Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) s02e02 Episode Script
Bright Boy
In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.
These are their stories.
So what did you do this week for fun? Did you know that the word "fun" can be found in over 14 languages, and its meaning changes every time? I was thinking about good old American fun.
What's fun for me isn't always fun for my dad.
You mean like what we did Saturday? Robbie, I'm sure at the school you'll be able to do more of the things you like to do.
Here's your father.
Kim? The stuff we talked about today, I'd like to be the one to tell him, okay? Sorry I'm late.
- How did it go? - We had a good talk.
Will you be there tomorrow? Probably not.
Good luck.
Thank you.
- Hello? - Hi, Kim.
Oh, hi.
Listen, I just got out of a press conference.
Got a message Jim Hardy canceled tonight.
So here I am with nobody to eat dinner with.
What about your wife? Doesn't she eat? I thought you social workers were morally ambivalent about marriage.
Not this social worker.
If you just want to talk about budget cuts in my department, that'd be fine.
Fair enough.
I'll pick you up from work.
Watch the news tonight.
They promised me 15 seconds.
There are two kids aged four and six and two adults.
Meth heads.
Let's go.
- Dad! Where are they taking us? - What's happening? Oh, God! / Get your hands off of me! - Please! - Timmy! They're my babies.
Please bring them back.
/ Dad? Timmy! / You bitch! Give them back to me! Now, come on.
Stand back.
Timmy! Fight back, man! Bite her on the hand! You'll get them back when you can take care of them.
Mommy and Daddy love you! Of course not.
It's one of the Mayor's pet projects.
Will cutbacks mean more potholes and bigger piles of garbage? Next you're gonna ask me when I stopped beating my wife.
Look, it's up to the maintenance crews and the sanitation workers.
Everyone is gonna have to work harder for less money.
The Mayor is in conference with his workers right now.
We're planning on having a meeting very soon.
I bet you've never seen the inside of a Deputy Mayor's apartment.
It's got a sterile efficiency some women find irresistible.
- Bill.
- Okay, okay.
And just in case you weren't paying attention when I was talking about our budget problems, I'll send you a memo.
Don't worry, it's all in here.
Oh, wait.
If you won't sleep with me, can you buy me a paper? Somebody might recognize me if I get out of the car.
I just want to see what they have on the press conference.
Let this be my farewell gift to you.
Red Sox are holding on to a 2-0 lead over the Yankees Hello.
Hi, baby.
I just got out of the restaurant.
I'm saying goodbye to Jim Hardy.
I'll call you right back.
Bye.
That wasn't so bad, was it? Mmm-hmm.
Hey! Get away from her! Leave her alone! Help! Help! We're being mugged! Help! Law & Order CI What we got is everybody heard the gunshot but nobody saw anything.
Any idea what Webster was doing here? Mrs.
Webster said she talked to him on his cell phone just before he got killed.
He told her he was just finishing dinner with Jim Hardy from the Sanitation Workers Union.
What does Mr.
Hardy say? Well, he told us he canceled his dinner with Mr.
Webster that afternoon and spent the evening at home with Mrs.
Hardy.
Looks like Webster had a passenger, sat close to him, wore a purple cashmere sweater.
Tight-fitting size 2 with a plunging neckline.
Hmm.
That I can't tell from this.
I can tell from the bull he was feeding his wife.
The window was rolled down.
He was reaching over when he was shot.
Maybe reaching for this.
He had someone get him a paper? Maybe we can find partial prints on the quarters.
No quarters.
None in here.
Same story here.
We must be in a low-readership neighborhood.
Quarters.
Two that got away.
Hey! Hey! How you doing? Hey, let me give you a hand.
Ready.
One, two, three, up! There they are.
Look at that! It's a gold mine! Let me give you a hand.
Hey, you know what? I have two quarters that you missed from the boxes on 12th Street.
We're gonna owe the Ledger some money.
You were on 12th Street last night? Who said that? Oh, they're your boxes on 12th Street? Your boxes, your quarters.
Yeah.
Did you see anybody buy a paper from those boxes? Yeah.
A woman in a In a black car.
She had a fuzzy sweater.
We'll need you to help us make a picture of this lady.
You stay put.
We'll get somebody to take you to our office.
Webster had a woman in the car with him.
She bought him a newspaper and disappeared.
We'll say she's a potential witness and leave it at that.
What else? Webster had enemies.
City workers, union leaders.
We're checking everybody's whereabouts last night.
Anybody asks, we're treating this as ordinary street crime.
This is Webster's cell phone records for yesterday.
He called the Administration for Child Services mid-afternoon.
The witness might work in the city's social services.
Yes, hello.
Beg your pardon? All right, her private line.
Is Ms.
Stevens in? When? No, that's all right.
Thank you very much.
Found her.
We ID'd her off her prints.
City has them on file.
Manual strangulation.
Mmm-hmm.
But the ME thinks she was knocked out first.
Do you have her clothes? Cashmere.
What year was Webster's car? - '99.
- It's got a new car smell.
Make sure you mention that to the lab.
- Any purse? - No.
She was found uptown? Wrapped in a blanket.
In a shopping cart, under the FDR at 136th Street.
Rumor has it you have a suspect in custody.
Yeah.
It wasn't me, man.
I'm just the wrong guy.
In the wrong place at the wrong time.
People saw you when she took your kids.
You were angry.
You were angry when you went down to the ACS, angry when you jumped her outside her apartment / No, no.
angry when you strangled her and drove off with her body.
Okay.
You know what? Okay.
What difference does it make? You want to think I did it, fine, go ahead, I don't care.
What difference does it make? Adolph.
When's the last time you had something to eat? I only eat candy.
You want to tell us what you did last night? Well, me and Joanie were upset 'cause, you know, we miss the kids.
So we scored, you know, and just chilled out watching TV.
Here.
It's easier when your fingernails are not so short.
Yeah.
You usually keep your pinky nails long? Yeah.
That's for your ears, right? I got this condition.
Oily ears.
It's like I got bugs in there.
Well, why are your fingernails cut so short now? The other guys did it.
The other cops, they did it.
They cut it for They said it's for evidence.
I smell square one up ahead.
Kulik's long pinky nails would've left deep marks on the girl's neck if he'd strangled her.
These marks were made by someone with neat clipped nails.
Somebody who knew Stevens had a history with Kulik and tried to frame him.
