Law & Order Special Victims Unit s02e19 Episode Script
Parasites
In the criminal justice system sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
It's an above-ground Jacuzzi.
I don't know why you're digging that deep.
It's called a foundation, Mr.
Sawyer.
Just make sure you don't hit a gas main or something.
We know what we're doing.
Then you know you have to take out all those weeds.
The roots will break right through the concrete.
Last owner left this place a mess.
Don't worry.
We'll clear the whole yard.
No extra charge.
Aren't those hydrangea bushes? Why'd you think I said we'd clear the yard for nothing? We're gonna make more off those bushes than off this job.
I know a guy in Hackensack What? We closed on the house a month ago.
Had it inspected, inside and out For termites, not dead bodies.
We're suing that realtor.
You're all witnesses Mr.
and Mrs.
Sawyer, we're gonna need you to leave the crime scene.
It's our new home.
We'll try not to take too long.
It's all right.
Just let them Hi.
Detectives.
What've we got? Judging from the eye orbits, nasal opening, and cheek bone projection I'd say a Caucasian.
Surface of the auricular region puts her under 30.
Her? Did you find any clothes? A few scraps.
Most of the fabric decomposed.
But look at the hips.
Wide sciatic notch, long pubic bone.
Definitely female.
Cause of death? No obvious knife marks or bullet holes.
Hopefully I'll know more after I put her back together.
Now, how are we getting sexual homicide from a bunch of bones? Check the evidence tray.
It's a crucifix.
I think he means the studded collar and leash.
Looks like our bone lady was somebody's pet.
The previous owners put in the hydrangeas.
And they were? The Stantons.
Brad and Abbey.
Fought constantly from the day they moved in, to the day Abbey moved out.
And when was that? About four years ago.
Anything violent? Loud, yes.
Violent, I never saw.
Did Abbey ever come back? Yeah, but not for a good year or so.
She'd pound on his door, wailing.
He'd come out, slip her a few bucks.
This became like a weekly ritual.
Usually about 3:00 in the morning.
How long did that go on? About a month or two.
One night he doesn't answer his door.
She starts screaming she's gonna report him to the medical board for having sex with his patients.
So he's a doctor? A surgeon.
Anyhow, the door bursts open, Abbey gets the crap beat out of her.
You said you never saw any violence.
No.
I never saw Brad hit her.
This was Pam, the new wife, throwing the punches.
Guess he likes his women feisty.
When was the next time you saw Abbey? Never.
Captain, check it out.
How sick is this? A crucifix.
Get this, dog collar and leash.
Looks like an S&M session gone south.
The lab get any prints off them? Not yet.
Any idea how long she was buried? ME's best guesstimate is three years.
What about We're all over missing persons.
Okay, so who had access to this yard? The previous owners, the Stantons.
The story reads like a bad soap opera.
Doctor marries wife number two wife number one mysteriously disappears.
After wife number two uses wife number one as a punching bag.
Well, go have a talk with the happy couple.
You two check and see if anybody else remembers the first Mrs.
Dr.
Stanton.
Million-dollar view of the murder scene.
Any of your apartments overlook the yard? We have six buildings on this block.
We're talking 36 units.
Any of your tenants come up missing between late '97, early '99? Yeah.
They go missing when they forget to pay their rent for three months.
Meanwhile, that's lost income.
We're gonna need a list from the aforementioned years.
And rental applications.
Oh, yeah, applications.
We have a very stringent screening process what with all the high-class people desperate to move in here.
Can we take a look at your files? Knock yourselves out.
Brad was married to that blood-sucking leech for five years.
Why did you attack her? Abbey accused Brad of sleeping with his patients.
She's a bottom-feeding, mainlining junkie.
A constant source of embarrassment for my husband.
And how embarrassed were you? I was angry.
She was my friend once.
We went to nursing school together.
When did they divorce? In '97.
Brad was extremely generous.
You mean above and beyond the settlement? Until I put my foot down.
It was about three years ago, he finally cut her off.
Have you heard from her since? No, thank God.
Why? What kind of trouble is Abbey in now? A woman's remains were found buried under the hydrangea behind your former brownstone.
Oh, my God.
They've been there about three years.
Where's your husband now? The hospital.
Extremely busy.
Look, Brad couldn't kill anybody, not even that horrible bitch.
I have to go to work.
I didn't kill Abbey.
She was busy killing herself with her habit.
But you married her anyway? I loved her.
Back then, she was only on Xanax for anxiety and then she started stealing Demerol and Dilaudid and the hospital finally had to fire her.
That must have been humiliating for you especially the yelling and the extortion.
I had to sit there and watch, powerless, while she hit rock bottom.
Bottom being three feet under your former hydrangeas.
It's not Abbey.
