Cold Case s01e19 Episode Script

November 3, 1992 It's fun, right? It's better than watching frat guys playing beer pong.
You get credit for working on the campaign? Oh yeah, but I'd do it anyway.
Does it bother you that he's such a womanizer? He's not gonna do that in the White House.
Who's the face? He's David Lake.
He runs our campaign office.
That his girlfriend? Sister.
Vanessa, that drunk they threw out, is he with you? - I'm not with him any.
.
- Cuz that was embarrassing.
I know, I'm sorry.
It wasn't her fault, Abbey.
David, we never got to talk.
Uh, later.
I promise.
Well, him, I'd vote for.
They're saying he's the future of the party.
It's loud in here.
You wanna walk outside? Hey.
What took you so long? Had to doll up.
Vera got lucky.
I'm on the up desk all night, eight minutes to go on the shift and this guy's gotta buy it.
Darren Clemen, two in the head.
- Up close.
- Any witnesses? They heard it, but they didn't see it.
Working cold jobs, you almost forget how much blood there is.
It does seem extra gory.
I'm assuming there's a good reason we got dragged down here? Inside.
The guy didn't believe in house work.
Looks like some kind of shrine.
Or a trophy case.
About the death of Vanessa Prosser.
Who's that? Murder victim, 1992.
Never found her killer.
Never say never.
Cold Case ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON CBS: 2004/04/04 Vanessa Prosser was a college senior working on the local Clinton campaign.
Went to election party on November, 3rd, 1992.
Washed up on the bank of the Delaware the next morning with a broken neck.
Republicans thought they had a bad night Best guess is she was tossed from the Ben Franklin bridge.
It could've been a fall.
Bruising under her arms.
Dragged and dumped.
A letter was found in her pocket.
Signature and most of the prints were washed away, but few words are readable.
Been afraid.
.
Wanting to.
.
Feelings for you An admirer.
With good penmanship.
Lead suspect was Aaron Dutra, Vanessa's ex, an ROTC Penn-grad just gotten back from the Gulf War.
He got thrown out of the party that night.
Case against him didn't stick, though.
Hmm, among other things, bad penmanship.
We think the letter came from Clemen, this new victim.
He had a kind of an obssession with her.
What else do we know about this guy? No record, no warrants.
Name's clean.
Can't say the same for his house.
Neighbor said the wife died three years ago.
He turned into a hermit, let the place go.
And the relationship between him and the Prosser girl? No connections, yet, but he did have some of her personal items.
Receipts, school papers, journal entries.
Maybe he was stalking her.
But how'd he get her stuff? Walter Spar was assigned to this case.
Will, do you know where he is? Maybe the shore, I'll find him.
Let's see if Vanessa's parents know who Clemen was to her.
No.
I don't know him.
Who is he? His name is Darren Clemen.
He was killed last night.
Killed? What's this got to do with Vanessa? We were hoping you could tell us.
She was living at home, right? Yes, she was trying to save money.
She wanted to spend the summer in Washington.
This man had some of Vanessa's things at his house.
Well, I don't understand how that could be.
One theory is Vanessa was involved with this guy.
But, he looks like he's twice her age.
Though that might explain something.
Few weeks before Vanessa died, we were making dinner.
George Bush is a war hero.
He doesn't know what a grocery scanner is.
Well, I, for one, like that Hillary Clinton.
I liked her headbands, and I don't know why she had to change it.
Dad, you have to vote for Clinton.
I need a job next year.
And never mind the Jennifer Flowers tapes.
Jennifer Flowers is a skank.
That's one thing we can agree on.
Ahem.
For Vanessa.
Aaron? Still thinks he's in the game, huh? - No, not from Aaron.
- Oh? Who from? It's just a thank-you from the campaign.
Oh, oh, apply pressure.
Here.
Direct pressure, come on.
Hold it.
Grab it, honey.
Hurry up, hurry up.
Here we go.
Keep pressing.
And then we got distracted when she cut herself.