I'll go break the bad news to the boys upstairs.
Now, there is good news.
Since her body was moved, it shows that the Deputy Mayor wasn't the primary target.
Office of Kim Stevens Department of Children's Services Tuesday, May 8 Any other parents threaten her? No.
She had an excellent track record of reuniting families.
She has notations in here.
"Subject looks forward to intellectual challenges.
"Emotional maturity beyond his years.
"Sheltered home life.
"Unsuited for college environment.
" It reads like evaluations for college admissions.
If she was doing anything like that, it was on her own time.
Any names to go with the notes? No, just serial numbers.
"Subject interacts well with college-age adults.
"Subject has practical concerns.
He worries "He worries that he's too short to use bathroom facilities.
" These subjects are little kids.
Little kids being considered for college admissions.
Geniuses.
There can't be that many places in town that give mortarboards to baby Einsteins.
Robbie, I need to speak with your father for a moment.
I've just had some shocking news about Ms.
Stevens which has forced us to adjust our normal admissions procedures.
Based on Robbie's tests and everything, we would like to offer him a place at the school.
Congratulations.
- You've been accepted.
- I have? You made it, Robbie.
You did it.
Since our students are much younger than the college kids they'll be attending classes with, the university requires that we make sure that they're emotionally equipped to handle the social and academic pressures.
Why hire a city social worker to do the evaluations? Well, Kim volunteered.
She was an alumnus of Metcalf University, with degrees in social work and psychology.
How many children are up for admission? Eight, for six openings for the summer semester.
Had Ms.
Stevens turned in her evaluation on them? No.
She was going to on Thursday when we made our final selection.
Last Thursday, the day after she was killed.
How did you choose the winners without Ms.
Stevens' evaluations? We relied solely on the other criteria, IQ scores, SAT's.
Please, you're going to disturb the children.
Are they working on that problem on the board? Yes.
This is a special math tutorial.
Really? These little kids are gonna solve that? These are profoundly gifted children.
You'll have to forgive my partner, Dr.
Leonard.
He's feeling very humble right now.
The competition to get into your program must be fierce.
- I hope you're not suggesting that - We are.
Of the six kids that you admitted, how many of them are on the bubble as far as Ms.
Stevens' evaluations are concerned? Well, as I told you, we never got her final evaluations.
But there was one student I thought might've been, as you say, on the bubble.
Home of Charlie Rasmussen Queens, New York Thursday, May 10 We thought Dr.
Leonard's program would help Charlie re-focus his goals.
But it became apparent after a few days that Charlie's goals didn't need re-focusing.
Charlie doesn't have to be a math genius, you know.
He can be a musical prodigy.
Not to mention, you think the math chicks look anything like Jennifer Connelly? No way, hombre.
Besides, the hot babes go for musicians.
You see the problem.
Music is my life, Mom.
Did Ms.
Stevens give you any hint that there might be a problem with your son? No.
But we knew going in it wouldn't be easy.
I told Kim I just wanted off that baby-genius track.
Track.
You make it sound like it's a race.
Oh, it's totally cut-throat at our level.
We all know we'll all be competing for the prizes and the research money.
Do you know any of the other students that applied to Dr.
Leonard's program? Oh, sure.
Except for the new guy, we've all been together in math camps since we came out of the test tube.
Charlie knows very well he wasn't conceived in a test tube.
So who was this new kid? Robbie something.
I don't know.
Leonard treats him like he's another John Nash.
She just leaves him alone and lets him doodle.
His father told me he's been home-schooled since kindergarten.
Do you know the other parents well? Pretty well.
We spend a lot of time commiserating.
You have no idea what a challenge it is parenting a gifted child.
This math equation.
I saw it at the Institute on the board.
Oh, yeah.
It's the Riemann Hypothesis.
One of the Millennium Projects.
You solve it, you make a million bucks.
Leonard's pet project.
She wants one of her baby geniuses to solve it.
Can I keep this? Sure.
What do I need it for? Oh, he went to school for about five minutes until I saw what was happening to him.
Which was what? He was bored, he was so far ahead, and I thought, hell, I can do a better job than those klunkheads.
Klunkheads.
You think they were klunkheads, Robbie? Well, they were just trying their best.
But they didn't have enough training to teach someone like me.
Who helped you home-school him? Your wife? My wife died in an accident five years ago.
I came up with the curriculum.
It was just Robbie and me.
And you what, work nights? No.
I spend my nights with Robbie.
I'm on disability from work.
Tae kwon do? You used to compete? A long time ago.
But unless I was willing to do it on a national level, it wasn't worth it.
Auto racing, did you do that nationally? Regional, quarter mile.
Robbie remembers being in his mother's arms watching me race.
Let me guess, you were in a band.
Oh, that's all in the past.
Robbie, you want to show me your room? Now I devote myself full-time to my son's education.
/ Is that okay? Wednesday night, you remember where you were? Here.
Robbie was asleep.
- Do you own a car? - No.
Gun? Come on.
No, I don't own a gun.
Derek Jeter's rookie card, signed.
You must be a Yankee fan.
Yeah, baseball's a thinking man's game.
Do you know who managed the Yankees in the '80s? Who didn't manage the Yankees in the '80s? Billy Martin came back three times, Gene Michael came back twice, Bob Lemon, Yogi Berra, Clyde King, Lou Piniella, Dallas Green, Bucky Dent and Stump Merrill.
Wow.
Your dad take you to the games? No.
He says watching sports doesn't add any value to my education.
But I follow the stats on my computer.
But you play.
What position? Oh, no.
I don't have time.
How were your interviews with Kim Stevens? Oh, she was a nice person.
Did she tell you that you might not get into the program? No.
The Riemann Hypothesis.
You know what? This does not look fun.
My dad says that sometimes the way to solve a problem is to let your right brain work on it.
So that's what I'm doing.
I really like your drawings.
Hey, if you don't need them, - you think I can have them? - Sure.
Okay.
Catcher, that's what you play.
How did you know? It's the thinking man's position.
You really need a million bucks that bad? It's Robbie's calculations.
They contain symbols that aren't in the other kids' work, and they're not in any work done on the Riemann Hypothesis.
They don't belong there.
Well, he's 10 years old.
He made a mistake.
No.
There's no mistake.
This symbol.
Infinity.
This one.
