"Nothing." "Just me wanting you." "It's a cop!" "Damn it!" "If my dad finds out I took his car, I'm dead." "You said it was your car!" "I'll handle it." "Stay here." "Hello?" "!" "Hey!" "If you want to survive in today's world, don't get left behind." "What the hell is it?" "!" "I can't tell!" "Let's just go!" "Are you all right?" "Hah!" "Jim." "Jim, you okay?" "Yeah." "A little heads-up next time." "Master Dan says you have to catch your opponents off-balance." "Well, mission accomplished." "Hey, guys!" "Hey." "Hey." "How was class?" "Great." "I kicked Jim's ass." "He threw me, you know, when I wasn't expecting it." "Sounds like he kicked your ass." "That calls for pancakes." "Great." "I'll go change." "That better?" "Uh, yeah." "It's actually feeling much better." "I'm sorry about Jeff." "I just need to ease him into this slowly." "He's got enough on his plate with me being out of work in a week." "How's that going?" "It's pretty bizarre closing the hospital." "All my friends are leaving for other jobs except me." "I can have Carlos make some calls." "I'm all good." "I have a few leads." "I'm sure he won't mind." "Jim, I'm all good." "It'll get easier, Cal." "Promise." "Yeah." "Just...not right away." "Carlos, what's up?" "Okay." "Well, if you think of anything else, let me know." "Okay." "What do you got?" "White male, early 60s, I'm guessing." "No bloating or bug bites." "I'd say he's been out here less than a day." "New moon last night." "Spring tide wiped away any footprints or tire tracks." "What'd the kids have to offer?" "Oh, you know, the usual -- came out here to make out, things started heating up, and a UFO buzzed through and killed the mood." "A UFO?" "Hey." "Maybe that's why there's not any tracks." "He fell from the sky." "You know where you're at, right?" "Mosquito lagoon." "Well, I know where it got its name." "It's a hot spot for UFO sightings." "Space coast is just north of here " "NASA, Cape Canaveral, air force base." "Well, he said it wasn't a plane." "Okay, then." "Then shrimp boats." "Shrimpers work the waters at night." "They lure the shrimp into the net like moths to the flame." "No boats, either." "And he said the car radio changed stations on its own." "That's because there are radar towers all over the place." "Don't tell me you think an alien killed this guy." "Hey, all I'm saying is I have a credible witness who saw bizarre lights, followed them to a dead guy." "Credible?" "He was trying to get laid." "Everything has an explanation." "What?" "Nothing." "That's not your "nothing" face." "Core body temp -- 60 degrees." "On a 90-degree day?" "Turn him over." "All right." "Okay." "Want to take a shot at explaining that?" "I can't -- yet." "Well, if I didn't know any better," "I'd say this guy got probed." "We've got additional standing by." "Okay, thanks." "FDLE received a record number of UFO sightings last night, which means the wackos are gonna be all over this one." "So I want everything by the numbers." "Why are you looking at me?" "Daniel's the one drooling all over the body." "Daniel!" "You guys are not gonna believe this!" "The wounds on our victim are an exact match to a set of wounds found in the Missoula abduction." "A kidnapping in Montana?" "A famous alien abduction in 1937." "A farmhand, George Smith, was found in a pasture with precise circular wounds like these, made to a uniform depth." "Both victims had minimal blood loss, which means they were cut with a laser or some kind of super-sharp surgical device that hasn't been invented yet." "It's classified as an unexplained death." "Coroner closed the case." "That was over 70 years ago -- before DNA, ViCAP, "America's most wanted."" "Well, since there aren't many 90-year-old serial killers out there," "I'm gonna take a stab -- no pun intended -- and say that this is either a copycat murder or...you know -- that thing that makes Carlos stammer." "Stammering?" "I-I'm not stammering." "Who's stammering?" "Extraterrestrial life is entirely possible, Dr. Sanchez." "If you think about it, there are over 400 billion stars in our galaxy." "Mathematically speaking, it's virtually impossible to think we're the only life-form in the universe." "Yeah, but little green men?" "I've seen weird lights." "What?" "Two years ago, coming home from work -- definitely not a plane." "Well, maybe it was a kid's party balloon or-or -- or parachute flares from m-m-military training." "Or maybe there really are things in this world that we cannot explain." "Why are you enjoying this so much?" "Where are you going?" "To talk to some