"How much did we get?" "It's gonna be what... 20 grand." "We must get rid of the car." " Do you think anybody saw us?" " It doesn't matter." "As soon as we get to the Keys, we're ghost." " Leo." " They're kidding me!" "The drawbridge is already halfway out." "We're trapped." "Ain't going down for this." "Come on." "Bring the bag." "Hold it right there!" "Do not move!" "Put the bag down, now!" "Do what he says." " Don't make me shoot you!" " Sienna!" "I love you, Leo." "Oh, my God." "We've got to get Homicide out here." "Someone make a call, quick!" "Thank you, gentlemen." "Beats pennies from heaven." "Drawbridge gave us a twofer, Horatio." "Yes." "We've got one case closed and one presenting itself." "Looks like an exit wound at the back of his head." "One shot was a through-and-through." "Whoa." "Shot through the eyes?" "That's a hell of a way to go." "There'no bruising around his neck." "This baby boy was dead before he played hangman." "Okay, so blood does not travel sideways, does it?" "That means he was dry before they strung him up." "So he wasn't killed here." " This is our secondary crime scene." " It was staged." " This is a message." " Got that right." "Card in his pocket." "The joker." "Message taken, loud and clear." "Looks like a mob hit, Horatio." "Yes." "And it's time to hit back." "He's all yours." "Mr Wolfe." "What do we have?" "Well, this isn't standard rope." "Check it out." "It's not rope at all, is it?" "Looks like it came off a stanchion." "Yes." "Not your average murder prop." "Weapon of opportunity?" "This could be a part of the message." "Got an ID on our Joker:" "Jake Richmond." " Organized crime, Frank?" " He could." "Made guys like to hang in clubs." "And he ran five of the hottest in Miami Beach." "He a real up-and-comer, isn't he?" "Noose probably came off a stanchion in front of one of his clubs." "Proverbial velvet rope, isn't it?" "Tie a knot this tight, probably slough off a lot of skin cells." " Take it to DNA." " Thank you, Mr. Wolfe." "They go where the money is, don't they?" "Talk too much, you get the Colombian Necktie." " See too much..." " You never see again." "Let's find out who was interested in Mr. Richmond." "Calleigh." "You here for the drawbridge victim?" "So are these the nine-mils?" " You only have one." " Dug it out of his skull." "Other shot was a through-and-through." "The other one may still be at the scene." "Just have to figure out where that is." "Hey, Alexx, do you see what I see?" "It's on his lips." "More where that came from." " What do you think it is?" " No idea." "I'll send it to Trace." "Calleigh, you seen Wolfe?" "Not yet." "He's supposed to be headed back with the noose." "Ah, here we go." " IBIS found a match." " Most certainly did." "A bullet with identical striations was recovered in a homicide case last year." "No surprise: it's mob-related." "I'd say so." "Ties back to Joey Salucci, biggest mob boss in Miami." "No attorney, Mr. Salucci." "That's surprising for a man of your reputation." "Why would I need an attorney?" "Those suits give me a headache." "I like doing things hands-on." "The bullet that I extracted from Jake Richmond's head tells me that you're involved in this." "I didn't have anything to do with any murder." "Last year, Joseph, a man who had attempted to turn State's evidence against you was shot to death." "Gun used to off him was a nine-mil." "Six lands and grooves, right-hand twist." "Not too many manufacturers with those rifling characteristics, Salucci." "Yeah, you know..." "I read about that." "But if I remember correctly, they never found that gun." "Mob works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?" "Mob?" "I'm in real estate." "But you went into the club business, Joseph, which is what brought you down here from Atlantic City, isn't it?" "The FBI tell you that?" "Guy was shot in the eyes and strung up over the city with a Joker playing card shoved in his pocket." "That's very theatrical." "But from what I heard, in the old days, when they wanted somebody done, they didn't have to dress it up like that." "But what do I know?" "Anything else, gentlemen?" "If I find your DNA on that hanging rope, the only real estate you'll be dealing with is a six-by-nine cell." "Don't go far." "So this is the Burgundy Club, our hanging man's base of operations." "Yeah." "Same color as our velvet rope." "It's missing one link." "I think we found our murder scene." "I completely agree." "I've got two