Épisode Chacun cherche sa place S05E01 - Crossing Jordan Saison 5

[Scene: Hospital. Jordan is standing outside Woody's room watching him. He is asleep. A doctor checks on him and walks outside. Jordan walks with him down the corridor and asks him some questions. She sees Wayne Riggs laying in a bed in a room near by. He smiles.]

JORDAN: What the hell are you staring at?

OFFICER: I'm sorry, doctor, I can't let you in.

JORDAN: No, I'm gonna wipe that smile off your damn face!

OFFICER: Hey, that's enough, doc.

[Time lapse. Woody's room. Jordan is standing there holding a plant. Woody slowly opens his eyes.]

JORDAN: Wow. Looks like you'll be able to play violin again after all. Six weeks of rehab, you'll be good as new. Oh, they say that plants speed up recovery. Something about the chlorophyll.

WOODY: I meant it, what I said last night. You whisper something in my ear, it's supposed to change everything. It doesn't.

JORDAN: You've been through a lot, Woody. I think maybe we should talk about this later.

WOODY: I'm serious. Just because I'm gonna get better...

JORDAN: Woody...

WOODY: Jordan. Leave.

(She leaves the room and walks down the corridor. She goes to Wayne's room and opens the door. The officer is laying on the floor and Wayne is gone.)

[Scene: ME's Office. Jordan walks out of the elevator still holding onto the plant. She sees Jack Slokum talking to Nigel near by. Jack flicks Nigel's hair. She walks into her office and closes the door.]

[Scene: Eight Weeks Later. ME's Office. Jordan's Office. Jordan is there. She picks up the dead plant and throws it in the bin. She sits at her desk and looks at the paper. It reads "Cop Killer Task Force Reduced: Riggs' Trail Cold".]

[Cut to the Break Room. Bug and Lily are there. Nigel, with short hair, rushes over to the coffee.]

NIGEL: Got 1 minute and 42 seconds before he makes his rounds again.

BUG: There's no rule against getting a cup of coffee.

LILY: Or in your case, five.

NIGEL: I've gotta stay sharp, efficient.

BUG: You're not getting fired, Nigel.

NIGEL: Yep, that's easy for you to say. You're the teacher's pet. Anyway, how would you know? Unless you two have been talking about me behind my back.

LILY: Oh, would you listen to yourselves?

BUG: What?

NIGEL: Well, you heard him. All that talk about efficiency. Someone is getting fired. (Sidney walks in.) It's between me and Sidney. And that little bugger's been putting in overtime.

SIDNEY: You know what? No one's stopping you from coming in a little earlier. And face it. The dress code just comes a little easier to me.

NIGEL: Oh, sure, yes. And your lips just happen to be placed strategically low enough to Slokum's ass.

LILY: All right, stop it! You're being childish, both of you. Change is an inevitability in life.

(Jordan walks in. Everyone continues on with what they were doing. Slokum walks in.)

SLOKUM: Well, well, well. What do we have here? This must be an impromptu efficiency meeting. Or could it be the beginning of a coup? Hm?

JORDAN: Just getting a little coffee. That's all.

(Jordan walks away.)

SLOKUM: I just got called by Detective Seely. He wants an ME on a crime scene down at Nutting Lake on some farm. Dr. Vijay, why don't you take one of these colleagues and go down there and see.

NIGEL, SIDNEY: I'll do it, sir.

NIGEL: Won't be a problem.

SLOKUM: One of you will do.

[Cut to Jordan's Office. Jordan is at her desk. There's a knock at the door.]

JORDAN: Yeah, come in.

(Lily walks in.)

LILY: Hey.

JORDAN: Aren't you supposed to be ignoring me too?

LILY: They're disappointed, that's all. They've been expecting you to lead the revolution.

JORDAN: I must've missed that memo.

LILY: What's going on, Jordan? We haven't talked in weeks.

JORDAN: I'm just doing my work.

(Lily sees the newspaper on the desk.)

LILY: Oh, I guess they're never gonna find him, are they? That must be tough on Woody.

JORDAN: I wouldn't know. I haven't heard from him in two months.

LILY: I thought you two were...

JORDAN: I lied. I heard he got a desk job two weeks ago. I just assumed he'd call.

LILY: People can have complicated reactions to traumatic events. It's not uncommon for someone to pull away from the very people that they care about the most.

JORDAN: I pushed him away, Lily. I sat on the fence for too long and I pushed him away.

