The Twin Paradox


The Twin Paradox

Season	15
Number	6
Writer	Christopher Barbour
Director	Phil Conserva
Original Airdate	November 16, 2014
Navigation
Previous Episode: Girls Gone Wilder
Next Episode: Road to Recovery

The Twin Paradox is the sixth episode in season fifteen of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis

Frustration mounts for the CSI team as another victim surfaces and all evidence points to the Gig Harbor Killer.

Plot

Victim: Pamela Kramer (deceased)

On the case: entire team

Finn has traveled back up to Seattle to meet with private investigator Daniel Shaw. There's a new lead in the Gig Harbor Killer case, but Finn questions why there hasn't been a new victim in six weeks. The body of Daniel's partner, Keri Torres, is still missing, and Finn tries to put Daniel at ease by saying that Keri doesn't fit the profile of the killer's other victims.

Back in Vegas, a call comes into 911. The caller, who is using a digitally altered voice, is reporting a murder, and a woman's screams can be heard in the background. Greg is able to ping the cell tower and get the killer's location. However, when Nick and Sara arrive at the scene, they find that the screams are coming from a tape player. The scene is fully processed, and a fisherman's gaff is on the ground, just like at the other scenes.

Once again, there's no body at the scene; however, the amount of blood indicates that someone was killed there. The blood is dried and flaky, meaning that the murder could've happened weeks ago. This time, there are cameras set up photographing the scene; Nick sees that the rolls of film in them are fully exposed. Sara finds a necklace from a college sorority, which means the victim is likely a college student, just like the other victims. When the CSIs play the digital recorder found on the ground, the killer's notes lead them to an area that has been strung up; however, there's no blood present. Luminol reveals that the killer left behind a message: "PEOPLE LIE. FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE."

Sara listens to more of the killer's audio recording, which is now focusing on criminal profiling. When she analyzes the recording made of the murder, she's able to hear two distinctive sets of footprints. If the killer is Paul Winthrop, he's found another partner. Meanwhile, Paul stops by Russell's office and requests his services as a "friend of the court." His brother, Jared Briscoe, is getting a new day in court soon, and he's giving Russell the chance to "free himself" and find the real killer. Paul also hints that more dead women will be found until justice is served. Russell declines the offer, calling Paul a sociopath.

In Seattle, Jared's birth certificate is finally located; however, there's no mention of there being a twin. Finn and Daniel talk to Cynthia Hughes, Jared's adoptive mother. The woman doesn't know who Jared's birth mother is, nor did she know he was a twin. She feels responsible for Jared's actions, explaining that her violent husband would fly into rages and take it out on the boy. Cynthia does mention that Jared was dropped at her doorstep by a friend who worked at St. Gabriella's, a convent where girls in trouble often went.

When Finn and Daniel go to the convent, they are provided with records that identify Jared's mother as a Nancy Harper. Paul is also listed in the records, but a nun shows Finn and Daniel where he was buried - Paul apparently died in a fire as an infant and never left the grounds of the convent. Finn calls Russell with this information and also relays another finding: one year before the Gig Harbor killings began, someone else visited the convent asking about the brothers. The visitor was from San Diego, the same place Jared is from. When the grave is exhumed and the coffin opened, Finn and Daniel find a doll inside. Finn separates the loosely-fitting head from the body and finds a photo of a young blonde woman inside. A blonde hair is found with the doll, and DNA proves that it belongs to Jared and Paul's birth mother. Paul was definitely at the convent at some point searching for his brother.

Back at the Vegas lab, Nick isolates the different colors of string used at the scene, but he's unable to find anything distinctive from them. When he reads the message the killer left behind, he shifts his analysis. He tells Sara that the presence of cameras is one difference from previous crime scenes. Noting that the last message was left in a bird's-eye view of the last crime scene, he does the same thing with the current one. When he connects lines to all of the cameras, he finds that they form the constellation Virgo. The killer's recording mentioned that the victims were chosen because they were "seemingly innocent"; however, they all worked in the sex trade. Nick and Sara believe that the killer is telling them why he's killed - he has a Madonna-Whore complex, where he sexually desires a woman who's been degraded. Such a complex usually develops because of a relationship with one's mother.

Greg and Morgan process the photos taken by the cameras at the crime scene, finding that some of them are photos of the victim. Morgan runs facial recognition against the college database, and the victim is identified as Pamela Kramer, a student at WLVU. DNA from two contributors was found at the scene: Pamela Kramer and Keri Torres. It comes as no surprise since Keri has been missing for a while, but Morgan receives a message telling her that Keri was found alive and brought to the hospital.

Morgan and Russell observe Keri in the hospital, seeing that she has ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. There's also an incision mark on her abdomen where her killer opened her up. However, unlike the other victims, Keri fought off her attacker and was able to get away. Her tox report states that she was drugged with a combination of opiates and hallucinogens, and she was clearly bound and tortured. There's still some questions as to why the killer didn't finish the job.

