Christie Lynn Smith

A death row inmate is felled by an unknown disease and House decides to take on the case, over Cuddy and Foreman's objections. Meanwhile, he also copes with Stacy who is working closely with him, and Cameron has to cope with a dying patient.

As the team investigates the disappearance of a prominent Boston attorney, secrets of the man's past are revealed.

Moments after Booth and Brennan unearth the skeletal remains of a young girl, it becomes clear they aren’t dealing with just any murder case. Hodgins, Zack and Cam confirm this back at the lab when they discover that the cause of death points straight to Howard Epps, a convicted serial killer who has been on death row for years; Brennan’s previous testimony in his case gave Epps a stay of execution. Booth interrogates Epps, seemingly to no avail, but after finding a clue on the deceased girl that leads them to another young body – this one only a week old – they realize that Epps is forcing them to play a deadly game. As the body count rises, Brennan and her team scramble to decipher Epps’ cryptic clues in a desperate effort to find his cold-blooded accomplice. The team is pushed even further when it is revealed that the latest victim may still be alive, with only hours left to live. As precious seconds tick away, Brennan and her team must test their limits and confront their fears to save a young girl from becoming a victim.

Brennan and Booth are called to the scene of a deadly fire at a D.C. prison to investigate what they believe is the death of Brennan’s incarcerated adversary, serial killer Howard Epps, whose body was found burned beyond recognition. But Brennan’s examination leads to the chilling realization that the charred body is not Epps’, but that of a D.C. fireman Epps killed in order to fake his own death and escape from a maximum security prison amid the commotion of the fire. After paying a visit to Epps’ former wife, Caroline, to determine if she has any clue as to his whereabouts, Brennan and Booth leave empty-handed, but are concerned for Caroline’s safety with her ex-husband on the loose. Their fears are quickly realized as they get concrete proof that Epps has killed again. As Epps leads Brennan and Booth into a game of cat and mouse, it’s clear he is targeting them and the people they’re close to, all the while giving them clues they desperately try to decipher before Epps takes another victim. While Cam conducts an autopsy on Epps’ latest victim, Booth implores her to break protocol to save time and jump to a later step in the process. Against her better judgment she does, but she is sprayed with a deadly poison and critically injured. As Cam’s life hangs in the balance, Booth, Brennan and the rest of the Jeffersonian team race to figure out what deadly substance is killing Cam and determine Epps’ whereabouts before Cam becomes his latest victim.

Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a dead man found in a family's house on their return from holiday. Meanwhile, Castle is elected as one of New York's 10 most eligible bachelors.