(Slokum walks in.)

SLOKUM: Dr. Cavanaugh, I noticed that you were scheduled for three autopsies today. You know the rules, you don't go home till you're finished. I would start with the burn victim in Trace. Thank you.

(Slokum leaves, slamming the door behind him.)

LILY: I hate him.

[Cut to Trace Evidence. Sidney is there with the burn victim. Jordan walks in.]

SIDNEY: John Doe. Found in a cardboard box behind North Station. Must've been cooking or something. All right, listen, I'm sorry about the cold shoulder, it's just...

JORDAN: Forget about it. It's no big deal. I don't think this was a cooking accident, I've got bloody prints here.

SIDNEY: Someone strangled him and then covered it up with a hibachi action?

JORDAN: And these prints might belong to the murderer. Run them. And the blood too.

SIDNEY: There something fused in his pocket.

(He pulls a wallet off of the body and hands it to Jordan.)

JORDAN: Hand me the acetone.

(She pours a liquid over the man's driver's license and rubs it with a cotton bud. It removes the black stuff and reveals the man's identity.)

SIDNEY: What is it?

JORDAN: Wayne Riggs.

SIDNEY: What, the same Wayne Riggs that shot Woody?

JORDAN: Yeah, that Wayne Riggs.

[Scene: A Farm. Two police cars and the ME's truck are parked outside the house. Nigel and Bug walk inside.]

NIGEL: I feel like I'm in Kansas.

MATT: Hey. What took you guys so long?

(Bug sees a man in a suit leaning against the fireplace and looking out the window.)

BUG: Who's the suit?

MATT: Oh, not a suit. He's the body.

(They walk over to the man. He's dead but still standing.)

BUG: Rigor must be holding him up.

MATT: Go ahead. Open the suit jacket. (Nigel pulls across the man's jacket and sees a big hole cut out of his chest.) You know, I never took anatomy, but isn't something supposed to be inside there?

NIGEL: Yeah. His heart. It's missing. (The man falls backwards and Bug catches him. He's not impressed.) Well, don't look at me like that. I just touched the jacket.

BUG: Rigor's waning. Which makes time of death 14-16 hours ago.

("Fear Me Now" is engraved in a piece of wood on the fireplace.)

NIGEL: Someone went to a lot of trouble to set up this tableau.

BUG: Who found the body?

MATT: Wife. Margaret Titleman. She's been out all day looking for their dog. She's in there with her sons.

(Bug goes into another room. Margaret is coughing.)

BUG: Mrs. Titleman? Take deep breaths. Her eyes are jaundiced. (to the son) Does she have any liver problems?

LYLE: No, I don't think... I don't think so.

BUG: Mrs. Titleman? Mrs. Titleman?

(Oliver walks in.)

OLIVER: Here, try this.

(He waves something under her nose.)

BUG: Oliver.

OLIVER: Dr. Vijay. Nice to see you again. It's terrible, isn't it? My stepfather. Just awful.

MATT: Wait a minute, you two know each other?

OLIVER: I'm sorry to hear about Dr. Macy. I was so hoping that he'd be here. Would you do me a favour? Tell him that I said hello. That I'm... back.

[Scene: ME's Office. Nigel, Bug, Matt and Slokum are there.]

BUG: He got off with an insanity defence and was sent to a juvenile psych hospital.

NIGEL: Ridiculous. He should've gotten life. Instead he got a tree lined mental hospital out in Provincetown.

MATT: Well, until last month at least. On his 21st birthday.

BUG: Only took three years to convince his psychiatrist that he was cured.

NIGEL: Sure enough, he murders his stepfather this morning.

SLOKUM: Three hours and the case is closed. Dr. Vijay, that's the kind of efficiency that makes my heart sing.

(They walk into the corridor.)

BUG: Actually, there's no evidence that ties him to the murder, or rather there won't be.

SLOKUM: Won't be?

BUG: The murders three years ago, he did it just to play a game of cat and mouse with Dr. Macy.

NIGEL: He fancies himself as a forensics protege. A real geek for the stuff. He crafted the perfect murders just to impress Dr. M.

BUG: Only Dr. Macy tripped him up.

MATT: Yeah, but these two think that the murder this morning is Oliver's gauntlet. That he's asking Dr. Macy for a rematch.

BUG: So bringing Dr. Macy onto the case may be the only way to catch this kid.

