Life s02e13 Episode Script

(DOORBELL RINGING) (GUN FIRES) REESE: We are nowhere.
We are nowhere.
We are nowhere.
You can't be nowhere.
- Because to be - Crews.
- You have to be - Crews.
Somewhere.
You can't be nowhere.
We are nowhere.
With the shooting, your shooting.
Ballistics? Clean.
Whoever did it was in the car by the time I got to the door.
What about the car? Stolen.
Found it wiped clean.
Crews, you were looking right at whoever did it.
You can't remember? Okay, you answered the door and then? And then I got shot.
What about the person with the gun? Nothing.
Really? I thought there couldn't be nothing.
(DOORBELL RINGING) - You wanna come in? - (GUN FIRING) DOCTOR: Here you are.
Here you are.
It's an unusual request, Detective.
Most people wouldn't want to have the bullet that shot them.
Well, someone gave it to me.
It'd be rude just to throw it away.
- You fit for duty? - I am fit for duty.
You wanna go catch a killer? I thought you'd never ask.
(MAN CHATTERING ON POLICE RADIO) REESE: How come this is LAPD and not FAA? I guess this is why.
You think he shot himself? If he did, why'd he land the plane? Why didn't he just let go? No gun anywhere in here.
Pilot's license IDs him as William Ellis.
The late William Ellis has one entry wound to his right side.
Got a bunch of witnesses out here.
They all say the same thing.
The plane makes a hard landing.
They run up.
Pilot's all alone in the plane.
He looks at them and dies.
- There's no one else in the plane.
- And no gun.
So someone shoots him before he takes off? Or someone shoots him in the air.
And jumps? Or William Ellis here shoots himself and then tosses the gun out.
I'll call the airfield, check if he was alone when he took off.
I'll see if the FAA has a flight path.
Find out where he was going.
Hey, Reese? He look familiar to you? Yeah, but I can't figure out why.
William Ellis.
Guess where he used to work.
In the circus? No.
Why would you say the circus? You told me to guess.
Crews.
I'll tell you.
In space.
William Bull Ellis was a shuttle pilot.
He went up there three times.
Ellis retires from NASA in 1993.
He starts a company that makes parts for rocket engines, and he gets rich.
- He came down in that plane alone? - REESE: Yep.
The field where he took off from was private.
No control tower.
He logged out alone, but there was no one there to verify that.
Where was he headed? Flight wasn't logged in.
The FAA doesn't track planes that small.
I know him.
He looks familiar.
He's been on the news.
He's going back into space.
He was gonna pay the Russians $35 million to take him back up.
$35 million.
Okay.
A rich man gets shot dead.
Who benefits? He's got a wife that died We're on our way now to go talk to him.
Detective, a moment.
Not you, Detective.
You, Detective.
(CLEARING THROAT) Don't you usually kiss Reese when you call her back like this? I got something else in mind for you.
Don't remember who shot you? Just a blank space there.
Mmm-hmm.
Okay, just so you know, I don't buy it.
Someone shoots me, that's not someone I'm gonna forget.
Well, like I said, Captain, there's just a blank space there.
Dad called this morning.
Said he was taking the plane up for a couple of hours and wanted to see me in the office when he came down.
You work for your father, Dean? Yeah, the head of Expended Resource Control and Distribution.
Can you think of anybody who'd wanna harm him? Harm him? No.
Everybody loved him.
The President called, said the nation had lost a shining light.
Dean, we need to ask you where you were this morning.
With some friends here at work.
You you wanna talk to them? Oh, it's just procedure.
He goes back into space at his age.
That doesn't worry you at all? Dad needed to fly.
Hours alone in his plane.
Climbed K2 last year.
If Dad wanted to go back into space, Dad was going back into space.
Pretty expensive trip, huh? $35 million.
Did he have that kind of money? Dad was selling the company to pay for his next trip up there.
Selling it for how much? A lot, I guess.