Look, I got a case in half an hour.
I got to scrub.
Without saying hello to your wife? Leave her out of this.
I told you he was busy.
I can handle this.
I'll see you inside.
Okay.
Stop wasting our time.
That's what you're looking for.
Please, whatever you do, don't tell Pam.
She's not gonna be able to tell you much.
This is Abbey? AIDS-related dementia.
Dr.
Stanton pays the bills, keeps the roses fresh.
When was the last time he was here? When he brought her in.
She hasn't had a visitor since.
It's sad.
She doesn't have much time left.
Thank you.
Now what? Back to the bones.
Figure out how she died yet? Strangulation.
Pressure fractures to the hyoid.
Fits the S&M theory.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation, but he mistimes it.
Don't know how he could have.
There's a peri-mortem break in one of the metacarpals of her right hand.
So she put up a struggle.
Now we're back to the sexual sadist.
What else have we got? Well, she was petite.
I measured her femur.
Estimate she was 5'4.
And I think she was Eastern European.
You got that from the bones? From her teeth.
I found traces of arsenic.
Using arsenic to kill a nerve is an old Russian dental practice that spread to most of the Eastern Bloc.
Great.
So her dental records are somewhere in the former Soviet Union.
Maybe this will help.
Henry is our forensic anthropologist.
Show them what you came up with.
I entered the dimensions of the skull, put in tissue depth markers.
That's determined by age, right? We figure she's around 30 so she'd have more facial tissue than, say, a 50-year-old.
Then what? I fashioned the nose, ears, and mouth accordingly, and layer by layer got this.
How close do you think it is? It's a reasonable approximation.
Print her out.
So she's from behind the fallen Iron Curtain.
That narrows it down to a couple hundred thousand of your poor huddled masses.
What's all that? Meticulously kept records from the tenement complex behind our burial ground.
The manager's been somewhat remiss in keeping track of her tenants.
I guess we can rule out Ming Noh Ling.
Any names in there that sound Eastern Bloc? Sixteen and counting.
Track them down.
No, I don't speak Romanian.
You speak English? Yes, I understand.
Latvia.
Is there anyone else there who knows what happened to her? You're saying that she went back to Latvia two years ago, right? I'm calling from the police department, not Immigration.
Sir, we have nothing to do with deportation.
Okay, yes, thank you.
Hello? Find anything? Yeah.
Eastern Europeans don't trust cops.
I have two that are unaccounted for.
I have three.
How are you guys doing? Yearning to be free of this.
Five people I can't place.
One.
Okay.
Let's just get them over to missing persons, okay? No match.
How many more of these? Three boxes.
You know how many women go missing in this city every year? Hey.
You find something? I don't know.
You tell me.
Pretty damn close.
"Ava Parulis.
" That's P-A-R.
Reported missing: April of '98.
Here we go.
Ava Parulis rented an apartment behind the crime scene in February '98.
Gone by that April.
Skipped out on the last month's rent.
How far did you guys get with her? From what it says here, not too far.
The detective who worked the case retired to Arizona last year.
And who reported her missing? Let me see.
Guy in Queens, George Burton.
The address is in Rego Park.
Hi.
What's your name? I'm not supposed to talk to strangers.
You're right.
What if I tell you we're police officers? Do you have badges? Right answer again.
My name is Elliot.
This is my friend, Olivia.
Can I help you? They're policemen, Daddy.
Go inside, Julia, it's getting cold.
Bye.
Sorry to bother you.
I'm Det.
Stabler, this is my partner, Det.
Benson.
Something's wrong? You reported your sister-in-law Ava Parulis, missing.
You found Ava? We may have.
I gave this picture to the police.
What happened to Ava? The police are here? Is everything all right? My twin sister, Ava, and I came here five years ago from Romania.
She was always bossing me around.
She was older by six minutes.
Do you have any idea who could have killed your sister? No.
I have twins.
They're inseparable.
You two must have been close.
Ava was wild.
The two of them couldn't have been more different.
Ava played by her own rules.
She went from one rich man to the next.
Until she finally met the wrong one.
Irina.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive my wife.
Mr.
Burton, we know how difficult this must be for you.
Irina and Ava lived through hell.
Orphanages, abuse.
When they came to this country, all they had was each other.
What happened? They had a falling-out.
Over what? Ava said she could never settle for a life like this and Irina told her to stop dreaming and grow up.
I never saw Ava again.
And this was about three years ago? Little longer.
It was Julia's first birthday party.
Ava was supposed to be there.
She just didn't show.
This was the last straw for Irina.
Now, what made you think that Ava was missing? I went looking for her.
Try to patch things up between the two of them.
But the apartment was empty and Ava was gone.
Irina said she must have run off with one of her men.