SLOKUM: You know what I think? I think it's a load of crap. I wanna see every file on this kid's handiwork, then I want you to move the body from Trace to Autopsy. If you can't handle it, I sure can. And let me make this perfectly clear. Dr. Macy doesn't work here anymore.

(Slokum walks away.)

NIGEL: Doesn't he just light up a room?

MATT: I'll get Walcott to go over his head. Authorise bringing Macy under consultant. But one of you guys are gonna have to ask him. That guy hates me.

(Matt walks away.)

NIGEL: Don't look at me. I'm in watch-my-own-ass mode around here, mate. You're gonna have to do it, Bug.

BUG: Me? No way. What if Slokum finds out?

NIGEL: Well, who are we gonna get to do it then?

[Scene: Garret's Apartment. Jordan and Garret are there holding glasses of a green drink.]

JORDAN: What is this?

GARRET: Protein, Whey. A little green algae.

JORDAN: Oh. It looks like stomach contents. (She has a sip.) Tastes like it too.

GARRET: Oh, stop.

JORDAN: So... are you in?

GARRET: No, not interested. You'll catch him, you don't need me.

JORDAN: Aren't you bored, Garret?

GARRET: Not at all. I mean, I'm riding my bike an hour and a half every day, I'm reading books I never had the chance to read, I'm sleeping better. I should've done this years ago.

JORDAN: Well, maybe you should just take up shuffleboard.

GARRET: MY life has chapters, Jordan. And a meaningful life is one that recognises them and doesn't fight it.

JORDAN: You get that from a fortune cookie?

GARRET: I'm not coming back.

JORDAN: He's gonna keep killing until he gets your attention. You know that.

[Scene: ME's Office. Slokum's Office. Slokum is there pruning a bonsai tree. Outside Jordan walks up to Nigel, Lily and Bug.]

JORDAN: Hey.

BUG: Well?

JORDAN: He's not coming back.

(Slokum walks out of his office.)

SLOKUM: And that surprises you? Wouldn't that mean the man is admitting defeat?

JORDAN: Really? And how's that?

SLOKUM: Well, just look at our efficiency rating since the man left. The fact is his tenure here was a disaster. The man has mediocre talent and questionable ethics.

JORDAN: I think you should quit while you're ahead.

SLOKUM: I think I'm just getting started.

JORDAN: No, you're not. No. We've been listening to your crap for two months now. You're a bully and a creep, and the truth is no one here likes or respects you.

(Sidney walks up to her.)

SIDNEY: Uh, Jordan, I kind of need you.

JORDAN: Not now. I watched you turn this morgue from a place we all loved into an anal retentive dictatorship. You're an obsessive compulsive android with a Napoleon complex. And I actually live for the day when someone takes that bonsai tree of yours and shoves it so far up your ass...

SIDNEY: Okay, Jordan, Jordan.

JORDAN: You'll have pine needles coming out of your nose!

SIDNEY: I really need to show you this.

(Sidney pulls her away. Lily, Nigel and Bug snicker.)

[Cut to Trace Evidence. Jordan and Sidney are there.]

JORDAN: He's lucky I didn't kick him in the nuts. (Sidney shakes his head.) What? Wouldn't be the first time.

SIDNEY: Jordan, that bloody print you had me trace, the one we thought might be Riggs' killer.

JORDAN: What about it?

SIDNEY: I traced it. (Sidney types on the computer keyboard and Woody's photo shows up.) It's a perfect match.

[Scene: Police Station. Corridor. Woody is there. Jordan walks up to him.]

JORDAN: Woody?

WOODY: Oh, hey, Jordan, it's, uh, it's nice to see you.

JORDAN: Nice to see you? Is that all?

WOODY: No, I-I mean, you know, it's-it's nice to see you. It's been a while.

JORDAN: Yeah, it has. We need to talk. (They walk into a room and she immediately starts yelling at him.) You lied, you son of a bitch, you told me that you weren't looking for Riggs. You didn't even care that the guy's dead.

WOODY: I think I would remember if I killed a guy.

JORDAN: Woody, we found your bloody prints on Riggs' neck!

WOODY: Okay, yes, I was looking for Riggs but I never found him, Jordan. I swear. I found his fence. Some guy named Jack. That's the guy who sold Riggs the armor-piercing bullets. I got a little rough with him but I did not kill him, Jordan. Please, you gotta believe me.

JORDAN: Woody, if you are lying to me, I swear to god.

