Castle s02e08 Episode Script

Kill the Messenger

There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: Psychopaths and mystery writers.
I'm the kind that pays better.
Who am I? I'm Rick Castle.
Castle.
Castle.
I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I? Every writer needs inspiration and I found mine.
Detective Kate Beckett.
Beckett.
Beckett.
- "Nikki Heat"? - The character he's basing on you.
And thanks to my friendship with the mayor, I get to be on her case.
I'd be happy to let you spank me.
And together we catch killers.
We make a pretty good team, you know.
Like Starsky and Hutch.
Turner and Hooch.
You do remind me a little of Hooch.
Well, that was easy.
All right! What do we do next? Set up your profile.
Name? Martha Rodgers.
Sex? Female.
- Race? - Color-blind.
Why should I categorize myself? Shades of gray, darling.
- Age? - Ageless.
- No, better yet, timeless.
- Oh, you don't wanna put that.
Makes you sound like you belong in a museum.
You have a point.
Uh, I know, type in "old enough.
" - Nice.
What are you ladies doing? Mmm.
Alexis is assisting me in creating a MyFace account.
- I think you mean - Save your breath.
I've been correcting her all morning.
Well, it's my face, isn't it? It's not your face or someone else's face.
I don't Well, anyway.
My fellow cast members have been raving about what fun it is, what a great networking tool it is, so here I am.
And now you just need to select a photo for your profile page.
Okay! Should we go dramatic? Or commercial? Or sassy? Don't you have anything from this century? - Why, you think the hair is a bit dated? - Not exactly what I was getting at.
Uh-huh, I know what you were getting at.
You're no spring chicken yourself, you know.
Have you looked in the mirror lately? I have two words for you, "hairline" and "receding.
" Made you look.
She totally got you, Dad.
Yes, Beckett.
Either there's a dead body or you just want to hear my sultry voice.
Dead body it is, where? - You got here fast, Castle.
- My side of town.
- So, what do we got? - May I? - Be my guest.
- Thank you.
- Our victim's name is Caleb Shimky - Shimansky.
- Is that a name? - Yeah, it's a name.
And he was pulling a Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver when all of - I'm sorry, a what? - Quicksilver.
Kevin Bacon is a bike messenger who failed as a Esposito, take him to school.
The victim is Caleb Shimansky, an on-duty bike messenger.
Masked suspect in a black 4-door plows into him, killing him instantly.
The suspect steals the messenger bag, jumps in his ride and jets off.
See, that wasn't so hard.
No, no, it's good, if you like the dull, non-best-seller version.
I thought I gave it some flair.
I'm assuming we have plenty of witnesses? Several.
Three of them got the suspect's license plate number.
Aw, man.
It's like having a cheat code.
You've got multiple witnesses and a license plate number.
It's gonna take you all of, what, five minutes to solve it? Ran the suspect's plates, the car was reported stolen an hour ago.
A masked man in a stolen car.
Our thief planned this and obviously wanted what was ever in that messenger bag.
Something our vic was delivering.
A package or a box.
Contact the courier company.
I wanna know what was in that bag.
Whatever it was, it was important enough to kill the messenger.
Sir, we got an APB out on the car, but Esposito and Ryan got nothing on the canvass.
Do we know what was in the package? The, uh, courier company's looking into it right now.
Whatever it was, somebody thought that it was worth killing for.
Off the top of my head, I'm gonna go with nuclear launch codes, Dick Cheney's soul on its way to the devil All good theories, Castle.
All good theories.
Um, sir, are you okay? You seem a little distracted.
No, I'm focused.
Focused on the precinct being up for review and our case closure rate being just under 1 PP's new mandated minimum.
Which, of course, doesn't take the budget cuts into consideration.
Now how the hell am I supposed to catch more bad guys with fewer detectives? Yo, Cap.
Courier company said the vic only had one package in his bag.
Picked up from 2739 West 2nd, apartment 3-C.
Sent by one S.
Nidal Mattar.
I ran it through the system.
There's a Shakir Nidal Mattar on the terror watch list.
- Could be the same guy.
- Where was the package going? - 614 East 72nd Street.
- East 72nd.
That's the 64th Precinct.
- Sir, that could be an attack.
- I need a full tactical alert.
Have them evacuate the building.
I'll coordinate with Homeland Security.
This is Detective Beckett.
We have a possible terrorist attack - against the 64th.
I need to speak to your task force Get ESU over to the pick-up address immediately.
All units on alert.