little green men." "Here you go." "Let me guess." "The shrimp here are out of this world." "Uh, need a table?" "Ask the hostess." "I'm looking for the owner." "She said that's you." "We found a body in mosquito lagoon last night." "Your place is on the only road in and out of there." "Other than your theme here, which is obviously intended to capitalize on the lagoon's myth, you seen anything unusual lately?" "Sadly, no." "I was driving up from Miami airport." "Was at a F.E.T.A. Conference in Greeley, Colorado, all week." "F.E.T.A.?" "Like the cheese?" "My card." "Oh." "You have a...card." ""Richard Oberman, president of the federation of extraterrestrial abductees."" "Huh." "F.E.T.A." "Wait." "You took a space ride?" "Where to?" "Neptune?" "Uranus?" "I founded F.E.T.A. 'cause of jokes like that." "I wanted to educate the ignorant about abductee issues." "Have any issues with this guy?" "Oh, my God." "That's Derek Adams." "He's a fellow traveler." "Not anymore, he's not." "Visitors must have come back for him." "Was he naked?" "Probed?" "Uh, did your techs move his body from the water?" "You know a lot about crime scenes." "I'm an expert in extraterrestrials." "Well, I'm an expert in murder." "So, Derek believed in little green men?" "The visitors are neither green nor men, all right?" "They're either grays, reptilians, or Nordics." "Based on what?" ""Star trek"?" "On first-person accounts of tens of thousands of abductees worldwide." "No one had a camera phone?" "Absence of evidence, detective," "Is not evidence of absence." "I don't expect you to understand." "Oh, I think I'm getting the gist of it." "What's up, Daniel?" "We I.D.'d the victim from a missing-persons report." "His name is..." "Derek Adams." "You got an address?" "I texted it to you." "It's in Jupiter, Florida." "Of course it is." "Are you leaving?" "!" "You haven't answered my questions." "Yeah, but I will have more questions for you, so don't leave the galaxy." "This is a nice place." "That's some walk-in wine cellar you got in there." "Wine was Derek's passion." "I'm more of a tequila-shot-and-Margarita kind of girl." "Can I pour you one?" "No, thanks." "I'm working." "And not grieving or sad." "Kind of like you, Mrs. Adams." "It's "Stella."" "And Derek's been missing for three days, so I guess I just steeled myself for the worst." "We were supposed to go to Bimini next week to renew our vows." "Did your vows need renewing?" "We had our ups and downs." "For richer or poorer, right?" "Well, at least we know which one you chose." "My intern googled your husband." "He's worth $60 million and, up until three years ago, was a confirmed bachelor until he met and married a nurse from his dermatologist's office." "And you, being his only family, all that money's yours." "You think what everyone thinks." "Young wife, rich, older man." "Rich, older, dead man." "Derek's mother died when he was 9." "His father drank himself to death." "Derek had everything money could buy...except love." "He was a searcher with a deep, magical soul." "He trekked the mountains of Nepal, and he tried LSD therapy." "And UFOs, right?" "You know a guy named Richard Oberman?" "I guess you could say that." "His relationship with F.E.T.A. and Oberman started two years ago." "Derek was driving back from siesta key when he said he was blinded by a white light." "Car hit a tree -- knocked him out." "He walked away -- three hours later." "Said that the visitors had healed him on their spaceship." "Gives a whole new meaning to "universal healthcare."" "Later he had headaches, nightmares." "I tried to help, but he said I couldn't understand." "Only somebody who had experienced what he had could truly know what he was going through." "And this experience, that's how he hooked up with Richard Oberman?" "Oberman's a con man." "He played Derek, said that the abduction was real, that he was chosen by the visitors." "That man tried to poison our marriage." "Derek and I were too strong." "Or at least working on it." "Look at me, detective." "No." "Look at me." "The pull of that man's exploitation of Derek's accident was so strong that Derek lost all interest in our marriage." "Yeah." "Feeling a little tug of my own." "Of course, that gravitational pull is what drew you to Derek's $60 million, right?" "Derek wanted an honest, real connection." "And we had that." "Well, you did until you didn't." "Then all you had was an old guy worth $60 million who wore aluminum hats." "Hello!" "Earth to Jim!" "Hey." "Hey." "Look at you, all distracted." "Where were you?" "In a galaxy far, far