( techno music plays )
Everybody back.
The girls have arrived.
MAN: DJ Scorpious here, y'all,
liquid mixing it till the sun goes tall.
Hey, I got to get back to the bachelorette party.
What about you and me? What are you talking about?
When we get the bride-to- be sufficiently wasted,
I'm going to come back for you.
You promise? I promise.
DJ SCORPIOUS: G's up, ho's down.
You ain't quakin' and shakin' the bacon,
then you ain't even playin'.
Yo, y'all, let's kick it trance style
with a new test press from my boys from My-Mo--
D-Day Bomb Squad.
( crowd whooping )
This place doesn't have sprinklers.
You're right. Hit the alarm.
You, hit the alarm!
( alarm blaring )
Let's go. Everybody out!
Everybody stay calm!
There's an exit over here.
( screaming and yelling )
This is Eric Delko, CSI.
There's a major structure fire at Club Descent--
Northwest 7th and Main.
Hey!
It's chained! Move!
WOMAN: Oh, my God!
I'm locked in!
( screaming and yelling )
Connie?! Connie!
Hey, have you got any more of those?
No. I don't think it's going to be enough!
Get the hell out of here!
Connie?
Connie?! Connie, don't go that way!
Follow me!
The front door is packed!
It's bottlenecked up there.
There's too many people up front.
Delko, that door over there is open!
Come on over here!
( yelling )
Connie! Connie!
Oh, my God-- Mandy, she's still inside!
I got to go back in.
( screaming and yelling )
Everybody stop!
There's an open door over here!
Come this way!
Are you okay?!
Eric, where's Speed?
He's around back!
He's helping people out!
Fire Rescue's on their way!
Take my hand! I got you!
Connie! Take my hand!
Connie! Connie, wake up.
Come on, man, we got to get these people out of here!
CAINE: Everybody get away from the building!
Get away from the building!
It's about to collapse!
The building is about to collapse!
Let's go!
( screaming and yelling )
( coughing ) Keep breathing.
Deep breaths, ma'am, deep breaths.
Get a blanket on her.
Get a blanket.
( coughing and gagging )
Hold these people back!
( loud rumbling )
It went down so fast.
I didn't see a thing.
We'll figure it out, Speed.
We will find out what happened,
and this building will be our witness.
* Yeah!
Captioning sponsored by CBS
and CSI PRODUCTIONS
* We don't get fooled again
* Don't get fooled again
* No, no!
Make sure any evidence
that's tied to a particular body
stays with that body.
P.D. needs a list of the victims and the missing.
Eric, I can't feel anything.
That's good, right?
I-It's okay, Connie.
You're going to be all right.
Just hang in there, okay?
How is she?
I don't think she's going to make it.
The DJ's deck was here, and, uh...
that's the remains of the dance floor.
Ceiling went up in minutes.
Any sign of accelerant?
Canines haven't alerted. Nothing.
That's what I was talking about over there.
Chained door.
So, if we have two chained exit doors,
did we miss anything?
You know me better than that, Horatio.
Permit was filed five months ago when it opened.
Exits were free and clear.
There was a compliance issue.
A compliance?
A month back-- soundproofing.
Soundproofing.
Okay, Speed, we need to take a look at that soundproofing.
Where's the owner?
He's outside with Bernstein.
Quentin Haid.
I'll call you right back.
DJ Scorpious.
There's a lot of people wanting to talk to you.
Yeah, well, I'm right here.
You want to tell me what happened?
You want to tell me why you frontin' on me?
I'm not frontin' you, all right?
I'm with Miami P.D.-- the crime lab.
You got out pretty quick.
There's not a speck of soot on you.
Yeah, well, I saw the flames, and I bounced, dog.
Yeah, well, who gave you permission
to use the pyrotechnics?
I use them every weekend.
They just like sparklers.
Just like Fourth of July.
Nothing ever goes wrong.
All it takes is one.
Excuse me, are you the owner?
Yeah, that's me.
You ever hear of a sprinkler system?
Didn't need them.
The club was grandfathered in-- built pre-code.
Yeah, and I bet you
those chained exit doors were grandfathered in too, huh?