It's Omega.
The end.
This one.
Theta.
Death.
Now Robbie wrote these in his calculations over and over again.
Infinity.
The end.
Death.
He's suicidal.
Kim Stevens found out.
She was going to keep him out of the program.
If Kim Stevens decided Robbie was psychologically unfit, his father might've found out.
Maybe he thought he could change her mind.
Webster got into the picture.
The dad panicked.
And killed two people just to get his child into an educational program? Dads kill over hockey.
Why not over education? Yes.
Especially this dad.
The rock star, martial arts expert, drag racing champion.
All attention-seeking careers, all of which he's failed at.
But if his son succeeds, the spotlight's back on him.
Have you confirmed that Ms.
Stevens diagnosed Robbie Bishop as unfit? The school won't release her files without the father's permission.
Fat chance of that.
Unless we could have him removed as guardian of his son's records.
We'd have to convince a judge there's probable cause to consider Mr.
Bishop a murder suspect.
The lab found a mixture of higher paraffins imprinted on the back of her sweater.
The substance is a preservative, Cosmoline, used on new cars shipped from overseas.
It's shaped like a flashing around a car window.
Bishop pushed her up against his car.
Bishop doesn't have a car.
We checked.
Do we have Bishop's employment history? He worked in the Stevedores Union.
Worked for Autotrain Freight Forwarders.
Still works there a couple of days a month.
Taking cars off boats, putting them on trains.
Wouldn't be too tough to borrow one of those cars for the night.
You match the imprint on the sweater to a model of car in that shipyard, that should be enough probable cause to satisfy a judge.
Enough for a search warrant, too? I want everything catalogued and returned, you understand? You got some balls coming between me and my son.
I'm the only one here who's got his best interest at heart.
You're not concerned that your son might be suicidal? If Robbie was unhappy, he'd tell me.
You couldn't tell from all these personality tests? Those just measure social adjustment.
I have to make sure he's not getting overloaded.
I've always read that kids with high IQ's, they thrive on pressure.
They need it to help them develop.
There's nothing I hate more than discussing my child with a know-it-all.
Hmm.
Are you dyslexic? 'Cause you wrote down a phone number, then crossed it out and then re-wrote it in the right order.
I was tired, that's all.
Where's your partner? Where'd she go? My mom used to tell me stories at night before I went to sleep.
Now your dad reads to you.
Yes, until I fall asleep.
He never leaves me alone.
What about last Wednesday? Did he read to you? I just went to sleep.
I was pooped.
Robbie, the detectives have work to do.
Let's get out of their way.
Look what he showed me.
His aunt and uncle.
They live in western Mass.
He says he visits every chance he gets.
There he looks happy.
If he was there.
You see Robbie's face? The lighting and the shadows don't match the others.
He digitally put himself in this photo.
Looks like Stevens did a pretty thorough work-up on Robbie.
At least he had fun with her, she took him to the Bronx Zoo, to Little League in Prospect Park one Saturday.
Yeah.
To observe him with kids his own age.
She says here he's remarkably well-adjusted.
How could she miss this kid was miserable? Says here she gave him an MMPI.
Do you have it over there? Well, if you tell me what it is in plain English, I might be able to find it.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
It tests social adjustment.
I remember this.
We had to take it the last year of high school.
So did we.
How did you do? I had to go to my counselor's office and have a talk with the school shrink.
How about you? Me? I was so well adjusted, they elected me prom queen.
Well, Robbie's scores are off the chart, indicating a high level of adaptability and socialization.
Not the kid we saw.
His dad must have coached him.
He had all the personality tests, the literature.
Wasn't taking any chances.
Well, it worked.
She was recommending him for admission.
Then why would David Bishop get the idea that she wasn't? I have no idea how Mr.
Bishop could've gotten that impression.
I was never anything but absolutely positive about Robbie's joining our program.
I wanted him.
You told Mr.
Bishop that? That would've been impolitic.
I had to wait for Kim's evaluation.
I mean, what do those evaluations tell you, anyway? These kids are bound to be maladjusted.
They've never fit in anywhere.
But here, they're with their own kind.
You've created a safe haven for them.
I'd like to think so.
And if Robbie acts out, I mean, it's nothing you're gonna take too seriously.
That's right.
It was just a normal reaction to his special circumstances.
So he acted out, then.
That's not what I said.
You said his acting out was normal.
What did he do that you didn't take seriously? When he came for his first interview in my office, he fainted.
His father said he had the flu.
What did you think it was? Stress, obviously.
This was the most important interview of his young life.
Why wasn't this incident in Ms.
Stevens' file? Because I didn't tell her.
It was immaterial to his suitability.
Uh, you have classes seven days a week? The children only attend six days.
Saturdays for some, Sundays for others, depending upon their religious persuasion.
- Saturdays for Robbie? - Yes.
Did he know he'd have to go to school on Saturdays? Absolutely.
We make it clear when the children apply the level of commitment that we expect from them.
Would you like to go to a Little League game? I talked to Dr.
Leonard.
She doesn't think you're giving 100%.
But I'm doing the best I can.
Nothing is more important than your education.
- You know that, right? - I know.
I might not always be there to remind you.
Where are you going? Nowhere.
All I'm saying is I want you to concentrate harder.
You have your lunch? All right.
See you at 4:00.
I remember this kid from the tryout.
He knew a lot about baseball.
Did he show up by himself? No.
His mother was there, in the stands.
I remember.
He pointed her out to me.
Yeah, that's her.
These kids, they know that their games and practices are on Saturdays, right? Yeah.
We tell them at the tryout.
Thanks.
He knew if he got accepted into Leonard's program, he wouldn't be able to make the games.
But he signed up anyway, five days before Leonard made her picks.
Robbie must've been convinced he wouldn't be admitted.
Or else he was making sure he wouldn't be by lying to his father, telling him that Kim Stevens was giving him a negative evaluation.
Hoping like any normal 10-year-old his dad would then just forget about the school.
Not realizing that his dad is not like any normal 40-year-old.
If he really didn't wanna be in this program, why not just tell his father? Oh, and risk disappointing the only parent that he has left? It's much safer for him to lay the blame on Kim Stevens.
Her notes suggest they had a good relationship.
Couldn't he have confided in her? Well, maybe he tried to tell her in his own way.
The Greek symbols in his math equations.
