CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s13e11 Episode Script
Dead Air
Ready 11.
T.
O.
C.
, we should have Ella up on the strip.
Signal looks good.
Tell Rainy that we're gonna stick with Theresa for the first segment, so no Storm Center till after the bump.
Ten seconds to air.
Put Denny on standby to warm up her green screen lights.
Okay.
Five seconds.
Why don't I see Theresa? Because "my boy Friday" doesn't understand the difference between lipstick and lip liner.
Tonight, on KVKC News We're live.
with Theresa Shea Ready one.
That's not fair.
You specifically said you wanted Chad, get Theresa some coffee.
Light cream.
Truvia, specifically.
Chad, now.
Move two to apple six.
Las Vegas.
And go one.
Welcome to the KVKC Local News at 11:00.
I'm Theresa Shea.
Our top story is a torrential rain hitting the city.
Ready two.
Open up Ella, REM 17.
On the scene in the eye of the storm is our own fearless Ella St.
James.
Go REM 17.
Ella, how's it look out there? Uh, Theresa, I'm having trouble hearing you, so let me just report what I know.
The storm has picked up and is getting worse, Come on, come on.
with wind speeds increasing up to 80 miles per hour.
Ella? Can't hear you, so if you Theresa, pull it back.
Go three.
Thanks, Ella.
We'll try to get that sound sorted out.
We'd like to remind everyone that it's best to stay indoors for the next few hours.
It's like amateur hour tonight.
Theresa, just bear with us a second.
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? House lights are out, overheads as well.
No monitors, camera servers are down.
We're blacked out.
Denny, tell me you're on it, brother.
I am.
Hopefully the generator out back will kick in soon.
Theresa, you still okay in there? Theresa, you still there? I think we're back.
Theresa, you okay? Go to a commercial.
Go to a commercial! Looks a lot bigger on TV.
This your newscast of choice? I like watching them all.
Like a little mini documentary on the city every night.
Hey.
Detective Vartann, what's our top story tonight? Theresa Shea, the most trusted name in news.
Alive when the power went out.
the lights come back on, and she falls dead onto the news desk.
Well, somebody in here must have seen something.
Sound person, camera guy? Cameramen don't exist anymore.
Cameras are all robots, operated from the control rooms.
Sound and lighting, too.
Newsrooms have gone the way of gas stations.
Great, got a locked room mystery, with a million viewers.
Come on over here.
This is Denny Jones; he's the studio lighting tech.
I didn't know if you wanted the house lights up or not.
Denny, can you get the lights back to these exact settings? Push of a button.
Turn up the sun.
Let's go.
What's the rest of the team doing tonight? Finn is finishing a fire investigation.
Life coach or something like that.
Walking on coals gone horribly wrong? Probably.
Greg and Morgan are pushing paper, and Nick's on a B and E.
Okay, call him and tell him to lock in chain of custody.
I want all hands on deck.
Crime lab has the same rule as the local news: if it bleeds, it leads.
Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? I really wanna know Who are you? Oh-oh-oh Who Come on, tell me who are you, you, you Are you! Looks like there's only the one injury.
Single puncture wound to the back of the neck.
The shape suggests a knife.
Killer was either lucky or good.
He hit the perfect spot to kill her.
When we dissected frogs in high school biology, you'd pith it by sticking a pin right here.
The frog would get all None of the girls in class wanted to do it, so they asked me to.
I became known as the designated pither.
I would have gone with relief pither.
That's better.
David, can you, um, sit her up for me one more time? I want to get some context.
Yeah.
Spatter suggests the killer came from the left.
Plunged the knife in the back of her neck.
Directional blood drops tell me he took off to the right in a hurry.
If this was a pithing, this was a drive-by pithing.
I know where I'm watching the next Seahawks game.
CSI Russell? Yeah? Fred Paulsen, executive producer.
Hey.
Hey, how are you? I never figured it would hit this close to home.
Can you give us a sense of what happened? Um, we were cutting back from our field reporter, and the lights went out.
You mean the power.
No, the power here is compartmentalized.
There's battery backup for all the electronics.
The lights reroute through a generator out back.
And it took 20 seconds for the backup generator to kick in, right? During which time, we were all in the dark.
No light means no eyewitnesses.
Makes a murder case a little tougher to crack.
Right, but every murder needs three things, right? Means, motive, opportunity.
We have a low threshold on means.
Victim sustained a sharp-force injury.
Anyone can get their hands on something sharp.
Okay, let's talk about motive.
You have any idea who would want to see Theresa Shea dead? Sure.
You could start right there.
What's this? Our crew list.
Theresa was not the easiest person to work with.
Well, that leaves opportunity.
Which would narrow down this list.
So, lights were out for 20 seconds, right? Who would have been close enough to kill her in that window of time? Plausibly, three of my people would've been in that vicinity.
Okay, well, I've got three people.
Let's go with man-to-man coverage.
Paulsen told me they wouldn't need me until the next segment, so I stayed here, monitoring the Doppler.
For the monsoon? Monsoons only happen between May and August.
Technically, this was a training.
A training? Two storms hitting at the same time, upping the volume of precipitation, creating a flash flood.
That's very impressive.
Masters in meteorology and atmospheric sciences, and I've got the student loans to prove it.
Rainy, do they make you wear that? I mean, wouldn't you want to dress a little bit more conservatively? Well, if I did, I'd be at home watching the girl who didn't.
And my real name's not Rainy.
It's a cutthroat business.
Well, any idea who may have wanted to cut Theresa's throat? Or neck? Top of my list would be Ella.
Ella.
Mm-hmm.
Is she the field reporter? Well, Paulsen was grooming Ella to take over the anchor desk.
But the most trusted bitch in news was not going to go quietly into that night.
So Ella had the most to gain if Theresa was out of the way.
Where was she at the time of the murder? Giving a report clear across town.
Well, that's a pretty good alibi.
But in all honesty, it could be anyone.
Theresa could be brutal.
So she's really dead? Did you get her broomstick as proof? You don't seem very broken up about it.
That woman made everyone's life a living hell, but my life was her favorite target.
So, Chad, where were you when the lights went out? I was getting her her coffee, light cream, Truvia.
I was at the vending machine, right there.
How'd you pay for it? Credit card.
Why? Might have a time-date stamp.
I'll need the number to verify.
I'd also like to check out the sharp objects that you carry around for work.
Take your pick.
You've got a lot of sharp tools here, Denny.
My job involves a fair amount of cutting.
Wire, cable, carpet, tape.
Each requires a different blade.
I'm gonna need to take a swab of your hands.
What does a swab do? We use it to find blood.
You think I might have stabbed Theresa.
You're on the list.
I guess that makes sense.
No blood.
So if you were to stab somebody, what would you use? Nothing here.
Something with a heftier handle so that you can Sorry, I didn't mean to What do you do here, Denny? Lighting, simple I.
T.
work, and, um Listen, you gonna need anything else from me? No, I'm good.
Thank you.
Theresa.
Was she in pain when it happened, when when the knife went in? I don't know.
