The InBetween (2019) s01e09 Episode Script

1 Previously, on "The Inbetween" I can't wake up my mom.
The woman I saw was dead.
He'd taken out her eyes.
Perp's name was Ed Roven Texas, mid '90s.
Six women murdered.
Same MO, same signature.
Executed October 2, 2005.
Roven screwed up when he left his last victim's son alive.
Mark Waterman told the cops everything Roven did to his mom.
He couldn't save her, and he blamed himself, so he starts to create violent fantasies in which he's like Roven.
We're not a team.
I want out of the Inbetween.
And you're gonna help me, Cottontail.
Hey, we're closed! I'm burning slow, with me in the rain Walking in the subway, calling out my name Last call was half an hour ago.
Hey.
You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here! Millie? Find me.
Someone, somewhere in summertime Someone, somewhere, somewhere Okay, I understand.
Thank you so much for calling, Doctor.
Why is the doctor calling so early? He had some news.
Uh, he took a look at my most recent film, and the steroids aren't shrinking the tumor quite as fast as he'd like.
I see.
So what does that mean? Look, we knew that the surgery was inevitable.
Yeah, but not this soon.
Well, he also had some good news.
Dr.
Ramona Ashcroft, who's one of the best brain surgeons in the country he said she's available to fly in in the next few weeks to perform the procedure.
Okay.
Oh, let's not get into it right now.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey, sweetie.
- How's it going? - Hey.
- I need a favor.
- Yeah? Can you look into a cold case for me? Yeah, sure.
Do you have a name? Millicent Pierce.
I saw her last night at the bar, and then I spent a few hours looking through missing-persons websites until I found her photo.
She disappeared in the summer of 1985.
She wants me to find her.
1985, that's almost ten years before you were born.
Yeah.
There are other things, too.
There was a fishing boat and rope and another dead woman.
Okay, well, look, I'm going to the office early, so I'll look up the file I'll give you a call.
Thank you.
I'll see you later.
- Did we catch a case? - Millicent Pierce.
Disappeared August 29, 1985.
A cold case.
So no body, no forensics, and not to mention a 34-year lag time for witnesses' memories to fade.
What are you thinking reinterview the parents? I can handle that.
But if you wouldn't mind, I could use some help - with these files.
- What files? These files.
Thanks, fellas.
- Anytime, Detective.
- I did a quick search.
In 1985, every detective on Millie's case was working at least two other missing women mostly sex workers and runaways.
Oh.
Was Millie a runaway? No, but she was pegged as one because she snuck out of the house post curfew, never came home.
But she was a good student.
She was close to her family.
Oh, what's the connection? Cassie.
She said when she saw Millie, there was another girl there as well.
Now, it could be they were taken by the same person.
These seven women went missing the same year as Millie, and like her, the bodies were never found.
A task force worked on the cases as long as they could back in '85, but eventually the trail went cold.
Detectives retire, files were sent to storage.
These women were forgotten.
And if he was never caught, whoever took them could still be active.
I've asked unis to gather all missing-persons files for the last 34 years.
But, basically, any woman that disappeared in that time and hasn't been found is potentially a victim, especially prostitutes.
Well, I'll check with Vice, see if any sex workers have recently gone missing.
I've already done that.
According to them, this woman, Becky Russell, disappeared just five days ago.
Last seen down near Sea-Tac.
The airport's popular with working girls.
Yeah.
Friend of hers said the last time she saw her, she was getting into a car with an older guy.
Didn't see his face.
Well, guess it goes without saying that if he's been active for over 30 years, he'd best be described as older.
He'd be in his 50s or 60s by now.
Cassie said Millie wants to be found.
What if she's also trying to help us bring down a serial killer? So you're saying seven other women went missing the same year as Millie? Mm-hmm.
All prostitutes, all last seen near Sea-Tac.
Asante and I are looking into it.
That's her.
This is the woman I saw in the fishing net.
Tara Burns.
She went missing two days before Millie.