William Ellis spends 15 years building up this company, and then he sells it for two weeks in space.
And he'd been up there before.
He knew what he was paying for.
I guess he thought it was worth it.
Could you imagine seeing the world from up there? The Earth is floating.
You are floating.
Everything is floating.
I hear there's a lot of barfing, and you crap into a vacuum.
Yeah, a floating vacuum.
A floating vacuum? You don't even know what that means.
It's space talk.
We joined NASA together, trained together, flew together.
We retired within months of each other.
When Bill opened up this shop, I came on board.
As an employee? You're checking up on me.
Yes, as an employee.
Mr.
Breem, Bill Ellis was selling this business.
What's that leave you with? That leaves me with having worked for Bill Ellis for the last 15 years.
That leaves me with time to get back in the cockpit where I belong.
I never wanted to be a businessman.
I'm a flyer.
So you worked for him because Because Bull asked me to.
Did Bull have any enemies? No, no.
Everyone loved Bull.
The President called this morning.
Is it possible he took his own life? We all get a little depressed at this age.
One foot in the grave, another on a banana peel.
But to be honest with you, for folks like us, it's worse.
To be down here and not up there? That's exactly right.
But Bill was going back.
He he was going back up.
What's it like to be up there? (SIGHS) It's like like going back where I came from.
"Like going back where I came from.
" A lot of the astronauts turn to poetry.
The spacemen poets.
We're gonna have to ask.
Where were you this morning? I was fishing at Castaic.
Detectives, you will find out who did this, won't you? Mr.
Breem, how much was Bill Ellis selling his company for? $30 million.
The trip back up costs $35 million.
Where was the rest coming from? His savings.
How much of his savings? Well, all of it.
Can you point us toward his son Dean's office? CREWS: He pays for that trip, the kid gets no inheritance.
REESE: How come everyone says the President called? Well, people like to think that they will be remembered after they're gone.
You know, that their lives have made an impact.
After I got shot, you thought about me, didn't you? Come on.
You did.
Admit it.
(STAMMERS) Yes, Crews, I thought about you.
About what it would be like if I, you know, floated away.
How empty your life would be.
Reese with no Crews.
Hey, when I was unconscious, the President didn't call me, did he? No.
He didn't call.
You'd tell me if he did, though.
I mean, you'd make sure I got that message? Model planes.
You were flying model planes yesterday? We're a club.
And where do you fly these planes? Desert.
Wind currents are primo.
I have a Fokker.
Excuse me? A Fokker.
It's vintage.
It's what the Red Baron flew.
A model of what the Red Baron flew.
You were all out there together? - We meet once a week.
- Once a week.
Or when the currents are primo.
And what do you fly? SR-71 Blackbird.
That alibi seem rehearsed to you? Dean's dad flew rockets.
Dean flies model airplanes.
- His dad knew the President.
- He knows them.
His dad owns this company, but He makes Dean work in that closet.
His dad sells the company.
And Dean is left with nothing.
(KEYBOARD CLACKING) Was there something else? Dean said his job is Expended Resource Control and Distribution.
Can you tell us what that means? Waste removal.
His father made him take out the garbage.
Paid him minimum wage, too.
Said he had to start at the bottom.
(CHATTERING) DEAN: Why don't you guys just head over? (CAR ENGINE ROARING) Dean's father flew high.
I guess Dean gets high, too.
How's your injury? Hundred percent.
Why? You wanna kick in a door? (GASPING) - REESE: What the hell is it? - I have no idea.
You ever seen anything like it? Nope.
You? Nope.
You? Nope.
What did those kids say? Nothing without a lawyer.
Maybe Dean's father caught Dean dealing, so Dean killed him.
Dealing.
But dealing what? I've never seen anything like it.
Reese, remember those guys who came to buy? What did they have in common? They drove nice cars.
No.
They drove race cars.
Not sure I'd go and do that.
Race cars.
