03x02 - Scar Tissue

[bunniefuu]

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

If you're running
product for these guys,

- I can't help you.
- PREVIOUSLY ON CSI: Vegas...

FOLSOM: They k*lled her, she's gone.

ROBY: You cannot investigate

the death of a family member.

[GRUNTS]

Jeanette Folsom. Who did it?

FOLSOM: Raphael Tarquenio...
is that your boss?

KHAN: I'm not telling either
one of you a damn thing.

I found the guy who did it.

Kahn Schefter k*lled my mother.

ROBY: Josh was officially charged.

I'm looking for Raphael Tarquenio.

- How long has it been?
- Not nearly long enough.

I k*lled Kahn Schefter.

So we're supposed to
believe this was your idea?

I trust this concludes the matter.

- TREY: m*rder charges got dropped.
- I want to say thank you

for believing in me.

I'm not sure you're
gonna keep your job, Josh.

[CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING]

[INSECTS TRILLING]

[YAWNS]

I saw that, Hernandez.

[LAUGHS]

The four-month sleep
regression is no joke.

- [SCOFFS]
- Where's the cavalry?

Oh, should be here soon.

Till then it's just us and the body.

- What do we know?
- Not a whole lot.

A fisherman called 911

when he saw a stranger
trespassing on the dock.

Which, in hindsight,
may have been a bad idea.

g*nshots rang out on the call,
then the line went dead and...

So did the caller.
Explains the dead body.

And what about the container?

Your guess is as good as mine.

- [VEHICLE APPROACHING]
- Well, let's not guess.

What?

- Whoa! Slow down!
- [TIRES SQUEALING]

[HERNANDEZ SCREAMING]

[SIGHS]

Officer Hernandez d*ed in an instant.

It's a miracle I didn't, too.

When I came to in the
hospital the next day,

I was told that my camera,

the dead body and that
yellow plastic container,

- all gone.
- The whole crime scene was wiped.

Like it never happened.

Whoever it was got what they came for.

Case was never solved.

- What are you thinking?
- The thing I've never been able to shake

is that I recognized
that car that hit us.

It was part of this drug
investigation I'd been working.

- Raphael Tarquenio?
- One of his associates.

- God, the man needs to go down, Max.
- Lord knows

- Joshua agrees with you.
- Well, the problem is,

the SUV was never found.

We were never able to establish a link

between Tarquenio and the boat.

The man is my white whale,
and I could never prove

that he even got onto the water.

Until now, maybe.

Look what I found at his house.

- [KNOCKING]
- RAJAN: Boss.

Hey. You asked to see me?

Yeah.

I'm gonna go back to the
boat, pick up where I left off.

I'll let you know when it's
time to start the engines.

Go get him, Ahab.

So...

these time cards are
now your responsibility.

Happy days.

I know you and I knocked heads

over your idea to partner people up...

It's okay. No need to apologize.

[LAUGHS]

I wasn't planning on it.

So, you partnered Catherine and Beau,
and Chris and Penny up.

- Mm-hmm.
- Any of them have a say in it?

- No.
- Do you care to reveal why

- those would be the best pairings?
- I have my reasons.

Of course, I told them that I
drew their names out of a hat.

I didn't want anyone to object.

Okay, the pairings worked before
you knew they were permanent.

- Hmm.
- Two heads are always better than one.

You'll see.

I'll get right on these.

♪ ♪

CHAVEZ: You don't have to go.

[SIGHS]

I know things have been...

complicated lately,

but you can stay.

I don't bite.

Yeah, well, I'd just keep you up.

I'm spooked about my date
with Internal Affairs tomorrow.

Hey.

You have the Garrity rule.

Use it. You don't have to say a thing.

You shouldn't say a thing.

Yeah. Still, I should go.

[WILLOWS GROANS]

Damn it.

[SIGHS]

Well, it was worth a sh*t.

I've taken a dozen
sh*ts against Tarquenio.