- Yes, this is Montgomery, NYPD! Show me your hands! Nobody move! - Where's Nidal Mattar? - But Shakir Nidal Mattar, where is he? There's no Shakir Nidal Nattar here! Only Sally Niedermeyer.
Ma'am, did you send a package by bike courier this morning? Yes, I did.
S.
Nidal Mattar, S.
Niedermeyer.
Some bozo at the courier company wrote the name wrong.
- Our bad.
I'm gonna - We can Yeah, we can fix this.
Grab that.
Sorry.
Mrs.
Niedermeyer, somebody stole the courier bag that your package was in.
And in the course of the crime, a bike messenger was killed.
Oh, that's terrible.
Yeah, we're trying to figure out why they stole the bag.
You sent it to the 64th Precinct, is that right? Yes.
Could you tell us what was in the package? - No.
- No? - No.
- "No," you don't want to? Or "no," you don't remember or know what's in the package? Yes, to the second part, the "don't know" part.
- Where'd you get the package? - From my favorite nephew.
Brady.
- Okay, where can we find Brady? - In prison.
"Prison" prison? When did he give you the package? Ten years ago, just before they sent him upstate.
Brady came over, handed me the package, and then he said, "Mema, take good care of this package.
"Don't tell anyone about it.
And never, ever open it.
" Then why all of a sudden would you messenger it? Brady called about 7:30 this morning and asked me to send it right away to the man it was addressed to.
The man who arrested him Detective Roy Montgomery.
It's Captain Roy Montgomery now.
Oh! - You know him.
- Yeah, he's our boss.
- The package was coming to me? Yeah.
- What's his name again? - Brady Thompson.
It was back when you were a detective with the 6-4.
Oh, yeah, it's ringing some bells.
But why would he send me a 10-year-old package? Esposito's on the phone with Corrections.
He's trying to get an interview.
Do you recall anything at all about him? He killed a lady.
A push-in robbery gone bad.
Open and shut case.
I think we even got a confession out of him.
The aunt said that he was pretty insistent about getting the package directly to you.
- Do you know why that would be? - You would have to ask him.
Not unless you perform a séance.
He's dead.
- Got shanked in prison this morning.
- This morning? That's no coincidence.
Have Records pull everything from the old case.
If memory serves, Brady was married when he went away.
See if the wife is still the wife and if she knows anything.
Beckett, call the warden.
I want to see what they know about Brady's murder.
And I need copies of all his phone calls.
I want to know exactly what he said to Aunt Sally - and anyone else, for that matter.
- Okay.
Hey, Beckett? Paisley Shimansky's here to see you.
It's the bike messenger's sister.
Excuse me.
How does she do that? Better than anyone I know.
You okay? Her brother died trying to get something to me.
No, I'm not okay.
The prison sent over the last two phone calls Brady made.
Can't I just put it in the mail? No, Aunt Sally, you've got to take it down there yourself.
My hip's been acting up again.
Then call a messenger service.
I'll pay you back, okay? All right, I'll take care of it.
- I've gotta go now, okay? - Take care now, Brady.
Love you.
I love you too, Mema.
Look, I gotta go.
Nothing about what was in the package.
At 7:23 he makes this phone call to his wife.
Yes, I'll accept the charges.
Val? - Hey, baby.
- Val, listen to me.
Remember what we talked about last time you visited? - I remember.
- It's going down today.
You and Jared get out of the house now.
- Brady - There's no time to talk.
Just go.
Everything's gonna be all right.
Give Jared a kiss from Dad, okay? I love you.
I love you, too.
Bye.
Brady was killed 45 minutes after those two phone calls.
Yeah, but we don't have a why or a who.
Or a how it's related to your mystery package.
Warden have any suspects? A whole prison yard full.
He was shanked in the yard.
There were no witnesses.
Warden's less than optimistic about catching the killer.
- Brady have any beefs? - Apparently, he was the model prisoner.
Then it must've been a hit ordered from the outside.
By the same guy who killed our messenger.
Any luck on tracking down Brady's wife? Big fat zippo.
But they left the apartment in a hurry.
I pinged the cell phones, tracked the credit cards.
- She's off the grid.
- Maybe not completely.
I just got off the phone with the son's school.
According to the principal, Brady's kid misses class every Tuesday because he's got some kind of respiratory condition.
Tomorrow's Tuesday.
You get the doctor's name? Let's set up on the office in the morning.
We might get lucky.
What you doing, Mother? Working on your play? Oh, I wish.
I've been bombarded with friend requests.
