CSI: NY (2004–2013): Season 6, Episode 17 - Pot of Gold - full transcript

[woman]
Table for three for Smith ready.

[man] I want a large one...

39.

- [man 2] Pastrami on rye to go.
- [man 3] 39.

39!

That's me.

- Hey, Mac. The usual?
- Number Four Club.

Easy on the dressing.
A man who knows what he wants.

Excuse me. Excuse me.

Thank you. Place gets
pretty cut-throat in here, huh?

Yeah, but the pastrami's worth it.



[mobile rings]

Looks serious.

Always is.

Here you go, Mac. You, uh,
you sure you don't wanna dine in?

- No, l, I gotta go.
- I'll put it on your tab.

Oh, and... here.

With this crowd, I always take two.

Just in case I forget something.

Thanks again.

Number 40.

Pastrami sandwich, please.

[camera shutter clicks]

- [Mac] Who found him?
- [Flack] Don't know.

Anonymous call to 91 1.



According to the ME techs,
both bodies were close to room temp.

Means TOD was roughly 24 hours ago.

According to his wallet,
this guy over here is Michael Paley.

28 years old. Had a downtown address.

Small calibre gunshot
to the back of the head.

This is definitely what
you'd call blunt force trauma.

- Got an lD on this one?
- Negative.

[Stella] Got an impact mark.

Hey, Mac. Take a look at this.

- It's pure gold.
- [Danny] I can top that.

Just found this in a shoe print.

- Four-leaf clover?
- [Mac] Natural genetic mutation.

There's only one
for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers.

Hang on. Gold? Four-leaf clover
right before Saint Patrick's Day?

Where the hell are we?
At the end of the rainbow?

I'll tell you this much.

Neither of these guys
had the luck of the lrish.

[# The Who: Baba O'Riley]

# Out here in the fields

# I fight for my meals

# I get my back into my living

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah #

I wonder if our gunshot vic
is the same Michael Paley

who publishes that blog.

Paley and Vandemann dot com?
It's possible.

Means our second vic
could be Cam Vandemann.

Sorry, who are we talking about here?

Paley and his partner, Vandemann,

are a couple of budding
investigative journalists.

Local muckrakers is more like it.

Earlier this year, they broke
a story about homeless people

being forced to hide in Battery Park.

- Made the mayor look heartless.
- The cops didn't look good either.

Paley and Vandemann have a knack
for getting in people's faces.

So maybe somebody
returned the favour.

[# The Ambience Affect:
Parting Patterns]

# I cannot reach the dizzy heights

# I'm buried underneath
a veil of light

# And in this grave
I place my confidence

# How can I not believe
that I won't rise again

# But I can't control the fall

# And I know not where I've gone

# And I can't control the fall

# And I know not
where I've gone... #

Hmm.

What's up?

We have two bodies,
but we got four sets of prints.

A couple match the tread patterns
on our vic's tennis shoes.

They're easy enough to spot.

There's a third pair
of dress shoe prints

that based on their positioning,
scuff patterns

and high-velocity blood spatter
appear to be our killers.

Then there's a fourth
that look like work boot prints.

That's where I pulled
the clover from.

They start over there by the door,
make their way over to the bodies

and then they end up over here.

So maybe our killer has
an accomplice.

See that skitter pattern
on the floor?

How it goes under this old tank?

It's positive for GSR.

You think the gun
got knocked beneath it.

If it did, it's not there any more.

Maybe the fourth set of prints
belongs to whoever retrieved it.

All right.

So our two vics
are over there at the table.

Mr Dress Shoes comes in.

Boom! Down goes Paley.

But before he can fire another shot,
our second vic gets a jump on him,

gun skitters off...

And that's when Mr Work Boots
comes in to the rescue,

helps his buddy beat the hell
outta Vandemann,

and grabs the gun and they split.

If that's true, we're looking
for two different people.

And two different weapons.

OK, Stella. News flash.

Uh, that's definitely your blogger,
Michael Paley,

and here's the bullet
that killed him.

- But this is not Cam Vandemann.
- Really?

I did some detailed
fluoroscopic analysis

and ran it through
a photo-imaging programme

to simulate the vic's facial features
prior to trauma.

This is what he should look like.
And here's who he doesn't look like.

I pulled the second shot off
the Paley and Vandemann blog site.

So the real Cam Vandemann
is still out there.

He may be a target, maybe a suspect.

Either way, I'm afraid our second vic
is still a John Doe.

But I did discover
a couple more things that may help

clue us in to his identity.