[Scene: ME's Office. Lobby. Garret walks out of the elevator and through the corridor. Lily, Nigel and Bug see him and follow him.]

MAN: Dr. Macy?

(Garret walks into Autopsy where Slokum is. He hands Slokum a letter.)

SLOKUM: Very impressive. You and Walcott made a nice little end run around me, didn't you? You must be very proud of yourself.

GARRET: All I wanna do is help get this kid off the street before he kills again.

SLOKUM: Oh, I forgot how earnest you can be.

GARRET: I know this kid and I know what he's capable of.

SLOKUM: Right. He cut somebody's heart out. I've seen worse.

GARRET: He performed a letter-perfect autopsy to remove the heart and make it look like cause of death. It's a riddle.

SLOKUM: Oh, it's a riddle. So if you're so smart, what does it mean? (Lily walks in.) What does the kid want?

LILY: Why don't you ask him yourself. Oliver Titleman's in the conference room. (Slokum leaves the room. Garret and Lily hug.) It is so good to see you.

[Cut to the Conference Room. Garret, Slokum, Matt and Oliver are there.]

OLIVER: It really is good to see you, Dr. Macy. I'm so sorry to hear that you've left the medical examiner's office.

GARRET: I felt the same way when I heard you'd been released.

OLIVER: I'm a different person now. I've worked hard to get better, get back to my family. I've learned a lot in those three years. Mostly that there really is no place like home.

GARRET: Do you think anyone believes you didn't do this?

OLIVER: Someone is setting me up.

MATT: Mm, and who would want to do that?

OLIVER: My release got a lot of people worked up. Families of the victims, people who refuse to believe that I can change. That's why we had to move so far out of town.

(He pours a bag full of mail onto the table.)

SLOKUM: You carry your own hate mail around?

OLIVER: I think one of these people killed my stepfather.

GARRET: It's pretty convenient, Oliver, bringing other suspects to our attention.

OLIVER: If someone accused you of something, wanted to take away everything from you, you'd fight it. You wouldn't just walk away and accept defeat, would you?

GARRET: We're not talking about me.

OLIVER: Dr. Macy, you know me. I just really wanna help, that's all.

GARRET: Then maybe we should let you.

OLIVER: Really?

SLOKUM: Dr. Macy...

GARRET: Why don't you put on some scrubs, we can take a look at the body together.

SLOKUM: Dr. Macy.

[Cut to Trace Evidence. Jordan and Woody are there. Jordan is showing him an x-ray.]

JORDAN: You're right. These molars here, they're not Riggs'. It's your fence.

WOODY: Riggs killed him, stuck his wallet on the body, lit him on fire to make everyone believe that he was dead, and if that's the case, then maybe he left some evidence at the crime scene. Help tell us where he is.

JORDAN: And how's that gonna help you?

WOODY: I get to take a cop killer off the street.

JORDAN: Your bloody prints were on this guy's neck, Woody. You were out there totally rogue working a case with no authority. You've got a lot of explaining to do.

WOODY: Not if you don't tell anyone.

JORDAN: You didn't call me for two months, Woody. Excuse me if I'm a little short on favours.

WOODY: I'm sorry. I've been all messed up lately. The idea of him out there this whole time. I can't sleep at night without seeing his face.

JORDAN: Vengeance is the answer?

WOODY: Yes. Riggs thinks we think he's dead. He's gonna get careless, ease up. You call the task force in now, they're gonna turn the heat up, he is gone.

JORDAN: I'm sorry, I have to.

WOODY: No, you don't. How many times have I stuck my neck out for you, Jordan? I just want my life back. I don't want to push you away anymore, Jordan. I need closure on this. Help me find him. We can go back to the crime scene. Please.

JORDAN: I'll hold the ID 24 hours. If we find him, we call the task force and you step aside. That's my offer. Take it or leave it.

[Cut to Autopsy. Garret and Slokum are autopsying Oliver's stepfather. Nigel is near by.]

SLOKUM: You and Seely are out of your minds. Letting a suspect sit in on an autopsy. It goes against every protocol imaginable.

GARRET: Sun Tzu. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

SLOKUM: You know, DA be damned. This is my morgue. As soon as the governor returns my call...

(Garret pours stomach contents into a container and it splashes over Slokum. Slokum gives him a look. Nigel hides a smile.)

NIGEL: I'll, uh, run this.

