CSI: Who And What (Episode 806)

It's all fun and games until someone breaks a hip.
Many thanks to the fabulous Nova A, who filled in for me last week while I was celebrating my birthday. I admit I'm a little sorry I didn't get to recap Catherine being hit on by a (let's be honest here, totally hot) dwarf, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that she'd take good care of my baby. Well, with that and a couple few dozen beers.

Anyway, on to the CSI/WITHOUT A TRACE CROSSOVER SWEEPS EVENT. Are you peeing-your-pants excited? Well, settle down, go take a potty break, then come back to read the recap. Nobody likes a wet computer chair. We kick off with a slightly drunk woman (shout out!) playing a game with a young boy. No, not a Mary Kay Letourneau type of game. Get your mind out of the gutter. I mean a real kid's game with dice and stuff. The kid wins and she asks if he wants to play another, but he sulkily declines so she takes her glass of wine and heads off to the bathroom while the kid turns on the TV. The woman settles into the bathtub and relaxes, listening to the train rattling by outside, but a thump makes her sit up. The bathroom door creaks open, a bloody hand reaches through, and the woman screams as the intruder beats the ever-loving shit out of her. Blood flies everywhere and it's not the most graphic thing ever seen on this show, but it comes pretty damn close.

Later, Grissom arrives at the scene and he's puzzled to see SuperDave hanging around outside, and even more puzzled when he goes inside, sees the bodies of the kid and the woman, and Greg is just sitting there. Grissom's all, "WTF?" and Greg is all, "Beats me," and Catherine explains that the FBI called and ordered them to leave the bodies where they are until an agent arrives, because the case may be connected to one of theirs. Grissom wonders why it's taking six hours for an agent to get to the house from their HQ on the Strip but Catherine can't answer that for him. Just then, the house starts to rattle, like it did when the train went by, but this time it's a helicopter. It unloads Special Agent Jack Malone, who is greeted by Brass. Brass tells him that the woman has been identified as Carmen Davis but she had no known children and the boy hasn't been identified. Jack goes into the house and, completely ignoring Grissom, Catherine, and Greg, turns over the kid's body and stares at his face. Grissom is all, "Um...what's up?" and Jack shows him a picture of a young boy who was kidnapped six years ago, his babysitter killed in the process. The killer/kidnapper left a bloody palm print behind like the one found at the current scene. Catherine points out that kids change a lot in six years and the dead kid may not be Jack's missing kid. Grissom agrees and says DNA will prove if it's the same kid, but either way it looks like the killer came to Vegas.

SuperDave estimates time of death as about 24 hours ago and says the kid died from hitting his head on the coffee table. Jack assumes he was slammed into the table and Grissom objects, saying they don't know that for sure yet. Catherine decides to defuse the tension between the two men and shares what they do know about the case so far. She says the boy likely didn't live at the house, since there's a sleeping bag on the couch, and takes him into the kitchen where Greg explains that the killer only took the cash from Carmen's wallet but left the credit cards and ID stacked on the counter, wiped clean. Jack says that's more information than he's ever had before and explains that six years ago the killer used a baseball bat and took it with him. Catherine says it looks like the killer used a hammer this time and shows him the wounds on Carmen's body. Carmen was also covered, which the babysitter was not, and there were no signs of forced entry, indicating the killer knew Carmen and the kid. Catherine thinks the killer was staying with the kid at the house, showing Jack three toothbrushes, two of them in travel cases. SuperDave announces he's ready to transport the boy's body and Jack turns to go with him, telling Catherine that Quantico is backed up so he'll be working with the CSIs on the case in Las Vegas.