What'd you expect me to do?
People were sneaking in.
And dying to get out.
15 dead, 58 in the hospital.
Were you trying to get out of your lease?
What are you implying?
I'm not implying anything.
The average life span of a club is six months.
You were due, my friend.
Now, do you have an office we can talk in?
Inside.
Show me.
You have a flash burn
on your face, Mr. Haid,
which indicates you've been in the presence of an accelerant.
Are you a base-head?
I had an accident a couple days ago.
Where's your coke?
I got rid of it.
( chuckling ): It's a bad habit.
Yes, and stupid.
Did it start the fire?
Why would I torch my own club?
This is my life.
I got all my money here.
I don't believe it.
Somebody took my money!
It's not your day, is it?
I had $15,000.
Who else had the combination?
Just one of my bartenders-- Johnny Brosnan.
Who happens to be missing, right?
If you were robbed, that safe is evidence.
Hang on. Yeah?
What's up?
I'm, uh, I'm all right.
I'm here.
You need to take the day?
Oh, no. I need to work.
I need to be here.
Okay. I need that safe printed.
Okay. Let's have Bernstein
do some background work on the employees.
Theft and fire. Start with the owner.
Okay. Good.
Hang in there.
( phone ringing )
Horatio.
TRIPP: I got a D.B.
needs your attention.
Yeah, listen, I'm in the middle of something here.
Well, I've got orders to grab you, pull you off.
Red ball, high-profile.
You've been, uh... requested.
Political or judicial?
Both.
Okay.
Your Honor,
why don't you tell me what happened.
The woman in the bathroom.
Her name's Jill Susan.
She's a prostitute.
Is your wife out of town?
My wife died last year.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I don't have time to wine and dine women.
Jill comes once a week,
same time.
Spends the night.
She got here right before 11:30.
Usually by taxi, but tonight she drove herself.
Car's in the driveway.
It's a BMW.
I'll run the registration.
Okay.
She seemed a little disoriented.
Agitated.
She asked if she could grab a shower.
A few minutes later, I heard a loud noise.
I ran in.
She'd fallen.
I turned off the water,
called you guys.
Can you help me?
You know how this looks.
I do.
Let's see if Jill's body confirms your story.
They got you too, huh?
Busy night.
No semen, no defense wounds.
She does have what appears to be
a fracture of the frontal skull.
Mmm.
A lot of blood over here on this faucet.
And that looks like
bloody mucus, doesn't it?
( coughing )
Check this out.
Looks like soot.
You get this from smoke inhalation.
And I think I know where it came from.
It's on her clothes, too.
Club Descent.
This lady was at the club.
Smoke inhalation's like a time-release bomb.
You walk away and think you're okay.
( coughing )
Soon, you're not walking at all.
( coughing )
So, our body count is up to 16.
Registered owner of the BMW is Quentin Haid.
Let's impound that.
All roads lead back to this club owner, don't they?
It's weird, Alexx.
I barely even knew her, you know,
but I feel like I had to pay my respects.
Don't apologize to anyone, honey...
especially me.
What was the cause of death?
You sure you...?
A combination of injuries led to her death.
People don't realize there are so many ways you can die in a fire,
not always from flames.
Carbon monoxide poisoning?
No. She breathed in superheated air.
( gasping )
Spasm of the epiglottis.
Scorched her airways.
She was a strong girl, Eric--
made it to the front door--
but human nature got the best of her.
Fight or flight? ( chuckles wryly )
These people did both at the same time.
( coughing and screaming )
Trampled her.
She's got
three fractured ribs, ruptured spleen.
You didn't even see it coming, did you, sugar?
( sighs )
I never even got her last name.
She was one of the few
whose looks were preserved enough
to match face to I.D.
Wilkes.
Connie Wilkes.
Thanks, Alexx.
Jill Susan was a cocktail waitress.
Yeah, we know. We checked out her pay stubs.
Four thou a week for three nights work?
You know what we call that?
Yeah, a very good waitress.
A prostitute.
We got ahold of your employee list--
two bartenders... one bouncer...
