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CSIblack
All In
All In Las Vegas
Season 9
Number 24
Writer Phillip Schenkler,
Naren Shankar
Director Alec Smight
Original Airdate May 14, 2009
Navigation
Previous Episode: Hog Heaven
Next Episode: Family Affair

All In is the twenty-fourth episode and Season Nine finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

The CSIs investigate murders linked to rare poker chips from a bygone casino. Meanwhile, Langston is forced to use lethal means for the first time on the job.

Plot[]

Victim: Huston Dobbs (deceased)

On the case: Catherine Willows, Greg Sanders, Raymond Langston, Riley Adams, Jim Brass

Langston, working pro bono at the hospital, gets a call from Catherine. At a spot just outside the Strip, a male body has been found with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. David Phillips puts the victim's time of death at sometime the night before. The sooting and stippling around the wound indicate that the victim was shot at close range and, based on the position of the body and the tire treads, Langston guesses that the victim was driving and was shot by someone sitting behind him.

In autopsy, Riley and Hodges notice concrete dust all over the body, and Riley sees that the victim's hands are calloused. A run of the victim's prints turns up nothing in AFIS.

Back at the scene, Greg and Langston observe two distinct sets of shoe impressions leading away from the vehicle, neither of which belong to the victim. One set of prints is from sneakers, while the other set appears to be from boots. As they trace the path of the footprints, they conclude that "boots" was running while "sneakers" was limping, dragging his leg, and bleeding. "Sneakers" then got turned around, got back in the car, and drove off, while "boots" disappeared into the night.

As Langston is on his way to his office, Nick informs him that he's heading out of town for an entomology conference with the goal of replacing Grissom as the lab's new "bug guy." In his office, Langston finds a package that has been sent to him by his ex-wife Gloria. The package contains a box whose contents include a photo of Langston's father in military gear along with a bronze star.

It's concluded that the victim was shot with either a .38 or .357 revolver. Meanwhile, a burned-out car registered to a Huston Dobbs is found outside of the town of Elba. This leads to Huston being run through the Missing Persons database, where he's identified as the gunshot victim. He was working at the Silver Button Diner, and Brass pays the diner a visit. The manager, Barbie Aubrey, tells Brass that Huston was a part-time fry cook, while the diner's regular patrons say that Huston was always hanging out with Bruno Curtis, another diner employee. They also recollect that Bruno said he was taking a few days off and heading up north to look for work.

The burned-out car is brought to the CSI garage for processing by Riley, Hodges and Wendy. They find evidence that Huston was living out of his car and that the keys are still in the ignition. Wendy finds a piece of skull in the front of the car, while Hodges sees that the key ring contains a chip from the old Hux Club casino. Riley finds blood in the backseat of the car along with a .22 caliber bullet, meaning that at least two guns were involved. A belt buckle with a gun on it is also found; when dusted, a print is revealed. The print comes back to Wiley Schindler, a collectibles dealer from Kansas City, who just happens to be in town for a collectibles trade fair.

Langston and Brass pay Wiley a visit in a casino while he's trying to close a deal, and they see that he's wearing boots. Wiley recognizes Huston and Bruno from their photos and says that he met them at the diner a few days ago. There, he spotted unique casino chip earrings that Barbie was wearing and asked if she had any more. She put Wiley in touch with Huston and Bruno, who sold Wiley 200 chips from the Hux Club for $200. Wiley tells Langston and Brass that the chips are worth way more than that depending on the market. When told that Huston is dead and Bruno is in the wind, Wiley theorizes that Bruno killed Huston and vanished. Brass counters by guessing that Wiley killed Huston and chased Bruno away. Wiley admits that he gave his belt buckle to the two guys to seal the deal, but Brass places him under arrest.

Greg fills Catherine in on the history of the Hux Club casino, which ends with it being remodeled and eventually demolished. The law states that when a casino is demolished, the chips need to be destroyed, which is why surviving chips become collectibles. Greg says that less than a dozen Hux Club chips are still in existence, until Langston reveals that they found 172 chips in Wiley's hotel room—along with $50,000 in cash. Brass interrogates Wiley and theorizes that Wiley, Huston and Bruno cooked up a scheme to put counterfeit chips in circulation. When they had a disagreement, Wiley shot Huston. Wiley denies all of this and says that he has never cheated or murdered anyone.

Testing on the chips confirms that they're actually authentic. Catherine's belief is that Wiley wouldn't kill either Huston or Bruno since he got the chips from them for cheap. Bruno has yet to be found; his last known whereabouts indicate that he was working a construction job in Elba. Hodges looks over the map of the area and remembers that The Bluebird Button Company was located there. The company was famous for producing buttons as well as casino chips, and the factory is still sitting there abandoned.

When Langston, Riley and a uniformed officer search the factory, they find evidence that someone has been living there recently. They're startled by someone fleeing the building, and all three of them give chase. Langston and Riley eventually find Bruno hiding under a tarp at the bottom of a pit; he's nursing a badly infected wound. Against Riley's orders, Langston heads down into the pit to disarm Bruno and tells her to call the paramedics. When he looks around the area, Langston sees hundreds of broken Hux Club chips, likely discarded there when the factory closed.

Greg tells Catherine that their best guess is that after the Hux Club closed, the chips were sent back to the factory to be destroyed. Because of the way the chips were made, they were difficult to destroy, so those tasked with doing so buried them instead. They remained buried until Huston and Bruno dug them up.