Hey, uh, I think some of the power's still out there, bud.
No, only in the main circuit.
Garage runs on a feed that's divorced from the rest of the station.
Say, you sure do seem to know a lot about the electrical workings of the building.
What's your name? Robbie.
It's kind of my job to.
Uh, who are you? I'm Nick Stokes with the crime lab.
Hi.
Um, is it true about Theresa? Murder? Yes, ma'am, it is.
We drove back as soon as we heard what happened.
News vans from our competition are already gathered in front of the station.
Vultures.
And how well did you two know Ms.
Shea? I'm not sure anyone really knew her.
She kept the world at arm's length.
Saw everyone as a threat.
Would you mind giving us a quick interview about this investigation? If you could do that "yes, ma'am" thing again, that would be great.
Robbie, could you get out the camera No.
Actually, I would mind.
Sorry.
I know it seems callous, but it is my job.
Well, it is my job to process the crime scene ma'am.
But if we need anything else, we'll be sure to be in touch, okay? Okay.
Right.
Cheek implants? This poor woman was fighting the war against aging one cosmetic procedure at a time.
Scarring and thread from multiple facelifts.
Forehead presents immobile musculature suggesting Botox.
Lip and wrinkle fillers, you name it.
When your looks are married to your career, it's job security, I suppose.
C.
O.
D.
? Severed brain stem.
Knife wound hit right between the occipital bone of the skull and atlas, C1.
Spinal cord was transected at the level of the medulla oblongata, effectively disconnecting the transmission of signals between the brain and the body.
So not just lucky, good.
Yeah.
Any idea of the murder weapon? We did find bruising at the entrance of the wound.
You know, it kind of looks like one of those guards that you see on folding utility knives.
It's a single-edged blade and a sharp one at that.
Some sort of viscous green paste in the wound track? Any idea what that is? Well, it is not biological.
Looks like a job for David Hodges.
Hello, Russell.
Hey.
I've been following the dedicated power line that goes between Nevada Flats Power and KVKC, trying to figure out why the power went out.
Oh.
You finding anything interesting? It's more about what I didn't find.
Transformer about a quarter mile from the station got blown to bits.
Well, those transformers can be volatile, particularly in wet weather.
Maybe it was some sort of a malfunction.
Yeah, well, that's what I thought at first, too, but then I found remains of explosive material in the debris.
Hold on a second, will ya? Oh, yeah, I just found parts of a cell phone.
This is definitely not an accident.
So this murder wasn't a crime of opportunity.
No, no, no.
This was patient.
This was planned.
What kind of device are we looking at? Well, I got some nitroglycerine and some wax paper.
Figuring the former was wrapped in the latter.
You got to know an awful lot about explosives to mess with dynamite.
So we're looking for someone in construction, demolition, ex-military.
Cell phone.
Cheap-looking components.
Could be a burner.
Remote detonator? Welcome to the hurt locker.
As long as the phone has enough juice, the device can sit and wait.
Until it gets a call to action.
Well, why don't I take the phone.
Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to pull a print or two.
I'll see if I can salvage some date/shift code from the remnants of the dynamite paper.
Hey, Hodges, got anything on the coffee cup Nick found in the garage? I do.
Aside from a bold French roast, I found trace of water, salt and urea.
Someone peed in Theresa's cup? Or they're test-marketing a horrible new nondairy sweetener.
I think I know who's behind this.
Theresa's assistant Chad.
I thought he might have hated her enough to kill her, but I guess he had a smaller-scale revenge plan in mind.
Still.
Ew.
What about the green paste Sara found in the victim's wound? Ah.
Chromium oxide.
to sharpen knives and razors on pieces of leather.
The piece of leather is called a "strop.
" And the method of sharpening is called "stropping.
" You'd take a razor with an imperfect edge, and begin stropping.
The leather hugs the blade's edge as the grit from the chromium oxide tears away any imperfections and burrs, leaving our slasher of Seville with a sharper-than- sharp blade.
Something Theresa Shea knew all too well.
I'm sorry to bother you with this.
Oh, it's no bother.
You said that it might be important to our investigation.
And it might be nothing, but I wanted to make sure you saw it.
Should be good to go.
Thank you.
This is tape of the newscast from right before the murder.
Ella was giving her remote report just after And this is our Doppler radar from the same time.
Two storm fronts crashing into one another.
A training.
Mm-hmm.
Our satellite shows two dense storms covering the sky comprehensively.
No light breaking through anywhere.
But if you look behind Ella in the shot You can see the moon.
Which wouldn't be possible if the clouds were as dense as your Doppler suggests at the time of broadcast.
Exactly.
I think this tape was made before the two fronts trained into one.
So you're saying Ella wasn't broadcasting live? But she was having a conversation with Theresa.
No, she didn't, remember? Rainy, can you play the tape? Mm-hmm.
Uh, Theresa, I'm having trouble hearing you, so let me just report what I know.
How long before the murder do you think this was recorded? Ballpark? Maybe a couple of hours.
Is there any way to confirm this? I don't know of any.
I know who we can talk to.
Hi, Denny.
Uh, hope I'm not interrupting.
I have a technical question.
Well, you've come to the right place.
Okay.
So, is it possible to prerecord a report in one of your remote vans, and then send it to newsroom as if it were live? I suppose so.
You'd have to fool the internal clocks on the van side.
And what about on this end? Is there any way of telling if a van is not where a reporter might say it is? Yes.
Yes, there is.
Here, ma'am.
This is from last night.
What am I looking at? Oh, T.
O.
C.
Transmission Operations Control.
It's like an air traffic controller for all our microwave signals.
And how many signals do you have? Four remote vans times 11 towers all over Clark county.
A lot of signal permutations.
Wow, I had no idea how complex this all was.
FCC rules are a bitch.
The guy in the van finds the strongest signal path and beams the microwaves to the signal tower where it is amplified and rerouted back here to our broadcast center.
And when the signal comes back, it lets us know where it's been.
So when Theresa was killed, were Ella and her cameraman where they said they were? Actually no.
If the van was here, the tower they transmitted to is at an impossible angle.
There's a whole mountain in the way.
Why would they lie? It's a good question.
Um, where's Robbie? I thought you were talking to him, too.
My friend Nick is talking to him in the next room.
Just there behind the mirror.
Tonight, on KVKC News with Theresa Shea.
What's this? That is the opening of your newscast two weeks ago.
Welcome to the KVKC Local News at 11:00.
I'm Theresa Shea.
And I'm Ella St.
James.
Our top story tonight, Bobby Reed, son of Dennis Reed, pleads guilty to drug charges and Congratulations.
Co-anchor.
Don't congratulate me; it didn't last.
No, it didn't, did it? Just last week, you were back out in the field and it was the Theresa show all over again.
What changed? Honestly, I don't know.
It felt like Paulsen was grooming me to take over.
I know Theresa felt the same.
I still have the claw marks.
So he demoted you back into the field? Mm.
I was actually fired once.
Really drove me crazy.
