Memphis Beat (2010) s01e07 Episode Script

Detective Hendricks, Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give Will be the truth, the whole truth, And nothing but the truth, so help you God? Absolutely.
You're gonna write that down, That he swears to tell the truth? He absolutely swears.
That's why it's always educational Watching Dwight testify.
Check it out He's gonna chew up this lawyer and spit her out.
Good morning, Detective Hendricks.
Morning, ma'am.
Must be new.
Never seen her before.
Me neither.
Let me take you back to the morning of March 15th.
You responded to a radio call About a fight at the toy city superstore.
And when you arrived there, You found my client, Brian James Tisdale.
Correct? Yes, ma'am.
Brian there was in the stuffed-animal aisle Beating the piss out of an employee.
Detective, let's not embellish, okay? Just tell me what you saw.
Specifically.
Well, specifically, I guess, uh, I'd call what I saw wrestlin'.
Wrestling him.
Tusslin'.
Tusslin'? I thought you just said "wrestling.
" I suppose if I keep asking him, It'll morph into "ticklin.
'" A formidable opponent.
Before all that "tusslin'" started, Had my client attempted to purchase A Mr.
Meow talking cuddle cat For his 4-year-old daughter Who was over the moon about it Only to be told that it was on hold for another customer? Yes, ma'am.
According to the witnesses, that And that's when the employee lunged at the child, Snatched the cat away.
Isn't that right, Detective? "lunged"? That's a bit of poetic license, don't you think? So naturally, poor little Hayley began to weep, And my client tried to soothe her, but Way he soothed her was he cold-cocked the poor guy.
I'm curious, Detective.
Do you have children? Me? No, ma'am, not as of yet.
Well Then I guess we can't expect you to understand, can we? I don't know, Sutton Looks like she's the one doing the chewing.
No further questions.
Don't I get to answer, Seymour? Your honor, the defense requires nothing further from this witness.
I'd really like to answer.
Suit yourself, Dwight.
Well, maybe I'm not a father, But I am a son.
And maybe there wasn't a toy city superstore When I was a kid, But there was this cardboard box my daddy used to keep nails in.
One day when I was about 5, He empties it out, pokes a hole in it, Puts a twig in there, And he glued on his best handkerchief.
My mama says, "you're gonna ruin that beautiful white linen, beau.
" Daddy says, "that's okay, "'cause this is gonna be the world's finest sailboat For Dwight.
" It was the best gift I ever got.
Well, second best, actually.
The best gift was daddy showed me the right way to treat folks.
My daddy wouldn't have punched a man over a stuffed cat, Brian, Especially with me sitting right there watching him.
Thank you.
"we, the jury, find the defendant, Brian James Tisdale, Guilty.
" Miss Austin, kinda impressive, The way you smacked me around back there.
But it didn't bother me.
I know it's just your job.
Doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.
Go ahead, Sutton write that down.
I'm goin' to Memphis where the beat is tough Memphis I can't get enough oh, well, it makes you tremble and it makes you weak gets in your blood, that Memphis beat oh, yeah My lungs are on fire, is what I'm saying.
I don't feel anything.
No, you won't.
Not yet.
Should I feel something, Tony? No.
Not yet, Paul, no.
You just have to You know, you just have to try and relax, you know? You just let it you j what? just let it what? Just let it come over you, you know? Just just give it a f Just give it a few minutes.
You'll be Okay.
Well, I will tell you one thing This park has never looked so beautiful as it does today On your birthday.
hey! Hey, mama.
How you doing? Happy Birthday, Tony.
Oh, Dwight, you didn't you didn't need to bring a gift.
You're the gift, big guy.
That is just how I feel about you, too, Dwight.
How about a toast to the, um Birthday boy.
Birthday boy.
Yeah.
You all right, mama? Dwight, I'm fantastic.
Oh, my gosh, look at that! Looks like it's heading right toward us.
It's all right, mama.