33 cocktail waitresses?!
You were running girls out of your club, weren't you?
Nope.
Yup.
Oh, yes, you were.
You were running girls,
and in fact, even after this girl
survived the fire, you had her go and turn a trick.
That's who you are.
I didn't force her.
No,
but you did lend her your car.
I let her borrow it, but now I want it back.
When can I get it?
It's been impounded.
You know, the thing I find amazing about you
is that you have not inquired
about her memorial service,
and yet you want to know
where your car is.
That's pretty salt of the earth.
You know what? You can go.
Go.
He can go?
Yeah, let's let him go.
Call the impound lot and tell them
not to let him on the premises...
for 24 hours.
The old squeeze play, huh?
Yeah.
Hey, Danny, you got my message?
Yeah.
You all right, bro?
Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right. You?
Yeah, I'm all right.
So, you got to... you got to print me?
Yeah. Money was stolen from your boss's safe,
so it's just, uh, standard procedure.
It's not a problem.
You're near the hospital.
I was heading there anyway.
I heard about that blood drive, man, for the victims.
Yeah.
Danny, uh, you're the bouncer over there.
Let me ask you.
Did you know about the chained exit doors?
Look...
I didn't like Quentin, but he did hire me, so...
He already admitted to my boss
that he chained the doors to keep out sneak-ins.
Yeah, I probably should have said something,
but he always told me he hired me for my size,
not my opinion.
Well, uh, what is your opinion?
Quentin didn't care about the club.
Just the women and the money.
You know, sometimes when he wasn't around,
I'd dump the place.
You'd dump it?
Yeah... to keep it under max occupancy.
Make everyone go out,
then recount them when they come back in.
All right, man.
We're, uh... we're all done.
Take care.
Yeah. You, too.
Is the fire talking yet?
SPEEDLE: A little.
We can't reconstruct anything until the floor is clean.
There is a direct heat source from the stage
to the ceiling overhang.
The pattern indicates that it was
from the pyrotechnics.
Well, the ceiling's 12 feet from the floor.
The curtains ignited high,
and they burned, dropped down.
( cheering )
There's remnants on the floor.
I'll collect the fireworks and the curtain remnants,
and H wants that soundproofing stuff.
Okay.
Hey, look at this.
What?
I guess the DJ recorded his shows.
The recorder's damaged, but maybe the tape's okay.
Maybe that'll help us out.
You process the tape and the soundproofing,
and I'll take care of the rest, all right?
Deal.
( whirring )
Hey.
Hey, check this out.
So I took the audio tape of DJ Scorpious,
I restored it, I transferred it to digital,
and then, I brought it up on the computer. Listen.
SCORPIOUS: Yo, y'all, let's kick it trance style
with a new test press from my boys from My-Mo,
D-Day Bomb Squad.
( music playing, laughter, fountains shoot off )
( screaming and scuffling on the mic )
Okay can you, uh, isolate the microphone track
and take away the music?
Great minds. Already done.
( beep )
Okay, this is what
the mike picked up.
Now tell me if you hear what I hear.
SCORPIUS: Yo, y'all, let's kick it trance style
with a new test press from my boys from My-Mo,
D-Day Bomb Squad.
( pyrotechnics whooshing )
Amplify that last part.
Play it again.
( amplified whooshing )
SPEEDLE: Those are accelerant vapors being ignited.
And the scent dogs didn't pick it up.
So it means it was something they weren't trained for.
It wasn't gasoline, paint thinner...
any of the usual suspects.
( clearing throat): Ethanol...
oak tannins,
saccharum officinarum.
It's sugar cane.
There's one type of alcohol aged in oak barrels,
distilled from sugar cane-- rum.
Well, imagine that, alcohol in a club.
The curtain behind the DJ was doused with the stuff.
Proximity, opportunity.
Why are you guys trying to grit me?
I'm telling you right now, straight up,
I had nothing to do with this.
SPEEDLE: All right, first of all,
let's go ahead and drop that street thing, okay,
because we know that you're from Aspen.
Now there was rum poured on the curtain
directly behind you.
( music plays )
You were the first one out of the club, Mason.