It's like a part-time job.
And these exchanges are just ridiculous.
Dot Ellison, who I have absolutely no desire to reconnect with, has just wasted 20 minutes of my life recounting the bravery of her cat passing a kidney stone.
Well, it could have been worse.
She could have sent you a video.
Joining up with this fad was a terrible mistake.
Nothing good comes from the Internet.
- Oh, you just got another friend request.
- OMG! Chet Palaburn! Who's Chet Palaburn? Star athlete, class president, homecoming king.
My high school sweetheart.
And my first! I really didn't need to know that last part.
Oh, oh, he sent a message with his request.
"Martha, you haven't changed a bit.
" Oh, Chet Palaburn! Can you believe it? And did you see that message? You do know that Chet's comments are based on a 20-year-old photo.
Oh.
Oh.
Well, should I accept his friend request? I mean, the last time I laid eyes on him, I was 18.
And now he sees this photo.
And now this, and What do I do? - It's your call.
- My call.
There's always Dot and her kitty cat's medical mysteries.
Everything okay? Another dead end in the messenger case.
Uniforms located the stolen car that ran him down, but CSU got bupkis.
No prints, no hairs.
It's sounding more and more like a professional hit.
- Yeah.
- What about surveillance? Any cameras around where the car was dumped? No, our masked man knew what he was doing.
Well, at least our tip on the doctor paid off.
Prison vic's wife came in with her son first thing this morning.
Captain and Beckett are interviewing her now.
- I'm gonna go.
- I wouldn't Do you have any idea who killed him? We're working on it.
Ms.
Thompson, do you know anything about a package that your husband asked his Aunt Sally to send out for him yesterday? Yeah.
It was his insurance policy.
He gave it to her when he went away.
Insurance policy? It was proof he didn't kill the woman he went to jail for murdering.
- But he confessed.
- Well, he might have confessed, but he didn't do it.
With all due respect, Mrs.
Thompson, half the men in prison will swear up and down they didn't do it.
Do those men's wives get a package in the mail every month with $ 7,000 cash in it? Uh, your husband confessed to a murder he didn't commit for money? I know this will sound crazy, but we didn't know what else to do.
Jared was born with a rare respiratory disease, and we didn't have the money or the insurance to get him the therapy he needed.
If Brady hadn't done what he did, Jared wouldn't even be alive right now.
Did Brady ever tell you who actually committed the murder he went away for? No.
I don't even know if he knew who it was.
Over 10 years, you never asked who his contact was, who approached him, who was paying you? You just conveniently never bothered to ask? I asked! But Brady felt that the less I knew, the safer I would be.
Even the packages didn't have a return address.
Look, Captain, my husband was just killed.
I'm telling you all I know.
Okay, so what we know so far is that about four months ago the payments to Brady started arriving late, short and then, finally, not at all.
And according to the wife, that's when Brady decided to messenger over his insurance policy.
That was supposed to prove his innocence.
Our patsy, Brady, had to be in communication with whoever was making payments.
Prison should have a record of everyone Brady talked to.
We already checked his phone logs.
There's nothing there.
How about e-mail? We're running it down.
Well, whatever Brady said, it worked.
Payments started up again.
Then, a month ago, nothing.
You think maybe Brady got fed up with the situation? Figured if whoever he made the deal with wasn't holding up their end of the bargain, why was he? Then he calls up his Aunt Sally, asks her to send the evidence that proves his innocence to the arresting officer.
Is it possible someone was monitoring his calls? I mean, whoever killed our bike messenger had to have been tipped off the package was in motion.
The only people that monitor calls are prison staff.
$ 7,000 a month for 10 years is almost a million, total.
Whoever we're dealing with obviously has the means - to buy somebody off.
- Get the duty roster from the prison.
See who was working when Brady made his calls.
Set up a protection detail for the wife and the kid.
It's already done, sir.
Captain, you had the confessions, the evidence.
Anyone would have come to the same conclusion.
I didn't push hard enough.
I knew this case was off.
Everything just fell into place so perfectly.
Now what have we got? An innocent bystander with no connection to the killer.
And without physical evidence, there's no way of tracking who was driving that car.
And catching a break on a prison murder? That's a long shot.
Especially if you're dealing with a corrupt guard.
Okay, but we still have the original murder from 10 years ago.
Everything started there.
Two fresh bodies, and you wanna look at a murder 10 years cold? Uh When I'm writing a story, the beginning is always the hardest.
But if you nail that, the rest of it can just fall into place.
- Castle, this is not one of your books.