I think if I was demoted, I don't know what I would have done.
Don't worry about what's going on in there.
Worry about what's going on in here.
This is your T.
O.
C.
report from the news station.
Okay.
It tells me you weren't where you said you were when you were broadcasting.
Do I need a lawyer? It doesn't matter to me.
I'll just ask your boss if it's possible to prerecord a live news segment.
I think we both know what he's gonna say.
Of course I fantasized about killing Theresa.
But I wouldn't.
It's not who I am.
Not why I got into news.
So, it was an ethical thing? For starters.
And, uh, falsifying a news report? It was a weather stand up.
Soaking-wet fluff-- they should've sent Rainy.
But they sent you.
Why? Not "they"-- Theresa.
She felt threatened, so she alpha-femaled me.
It was a big "screw you" to Ella.
Nobody challenged Theresa.
Not even Paulsen.
So, you faked your news report, fabricated an alibi, snuck into the station No.
I mean, yes.
We were sneaking, but for a very different reason.
Robby and I, we worked closely together.
We got closer.
Physical.
Don't get me wrong, I'm married And she loves her husband.
I get that.
But when we found the time, we would try to Step away, every once in a while.
So when the rain gig came up, we played hooky.
Went to our usual spot.
To the King's Bridge Motel on D Street.
That's fairly close to the tower you broadcast from.
Well, I'd ask you for a receipt, but, uh It's not exactly a receipt hotel.
So, Ella, if you didn't do it, maybe you could helps with who did.
I don't know who.
But maybe I know why.
Theresa was working on something.
A story, a big one, I think.
How do you know? I started noticing that she would take her journal and her bag with her, even to the restroom.
Maybe she was just paranoid.
She was on a story.
Despite our differences, Theresa and I were birds of a feather.
And back in her day, she was a hell of an investigative reporter.
She was kind of my idol.
Well, I did look all through her work computer, and I really didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
If it were me, I'd keep it all at home.
Nice digs.
Boy, I'll say.
Guess it pays a lot better to report crime than it does to solve it.
Well, you could say that about any job.
Except crime-- I heard it doesn't pay.
Warrant served.
Okay, so Theresa's working on some big secret story, right? Where does she keep it? Not in the living room, seems untouched.
Theresa Shea lived alone.
Right? Divorced, three times.
Well, I know when I take work home, sometimes it'll make its way into the bedroom.
Yeah, but you're not single, you're married.
Yeah, but, um my place often looks a lot like this.
Okay, maybe not exactly like this.
Russell? I think I just found what we're looking for.
Oh, my.
Theresa was certainly into something.
Like she was obsessed.
Good chance this obsession is what got her killed.
Theresa Shea earned her stripes as an investigative reporter.
Looks like she's still got it.
Or had it.
News clippings, Internet articles.
I got copies of police reports all marked up and lots of arson reports.
All these clippings are about a series of unsolved warehouse and store fires on the east side Why is a superficial nip-tuck diva digging into cold cases about a firebug? She wasn't digging, she was excavating.
Yeah, but why was she so invested? She didn't need the story to advance her career.
Right? Yet, she spent all her time here.
She ate all her meals in here, too.
Hmm.
Living alone can drive you a little crazy.
Yeah, well, there's crazy and then there's Colonel Kurtz crazy.
Mm.
Maybe she wasn't always alone.
One of these wine glasses is wearing lipstick and the other isn't.
Wonder who our mystery date is.
I'll get them to Henry.
Reporter's notebook.
Maybe this can help us make sense out of all this organized chaos.
What is that writing, some kind of shorthand maybe? Gregg style, to be specific.
Haven't seen that for years.
Our victim's very old school.
I suppose some of our answers might be here.
You must be running on fumes.
You should go home.
Home is where the coded notebook is.
Have you talked to him since the NTSB guy? Nothing happened with NTSB.
How come you can't pick up the phone? Because I feel like when I do, I'm gonna be very sad when I hang up.
How do you know? 'Cause he wants to talk.
Want some help? Oh, that's that's really nice.
You should go home, have some fun.
This is fun.
I'm really good at crosswords.
Yeah, okay.
Uh, so Gregg style shorthand is written phonetically.
"Cat" is "k-a-t," knee is "n-e.
" Soft consonants like "ch" and "sh" are written horizontally.
And hard consonants like "t" and "d" are written downward.
Like this.
And vowel sounds are curves and circles.
Okay, let's crack the code.
All right.
of warehouse arsons in the furniture district baffled investigators.
Cases were unsolved and put on ice.
But Theresa dug up lab reports, which pointed to dynamite and wax paper, and that looks an awful lot like a 17-year-old version of what blew that power transformer.
Do we have a clue as to who would've made either device? No, but Theresa did.
She referenced in her journal someone named "G.
H.
" He was a demolitions expert, uh, storied career in the military.
He's now working as A motivational speaker.
Didn't you just investigate a fire? Yes, I did-- Garrett Howard.
He was a retired military munitions expert.
So, where's he now? He's downstairs.
Anything of note with Mr.
Howard? Well, most people die in fires from smoke inhalation, not burns.
But take a look at this lung.
Very clean.
He didn't die from the fire.
Nope.
Did you, by chance, find anything on the back of his neck? Your instincts are good as always.
Come on around here.
There, we got it.
Knife wound right between the occipital bone of the skull and atlas, C1.
Consistent with the murder of Theresa Shea.
Yeah, right down to the green paste.
Mm-hmm.
In related news, there has been a rash of vandalism across Las Vegas landmarks.
With the latest hijinks taking place at the Palermo fountain Yesterday's news? And the day before and the day before that.
Trying to make sense out of this whole dysfunctional family of a news team.
Theresa sucked up a lot of oxygen.
I just want to see if any of her siblings look a little short of breath.
Any luck? No.
You? A little bit.
Theresa was investigating a cold case.
It was serial arson.
Those famous fires in the furniture district were started by an explosive device that lead us to a current case.
Which one's that? Finlay's dead motivational speaker.
Turns out, he was a demolitions expert.
And he specialized in the type of devices that were all found at those old arson sites-- dynamite with a remote trigger.
Rings a bell.
And best that I can tell, the device was a precursor to the explosive device that you found at the transformer.
Okay, so the guy 17 years ago builds incendiary devices to start fires, then nothing.
Then he blows up a transformer.
Why'd he start up again now? The similarities don't end there.
Guy's wound track has the same green paste as we found in Theresa's pithing.
So we're looking at a locked-room mystery, tucked into an enigma, wrapped in dynamite paper.
You can say that again.
Hey, Sara.
Let me ask you something.
How you doing? You all right? I'm fine.
Well, you just seemed a little bit down when we were at Theresa's place.
Um, I don't know, uh, woman married to her career without much to show for it.
It's a little depressing.
Yeah, uh I don't mean to pry, but Pause right there.
I know, I know.
I'm supposed to be your boss.
Separation of church and state.
No, no, no, hit, uh, pause with the remote, and-and back it up a little bit.
Oh.
There, you see it? Map's not only behind her, it's on her dress.
