02x20 - Shell Game

[bunniefuu]

- Previously on CSI: Vegas...
- Trey, you k*lled the guy?

- No.
- Why did you tell Allie about

running prints for Trey and not me?

I-I didn't tell Allie.

She was just there.

Well, don't cut me out.

RAJAN: I don't think I've ever heard you

call Jeanette "Mom" before.

I'd rather not keep
in touch with Jeanette,

but radio silence isn't her thing.

- What is her thing?
- Most of them would put you in rehab.

You were running tests,
off the books, on a case

involving your friend.

You see, this is why Jeanette
doesn't trust you.

- Take him.
- Hands behind your back.

I am going to promote
one of my Level 's

to the day shift supervisor.

You got somebody in mind?

♪ Just drop it, drop it ♪

♪ Every night and day ♪

Nothing but blue skies over Pahrump

for the rest of the week.

It's shaping up to be a great weekend.

Ah, I'm sure you and Chip
will be out by the pool,

working on your tan, Tawny.

(LAUGHS) It'll be summer
before we know it.

Thanks, Ned.

Well, that about wraps it up
for us here at : ,

so for Ned Kirby and all
of us here at Channel News,

I'm Tawny Tyler. Good night.

MAN: Clear.

Working on my tan? Go to hell, Ned.

(LAUGHS) Oh, I'm sure
I'll see you there.

Ned.

Ned.

I saw your tape earlier.

Oh, it was... It was nothing.

I know you want to
be Ronan Farrow or whatever,

but you got to cool it with
this investigative stuff.

Then assign the story
to somebody, Larry.

I swear, it's got legs. Write a...

Ned, stick to the weather.

Stay in your lane

and stop poking the bear.

That is how people get in trouble.

Larry? Please?

Yes, ma'am.

"I Only Have Eyes FroYo".

Yeah, dumb name, great yogurt.

You know, it's your
lucky day. I'm buying.

Two more punches till my next free bowl.

Eh, little early for me.
You got something?

You know, I'm surprised you called.

Figured you'd have Serena Chavez

running stuff down for you these days.

- Artie.
- You know,

your conversational skills
are getting worse

with age.

These are some rough guys, Folsom.

I don't know what this is about,

but watch your back.

Come on, man. You know me.

That's why I'm saying it.

Thanks, Art.

Oh, good, I was hoping to borrow

two dozen nine-volt batteries.

Seven days without a m*rder

in Clark County means
I just might have enough time

to make this serious
situation a little less serious.

Sounds like you might have

even more time soon,

- if the rumors are true.
- Hmm?

You're naming a day shift supervisor?

Look, if it was supposed to be a secret,

you shouldn't have told Greg Sanders.

People know?

Oh, yeah.

Folsom and Allie are
running neck and neck

in a pool that Chris started.

Most days, I do not miss
sitting in your chair.

So, how are you going to decide?

Two great candidates.

You just looking for some Intel

so you can place a bet
in Chris's pool, aren't you?

What makes you think I don't
have my money in it already?

- Ooh.
- (PHONE RINGS)

Roby.

Yeah.

Okay, I'll be right there.

Mmm.

Zero days without a m*rder

in Clark County.

There's my dark horse.

The underdog in
the shift supervisor race.

I think you're mixing
your animal metaphors, mate.

Reporters are already
on the crime scene.

That's never a good sign.

Well, the media's gonna
be all over this one.

The only thing they like more

than breaking a story
is being the story.

Well, he's ready to move.

Just say when.

ROBY: ID says our victim's
name is Ned Kirby.

Address is out in Pahrump.

Yeah, he's the, uh, weatherman
for Channel out there.

That's why our forecast calls

for more press attention
than usual, huh?

There's no high velocity blood spatter,

just pooling.

I don't see an exit wound
to the g*nsh*t to his torso.

He's also got a pretty serious bump

on the back of his head.
Some bleeding there.

GSW explains the pool near Ned,

but what about that?

PARK: Doesn't make sense
with the position of the body

or the rest of the blood.

Chris, get as many photos as you can

before Jack moves the body

and we disturb all these nuts.

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

- Oh, no, what's that?
- (MACHINERY WHIRRING)

- Oh!
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Whoa, whoa! Whoa, whoa!

One, two, go!

Nuts.

♪ ♪

♪ 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! ♪

Yep.

