03x08 - The Artist is Present

[bunniefuu]

Previously on CSI: Vegas...

Robert Cuevas... worked in
this factory the last eight years.

You didn't k*ll him, did you?

RAJAN: The DNA on the
k*ller's contact is a match

to Cliff.

[PHONE RINGS]

- Hey.
- Director Roby, hi.

Find him.

- Is that Cliff?
- Dead.

For now, you stay put.

We have some questions
about Cliff Roland.

GILL: We found a
camera in his totaled car.

The film had been ripped out,

but there was a bit of film
stuck in the gears.

So we developed it.

That's you and our pal Ocho.

Valerie knows the truth
about how and why Cliff d*ed.

So Serena is going to get some answers.

CHAVEZ: Valerie?

This is Detective Serena Chavez,
badge 6375.

We have a kidnapping here.

Hey, Beau.

- Yeah.
- Make sure you get that closet.

See the clothes pushed to the side?

Prints and pics. You got it, boss.

Thank you.

I was too late.

This is not your fault. Okay?

Valerie was going to talk to me, Max.

She was gonna tell us
what happened in that factory.

The whole story
with those creepy robots.

Why our suspect d*ed.

She was gonna tell us
who was behind all of it.

That's why she was taken.

You got to focus on what you know.

So, what do we know?

CHAVEZ: There's no
signs of forced entry.

The dead bolt is kid stuff.

When Valerie came home from
work, they were already inside

waiting.

They waited until she got comfortable...

then they made their move.

[SCREAMS]

She fought back,

pushed 'em into that cabinet,
it looks like,

but they were stronger.

Wine's still wet.

I missed 'em by minutes.

And now I'm not even
gonna be the one to find her.

What do you mean?

I found this in a kitchen drawer.

Ran the name... there's
a federal warrant out on her.

- Wait, her real name is Kristin Baird?
- Nope.

No one knows her real name.
This is just an old alias.

The FBI wants our girl
for insurance fraud.

They're taking the case away from us.

Well, I hope they won't
mind a little help.

- Beau.
- Yeah.

Get that right there.

Thank you, Valerie.

We're coming for you, babe.

♪ No sensation ♪

♪ And when the scales are weighted ♪

♪ And all your skin is stored ♪

♪ Why say a prayer ♪

♪ When there's just nothing to save? ♪

♪ Push against the blade ♪

♪ Surrender to the game ♪

♪ Push against the blade ♪

♪ Push against the blade. ♪

♪ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa-oh ♪

♪ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa-oh ♪

♪ I'm walking on sunshine ♪

♪ Whoa-oh-oh ♪

♪ And don't it feel good? ♪

♪ Hey, all right now ♪

[GROANS] ♪ And don't it feel good? ♪

♪ Yeah, oh, yeah, now ♪

♪ And don't it feel good? ♪

♪ ♪

[SCREAMS]

Yo!

Where's the circus?

LVPD just took off.

[SIGHS] They asked us
to come check it out,

but they think it's just a prank.

What am I missing?

Whoa.

That thing's supposed to be...

Yep. It's supposed to be, anyway.

- If it is...
- It'll be a long day.

Well, only one way to find out.

Hexagon OBTI.

Who wants to do the honors?

Age before beauty.

Huh. I'll spot you.

You're a weenie, you know that?

Don't leave us in suspense.

Guys, if this is a joke, it's not funny.

Rapid test says there's hemoglobin here.

This thing is... human.

FOLSOM:
So somebody ripped
a nervous system

out of a body and painted it?

I wonder where the rest of him is.

♪ ♪

♪ 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! ♪

♪ ♪

I'm dead.

That was my first thought

as soon as the shock
wore off. That-that thing...

- That thing's gonna k*ll me.
- Uh, ma'am?

My dealership, I mean.

I'm done for.
Why else would someone do this?

Scare people away.

- Ruin us.
- I tend to think

there are easier ways
to sabotage a business.

For now, we're going
to assume that that person

was the intended victim.

I can see that your cameras
have been disabled.

