|
 Natalie begins
preparing Marisol for the brain biopsy. Suddenly, one of the
monitors hooked up to another girl begins beeping rapidly. Nurse: She's coding. Get the crash cart. Natalie rushes over: She's in V-fib. One cc of epinephrine and get me the paddles. A nurse hands her the paddles and she applies them: Clear. Nurse: Clear.  Stephen runs into the room: What happened? Natalie: We're losing her. Stephen: Give me the paddles. Clear. Nurse: Clear. Natalie: No rhythm. Connor: One more time. Everybody get ready. Clear. The camera pulls away as he continues to apply the paddles.   Stephen and Natalie enter the waiting room and tell Tamra's parents that their daughter is dead.Natalie walks over to Sylvia Townsend: We won't need to perform the biopsy on Marisol. Tamra's autopsy will tell us what we need to know. Natalie is performing the test on Tamra's brain tissue.  Stephen: Herpes encephalitis...Is it glowing green?Natalie: No. Nothing. Stephen: Damn it! What are we missing? These girls have herpes, but the virus isn't in the brain. If their comas aren't caused by herpes encephalitis, then what is it? Their parents are so in the dark about their sexual activties, what else are they in the dark about? Natalie: If you're thinking drugs, tox screen already came back negative. I expanded it to include gas huffing, nitrous - all the way down the line. Eva and Miles enter the room. Miles: What about chemicals?  Stephen: What kind? Miles: Poison. We learned about a girl named Charlotte Raymond, who has a lifelong grudge against the victims. Natalie: It's high school. I mean, you're nothing unless somebody has a grudge against you. Miles: Actually, it's middle school and this particular girl's father is the owner and proprieter of Don Raymond Pest Control. Stephen: Wait a minute. Rat poison and some pesticides could manifest this way. Natalie: I'll check for phosphates in the blood. Eva: I spoke to the girl. She has a healthy amont of bitterness built up, but I doubt she did it. Stephen: Are you sure? Eva: I can read people better than anyone. She didn't do it. Stephen: Maybe her father got tired of watching his little girl get tormented on a daily basis. You know what? I'm going to have a little chat with Mr. Raymond. Miles and Eva are in the Emergency Room of the hospital. Miles: I just don't think we can rule her out. Paramedics bring a girl in on a stretcher. E.R. Doctor: We're clear for Trauma 3. Let's go. As they wheel the girl by Miles, he recognizes her. Miles: Ruby? What happened? A paramedic: She collapsed outside her school. Stephen and Frank visit Don Raymond's business.  Stephen: Well, sir, we need a list of the chemicals that you have
on site and your suppliers.Raymond: There's a truckers' strike going on. I take whatever supplies I get my hands on. This a new kind of inspection? Stephen: A few of your daughter's classmates are sick. We believe they may have been poisoned by a pesticide. Raymond: Charlotte's friends are sick? Sorry to hear that. So, how did I get dragged into this? What do you want my chemicals for? Stephen: Well, from what I understand, Charlotte was seriously at odds with the girls who are sick. Raymond: Spoiled princesses. They'll turn out fine, their kind always do. Frank: What was that you called them?  Raymond: Spoiled. Princesses. And they are. If you're suggesting that Charlotte could hurt them, that that thought could ever even form in her mind...You know, I'm inclined not to give you any information, at all. Frank: Mr. Raymond, if I were in your shoes, I'd want to protect my daughter, as well. I'd want to speak with her, hear her side of the story and then decide on a course of action. But, we can't wait. Stephen: Look, right now, back at that hospital, parents are pleading with God not to take their children. If the roles were reversed, I'd be pleading with them to help you and I wouldn't leave until they did. Will you help us? Mr. Raymond hands him the lists. Stephen: Thank you. |
Miles is attending to
Ruby Williams. Ruby: Dr. McCabe, what's the matter with us?Miles: Well, I don't know what's going on with those other girls, but I am certain you don't have it, Ruby. Ruby: Oh... Miles: You sound disappointed. Ruby sneezes. Miles: Well, your test results, in no way, fit their pattern....Tell me about your allergies.  Ruby: They're just...kinda new. They just keep getting worse and worse. Miles: What about your weight? You're almost twenty pounds underweight for your age. Ruby laughs weakly: Size zero. Miles: Yeah...Ruby, are you making yourself sick? Bulimia, laxatives... Ruby: No. I eat like a normal person. Ask anyone. Natalie is running some tests in another room. Miles enters.  Miles: What are you testing?Natalie: Phosphates there, anti-coagulants here. I'm measuring the time it takes for the blood to clot. Compounds like rat poison slow the process, which is one way that they kill. Miles: The last to arrive, Ruby - something different's going on with her. The only symptoms she's exhibited are acute allergies. Natalie checks the results of her tests: It's not rat poison. How's  Ruby's health,