No, it is! Oh, Tony, grab the strawberries! Hey, everybody, hey! Watch out! Clear out! Clear o now! Get to the sides now! Not far out anymore.
Get those kids out of the bounce house right now! Folks, you need to clear out of here! Just leave those here! Hurry clear out to the side! Get to the side! Everybody, keep going! Stay back, everybody! Don't worry! My son is a police officer.
That's my son.
Hey.
A plane just done an emergency landing at Vance park.
Need backup and an ambulance now.
MPD.
Everybody okay in here? There's nobody on this plane.
How does a plane decide to land itself in a park With nobody on board? Ghost plane.
One of the two emergency parachutes is gone.
Okay, so there's an emergency situation.
The pilot bails out.
Could be, but there's two glasses of champagne In the cabin and only one of the 'chutes is missing.
All right, multiple passengers on board.
Then where are they? And then, why did only one of them get to use a 'chute? Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You think that somebody on this plane Killed the other passengers, Got rid of their bodies mid-air, And then bailed out with a parachute? No.
Unh-unh.
Ghost plane.
Okay, we're gonna need to search a 20-mile radius 100-mile radius.
That's standard for a situation such as this.
Not that this is an everyday situation, of course.
Sergeant Keith Monroe, air force liaison to the f.
A.
A.
So here's what we do know The plane's black box is missing.
There was no flight plan filed.
We're not sure where it came from or where it was going.
So this thing wasn't on the up and up from the start.
Beechcraft have an autopilot function which can, in theory, Land a plane safely without a human being on board.
But even if that was the case, Someone in flight would have had to trigger it.
So how it landed the way it did, at this point, Is an utter mystery to us.
Fact is, what we have here is a ghost plane.
Whitehead, not in front of strangers.
The owners are a Meg and Tyler oney.
Tyler's the one with the pilot license.
Do you have an address for these people? Sure do.
It's on the back of my card.
Not exactly the domicile I pictured For a guy who has his own plane.
Hello? MPD! Anybody here?! There's mold on the o.
J.
Bugs in the bran flakes.
It's like these people just up and left In the middle of breakfast A week ago.
This ain't good, whitehead.
- Hey, grandma and grandpa aren't in their bedroom.
- We know, boys, we know.
Um, why don't you go on outside with mom, okay? I haven't talked to my mom and stepdad since three days ago, Day they were leaving with the plane To go down to new Orleans for vacation.
I don't understand so it crashed? No, it landed perfect.
There was just nobody was inside.
So, a where are they? Wish I could tell you, Donald.
They call you at any point during this trip, Let you know they made it there? No.
No, they didn't.
But I was just starting to get worried When I got your call at our t-ball game.
I mean, how could this happen? There anybody, uh, Might want to hurt your mom and stepdad, Donald? Well, that's That's what I'm worried about.
I mean, all the nutjobs been coming out of the woodwork, Making trouble for them since the windfall.
What "windfall"? You don't know? I figured you knew.
Six months ago, They won $82 million in the Tennessee mega millions lotto.
Lieutenant rice, an update The coast guard covered eight sectors of the River so far, And our joint teams have completed the radius search, But there was nothing yet anywhere.
It's gonna be hard, But I wanted to let you know that I'll keep you posted.
That's what you said in your e-mail an hour ago.
I like to be thorough.
And I'd love to take you out to dinner sometime.
'cause I think you are so damn beautiful.
Be careful I could be your mama's friend.
He's a nice young man.
Yes.
He is both.
Now, what do we know about the oney family? That's where trouble lies for lottery winners Family starts getting jealous fast, Think that big cardboard check is for dividing up.
Come on, who else? Co-workers, neighbors 'cause that plane didn't take off and land by itself.
Had to have somebody who was experienced To know how to work that autopilot.
Someone or something.
Detective white, are you kidding me? There is no ghost plane.
What the hell is that? Well, what's your theory? 100-man search and no bodies.
And at the same time, Their plane just happens to take off by itself, Steer itself back to a public area, and land? I don't think so.
