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| • No More Bets • |
Episode Number: 91#
Original Airdate: May 13, 2004
Story By: Andrew Lipsitz & Dustin Lee Abraham
Teleplay By: Naren Shankar & Carol Mendelsohn & Judith McCreary
Directed By: Richard Lewis
Synopsis: "Two young men are found murdered after scamming Sam Braun's casinos. Because of her relationship with Braun, Grissom refuses to allow Catherine to participate in the case, leaving the rest of the team to solve the mystery. One of the suspects is the son of a man who was black-listed for cheating years ago in Sam Braun's casinos. Sara finds out that Grissom recommended Nick for the promotion that she wanted."
Guest Stars:
Scott Wilson as Sam Braun
Nicholas Lea as Chris Bezich
David Berman as David Phillips
Wallace Langham as David Hodges
Maury Chaykin
Eddie Kaye Thomas
Justin Urich
Brandon Quinn
Mark Derwin
Edmund Wyson as Officer Devine
Joseph Patrick Kelly as Officer Metcalf
Notes:
- Originally titled "Who's Your Daddy?"
- The underlying story of the computers in the shoes is a true one. Read "The Newtonian Casino" by Thomas A. Bass, which retells this amazing story and is well worth a read if you're interested in this sort of thing.
| | • Review • |
A boy is interviewed by men with flashlights who want to know who he's working with; he tells them that he wants them to let him go, saying that it's against the law for them to keep him there. A voice tells him that there is no law in this room. ... Brass and Grissom arrive at the scene at what looks like an abandoned amusement park; the body is up against a neon sign that's been knocked over. Brass pulls out a wallet and notes that the victim is wearing a wig and a fat suit, he then reads the identification in the wallet that identifies the body as Ernie Menlo. Catherine notes that he's still wearing his watch, and has his wallet, so robbery doesn't seem to have been the motive. There are red and blue glass fragments near the body.
Catherine talks to Brass on the phone, then tells Grissom that there is no Ernie Menlo, the identification was a fake. Grissom examines the body and notes that there were two shots, at close range. David comments that there are no exit wounds, and Cathreine points out that there are no shell casings on the ground either, so the killer must have taken them with him. Grissom says that it sounds like a professional hit; he looks at the victim's hands and there are marks on his knuckles. Catherine notes that he must have gotten a ride to the scene, and looks for tire tracks; Grissom says that the body's lividity is consistent with the murder happening where the body is, it isn't a body dump. Catherine photographs some tire tracks and imagines a car making a three-point turn to leave the scene. At the body, Grissom pulls a piece of paper out of the victim's pants, and opens it; it's a receipt from the Rampart Casino for over $400,000, and wonders where the money is. He takes the receipt over to Catherine and tells her that robbery might be the motive after all; she wants to check out the casino, but Grissom tells her that she can't because it's Sam Braun's place, and she has to go home.
In the morgue, Sara and Warrick take samples from the victim's body; Sara takes his watch off and notes that it's a real Rolex, and it's new. David finds three holes in the victim's sock.
At the Rampart Casino, people gamble at the roulette table; Grissom stands and looks at the security cameras. Brass tells him that the pit boss remembers the big winner; Sam Braun comes over and tells them that the fat kid was cheating, and that he talked to him about it, but didn't kill him. Grissom asks if they talked to him in the box; Sam tells him that they call it the holding room now. They go to the holding room and Grissom comments that it smells like the cleaning crew just left. Sam Braun tells them that they brought the fat kid in around 2 a.m. and he walked out around 3 a.m., and the proof of that is on the security tapes. Grissom examines the room for evidence of blood; Sam tells him that he knew the kid was cheating and if he just wanted to know how the kid was doing it, but the kid only said that he was lucky and attributed it to clean living, then demanded that they either call the police or let him go, so Sam told him that he wasn't welcome at the casino any longer. Grissom comments that Einstein had a theory that the only way to win at roulette was to steal from the croupier when he wasn't looking, and then suggests that maybe it was an inside job, and one of Sam's employees was in on it with the kid. Sam asks which bothers Grissom more, the fact that Grissom couldn't get him for murder (Assume Nothing, Season 4, episode 1) or the fact that he gave money to Catherine (Jackpot, Season 4, episode 6), adding that the money came with no strings attached; Grissom says that just because you can't see something doesn't mean that it's not there. Sam leaves the room, telling Grissom that if he figures out how the kid cheated him, to let him know.
