"Numb3rs Season 4 Episode 9" "Now,athe sklar graphics booth,miles sklar will be unveiling ultraworld number one, the world's rarest and most valuable comic book." "I present." "the long lost,and only copy of ultraworld number one." "d anthat completes the greatest comic book collection in existence." "man :" "Okay,everybody!" "On the ground!" "Now!" "open it!" "Open it!" "Do it!" "Okay,okay." "*** -***" "How game theory can be applied to casual relationships." "Between friends,what's the strategic goal?" "After all,there's no commodity being sought,right?" "Let's think about this." "Even the most causal relationship is built around a very important commodity." "Thank you." "Information." "When friend shares information,they place a value on our intention not to use it against them." "And we,in turn,are expected to are our information with them." "We can call this symmetrical information" ",and it's the foundation of partnerships between countries,corporations,loversnd friends." "You are very popular." "U have 17 new text messages." "Okay,so for next week,chapter 15 of theory of gas and economic behavior by john von neumann and oskar morgenstern." "you're done." "Thank you all." "Uh,professor eppe" "yeah,hi." "Peter lange." "Yeah,uh,biochestry,right?" "Uh,no,uh,vanity fair." "I'm writing a profile on you." "So,um." "have you always taught game theory?" "Uh,yeah,yes." "It's applied mathematics." "I don't always have this many students." "That's due to the popularity of the book." "Right." "Oh,I'm also gonna have to talk to friends and your family members." "Really?" "Well,because your book,the attractionequation,is on the bestseller lists, you're seen as,you know,a friendexpert,a kind of,uh." "relationship guru." "So I want to know about your own relationships." "Private security guard." "Christopher jenssen." "Off-duty cop?" "High school football coach wife says he moonlights to make extra money." "Has four kids,one starts college next year." "Robber shot jenssen,then he fid into the crowd and hit one." "This is all for a mic book?" "Worth lots of money." "This sklar has one of the biggest comic collections in the world." "Including the ashcan edition of ultraworld nuer one." "What's the what?" "Ashcan edition of a comic,it's when a publisher, he only prints one cy,never intended for sale." "Often times,it was thrown in the ashcan." "This one in particular,the one that was stolen,was drawn in962 by ross moore." "He's a visionary." "He's a legendary artist." "How do you know all this?" "I started my first collection when I was ne." "I still have a few thousand." "A comic book geek in the fbi." "Sweet." "Oh,man." "Absolute pleasure to meet you,man." "I'm a big fan of your work." "I have a first edition of nanopunk." "Mint." "Oh,yeah?" "Well,I'm a big fan of your work,too." "Bank robberies and stuff." "don,this seth marlowe." "He's an incredible artist,and he's also an expert in comic history." "you know this guy miles sklar?" "Oh,yeah,ye." "He is,uh,everything that's wrong with the comic book industry." "How's that?" "He started out as a promising young artist, but he said that there wasn't enough money in comic books, and so he created a character that he would sell to tv and,uh, the toy companies,and he made millions." "What would you say this. what is it?" "Ultraworld number one." "What's that worth?" "Uh,maybe $2 million." "If it's actually authentic." "He never had it authenticated?" "So,what,you're saying it could be fake?" "Yeah." "If it's real,it belongs to the guy who created it,ross moore." "He's A. a legend in this business." "Ross moore,that hack?" "Yeah,he wrote it. decades ago." "Look,he sold it,he lost it,whatever." "I paid for it,so it's mine." "He can't come aund now asking for it because it's valuable." "How did you get it?" "I found it." "It was at an estate sale in syracuse,new yk." "It was in a box with 300 other comics." "And you got it for an investment?" "Yes,I will sell it when it's at its peak value,which should be right after moore dies." "He's not doing very well,so that shouldn't be very ng." "Nice for you,I guess." "Comics are a business." "I'm rich because I understand that." "And this was the first time it was swn?" "Yes." "I noally keep it in an undisclosed location in a locked safe." "I only brought it to the convention because there were these rumors that it's fake." "In retrospect,a bad idea." "Talk about arrested devepment." "You cat deny the cultural impact that comichave had on this country." "You got lichtenstein,warhol." "hugh jackman in a wolverine outfit. thatas hot." "Agent sinclair!" "There's a wild rumor that ultraworld just sold on the black market for,000 bucks." "What?" "Who bought it?" "Who says they bought it?" "That's impossible." "How would you know?" "Because