I see London, I see France.
There's only one reason that we'd be able to see that on her dress.
She's got a green stain on her.
- Well, that's embarrassing.
- Worse than that.
It's incriminating.
What are you talking about? We found a green paste on the body of Theresa and also on a second victim.
It's a compound used for sharpening knives.
It was used by our killer.
Wait a minute, you don't think I mean, why would Rainy have a knife-sharpening paste on her dress? Why don't we let Rainy answer that question.
Well, let's see.
Um, clear skies, red dress, Wednesday.
The Doppler network was funky, so I spent most of my time looking over Denny's shoulder in his cage while he was trying to fix the connection.
Excuse me.
Greg, what's going on? Hey, you're not gonna believe this.
I was just sorting through the storied career of Garrett Howard and came across a familiar name: Denny Jones.
In what context? He was in the military, too, briefly.
He got in trouble for stealing supplies.
In and out of the stockade.
Short fuse.
Was deemed unfit for duty.
Received a less-than-honorable discharge.
So, Denny and Garrett Howard Were brothers in arms.
Where's Morgan? Denny? Wait.
Denny! We've just seen a man emerge.
We don't know if he works for the station.
Denny.
Denny, hey.
I didn't do anything wrong! Okay, okay, nobody said you did.
Is that the murder weapon? This is my knife, yes, but it didn't I didn't kill Theresa! Hey, drop that knife! Stay away! Everybody move back, move back, move back.
Move your camera.
Move! I didn't kill Theresa, because she loved me.
And I loved her, too! I loved her! I Get away! Hey, get the cameras out of here! I'm serious! I believe you.
Let us talk about this.
No! I will not go back to jail! I cannot go back to jail! All we want to do is take you in.
Just gonna go have a conversation.
Stop! You drop that knife right now! No, this is just, this is all just too much.
Denny, listen to me, calm down.
You don't want to do this.
Now come on.
Denny Denny.
Denny.
No! Wait! Why'd you do that?! Denny, okay Can you see this? Move back, will ya, please? Look at me.
I'm here.
I got you.
Move! Denny.
Denny.
Unlike lightning, tragedy strikes twice at KVKC.
I'm at the site of yet a second violent death in as many days, as the news station is rocked to its foundation by the suicide of a man suspected in the murder of Theresa Shea.
Embroiled in a mystery that keeps on unraveling, authorities have kept quiet thus far, but the man who killed himself has been identified as Denny Jones.
So what motivated these events? Psychotic break? Crime of passion? Until the facts come in, one can only speculate.
Stupid.
Okay, okay, okay.
Boss? Yeah? I have an update on the wine glass we found at Theresa Shea's.
Thought you didn't find a match.
No, we didn't until the knife came in.
But sweat around the handle matched the DNA on the glass.
Denny was sharing wine with Theresa.
And sharing a bed.
I found evidence of sexual activity in her sheets.
Strange bedfellows.
Everybody needs somebody.
But if he was in love, why kill her? I don't know.
Love makes you do all sorts of stupid things.
You don't think he did it, do you? Sorry.
Okay, this is gonna be fun.
Now, when we came into this, we had three suspects and no evidence, right? Now we got some evidence, I want to play a little game.
Capture the flag.
Bear with me.
Okay, this particular flag is gonna represent Theresa Shea's life.
We're gonna stick it right here.
Sara, you're gonna be playing Theresa.
Three of you are each gonna be playing one of our suspects.
Now you'll start from wherever our evidence placed them.
We'll turn off the lights.
Whoever can get in, take Theresa's life and get out in 20 seconds is our killer.
Are you good? I'm gonna be playing Mr.
Paulsen.
Sara, you're my anchor, right? Alive and well.
Okay, Greg, where are you at? All right, I am at the coffee machine, about to go to the garage and make a deposit.
I'm at my Doppler station.
I'm monitoring the storm as instructed.
Computer puts Rainy here until the lights go out.
Thank you, Rainy.
Denny? I'm in my cage.
Internet activity locks me here until we lose power.
As soon as the lights go out, I want everyone to try to kill Sara.
Ready, set, go.
ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Lights up.
Well, Chad was too far away.
And Denny was, too.
Rainy couldn't get to Theresa.
None of us made it in time.
Yeah, but the flag is gone.
Well, who took it then? You were all too far away, because you were sent too far away by me.
Detective, did you see me leave this room? No, I did not.
And as far as everyone in here knew, Paulsen never left either.
Theresa, pull it back.
Go three.
Thanks, Ella.
We'll try to get that sound sorted out.
Blew up the power, stepped outside, took care of Theresa, got back in the room before the generator kicked on.
Theresa, are you okay? Do these articles look familiar to you? Yeah, let me give you a hint-- the A.
P.
credits the photographs to a younger you.
Yeah.
I took pictures of the furniture district fires.
You know, they never caught that guy.
Never say never.
What's that supposed to mean? You know what? Let's talk about your old pal, Garrett Howard.
The one who liked to play with dynamite.
I don't know a Garrett Howard.
Really? And yet, you did a whole profile on him on one of your news shows.
What was it called? Uh "Army demolition expert turns motivational speaker.
" That's a hell of a favor to do for somebody you don't know.
And not the only favor.
You also hired his hapless army buddy, Denny Jones.
So he gave you the job as a favor to a friend? How does that work? Um, Garrett said Paulsen owes him his life.
Any idea why? Denny and Theresa together.
Wow.
I didn't see that coming.
Did you see that coming? No.
No, that must have come as a surprise to you, too.
And now Theresa knew that you had a secret.
She figured if she could uncover it, then she could keep her job.
You wanted to have her replaced with a younger anchorwoman.
So she became a one-woman news team.
And she connected you to these fires 17 years ago.
First one on the scene because you lit the match.
That must've given Theresa a lot of leverage.
Leverage? She was a washed-up talent.
Her best years were behind her.
Why'd you keep her on the anchor desk then? See, to me, that sounds like a deal with the devil.
Yeah, one you couldn't live with.
So you made a plan to kill Theresa.
Asked Garrett Howard for another explosive device-- just one more job.
But then, like Theresa, he knew your secret.
So you had to dispose of him, too.
And that left poor Denny.
So you borrowed his knife, and you set him up.
I'm a reporter.
I'm not a murderer.
I wouldn't even know how to wield a knife.
Hate to fact-check you on that, pal, but You know, actually, I'm loving this.
We found an old news story that you ran years ago about a killer who stabbed his victim right in the sweet spot, right under the skull.
When you take notes, you really take notes.
You know, in my business, before making outrageous accusations, on or off the air, you need a little thing called evidence.
In our business, too.
This is a partial print from the transformer explosions.
It's also your left index finger.
Oops.
Welcome to the KVKC local news at 11:00.
I'm Jennifer Thomas.
Breaking news tonight-- which sadly hits close to home-- long-time news producer Fred Paulsen has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Theresa Shea.
Hello.
You've been hard to get a hold of.
Yeah.
Um, I'm so sorry.
