Rating
The overwhelming amount of blood evidence in the case leads Grissom and his team to discover several revealing secrets within this "typical" American marriage -- secrets of adultery, blackmail and a biting fetish that may have ultimately contributed to the housewife's death.
photo courtesy of Erica
photo courtesy of Erica
photo courtesy of Erica
photo courtesy of Erica
David Phillips (CC says "Hodges"): "It's like the Red Sea in here."
Gil: "The Red Sea's not red, David."
David: "No, it's blue from afar, transparent when held in hand, like any other body of water. I was just speaking figuratively."
Catherine: "I'm assuming those boot prints aren't yours."
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David: "Please, I was just waiting for you guys to clear a path. Blame the paramedics."
Gil: "This girl's head and spine are perfectly aligned."
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photo courtesy of Erica
Catherine: "Yeah, when you fall down the stairs, your head tends to go in one direction, your body in another."
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Brass: "I'll take a statement from the husband and the paramedics; see if she was moved."
David: "You know, twice as many people die each year from falling down stairs than from accidental gunfire."
Brass: "You didn't just get back from one of those coroner's conferences, did you?"
(Gil looks toward the top of the stairs.)
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Catherine: (Looks at Gil.) "What are you thinking?"
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Gil: "Led Zeppelin...(They look at the body) 'Stairway to Heaven.'"
Gil: "Becky Lester. Catherine and I got here half an hour after her husband called 911."
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Catherine: "Edges of the blood pools were already dry. The pools themselves were tacky."
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Nick: "Which means she'd been down here at least an hour or two before you guys even got here."
Sara: "Why did the husband wait so long to call?"
Catherine: "Good question."
Gil: "Coroner won't touch the body till Catherine and I are done processing around it, so, Sara, would you please go up the front stairs and work your way down the back stairs."
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Sara: "You got it."
Gil: "Warrick, could you process the blood evidence from the front door to the back stairwell? And if you'll notice, she doesn't have any blood on her feet."
Warrick: "So I can assume those bloody footprints aren't hers."
Gil: "Nick, Brass is in the study with the husband, and he's waiting for you."
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photo courtesy of Erica
photo courtesy of Erica
Catherine: "Hey, Grissom. Spatter on the wall doesn't exceed 18 inches."
Gil: "Well, that's consistent with the fall."
(Flashback of Becky falling down the stairs.)
Sara: "Guys, if she fell, even if she was pushed down these stairs, I would expect to find smudge marks on these walls."
Catherine: "Yeah, she would've instinctively reached out for leverage."
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Sara: "There are none. Not to mention, that if she was up here before she was down there...she should've landed head first. (Flashback.) The body position is inconsistent with the fall."
Catherine: "Well, it's inconsistent if she fell down the stairs. Maybe she fell up. (Flashback.)"
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photo courtesy of Erica
Sara: "Catherine, can I borrow your micrometer? (Sara gets it and looks at the spatter on the wall.) Blood spatter measures 2 millimeters."
Gil: "Medium spatter. Suggests impact with a blunt object. (Flashback.)"
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Sara: "But if she was hit, where's the cast off?"
Gil: (Looks at the ceiling.) "It is a low ceiling. Pretty hard to swing a weapon."
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photo courtesy of Erica
Catherine: "Sometimes first blush give you a head rush."
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photo courtesy of Erica
Warrick: "The yellow markers denote the paramedics boot prints. (Flashback.)"
Catherine: "And what about this here, on the counter?"
Warrick: "It's a single blood drop. I'm thinking it's from when the husband reached for the phone."
Gil: "That's a good observation. What do you got in the bag?"
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Warrick: "This...is a bloody paper towel I found in the trash. It's too textured to print, but Sanders talked to the paramedics who confirmed it wasn't theirs. I'm thinking it was from the husband when he tried to clean up and saw how it wouldn't be too easy."
Catherine: "Lucky for us."
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Gil: "(Spits ketchup at the paper.)"
Catherine: "You want fries with that?"
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Gil: (Spits again) "Robbins said the vic bit her tongue. Theoretically, she could've expirated the blood on the wall, providing an alternative explanation for the medium velocity spatter. Do me a favor. (Holds up micrometer.) Check it out. (Winks at Catherine and motions toward the ketchup spatter on the paper.)"
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photo courtesy of Erica
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Catherine: (Sighs, but checks anyway.) "Well, it looks like 2 millimeters. Same as the blood at the scene. So, maybe it was just an accident."
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Gil: (as a voice over in a flashback) "As she tried to get up, she expirated blood on the wall. She failed to regain her footing, impacting her temple, (back to real time) and then she bounced on her occipital bone."
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Catherine: "So, we've got two theories, both supported by physical evidence."
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Gil: "Yeah, if we ever find a murder weapon, my theory's done."
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Catherine: "Well, I know that there was no blood found in the car, so it's unlikely that Ray took a drive to dispose of the weapon."
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Brass: "Hey. Ready for a quiz? Guess how Ray's first wife died."
Gil: "Wait. She had a stroke on a stairway. (Catherine and Brass look at him.) Robbins told me. Is that the autopsy report?"
