"Thank you." "Hey, Mac." "Got a Jane Doe." "Looks like a body dump." "Killer busted the lock on the back door to gain entrance." "Who found her?" "Mr. Beppe Romano." "Night janitor." "He was dancing." "By himself?" "Not exactly." "Turns out Mr. Romano's wife died five years ago." "So every year on their wedding anniversary, he grabs a mannequin and does a little tango." "It was their first dance as husband and wife." "Detective Flack." "Excuse me." "Still not sleeping, huh?" "Our vic have an ID?" "No." "I'm checking with Missing Persons." "Thought she might have been at Random, the club next door." "So I had the unis do a canvass." "No one saw or heard anything." "I know." "She doesn't seem real, does she?" "Halloween's next week." "Maybe she came from a costume party." "When I first arrived," "I thought someone had dressed up one of the stiffs." "Except this one has a very real bullet hole in her head." "Yeah, muzzle stamp with some stellate tearing..." "Contact shot." "What about TOD?" "Early stages of rigor." "I'd say about five hours ago." "You gonna answer that, Mac?" "It's early." "Probably important." "Surgical tubing around her wrists." "Hmm, what look like surgical cuts on her neck." "Yeah, the killer took his time before taking her life." "And brought her to a place where'd he'd have his own private audience." "Except these witnesses aren't saying anything." "Your Jane Doe recently had some work done." "Lasered eyebrows, scalp surgery and a contour thread lift, also known as a "facelift in a needle. "" "It's an out-patient process." "Very popular right now." "Cosmo." "My dentist subscribes." "What about the cuts on her neck?" "Made by a surgical scalpel." "Could they be related to the work she had done?" "It doesn't look like any cosmetic procedure." "I did find this little guy near one of the cuts." "A tick." "Doesn't look engorged with blood yet." "I'm thinking it burrowed into our vic just prior to TOD." "Could have come from your killer." "You're also going to want this." ".45 caliber." "Unusual markings." "It's possible our murder weapon was fitted with a silencer." "This could be a pro job." "The cuts and the bound wrists were done to torture the vic." "So, what did our murderer want before pulling the trigger?" "Mac, you ought to get a load of this." "We identified your Jane Doe." "Where did you get this?" "Google Images." "The Internet?" "Adam saw me running the vic's photo through Missing Persons." "Said he recognized her from a video game he plays." "It's not a game." "How's this cartoon connect to our Jane Doe?" "She's not a cartoon, all right?" "She's an avatar and her name is Venus." "How do you know?" "She's a cyber celebrity." "The Paris Hilton of Second Life." "Second Life?" "It's a metaverse, an online social network inside a virtual world." "First lifers, guys like us, we log on, create 3-D virtual characters, cruise simulated worlds, make friends, start businesses..." "Why?" "It's... fun." "It's fun." "Yeah." "So our vic dressed like a virtual character?" "It's "cosplay," which is short for "costume play. "" "Um, some people get off dressing like the anime or avatar characters they've created." "I'm telling you, this could be your Jane Doe." "Okay, Danny, track down whoever runs this site." "See if you can get a real-world name for our vic." "Does look like her, huh?" "Hey, Stell." "Hey." "I could use some good news." "Only 61 days until Christmas." "Although looks like you've already gotten some gifts." "Uh, yeah, it's very embarrassing." "This guy I met a couple weeks ago, he's extremely persistent." "Last week it was a parachute." "This week it's rock climbing gear." "Sounds like Mr. Adventure wants to get physical." "Ha." "What do you have?" "Uh, not a whole lot." "The prints I lifted from the scene- no hits in AFIS or occupational databases." "And the doll that Hawkes found, it doesn't belong to anybody at the warehouse." "No prints on it or any DNA." "Who made it?" "No idea." "The shirt it was wearing said "Johnny. "" "That's all we've got." "It looks like a custom job." "What about the unknown substance you lifted from the crime scene?" "That I have." "Phyllostachys edulis." "Hmm, moso bamboo?" "It's found in the Southeastern United States." "Could belong to our killer." "Look for sources." "Let's hope this puts us on the trail of our killer and then Christmas will come early for all of us." "Makers of Second Life kicked back a name." "Our Jane Doe is Cheryl Miller." "She lived alone." "Never been married." "Besides a couple cats, she seemed pretty much a shut-in." "So it's safe to say she lived vicariously through her avatar Venus." "Wallflower by day, cyber celebrity by night." "I swung by her place." "The area where she kept her computer seemed the most lived-in." "So I figured her hard drive would be a good place to start." "Find