It just doesn't look good.
Don't you think I know
people paid money to see me spin,
and now they're dead?
I've got to sit with that
for the rest of my life.
I did not pour the rum.
Well, you did something.
Yeah.
I kicked over one of the fountains.
After it went off, I tried to stop the fire,
but it did not work.
It made it worse, so I bolted.
What kind of pyro do you use?
Standard, eight by ten.
Can you clarify?
It, uh, burns for eight seconds, and it shoots ten feet high.
Nine-volt triggers it.
Ignites black powder
and titanium particles.
It practically burns cold, man.
I mean, the tip of a match is hotter.
You can put your hand right in it.
Yeah, but a spark's a spark,
and you seem to know all about it.
Yeah, sparks are show business.
I'm in show business.
Fire's a no-go.
I just play.
SPEEDLE: Okay, well,
do us a favor,
and play close to the sandbox, okay?
Did you sign off on the soundproofing?
Not specifically.
Okay, Ronnie, we are not in a court of law yet.
Yes or no?
On the reinspect last month,
we found egg crate material that wasn't flame-resistant. Mm-hmm.
Told him he had two weeks to replace it.
Went back, follow it up. Receipts checked out.
He upgraded.
Did you retest?
It's like a fix-it ticket.
Show of proof, Gentleman's Agreement.
Our guy is no gentleman.
Check out this burn damage.
Yeah.
Char's too deep.
Something's not right.
Good news.
My people will be able
to figure out why.
If I somehow had any part in this...
Let's not go there till we hear back
from Trace, all right?
Yeah. Okay.
With the room clean,
we can finally make some headway.
Check out this burn pattern on the stage floor.
I guess the DJ was telling the truth
about that part of the story.
He kicked one of the fountains over.
Well, he said the sparklers shot up ten feet.
Ceiling's 12, so that's a little bit of give.
So the pyros kicked in,
sprayed sparks towards the ceiling
onto the curtains,
and then ignited the vapors from the rum.
( cheering )
Hey, Calleigh.
Look at that.
That's a pour pattern.
Somebody poured rum on these curtains...
from here...
...to there.
This room hasn't been cleared.
You guys get anything?
Check that out.
End table burned from below.
That's interesting.
Fire originated at the DJ's station,
climbed up and outward across the ceiling,
maintaining a high burn, but in here...
in here the burn is low.
High burn in there, low burn in here.
Linked by a common accelerant.
You guys smell that?
It's burnt flesh. It's everywhere.
Yeah, but it's more pronounced in here, isn't it?
Excuse me...
A lot of drop down right in this area.
Speed, you want to help me with this?
Whoa.
This could be the missing bartender.
Maybe he got caught
in here during the fire.
Maybe he started it,
and got caught in the middle of it.
No, there's an awful lot of blood for a burn victim.
Yes, it certainly is a lot of blood.
Someone could have started this fire to cover a murder.
Victim was stabbed.
He's got multiple incised wounds,
surrounded by contusions.
That, and the inconsistent pattern, tell me
they weren't from a knife blade.
A broken bottle?
Could be.
Let's see.
Here you go.
Colored glass.
Amber.
A shard may have punctured his liver.
Stabbers usually cut themselves in the act.
Okay, so that means we're going to have to sift
through every piece of debris that's been through this area.
It's separated by rooms outside.
I'll go.
No soot in his nose or mouth.
He stopped breathing before the fire broke out.
Guess he didn't start it.
Well, we can't assume that yet, but what we can say is
every time we eliminate a suspect,
another one pops up. ( cell phone beeping )
Hang on. Yeah?
TRIPP: Squeeze play's paying off.
The impound lot's getting a lot of grief
from our buddy, Quentin Haid.
How many times has he been there?
Going on four.
( phone snaps shut )
How you doing?
Real good, thanks.
Car's ready.
Where is it?
Inside.
Okay. Give us a minute, will you?
You betcha. Thanks a lot.
CAINE: Ready?
Okay, Pete has released your car.
You got to sign.
Right there.
It's one garage to the back. It's all yours.
CAINE: They say...
that patience is a virtue.
