 Episode Summary |
Three girls are cruising down the highway in a convertible, top down, drinking and partying before one of the girls gets married that weekend. They come upon an 18-wheeler and they drive alongside him. The bride-to-be flashes the driver of the big rig. Suddenly he notices an oncoming car and warns them. The girls car swerves off the road, into the desert with the girls screams echoing in the desert. The girls see a flashlight and a woman, standing in the path of their car and are unable to avoid hitting the woman.
The CSIs are on the scene as the paramedics take the victim away for medical attention. Langston questions the truck driver, whose Intoxilyzer came back negative for alcohol. The driver tells them what he saw but that he didn't see the victim until she was on the ground. Langston heads over to talk to the drunken trio of girls, who have been crying (mascara is running down their faces). "We didn't hit her, she hit us," one of the girls, Claire, says. None of them will fess up to who was driving until Langston orders Breathalyzers for all three of them. The bride-to-be is upset because she's getting married that weekend. "And if he loves you, he'll wait," Langston says. The bride-to-be (wearing a "bad bride" t-shirt) snitches on her friend, Julie (who is wearing a t-shirt that says "bitchy bridesmaid") and says she won't miss her wedding because of Julie. Angry, Julie glares at the bride-to-be, then throws up all over the officer's shoes. "You got a whole desert here," Mitch tells her.
Langston walks over to the girl's convertible to talk to Nick, who is processing the scene (with 5 empty bottles of champagne on the trunk). "Why can't people wait til they get to Vegas to start partying? Is that so difficult?" Nick asks. "Well it is for some people. You know what they say, 'beer before wine you'll be fine,'" Langston replies. "Wine after liquor never sicker," Nick finishes. Nick points out the right front tire is flat and the front fender is shredded. The CSIs are trying to figure out what the victim was doing all by herself out in the middle of nowhere.
At the hospital, Brass stands outside the victim's room and talks to the doctor when he comes out. They have moved the patient from critical to stable but it will be a while before Brass can talk to her. Nick walks up to Brass and tells him Greg found an abandoned car about a mile from the scene with the victims keys and wallet were under the seat. Brass tells Nick the woman is a friend, her name is Janet Marie Marsh. Three years prior, Janet Marsh's husband (Mike Marsh) and two children (son, Andy - 9 and daughter, Emily - 15) went missing. They found his abandoned SUV on the highway with blood inside. She was hit on the same stretch of road where the SUV was found. "She lost her whole family. She's looking for them," Brass says emotionally. "She's looking for ghosts," Nick replies.
Brass tells Nick there is always a case that just won't let you go. He has carried around a photo of the family for three years. Janet got home from work after midnight and found nobody home. She couldn't reach her husband or daughter so she called her brother, who knew nothing, then called hospitals and finally the police. At 6:00 AM, the police found the husbands abandoned SUV on the highway. They found the husband and daughter's blood on the backseat and a bloody pajama top belonging to Andy but it wasn't enough to confirm death but enough to suspect serious injury. That was all the evidence they recovered and the case went cold. For three years, Janet just keeps going back out to the crime scene.
Greg and Langston are processing the crime scene. Greg says he usually works the crime scenes in the desert alone and originally he thought of it was punishment, but now he enjoys the quiet. "I can leave if you'd like," Langston says as he taps Greg on the arm. They notice where the car bottomed out and lost speed, which is why Janet Marsh is still alive. Greg notices a flashlight in the brush, photographs it, then picks it up to show Langston. The flashlight has fresh blood on the grip.
Brass continues to give Nick background on the Marsh's. The original suspect was Bill Cornwell, Janet's brother. Bill and Mike were in business together and there was a lot of debt and a lot of insurance. Nick points out that that is motive. Brass has brought Bill in for questioning but felt Bill was cagey and lying but he had an airtight alibi. The doctor comes out to update Brass on Janet's health. She has a concussion and a fractured ulna in two places but there is no internal bleeding. The doctor says she got lucky but he would like to keep her under observation for a few more hours. Brass excuses himself to go in and talk to Janet.