away." "And look at you, all cheery." "Yeah." "I just had a killer interview with palm beach memorial." "Chief resident loved me." "What's not to love?" "We should celebrate." "No, no, no, no." "Not just yet." "I don't want to jinx it." "Well, you still have to eat." "We are not alone." "What are you listening to?" "Radar Rex -- local A.M. deejay." "Jeff thinks he's hilarious." "He's been all over this killer-alien story." "All you haters better go to F.E.T.A.'s website." "Okay." "Well, um, what about dinner tonight?" "Your grill, my skills?" "I can work with that." "They know there's something out there." "I'll see you there." "Bye." "Detective Longworth of the FDLE refused to answer any questions about Derek, our galactic donor and brother traveler, whose essence was stolen by the visitors." "But we will fight on." "It's exactly what I was worried about." "Oh, come on." "No one takes this dude seriously." "The I.R.S. does -- gave F.E.T.A. nonprofit status last year as a paranormal-research center." "A research center?" "It's a raw bar!" "Their material is compelling." "This was shot by a Japanese doctor in an Amazon village." "The body rotted before he could preserve it." "Is this what I think it is?" "Alien autopsy." "How'd Derek's go?" "I'm waiting on tox report, but he died of a heart attack." "From the pain of being probed without anesthesia?" "I haven't pinpointed a cause yet, but I'm willing to go on a limb and say no." "I also know why he didn't bleed." "He was frozen." "I found ice crystals in his blood." "Perfect way to sample tissue." "And hide time of death, which is determined by core body temp." "No need for an alibi." "Guess there really is intelligent life out there after all." "Well, I wouldn't go as far as that." "But I do know a dummy with a restaurant and a walk-in freezer big enough to freeze and store a body." "Oberman." "An FDLE chopper just found something you're gonna want to see." "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" "In person?" "No." "I got it, Daniel." "Thanks." "Daniel says the FHP is canvassing the area around the crop circles." "Guess there were reports of kids in the area last night since this outbreak of UFO sightings." "You see?" "I told you it was a hoax." "Yeah, also, that Derek Adams gave F.E.T.A." "And Richard Oberman 100 grand two years in a row and then suddenly stopped donating." ""Closed due to investigation."" "Hmm." "From who?" "Board of health?" "Now what?" "Now we speak to Oberman." "Yeah, but he could be anywhere." "Investigation, Carlos?" "What the..." "Hey!" "What the hell are you doing?" "Get out of my crime scene!" "What's all this?" "Gift from the visitors?" "A necessary tool in the preservation of my crime scene." "Oh." "Your crime scene?" "Crime of cover-up, detective." "You're hiding proof of alien interaction from the public." "Like your crop circles?" "Clearly man-made, by the way." "Or kid-made." "I agree -- it's probably high-school kids trying to profit from the media coverage of Derek's death." "Like leaking it to radar Rex to drive traffic to your website so you can churn more donors?" "My donors don't need churning." "My donors are true believers." "Like Derek, who gave you 100 grand each of the last two years, then this year -- nothing." "Guess he stopped believing, huh?" "Which would have really pissed you off." "So, what?" "I killed him for choosing not to contribute?" "Not an alien concept." "Neither is obfuscating the truth." "Like your medical examiner refusing to release the results of Derek's autopsy." "I don't have his autopsy results yet, but when I do, trust me -- you'll be the first person I don't share them with." "All you're doing is proving my point, Dr. Sanchez." "Really?" "Does it look like I'm trying to make a point?" "Huh?" "Fine." "But we won't rest until we show the world what you're hiding." "Let's wrap it up, people!" "Don't start." "I'm still not sure what made the holes, but his pectoral muscles display rhabdomyolysis -- a breakdown of tissue caused by high electric voltage." "I'm thinking cattle prod, stun gun." "Martian probe." "Are you done?" "So, Derek was zapped in the chest, causing the heart attack." "And then something was used to bore these holes, make it look like an alien abduction." "Derek also had lesions and scar tissues on his prefrontal cortex from his car accident two years ago." "It would have impaired his executive functions -- decision-making ability, knowing right from wrong, truth from a lie." "Well, that would make him the perfect mark for a con man like Oberman." "The