I need one of them to land.

Are you okay?

Catherine.

If we're gonna be
partners, you should know

I-I don't do well with long silences.

I just took a breath.

Yeah, good. Good. Get it out of there.

Don't let it fester.

Okay.

You leave me no choice.

Fill the gap, I will.
You know, I think...

I think I could be a
boat guy in my next life.

Although the idea of a life
without socks freaks me out.

But, you know, the-the... the
wind in your hair, the sun.

It's not really my thing.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

It's downright depressing
when you think about

what the drought's
done to the waterline.

I mean, look at the
dock here, this tangle,

the fishing line, it didn't
look like that a few years back.

Here. Look.

Today. 2019. Today.



Y-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
H-Hold on a second. Just...

What?

WILLOWS: Is that a prosthetic limb?

What looked like the top
of a bumper back then...

- No, it couldn't be.
- Yeah, i-it could be.

Let's get it out.

[FINADO GRUNTS]

All right.

Holy mackerel.

It's a leg.

GILL: That is one funky plastic leg.

Wow. This thing's been
in the lake so long,

it has its own ecosystem.

I need help figuring
out how to clean it off.

Beau's still on the water,

seeing what else he can dredge up.

What are you hoping to find?

Proof that this
prosthetic is somehow tied

to Raphael Tarquenio.

I'm convinced that he
is connected to that dock

where this leg bobbed up.

Well, we can't use bleach
as a cleaning agent.

No, it would destroy the algae

but also any remote
chance of usable DNA.

And it'd require scrubbing,

which would compromise the integrity of

whatever evidence we do find.

No, we need something
that's gonna break the bond

between the algae cells.

Maybe an oxidizing agent.

Something that causes
free radical formations.

BOTH: Sodium carbonate and water.

I'm so glad you two found each other.

Wait. [TURNS OFF TOOL]

Look at that.

Something corroded the
metal on the prosthetic.

But the plastic's totally intact.

Only a few types of chromic
acids could have done this.

I wonder if the person
attached to this leg

was dissolved the same way.

Dark.

WILLOWS: Well, it might
explain that plastic bin

I found on the boat that night.

Maybe all the contents were
just dumped in the lake, leg and all.

The, uh, leg's serial
number was eaten away,

but, look, the atomic pattern
was still down in there.

EBSD machine just gave us this.

Entering the serial number

into the national arthroplasty register,

and... Theresa Moren.

Looks like she's a dean at
a prep school here in Vegas.

Or at least was.

So, what's her leg doing in
the middle of Lake Mohave?

I don't know, but
check out that caption.

"Farnsworth Prep's Jocelyn Tarquenio

sinks a three-pointer."

Raphael Tarquenio has a daughter
who just so happens to go

to the school whose dean lost her leg?

I can see him raising Dobermans.

[SCOFFS] But a sweet
little sh**ting guard?

And according to her obit, she d*ed

in a scuba diving accident in Mexico.

The body was never found.

Check out the date. Dean
Moren d*ed five years ago.

That's the same week that I
was almost run over by the SUV.

[SCOFFS]

Best question in Vegas:
What are the odds?

♪ ♪

♪ 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! ♪

♪ ♪

COURTNEY: I didn't want
to believe it, but...

this does look like Mom's.

Courtney, this is Max
Roby, she runs the crime lab

- here at CSI.
- Hey.

So... so you do think there was a crime?

The detectives back then,

they told me Mom d*ed on a scuba trip.

Well, there is quite a bit of
evidence that said that she did.

WILLOWS: Your mom was never seen

after school ended that Friday.

Her car was found in Baja at
a scuba shop in Punta Azul.

I know.

My mom and I weren't
that close at the end,

but that story never sat right with me.

Had she ever scuba'd before?

Before she lost her leg, yes.

But after it was amputated, never.

ROBY: But you said you
two weren't close, so...

COURTNEY: Even at our worst,

I knew when she was traveling.