His blood work revealed high levels
of antibodies for Hepatitis A and B,

typhoid, rabies and malaria.

These multiple doses are consistent
with a vaccination

for some type
of international travel.

Meanwhile, your call
of blunt force trauma and COD

was clearly on the mark.

And while we're on the topic,

there is something else
we should take a closer look at.

I found a series of faint wound
impressions along the victim's scalp.

Looks almost alphanumeric
with some kind of fine line detail.

It will take more work
to make sense of them.

Whatever these marks are
could lead us to a murder weapon.

[camera shutter clicks]

What you gawking at?

I think it's some kind
of blue-green algae.

- I found it on our John Doe's shirt.
- What's with the junk pile?

[Lindsay] I don't know.
That all looked new to the scene.

I thought maybe the vics
brought it in there with them.

What was in the container?

Nothing but water.
Did you get anything more exciting?

Confusing, maybe. I ran the four-leaf
clover from the work boot print.

According to EDNA
and a little DNA analysis,

it's not just any clover.

It's hop clover.

Which is indigenous to islands.
You tell me, Lindsay.

How the hell did it wind up
in a shoe print in New York city?

[siren wails]

- [man 2] I want a large one.
- Large one coming up.

- Do you want some, hun?
- [woman 2] 72.

- Pie and macaroni salad.
- [man 4] Got it.

- Reed?
- Hey.

I got your message.

It sounded urgent.

- Are you all right?
- Yeah. I'm OK.

It's, uh, it's actually a friend
of mine that worried about.

Who's that?

Cam Vandemann.

What do you know about him?

I know we're both bloggers interested
in breaking stories

that the media's too spineless
to touch.

That's not what I mean, Reed.

- He's not guilty of murder.
- How do you know?

Because he reached out to me.

He knows the cops are looking
for him. He's afraid, Mac.

- Then tell him to come to me.
- I did.

But he said the story's too big.
He's asking you to come to him.

Do you really wanna put yourself
in a position

of possibly aiding and abetting
a double-homicide suspect?

No, I don't. But you know what?
I have no other choice.

Cam Vandemann didn't kill anybody.

He's in way over his head.
I can hear it in his voice.

He's, he's... he's desperate, Mac.

I'm reminded every day of
what it's like to go after a headline

without the right help.

So will you please
just go talk to him?

Alone.

[sighs]

- When?
- Tonight.

I'll text you with the details
as soon as he sends them.

You're asking me to take
a bit of a chance here.

Yes, I know.

But you know, sometimes
you gotta take chances, Mac.

If only so you can give one
to somebody else.

[people shout out orders]

Hey, Mac!

I got something for you.

I memorised the takeout menu
10 years ago, Phil.

Read the back.

The pretty brunette you spoke to last
night asked me to give it to you.

[woman 3] Dear Number 39...
I just wanted to say thank you.

I had a really long day. I've had
a few months of them to be honest.

So when I came into the deli, l
was thinking about leaving Manhattan.

But then I told myself if
at least one stranger could show me

some tiny shred of kindness,

it would mean I should stay.

And suddenly, there you were,

talking with me,
looking me in the eye,

smiling at me like you meant it.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know
that it felt really good

and thanks to you,
I'm staying right where I am.

Yours, Number 40.

Can I get you anything else?

No.

I'm good. Thanks.

- Thanks.
- Hey.

You won't believe this. You know
our John Doe's head injuries?

Sid and I got a good picture
of the wounds

by using subdermal photography.

Then I was able to use
the image files

to crunch the numbers and letters,

and this is what I got.

This looks like the markings
on gold bullion.

10,000 gram gold delivery bar
to be exact.

Current value $500,000.

And we found a pure gold impact mark
on the warehouse floor

right next to the second vic's head.

The T reasury agent I spoke to said a
gold bar matching those exact numbers

was deposited at the Federal Reserve
this morning.

What kind of killer goes from
the crime scene to the bank?

Detectives, this is a secure vault
close to the public

with over $200 billion worth of gold
in storage.

What exactly is it
you're looking for?

A very expensive murder weapon.

Oh! So this is what all the money
in the world looks like, huh?

[laughs]

So pretty.

Come on.

The bar we want came in
as part of a local shipment

for international trade.

It can't be too deep in the pile.

No.

[inaudible]

- I got a Golden Ticket.
- Let me see it.

You see those scratches?

Positive for blood.

It arrived yesterday morning as part
of a private transfer and a purchase

by the Chinese government.

Who had access to the bar since then?

No one but vault security,

all of whom are screened
upon every entry and exit.

Once it got here,
there's no way it left.

