Shining Girls (2022) s01e03 Episode Script

1 Hi.
Hi.
Please tell me my keys are here.
In the fishbowl.
I don't see them… They are there.
I took them.
Here they are.
But not all of them.
I don't know.
That's what you had.
- Freddie.
- I'm not pausing.
Open the door.
You can only eat this junk on weekends.
- It's all we have.
- It's not.
Come on.
Get going.
- To go to school? - You have to go to school? Yeah, you have to go to school.
I go to work.
You go to school.
That's the deal.
You weren't working though.
I was at the office.
- I called you from there.
- No, you didn't.
Okay.
Okay, Freddie, maybe I didn't.
I don't know.
But you still have to go to school.
Please.
Let's go to school.
I'll drop you off.
Hey.
You leave this in the car? That's not mine.
Yeah, okay.
I heard you.
Wait.
We have to make lunch.
I'll fix something for you.
What do you want? Any chance you've pulled the statehouse interviews? Regional asked us to put a hold on those until they got back from Springfield.
Yeah.
I can't wait that long.
Of course.
Here.
How's it going on Madrigal? I'm looking for other possible victims.
Pulling unsolved homicide cases, women who made stalking complaints.
I would keep my search broad, weed out gang violence Domestic disputes.
Yeah, I pulled 136 so far.
You've been with us how many years now? Three in October.
You're doing good work.
But Dan shouldn't have brought you in on this.
I was the one who flagged our initial coverage on the Madrigal disappearance.
- For who? - For myself.
By the time Dan showed up, I had done most of the legwork.
Is he sober? I mean, you're not new.
You know he took a leave of absence.
You saw a lane and took it.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I started with Dan at The Observer.
I'm the one who brought him here.
But I had to have maintenance drill a lock on the outside of his old office.
When he'd really spin out, it was the safest place to keep him.
Whatever Whatever Anything that would identify him.
All women, all murdered.
It's too much.
Pull up closed cases, suicides.
I don't know.
Make less.
That's what I did.
These are all from the last 25 years.
Hey.
You there? Hello? Yeah, I'll have someone run it over to you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Look.
Joanne Sellers, 1982.
- Hamilton Park, stabbing.
- Kirby.
- Angela Stevens, 1976 - Okay.
These are blurbs.
It's names, background.
There's not much else here.
That's why I can't rule anyone out.
I can't do anything else without the police records.
Okay.
Leave it here.
We have the tape.
I can call it.
We can't use the tape.
You stole it.
The police won't like that.
Okay.
Let's say that you get them past it.
You go there, and you tell them that you recognize the voice.
What can they do? It's not a credible form of verification, and you are a source they already consider unreliable.
Then this is what you have to write the story with.
How many of these were unsolved? Why'd you take a leave of absence? I wanted to spend time with my kid.
You're not going to follow that up? - You believe me? - Why shouldn't I? I don't know.
You already heard something else.
Otherwise, you wouldn't be asking me this.
If you don't want to tell me, you won't.
What did you hear? Doesn't matter.
- Don't do that.
You asked me.
- You didn't answer.
Is Abby checking up on me? Is that what's going on here? Yes, but that's not why I wanted to know.
Then why did you? I've answered everything you've asked me.
I thought you would do the same.
Whatever Abby told you, that's not me.
Lieutenant Hayworth faxed over your requests.
What favor did you call in? I'm writing up a profile on him.
Something for him to stick on the fridge.
Yeah.
Well, that only buys you a look at the backup copies.
- That's all I need.
I appreciate it.
- Okay.
Miss, everything over there is off-limits.
What's in them? This site is for cold cases, five years and older.
Any physical evidence goes in the barrels.
But I keep the DD5s up ahead.
Come on.
I have you set up there.
I'll go dig up the rest.
Thanks, Shel.
Here, start with these.
Names, DR numbers.
Call out anything you think you can eliminate.
Fucking ridiculous.
Here, take it.
Lisa? Who's she? Look at it.
That's me, obviously, asshole.
Put 'em back.
You do know nobody cares, right? Like, this isn't fucking Idaho or anything.
I'm just gonna go buy them somewhere else.
You go do that.
Excuse me, sir? Could you do me a favor? If I give you this ten bucks, will you buy this for me? The guy's being a prick, and I forgot my ID.
Didn't he just give it back to you, Lisa? Do you want the money or not? I don't need it.
Fine.
Then do it for free.
All of those for you? Do you care? Just take 'em.
- He'll check my bag.
- Nah, don't let him see you leave.
That side door over there puts you on Ashland.
Go on.
He'll see me go back there.
Not when he drops his quarters.
What quarters? You can go now.
Hey.
They just left these out.
That's generally how things are stored.
Oh, no.
I don't drink.
How'd you know about the quarters? I know everything about this store.