I know." "Hey,sir?" "Fbi." "We need to speak to you for a second." "Uh,I don't know anything." "He didn't ask you anything yet." "Three guys are fighting over there." "they all say they bought ultraworld." "No way!" "I. -you what?" "Let me see your hands." "Oh,god." "There's copies everywhere." "So much for our rare one-of-kind comic." "So people bought a stolen comic,even though a man died." "That's just obsessive collecting." "Threhours after the robbery,buyers got an e-mail from someone claiming to have acquired the actual comic from the robbers." "Hey there." "You with us?" "Yeah." "At?" "I mean." "how did the buys go down it was cash only,ranging from five to 40,000 dollars." "The seller met with buyers over a six hour period each at a differt public place." "General description is a white guy,mid-20s." "Megan:" "Is there a chance that the real one was sold along with the fakes?" "Tech said all the copies are of similar quality,all done in old paper." "But because sklar ver had his authenticated, there's no way of knowing if it's the real ultraworld number one." "Well,someone thought it was worth killing for." "Megan:" "You know,that shooter reacted to minor resistance with rage." "Maybe there's an aggression disorder." "There'd probably be a violent record." "Yeah,and check it out." "Those locations are pretty evenly spaced,huh?" "Know what that means." "Somebody tried to make them look random,but they're not." "Yeah,why don't you run it by charlie?" "All rit." "You doing okay?" "Yeah." "So the fakes were sold at 14 locations within a five-mile radius." "Well,that's excellent,because I can get yo a probable base for the seller." "All rit,how about the copies themselves?" "Dude,I love forgery problems,because I can compare the copies, see if they're drawn by the same person." "I just wish I knewore about comic books." "Well,you've come to the right place." "Hey,you're the,uh,fbi math guy yeah,yeah,that's me." "I've been getting a lot of press." "I'm charles eppes." "Seth marlowe." "All right,seth." "And I gus you're an expert on comic collecting and history." "And I see that you're an artist yourself." "Yeah,these are my people." "All right." "What do you want to know?" "What makes a comic valuable?" "Rarity,age and condition." "Which is why a lot of collectors don't even read them." "They just buy them and seal them up." "The book's conditn." "This one's mint,perfect." "Never been read." "And now it never will be." "It's only good for showing off." "And,uh,what does this." "this yellow sticker mean?" "That it's been doctored." "Cuts the value." "People paint faded copies,spray them with cooking oil to make them shiny, use tape on smudges,which takes off some of the originalnk." "How about forgery,is that common?" "If you're good enough to fake a comic,you're good enough to be drawing your own." "Charlie:" "Highly rare comic valuable,that'd be motivation for forgery?" "Rare ones are well-known to collectors." "All right,so all I'll need is copies of ross moore's work drawn around the same time that he drew ultraworld number one." "You know ross moore?" "He's a friend." "I'll talk to him." "Moore:" "That's the old stuff you want." "That's from 1962." "Two eks after I drew ultraworld one." "It's exactly what wneed." "Thank u so much." "How are you feeling today,ross?" "All right,as long as I don't try to do anything too fast." "I got emphysema,kidney problem." "beat the big "c" a couple years ago." "Mr.Moore,it's a real honor." "I've always loved your books." "I own a lot of them." "Probably more than I do." "I sold most of my collection,years ago." "Hey,you had no way of knowing how crazy the mark was going to get." "Threw old books out." "Gave them away." "We left behind boxes of stuff when we moved offices." "I didn't mean to lose ultraworld,t somewhere back then,it got misplaced." "I'd sure like to have it back." "Why that one?" "Well." "iris." "supported me when i was getting started,stuck with me all this time." "With my health problems,we're pretty broke." "But after I'm gone,she could sell it,live well the rest of her life." "And that'll happen." "If there's any justice in this world." "justice?" "Kid,you read too many comic books." "Charlie's sending over a hot zone map so we can target the seller's locations." "That'great." "You asked for these files from karen silver in the art crime unit?" "Um,yeah,it's st some stuff on known forgers in the area." "He what do you know about karen?" "Does she,." "she got a boyfriend?" "What's her story?" "She's married." "Oh,really?" "Why?" "You looking to meet someone?" "You know,it's just back in idaho it was pretty easy to meet girls." "Knew just about everody who lived in the town where I grew up." "I knowome pretty interesting women." "Hmm,I'm sure you