She never called.

Does the name Raphael
Tarquenio mean anything to you?

It rings a bell,

but I'm not sure why.

Wait, he's one of Mom's big donors

at Farnsworth Prep, right?

I don't mean to make
this about me, but...

what's the LVPD angle here?

- What do you mean?
- I mean, how is a prosthetic

going to help us take
down a narco-trafficker

who had Josh's mom k*lled?

We don't know that it will.

- I mean, we don't know yet.
- PARK: That could change

if we could prove someone
in the Tarquenio camp

had access to the specific acid

that was used on Dean
Moren's leg five years ago.

And that Tarquenio staged Dean
Moren's death down in Baja.

And that he stole everything
of value from the crime scene

on that boat five years ago.

Should be no sweat.

I mean, we already have a plastic leg.

A plastic leg which showed up

right next to the spot
where a cop was k*lled.

All right. Let's reopen some cases.

[RAJAN SIGHS]

Okay, let's figure out what made this

look like this.

♪ ♪

[SIZZLING]

Go ahead and add sulfuric acid

to the no-no list.

It's eating through the
metal, the plastic...

Oh, the table.

You're never going to
pin this down on Tarquenio

if we can't even find the right acid.

There are still dozens more to try.

These are just over-the-counter basics.

RAJAN: Dean Moren was last
seen at Farnsworth Prep.

Maybe someone there brewed up something

more unique in their chem lab.

I still think it needs to be chromic.

How about a break? We've
been at this for over an hour.

Weak. An hour is nothing.

- I can hold a plank for an hour.
- No, you can't.

GILL: Are you doubting
me? Let's go right now.

I'm serious. I'm warmed up. Let's go.

RAJAN: Guys.

PARK: Whoa, she's pregnant.

This can't be good.

Guess she's making more
little IAB detectives.

CHAVEZ: Who is that?

That's Nora Cross. Internal Affairs.

She spent some time here
before you came along.

- You don't think... ?
- I do.

I think she's handling Folsom's inquiry.

PARK: She looks nice, right?

Sweet, even?

That's the face you see before
the axe falls on your neck.

They really sent the
one IAB detective I know?

Prior knowledge of a suspect

is actually a good
thing in my line of work.

But do you want to talk
about conflicts of interest?

We could start with you
springing Trey Cahill from jail.

Guy you arrested a few days prior?

I-I've known him since we were kids.

I wish I was better at keeping
in touch with old friends.

Carolyn Lim, Brittney Tichey...

We don't even swap Christmas cards,

much less post each other's bail.

Well, I'm here to answer
any questions I can.

Okay.

Here's one.

Why did you cover for Trey

during Kahn Schefter's
m*rder investigation?

You can stay mum.

Obviously, your union rep's advised you.

But your conduct in the
time that you and Trey spent

with Mr. Schefter,
that's what is at issue.

You can ask. I-I...

I don't remember all of it.

Truly.

But...

go ahead.

Nah.

- This isn't going to work.
- Wait, is that it?

- Are you going to talk to my co-workers?
- No.

I'm gonna talk to you tomorrow

at the hangar where Trey
brought Mr. Schefter to you.

We clearly need to do what
we can to refresh your memory.

Raphael Tarquenio? Yeah. Gosh.

I got to be honest.
I barely know the man.

Aren't you the dean here?

Yeah, and I try to
meet all of our donors.

But Mr. Tarquenio likes
to keep to himself.

Tarquenio Fieldhouse. Fancy.

It has been a labor of love.

We spent the past five years
refurbishing this, uh, old gym.

Five years?

So, is there anywhere we'd
find chromic acid on campus?

I don't think so.

And I used to be the head of the
science department, so I would know.

To be fair, I'm just a
biologist. It's a hard "cell."

[LAUGHING]

"Cell." Nice.

Just to be on the safe side,

we'd like to visit the science lab.

Yeah, whatever you need.
Yeah, right this way.