Morgue. Doc Robbins tells Catherine that Carmen's COD was multiple blunt force trauma, and she was also raped. She takes the rape kit up to DNA. On another table, Grissom examines the boy's body and tells Jack that there are no birthmarks. Jack says his kidnappee didn't have any either, so now the only thing to do is wait for the DNA test. Grissom thinks since they have to wait, it might be a good time for Jack to brief the CSIs on the original case. Up in the conference room, Jack explains that four-year-old Jason Taylor was at his babysitter's apartment when someone broke in, bludgeoned the babysitter to death, then kidnapped Jason. Nicky asks why the kidnapper would kill Jason after six years, and Catherine explains that a ten-year-old is not as manageable as a four-year-old. Nicky also notes that Jason was adopted and Jack says that his adoptive parents didn't know who Jason's birth parents were, and they also got no ransom demand or had any other contact with the kidnapper. Grissom suggests that the kidnapping didn't have a reason behind it and Jack snaps that most kidnapped kids are taken by someone they know. Logically, Grissom points out that "most" does not mean "all" and that some things are random. Jack asks if he's ever had to tell that to the parents of a missing child and Grissom, with a nice nod to continuity, says he has, but doesn't have a response when Jack wants to know how that worked out for him. Catherine, Nicky and Warrick look back and forth between the two, silently wondering, "Do you two need a room?" I'm predicting a lot of Grissom/Jack slash fic after this CROSSOVER SWEEPS EVENT.

Back at Carmen's house, Greg shows Nicky and Warrick an empty jewelry box, speculating that the killer took the jewelry with him. Nicky bolsters this theory, pointing out that Carmen's wearing jewelry in all of her pictures, but had none on her body. Warrick finds a receipt for the Planet Hollywood casino and online poker bookmarks on the computer and thinks Carmen's other houseguest is a gambler. Later, Jack, Warrick and the cops scour the casino looking for their likely suspect. One furtive-looking dude keeps trying to hide his face, which is stupid because it just makes him stand out even more. Warrick focuses in on him so the guy, obviously not the sharpest crayon in the box, takes off running. Warrick chases him while Jack looks around, then heads in another direction. The guy runs through the casino, looking back to watch his pursuit, so he totally misses it when Jack steps out and knocks him out cold with an elbow to the face. HOT. I think I may have rewound that moment about 15 times.

Interrogation. Warrick prints the suspect, Tom Michaels, then hands him over to Jack for questioning. Tom starts to confess but, from the very start, it's pretty obvious that Tom is confessing to something different than the murders of Carmen and the kid, although Jack doesn't pick up on that. Tom gets more and more confused while Jack gets more and more frustrated, until Jack finally loses his shit and slams Tom into the table, knocking a folder off the table where out falls a picture of the dead kid. Brass rushes in and pull Jack off, Brass angrily telling Jack that his tactics are unacceptable in his station. However, the possible brawl is brought to a screeching halt when a stunned and devastated Tom says that the kid is his son, Evan. The show kind screws the pooch here, though, because the kid was supposed to be unidentified until Tom sees the picture, but right at the bottom of the photo is a label reading, "Victim: Michaels, Evan." SMOOTH ONE, DOOFUSES.

Anyway, later, Jack finds Grissom and tells him that Tom stole $10,000 from the Mormon church and came to Vegas intending to win it all back and more in a poker game. He brought Evan with him and left him with Carmen, an ex-girlfriend, while he gambled. Grissom adds that Tom's palm print doesn't match the ones found at either crime scene. Wendy joins them and shows them the DNA results. She says Evan is not Jason Taylor, but she did find a sample from Carmen's rapist that matches two unsolved rape-murders. Jack kind of pushes Wendy to the side and starts typing on her computer. Wendy shoots Grissom a look and he looks back all, "Just humor him." Heh. Jack reads the unsolved case reports and notes that both victims had their faces covered like Carmen, but neither had kids, which breaks the pattern. Grissom suggests there isn't a pattern, but Jack says there's a lot of ground between New York and Las Vegas so there are probably other victims. Wendy says a lot of small towns don't have the resources to run DNA if they don't have a suspect and Jack, with a pointed look at Grissom, says there could still be a pattern, they just haven't found it yet.

Jack walks down the hall and Hodges, seeing him, rushes out to suck up. Hodges first tells Jack that a substance found on Evan is commercial grade fertilizer, which is too broad to be helpful, then he asks about job opportunities at the federal level. Jack advises him his opportunities are better where he is. And why is that? "The FBI has enough asskissers already." HEE! And what's more hilarious is that Hodges nods like, "Thanks for the tip." Jack continues on his journey through the lab and heads down to the morgue, looking for Tom Michaels. Robbins says he's saying goodbye to his son, then asks Jack if he has any kids and Jack says he has two daughters. Robbins leaves and Jack heads inside, looks at the grieving Tom for a moment, then offers an apology for attacking him earlier. Tom bitterly asks if he's worried about being sued, so Jack explains about the kidnapping case and says this is the closest he's been to the suspect. He promises to do whatever he can to find who killed Evan, but Tom isn't comforted by this.