Her blood didn't clot properly.
So you never found out who sent the flowers? No.
This says you didn't realize that Vanessa was missing till the next day.
We figured she'd gone back to her friend's place on campus, Beth Reardon.
She drove that night.
You build all these? I just design them.
I'm an architect, not the contractor.
I've never seen him before.
Who is he? Maybe someone Vanessa was involved with.
I doubt that.
You have better candidate? I thought she had something going on, but she was being secretive.
Anyone else who might know who Vanessa was seeing? Ask Aaron Dutra.
He was all but stalking her at the time.
Her old boyfriend? She broke up with him, but he wasn't taking no for an answer.
You see him at the party that night? He was hard to miss.
I couldn't vote for Clinton, I was too jealous of the Gore girls.
Gore is crazy.
He kept dropping out of the race.
- I liked Stockdale in the debate.
- Vanessa.
Why are you here? You were supposed to wait, V.
You're drunk.
Shut up.
Aaron, it's over.
I told you this.
I saw you with him today.
You're following me? I saw him touch you, like you're his.
.
Stop.
Where is he? / Aaron.
Where is he? I know he's here.
Aaron.
Sleep it off.
Cops had asked me about him the first time around.
He was an idiot, but not a killer.
You and Aaron ever compare notes on who this other guy might have been? Aaron and I never compared anything.
He got sick after that.
Sick? I heard it was Gulf War Syndrome.
Sounds like Vanessa's ex saw her with the new admirer the day she died.
You've gone to him? He was too sick to see us today.
We'll go back tomorrow.
That was Walter's partner.
He remembers the Prosser case? Remembers Darren Clemen, too.
Said he started coming around few years back, had a bunch of theories on how the girl died.
What, he came with here with theories? Thought it was some kind of political conspiracy.
So, he was trying to solve her murder.
Why was he interested in Vanessa? We still don't have a connection.
Maybe we do.
Remember all the blood at the Clemen scene? The autopsy explained it, he was a hemophilliac.
Like Vanessa.
Wait, it's hereditary? Coroner says yes.
Females are just carriers, but some show symptoms.
Blood relation.
Vanessa was Darren Clemen's daughter? Yes, he was Vanessa's father.
It wasn't even an affair.
It was just one night.
You were already married? Darren was my high school sweetheart.
We had our ten year reunion.
His pals had a suite upstairs.
Old time's sake? Stupid, very stupid.
My husband doesn't know and neither did Vanessa.
Did Darren keep in touch? No.
No, we agreed on that.
We had separate lives till three years ago.
When he started looking into Vanessa's death? His wife had died.
Said he was trying to fill the void.
Any idea who he suspected? No.
I let him look through Vanessa's things and then I asked him not to come back.
I had just lost my daughter.
I couldn't risk losing my husband, too.
If Clemen was looking into Vanessa's murder and got too close to the truth, that could explain his death, too.
So we're thinking one doer for both murders.
We gotta find out what Clemen knew.
Who he was after.
Where you been, Scotty? Charming the pants off for a 90-year-old historian who works for the DNC.
You get the photo? Everyone on the regional campaign in '92, taken at the day of the election.
Vanessa's ex came to the party looking for her new guy.
Maybe the new guy's here.
Who's Kite with? I don't know.
- I heard you and him were.
.
- Yeah, I don't know.
Let's go see if Aaron's feeling better.
Whatever it is, I was here watching TV.
It's about Vanessa Prosser.
Of course, it is.
The night of her murder, you showed up at the election party pretty upset.
Look at your records.
I've had this conversation a hundred times already.
Let's make it hundred and one.
It was the turkey talking, burbon.
I've been drinking all day.
Can you turn off the cooking show? Before I went to the Gulf, Vanessa and I got engaged.
When I got back, she was supposed to be waiting for me.
And instead she found someone new? Could you ID her new boyfriend from a picture? Him.
Glasses, front.
You're sure? Thanks.
Hi.
Thank you very much.