(Nigel picks up the container and leaves the room. Oliver walks in.)

OLIVER: Hate to speak ill of the dead but he always was a heartless son of a bitch. But any man that can marry my mum.

GARRET: What do you mean by that?

OLIVER: They had their issues. She called him boring. He called her a witch. Love is complicated. So... where are we?

SLOKUM: You keep your hands to yourself.

GARRET: We're casting the wound to figure out the weapon.

OLIVER: Something tells me this killer wouldn't have been so sloppy. You're wasting your time, doctor. When the cause of death is hidden, shouldn't you look more closely at tox?

[Scene: Alley Crime Scene. Jordan, Woody and Sidney are there. Jordan has found some fingerprints.]

SIDNEY: Nobody touches the van but me. Those were Slokum's words.

JORDAN: I think I've got something here. Grab the digital. Accelerant and a partial print.

WOODY: And you can run it right here against Riggs' print?

JORDAN: Say what you will about Slokum but the man has purchased us some fine new toys. (They check it on the computer.) It's Riggs.

SIDNEY: The accelerant has benzene in them. This is weird. The print has traces of calcium carbonate and talc in it.

WOODY: Baby powder?

JORDAN: Paint.

SIDNEY: Well, green paint to be more specific.

WOODY: So we need to find out where he came into contact with this paint.

JORDAN: All right, Sidney, you and I will go back to the morgue. You trace the paint, I'll go back to the body.

WOODY: I'll go back to a few of our fence's contacts. See if I can pick up a trail of what Riggs was trying to buy.

JORDAN: Woody, we're gonna get this guy.

[Scene: ME's Office. Garret, Nigel, Slokum and Oliver are there.]

GARRET: Looks clean. No sign of any lethal poison. Just some sodium nitrite.

NIGEL: Meat I found in his stomach is bathed in it. It's odd meat though. No pork of beef antibodies. It's unidentifiable.

OLIVER: Any trace of thallium? His colouring could be hiding a rash.

SLOKUM: Oh, you've read some books. No, there is no thallium. It's the first thing I checked for.

OLIVER: What about acetone then? Wouldn't show up on a normal tox. No, wouldn't be that. Tastes nasty. No way he could've ingested that without knowing it. But then you knew that too then, right, doctor?

GARRET: So maybe this is it. The perfect crime.

OLIVER: Dr. Macy, you showed me that's not possible. Do we have a section of the kidneys?

GARRET: Why?

OLIVER: We're looking for a poison that doesn't show up on tox. How about Ethylene Glycole?

(They test the kidneys.)

GARRET: Look at that. Crystals in the kidney. Amazing guess, Oliver. Antifreeze.

SLOKUM: It's sweet tasting, odourless, undetectable.

OLIVER: Cause of shortness of breath, coughing, yellow tint to the eyes.

NIGEL: Your mother. His mother. She had a yellow tint to the eyes, shortness of breath. She passed out when we were at the house.

(Garret grabs Oliver.)

GARRET: What'd you do you little freak? Did you poison her too? Get Seely on the phone. Tell him to get to Oliver's house now.

[Scene: Oliver's House. Garret, Slokum, Matt and Oliver go into the bathroom.]

OLIVER: Mum? Mum? (The shower has been sealed shut and it has filled with water. They see Margaret floating in the water.) Oh my god! Mum!

(Garret grabs something and smashes the shower glass. The water pours out and Margaret lands on the floor.)

[Scene: Oliver's House. Bathroom. Garret pushes Oliver out.]

GARRET: Stop playing games, Oliver. What did you give her?

OLIVER: She's my mother.

GARRET: And you killed her. Steam got so hot in their she practically melted.

MATT: Dr. Macy.

GARRET: Back off, Seely!

SLOKUM: Hey, Dr. Macy.

GARRET: What, are you gonna tell me this is violence protocol?

SLOKUM: Oh, no. I'm gonna tell you that he didn't do it. I'm gonna tell you that she was hit over the head. That the drain was intentionally clogged. That the door was epoxied shut from the outside. And there is a message on the mirror. The killer was here. This man has been with us all morning.

GARRET: It's what he does. He set us up as his alibi. 

OLIVER: I'm the one who found the antifreeze. Why would I do that if I'm behind this?

SLOKUM: Would you admit it finally that the game, whatever game you thought was going on here is over.

(Lyle walks in.)

OLIVER: Lyle, don't be brainless. The crime scene needs to be preserved. Come on.