Know everything about the clerk, about his customers.
But it's the first time I noticed you.
I should go.
My friends are waiting.
I'm sure.
- Out through there? - Straight back.
What are you doing? I have to go out this way.
Otherwise, he'll know I was down here.
- Right.
- Yeah.
- Where's the door? I don't see it.
- Whoops.
Thought there was one down here.
I guess not.
- Move, or I'll yell for the guy.
- Let him come.
You're the one with his beers in your bag.
Here.
Just take it.
No, I told you I don't need your money.
Then what do you want? - Why did you let me follow you? - I didn't let you do any Yes, you did.
Otherwise, we wouldn't be here.
I don't understand.
You kept walking.
You didn't want to, but you did.
- Where else was I supposed to go? - Not exactly where I told you to go.
What do you want from me? Nothing.
You know that it should have taken us… years to get here? Why would I follow you any further? You can't even find the door.
Rebecca Piper.
Drug overdose.
You? Andrea Johnson.
Most likely ex-boyfriend, but they couldn't prosecute him.
How many do we have left? What? Willie Rose.
Body found on Lower Wabash behind a Caulfield's.
It's the same as mine.
Anything left inside of her? Debris.
The ME report should list out the contents.
Only one item found: gold pin.
This is from over eight years ago.
March of '84.
There'll be more.
Kirby.
Catherine Moore.
Margot Zelle.
Dan.
Karen Polachek.
I found another one.
Summer Francis.
Okay, I have to call my kid, make sure he's home.
Freddie, right? Yeah, you're Dan Velazquez's boy.
I worked with him at The Observer.
Saw you there a bunch of times.
I mean, you were about this big at the time.
So… Oh, yeah.
Hi.
How's your dad doing? - Okay, I guess.
- Yeah? Whatcha got? I don't see any candy in there.
No pop.
- Where's all the good stuff? - This is for my dad.
Oh, making you do all the grunt work? Yeah.
Sounds like Dan.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
I'll see ya.
I haven't seen one of your dad's articles in a while.
Is he still at the Sun-Times? They don't let him do very much, huh? I don't know.
He's working.
On anything special? Yeah, probably.
When he works like this, it's only on big stuff.
Big stuff, like what? He doesn't tell anyone.
Not before it's done.
Did he ever talk to you about Julia, the dead girl? No.
I'm surprised he didn't tell you about her.
I thought you and your dad were close.
Doesn't talk to me about dead people.
Imagine what else he's not telling you about.
Here.
Make sure he doesn't work you too hard.
Yeah.
Bye-bye.
Kirby? Kirby? Kirby? Kirby? You can't be back here.
I haven't seen any of this.
Not since the hospital.
Okay, we should We should call it a night and pick up in the morning.
I'm all finished.
I found another woman.
With Julia, there's eight of us.
You sure? They're all the same as me.
I just got to live through it.
Okay, let's get the files copied and go.
I really need to go home.
Okay.
Can we work from there? We should leave it for tomorrow.
Okay.
That's fine.
I'll take them with me.
I can get started.
Okay, we can Yeah, we can work at my place.
That's fine.
I only have to get dinner going for Freddie.
You have to put it back.
He left it inside me.
It's mine.
It's evidence.
There'll be a trial.
And you'll want this to be there.
After he's convicted, then you get it back.
Hey, we're gonna find him.
'Kay.
I wasn't playing.
Don't lie to me, man.
My hand's burning up.
I wasn't playing.
Yeah, right.
Hey.
Don't be rude.
Say hi to Kirby.
She works with me.
- Hi, Kirby.
- Hi, Freddie.
It's not that hot.
Okay, we can set up in here.
Ran into some weird guy you used to work with.
He says hello.
- Who was he? - I don't know.
Always get names, take notes.
You gotta build the habit, man.
All right.
I have coffee, tea.
I think I have some bananas.
Beer.
Tea, please.
You need to call Marcus? You should let him know you're here, right? Yeah.
Is this Freddie's mom? Yeah.
Yeah, that's Gina.
He looks more like you.
Oh, bad news.
I'm out of tea.
- You want a beer? - Sure.
Thanks.
Do Freddie and his mom get along? He adores her, but she's an addict, among other issues.
So she's not around? No.
She has to keep her distance.
Is that what you want? I… It doesn't go too well when we're together.
So, we're not.
Phone's over there.
Go call your husband, okay? It goes a long way.
Okay.
Margot Zelle, 27, 1981.
Her body was found at the Lakefront Terminal.
The Longshoremen's Union runs that port, so whoever found her should still be there.
We can follow up with them.
Who's next? Karen Polachek, 1974.
No witnesses.
Her body was found in a boiler room.
She has no family.
A nurse.
Just a brother.
He'd be in his 40s now.
