Will Trent (2023) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Previously on "Will Trent"
- Kenny's in the hospital.
- What happened?
Stroke. While doing the GBI's scutwork.
Good job today, you two.
I think I'm gonna keep this
little experiment going.
I slept with Ormewood.
You and I were on a break,
and I was high.
Why are you telling me this now?
Sick of secrets.
They call him The Howling Man.
Trapped for eternity between the worlds
of the living and the dead.
Y'all, the hairs on my neck are buzzing.
We're standing in the
exact spot my cousin stood
when she heard The Howling Man's screams
from beyond the grave.
It was so chilling, her
eyebrows turned white.
Yeah, your cousin was on 'shrooms.
Was that a gun?
Let's go.
We called 911! I think they hit a deer.
Are you okay?
- W We didn't see him.
- Oh, my God!
It's a man. Oh, God.
They hit a man.
He's still breathing.
Where'd he come from?
Do you think this is The Howling Man?
What's wrong with his eyes?
Just look up.
I'm gonna check your pupil response.
Woman over P.A. : extension 4240.
Dr. May, extension 4240.
Faith, I know it's embarrassing,
but you need to be
honest with the doctor.
- You fainted.
- I did not faint. I fell.
But first, her eyes rolled
to the back of her head,
then she was unconscious,
which I call fainting.
You guys keep going,
but we wait much longer,
I can't do stitches.
No! No stitches.
- If you come at me with a needle, I'll
- Steri-Strips and glue, then.
Any chance the two of you are expecting?
Ha!
Sorry, um, we're not together.
And I am definitely not having sex,
so unless God himself is
cooking up a plan, then
Not pregnant.
Well, in that case, I
want to run some tests.
CT, blood work.
Afraid we can't skip
the needle on that one.
Do you, uh, need to squeeze my hand?
I need you to get out of here.
Okay.
Light southern breeze.
Here's your latest storm
coverage for Metro Atlanta.
As you can see through
Mississippi and
across Alabama this
storm system is moving in fast.
This storm is coming from the Southwest,
starting just above the Gulf
Special Agent Will Trent.
How soon can you be down
at St. Peter's Hospital?
Pretty fast. I'm here with Faith.
Who called you? Caroline!
No one. I was there.
W At the car accident?
What car accident?
Special Agent Will Trent.
Park Police requested you for a case
down at Stone Mountain.
Possible kidnapping.
Ormewood and Polaski will meet you there
to give you the details.
It's their case?
It's your case.
Keep me posted.
Push another amp of bicarb.
I need another two units O neg.
- O2 sats are falling.
- Hey.
Hey. What are you doing here?
He's losing blood.
Park Police called me in.
That was fast.
No, yeah, g good.
We could use you. This one is
Call the blood bank. We're
gonna need more blood.
Uh, white male, early 50s,
jumped in front of a car
in the middle of nowhere.
No shirt, no shoes, no ID.
He's not expected to make it.
Ormewood's talking to the drivers.
We got two other witnesses at the scene.
Paramedics noticed the ligatures
on the wrists and the ankles.
- He's been tortured.
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'm surprised he survived long enough
to get hit by a car.
Start a Norepi drip.
Get ready to intubate.
We're gonna lose him!
Damn. I'm gonna try for a declaration.
Uh, I'm Detective Polaski.
Can you tell me your name?
Do you understand what's happening?
Tell us who did this.
Timothy.
No pulse. He's lost too much blood.
Time of death, 19:04.
Ma'am, just take a deep breath
and try to think about what direction
- the victim was headed when you
- Is that poor man gonna be alright?
I always tell Henry he drives too fast.
One ticket 10 years ago
she never lets me forget it.
- Hey, Mom, hey.
- Oh, thank the heavens.
Tom, it's been a nightmare.
Yeah, well, let's get you home, okay?
- Come on.
- Hi. Detective Ormewood, APD.
I just need to finish their statements
- while the details are still fresh.
- Yeah, well, a crazed man
ran out in front of their
car and almost killed them.
Don't you think they've
had enough for one day?
Look, I get it. You guys
have been through a lot.