All right, are you ready for this? Grieving relatives? It's never easy.
I understand.
What did you tell them about me? I told them you were my daughter, you saw Millie's case on the Internet, and you asked me to look into it.
But they're not going to tell me anything that they haven't already said to the original detectives a million times.
If there's any new information to glean in there, you'll be the one getting it from Millie.
We were surprised to get your call, Detective.
It's been a long time since anyone has been interested in looking for Millie.
Very long time.
I can't make any promises.
We understand.
It's been 34 years.
And if Millie were still alive, she If my sister were still alive, she would have come back to us by now.
We don't expect miracles.
We just want to give our daughter a proper burial.
She shouldn't be out there out there alone.
We'll do everything we can.
The night Millie disappeared, you thought she'd slipped out of the house to meet someone? Earlier that summer, I had caught her sneaking out the back door.
She was all dressed up.
She had a date, I'm sure of it.
And she never mentioned to you the name of the person that she was seeing? No.
None of her friends knew, either.
Millie wasn't supposed to be dating.
We had her on a strict curfew.
But Our daughter was headstrong.
Independent.
She wanted one of those Walkmans, you know? And we told her that he would buy her one for Christmas if she kept her grades up.
But she couldn't wait.
She she made money herself, babysitting.
I swear I never saw her without those headphones music playing all the time.
Millie didn't walk, she danced everywhere she went.
Is the Walkman still here? They think she was wearing it when A-anyway, we we never found it.
Everything else in her room is exactly how she left it.
Would it be okay if That is, do you think I could look in Millie's room? Upstairs, second door on the left.
You had style, Millie Pierce.
Peter Rabbit and Little Boy Blue Hidden in the brush Everybody run, Peter Rabbit Well, nothing new my end.
How about you? I'm not sure.
Do you remember the "Peter Rabbit" song, the one I said would be important in the Shannon Bell case? Yeah.
I heard it again up in Millie's room.
Mark Waterman wasn't even alive when Millie disappeared.
No, but Ed Roven was.
What do you know about Ed Roven? The night you caught Waterman, Roven came to visit me.
Just the once? - No.
- Why didn't you tell me? - I knew you'd be upset.
- Oh But he's been not unhelpful a couple of times.
The guy knows his way around the underworld.
Putting aside my keen discomfort with this for a moment, what could Ed Roven have to do with Millie's disappearance? He was killing women in Texas.
Yes, but not until the 1990s, right? I don't know what it means.
It might be nothing, but I don't think it's nothing.
I'll look into it.
Is there anything else you want to tell me? Yes, uh I love you.
Bye.
You got me where you want me I'm going left, right, left, right, left You better stay out of my business, little girl! You think all these women were grabbed by the same guy? No, we think the killer was concentrating on high-risk victims prostitutes and runaways.
Any bodies turn up? No, none of these women have ever been found, alive or dead.
We're still going through files, but it looks like our guy has a type Young, Caucasian, brunette.
All of these women were last seen near Sea-Tac.
Looks like that was his hunting ground.
Becky Russell fits the profile.
Yeah, but Millie Pierce doesn't.
She wasn't a sex worker.
She had light eyes, light hair.
Yeah, that's true, but Millie disappeared two days after Tara Burns was last seen August 27, 1985.
Could be a coincidence.
Or maybe Millie was an outlier.
Then how do you explain the fact that these eight women and Becky Russell disappeared 34 years apart.
We don't think he quit in 1985.
We think he just slowed down, enough to stay under the radar.
Becky's suspected abductor was thought to be in his 50s or 60s.
Unis are going through missing-persons reports from the last 34 years.
How many? 15 women so far.
I just hung up with Becky Russell's sister.
Their mother's sick, and Becky was helping take care of her.
The family's sure she wouldn't have left town without telling anybody.
If you're right about this and there's a serial who has been operating under the nose of the police department for over 30 years, I want us to be the ones who catch this guy.
Keep digging.
Find out everything you possibly can about these missing women and keep me posted on Becky Russell.