As Brass walks into Janet's room, he says, "I thought we had a deal, no more moonlight hikes. What happened out there?". Janet asks how the girls are and if their parents were notified. "Come on detective, don't do my job for me," Brass jokes. Nick comes in and tells Janet he has to document her injuries and collect the clothes she was wearing when she was hit. Brass tells Janet they will be releasing her in two hours so he is going to come back and give her a ride home. Janet flinches at the flash from the camera as Nick begins to take photos. He asks how many stitches she got. She tells him he's wasting his time, she is not pressing charges. "It's up to the DA but I'll put that in my report," Nick says. Janet realizes Brass updated Nick on who she is and feels Nick is pitying the 'poor crazy lady who lost her family." Nick puts down his camera and reassures Janet he isn't pitying her. He tells her if he lost his family like she did, he wouldn't stop looking for answers either, no matter what. Nick asks if she can remember anything about the car accident. Janet says Andy was calling her, but when she flashes back, she gets confused and tells Nick sometimes she gets lost in her thoughts. Nick asks if that is what happened the night before but she tells him she was following up on a lead on the case. She didn't tell Brass about the lead because it came from a Psychic. She says Brass thinks it's all hocus-pocus and Nick probably does too. Nick tells her he has learned to keep an open mind, the job will do that to you. Janet shares what the Psychic told her with Nick. The psychic told her that she is sure that Andy is dry but near water. She asks if Nick knows that Vegas was built over underground springs. According to her map, there's a spring right under the desert where they found Mike's jeep (dry yet under water). She begins to cry and says her son was so close, she feels him all around her and that he wants her to find him. "What about your husband and daughter?" Nick asks. "Never. Isn't that terrible?" she cries. "No," Nick says.
Back at the CSI lab, Wendy begins to process the blood on the flashlight from the crime scene. Wendy calls Greg in as he's walking by. She tells him she found old blood and tissue on the lens. Based on the hair fragments, Wendy surmises that someone was whacked on the head.
Greg goes into the conference room where Catherine and Nick are. He tells them that Wendy discovered the blood and hair sample on the flashlight were from Andy Marsh. Nick is confused that Janet was using the same flashlight that was used to kill her son. "If Janet Marsh was in possession of the murder weapon, that makes her the only suspect," Catherine tells them. Nick says he met the woman and it's very difficult to fake grief like that. "Well guilt can masquerade as grief. There's a lot of people who express remorse after committing a homicide. If this were the father that we were talking about, and not the mother, what would we be thinking then?" she says. "Lock him up," Greg replies. Nick says and normally they'd be right but this was no ordinary case.
Brass shows up at Janet Marsh's home with Nick and Greg, who are carrying their gear. Brass tells Janet that they found new evidence that concerns Andy. She thinks they found her son but Nick says they may be able to with her help so she invites them in. Nick asks Janet about her flashlight. She says she found it in the car, but normally keeps it in the kitchen. When Greg questions her, she tells him she has had the flashlight for about 10 years, since they bought their house. She looks to Brass and asks why they are inquiring about the flashlight. "We found Andy's blood on it," Brass tells her. She asks how that can be because they had already searched her house. Brass says that Mike's jeep was processed as the crime scene. Nick asks for permission to process the house and Janet grants it. As Nick and Greg walk into the kitchen, a police scanner goes off. Nick looks at Brass, who steps into the room to look at it. Brass asks when Janet got the police scanner. She tells him she hardly listens to it anymore but Brass points out it's in her kitchen. Janet offers to show Nick where the flashlight was kept but he tells her to just point it out. She informs him she keeps it in the last drawer. Brass tells Janet he'll take her out and buy her lunch.
Back at CSI, Langston and Catherine are going over the evidence from three years ago when they found Mike Marsh's SUV. Langston points out that Janet worked until midnight but didn't call 911 until 4:00am. Catherine says it gave her time to kill her family, dispose of the bodies and dump the bloodied truck. He feels that is a lot for one person to do. "If she did it, she had to have had help," Catherine replies.