This plane is is warning us That something terrible has happened to the oneys.
Listen, I understand your cynicism.
But if you'd experienced what I experienced in 1997 At 2224 hill street Stop it, whitehead.
All right.
We'll see.
I'm on your side, whitehead.
So are all my ancestors.
Hey, y'all don't you all forget about my 40th tomorrow night.
What the hell happened to you? I had to walk here.
My car broke down.
Transmission's blown.
2,200 bucks plus labor.
Anyhow, I called the hotel down in new Orleans, Dwight.
The oneys never checked in, And there's no record of their plane Ever landing down there, either.
But the manager at the airplane hangar here Says that the oneys swiped their key card in the middle of the night Three days ago.
The middle of the night? Three days ago? And the plane just shows up now? Figure it out, gentlemen.
What the hell happened here? So, Oney's got two family members with records.
Got a cousin in Chattanooga who's in the meth business, And he's got an ex-brother-in-law Right here in Memphis.
Guy's name is, uh, Spencer Morgan.
What the heck is that, a coat of arms? Royalty? Eagle crest.
101st airborne division.
Means he'd know his way around a plane.
Nice try, Bucko, But all I got in the army was VD and a backpack.
Liked to your ex-wife, Spencer.
She told me this real classy story about you After you beat her, And she ran over to her sister Meg Oney's house, You showed up with a gas can threatening to torch 'em all.
Now the oneys are missing, disappeared from the plane.
You hating these people, Knowing planes as well as you do Starting to look like your job there, hot shot.
Hey, old man, you got rocks for ears? I told you the army wouldn't let me fly.
They put me behind a desk for four years, Talking some crap about "slippage issues.
" You seem pretty able-bodied to me, Spencer.
Unless you got an alibi we can fall in love with, I'm gonna keep you here.
I got an alibi.
Her name is jade.
We spent a whole weekend together in bliss.
Listen, if the oneys disappeared off that plane, They probably fell out wringing each other's necks.
You suggesting they murdered each other? Well, y'all the detectives.
But what I do know Is that the woman was about to vacate on him.
Look into it.
Why don't you look into shutting the hell up, You little lying, cocky, one-legged son of a bitch? Whitehead.
Why would we take your word for it? Look, y'all get it That it ain't stalking if it's your ex-wife, right? Sure, man.
Yeah.
Got to keep tabs on the ex.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I go over there, and Meg's over there.
She's all crying and talking about How she can't take no more of Tyler, And she's gonna take off.
Where is that son of a bitch? You! You did this, asshole! I told him to stop.
Feel a little light-headed.
Sorry about that, But you can't be tusslin' in our house.
Listen, Donald, We need to ask you something About your mom and Tyler's marriage.
Okay.
Spencer said they had some strife.
Spencer's a maniac.
I'm telling you, he did it.
That's why I came here.
That "maniac" has a rock-solid alibi, Donald.
So now you're saying Spencer was lying? Look, before they won the lottery, There was some strain 'cause of finances.
My stepdad worked I.
T.
Support for package express, But his real passion was inventing stuff.
Like this thing called the solar-powered toaster.
That was his pride and joy.
There were others.
He inspired me.
I mean, I tinker around, But I'm just an electrical engineer At Memphis light and power.
But Tyler wow.
And he almost did it for real with this toaster.
Meaning what? Well, he made a prototype, an infomercial.
But getting those right Took up all the inheritance from my dad's death.
Cleaned my mom out.
And the toaster never really took off.
Hard on a woman, counting pennies like that.
They won the lotto.
Problem solved.
That the mail from the oneys' house? Yep.
That's weird.
The oneys got unpaid bills going back six months.
Oh.
Check this out.
You ever seen one of these in real life before? My girls are asking for a pool, And I'm trying to sell them on a bucket and a hose.
But this would be pretty sweet, wouldn't it? That's a nice RV.
You going camping? I was planning on taking the family Down to Daytona beach for spring break.
Yeah, well, the girls, you know, they're 15.