accident also gave him a pinched c-3 nerve." "It would have caused shooting pains in his arms and legs." "Which explains this." "Found it on the victim's credit-card receipts." ""Cryofreeze physical therapy spa."" "They relieve pain with extreme cold." "I'm talking cryogenic cold." "From what I can tell," "Derek went for treatments three times a week for six months, then four months ago, suddenly stopped." "Well, looks like someone's relationship might have gone a little icy." "Liquid nitrogen drops the chamber to negative 300 degrees." "The cold reduces inflammation, takes pressure off nerves." "Liquid nitrogen." "Two minutes in here, you feel like a million bucks." "Or 60." "How often did you treat Derek Adams?" "The spaceman?" "All the time." "Both here and out at that mansion of his." "Oh, so you've been out to his house." "Yeah." "So you've seen his smoking-hot wife." "Yeah." "I guess." "I mean..." "She lives there...right?" "Why'd Derek drop you as a therapist?" "He didn't." "He got better." "With a chronic pinched nerve?" "Look, I hate to speak ill of the dead." "The guy was a little out there." "Wore an aluminum hat." "Said aliens took him on a ride ." "They were coming to save the earth." "Well, maybe you took his smoking-hot wife for a ride." "Figured that with Derek gone, the smoking-hot wife and that mansion of his could be yours." "Oh, man." "That's crazy." "I mean, the guy was nuts, but I liked Derek." "I don't know why he hasn't been in." "I only know I haven't seen him in four months." "Look, I got to get my client out of there." "We done?" "For now." "If he had anything to do with it, the body wasn't frozen here." "Liquid nitrogen works too fast, burns tissue." "And there's no evidence of any real damage, like that on our victim." "Yeah, something tells me it's still worth having Manus run his name." "Feels really nice." "I take it you like the wine." "Not really." "I didn't get the job at palm beach memorial." "Oh." "Why didn't you say something?" "I didn't want to upset Jeff." "Hey!" "Hey." "Okay." "Wow." "Oh, yeah." "Thank you, honey." "Thank you." "Oh, what?" "No chuy monkey for you?" "No." "I got to hit it." "I'm late for Kyle's." "He's helping me with trig." "Oh." "Okay?" "Yeah." "All right." "Bye." "Later." "Later." "He's not studying, is he?" "Not a chance." "Guess he feels like I'm invading his house." "When did they call you?" "They didn't, which is why I know I didn't get the job." "Well, you don't know that." "They might be sleeping on it." "And, in the meantime, we have ice cream, a bottle of apparently awful wine," "And the house all to ourself." "Ah." "Yeah." "Go ahead." "Mnh-mnh." "Go ahead." "Okay." "Sorry." "Daniel, this better be good." "It is." "Went over Derek Adams' financials." "He willed his entire estate to F.E.T.A. -- $60 million." "What'd he leave his wife?" "Nothing." "Not even the house." "That is good." "Thanks." "Dead guy cut his wife out of his will." "She lost everything." "Except a motive to kill him." "Yeah." "Dermatology nurse -- is that a hard job?" "It can be." "Freezing tissue samples, removing malignant moles." "With a laser?" "Or a surgical punch." "It cuts a wheel of tissue around the bad mole to see if the cancer has spread." "Ew." "Yeah, you have to have the stomach for it." "Well, she's definitely got the stomach for it." "Detective." "Someone left an extra suit in the guest house." "Care to join me in the hot tub?" "That someone wouldn't be Sean Simmons, would it?" "Did he ever, uh..." "Take a dip in your hot tub?" "You're here for work." "How disappointing." "And Sean creeped me out." "Any time he was here to treat my husband, I left." "Mm." "Ugh." "Vinegar." "So much for your high-tech wine cellar." "That was Derek's pride and joy." "I knew not to step foot in ere." "And skin, not wine, was your specialty." "I mean, that had to suck, huh?" "Thinking about going back to freezing all those moles." "I take it you read my husband's will." "Hey, I'd be pissed, too, if someone abducted my $60 million." "And kill Derek out of anger?" "Why not Oberman, the weasel who conned my husband out of his money?" "Because Derek gave all the money to F.E.T.A., so killing Oberman, while satisfying, wouldn't solve your problem." "Okay." "But there's still one small problem you haven't solved " "Derek's new will, restoring it back to me." "The lawyers were gonna file with the courts on Tuesday." "After you renewed your vows in Bimini." "Just so we're clear." "If I was gonna kill Derek for his money -- which I wasn't " "I would have waited a week for