Chock full of bloody nuts.

Way, way down at the bottom.

MAN: We only ship in, uh,

sustainable repurposed barrels.

These were, you know...

So you own this plant, Mister...

Ivanishvili. It's Georgian.

You can call me Mark.

Nuthaüs is my baby.

Well, your baby just ate my evidence.

Well, I'm sorry. We, uh, automated

most of the facility
about a year and a half ago.

You know, cut down on labor costs.

Oh, so you're saying that your machines

destroyed my crime scene on their own?

No, just your bad luck that you
were here

when the nutworks fired up at : a.m.

And you didn't think to
shut down the automation

when you found
a dead body in your plant?

That's the point of automation:
not to have to think about it.

(CHUCKLES)

Hey.

Showing up late when you're
up for a big promotion, huh?

Bold move.

Technically, I'm hours early.

It's my day off, but I don't want to

miss a wild one. What do we got?

Well, I've never had a crime scene

disappear in front of me.

Not my favorite magic trick.

What's the damage?

Good news, the evidence
seems to have survived.

Bad news: well, I hope
you like mixed nuts.

We've only got one photo
of the scene still intact.

I got a look at the body

while Jack was wheeling him out.

That g*nsh*t wound?

I think we might have a casing

hiding in all these nuts.

One casing in millions of pistachios.

We're looking for
a shell in a shell-stack.

Is it just us on this?

Uh, Allie and Beau

are printing the news van outside,

trying to figure out if
the victim drove himself

or if somebody shuttled him

to his roasted, lightly salted death.

Oh, boy.

♪ ♪

Hey, got blood here.

The placement looks like
it matches the wound

on the back of Ned Kirby's head.

I don't think he was
the one who was driving.

So the head wound happened
before he got here?

Somebody b*at him up
and brought him here?

RAJAN: Could have.

Think we'll be able
to suss out who drove?

(GROANS) I don't know.

More than a dozen prints here.

I bet half the staff at Channel

has taken a turn here.
This baby gets around.

Maybe we'll catch a break,

one of these prints belongs to someone

who had no business driving this van.

I'm hoping Ned can
help us narrow it down

once he gets to the morgue.

ROBY: That is a serious cr*ck

right above the lambdoid suture.

Somebody really
gave it to Mr. Kirby now.

That is a reasonable supposition,

- and after which, he was sh*t.
- Yeah.

From the steep angle of entry

and the stippling on the skin,

it looks like the sh*t
was at close range,

possibly during a struggle.

Uh, and before you ask, yes,

we recovered a slug. However...

The b*llet went ka-blooey

when it impacted the right clavicle.

Not likely to find much

in the way of striations on that.

Nicked the subclavian artery.

The GSW might've been
survivable on its own.

- Mm-hmm.
- Head wound, too.

But, unfortunately,

Mr. Kirby's respiratory
system had other plans.

Take a look.

Tongue is up here, larynx here.

Do you see the swelling in the trachea?

That is a serious allergic reaction.

I ran a blood panel.

Your victim was highly
allergic to tree nuts.

Pistachios included.

This kind of, uh, inflammatory response

would have been triggered by even

small inhaled traces of nuts.

It's hard to imagine Ned
would have voluntarily

walked into a pistachio plant

with an allergy like that.

Wait a minute.

What is this?

HUDSON: The body was
facedown in the nuts.

It looks like contact dermatitis

from exposure to pistachios.

I am not sure about that.

Looks like it's already
started to heal up.

Wait a minute.

What is this?

Some kind of residue here.

Is that makeup?

(CHUCKLES)

Let's see what GCMS
has to say about that.

Nice catch.

Mm-hmm.

Long-wear makeup doesn't
always come off completely

when we wash the body.

Had a pageant death a while back.

You do not want to know
how many rinses it took

to clean her off.

- Dr. Roby.
- Yeah?

You would tell me if it was unwise

to put on Mr. Folsom
for shift supervisor,

- wouldn't you?
- No.

Okay.

FOLSOM: Somewhere

in all of these nuts

there might be a shell casing.

Or some trace from the k*ller.

So not only do we have to sort through

all these pistachios, we have to, uh,

swab every bloody nut we come across?

Mm, fun week.

- Okay.
- So,

either of you want to
put money on yourself

as Vegas's next top
day shift supervisor?