Anything more overt might have put him in direct conflict with his dad.
When no one picked up on how depressed this poor kid was, lying was his only way out.
Now you need the truth from him, what he told his father, what he knows about his father's whereabouts the night of the killings, assuming you can talk to the boy without his father.
The only place Robbie's away from his dad is at the university.
We'd need Leonard's permission to talk to him there.
I imagine I could persuade her.
You want to subject a minor child to a police interrogation without his father being present or even notified? It wouldn't be an interrogation.
He's a witness, not a suspect.
I could be sued for allowing it! You could be charged if you don't.
That is ridiculous.
If I thought that there was abuse, I would do something about it.
Even if it meant losing Robbie Bishop as one of your students? Of course.
Yeah.
A profoundly gifted child who graduated high school at age seven? Who scored a perfect 800 on his math SAT's? Whose IQ was recorded at 246 on the Stanford-Binet scale? Who represents your only chance of one of your students solving a Millennium Prize problem? You would risk losing him over a little fainting spell? I should mention that while I investigate this abuse charge, I can shut down your institute.
Which, I'm sure, will generate a great deal of interest from the press.
Hey, Dad, I'm ready for school.
Good, great.
Let me just finish my coffee.
Your lunch is right there.
Colorado? We're going to Colorado? There's a special school.
They heard about you.
I don't know.
There was something else in the mail.
From the Little League.
It's okay, Robbie.
You're allowed a mistake every now and then.
Hey, Robbie.
Dr.
Leonard told me this is where you like to spend your lunch hour.
What are you doing up here? Nothing.
I I just wanna talk to you.
I don't wanna talk about my dad.
We don't have to.
We could talk about this.
I was wondering what you thought of Boston this year.
Boston? What, you don't like Boston? They're leading the league.
This week.
They choke every time they get a lead.
They didn't choke the last time they played the Yankees.
Four-zip.
Thanks to Jeter, he lost that game.
Jeter was safe at second.
With the bases loaded, they could've tied the game and gone into extra innings.
No way! Look, I Look, I saw that play on the news.
He was out by a mile.
I saw it happen.
He was safe.
Why, you You watched the game? Your dad was out that night? No, he was home.
Well, you said that your dad doesn't let you watch baseball.
Sometimes he does.
"No added value.
" That's That's what you said.
Come on, Robbie, tell me the truth.
Was your dad home? No.
Oh.
That was Wednesday night.
I think the night before you found out you were admitted here? You didn't think you were gonna get in, did you? You thought that you were gonna be playing baseball on Saturdays, instead of being stuck in here.
Look, I know that you tried to let people know how you felt about coming here.
They wouldn't see it.
You told your dad a fib? About Ms.
Stevens keeping you out of the program? You hate it in here.
You know how I know? You told me.
Yeah.
You've been thinking about these things a lot.
Maybe you thought about hurting yourself.
What is it about this place that makes you so unhappy? Is it the other kids? The teachers? Is it the work? The work is too hard? Can I see your book? Please? Has Dr.
Leonard seen this? No.
- Has your dad? - No.
Nobody knows? I just have to try harder.
You again.
What is it now? Now we're here for you.
I have to pick up my son from school in an hour.
We already have that covered.
You going somewhere? Colorado, maybe? I don't have to answer that.
Guess what? Wherever it is you're going, our squad room's on the way.
I hope you're not gonna keep me away from Robbie too long.
He's still adjusting to being away from home every day.
Robbie will be fine.
He's a remarkable kid.
I know that.
Who first noticed he was unique, you or your wife? My wife told me she thought he was bright.
But it was your idea to test him? Yes.
After she passed away? I owed it to her to help him live up to his potential.
He tested well.
He maxed out the scale.
The Stanford-Binet IQ scale.
Right.
And the Wechsler Scale.
He did that one when he was six.
And then he got that perfect score on his math SAT's.
That must've been pretty gratifying for you.
Because you were something of a math whiz yourself in high school.
Where did you hear that? Just from your old report cards.
They were among the papers that we took.
I did okay in high school.
You expect more from yourself than just okay.
I mean, if it weren't for the dyslexia, you would've been an "A" student.
Twenty-five years ago, they didn't know much about learning disabilities.
But you have the drive to succeed, and you found other ways to be recognized.
Like being a racecar driver or a rock star.
Or the father of a genius.
And that's where you put your best efforts.
Why not? I mean, that's what being a father is all about, making sure your kid gets the best.
Paid off.
David, we talked to Dr.
Leonard today.
And she thinks that he's done it.
- Done what? - The Riemann Hypothesis.
He's made a breakthrough and solved it.
What? Oh, my God, that's That's fantastic! I never dreamed that he'd be able to do it.
All our work, it was worth it! Here.
Have a look at his workbook.
What is this? This doesn't make sense.
You sure? Yeah, I'm sure.
I know enough about math to know this is What, gibberish? The work of a bright eighth grader wrestling with concepts beyond his comprehension? My son didn't do this.
Yes, he did.
This is what he does when you're not around.
When you're not there to help him.
No, no, not my kid.
You're not there to finish the Wechsler IQ test for him and work out the answers for the SAT's Robbie did those by himself.
The only one he did by himself is the Stanford-Binet and that's only after he memorized the manual you gave to him before taking the test.
David, Robbie told us about the memory exercises, about the vocabulary builders, about the constant coaching.
That's just how we work together.
He's just a little boy.
Yeah.
A smart little boy with a terrific memory and an overwhelming fear of disappointing his father.
But he's not a genius.
But you're wrong.
He's afraid to tell you.
That's why he lied to you about Kim Stevens' intentions.
These are her notes on Robbie.
She was giving him a positive evaluation.
Oh, God.
Robbie.
I need to see my son.
I need to see my son.
I need to tell him Robbie! Robbie! I want to talk to him.
Robbie.
He needs me.
He's fine.
His aunt and uncle are on their way down from Massachusetts.
You want to help your son? I want to talk to him.
Robbie You have to own up to the murders.
Tell the truth.
Why? You confess, there's no trial.
There's no need for us to bring in Robbie to testify that That you weren't home that night.
There's no need for him to know that the lie that he told you is the reason why you killed Kim Stevens.
You can spare him that knowledge.
Okay.
Okay.
Murder two, two counts, concurrent sentences.