They don't want to be trapped in some RV with mom and dad.
They got friends going to club med in Martinique.
You believe that? I mean, where do people get this money? Ain't about the price.
It's about the quality time.
Remind 'em someday you'll be dead, And they'll feel guilty about this.
Uh, Dwight I brought you some evidence.
UhCareful with the fingerprints there.
So, inside this box is a solar toaster I bought off the TV.
Great with toast, terrible with bagels.
And, like you asked, Copy of the infomercial.
Tyler oney wins $82 million.
Don't pay his cable bill.
And his invention didn't even work.
Guy was facing hard times.
Faithful wife having doubts even, crying to the sister.
Not an easy road being a husband and father, Providing for your family while tending to your own dreams.
Pretty coincidental, That lottery coming along right when he needed it.
It ain't right.
Good work, Sutton.
The king's gonna be so sorry he missed you, Detective.
You want any dipping sauces? You know I do all six kinds.
I'll tell him "hey" for you.
Tell him I said those new spicy wings They're a fat slice of heaven.
Sure will.
All right.
Have a good night, now.
You, too.
Bye-bye.
Memphis poli Oh, seriously? King? So You came for the takeout? The spicy wings.
Your counter girl had a new ball cap.
Logo in green.
Yeah, we we, uh, switched it.
From the orange.
Yeah.
Green's better.
I'll send you one.
Damn it.
You you paid a chicken Hawk To service you in downtown Memphis On a street named after the first post-reconstruction mayor? And I see it? Come on.
What were you thinking? Could we please, for the love of Jesus, Just pretend this never happened? I got a wife and two kids, Reggie, just like you.
This'll kill 'em for sure.
I swear by everything Holy That I will never, ever again Do anything even halfway close to this.
Just get out the damn car.
Bless you! Bless you, Reggie.
Bless you.
By the way, this is a nice ride.
Is this brand-new? It's a damn rental.
$32 a day, on top of that $2,200 for a transmission.
Plus labor.
WellBless you.
Just go.
Bless you, Reggie.
Hey.
So, it didn't add up, right? Fancy plane, real modest home, Bills ain't paid, marriage on the fritz.
Then the lotto comes in, right? So I paid a visit To the director of the Tennessee state lottery.
Yeah? What? Well, Tyler and Meg oney were winners all right Got six boxes in a row On an instant scratcher ticket in 2004.
Paid $500.
They never won another dime.
No.
Yep.
Whole damn thing's a lie.
They did not win the mega millions lottery, But they wanted folks to think that they did.
But why? I mean, acting rich only goes so far If you don't have anything to back it up.
I know, mama.
I'm chewing over it.
Dwight, listen to me.
I remember that Meg oney.
Yeah, from a ladies auxiliary crafts fair Some years ago.
We chatted a little bit, And she's not the type to put on airs.
It's the husband's idea.
You think they're dead, Dwight? I'm hoping not.
They got grandkids.
Her son's worried sick.
He never took to this Tyler character.
So, uh Marijuana's a strange condiment for a man to bring to a picnic, Don't you think? Oh, well.
I guess I'm busted.
But for your information, that pot was mine.
So cuff me, Dwight-o.
Really, the only thing Tony supplied Was the courage I needed to try it.
Just be careful.
Oh, I know how to be careful.
Good.
Just, uh, important to me That you got someone who takes care of you The way daddy did, that's all.
Well, look here.
It's dad's police instruction manuals.
He wrote in the margins.
You know, greenback's been talking about Taking his kids on a road trip.
Remember dad he loved 'em.
Remember the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee? I do.
I was, what, 11? Just a week before he was killed.
I'm gonna hang on to these.
No sense in throwing out everything.
Hey, d.
? The collected short stories of ark twain.
Found it in my daddy's books yesterday.
You ever read "the million pound bank note"? when I think back on all the crap I learned in High School Anyway, it's about this pr guy Who gets a million-pound bill, right? It's too big to cash, so he's technically still poor, But st 'cause he's got it, Everybody starts giving him free stuff Thinking they're sucking up to a rich guy.