Where was it before it got here?

Deposit records say it came straight
from its place of manufacture...

Elemental Precious Metals.

Gentlemen, I hope you appreciate
the value of that evidence.

More than you know.

Hey, I found out where the stain
on our John Doe's shirt is from.

- Blue-green algae?
- Arthrospira Maxima.

I ran it through GCMS
and found three other ingredients....

Barley, hops and yeast.

Are we talking about what
I think we're talking about?

T urns out there's one pub in New York
that uses algae

to microbrew its own
green organic beer.

Ah! Bottom's up!

[# hip hop music]

[cheering]

[screams]

- Wow.
- Yeah. I know.

Always this crazy
in the middle of the day?

They're on a citywide pub crawl.
T rying to set a world record.

[screams]
3 days, 100 bars and 5,000 people.

[cheering]

- Care to join in the fun?
- No, actually. We're on the clock.

[Lindsay] You ever seen this guy?

I know him. What? He finally
fall off his last barstool?

- You know him?
- Yeah. His name's Charlie Cooper.

Kicked him out of here a few times.

- Kicked his arse, too.
- Why is that?

I met a girl a few months ago.

I told Charlie I was thinking
of popping the question.

He said he'd hook me up with a great
diamond engagement ring for cheap.

T urned out to be cubic zirconium,
so she dumps me and sleeps with him.

Why would Cooper be hanging out
with two journalists?

Aside from the fact
that he's a blowhard? No clue.

But I can tell you this much.

The only thing Cooper liked
more than his own voice

was making a fast buck.

If he found someone who let him
get away with both, hey, two for one.

[crowd] Chug, chug, chug!

Chug, chug, chug!

[cheering]

[whoops]

- It was ransacked?
- Totally.

Someone tore up Paley
and Vandemann's apartment.

- You put out an alarm?
- Yes.

I got guys watching the place
in case Vandemann returns.

- We'll find this guy.
- Hey, guys.

As soon as we got Cooper's name
from Danny and Lindsay,

I ran a customs check
on all his international travel.

Let me guess.
He's been in and out of China.

And the antibodies in his blood match
the CDC-recommended travel vacs

for the Far East.

But here's the kicker.

Before we found his body lying
next to Paley's in that warehouse,

guess where Cooper worked.

- Where's that?
- Elemental Precious Metals.

That's the firm that made
our gold bar.

- They made a mint on reclaimed gold.
- Reclaimed?

I mean, jewellery, dental fillings,
circuit boards, you name it.

You melt it, then turn it into bars
for sale on the open market.

Or to use as murder weapons.

The firm is owned by a third
generation broker called Thom Weir.

If he can tell us who wanted
Paley and Cooper dead...

- We're golden.
- [Stella] Exactly.

[Flack] You're right.
I'll bring Weir in.

Thank you.

- Hello?
- [woman 4] Come on in!

- Are you here for the open house?
- Yes.

Oh. It's you.

I'm sorry? Have we met before?

No, but I'm guessing
you're the beautiful brunette woman

in the green coat.

[Mac] Dear Number 40,

I hope this note reaches you

and you won't find me too forward
in sending it.

Someone I know
recently reminded me

that sometimes
you have to take chances,

if only to give one to someone else.

So if you'd like to discuss
your decision to stay in Manhattan

in a little more detail,

I know a great deli.

Tomorrow at eight?

Number 39.

[man 5] We're not the only
gold reclamation firm in the city

but we are the most profitable.

$1,200 an ounce,
it's hard not to be.

Mr Weir,
tell us about Charlie Cooper.

Charlie.
He was an account representative.

His job was to coordinate the sale
and trade of our products

to overseas markets.

China primarily.

Was he at odds with any
of your other employees?

Charlie? No.
He got along with everybody.

- lncluding you?
- Especially me.

He had brokered a very large deal
for me to Beijing a few days ago.

Is that the shipment that was moved
to the Federal Reserve?

- It was.
- And your firm made all that gold?

That's correct.

Detectives, are you aware
there is now more gold being produced

by reclamation firms like mine

than is coming out of
the world mines?

The point being?

I just think you're digging
in the wrong place.

My firm had no part
in Charlie's death.

Except for the fact
that he was beaten to death

with one of your gold bars.

I came down here without an attorney
out of respect for a late colleague,

so if there's anything else
I can do for you...

[Mac] Actually there is.

Since Mr Cooper was already dead
by the time that bar was included

in your firm's shipment
to the Reserve,

we'll need a detailed accounting
of where your inventory's been stored

with all the staff
who had access to it.