At the morgue, Dr. Robbins tells Warrick that the bruises on the victim's foot match the holes in his socks, and also notes that there are bruises all over his body, indicating that he was pretty badly beaten. Warrick comments that the bullets came from a 22, and Dr. Robbins says that it's the hit man's weapon of choice because the bullets aren't big enough to exit and so will bounce around in the skull, causing maximum damage. He tells Warrick that the bruising and fractures on the victim's hand most likely came from a blunt object; Warrick asks if a ball peen hammer would make those marks and says that in the old days, if you cheated a casino, the first time, they'd smash your hand with a hammer; the second time, you'd lose a limb; and the third time, you'd take a long walk in the desert with a shovel.
At the lab, Warrick examines the victim's shoes; he pulls out the insole and finds three metal posts that correspond to the holes in the victim's sock and the bruises on his foot. He looks again, and pulls out a computer board; he tells Grissom about it, saying that it picked up a signal and sent it through the metal posts using some code that told the victim which numbers to bet; Grissom notes that if there was a receiver, then there was a sender as well. Sara tells them that they got an identification on the victim's real name: Teddy Keller.
Mr. Greene, the Super, takes Brass and Warrick to Keller's apartment, telling them that he had a roommate named Davis Mullins, and that the two of them ate a lot of pizza. They get to the door; the Super knocks but there's no answer, so he lets them in with his pass-key. Inside, they note that the room is cold; Warrick sees a roulette table and comments that it's a regulation table which would cost about $1,500, and Brass comments that with the way that they were winning, it was a good investment. Warrick looks things over and says that they had a system; Brass calls him into the bedroom, where there's another body, and Warrick comments that the roommate was home after all.
Warrick photographs the body and notes that there are two shots to the head, similar to the first death. Brass looks in the closet, and seeing a lot of wigs, says that they liked to play dress-up; Warrick asks if he's found any shoes, so Brass looks around and finds them, all with computers in them, like the first victim had. Warrick notes a blood smear on the second victim's body; David says that maybe the killer was trying to clean up. Warrick also notes a white smear on the victim's shirt, and tells David to send it to trace. Brass pulls a computer out of one of the shoes and shows it to Warrick, reminding him that he once said that he could get a print off the air. Outside, Grissom goes over the ground, down some steps, and finds blue and red glass, similar to the glass found at the first scene.
Catherine and Chris Bezich walk down the street and look in shop windows; Sam Braun pulls up in his limo and comments that he's heard that Catherine has some time off because of him. She introduces him to Chris who is eager to make an impression on Sam. Catherine takes Sam aside and asks what he wants, adding that she could get fired for even talking to him; he tells her that it's a small town and he bumps into people all the time, then adds that he didn't kill those two kids. Catherine wants to know how he knows that there's more than one dead person. Sam goes back to his limo, and tells Chris on the way that he's not impressing Catherine. As the limo makes a three-point turn, Catherine watches, and thinks.
Hodges tells Grissom that the glass is lead based, usually used for neon tubing, and the sample from the second scene is consistent with the first scene.
In the locker room, Sara says hi to Nick who is reading a letter; he tells her that Grissom recommended him for the key CSI position (Eleven Angry Jurors, Season 4, episode 11); Sara congratulates him, but he tells her that the position has been cut, and they're getting some new lab equipment instead.
Warrick tells Grissom that he's seen guys beat the house every way; by using their hands, their heads and everything else, but not their toes by using a transmitter. Warrick says that he's read about a way to beat the roulette table by using physics; Grissom says that if you can account for all the forces, you can but not with their toes; it's a transmitter in the shoe. Warrick says that he's read that there's a way to beat the roulette table by physics, and if you account for all the variables, then you can land on Mars. Warrick comments that a system like this would give them a 44% advantage over the house odds, and Grissom says that the system is complicated. Nick comes in and says that it wouldn't be complicated for an electrical engineering grad student; they got a hit from the print on the transmitter in the shoe, and it came back to Seth Landers, who had been arrested a few years earlier for making fake identifications.
At Seth Lander's apartment, Brass comments that Seth has disappeared, and he doesn't seem to have a roommate. As he and Nick walk away from the building, they see a guy at a bike, and ask him if he knows Seth Landers; he runs away and Nick chases him, catchign him at a fence. As they pull him down, Seth tells them that he's sorry and he'll do anything that Mr. Braun wants if they just don't kill him. Brass arrests him.