Is there a way that we
could look at the footage?

There is none.
They all got clipped last week.

By who?

Your detective buddies
were supposed to tell me.

We reported it.

Someone tried to rob us,
they got spooked, ran off.

Repair guy's supposed to come today.

Our guy had to know.

Darya,

can you think of any of your
employees that might be capable

of, you know...

deboning someone like a fish?

Please. No.

[SHUDDERS]

No, no, no, no, no. I mean...

Oh, gosh, I hope not.

Easy there.

Well, this is a new one.
What am I looking at?

It's exactly what you think it is.

FOLSOM: Someone stripped
a body for parts,

turned the nervous system into plastic,

and pinned it up for the world to see.

Do we know who Branch Man is?

Not yet. I don't even
think the k*ller knew.

Well, there's a weird prediction.

Oh, I wouldn't put money on it,
but maybe the victim

was the medium, not the message,
you know?

This feels like art.

- Art?
- I'm just saying

that whoever made this didn't
have to k*ll to create it.

Michelangelo was a grave robber.

WILLOWS: Either way, it's probably
not an ethically sourced cadaver.

If somebody's forming people
into plastic,

we better hurry up and find him.

Ugh. I hate to encourage Chris,

but we do have some green paint here.

I'll run it through FTIR,

see whether
our boy likes acrylics or oils.

WILLOWS: Well, that's too bad.

Stucco is where prints go to die.

Guess he was hoping a different
kind of audience would see this.

Well, we're seeing it, all right.

HUDSON: Probably the strangest delivery

this crypt has ever seen.

What you have here
is a completely intact,

plastinated nervous system.

- Plastinated?
- Silicone has replaced

all the water and fat
to preserve this specimen,

just as it was, with minimal shrinkage.

Perfect preservation.

It's incredible.

ROBY: I mean, it's something, all right.

But who even knows where to begin

plastinating an entire nervous system?

HUDSON: It's not common knowledge,

but you could learn it all online.

Plastinated specimens
are typically created

for medical schools and museums.
They're great

for creating teaching tools for anatomy.

And from what I understand,

- the process isn't terribly difficult.
- Okay.

So we're not looking
for someone with rare expertise.

What about rare materials?

- Hmm.
- Could we test this plastic used

and source it to a supplier?

Impurities in the silicone
can be traced back

to certain broad geographic areas, but

all we'd be learning is
if the k*ller's plastic came

from the States or Brazil.

I'll tell you where
we might learn something.

The eyes.

They are not just the window
to the soul, are they?

PARK: Of course.

I got a result with
the Hexagon OBTI test.

They're not plastic, see? Just pruny.

Our eyes are 98% water.

Whoever did this was probably
worried about structural collapse.

He was wise to leave them au naturel.

Or maybe he made a big mistake.

Help me get this guy onto the slab.

That ought to be enough for CODIS.

You checking my technique?

Uh... no. I'm looking at compression

on the seventh right cranial
nerve at the geniculate ganglion.

Really?

Really, really?

"Really," as in
you know what that means?

It means that this victim
suffered from Bell's palsy

on the right side.

Could be helpful for ID.

Nice catch.

Wait a minute.

Get that light.

Do you see that refraction there?

HUDSON: Looks like a smudge,
almost oily.

Silicone's good for preserving bodies.

And it is damn good
for preserving prints.

Can you lift that, Hudson?

Well, uh, I'm pretty handy
with Mikrosil.

You can't take a cast
of anything that delicate.

Powder won't work due
to the brain's texture.

But Ms. Rajan has a trick
I've seen her do.

If I could request her assistance.

Request away. You get us a print,

we'll get you prints
from everybody in the car lot.

I feel terrible for Darya.

And it's my fault.

- Normally I'm here until 10:00.
- 10:00?

Are those...
normal hours for a mechanic?

No... but I stay to have some dinner

and watch Netflix with Tate.

My Doberman. He lives here.

He guards the lot.

Not too well, apparently.

[SIGHS] This is just all...

