Fractured

Fractured is the eighteenth episode in Season Two of CSI: Vegas.

Fractured
Season	2
Number	18
Writer	Liz Castricone
Director	Gina Lamar
Original Airdate	April 13, 2023
Navigation
Previous Episode: The Promise
Next Episode: Dead Memories

Synopsis

The CSI team investigates a bomb that detonated during a masquerade party for wealthy investors at the site of a new casino.

Plot

Victims: Bart Flynn, Clint Farley, Dalton Grey (all deceased), multiple other victims (alive)

On the case: entire team

At a masquerade party, casino mogul Bart Flynn fills his investors in on the future casino that will be built in the spot where they're currently standing. The party is soon disturbed by a group of protestors outside, who are upset that the casino is going to be built on a desert tortoise habitat. Bart's associate, Clint Farley, takes his frustrations out on his site coordinator, Van Marlowe, ordering him to keep the protestors out of the party or face the consequences. Suddenly, an explosion goes off in the tent.

The following morning, Max fills Allie and Folsom in on the situation. Bart was hosting a "pop-up event" at the future site of his casino; in order to retain his gaming license, he had to host an event that included at least eight hours of gambling. Most of the party attendees were well-off, making them big targets. The LVPD Bomb Squad clears the scene with a robot, while Catherine and Max watch on a video monitor. They observe the large crater in the middle of the tent; the lack of soot indicates that the bomb could've been made of smokeless gunpowder. Based on the relatively small size of the impact, Sgt. Wilcox of the bomb squad believes they could be looking at an improvised explosive device (IED). Sgt. Wilcox and his associate clear the scene, allowing the CSIs to further process it.

In the tent, Catherine recognizes two of the victims, Bart and Clint. She tells Max that Bart was a small-time owner during her father's days, while Clint was a hot-tempered contractor. There's a third victim who Catherine doesn't recognize; however, she finds something more interesting—a dismembered foot that doesn't belong to any of the victims. Meanwhile, Max has Allie and Folsom tape off both the blast area and the entire perimeter; the two CSIs race to see who can finish first. Folsom is the winner, but as he walks back towards Allie to gloat, another bomb goes off, sending him flying through the air.

Folsom survives, incurring some minor scrapes and temporarily hearing loss. He refuses help from the rest of the team and insists on being transported to the hospital by himself. However, he soon slips out of the paramedic's care in order to tend to the missed calls on his phone.

Max confronts Sgt. Wilcox, irate that he sent her CSIs out into an active bomb site. He assures her that every protocol was followed, but Max wants him triple-checking everything. The robot will be brought back out to reassess the scene, and Max tells Sgt. Wilcox that he'll be the first one that walks back into the scene—with her by his side. When the dust has settled, a total of four bombs have supposedly gone off. Catherine wants the team to run prints and DNA from the protestors' signs.

Allie, Beau and Det. Chavez are also tasked with processing and questioning the survivors, who have been set up in a triage tent. Casino mogul Ralph Cicero introduces himself to Beau and Det. Chavez; his employee, Shandara Roberts, was working the party and was injured in the blast. Ralph happens to own The Lucky Stakes casino right across the street and was happy to support a competitor, as a new casino would drive more business to the region. He's willing to assist in the investigation by providing any security footage from across the street, and he hands Beau his business card.

Allie speaks with Rhonda Alvarez, who is quickly identified as a protestor based off her casual attire. Rhonda mentions that she and her fellow protestors filed multiple police reports against Clint Farley, who went out of his way to antagonize the group. She denies having anything to do with the bombings, but says that Clint's death is a "blessing". Meanwhile, Haley Flynn learns that her father was killed in the bombings. She laments the fact that she wasn't at the party, as it was tradition for her to blow on the dice while her father dealt craps.

The rest of the team arrives, and Max tasks them with finding every piece of the bomb; rebuilding the bomb will lead to their bomber. With Sgt. Wilcox's approval, the team is allowed to process the site, as no secondary devices were found. The rest of the team processes the tent, while Allie and Beau process the bomb from the adjacent construction site. Inside the tent, Catherine finds a fingernail among the ashes, while Greg uncovers some sort of lock. Outside, Beau curiously examines an iridescent fragment.

It's discovered that while large amounts of smokeless gunpowder were found in the tent bomb, only propane was found at the secondary bombing site. Beau notes that propane tanks are common at construction sites; therefore, the tanks may have been caught in the second blast. This may explain why additional explosions were seen; it's also possible the propane burned off any traces of smokeless gunpowder. Catherine remarks to Max that they didn't find any projectiles at either bomb site; usually, a bomber's goal is to take out as many people as possible. She theorizes that since a poker table was at the epicenter of the blast, the IED may have been hidden underneath it; therefore, it may have taken the brunt of the impact. Penny soon finds the bomb's detonator under some rubble—it's a key fob. Unfortunately, when tested, it comes back negative for fingerprints or DNA.