Local? There's no follow-up report.
Is there anyone more recent? Who's the one from '85? The real estate agent.
She was found by a dumpster on the Far South Side.
What's all this? Your address, Marcus's name, his age, your bus route.
- I take notes, same as you.
- No, these aren't notes.
These aren't notes.
These are These are basic facts that you already know.
I'm in here.
What? You have a log of every conversation that we have? What is What is this? Why are you doing this? Who is this for? It's for me.
Why would you need this? When I got out of the hospital, everything was… Everything was different.
I needed a way to help me navigate.
And you still feel lost? This can't be making it any easier.
It does.
I think about what happened to me all the time.
This gives me a reason to.
What's the name of the real estate agent? Anne Lower.
1985.
The sanitation workers who found her are listed.
Okay.
So, they all had similar wounds.
They were roughly around the same age.
- No witnesses - And he left something inside all of us.
Anne had the devotional card.
Karen, the button.
Julia, the radium.
That has to be enough of a connection.
Not to print, no.
Not yet.
We can't rely on police records we're not supposed to have.
We'll have to verify details with other sources, with family, witnesses, whoever is still around.
Of course, it's going to be easier with the recent victims.
But, hey… there's enough here to get started.
I want to bring this to Abby tomorrow morning.
Okay.
What did he leave with Summer Francis? I can't tell.
Hey.
Hey.
Where's your dad? He said he had to catch Abby early.
It's okay.
I've seen worse.
I made coffee for you.
I used to make coffee for my mom too.
She'd let me drink it with her when we got home.
I just drink it whenever I want.
Here.
- The earliest we found was '72.
- And the wounds are all the same? There's no suspects in any of these cases? Not ones that weren't cleared.
And the tapes.
Anything useful there? I'll know tomorrow.
We need CPD to weigh in.
This… blows their suspect for Julia Madrigal.
The arraignment isn't till next week.
We should let 'em know before then.
Give them time to save face.
I could use their help tracking down some of the families.
Most of them aren't listed here.
These are a lot of women.
How'd everyone miss this? How did we? We need space to run it.
Maybe a series on Sundays.
Which one is your source? We should lead with her.
Come on, Dan.
Who is she? It's Kirby.
- The fucking archivist? - She was a reporter, or was about to be.
That's why you've been dragging her around? How do you manage to make such a colossal fucking mess of everything? She came to me about Julia Madrigal.
- After the cops - Why'd she come to you? - Is there something going on there, Dan? - Abby, come on.
Are you sleeping with her? She came to me about Julia Madrigal after the cops called her in.
- And that's it, okay? - When were you gonna tell me? She won't be in the article.
Not after what she had to go through last time.
She had to change her name and everything.
All these women have been dead for years.
A survivor hunting a serial killer, that's your story.
I know.
I know.
I can't force her.
Hey.
Those clothes are for you.
Did you get any sleep? Not really.
There was a lot of follow-up on Madrigal.
Yeah, I got your message.
Got your message.
What's Dan got you doing for it? I had to go to the property warehouse, pull some records.
- Don't you usually call those in? - Yeah, but there were so many.
- Dan just folded you in on this? - Yeah.
Was Gerard Matthiesen here when you started? Gerry? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nordic type.
Died a couple of years ago of stomach cancer.
Why? Would his negatives still be on file? Well, that's from 1972.
What's this got to do with Madrigal? Background.
The rolls will be in storage.
I can grab 'em, send 'em up for Dan.
I can look at them.
Why? I'll know which ones he wants printed.
This is from 20 years ago.
How is this background? We think it might be the same guy.
You and Dan worked all that out? Here, try this one.
Who was she? She was a structural engineer at Holabird and Root.
All of these are too far away.
- What are you looking for? - Close-up of her.
Oh, my God.
It's like yours.
She's cut like you were.
There's something beside her.
Kirby, what is this story? We think that I wasn't just random.
There were other women like her, like Julia.
This is what you're working on with Dan? That's why you've been like this since my birthday.
- Kirby, why did you not tell me? - I wasn't sure yet.
What did the cops say? Well, they didn't find any of this.
I did.
How do you know you're right? - Look at her.
- I see.
I see that.
But is this just you and Dan pulling shit from storage? No, this is us breaking a story.
Dan doesn't break stories.
He chases them.
He never actually gets there.
They fall apart, and he disappears after a few weeks.
But this isn't about him.
That's what I'm saying.
Kirby, you're in a good place.
We worked really hard for that.
All of this shit is going to bring you right back to where you were.
Dan doesn't give a fuck.
He will run right through you.
He will run right through you to get to nowhere.
This is the one I need printed.
Dad? - Hey.
- Hey.
I told Freddie to let you sleep.
He did.
He was the perfect host.
- I followed up on Summer Francis - Yeah.