Anyone got a light? Not sure if I'd go and do that either.
Dean worked at a rocket plant.
TED: All right, let's talk about scarcity of resources.
The less there is of something, the more it is worth.
Like innocent men in here.
No, baby.
We're all innocent in here.
Actually, I am innocent this time.
Last time I did it.
I did what they said.
But this time, I am innocent.
Then you're the scarce resource.
Charlie Crews says hang tough, Mr.
Earley.
It won't be much longer.
Solid rocket fuel.
No wonder our HAZMAT guy couldn't ID it.
You need security clearance to get your hands on that stuff.
Or a dad in the business.
Those street racers put this in their cars, man, oh, man, are they going somewhere fast, huh? Your dad flew jets in the Navy? Carrier landings at night.
Takes a real man to do that.
Flew those three shuttle missions, too.
I looked it up and Oh, wait, maybe you know this too.
How fast your dad was going when he flew up there? Seventeen thousand miles per hour.
Did you hear that, Reese? Bill Ellis was flying through space at 17,000 miles per hour.
Your dad's a spaceman, and there you are with your toy airplanes.
- Model.
- Okay, toy model.
And taking the company trash out, stealing your father's fuel.
That make you popular? - It make you cool? - Make you money, Dean? Bull Ellis find out you were ripping him off? Is that what he wanted to talk to you about? We're pretty sure you were not flying model airplanes when your dad got shot, Dean.
I was selling fuel in Pomona.
Had breakfast at the diner.
Flirted with the waitress.
She'll remember.
Oh, it went that well, huh? Not very smart still working this with us cops snooping around, Dean.
Biggest race of the year.
I had obligations.
I didn't kill my father.
If you didn't do it, who did? Don't you want to know who did it, Dean? His fly buddy Mick Breem wants to know.
We wanna know.
The President wants to know.
But you, Dean, how come you don't wanna know? Or are you not asking who it is because you know who it was? Who killed your father, Dean? Since last year, he he spent too much time alone in his plane.
He loved that company and he was selling it.
To go back into space.
(SHOUTING) What was he gonna do up there? You didn't think he was coming back? My partner here thinks he took his own life.
Is that what you think? Did he ever talk to you about this? Dad never spoke to me about himself.
Never spoke to me.
Like a man? Because you didn't fly.
(CRYING) I'm afraid of heights.
REESE: Dean said his father changed his behavior about a year ago.
Something happen then? Bill Ellis was a hero.
(SIGHS) It's our job to find Mr.
Ellis' killer, even if the killer is Mr.
Ellis himself.
Now, did something happen a year ago? (SIGHING) K2.
Bill climbed regularly, several peaks a year.
Last year he ascended K2.
When he came back, he had changed.
- Something happened on that mountain? - I don't know.
But he came back down off that mountain, put that pick up on that shelf there, and he never climbed again.
What is that? You don't know what this is? This is a Buddhist mourning flag.
It's got some English writing on it.
"K2.
2008.
" Flag for the dead? Someone died during that trip up K2.
Who else was on that climb? Bill only ever climbed with one other man, Evan Tucker.
It was just the two of them on K2.
Evan Tucker come back? Yes.
Bill and Tucker both came down off that mountain.
So who died up there? What's going on? I don't know.
You tell me.
Didn't you call me in here? I called you in here, both of you.
I got a problem.
Maybe you two don't want me here for this.
Stow it, Stark.
Now, I have an unsolved shooting of a police officer, my police officer, and I've got a witness who's not talking.
Charlie says he doesn't remember who shot him.
It happens.
Did I say it was a good time to talk? Now, you are his old partner, and you're his current partner.
So I wanna ask you two a question.
I don't think I like being questioned in this room.
Why wouldn't Crews tell us who shot him? Why would he keep that to himself? What's he doing? (HISSING) MAN ON TAPE: When I wish to forgive another, what do I mean? I mean I wish to forgive myself.