I had a bad feeling, that's why I called the police.
Do you know the names of any of these boyfriends? Only one.
Matt Matt Sloane, I think.
Ava was sexy and adventurous.
You mean, kinky? Let's just say she was wild.
Did you ever tame her? You know, S&M, bondage, discipline? I'm not into that.
How long were you two together? About four months.
These your girlfriends? I love beautiful women.
Did you love Ava? It was a business arrangement.
She was smart, charming, multi-lingual.
She helped me develop business contacts in Eastern Europe.
And the sex was great.
Yeah, what'd she get out of it? Her passion was expensive jewelry.
She'd throw a tantrum if I got her anything else.
Like the thousand-dollar bottle of perfume she threw in my face.
That must've made you angry.
Angry enough to end it.
I terminated our agreement.
Did you see her after that? Unfortunately, yes, at a reception at the UN.
Who was she with? I don't know who brought her there but she left with the Romanian Deputy Chief of Mission.
A diplomat? And an importer, and who knows how many others.
She was definitely a player.
She'd get her hooks into these guys for as long as she could get what she wanted.
When the well ran dry, she'd move on and drink from the next one.
What about the sister? They were on the outs.
Ava walked on the wild side while Irina settled down with the husband, the kid.
We checked Sloane's record.
Got picked up during a undercover vice sting.
One count of soliciting prostitution.
And he was very specific about what he wanted, a doggie collar, the whole works.
Unfortunately, his passport showed he was out of the country when Ava was reported missing.
Find out how Ava got into the country and check whether her former landlady has anything more to tell us.
What do you want us to do about our friend from the Romanian Mission? Well, he has immunity from arrest, but not from talking to us.
Play nice, maybe he will.
Ava had that odd combination of greed and innocence.
Very common in girls from the countryside.
You were romantically involved? No.
I attend many official functions.
I needed at my side a woman who spoke my language, knew our customs.
And Ava was okay with that? Very much so.
She got to meet many important men.
Any of them want her dead? I can't imagine so.
Look at this orchid.
This orchid took years of cultivation.
A hybrid I developed.
It's beautiful.
Do you know the orchid is also a parasite? It devours the host plant while it blooms magnificently.
Is that how you thought of Ava, as a parasite? No, our relationship was more symbiotic.
We benefited mutually.
Can you tell us how Ava got into this country? Our emigration agency deals with thousands upon thousands of applications and there is no way I can tell you about circumstances of each one.
Besides Ava and I had never discussed it.
I remember her.
She walked around like she was the Czarina of 13th street.
This was hers.
Mr.
Sanchez? Ava have any regular visitors? Only one I remember.
Older guy.
Always dressed to kill.
Rich uncle? Sugar daddy.
I see he kept her in the lap of luxury.
Mercedes owners, they think they run the world.
He parked his by the fire hydrant every time.
What'd he look like? Somebody important.
Specifics don't concern me.
How about a name? Too specific.
What'd you do with her stuff? The place comes completely furnished.
She showed up with one suitcase.
Is there anything else you can tell us? She was two months behind in the rent.
Seeing as how she was murdered, shouldn't the city reimburse me for that? Call your councilman.
Ava had a room with a view.
Yeah, of her own grave.
Guy at the Mission was another one of Ava's boys.
Claims he had no idea how or why Ava came into this country.
Our immigration was a little more helpful.
Ava came here in '96 on a fiancé visa.
Name of the fiancé: Paul Amis.
Address in Minneola on Long Island.
Arrangements made through an agency by the name of Euromatch.
Mail-order brides.
I should've tried that instead of the traditional courtship and wedding ritual then I'd be paying less of my paycheck to alimony.
We'll take the groom, you take the matchmaker.
Maybe you'll get lucky.
Okay.
I shelled out $50,000 to bring Ava here.
You know what the average wage is in her country? $50 a month.
And all she had to do was cook and clean and be available for sex.
It's called being a wife.
When'd you last see Ava? The day I returned her, after the 90-day trial period.
Didn't work out, huh? Must have made you angry.
I got my money back.
Did you get a divorce? Annulment.
This is my wife, May Ling.
Sweetheart, this is Det.
Benson and Det.
Stabler.
May I bring you something to drink? No, doll.
They're not staying.
Leave us alone for another minute.
You didn't tell us why you returned Ava.
Because I didn't pay all that money for her to run around with some dentist.
She was exotic.
Pretty, smart, the whole package.
I was ready to take the big step with Ava.
And the fact that she was already married had no bearing on that? Her husband was beating her up every night.
He once hit her so hard, I had to put in five caps.
The marriage was over.
Where'd you two meet? Party.
She was there with her husband.
Someone told her I was known as the "Dentist to the Stars" and she was all over me.