I need to run something by you first.
Okay.
I told Abby that you're the source.
There's no world we could publish this without her knowing.
There never was.
And you've been here long enough to know that.
Was she mad? She got over it, but she has questions.
- Okay.
- Like… why aren't you in the story? Your assault, your recovery, how you tracked down all these other women - This is not what we agreed on.
- Then stay anonymous.
I'll keep identifying details out.
We fucked up the police's case.
They're going to leak my name.
- Then what? - Then you face the firing squad.
You face it.
You tell them what you went through.
And every time somebody asks you a question, you remind them of all the murdered women that they ignored.
I can't.
Listen, if you want this to play, you have to speak for those women.
You saw my notebook.
When I woke up at your house this morning, I didn't know if I had spent the night or if I had been there for the last five years.
No one should listen to me.
Okay.
Okay, I I can try to work off the other seven.
That's not enough? I'll write it, but it won't stick with people.
I promise you that.
Listen, Kirby, these other women, they're bodies.
When you write about the dead, you write with water.
As soon as you put it down, it starts to dry up, and pretty soon there's nothing, nothing left for anyone to remember.
But you are still here, and no one could forget you.
And that's what I wanted for the story.
Excuse me.
Yeah, the show has already started.
That's okay.
I think I found a key from here.
That's to a staff locker.
You have the actual key? Do you keep records of who these were assigned to? 38's here.
Now, if you have the key, I'll run it back to her.
She still works here? Pulsars are highly magnetic rotating compact stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation out of their magnetic poles.
Pulsars start out larger than the sun, growing so big they collapse in on themselves.
They die in a massive explosion, but when it finally burns out, the pulsar isn't gone.
A small part is left behind.
These stars survive their own deaths.
They still emit light.
They still have a gravitational pull.
They're still with us.
Hey, Dan.
You're still here? Hey.
Just trying to wrap up the day, Marcus.
What's Is everything okay? When I first shot for you, I bought into your whole vibe.
Anarchy leads to truth, or whatever it is you're doing.
Abby's kind.
She gave you a desk when no one else would.
You disappoint people in the name of something bigger, but there's never anything bigger.
All you do is let people down.
Don't let my wife be one of those people.
Okay, Marcus.
You got it.
Hey.
I only caught the end, but that was great.
Stop by next week.
We run the same show.
Okay.
Sorry.
Excuse me.
I found some keys.
And the woman at the front, she said they were to your locker.
Yeah.
Yeah, those are mine.
I lost them last week.
- Why did you take a photo? - These are yours? I paid 15 bucks for a replacement.
So, yeah.
So do you know who had the locker before you? No one.
We just got staff lockers this year.
Look, you can just dump them.
They already replaced the lock.
Do you know a Summer Francis? Why? Did she steal my keys? How about a Julia Madrigal? - No.
- How about Margot Zelle? Sharon Leads? Am I supposed to know these people? Hey, are you okay? Can you please look at this? Just really make sure they're yours.
What's going on? Where did you find them? You couldn't have lost these last week.
This photo's from 1972.
I don't think I can help you anymore.
Hey, hold up.
Oh, God.
Oh, man.
Fuck! - Shit.
- Take it easy.
- Wait.
Go slow, go slow.
- Oh, fuck.
- You all right? - I'm okay.
- Yeah? - I'm okay.
- Take it easy.
Go slow, go slow.
- I'm okay.
I'm okay.
Ouch.
I think you got yourself good there.
- Yeah.
- You all right? - Yeah.
- Yeah? Yeah, I'm fine.
Mr.
Daily News.
That's right.
You could use a hand.
Which way you going? Home.
Home? Which is this way.
You coming along for the ride? I thought you lived over by Julia.
I got a gal waiting in Beverly.
- What about you? Anyone waiting? - No, no.
Not tonight.
That's too bad.
So what were you out celebrating? Finish your article? It doesn't work like that.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
But, you know, did you… find the guy that killed Julia? You said it wasn't the guy that got arrested.
So… We're still pulling the story together.
So what do you know about him? Why do you care, man? Well, I mean, he killed a woman four blocks from my house.
Well, you seem like you can handle yourself.
Oh, come on.
I got a kid at home.
I worry about my son as is.
Having this on top of it is just… Who's taking care of your kid? He's with my ex tonight.
I never leave him on his own.
So, is this guy from my neighborhood? Is he still around? Your son is not his type.
Oh, he's got a type? So, it wasn't just Julia? There's more than one? Did a cop tell you that? What do they ever know? Well, then how can you be so sure? She said he was the same.
Is that where you're getting all this? Red line train is approaching the station.
Did Did some woman survive? - That's my train.
- Yeah.
Hey.
Whoa.
Easy.
Easy.
Stand clear of the closing door.
Next stop…