the ink to dry." "Why don't you talk to someone who was going to lose out on my husband's fortune?" "So, Oberman was out $60 mil?" "Unless Derek died before Tuesday, when the new will got filed." "But why leave everything to a con man?" "Because he was a little out there." "On the night of Derek's accident, he saw a white light and passed out, woke up thinking there was something better out the." "Maybe after all the pain in this life, he was willing to trade everything in this one for life in another." "That sounds like a near-death experience, which, unlike extraterrestrials, is real." "It's an autonomic neurological response to trauma." "Have a calming psychological side effect." "Would that wear off?" "Eventually." "Well, sounds like it did." "Oberman realized that between that and Stella's gravitational pull, he was losing his grip over Derek." "I see dead people every day." "None has ever sat up and told me the meaning of life." "You live, you die." "That's it." "There's nothing else out there." "Whoa." "What the hell?" "Nice try, amigo, but I ain't falling for that." "No, I'm serious." "I'm not joking." "I guess you need a tune-up." "I had one last week." "Well, then, you need a new mechanic." "I'll tell Daniel to send a unit." "It's dead." "I just charged it." "Yeah." "Mine too." "Of cars dying out there last night, but there have been plenty in the past." "Area's notorious for the same unexplained phenomenon." "What about the "phenomenon" with my car?" "Engine's fried." "Motor pool can't explain why." "I can head out there, see what I can find." "Yeah." "Do that." "But be careful." "Business is booming." "People came to pay their respects." "By washing down overpriced shrimp with your flat beer." "You think I killed Derek to sell shrimp?" "No, I think you killed him when you learned he was filing a new will, giving his entire fortune back to his wife." "But Derek never told me about that, so there goes your theory." "Or he did and you're lying." "Meaning you couldn't wait around for Derek to die the old-fashioned way." "Now you were on a clock." "And with Derek getting healthier -- oh, and saner -- you were losing him to his wife." "He was getting better thanks to months of cryotherapy, and as for Derek's sanity, I've never met a saner man." "But even a sane man can fall victim to the temptations of a poisonous wife." "Yeah." "Stick your head in the sand, detective, but they're here among us, just waiting to take our water, our minerals, our wealth." "Like you and Derek's $60 million." "Before we honor Derek," "I would like to introduce detective Longworth of the FDLE." "Who's here to silence the truth about Derek's abduction." "Peace on earth." "Yeah." "What's up, Colleen?" "Where are you?" "Planet Oberman." "Natives are a little hostile." "So is Sean Simmons." "He's got a record for assault in Oregon -- did six months." "Stalked his ex-girlfriend, beat up her fiancé on their wedding day." "So, Sean's a hopeless romantic." "Hopeless, at least." "She still has a restraining order on him." "Well, can you get me phone records?" "Last six months?" "Me?" "Where the hell is Daniel?" "Out looking for the phenomenon behind my car's engine conking out." "Thanks, Ms. Compton." "Thank you." "Cheap-ass bitch." "That's no way to talk about your loyal clientele, Sean." "What do you want?" "Well, for starters, I'd like to know why marriages just seem to fall apart around you." "Portland?" "Felony assault?" "That's why Derek stopped seeing you." "He saw the way you looked at his wife, and he fired you." "I fired him." "Right." "Yeah." "Who needs a steady 2-grand-a-week client when you got a high roller like Mrs. Compton?" "Stella was bored." "Her husband was always out chasing martians." "And you're only human." "She was almost mean about it, insisting we do it in their bedroom." "Ew!" "Kept saying we could have everything -- the house, the cars, the money." "Thought it was just pillow talk at first, then one day, she starts going on about he's got no other family besides her to challenge his will." "I'm dumb, but I'm not stupid." "Don't sell yourself short, Sean." "You're dumb and stupid." "And controlling." "It's what happened in Portland, right?" "Key made a big mistake marrying that loser." "Maybe Stella did, too." "So you helped her out." "Stella didn't need any help." "I knew if she had it in her to kill her husband, she'd kill me next, so I cut her loose." "Or maybe you cut her husband up." "Is that why you're leaving town?" "Your boss said you gave notice." "I'm going up to Jacksonville to