As Morgan collects evidence from Keri's body, Keri wakes up screaming. She's able to recall that she was tied up in a room that had strings hanging from the ceiling; however, they weren't like the trajectory strings found at the crime scenes. Keri describes them as fishing lures hung out to dry. She also believed she was surrounded by water, but realized a few days later that it was actually blue-tinted glass. Using a shard of glass from the ground, she cut herself free and crawled through a vent to her eventual freedom. When asked about meeting someone at a coffee shop, Keri remembers sitting down with Mark Turner, a lawyer who works for Paul. However, when shown a photo of Mark, she says that he wasn't the man she met. Instead, she confirms that the man across the table from her was Paul.

Russell confronts Paul and tells him that he's a murderer. Paul admits to meeting Keri at the coffee shop and tells Russell that the police didn't ask him the right questions. He informs Russell that Keri reached out to his attorney with evidence that Jared was innocent, framed by someone inside the Seattle Police Department. She was going to provide even more information when they had their next meeting, but she never showed. Russell tells the smug lawyer that they found his grave and identified his birth mother, adding that Keri has also been found alive.

Greg processes blurry photos the killer accidentally took. They all appear to be of the same landmark, and he's able to overlap the photos to form a more vivid composite. When Hodges informs him that the glass pulled from Keri's foot contains tin oxide with hamachi indigo dye (used in Japanese Blue Bark textured glass), Greg comes to a realization. The gate in the composite picture is the gate one would walk through to access The Mizu Hotel. Now abandoned, the hotel was famous for its blue glass ceiling and wall tiles meant to resemble the ocean. The hotel became abandoned because of its poor location, but it's the perfect place for a serial killer's lair.

Finn and Greg check out the abandoned hotel and eventually find the killer's workshop, complete with trajectory strings and phony evidence markers. They're soon alerted to a noise and find another young woman hidden in a closet. She tells the CSIs that there are other girls hidden on the premises, and Finn goes to check it out. Greg assures her that he's with the police and that she's safe, but she understandably has trust issues. When Greg turns his back, the woman hits him in the head with a crowbar. The woman steals Greg's gun and points it at him, still unsure that he's a cop. Finn arrives, aims her gun at the woman, and orders her to drop her gun. When the woman fails to comply, Finn shoots her twice and kills her. Later, back at the police station, Finn is forced to turn in her gun while Internal Affairs investigates the shooting.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins finds scar tissue in the victim's pelvic area consistent with gender reassignment surgery - "she" used to be a "he." Russell informs Finn that she has apparently taken down the Gig Harbor Killer, as the unknown male DNA recovered from the bodies in the desert is a match to the woman she just shot. Finn, however, is pessimistic, believing that this is still just part of the killer's game. The unknown male DNA was planted on the bodies, and Finn believes the woman is just another victim who had been kidnapped, drugged, and reduced to a paranoid state. In fact, the killer probably knew how the woman would react upon being found. The evidence can't be trusted anymore; if that's the case, it's going to be hard to stop this guy.

Finn believes Keri will eventually remember who was holding her captive, as she used to be a very observant cop. In the hospital, Daniel stops by to visit his partner; however, Keri reacts in horror. A nurse turns Daniel away, but Finn has seen the whole interaction.

Russell meets with FBI Agent Avery Ryan in the hopes that she can provide a more in-depth criminal profile of Paul. She believes Paul's behavior suggests that he's incapable of working alone and that he needs a dominant-submissive partnership in order to kill. This would be why he sought out his brother, manipulated him, and let him take the fall for the murders. Avery suggests that Paul's new partner is more like a temp; however, finding the partner may be the key to solving the case. She also tells Russell that in order to put the killer behind bars, he's going to have to use his daughter to lure him. If he's unable to put Maya in harm's way, Avery believes he needs to take himself off the case and out of the equation.

Meanwhile, a car pulls into a parking lot and Paul is seen sitting the backseat. He tells his partner to get in, and it's revealed that Daniel Shaw is the one working with Paul.

Cast

Main Cast

Guest Cast

Larry Mitchell as Officer Mitchell
Mark Valley as Daniel Shaw
Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Jared Briscoe/Paul Winthrop
Floriana Lima as Keri Torres
Yvette Freeman as Cynthia Hughes
Patricia Arquette as Avery Ryan
Andrea Bogart as Blonde Woman
Tina Huang as I.A. Detective Karen Park
Anadel Baughn as Dr. Lisa Webb
Colleen Flynn as Sister Alice
Rob Nagle as Mark Turner

Music

Lifespan by Vaults

Notes

When entering the Mizu Hotel, a poster for Knuckles and Nash is seen on the floor, possibly making a reference to the season 10 episode Take My Life, Please!, where Nash is the murder victim.

< Girls Gone Wilder	CSI:Las Vegas Season 15	Road to Recovery >
The CSI Effect • Buzz Kill • Bad Blood • The Book of Shadows • Girls Gone Wilder • The Twin Paradox • Road to Recovery • Rubbery Homicide • Let's Make A Deal • Dead Rails • Angle of Attack • Dead Woods • The Greater Good • Merchants of Menace • Hero to Zero • The Last Ride • Under My Skin • The End Game • Immortality