CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Two people walk towards a house, jump over the fence and break in. As they walk through the house, they talk about the fact that the house is a dump, but how they've heard that the woman is loaded, but they're worried that someone beat them to it. They see a chair propped up against the closet door, then hear sirens outside. They're arrested. Warrick and Grissom dust the chair and door for prints, and only find smudges on the chair, but there's one print on the door handle. They open the closet door, and inside is the mummified body of the homeowner, Mrs. Foster.

Warrick clears the mail from in front of the door and notes that there's about four week's worth. Grissom notes blood and scratches on the inside of the closet door, and the woman's fingers are damaged, which means that she was alive when she was put in the closet, and tried to claw her way out. Brass talks to one of the would-be robbers, who tells him that he and his buddy had heard she had money, but they didn't touch anything inside, because there was nothing in there left to touch.

Warrick finds food in the kitchen, tea and cake, and figures that the robber was a crack-head who stopped for a snack on his way out. Grissom examines the inside of the closet, and imagines how it must have been for the woman.

Dr. Robbins tells Grissom that there are no apparent injuries other than to the victim's hands, and suggests that the person who did this probably didn't want her to die, but just assumed that someone would find her. Grissom says that the woman had no relatives other than a nephew, whom they're looking for. He tells Dr. Robbins that he wants a dental impression from the woman; Dr. Robbins removes her dentures and gives them to Grissom.

Catherine arrives at a house where there's been a report of gun shots fired. She examines the gun, and finds a small piece of red material caught in it. She speaks to Mrs. Timmel and her young son, Nathan, who found the gun in the garden and fired it, but isn't hurt.

Brass and Grissom wait for Mrs. Foster's nephew who apologizes for being late, but says he got lost. He wants to identify the body; they warn him that it won't be pleasant, but he insists. When he sees the body, he begins to freak out, saying that it's not his aunt, then saying that the body just moved. Grissom says that he's high, and Brass tells him that they'd like him to stay.

Brass and Grissom interview the nephew, who tells them that he's living at the YMCA and is unemployed. Brass mentions that he was arrested two years ago for stealing his aunt's necklace, but he points out that she dropped the charges. Grissom asks if he gets the munchies when he's high, and if he likes chocolate cake, then asks for a dental impression.

Catherine has the gun tested, and the lab tech matches the bullets to a murder committed in a nearby park last week. The victim was Frank Maddox, a bounty hunter.

Warrick has Greg get fingerprints from the mummified fingers of Mrs. Foster, so that they can rule her out for the fingerprint on the closet door knob. Sara and Nick head out to a report of a break and enter.

At the house, Mr. Kirkwood answers the door and apologetically tells them that there's been a misunderstanding; his daughter had a party that got a bit out of hand. Sara sees the daughter inside, and she's crying. They leave, Sara gets in her car and the daughter is in the back seat; she tells Sara that she needs to go to the hospital. She won't tell Sara what happened, so Sara tells the nurse that she wants full body pictures; if the girl won't talk, the rape kit will have to talk for her.

Greg brings the prints to Grissom, who comments that Warrick is getting sloppy. Grissom is making a dental impression from the cake found at Mrs. Foster's.

Sara and Nick tell Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood that their daughter has been raped. They have a warrant and want to search the house; they also want a list of everyone who was at the party. They search the rooms; Nick finds a picture with broken glass in the frame and a nick on the table and a loose closet door knob. He dusts the table and then puts it up under the closet door handle, it fits. In the closet he finds blood.

Grissom, Sara, Nick, and Warrick go over their crimes, and wonder if it's the same criminal.

Catherine and O'Reily go to Laslow Park, where the bounty hunter died. He was there at 2 a.m., and someone shot him. She wonders how the gun ended up across town, O'Reily says that it's a drive and dump, but Catherine doesn't think so.

Nick and Warrick have the finger print tech try to match the prints from the two scenes. Sara goes over the photos from the rape kit and notes bite marks; the tech matches the prints; Grissom gets a bite mark impression from the cake; Sara comments that the bite on the girl came from behind. Sara seems upset. Grissom notes that the bite on the cake and the one on the girl are the same. Nick comes in and tells them that the print belongs to Steve Jansson. They interview him; Brass says it's strike 2 and 3 for him, explaining that Madeline Foster is strike 2 and the Kirkwoods are strike 3. Jansson admits that he does odd jobs at both houses. Sara takes a bite impression from him.

