributors.
One was our victim,
the other an unknown male.
I may be able to help there.
I ran the prints.
Most came back
to our victim Ben Fowler,
a few unknowns,
but we did get one hit
in the system--
Carl Jansen.
[Stokes] Nice rap sheet--
burglary, larceny, assault.
Did you check with PD?
Yes. He's a loan shark.
I also checked
our victim's phone records,
and you can see, that our loan
shark has been calling him.
Calling him a lot.
Mm-hmm.
Well, Carl doesn't look like somebody
you want to owe money to.
These are your fingerprints,
this is your blood,
and I'm guessing that's your gun.
Used to shoot Ben Fowler.
How much did he owe you?
All right, Carl, come on now.
You save us a little time here,
we might be able
to return the favor.
Does that line ever really work?
Actually, it does.
It did with Armin Kosh.
Yeah, when you get out of the joint,
I'd suggest finding yourself a new fence.
Your boy gave you up real quick.
He paid you $3,000 for the items
that you stole from
the Alexander house.
After you put a slug in Ben's
head and dumped him in the pool.
Sounds like I need to have
a little talk with Armin.
Threatening to kill someone
in front of a cop?
That's not real smart.
I don't kill people.
Dead people don't make me money.
It's my blood, my prints.
I was there... to collect.
Just give me till Tuesday.
Tuesday, huh?
[groans]
Are you sure you won't forget?
Because I think you're gonna forget.
[groans]
I swear I won't.
I think you will.
That's why we're gonna settle right now.
Take the TV.
Take everything.
Guy owes me money.
Now, the way this works,
he's gonna owe me more money.
You want to hook me up
for stealing a TV?
Go ahead.
That's all you got.
Wow-- Kevin, charming.
I hate him...
to the very core of my being.
Oh, I hear you.
I don't even want to tell you
what he just said to me
in the washroom,
but do me a favor.
and take a good look at the D.B.
Thank you.
Dude, I'm rolling a natural here.
I told CSI Redhead I'm
putting five large on her.
I'm gonna score.
Then I'm gonna score.
If you think for one second
that Catherine would actually
lower herself--
There's no way this old lady
didn't die of old age.
[sighs]
Paramedics found her on the stairs.
- [tissue crackling]
- Dude, that's my corpse.
Shh.
Hear that crepitis sound?
She has osteoporosis.
Yeah, Grey's Anatomy, she's old.
Well, the injury indicates
that she probably fell
and fractured her femur;
caused a blood clot.
No way her death was a natural.
It was an accident.
Can we just keep this between us?
No.
Diagnose this, Quincy--
Why does my head ache
the more I'm around you?
[pills rattle in bottle]
Hey, got an AG waiver
on Evan Ferrari's phone and ISP.
Our cyber league girl wasn't
kidding about loving DV8.
If anything, she might have
loved him a little too much.
"Find another beer belly to rub.
DV8's mine."
"Text DV8 again and your phone
will blow off your fingers."
Do gamers have groupies?
Haven't you seen
The Social Network?
Hey, bank. Hope you got
my stomach contents there.
Look, I'm really sorry
I fell a little behind.
I can't believe I got roped
into being everybody's bookie.
So, your gamer didn't just
have zolpidem in his system.
The extended tox panel says
his pizza had an extra topping--
emetine.
[Sidle]
Hmm. Primary alkaloid in ipecac.
Used to induce vomiting.
If you knock somebody out with zolpidem,
and then feed him a pizza
with ipecac...
Hello Jimmy Hendrix,
good-bye DV8.
He chokes to death on his vomit.
So, Evan's pissed
at her boyfriend
for doing a little groupie-grabbing.
What do you got for me, LeftBrain?
You walked right into my trap.
[Sara]
She mixes him a nightcap.
[DV8] Don't think I don't need to see you
behind that rock to kill you.
There you are.
[Sidle]
Adds in some special sauce.
Looks like you could use
a midnight snack, baby.
[gagging]
I buy it.
But how do you prove it?
Well, we still have
her bottle of zolpidem.
Now we can actually print it.
I'll go get it.
And I'll print the pizza box.
If she served him his last meal,
that puts the pizza in her hand.
Pizza, pizza.
Sorry. I had to.
What are you delivering, Greg?
Oh, just our prime suspect.
Sara and I ran prints
on the pizza box and zolpidem bottle.
Both came back to a work card
for a Monica Gimble--
better known as DJ Drang.
She's working the
Cyber Bowl-- the emcee.
For a big guy in a diaper,
DV8 sure knew how to
attract some killer babes.
[Brass]
So you were moonlighting
as a pizza delivery girl.
Excuse me?
Well, you delivered
a pizza to DV8Avenger
the night he choked and
croaked... didn't you?
So I delivered
a pizza to a friend.
The man liked to eat.
No, I understand.
Hey, listen, I love pizza, you know?
I'm from the East Coast.
I like it, you know,
I like New York style pizza.
You know, I never had a pizza
to go that had ipecac on it?
It must be a Vegas thing.
You know, ipecac, you gotta get
it from an online pharmacy.
and you gotta use
your credit card.
And you used your credit card.
So, we got you for the ipecac.
And the lab guys told me
it was combined
with a drug called zolpidem.
And here's where it gets
a little salacious.
Your fingerprints are on the bottle,
and Evan Ferrari's name is on the script.
So we know you know her.
The question is how well?
We're just friends.
"Just friends" with benefits?