Which is why I was hoping
to wrap things up now,
so you won't have to see me again.
Dr. Bender, you're needed in pre-op.
Dr. Bender to pre-op.
Well, that was pointless.
They didn't see a damn thing.
- Okay.
- No! No!
What the hell's your
boyfriend doing here, huh?
What, did you chase the
ambulance here, Trent?
Stay away from my case, okay?
Okay, listen. Park Police called him in.
If we don't play ball, they
can push us off of this.
The guy's a vulture. And a vampire.
He's a vampire vulture, and he swoops in
and he sucks up people's cases like
I can hear you, you
know, through the curtain.
Everyone can.
Can you just accept
Where have you been?
You have my phone, my wallet.
Where's my purse?
Relax. It's in the car.
So, what'd the tests say?
They all came back positive
for mind your business.
I am fine.
Are you doing some sort of magic show?
You are overseeing our case.
Yeah. In the fascist sense of the word.
You don't even know what that means.
- Hey, are you okay?
- I'm fine.
Guys.
Someone held our victim
against his will, okay?
They burned him, beat him, cut him
God knows what else.
We're here to help you
try to find that someone.
- As a team.
- Yes.
Now, I suggest we get to the crime scene
before the storm that's coming
washes away all our evidence.
What storm?
Tell us about the gunshot.
It sounded like it came from over there,
but not far away.
You see where the victim came from?
I asked the driver, but he
just stared off that way.
He might've also been having a stroke.
Did you see anyone
or hear anything else?
Yeah. We almost got
run over by this jerk.
There was another car?
Yeah, some heartless dick
in a green pick-up truck
just blew past us,
hardly even slowed down.
Just rubbernecked and kept going.
It's like, "Hello! Man
dying in the street."
Have some compassion.
You were recording the whole time?
It's gonna be our best episode.
We'll need a copy, thanks.
Then Park Police will get you home.
Alright, right this way.
Thank you so much. Can I
Gunshot wound was the only thing
our victim didn't have.
Well, if the suspect
fired at him while he fled,
then there's a bullet and
a casing somewhere in there.
Sure, but we gotta
wait for the K-9 guys.
No time. We're going in now.
- Alright, let's roll.
- You heard him. Let's move.
Grab a bag. Let's go.
- Let's go!
- Pass them back your way.
Need one more!
I got a rope here.
It's got blood on it.
Will. Over there. There's a reflection.
It's a driver's license. Georgia.
Does it belong to our victim?
I don't think so.
Any chance it belongs to "Timothy"?
It's, uh, covered in dirt.
I don't want to compromise it.
His eyes.
The hell happened in these woods?
- Wait, wait, wait.
- Alright, alright.
Alright, go.
Oh!
Wow, you're drinking me
under the table, woman.
How many is that now?
Don't worry about it. Another round!
Don't you know I've tried ♪
Cried, cried ♪
You know how I've cried ♪
An', baby ♪
I've been missin' you ♪
Timothy.
- This case stirring things up?
- Hm.
Oh.
I should try to make this early NA meeting.
I'm working a big case,
you know, with the GBI.
Yeah.
Hey, can I ask you something?
You know, some people have
a no-dogs-on-the-bed rule.
Yeah.
Is, uh, working with Ormewood
bad for your sobriety?
Funny you should ask, because my sponsor
thinks sleeping with you
is bad for my sobriety.
Everything is bad for my sobriety.
I just gotta deal with it.
Is the Ormewood question
about me or about you?
No, not me. I'm good.
So you won't be weird?
- No. Not weird at all.
- Good.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
Alright, the media's
going wild for this one.
I have a press conference in an hour.
What do we know?
- What happened here?
- Don't worry about it.
Our victims are Arthur Tealy
and Phineas Lathrop.
Middle-aged white men.
Not your typical targets
for this type of crime.
Hm, nice change of pace.
Well, come in.
I don't bite unless you deserve it.
Where's Polaski?
The snacks in here are amazing.
Are the apples organic?
Yeah, I hear their printer has toner.
Do you also have valet?
Um, sorry, we're just
so dazzled by the GBI.