Are you investigating
or kissing this guy's ass

to get your daughters into school here?

Little bit of both.

Fieldhouse may be the
jewel of the campus,

but this is my pride and joy.

It's not a science
lab, it's a maker's lab.

A maker's lab.

You've got robotics,
uh, you can make pottery.

Look at that huge 3D printer. Wow.

He excites easily.

He's a man after my own heart.

Looking at atoms all
day can be Bohr-ing.

- [LAUGHING]
- Yeah?

- Let me show you something.
- Okay.

You two knock yourselves out.
I'm gonna take a look around.

This is the latest and greatest.

Oh.

Yeah. You're not allowed back here.

[CHUCKLES] I'm with CSI.

I'm investigating Dean Moren's death

from a few years ago.

I'm new here, but apparently
everyone loved her.

Do you know Raphael Tarquenio? He was...

Yeah, I know who he is, we
all do. His nightmare daughter

was supposed to be
expelled a few years ago,

and all the teachers keep
praying it'll still happen.

Which it won't if he keeps
writing those fat checks.

Right. Have you ever seen anything like

chromic acid around the school?

No. You really wouldn't find
something like that at a school.

More like an aeronautics facility.

Maybe a construction site.

Excuse me.

RAJAN: Allie Rajan.

Hey, Allie.

So, no chromic acid at the school,
but what if Tarquenio uses it

at one of his legit businesses?

Afraid you're going to have
to put that back, ladies.

Raphael Tarquenio, in the flesh.

Unless he gave you permission to, uh,

test the lumber without a warrant?

Congratulations. We visited a
couple of your projects today.

It seems that business is booming.

At least, your legitimate one.

All my business is
legitimate, Ms. Willows.

You don't have anything
that says otherwise.

Don't be so sure.

We collected samples

of lumber from your job sites.

A lot of it has been treated
with CCAs, chromic acid.

- And your point is?
- RAJAN: Weather-proofing lumber

is one of its more productive uses.

But it's also great
at dissolving bodies.

It's time for you two to go.

WILLOWS: We were just leaving.

[PHONE CHIMES]

Ah. Can you run the
other tests by yourself?

I have to go. Sorry.

Everything okay?

I don't know. Sorry.

[SIGHS]

That bad? What happened?

Nora Cross. She does her homework.

She kind of made it seem
like I was already screwed.

Maybe she's bluffing.

Although... she did email me,

asking to meet her at
the hangar tomorrow.

- I'll be there, too.
- Okay.

Hey, Allie,

I saw a piece of paper sticking
out of her file, like a little note.

And?

I could've sworn it was
in Serena's handwriting.

What, she never mentioned Nora before?

You don't think...

I really don't know what to think.

[PHONE RINGING]

Oh, speak of the devil.

Chavez, hi. What's going on?

All right.

I'm on my way.

[PHONE BEEPS]

- What was that about?
- Just a case.

She was updating the very important

new day shift supervisor
on a development.

That's right. H-How's it going?

Trying something new. Partners.

- Oh.
- Yeah. Max isn't quite on board,

but fake it till you
make it, right? [CHUCKLES]

- You'll make it.
- Hey.

I was meant to be
making you feel better.

You did.

Go on. I'll see you tomorrow.

WILLOWS: What's going on?

School janitor went to empty the trash

and instead found this.

ROBY: Okay.

There's enough blood here for someone

to have d*ed from exsanguination.

WILLOWS: Only problem
is, I don't see a body.

There isn't one.

Oh, and by the way?

Dean Canto never showed
up at a fundraiser tonight.

He can't be reached.

I think he's missing.

The kiln's been on.

[DOOR CLANKING]

Ooh.

What is it?

ROBY: Well...

it's not a ceramic vase.

I think I recognize that gold watch.

Dean Canto was wearing it earlier today.

So, uh, for anyone keeping score,

that makes two dead deans.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]

Whatever happened here was ugly.

Even this guy got his butt kicked.