- so rough.
- Looks like

you smoothed it over pretty well.

Oh, uh, the car?

Yeah, they got me rubbing
these things with a diaper.

No, I just meant death.

I keep thinking of the family.

I lost my fiancée a few years back.

Drunk driver.

But, you know, you guys
solved it, so, whatever you need.

Does this have anything to do

with that attempted robbery last week?

Don't know. Couldn't say, but...

You know, I was the one who
drove in, spooked that perp.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Or vests.

Can I get your other hand?

Oh, anything you want.

Cool.

Hey, boss.

- Boss?
- Hmm.

Hello, boss.

Is everything okay?

Yeah.

That blood sample we got
at Valerie's apartment,

it's a mess.

Thought the Feds took that case.

They're gonna do their thing,
I'm gonna do mine.

You really want to talk with this woman.

So, Valerie knew more about that
m*rder at that robot factory

than she let on,

and I think it got her in some trouble.

Okay, well, what's the DNA telling us?

That it's not hers,
but it's not in CODIS.

It is so weird.

Is it? Um, only seven percent

of the population are in the database.

Mm, that's not what I meant. Look here.

I didn't think much of it...

[TYPING]

until I saw this.

The guanine and cytosine
bases aren't connecting.

DNA scarring.

[SIGHS]

This is not natural DNA, Beau.

So, what does it mean?

I don't got the foggiest.

HUDSON: You're a natural, Ms. Rajan.

A natural. At cutting brains.

Practice makes perfect.

This takes me back to

all the desiccated bodies
I worked on in grad school.

Nobody had a stranger year
as a 23-year-old than me.

I played on a professional
Australian rules

football team when I was 23.

Melbourne Aces.

I sprained my groin, but
that's when I learned to

play the oboe, so...

PARK: Okay.

Dr. Hudson for the win.

Okay, here we go.

The fumes from the cyanoacrylate

should attach to the oils in the print.

As soon as it turns white,
we'll have to yank it

or it will oversaturate.

PARK: There was no DNA match

in CODIS for our eyeballs.

This is our last sh*t at an ID, so...

don't screw up.

Yeah, thanks, Chris.
That's very helpful.

I don't want to distract you,
but your incision here,

there's something along the edge.

The plastic polymers were
blocked from permeating this area.

A foreign substance got in the way.

You'll want to run this upstairs.

It could tell you what
your k*ller was working with.

I'm gonna run the paint, too.

Give it the FTIR treatment
and the colorimeter.

Whoever made you had to buy this lovely

eggshell white somewhere.
[MACHINE BEEPS]

And showtime.

Those ridges.

Exquisite work.

All right.

Okay.

AFIS is off and running.

And we have the elimination
prints from the car lot.

HUDSON: You know, none of those people

look the type to filet a man

and pin a nervous system to a wall.

True, but, honestly?

What would that person look like?

RAJAN: Well, it's not Eric. Not Sacha.

In fact, it's no one
from the car dealership.

It's not an inside job, apparently.

Maybe the paint will tell us...
[COMPUTER BEEPS]

Oh. Thank you, AFIS.

Jesse Moore.

What are you touching brains for, buddy?

CHAVEZ: Mr. Moore?

OFFICER: Kitchen's clear.

Jesse Moore?

OFFICER 2: Hallway clear.

OFFICER 1: Back bedroom clear.

He's not here, guys.

[OFFICER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
IN BACKGROUND]

WILLOWS: I think you're right, Chris.

The k*ller is an artist.

A really disturbed one.

I'm not sure these
sculptures were made by

the same guy who created Branch Man.

What do you mean?

I don't think Jesse Moore is the k*ller.

Branch Man had Bell's palsy

on the right side of his face, right?

Well, that's Jesse.

He wasn't the k*ller.

He's the victim.

How did this poor man's fingerprint

end up on his own brain?

PARK: Could be intentional.

Maybe the k*ller wanted us

to know who his victim was.

WILLOWS: Hey,

is there a missing persons
file on this man?

