Paper Or Plastic
Rating 35
Grissom confronts a nemesis on the police force when he probes an officer's role in a shooting spree inside a small grocery store that left five people dead. The same cop had threatened Grissom after Gil investigated LVPD involvement in a homicide. In the current case, the officer claims he gunned down two robbers and shot at a third masked suspect, but there is no evidence that a third thief was present. There is evidence, however, that a bullet from the cop's gun killed an innocent shopper.
Gil, Catherine and Warrick carry their kits, heading towards the supermarket.
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
Mr. Reed: "Get out of my way! I've got to get in there! What the hell is wrong with you people? My wife is still in there! Why isn't anybody helping my wife?!"
Officer: "We're doing the best we can, sir. ..."
Mr. Reed: "Please!"
Brass talks to Gil, Catherine and Warrick.
Brass: "Body count's five."
Gil looks around and notices Officer Fromansky sitting with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, then walks with the rest of the group into the store.
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
Brass enters the store first, followed by Catherine, Warrick and Gil.
Brass: "Officer Clay entered the store unaware of a robbery that was in progress. Officer Fromansky came in after he heard a shot fired. Engaged two suspects. Lit the place up. The ski masks are John Does. The rest have wallet IDs. Woman at the back is Julia Reed, cocktail waitress at the Tangiers. Man on aisle four is Rufus Sanders, cab driver."
Warrick: "How you want us to handle this, Grissom?"
Gil: "Same way you'd eat an elephant ... one bite at a time."
Gil looks around, noticing blood drops on the floor leading under a table. He slowly makes his way towards the table.
Gil: "Hey, Jim ... did you know that Charles Manson is only 5'2"?"
Brass: "Yeah, little guys tend to overcompensate."
Gil: "Do you remember the, uh, story about ... how and where the marshals found old Charlie when they raided barker ranch?"
Brass: "Yeah. I always, uh ..."
Brass pulls out his gun, quietly... inching closer to the table with Gil.
Brass: "I always liked that story."
Brass kneels down, gun aimed. Gil reaches for the cloth and quickly pulls it aside the cloth and reveals a young boy, curled on his side and bleeding.
Gil: "We need a medic!"
Gil: "AFIS hits on our suspects, both just recently released from five-year sentences at Lompoc."
Dr. Robbins: "California boys."
Gil: "Born and raised."
Dr. Robbins: "Okay. Let's do this. Officer Clay was killed by a single close-range shotgun blast to the back of the head. Excessive penetration and laceration of the brain. Suspect Clyde Tremmel ..."
Gil: "The tec-9 guy."
Dr. Robbins: "Two distant-range, medium-caliber gunshot wounds to the front of the chest, with penetration of the lung and heart."
Catherine enters the room and listens to the two of them talking.
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
Dr. Robbins: "Suspect Jack Delver ..."
Gil: "Shotgun guy."
Dr. Robbins: "One distant-range, medium-caliber gunshot wound to the forehead. The bullet penetrated the brain and was recovered in the occipital lobe. Rufus Sanders, bystander ... five scattered buckshot perforations on the outer thigh. One severed the femoral artery, resulting in massive hemorrhage. And Julia Reed, cocktail waitress. Single medium-caliber gunshot wound to the left chest. The bullet perforated the lung and thoracic aorta, then perforated the opposite lung. And that's it."
Gil: "Thanks, Doc."
Catherine stares at the photo of Julia Reed.
Dr. Robbins: "Catherine, something bothering you?"
Catherine: "A little."
Warrick: "Hallickey's got no connection to the grocery store. He was just the wheel man. Even, still, he's looking at four counts of felony murder. But he's not talking. He lawyered up."
Gil: "We got a bullet hole in a jacket. That's not even enough to prove that he was in the store."
Catherine: "What about the cash?"
Warrick: "It wasn't in his apartment. Maybe somebody else took it."
Catherine: "Almost $900 in small bills? We'd have noticed pockets bulging with a wad like that."
Gil: "What about the calls from the grocery store to the suspect's cell? That could have been somebody giving the 'go' signal."
Warrick: "There's no way to tell who. The store runs off of an old PBX system, and every call that comes in goes back to the same number. Every employee was near a phone, so, it could have been anybody."
Nick: "Hey, y'all. Ran the criminal records for the employees. Came up with a Raul Valdez. Freight loader. He clocked in for work that night. Never clocked out."
Catherine: "No one by that name interviewed at the scene?"
Nick: "Here's the kicker. A few years ago, he spent some time in prison. Lompoc. So, Brass is trying to find him now."
Impressions, Bits of Insight and the Pics that Don't Fit
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller
photo courtesy of CSI Storyteller