nine-mil casings." "Same as what we found in the guy's skull." "The other shot was a through-and-through." "If he'd been hit here, there'd be all kinds of blood." "Do you see any?" "No." "No, but I do see tread marks." "Someone left in a hurry." "Must have been shot in the car." "Car could have absorbed all the blood and the bullet." "Which means that a portion of our primary crime scene drove away." "Car could be anywhere by now." "I didn't think they were open during the day." "No." "I'll check it out." "Hey, man, we don't open till 8:00, bro." "Eric Delko, Miami-Dade PD." "I'm investigating Jake Richmond's murder. "Bro."" "Hey, beat it." "Let's go." "Girls." "Cut the music." "Yeah, I heard about it." "Sucks." "And you are?" "Cesar Morales." "They call me "Cuzz."" "You work here, Cuzz?" "That's why they call me Cuzz." "I work at the door." "People want in, suddenly I'm family." "When was the last time you saw Jake alive?" "This morning." "It was like... 7:00 A.M., you know?" "We did our ritual." "I booked." "What ritual?" "Well, the club closes early morning, me and Jake, we go up to the loft." "You know, he counts his take over a cigar and a fifth of Jack." " And he does that every day?" " Oh, I should know." "I couldn't leave unless I lit him up, and tested his drink." "Tested his drink for what?" "Name your poison." "The dude was paranoid." " Well, who didn't he trust?" " Joey Salucci." " You know him?" " We do." "Because when he wants you gotten to, you are got." "Calleigh, meet Cuzz." "He just got a sudden promotion." "Oh." "Well, then maybe you can tell me what this is." "Yeah, it beats me." "I found it in the parking lot." "It has blood spatter all over it." "And you were the last person to see Jake alive." "Look, man... your guess is as good as mine." "I wish I could help you." "I tell you what." "Anything else... here's my digits." "Ohhey, girls, let's go!" "Valera did we get anything?" "On the playing card?" "No, it was clean." "I'm actually more interested in the DNA from the rope." "All due respect, sir, I just got it." "Nathan Biggs dropped it off." "I'm sorry." "Nathan Biggs?" " Mr. Wolfe didn't drop it off?" " No, sir, it was a trainee." "Uh, could I get that as soon as possible, please?" " Yes, Sir." " Thank you, Ma'am." "Mr. Wolfe, got a minute?" "I was actually going to come and find you." "Yeah." "I understand, um." "I understand that a trainee dropped off your evidence." "Yeah." "I, um," "I actually got in a little bit of a car accident on the way back to the lab." " Are you okay?" " Yeah, I'm fine." "Totally fine." "I was stuck there;" "I couldn't leave, so I called Nathan." "Why didn't you call the team?" "I figured everyone's hands were full." "But, H., don't worry, the chain of custody's tight." "Mr. Wolfe, I'm..." "I'm not worried about the evidence." "Oh, right, my eye." "H., this woman..." " she came out of nowhere." " Mr. Wolfe... have you had your eye checked yet?" "No, sir, not yet." "I'm busy with the case." "I think it's time to do that." " All right." " Thank you." "Cynthia, please tell me you got something on this paper." "Certainly did." "Got the DNA section that confirmed the blood on it belonged to the victim." "Okay, and what is it?" "It's a reporting form, which uses imaging technology to collect data." "The sheet feeds into the readers and extrapolate the data." "And these marks on the side under "field code."" " That significant?" " Mm-hmm, sure is." "All of the company's clients are assigned a unique number." "That way, once the forms are processed, the results can be reported back to them." "And this one?" "Registered to Dade University, class called "FS 320."" "Okay, so this form doesn't tie back to the club, or to the Mob." "What does "FS" stand for?" "I don't know." "But whatever it is, that class is about to get canceled." "So, FS 320, that's a junior film studies course?" "Yeah." "Screenwriting." "Imagine that?" "Watch movies, you get a degree." "Meanwhile, I was studying for my quantum mechanics and neurophysiology finals." "What was I thinking?" " So we know what this guy looks like?" " He supposed to meet us down here." " Maybe this is him." " Yeah." " By chance... you Mr. Meyers?" " "Professor."" "How can I help you?" "Like to ask you a few questions." " Does this look familiar?" " Well, sure, that's a test answer sheet." "We use them at the school." " What's that on it?" " It's blood;" "we found it at the scene of a homicide." "A