do." "Smart,successful,great sense of humor,but you leave out "big-boned,owns 17 cats." "" I will bet you 20 bucks I can set you up with someone and you'll like it." "20 bucks?" "All right,you're on." "You know what I really liked?" "I loved those fabulous fuy freak brothers or anything r." "Crumb or harvey pekar." "Yeah?" "Me,no,I wanted adventure." "The quest for cosmic answers." "Oh,you were into superheroes." "Well,daredevil,fantastic four." "Of course,my favorite was galactus." "That's the guy who ate planets." "Yeah,well,he was stellar darwinism." "Was necessary to the survival of the universe." "Yeah,he was the third force along with eternity and death." "Larry,he wanted to eat the earth." "But he didn'T." "Hey,david,I found a printing house that deals in vintage paper." "They had a request for '50s-era pulp paper." "That's what the forgeries are printed on." "Yeah,and the guy used a fake name and paid cash,but I got a description, and he was wearing a dr.Strange t-shT." ""By the hoary hosts of hoggoth!" "" What?" "Uh,drstrange's catchphrase." "You know,when he'd use. yeah." "Charlie's map shows an area that's central to all the forry sales." "All right,we can run down records of all the male residents in the area." "Might not need to." "I checked out the businesses in the hot zone." "There's a comic book store right there." "So I cled to see if there was any unusual activity recently." "Like the w you're thinking." "Day after the robbery,a guy walked in,he bought $20,000-worth of collectible comic books." "He was wring a dr.Strange t-shirt." "Same as the guy who bought the vintage-era paper." "Yep." "He might be trying to launder the money from the forgery sales." "This guy a regular customer?" "The kind they might know by name?" "He's the kind that puts in in an order for more books." "You're kidding me." "So they not only know his name." "they have his home phone number." "I think I hear water running." "Man:" "Gentlemen,I'm in the shower!" "he's going t the back." "Oh,man who's gonna tackle this guy?" "Whoever gets there last." "Hey,give me the keys to your car now!" "ladies,ladies,fbi!" "Please,let him go,okay?" "Please,let him ." "Thank you." "Yodropped your cape." "So we know you bought vintage paper." "Same paper you used to make the forgeries of underworld #1." "It's not a crime to buy pap." "You don't have anything else." "How about indecent exposure?" "What?" "Naked carjacng." "'S the worst kind." "Mark vaughn,gentlemen,classic con personality,goes along with the mail fraud and the scams." "Yeah?" "You think robbery?" "Yes,but he's not our shooter." "He knows how to control his emotions." "He's not our forger." "He's got no background in art." "I'm kinda thinking he might be on a team,maybe two other people." "Right,maybe one's an aist." "and the other's the killer." "Yeah,so we run down his associates,look for the trigger-happy psycho?" "Yeah,that sounds good." "Thanks,guys." "Anybody else think don's been a little off these days?" "Kinda hard to say,but maybe a little." "Especially since he broke up with liz." "Maybe one of us should go and see if he wants to talk about it." "You volunteering?" "Hell,no." "I'd spent my entire life with comic-book art, especially ross moore's and I can't tell if this is real or not." "Well,that's 'cause what youo is you look at the style,the form of drawing techniques." "Silly me." "What do you do?" "Fractal number estimate." "It's based on mandelbrot's use of fractal dimension to measure the jaggedness of a coastline." "So what's going on in here?" "Oh,hello." "Other than a very hot woman looking very hot?" "Charlie,I'm sorry,I've been swept off my feet." "I'm going to have to run off with this man because he is so smooth." "Ohyou mock me." "Seriously,what are you doing" "I am using the fractal-dimension analysis to evaluate the wrinkliness of these lines." "The wrinkliness?" "An authentic piece of handwriting or drawing will have a smoother inkdge than one that is forged." "So for instance,en I sign my own name,the pen moves quite rapidly." "The movements of my hand are fast and fluid, thus minimizing the contact between paper and pen." "The faster the hand movement,the smoother the edge of the ink." "However,when someone copies my signature,it's an imitation of my movement." "It's not as natural for the forger,so it's slower." "The slower the pen,the longer the contact with the paper, the more time for ink to be absorbed into the paper which creates an irregular or wrinkly edge." "Fractal dimension wsallo us to compare the wrinkliness and detect the fake." "These fractal comparisons are telling us the same thing." "That none of the copies we analyze were drawn by ross moo." "Yet there are similarities across multiple pots of edge comparison." "Which