start a roofing company with my brother." "Which you need to clear with your parole officer, which I'll check to confirm." "Look, man, I'm telling you -- don't let that chick fool you." "She may be hot as hell on the outside, but inside, she is all ice." "Those aren't toys, detective." "They're antiques." "They come from Derek's villa in Parma." "Oh." "Well, apart from the whole lost-and-alone thing, sounds like he had a real appetite for life." "And how's your appetite?" "This is your third house call." "I ate before I came." "I wasn't thinking about food." "Why'd you lie to me about Sean?" "You're gonna take the word of an ex-con over mine?" "I know." "Weird, right?" "What happened?" "Derek find out?" "I broke it off before that." "It's irrelevant, detective." "You mean lying to a cop about cheating on your dead husband?" "Men are different than women." "Right." "You're from Mars." "Venus." "The sexiest part of a man's body is between his ears." "Sean was stupid." "Derek traveled the world." "He was smart and funny." "I woke up, and I decided to get my husband back." "Or maybe to get your money back, like passing off a new will." "You talked to Oberman, too." "He told Derek to put on aluminum-foil hats, climb to the roof, and talk to spacemen." "I come from crazy." "My mother had to put my father away." "I wasn't gonna lose Derek, too." "So I got him to exercise, got him therapy for his neck, and I helped show him that Oberman is a fraud and a liar." "Sounds like a full-time job." "By the way, I'm gonna need your schedule for the week your husband went missing." "I sleep till noon, spin class at 3:00, and I pick up my meals from calorie cops." "Creature of habit." "Uh, I actually have to go, but don't you go -- like, say, to Bimini." "Your travel agent confirmed you haven't canceled your tickets." "I just haven't thought about it." "Good." "Don't start now." "Now, that would stop a car." "Hey." "You okay?" "Uh..." "Yeah." "What are you doing here?" "Well, I got your text, so I came over." "Oh." "Yeah." "Well, I got the call that I didn't get the job, so not exactly an emergency." "No, I know." "Just knew you'd be bummed, so..." "Ohh." "That's sweet." "Um, but I don't really need any cheering up." "I knew this was gonna be difficult and we'll get through it." "Are we really the only ones here?" "Yeah -- us and Victor, the security guard on the third floor who sleeps all day." "He, uh..." "He sleeps all day, huh?" "Pretty much." "Oh, well, lucky for us it's day." "What exactly are you getting at?" "Whoa." "What are you getting at?" "I mean, you don't really think that we could..." "Well, once you get over the whole "Stephen king, empty hospital" thing." "I actually love Stephen king." "Oh, I love that you love Stephen king." "You know, there's an empty -- uh, a room?" "Yeah." "Excellent." "Right over here." "Yeah?" "Actually, wait." "What?" "Oh." "Oh." "No calls from Daniel." "All right, um..." "Whoa." "It's weird." "Detective Longworth always answers his phone." "It's not as weird as this place." "It's an old pumping station." "It hasn't been used in decades." "Yeah." "Are you sure this is where they ship the, uh..." "What'd you call it?" "E.M.P. -- electromagnetic pulse generator." "Generates an intense electromagnetic field that fries the circuit board of a car engine or cellphone -- kills it instantly." "Found a website in Texas that sells them for research." "Gave them the serial number of the one I found along the road where you guys lost power." "They said they shipped it here -- to Oberman." "Wait, wait, wait." "All right." "Somebody's been here recently." "Whoa!" "It's a dummy, dummy." "Huh." "Aha!" "There's your alien autopsy." "He faked everything -- the UFOs, crop circles." "These are his props." "Take me to your leader so we can arrest him." "Daniel?" "It's blood." "It's fresh." "We found a *** with blood on it and your prints." "Matches the diameter of the holes in the body." "I use it for my visual aids." "Is that a euphemism for "hoaxes"?" "Like the hoaxes on your website and the ones that my witnesses experienced the night they found Derek's body?" "It wasn't me, detective." "All right?" "My flight wouldn't land for an hour." "You can check with the airlines." "But that is why Derek stopped donating, right?" "Found out you were a fraud, threatened to expose you to followers." "Keep throwing things against the wall, something will stick." "Like this?" "Which we found stuck to Derek's wall." "It's the Mayan temple of Tikal." "The Nazca lines in Peru -- ancient designs in the desert to