Who called off the wedding plans? I did.
Why? Because she lied.
She said she was a student, she had cousins who brought her over.
And you found out otherwise? I hired a private detective to do a background check.
Sounds like true love.
I have a very lucrative practice.
I have to take precautions.
I found out she was a mail-order bride like those Russian Natashas, gold diggers.
Okay.
We're gonna need Ava's dental records.
I'll get them together for you.
We match girls with traditional values with men who want wives instead of partners.
You mean, "Stay at home, make my dinner, do the laundry "be available when I need you for sex," type of woman? You make it sound so tawdry.
The divorce rate among our couples is half that of the population.
If a guy wants to get married, he needs a fiancé visa he has to prove he knew his wife-to-be before she comes over.
Correct.
We send our clients to Estonia, Romania, Latvia, or Russia for two weeks where he meets maybe eight girls a day.
Once he makes his choice, we photograph them together for the INS and take care of the paperwork.
And if by some fluke it doesn't work out? Satisfaction guaranteed for 90 days, or your money back.
Interested? Too easy.
Without abject suffering, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
Green card status on a fiancé visa is conditional for two years.
If the marriage doesn't last that long, then what happens? The girl is usually deported.
Unless she left because her husband abused her.
Then the INS will grant an exception.
How often does that happen? Almost never.
We do thorough background checks on the men.
You're lucky Ava didn't sue you.
Her hand-picked hubby was a wife-beater.
If we had known that, we would have intervened.
Sent her to stay with her sister, Irina.
You know about Irina? She and Ava came over together.
Fortunately Irina's marriage is a match made in heaven.
Why didn't you tell us that Ava was married? I was afraid.
Of what? Her husband, he hit me once when I went to see her.
Why? Because I told her she should leave him, and she wouldn't.
He beat her up.
Degraded my sister.
Could he have killed her? I know he came close.
Civil sexual harassment suit filed by a former employee.
Wow.
Restraining orders, filed by your first and second wives.
Hey, I didn't kill Ava.
You forced her to have sex with you.
That's called rape.
You pulled out fistfuls of her hair, knocked her teeth out.
That's assault.
Prove it.
You think that we'd call you all the way down here if we couldn't? Maybe she was blackmailing him.
Threatening to call the cops.
Is that why you shut her up? Is that it? This is like a game of Clue.
Ava went through a diplomat, an importer, a dentist, and now this loser.
This loser give you anything? Not yet.
Why? Taylor called.
Wants you down at the lab.
I'll keep this guy on ice until you get back.
No way these belong to Ava Parulis.
You got us down here for that? The dentist must have made a mistake.
We'll go back.
Don't bother.
The dental work doesn't match, but everything else does.
Shape of the teeth, jaw is identical.
Son of a bitch.
Irina is Ava.
I need proof she killed Irina.
We've got Irina's dental records.
They match the skull.
That doesn't mean Ava murdered her sister.
Well, she did assume her identity.
Ava's apartment overlooked Irina's grave.
Circumstantial.
Give me a motive.
Ava's marriage is annulled.
She doesn't want a one-way trip back to hard times in Romania.
I need physical evidence linking them.
Come on, Counselor, we've done a lot more with a lot less.
All right.
Search the house.
The cars are gone.
Go around back.
Police.
Mrs.
Burton? Go fill in our friends.
Right.
All clear.
Nobody downstairs.
Nothing messed up in the kid's room.
Ava left in a hurry.
She must've decided not to pack.
Looks like a train ran through here.
It looks like she took all the available money they had on hand here.
Get the note.
"I'm sorry.
I do love you, George.
I never meant to hurt you or Julia or Irina.
" We should talk to the husband.
You mean the brother-in-law.
If she cleaned out their emergency money she may have wiped out their bank accounts.
We'll finish up here and check it out.
My wife can't be dead.
What are you talking about? You're crazy.
The dental records prove it.
You're saying Irina is buried in that grave? We're sorry.
My wife is a loving woman.
She's a good mother.
All Ava ever cared about was herself and her money.
We've been to the house.
Ava's gone.
She packed up and left.
I don't believe that.
She left this note.
I don't care.
It's not true.
Mr.
Burton.
Irina's crucifix.
Where'd you get that? From the grave.
When we were first married, she used to go to Mass every morning and then she just stopped three years ago.
Said she'd lost her faith.
You said you never saw Ava after she and Irina had a falling-out.
Do you know if Irina saw her? Ava called, said she needed money.
We'd just had the baby and business was slow so Irina went over there to explain why we couldn't help and she didn't come back until 2:00 in the morning.
She killed her.
Did she say anything? She wouldn't talk.
Said she was sick.
Spent the next two weeks in bed.