Let's go.
Cassie's sure Ed Roven was involved - in Millie's disappearance? - Yeah.
But obviously he couldn't have taken Becky Russell.
What are the odds two serials were operating in Seattle at the same time? It's happened before.
In the 1970s, Santa Cruz had three.
So maybe Roven's responsible for Millie, and our other women, the prostitutes, belong to our unknown serial.
Look at this.
Bank statements in the early '80s show that Roven was mostly in the Southern states until April '85, he cashes a check in Colorado.
- He was heading northwest.
- Mm-hmm.
After that, the trail goes cold until he shows up back in Texas almost eight months later.
So it's possible he was in Seattle the summer of 1985.
Right.
Maybe he was working off the books.
He was living out of pocket, he was Cassie said she saw a fishing boat and a net.
Could be he worked a fishing trawler for cash.
Let's get down to the docks.
Last chance, Cottontail.
Walk away.
How'd you know Millie, Ed? That a piece of fluff in your ears? I said it ain't your business.
Her parents want her back.
It's their business, isn't it? She doesn't belong with you.
Millie's fine where she is.
She's in a lovely spot.
Millie disagrees.
You've seen her? You said that you wanted out of the inbetween, wanted to do some good so you could move on.
Here's your chance.
Why aren't you taking it? What will I learn about you when I find Millie? Nothing because you won't find her ever.
Now you leave it be.
Or you'll what? That's what I thought.
We're just about to close up.
And we'd just like to ask some questions.
How long have you worked here? Since right after high school.
Do you, by any chance, recognize this man? Ed Roven.
- Nah, is he a fisherman? - Was.
This would have been in the mid 1980s.
This is what he'd look like then.
Hey, Frank! Can you come her a sec? It's Frank Blair.
He's my boss.
- Good evening, sir.
- What can I do you for? Do you ever remember seeing this man? Would have been 1985.
Sorry, these guys all blend together, especially if it was that long ago.
- Mm-hmm.
- But we've got records of every vessel that's come and gone from this port since the 1950s.
Some of them have the names of crew members.
Well, we need May to December, '85.
All right, give me a minute to pull the files.
Thank you, sir.
I'm wired On Red Bull and Hennessy Higher than you I'm on fire Peter Rabbit and Little Boy Blue What the hell is going on here? Help me, please.
Help me.
Oh.
God damn.
You think I was coming to save you? Remember, now, we said the next one's mine.
So you don't know who the other guy was? I couldn't see his face.
It was horrible.
They were so cruel.
They talked about the next one.
Roven said it was his turn.
All right, they must have been working together, for that summer at least.
Right.
This serial we're hunting is Ed Roven's mentor.
This is the guy you said was taking prostitutes? Roven went to Texas at the end of the summer.
After that, we found reports for 31 more missing women in Seattle Caucasian, brunette, all the victims were prostitutes, runaways, or homeless.
Every one of them was last seen down near Sea-Tac.
The last woman we found who fit the profile, Becky Russell, she went missing five days ago.
Maybe this is why Roven doesn't want us looking for Millie.
He's protecting his friend.
Hey, I've gone through the paperwork from the dock master's office.
- You find Ed Roven? - No.
But the summer Millie disappeared, there was a private boat moored on the marina called "Acquiesce.
" It stayed there for five months and left two days after Millie disappeared.
Something special about that boat? Mm, the captain Amos Scott.
He retired to Fidalgo Island.
I sent him a photo of Millie, but he didn't recognize her.
But he did remember Ed Roven.
Said Roven worked for him that whole summer.
Thanks for coming in, Captain Scott.
Well, it's not many things get me over to the mainland these days, but a call from the cops is one of them.
Captain, Detective Asante said you remembered this man.
Yep.
That's Eddie.
Signed on to my crew sometime in, uh, '85, I guess.
Didn't stay long, though.
- How come? - The way Eddie was he was a bit off.
Tell you the truth, he gave us all the heebie-jeebies.