- That may take a little while.
- The sooner the better. Thank you.

Thank you.

- Do you believe him?
- No.

He's involved in this somehow.

But his hands are way to soft
for murder.

Thanks for coming, Mac.

- Where is he?
- [man 5] I'm here.

Just tell him what happened, Cam.

Paley and I were working a big story
on international gold fraud.

Got a tip from a Chinese source,
followed it back to Manhattan.

All we had to do
was meet one more contact

and we could have posted
it all on our blog.

I'm more interested in who killed
Michael Paley and Charlie Cooper

than I am in your story.

I was running late for a meeting.

Damn crosstown bus I was on
had a flat.

And just as I was coming in...

..I saw them killed
right in front of me.

And all I could do was watch.

That's not entirely true, is it?

There's something you're leaving out.
The killer had a gun. Remember?

What happened to it, Cam?
Can you tell me that?

Look, I did what you asked me, man.

Now you gotta step up
and tell him the truth.

[Cam Vandemann]
I thought he was gone.

I didn't know what else to do
so I went in.

I saw where the gun fell
during the fight so I went to get it.

But then he came back.

Back off! You hear me?

I swear to God,
I will blow your friggin' head off.

And then I ran.

And I didn't stop until I lost them.

OK, OK. Lost who?
Who was in the warehouse with you?

You didn't tell him?

No, he's gotta hear it from you.

He doesn't care about me.
All he wants is this.

Wow, wow. Hey. You listen to me.

I want you to slowly remove
that weapon

and carefully
put it on the ground now!

No, I'm not gonna do that, man.

- Not till I know you can help me.
- What the hell are you doing, Cam?

This gun is all I have
to prove my innocence.

- It's all I have to protect myself.
- Put it down right now!

- For God's sake. Do what he says.
- No.

- Freeze!
- No! Wait! You don't understand. OK?

He was in uniform.
The killer was a cop.

[Flack]
Your shooter can't be one of us.

The round Sid pulled outta Paley
was from a.22.

It's not police issue or a weapon
a cop would use to take someone out.

Did you check patrols
around the crime scene?

Yes. On the 4 to 12 tour that night,
only 2 cars worked that sector.

One was at the station with a collar.

The other one was jammed
with jobs.

Look, that warehouse is dark by day.

By night,
who knows what Vandemann saw?

I swear to God,
he didn't tell me anything else.

What about the gold fraud
he and Paley were investigating?

- You got an inside scoop on that?
- No. Look, Cam is a friend of mine.

He's not my partner.
I've no idea what he's working on.

But you've gotta believe me.
I'm only trying to help.

I think you just did.

There was a battery with leads
and a metal spoon at the crime scene.

A container of water as well.

It was all there
to test the gold bars authenticity?

[Mac] Reverse electroplating.

Any gold present in the container
would have been transferred

via electrical charge

to the spoon.

- They never got a chance to test it.
- So we will.

[fizzles]

So, what do we have?

A little bit of gold.

And a whole lot of something else.

It's counterfeit. This bar
is only cheap, dirty tungsten.

Same density as gold,
but only 10 bucks a pound.

Hey, Stella.

Remember the four-leaf clover I found

that turned out to be
impossibly lrish?

Yes. An indigenous species. Why?

When Lindsay was in the alley
running fresh prints on Vandemann,

she found this.

OK, this is Kilkenny limestone -

300 million years old

and made of fossils
from the ancient lrish seabed.

Come on. How is all this stuff
making it across the Atlantic?

T rust me. That's what I've
been wondering. Then I found this.

The lrish Hunger Memorial.

It's a small site in Battery Park

devoted to raising public awareness
about the Great lrish Famine.

According to the info here, it's
pretty much brought in seed by seed

and stone by stone

from the Old Country.

- You said Battery Park, right?
- Yeah. Why?

OK. See that building?
Right next door to the memorial?

Paley and Vandemann live there.

Flack's got unis posted there
right now.

[Stella] But while we're looking
for Vandemann,

he might be looking at us.

[Flack] See anything interesting?

Got Vandemann locked up tight
in protective custody.

- He tell you any more of the story?
- Not yet.

Once he has a hot meal and sees
we're not gonna kill him, he'll talk.

Where have we got with the gun?

Well, we know it was jammed.

It hadn't been cleaned in a while.

After the first shot, the casing
backed up in the recoil shield

and the cylinder bound up.

That would explain why
Cooper was beaten to death instead.

And the registration?

Sadly, this is the part of the gun
that the killer did take care of.

- The serial numbers are toast.
- We steel-wooled it.

Acid etched it.

