ACT FOUR

FADE IN:

EXT. CSI BUILDING - NIGHT

To establish.

INT. CSI - LAB - NIGHT

Catherine and Riley stand next to each other with the basket in front of them. They're putting on rubber gloves. Riley sniffs the air and then the basket. She frowns.

RILEY
How does the smell of death seem to
get into everything?

CATHERINE
I don't know, but the faster we get
this out of here, the happier the
rest of the lab will be with us.

Catherine takes the pouches on top that contain the sewing notions and scissors, leaving the cloth underneath for Riley. She unrolls a hand sewn scissor pouch

On the other side of the table is a roll of similar rope. Catherine pulls it over to her and with each scissor, cuts off a piece. The last cut is with a pair of fine pinking shears -- the cut is an exact match.

Riley pulls out a bundle of cloth. Right away she feels something about it isn't right. She pulls it back layer by layer, revealing a velvet-covered box. It is tied shut with a piece of ribbon. Riley unties the ribbon and lifts the lid. What's inside throws her off and for a moment she can just stare.

RILEY
The last straw.

Catherine looks at Riley, then down at the box. Inside is a small, lifeless, yellow canary. Its head is positioned unusual. Riley gently lifts the small corpse from its coffin and the head flops over the side of her hand. Catherine looks at the piece of rope in her hand.

CATHERINE
And we found what cut the noose.

Riley doesn't look up from the dead bird. Catherine stares at the matching rope cut. The evidence they've found doesn't make either of them happy.

INT. CSI - A.V. LAB - NIGHT

Nick sits with ARCHIE. Archie has just gotten the footage ON SCREEN. There are five different angles, some with better views of the habitat than others.

NICK
Can you tell what time this was shot?

Archie fiddles with toggles, knobs, and then the time code appears. Nick refers to his notes.

NICK
The call came in at 2:45am. The
witnesses said they thought it was
around 2:30am when they saw Ralph
with the body. Doc Robbins couldn't
get an exact time of death due to
the way she was murdered, so... It
had to be after everyone left.

ARCHIE
Which was?

Nick refers to his notes again.

NICK
The vets said everyone leaves
around 9pm. We'll have to look
from there.

Archie begins scrubbing the video to 9pm. He slows it down. Around the time stamp of 11pm, Nick sees something.

NICK
Stop.

He points at the screen.

NICK
Go back some. Here. On this one.

Archie does. The angle of the camera doesn't give a good view. All they can see is a sliver of a shadow on the habitat floor. Archie matches the time code of the other angles. He sees a small section of black.

ARCHIE
Here's something else.

NICK
Go forward. Slower.

Archie advances slower. Ralph appears suddenly and Archie stops, playing at normal speed. In several cameras they can see Ralph wander into view, looking toward the windows. He spins around, staring back into the cage. He rises up on his hind legs, appearing to be yelling, then charges back out of sight.

NICK
Aren't there any other angles that
are better?

ARCHIE
They sent another DVD-R. Let's see
what it has.

He switches out the DVD's. The angles on these cameras are different. One shows 3/4 of the bottom of Ralph's door. The other camera has a full view of another cage door and three or four bars of Ralph's cage. Nick points to these images.

NICK
These. Let me see these.

Archie finds the time stamp and starts playing it.

Like Ralph told Grissom, the door opens and he goes outside. In the next cage, the gorillas wake up and watch. Something liquid splatters out of Ralph's cage, getting his attention. He watches.

The men see a pair of human legs appear and hands with a bucket, dousing the edges of the cage. They disappear. Ralph charges at the cage door. The other gorillas are drawn to their cage doors.

Ralph grabs the bars and starts tugging on them. He's in an enraged frenzy. He goes along the wall, pauses and they can see his body shaking. He comes back and starts tugging on the bars again. The habitat doors on all the cages open. Ralph runs into his.

The other gorillas leave their cage. Ralph comes back into view carrying the parts of Takoda. He goes to the other gorillas, but they turn or run away from him. He finally sits down, doing something. Nick leans in.

NICK
What is he doing?

Archie knows and it makes him sick.

ARCHIE
He's trying to put her back
together. He... He doesn't
realize... He didn't know he
couldn't fix her.

Nick looks at Archie. He's watery eyed as he watches the footage. Nick looks back at the footage. Slowly it disturbs him to watch the magnificent creature brought to desperation, unable to comprehend what's happened to his friend.

INT. STEVE PERINSIKI PROPERTY - DAY

Perinski's home is on a large plot, a buffer home between residential and industrial. There's only a small patch of grass in front, the rest is dirt and sand. A patrol car and CSI SUV pull onto the property and park. They get out. The CSI carry field kits and cameras hang from their necks.