The worst thing for him? He'll miss Robbie's college graduation.
These are their stories.
So what did you do this week for fun? Did you know that the word "fun" can be found in over 14 languages, and its meaning changes every time? I was thinking about good old American fun.
What's fun for me isn't always fun for my dad.
You mean like what we did Saturday? Robbie, I'm sure at the school you'll be able to do more of the things you like to do.
Here's your father.
Kim? The stuff we talked about today, I'd like to be the one to tell him, okay? Sorry I'm late.
- How did it go? - We had a good talk.
Will you be there tomorrow? Probably not.
Good luck.
Thank you.
- Hello? - Hi, Kim.
Oh, hi.
Listen, I just got out of a press conference.
Got a message Jim Hardy canceled tonight.
So here I am with nobody to eat dinner with.
What about your wife? Doesn't she eat? I thought you social workers were morally ambivalent about marriage.
Not this social worker.
If you just want to talk about budget cuts in my department, that'd be fine.
Fair enough.
I'll pick you up from work.
Watch the news tonight.
They promised me 15 seconds.
There are two kids aged four and six and two adults.
Meth heads.
Let's go.
- Dad! Where are they taking us? - What's happening? Oh, God! / Get your hands off of me! - Please! - Timmy! They're my babies.
Please bring them back.
/ Dad? Timmy! / You bitch! Give them back to me! Now, come on.
Stand back.
Timmy! Fight back, man! Bite her on the hand! You'll get them back when you can take care of them.
Mommy and Daddy love you! Of course not.
It's one of the Mayor's pet projects.
Will cutbacks mean more potholes and bigger piles of garbage? Next you're gonna ask me when I stopped beating my wife.
Look, it's up to the maintenance crews and the sanitation workers.
Everyone is gonna have to work harder for less money.
The Mayor is in conference with his workers right now.
We're planning on having a meeting very soon.
I bet you've never seen the inside of a Deputy Mayor's apartment.
It's got a sterile efficiency some women find irresistible.
- Bill.
- Okay, okay.
And just in case you weren't paying attention when I was talking about our budget problems, I'll send you a memo.
Don't worry, it's all in here.
Oh, wait.
If you won't sleep with me, can you buy me a paper? Somebody might recognize me if I get out of the car.
I just want to see what they have on the press conference.
Let this be my farewell gift to you.
Red Sox are holding on to a 2-0 lead over the Yankees Hello.
Hi, baby.
I just got out of the restaurant.
I'm saying goodbye to Jim Hardy.
I'll call you right back.
Bye.
That wasn't so bad, was it? Mmm-hmm.
Hey! Get away from her! Leave her alone! Help! Help! We're being mugged! Help! Law & Order CI What we got is everybody heard the gunshot but nobody saw anything.
Any idea what Webster was doing here? Mrs.
Webster said she talked to him on his cell phone just before he got killed.
He told her he was just finishing dinner with Jim Hardy from the Sanitation Workers Union.
What does Mr.
Hardy say? Well, he told us he canceled his dinner with Mr.
Webster that afternoon and spent the evening at home with Mrs.
Hardy.
Looks like Webster had a passenger, sat close to him, wore a purple cashmere sweater.
Tight-fitting size 2 with a plunging neckline.
Hmm.
That I can't tell from this.
I can tell from the bull he was feeding his wife.
The window was rolled down.
He was reaching over when he was shot.
Maybe reaching for this.
He had someone get him a paper? Maybe we can find partial prints on the quarters.
No quarters.
None in here.
Same story here.
We must be in a low-readership neighborhood.
Quarters.
Two that got away.
Hey! Hey! How you doing? Hey, let me give you a hand.
Ready.
One, two, three, up! There they are.
Look at that! It's a gold mine! Let me give you a hand.
Hey, you know what? I have two quarters that you missed from the boxes on 12th Street.
We're gonna owe the Ledger some money.
You were on 12th Street last night? Who said that? Oh, they're your boxes on 12th Street? Your boxes, your quarters.
Yeah.
Did you see anybody buy a paper from those boxes? Yeah.
A woman in a In a black car.
She had a fuzzy sweater.
We'll need you to help us make a picture of this lady.
You stay put.
We'll get somebody to take you to our office.
Webster had a woman in the car with him.
She bought him a newspaper and disappeared.
We'll say she's a potential witness and leave it at that.
What else? Webster had enemies.
City workers, union leaders.
We're checking everybody's whereabouts last night.
Anybody asks, we're treating this as ordinary street crime.
This is Webster's cell phone records for yesterday.
He called the Administration for Child Services mid-afternoon.
The witness might work in the city's social services.
Yes, hello.
Beg your pardon? All right, her private line.
Is Ms.
Stevens in? When? No, that's all right.
Thank you very much.
Found her.
We ID'd her off her prints.
City has them on file.
Manual strangulation.
Mmm-hmm.
But the ME thinks she was knocked out first.
Do you have her clothes? Cashmere.
What year was Webster's car? - '99.
- It's got a new car smell.
Make sure you mention that to the lab.
- Any purse? - No.
She was found uptown? Wrapped in a blanket.
In a shopping cart, under the FDR at 136th Street.
Rumor has it you have a suspect in custody.
Yeah.
It wasn't me, man.
I'm just the wrong guy.
In the wrong place at the wrong time.
People saw you when she took your kids.
You were angry.
You were angry when you went down to the ACS, angry when you jumped her outside her apartment / No, no.
angry when you strangled her and drove off with her body.
Okay.
You know what? Okay.
What difference does it make? You want to think I did it, fine, go ahead, I don't care.
What difference does it make? Adolph.
When's the last time you had something to eat? I only eat candy.
You want to tell us what you did last night? Well, me and Joanie were upset 'cause, you know, we miss the kids.
So we scored, you know, and just chilled out watching TV.
Here.
It's easier when your fingernails are not so short.
Yeah.
You usually keep your pinky nails long? Yeah.
That's for your ears, right? I got this condition.
Oily ears.
It's like I got bugs in there.
Well, why are your fingernails cut so short now? The other guys did it.
The other cops, they did it.
They cut it for They said it's for evidence.
I smell square one up ahead.
Kulik's long pinky nails would've left deep marks on the girl's neck if he'd strangled her.
These marks were made by someone with neat clipped nails.
Somebody who knew Stevens had a history with Kulik and tried to frame him.