homicide?" "And the form ties back to your class, Professor." "And it's blank, so it doesn't belong to a student." "Where do you keep them?" "I just got a new batch the other day." "They're in the trunk of my car." "May we look at your car, please?" "Oh, my God." "What is that?" "Somebody must have stolen my car." "Well, the car is coming with us, Professor." "And so are you." " What'd you find?" " Nine-millimeter round." "Looks like it's got some brain matter on it." "That's the through-and-through." "Jake Richmond was killed in this trunk." "And a test form fell out of the trunk in the process." "So, you believe the professor." "That someone stole his car and then ever-so-kindly put it back?" "Anything's possible." "A whole lot of people had access to his car keys." "He did say that he left them in his desk drawer." "I guess we can print the whole car, see if we get lucky." "Well, we may not have to." "This doesn't seem to belong in here." "It's an ear bud cover from a set of headphones." "Maybe there's some earwax on it." "And the professor seems more 8-track than iPod to me, don't you think?" "That noose was a pain in the neck." "Sorry." "But I found someone for you." "Found a literal buffet of epithelials." "That many off a casual transfer?" "This guy was up close and personal." "So you say he was male." "Do we get a CODIS match?" "Take a look." "Norman Stein." "In the system for attempted rape charged last year." "Well, welcome to strike two, Norman." "Thank you." "I'm a movie producer." "I glorify violence." "I don't engage in it." "Yes, I think you're referring to the attempted rape from last year?" "That was bogus." "I tapped some actress, then didn't give her a part." "If the movie was a go, she would've been my girlfriend." "We recovered your skin cells from the velvet rope that was used to hang Jake Richmond." "I didn't even know Jake was dead." "You can't explain away your DNA, Stein." "You ever been in The Burgundy Club?" "Yes, actually, and, in fact, there was an incident there just the other night." "An incident?" "Yeah." "I went to see one of Jake's boys, Cuzz Morales." " Hey, hey, Cuzz." " Hey, yo, Stein," " I can't let you in, man, capacity." " Hear me out." "I got a new project." "I need you to help out a couple of my writers, give 'em a taste of the scene." "Like I got time to baby-sit a couple of freaks." "I used to tip you 500 bucks!" "You used to!" "That's how my hands got on the rope." "We're familiar with him." "What'd you want with Cuzz?" "I'm paying a couple of college kids a half a mill to turn their story about the South Beach club world into a script." "As soon as I read the first couple pages," "I could see these guys had never even been inside a club." "Do this, I'll give you 25%." "Of the gross." "It's why I'm a great producer." "I take a little elbow grease, turn a hunk of coal into a whole lot of diamonds." " The Clubland Murders." " Yeah, it's cool, huh." "All you need to sell a movie is a killer poster." "That's an exact replica of our murder." "You can't buy this kind of publicity, can you?" "It wasn't my idea." "Talk to the writers!" "No." "No, no, no." "Make him a black guy." "Opens up a whole other demo for opening night." "So he's the one that says "Today's a good day to die"?" "And make sure you put "with intensity", so the actor knows." "Sounds like a rental to me." " Patrick Wilder?" "Ben Williams?" " Yeah, that's us." "We saw your poster for your movie." "It just so happens it depicts a murder that occurred this morning." "What?" "No one's even seen that poster." "How could somebody copy us?" "Maybe a better question is did you commit the murder?" "No." "No way." "Well, we found one of these ear bud covers in the trunk of your professor's car." "You steal his ride?" "Try to frame him?" "I've helped him carry scripts to his car before." "Maybe it fell out then." "You're circling the drain, sport." "Son, you got something gnawing on your conscience, you better cough it up." "Some dude died like our character?" "That's freaky." "What's your script's about?" "It's going to rock." "It's..." "It's like The Godfather, with a little Mean Streets, and a Goodfellas vibe." "It's original." "It will be." "This idea just came to you?" "Sort of like a daydream?" "Tell him, Patrick." "Professor Meyer thought of it." "The screenwriting professor." "You know, we didn't even like his idea." "It was completely unrealistic." "But we needed product." "I guess he came