I voted, did you? / Yeah.
You know, I consider myself a reasonably smart guy, - but those ballots are confusing.
- I know.
What happens if you don't knock out little square all the way? Who knows? David Lake.
I know that name.
Abbey Lake.
Congressman's chief of staff.
Detectives Rush and Valens.
Sister, not wife.
Everyone makes that mistake.
We're here to talk to David.
Oh, sorry, he's in Washington.
Maybe I can help? We're looking into an old homicide.
Vanessa Prosser? That was awful.
She was a really nice girl.
We heard she and your brother might have been involved.
Her and David? No.
You sure? A lot of girls in the campaign were charmed by David.
It's the story of his life.
Occupational hazard.
Vanessa was a lot like the other girls.
That's all.
Ready? Are we in a hurry? We have a conference call in an hour.
That's right.
We'll see you at the party? - David, I have something I want to - The polls close in four hours.
We need you on the phones.
Final push.
You'll see him tonight, Vanessa.
She was sweet, but young, naive.
Starstruck? David's only human.
He gets flattered.
Part of my job was and is keeping him focused.
Still, we'd like to talk to your brother.
Soon as he's back in town.
I'm here at the local Democratic election party where hundreds of volunteers have helped Bill Clinton Abbey Lake, David's sister.
And the future congressman himself.
No Vanessa, though.
Could be out of frame.
Could be dead.
We think Lake had a relationship with Vanessa? His sister says no.
Well, we'll see if his handwriting matches that letter found on her body.
Be delicate, Scotty.
He runs to his friends in the mayor's office, I'm the one who gets the call.
What else do we know about him? Been in Washington since 1992, elected to Congress two years ago.
Went to Princeton, Columbia Law.
Raised up north in Redding.
Redding? Yeah.
My victim made a couple calls to Redding the day he got shot.
Clemen did? Yeah.
To a guy named Marvin Dobie.
Marvin Dobie? Philadelphia Homicide.
Yeah, so? Hey, nice.
Custom job.
Bamboo rod, tail water reel.
Expensive hobby.
Convictions for fraud, forgery, bad checks.
Which of those hobbies got you that rod? What do you want from me? You know a guy named Darren Clemen? Nah.
Really? He called you last week.
Well, maybe he got a wrong number.
Talk to wrong numbers for six minutes? Maybe I got lonely.
Clemen got killed later that day.
You know anything about that? Dead, whoa.
Know him now? How about her? Name's Vanessa Prosser.
Sorry, anyone else? How about Congressman David Lake? Yeah, I'll have him, he's from the neighborhood.
You friendly? I wouldn't say that.
Look, I gotta get to the scrap yard.
This your writing? No, man.
That's the architect.
They all write like that.
Old set of blueprints from Dobie.
Check on the print.
Here's the letter from Vanessa's pocket.
Compare this two.
Dobie's architect wrote Vanessa a love letter? - They almost match.
- Almost.
This is called lettering.
You look at any set of plans, it basically looks like this.
All architects print this way for clarity.
So, it's hard to tell one from the next.
And we only got one architect in this investigation.
Beth Reardon.
Where did you find this? It was in Vanessa's pocket.
It's your writing, isn't it? I guess I was kind of in love with her.
It's my fault she died.
Why do you say that? We went outside.
I knew something was bothering her.
Don't worry about Aaron.
He'll regret it all in the morning.
I'm not.
Then what are you worried about? You're not telling me something.
You ever wish you could just go backwards and unlearn something? Like? I just want things to be simple.
But they're a mess.
Tell me what you mean.
I can't.
Beth.
/ I'm sorry.
I don't know what to say.
Don't say anything.
Just read.
I was awry that night.
If I hadn't left, maybe she'd still be alive.
You told the first detectives you were at home the rest of the night.
Passed out on my bathroom floor.
So no alibi, then? That's my alibi.
That's where I was.
How about this past Thursday night? I was in the ER.
My son had an asthma attack.