In the interview room, Brass tells Seth that jacking Braun's casino was gutsy and smart; Seth says that it wasn't his idea, Teddy and Davis came to him. Warrick tells him that he's the one that made the idea work, but Seth says that he just built the computers; the scam was that they were supposed to make 20,000 to 30,000 per night, maximum, and it went okay at first; they hit The Pike, The Tangiers and then Teddy and Davis got greedy, and that you can't crush a roulette table like that and not get noticed. Warrick comments that all the casinos are Sam Braun's and asks if Seth has something against him? Seth says no, it's just that those casinos are all old school and the newer casinos would have electronic equipment that would interfere with his transmitter. They ask him where the money is, and he tells them to ask Sam Braun; that when they took Teddy to the holding room, he was scared and thought that it was all over, but then they let him go with the money; but as soon as he left the casino, a couple of security guys grabbed him, and that was the last that he saw of them.
In his office, Grissom dials the phone with his toes; Catherine comes in and asks what he's doing. He tells her that he's testing his dexterity. Catherine tells him that she saw Sam Braun and that his limo might match the tire tracks that they found at the first scene; Grissom tells her that any evidence that comes from her is tainted. She tells him that if he gets the warrant then it won't be tainted.
Grissom and Sara check the limo that Sam uses; she comments that Nick told her that the promotion has been cut from the budget, and then asks if he recommended Nick for it, but he doesn't answer. Sara finds glass fragments in the tires that might be the same neon glass that was at both crime scenes. Inside the limo, they spray for blood; Sara asks if Grissom has a problem with her, and why he recommended Nick. Grissom tells her that he doesn't have a problem with her, he just thought that Nick was the best person for the job, because he doesn't care if he gets it or not. Sara tells him that that's a stupid reason. Grissom finds some blood inside the car.
At the Rampart casino, Warrick, Brass and other officers approach Sam Braun and arrest him for the murder of Teddy Keller; they handcuff him and take him out the front door.
In the interview room, Sam Braun's lawyer tells Grissom and Brass that they're done, they have nothing to hold Sam on. Grissom mentions the tire patterns, saying that the ones at the crime scene are a match to Sam's limo, but the lawyer points out that they would also match every other limo in Las Vegas; Grissom brings up the glass found in the tire, but the lawyer points out that the whole town is a construction site, so the glass could have come from anywhere. Grissom then asks how Teddy's blood got into Sam's limo; Brass suggests that Sam waited until Teddy walked past the security cameras, then put him in the limo and took him for a ride "Vegas style" just like in the old days. He imagines the scene: Sam punching Teddy, making his nose bleed and leaving the blood in the limo, then arriving at the neon graveyard and beating him, breaking his hands with a hammer then shooting him and leaving him on the Whiskeytown sign. Sam whispers to his lawyer, who then tells them that Sam offered Teddy a ride home, and during the ride, they stopped at the neon graveyard where they had a discussion about the ethics of what Teddy had done; he adds that Teddy returned the money to Sam out of respect. Brass comments that he supposes that Sam is now going to claim that he's being set up, which seems to happen to him a lot.
In the Rampart casino, Warrick tests for electronic signals in the slot area, then looks around at the floor and imagines the patterns of electricity flowing around the room. Back at the lab, Hodges tells Warrick that the smudge from the second victim's shirt is white paint, and that sometimes a paint sample is just a paint sample. Warrick goes to Grissom and tells him that maybe it wasn't Sam Braun that committed the murders; he adds that the shoe computers would have worked better in a newer casino and Seth would have known that, so that probably means that the scam that the boys were pulling was intentional and maybe personal.
Warrick runs names on the computer of people who might have a grudge against Sam Braun and finds Joseph Greene, the Super of the building where Teddy and Davis lived. He and Brass go to see him at a small store-front casino, where he's playing slots. They ask him about Seth; he admits that Seth is his son, and asks if he's okay, then asks them to step away from the slot machine as they're blocking his light and jinxing him. He puts his hand up on the slot machine and Brass notes that his knuckles show an old injury; he asks what happened to his hand; Joseph says that he had an accident a long time ago that he doesn't want to talk about; Brass tells him that's too bad, because today, it's "This Is Your Life."