We thought you were
in on it together
until we read the e-mail
where she dumped you.
You were girlfriend and girlfriend.
You shared everything.
You shared the zolpidem.
But you didn't share her
newfound taste in men, right?
I thought she was going
through some weird experimental phase.
- Yeah, I know what you mean, I saw the guy.
- Right?
I mean, if you're going to
go join the other team,
at least make it a model or a jock,
not... Jabba the Hutt.
The bastard even
threw it in my face.
How his thumbs had
given her more pleasure
than she'd ever known.
So he had to go.
I loved Evan,
and he stole her from me.
And then he's
about to win the Cyber Bowl,
walk away with a hundred grand?
He didn't deserve any of that.
So you spiked
his pizza and his soda.
I knew the fat pig
couldn't turn down free food
and a little come-on.
Double bonus!
I just wanted to wish you luck.
Want some company?
[gagging]
I thought, fat guy,
stuffing his face,
chokes on his own vomit--
who's going to investigate that?
Let me guess.
Me?
Hey, Catherine,
I ran ballistics on our bullet.
It came from the gun in the pool,
but the gun's not in the system.
Well, it's not like we expected
loan shark Carl to get sloppy.
So I got a call from the
Alexanders' insurance adjustor.
He accounted
for all of the electronics
that Carl boosted
from the house,
but there was one additional
item missing-- a sculpture.
Is it valuable?
Worth about ten grand,
so Vice talked to Carl's fence,
he never saw it,
and PD's canvassing pawn shops.
- We'll see what we get.
- All right.
This case will just not
die a natural death.
I pulled some very interesting trace
from your gun.
Uh, more specifically,
from the front sight--
human tissue.
The killer's?
Unfortunately for Nick's
and my apparently ill-advised wager,
it belongs to the victim.
Tissue from his tongue.
So the killer shoved the gun
into Fowler's mouth.
That's not possible.
There was no GSR
around the wound.
Maybe Fowler
was shot underwater?
[Stokes]
Hmm.
Sorry, boss.
It's just a theory.
I mean, we're all under
a lot of pressure here, but...
All right, so, if you found
tissue from the victim's tongue
on the sight,
that means that not only was
the gun inside his mouth,
but that it was upside-down.
And a gun in this position,
looks more like
suicide than murder.
Which is consistent
with Ben Fowler's state of mind.
Divorced, in debt...
What about the break-in?
The guy was tied up
and dumped in the pool.
- You saying it was staged?
- No.
The evidence is saying it.
[Stokes]
The shoeprint on the door was a match
to a pair of Ben Fowler's shoes.
So, he kicks in the door,
punches a hole in the window,
then tries to make it all
look like a break-in.
[Willows] Doc Robbins found
rope fibers in the victim's teeth.
And Hodges proved
that it is possible
to tie yourself into knots.
[Stokes]
So he wasn't trying to loosen his restraints.
He was trying to tighten them.
[Willows]
Apparently.
And when he fired
the gun underwater...
the flames were extinguished,
which explains why there
was no GSR in his mouth.
Now why would he go
through so much trouble
to make a suicide look like a homicide?
Because he wanted
to make amends.
Look, the man's life
was in pieces.
He's divorced,
he'd gotten pulled over for a DUI.
His ex-wife had to come bail him out.
That couldn't have felt good.
Then Carl Jansen beats him up.
And while he's watching
Carl and his thugs
tear apart his friend's home...
maybe Ben thought there
was a way for him to be a man again,
to be a husband, a provider.
[Langston]
The pawnshop owner I.D.'d Ben
the morning of his death.
Said he came into shop
and pawned the sculpture.
- A thousand bucks.
- A million, actually.
What do you mean?
Ben didn't take the cash.
He had the pawnshop wire
the money to an insurance company.
[Willows]
Life insurance.
[Langston]
Had a million dollar policy.
He was behind on some of the
payments, but he used the money
from the sculpture to pay off
the remaining balance.
[Olivia Fowler]
He killed himself so I could have the money?
You said you never
stopped loving him.
Well, clearly, he never
stopped loving you.
You know, when a man
lets his wife down, loses her...
sometimes he can lose himself.
When your marriage fails,
what no one tells us
is that it makes us feel
like we've failed somehow.
I'm not sure who failed who.
Last body of the shift.
Dare I ask?
Homicide.
Liquor store robbery.
Single GSW.
So much for hitting the cycle.
[Phillips]
Unbelievable. It's one shift,
five homicides, two suicides,
three accidentals,
not a single natural.
All it takes is old age,
heart attack, stroke, aneurysm.
Well, you and Kevin
get our vic washed up and prepped.
Then go home.
Got it.
Kevin.
♪♪ [rap on headphones]
Wake. Up.
Kevin, I need help.
Okay, you are such a sack of...
Doc?
David, don't be a snitch,
just wake him up
so I can fire him.
Uh, he's dead.
Yeah, he said
he had a headache.
He's been popping
aspirin all day.
Thought he was hung over.
[Robbins]
Blown pupil.
Aneurysm.
Well, there's your natural.
We completed the cycle.
- Yeah.
- But nobody won.
Au contraire.
I did.
You found the body,
did you not?
- Yeah. So?
- My money was on you.
Most natural deaths
aren't investigated by CSI.
But when a body drops,
you're always there.
Even when the body
drops in your lap.
Sorry, Kevin.
[sighs]
Uh, are you calling 911?
No, I'm calling Henry.
[chuckles]