- Uh, no.
- I'm good.

I get it. It's tough competing
with your work BFF.

Also probably a little difficult

having everybody watch you so closely.

What does that mean?

Money lines really shifted

when you came in on your day off, buddy.

You've got some ground
to make up, Rajan.

I got to go.

RAJAN: Yo, hey.

- Yeah?
- Is everything all right?

(HUFFS) Forget about Chris.

- No, it's-it's...
- Look, I know we haven't spoken

about this whole promotion thing.

Obviously, it's a bit weird.

Look, it's a huge opportunity,

and I really, really want it.

You do, too, right?

Of course I do.

RAJAN: Okay, well, I don't want it

to be weird between us, then.

- No, we're good.
- Well, you just stormed out of the room.

No, no. Look...

It's-it's not the promotion.
It's Jeanette. She's...

Okay, it's all right.
You've not got to tell me.

No, no, it's not that
I don't, it's just...

After what happened with Trey, she's...

- She's...
- Like you said,

- we're good.
- I'll be back in a couple hours.

- You keep it between us?
- Yeah.

- Great, thank you.
- Hey.

Hey, how are you?

I'm heading out.

He's not going to Channel ?

No. Uh, he is on a different lead.

Uh, but I think he'll come down later.

No, no, no! (GROANS)

Mmm, it's just a shame.

Who would k*ll someone like that?

Mr. Torres, Ned was driven
to the Nuthaüs plant

in one of the station's vans.

Is there anyone here
who'd want to hurt him?

Ned was very popular,

especially among our
older female viewers.

"Autumn Skye". Did the name

or the weather job come first?

(CHUCKLES) It's my legal name,

believe it or not.

My mom was sort of a hippie.

Ned thought it was hilarious.

God, I can't believe I'm
never going to hear him

call me "April Showers"
or "Stormy June" ever again.

Sounds like you two got along.

We were the entire weather department.

I'm on the weekends,

Ned has the prime weeknight slot.

Had.

We were teammates.

Did you get along with Ned, Kevin?

Ned? Ned was a bro.

Should you be paying attention to that?

Nah. Tawny does an interview
with the mayor, like,

twice a month.

I pretty much just press
a couple buttons and wait.

Uh-huh.

Thank you, honey.

WILLOWS: So, Ms. Tyler,

you always end your interviews

with local politicians with a kiss?

Only the ones I'm married to.

- Oh.
- Mayor Chip Tyler is my husband.

Tawny Tyler. Anchor-reporter.

News director when
Larry decides to retire.

Well, you wear a lot of hats.

Well, it's a small station.

There's too many hats, not enough heads.

(LAUGHS)

We're gonna need to take

some comparison prints and DNA swabs.

Oh, is this about Ned?

Channel just won't be
the same without him.

I'm sorry. I'll get it together.

RAJAN: Don't apologize.

I can imagine it's been
a shock for everyone.

- He was just a good guy, you know.
- Mmm.

Everybody knew him as
like, just the weather guy,

but Ned wanted to be an
investigative journalist.

Really?

That's a bit of a swerve, isn't it?

He took the job just to get on camera.

"Keep making steps, even if it isn't

straight towards your goal".

He was always telling me that.

Did he know you fancied him?

Oh, no. Um, I mean,

it was more of, like,

a little sister thing for him.

Actually, he was the one who
told me to go for this job

when I was just the receptionist.

I'm sorry for your loss, Gabi.

Yeah.

Hey.

Station manager's got
something we should see.

- NED: This is where the controversy...
- Knock it off.

- Sir, sir...
- You got to leave the property.

- Do you have anything you'd like to say for yourself?
- I already told you.

- Please shut this off.
- NED: Sir, just relax...

Go... Get off my property!

- (STAMMERS)
- I'm not gonna tell you again, get off...

LARRY: When you told me you found

Ned's body in the pistachio plant,

I thought you needed to see this.

Get off my property!

Sir!

Just relax. Relax!

CHAVEZ: That's Mark Ivanishvili.
The Nuthaüs owner.

When was it sh*t?

Yesterday afternoon.

That's less than hours
before Ned was sh*t.

I told Ned to stop
harassing the Nuthaüs guy,

but he just didn't know
when to stop pushing.

We're going to need
to take all of Ned's footage

back with us to the lab.