How are you? I'm okay.
Is now a good time?
T.
O.
C.
, we should have Ella up on the strip.
Signal looks good.
Tell Rainy that we're gonna stick with Theresa for the first segment, so no Storm Center till after the bump.
Ten seconds to air.
Put Denny on standby to warm up her green screen lights.
Okay.
Five seconds.
Why don't I see Theresa? Because "my boy Friday" doesn't understand the difference between lipstick and lip liner.
Tonight, on KVKC News We're live.
with Theresa Shea Ready one.
That's not fair.
You specifically said you wanted Chad, get Theresa some coffee.
Light cream.
Truvia, specifically.
Chad, now.
Move two to apple six.
Las Vegas.
And go one.
Welcome to the KVKC Local News at 11:00.
I'm Theresa Shea.
Our top story is a torrential rain hitting the city.
Ready two.
Open up Ella, REM 17.
On the scene in the eye of the storm is our own fearless Ella St.
James.
Go REM 17.
Ella, how's it look out there? Uh, Theresa, I'm having trouble hearing you, so let me just report what I know.
The storm has picked up and is getting worse, Come on, come on.
with wind speeds increasing up to 80 miles per hour.
Ella? Can't hear you, so if you Theresa, pull it back.
Go three.
Thanks, Ella.
We'll try to get that sound sorted out.
We'd like to remind everyone that it's best to stay indoors for the next few hours.
It's like amateur hour tonight.
Theresa, just bear with us a second.
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? House lights are out, overheads as well.
No monitors, camera servers are down.
We're blacked out.
Denny, tell me you're on it, brother.
I am.
Hopefully the generator out back will kick in soon.
Theresa, you still okay in there? Theresa, you still there? I think we're back.
Theresa, you okay? Go to a commercial.
Go to a commercial! Looks a lot bigger on TV.
This your newscast of choice? I like watching them all.
Like a little mini documentary on the city every night.
Hey.
Detective Vartann, what's our top story tonight? Theresa Shea, the most trusted name in news.
Alive when the power went out.
the lights come back on, and she falls dead onto the news desk.
Well, somebody in here must have seen something.
Sound person, camera guy? Cameramen don't exist anymore.
Cameras are all robots, operated from the control rooms.
Sound and lighting, too.
Newsrooms have gone the way of gas stations.
Great, got a locked room mystery, with a million viewers.
Come on over here.
This is Denny Jones; he's the studio lighting tech.
I didn't know if you wanted the house lights up or not.
Denny, can you get the lights back to these exact settings? Push of a button.
Turn up the sun.
Let's go.
What's the rest of the team doing tonight? Finn is finishing a fire investigation.
Life coach or something like that.
Walking on coals gone horribly wrong? Probably.
Greg and Morgan are pushing paper, and Nick's on a B and E.
Okay, call him and tell him to lock in chain of custody.
I want all hands on deck.
Crime lab has the same rule as the local news: if it bleeds, it leads.
Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? I really wanna know Who are you? Oh-oh-oh Who Come on, tell me who are you, you, you Are you! Looks like there's only the one injury.
Single puncture wound to the back of the neck.
The shape suggests a knife.
Killer was either lucky or good.
He hit the perfect spot to kill her.
When we dissected frogs in high school biology, you'd pith it by sticking a pin right here.
The frog would get all None of the girls in class wanted to do it, so they asked me to.
I became known as the designated pither.
I would have gone with relief pither.
That's better.
David, can you, um, sit her up for me one more time? I want to get some context.
Yeah.
Spatter suggests the killer came from the left.
Plunged the knife in the back of her neck.
Directional blood drops tell me he took off to the right in a hurry.
If this was a pithing, this was a drive-by pithing.
I know where I'm watching the next Seahawks game.
CSI Russell? Yeah? Fred Paulsen, executive producer.
Hey.
Hey, how are you? I never figured it would hit this close to home.
Can you give us a sense of what happened? Um, we were cutting back from our field reporter, and the lights went out.
You mean the power.
No, the power here is compartmentalized.
There's battery backup for all the electronics.
The lights reroute through a generator out back.
And it took 20 seconds for the backup generator to kick in, right? During which time, we were all in the dark.
No light means no eyewitnesses.
Makes a murder case a little tougher to crack.
Right, but every murder needs three things, right? Means, motive, opportunity.
We have a low threshold on means.
Victim sustained a sharp-force injury.
Anyone can get their hands on something sharp.
Okay, let's talk about motive.
You have any idea who would want to see Theresa Shea dead? Sure.
You could start right there.
What's this? Our crew list.
Theresa was not the easiest person to work with.
Well, that leaves opportunity.
Which would narrow down this list.
So, lights were out for 20 seconds, right? Who would have been close enough to kill her in that window of time? Plausibly, three of my people would've been in that vicinity.
Okay, well, I've got three people.
Let's go with man-to-man coverage.
Paulsen told me they wouldn't need me until the next segment, so I stayed here, monitoring the Doppler.
For the monsoon? Monsoons only happen between May and August.
Technically, this was a training.
A training? Two storms hitting at the same time, upping the volume of precipitation, creating a flash flood.
That's very impressive.
Masters in meteorology and atmospheric sciences, and I've got the student loans to prove it.
Rainy, do they make you wear that? I mean, wouldn't you want to dress a little bit more conservatively? Well, if I did, I'd be at home watching the girl who didn't.
And my real name's not Rainy.
It's a cutthroat business.
Well, any idea who may have wanted to cut Theresa's throat? Or neck? Top of my list would be Ella.
Ella.
Mm-hmm.
Is she the field reporter? Well, Paulsen was grooming Ella to take over the anchor desk.
But the most trusted bitch in news was not going to go quietly into that night.
So Ella had the most to gain if Theresa was out of the way.
Where was she at the time of the murder? Giving a report clear across town.
Well, that's a pretty good alibi.
But in all honesty, it could be anyone.
Theresa could be brutal.
So she's really dead? Did you get her broomstick as proof? You don't seem very broken up about it.
That woman made everyone's life a living hell, but my life was her favorite target.
So, Chad, where were you when the lights went out? I was getting her her coffee, light cream, Truvia.
I was at the vending machine, right there.
How'd you pay for it? Credit card.
Why? Might have a time-date stamp.
I'll need the number to verify.
I'd also like to check out the sharp objects that you carry around for work.
Take your pick.
You've got a lot of sharp tools here, Denny.
My job involves a fair amount of cutting.
Wire, cable, carpet, tape.
Each requires a different blade.
I'm gonna need to take a swab of your hands.
What does a swab do? We use it to find blood.
You think I might have stabbed Theresa.
You're on the list.
I guess that makes sense.
No blood.
So if you were to stab somebody, what would you use? Nothing here.
Something with a heftier handle so that you can Sorry, I didn't mean to What do you do here, Denny? Lighting, simple I.
T.
work, and, um Listen, you gonna need anything else from me? No, I'm good.
Thank you.
Theresa.
Was she in pain when it happened, when when the knife went in? I don't know.