Did Vanessa ever mention the name Marvin Dobie? Ex-con from Redding.
No bells? Redding.
Um, she took a bus to Redding, a few days before the election.
She say why? I heard her on the phone checking schedules.
When I asked her about about it, she changed the subject.
Darren Clemen calls Dobie in Redding, ends up dead.
Vanessa goes to Redding.
.
Probably to contact Dobie.
Same ending.
All roads lead to Redding.
Congressman's hometown.
Believe me, I understand the need for low income housing.
I come from humble beginnings, and if it were up to me, we'd break ground tomorrow.
But we just simply don't have the resources.
Me siento mucho.
He just told them he sets down a lot.
Gracias, gracias.
Thank you for coming.
How are you? Vanessa and I worked on the campaign together.
That all you did together? We hear you may have been more than co-workers.
Excuse me, just had lasik.
Put it off as long as I could.
Contacts never seem to fit right.
This a fillibuster, Congressman? Okay.
Vanessa and I were involved.
But you kept it quiet.
Well, I didn't want more than one people in the campaign to know.
And after Vanessa died? My coming forward wouldn't have helped.
Wouldn't helped you.
I had no information.
And I was concerned about being associated with an event like that.
Even though it was your girlfriend that got killed? She wasn't though.
We broke things off that night.
You been avoiding me? No, I think you have that reversed.
Where's your friend? She went home.
And the ex-boyfriend? Don't know.
Don't care.
V, I've been offered a position in Washington.
That's great.
/ Yeah.
That's what you wanted.
Thing is, it wouldn't make sense for us to make this long distance.
I thought the idea was that we were gonna go to Washington together, not break up.
Things have a way of turning on a dime in this business.
Is it because of Abbey? What did Abbey have to do with it? She was always worried about loose ends with the girls I dated.
You ever get back to your humble beginnings in Redding? Not really, no time.
Cuz Vanessa did.
Yeah, went to see a guy named Marvin Dobie.
I don't know the name.
Says he lived in your neighborhood.
I pride myself on my ability to remember people.
Thanks for being frank with us.
If there's one thing I learned from Bill Clinton, never lie about that sort of thing.
Maybe he didn't lie about Vanessa.
He lied about Dobie.
You found a connection? Yeah, pulled the forms to see who posted bail on Dobie's arrest.
Fraud, '77.
by Linda Savis.
Who's that? Got her own record for prostitution, but only once under that name.
In her married year, she was known as.
.
Linda Lake.
Mother of David and Abbey.
What did she had to do with Dobie? Shared an address for an year.
Probably a boyfriend.
So Dobie didn't live in the same neighborhood with David Lake.
He lived in the same house.
And Lake can't place the name.
Which is doubly curious considering the checks he's been writing.
Marvin Dobie has been getting payments from a trust since the late eighties, a trust set up by David Lake.
Had the congressman giving Dobie a financial support? But what is Dobie giving him? You said you didn't know Darren Clemen.
Or Vanessa Prosser.
We think you did though and now they're both dead.
Not cuz of me.
Cuz of something you know then? You also lied about Congressman Lake.
Not only did you know him, you lived in his house when he was a teenager.
I ain't talking about Lake.
Don't want them checks to stop coming.
Someone's going away for this girl's murder.
Comes down to you or Lake, who do you think gets the benefit of the doubt? The congressman or the ex-con? Lake has resources, lawyers, status.
What have you got? Self respect.
That's more than he can say.
You tell me I don't get rung up on some extortion rap.
And I tell you what you wanna know.
I think we can sell that to the D.
A.
Clemen called me up.
Said he found my name in this girl's stuff.
How that happened, I don't know.
Okay.
Asked what I knew about her getting killed.
What'd you tell him? Nothing to tell.
I didn't know she was dead.
I met her that one time.
That's all I knew of her.
So Vanessa did visit you in '92.
I don't know how she found me.
She just showed up at my door, out of the blue.
Why does David Lake send you money? David who, darling? Look, I'm not looking for trouble.