- No, but it is a mystery.
And all mysteries are the same.
Motive, opportunity, cover-up, conscience.
These murders today were to cover up one 10 years ago.
That's where your leads are gonna be.
Come on, Captain, what do you say? Let's take a little trip down memory lane.
Olivia Debiasse, 20 years old.
Neighbors found her bludgeoned to death in her apartment.
Hmm, there were some things missing from her apartment.
Whoever killed her tried to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.
There should be something in there about a handyman that we looked at for it.
You know, he had a criminal record, he worked in the building.
If it was him, I'm in the wrong line of work.
$ 7,000 a month for a handyman? We moved off him once we moved on Brady.
An anonymous tip came in.
It felt like a break at the time.
Brought him in, leaned on him for, what, maybe a half hour before he broke.
You know, it's funny.
I never actually even looked at some of these reports, because once the canvassing detectives turned them in, we already had Brady in custody.
Well, it says here that Olivia went to a party earlier the night she was killed.
- Says here the Pierson Club.
- Pierson Club? That's high society, that's crème de la crème.
My money goes in banks, their money buys banks.
Sir, listen to this.
A waitress gave a statement saying that she saw Olivia having a heated argument with a man at the party.
The plot thickens.
Mmm-hmm.
There's no name, but according to the description she gave, he was in his mid-20s, medium build, wearing a blue blazer and an orange-striped tie.
Ooh, I don't know about you guys, but I am getting a delicious millionaire playboy vibe here.
The waitress was under the impression that he arrived with Olivia.
Olivia's best friend was a gal that she worked with.
Maybe she could tell us who Olivia hung out with.
Perlmutter just finished reviewing Olivia's autopsy report from back in the day.
He says he found something.
You guys take the morgue.
I'll follow up on Olivia's friend.
Thank you, sir.
I've gone through Ms.
Debiasse's files and her autopsy was fairly limited.
I assume when Brady confessed, the ME decided not to be thorough.
- Did he miss something? - It's hard to say.
What does your gut tell you? My gut tells me I'm hungry, but I'm not gonna be able to eat until I'm done with the two of you.
So why don't I just tell you what my keen ME training tells me? All right, Brady said he hit Olivia with a baseball bat.
But look at these.
When I look at these wounds and the skull fracture pattern, I'm just not seeing a baseball bat strike.
Brady lied about killing her, he might have lied about what was used to do it.
Can you determine how she was killed? I'd only be speculating.
To do it properly, I'd have to X-ray the skull and examine the remains.
- You want to exhume the body? - The only way to do it right.
Plus, who knows what else I might find? Olivia was raised by a single mom who's deceased as well, so let me call the next of kin and see what I can do.
Mmm.
Excuse me.
Beckett.
You sure it's sanitary to be eating here? You know the strength of the disinfectants we use here? This is the cleanest room in the city.
- I couldn't.
- Homemade.
I couldn't.
Caught a break.
Captain talked to the friend.
Does she remember who Olivia was with? Jeff Dilahunt, who's had his fair share of run-ins with the law.
And he has a trust fund worth millions.
Enough to pay $ 7,000 a month.
- Bingo.
- Boo-yah.
Uh, I met Olivia at a nightclub.
She hadn't been in town long, but she seemed like a real party girl.
- Were the two of you dating? - Uh, no, just friends.
What? Can't a guy and a girl just be friends? - Please.
- Are you two together? - Not yet.
- Absolutely not.
Look, it was, uh, no big deal.
I happened to mention that a school friend of mine was having a family reunion here at the Pierson Club and asked me to stop by.
Olivia really wanted to come, so I took her.
Who would want to go to someone else's family reunion? Well, I suppose that all depends on the family.
In this case, it happened to be the Wellesleys.
The "Wellesleys" Wellesleys? The rich and powerful Wellesleys? The conservative New York Wellesleys? - Wasn't that one of our senators? - Yeah, he was.
Senator Casper Wellesley.
He died early '90s.
His kid's running for his seat again this year.
Well, I'll tell you what.
Next time I'm invited, I'll take you.
Mr.
Dilahunt, where were you between 10:00 p.
m.
And 2:00 a.
m.
The night that she was killed? Okay, well, a couple of, uh, Wellesley cousins and I bailed early and went clubbing.
I believe there may have been Bolivian Marching Powder involved.
We got picked up for public intoxication.
My father got the charges dropped, but there's still a record of our arrest.
If you can't find it, I have a framed copy at home.