And it looks like
the cash survived the fire, huh?
You got a warrant?
Don't need one if it's in plain sight.
And I see over $30,000 there.
Not 15, like you said, so what's up?
I thought the bitch might have stolen it out of my safe.
And you know what? I was right.
Here's the problem with that scenario:
we found over 12 sets of prints on that safe-- all you.
Ha. My own prints on my own safe? Big deal.
You do that every night, don't you?
Squirrel away a chunk so it doesn't show up on the books.
Just like you did last night before you torched the place.
Never happened.
Why don't you let me decide that?
In the meantime, I want you to hear me.
If I find out you did this,
if you hired somebody to do this,
if you stood there and watched while it happened,
I will get you.
So, right now, I will settle for pandering,
but I want you to think about Jill
while you're being booked.
Hands behind your back.
( handcuffs jingling )
( alarm ringing )
( screaming )
( clamoring )
( pounding on door )
MAN: Let me out of here!
Open the door!
All right, right behind you guys.
WOODS: Body's clear. Room's all yours.
Tim?
What?
You okay?
Look at this.
So it doesn't close.
It's weighted.
Should close by itself, but it doesn't.
And it didn't the night of the fire.
( alarm ringing, screaming )
I was able to get out because it was open.
Light shined through.
I remember trying to get people out of this exit,
but it was too close to the flames.
What are you getting at?
Somebody left the club in a hurry,
right before the fire and forgot to shut the door.
And maybe, just after he stabbed our bartender.
Yeah, the only problem is
any blood would be too degraded by the fire.
But if you were the first one out once the fire started,
you probably touched the blood when it was still wet.
I didn't have any blood on my hands.
Wait a minute...
I remember thinking that this was hot.
I used my sleeve.
You still have that shirt?
Well, the blood sample from Tim's shirt did have DNA,
but no hit in CODIS and nothing to match it to.
Hey. Finished running background
on the club employees.
Check this out.
Danny Maxwell, our bouncer.
No criminal history, no pyro past,
but get this-- he's a three-time loser.
Applied three times
over the last year to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
Rejected all three times.
Whoa, back up, okay?
I saw this guy run in from the front
and try to put out the fire.
I mean, he pulled bodies with me.
Well, he does know the layout of the club
and all about the doors.
And that blame would go to the owner or the DJ.
He started the fire so he could pull people out
because it was his dream to be a hero, right?
And in the middle of it, he stabbed his witness:
the bartender.
I'll get a warrant for his DNA, and I'll work him.
Hang on to that, Speed. Eric?
Eric, you have the relationship with this guy.
You can do it.
Yeah. All right.
Um, what about the warrant?
He said he was going to give blood today.
Okay, but remember--
we are dealing with a firestarter,
and they can be very, I repeat, very unpredictable, all right?
Oh, hell, Mr. CSI.
I must be in big trouble now.
How's it going, Danny?
Well, I had to wait in line half the day.
You here to give?
No, no, I got to... I got to get myself psyched up.
I, uh, never donated blood before.
I think I get enough on the job.
Okay, you can sit up now.
Easy.
Apply light pressure on the arm.
See you again in eight weeks?
I'll be here.
So how's the investigation going?
Looking like an accident.
Possibly negligence.
Your boss was into some pretty shifty stuff.
So we're bringing him up on a few charges.
So that's why you're here.
We wanted to see if we could count on you
to testify as to what you saw at the club.
Definitely.
That's great.
Well, uh, Danny, would you mind going down to CSI,
giving my boss a formal statement?
Whatever you need, man.
Appreciate it. I think I'm going to stay
and donate some blood, do my part.
That's great.
You can save three lives with one donation.
I'll see you there.
How's it going?
Well, the piece of soundproofing you gave me
was indeed flame- resistant at one time.
At one time, but...
But we've recovered some trace
and the soundproofing was covered with it.
The Fire Marshall did say there was a compliance issue
and that he ordered the owner to get the flame-resistant foam.
The receipt backs that up.
Well, Mr. Compliance did in fact get the safe stuff originally,
but he altered it with things like
acetone, propane, other ingredients,
if you get my drift.