When I wish to harm another, what do I mean? I mean I wish to harm myself.
Close your eyes, and think of the world as seen from space.
From that distance, it is calm, silent.
At peace.
One.
Calm, silent.
At peace.
One.
Because of a paper flag? Paper mourning flag.
If Ellis had it made, someone died up there.
We checked with the K2 base camp station, there were no reported fatalities during the time that Ellis and Tucker were up on that mountain.
You see that flag, you think there was an unreported fatality.
Ellis and Tucker both went up that mountain.
Ellis and Tucker both came down.
Evan Tucker is not Fortune 500.
Tucker's a manager at Sportymart.
How did he know William Ellis? Tucker only works half the year to pay for the six months he spends on the global adventure circuit.
That's how he met Ellis.
According to Breem, they just became real close.
They only climbed with each other, a club of two.
You two talk to Tucker.
Find out who didn't come down off that mountain.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
You go first.
Okay, okay, I'll go first.
That was Tucker's kid.
Says her dad has been on a company retreat for the last week.
Backwoods, no phones.
Okay.
That was the assistant manager from Sportymart.
She says that Tucker has been on a family vacation for the last week.
Backwoods, no phones.
Both Ellis and Tucker knew who died on that mountain.
But now Ellis is dead and Tucker's been missing for a week.
Hi, this is Detective Crews.
Your mom around? Hi, Mrs.
Tucker, this is Detective Crews, LAPD.
We're investigating the death of Bill Ellis.
We know that your husband climbed K2 with him last year.
Were there any fatalities on that trip? Did someone die up there? Okay, well, then maybe you'd like to come down here and talk about that.
Tucker's wife says there was a death up there.
Does she know who it was? Well, did she tell you? Tucker's wife says Tucker died.
REESE: You saw your husband last week.
Yes.
But you told my partner on the phone that he died up on K2.
He did.
How did he die, Mrs.
Tucker? William Ellis killed him.
His body isn't dead, is it, Mrs.
Tucker? He's just not the same man that went up that mountain, is he? My husband and William Ellis were at 12,000 feet, tethered together.
My husband lost his footing, and went over the edge.
He was pulling Ellis down.
Ellis cut the rope.
And Evan fell.
Hundreds of feet.
He fell.
All alone and falling.
But he didn't die.
Nope.
Angles of slope, drift density, wind speed, he was barely bruised.
Ellis, the hero, cut the rope.
Ellis let my husband fall.
Do you know where your husband is? Where were you when Ellis died? Alone with our children.
I'm always alone with our children since he came down off that mountain.
Mrs.
Tucker, do you think your husband could've killed Ellis? No.
But I'm glad someone did.
Ellis cuts the rope, Tucker falls to his death, but doesn't die.
And Ellis needs to go back into space.
Thanks so much.
(SIGHS) Got a little more information from the assistant manager where Tucker worked.
Since he'd come back from K2, he'd become less interested in all the sports he usually did, and he focused on just one sport.
Did she say what it was? She did.
Was it skydiving? We're looking for someone who could've shot Ellis, then jumped out of that plane, and our lead suspect has a sudden interest in skydiving.
Ran a credit card check on Tucker.
We got a hit at a Perris motel.
Paris, France? Perris, California.
Skydiving capital of America.
Tucker's credit statements show that he's been out there on and off for the last year.
Since K2.
Then you two head out to Perris.
Captain? (CLEARING THROAT) A word.
This isn't the part where you kiss me, is it? Don't you ever call me into that interrogation room again.
And if you have a question for my partner, then you ask my partner.
I just wanted to find out who shot him, because he's one of my cops and because you were there.
Maybe next time you get hit, too.
Don't you ever call me into that interrogation room again.
(INMATES CHATTERING) Okay, you asked about debt.
Let's talk about debt.
Simply put, debt is anything that you owe.
Now, can anybody give me an example? Well, I still owe you a beating.