Nicky and Brass have tracked down Carmen's missing jewelry to a pawn shop. The owner turns over the surveillance camera footage of the seller, but all Nicky can really see is a slender man in a baseball cap. The owner also says the seller asked for directions to the Tangiers, so Brass calls the casino and asks for the surveillance room. In the A/V lab, Jack and Archie watch the tapes and see their suspect gambling the money he earned from the jewelry, but he carefully keeps his face hidden from the camera. However, the logo on his baseball cap is visible and Archie zooms in on it until they can see it says "Hargrain Harvest." Jack remembers what Hodges said about the fertilizer and thinks the suspect may work on farms. Archie tells him he's got 12 hours of footage to go through and promises to call as soon as he finds anything.

Grissom's office. He tells Jack that he's called in additional techs to help Archie, but he's learned that it's better to go fast by going slow. Jack looks at Grissom like he's retarded, then replies that he's learned it's better to go faster by going fast. Annoyed, Grissom, in a very stern tone like he's talking to a five-year-old, advises Jack to go back to his hotel and take a nap. Heh. Jack peers around at Grissom's office and asks if all of the weird stuff is really his, or if Grissom is being punished by having to share his space with leftover experiments. Grissom, affronted, demands to know what's wrong with his office. He shows Jack a jar with an irradiated fetal pig and says he used it to test the effects of radiation on tissue. Jack asks why and Grissom replies, "For fun. DUH." The "DUH" is implied. Very, very strongly implied. Hee. Before the two can literally whip out their dicks to measure who's bigger, Sara walks in calling Grissom "Gil" then she notices Jack and apologizes for interrupting. Grissom waves off her apology, pleased to see her because he can show off his totally hot and brilliant fiancee to Jack. He introduces Jack to Sara, who says she heard the abduction case is now a serial murder, and Jack shoots a look at Grissom but doesn't confirm anything. Sara's all, "Whatevs, Mr. Surlypants," then turns back to Grissom and tells him she picked up "Hank" and took him to the sitter. HA! How much do I love that either Sara or Grissom or both named the dog after Sara's cheating ex-boyfriend? MADE OF WIN. Anyway, Sara departs with Grissom telling her "I'll see you when I see you naked." The second she's gone, Jack shares that he's had some experience dating in the workplace and Grissom, echoing Jack from earlier, asks how that's working out for him. "Undetermined," Jack admits.

Out in some suburb, kids play soccer in the street. The ball rolls down a ditch and a kid chases it, but is stopped short when he sees a bloody and battered man trying to crawl up the hill. The man reaches out a hand, begging for help. Later, Sara and a swing shift detective enter the man's house. The detective exposits that the man's wife didn't answer the phone, and tells Sara to wait by the door until he clears the house. In front of the couch, the bludgeoned body of the wife is found on the floor, covered like Carmen Davis and the other unsolved rape-murder victims. Sara looks like she's going to barf, but she's too much of a professional to make a mess in the crime scene.

Later, Grissom and Robbins are at the scene and Grissom holds up a bloody hammer, which Robbins confirms is the likely murder weapon. Grissom thinks it's the same hammer missing from Carmen's house and Robbins wants to know why the killer took the weapon from one scene, used it at a second, then left it. Sara, dusting a gun case, says the killer probably found something better: the gun is missing. The killer also took the cash and stacked the credit cards and IDs like at Carmen's house. Robbins tells them he heard the husband died at the hospital and says the killer was there a while, because the wife was killed several hours before the husband. Sara looks sick again as she realizes that the husband was still alive while his wife was being raped and murdered. She leaves and Grissom, seeing her distress, follows her outside and asks if she's okay. She says she doesn't know and, fighting back tears, asks how the victims were chosen. Grissom can't answer that, only knowing that killer picks victims with no security system or dogs, but otherwise the victims are chosen randomly. Sara, unable to hear anymore, walks away and Grissom watches her go, looking worried and helpless. Oh, my poor Sara. This is killing me, y'all.

Grissom hears a train whistle and, getting an idea, walks down to the tracks behind the victims' house. He gets a call and it's Jack, who asks if he's at the house. Grissom explains he's by the tracks and says there were also train tracks by Carmen's house. Jack doesn't get the signifigance so Grissom tells him that freight trains carry commercial fertilizer. He thinks the killer is riding the rails.