Why would she do this? That's what we're trying to find out.
Where's your daughter? Oh, my God! "Up, up, up.
Faster and faster the little engine climbed " Daddy! Is there a problem, Mr.
Burton? No, everything's fine.
You just missed your wife.
When was that? About 20 minutes.
She seemed upset.
Talked to Julia and then left.
Hi, Julia.
You remember us? Do you know why your mommy came to see you today? To give me this.
It has her picture inside it.
Wow, that's pretty.
Did she say where she was going? No.
But she told me that we couldn't go see the puppet man today.
Who's the puppet man? Walt.
He's nice.
Why do you call him the puppet man? Because when Mommy goes to see her friend, Walt shows me the puppet.
I have no idea who she's talking about.
Okay, Julia, do you remember the name of your mommy's friend? Valentina.
She's nice, too.
We pulled the Burtons' bank statements.
Yeah? What'd you find? A lot of zeros.
Ava cleaned out their accounts this morning.
On top of the $300 she withdraws on the last Friday of every month.
Her husband know about this? All the cancelled checks have her signature.
She must be paying the household bills.
Any idea where the money's going? We pulled their LUDs.
Also on the last Friday of every month one phone call to Euromatch, Valentina Bilescu's mail-order bride agency.
Olivia just called.
The Burtons' kid said she and her mother were regulars.
Mom met with Valentina while some guy entertained the girl with a puppet.
Why is Ava going to a matchmaker? I don't know.
I think it's time we paid Miss Bilescu a visit.
Can I help you gentlemen? Where's Valentina? Not here.
Not an answer.
Where is she? I haven't done anything illegal.
Really? Where's your puppet? What are you guys talking about? The one you entertain Julia Burton with while her mother's paying off your boss.
I take the money, give it to Valentina.
I don't know what it's for.
Hear that? Says he doesn't know what it's for.
He doesn't know that his boss smuggles women into the country? I wouldn't know anything about that.
You take the money, that makes you an accessory.
One more time, where is she? At her other office.
Some warehouse down in Chelsea.
Not a sweatshop.
The kind you had in mind.
Police! Where's Valentina? I don't know about anything.
English.
Do you speak English? These women aren't being held against their will, are they? Because if they are, you're going for kidnapping, as well as pimping.
Valentina is in there.
What is this? It's called a raid.
Put your hands behind your back.
Let go of me.
Where's your warrant? Signed on a judge's desk.
Valentina Bilescu, you're under arrest for unlawful imprisonment kidnapping, and promoting prostitution.
Where's Ava? I don't have to tell you anything.
What's the cash for? No.
Please, no.
Ava Parulis, you're under arrest for the murder of Irina Burton.
I didn't kill her! It's not It's not Irina! Who is this? She's my little sister.
I was buying her freedom.
Take her.
I didn't kill Irina.
So why'd you run? Didn't murder her, you just happened to take her identity and her family.
When the bones were identified, you got scared.
You helped yourself to George and Irina's bank account.
Figure that'll keep you going for a while? No.
None of it's true.
Then how did Irina end up underneath the hydrangea in the back of your apartment? I buried her there! Right.
You buried her but you didn't murder her? When I came home that night to my apartment, Irina was dead.
She was lying on the floor.
The neighbor had his garden dug up.
I put Irina in a garbage bag and dragged her downstairs.
I covered her with dirt.
I buried her.
What about the collar and the leash? They were mine.
I buried my past with Irina.
Well, why didn't you just call the police? Whoever killed Irina was really after me.
Valentina had our sister.
I had to get her out.
Did Valentina threaten you? If you cooperate, we can help you.
In my country, the police help no one.
Ava kills one sister while paying to rescue the other? It doesn't make any sense.
There's no way someone her size dragged a body down three flights of stairs and then buried it.
If she didn't kill her sister, what is she hiding? Maybe she's protecting whoever did.
Valentina Bilescu? Let's ask the other sister.
You didn't know it was Ava? I haven't seen my sisters for years.
Since Valentina bring me to this hellhole.
What happened to Irina? Ava's been impersonating Irina since she murdered her three years ago.
Ava would never harm Irina or anyone else.
I want to see her.
You can't.
She's going to jail.
Valentina did this.
Why? She promised me marriage.
A new life.
I went to her parties in Bucharest to meet American men and one of them, he proposed to me.
So Valentina, she bring me back here.
Did you get married? Yes.
But the pig changed his mind.
I thought I would get deported.
Who let you stay here? Valentina.
She said she would protect me.
And she take me to that place.
She turned me into a whore.
Why didn't you say no? No one says no to Valentina.
How long did she keep you there? Three-and-a-half years.
Until the debt was paid off.
What debt? My ex-husband.
Valentina give him back his money.