anything?" "Can avatars fall in love?" "Apparently, our vic was, uh, in a virtual relationship with an avatar named Don Juan 2-3." "According to her browser history, Cheryl Miller spent two to three hours a day in Second Life searching for Mr. Goodbyte." "Their last online chat was yesterday morning, and the two lovebirds planned on meeting last night for the first time in person." "Where?" "A place called Random." "That's the name of the club right next door to the crime scene." "Cheryl didn't want to disappoint Don Juan 2-3, so she made herself look like her avatar." "That would explain the out-patient surgery and what she was wearing." "Second Life sent over the subscriber info for our cyber Romeo here." "Johnathan O'Dell." "Johnathan." "Like Johnny." "O'Dell." "Why, you know him?" "Yeah." "I think I do." "Come on." "Hawkes found this at the crime scene." "Let's bring him in." "Good, but there's one problem." "Subscriber info Second Life sent over is no good." "Johnny O'Dell's credit cards are expired, and he moved away two months ago." "He's not in any of our systems." "And there's no other paper trail." "Maybe there's another way to get to him." "How?" "We find his avatar." "Before you go in-world, you want to build yourself an avatar." "Okay, so right there, just double click on that template." "Yeah." "Now, male or female?" "This is fantasy;" "be all you can be." "I just want to let you know your options." "All right." "Uh, I would have gone for more the bad boy myself, but you know, that's, that's, that's cool." "How do I get in?" "Boss, if you go in-world looking like Joe Boring, you're going to get flagged as a newbie." "Let me get in here real quick." "Check this out." "Hip do, a little custom skin, new coat." "All right, check that out." "Now you're ready to roll in-world." "Just use the arrow keys to get around." "And the headset to communicate." "What the hell is this?" "Bonjour." "Uh-huh." "Oui, oui." "What'd I tell ya?" "Adam, I don't have time for this." "I need to find Johnny O'Dell's avatar, Don Juan 2-3." "If this is our guy, he's not gonna respond to a shout-out, which means we got to use the White Rabbit." "He knows everyone and every island." "How do I find him?" "We send him a tell." "It's a private message between game players." "And then we wait for him in the Search Pavilion." "Ixodes scapularis, otherwise known as the black-legged tick, and he's not too far from home." "It's native to the northeast forests of New Jersey." "Did you get any DNA from it?" "A little bit from the vic." "No other donors." "The interesting thing is, this tick is a carrier of Lyme disease." "But according to Sid, the victim didn't show any signs of being infected." "An adult tick can stay on a host for up to a week." "Means that our shooter might have Lyme disease." "So, maybe he's a hunter." "Picked up the tick recently when he was in the woods." "So maybe our killer is targeting humans, too." "That's him." "That, that's the White Rabbit." "Taylor?" "Yes." "How can I help you?" "I'm looking for Don Juan 2-3." "Do you know where I can find him?" "For 6,000 Linden dollars, I do." "What's Linden dollars?" "Uh, Linden dollars is in-world currency." "It works out to be about, like, 20 bucks." "Okay." "Here's a TP." "Follow me." "TP?" "Teleport." "Sit back and enjoy the ride." "Here we are, Shangri-La." "He's with me." "You're in." "I'm out of here." "Hey, I'm flying here!" "There he is" " Don Juan 2-3." "That's our guy." "I'll get him talking, you trace his IP." "See if you can get a real-world address." "Okay." "Hello." "Good-bye." "He's leaving." "Oh, wait." "Wait, wait." "We got to switch sexes." "What?" "Johnny O'Dell named his avatar after legendary pickup artist" "Don Juan 2-3, so if we're gonna catch him, we're gonna need some bait." "Wow." "Who's the tacky dresser?" "That's me." "Okay, we are good to go." "What about my voice?" "Uh, voice modulator." "Say something." "Hello." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Let's go fishing." "All right, uh..." "Hi." "I like your name." "I love waterfalls, don't you?" "Oh, my God." "What?" "You have no game whatsoever." "Look, I don't need a backseat avatar here." "All right, then move over." "Come on." "Before your suspect balls." "Hey, Don, sorry about that." "I was, uh, distracted by a phone call." "My name's Taylor." "What do you say we get out of here, and go for a walk?" ""Go for a walk"?" "It worked." "So, Don, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" "I want to know everything." "I got him." "Johnny O'Dell is logged on at 2481 Seventh Ave." "Johnny O'Dell, where is he?" "Thank you." "He's running!" "Gun, Flack!" "Don't move!" "I'm sorry, I don't know that lady." "How about this one?" "This is Venus." "Everyone knows who she is." "Yeah, but seems you know her better than most." "You