Did you have an argument with Olivia that night? - Or see anyone else who did? - No.
A witness saw Olivia having it out with a man in a blue blazer and an orange-striped tie.
Do you remember anyone who fit that description? Actually, I do.
All Wellesley family events have a strict dress code.
The, uh, blazers are standard, but Lenanne Wellesley, the family matriarch, handpicks the men's ties.
- Are you thinking what I'm thinking? - Yep.
We got a hell of a lot of suspects.
Yes, Chief.
I know, Chief.
As soon as I possibly can, Chief.
They cut our staff 20%, they get upset when our closure rate drops 3%.
You ask me, we're working miracles to do what we're doing.
Sir, we can do this later if you have a higher priority.
Never let the job get in the way of the job.
- Where were we? - Well, Brady and his contact communicated through a dummy e-mail account.
We tried to trace the address, but it was a dead end.
Where are we with reviewing the guards? Nowhere.
The warden refuses to provide us with a duty roster.
Said he was offended we assumed one of his men was dirty.
- He wanted to handle it in-house.
- Yeah? Well, that doesn't work for me.
Do any of these men look like the one that you saw arguing with Olivia the night of the party? Look, it was a stupid waitress job Do you remember what you were doing Can you recall any details? Was he wearing glasses? Did he have a tattoo? All I know is that the man was yelling at the girl.
He got so riled up he spilled his wine, and I ended up cleaning it off of the carpet.
- Did he spill any on himself? - I don't know.
Maybe.
- Him! - Him! Trent Wellesley? I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD.
I need to have a word.
Yes.
My old friend Jeff said I might be hearing from you.
- Police? Are they the police? - Yes, Grandmother.
My ring was stolen.
Oh, oh.
They're not here for you, Grandmother.
My ring was stolen.
It's expensive.
Trent, perhaps you should take this conversation elsewhere.
Of course, Frank.
She gets a little confused sometimes.
Okay, let's get this over with.
It was me.
- It was you? What? - I was the one who had the argument with the girl that Jeff brought to the reunion that night.
The girl who was killed.
I didn't care for her behavior, so I asked her to leave.
Girls like that hang around families like mine for a reason.
They want something.
Jeff brought her as his plus-one.
But he had left by then and she stayed.
She tried to chat up more than one of my relatives.
- Anyone in particular? - You're barking up the wrong tree.
No one in my family had anything to do with what happened to her.
Someone paid almost a million dollars to cover up her murder.
That makes everyone in your family a suspect, including you.
Trust me, if I had that kind of money to throw around, I wouldn't be here sucking up to the old lady.
Nice.
You think I'm rich because my last name's Wellesley, but my dad died when I was a kid.
Mom and me had to pretty much survive off the handouts of relatives.
Oh, I suppose getting a job would be out of the question.
Who are you protecting? You already admitted to arguing with her.
It really does not look good.
You have to understand.
He's like the only father I have.
- Who are you talking about, Trent? - My Uncle Winston.
He'd just been through a bad breakup and He's the kind of person that people try to take advantage of.
People like who? Olivia? Or poor relations looking for a handout? I'd seen her with him before.
Yes, it's terrible what happened to that poor girl.
Could you tell us about the kind of relationship you had with her, Mr.
Wellesley? Was the reunion the first time that you two met? Actually, I believe I met Olivia at a cocktail party a few weeks before that.
Was it MoMA? I don't recall.
Anyway, I took a shine to her.
Charming.
Ambitious.
Rough around the edges, but I felt I could mentor her.
- And by mentor, you mean - What are you suggesting? Your nephew Trent said that he saw her hitting on you the whole night.
Well, that's Trent for you.
He's always been very protective of the family.
Where were you between 10:00 p.
m.
And 2:00 a.
m.
On the night she was murdered? Are you seriously asking me, Winston Wellesley, for an alibi? Oh.
Apparently, you are.
Fine.
I was home.
- Can anyone corroborate that? - Yes.
God.
Mr.
Wellesley, your car is ready.
Mmm.
As delightful as this conversation has been, I must take my leave.
I have to meet my brother at his campaign headquarters.
Ah, yes.
Blake Wellesley, running for Senate again.
Mmm-hmm.
And we'd appreciate your support.
Don't forget to vote.
I have no doubt he was having an affair with Olivia.
But why would he kill her? Do you think maybe he was upset that she came with someone else? Mmm.
Jealousy.
Money.
Murder.
Does it get any better than this? You want to exhume my niece's body? We believe that there was evidence overlooked during the autopsy that could lead to her killer.