She say it was my fault he wasn't satisfied.
That I have to pay her back for all the money she lost.
Why didn't you run away? Because Valentina say she will kill my sisters if I went back to Romania.
When can I go? The only place you're going is Rikers Island.
I'll make bail.
Don't count on it.
Judges don't usually send accused killers home.
Who did I kill? You're being charged as an accessory to the murder of Irina Burton.
I am not a killer.
I bring American men the brides they want.
You mean, the women you kidnap.
I brought these girls here to marry, have a better life.
I sheltered them after their husbands rejected them.
You forced them into prostitution.
You can't prove anything.
When Ava Parulis threatened to blow the whistle, you decided to kill her.
Except you got her sister by mistake.
Who helped you? Get me my lawyer.
Now.
Valentina gave me nothing.
And Ava's acting more like a victim than a perp.
She hooked up with Valentina, got in over her head.
They're both afraid of someone.
If Valentina's not gonna tell us who maybe there's something in her office that will.
Oksana's statements about the death threats should be more than enough probable cause for a search warrant.
I'll call it in.
I'll have John and Fin execute it.
Bring George Burton in.
He may be able to help us get something out of Ava.
What do you guys want now? This is a search warrant.
Where does Valentina keep her financial records? At the accountant's.
Not those records.
The real books for her whorehouse.
I don't know what you're talking about.
You don't know much for a valued employee? Maybe he knows what accessory to a murder is.
Murder? I'm just a clerk.
Who is Valentina's partner? I don't know.
Did any of Valentina's friends hang around here more than others? Some old guy, same accent, always in a suit.
Comes in a couple times a week.
He and Valentina always lock themselves in her office.
Maybe that's where they keep the real books.
Follow me.
What have we got? Valentina's silent partner.
A Razvan Toscu.
Romanian Deputy Chief of Mission and orchid lover.
Which means he could run you down, leave skid marks and we still couldn't issue a speeding ticket.
With his diplomatic juice he may have been able to get visas keep product in the pipeline, girls We'll deal with him later.
What about George Burton? Says he's willing to play.
There's another sister? We have her upstairs.
Where did you find her? She was being held against her will and forced into prostitution.
We found Ava there trying to buy her freedom.
With the money that she stole from you.
Why didn't she tell me? Maybe she thought you'd be in danger if you knew.
You sure you're ready for this? No.
When are you going to let me out of here? No, it's me, Ava.
I didn't expect you to come.
You shared my bed for three years.
You raised my daughter.
And it was a lie? Irina was dead.
She would have wanted this.
They know about the Toscu guy.
If he finds out, he's gonna kill you, like he killed Irina.
Why did he kill Irina? Because I threatened to tell the police about him if he didn't let Oksana go.
How do you know he killed Irina? I saw him, outside my apartment building.
He left something next to the trash in a plastic bag.
I looked inside and it was Irina.
I put on her wedding rings, and buried her under the neighbor's garden.
He raped her.
He made her wear the collar.
He did to her what he used to do to me.
How could you let that happen? I wasn't there! I couldn't stop him.
Irina never told him it wasn't me.
Why didn't you tell me? As long as they thought I was dead, we were safe.
All the men the jewelry, the money I took from you all I wanted it for was to get Oksana out.
I'm so sorry.
You're sorry.
Sorry won't bring Irina back.
George, please.
How could you live with yourself? So, we believe her? She might be lying to us, but she wasn't lying to him.
Which makes her the only one to put Toscu at the scene.
We could have videotape of him in the act we still couldn't touch him because of his diplomatic immunity.
Alex, there's got to be something you can do.
Let me check with a friend.
I need the State Department's help.
It's almost impossible to convince a foreign nation, even a friendly one to waive diplomatic immunity.
Precedent was set by the former Soviet Union.
The Republic of Georgia waived immunity on that drunk driving case down in D.
C.
All those former Soviet Republics were looking for most-favored-nation status.
I'm looking to put away a murderer, and I don't care where he's from.
We can always appeal to their decency and see what happens.
What are you suggesting? A long shot.
But it's worth a try.
My government respectfully requests you to waive Mr.
Toscu's diplomatic immunity.
That's an extraordinary request.
Warranted by extraordinary circumstances.
Mr.
Toscu has used his position to keep women in this country against their will for the purposes of prostitution.
Now he's a murderer.
We didn't invite you here to be insulted by baseless allegations.
Mr.
Toscu is a distinguished member of our diplomatic corps.
Here's what your distinguished diplomat did to a woman from your own country.
Let me see that.
Tragic.
And you think I'm responsible? Miss Cabot assures me that she has an eyewitness who places Mr.
Toscu at the murder scene carrying the victim's body.
Her sister.
Ava Parulis? She has quite a reputation.