guys spend quite a bit of time chatting online, huh?" "We're in love." "Excuse me, what?" "Love?" "That's right." "In the Second Life." "You understand that she's not real" " Venus- right?" "Johnny, do you hunt?" "Get out into the woods often?" "Kid doesn't look like the hunting type." "Poor eyesight, speech pattern, coordination problems, he's exhibiting all symptoms of Lyme disease." "So the tick could have come from him?" "When was the last time you slept?" "I'll be all right." "Peyton decided to stay in London." "Day after I got her letter, I bought a ticket." "Figured I'd fly there, try and change her mind, but I couldn't get on the plane." "What happened?" "I realized what she said in her letter was right." "It couldn't work;" "New York was never her home." "London is." "She's got family there." "She's very close with them." "That's where she belongs." "I never realized that until I was there this summer." "So you knew it was coming?" "Being together means one of us has to move." "Peyton couldn't leave England, any more than I could leave the U.S." "Why don't you tell us about last night?" "I was finally going to get to meet Venus in the real world." "Where?" "Random- club on 34th and Broadway." "I didn't feel up to it, though, so I-I..." "I bailed." "You sure about that?" "Very sure." "I made that for Venus so that she would know what I look like when I showed up at the club." "She said she was gonna bring it with her last night." "Where did you get this?" "Hmm..." "Hey, Johnny, would you be willing to give us some reference prints and take an Elisa test?" "A what?" "Look, I'm not gonna give you anything until you tell me what the hell's going on." "I'll tell you what's going on." "I don't understand why you would stand up the woman that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with." "I didn't go 'cause I'm dying." "I have acute multiple sclerosis." "It's a disease that, well, no one can do anything about." "But in Second Life..." "I beat it." "When I'm in-world..." "I'm fine." "I can do anything, even fall in love with someone, and have them love me back." "No questions asked." "So you didn't want to start a relationship in the real world that you couldn't finish?" "If you never met up with Cheryl, then why did you run when the detectives came to your office?" "I thought it was about the gun." "I... bought it off the street." "Why did you buy a gun?" "Why'd you need a gun, Johnny?" "Huh?" "What I got... ain't curable." "What do you think I needed a gun for?" "I don't understand." "Did, did, did Venus do something wrong?" "Is she in some kind of trouble?" "Cheryl was murdered last night." "That's not possible." "We found this little guy at the crime scene." "No, no way." "I" " I was just with Venus." "You were just with Venus?" "Where?" "In Second Life." "La Citta Eterna, ancient Rome." "I was just talking to her before you guys showed up." "I don't know, Mac." "Kid could be lying." "Maybe he did show up at the club last night." "Cheryl rejected him." "Things went south from there." "It's possible." "But if he is telling the truth, why is someone using a dead woman's avatar?" "Come on, come on, come on, come on!" "No." "Johnny's gun is not our murder weapon." "Not surprised." "His alibi checked out, and his reference prints didn't match the prints" "Lindsay pulled from the crime scene." "The kid already made bail on the gun charge." "Any hits in IBIS?" "Ran all our ballistic evidence." "No matches to any previous murder cases." "All right, try a wider search." "Run it through NIBIN." "If our killer is a pro," "I'm thinking that the vic wasn't his first hit." "There it is" " La Citta Eterna." "Our suspect said he saw Venus here a couple hours ago?" "We need to find her and find out who's using her avatar." "Subsisto!" "What does he want?" "Subsisto!" "That's C-Zar." "He's the, uh, landlord." "This island is off-limits." "Why don't you ask him how many Lindens it will cost to get in." "Can I pay you?" "Admission is free, my friend." "All you need to do is perform two tasks." "The first... a question." "Which death is preferable to every other?" "The unexpected." "Correct." "And the second task?" "Take this teleport and follow me." "Prepare for battle." "He's serious, Mac." "He's got too much time on his hands." "Yeah, well, it's his world." "If we don't do what he says, we're not getting in, and there go our chances of ever finding Venus." "Destroy him!" "Rip his heart out!" "Tear him apart!" "Oh, come on." "Dude, uh..." "I'm, I'm, I'm sorry... boss, uh... with all due respect, you don't stand a chance." "And you do?" "I got skills." "I think so." "All right, Adam, you lose, we lose the only solid lead we have." "I can do it." "Warriors, fight!" "Here we go." "Want some of this?" "Say my name." "Who's your daddy?" "You got one