GARRET: (to Matt) You have to arrest him right now.

MATT: Yeah, I'd like nothing better. Have you got any evidence?

SLOKUM: There is none. We're his alibi.

GARRET: I'll get the evidence. Just get him off the street before he kills someone else.

SLOKUM: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're gonna bet your entire career on this man's word?

MATT: All right, you'd better be right.

(Matt takes Oliver away.)

[Time lapse. Garret is in the bathroom. He scrapes something off of the shower door. He then pulls hair out of the drain and swabs the "Fear me now" writing on the mirror.]

[Scene: ME's Office. Autopsy. Garret, Nigel, Bug and Slokum are there.]

GARRET: Oliver rigged the whole thing. He starts by clogging the drain. He covers it up and mixes the dry epoxy. Then he sprinkles the dry epoxy on the outside of the shower door. It's invisible to the naked eye. The powdered epoxy is activated by the steam and heat, it seals shut. He uses some kind of oil on his finger to write his message on the mirror, then places dry ice in the shower vent.

BUG: Mrs. Titleman comes home. She sees nothing. I mean, it's there but it's invisible. She turns on the shower, she gets in, the dry ice evaporates from the steam. Replacing oxygen with carbon dioxide, knocking her out cold.

NIGEL: She hits her head on the soap dish on the way down, the shower fills up with water and the dry ice evaporates leaving no trace. And the oil that he used to write "fear me now" made what he wrote appear through the steam, as if the killer was actually there.

GARRET: The perfect murder. All done while he was with us.

SLOKUM: It's brilliant. That is the most brilliant convoluted piece of fiction I have ever heard in my life.

BUG: Well, I mean, it could work.

SLOKUM: Or the carbon dioxide in her blood gas could indicate she was a smoker. Ergo, she had trouble breathing. The hair used to clog the drain. Was it Oliver's?

BUG: No.

SLOKUM: Excuse me?

BUG: No.

SLOKUM: No. How about the skin cells we found under her fingernails?

NIGEL: Not his either.

SLOKUM: Not his either. You know what, I think I'm done humouring the DA's office. I'm certainly done humouring you, Garret, and your pathetic attempt to hold onto this place. From this moment on, the case is closed to you, sir.

[Cut to Trace Evidence. Woody and Sidney are there.]

WOODY: Sidney, I came up empty. You got anything?

SIDNEY: Yeah. It happens to be a high quality auto paint. Custom made for a H&B Auto Body out on Clement Street.

WOODY: Jamaica Plain. I'm gonna get right over there.

SIDNEY: Not so fast. It says here the place went out of business eight months ago. See, that doesn't make sense. That print is fresh. I mean, it's a day, two, tops.

WOODY: Cross reference Riggs' employment record with the Auto Body shop's payroll roster.

SIDNEY: Gotcha. Got it.

WOODY: There it is. Wayne Riggs worked at the shop until it closed in March. Thank you, Sidney, thanks a lot.

SIDNEY: Hey, you want me to fill Jordan in?

WOODY: No, it's all right. I will.

(Woody leaves the room and walks down the corridor. Jordan comes up to him.)

JORDAN: Hey. This is getting very interesting. I just found new traces of polyisobutylene on the body.

WOODY: Poly what?

JORDAN: C4. Explosives. Maybe that's what Riggs was buying off the fence.

WOODY: That's great, Jordan. But I just came by to say goodbye. I gotta get back to my desk job.

JORDAN: I don't understand. What happened?

WOODY: I talked to Sidney. That print, he drew a blank. Didn't lead anywhere.

JORDAN: But this C4, gives us something new to trace on him.

WOODY: That's just it, we shouldn't be tracing anything. I've gotten too caught up in this, so have you. It's not good for me, it's not good for us. So let's just let the task force handle it.

JORDAN: You're right. Uh, that's a very good choice.

WOODY: Thank you for understanding. I gotta get back to work.

(He starts to leave.)

JORDAN: Hey, Woody, uh, call me sometime.

(He leaves.)

[Scene: ME's Office. Garret is heading for the elevator. Nigel stops him.]

NIGEL: Dr. M, you can't let that little pillock push you out of here. Look, I found something. (They walk into Forensic Laboratory.) Oliver's an even sicker puppy than I thought. The hair in the drain that wasn't Oliver's, well, it wasn't some mystery killer's either.