Back at the lab, Grissom, Catherine and Jack go over a railroad map and determine that all of the killings took place within a mile of an active spur. Catherine has also gone through the records of similar unsolved cases near spurs and found at least a dozen. She says Jack has the authority to shut down the Nevada rails but he insists he won't do that without a face. Down in the A/V lab, Archie and Nicky continue to go through the Tangiers footage and see that once the suspect runs out of money, he starts chatting up the waitresses. When he gets up to leave, he stops to look at a poster of a cocktail waitress advertising another casino outside the town where the two latest murders happened. They see that he calls information and Nicky makes some calls and finds out that he was trying to get the number of Gina Farentino, the waitress on the poster. Her number is unlisted, which causes the killer to angrily smash the phone into the cradle, but Nicky tells Archie that the killer knows where she works.

At the casino, Gina's boss tells Jack and Nicky (which I just accidentally typed as "Nack and Jicky") that it's Gina's day off and she's probably at home. Jack says he checked and she's not there and the boss says she hasn't seen Gina since the previous day. Nicky shows her the surveillance photos of the suspect and she peers at them, then says she thinks he was playing slots when Gina was there. He won a jackpot and tried to chat up Gina, but she brushed him off and left early, saying she wasn't feeling well. The suspect cashed out and left minutes later and Nicky says he'll need to see his tax forms. At the counter, Jack wonders if there's anything useful on the form since the suspect likely faked all of the information and used a fake ID, but Nicky triumphantly finds a clear fingerprint. "Can't fake one of those."

On a desert highway, a state trooper pulls over a car and dispatch tells him the owner is Gina Farentino and there are no warrants on the car or Gina. He gets out and walks over, waving to someone in the passenger seat, then asks the driver for a license and registration. Instead, he gets shot four times and the car races off. Later, Jack and Grissom are out at the scene and Grissom says the bullets are .45 caliber, from the same type of gun as the one taken from the couple's house. Catherine calls and says she's got a hit on the print Nicky lifted. Their suspect is Terry Wicker, who served time for robbery and was released four months before Jason Taylor was kidnapped six years ago. Also, when he went to prison, he was married to Gina Farentino. Grissom asks her to look at the map and find the closest railroad spur to their location. She does and says it's about sixteen miles away.

At the railroad, the cops converge on Gina's car, which is empty. A worker asks what's going on, saying he called a tow company earlier to get rid of the car, but he didn't see who parked it there. Jack notices a passenger train slowly moving out and asks where it's going and if it can be stopped. The answers are Chicago and bitch are you kidding, respectively. Jack and Grissom take off after the train and, god help me, I think Billy Petersen is sexy as hell and Anthony LaPaglia ain't too shabby either, but I laughed hysterically at watching these two middle-aged dudes hauling ass after a moving train. When they finally got aboard, I seriously expected them to be wheezing and clutching their chests. Heh. Anyway, they head down the aisle, looking at the passengers, until they see the baseball cap their suspect has been wearing. But when Jack jerks the man around, of course it's not Terry Wicker. The dude, obviously a hobo, admits he doesn't have a ticket and that Wicker paid him to wear his cap and get on the train. Jack and Grissom: "FUCKITY!"

They head back out to Gina's car and open the trunk, where Gina's body is stuffed inside. Grissom gets a call from Brass, who says the police got a call from the school where Gina's son, Kobe, went, saying Gina was supposed to pick up her son and never showed. Instead, a man fitting Wicker's description picked up Kobe in Gina's car and Kobe seemed to know the man. Grissom remembers from the footage of the trooper being shot that the officer waved at someone in the car. Since it wasn't Gina, who was dead in the trunk, it must have been Kobe. Grissom and Jack realize that Wicker tracked down his ex-wife and son for a family reunion.

A bus drives down the highway and, inside, Terry Wicker sings "The Wheels On The Bus" to Kobe, who is beside him, sleeping rather heavily for a kid who saw the man with him murder a state trooper and, likely, his mother as well.

Stay tuned for the conclusion to this CROSSOVER SWEEPS EVENT when Jane St. Clair brings you the Without A Trace recap.

Next week: We all know what's coming. *sigh*