There's none open,
but his voicemail's full,

there's a pile of bills in his mailbox.

I mean, it looks like he's
been gone at least a month.

Well, everything here is as if he just

walked out and never came back.

I-I just don't understand.
If this guy truly

was sacrificed at the altar of art,

why not hang his body in a gallery?

Why a car dealership?

Maybe 'cause the k*ller worked there.

I talked with this guy earlier.

I think we probably ought
to talk with him again.

Okay, so it is confirmed.

The DNA from your brother's toothbrush,

it matches

the specimen that we found.

I wish it weren't so.

That... webby skeleton guy,

that's... that's my brother?

- Yeah.
- He was k*lled?

The way his body was treated postmortem,

natural causes don't seem likely.

I'm sorry, Kenneth.

ROBY: We have to ask.

Why do you think your brother's body

ended up in your workplace?

I have no clue.

But he'd be laughing if he knew
that's where he'd end up.

I mean, he hated what I did.

He was always on about how my job was...

superficial, soulless.

So, you two weren't close?

After Mom d*ed,
Jesse wanted nothing to do with

the rest of the family.

He was too good for us.

Even changed his last name.

Yeah, we thought it strange that
nobody reported him missing.

I don't know how many
friends he really had.

I mean, I was happy for him,
with the art and all.

But his head was
so stuck up in the clouds,

he left everyone else behind.

But, I mean, you two weren't
completely different, though, right?

You both work with your hands.

I work on things that-that-that work,

that pay the bills.

Jesse never grew up.

When we needed money,

he didn't help me and Dad,

even when he could.

Jesse's been dead to me
for a while, truth be told.

So, uh,

you're a can-do guy, aren't you?

You've had a rough life,
but you figure things out.

What are you trying to say?

You had a couple
of violent priors, Kenneth.

as*ault in '07.

The person who did this to your brother

was good with his hands.

Like you.

Are we done here?

PARK: Our victim was one talented dude.

RAJAN: Mm-hmm, and an
outspoken one, looks like.

Yeah, well, Jesse had a lot to
say about the modernization of art.

Sculptors with 3D printers,

photographers
with their digital touch-ups,

he thought it was all, uh,

"unemotional dreck."

He could walk the walk, too.
Look at how expressive that is.

FOLSOM: You know, I wouldn't
have pegged you as the lab's

resident art scholar.

RAJAN: The man does his research.

On social media. It's very on-brand.

You joke, but I do kind of relate.

When I was, uh, running
my ChrisSolves account,

it was all about finding an audience.

Guys like Jesse, maybe even the k*ller,

they're courting an audience, too.

That and,

you know, I could just scroll all day.

Where's your partner?
Penny could help you focus.

Uh, she took some PTO.

Again?

You don't think she and Jack...

they're not eloping?

No, no. It's definitely not that.

I've been left to my
own devices. Literally.

I look at this and I wonder,

why'd the k*ller choose that pose?

Why use Jesse instead of stone?

What was his artistic intent?

I don't know if
Branch Man is really art.

RAJAN: I get that it feels personal,

but can we get back
to the evidence, please?

Well, I'm looking for some.

This k*ller might have revealed himself

in Jesse's online community.

It's been known to happen.
Remember when...

Wait.

Look at the arms.

He posed Jesse's body after this one.

He's a copycat.

In One's Own Thoughts.

There's got to be
something under this one.

A superfan, a foe,

somebody who crossed the line
from digital stalking to...

Turning a dude into a plastic stick.

Well, you know what they say.

Nothing good ever
happens in the comments.

Max?

I was just at the FBI field office.

They've been calling
Valerie's coworkers,

neighbors...

I mean, nothing.

Please tell me you've got something

on the blood from her apartment.

So, um...

you know how we didn't know
whether it was a man

or a robot that k*lled Robert Cuevas?

- Right.
- Well, unfortunately,

we have a similar dilemma.

The assailant's DNA

that we got from Valerie's place,

it's been altered.

Uh, I think I've seen that movie.