(LAUGHING) Oh, you mean because of that bun I took from you? Yeah, because of that bun they let you take from me.
(GROANING) It's okay.
It's okay.
Okay.
Yeah, you still owe me a beating.
Yeah, but I guess those babysitters Charlie Crews sent are gonna keep you from collecting that beating, huh? (SIGHS) - INMATE 1: Yeah.
- INMATE 2: Yeah.
You don't have to do this.
Yeah, I do.
It's okay.
The guards will break it up.
Not quick enough.
Okay, white collar, let's get it on.
REESE: We're looking for Evan Tucker.
Tucker? He's around here someplace.
You're cops.
Is he in trouble? We just need to talk to him.
He just went to jump.
He should be back in half an hour.
Tuck been coming here long? About a year.
He started as a student.
Now he's as good as any of the instructors.
Tuck is fearless.
That a record of the students' jumps? Yeah, heights, pull times.
Tuck on that board? He's there somewhere.
Ellis' plane was flying at about 8,000 feet.
Let's see if Tucker was training to jump from that height.
I want to jump out of a plane.
Be a part of the air and one with the sky? No, I just want to jump out of a plane.
Oh! Tucker's jumps over the last month.
Look at this.
He was waiting longer and longer before he pulled the cord.
He was getting closer and closer to the ground.
You want to jump out of a plane and you don't want to be seen.
Then you wait as long as possible before opening your chute.
Tucker was training to jump out of a plane without being seen.
Don't you need a warrant for that? - Maybe.
- Maybe not.
Is this Tucker's only chute? What is he doing on a plane without a chute? Hey, which plane is Tucker in? That one.
CREWS: He's fearless, huh? Yeah, Tuck sure is fearless.
Were you always that way? Or was it just because what happened to you and Ellis up on that mountain? Fearless? You touch death, and all that fear just goes away, right? It's time for me to fall.
Evan Tucker, on your knees.
It's time for me to fall! On your knees now! A Buddhist flag for the dead.
How'd you know what happens when you touch death? (DOOR OPENING) (MAN CHATTERING ON TV) Detective Crews.
Got something that belongs to you.
That bullet was yours.
The next is mine.
Make the call.
What call? The call that gets Ted Earley out of prison.
(GROANS) There, it's done.
What was that? Text message.
The call isn't even a call anymore? It's a text? I'm never catching up.
How much did Roman pay you to shoot me? (SIGHS) You think it's about the money.
Roman uses people's weaknesses.
Where's your family, Agent Bodner? I sent them away.
Because you're afraid of what Roman will do to them? Roman Nevikov came to my house.
I come home, he's drinking tea with my wife.
My daughter is on Roman's knee.
I sent them away.
Call me after your leg heals.
And don't throw that bullet away.
Found this when we searched your Perris motel room, Tucker.
Ballistics matched it to the gun that killed William Ellis.
You remember him, don't you? - Will Ellis cut your rope.
- William Ellis let you fall.
Is that why you killed him? You wouldn't understand.
We understand you went up without a chute today.
Tucker, you feeling guilty about Ellis? You wouldn't understand.
Not that we blame you.
Anybody would want to do that to someone who did what Ellis did to you.
What William Ellis did is show me the face of God.
The face of Of God.
What did it look like, Tucker? It was beautiful.
Like, the sun coming closer, blinding me, but I could still see everything.
Tucker, you didn't hate William Ellis, did you? - Why would I? - Because he cut your rope.
No, I had to beg him to do it.
We were both going over.
I told him to cut the rope.
He didn't want to do it.
(SIGHS) He didn't want to do it.
I had to beg him.
And then you fell.
But now Ellis is dead.
No, he's not dead.
Just went back where he came from.
What was that, Tucker? Just went back where he came from.
That's what Ellis used to say.
About going back into space.
What? It's like going back where he came from.
That's what Breem said about being in space.
That's what Tucker said Ellis said about being in space.