form a runway for spaceships." "Complex structures that couldn't have been built with the technology of their age." "It does give one pause." "Well, it gave me pause to think that Derek thought that the visitors were here to help us, but you preached that they're here to destroy us 'cause it's easier to scare people out of their money" "than give them hope, right?" "But hope is exactly what Derek wanted, and that's why he stopped buying what you were selling." "The truth is hard to face." "And so is losing $60 million, which would have happened if Derek hadn't died before Tuesday, right?" "I mean, killing him was a twofer for you." "Use his poked and probed body to create hysteria, fill your website coffers, and cash a check for $60 mil." "Given the size of Derek's gift, do you really think" "I could get away with something so obvious?" "Are you saying you were set up?" "I'm saying I didn't kill Derek." "I was in Colorado all week, remember?" "Right." "Except Derek's body was frozen, so you could have killed him before you left." "What?" "So now I faked my alibi?" "I mean, hey, you fake everything else." "What?" "Now you come up with a time of death." "I got it from the calorie cops' menu." "He had undigested fish in his stomach." "Oh!" "Really?" "You couldn't just tell me?" "It's baked tilapia -- his last meal." "A dinner entree he had five days ago." "Oh." "That's when Oberman was in that Hyde Park Inn in Greeley, Colorado." "I spoke with the manager." "She said Oberman made a big stink about the O.J. at the breakfast buffet." "She's e-mailing us video." "It gets worse." "You said this was the right size." "Wrong species." "The blood's from a chicken." "Oberman used frozen poultry for his aliens -- made them look more real." "I hate to let the jackass off the hook, but maybe somebody's trying to set him up." "Yeah." "That's what he said." "All right, tell Manus to let him go but not leave town." "He's a fraud, but he didn't kill Derek." "Does freezing wine make it go bad?" "No, but freezing the bottle also freezes the cork, which can shift and break the seal, letting air in, oxidizes it, and then turns it into vinegar." "What?" "Did you mess up a bottle of wine you bought to celebrate Callie's new job?" "What?" "Oh, no." "That job fell through." "She's kind of hitting a wall." "Think you can make a few calls?" "You know?" "Quietly?" "I'm gonna take a wild guess and guess that's exactly what she asked you not to ask me." "You know how proud she is." "So you went behind her back, huh?" "It's like you're already married." "So, even though you have all this evidence against Oberman, you don't have enough to hold him?" "No, and if Oberman didn't kill Derek, then someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look like he did." "Wow -- you'd have to be pretty paranoid to feel the need to frame a conspiracy theorist." "Mm-hmm." "Parmesan Reggiano?" "Oh, I couldn't possibly." "Mmm." "You gonna eat that or date it?" "What?" "N-no." "Um..." "Can I see what you use to cut these with?" "Yeah." "It's called a cheese trier." "Wine-and-cheese enthusiasts have them." "The best ones come from the old country." "They can be very expensive and quite collectible." "Thanks." "Checked all Stella's credit cards." "Still no evidence she ever bought a stun gun or a taser." "I did find this, though " "Happy Hour at Hanaby's the day before Derek died." "A couple margaritas, a lot of shots." "Well, she was either getting real happy or she met with someone." "That's what I thought." "So I called in the video." "Wow." "Looks like they buried the hatchet." "Then they buried this in Derek." "You were right." "Luminol on Derek's antique cheese trier shows it has human DNA on it." "I'm guessing Derek's, since the blade matches the diameter of the holes on his body." "Techs are still working on the house." "So Stella edited Derek's will back in her favor, faxed it to his attorney, then killed her husband so no one could challenge it." "Except Oberman, who hated her." "She knew he'd tie Derek's money up in court for decades." "She needed to discredit him." "So she punched holes in her husband's body to make it look like a faked alien abduction to frame Oberman." "Sure looks that way, doesn't it?" "Right again, Stella." "You said it was over with Sean." "It is." "He's the liar." "Yeah -- the day before Derek died, you and Sean shared a very happy hour." "Fine." "I ran into him after spin class." "He apologized for being a jackass and wanted to show there were no hard feelings." "So you let a pissed-off ex-con buy you a