We're looking for
a super soldier from the future?

Could be someone who's
been treated with one of those

experimental CRISPR therapies.

That's-that's a short list.

Is that the only possibility?

Are you sure it belongs to a human?

ROBY: Oh, come on.
It's not from a robot.

I mean, the sample that we got from

Valerie's apartment is human blood.

Now I just have to figure out whose.

Well, I hope you hurry.

So does Valerie Hammond.

PARK: The off-white paint that coated

the plastinated nervous system

is a mix of two
different kinds of paint:


and five percent acrylic latex.

It's some kind of mixture
of a polyurethane white

and green house paint.

My daughter wanted her room
painted green this year.

She said it was her signature color.

So I go to the paint store.

You know how many shades
of green there are?

Oh, and don't even get me
started on shades of white.

- It's-it's gonna be a process.
- Yeah.

Especially since
they were blended already.

Where would you start?

I wouldn't. It's gonna take too long.

I thought you were gonna find the
guy in the comments section anyway.

Okay, all right, all right,
for sake of argument,

what are you hoping
to find in the paint?

The k*ller mixed this shade
special for Branch Man.

He didn't just
pick a paint off the shelf.

Yeah, like a normal homicidal maniac.

Disentangling the two paints

the k*ller used might lead us to him.

Or at least where he shops.

Huh. Paint on the twine. Okay, nice.

If that's in the database of
common paint, you're halfway there.

[BEEPS]

Gateway Green.

Titanium dioxide base pigmented
with aluminum hydroxide.

- One down.
- It's a house paint.

You can buy that at any hardware store.

The trick is gonna be teasing out

the polyurethane white
that he blended it in.

That's gonna be a heck
of a lot more rare.

You do that, my friend...

then maybe you got something. [LAUGHS]

Like I do. The crud on the brain.

Fluorocarbon grease.

Is that some kind of standard
lubricant used in plastination?

Do I look like the guy who
embalmed his pet turtle in plastic?

Hey, I thought you were Larry Latex.

I've worked in injection moldings.

I have formulated
different plastic materials

for dozens of applications.

But turning bodies into dolls?

Uh... I haven't done that.

I've got to find somebody who has.

I think that one is a Picasso.

[RAJAN CHUCKLES]

FRANK: Sorry to keep you waiting.

I'm Frank Pappas.

Allie Rajan.

This is Josh Folsom and Chris Park.

We were told that we'd be
meeting with a Dr. Amato?

Of course. She's just very busy.

We were both hoping we
could see a picture of your, um...

- Plastinated m*rder victim?
- Was it any good?

Um, we can't really divulge much
about our investigation.

Just here to learn a little
more about the process.

I see.

Dr. Amato's just this way.

AMATO: This is...

impressive work.

Is it?

If Dr. Amato says it is,
then of course it is.

You're lucky.
She's a legend in the field.

FOLSOM: Is it a large field?
There must be a pretty short list

of people who do this kind
of thing, right?

I mean, we're it in Vegas.

But there are a handful of folks

that create for med schools, museums.

But I'll tell you, I think
this is likely the work

of someone outside
of our tiny community.

How would an amateur
even know where to begin?

It's not as complicated as you think.

Plastination boils down
to just six steps.

Fixation, dissection, dehydration,

impregnation, positioning and curing.

Everyone has their own variation,

but we can all agree, there's
no place for contaminants.

It would affect
the dehydration process. See?

The acetone didn't
penetrate because of the oil.

It explains why that part
wasn't fully plastinated.

So fluorocarbon grease wouldn't
be used at all, would it?

No, it's a mistake.

It would impede the process.

It's already hard enough to
find a clean body to plastinate.

Clean?

How would you define that?

FRANK: A clean slate. No trauma.

Plastination preserves everything,

good and bad.

So, you know,
asphyxiation would be ideal for

a perfect specimen.

Can you get us some coffee, Frank?

I know what you're thinking.

Frank's harmless.

RAJAN: We're just here to
learn. No one's under investigation.