Catherine watches a tape of the bounty hunter saying that he was going to get Durango; she tells Warrick that someone else caught Durango, and after that, Maddox's career pretty much went south. She suggests that the shooting might be a suicide, noting some oddities in the crime photos. There's just one problem: how did the gun end up on the other side of town? Warrick suggests that someone took it, and then he asks about the red material. Catherine tells him that it was caught in the scope, and that it's ribbon for wrapping presents. She has a sudden idea, and goes to test the weight of the gun, then fills a bag with sand until it's the same weight.

Brass says that Mr. Kirkwood wouldn't confirm or deny Jansson's handyman story. Sara and Greg tell Grissom that the semen from the rape isn't from Jansson and so maybe he had a partner. Grissom goes to the Kirkwood home, and wants Mr. Kirkwood to speak for the victim who can't. He tells Mr. Kirkwood that they know that two men broke into the house, and that they have one in custody, but need his help in order to get the other. Mr. Kirkwood says that he can't help Grissom.

At the lab, Nick , Sara and Warrick go through garbage from the Kirkwood's house. Warrick notices a bag from the same restaurant that the cake in Mrs. Foster's home came from. Nick notes that single women dining alone would make an easy target. Brass goes to the restaurant and talks to a waiter there; he says that he knows the Kirkwoods, but on Thursday, he was busy being best man at his friend's wedding. Warrick comments that a clean-cut guy like he is wouldn't hang out with Jansson.

At the park, Catherine talks to the balloon seller, who says that he's there seven days a week. She shows him a picture of Maddox; he recognizes him and says that Maddox was there and bought four 'big reds.' Catherine buys the same, and ties her bag of sand to them, then lets it go. It floats off into the distance.

Warrick, Sara, Nick, and Grissom go over Steve Janson's life, and match his life to the people who work at the restaurant. They come up with one person who went to school with him and also was in the same juvenile correctional center that Jansson was: Kelly James.

Suzanna Kirkwood comes in to view a line-up on Kelly James. Sara tells her that she's glad that she came in. Suzanna tells Sara that she and her boyfriend had been talking about having sex, but she'd said no because she was afraid that her parents would find out. Grissom talks to Mr. Kirkwood, and apologizes to him, saying that the other day, when Mr. Kirkwood had said he couldn't help, Grissom had thought he meant that he wouldn't. Mr. Kirkwood says he never got a look at the guy; and that now that his daughter is 16, he'd only had two jobs left: teaching her to think for herself and keeping her safe. In the line-up room, Brass explains to Suzanna how the line-up works. Suzanna says that he already knows that it's her. They bring the men in. Mr. Kirkwood tells Grissom that it was like part of his brain was missing; that he had a plan in case of a home invasion, but when it actually happened, he froze. In the line up room, suspect number four, Kelly James, steps forward. From Suzanna's reaction, it's obvious that this is the man who raped her. Mr. Kirkwood tells Grissom about putting child-proof locks on the doors, because, as his wife said, the least they could do was keep their daughter safe in her own home. Grissom tells him that he didn't do anything wrong. Suzanna comes out crying, and leaves with her father. Brass and Sara tell Grissom that she didn't do it, she didn't identify Kelly James. They have enough to hold Jansson, but not James.

Catherine tells Warrick that she heard about the case, then tells him about her case and they go for a walk. She tells him that Maddox had lost his reputation, and the only thing left to him was to die with his boots on. She says that he shot himself, and had the gun tied to the balloons, so that once he'd been shot, the gun would just float away. The only problem was that the balloons caught on a tree in the Timmel's yard; they broke and the gun fell. She comments that the Timmels moved her to get away from crime, and now they have guns falling from the sky.

Grissom is in his office; Brass tells him to get his kit. They go to the Kirkwood house where Suzanna is lying dead in the driveway. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood are there, crying; neighbors are looking on. Sara is also there, and is upset. She leaves the scene, and sits in her car, crying.