Hey, uh, I think some of the power's still out there, bud.
No, only in the main circuit.
Garage runs on a feed that's divorced from the rest of the station.
Say, you sure do seem to know a lot about the electrical workings of the building.
What's your name? Robbie.
It's kind of my job to.
Uh, who are you? I'm Nick Stokes with the crime lab.
Hi.
Um, is it true about Theresa? Murder? Yes, ma'am, it is.
We drove back as soon as we heard what happened.
News vans from our competition are already gathered in front of the station.
Vultures.
And how well did you two know Ms.
Shea? I'm not sure anyone really knew her.
She kept the world at arm's length.
Saw everyone as a threat.
Would you mind giving us a quick interview about this investigation? If you could do that "yes, ma'am" thing again, that would be great.
Robbie, could you get out the camera No.
Actually, I would mind.
Sorry.
I know it seems callous, but it is my job.
Well, it is my job to process the crime scene ma'am.
But if we need anything else, we'll be sure to be in touch, okay? Okay.
Right.
Cheek implants? This poor woman was fighting the war against aging one cosmetic procedure at a time.
Scarring and thread from multiple facelifts.
Forehead presents immobile musculature suggesting Botox.
Lip and wrinkle fillers, you name it.
When your looks are married to your career, it's job security, I suppose.
C.
O.
D.
? Severed brain stem.
Knife wound hit right between the occipital bone of the skull and atlas, C1.
Spinal cord was transected at the level of the medulla oblongata, effectively disconnecting the transmission of signals between the brain and the body.
So not just lucky, good.
Yeah.
Any idea of the murder weapon? We did find bruising at the entrance of the wound.
You know, it kind of looks like one of those guards that you see on folding utility knives.
It's a single-edged blade and a sharp one at that.
Some sort of viscous green paste in the wound track? Any idea what that is? Well, it is not biological.
Looks like a job for David Hodges.
Hello, Russell.
Hey.
I've been following the dedicated power line that goes between Nevada Flats Power and KVKC, trying to figure out why the power went out.
Oh.
You finding anything interesting? It's more about what I didn't find.
Transformer about a quarter mile from the station got blown to bits.
Well, those transformers can be volatile, particularly in wet weather.
Maybe it was some sort of a malfunction.
Yeah, well, that's what I thought at first, too, but then I found remains of explosive material in the debris.
Hold on a second, will ya? Oh, yeah, I just found parts of a cell phone.
This is definitely not an accident.
So this murder wasn't a crime of opportunity.
No, no, no.
This was patient.
This was planned.
What kind of device are we looking at? Well, I got some nitroglycerine and some wax paper.
Figuring the former was wrapped in the latter.
You got to know an awful lot about explosives to mess with dynamite.
So we're looking for someone in construction, demolition, ex-military.
Cell phone.
Cheap-looking components.
Could be a burner.
Remote detonator? Welcome to the hurt locker.
As long as the phone has enough juice, the device can sit and wait.
Until it gets a call to action.
Well, why don't I take the phone.
Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to pull a print or two.
I'll see if I can salvage some date/shift code from the remnants of the dynamite paper.
Hey, Hodges, got anything on the coffee cup Nick found in the garage? I do.
Aside from a bold French roast, I found trace of water, salt and urea.
Someone peed in Theresa's cup? Or they're test-marketing a horrible new nondairy sweetener.
I think I know who's behind this.
Theresa's assistant Chad.
I thought he might have hated her enough to kill her, but I guess he had a smaller-scale revenge plan in mind.
Still.
Ew.
What about the green paste Sara found in the victim's wound? Ah.
Chromium oxide.
to sharpen knives and razors on pieces of leather.
The piece of leather is called a "strop.
" And the method of sharpening is called "stropping.
" You'd take a razor with an imperfect edge, and begin stropping.
The leather hugs the blade's edge as the grit from the chromium oxide tears away any imperfections and burrs, leaving our slasher of Seville with a sharper-than- sharp blade.
Something Theresa Shea knew all too well.
I'm sorry to bother you with this.
Oh, it's no bother.
You said that it might be important to our investigation.
And it might be nothing, but I wanted to make sure you saw it.
Should be good to go.
Thank you.
This is tape of the newscast from right before the murder.
Ella was giving her remote report just after And this is our Doppler radar from the same time.
Two storm fronts crashing into one another.
A training.
Mm-hmm.
Our satellite shows two dense storms covering the sky comprehensively.
No light breaking through anywhere.
But if you look behind Ella in the shot You can see the moon.
Which wouldn't be possible if the clouds were as dense as your Doppler suggests at the time of broadcast.
Exactly.
I think this tape was made before the two fronts trained into one.
So you're saying Ella wasn't broadcasting live? But she was having a conversation with Theresa.
No, she didn't, remember? Rainy, can you play the tape? Mm-hmm.
Uh, Theresa, I'm having trouble hearing you, so let me just report what I know.
How long before the murder do you think this was recorded? Ballpark? Maybe a couple of hours.
Is there any way to confirm this? I don't know of any.
I know who we can talk to.
Hi, Denny.
Uh, hope I'm not interrupting.
I have a technical question.
Well, you've come to the right place.
Okay.
So, is it possible to prerecord a report in one of your remote vans, and then send it to newsroom as if it were live? I suppose so.
You'd have to fool the internal clocks on the van side.
And what about on this end? Is there any way of telling if a van is not where a reporter might say it is? Yes.
Yes, there is.
Here, ma'am.
This is from last night.
What am I looking at? Oh, T.
O.
C.
Transmission Operations Control.
It's like an air traffic controller for all our microwave signals.
And how many signals do you have? Four remote vans times 11 towers all over Clark county.
A lot of signal permutations.
Wow, I had no idea how complex this all was.
FCC rules are a bitch.
The guy in the van finds the strongest signal path and beams the microwaves to the signal tower where it is amplified and rerouted back here to our broadcast center.
And when the signal comes back, it lets us know where it's been.
So when Theresa was killed, were Ella and her cameraman where they said they were? Actually no.
If the van was here, the tower they transmitted to is at an impossible angle.
There's a whole mountain in the way.
Why would they lie? It's a good question.
Um, where's Robbie? I thought you were talking to him, too.
My friend Nick is talking to him in the next room.
Just there behind the mirror.
Tonight, on KVKC News with Theresa Shea.
What's this? That is the opening of your newscast two weeks ago.
Welcome to the KVKC Local News at 11:00.
I'm Theresa Shea.
And I'm Ella St.
James.
Our top story tonight, Bobby Reed, son of Dennis Reed, pleads guilty to drug charges and Congratulations.
Co-anchor.
Don't congratulate me; it didn't last.
No, it didn't, did it? Just last week, you were back out in the field and it was the Theresa show all over again.
What changed? Honestly, I don't know.
It felt like Paulsen was grooming me to take over.
I know Theresa felt the same.
I still have the claw marks.
So he demoted you back into the field? Mm.
I was actually fired once.
Really drove me crazy.
I think if I was demoted, I don't know what I would have done.
