Synopsis  

A driver for A Pharaoh’s Motorist in an off-road race is killed when is car explodes, but his co-driver is missing, and they were all racing under assumed names. Signs imply the men were military. They track down the car to a man, Art Webber, who was helped by the dead man and his friends. For free, they fixed his car and took away some of the broke parts, which they later used on their own car.

Kathy Veck, oil magnate and fellow racer, claims to have been ahead of the Pharaoh’s truck, but admits she saw them on fire and figured they’d be fine, so kept driving. Russell implies Veck blew the truck up, but does not accuse her. Veck shows him the hate mail she gets, and could care less about more accusations.

When they trace the Pharaoh boys down, they find evidence of domestic terrorists, complete with copies of Army field manuals and the Anarchists Cookbook. They accidentally catch one of the group, Clive Morris, when he’s breaking back into the safehouse they found. He turns out to be a bit of a paranoid who hates the government and claims they’re spying on him.

All three men were patients at a mental hospital, for paranoia, schizophrenia, and other delusions. They all shared a love of auto-racing, and Malcolm Platt, the missing co-driver, is the leader. The boys considered themselves to be the Three Musketeers (A Pharaoh’s Motorist is an anagram for ‘Porthos Athos Aramis’). Malcolm also hated Veck, but when he’s found stabbed in Veck’s trailer, the CSI’s realize there’s a fourth Musketeer, a d’Artagnan, aka Art Webber.

Art blames Kathy Veck for his wife’s death and his financial destitution. He plants a bomb in his own team’s car, trying to blow her up in the race, but missed. As the CSIs realize Art’s still out there, he kidnaps Veck in her own truck, wires it up as a bomb, and drives it to the police station. The CSIs get Clive to talk Art out of killing Veck.

Review  

Sara and Morgan find evidence in the desert, and then works with Greg on the reconstruction based on the debris field and car damage. When Greg proves Sara’s initial hypothesis incorrect and there was a bomb, she teases him but cheerfully tests his theory with him.

When Russell tells Sara about his cousin, who became a paranoid schizophrenic, she mentions she understands, because of her mother.

Notes  

• Sara still likes taking apart cars.
• Sara mentions her mother to Russell, but without details.
• Sara still falls for the human condition – when told a seemingly true, touching, story, she’s inclined to believe it.

Quotes  

Morgan Brody: I’ve had dates end that way. Argue, pull over, slam the door and sulk home to watch The Notebook.
Sara Sidle: The Notebook, really?

Greg: Actually, I’ve been working the case. And I think we’re doing it all wrong.
Sara: Cite your source.

Russell: [My cousin was] a really good kid. But one summer he started telling me about this birdhouse that the neighbor had built across the street. He was convinced there was a camera inside it. […] Got worse, too. Towards the end, he thought my glasses were cameras, and that I was recording his every move.
Sara: What happened to him?
Russell: Not a happy ending.
Sara: Yeah, I know a little bit about that kid of sad ending myself. My mom.
Russell: I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.
Sara: Me too.