So faking the Lotty was Oney's plan Making real money.
I mean, it worked for him with the plane.
Talked to the guy he bought it from.
Signed a purchase agreement for it, But Tyler hasn't paid a single dime on it.
You know what his down payment was? Zip.
He just showed 'em the photos of that fake cardboard check.
Won't be able to play that game for long, though, will he? I think all this is tied up with Tyler's inventions, whitehead.
I mean, his passion of life.
But he's always meeng dead ends with 'em.
Maybe he thinks this lottery Will help him get the solar toasters off the ground.
Bingo.
But he still needs an investor.
That'the way my cousin Got her cat houses sold through Walmart.
How's that? You know, you get an investor to pay for the patent, you know? And they ain't cheap But you got to have ' if you want to make some money.
An investor? A sucker for that big cardboard check.
Hendricks.
I-I've been seeing your, uh, your billboards around "Bennett Barnes, on top of the walk" or something.
Real estate, man.
It's been good to me.
So what can I do for you? I'm a little busy.
Just got back from Paris.
Going to Abu Dhabi next week.
Yeah.
Listen just, uh, Wanted to know how you got in with Tyler oney? You're the co-owner of his solar toaster patent, right? Yeah.
Did a lecture at an extension course he took Entrepreneurs in America.
A few months later, he e-mails me about the lottery, Takes me out to dinner in new Orleans on his plane, Pitches me solar toaster.
There you go.
Why? You NT into business with Tyler oney 'cause he claimed he was rich, But he don't have crap.
Your investment flounders oh, there it is Holley properties sues you for back rent On the manufacturing plant.
Lawyers do a financial audit, And damn the IRS starts a full investigation on you Two months ago.
Unearths a lot of unsavory stuff here, Bennett.
You're up a creek 'cause of Tyler Oney's lie, And suddenly he and his wife, Meg, go missing.
Explain that.
I haven't seen Tyler in weeks.
You can k Donald.
You know the son? Tyler introduced me.
Real smart guy.
Were gonna get into a business venture, too, Until his stepdad screwed me.
What kind of business venture? Donald invented a GPS remote-control thing, Operates heavy machinery cranes and whatnot From the ground.
Easy peasy.
Well, he he said he tinkered.
Tinkered? The guy's a genius.
Got into m.
I.
T.
Didn't go because Tyler's inventing ate up Meg's nest egg.
GPS remote-control thing.
Yep.
There it is.
Found your ghost, whitehead.
We first met you, you said "so they crashed?" All prepared to be devastated about it.
You remember? 'cause this thing you cooked up, This remote-control operator, Tells e plane to take off, which direction to head in.
Worked too perfect.
Stuck that landing instead of crashing like you wanted.
Thing had a mind of its own.
I want a lawyer.
Yeah, I would, too, if I were you.
Double murder.
So, until one gets here, let me do all the talking.
Tyler's the reason You couldn't go forward with your GPS invention.
He's the reason you couldn't go to m.
I.
T.
You're the real genius of this family, Donald, But it's always been all about Tyler, ain't that right? This phony lottery win was too much.
You killed him.
You tried to make that plane crash to cover it up.
Didn't you, Donald? Look Please.
Please, listen.
That's not what happened.
I created that mechanism.
But I did it for her.
They knew it was just a matter of time Before this lottery thing got Tyler thrown in jail.
My mom was desperate to protect him.
I helped them escape the mess that Tyler had made.
This is not her fault.
Please go easy on her.
She sent me an e-mail a few days ago Outlining, uh, some of the last details of their plan.
She inherited a little a-frame from my aunt A few years ago.
Bayou country.
That's where you'll find her.
Both of 'em.
There's nobody here.
Doesn't look like anybody's been here For a long time, whitehead.
So where the hell are these people? Excuse me, Detective? Messenger just delivered this for you.
Thanks.