more." "Whoa." "Weapons, weapons..." "Hello." "Good job." "CROWD Taylor!" "Taylor!" "Taylor!" "It's not over yet." "Here we go." "Adam." "I know what I'm doing." "CROWD Taylor!" "Taylor!" "Taylor!" "Yes!" "We're in!" "Whoo!" "Whoa." "Whoo!" "I'm going to get some water." "All right, Venus, where are you?" "Great job, Taylor!" "Signore, magnifichi." "Really great." "Let's see, where is she?" "Any luck?" "There she is." "Johnny was telling the truth." "Venus is still active." "I'll distract her, you ping her IP." "Congratulations, my friend." "Forget it." "She's Wi-Fi fishing." "Her signal's bouncing all over midtown." "Whoever's controlling Venus... doesn't want us to find them." "Hey, you, stop pretending you're Venus." "What the hell..." "It's a griefer." "It's when you harass somebody." "But how did he know someone else was using Venus's avatar?" "Where'd she go?" "I don't know." "She could be anywhere." "Hey, you." "I want to talk to you about Venus." "Do you know who stole her avatar?" "He's making a run for it, boss." "Okay, here, put this on." "Adam, this guy knows that Cheryl's not in control of the Venus avatar." "Get me a real world address on him." "He stopped." "Why did you shoot Venus?" "How did you know somebody else was controlling her avatar?" "Adam?" "He's link dead." "Which means he's lost his Internet connection or his computer's crashed." "I got him." "I got him." "I have his address." "NYPD!" "Police." "Let's get some eyes in there." "We got a man down." "The bullet pulled from Johnny is a. 45 and matches the one that killed Cheryl Miller." "Same caliber, same markings." "We're looking for the same killer." "Yeah." "Well, the only problem is that Johnny's body didn't show any apparent signs of torture." "If the killer didn't want something from Johnny, then why kill him?" "Because Johnny knew that Cheryl was dead, which meant that her second life as Venus was over." "I'm thinking that after we told Johnny that Cheryl was murdered, he went back into Second Life, only this time as a different avatar." "And he knew we'd recognize him as Don Juan 2-3, so he changed things up- became the Furry and attacked the person pretending to be Venus." "I mean, Johnny's form of retribution." "Only, our killer used his tech savvy to track Johnny down and shut him up, so he couldn't tell anybody that Cheryl was dead." "Because he needed Venus to live." "Only why is that so important?" "Did you ever find anything in NIBIN?" "Yes." "I got a case-to-case hit on the first slug from Cheryl." "Unsolved murder last week." "High profile judge in New Jersey." "Judge McHenry never returned from a hunting trip." "Searchers found him in the woods, dead." "Police first thought it was a hunting accident, but the bullet hole in his forehead and the.45 said otherwise." "Another pro job." "Mm-hmm." "And finding him in the northeastern woods might explain the tick that we found on Cheryl's body." "When he went to kill the judge, it might have gotten on his clothes and then transferred to Cheryl when he murdered her." "All right, the only question is:" "What do Johnny and Cheryl, our two New York vics, have to do with a New Jersey judge?" ""Old Gearhead. "" "Bonasera." "Stella, it's Mac." "Grab Danny, I've got a lead." "Yeah, I know her." "It's Venus." "She bought a pair of shoes from you today?" "That's right." "You know, as a Second Life vendor," "I don't usually interact with my customers, but, uh, Venus is a special case." "She a regular?" "I wish." "She's a trendsetter." "If she wore my boots, I'd double my sales." "Then why'd she go to your online store?" "She's had a hot date tonight." "In the real world or in Second Life?" "Maybe both." "Sometimes they start in Second Life, and end up in the real world, you know what I mean?" "Venus mention who this "hot date" was with?" "Mr. TCB." "He's got a store credit." "Told her to go to Old Gearhead's and pick out something sexy." "Who is Mr. Taking Care of Business?" "I don't know." "He just sends his lady friends to my online shoe store when they're looking to glam up." "She give you any other information?" "Maybe where they were going on this date?" "Why don't you ask her yourself?" "She just walked in." "Says she lost her shoes." "Is looking to buy another pair." "Keep her busy." "So I followed up on the moso bamboo trace I collected." "Our vic didn't have any kind of plant like that in her apartment, but I did find out that moso bamboo is used in flooring and cabinetry." "It's a sustainable material." "Green buildings use it because it's a renewable resource." "So, maybe our vic was looking for a new apartment?" "The bamboo you found was untreated, so we're looking for a new building or one under renovation." "Compile a list - see if there's any connection to the vic." "Taylor." "Mac, it's Stella." "Our girl's gone shopping again." "I'm heading to