Better than being
melted in a kiln. Savage.

That is his M.O.

You think Tarquenio is
behind the dead dean, too?



questions, another body disappears.

Almost disappears.

You know, there might
not be chromic acid here.

But there may be the ingredients

with which to titrate chromic acid.

Can somebody help me
open the door, please?

For what it's worth,

I never believed that whole scuba story.

I even filed a missing
person report back in 2019.

What do you think really happened?

I was working one night and...

you know, minding my business,

and I hear this loud
fight, lots of yelling.

It was Dean Moren and
that Fieldhouse guy.

Raphael Tarquenio?

BING: About a month
before she disappeared.

I don't know what she did
to get him riled, but...

I thought maybe that Tarquenio guy...

he was the wrong dude
to get tangled with.

How's it feel to be back?

Scene of the crime.

What crime?

You tell me.

Mr. Folsom, the last time

I was called out to CSI,

I wrote a glowing report
about how honest you all were.

I don't mean to make
your job harder for you,

but, um, I'd like to keep mine.

I get it. You don't have to talk,

but you might want to speak
up in your own defense.

Let's see where the evidence leads us.

Allie, what do we have?

It's pretty thin.

Um, the padlock on the gate was cut.

We found a box cutter on the ground here

that was covered in blood
that we later confirmed

belonged to Kahn Schefter.

Luminol was sprayed around the area.

A large circle, about
five feet in diameter,

fluoresced. The reactant was bleach.

Did you clean up blood here?

RAJAN: No DNA or blood
proteins were recovered.

No fingerprints either, for that matter.

There were none in
the entire caged area.

Someone knew how to
clean up after themselves.

Didn't they, Mr. Folsom?

Uh, that is...

a reasonable deduction.

All I'll tell you is,

Trey and I were here that
night with Kahn Schefter.

We asked him who had k*lled my mom,

and eventually we realized it was him.

Josh.

- And then?
- And then we left.

[SIGHS]

CROSS: Allie, a moment?

[RAJAN CLEARS THROAT]

Can you be neutral here or not?

- Yeah, of course I can.
- Good.

'Cause if that's all
we're getting out of him,

this inquiry is gonna hinge on
what little evidence we do have.

- Where did you get this?
- Serena.

Detective Chavez.

She had to relinquish her file.

Run the blood for me.

Let me know what you find.

ROBY: Something on your mind, Catherine?

- What's with the side-eye?
- Nothing.

I'm just, uh,

picking my moment to ask about Folsom.

You think he'll be able
to get his job back?

Let's just say I'm
glad it's not up to me.

It's up to the review board.

I am having a hard time
compartmentalizing this one.

Sometimes it's impossible.

Sometimes work is personal.

I've noticed that.

Are you turning this around on me?

I see how you get around Tarquenio.

All I'm saying is, I
do not need another one

of my CSIs self-destructing.

- That's fair.
- [COMPUTER BEEPS]

ROBY: Will you look at that?

The blood from the maker's lab

at Farnsworth Prep came from not one

but two sources.

GILL: Oh, whoa. You've been busy.

What am I looking at?

Blue is the attacker.

Red is Dean Canto, I assume.

Neither was in CODIS?

Nope. We should have a
DNA match on the vic soon,

assuming it was the guy

- who bled a lot more.
- Then we should iso

the blue stuff, the k*ller's blood.

It might tell us

how many injuries he sustained,

how tall he is, handedness.

We just have to go blow by blow.

It started over here.

Three instances

of medium-velocity red blood spatter.

Suggests the attacker
was punching the dean

in the head.

We have height, width, directionality

of each blood drop from the
crime scene. Who did this?

- It's exquisite.
- Max.

Boss did most of the work.

Trigonometry should do the rest.

Best day ever.

Okay, I'll go get my lucky protractor.

Yes!

Oh, my goodness.

How long have you been
in here with these fumes?

- It's not working.
- Yeah. So I can sense.