All right.

Yeah, I fought with the guy.

CHAVEZ: And less than a day later,

he's found dead in your pistachio plant?

What had you so hot?

Nuthaüs might be in a very
small water rights dispute,

which my lawyers are handling.

But Mr. Kirby was determined
to slander my company.

So you deck the guy?

I asked him to get off the property.

He shoved a camera in my face.

I lost my temper.

Not my best moment.

But your fingerprints
were on the news van.

No, no, no, he shoved me into the van.

Sir! Just relax. Relax!

Look, I didn't k*ll
the guy over fake news.

And even if I had,

why would I drop him
in my own nut stash?

That is just bad for business.

Where were you last night?

Maharajah's.

- Is that a...
- Strip club.

Ask anybody in a G-string

and they'll tell you that we were
partying together until almost dawn.

Or you can take a look.

Okay.

FINADO: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Oh, if you're here to help
us comb through the nuts,

you just missed the excitement.

We were fishing for shell casings.

This-this might be
the catch of the day here.

PARK: I don't think
Ned wore fake lashes.

You think it came from the k*ller?

Well, the nut guy claims

that he was partying with the girls

at Maharajah's at
the time of the m*rder.

Lots of falsies there.
Lashes and otherwise.

WOMAN: Maybe he brought
an exotic accomplice

to his m*rder.

Oh, I don't believe we've met.

I'm Zoey.

Hi.

She, uh, usually works
the graveyard shift,

but swapped with Penny
since Pen's allergic to nuts.

Probably just as well.

I doubt Penny would approve of this one

playing bookie on
the shift supervisor promotion.

Speaking of, who do y'all
think is going to get the job?

Um...

I mean, how do you choose?

That really is the question.

I'm sort of hoping for a CSI pageant.

You know, interviews,

skills competition, talent showcase.

Wouldn't help with the choice,

but sure would be fun
for the rest of us.

Well, I really hope Folsom gets it.

Okay.

I hope they're not all in there

talking about the shift
supervisor thing.

Oh, Allie. Of course they are.

(SIGHS)

Don't get me wrong.

It's exciting, being up for this.

It's just nerve-wracking, I suppose,

having everyone talk
about it constantly.

Do you want the job?

So bad I can taste it.

Do you think I'm ready?

Who cares what I think?

Do you think you're ready?

Mmm...

Mark Ivanishvili will be
devastated to hear that

none of the dancers at
Maharajah's remembered him.

So, no alibi.

Well, we'll see.

I got the work schedule

of when each of the ladies
was on the main stage last night

and talked them into

parting ways with their
tips from the evening.

Now, most of them were cool
to trade me for brand-new s,

but Amethyst is not a fan of cops.

She'd only give up her dirty bills

if I traded her what
was my best work shirt.

(LAUGHS)

WILLOWS: The sacrifices
one makes for this job.

Well, paper currency can be tough.

Actually, Mark probably
isn't our prime suspect anymore.

What?

That residue on Ned's facial rash?

Quadrupole Time-of-Flight
mass spectrometry

confirms that it's foundation,

Pro Shade Matte in "Death Valley".

Ironic. Matte foundation

is probably a staple at Channel .

But Ned's foundation was laced

with pulverized Valencia peanuts.

CHAVEZ: What does that mean?

It means at least one person

at the studio was lying

about being devastated by Ned's death.

Somebody at Channel

knew he was allergic to nuts,

and tampered with his makeup there.

So, it looks like, before they sh*t him,

the k*ller tried to poison Ned first.

AUTUMN: How's that look, Larry?

Since you have me waving at
the weather map

seven days a week

until we get our new
weekend meteorologist.

Autumn, Ned's been gone one day.

RAJAN: Sorry to interrupt,

can you tell me where
Ned's makeup is, please?

There it is.

Thickening dust? What is this?

AUTUMN: Oh. It's for guys

who get a little sparse up top.

- RAJAN: Beau.
- Yeah.

Pro Shade Foundation.

(EXHALES) Smell that?

GCMS will confirm, but...

Is that a hint of peanuts?

Why don't you do the honors?

Sure.

♪ ♪

You're not a fake eyelash.

You, uh, thinking about

who's going to be your
next day shift supervisor?

Go on. Everybody's got an opinion.