I'll go break the bad news to the boys upstairs.
Now, there is good news.
Since her body was moved, it shows that the Deputy Mayor wasn't the primary target.
Office of Kim Stevens Department of Children's Services Tuesday, May 8 Any other parents threaten her? No.
She had an excellent track record of reuniting families.
She has notations in here.
"Subject looks forward to intellectual challenges.
"Emotional maturity beyond his years.
"Sheltered home life.
"Unsuited for college environment.
" It reads like evaluations for college admissions.
If she was doing anything like that, it was on her own time.
Any names to go with the notes? No, just serial numbers.
"Subject interacts well with college-age adults.
"Subject has practical concerns.
He worries "He worries that he's too short to use bathroom facilities.
" These subjects are little kids.
Little kids being considered for college admissions.
Geniuses.
There can't be that many places in town that give mortarboards to baby Einsteins.
Robbie, I need to speak with your father for a moment.
I've just had some shocking news about Ms.
Stevens which has forced us to adjust our normal admissions procedures.
Based on Robbie's tests and everything, we would like to offer him a place at the school.
Congratulations.
- You've been accepted.
- I have? You made it, Robbie.
You did it.
Since our students are much younger than the college kids they'll be attending classes with, the university requires that we make sure that they're emotionally equipped to handle the social and academic pressures.
Why hire a city social worker to do the evaluations? Well, Kim volunteered.
She was an alumnus of Metcalf University, with degrees in social work and psychology.
How many children are up for admission? Eight, for six openings for the summer semester.
Had Ms.
Stevens turned in her evaluation on them? No.
She was going to on Thursday when we made our final selection.
Last Thursday, the day after she was killed.
How did you choose the winners without Ms.
Stevens' evaluations? We relied solely on the other criteria, IQ scores, SAT's.
Please, you're going to disturb the children.
Are they working on that problem on the board? Yes.
This is a special math tutorial.
Really? These little kids are gonna solve that? These are profoundly gifted children.
You'll have to forgive my partner, Dr.
Leonard.
He's feeling very humble right now.
The competition to get into your program must be fierce.
- I hope you're not suggesting that - We are.
Of the six kids that you admitted, how many of them are on the bubble as far as Ms.
Stevens' evaluations are concerned? Well, as I told you, we never got her final evaluations.
But there was one student I thought might've been, as you say, on the bubble.
Home of Charlie Rasmussen Queens, New York Thursday, May 10 We thought Dr.
Leonard's program would help Charlie re-focus his goals.
But it became apparent after a few days that Charlie's goals didn't need re-focusing.
Charlie doesn't have to be a math genius, you know.
He can be a musical prodigy.
Not to mention, you think the math chicks look anything like Jennifer Connelly? No way, hombre.
Besides, the hot babes go for musicians.
You see the problem.
Music is my life, Mom.
Did Ms.
Stevens give you any hint that there might be a problem with your son? No.
But we knew going in it wouldn't be easy.
I told Kim I just wanted off that baby-genius track.
Track.
You make it sound like it's a race.
Oh, it's totally cut-throat at our level.
We all know we'll all be competing for the prizes and the research money.
Do you know any of the other students that applied to Dr.
Leonard's program? Oh, sure.
Except for the new guy, we've all been together in math camps since we came out of the test tube.
Charlie knows very well he wasn't conceived in a test tube.
So who was this new kid? Robbie something.
I don't know.
Leonard treats him like he's another John Nash.
She just leaves him alone and lets him doodle.
His father told me he's been home-schooled since kindergarten.
Do you know the other parents well? Pretty well.
We spend a lot of time commiserating.
You have no idea what a challenge it is parenting a gifted child.
This math equation.
I saw it at the Institute on the board.
Oh, yeah.
It's the Riemann Hypothesis.
One of the Millennium Projects.
You solve it, you make a million bucks.
Leonard's pet project.
She wants one of her baby geniuses to solve it.
Can I keep this? Sure.
What do I need it for? Oh, he went to school for about five minutes until I saw what was happening to him.
Which was what? He was bored, he was so far ahead, and I thought, hell, I can do a better job than those klunkheads.
Klunkheads.
You think they were klunkheads, Robbie? Well, they were just trying their best.
But they didn't have enough training to teach someone like me.
Who helped you home-school him? Your wife? My wife died in an accident five years ago.
I came up with the curriculum.
It was just Robbie and me.
And you what, work nights? No.
I spend my nights with Robbie.
I'm on disability from work.
Tae kwon do? You used to compete? A long time ago.
But unless I was willing to do it on a national level, it wasn't worth it.
Auto racing, did you do that nationally? Regional, quarter mile.
Robbie remembers being in his mother's arms watching me race.
Let me guess, you were in a band.
Oh, that's all in the past.
Robbie, you want to show me your room? Now I devote myself full-time to my son's education.
/ Is that okay? Wednesday night, you remember where you were? Here.
Robbie was asleep.
- Do you own a car? - No.
Gun? Come on.
No, I don't own a gun.
Derek Jeter's rookie card, signed.
You must be a Yankee fan.
Yeah, baseball's a thinking man's game.
Do you know who managed the Yankees in the '80s? Who didn't manage the Yankees in the '80s? Billy Martin came back three times, Gene Michael came back twice, Bob Lemon, Yogi Berra, Clyde King, Lou Piniella, Dallas Green, Bucky Dent and Stump Merrill.
Wow.
Your dad take you to the games? No.
He says watching sports doesn't add any value to my education.
But I follow the stats on my computer.
But you play.
What position? Oh, no.
I don't have time.
How were your interviews with Kim Stevens? Oh, she was a nice person.
Did she tell you that you might not get into the program? No.
The Riemann Hypothesis.
You know what? This does not look fun.
My dad says that sometimes the way to solve a problem is to let your right brain work on it.
So that's what I'm doing.
I really like your drawings.
Hey, if you don't need them, - you think I can have them? - Sure.
Okay.
Catcher, that's what you play.
How did you know? It's the thinking man's position.
You really need a million bucks that bad? It's Robbie's calculations.
They contain symbols that aren't in the other kids' work, and they're not in any work done on the Riemann Hypothesis.
They don't belong there.
Well, he's 10 years old.
He made a mistake.
No.
There's no mistake.
This symbol.
Infinity.
This one.
It's Omega.
The end.