In the hospital, Langston and Riley look in on Bruno. Riley admonishes Langston for jumping into the hole, as it could've resulted him being shot by either Bruno or herself. She tells him that he needs to stop treating suspects as patients before he gets himself or someone else killed. He walks away from the conversation and enters Bruno's hospital room. There, he talks to Bruno, whose right leg has been amputated due to the infection. He informs Bruno that the shoe impressions in the desert match his, and figures that the blood found in the backseat of the car does, too.

Bruno finally opens up and recalls the events that led to his current situation. He and Huston were hired to bust up the parking lot at the factory. There, they found the chips and gathered them all into oil drums, keeping a few for themselves. Bruno gave Barbie some chips as a gift, which is when Wiley spotted them. They happily sold the chips to Wiley for $1 each because they had uncovered thousands of them. However, when they went back to the factory the next day, they found that all of the chips had been taken from them. They immediately figured that Wiley stole them, so they contacted him under the guise that they had more chips to sell. Instead, they took Wiley for a ride and held him at gunpoint. Wiley turned the tables on them by drawing a miniature gun from his belt buckle, shooting Bruno in the leg, and shooting Huston in the back of the head.

Langston and Riley are surprised to find out that Bruno's .38 revolver is the weapon that killed Huston, but Wiley's prints aren't anywhere on the weapon. This would seem to contradict Bruno's statement to Langston in the hospital. Wiley is freed from custody and Langston watches him address the media on a television in the break room. When Catherine enters, she speaks briefly with Langston and tells him that Riley believes he's reckless; Langston responds that he thinks Riley is trigger-happy. Before this can go further, a member from the gaming commission arrives and informs the team that the state of Nevada is honoring the chips at face value due to a provision left out of the original contract. The team must now find the chips before anyone cashes them in, as they're still evidence in a murder investigation.

Langston calls Brass from Barbie's house and is told that Wiley is in the wind and may have left town with the chips. Barbie, meanwhile, is lying dead on her bed with a gunshot wound to the chest. Dozens of Hux Club chips are on the bed and the floor. David Phillips arrives and places the time of death at only an hour ago and they notice that she has defensive wounds on her arms. There's a box of .44 caliber shells on the nightstand with six missing, but there's no gun. Due to the lack of forced entry, it seems that Barbie knew her killer. Catherine, now on the scene, wonders why anyone would want to steal the chips, as everyone outside of the police and the gaming commission figure the chips are worthless. Just then, she gets a call from Brass—Wiley has been detained at the airport with two cases of Hux Club chips.

Under interrogation again, Wiley admits that he learned the chips could be traded in for face value and went to visit Barbie because he knew she was friends with Huston and Bruno. He's surprised to hear that Barbie is now dead, as she was smiling and holding the $2,000 he gave her when he left. Wiley denies murdering Barbie.

Greg informs Catherine that a significant number of Hux Club chips were put on the market while Wiley was still in custody. They figure that Barbie is the one behind this. A couple of people from the collectibles show recall a man peddling the chips and he's spotted on the casino surveillance cameras. He foolishly paid his bar tab with his credit card, allowing himself to be identified as Walter Ellis. He's a busboy at the diner and happens to have the same address as Barbie. Catherine and Greg figure the couple might be married and theorize that Barbie caught Walter stealing chips from her and got killed for it.

At Barbie's house, Langston checks her phone and listens to a voicemail that's presumably from Walter. He also notices a wedding photo of the two of them on a shelf. While a uniformed officer has stepped outside to take a call, Langston makes his way to the garage, where he finds hundreds of chips in the trunk of one of the cars. In the other car, he spots a suitcase and an airline ticket registered to Walter along with a wad of cash and Wiley's business card. Curiously, the key is still in the ignition. As he's about to open the trunk, a shot is fired from it and Walter jumps out. He engages Langston in a gunfight before Langston shoots him twice in the chest and kills him. He kneels down next to Walter, upset over what he's done.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Music[]

  • Ain't That a Kick in the Head by Dean Martin
  • Night and Day by Frank Sinatra
  • I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates
  • Don't You Want Me by The Human League
  • These Boots are Made for Walkin' by Nancy Sinatra

Notes[]

  • This episode marks Lauren Lee Smith's final appearance as CSI Riley Adams.
  • The letter Langston receives from his ex-wife Gloria reads: "Dear Ray, Hope you're well, I found this cleaning out my closet (as usual). I thought you would want it. Love, Gloria."
  • Casino chips from the from the Hux Club casino are featured prominently in the episode. The casino was owned by magazine magnate Hampton Huxley, who was murdered in the Season Eight episode A La Cart.
  • This is the first and only time Langston is seen with a service weapon out in the field.

Trivia[]

  • Gerald McRaney played Wiley Schindler. He is perhaps recognizable to many for his roles in the television shows Simon & Simon and Major Dad.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 9
For WarrickThe Happy PlaceArt Imitates LifeLet It BleedLeave Out All The RestSay UncleWoulda, Coulda, ShouldaYoung Man with a Horn19 Down...One to GoThe Grave ShiftDisarmed and DangerousDeep Fried and Minty FreshMiscarriage of JusticeKill Me If You CanTurn, Turn, TurnNo Way OutMascaraThe Descent of ManA Space OddityIf I Had a Hammer...The Gone Dead TrainHog HeavenAll In
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