A/V." "She's on her way out." "We got her." "Venus is leaving Gearhead's store." "Hello, my name is Taylor." "I'm a friend of the White Rabbit." "Can we talk somewhere in private?" "Of course." "Follow me." "Venus?" "Venus, where are you?" "Where you won't find me, Detective Taylor." "How did you know?" "The White Rabbit told me never trust someone you haven't met face-to-face." "What the hell...?" "It's a trophy room." "Judge McHenry." "Cheryl Miller." "Johnny O'Dell." "Everyone in here is someone our killer put in the ground." "What's that?" "It's a calling card." "Avatars use them to transfer messages." "Pick it up." "Ac-Actually, wait." "Don't pick it up." "Why not?" "It could be bad." "We need to talk." "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "It's bad." "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "She infected the card with a virus." "Adam, throw up a firewall." "Stop it before it gets into our system." "I..." "I can't." "It's not coming from Second Life." "Where's it coming from?" "I" " I don't know." "It's already uploaded and replicating code." "Our entire system is overloaded." "Log off." "If I log off, we lose her." "Log off." "Log off now!" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Why did you kill Cheryl?" "Whoa." "IT said it'd be about another hour or so before our systems are back online." "By that time, whoever assumed Venus's identity could have changed avatars, become somebody else." "I don't think that'll happen." "Our shooter murdered Cheryl and became Venus for a reason." "But why?" "Why become an avatar?" "Because Venus's popularity gave her access to exclusive areas and people." "By co-opting her avatar, she was able to make contact with her next target." "Mr. TCB?" "I got Mr. TCB's account info from Second Life." "Turns out Venus and Mr. TCB had several conversations in the last few days." "Venus was setting him up to be killed." "What's the name on the account?" "David King with a P.O. box in D.C." "Here's a video-conference number for you." "Congressman Devane's office." "My name is Mac Taylor." "I'm with the New York Crime Lab." "Who am I talking to?" "David King." "Mr. King, we're investigating a series of murders here in New York City." "Do you have an account with Second Life?" "Your avatar's name is Mr. TCB?" "Mr. King?" "Mr. TCB is actually my boss, Congressman Devane." "I opened the account for him four months ago." "We need to speak with the congressman." "Sorry, he's in New York today." "He keeps an apartment in the city." "He's in New York." "Mr. King, the congressman's life is in danger." "We need a local address and a phone number now." "4325 West 57th Street, apartment 806." "555-0121." "Thank you." "That address is on my list of buildings using moso bamboo." "Our shooter was staking out Devane's apartment building." "That's where it's going down." "I got his voice mail." "Congressman Devane, this is Detective Mac Taylor from the NYPD." "So the avatar identity theft was all about a hit." "You know, our killer must know Congressman Devane was having real-world affairs with the woman he met in Second Life." "He's married, which means his affairs had to be discreet." "He'd be traveling without a security detail;" "an easy target." "And he went right for the bait." "Who could resist an online celebrity like Venus?" "So what's the connection between the congressman, the judge, Cheryl and Johnny?" "There is none." "Cheryl was needed for her avatar, Johnny was murdered because he was about to blow our killer's cover." "Cheryl was tortured and killed for her avatar and password." "What about Devane and the judge?" "They were jobs." "Our suspect is a contract assassin." "How's it going, chief?" "You see Congressman Devane today?" "Yes, sir." "He went up to his apartment about an hour ago." "Matter of fact, that young woman's on her way up to see him now." "Down!" "Down!" "Everybody get down!" "Clear the lobby." "No one goes in or out." "Stella, Danny, take the elevators." "Flack, we got the stairs." "Okay, everybody to this side of the lobby, please." "Please remain calm." "Hello." "Congressman, this is Detective Mac Taylor." "I'm with the New York Crime Lab." "What the hell...?" "Stella, Danny, clear the rest of the apartment." "Flack, check the other floors." "She's here somewhere." "Excuse me." "Is there a problem?" "NYPD." "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to return to your apartment." "Of course." "Thank you." "Be aware suspect has changed her look." "I've got her coat and wig." "Stop!" "Turn around!" "Let him go." "Put your hands where I can see them." "She... she just knocked on my door." "I" " I don't know who she is." "Please..." "let me go." "Mac!" "Call an ambulance." "Need an ambulance." "Man down. 4325 West 57th." "I have eyes on her." "She's moving to the seventh floor."