I'm surprised you'd believe her.
Before we even consider something as severe and irrevocable as waiving our diplomat's immunity we must be convinced of guilt.
The evidence is right in front of you.
You have nothing but the word of criminals and the eyewitness account of a woman who buried her sister in a shallow grave.
We assert our sovereign rights to protect our country's diplomat.
And we have the right to protect our country from your diplomats.
Alex.
Mr.
Davia, you're leaving us no alternative.
My government has authorized me to declare Mr.
Toscu persona non grata.
He has 48 hours to leave the United States.
That's it? He walks? I didn't know Greenwalt was gonna do that.
Why didn't he just threaten him with expulsion? Jack said, had the Romanians known our government was even considering this they would have put Toscu on the first plane to Bucharest.
So the bastard murders a woman and his only consequence is being sent home? At least it bought us some time.
What do you need from us, Alex? Something more than Ava Parulis' word.
But there's nothing left.
We want Toscu, we need proof he's guilty.
Physical evidence.
Go back to the bones.
This report on soil samples is a real page turner.
Very descriptive.
Written from the point of view of a slug.
The good earth swallowed our evidence.
Maybe not all of it.
You found something? Irina's clothes were pretty decomposed but they did find a couple of samples from her panties and the lab sent them to a forensic geologist.
Where's the report? Due back next week.
You know how many microorganisms there are in soil? If we test everything, you'll still be getting results 10 years from now.
Yeah.
These samples.
Found on what was left of the victim's clothing.
What are those? Horticulturalists use them to collect and store microscopic pollen.
The samples your lab sent us weren't consistent with the plant life in the area.
Okay.
What did your tests show? I haven't tested them yet.
When are you gonna test them? Tomorrow morning.
How about now? Good morning, Detectives.
Come to see me off? You're not getting away with this.
I'll send you a card from my next post.
I hope it's a warmer climate.
What is this? You're under arrest for the murder of Irina Burton.
You cannot arrest me I have diplomatic immunity.
Had diplomatic immunity until this morning.
Your government doesn't appreciate your sideline business as a murderer and a pimp.
They cut you loose.
You have no evidence.
Sure we do.
Two little grains of pollen belonging to the Gigas Firmin Lambeau.
My orchids? Found on Irina's clothing.
You should have washed your hands before you murdered her.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you Detectives.
Thank you.
Thank us when Toscu's convicted.
We're very sorry for your loss.
We hope everything works out for you and Julia.
We'll be all right.
We have to.
Ava could have gone on forever being Burton's wife, Julia's mother.
If it hadn't been for the bones.
Irina can rest in peace now.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
It's an above-ground Jacuzzi.
I don't know why you're digging that deep.
It's called a foundation, Mr.
Sawyer.
Just make sure you don't hit a gas main or something.
We know what we're doing.
Then you know you have to take out all those weeds.
The roots will break right through the concrete.
Last owner left this place a mess.
Don't worry.
We'll clear the whole yard.
No extra charge.
Aren't those hydrangea bushes? Why'd you think I said we'd clear the yard for nothing? We're gonna make more off those bushes than off this job.
I know a guy in Hackensack What? We closed on the house a month ago.
Had it inspected, inside and out For termites, not dead bodies.
We're suing that realtor.
You're all witnesses Mr.
and Mrs.
Sawyer, we're gonna need you to leave the crime scene.
It's our new home.
We'll try not to take too long.
It's all right.
Just let them Hi.
Detectives.
What've we got? Judging from the eye orbits, nasal opening, and cheek bone projection I'd say a Caucasian.
Surface of the auricular region puts her under 30.
Her? Did you find any clothes? A few scraps.
Most of the fabric decomposed.
But look at the hips.
Wide sciatic notch, long pubic bone.
Definitely female.
Cause of death? No obvious knife marks or bullet holes.
Hopefully I'll know more after I put her back together.
Now, how are we getting sexual homicide from a bunch of bones? Check the evidence tray.
It's a crucifix.
I think he means the studded collar and leash.
Looks like our bone lady was somebody's pet.
The previous owners put in the hydrangeas.
And they were? The Stantons.
Brad and Abbey.
Fought constantly from the day they moved in, to the day Abbey moved out.
And when was that? About four years ago.
Anything violent? Loud, yes.
Violent, I never saw.
Did Abbey ever come back? Yeah, but not for a good year or so.
She'd pound on his door, wailing.
He'd come out, slip her a few bucks.
This became like a weekly ritual.
Usually about 3:00 in the morning.
How long did that go on? About a month or two.
One night he doesn't answer his door.
She starts screaming she's gonna report him to the medical board for having sex with his patients.
So he's a doctor? A surgeon.