- Continue.
- For now, we can assume
our victims were abducted, held,
and tortured by the same suspect.
Our working theory is
that the men were brought
to the woods to be killed,
but somehow escaped.
Lathrop climbed a tree
here, probably to hide,
but then his captor found and shot him.
Moments later,
Tealy managed to reach the road,
but was struck by the Coldfields here.
The question is,
why these men, and why torture?
Revenge or information?
We need to establish a connection.
Next of kin?
- Interviewing them today.
- Can we talk about how the victims
got to the woods?
I keep going back to the green truck.
Understood, Detective,
but since we have no make,
model, year, or plate number,
let's focus on what we
can learn from the victims.
Yeah, really feeling that team spirit.
I'll go talk to the ME.
I'll come with you.
What a treat.
I'll check with ROCIC,
see if they're following
any similar cases.
You feel okay?
I didn't see you eat breakfast.
How about you use your
keen observation skills
for the case.
I am fine.
Their insides are as
messy as their outsides.
Thanks to this.
We found it among their clothing.
The jequirity seed,
also known as a prayer bean.
It's newly invasive to Georgia.
When crushed, it's
more toxic than ricin.
And rub a little in the
eyes and it causes blindness.
He was poisoning them to keep them weak,
easier to hold captive.
But the blinding
that feels personal.
Maybe it's punishment.
They saw something they shouldn't have.
Or he didn't want to be seen.
Hey, Trent.
Take a look at your guy's right arm.
You're gonna like this.
- The wounds are similar.
- Not just similar, identical.
- All the wounds are.
- A ritual.
The torture isn't about them,
it's about him.
You ever see anything like this?
Cigarette burns.
Just a bunch of them.
- You sure?
- Yeah.
What?
Not everyone appreciates this part
of the investigation.
Ah, Faith can't stomach it, huh?
That's what I love about Polaski.
She's up for anything.
Arthur Tealy was your father,
and you didn't notice he was missing?
He took off when I was 8.
We didn't keep in touch.
Which is fine,
'cause he used to knock Mom around,
and me sometimes.
Phineas and I tried a long
time to make things work.
But after I caught him
driving drunk with the kids again
I left. He lost his job,
started drinking more,
if that's possible.
He called once,
at Christmas, all crying,
"I'm sorry I'm a lousy dad."
I thought, "You're not even a dad.
You're a ghost."
His last words were, "Timothy."
- Does that mean anything to you?
- No.
He's dead.
Lousy end to a lousy life.
What do I tell my kids?
You know, he left his driver's license
where it would be found.
He knew he wasn't gonna make it,
but he made sure to do that.
I gotta believe
he was thinking of his family.
So you could have closure
not have to wonder.
- Are you okay? You're kinda sweaty.
- Uh
I'm fine.
If you think of anything else,
let us know.
Faith?
Checking on you. Will wants
us to head back out
to the woods.
- Okay, give me a minute.
- Okay.
I swear to God, Polaski.
Yup. Yup.
This should give us
a rough triangulation
of their starting point
which should be
somewhere around here.
Let me see that.
But the rain washed away
any tire tracks and evidence.
What are we expecting to find out here?
Where the victims were kept.
The Howling Man was more
than an urban legend.
Park Police confirmed
hikers have reported screams,
but they never found anything.
So you think that instead
of being brought to the woods,
they were here the whole time?
Where? Inside a hollow
tree with the Keebler Elves?
The nearest structures
are miles away from here.
Well, if they would've
been kept out here,
it would've been in something mobile,
like a trailer or a camper, right?
They were dumped.
The guy drove them
here in that green truck
to finish them off, and they ran.
Stop! Don't move.
Where's the water going?
Ormewood, move.
Well, which is it?
Don't move, move
Aah!
Son of a bitch!
My ankle!
Trent, you did that on purpose!
He kept them underground.
Where no one could find them.
Oh, there's rats.
There's rats down here!
Smoke rainbows ♪
A halo out ♪
A UFO light ♪
A high glam ♪
It's all ritual.
And a lazy song ♪
Even digging this bunker.
Suspect's repeating
something private.