I just.
.
I just wanna know why.
I don't know what you're talking about.
He writes you checks.
I've seen them.
Are you some kind of a reporter? No.
I'm a friend.
You go home, little girl.
Buy yourself some shoes, take your mind off of things.
I don't know what you're doing, but I know enough to call the police.
Why don't you just ask David? I did.
He won't tell me anything.
You aren't just a friend of his, aren't you? God, I almost feel bad for you.
Why did you feel bad for her? She was in over her head.
See, David and his sister Abbey, they were more than friends, too.
Brother and sister.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dobie caught them a few times while he was living with them.
He have proof? What, like pictures? Yeah.
/ No, no pictures.
But David and Abbey were worried enough to be paying him off for past 20 years.
Man, I voted for this guy.
Dobie told Vanessa Prosser about it.
We think she went and confronted the happy couple.
And got killed for it.
And last week, Dobie called the congressman to report that Darren Clemen was sniffing around.
Few hours later, Clemen ends up with two in the head.
But Lake was in D.
C.
that day.
Dobie says Abbey took the call.
So you think Abbey did both jobs.
When it comes to her brother, Abbey takes care of everything.
Dobie's got a sheet like a war and peace, Kite.
Maybe he can be compelled to testify.
Hearsay from a repeat felon won't buy you much.
You wanna get our murder? You gotta get her to talk.
I didn't kill anyone.
What would give you an idea like that? Not what, who.
Acquaintance of yours.
Kind of an in-law actually.
Marvin Dobie.
What rock did he crawl out from under? You should know.
You paid for it.
Hush money couldn't keep him quiet though.
Your own brother, Abbey? My own brother what? When it gets out David Lake took advantage of his sister when they were teenagers.
That'll finish him.
Do you have any idea how that sounds? I know how it's gonna read.
- National Enquirer, Star.
- The jit papers, too.
Now, they'll stop the presses for this one.
That would be slander, we'd sue you.
By that time, everyone will know.
Canon, ring a bell? That charming brother of yours won't have a career left.
Maybe that's what Abbey wants.
To have her favorite guy all to herself.
That's why you killed Vanessa, isn't it? What do you say, Abbey? We call up the gossip rags or you start spilling.
Okay.
I need assurances.
What kind? You keep certain things out of the press.
They'll come out at trial.
Not if I plead guilty.
David didn't take advantage of me, I was older.
It was me.
And Vanessa found this out? She should've minded her own business.
Adams Morgan.
How about Georgetown? It'd be so great if we could work at the White House.
Assuming Clinton wins.
We could get an apartment together.
Dog? Cat.
Both.
I wanna go to every museum on the mall.
It's easy train trip back to Philly.
It would be great, V.
Abbey.
/ Hi.
Sorry, it's late, I know.
How long have you been standing there? What do you mean? I just got here.
I need you to sign some checks.
That's his new number.
Forget it, we can't let him keep raising the amount.
You want a future in the public eye, you pay him.
Then we get a girl curious.
If I'd been more successful at deflecting her, I wouldn't have had to do what I did.
Which was? I sent her down the stairs to the hotel parking garage, then dumped her from the bridge.
All for David's brilliant career? I owed him for what I did when we were young.
And David agreed to sweep the sound of the rug? He doesn't know anything.
What about Clemen? Doesn't know about him either.
You admit to shooting him? Two shots.
He was as close as you are right now.
That was your .
38? IT was a .
25.
You can find it in my apartment.
Hey, we got a gun.
Ballistics will test fire and compare but she looks good for it.
Well, that'll make the bosses happy.
Better her than the congressman.
You were getting nervous upstairs, huh? Can I show you something? He ain't wearing his glasses.
So? / So, where'd they go? I lose mine three times a day, Scotty.
You're not blind without them.
Lake said he had 2400 vision.
What's your theory? Maybe lost them in a struggle.
Abbey's taking the fall.
In her twisted devotion to David, she figures better to let him go on doing all his good, she'll sit in jail.