means?" "The same artist drew all the forgeries." "And we can try to match the forger's style to a specific comic book artist is you can get us samples of artists that are capable of copying ross moore." "He did inspire an entire generati of artists,but,uh, yeah,I-I can help you round up the usual suspects." "Great." "This guy you got,mark vaughn,he's your basic grifter." "Any real bad guys he knows met courtesy of the state of california." "In prison." "During a stint a couple years ago,he bought protection from gordon garrity,44." "A real sweetie." "Armed robbery,home invasion,assault with intent,involuntary manslaughter." "I ran a check for you." "He skipped two parole appointments." "There's a warrant out." "Well,thanks very much." "Thanks for running the check." "Appreciate it." "This guy is not going to be easy to find." "Doesn't sound like it." "But,um,what about her?" "She your type?" "And of course,form flourished all rough the '30s and '40s, particularly during world war ii when people felt so frightened and futureless." "The comic book heroes embodied the he that good would triumph,power was in the hands of the right." "With gre power comes great responsibility." "That's right." "And the way of the hero is the path of self-sacrifice." "Hey,seth,you got anything for us?" "Yes,sir these are all done by artists who could draw like ross moore if thewanted to." "Oh,it's surely not harry hoodie." "Come on." "I've read all his books." "This is all based on drawing sty." "Look,man,I'm giving you stuff from some of my best friends here." "I see you bought my book." "Oh,yeah,yeah." "You want to sign it for me?" "Might be worth something someday." "Yeah.I'll tell you what." "I'll sign one of mine if you sign one of yours r me." "How about a nanopunk?" "Cool." "You know that magazine writer called me?" "Do you think I should talk to him?" "Uh,both my publisher and my publicist think you should." "Yeah,but do y?" "Larry,it was never my intent to go down in history as some crackpot expert." "There's something to be said for being an expert." "So,have you found yourystery forger?" "No,not yet." "There's still a lot of artists to test." "I think you should consider economics." "What was the result of the robbery and the forgeries?" "Uh,somebody made money on those forgeries and at this point, sklar's copy has been totally discredited." "So fake bos,a real book." "Now what does economic theory say about the value of false goods commingled with genuine." "Genuine goods lose value,right?" "Okay,so putting our thinking caps on here, who would want to devalue ultraworld and diredit sklar?" "I think I know whose art I need to analyze xt." "Hey,I know who the forger is." "Yeah." "It's seth marlowe." "Yeah?" "Can you prove that?" "No,but I have a theory." "And it's far too elegant not to be true." "It's elegant because it all fits." "It's not just about theft,it's about making people doubt that sklar's ultraworld was real." "Well,we know that seth hates miles sklar." "Right,and if sklar's was fake,then he can't claim the real one when it shows up,and it will." "You think the real one is in seth's possession?" "He's gonna try and make his ownership look legitimate?" "He didn't steal it for himself." "He wants to give it to ross moore." "Charlie's telling me his theory on seth marlowe." "It's "elegant." "" Yeah,I know all about it,but he doesn't have any proof." "It's a hunch." "You have hunches." "You follow them." "Yeahwell,charlie,you know,look,we don't exactly think of you as our hch guy." "I had a hunch about the eppes convergence way before I had the math." "Einstein had a "hunch" about relativity decades before it could be proven." "Hey,I don't want to get in the middle of a brother thing here,but,um," "do you want my professional opinion?" "Of course." "Seth doesn't fit the profile." "He has no criminal record." "He's a rely well-known artist." "He's a historian,a collector." "He stands more to lose than he stands to gain." "Those are both excellent professional opinions to consider,however once considered." "they don't change my hunch,but thank you." "Hunc gordon garrity,our robber's prison bud." "he's not turning up." "We're going throu his known associates trying to put together a geograical map of his past crimes." "So,what's charlie got?" "Elegance,no proof." "Excuse me." "I'm peter lange." "yes." "I'm writing the piece on charles eppes." "I was unaware that vanityair has a mathematics section." "We d'T." "Culture,society,media,celebty." "where professor eppe now finds himself." "Around here,he was famous before he wrote the book." "I,uh." "I want to write about." "you and his other friends." "Okay,well,he's well-liked on campus." "Wherever he goes." "yeah,I know,he's the most popular professor on campus,but he