FINADO: I had my share of
personnel moves at Dow.

I know it's no fun.

How'd you make tough calls

when you were in the private sector?

Arm-wrestling tournament.

Always.

(CHUCKLES) Actually, it was brutal.

Rounds of interviews,
proficiency evaluations.

But this is Folsom and Allie.

They don't have to prove themselves.

I mean, you know who they are.

Yeah, they're both good candidates.

I mean, what you have to
decide is how to decide.

It's too bad the GCMS

can't figure out who
has the most secret sauce.

- (COMPUTER BEEPS)
- Hey.

Just got a DNA hit

on that strip of fake lashes you found.

Autumn Skye.

Looks like our weekend weathercaster

has storms on the horizon.

Sorry, okay, yeah.
I got a partial print here

from Ned's makeup.

It's also a match.

- Autumn Skye.
- Mm-hmm.

CHAVEZ: Autumn, when did you
realize crushing peanuts

into his makeup
wasn't going to k*ll Ned?

I don't know what you're
talking about. I never...

Stop. Your eyelash was in the nuts,

your fingerprints are
all over Ned's foundation.

You're in this.

CHAVEZ: So what's the deal?

You tried poison, and
when that didn't work,

you took him to Nuthaüs and sh*t him?

What?

What? No, I didn't...

I didn't want him dead, just...

too rashy to go on TV.

Look, broadcast meteorology
has been my dream

since I was a kid.

Ned couldn't tell
a nimbostratus from a hook echo.

You wanted Ned off the air
so you could take his place?

That doesn't make you less suspicious.

Ned really wanted to be on an I-Team.

He always had half a dozen
investigations going.

Look, I was doing him a favor. Really.

Anaphylactic shock doesn't
really seem like a favor.

Peanuts wouldn't k*ll Ned.

Trust me, we all knew exactly
what he was allergic to.

He put signs up in the kitchenette

after the great peanut brittle debate

two Christmases ago.

"Absolutely no tree nuts in the kitchen.

Occasional legumes okay".

WILLOWS: Well,

not only were your prints on his makeup,

they were in the van.

Maybe you drove him to his death.

I couldn't. I was at work.

I like to cut my morning
bumpers after everyone

goes home at night. Fewer distractions.

Can anyone confirm that?

I was the only one there,

but you can check my badge,
keystroke logs,

whatever you want.

Okay? I was at Channel ,
not out k*lling Ned.

Okay. Keystroke logs confirm

that Autumn was working
while Ned was dying.

- Damn.
- Yup, yup, yup.

How is that possible?

She can't be in two places at once.

It might be incidental transfer.

Autumn and Ned sat next to

one another in the dressing room.

So, we're talking about
a fake lash strip.

Ned could've picked it up on his cuff

or tracked it into the nut factory

on his shoe.

So even though her DNA
was at the crime scene,

it's not enough to cancel out the alibi.

Yup.

So you better go tell
that boyfriend of yours

to go find us something else
in that pile of nuts.

Still no casings.

FOLSOM: Well, rinse and
repeat on the DNA results.

All the blood we've found
so far is Ned Kirby's.

Maybe the k*ller didn't bleed at all.

Could be another explanation
for the funky blood pattern.

Something happened
during the struggle...

Watch yourselves.

Hey.

Huh.

What do we think that goop is?

It looks like algae.

Hey, isn't that Ned's pocket square?

NED: ... blue skies over...

FINADO: No visible signs of slime
when he was on TV.

We haven't seen anything
similar on the nuts,

so what is it?

RAJAN: It looks like Anabaena.

So, it's not algae.

RAJAN: Check out those heterocysts

and those big old akinetes.

That is some gorgeous cyanobacteria.

You know, every microbiome is unique.

My kids' sandbox, the pool at NoMad...

You put the samples under the scope,

they're going to have different
microbial fingerprints.

Yeah, and they change over time.

Exactly. Maybe we can use this sample

to create a predictive model?

A non-metric multi-dimensional
scaling analysis.

We map the sample
in a hyper-dimensional space.

(CHUCKLES)

- What? I know big words, too.
- (RAJAN LAUGHS)

I bet Catherine has contacts at WLVU

that can get us a database
for local microbial samples.

Hmm, we'd be able to match
the microbial profile

to any potential source
that we find from the goo.

Okay, DNA lab or trace first?