Well, you told me you caught the man.
You told me it was over.
I thought it was.
But whoever killed Olivia just murdered two more people.
Your niece deserves justice, and so do they.
She was such a special girl.
She quit school to take care of her mother when the cancer got bad.
That says a lot about her.
After her mother passed, it was like she had to get away.
When she moved to the city I was just so happy for her.
But then - You'll bury her back the way she was? - Of course.
At least she had the funeral she deserved.
Thank God for Mr.
Wellesley.
- Mr.
Wellesley? - The man who paid for everything.
Which Mr.
Wellesley was that? Winston Wellesley.
Paid for her funeral? - Can anyone say "guilty conscience"? - Yeah.
Hey, Esposito, run down Winston Wellesley's alibi.
Talk to doormen, chauffeurs, the whole gamut.
- I'll see what I can do.
Thank you.
Prison duty roster.
How'd you pull it off, sir? They didn't make me captain just because I look good behind a desk.
Run all the guards on that roster.
Look for anything out of the ordinary.
Sir, I'm gonna call the cemetery to make arrangements - to exhume the body tomorrow.
- You know what I don't get? Whoever is behind this, why'd he stop paying Brady? These Wellesleys have plenty of money.
If the money hadn't stopped, Brady never would have set off this triggering domino that started all this.
Let me let you in on a little secret.
You know how rich people stay rich? They are cheap.
Why pay for Brady for the rest of his life, when you can kill him for a fraction of the price? But then why would he wait 10 years? Something changed.
Something must have happened.
- Yeah.
Captain Montgomery? Blake Wellesley.
Hate to bother you, but do you have a minute to chat? I speak for the entire Wellesley family when I say you can expect our full cooperation in this investigation.
But? You can tell, there's a "but" coming.
Not a "but," a "however.
" Like I said, we'll cooperate, however, we request that these unannounced interviews come to a stop.
- Here we go.
- Beckett, let's hear him out.
I apologize if I'm coming off like one of those guys, Detective.
It's just that these impromptu visits are a bit awkward.
My nephew Trent said you spoke to him when he visited my mother.
Mother became very confused, very upset.
I'm sure there's a better way to facilitate this.
Like what? Well, I propose that all further interviews be coordinated by me and conducted at my offices.
What do you think? Thank you for your offer, Mr.
Wellesley.
It's very nice of you.
Not at all.
I'll give you my number.
Hold on.
I, too, have a "however.
" Thank you for your offer, however, my detectives will conduct their investigation in any manner they see fit.
Captain, I can get the commissioner on the phone in under a minute.
Well, tell him I said hi and I really could use a raise.
I think we're done here.
That was awesome.
Whatever you guys are doing, keep doing it.
They're circling the wagons.
Awesome! Ignore, accept, ignore Accept, ignore Oh, Mother, come on! Accept the man's friend request, already.
Using that old photo was a horrible idea.
Why didn't you stop me? Since when have I had the power to stop you from doing anything? What will Chet think if he expects 1980s Martha, and present-day Martha shows up? You tell anyone I said this, and I'll deny it.
And I'm only gonna say it once.
but present-day Martha is pretty spectacular, too.
- Did you just accept that? - Yeah.
- Well, take it back.
- I'm sorry, I cannot.
- Oh, God.
Come - No.
But since it's done, why don't you take a visit to Chet's page, and see what he looks like nowadays? Just like this? Press that? Oh, good Well, that's Chet, but how old is that photo? Turnabout is fair play, Mother.
Chet Palaburn.
What are you thinking, man? City workers brought the coffin in an hour ago.
All right.
Winston didn't spare any pennies with this box of wood.
This is the Bentley of caskets.
- Shopping ahead? - Research.
Derrick Storm, in Storm Warning, finds a murder weapon buried in a coffin a year before the murder occurs.
Of course, who am I talking to? You know this.
Back in the non-fiction section, we have a real casket that's been sealed for 10 years, so there's gonna be some serious decomposition.
When I crack this open, expect the foulest of foul stenches.
- Set? - Okay.
Yeah.
Is the body missing or did you just pull off an awesome magic trick? You are amazing, sir! Nope.
No prints.
Thank you very much.
Whoever removed Olivia's remains was careful.
Goodbye.
How do these people manage to stay one step ahead of us? Olivia's aunt said it was an open-casket funeral.
So her body must have been in here at one point.
The mortuary company must have switched out the bodies between the funeral and the burial.
Yeah, but the company's out of business, so there's no way of finding out.