I haven't been able to titrate
the acid that deteriorated

Dean Moren's prosthetic using
the materials from the maker's lab.

I can't do it at all, actually.
I-I don't know how the k*ller

ginned up his special brew.

Everything I do is either

too strong or it's not strong enough.

- Maybe it's time to call it.
- Mm.

Maybe grab something to eat?

- Mm-mm.
- In that case,

I'm going to take your
very strong physical cues

and, for the sake of our...

still blossoming partnership,

I'm gonna leave you to it.

Chavez, can I speak with you a moment?

Yeah.

What's up?

How long have you known Nora Cross?

You acted like you never met
her before, but that's not true, is it?

I used to know her a little.

How?

Should I go ask her?

Nora recommended me for
this post at CSI last year.

After the David Hodges mess,

there was a general consensus,
that someone from LVPD

should keep tabs on folks here.

So, you're informing on us?

This isn't a crime family,
Allie. It was oversight.

- I was just doing my job.
- Does Folsom know?

You never told him either.

I will.

Let me be the one to tell him.

Please.

I'll give you a day.

Good morning.

Allie.

Hey.

That's the same shirt
from yesterday. And you.

Did you both stay here all night?

Oh, there's about to be coffee.

Do you want some? We've had a lot.

Well, at least you're not
at each other's throats.

Oh, we're not fighting.
We're fighting the math.

PARK: 13 hours.

We've been checking and
re-checking the equations.

All we know is that

the person who was
getting hit repeatedly

on the head is only five-eight.

I thought Dean Canto
was taller than that.

Correct. He's six-two.

That's a significant difference.

It's way outside of
our fudge factor range.

- Meaning what?
- PARK: Meaning we're still missing something.

Because, the way we've got it,

Dean Canto won the fight.

Then how did he end up inside a kiln?

WILLOWS: You know I want this guy, Max.

- Anything I can do to help?
- ROBY: Well,

you know I love to share the rock,
but sometimes you got to...

you got to go hard
in the paint yourself.

What constitutes a swish?

I am trying to get

a positive I.D.

on the body that was in the kiln.

And it is a delicate dance.

How delicate is it?

- 89% failure rate.
- Oh.

Yeah.

Okay. So,

the ash from the kiln

was heated at 2,400 degrees,

and I am using an enzyme solution

to remove the nitrogenous
bases... excuse me...

and I am gonna try and repair

the tears in this DNA.

Damn it. I missed it.

Well, you did say the
failure rate was 89%.

No excuses. Excuses are for other folks.

Hey, Max, it's okay.

I mean, this sample may be kaput,

but there's other ways to test ash.

Let's pop over to Trace

and see what else
b*rned up in that kiln.

- Okay, what do we got?
- FTIR says

the ash contains a cocktail

of mercury, lead, antimony, beryllium.

Chromium, cobalt, arsenic,

and iron oxide.

Put it all together and you get?

ROBY: Color tattoo ink.

But this guy, he-he was a
dean of a fancy prep school.

Did he look like the type to
have sleeves under his sleeves?

I'd be surprised. I mean,
he'd have to be covered in ink

to reach this level of concentration.

Maybe the residue is
from something else.

Or maybe the body in the kiln

wasn't Dean Canto.

That would square with
Chris and Penny's findings,

but how did his watch get in the kiln?

That's the question.

Why just make it look
like Dean Canto d*ed?

♪ ♪

I did it.

Oh! I did it. I did it.

Hello? Hello?

Hey, uh, don't-don't you
want to see how it works?

Of course we want to see how it
works, but you sent us all away.

Right. Sorry. Uh, I was
putting too much distilled water

to the chrome oxide earlier.

My-my paste wasn't getting
pasty enough, but now...

- You did it?
- Yeah.

Ugh.

- What was that weirdness?
- Sorry. I think

we only get, like, two out of the five.

I mean, only a serious chemist

could figure out this cocktail.