Trace. GCMS can identify exactly
what's in this green stuff

before we sequence the genomes.

(KNOCK ON GLASS)

PARK: Hey.

Get over here and see this.

What'd you find?

Well, I've been going
through the footage

the Channel station manager gave us

from Ned's unauthorized investigations.

Most of it is mind-numbing
B-roll of dry creek beds.

But then...

It's a high desert remake of Chinatown,

with Nuthaüs and its brash
founder at the center

of this water rights controversy.

As you could see
earlier today, we were...

Oh, good. Ned is playing
Mike Wallace again.

You know what?
This equipment isn't free.

Why don't you go back to
your little weather corner,

do whatever it is you do.

And you know what, you
haven't finished editing

my report on the rotary club, Gabi.

Why don't the two of you
go do your real jobs

before your moonlighting comes back

to bite you both in the a...

FOLSOM: Yikes.

Guess who has not one, not two,

but eight firearms registered to her?

Tawny's a bully.
Maybe she's a k*ller, too.

Serena, hey.

Great timing. We got to
go check out Tawny Tyler.

Oh, so you want my help on your case?

What's wrong?

I wanted to help with your mom.

Look into cases involving
heroin around her trailer park,

see who's dealing in the area.

But it turns out a Sergeant Artie Liu

accessed all the same files.

Liu doesn't patrol that area,
so I looked him up.

Talked to him.

Serena...

You went to your old flag football buddy

for a favor instead of
asking your girlfriend?

Why?

Josh, what are you planning to do

when you find your mom's dealer?

I don't know yet.

I was trying to leave you
out of it until I do.

You didn't leave Allie out of it.

She tried to cover for you

when you peaced out before,
but I got to start

inviting her over to poker night.

(CHUCKLES)

She's not that good at bluffing.

Serena, Allie and I just work together.

This is not work, Josh.

This is just your life.

You don't want me involved in your life?

That's not what it is.

Then what is it?

It's just...

You know what?

Let's just take a week.

Then you can come back and let me know

if I have a place in your life.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

CHAVEZ: Mayor Tyler?

LVPD. We need to speak to your wife.

Sorry, ladies, Tawny's not home.

- Where is she?
- With her trainer.

She has her kickboxing

and weightlifting regimen
same time every day.

Every day? That's a lot of kicking.

Well, she's getting up there, you know.

Got to work hard to keep it tight.

Not everyone is blessed with youth.

(SCOFFS) Okay.

Since your wife isn't
here, maybe you can help.

We'd like to collect
your firearms for testing.

Do you have a warrant?

Oh.

You know, we were hoping you
would help us out voluntarily

since the victim is a
high-profile resident

of your city.

No can do, gals.

The g*ns belong to Tawny,

and she doesn't like anybody
messing with what's hers.

You come back with a warrant,

I will, of course, abide.

(CHUCKLES)

Well, that was frustrating.

- Mm-hmm.
- And nauseating,

and a little bit suspicious.

I'm surprised you didn't bring Folsom.

If this had panned out,

would've been a nice feather

in your boyfriend's cap.

(SIGHS) Um...

Not so sure I have a boyfriend.

Wait, what?

(SIGHS)

Wait.

What am I waiting for?

This has been drained recently.

You see this green stuff?

CHAVEZ: Yeah. Gross.

We found a dried organic substance

the same color on
Ned Kirby's pocket square.

Look.

This could be where Ned
got his head wound.

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING ECHOING)

If he was pushed back
with enough force for his skull

to fracture on impact
with the fountain...

I think Ned's m*rder started here.

Last batch. Do or die.

Maybe there's no casing to find at all.

The k*ller could've used a revolver.

Casing wouldn't have been ejected.

Why would you say something like that?

You're not gonna find it
the way you're searching anyway.

You got to look at the nuts
in a single layer,

so stuff stands out.

Like panning for gold.

Kids today, afraid
to dig in and get dirty.

You got to get your hands in there.

Get a feel for the nuts.

There's no way you're
gonna feel the difference

between a casing and a nutshell the way

you're groping around blind.

You got to use your eyes.

There is nothing blind
about the way I grope.

(WAND BLIPPING)

Oh.

You still have a lot to learn, boys.

Like maybe don't run the wand
over all the buckets...

... without making sure
the battery's charged.