Yeah, even hit it with a little bit
of the hot sauce and... no go.

Well, let's try something else.

- Ferro-fluid?
- Yeah.

Sometimes ferromagnetic shavings

will align
over nanoscale imperfections

that still exist
where a gun was stamped.

Take a magnet.

How does he do that?

Hey, looks like we got something.

Linds, that's the bartender
we talked to at the pub.

Looks like it's time
for another round.

[cheering]

[Finnegan] Hang on, ladies.
I'll be right with you.

- Here you go, Debbie.
- Thanks, Finn.

- Hey.
- Hi.

- Who's next? Two green beers?
- Two shots.

[Flack] Finnegan! We wanna talk.

[screaming]

[cheering]

Get out my way!
Police! Get out the way!

Move! Move! Move!

[bagpipes play]

Get out the way! Move! Move!

Police! Move! Move!

Detectives in pursuit of suspect
heading west on 44th toward 5th.

We need backup. Right now!

[Finnegan] Move! Move!

Move, move, move!
Move! Move!

Police!

- [Finnegan] Get out of the way!
- Coming through. Get out of my way.

Erin go bragh.

You know the old stereotype
about lrish temper?

It's not really a problem for me.

But those bagpiping cops
out in the bullpen,

having to file reports
instead of knocking a few back

at the Knights of Columbus...

...they're ready to boil you
like cabbage.

How long do you think it'll be
before Finnegan finally gives you up?

I have nothing to say
until my lawyer is present.

[Mac] That's fine.

Between the evidence
and what Vandemann told us,

we got the whole story.

Yeah. It's called salted gold.

T urns out
when you plate tungsten with gold,

you can fool pretty much any X-ray
or scale

and a whole lot of investors.

But not our lab.

Or a pair of bloggers who heard about
salted gold showing up in China

and followed the story
right to its source...

Elemental Precious Metals.

Even found a contact on the inside.

Unfortunately,
when they first met Charlie Cooper,

he was not among friends.

Finnegan told you about the shyster
who was selling your secrets.

And when you couldn't convince Paley
and Vandemann

to put a lid on the story,

you hired him to do the job for you.

[Stella] You already had a gun,

so you gave him one of your firm's
security uniforms and off he went.

And it seemed like a pretty easy hit.

Put a bullet in both their heads,
make it back in time for last call.

'Till your gun jams and it turns out
it's Cooper, not Paley.

And hell hath no fury
like an lrishman scorned.

Dark warehouse at night,

scared out of his mind
over seeing what happened,

Vandemann thought you were a cop.

Back off! You hear me?

I swear to God,
I will blow your friggin' head off.

But we know better, don't we?

I'm not going down for this alone.

[Mac] Two counts
of conspiracy to commit murder.

You really have nothing to say?

Probably thinks he can pay a lawyer
to clean up this mess, too.

What can I say, detectives?

Silence is golden.

Fair enough.

But just in case
you beat the murder rap,

I'm sure our friend
from the T reasury Department

has lots of ways of making you talk.

Mr Weir, I'm Agent Pangle.

I'm here to charge you
under US Code Section 485

with the following offences...

Counterfeiting and forgery
of precious metals,

sale and distribution of same,

violation
of international trade agreements

governing the sale and distribution
of precious metals...

- Hey, Mac.
- Hey.

Um, so, Cam's trying to put
his apartment back together,

not to mention his whole life,

but he asked me to, uh, stop by
and show you something.

[Mac] NYPD helps Paley and Vandemann
meltdown gold scam.

- Oh, nice!
- Cool, yeah?

Look, I'm sorry
if I played this one wrong.

I really was trying to do right.

I know.

And Reed...

Believe it or not...

I appreciate you convincing me
to take a chance.

So, you, uh... You done for the day?

Yeah.

Hey, you wanna grab a green beer
or something?

Uh...
Can we take a rain check on that?

There's somewhere I gotta be.

Yeah. Yeah, man.
We'll do it next time.

- All right.
- Cool.

- Do I look OK?
- Yeah.

You look good, man. I'll see you.

[Neil Ormandy: Blue Velvet Sky]

# Think I'm all right

# Told my heart

# She would never let me go...

So, how exactly did you find me?

[Mac coughs]

I'm a police detective.
I was duty bound to investigate.

Mind if I join you?

I was kind of hoping you would.

Hi. I'm Aubrey Hunter.

Mac Taylor.

Well...

- Menu?
- Yeah.

So, what's good?

Everything.

# See these stars
All I ever wanted was a sign

# But all I ever wanted

# Was to let you know #