through for us." "Guess what, Tarantino." "Earwax contains DNA." "We can verify it's yours." "You want to give us a copy of the script?" "We're only up to page 40." "Meyer's got it, anyway." "We had a little, uh, writer's block." "Professor Meyer says he knows what will sell." "He already sold us a story." "And I have the feeling it's about to be rewritten." "You came to see me just in time, Mr. Wolfe." "Eye's bloodshot, some inflammation." "Were you prescribed an antibiotic?" "Yeah, I took every single pill." "Well, your medical file says the nail bypassed your sinus cavity and brain, and was removed without complications." "Unless you call double vision a complication." "Well, have you experienced any pain?" "Some." "But I'm a bit of a hypochondriac." "Yeah, well, not in this case." "See, the nail may have caused an infection which the antibiotic didn't eradicate." "Is it bad?" "Well, you could be experiencing the onset of orbital cellulitis." "It's an infection of the tissue behind your eye." "How is it treated?" "I'll put you on a different oral antibiotic- cephalexin." "I just hope we've caught it in time." "That means I shouldn't be working." "That's the last thing you should be thinking about." "Now, we get a jump on this, and we won't have to rely on the last resort." "Which is?" "Surgery." "Now, should those methods fail, I have to tell you, you could lose your sight." "I'll go and get your prescription." "Yes, it's true." "The kids needed a movie idea." " I decided to help them." " Purely out of charity, I'm sure." "I admit," "I'm living a little vicariously." "I tried to play the Hollywood game." "Didn't work out." "Lucky for them, style is the new substance." "Professor, how do you feel about the fact that they're about to make a half a million dollars off a story that you created?" "Well, they promised me an associate producer credit." "It'll get me in the game." "Sounds to me like this is a very important opportunity for you, and perhaps... perhaps your last hope." "Well, now you're just being cruel." "I understand that they believe your writing is not realistic, and my question is, did you kill Jake Richmond to prove them wrong?" "That's crazy." "And I only gave them the general plot, nothing specific." "Nothing specific." "Thank you." "Let's see." "Gave them..." ""Kill club owner!"" ""Shoot through eyes."" ""Hanging."" "The Joker." ""Looks like mob."" "Professor, from where I'm sitting, that's very specific." "That came to me that way." "They got notes, asked me to help incorporate them." " That's not my writing." " Well, whose writing is it?" " You have to believe me." "I don't know." " I want to believe you." "You're the associate producer." "See you're doing some light reading." "Man, is it." "These writers never met a cliché they didn't use." "So, what are the first 40 pages about?" "A kid gets a job at a restaurant washing dishes." "Um, he insults some big mob boss, who then decides to take him under his wing." "Is that it?" "Life's too short." "I'm gonna spare you the rest." "So, what do you think?" "Is the professor telling the truth?" "Horatio got a writing sample." "QD eliminated him." "Then who wrote the instructions on who and how to kill in the script margin?" "Well, I was about to get some samples from the writers and see if we can rule them out." "Then I remembered this." "Cuzz Morales." "Jake's boy." "Here's my digits." "The handwriting's a match." "So, you are the technical advisor for Ben and Patrick's movie." "I got a lot of talents." "You wrote notes in their script." ""Kill club owner,"" ""Shoot through the eyes," and "Hang."" "Yeah, so what?" "It blew big chunks, man." "They brought me in to keep it real." "This is about as real as it gets, Cuzz." "Killing Jake Richmond gets you the club, some cred with your old pal Salucci, and a tale fit for a Hollywood movie." "No way, man." "I loved Jake." "What are you looking for anyway, man?" "Read the warrant." "We did some checking on you, Morales." "Gun used to kill Jake ties back to a Joey Salucci hit." "Yes, during the time that you worked for him." "I was a gofer, man." "Well, in that case... should've buried that in your hole." "Nine-mil." "Filed under "S" for stupid." "How'd that get there?" "If it turns out to be Mr. Salucci's gun, you're going down." "The tox results came back." "It turns out our victim had the drug GHB in his system." "You don't say." "And I ran the brown flake in his teeth." "They were