I was glad to get rid of him at the end of the season.
Did Ed have any friends? Yeah, he spent most of his time with this buddy of his from town.
What the hell was his name now? Um - Can you describe him? - Yeah.
Dark hair, tan, bit of a salesman always ready with a glad hand and the shark eyes, you know what I mean? Working construction.
I think he got Eddie a few jobs off the books.
I remember one time Eddie borrowed my truck and a few hundred bucks against his salary to go bail this guy out of jail.
Did Eddie say what the charge was? Solicitation.
This guy picked up a prostitute down by Sea-Tac there.
It wasn't till 1984 that the brass finally convinced the city to prioritize arresting johns over working girls.
Well, it gives us a nice pool of suspects to wade through.
It's mostly out-of-towners, guys at their bachelor party.
Look at this.
What? You get something? - Frank Blair.
- What, the dock master? Well, he is now, but, yes, look at this.
Back in '85, he was working in construction.
Arrested for solicitation on July 1, 1985.
Bailed out by one Edward Roven.
Frank Blair is Ed Roven's mentor.
Frank Blair! Seattle P.
D.
! Help me! Help me! Help! - Help me! Help! - Go, go, go, go! Help! Seattle P.
D.
! Stop where you are! Open it.
Police.
Police.
- You're safe.
You're safe.
- All clear, Detective.
- Hey, kid, it's me.
- Hey, what's up? We found Ed Roven's mentor a guy named Frank Blair.
- What about Becky Russell? - She's pretty banged up.
- But she's still alive.
- And Millie? CSU is in Blair's yard now using ground-penetrating radar.
They think there are at least seven bodies buried there.
If they find Millie, I want to be there.
Well, we're at the precinct now.
We're booking Blair for murder.
Meet me here.
I'll drive you over to Blair's.
Okay, I just finished my shift.
I'll be there in 15.
He told me what you are.
He told me to take your eyes.
You're a witch! He told me you have to be stopped! Hey.
There you go.
Are you sure you're all right? Yeah, I'm okay.
Mm.
I guess that pepper spray key chain I bought you came in handy after all.
You're gloating.
Really? No, I'm just glad you're safe.
Did they arrest the guy? Yeah, he's got multiple assault priors, long history of mental illness.
Looks like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I'm not so sure.
What do you mean? I've seen him before with Roven.
They were talking.
Are you saying Roven got someone to attack you? The guy called me a witch, said he wanted to take out my eyes.
That's it's pretty Roven specific.
I'm probably just paranoid.
Roven's a ghost.
I mean, when he talks to people, they can't hear him.
Unless they're like you, right? CSU found 13 bodies at Blair's cabin so far.
Preliminary IDs came in for the women who disappeared in 1985, including Tara Burns.
Wow.
A lot of grateful families are finally getting answers about their missing daughters and sisters.
Did they find Millie? There's no sign of her at Blair's cabin.
If Millie was taken the same week as Tara, killed by the same man, then it stands to reason that they would be buried together.
Frank Blair's got a lawyer, and he's talking.
He says he doesn't know where Millie is.
Can I see him? Roven killed Millie.
I'm sure of it.
If I get close to his best friend, maybe I can get something off him.
My client has a agreed to cooperate.
He can help close over 60 cold cases today.
You're keen to make a quick deal, Frank? I had a good run.
We know you were friends with Ed Roven.
The only reason you gave us the ship's manifests is because you knew we wouldn't find his name on any of the crew lists.
You didn't think that we'd look for him on private boats, track down retired captains? You're thorough, I'll give you that.
We know you and Ed Roven took Millie Pierce.
I told you already I don't know nothing about that little bitch.
Pick one of the 60 other cases my client is willing to confess to, Detective.
Right after we get an answer on this one.
Where is Millie? You're asking the wrong guy, Detective.
The only man with all those answers he's long dead.
He'll talk.
They always do.
He doesn't know where Millie is.
I think Ed Roven took her somewhere.