has few close friends." "A former teacher,a former student." "I think he just chooses to live by benjamin franklin's "" "Be civil to all,social with many,and known to few." "" A few being. two?" "Come on." "You know,I was a total geek in high school." "I know wt it's like." "You know,charlie's passionate about the world, but he thinks about it in terms of numbers and patterns." "How many people can he share that with?" "Other mathematicians?" "Yeah,but few of us arted college at 13." "Charlie wasn't part of a social peer group until he was an adt." "So the fact that he's as compassionate and engaged as any of us." "I mean,think that's his greatest accomplishment." "Hey,seth,this is charlie." "Charlie,yeah,we." "we know each other." "He's helping the fbi find ultraworld." "Trying to." "Yeah,u've been great." "So,um." "what brings you here?" "I could use a couple more samples of ross' wor I wanted to meet the man everybody's abing talkout." "These kids today they make too much about us old guys." "We were just trying to make a little money,have some fun." "You created a new art form." "What,comic book what's all this?" "This guy,always bringing stuff." "Seth,I don't know what iris and i would do without you." "You give us so much of your time." "I know you've got more important things to do." "No,not more important than this." "You guys,we found something on garrity." "Let me guess. he's fan of comic books." "Yeah." "How'd you know?" "'Cause I was just telling don that some of seth marlowe's fans live in state prison." "And they write their favorite comic book artis letters." "Yeah,we foundhe same link." "Garrity wrote a letter a year ago." "sent it from the high desert state prison to seth marlowe." "Righ well,I'm sure the guy gets a thousand of these a year." "Yeah,but how many of them are from inmates?" "And how many are from guys who have a direcconnection to mark vaughn?" "What do I think of miles sklar?" "I think he got a mega-dose of vitamin K." "K for karma." "parades around claiming he owns ultraworld #1-- but he never got it authenticated." "I wonder if that's because he knew that it was fake." "'S not a fake." "I'm an artist, not a forger." "Come on, if you were a real artist you would have given the comic back to moore." "But you were waiting for him to die, ya freakin' vulture." "An artist..." "like you,the creator of that lame nanopunk?" "Oh, yeah, and your mr." "Bobble head is a superhero for the ages." "Hey,I was robbed." "I was robbed and a man died,and it's all a big jo to you." "I don't think it's a joke." "In fact,I have an idea about how some good can come of this." "The final event of this convention is the comic auction." "Let's add some items to that list,shall we?" "Everybody who bought a fake ultraworld can put it up for sale." "Yeah,I know,they're forgeries,but,hey,come on,they're famous." "And the money that we raise can be split between the buyers that got ripped off, and ross moore" "I'll buy one myself." "what do I get out of something like that?" "hey,I'm not a bad guy!" "I'm a victim!" "interesting proposal." "An aucti." "It wasn't too "we-are-the-worldish"?" "No,not at all." "It's great." "So what brings you back to the land of the uber nerds" "I just came downto let you know that my analysis is close to identifying the forger in this case." "How exacy does a mathematical analysis turn into a criminal conviction?" "I mean,you're working with probabilities,right?" "It's not like har physical evidence." "Given the right circumstances,it can lead to that." "Yeah,but,in that case,even if he math does implicate someone, if there's evidence,if there's no." "no link to the crime,you can't prove anything." "Yeah." "I guess you're right." "Although if you're not privy to the fbi's case files and you're not part of the actual crime, you can't know that there's no evidence." "Yeah." "I guess I wouldn't know that." "Got the ballistics report on the nine millimeter used at the robbery." "Stolen from a retired cop's apartment in an assisted-living residence." "How does that help us?" "Well,it wouldn't if it weren't for this other piece of informaon here." "Garrity's mom. look where she lives." "Rancho vista assisted-living." "Same address." "This guy stole a gun while visiting hisother?" "Maybe he was doing more than just viting." "Oh,yeah." "Violent ex-con who wants to get back into his old ways of doing business." "Can't hang out with his former associates." "Doesn't want a residence wi his name on the lease." "He can s he lives with his mom." "mrs." "Arrity,I'm going to need you to come with us,okay?" "What the hell?" "It's okay,we're fbi." "Will you just comeith us." "gordy!" "Gordy!" "A little help,please." "Gordy,it's the damn feds!" "Lady,stop with the cane." "Ma'am,ma'am please,please." "Let's