tobacco leaves from the cigar." "They were saturated with the stuff." "So Jake's cigar was dosed by a close friend." "Thank you, Calleigh." " I want a lawyer." " Yes, I would imagine." " Any news?" " Best kind." "The gun we found at the club killed Jake Richmond, and the guy in the old Salucci case." "Wow." "I wish my news was as good." "What is it?" "Well, there was only one print on the gun, and it doesn't belong to Cuzz." " And there's no match in AFIS?" " No." "And the mystery print was in a weird place, too." "It was on the top of the barrel." "So, there's no way to tie Cuzz to the murder." "No, and his attorney's already working on getting him released from custody." "So far, all of our suspects have motive" " and something to gain." " Yeah, but none of our evidence ties anyone of them directly to the murder." "So we need something else." "And fast." "This is my floor." "Move it." "Lieutenant, Lieutenant!" " Mr. Stein." " You're not gonna believe this." "I just got the next 20 pages of The Clubland Murders from the boys." "Okay." "I'm listening." "In the new pages, they kill the club owner." "Okay, that's just the way Cuzz Morales instructed them to, right?" "Yeah, that's not all." "At the end of the act, the mob starts planning a new murder." "A new murder?" "Who's the victim?" "I don't know." "They-They just refer to him as "the snitch." Who's the snitch?" "Do you think they know I talked to you?" " I want police protection." " Mr. Stein..." "Mr. Stein..." " Like now." " Mr. Stein, calm down." "Where are they now" " Patrick...?" "I have no idea." "The script got delivered by messenger." "This is not what I paid for!" "Mr. Stein, I'm gonna take care of it." "You don't understand." "They don't even reveal who the killer is." "That's my job." "Did you really need to print me?" "Well, if they match the ones we found on the murder weapon, then I guess we've got you." "Then I have nothing to worry about." " Where's your writing partner, Patrick?" " I don't know." "I'm used to it." "He's usually trolling the beach instead of banging out scenes." "He's not really a writer." "But you are, right?" "You copy what other people say and do" " and profit from it." " Lesser artists borrow." "The great ones steal." "Like you stole Cuzz Morales' life story, right?" "The guy wouldn't shut up." ""Enough about me." "What about me?"" "I'm indebted to him, actually." "So indebted that you'd pin Jake's murder on him?" "You planted the murder weapon in his office, right?" "I have nothing to do with that." "Patrick, everything has come true in your script." "Now that's not an accident." "I want to know who the snitch is." "I wish I could help, but, see, I don't outline." "It limits the imagination." "Okay, well, imagine this, my friend." "You're about to go to jail for obstruction of justice." "Okay, fine." "Cuzz did say one thing." "When he left Joey Salucci, it didn't go over too well." "Salucci threatened him." "Said... the cops would love to know about what he did." "And Cuzz killed someone for him last year." "He was afraid Salucci would rat him out." "But you did not hear this from me, okay?" "So, can I go?" "I'm gonna keep you in a holding cell for 24 hours, Patrick." " 24 hours?" " Yes, sir." "You know what?" "Write a scene about that." "Eric, Cuzz is the snitch." "Where is he?" "His attorney got him released." "He could be anywhere by now." "So not only do we have to solve a murder, we have to prevent one." "It's too late, Horatio." "Call just came in." "Homicide at The Burgundy Club." "Someone killed Cuzz." "Cuzz left holding only an hour ago, so we know the murder's fresh." "So fresh we can eliminate Patrick Wilder as the murderer." "And Norman Stein; he's under police protection." "Forget the theatrics with this one." "Looks uncalculated and visceral." "Someone beat him to death." "Door's open." "Miami-Dade PD!" "If anyone's in here, show yourself now!" "Don't move." "Ben." "What's in your hand, Ben?" "Look, I didn't do it." "You play cards, Ben?" "They call that a tell." "Where's Patrick?" "I don't want to do this without him." "Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to." "All the evidence points to you, Ben, starting with the script." "When we turned in the first 40 pages, we were pumped." "But Norman hated it." "Said he'd pull the deal." "And you got desperate." "Norman said we had to live life to write about it." "He introduced us to Cuzz." "And Cuzz helped you finish the