I sincerely doubt that
Tarquenio or any of the

g*ons he has cutting
his dr*gs have my chops.

[SIGHS]

I still couldn't tell you who did this.

Yeah, I know.

This is the last thing I
want to be doing either.

[WATCH BEEPS]

It is not that.

I ruined a sample earlier.

[WATCH BEEPS]

Can we assume that your
heart is functioning well

with all that additional beeping?

I kind of need to focus.

Oh. Oh.

- What?
- I see what's going on.

- You have the yips.
- I do not have the yips.

I'm mad at myself.

- Would it help you to be mad at someone else?
- Yeah.

Chavez has been reporting on us

to the I.A.

Wait, you knew she was a plant?

Chavez is not a plant.

She was assigned here to make sure

that we are doing things by the book,

which we were, which we still are.

Which is why there was not
any need for anyone to know.

Any professional reason, maybe.

Folsom didn't even know.

[WHISPERING]: It's none of my business.

Is it yours?

[DEVICE CHIMES]

Whoa.

When it rains, it damn pours.

The blood on this photo
belongs to Joshua's mother.

That's better than
Kahn Schefter's, right?

No. It might be worse.

Where did he get it from,

if he didn't steal it from the morgue?

Why would he do that?

That is Nora's job to figure it out.

But I do have to tell her.

The case I was working five years ago...

- when I was almost mowed down... this...
- Mm-hmm.

is the man I saw painting the gym

at Farnsworth Prep the other day.

- I knew I recognized him.
- Look at all those tattoos.

WILLOWS: Tarquenio has the
contract to refurbish the gym.

He's got his guys crawling
all over that campus.

And maybe it was his skeleton
that we found in the kiln, huh?

Self-defense? Could be why Dean Canto

made it look like he had d*ed.

Or maybe it's more sinister than that.

Maybe Paul Canto k*lled
Dean Moren for her job.

And didn't want to stick around
and answer questions about it.

If he's still alive, he's gonna...

Come on, now.

I have been through the
security footage twice.

Cameras never caught
Dean Canto leaving campus.

He was definitely injured
in the maker's lab.

I mean, we were wrong
about whose blood was whose,

but there was plenty of both.

I'd guess he's hurt and he's hiding?

Out of view of the cameras.

Dean Canto, come out,
come out, wherever you are.

♪ ♪

He's here.

[GRUNTS]

Yeah, we need an ambulance
at Farnsworth Prep.

Stabbing victim,

- near sepsis.
- I'm a dead man.

No, no. Hey, hey. You're
gonna stay right here, buddy.

Who did this to you?

Who do you think?

I got to ask: Why hunker
down in the cafeteria, man?

I-I was gonna get away.
I was gonna sneak out

in a food delivery
truck on Monday night.

- And I almost made it.
- That's five stars.

You were in sepsis with
a lacerated G.I. tract.

You were never gonna make it.

WILLOWS: You owe us your life.

And some answers. Start
from the beginning.

- The beginning of what?
- You started working for Tarquenio.

I-It started... with his
"donation" for our gym.

He gave us $13 million for that project,

but it was contingent on
his construction company

doing the work, for
a fee of $13 million.

He was laundering his dirty
money through the school,

and you helped him.

FINADO: You got in bed with a drug lord.

Never stopped passing yourself off

as an educator, though, a-a scientist.

I was looking for a way out.

Then you folks came around,
you started asking questions.

Why did Tarquenio target you?

[SCOFFS]

Because...

I knew what he did to Dean Moren.

She made the mistake of
turning his donation down.

Mr. Tarquenio did not like that.

Which is why he
finished her off himself.

Can you prove that?

I might be able to tell
you more details if...

witness protection is on the table.

For an accomplice in a homicide?

Oh, dream on.

You mixed up the chromic
acid for him, didn't you?

I wasn't there when he used it, I swear.

I just made the juice.

If you want our help, you got
to give us something concrete.

