'CSI' Goes 'Up In Smoke'

See Also: 'Up In Smoke' Episode Guide

In the newly revealed CSI episode, entitled "Up In Smoke," a dead man in a chimney leads the CSIs to investigate the disappearance of a young woman whose father's heartbreaking search for the truth strengthens Catherine's determination to solve the case.

According to CSI Files sources, Martin Sidley and his companion, Angie, are getting ready to spend a romantic dinner together in his home. Martin is divorced, with a son in college, and has been seeing Angie for a few months. Martin lights a fire in the chimney to enhance the mood, but the mood is quickly ruined when the living room fills up with black smoke. The smoke alarms go off, prompting a visit from the fire department. Something must be blocking the chimney for the house to fill up with black smoke so fast - no one ever imagined the blockage was actually a dead body.

Brass and Sofia talk to Angie and Martin respectively. Martin claims he's been away on business for the past week and no one has access to his home. Angie claims she smelled something weird, but seeing as Martin has a rat problem they both assumed there was a dead rat somewhere in the house. The couple's stories match and they look innocent enough, but the evidence might tell a different story. The body is taken out of the chimney, and even though it's charred beyond recognition the CSIs find a gym membership card in the man's pant's pockets. Martin's night isn't looking good after all: the dead man in the chimney is Tad Sidley, his son.

Warrick and Catherine visit Tad's dorm room and talk to Ken Richmond, Tad's roommate. Ken isn't affected by his roommate's death, seeing as Tad was barely around. A triple freshman in college, Tad spent most of his time failing his classes, getting high, and going on mysterious trips. Despite it all, however, everyone on campus seemed to love Tad, and no one, Ken claims, would think of killing him. Catherine takes a look at Tad's study area, (which is, not surprisingly, lacking books), and finds a business card for one Dr. Fitzgibbons. It could mean nothing, but the CSIs are trained not to take chances.

Catherine talks to Dr. Fitzgibbons, who admits he gave Tad his card because he wanted the young man's help in getting inside Martin's home. He tells Catherine he'd like them to take this opportunity to search through Martin's house in search of clues for another case. Dr. Fitzgibbons's daughter, Caroline, disappeared a year ago while she was dating Martin, but the investigators could never get a warrant to search Martin's place, even though Fitzgibbons believes him to be the person responsible for Caroline's disappearance and possible murder. Catherine is sympathetic. She can't imagine what it would be like to lose Lindsey like that and never get any answers. She promises to help Dr. Fitzgibbons find his daughter.

Meanwhile, Sofia tracks down a credit card usage that could help the CSIs break the case. Seems someone has been using one of Martin's Amex credit cards to purchase gas. The detectives visit the Gas N Go store and ask the clerk back to the lab to identify the person responsible for the purchase from the video surveillance of the gas station. The clerk has no trouble recognizing the young man when he sees him: the man in the video is none other than Tad Sidley. Grissom and Nick are shocked. If Tad is alive, then who is the charred man in the chimney? The promise Catherine made to Dr. Fitzgibbons might prove to be the fuel that keeps the CSIs determination burning during this frustrating investigation.

Please note that the above plot details have not been confirmed by CBS, Alliance Atlantis or Bruckheimer Films, and until such time you should treat this information as you would any other rumour. The above information comes from early script drafts and the details and the airing order of the episodes are liable to change before the episodes are shown.

"Up In Smoke" will air during February of 2006.

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