At the station, the officers bring in Sam Braun and sit him on a sofa in the waiting area next to Joe Greene; Greene looks at Sam Braun, who looks back at him and then looks away. In the office, Brass and Grissom watch the two men and Brass comments that Greene a.k.a. Landers and Braun are old friends. Brass goes out to get Joe Greene, calling him Joe Landers so that Sam Braun can hear; Joe says that his name is Greene, and as he gets up, he puts his hand on the sofa; Sam Braun sees it and asks him if his hand hurts when it rains.
In the interview room, Brass asks if Greene knows that he can't gamble anywhere, including small places like the one where they found him. Brass tells him that he was banned by the Gaming Commission for cheating because he beat Sam Braun's casino and so was barred for life, and that sounds like motive to him. Brass tells him that Teddy Keller, Davis Mullins and his son Seth were fleecing the Rampart, and asks why Joe was using his son if he was a good kid? Joe Greene says that he didn't cheat Sam Braun's casinos, he won, and did it fairly. Brass then suggests that maybe it was Seth who killed Teddy and Davis; Greene tells him to stop looking at Seth and start looking at Sam Braun.
In a garbage dumpster outside a dorm, Nick pulls a gun out, wrapped in a bloody t-shirt. He photographs it and comments to the security guard that it looks like a .22, and has four rounds expended. The officer says that it's a relic, but Nick says that it doesn't matter as long as it still fires. At the lab, he tests it, and gives the bullet to Warrick to compare; he finds that it matches the bullet found in Teddy's body, so it's the murder weapon. Warrick comments that this doesn't fit; Seth is a genius, he came up with the scam to beat the casinos, built the computers, then dumps the gun in the garbage outside his own dorm? Nick comments that the bullets that killed Teddy were a different type than the ones used to kill Davis, and based on the ones left in the chamber, it seems to him that Davis was killed first, then the killer reloaded and killed Teddy.
Greg tells Grissom that the epithelials on Teddy Keller's shirt were from Seth; Warrick talks to Seth in the cells and asks where he went after Teddy was taken into the holding room in the casino, but Seth just tells him that his lawyer has told him not to talk. Warrick tells him that he's looking at two counts of murder, so he should talk; Seth tells him that he waited but Teddy didn't show up, so he went to the apartment to get Davis, but found him dead. He admits that he touched the body and got blood on his hands, which he wiped on his t-shirt. Warrick tells him that they found the gun in the garbage outside Seth's dorm, wrapped in Seth's t-shirt. Seth tells him that he's never used a gun in his life; Warrick tells him that he should clear things up. Seth tells him that the rule was that if anything went wrong, they were supposed to go home; he says that he found Davis's body, so went to his dad and told him that Davis was dead; his father took the t-shirt and told Seth to go back to school and lay low. Warrick asks if he's saying that his own father set him up? Seth tells him that he just wanted his dad to like him, he tried to be like his dad, but he just couldn't do it; he adds that winning at gambling isn't a skill, it's a gift, and one that his dad had until Sam Braun took it away from him, so he thought that if he could show his dad that he could do what Joe never could, then he'd like him. Warrick asks if Joe owns a .22?
At the apartment complex, Grissom and Warrick examine Joe Greene's apartment, but find nothing; Grissom suggest that maybe Joe knew they were coming and cleaned up. Grissom looks in the dryer and then turns around and sees a set of keys hanging on the wall, and says that Joe missed a spot. There's white paint on the keys and one of them is marked "25." They go to apartment 25 and find that it's in the process of being painted, in the same type of paint as was found on Davis Mullins's shirt. Grissom looks in the closet and finds a knapsack that has paint and what looks like blood on the outside, and inside money packets from the Tangiers and the Pike. Warrick comments that he doesn't understand why Greene had to kill the kids, as he was getting his revenge; Grissom says that maybe it stopped being about revenge. He imagines Greene getting the call from Seth telling him that Teddy had been taken to the holding room in the casino, then going to the other apartment and shooting Davis, then driving out to meet Teddy at the neon graveyard where he shot him as well. Warrick comments, "Why settle for money when you can frame your worst enemy?"
Catherine gets out of car and walks over to Sam Braun's limo; she offers to buy him dinner. Seth gets out of the back of the limo with a drink in his hand and asks Sam where the ice is; Sam tells Catherine that if you want to catch a cheater, you hire one. Catherine comments that Seth is working off his debt, and Sam tells her that one way or another, he always gets his money's worth. He gets into the limo and drives off.
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