- That's a little thin.
- It makes sense.
Scotty, we got nothing on him.
- I know he did it.
- But we can't make the case.
Sooner or later, Scotty, one's gonna get by you.
Happens to us all.
I wanna go see Lake one more time.
I don't know who Darren Clemen is.
He's Vanessa's real father.
He was looking into her death.
Which means he was looking into you.
You think I killed Vanessa? Leaning there.
Except, your sister says she did it.
She said that? Made a deal.
Copped to both murders in exchange, we don't leak your dirty little secret.
I have to call Abbey.
Without your help, she's looking at life.
How can I help? Tell us what happened to Vanessa.
I don't know.
You know.
Excuse me.
I don't have anything more to say.
He almost sweat in there.
You know that call Stillman didn't want to get from the brass? He got it.
We have to leave Lake alone.
Commissioner's orders.
Hey.
Heard you went back at the congressman.
Yeah.
Till the bosses shut us down.
Got a pretty good case against the sister.
Yeah, it must be nice having a different set of rules.
Saw you with that new A.
D.
A.
Julie? / Yeah.
Julie.
Actually, I'm on my way to meet her now.
Have fun.
Rush, Rush.
I'll cut her loose right now if it's just you and me, but I haven't heard that from you.
- So until you've decided that - Okay, okay.
Okay what? Just you and me.
Then, I'll go meet her right now.
Be polite for now and tell her that I'm otherwise engaged.
Okay.
Okay.
Congressman.
You're not allowed to be here.
Off duty.
Just two guys talking.
I don't think so.
Your life's pretty important, huh? Everyone's life is important.
Not Vanessa's apparently.
Or Abbey's.
What kind of man lets his sister take his bullet? You don't know about Abbey and me.
I know more than I want to know.
We had a hard upbringing.
Yeah, humble beginnings.
It was a lot worse than humble.
It made us very close.
I can't make you understand.
I don't need to understand that.
I just want the truth about Vanessa, how she died.
You got a law degree, right.
You know about Miranda.
Yeah.
/ Well, I haven't Mirandized you, so anything you tell me right now, I can't use it in court.
You're protected.
And we can have a conversation.
About what? / The truth.
Why would you wanna know something you could do nothing about? That's for me to know.
What you need to know is I ain't leaving till you tell me.
I thought that she had left the party.
I never expected to see her again.
Vanessa, what are you doing here? I went to Redding this weekend.
I met Marvin Dobie.
Why would you do that? I just wanted to know what was coming between us.
What did he say? It doesn't matter.
What did he say? He told me.
About you and Abbey.
It's all right.
Vanessa, we can't.
I can't.
We can.
We can be together.
You just have to look forward and not back.
I love you.
I can't.
V.
Oh god, Vanessa.
Abbey.
Abbey, I screwed up.
~~ Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue ~~ ~~ Thought I heard you talking softly.
~~ ~~ I turned on the lights, the tv and the radio ~~ ~~ Still I can¡¯t escape the ghost of you ~~ ~~ What has happened to it all? ~~ ~~ Crazy, some¡¯d say, ~~ ~~ Where is the life that I recognize? ~~ ~~ Gone away ~~ ~~ But I won¡¯t cry for yesterday, ~~ ~~ there¡¯s an ordinary world, ~~ ~~ Somehow I have to find.
~~ ~~ And as I try to make my way, to the ordinary world ~~ ~~ I will learn to survive.
~~ ~~ Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say ~~ ~~ Pride will tear us both apart ~~ ~~ Well now pride¡¯s gone out the window cross the rooftops, run away, ~~ ~~ Left me in the vacuum of my heart.
~~ ~~ What is happening to me? ~~ ~~ Crazy, some¡¯d say, ~~ ~~ Where is my friend when I need you most? ~~ ~~ Gone away ~~ ~~ But I won¡¯t cry for yesterday, there¡¯s an ordinary world, ~~ ~~ Somehow I have to find.
~~