Don't worry about what's going on in there.
Worry about what's going on in here.
This is your T.
O.
C.
report from the news station.
Okay.
It tells me you weren't where you said you were when you were broadcasting.
Do I need a lawyer? It doesn't matter to me.
I'll just ask your boss if it's possible to prerecord a live news segment.
I think we both know what he's gonna say.
Of course I fantasized about killing Theresa.
But I wouldn't.
It's not who I am.
Not why I got into news.
So, it was an ethical thing? For starters.
And, uh, falsifying a news report? It was a weather stand up.
Soaking-wet fluff-- they should've sent Rainy.
But they sent you.
Why? Not "they"-- Theresa.
She felt threatened, so she alpha-femaled me.
It was a big "screw you" to Ella.
Nobody challenged Theresa.
Not even Paulsen.
So, you faked your news report, fabricated an alibi, snuck into the station No.
I mean, yes.
We were sneaking, but for a very different reason.
Robby and I, we worked closely together.
We got closer.
Physical.
Don't get me wrong, I'm married And she loves her husband.
I get that.
But when we found the time, we would try to Step away, every once in a while.
So when the rain gig came up, we played hooky.
Went to our usual spot.
To the King's Bridge Motel on D Street.
That's fairly close to the tower you broadcast from.
Well, I'd ask you for a receipt, but, uh It's not exactly a receipt hotel.
So, Ella, if you didn't do it, maybe you could helps with who did.
I don't know who.
But maybe I know why.
Theresa was working on something.
A story, a big one, I think.
How do you know? I started noticing that she would take her journal and her bag with her, even to the restroom.
Maybe she was just paranoid.
She was on a story.
Despite our differences, Theresa and I were birds of a feather.
And back in her day, she was a hell of an investigative reporter.
She was kind of my idol.
Well, I did look all through her work computer, and I really didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
If it were me, I'd keep it all at home.
Nice digs.
Boy, I'll say.
Guess it pays a lot better to report crime than it does to solve it.
Well, you could say that about any job.
Except crime-- I heard it doesn't pay.
Warrant served.
Okay, so Theresa's working on some big secret story, right? Where does she keep it? Not in the living room, seems untouched.
Theresa Shea lived alone.
Right? Divorced, three times.
Well, I know when I take work home, sometimes it'll make its way into the bedroom.
Yeah, but you're not single, you're married.
Yeah, but, um my place often looks a lot like this.
Okay, maybe not exactly like this.
Russell? I think I just found what we're looking for.
Oh, my.
Theresa was certainly into something.
Like she was obsessed.
Good chance this obsession is what got her killed.
Theresa Shea earned her stripes as an investigative reporter.
Looks like she's still got it.
Or had it.
News clippings, Internet articles.
I got copies of police reports all marked up and lots of arson reports.
All these clippings are about a series of unsolved warehouse and store fires on the east side Why is a superficial nip-tuck diva digging into cold cases about a firebug? She wasn't digging, she was excavating.
Yeah, but why was she so invested? She didn't need the story to advance her career.
Right? Yet, she spent all her time here.
She ate all her meals in here, too.
Hmm.
Living alone can drive you a little crazy.
Yeah, well, there's crazy and then there's Colonel Kurtz crazy.
Mm.
Maybe she wasn't always alone.
One of these wine glasses is wearing lipstick and the other isn't.
Wonder who our mystery date is.
I'll get them to Henry.
Reporter's notebook.
Maybe this can help us make sense out of all this organized chaos.
What is that writing, some kind of shorthand maybe? Gregg style, to be specific.
Haven't seen that for years.
Our victim's very old school.
I suppose some of our answers might be here.
You must be running on fumes.
You should go home.
Home is where the coded notebook is.
Have you talked to him since the NTSB guy? Nothing happened with NTSB.
How come you can't pick up the phone? Because I feel like when I do, I'm gonna be very sad when I hang up.
How do you know? 'Cause he wants to talk.
Want some help? Oh, that's that's really nice.
You should go home, have some fun.
This is fun.
I'm really good at crosswords.
Yeah, okay.
Uh, so Gregg style shorthand is written phonetically.
"Cat" is "k-a-t," knee is "n-e.
" Soft consonants like "ch" and "sh" are written horizontally.
And hard consonants like "t" and "d" are written downward.
Like this.
And vowel sounds are curves and circles.
Okay, let's crack the code.
All right.
of warehouse arsons in the furniture district baffled investigators.
Cases were unsolved and put on ice.
But Theresa dug up lab reports, which pointed to dynamite and wax paper, and that looks an awful lot like a 17-year-old version of what blew that power transformer.
Do we have a clue as to who would've made either device? No, but Theresa did.
She referenced in her journal someone named "G.
H.
" He was a demolitions expert, uh, storied career in the military.
He's now working as A motivational speaker.
Didn't you just investigate a fire? Yes, I did-- Garrett Howard.
He was a retired military munitions expert.
So, where's he now? He's downstairs.
Anything of note with Mr.
Howard? Well, most people die in fires from smoke inhalation, not burns.
But take a look at this lung.
Very clean.
He didn't die from the fire.
Nope.
Did you, by chance, find anything on the back of his neck? Your instincts are good as always.
Come on around here.
There, we got it.
Knife wound right between the occipital bone of the skull and atlas, C1.
Consistent with the murder of Theresa Shea.
Yeah, right down to the green paste.
Mm-hmm.
In related news, there has been a rash of vandalism across Las Vegas landmarks.
With the latest hijinks taking place at the Palermo fountain Yesterday's news? And the day before and the day before that.
Trying to make sense out of this whole dysfunctional family of a news team.
Theresa sucked up a lot of oxygen.
I just want to see if any of her siblings look a little short of breath.
Any luck? No.
You? A little bit.
Theresa was investigating a cold case.
It was serial arson.
Those famous fires in the furniture district were started by an explosive device that lead us to a current case.
Which one's that? Finlay's dead motivational speaker.
Turns out, he was a demolitions expert.
And he specialized in the type of devices that were all found at those old arson sites-- dynamite with a remote trigger.
Rings a bell.
And best that I can tell, the device was a precursor to the explosive device that you found at the transformer.
Okay, so the guy 17 years ago builds incendiary devices to start fires, then nothing.
Then he blows up a transformer.
Why'd he start up again now? The similarities don't end there.
Guy's wound track has the same green paste as we found in Theresa's pithing.
So we're looking at a locked-room mystery, tucked into an enigma, wrapped in dynamite paper.
You can say that again.
Hey, Sara.
Let me ask you something.
How you doing? You all right? I'm fine.
Well, you just seemed a little bit down when we were at Theresa's place.
Um, I don't know, uh, woman married to her career without much to show for it.
It's a little depressing.
Yeah, uh I don't mean to pry, but Pause right there.
I know, I know.
I'm supposed to be your boss.
Separation of church and state.
No, no, no, hit, uh, pause with the remote, and-and back it up a little bit.
Oh.
There, you see it? Map's not only behind her, it's on her dress.
I see London, I see France.