otherwise?Miles: Lousy. She's flirting with anorexia, but I checked the blood nutrients and she eats normally. Natalie: Are the allergies new? Miles: Yeah, actually, they are new. Natalie: Her body's producing histamine because it's fighting a foreign presence. Give her an ultrasound. Stephen and Frank hurry into the room. Stephen hands Natalie the notebook Don Raymond gave him: This is the list of pesticides Don Raymond uses. If Charlotte used any of those, we have to figure out what it is and start treatment.  Eva walks in: Hold up on that. Charlotte didn't use any of them. I just got a call. Eleven more cases, same symptoms. In Kirkwood, a few counties over. Connor: Do they fit the pattern? Eva: Only three of them are teenagers. All the others are older...and they're all strangers. Stephen: We've lost our commonality. We've got nothing. |
| Mount Lennox Hospital
- Kirkwood, Missouri In Kirkwood, Eva is talking on her cell phone to Stephen, as he and Frank walk down a hall in St. Louis. Eva: I got two dead, nine fading fast. Same symptoms, all intubated, comatose.  Stephen: Any links between them? Eva: Hardcore medicine - really not my thing. Stephen: Anything. Eva: Well, it's probably nothing, but...they all weigh within five pounds of each other. Around 160. Stephen: Their only commonality in both places is their weight. On your end, they're heavy. Here, they're thin. Frank: What do people with the same weight have in common? Stephen: Eva, recheck their charts. See if they have the same measurements. Eva: Are you serious? Stephen: Just do it.  Frank: What's in your head?Stephen to Frank: Look, we may have been looking in the wrong direction. What if the disease wasn't ingested or inhaled? What if it was in their clothing? Eva: Connor. Stephen to Eva: Yeah.  Eva: These charts are hard to read. The only measurement I can see is waist size. Stephen: And? Eva: They all have a 33-inch waist. Stephen: Good work, Eva. Our girls were in their pajamas when they were admitted. I need you to find the clothing yours were admitted in. Miles wheels a machine into Ruby's room.  Ruby: What's that for?Miles: This is an ultrasound. X-ray movie to see inside of you. Ruby: I don't want the test. I don't need the test. Miles: Well, believe it or not, I actually went to med school and you do need this. Ruby: I'm fine. I just fainted or something. I want to go home, now. Miles: Ruby, you want to tell me something? Ruby turns her head away. Miles moves the transducer probe across her stomach: Okay, this is going to be a little cold. He looks at the monitor: Ruby...look at the monitor. How recent is this weight loss? Ruby: I don't know.  Miles: Ruby, how did you lose the weight? Did someone sell you some kind of a pill? Ruby: Maybe... Miles: Did the other girls take it, as well? Ruby: No, just me. I found it on the Internet. Miles: Do you know what was inside it? Ruby: The package said it was a "natural antagonist". Miles: That's a slick way of saying "parasitic worm". Ruby: All I know is that it worked. I lost 25 pounds. Marisol and those girls finally talked to me. Miles shakes his head. Ruby: Before then, Charlotte was my best friend. I can't go back to that. Miles: Ruby, look at the screen. Ruby: No way. Forget it. Miles: Look at it. Ruby: You're a real jerk, you know that?  Miles: I'm going to give you five seconds to look towards me. Five...four...three...two... Ruby looks at the screen, sees the worm inside of her and becomes very upset: Get it out. Get it out of me! Get it out of me! Miles: Nurse, get me a dose of Praziquantel. Nurse: Right away, Doctor. Ruby: What is that? Miles: It's a pill. It's going to kill the worm and expel it from your body. Ruby: If I take this medicine, I will gain all the weight back. Miles: Yeah.  The nurse hands Miles the pill and a glass of water: Here you go. Miles: Ruby, if you don't take it, what's taking over your body will kill you. You know... for the record, I don't get that whole waif look. Ruby: Really? Miles: Yeah. Ruby swallows the pill. Miles smiles: Good. |
At the hospital in
Kirkwood, Eva is sorting through the victims' clothes and talking to
Stephen on her cell phone.  Eva: Okay, let's see how America shops. I got two
skirts, three sweats, one kinky pair of leather pants...and a pair of
jeans.Stephen: Of the skirts, sweats or slacks - are any of them the same label? Eva: Uh...no. No, they're all different. Stephen: Wait a sec. Two skirts, three sweats, a pair of leather pants, three slacks and a pair of jeans. That's only ten. You said there were eleven down. Eva looks around and sees another set of clothing: Oh, got it. Another pair of jeans. Let's see. Same style, same waist size. Brand is Wattage Dungarees. Stephen goes to the waiting room to question the girls' parents: Excuse me. Do any of your girls wear Wattage Dungarees? Sylvia: Marisol does. They're her favorite. Another parent: My daughter wears them, too. Stephen: Where do they get them? Sylvia: A placed called Essentials.  At Essentials, Stephen is questioning the