(ELECTRONIC SQUEALING)

Mission accomplished.

Good work, team.

♪ ♪

This is Allie and Beau's map
of the cyanobacteria colonies

in the sample from Ned's pocket square.

So all we have to do is
cross-reference it with the data

that we got from your friends
at the university, yeah?

- Score one for Allie.
- Yeah.

- You're keeping everyone in suspense.
- Everyone?

There's only two people
with a dog in this race.

You know, I'm just trying
to block out the noise.

I don't blame you.

It's hard enough to make
a decision without input

from the peanut gallery.

But for what it's worth...

I think they'd both be great.

Somebody's gonna be
disappointed, no matter what.

But in my experience,
the biggest difference

between CSI III and...

shift supervisor is the relationship

to LVPD.

So you've got one candidate

who's a Vegas lifer. He knows

the city and its people

like the back of his hand.

Let's see if the model
knows Las Vegas well enough

to tell us where this
green gunk is from, shall we?

Yep, there is our different
bacteria colonies

from the WLVU database.

And these samples are

- from all around Vegas?
- Yes.

- Okay.
- They are from Bellagio fountain, Lake Mead,

even some common garden soil samples.

Okay, okay, let's...
let's overlay our sample.

There's the sample

from Ned's handkerchief. Statistically

consistent with the sample
from Tawny's fountain.

So the odds that the green gunk

- came from anywhere else?
- Astronomical.

This just in.

Tawny Tyler's in some trouble.

Is this gonna take long?

I've got a newscast to do.

Ooh, I don't think you're gonna
be on the air tonight, Tawny.

See, we know you didn't like Ned Kirby.

And the analysis that we did
of the cyanobacteria

in your fountain proves

that Ned hit his head there.

And that that's where he got

the algae on his pocket square.

CHAVEZ: Then you drained
the fountain, trying

to get rid of the evidence.
And I would bet that one

of your eight g*ns fired
the sh*t that k*lled Ned.

I just assumed that the gardener
drained the fountain.

Come on, Tawny. You drained

that fountain to get rid
of that blood, didn't you?

CHAVEZ: Why'd Ned have to go?

Are we gonna find out
he was investigating

your husband, Mayor Chip?

He's got to have
his fair share of scandals.

Please.

Chip hits on everything that moves.

(STAMMERS) The voters know
that that's just who he is.

He's all talk, it's...

risqué talk, but it's all talk.

What's that on your shoe?

ROBY: Looks like grease.

I... probably picked it up
at the mechanic

when I took my car in.

Or... did you pick it up

on the conveyor belt at Nuthaüs?

CHAVEZ: Know what? You sit tight.

We'll find out.

So did you confirm my alibi
with the girls at Maharajah's?

(SIGHS)

No one remembered you there, mate.

I'm sure when you find
somebody who does,

I can expect a formal apology
from the LVPD?

(PHONE RINGING)

(MUTTERS)

- Wow.
- Mm.

Is everything all right
with your mum or...

is it Chavez?

I don't want to put you
in the middle of it.

Sort of feels like I'm trapped
in a crappy soap opera.

- I'm sure it'll all...
- (BUZZER SOUNDS)

- What the hell was that?
- Safety alarm.

It means machinery's
about to start in seconds.

Well, that didn't happen before.

It just started going.

Does that, does that always go off?

Sure, unless somebody powers
the system on manually.

FOLSOM: This is it.

It wouldn't have been hard to
figure out which switch to flip.

It's a nut factory,
not the space shuttle.

Well, right now, it's a crime scene.

Might be able to pull
a partial off of this.

Or...

Thanks.

Someone I know wears

this same foundation on her hands.

(g*nshots)

Is, uh...

everything okay?

Yeah.

I'm test-f*ring a w*apon.

Angrily.

Is this another case?

Can we just...

get the brass under
the comparison scope, please?

Fine, fine.

Change the subject.

f*ring pin impression.

Huh.

Aperture edges.

Interesting.

Breech face impressions...

Chris.

We have a match.

I didn't sh**t Ned.

I could believe that.

You wouldn't have had access
to Tawny Tyler's g*n.

The man you were sleeping with
did though.

CHAVEZ: You covered for Mayor Chip.

Because you're having an affair, right?

We found your makeup on the
manual power switch at Nuthaüs.