And the tower of solution ♪
Personal.
Signed and sealed,
"Sincerely, the pollution" ♪
From a holiday ♪
On a holiday ♪
Is this for praying?
Only if you're praying for death.
Holiday ♪
"He will turn the hearts of fathers
to their children,
or else I will come and strike
with total destruction."
- Bible verses?
- Only one.
Written over and over again by hand.
Check those?
Utility lights mess with my eyes.
These pages are all brittle.
Same verse, different handwriting.
Multiple victims.
Each one doing penance
for the same thing.
Being a bad father?
How many people were in this bunker?
I'll get Angie and Ormewood
to pull Missing Persons reports.
We took away his toys and his playroom.
He's gonna need to replace them soon.
Hey, hold on. Hold on.
There's something there.
It's a name.
We do have those kneelers, yes.
Of course, without the, um
You wouldn't notice one missing?
We sold some of the older ones
in a yard sale a few years back.
Anyone could have them now.
Well, whoever did this
seems connected to the church.
We found bible verses,
uh, prayer beads
Forgive me, but whoever did that
is a psychopath.
Or they might be using religion
to to hide behind,
cherry pick, justify
That's not
All the same,
I'm gonna need you to provide
a list of parishioners,
- staff, and volunteers.
- Of course.
Although we don't really
keep a running list
of those people.
We've got our regulars, sure,
but people are always
dropping in and out.
Plus, all the community activity.
We host a lot of outreach programs
food banks, AA meetings,
things like that.
I mean, someone's
always coming or going.
You'll have to excuse me.
I have an appointment.
I will get you that list.
Appreciate it.
Will, come look at this one.
Read it to me.
It's an ad for jobs.
They wanna hire,
"men who are looking to
turn their lives around."
- But?
- There's a bible verse at the bottom
"Fathers must be men of dignity,
not double-tongued,
or addicted to much wine,
or fond of sordid gain."
1 Timothy, 3:8.
You think this is our Timothy?
This is how he lures his victims.
Hiya. I'm Duke.
Excited to hear about this job.
Was that a gun?
Was that a gun?
Timothy.
I wasted half my day
chasing down that number.
Flyer was a total dead end.
Phone was pay-as-you-go
and no longer activated.
No trace evidence from the paper.
Since when did you start
carrying protein bars
in your suit?
Got something.
Guy called the tip line
after seeing Amanda's press conference.
Oh, you shoulda seen this guy.
He must've been, what, seven feet tall?
An actual giant.
I mean, you had to see his shoes.
So, he said his friend Duke
went to meet about a job,
and he hasn't heard from him since.
And Duke found out about the job
from a flyer at his AA meeting.
Yeah, cruiser called in a
location on Duke's motorcycle.
It's been sitting in front
of a rec center all day.
Great, we'll check it out.
The hell you will. This is our lead.
It's best you, uh,
stay off crime scenes
while you're injured.
I'm not injured, I'm hurt.
And you're not in charge.
Actually, I am.
Besides, you've been
doing really promising work
with the Missing Persons files.
Do some door knocks.
Interview families,
whoever filed those reports.
You have a talent for follow-ups.
You making fun of me? Hmm?
I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Trent.
Absolutely not.
People enjoy talking to you, Michael.
Maybe we should take this
conversation outside. Uh
Stop it. What is happening?
Stop. Stop. Just stop. Okay.
We are gonna go knock
on some doors, right?
That was some Big Weird Energy.
Eh, we split up, we get done faster.
We are not splitting up. You're injured.
I'm not injured, I'm hurt.
Look, I just want to finish this.
- Here.
- Okay, yeah.
Go ahead and put yourself your
That's great.
Was that a gun?
Again? Will, we're here.
Let's go.
There's something off.
I just can't focus.
Was that a gun?
Was that a gun?
We called 911!
I had no idea you were this much fun.
- Stop!
- Hey!
Ease up.
We'll figure it out.
I keep on ruminating about some
- other personal stuff.
- Angie?
- Maybe.
- Hm.
My stupid detective brain
doesn't have an off switch.
Sometimes I wish it did.