store owner: Your last shipment of Wattage Dungarees, when did
they come in?Owner: Monday morning. I was sold out by closing. Stephen: Anything unusual about them? Stains, smells, did they look irregular in any way? Owner: Not that I could see. Stephen: How many size zeros did you get in? Owner: One box, 30 pairs. I was expecting more product, but there's a statewide trucking strike. Stephen: Then, how did you get your deliveries? Owner: We managed to reserve some space with a long-haul company out of Springfield. It wasn't cheap. Highest bidder got the space. It didn't matter what the product was. Stephen: Where does your delivery come in? Owner: Back alley. In the alley, they see a man unloading a truck. Stephen: Couldn't have happened on the manufacturing end. Popular as they are, there would be thousands down all over the the country. Must have been sometime between assembly and retail. Frank: In transit. As the man finishes unloading the truck and leaves, Connor climbs up into the rear of it: What if Don Raymond received his pesticide delivery from the same shipment as the jeans? What if the two shared the same cargo bay? There must have been a spill... He visualizes the truck loaded with merchandise, sees a canister break loose from the wall and spray  fluid over the
boxes of jeans.Frank: With a spill, every product on the truck would be contaminated. Stephen: You're right. The canisters were tied down. They were secure. Nothing tipped over. Nothing burst. Must have been a leak. A very slow leak... He visualizes the merchanidise secured in the truck and a small leak from one of the canisters, flowing onto the boxes.  Stephen: That's it. The leak only came into contact with the two bottom boxes. The size zero headed to St. Louis, the size 14 bound for Kirkwood. The jeans in the top of the boxes were never affected in St. Louis, but by the time they got to Kirkwood, which is further down the delivery route, the boxes had more time to absorb the pesticide. That's why there are more victims in Kirkwood. Frank: If so many pair of jeans were sold, why did so few get sick? Stephen jumps down out of the truck: Maybe, they never wore them or they washed them before they put them on, which diluted the pesticide.  Frank points toward a trash
container, where there are a lot of dead bugs on the ground: Hey,
look at this.He and Stephen search through the trash and find the empty box of jeans. The bottom of the box is stained. Stephen calls Natalie: We found the source. Start both clusters on atropine. We're on our way. Natalie walks into the waiting room: Sylvia...can I talk to you? Sylvia stands up and follows her out of the room. Natalie: You asked how I could stand the suffering? This is how.   She points to
Marisol, who is awake and smiling. Sylvia hurries over to the bed
and mother and daughter embrace. |
On the airplane,
headed back to Virginia. Frank and Miles
are sitting at a table. Frank is shuffling a deck of cards: Let's say we make
this more interesting. Put a little something on the line.Miles: I'm in. What have you got in mind? Frank: I don't know. Let's - uh - try a steak dinner.  Miles: Oh, no can do. I'm a vegetarian. Frank: Are you serious? Miles: Yeah. Frank: I always wanted to know a vegetarian, to ask how you do it - not eating meat. Miles: It's easy when meat is murder. Frank: No, meat is delicious. Stephen walks up to them and says to Frank: Can I have a word? Miles: You know, I got to go - uh - look at...something. He stands up and leaves the area. Stephen sits down across from Frank and appears very uncomfortable.  Frank: I ever tell you they use Guinness beer to treat serious stomach ailments in Middle Asia and Thailand? Yep. Pharmacies got Guinness on the shelves right next to penicillin. Beer as medicine. I could get used to that. Stephen: I shouldn't have jumped down your throat earlier. I should have known better. Trusted your judgment.  Frank: You're damn straight...Now, forget it...You all right?Stephen: Yeah, I'm fine. Frank: Yeah, you sound it. Stephen: When's your wedding anniversary? Frank: May 6. Eleven years. Stephen: What's the traditional gift for eleventh anniversaries? Frank: A convertible. They both laugh.   Frank: Hey...talk to me. What's going on? Stephen: Today's my anniversary with Lisa. Eva walks up: You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Miles isn't making much more than minimum wage and you are about to take advantage of that young man.  Frank: How
is that your business?Eva sits down at the table: Because I'm going to take his money. Deal me in. Frank: Man, it's no fair playing with you. Eva: I know. Even I can't tell when I'm bluffing. Frank calls out: Natalie! I'm dealing you in. Miles and Natalie join them at the table, as Frank deals out the cards. Stephen: Any stakes on this baby? Frank: I say paid vacation, margaritas, sand...  THE END |
| Screen captures
courtesy of Bev at: Bev's Web RDAOnline |