Back in the lab, every test on the pieces of shrapnel come back positive for propane. Beau finds another iridescent fragment among the shrapnel and swabs it. He soon rushes to Max and informs her that there was no second bomb; every blast after the primary one was an accident. The fragment he swabbed was the only thing that tested positive for smokeless gunpowder. Greg notes that when stainless steel is put under a tremendous amount of heat and pressure, it turns iridescent. This means that the metal was at the center of the explosion and was propelled outward. Beau believes that the shrapnel struck the propane tank, causing it to leak; embers from the explosion combined with the propane to create the blast that Folsom got caught in. Max questions why they haven't uncovered any projectiles and soon realizes that the bomber was trying to actually minimize the body count. This would be why a short-range detonator, such as the key fob, was used. They conclude that the bomber had a specific target in mind—and that they were hiding in the tent until their target was in just the right position.

In autopsy, the third victim is identified as Dalton Grey, a member of Bart's security detail. Dr. Hudson tells Beau and Max that all three victims exhibited trauma consistent with the explosion—the blast wave created a pressure differential that pierced their internal organs and caused massive hemorrhaging. Wood and metal shrapnel is pulled from the victims, but Dr. Hudson can't determine which victim got the worst of it; he only knows that all three victims were facing the bomb when it detonated. The team is a still at a dead end, as they can't determine who the intended target was.

It's determined that the severed foot belongs to Van Marlowe, Clint's site coordinator. When questioned in the hospital, he admits that he's not torn up about Clint's death, as the man treated his employees poorly. He also can't recall where Bart was standing before the bomb went off, as everyone at the party was wearing a mask.

A digital 3D recreation of the crime scene shows exactly where the detonator was found—35 feet from the bomb's epicenter; unfortunately, the key fob used is untraceable. However, Greg believes that they can get DNA from the masks that were discarded after the bomb went off. They're working under the assumption that their bomber was wearing one of those masks.

While struggling to reassemble the poker table from the bomb's epicenter, Allie theorizes to Max that the table was used to house the bomb. The question is why the bomber chose this particular table to put the bomb in and not any of the others in the tent. Beau enters and informs them that wood shrapnel recovered from Bart's body was rattan, which is the material craps sticks are made of. They realize that the shattered table was a craps table and that Bart was dealing craps when the bomb went off. This means the killer knew exactly where Bart was going to be and waited for him to get in position. The team has found the bomb's intended victim.

Catherine and Det. Chavez inform Haley Flynn that her father was the intended target. As the conversation goes on, Catherine notices that Haley is missing a nail. She explains that she lost it while she was helping set up for the party, contradicting her earlier statement that she was never there. Caught in a lie, Haley tries saying that she only showed up briefly. Under the guise of consoling Haley, Catherine snaps a photo of the missing nail. An incensed Haley ends the conversation and threatens to get a lawyer.

Using "simple math," Chris digitally simulates what the blast looked like; he's also mapped out where most partygoers were. He estimates where the bomber was standing, as they had an eyeline to Bart, were close enough to where the detonator was dropped, and were far enough away where they would only incur minor injuries. Haley and Rhonda are still suspects, but Van is eliminated—the detonator and his severed foot were found on opposite sides of the room.

Beau tells Greg that the bomb is missing its end caps, When combined with the lock Greg found earlier, Beau deduces that the bomb was housed in the toke box that was placed under the craps table. All the bomber would have to do is weld the ends shut, turning the box into a pipe bomb. If the theory is correct, whoever had access to the toke box is the bomber.

Beau and Max go to talk to Shandara Roberts, who was the pit boss at the event and was in charge of collecting money. Not surprisingly, her prints were all over the toke box. She admits that she had access to the box, but says that other people did, as well—including Haley, who was the croupier. Max relays Haley's earlier statement about not being present at the party, but Shandara confirms that Haley was there. Both her and Haley were wearing black masks to help differentiate the workers from the partygoers. Shandara says that she saw Haley take off her mask and drop it on the ground before leaving the tent.

It turns out that Haley has a criminal record, as she was arrested for setting a lab on fire because they were testing on animals. Furthermore, she's a major donor to A Home for Tortoises, Rhonda's company. It's starting to look like she and Rhonda were in on this together. Under interrogation, Haley admits that she let Rhonda into the party so she could disrupt it. However, she denies killing her father and swears that she didn't think Rhonda would actually plant a bomb. Haley is arrested, but she continues to maintain her innocence as she's taken away.