do it." "Garrity,freeze!" "Tell them I'm on the other side of the building." "That's not going to happen." "Do it." "No way." "I said do it!" "he shot himself." "Yeah,he's dead." "You okay?" "Oh,yeah." "David,I found this at the mother's apartment." "Oh,great,let's get it to charlie." "Right." "Hey,how you doing?" "I'm okay,man." "Thanksor asking." "You ow,for a minute there,I almost believe a man could fly." "So,I analyzed the copy that you guys found with gary." "What'd you come up with?" "It's not authentic." "It's another forgery." "Okay,was it done by whoever made the other forgeries?" "Yeah,same artist." "Okay,well,assuming it was a copy stolen from sklar,that means sklar owned a fake." "No,I just think that's what seth wants everyone to believe." "so,uh,are you doing a slam job on my son?" "No,but I am profiling the man behind a self-help book supposedly based on real science that offers a simplistic fix to difficult issues." "Well,let me say this right off,it's not a supposed science." "Yeah,but we're talking about people's emotional lives, we're talking about making money on their desire for easy answers." "There's nothing simplist about charlie's thinking,I can tell you that." "And he didn't write the book to make money." "Then why did he write it?" "You mean now or when he was nine?" "Both." "Okay. charlie was an award kid." "Hebu trusted math." "I mean,he felt safe with math,so," "I guess it was natural to try to use math to help him get along with oerth kids." "Did it work?" "Uh,no,not at all." "well,then." "why write the book now?" "It's not like it's gonna add to his professional standing,and it could even diminish it." "You know,uh,to be honest,I don't think he really thought that one through." "Really?" "He just thought it was an interesting application of game theory, and that everyday people would read it." "So,he wanted to write it for a wider audience." "Chlie thinks math is beautiful." "And he wants everyone to love the way he does." "You found something?" "Yeah." "You know,most forgers want their forgeries to fool everybody forever." "Right?" "Not seth." "Yeah,'cause some point,he wants the real copy to be acknowledged." "Right,he has torove that the fakes are fake,so you know what he did?" "He marked them." "You found this mark?" "Only 'cause I went looking for it." "See these lines of varying length?" "Yeah." "They are identifiable as a simple representational code." "Each length represents a different letter or number." "And look what it spells out." ""miles sklar 2007." "" Why would he put sklar's name on it?" "Ah,'cause seth's got a wicked sense of humor." "Charlie,this is really wild stuff, but you understandit really doesn't give us evidence against seth rlowe." "That evidence'll come at the auction." "Oh,you think that's how he plans to launder the real copy. throw it in with the fakes." "A genuine good commingled with false goods." "In auction theory,we talk about equilibria or symmetry." "All the bidders have the exact same information, except seth knows something the other bidders don't know, which is that the original copy of ultraworld #1 will be an item up for bid." "So,asymmetrical infmation creates asymmetrical bidding." "Charlie,this guy,he already knows that we suspect him,right?" "So,he's gonna ve to use a straw man or a proxy to do the bidding for him." "Right,and that straw n will be bidding off of seth's information." "No this asymmetry will almost certainly create a situation called jump bidding, which is when a person enters a far rger bid than necessary to be the current winning bidder." "I don't understand." "What's the advantage of that?" "It's like a bike race." "Typically,theres no advantage to jumping ahead of the pack, so racers tend to stay clustered together and switch off the leads." "But there is a strategy of taking the lead early to exhaust the competition." "Jump bidding is like quickening the speed of the race." "It encourages the early exit of some bidders,and discourages the late entry of others." "So,when someone makes a big bid during the auction." "that seth's straw man." "And you're going to be able to tell the real one?" "It's the one without seth's code drawn into it." "Okay." "Hiya,seth." "Professor eppes." "You come here to catch the evil mastermind?" "I'm here to bid on one of the famous forgeries." "Who knows?" "The real one could be here." "I think they're all fakes,if you ask me." "What,exactly,are you looking for,charlie?" "Just looking." "Okay,let's t started on this special auction of 14 versions of the famous ultraworld #1, proceeds to benefit the sellers,and the renowned artist ross moore." "Item onÓÒ Ultraworld #1." "Not authenticated." "Believed to be a forgery." "We'll start the bidding at $500." "Do I have $550?" "$550!" "I have $55" "$600.