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photo courtesy of Erica
Brass: "No, these are medical records. There was no autopsy. Jackie Lester had a heart condition. Three weeks before she died, she was admitted to the hospital with Vertigo. She ignored the doctor's warnings, didn't take her medication. Family physician pronounced it a stroke."
Catherine: "Well, if she wasn't cremated, it's not too late for a post-mortem examination."
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Brass: "Judge Witherspoon is issuing a court order for exhumation. Now, look, I just came from the DA. I gotta tell you, he's already made up his mind. I mean, husband and wife, home alone, all that blood, shaky alibi. Plus he says, 'He just looks guilty.'"
Gil: "How does one 'look' guilty?"
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Brass: "You know, I'm just the messenger. What do you think the chances are he didn't do it?"
Catherine: "Well, what do you think the chances are we're going to give you an answer before all the evidence is in?"
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(pick up mid-conversation with Gil and Ecklie in Gil's office.)
Ecklie: "You think he's guilty, right?"
Gil: "I don't think that yet."
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Catherine: (enters Gil's office.) "Oh, um, am I interrupting?"
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photo courtesy of Erica
Gil: "No."
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Catherine: "Brass just called with a heads up. Since when does the DA's office tell us when we're ready?"
Ecklie: (To Catherine) "When the case is high-profile and the DA is feeling heat from the sheriff. (To Gil) Look, you'll just walk him through the evidence. You won't bias your reports or skip anything ambiguous. It is what it is. If the DA wants to shoot his wad too early, we can't stop him."
Gil: "Okay."
(Ecklie looks at Catherine before he leaves the office.)
Catherine: "Sara and I may have uncovered motive. In the last 2 weeks, Ray filled out five loan applications. 200 G's a pop. All denied. With his wife dead, he is the beneficiary of a $250,000 policy."
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photo courtesy of Erica
Gil: "Huh. I wonder what he needed the money for."
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Gil: "For the record, I think you're filing prematurely."
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Jeffrey Sinclair: "As always, I value your opinion. But I'm confident in our decision to move forward. But, come on, Grissom, granted the first death was a natural--but two dead women married to the same guy found in a stairwell? Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice."
Gil: "Actually, it does. The Empire State Building gets struck 20 times a year."
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Ecklie: "Let's just run the case."
Catherine: "Sorry, I got held up."
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Gil: "No, you're just in time. Ms. Willows, would you bring Mr. Sinclair up to speed?"
Catherine: (She looks at all three men) "I'd be happy to. Ray and Becky Lester were unhappily married. She was having an affair with her boss, he was indulging his biting fetish. They were having financial problems. But Becky believed that Ray was hiding money. Two weeks ago, Ray received a blackmail note demanding 200 grand or the wife finds out about Bite Girl. Well, we have just confirmed that the blackmailer and the wife are one and the same."
Gil: "Based on what?"
Catherine: "The envelope of the ransom note. DNA was a match"
Sinclair: "The wife was blackmailing the husband?"
Catherine: (laughs) "Never underestimate the deviousness of a malcontented spouse."
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Sinclair: "He found out and he killed her."
Gil: "We don't have any evidence to support that."
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Sinclair: "Run the timeline."
Gil: "Couple got home around 10:00 p.m. They went outside and had some tequila. At 10:08, Ray's daughter from his first marriage phoned. Becky went inside to take the call."
Sinclair: "How long did they talk?"
Gil: "It's not in Brass's notes."
Catherine: "Well, I have the phone records here, so...Uh, the call lasted...two minutes?!"
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Ecklie: "I thought the husband told Nick it was a marathon call."
Catherine: "Yeah, I'm just seeing this for the first time here. Um...The incoming call did not come from the grandfather's house. (Opens her cell phone.) I'm gonna call this number. (Dials--"You've reached the home office of Ray Lester. Please leave your details after the beep.") Susan called her stepmother from inside the house."
Ecklie: "Did anybody process that office phone?"
Gil: "The office was away from the crime scene. We, uh, checked it for a murder weapon, but that's about it. I'll get an investigator over there. (To Sinclair) Unless you're in too much of a hurry."
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Gil: "You know, I guess this could explain why Becky's skull was lacerated and not fractured."
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Catherine: "She wasn't strong enough."
Susan: "My dad only married Becky because of me."
Brass: "Explain that to me."
Susan: "Well, he thought I needed a mom and that's why he stayed with her."
(Catherine and Gil are looking through the glass into the interrogation room.)
Catherine: "Blaming herself for the marriage."
Gil: "She doesn't seem to blame herself for ending it."
Brass: "You know, Susan, there was a bloody paper towel left in the trash. Can you tell me about that?"
Susan: (Flashback of Susan in the kitchen trying to wipe the blood off of the cane.) "I went into the kitchen. Tried to clean up. I put the phone back in my dad's office and I walked back to Grandpa's."
Brass: "Where was your father when you killed your stepmother?"
Susan: "He was (pauses) outside. Asleep."
(Catherine and Gil are looking through the glass into the interrogation room.)
Gil: "Did you catch that?"
Catherine: "Timeline is off."
Gil: "Curious. You want to talk to the dad and I'll call the DA?"
Catherine: "Sure."
Impressions, Bits of Insight and the Pics that Don't Fit
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