Something that ties Tarquenio
to Dean Moren's m*rder.

The boat, the container

that was stolen from
the old crime scene.

Something!

I wasn't there.

But Tarquenio did hurt himself

when he was... melting her.

The next day he had a bandage

on his hand and he still
has a scar from that.

There was a keloid scar
on Tarquenio's hand.

Keloids are caused by the
buildup of excess collagen.

- Right?
- Yeah, and sometimes

they're formed around
a foreign contaminant.

Did you ever get a
medical warrant, Beau?

[LAUGHS SOFTLY]

TARQUENIO: Ow!

WILLOWS: Ow. You okay?

You could just tell us
how you got the scar.

Why it never healed properly.

Why you didn't have a
doctor take a look at it.

Go to hell, Willows.

Or better yet,

you could just explain what
really happened to Dean Moren.

Here goes nothing.

♪ ♪

You flooded this city
with fentanyl and heroin.

You don't have any proof.

You sent someone to a
crime scene five years ago,

and had a good man k*lled.

You've never had any proof.

You ordered Jeanette Folsom's m*rder.

None.

You're right. I can't prove any of that.

Because...

you've always kept your hands clean.

Until you didn't.

- I hurt my hand in a panini press.
- Oh, yeah?

Was it a steak sandwich?

Because there was a bone in there.

When chromic acid goes to work

on the calcium phosphate in bone,

you get jagged little
chunks that dissolve

until there's nothing left.

Unless they don't stay in the solution.

You've been carrying around
a damning little piece

of Dean Moren in your scar

for years.

And I can prove that.

[WINCES]

I was just saying it the other day.

Sometimes it's not business.

Sometimes it is personal.

And I got to tell you,

this one

feels damn good.

How did, uh... ?

It's over, Josh.

It's over.

The blood on the photo
belonged to Folsom's mother?

It'll be interesting to see how
the review board interprets it.

Well, I can make one prediction.

They won't.

They'll ask you to interpret it.

Wait, what?!

They want you to testify.

You know the science.

You know the man.

They want me to put
a nail in his coffin.

They want you to do your job.

I can't believe...

I'm sorry. I really am.

Yeah.

Yeah.

[DOOR OPENS]

[KNOCKING ECHOES]

Yeah?

- Max?
- Yeah?

- Are you doing okay?
- Yeah, I'm fine. What is it?

It's just...

Did you ask everyone how the
partnerships were working out?

It might have come up.

I don't understand.

Why can't you just
trust me with my idea?

ROBY: Because of this.

In my time of running this lab,

I have had exactly one CSI

who permanently partnered with anybody.

Folsom, he chose you.

And I cannot help but notice that

he is the only one

who stopped being accountable to me.

Those two things are
completely unrelated.

Have you ever accidentally

started a fire in a lab?

I have, yeah.

I think everyone probably has.

The most important

type of chemistry in this lab

is between people.

They bond.

They break apart.

And they are just as combustible.

You put them over an open flame,

you better keep an eye on them.

[KNOCKING]

Mm.

Hey.

Hey.

[LAUGHS]

You're already ready for bed?

I want to get to sleep early.

I got the review board at


I-I'm probably not staying.

Um...

I couldn't tell you this before.

And then it was never the right time.

Tell me what?

[SIGHS]

I didn't just land at CSI, Josh.

I was assigned to the lab

to monitor things after the David
Hodges investigation for Nora Cross.

I just wanted you to know.

Why are you telling me this now?

Maybe if we'd both been more open,

it'd be different,

but things haven't been
right between us for a while.

And I know a part of you
will never forgive me.

But I think we both
know this isn't working.

"This isn't working"? Yeah. I mean,

but was it ever working,
or was it always just work?

That's not fair. [STAMMERS]

This was real.

Um... tomorrow's a big day.

And I still completely support you.

I mean it.

Yeah, uh, thanks.

I think I'm probably

better off alone.

Mm-hmm.