This one.
Theta.
Death.
Now Robbie wrote these in his calculations over and over again.
Infinity.
The end.
Death.
He's suicidal.
Kim Stevens found out.
She was going to keep him out of the program.
If Kim Stevens decided Robbie was psychologically unfit, his father might've found out.
Maybe he thought he could change her mind.
Webster got into the picture.
The dad panicked.
And killed two people just to get his child into an educational program? Dads kill over hockey.
Why not over education? Yes.
Especially this dad.
The rock star, martial arts expert, drag racing champion.
All attention-seeking careers, all of which he's failed at.
But if his son succeeds, the spotlight's back on him.
Have you confirmed that Ms.
Stevens diagnosed Robbie Bishop as unfit? The school won't release her files without the father's permission.
Fat chance of that.
Unless we could have him removed as guardian of his son's records.
We'd have to convince a judge there's probable cause to consider Mr.
Bishop a murder suspect.
The lab found a mixture of higher paraffins imprinted on the back of her sweater.
The substance is a preservative, Cosmoline, used on new cars shipped from overseas.
It's shaped like a flashing around a car window.
Bishop pushed her up against his car.
Bishop doesn't have a car.
We checked.
Do we have Bishop's employment history? He worked in the Stevedores Union.
Worked for Autotrain Freight Forwarders.
Still works there a couple of days a month.
Taking cars off boats, putting them on trains.
Wouldn't be too tough to borrow one of those cars for the night.
You match the imprint on the sweater to a model of car in that shipyard, that should be enough probable cause to satisfy a judge.
Enough for a search warrant, too? I want everything catalogued and returned, you understand? You got some balls coming between me and my son.
I'm the only one here who's got his best interest at heart.
You're not concerned that your son might be suicidal? If Robbie was unhappy, he'd tell me.
You couldn't tell from all these personality tests? Those just measure social adjustment.
I have to make sure he's not getting overloaded.
I've always read that kids with high IQ's, they thrive on pressure.
They need it to help them develop.
There's nothing I hate more than discussing my child with a know-it-all.
Hmm.
Are you dyslexic? 'Cause you wrote down a phone number, then crossed it out and then re-wrote it in the right order.
I was tired, that's all.
Where's your partner? Where'd she go? My mom used to tell me stories at night before I went to sleep.
Now your dad reads to you.
Yes, until I fall asleep.
He never leaves me alone.
What about last Wednesday? Did he read to you? I just went to sleep.
I was pooped.
Robbie, the detectives have work to do.
Let's get out of their way.
Look what he showed me.
His aunt and uncle.
They live in western Mass.
He says he visits every chance he gets.
There he looks happy.
If he was there.
You see Robbie's face? The lighting and the shadows don't match the others.
He digitally put himself in this photo.
Looks like Stevens did a pretty thorough work-up on Robbie.
At least he had fun with her, she took him to the Bronx Zoo, to Little League in Prospect Park one Saturday.
Yeah.
To observe him with kids his own age.
She says here he's remarkably well-adjusted.
How could she miss this kid was miserable? Says here she gave him an MMPI.
Do you have it over there? Well, if you tell me what it is in plain English, I might be able to find it.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
It tests social adjustment.
I remember this.
We had to take it the last year of high school.
So did we.
How did you do? I had to go to my counselor's office and have a talk with the school shrink.
How about you? Me? I was so well adjusted, they elected me prom queen.
Well, Robbie's scores are off the chart, indicating a high level of adaptability and socialization.
Not the kid we saw.
His dad must have coached him.
He had all the personality tests, the literature.
Wasn't taking any chances.
Well, it worked.
She was recommending him for admission.
Then why would David Bishop get the idea that she wasn't? I have no idea how Mr.
Bishop could've gotten that impression.
I was never anything but absolutely positive about Robbie's joining our program.
I wanted him.
You told Mr.
Bishop that? That would've been impolitic.
I had to wait for Kim's evaluation.
I mean, what do those evaluations tell you, anyway? These kids are bound to be maladjusted.
They've never fit in anywhere.
But here, they're with their own kind.
You've created a safe haven for them.
I'd like to think so.
And if Robbie acts out, I mean, it's nothing you're gonna take too seriously.
That's right.
It was just a normal reaction to his special circumstances.
So he acted out, then.
That's not what I said.
You said his acting out was normal.
What did he do that you didn't take seriously? When he came for his first interview in my office, he fainted.
His father said he had the flu.
What did you think it was? Stress, obviously.
This was the most important interview of his young life.
Why wasn't this incident in Ms.
Stevens' file? Because I didn't tell her.
It was immaterial to his suitability.
Uh, you have classes seven days a week? The children only attend six days.
Saturdays for some, Sundays for others, depending upon their religious persuasion.
- Saturdays for Robbie? - Yes.
Did he know he'd have to go to school on Saturdays? Absolutely.
We make it clear when the children apply the level of commitment that we expect from them.
Would you like to go to a Little League game? I talked to Dr.
Leonard.
She doesn't think you're giving 100%.
But I'm doing the best I can.
Nothing is more important than your education.
- You know that, right? - I know.
I might not always be there to remind you.
Where are you going? Nowhere.
All I'm saying is I want you to concentrate harder.
You have your lunch? All right.
See you at 4:00.
I remember this kid from the tryout.
He knew a lot about baseball.
Did he show up by himself? No.
His mother was there, in the stands.
I remember.
He pointed her out to me.
Yeah, that's her.
These kids, they know that their games and practices are on Saturdays, right? Yeah.
We tell them at the tryout.
Thanks.
He knew if he got accepted into Leonard's program, he wouldn't be able to make the games.
But he signed up anyway, five days before Leonard made her picks.
Robbie must've been convinced he wouldn't be admitted.
Or else he was making sure he wouldn't be by lying to his father, telling him that Kim Stevens was giving him a negative evaluation.
Hoping like any normal 10-year-old his dad would then just forget about the school.
Not realizing that his dad is not like any normal 40-year-old.
If he really didn't wanna be in this program, why not just tell his father? Oh, and risk disappointing the only parent that he has left? It's much safer for him to lay the blame on Kim Stevens.
Her notes suggest they had a good relationship.
Couldn't he have confided in her? Well, maybe he tried to tell her in his own way.
The Greek symbols in his math equations.
Anything more overt might have put him in direct conflict with his dad.