script?" "More than that." "He helped us get a life." "This is just the beginning." "You stick with me, you'll have enough juice to make ten movies." "I'm taking over all of Jake's clubs." "I'm gonna be king of South Beach." "How you gonna do that?" "With your help." "Cuzz got you and Patrick to kill for him, didn't he?" "Said it was a no-brainer." "Jake's gone," "Cuzz gets a promotion, and... we get full access to everything." "Did you dose Jake's cigar?" "No, Cuzz did that." "Made it easy for us." "So he wouldn't put up a fight." "He said we had to take it from there, finish it." "He was too close." "He needed an alibi." "And you believed him?" "Cuzz said it wasn't the first time he'd get away with murder." "I'll dose his cigar with GHB." "He'll be out cold." "Just drop his ass in the canal." "I can't kill him." "I've never shot a gun before." "Ah, it's just a backup plan." "You won't have to." "So we snagged the professor's car." "Everything was going fine." "Come on!" "Jake was passed out at this point." "But Patrick messed it up." "What are you doing?" "You heard what Cuzz said." "Shoot the club owner in the eyes." "Are you crazy, Patrick?" "Now I know how a killer thinks." "It was unreal." "He took it too far, started living the story." "Check it out." "Put this in his pocket." "It totally says mob hit." "It's like..." "It's like symbolism." "That's when you hung Jake from the bridge." "And then Cuzz was killed- or the snitch, I should say- which is what Patrick wanted." "Patrick convinced me to go back to the club to get that deck of cards." "Said it was the only thing tying us to the murder." "But I didn't kill Cuzz." "I swear." "He was already dead when I got there." "May I see your hands, please?" "I believe you." "You're telling the truth." "Even if you didn't kill Cuzz," "test sheet from your class," "DNA on the ear bud in the trunk, your prints on the gun," "Jake's murder is all on you, Ben, and Patrick knew that." "You're a real... real hands-on guy." "Isn't that what you said, Joseph?" "I roughed up my hands on some pipes." "I had a plumbing problem at one of the new condo..." "That's not what happened, Joseph." "You beat Cuzz to death, and now I can prove it." "Then get a warrant." "Joseph, any way I can help you is about to slide off this table if you don't help me." "Cesar was a good kid." "He just, you know... he could have gone far." "Just wanted to do things his own way." "You were concerned that he might go public on the old homicide, weren't you?" "Not till I got that note." "It said, "From a friend" "Cuzz is going to talk."" "When I confronted him, he denied it." "He lied right to my face." "You were supposed to get rid of that gun year ago." "I did, Mr. Salucci." "I did." "I got a guy down at PD that said they just found it on you." " I kept it." "I kept it as insurance." " Against me?" "I treated you like a son." "The kid had no respect." "Different world today." "Things are different, Joseph, but the thing that has not changed and will never change is the difference between right and wrong." "You're under arrest." "Take him." "Officer, no offense, but feels good to get out of there." "You shouldn't be getting out." "State's Attorney made us pop you." "Thanks for catching Ben, you know." "Imagine." "Someone like that, a violent killer, right under my nose." "So you're gonna just keep on denying any involvement with this whole thing, huh?" "He made all that up." "None of that even happened." "If it did, I could be charged with felony murder, if I'm not mistaken." "Not only did it happen, you orchestrated it." "You planted the gun back on Cuzz." "You knew Ben's print was on it." "And then you made sure Ben went back to the scene of the crime." "Do you have any hard evidence to back that theory?" "Then you sent that note to Joey Salucci." ""From a friend," right?" "You knew he'd go back and take care of Cuzz, the only person who could tie you to the whole thing." "Yeah, that's me." "Keyser Soze." "Now who's watching too many movies?" "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go." "Go ahead." "With a little advice." "You walk and you feel a shadow behind you, just know that it won't always be your own." " Who, you?" " Me." "Or maybe one of Joey Salucci's real friends." "Well, I guess I'm pretty lucky." "I'm moving out to L.A." "It's always sunny there." "No shadows." "This isn't over." "Actually, it is." "I finally got my ending:" "a real mob murder." "See you."