Enough time elapses to bring us to a point in the narrative where Alexx is doing Carl's autopsy. We arrive just at the point where she's injecting an enormous syringe into the man's chest. Seriously -- this thing is so big, it probably has its own room and two Oompa-Loompas to wheel it out whenever it's summoned for use. Alexx expels the amber-colored fluid she's just drawn into a plastic cup; I reflect that at least Carl wasn't alive to experience the way that urine sample was collected. A waiting lab tech carries off the sample, no doubt thinking the whole way, "Four years of orgo and bio chem, and I ferry junkie pee for a living." We don't get to see more of his inner torment, because Horatio's now on screen, in scrubs, next to the gurney. This is a welcome improvement over the beginning of the season, I'll give them that. Alexx eagerly tells Horatio that she's determined cause of death. "Before you open him?" Horatio replies, startled. Alexx shows him an X-ray film that focuses on the neck and explains, "Cervical fracture." Horatio helps out us slow people in the audience by saying, "It looks like somebody snapped his neck." Cue the flashback, wherein Carl looks very surprised indeed to learn that his head is capable of whipping around like Linda Blair's; it just doesn't do so and allow him to live.

Horatio then asks Alexx if she's tested under his nails for skin. She replies that she's just about to. When she pulls off the brown paper bag, we see that the flesh on the tops of his hands is eaten away. Alexx says, "Wait a minute -- his skin wasn't like this at the scene." Horatio asks, "You think that's parasite activity?" "Not like I've ever seen," Alexx says, shaking her head. Horatio then leans in and inspects the raw, oozing flesh more closely, saying, "That's got to be some kind of chemical burn, right?" "But that would have presented immediately," Alexx argues before picking up a scalpel and probing the area. Horatio reaches out and gently catches her wrist in his hands, saying calmly but urgently, "Alexx, there's only one thing I know that burns like that." He's been pulling her away from the body, but Alexx jumps back a little, the scalpel clattering against the gurney as she says, "Radiation -- we can't stay here." Over her, Horatio says, "We've got to notify the rest of the team. They may have been exposed too." He hustles Alexx out of the morgue as he hits an alarm button, and then an alarm begins blaring as a woman recites, "There's been an emergency situation. Please find the closest exit and evacuate immediately." We see Speedle looking up from his microscope, startled and annoyed; then Calleigh stops in the hall and stares up at the flashing red light for a moment before hustling. As some people hurry, others complete their lab chores -- one guy slides an array of test tubes into a centrifuge before heading out -- and we see people filing neatly outside. Delko's busy doing something -- I have no idea what, but it involves something that looks like a dorm fridge, many hooks, and the money from the crime scene -- and more or less ignoring the klaxons. His cell rings, and Delko answers with, "What, are you checking up on me? I was just leaving." From the phone, we hear Speedle say irritably, "Turn around." Delko does; Speedle's standing outside the lab, and there's a wall of bars between him and Delko. Delko asks him what he's doing there, and Speedle replies, "Listen, Horatio and Alexx found radioactivity on the victim." Delko asks, "How bad?" and automatically begins inspecting his own hands. Speedle replies, "Nobody knows yet. The RMs are going to be here any second; they're setting up a hot zone outside." Delko's only half-listening, since it takes a lot of attention to inspect your cuticles for signs of glowing green radiation. Speedle tells him to hurry up and haul ass out of the lab, in so many words.