He's the only one who knows.
And that is why he's so sure we'll never find her.
And we won't, unless Unless what? How do I question Roven? Like, get him to tell me what he knows? It's not that simple.
Detectives go through years of training before they sit down to interrogate serials.
Yeah, we don't have that kind of time.
Break it down for me.
Well, there are a couple of simple techniques you can try.
- You can ask him if he has - Hang on a minute.
I'm not throwing Cassie into a game of psychological cat-and-mouse with Ed Roven.
I can handle myself.
He's not your average visitor, Cassie.
Spectral or not, he is capable of harming you in ways that go beyond physical.
We told Millie's family we would do everything we could - to find her.
- And we will.
Asante and myself.
So it's fine when you need my help with a case, but when it's the other way around and I come to you, I get shut down? You need to decide how you see me, Tom.
Am I the little girl you want to protect, or am I the woman who helps you solve crimes? You can't have it both ways.
I'm gonna head home, grab a shower.
And I was thinking, on the way, I'd stop at Council, talk to Cassie.
Sure.
Asante.
I've worked my share of serials, but never a copycat until Mark Waterman.
Would you say he was fairly typical? Typical? No.
Waterman was a special case.
I chalk it up to him having an up-close and personal relationship with Roven.
Saw him work firsthand, but he was more dedicated to Roven's MO and signature than any copycat I've ever seen.
I mean, their kills were almost identical.
Why do you ask? Uh, just curious.
Mm.
I'm keeping you.
Wait a minute you're sure Roven can't hear us? Yeah, we're good.
I can feel when he's here and when he isn't, and right now he isn't, so It's good to know the universe has your back a bit in all this.
Yeah.
Where do we start? Mm.
Let's talk about Roven.
You know, a guy like that, he needs to feel that he's in control, that he's the smartest person in the room.
All right, you have to go in there and rock his confidence.
You have to make him give you the information you need.
Okay.
I-I've already tried asking him.
No, you were feeding his ego instead of attacking it.
It's not that psychopaths have no feelings.
They just have no empathy for anyone but themselves.
Now, you can get to Roven.
It just has to be about his needs, not yours and not Millie's.
Challenge him.
Push him.
Make Roven prove he's smarter and better than you by giving you what you want.
You want me to piss him off? In a nutshell, yeah.
Look, it's a dangerous move, and I won't lie and say that I know exactly how Roven's gonna react, because I don't.
But based on his profile, it's the one that will best get a reaction.
Right.
Okay, I can do that.
Mm.
So what do you got in your arsenal? I think he cares about Millie.
When he realized I'd seen her, he seemed jealous.
Great.
Use that.
Lift that rock, and you'll see all the squirmy bugs that run through his brain.
Uh, there's something else.
It's something I wouldn't mention otherwise.
You look like Millie.
I don't think he's hanging around you just because you can see and hear him.
Gross.
Anything else? Well, there's this quote by Friedrich Nietzsche we used to say at the Bureau.
"If you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
" Ed Roven is the abyss.
I'll be careful.
I promise.
Hey.
Thank you.
Anytime.
Here goes nothing.
Peter Rabbit and Little Boy Blue Hidden in the brush with Mr.
Magoo Along came McDonald with his trusty gun And he goes, "Everybody run" Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit He'll be hopping along Peter Rabbit and Hey.
We need to talk.
You're playing with fire, girl.
Careful you don't burn your fingers.
Did you hear about your buddy, Frank? He's telling the cops everything.
Says he killed more women than Ted Bundy.
Says they'll be finding bodies for years.
Not Millie, though.
No, because she was too special to go into that pit behind Frank's house.
You didn't want that for her.
You're sweet on her.
You think that loving Millie made you human, made you normal.
But that's just a fake-out a con.
You're not better than Frank.
You couldn't control yourself.
You're pathetic.
Careful now.
Do I remind you of her, Eddie? Is that why you started coming around? Because I look like the girl you lost? You ought to stop.