Yet.

PARK: Would our k*ller have needed

- special equipment?
- No.

You could buy everything
you'd need over the counter.

Acetone, epoxy resin

or silicone, Sterilite containers.

If an amateur had the inclination

and materials, they could do this.

So it could literally be anyone.

[FIRE ALARM SOUNDING]

All right, what we got?

I really don't like this guy.

Me neither.

This time he started a little blaze

to set off the fire suppression system.

Destroyed any prints, trace.

Cameras disabled.

What kind of camera system
gets knocked out by sprinklers?

Oh, it wasn't that.
They were disarmed last week.

The dealership also had
an attempted robbery.

Starting to feel like someone
was prepping his own drop sites.

He has a pattern for sure.

It's not just the car lots.

Look. This one's A Charitable Heart.

Hmm. I like the stone one better.

I just wonder if
these particular sculptures

have anything to do with why he did it.

Any of those more aggro folks
in Jesse's comments pan out?

I mean, they all had a whiff of
"I live in my mom's basement,"

but no priors.

My question is, are we
looking at a second victim?

HUDSON: I don't think that
there was a second victim.

What do you mean?

Do you see the dilated blood vessels

on the right side of the face?

That's Bell's palsy.

Wait a minute.

This is another one
of Jesse Moore's systems.

This may be as close
to an ID as I'm able.

FOLSOM: It's possible to
disentangle the cardiovascular

and nervous systems
without ruining them both?

Yes. But...

it must have taken a very long while.

You see that sheen? It's like some kind

of metallic element, right?

It's definitely got some sparkle to it.

Could be... auto paint.

Uh, he does have a thing for car lots.

Let's run FTIR,

the works. Now, if both of these systems

belong to Jesse Moore,
do we have enough of him

to determine cause of death?

I can tell you the victim
suffered acute cardiomegaly.

Mm-hmm.

The heart was enlarged

at the time of death.

A sharp episode of pain.

That suggests foul play, right?

ROBY: There is nothing to indicate

external wound, though,
in either system.

What are these stitches
around some of the veins?

HUDSON: Those were sewed up postmortem

before the formaldehyde was pumped in.

There had to be a significant backflow

of blood in the veins,
to the point of bursting.

But there were no contusions
around the neck, so

he probably wasn't strangled.

But the location of the burst veins...

And the petechial hemorrhaging
in the cerebrum.

I'm ready to call the cause of death.

Suffocation.

Whoa. Really?

"Whoa" what?

One of the plastination pros

that we talked to was
a big fan of asphyxiation.

Frank.

He said it was an ideal death for...

his purposes.

Well, I'm gonna tell you
what's ideal for my purposes.

Set up a date between him
and Detective Carson.

I understand your confusion.

I just... was saying to your colleagues

that I was simply
pontificating on what kind

of death would preserve the systems

for optimal presentation, and I...

Is that...?

Is that how this guy d*ed?

Yup. Turns out.

CARSON: This is Jesse Moore.

Ever seen him? Maybe on a slab?

I don't remember.

I don't.

I have prosopagnosia.

It's facial blindness. I...

People's looks.

They're not important.

No, you're into bodies.

What you do is incredible.

Plastination?

[LAUGHING]: I mean... [CHUCKLES]

We were all talking.

How can anyone get two complete

systems of the body from one cadaver?

A laminectomy.

We've gotten three or four
systems from a single person.

But that's a...
pretty advanced move, you know?

CARSON: We don't know.

Can you, uh, walk us through it?

WILLOWS: For instance, the paint.

Um, what would you use for this subject?

Oh. Well, that's a personal
preference kind of thing.

And Dr. Amato has her favorites.

I have mine.

PARK: It is auto paint.

But our guy went off the rack this time.

Scorch Red, Flame Red,

Matador Red,
goes by a bunch of trade names.

Several car companies use it.

Doesn't really narrow
things down. It's no help.

Well, we haven't been able
to isolate the paint

the k*ller used on the nervous system.

We knew it was part polyurethane.