BUG: It didn't match anything that I found in the hate mail so I typed it. It's not even human. It's canine. More specifically a Cairn terrier. Like the one owned by the Titlemans. The one that went missing.

NIGEL: So I did a serological antibody assess on the meat that I found inside the step dad's stomach. It's canine.

GARRET: He ate the dog?

BUG: The kid didn't just kill his mother and step father, he killed the little dog too.

GARRET: That's the message. Man without heart, frozen in place, grey suit, grey complexion from the sodium nitrite. Witch of a mother killed with water, almost melted by steam. The little dog too. That's Oliver's game. Wizard of Oz.

NIGEL: Tin man, wicked witch...

BUG: And Toto too.

GARRET: Pull everything you can on The Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum. Every book.

(Matt walks in.)

MATT: What, Oliver's in cahoots with the wicked witch now?

GARRET: Aren't you supposed to be interrogating?

MATT: Yeah. I questioned him, I booked him and the judge kicked him loose.

GARRET: What?

MATT: Something about needing evidence. His brother came down to pick him up.

NIGEL: Doesn't Lyle see what Oliver's doing?

MATT: Oliver's right. He's brainless.

(Garret, Nigel and Bug run out of the room.)

[Scene: Titleman Farm. Night. Garret, Nigel, Bug and Matt run into the corn field.]

GARRET: Lyle! Lyle!

NIGEL: Lyle!

MATT: Lyle!

BUG: Lyle!

(They continue to shout his name.)

GARRET: He's over here! (They find him tied to a cross wearing overalls and has a sack over his head. They pull the sack off and it's Oliver looking pretty sick.) Oliver.

(They get him down.)

MATT: Who did this to you, Oliver? Who did this to you?

OLIVER: Lyle.

[Scene: Abandoned Auto Body Shop. Night. Woody walks inside and looks around. He sees a bomb in the back of a car. Wayne sneaks up behind Woody and hits him with a chain. Woody falls to the ground.]

WOODY: What are you planning to blow up, Riggs?

WAYNE: I should've killed you when I had the chance.

(Woody trips Wayne over and pulls out his gun. He grabs Wayne and pushes him against the car, gun pointed at his face.)

WOODY: How much does it suck knowing that you're gonna die, huh? How much does it suck?

WAYNE: Please don't kill me.

WOODY: That's it. Beg. I want you to beg. Keep begging.

(Jordan walks in.)

JORDAN: Woody!

WOODY: Jordan, what are you...?

JORDAN: How big of a fool do you take me for?

WOODY: This doesn't concern you.

JORDAN: Oh, the hell it doesn't.

WOODY: I watched my father die. Shot by a nothing, just like this.

JORDAN: Put the gun down. You don't want to do this.

WOODY: Yeah, I do.

VOICE: Police! Open the door!

WOODY: You called this in?

JORDAN: You didn't give me a choice!

POLICE: Open the door!

JORDAN: Woody, just give me the gun!

(The police break down the door.)

POLICE: We're on it, detective.

(Woody steps away from Wayne. The police arrest Wayne.)

[Time lapse. The Auto Shop is filled with police. Woody walks past Jordan.]

JORDAN: That's it? You've got nothing to say to me?

WOODY: Nope.

JORDAN: You lied to me, Woody. You betrayed my trust, you used me.

WOODY: At least I didn't rat you out.

JORDAN: No, you said this was about us. That you needed closure so you could move on.

WOODY: Oh, come on, Jordan. Does it always have to be about you? 

JORDAN: Whoa. You need help, Woody.

WOODY: I don't need help. Especially not from you.

(Woody walks away.)

[Scene: Outside Oliver's House. Garret, Nigel, Bug and Matt are there. Police and an ambulance have arrived. Oliver is laying on a stretcher.]

MATT: Well, they just picked up Lyle trying to use Oliver's credit card down at Fratelli's. He said Oliver sent him out for pizza.

NIGEL: Let me guess. He has no idea what they're talking about.

MATT: Still trying to work that brainless angle.

BUG: I just finished pumping Oliver's stomach. It's full of ethylene glycole. The amount of bile they pulled from him, a few more minutes, he would've been dead.

(Slokum walks up to them.)

SLOKUM: How's this for irony, Garret? You saved him. The DNA they got under the mum's fingernails, Lyle's. That's the same DNA that they found on the hate mail he sent to Oliver.

NIGEL: Nice. Hate mail from your own brother.