Well, maybe they were both spacemen poets, Crews.
And they both wrote the same poem? Maybe one's a poet, and one's a liar.
You think NASA has a listed telephone number? It's a government agency.
Our tax dollars at work.
I'll bet they got a listed phone number.
Yes! Need the number for NASA.
Checked with NASA.
Mick Breem never actually went into space.
He trained with Ellis, but he was an alternate.
He never went up there.
He padded his résumé.
I don't think that makes him a killer.
And you got the guy with the gun, right? What? You don't think Tucker did it? Because? Because he saw the face of God.
(LAUGHS) Saw the face of yeah.
We had a guy once in Manhattan South who saw the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich.
Killed seven people with a tire iron over the course of the week.
Tucker didn't mention grilled cheese.
Is this about him nearly dying and you nearly dying? Nope.
I don't think it is.
At least Tucker remembers who cut his rope.
Finally got the financials on Ellis Propulsion.
They just unsealed his will.
Guess who William Ellis left his company to.
Dean, how come you didn't tell us you weren't getting your father's company? What? I'm not getting the company? Mick Breem is getting the company.
What? Mick Breem is getting the company? Oh.
Well, yeah, I guess.
Oh, well, yeah, you guess? You guess what, Dean? I guess that makes sense.
Dad always said, "The right person for the right job.
" I guess Dad knew that wasn't me.
Did Mick Breem kill my father? If your father lived, Breem gets nothing.
When he died, Breem got the company.
Because Mick Breem is the right person for the job.
Reese? We're the wrong people for this job.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Watch out.
Coming through.
But it's not a plane.
I know that.
But let's just say it is.
Let's just say this is the plane William Ellis died in.
Crews.
Breem and Ellis were both NASA trained.
It's what made them.
Okay, I understand that, but why are you and Tucker sitting like that? It's the plane William died in.
Breem isn't gonna tell us how he did it.
How would Ellis do it? - Ellis is dead.
- Ellis is dead.
It's the plane Ellis died in.
They both went through NASA, did things the same way.
If we knew how Ellis would've done it, maybe we can figure out how Breem did it.
Oh, not you, too.
Tucker.
If Ellis were gonna do this.
Kill a man and then jump from that plane, how would he have done it? It's the plane Ellis died in.
William Bull Ellis was NASA.
He said everything in life was a mission.
And for a mission, you have to train.
So how did Breem train? And where would he do it? Let's start faxing his picture around, shall we? WOMAN: I have a Captain Tidwell on line one.
TIDWELL: Mr.
Breem, Captain Kevin Tidwell, LAPD.
What can I do for you, Captain? Tracked down that charter pilot you used.
Nevada, out of state, nice.
Used? Used for what? To train.
Once a week for the last two months.
Training to Jump from a small plane at 8,000 feet, the cruising altitude of William Ellis' plane.
You used a different name, so we faxed your picture to the airfields in four states.
One of them puts your face to the fake name.
And once we have that name, we get you buying that gun there in Nevada.
The gun you planted on Tucker.
William Ellis sells his company, goes up into space, you get nothing.
William Ellis dies, you get it all.
You never actually went up into space.
I never actually said I did.
Well, think of it this way, Mr.
Breem, that now you get to go someplace Bill Ellis never got to go.
REESE: Okay, you don't remember who shot you.
Anything else you don't remember about that day? If I don't remember it, how would I know if I remembered or not? Unless I forgot to remember.
Crews, you know what I mean.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
I remember you asking me a question about your father having something to do with me going to jail.
You still want to know the answer? Yeah, I do.
Your father wasn't responsible for me going to jail.
I was teaching a class on the nature of debt.
We had a discussion.
Where do you want to go? Anywhere else.
Fast.
Well, that, Ted, will not be a problem.
(CAR ENGINE REVVING) MAN: And think of the world as seen from space.
From that distance, it is calm, silent.
At peace.
One.