Ooh, and when Tawny found out,
she was pissed.

Gave us permission to test her g*ns,

search her house... the works.

You're gonna be on the news.

You're an accessory after the fact.

CHAVEZ: Bottom line, Autumn,
either you or Chip is going

to flip on the other
for a deal with the D.A.

- It's just a matter of...
- It was Chip.

I'm not going down for m*rder.

Ned didn't know when to lay off, okay?

Any hint of a scandal, and
he was there making trouble.

Ned was exactly what he set out to be.

A damn good reporter.

He figured out
you were sleeping with Chip.

Chip had a reputation of being a flirt.

And Tawny was okay with that,

as long as it didn't go any further.

But it always did.

You guys don't understand.

If Tawny found out,
she would have me out on my ass.

It would be the end of my career.

(GIGGLING, MOANING)

- (GASPS)
- What?

Someone's out there!

Go!

Ned caught us and they fought.

RAJAN: In the fountain.

AUTUMN: How could you know that?

RAJAN: How much do you know about
microbial analysis, Autumn?

Well, since you're so
smart, you probably

know more than me
about what happened next.

Chip kept me out of it.
He told me to go back

to Channel , but...

I saw him force Ned
into the van with Tawny's g*n.

Why take him to the pistachio plant?

Ned had been there earlier that day

harassing that guy and...

I saw that video of the fight.

You were hoping people would
think he'd gone snooping around

and his allergy just took him out.

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

AUTUMN: For what it's worth,
Chip said that he had to sh**t.

Ned came at him.

(GRUNTING)

(COUGHING, HACKING)

After that...

there was no way of making it
look like an accident, so...

Got into the plant, found
the manual power switch.

I-I just wanted to make it all go away.

It's too bad, really.

You know, if you'd worked together,

you could've helped each other out.

Ned could've been a reporter.

You could've done the weather.

You both could've got ahead
in your careers.

No one had to get hurt.

Sure.

Keep telling yourself that.

All right, Autumn, we're
gonna place you under arrest

as an accessory to m*rder.

You have the right to remain silent...

That was the cleanest
ballistics match I've ever seen.

Nice work, Joshua. Both of you.

Bringing this tragic and
shocking series of events

to a close. Reporting from Las Vegas,

I'm Tawny Tyler, Channel News.

Make sure you get a nice,
tight sh*t of the LVPD logo.

And don't go anywhere.

I'm gonna convince Detective Chavez

to do an on-camera interview.

- Hey.
- Hey.

I just wanted to say thank you.

Ned would have been impressed,
the way you guys dug in.

That's why I love my job.

I hope it gave you a bit of closure.

I just wish he was still here.

Well...

you're just gonna have
to carry on for him, Gabi.

He saw something in you.

Lifted you up.

It's really special.

You take care, yeah?

- Hmm?
- I'm clocking out.

- Mm-hmm.
- Do I spy...

promotion paperwork?

You've made a decision?

I made the decision last week.

I was just waiting for H.R.

to dot their I's and
cross their T's and...

and now I've got to break the news.

Can you excuse me a minute?

- Good night.
- Thank you.

Allie!

- (CHUCKLES)
- Hi.

Please, please, please.

Yeah.

So...

it is no secret that...

there's an opening
for dayshift supervisor.

Yes, ma'am.

And I wanted us to chat

before I file the paperwork.

So I am not sure that it is
the right time for you.

You just made CSI III.

And you have grown a lot

in the last couple months,
but you have more to learn.

With that being said,

I see bigger things for you.

- What?
- I think it'll be a challenge

to grow into this job.

But I think you can grow.

And that's why
I'm giving you this promotion

of day shift supervisor.

Uh... (CHUCKLES)

Wow.

Thank you.

I was so sure that Josh
would've got it, he's...

he's way more experienced, he's...

he's great with everyone in the lab.

You may not be as ready as Joshua,

but you want it more.

And there is nobody
who will work harder than you.

I will. I promise you I will.

You're gonna run this place
someday, Allie.

(SIGHS)

Have you told him?

♪ ♪

(LINE RINGING)

It's Jeanette, sorry you
missed me. Talk to the beep.

FOLSOM: Hi, Mom. I know what's going on.

If you're running product
for these guys,

I can't help you.

(ENGINE STARTS IN DISTANCE)

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)