GRISSOM
Greg, let's start out here.
Whatever he tore her apart with
I assume was outside.

Greg looks at the nearby houses.

GREG
Do you think she was dead when he
tore her apart?

GRISSOM
Unconscious at the very least. The
houses are too close by. Someone
would have heard her if he'd tried
to dismember her while she was
unconscious

The two head toward a shed. Greg looks up and notices something. He stops walking.

GREG
Grissom... Does that pickup look
out of place?

Grissom stops, looking at an old, beat up pickup. There's a row of cars parked along the back privacy fence. The pickup is parked away from them.

GRISSOM
Yes it does.

They walk over to the pickup. Greg pulls on gloves and opens the door. He puts on infrared glasses and pulls out his luminescent light, sweeping the inside of the pickup.

Grissom reaches the back and stares. He sees what looks like blood on the tailgate and bumper. He crouches, setting his kit down. He pulls on gloves and pulls out a swab. He wets it and swipes it through the blood. The swab turns pink.

GRISSOM
Blood on the bumper and tailgate.
Let's see if it's human.

Grissom prepares to test the DNA. Greg steps back, staring at the pickup. He looks down at the ground and notices the dirt at the edge of the pickup looks darker.

He lays down on the ground, pulling out his flashlight, and shines it underneath. Grissom smiles when his test proves positive for human DNA.

GRISSOM
And it's human.

GREG
The ground under here is discolored.

Grissom gets up.

GRISSOM
Get a sample of the dirt. Then we
have to find our pig donor.

Greg starts to answer when they both hear what sounds like a pig. They turn, staring at the large shed behind them.

INT. PERINSIKI SHED - DAY

The two enter the shed and stop. On one side of the shed is a pen with four plump pigs. On the other side is a setup for slaughtering pigs. This area is full of convicting evidence.

Ropes hanging on a wall catch Greg's attention. They are soaked with blood but he's interested in the pieces of skin caught in the fibers of one. He pulls a piece of skin out, swabs blood from it and tests it for DNA. It tests positive for human.

Grissom walks over to investigate three bone saws. He tests the blood on them and one comes back positive with human DNA.

GRISSOM
I think the defense will have their
work cut out.

Greg smiles and nods.

INT. CSI - INTERVIEW ROOM B - NIGHT

Catherine and Riley are waiting in the room. A bulky envelope sits on the table next to Riley. Catherine has a folder under her hands. A policeman and orderly bring Guistina in and sit her in a chair across from them. She's still catatonic.

CATHERINE
Misses Wright, we'd like to ask you
about the night your husband
was murdered.

She's mute.

CATHERINE
Guistina, did you murder your husband?

She's still mute. Catherine pulls out a photo of the rope.

CATHERINE
Do you recognize this? Did you
murder him with this?

She gives Guistina time to respond but she never will.

CATHERINE
Misses Wright, you have to tell us
what happened the night your
husband died.

No response. Catherine slides another photo of Guistina's sewing basket in front of her. She doesn't respond to it.

CATHERINE
Is this your sewing basket? Is this
what you've been asking for? Why
did you want it?

No response. Catherine is getting frustrated.

RILEY
(quietly)
I think I know why you did it, Guistina.

Catherine looks at Riley. Her partner stares intensely at Guistina, but not in the angry way she has at other killers. Her heart is on her sleeve.

FLASH TO: WHITE

INT. WRIGHT TRAILER - NIGHT (RE-ENACTMENT)

GUISTINA is smiling, singing softly to her new pet. Her voice is that of an angel, not a single note off key or a beat missed. In the living room JOHN is watching TV. He keeps looking back, annoyed by her behavior. He suddenly gets up and storms into the kitchen. She instantly sobers, watching him.

JOHN
Get rid of it.

She stares at him, not sure she's understanding.

GUISTINA
What?

JOHN
Get rid of the damned bird.

The silence that follows is tense. She shakes her head.

GUISTINA
No.

JOHN
Get rid of it, or I will.

GUISTINA
I'm keeping it, John. I like the bird.

He grabs for the cage. The two fight, tearing up the kitchen. He slams her head against the refrigerator. It doesn't knock her unconscious, but it does daze her. He grabs the cage from the hook, tears the door open, and pulls out the bird. It squawks in his tight grip, struggling for freedom.

GUISTINA
No. John, no. Please. I'll give it
away. Don't hurt it.

He snaps the yellow bird's neck and tosses it to her feet.

JOHN
Now you don't have any reason to
sing. Clean up this mess.

John goes back to watching to TV. Guistina stares helplessly at the dead bird at her feet.