Winston had to have paid to get rid of the body, just in case Brady ever wanted to come clean with the police.
Mmm-hmm.
Looks like it.
This guy's got contingency plans for his contingency plans.
Feels like we're battling a super villain! Hey! Excuse me, dynamic duo.
What am I doing with this? Well, it depends.
What can you get for a secondhand casket these days? I'll call Olivia's family and find out what they wanna do.
Seriously, though, I wonder what you could get for a slightly-used coffin.
That thing is top of the line.
- Did you check the drawer? - What drawer? High-end coffins often have a small drawer hidden somewhere in the lid.
That way, families can place mementos in there or psychotic killers can hide evidence.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Nothing suspicious, it's just a bunch of family photographs.
- What does that button say? - Looks like a political button.
Was Edna Debiasse Olivia's mother? - Let me borrow your magnifying glass.
- I don't have a magnifying glass.
Isn't that standard issue for detectives? No.
Not since Sherlock Holmes.
- We can use mine.
- Of course.
Mmm-hmm.
"Casper Wellesley, Senate '78.
" Olivia's mother worked on the campaign.
All roads lead to Wellesley.
Are you looking at porn? - I use Ryan's computer for that.
I've been searching a periodical database.
Look what I found.
In this article, it talks about how during his 1978 Senate run, Casper had his sons, Blake and Winston, heading up his campaign headquarters in Ithaca.
Where Olivia's mom worked.
She and Winston had to have crossed paths.
Exactly.
Now why would Winston keep that from us? Hmm.
We ran all the guard's names off that duty roster you got us from Brady's prison.
He's the only one that red-flagged.
Name's Patterson.
Made a deposit last month for $5,000 cash.
Then the day Brady was killed, he makes another deposit in cash.
- This time for $ 10,000.
- Lf there's anything I hate, - it's a dirtbag in uniform.
Mmm-hmm.
So where you guys at with Winston Wellesley's alibi? - We have a few leads.
- Keep pushing on that.
I'll push on this.
Mr.
Wellesley, we are going to find out the truth.
And the amount of dust that we kick up doing that is entirely up to you.
I do seem to recall making her acquaintance.
You're telling us half-truths again.
We already know that you paid for Olivia's funeral.
We know that you knew her mom.
Either you start telling me the truth, or you're gonna spend the last few weeks of your brother's campaign issuing denials after I release what I know to the press.
Fine.
I knew her mother.
After her mother passed, Olivia set about to unravel the mystery of her origins.
Olivia was clever.
She put together the clues, found out her father was a Wellesley.
- A Wellesley.
- And Actually, truth is, I'm Olivia's father.
I know.
I had the same look on my face when Olivia told me 10 years ago.
- And Olivia's mother didn't tell you? - Mmm-mmm.
Didn't tell Olivia, either.
I was just on the verge of telling everyone when she She was tragically killed.
It is a tragedy when a father kills his daughter, isn't it? What? What do you know about Olivia's missing body? Nothing! That's obscene! Who would do something like that? You.
So no one would ever find out the truth of who she really was.
I didn't kill her and I certainly didn't hide her body.
Yet, 10 years after her death, you're still trying to hide her existence.
Well, you have to understand, I have a family to protect.
Olivia was family.
Winston Wellesley, you did it.
He might have, but we don't have the evidence to prove it.
That's because he didn't.
We were able to verify Winston's alibi.
- He was really home alone? - Oh, he was home, but he wasn't alone.
Winston had some romantic company that night.
Well, then if he had an alibi, why didn't he just say so from the start? Maybe because of who his romantic company was.
Stanley Jenkins.
Is Stanley a unisex name now, or is Winston - Gay? Uh, yeah, he's gay.
- He lied to us.
Who is he protecting? Well, he said it himself.
Family.
You have to understand that this young woman, Olivia, I hardly knew her.
Maybe I shook her hand at the party, but that's all.
And now you're telling me her mother and I worked at the same campaign 30 years ago? You and your brother were in Ithaca July and August of '78.
Olivia was born May '79.
That's nine months later.
Your brother claimed paternity, but I think we all know that's highly unlikely.
Winston, what the hell is going on here? Blake, it's time to get the lawyers involved.
What did you know about this, Winston? This is not the time or the place.
I never saw Edna after that summer.
She never told me anything.
So, you admit to sleeping with her? She must have not wanted to rock the boat, hurt my father's campaign with a scandal involving his son.
Blake, you've said enough.
I just found out I had a daughter I never knew about.