Car paint.

I'm gonna round up as much
white car paint I can find.

Well, start with the same manufacturer.

If we can find this guy's
favorite color wheel,

we can start knocking on doors
and pulling sales records.

Well, the truth is,
I don't like to paint

unless the client requests it.

Human anatomy is God's masterpiece.

Why put lipstick
on the Mona Lisa? [LAUGHS]

What I like to do for color

is bleach the specimen with
seven percent hydrogen peroxide.

And sometimes I'll use AC 05 pigment

for the first acetone bath

so that it penetrates
during dehydration.

Okay.

Can you tell us, um,

what kind of thread you would use

if you had to sew up veins?

FRANK: A medical-grade
polypropylene suture

is typically best
for whoever you're working on.

- Hmm.
- WILLOWS: Ever use

- any other materials?
- FRANK: My work

is about precision, technique,

subtlety.

Ask Dr. Amato. Whoever did this...

Let's just say that I have notes.

[COMPUTER CHIMES]

If you call me to testify as an expert,

I could go on and on.

Careful.

You might just find yourself
on the witness stand.

- Hey.
- ROBY: Hey.

Ow.

Heard you guys need
an extra set of hands.

- Can you lift yours, Beau?
- I just hauled



And I haven't done arm day
for the last few... years.

Anyway, Chris is all over that.
Where are you at?

Question is: where is Valerie?

We need a break.

We'd have one if I could find signs

of Cas9 enzymes in this sample, but...

That would confirm the assailant's DNA

was gene-edited by CRISPR.

Mm-hmm, but I'm not seeing it.

If the DNA isn't natural

and it wasn't edited,
what does that mean?

It would have to be synthetic DNA.

- Wait. The blood was fake?
- No, no, no.

Someone took real blood,
gave it an enzyme bath,

and then tweaked the DNA
beyond recognition.

FINADO: It's like Wite-Out. You
can erase parts of the sequence

and then literally
script something on top.

- Like what?
- FINADO: I don't know, anything.

Gibberish, state secrets.

A recipe on how
to make a kid with blue eyes.

I mean, when I worked
in the private sector,

labs were exploring DNA helixes
as a way to store information.

Practical application... it was
just... it was years away.

I mean, I thought.

Why plant this for us to find?

There are easier ways
to throw us off the scent.

Not to toot my own horn,

but most scientists would've stopped

when there was no hit in CODIS.

But whatever's encoded on this DNA,

that might just tell us
whose work we're looking at.

- Like some kind of signature?
- CHAVEZ: You two look

for a tiny little John Hancock.

I'm getting a warrant
to surveil Truman Thomas.

Man has a robot factory.

How many tech wizards do we know

who care about
what Valerie was gonna tell me?

♪ ♪

[DEVICE BEEPS]

[DEVICE BEEPS]

So, get this.

The sutures in
the plastinated blood vessels?

It's thread from auto upholstery.

But it could be from any car.

I bet it's Italian.

I found the white paint
blended up for Branch Man.

It's Brilliant White.

Used on Alfa Romeos.

Our man liked exotics.

That's Kenneth Miller's specialty.

The victim's brother.

PARK: Looks like there are five shops

that do that kind of work around Vegas.

How's that for narrowing it down?

I'll get with Carson. You grab
Chavez. We need paint samples,

rosters of employees, and sales
records if they're willing.

Maybe at one of these shops
we'll find something linking back

to this poor guy's brother.

Allie and Carson are already
at their third stop.

They're putting us to shame.

Well, Carson's not liaising with the FBI

on a manhunt for a missing woman, so...

Feels kind of deserted, no?

Hello?

Huh.

Maybe they left to grab dinner.

Maybe.

Serena,

I think you have to come see this.

It's Jesse Moore.

Oh, my God.

Dispatch, this is
Detective Chavez, badge 6375.

I need black-and-whites and
CSI assist at my location.

[FILTERED BREATHING]

CHAVEZ: All right, we
got backup on the way.

Allie and Folsom are headed out, too.