$600." "I have $60 do I hear $650?" "I have $650." "50 going once,twice and sold." "Moving to item number two." "$650 going once,twice and." "this is item number five." "Moving to item nber five." "Again,we'll start the bidding at $500." "I have $550." "I have $700." "Do I have $750?" "Sold." "Moving now to item number nine." "Sold." "Going once,twice and sold." "This is item 11,ultraworld #1,again unauthenticated,possible forgery." "What do I hear?" "$700!" "I have $700." "Do I have $750?" "$750." "Do lave $800?" "$2,000." "Here we go." "$2,050." "I have $2,050." "$3,000." "I have $3,100 over here." "$4,000." "I have $4,000." "$5,000." "$5,500." "$800." "$10,000." "I have $10,000." "Do I hear $10,500?" "$15,000." "$20,000." "$20,000." "Going once,twice,three times,and sold!" "U figured it out." "Your matstuff worked." "Sklar had the real one,huh?" "The authentic copy of ultraworld #1,and then you stole it." "Ultraworld #1 belongs to ross moore." "Not to me,and certainly not to miles sklar." "A man was killed." "Unfortunately,nothing can change that." "But ving the comic back to ross is goi to change a lot." "Your fan from prison almost shot my brother" "I know you understand what this is all about." "Why I did this." "Leeme givt the comic back tross." "It doesn't work like that,seth." "Charlie." "Okay,seth,get your hands behind your back." "We're taking you in for me questioning." "Vaughn and garrity,both fans,read my stuff in pson." "How did you sneak the real copy into the auction?" "I'm the ross moore expert,right?" "Everybody let me examine their ultraworld #1." "I swapped the real one for a fake owned by a guy who promised toell it in the auction." "What were you going to do with it,genius?" "Give it to ross." "And then,in six months or so, d pretend to have found the hidden message with sklar's name in the forgeries." "Well,if it isn't the crime-fighting professor." "Come to help me engineer my escape?" "No." "Yeah,it was kind of a long shot." "You heard that miles sklar got the real copy of ultraworld #1 back?" "Figured that would happen." "He gave it to ross moore." "What?" "Why?" "Partly the intense public pressure." "I mean,the guy was being vilified." "That never bothered him before." "And,of course,he made a big publicity splash overiving it to moore, just in time to promote his new comic." "Okay,that'S. that's the sklar I know." "Still." "he gave it back." "Hey,boys." "Good job." "Thanks." "What are you guys doing this weekend?" "Anyone want to grab a bite or something?" "Yeah." "Sure." "Sounds good." "We haven't done anything outside of work for while,right?" "There's life outside of work?" "News to me." "Colby granger,someone at my desk for you to meet." "Her name's simone voray." "She's in my krav maga class." "She's french." "She has a littleccent." "And a degree in literature." "She was a star gymnast in college." "Now she's an acrobat." "She's a professional acrobat?" "Yeah." "Cirque du soleil." "Ready?" "Guess it might just be me and you this weekend,huh?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "It's funny." "I remember reading all those comics when I was a kid, but I never saw anyone drawing one." "Well,this one should be fun." "Reminds me a little of the comics I wrote in the '60S." "I wrote under the name paisley mcnasty." "Really?" "I have a lite trouble picturing you as a hippie." "What?" "Right." "You know,charles,you have a rather distinguished chin there." "He's going to be a superhero,along with his brother." "Hold on." "Wait a minute." "You think someone actually mit publish this?" "An fbi agent who solves crimes with the help of his mathematician brother?" "It's great!" "Aw,nobody would believe it." "Oh,that reminds me." "Charlie,look what came in the mail fr that magazine." "That's the proof of the article?" "I dot even know why I'm looking at this." "This guy was totally out to get me." "No,no,no,no." "It's not a hit piece." "Sure,he makes some jokes at your expense,bu actually,they're quite funny." ""His brother don,a special agent "in the los angeles office of the fbi," ""believes charles eppes has recently conquered "the greatest challenge of friendship." "'Charlie and I had our issues growing up." "'" Yeah,to say the least." ""But if ere's anything stronger "than the bond between brothers, "it's the bond between brothers who have become friends." "'Chlie's my friend." "I didn't even know the writer wanted to talk with you." "I had to get my name in the magazine somehow,right?" "Yeah,yeah." "Right." "You can keep your disposable media." "A magazine is old in a week." "A comic book." "well,that's forever." "That's right." "Well,let's get back in our charlie's angels pose." "This is more like tango  cash." "Numb3rs Season 4 Episode 9"