As Nick begins to photograph the kitchen drawer, Greg wonders aloud why a stranger wouldn't have taken one of the knives on the counter, why he would have picked a flashlight and then put it back in the drawer. Nick feels the killer probably thought they'd cleaned it off and felt safe putting it back, either way they are looking at a family member or friend.
Catherine and Langston continue review the old evidence and case file. Janet admitted her marriage was rocky but not due to infidelity. Brass had checked Janet's phone records and didn't find anything unusual. Catherine points out that Janet talked to her brother at least twice a day. Langston toys with a theory that Janet did it and called her brother to help cover up, however Bill had an airtight alibi, ruling him out. Brass still felt the brother was involved somehow. Langston says Janet's hallucinations about her son sound like a dissociative episode and that her personalities splintered because of the guilt. He thinks she wanders the highway at night because she has a guilty conscience. "Or she's a cold blooded murderer who is still playing out the diversion to keep suspicion away," Catherine adds.
Greg walks into Emily Marsh's room and takes photographs. He picks up some books on the floor and finds Emily's daughter, so he pulls it out and begins to look at it. Meanwhile, Nick goes into Andy Marsh's room and looks around. He picks up a stack of Zoo Planet magazines and notices Janet never canceled the subscription. Nick feels Janet quit living the night her family disappeared and won't live again until she gets some answers. Greg walks in and reads a paragraph from Emily's diary. Emily wrote that a man gave her a bracelet and loves her, unlike her mother who only cares about Andy, her father is never around and wishes the man would take her away from their someday. Greg wonders if Brass interviewed the boyfriend but Nick says Brass never mentioned one. Greg points out that Emily wrote everyday in the journal for a year and then just stopped five months before her disappearance. The last entry was about the bracelet. The duo toss around ideas that may have caused Emily to stop writing. There is no mention of the man's name in her journal and Nick wonders if it's someone the parents didn't approve of.
Brass and Janet walk along the pier talking. "You think their dead don't you? It's just I've always had this feeling that somehow, Andy got away. What about your daughter, could you ever give up on Ellie?" Janet asks Brass. Brass feels Ellie gave up on him but feels you never stop loving your kids but there is a difference between giving up and letting go. He tells Janet she needs to learn to let go.
Nick steps outside the Marsh home when a man pulls up, then exits the truck. The man identifies himself as Bill Cornwall and says he's Janet's brother. Nick asks for ID and when he looks at Bill's driver's license says, "Your not an organ donor?". Bill knows his sister just got discharged from the hospital and believes she should be resting. "Your sister's fine Mr. Cornwall," Nick says. Bill feels she hasn't been fine in a long time, that's why he stops by daily to pay her bills and make sure she eats. He asks Nick if something is going on with the case but realizes Nick can't talk about it. Nick asks if Bill ever met any of Emily's boyfriends. Bill said if she had any, she never brought them home and comments how Mike was strict and that Emily and Janet had a pretty strong relationship. Nick dismisses Bill. Langston walks out of the house and says he heard Nick could use a hand. Nick says Greg is finishing up with the luminol but so far they have found no evidence of any killing. The two CSIs head out to check the garage. Inside the garage, Langston notes the garage is 'frozen in time." "Just like the rest of the house," Nick adds. They spray luminol around the garage and Langston notices a heavy trace of blood, coming from the ceiling down the wall of the garage. They head to the room above the garage to check it out.
Upstairs, they find the stain and source of the leak, which leads back to Mike Marsh's military foot locker. Nick remembers the psychic telling Janet that Andy was dry but near water, as the two men watch water drip from the ceiling. Langston kneels down to open the foot locker, while Nick shines the light on it for him. Once the foot locker is opened, they discover the remains of Andy Marsh's body with his pajama bottoms on. Andy was wearing pajamas the night he disappeared.
Janet listens in as Brass takes a phone call from Nick. When he hangs up, Brass walks over and tells Janet they found Andy's body at the house. She crumbles into Brass' arms when she realizes Andy was with her all the time.
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"LOST AND FOUND" 
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