We just got to sit tight and...

What do you think is in here?

Not locked.

This is where he did it.

Hey. You think this sketch
is for his next project?

[AIR HISSING]

♪ ♪

Serena!

[GRUNTING]

Chris, get down!

[GRUNTING] [g*nsh*t]

CHAVEZ: Drop it!

Now.

PARK: Eric.

Hands up.

On your knees.

[HANDCUFFS CLICK]

It's over, Eric.

"I've never seen anyone
conjure rage like you.

"I can't wait to see
your next installation.

EC84."

That one was you, wasn't it, Eric?

Course,

we know how that
installation turned out.

How does someone who paints cars

get into plastinating bodies?

WILLOWS: Okay. That's all right.

We've got more than enough
to put you away.

PARK: But I want to understand.

Was Jesse the only one?

Did you practice?

Not the way you think.

I told you my fiancée d*ed.

After Mandy's accident,

the colors drained out of my life.

I-I felt dead.

Until I found sculpting.

Turning twisted plastics
and metals into something new...

this is something
I've always done, but this?

This was better.

Kenneth told me his brother
was a sculptor, too.

And Jesse's videos helped me.

They helped me bring her back to life.

And I-I couldn't wait to show
Jesse Mandy... my Mandy.

What did he think?

That I didn't know her.

That there was no emotion
in what I made, that she's...

superficial and plastic.

Well, I showed him who's plastic.

I showed him what it is
to create from the heart.

I mean, he thought he was the expert,

that I had nothing to say about her?

So that's what this was. Revenge.

No, cancer took her from me once.

I wasn't gonna let this
stranger take her from me again.

You mean, car accident.

Which was it?

Can you tell us more about her?

What was Mandy's full name?

You think I didn't know my own fiancée?

I mean, I have a million photos of her.

You sound like Jesse.

Well,

joke's on him.

He was so...

full of it.

What was her name, Eric?

I want to go now.

I want to go!

[ECHOES]: I want to go!

♪ ♪

There's our hero.

Long day, huh?

You know, I've never
seen that leave your neck.

I, uh, wear it as a reminder.

There's a key for every lock,
every problem has a solution,

and I can be that solution.

You were today.

Chavez said you saved her life.

And you were right about Eric's fiancée.

He had a lot of pictures
of a woman named Amanda Welch,

all taken from social media.

They'd never even met.

Their engagement, her death,
none of it was real.

When he confessed,
I thought I'd see something.

In his eyes.

Allie, there was, there was
no reason for any of this.

Sometimes that's just how it is.

Yeah, well, it's not how
it's supposed to be here.

I like it here, too.

I like how silver nitrate
plus sodium chloride

will always make silver chloride.

Chris,

evil is different.

There is not always
a straight line you can draw

to explain why people do what they do.

- Sometimes...
- It's all just squiggles.

Sometimes it's not.

And you turn the page.

And you work the next problem.

WILLOWS: I was halfway to my car.

What does "artful strong
nalgene baseball" mean?

Stupid autocorrect.

We found artificial strings
of nitrogenous bases.

- Okay. What does that mean?
- CHAVEZ: The blood

at Valerie's apartment was planted

to throw us off the scent.

No match in CODIS,
but Max went deeper and...

well, here is a new nightmare for you.

We have people encrypting DNA now?

Mm-hmm.

Just when you thought
you've seen it all.

So all the A's and T's
and C's and G's...

Appear to be some kind of computer code.

The EZ2 and I did our thing,

and I was able to
export one particularly

funky-looking chunk.

Found a full-on text file.

It's got to be a mistake, uh,
an artifact i-in the program

used to sequence the DNA.

[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]

Uh, I don't think so.

It's beautiful.

[COMPUTER BEEPING]

WILLOWS: Whoa, whoa,
whoa. What's going on?

That's malware. Shut it down.

- FINADO: Uh...
- WILLOWS: Oh. [SIGHS]

What the hell just happened?

ROBY: Serena, call it in.

We just got hacked.