Is it the eyes or the hair? I mean it.
Hmm? You didn't lose Millie, Ed.
You killed her.
And you enjoyed it.
Just like you'd kill me if you could.
You're thinking about it.
Ah, look at you just dying to wrap those hands around my throat and squeeze.
But you can't hurt me.
Can't I? I'll show you.
I'll show you what I did to her.
I'll show you everything.
Do it, then.
Come on, you coward! Pretty, ain't she? The way she looked at me with those emerald eyes of hers She didn't know you were a killer.
Not yet, I wasn't.
Never killed anything didn't have four legs and a brain the size of a plum.
When I was with Millie, I didn't think about that.
And when you were with Frank? Well, now that was a different story.
That's the summer I fell in love with Millie and the summer I discovered who I was.
Help me.
Oh, Cottontail.
Did you think I was coming to save you? Remember, now, you said the next one's mine.
Frank showed me a whole new world.
And it was as dark as Millie's was light.
I could have gone on like that forever spending my days with Millie, my nights with Frank.
I had everything I wanted.
It was Frank who said I had to choose.
When I couldn't, I guess he chose for me.
No! Help me! Help me! Help me! No, stop! Please, no! Stop, please! Millie swore she wouldn't tell.
She just wanted to live.
In that moment, she'd promise me anything.
But I knew she was lying.
I couldn't stand her staring at me like that begging pleading.
Those pretty eyes of hers were almost enough to sweet-talk me out of it.
Almost.
You didn't take out her eyes? No, ma'am.
But I never gave another girl a chance to change my mind.
You're never gonna find Millie, never.
You okay there, Cottontail? Get away from me.
Get away! Hey.
- You all right? - Never better.
I think I know where Millie is.
Roven wanted to remember her when she was happy.
He told me it was a lovely spot.
It's where they met.
It looks like it's gonna be a long day.
The ground's frozen in places, and after 30 years of soil displacement, moisture, decomposition Don't get my hopes up.
I've got it.
I just, uh wanted to check in on you.
Thanks.
You weren't kidding about the abyss.
What those women went through I know it wasn't happening in the moment, and there's nothing I could do to save them.
I just wanted to look away, shut my eyes.
But Millie she came to me, and she asked for my help, so I forced myself to watch when he killed her.
She was just so scared.
And even though she couldn't see me, I guess I was hoping that the universe would somehow find a way to connect us so that in that moment she'd know she wasn't alone.
- It sounds crazy.
- It doesn't.
You did a great thing.
GPR's hit on something about 30 feet from the gazebo, down by the trees, but it's getting dark.
We're gonna have to come back in the morning.
I guess Millie's waited this long, so I'll see what we can do.
I got something! We came as soon as we got your call.
Is she here? Did did you find her? She's here.
That's hers.
That's Millie's.
Do you know who did this? We believe the man was executed many years ago.
We can talk about it when you're ready.
Thank you for bringing our little girl home.
This way, please.
Someone, somewhere Somewhere, somewhere in summertime Someone, somewhere, someone, somewhere In summertime Somewhere, somewhere In summertime Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere In summertime In summer All C Block inmates prepare for yard detail.
Mr.
Waterman.
Detective Hackett.
This is a surprise.
I hear you're pleading insanity.
The big defense lawyers were lining up to work for me pro bono.
It's a headline-grabbing case, they say.
Apparently I have PTSD from witnessing Ed Roven kill my mother.
And that drove you to kill? Allegedly.
Did you ever see Ed Roven after that night? Did you ever hear his voice? At the trial.
What about after he was executed? That's an odd question.
How would I be able to see and hear a dead man? I've heard of things like that.
The way you murdered Shannon Bell, it was very similar to Ed Roven's work.
Beyond copycat, really.
It's almost like he's whispering in your ear, telling you what to do.
That's crazy.
Are we done? Yeah, we're done.
I'll see you at court.
I'll be testifying for the prosecution.
Come on.
Tell you what, son it might be about time we bust you out of here.