Yeah, obsessive looping thoughts.
I know them well.
You want to talk about it?
- No.
- Yeah, copy that.
Come on.
They probably met over here,
away from people.
Whoa, whoa. Hey, hey.
Come on. Come on.
It's okay.
Alright.
Alright, what do you need, huh?
Juice? Insulin?
- Where's your injector?
- Damn it, Trent.
I am a person dealing
with a personal matter.
Stop treating the people in your life
like they are crime scenes.
It is hard enough being diagnosed
with diabetes in your 30s
without having Scooby-Doo
breathing down your neck.
Ezra McCarvin had diabetes.
He was one of the little kids
I looked after in the group home.
I can help you. If you want.
It's the needles.
And how did you know, anyway?
Fainting dead giveaway.
Change of eating habits.
Band-Aids on your fingers.
As far as cases go,
it was a piece of cake.
Which you can't have anymore.
Blood sugar humor.
Not funny.
You know,
you could've told me.
Like you tell me all your secrets?
You are not the only
detective here, Will.
Were you ever gonna tell
me about your reading?
Look, I get it.
You don't want people
treating you different,
wondering if you can do your job or not.
Now you know how I feel.
You want me to do this or what?
Go on.
Hmm, not bad.
Mm-hmm.
- What?
- Wait.
It's confetti.
Plastic, like from a taser cartridge.
Duke was taken.
Most people don't realize
that when a taser is fired,
it releases AFIDs
Anti-Felon Identification Disks
each with its own serial number
that traces back to the buyer.
The number on these,
they trace back to you.
Why does a pastor need a taser?
Well, I The church
bought one years ago
for security purposes.
It's never been used.
Where'd you go
when you left us yesterday afternoon?
I had an appointment.
With Duke Ulrich?
With my dentist.
We found the kneeler that
came from your church.
A flyer for recruiting victims,
also from your church.
And a taser cartridge that was used
on our latest assumed victim,
registered in your name.
I gotta say, Pastor
you're making me a believer.
I think I'd like to speak
with my attorney now.
You're here about Paul?
I don't know.
It's been three years
since I filed that report.
Um, uh, when he first disappeared,
I was a mess,
but sometimes I just feel like
he walked out on me.
That's what he did the first time.
What do you mean?
Paul's wife, his kids
he left them for me.
Paul ever go to any meetings, like AA?
He ever mention a flyer about a job?
I don't think so.
What about church? Did he go?
Paul wasn't the church-y type.
There was this guy who worked
odd jobs at the dairy farm.
He would walk past our house
every day on his way to work,
and he would always give
Paul an earful about God.
How fathers who left their
kids are going to hell.
And Paul, he would just laugh it off
and say that he's already been to hell,
that's why he left his wife.
Oh, he was a jerk.
I miss him.
Remember anything about this guy?
Young, brown hair.
Patchy beard.
Got an address for that farm?
Hey, Jimmy,
I need you to dig up employment records
for Dresner Dairy.
Looks like it's been closed for a while.
Yeah. And if you can, find
the number for a supervisor,
see if there were people
working here off the books
about three years ago.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Her eyebrows turned white.
Yeah, your cousin was on 'shrooms.
Was that a gun?
Will, stop it.
Just listen.
That's it.
Will, what are you doing?
I said I want to speak to my lawyer.
Judith and Henry Coldfield.
Do they have any
connection to your church?
The Coldfields?
The recording
Their car hit Arthur straight on.
No horn, no brakes, not until after.
They were trying to kill him.
I know Judith.
We sheltered her many years back,
before the death of her first husband.
He was a monster.
No one should suffer like this.
Did you know Judith
when this was going on?
Yes. We met at church when
she was married to Travis.
Oh, so did you kill him for her?
Or did you do it together?
Whose idea was it to do it again?
To find other men who
deserved to be punished
and do onto them as Travis did to you?
You searched for men like Travis,
canvassing churches, shelters,
truck stops all around the state.
And that's how you found Arthur Tealy
and Phineas Lathrop.
Punishing them for the pain
that they caused their family.
And killing them.
Yes.