drink?" "Weren't you scared?" "Oh, wait." "Maybe not." "Because, I'm guessing, if he tried anything on you, like he did in Portland, you were ready for him." "Like with a taser, maybe?" "Oh, just so you know, we're turning your place upside down right now looking for a taser." "So any help you can give us at this point, Stella, can only help you." "Hidden in a false bottom of my underwear drawer." "Derek bought it for my protection after we got married." "Well, given it was a taser that caused the heart attack that murdered your husband, I'd call that ironic." "You think I killed Derek to be with stupid Sean?" "Well, stupid may not be sexy, Stella, but it is hella handy." "Especially if you need someone to haul your dead husband's frozen body out of your wine cellar, which we're testing for blood right now." "So, is there anything you want to tell me before we pick up Sean, get his version?" "I should speak to my lawyer." "Yeah." "Maybe so." "Tech unit went through her bedroom." "The taser was right where she said it was." "Thing throws off about 50,000 volts and leaves an obvious wound in the skin." "Unless you bore out the wounds with a cheese trier..." "And then you make more holes to simulate an abduction." "Anything in the wine cellar?" "Even after somebody tried to clean it up, there was enough blood to prove that Derek was almost certainly frozen and then cut up there, which we'll confirm after testing." "Well played, sir." "The press is all over Stella's arrest." "Oh." "I didn't mean to suggest that Stella killed Derek." "What?" "Then why the hell did you arrest her?" "Has anyone seen Daniel?" "Sweet ride, huh?" "What are you -- stupid?" "!" "Why don't you just send up a flare?" "I'm not going anywhere without my money." "Fine." "Drive -- before anyone sees us." "Relax." "She got arrested." "It's all over the news." "Hey." "I'm the one who took all the risk, all right?" "Sneaking into the house, tasering the fat bastard, then hauling his frozen ass out to the lagoon." "Yeah, and I'm paying you 50 grand for it, so shut up about it." "That's $25,000 right there." "The balance and your end of the old man's money once the will goes through." "You sure she can't challenge the will in court?" "What?" "From death row?" "For killing the man who willed it?" "Yeah, I'd like to see how that works out for her." "What the hell?" "I just drove this thing off the lot." "It's dead." "Hands where I can see them." "Good." "Hi." "You can't arrest me." "I wasn't even here." "I was " "Colorado." "Yeah, you said -- like, about a million times." "Plus the videotape you made sure the motel manager got." "Yeah, I get it." "It was a good plan, one that only a conspiracy freak like you could come up with." "Frame Stella by framing yourself so that you could challenge Derek's new will." "I have no idea what you're talking about." "Your big mistake, though, was throwing in with Sean, who, through his cryotherapy, knew that Derek had a wine cellar, a hot wife, and a taser to protect it all, but who lowered Derek's wine cellar too low too fast" "when he froze Derek's body and oxidized about a quarter-million dollars' worth of wine." "Plus, if that wasn't stupid enough, he remembered to replace the taser back in Stella's secret spot but forgot to wipe his own prints off it first." "And I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that, despite a bundle of cash in the back seat," "Sean's not about to take a needle for you." "And conspiracy to commit murder, well, that's still murder." "Yeah." "Okay." "Sure, yeah." "Go for it." "No." "Be my guest." "Okay, that was strange." "Out of the blue, the E.R. in port St. Lucie calls me for an interview." "Really?" "That's -- that's great." "Yeah, except I never sent in my résumé." "Well, maybe one of your co-workers put in a good word for you." "Or maybe one of yours." "Okay, look." "I know you can get a job on your own, just like you raised Jeff on your own." "Like you held two jobs on your own, like you were able to figure out how to do med school on your own." "You know, because up till now, you've been on your own." "But, Cal..." "You're not on your own anymore." "Okay, fine." "You're off the hook." "Really?" "Wow." "That was easy." "Do you think we're really alone?" "I don't know." "According to Daniel, with billions and billions of galaxies, it's a mathematical impossibility there isn't something -- or someone -- out there." "Ooh." "Good thing there's someone out there." "Bamboo palace!" "Yeah." "I'm starving!" ".:" "Napisy24" " Nowy Wymiar Napisów :." "Napisy24.pl"