I get your drift.
I'd love to be there when you tell him.
His insurance guy's going to love it even more.
He's not in custody?
His attorney popped him out this morning,
and the first call he made was about his policy.
Toni.
What do you have for me?
News you can use.
Blood from the shirt Tim gave me
matches the sample you got from the blood bank.
Okay, that's good. Thanks.
H. Mm-hmm?
All signs point to Danny Maxwell.
You want to run him over the coals?
It's your interrogation, Eric.
But, uh...
You've gained his trust.
Now, use it on him.
Kill someone? I saved lives.
Eric, you were there. You saw me.
I-I should be getting a medal, not the third degree.
SPEEDLE: That's an ironic choice of words.
Look, Danny, prove us wrong.
Show us the palms of your hands.
He's not going to do that,
'cause he's hiding a cut
from stabbing the one witness to his crime.
DELKO: Look, it's okay.
Really, it doesn't matter.
We found your blood on the back exit door.
So?
So that puts you back there before the fire,
and after you stabbed the bartender.
But how would you even be able to match my...?
I see.
Guess you didn't donate blood after all.
You took it.
Your trash; my evidence,
along with a rejected application
to Miami-Dade Fire.
"Nothing in this applicant's profile stands out sufficiently
to recommend him for employment," etcetera, etcetera.
You started the fire to be a hero
so you could finally get into the Department?
SPEEDLE: I'm really sorry
that didn't work out for you, pal.
You doused those curtains...
and then you timed it just right
so that when the pyro sparked, it would light your fire.
Alcohol isn't typically used as an accelerant
because the vapors aren't as strong
as those of a heavy hydrocarbon
like gasoline.
You knew that.
You knew the dogs wouldn't pick up on the scent, also.
Somebody else did.
Danny?
What the hell are you doing?
( bottle breaking )
( yelling and grunting )
( groans )
D.J.: Yo, y'all, let's kick it trance style
with a new test press from my boys from My-Mo--
D.J. Bomb Squad!
You thought it was just going to be a nice little fire
and you could race on outside
and come back in and put it out.
( patrons screaming )
You just don't... understand.
I was born... to be a fireman...
like my... like my dad, like my grandfather.
I was born to help people.
Yeah, well, a real firefighter
would've known that there are a hundred variables
that can turn a controlled fire into a chain of disaster,
starting with the flammable stage curtain.
SPEEDLE: Yeah, and the fact that the D.J. happened
to kick one sparkler into your accelerant
and light the place up like a tinder box.
DELKO: And the club owner chained the exits.
I just...
needed to stand out.
Well, I guess you stand out now.
Hi.
Hey.
I'd like to donate blood in honor of Connie Wilkes.
Sure.
Would you like a notification card
to be sent to her family?
No, no, that's okay. It's just for me.
Okay.
HAID: Ha.
What did I do now, park in the red zone?
( chuckling ): We've been able to prove
that the fire was set intentionally.
Your bouncer, Danny Maxwell, will be held responsible.
Ah, so you were wrong about me.
Not entirely.
This is a piece of soundproofing
that you spray painted to pretty up your club,
in defiance of the Fire Marshall
and defrauding your insurance company, right?
If any false information were filed intentionally,
or alterations made to the property
without consent...
the policy will be negated.
So you will never ever get insurance again,
and you will never open another club.
And even if you manage
to stay out of jail, which we doubt,
you'll spend the next ten to 20 years in and out of court.
Last count, 67 plaintiffs
filed a wrongful death civil suit against you.
And I know at least one judge
that will love to be there for that.
Horatio.
Hey, Ronnie.
You okay?
What's the matter?
I'm going to resign.
Wanted you to be the first to know.
Ronnie...
you could not have prevented what happened in there.
All those souls, Horatio...
I understand that.
But we need more good men, not less.
And now more than ever. You know that.
About the guilt?
Ronnie...
Ronnie, the guilt keeps us sharp.
It makes us better.
Now will you at least think about this?
Thanks, Horatio.
Captioning sponsored by CBS
and CSI PRODUCTIONS
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org