SLOKUM: So Detective Seely, looks like you got on the wrong pony. See Dr. Vijay, you've got to watch the company you keep. Because inefficiency is contagious.

BUG: You know, you're a real ass, Slokum. He just saved a man's life. I've been cowering from you since day one, but you're just a selfish, egotistical...

GARRET: Don't, Bug, don't. He's right. If I hadn't had blinders on, I might've seen what Lyle was doing.

NIGEL: Dr. M...

GARRET: It's okay, Nigel. This was a mistake. Excuse me. (Garret walks over to Oliver.) I should've given you the benefit of the doubt. I'm sorry.

[Scene: Garret's Apartment. Garret is there looking out the window. He has a sip of his drink.]

OLIVER'S VOICE: Security in this building is a bit lacking, don't you think, Dr. Macy?

(Garret turns around. Oliver is there.)

GARRET: I see you've recovered from your brush with death.

OLIVER: Thanks to you.

GARRET: Is that why you're here? To thank me?

OLIVER: I'm here because you disappoint me.

GARRET: Really? Because I didn't see it coming?

OLIVER: No. Because you let me get away with it. You know what you taught me, Dr. Macy? There isn't a perfect crime. Someone always must get caught. The trick is picking the right someone.

GARRET: Your brother Lyle.

OLIVER: You knew I set it up. Gave myself the poison. But you let me get away. You're weak. You let that pissant Slokum walk all over you. You're a coward. Now are you going to take the coward's way out?

(Oliver pulls a noose out of his bag.)

GARRET: So your step father's the tin man, your mother's the wicked witch and Lyle's the brainless scarecrow. I walked away so now I'm the cowardly lion.

OLIVER: Too bad you figured it out too late.

GARRET: I just have one question for you. If you're the wizard, who's the man behind the curtain? Come on, don't tell me you don't remember that part. When the real puppet master is revealed behind you, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

OLIVER: You think you can distract me? Sixty seconds from now you will be out cold. Amobarbital in your scotch.

GARRET: Sixty seconds from now you're going to be in custody. 

(He takes a sip of his drink. Matt comes out from behind the curtain, gun pointed.)

MATT: It's over, Oliver.

OLIVER: No. It's never over. Because people love to save a lost cause. (Matt handcuffs Oliver.) And who's more lost than me?

GARRET: You're not lost, Oliver. You're exactly where we want you. And this is iced tea.

[Scene: ME's Office. Slokum is in his office. Outside Nigel, Bug, Lily and Sidney are laughing and hugging Garret. Slokum knocks on the window and Garret walks in.]

SLOKUM: So if I were to say lucky guess, I guess that would be petty.

GARRET: You petty? Never.

SLOKUM: I have a gift for you. (He takes a folder out of the drawer.) Evidence from the Duvall case.  I never had to use it, you hung yourself. Now here's my suggestion. You keep it right here in the desk, never let it see the light of day.

GARRET: That desk belongs to you.

SLOKUM: Well, actually, it is the Chief ME's desk.

GARRET: I'm not following you.

SLOKUM: I know I'm an ass. But I'm an ass with a heart. I'm efficient, I've been successful, but I'm feared. These people don't respect me. They will do nothing for me, they will do everything for you, Garret. So I'm giving you back your job. But don't you worry. I will be watching you from above. Think of me as your own personal guardian angel.

(Slokum picks up his bonsai tree and walks away. Nigel walks in.)

NIGEL: I can't believe this. This is great. This is fantastic. (He hugs Garret.) Oh, god, I couldn't stand another day in this damn thing. (He pulls off a wig and shakes out his long hair.) I was itching like crazy. Right, I gotta go tell everyone the good news.

(Nigel runs off.)

[Cut to the Lobby. Slokum is waiting there. The elevator opens and Jordan walks out.]

SLOKUM: This didn't fit where you suggested. But since you're so fond of it. Here. (Jordan takes the tree. Slokum walks in the elevator.) Somehow I think you'll find the appropriate place to put it.

(Jordan walks into Garret's office. Garret is sitting on the couch. Jordan puts the bonsai on the coffee table and sits beside him.)

JORDAN: What do you think? Should I keep it? Or do we burn it and break out the marshmallows.

GARRET: Sounds tempting but I'm too tired. It's been a long day.

JORDAN: Yeah, me too. You wanna talk about it?

GARRET: No. You?

JORDAN: No.

GARRET: Good.