You still thinking about that empty cabin? Donald, the son, showed us e-mails His mama sent a few days ago saying they'd be there.
You think something happened to them along the way? Yeah, but I'm running low on persons of interest.
Spencer and Bennett got alibis that stick.
But Donald He says he had no idea about the bogus lotto win.
Doesn't know how to find Meg and Tyler from here.
Money it warps family.
Too much of it or not enough of it.
You know, I do believe, Dwight, That more than personal chemistry, More than sexual chemistry, A couple needs financial chemistry Or else bad choices will be made.
The way a person spends, that's their most secret self, And you can't touch that.
Tyler owes everybody.
He's living a lie.
His wife's thinking about straying.
With all that I went through their bills the other night.
The only one he's faithfully paying is for a storage unit.
There you go.
Arkansas registration on this thing.
I'll run it.
Man.
It's the box on the left.
That one's been opened.
Arkansas sheriffs ran the registration on the boat, And it led us to a marina Where Tyler was sleeping on a dinghy.
Later found him roaming around an electronics show.
The e-mails that Donald thought were from Meg Traced back to Tyler.
He'd been using her account to lead Donald on with the plan, Even though he'd already killed Meg.
Lot of pressure, Providing for a family these days.
I can't even imagine it.
Paying the bills, Buying presents for the grandkids, Trying to be the man you need to be, Even when people doubt you.
So, what happened? Meg bailed on the on the escape plan? Your lotto plan had gone sour, You'd faked your death, steal off in the night together? Romantic.
ButMeg was finally done with you.
That it? You write that all down, I'll sign it.
I'm done With the idiot stepson, Those greedy grandkids who only wanna see me When I'm bringing 'em presents bought on credit.
The wife says she'll support my dreams But doesn't begin to fathom the layers of my mind.
Done! People talk about "family this, family that" Family is an albatross around the neck of great men.
The only people who say different Are the parasite women who are looking for good men To make their hosts.
I'm gonna write a book about it.
You oughta have plenty of time for that.
my baby cut the chain left me all alone my baby cut the chain left me all alone Happy Birthday, man.
Thank you.
Hey, let's do a shot.
she done me wrong my baby bought the ticket Great party, Jody.
Eh, sort of embarrassing, actually.
I've 40's kind of a big deal for a Chickasaw man.
I'm supposed to be marking the occasion By by spending three days in the woods alone, naked, Communing with the great spirit.
But in light of my allergies, I Hey, you're 1/16th Indian, Jody.
1/16th, okay? I'm 75% water.
You don't hear me talking like a fish, do you? Hey, Reggie.
Finally showed.
Happy Birthday, man.
Thank you, man.
Sorry I'm late.
I had to work a real freaky collar.
That's all right.
Get yourself a drink.
well, who's been talking Hey, man.
Talk to the girls about the RV? Actually, Dwight, I went online, Bought us four tickets to Martinique instead.
Martinique, huh? Yeah.
I made it work.
I guess that's what dads do, right? All right, all right.
All right.
It's my honor to say that my friend Dwight Hendricks Has agreed to sing a song.
Let's give him a big hand.
Bring him up here.
Do something else.
we're caught in a trap I can't walk out because I love you too much, baby why can't you see what you're doing to me when you don't believe a word I say-ay, yeah we can't go on together with suspicious minds Detective Hendricks.
Hello.
Evening.
Am I interrupting, or No umbrella for you, huh? Come in.
No, you're not interrupting.
Look, uh Something I need to know, Something maybe you've come across in your work.
I need to know If a police officer's hiding a pile of cash, But all the bills are cut in half, What's that say to you? Who's the cop? I I can't tell you that.
It says he's dirty.
His partner, too.
They each take half the skim To keep the other guy cool until it's safe to spend it.
Then, uh, when it is, they go to walgreens For a couple rolls of scotch tape.
Even if you're not a a wine person, You you look you could I'm sorry About the the interruption So late.
Thank you for your help.
Good night.