A daughter who was murdered and whose killer apparently is still at large.
Why did you tell the police you were her father? Why? Actually the question is, why did he tell Olivia that 10 years ago? You have to understand, Blake, this was during the first Senate run.
Scandal would have killed the campaign.
I lost the damn election anyway.
You had no right to make that decision without me! We were only looking out for your best interests.
We? Winston, who is "we"? Mother, do you remember Olivia? Olivia Debiasse? Of course I do.
I have my mind.
- Mrs.
Wellesley, we need to - Who are you? - Blake, that's not Olivia.
- Yes, Mother.
This is a police detective investigating Oh, yes.
My ring was stolen.
It was very expensive.
Yes, ma'am.
Uh, but before we can deal with that, we need to ask you a few questions about Olivia Debiasse.
Olivia.
Came to me looking for a father, so I gave her Winston.
A child would go a long way to butch up his image.
But she was my daughter, Mother.
You were too special.
You're going to be a senator, maybe even President someday.
Mrs.
Wellesley, what happened to Olivia the night of her murder? Ooh! So many questions about I don't care for questions.
Olivia questioned me.
The gall of that girl.
Mr.
Wellesley, your mother is ill.
She can't handle this Oh, shut it, Frank! I can handle anything.
It's dangerous for her to get this riled up.
I'm getting her medication from the car.
What does any of this have to do with my stolen ring? Mother, did you go to Olivia's apartment that night? Well, she crossed me, had to be stopped.
What did you do, Mother? Mrs.
Wellesley, did you kill Olivia Debiasse? Kill her? Why would I kill her? No.
I said, "Take care of it," and it was taken care of.
And who did you ask to take care of it? Well, well, well.
If it isn't Frank Davis.
- Sorry, pal.
Got the wrong guy.
- I don't think so, pal.
I just spent the better part of the day sweating a guard named Patterson who works in the prison where Brady Thompson was killed.
I don't know any Brady Thompson and I don't know any Patterson.
That's funny, 'cause he knows you.
Said that you paid him to monitor Brady Thompson's calls about a package.
No.
No, no, no.
Said that you paid him to have a lifer put a shiv in Brady Thompson's back.
Now you tell me how I got the wrong guy.
Cuffs.
- So, Frank was the family hitman? - More like the family fixer.
He cleaned up all types of dirt for Senator Wellesley back in the day.
He knows where all the bodies are buried.
And which ones needed to be dug up.
And then after he got rid of Olivia on Mrs.
Wellesley's orders, he called around to all his low-life connections until he found someone desperate enough to cut a deal.
Then why, after 10 years, would he suddenly stop paying Brady to do his jail time? When Mrs.
Wellesley lost her faculties, Blake was granted power of attorney.
Frank couldn't get the money to make the payments anymore.
So he stopped, figuring Brady would just disappear.
And when he found out Brady had evidence to prove his innocence, Frank panicked.
He stole Mrs.
Wellesley's ring and hocked it to finance his plan to shut Brady up permanently.
By the way, I took a look at the precinct's numbers.
Three closed cases puts us just over the mandated case closure rate.
Right in time for the review tomorrow.
You know what's even better than that? After 10 years, I can call Olivia's aunt and tell her that we really got the guy.
Finally.
And you get to give the messenger's sister some closure, too.
Mmm-hmm.
Though I don't suppose having answers makes it any easier.
It does, in time.
I can't believe how many lives were ruined over one woman's need to protect her family's reputation.
You will never have this problem.
Between Grams and myself, our family reputation's already in ruins.
- Mmm.
Lucky me.
- Mmm.
Yeah.
- What's gonna happen to Brady's son? - Well, there's a silver lining there.
When Blake Wellesley found out why Brady sold his freedom - Mmm-hmm.
he pledged 20 million dollars - to a local kids' charity - Mmm.
who agreed to handle Brady's son's care.
- Oh, that's so sweet.
- And Wow.
Looking good, Grams.
Hot date? Dining and dancing with Chet Palaburn.
What if he turns out to be bloated and ugly? Oh.
How superficial do you think I am? Intensely.
Mother, what is going on? Present-day Martha is going on.
I've had filthy, stinking rich.
I've had broke, dirt poor.
And you know what I want now? Fun.
Just fun.
And if you aren't what Chet's expecting? Oh, please, darling.
Look at me.
Come on.
It doesn't get any better than that.
Don't wait up for me, kids.
Mama's on the prowl.
Oh, that poor bastard.
Is insanity inherited?
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