BACK TO SCENE

Catherine looks at her. Riley hasn't revealed this theory to her.

Riley gets up, carrying the envelope with her. She opens it and slides out the box, treating it like a valuable possession. She sets it down in front of Guistina.

The catatonic woman responds to this. She reaches out and takes the box. She pulls the ribbon off and lifts the lid, staring at the dead canary. Riley crouches beside Guistina.

RILEY
The last straw. He killed the last
shred of soul you had when he
killed this bird, didn't he,
Guistina?

FLASH TO: WHITE

INT. WRIGHT TRAILER - NIGHT (RE-ENACTMENT)

She's alone in the living room, John has gone to bed. Guistina carefully wraps the bird in the box. Her deadpan expression reveals someone who has nothing left to live for. She 'buries' her beloved pet in her sewing basket, and then takes out the pinking shears.

She goes outside and comes back with a length of rope. She returns the pinking shears and carefully packs the basket. She heads down the hall, her deft fingers quickly tying a noose.

INT. WRIGHT TRAILER BEDROOM

Cautiously she puts the rope around John's neck and then pulls it tight. He wakes too late to save himself and dies staring into her dead eyes. She drops the rope and leaves the trailer, barefoot and with nothing but her worn handmade dress.

BACK TO SCENE

INT. CSI - HALLWAY - NIGHT

Riley and Catherine stand against the wall opposite the interview room. They watch the policeman and orderly get Guistina to her feet and handcuff her.

CATHERINE
When did you realize it was the bird?

RILEY
When I saw it, I just knew.

INT. CSI - INTERVIEW ROOM A - NIGHT

STEVE Perinski and his lawyer, Penny MARSHALL, are waiting at the table when Grissom and Nick enter. Grissom carries a file.

MARSHALL
Your evidence had better not be
just the monkey's testimony.

Grissom opens his mouth to rebuttal, but Nick beats him to it.

NICK
Gorilla. Learn your primates.

Grissom is slightly surprised by the venom in Nick's tone. The CSI sit down at the table.

GRISSOM
Mister Perinski, I noticed that you
have swine on your property and you
slaughter them yourself.

STEVE
That's not illegal.

GRISSOM
Perhaps, but...

Grissom pulls out enlarged photos of Ralph's cage when it was first found. He lines them up in front of Steve.

GRISSOM
...all this blood is swine.

MARSHALL
That could have come from anywhere.

GRISSOM
I would agree, except that DNA
markers in swine is just
like humans.

Grissom retrieves the DNA test and sets the printouts in front of lawyer and client.

GRISSOM
And the blood we found on your
implements matches a pig you
slaughtered recently.

Grissom pulls out another two DNA tests and photos of the rope and pickup bumper, setting them down.

GRISSOM
And the blood on these items match
Takoda Red Deer's DNA. Which,
coincidentally, covers the back of
a pickup found on your property,
and was recovered from the ground
under that same pickup.

Grissom stops talking, letting lawyer and client realize that Steve is finally pinned for the murder.

MARSHALL
Let's talk plea bargain.

Grissom starts to reply. Steve suddenly shoves the pictures away, glaring at Grissom.

STEVE
I can't believe you'd clear a damn monkey.

NICK
Gorilla.

STEVE
Whatever!

NICK
Why would you try to pin this on
him anyway? What did Ralph ever
do to you?

MARSHALL
Steve, don't answer that.

Steve tries to obey, but his rage is greater than his sense of preservation.

STEVE
She would rather have spent time
with that stupid monkey! I asked
her out and asked and asked. She
kept turning me down. Yet that
stupid, idiotic monkey asked her to
stay and she'd stay for hours. How
sick is that? To choose a monkey
over humans?

NICK
(sharp)
Gorilla!

Grissom motions Nick to back off. Steve laughs at Nick.

STEVE
You prefer a monkey to humans, too?
Maybe you should be killed too.

Nick starts to react, then stops and suddenly smiles.

NICK
That was the worst thing you could
have said in a room that records
every conversation, man.

Grissom just smiles when Steve looks at him.

Marshall knows she can't save her client now. Grissom and Nick get up, leaving the room. Down the hall, Riley and Catherine are still watching Guistina. Nick doesn't notice them, but Grissom does.

GRISSOM
Good work, Nick.

NICK
On what?

GRISSOM
Getting him to say that. He won't
be getting out of this easily.

NICK
I didn't plan it, you know.

GRISSOM
I know. See you tomorrow, Nick.

Nick walks around him. The case has left him exhausted but satisfied.

FADE OUT.

THE END

WGA # 1217104

Written by A. Rhea King