And what about Duke Ulrich?
Where is he?
Who shot the guy in the tree?
Someone who was also hurt by Travis.
Someone you've been protecting
in a way you couldn't when he was a boy.
Your son. Tom.
Will Polaski's worried.
Says Ormewood is missing.
What's his last known location?
Are you afraid of me?
Or are you afraid of God?
Whatever you want.
Good boy.
Aah!
My father used to always say,
"Destruction of the transgressors
and of the sinners shall be together."
Aah!
"And they that forsake the Lord
shall be put to an end."
Please, let us go.
No discipline seems
pleasant at the time,
but painful.
Later on, it produces a harvest
of righteousness and peace
for those who were trained by it.
So this is what your father did to you?
He hurt you in a place like this?
It was a storm cellar.
Look at you.
Tommy.
You're just like him.
When's it time for you to repent, huh?
Oh, come on. Tommy.
Don't call me that.
Why'd you bring me here?
Is it 'cause I remind you of him? Hmm?
Tell me, why do you blind them?
Is it 'cause you don't want us
to see how weak and pathetic you are?
What'd you say?
You're a disgrace to your family.
You always have been.
And no matter what you do,
you'll always just be a whiny,
filthy little sinner.
Shut up!
Aah!
Let's get eyes in the sky.
Right. Copy that.
At the perimeter. Securing the location.
Quiet. Quiet.
Shh! Quiet.
Hey. Quiet.
Aah!
It's okay.
Drop your weapon!
She said, "Drop your weapon."
Get paramedics in here.
Alright, bring the kit.
Here, help him. Help him.
It's gonna be all right, sir.
Relax, sir. I'm gonna
check your vitals, okay?
You should let someone
take a look at you.
Oh, God.
What are you, my mother?
You should talk to someone
who'll listen, Trent.
- Aah.
- So, green truck.
Told you.
People carry their
trauma in different ways.
It's never an excuse
but it can be a reason.
Can I come in?
Yeah.
I called the endocrinologist.
I'm dealing with everything.
Good.
Don't you find hiding your secret
more stressful than it's worth?
Amanda knows.
Yeah, I figured. But
- everyone else?
- Hm.
Before I had dyslexia,
you know what I had?
Stupid. Lazy.
Useless.
I got cigarette burns for
fetching the wrong kind of soup
from the pantry.
So I learned how to tell the difference
in other ways.
Figured out how to navigate the world
without words.
Every step of the way,
there was someone there
to tell me that I was broken
worthless.
I decided a long time ago
that I'm not letting anyone
look at me that way ever again.
You know that having dyslexia
does not make you broken, right?
Oh, yeah. I do.
But knowing it and believing it
are two entirely different things.
Alright.
See you tomorrow, partner?
And for what it's worth,
the thing that you're
circling about, Angie
I don't think it's really about her.
I think you're trying to figure out
how to not get hurt again.
And there is no salve for that, Will.
Comes with being human.
How's Ormewood?
He's fine. He's with his family.
He's still my partner.
I could arrange for him to go away.
Oh, you had your chance
at the dairy farm.
And you saved his life, you sucker.
Did you build that?
Mm-hmm.
What is it with you and this dog?
Abandoned, misunderstood,
underestimated.
I mean, what's not to love?
I was thinking about the case.
All those victims,
and nobody noticed they were missing.
Betty would notice you're missing.
I wish you told me
sooner about Ormewood.
I know.
Are you worried I'm
gonna start using again?
Angie, I know all of you.
And I'm not scared.
I'm here.
Maybe that scares you, though.
Shut up.
Yeah, okay.
Maybe it does.
Taking everything one
day at a time, you know?
I'm trying.
That's all I can say.
How about the next
time you want to run
give it 24 hours.
See if it passes.
You and me ♪
If the stars don't shine ♪
If the moon won't rise ♪
If I never see the setting sun again ♪
Okay.
You won't hear me cry as I testify ♪
Please believe me, boy,
you know I wouldn't lie ♪
As long as there is ♪
You and me, you and me ♪
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
Nobody, baby, but, ooh ♪
You and me, baby ♪