When no one picked up on how depressed this poor kid was, lying was his only way out.
Now you need the truth from him, what he told his father, what he knows about his father's whereabouts the night of the killings, assuming you can talk to the boy without his father.
The only place Robbie's away from his dad is at the university.
We'd need Leonard's permission to talk to him there.
I imagine I could persuade her.
You want to subject a minor child to a police interrogation without his father being present or even notified? It wouldn't be an interrogation.
He's a witness, not a suspect.
I could be sued for allowing it! You could be charged if you don't.
That is ridiculous.
If I thought that there was abuse, I would do something about it.
Even if it meant losing Robbie Bishop as one of your students? Of course.
Yeah.
A profoundly gifted child who graduated high school at age seven? Who scored a perfect 800 on his math SAT's? Whose IQ was recorded at 246 on the Stanford-Binet scale? Who represents your only chance of one of your students solving a Millennium Prize problem? You would risk losing him over a little fainting spell? I should mention that while I investigate this abuse charge, I can shut down your institute.
Which, I'm sure, will generate a great deal of interest from the press.
Hey, Dad, I'm ready for school.
Good, great.
Let me just finish my coffee.
Your lunch is right there.
Colorado? We're going to Colorado? There's a special school.
They heard about you.
I don't know.
There was something else in the mail.
From the Little League.
It's okay, Robbie.
You're allowed a mistake every now and then.
Hey, Robbie.
Dr.
Leonard told me this is where you like to spend your lunch hour.
What are you doing up here? Nothing.
I I just wanna talk to you.
I don't wanna talk about my dad.
We don't have to.
We could talk about this.
I was wondering what you thought of Boston this year.
Boston? What, you don't like Boston? They're leading the league.
This week.
They choke every time they get a lead.
They didn't choke the last time they played the Yankees.
Four-zip.
Thanks to Jeter, he lost that game.
Jeter was safe at second.
With the bases loaded, they could've tied the game and gone into extra innings.
No way! Look, I Look, I saw that play on the news.
He was out by a mile.
I saw it happen.
He was safe.
Why, you You watched the game? Your dad was out that night? No, he was home.
Well, you said that your dad doesn't let you watch baseball.
Sometimes he does.
"No added value.
" That's That's what you said.
Come on, Robbie, tell me the truth.
Was your dad home? No.
Oh.
That was Wednesday night.
I think the night before you found out you were admitted here? You didn't think you were gonna get in, did you? You thought that you were gonna be playing baseball on Saturdays, instead of being stuck in here.
Look, I know that you tried to let people know how you felt about coming here.
They wouldn't see it.
You told your dad a fib? About Ms.
Stevens keeping you out of the program? You hate it in here.
You know how I know? You told me.
Yeah.
You've been thinking about these things a lot.
Maybe you thought about hurting yourself.
What is it about this place that makes you so unhappy? Is it the other kids? The teachers? Is it the work? The work is too hard? Can I see your book? Please? Has Dr.
Leonard seen this? No.
- Has your dad? - No.
Nobody knows? I just have to try harder.
You again.
What is it now? Now we're here for you.
I have to pick up my son from school in an hour.
We already have that covered.
You going somewhere? Colorado, maybe? I don't have to answer that.
Guess what? Wherever it is you're going, our squad room's on the way.
I hope you're not gonna keep me away from Robbie too long.
He's still adjusting to being away from home every day.
Robbie will be fine.
He's a remarkable kid.
I know that.
Who first noticed he was unique, you or your wife? My wife told me she thought he was bright.
But it was your idea to test him? Yes.
After she passed away? I owed it to her to help him live up to his potential.
He tested well.
He maxed out the scale.
The Stanford-Binet IQ scale.
Right.
And the Wechsler Scale.
He did that one when he was six.
And then he got that perfect score on his math SAT's.
That must've been pretty gratifying for you.
Because you were something of a math whiz yourself in high school.
Where did you hear that? Just from your old report cards.
They were among the papers that we took.
I did okay in high school.
You expect more from yourself than just okay.
I mean, if it weren't for the dyslexia, you would've been an "A" student.
Twenty-five years ago, they didn't know much about learning disabilities.
But you have the drive to succeed, and you found other ways to be recognized.
Like being a racecar driver or a rock star.
Or the father of a genius.
And that's where you put your best efforts.
Why not? I mean, that's what being a father is all about, making sure your kid gets the best.
Paid off.
David, we talked to Dr.
Leonard today.
And she thinks that he's done it.
- Done what? - The Riemann Hypothesis.
He's made a breakthrough and solved it.
What? Oh, my God, that's That's fantastic! I never dreamed that he'd be able to do it.
All our work, it was worth it! Here.
Have a look at his workbook.
What is this? This doesn't make sense.
You sure? Yeah, I'm sure.
I know enough about math to know this is What, gibberish? The work of a bright eighth grader wrestling with concepts beyond his comprehension? My son didn't do this.
Yes, he did.
This is what he does when you're not around.
When you're not there to help him.
No, no, not my kid.
You're not there to finish the Wechsler IQ test for him and work out the answers for the SAT's Robbie did those by himself.
The only one he did by himself is the Stanford-Binet and that's only after he memorized the manual you gave to him before taking the test.
David, Robbie told us about the memory exercises, about the vocabulary builders, about the constant coaching.
That's just how we work together.
He's just a little boy.
Yeah.
A smart little boy with a terrific memory and an overwhelming fear of disappointing his father.
But he's not a genius.
But you're wrong.
He's afraid to tell you.
That's why he lied to you about Kim Stevens' intentions.
These are her notes on Robbie.
She was giving him a positive evaluation.
Oh, God.
Robbie.
I need to see my son.
I need to see my son.
I need to tell him Robbie! Robbie! I want to talk to him.
Robbie.
He needs me.
He's fine.
His aunt and uncle are on their way down from Massachusetts.
You want to help your son? I want to talk to him.
Robbie You have to own up to the murders.
Tell the truth.
Why? You confess, there's no trial.
There's no need for us to bring in Robbie to testify that That you weren't home that night.
There's no need for him to know that the lie that he told you is the reason why you killed Kim Stevens.
You can spare him that knowledge.
Okay.
Okay.
Murder two, two counts, concurrent sentences.
The worst thing for him? He'll miss Robbie's college graduation.