There were no traces of smokeless gunpowder found on Haley or Rhonda's hands, so more evidence is needed. Greg finds out that the toke box wasn't part of the casino equipment supplied for the party. According to the slot route operator, each box comes with it's own proprietary non-duplicate key; therefore, whoever has the key may be the guilty party. If they can reverse engineer the lock, the manufacturer may be able to determine where the box was sold.

The recovered lock traces back to Ralph Cicero's casino; furthermore, the business card he handed Beau earlier contained traces of smokeless gunpowder. A flashback shows Ralph hiding in the corner of the tent, waiting until Bart got into position behind the craps table, and pressing the detonator. The surprising power of the blast caused Ralph to drop the detonator and accidentally leave it behind in all of the chaos. Since Ralph doesn't have any registered guns in his name, the question is how he got smokeless gunpowder on his hands.

With his guilt exposed, Ralph angrily admits that he bumped off his competition, as he believes that his casino should be the only one in that remote part of the desert. He used the protestors as patsies, knowing that Haley would never build a casino on her father's land. Haley later admits that nobody wanted her father building that casino; however, he insisted on doing so to increase Haley's inheritance (and inflate his ego). She confirms that she's not going to go through with her father's plans, so Ralph got what he wanted in the end. However, Haley notes that Ralph probably didn't want to die in prison to make his wishes a reality.

Victim: Richie Davis (deceased)

On the case: Joshua Folsom, Det. Serena Chavez

Folsom receives several phone calls from his friend Trey, which he promptly ignores. Trey soon sends a text message, alerting Folsom that the situation concerns his mother. Folsom leaves the bomb site and rushes over to Trey's apartment; however, he quickly learns that the message about his mother was a ruse. Trey has a problem: someone broke into his apartment the night before and he wants Folsom to take a look. Folsom enters and finds a dead body on the living room couch; the victim has overdosed. Trey reiterates that when he arrived home with his girlfriend, the victim, Richie, was just lying there, with no indication of how he got in. Folsom calls 911, much to the disapproval of Trey and the worry of his girlfriend.

Det. Chavez learns that Richie's rap sheet only lists some unpaid parking tickets. Folsom notes that Richie doesn't seem to be the villain that Trey was making him out to be. He theorizes that Richie didn't break into the apartment—he was there to score drugs. However, there's currently no evidence to back that theory up, and Folsom doesn't want to accuse his friend of being a drug dealer.

Folsom goes back to Trey's apartment, where Trey's girlfriend lets him in. With Trey at work and his girlfriend in the shower, Folsom searches the kitchen for drugs, eventually finding some hidden in a cereal box. Folsom pockets a baggie before departing.

A lab test shows that the drugs were amphetamines laced with levamisole, a type of medication. According to the tox report, Richie was allergic to levamisole, which is what actually killed him. Folsom is in denial about Trey, but Max encourages him to look past his loyalty.

Trey calls Folsom and has him come out to a remote location. The police are searching Trey's apartment, and he wants Folsom to intervene. Folsom, however, refuses to do so. Trey soon realizes that Folsom broke their trust by tipping off the police to the drug stash. Folsom tells him that he's going down for drug-induced homicide. An irate Trey brings up the fact that Folsom's own mother doesn't trust him and even warned Trey to not get Folsom involved. When Det. Chavez pulls up, Trey realizes that she's there to arrest him thanks to Folsom. He comes face to face with Folsom before being handcuffed. As he's hauled away, Trey yells out to Folsom that they were brothers. Folsom ignores him and walks away.

Cast

Main Cast

• Paula Newsome as Maxine Roby
• Matt Lauria as Joshua Folsom
• Mandeep Dhillon as Allie Rajan
• Ariana Guerra as Det. Serena Chavez
• Jay Lee as Chris Park
• Lex Medlin as Beau Finado
• Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows

Guest Cast

• Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders
• Daniel de Tomasso as Trey
• Derek Webster as Dr. Milton Hudson
• Randy Oglesby as Ralph Cicero
• Sarah Gilman as Penny Gill
• Jessi Case as Haley Flynn
• Rosslyn Luke as Stacey
• Audi Resendez as Shandara Roberts
• Bryan Marcos as Van Marlowe
• Sol Romo as Rhonda Alvarez
• Rick Gifford as Sergeant Wilcox

Music

• Mambo by Nikki Vianna
• In A Spiral by Phantogram
• Swinging Doors by Merle Haggard & The Strangers

Notes

• Folsom's friend Trey appeared in two episodes earlier in the season, having been enlisted to boost a car pertaining to the disappearance of Grace Huang.

See Also

• Category:Images from Fractured