There's only one reason that we'd be able to see that on her dress.
She's got a green stain on her.
- Well, that's embarrassing.
- Worse than that.
It's incriminating.
What are you talking about? We found a green paste on the body of Theresa and also on a second victim.
It's a compound used for sharpening knives.
It was used by our killer.
Wait a minute, you don't think I mean, why would Rainy have a knife-sharpening paste on her dress? Why don't we let Rainy answer that question.
Well, let's see.
Um, clear skies, red dress, Wednesday.
The Doppler network was funky, so I spent most of my time looking over Denny's shoulder in his cage while he was trying to fix the connection.
Excuse me.
Greg, what's going on? Hey, you're not gonna believe this.
I was just sorting through the storied career of Garrett Howard and came across a familiar name: Denny Jones.
In what context? He was in the military, too, briefly.
He got in trouble for stealing supplies.
In and out of the stockade.
Short fuse.
Was deemed unfit for duty.
Received a less-than-honorable discharge.
So, Denny and Garrett Howard Were brothers in arms.
Where's Morgan? Denny? Wait.
Denny! We've just seen a man emerge.
We don't know if he works for the station.
Denny.
Denny, hey.
I didn't do anything wrong! Okay, okay, nobody said you did.
Is that the murder weapon? This is my knife, yes, but it didn't I didn't kill Theresa! Hey, drop that knife! Stay away! Everybody move back, move back, move back.
Move your camera.
Move! I didn't kill Theresa, because she loved me.
And I loved her, too! I loved her! I Get away! Hey, get the cameras out of here! I'm serious! I believe you.
Let us talk about this.
No! I will not go back to jail! I cannot go back to jail! All we want to do is take you in.
Just gonna go have a conversation.
Stop! You drop that knife right now! No, this is just, this is all just too much.
Denny, listen to me, calm down.
You don't want to do this.
Now come on.
Denny Denny.
Denny.
No! Wait! Why'd you do that?! Denny, okay Can you see this? Move back, will ya, please? Look at me.
I'm here.
I got you.
Move! Denny.
Denny.
Unlike lightning, tragedy strikes twice at KVKC.
I'm at the site of yet a second violent death in as many days, as the news station is rocked to its foundation by the suicide of a man suspected in the murder of Theresa Shea.
Embroiled in a mystery that keeps on unraveling, authorities have kept quiet thus far, but the man who killed himself has been identified as Denny Jones.
So what motivated these events? Psychotic break? Crime of passion? Until the facts come in, one can only speculate.
Stupid.
Okay, okay, okay.
Boss? Yeah? I have an update on the wine glass we found at Theresa Shea's.
Thought you didn't find a match.
No, we didn't until the knife came in.
But sweat around the handle matched the DNA on the glass.
Denny was sharing wine with Theresa.
And sharing a bed.
I found evidence of sexual activity in her sheets.
Strange bedfellows.
Everybody needs somebody.
But if he was in love, why kill her? I don't know.
Love makes you do all sorts of stupid things.
You don't think he did it, do you? Sorry.
Okay, this is gonna be fun.
Now, when we came into this, we had three suspects and no evidence, right? Now we got some evidence, I want to play a little game.
Capture the flag.
Bear with me.
Okay, this particular flag is gonna represent Theresa Shea's life.
We're gonna stick it right here.
Sara, you're gonna be playing Theresa.
Three of you are each gonna be playing one of our suspects.
Now you'll start from wherever our evidence placed them.
We'll turn off the lights.
Whoever can get in, take Theresa's life and get out in 20 seconds is our killer.
Are you good? I'm gonna be playing Mr.
Paulsen.
Sara, you're my anchor, right? Alive and well.
Okay, Greg, where are you at? All right, I am at the coffee machine, about to go to the garage and make a deposit.
I'm at my Doppler station.
I'm monitoring the storm as instructed.
Computer puts Rainy here until the lights go out.
Thank you, Rainy.
Denny? I'm in my cage.
Internet activity locks me here until we lose power.
As soon as the lights go out, I want everyone to try to kill Sara.
Ready, set, go.
ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Lights up.
Well, Chad was too far away.
And Denny was, too.
Rainy couldn't get to Theresa.
None of us made it in time.
Yeah, but the flag is gone.
Well, who took it then? You were all too far away, because you were sent too far away by me.
Detective, did you see me leave this room? No, I did not.
And as far as everyone in here knew, Paulsen never left either.
Theresa, pull it back.
Go three.
Thanks, Ella.
We'll try to get that sound sorted out.
Blew up the power, stepped outside, took care of Theresa, got back in the room before the generator kicked on.
Theresa, are you okay? Do these articles look familiar to you? Yeah, let me give you a hint-- the A.
P.
credits the photographs to a younger you.
Yeah.
I took pictures of the furniture district fires.
You know, they never caught that guy.
Never say never.
What's that supposed to mean? You know what? Let's talk about your old pal, Garrett Howard.
The one who liked to play with dynamite.
I don't know a Garrett Howard.
Really? And yet, you did a whole profile on him on one of your news shows.
What was it called? Uh "Army demolition expert turns motivational speaker.
" That's a hell of a favor to do for somebody you don't know.
And not the only favor.
You also hired his hapless army buddy, Denny Jones.
So he gave you the job as a favor to a friend? How does that work? Um, Garrett said Paulsen owes him his life.
Any idea why? Denny and Theresa together.
Wow.
I didn't see that coming.
Did you see that coming? No.
No, that must have come as a surprise to you, too.
And now Theresa knew that you had a secret.
She figured if she could uncover it, then she could keep her job.
You wanted to have her replaced with a younger anchorwoman.
So she became a one-woman news team.
And she connected you to these fires 17 years ago.
First one on the scene because you lit the match.
That must've given Theresa a lot of leverage.
Leverage? She was a washed-up talent.
Her best years were behind her.
Why'd you keep her on the anchor desk then? See, to me, that sounds like a deal with the devil.
Yeah, one you couldn't live with.
So you made a plan to kill Theresa.
Asked Garrett Howard for another explosive device-- just one more job.
But then, like Theresa, he knew your secret.
So you had to dispose of him, too.
And that left poor Denny.
So you borrowed his knife, and you set him up.
I'm a reporter.
I'm not a murderer.
I wouldn't even know how to wield a knife.
Hate to fact-check you on that, pal, but You know, actually, I'm loving this.
We found an old news story that you ran years ago about a killer who stabbed his victim right in the sweet spot, right under the skull.
When you take notes, you really take notes.
You know, in my business, before making outrageous accusations, on or off the air, you need a little thing called evidence.
In our business, too.
This is a partial print from the transformer explosions.
It's also your left index finger.
Oops.
Welcome to the KVKC local news at 11:00.
I'm Jennifer Thomas.
Breaking news tonight-- which sadly hits close to home-- long-time news producer Fred Paulsen has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Theresa Shea.
Hello.
You've been hard to get a hold of.
Yeah.
Um, I'm so sorry.
How are you? I'm okay.
Is now a good time?