Anyhow, the door bursts open, Abbey gets the crap beat out of her.
You said you never saw any violence.
No.
I never saw Brad hit her.
This was Pam, the new wife, throwing the punches.
Guess he likes his women feisty.
When was the next time you saw Abbey? Never.
Captain, check it out.
How sick is this? A crucifix.
Get this, dog collar and leash.
Looks like an S&M session gone south.
The lab get any prints off them? Not yet.
Any idea how long she was buried? ME's best guesstimate is three years.
What about We're all over missing persons.
Okay, so who had access to this yard? The previous owners, the Stantons.
The story reads like a bad soap opera.
Doctor marries wife number two wife number one mysteriously disappears.
After wife number two uses wife number one as a punching bag.
Well, go have a talk with the happy couple.
You two check and see if anybody else remembers the first Mrs.
Dr.
Stanton.
Million-dollar view of the murder scene.
Any of your apartments overlook the yard? We have six buildings on this block.
We're talking 36 units.
Any of your tenants come up missing between late '97, early '99? Yeah.
They go missing when they forget to pay their rent for three months.
Meanwhile, that's lost income.
We're gonna need a list from the aforementioned years.
And rental applications.
Oh, yeah, applications.
We have a very stringent screening process what with all the high-class people desperate to move in here.
Can we take a look at your files? Knock yourselves out.
Brad was married to that blood-sucking leech for five years.
Why did you attack her? Abbey accused Brad of sleeping with his patients.
She's a bottom-feeding, mainlining junkie.
A constant source of embarrassment for my husband.
And how embarrassed were you? I was angry.
She was my friend once.
We went to nursing school together.
When did they divorce? In '97.
Brad was extremely generous.
You mean above and beyond the settlement? Until I put my foot down.
It was about three years ago, he finally cut her off.
Have you heard from her since? No, thank God.
Why? What kind of trouble is Abbey in now? A woman's remains were found buried under the hydrangea behind your former brownstone.
Oh, my God.
They've been there about three years.
Where's your husband now? The hospital.
Extremely busy.
Look, Brad couldn't kill anybody, not even that horrible bitch.
I have to go to work.
I didn't kill Abbey.
She was busy killing herself with her habit.
But you married her anyway? I loved her.
Back then, she was only on Xanax for anxiety and then she started stealing Demerol and Dilaudid and the hospital finally had to fire her.
That must have been humiliating for you especially the yelling and the extortion.
I had to sit there and watch, powerless, while she hit rock bottom.
Bottom being three feet under your former hydrangeas.
It's not Abbey.
Look, I got a case in half an hour.
I got to scrub.
Without saying hello to your wife? Leave her out of this.
I told you he was busy.
I can handle this.
I'll see you inside.
Okay.
Stop wasting our time.
That's what you're looking for.
Please, whatever you do, don't tell Pam.
She's not gonna be able to tell you much.
This is Abbey? AIDS-related dementia.
Dr.
Stanton pays the bills, keeps the roses fresh.
When was the last time he was here? When he brought her in.
She hasn't had a visitor since.
It's sad.
She doesn't have much time left.
Thank you.
Now what? Back to the bones.
Figure out how she died yet? Strangulation.
Pressure fractures to the hyoid.
Fits the S&M theory.
Auto-erotic asphyxiation, but he mistimes it.
Don't know how he could have.
There's a peri-mortem break in one of the metacarpals of her right hand.
So she put up a struggle.
Now we're back to the sexual sadist.
What else have we got? Well, she was petite.
I measured her femur.
Estimate she was 5'4.
And I think she was Eastern European.
You got that from the bones? From her teeth.
I found traces of arsenic.
Using arsenic to kill a nerve is an old Russian dental practice that spread to most of the Eastern Bloc.
Great.
So her dental records are somewhere in the former Soviet Union.
Maybe this will help.
Henry is our forensic anthropologist.
Show them what you came up with.
I entered the dimensions of the skull, put in tissue depth markers.
That's determined by age, right? We figure she's around 30 so she'd have more facial tissue than, say, a 50-year-old.
Then what? I fashioned the nose, ears, and mouth accordingly, and layer by layer got this.
How close do you think it is? It's a reasonable approximation.
Print her out.
So she's from behind the fallen Iron Curtain.
That narrows it down to a couple hundred thousand of your poor huddled masses.
What's all that? Meticulously kept records from the tenement complex behind our burial ground.
The manager's been somewhat remiss in keeping track of her tenants.
I guess we can rule out Ming Noh Ling.
Any names in there that sound Eastern Bloc? Sixteen and counting.
Track them down.
No, I don't speak Romanian.
You speak English? Yes, I understand.
Latvia.
Is there anyone else there who knows what happened to her? You're saying that she went back to Latvia two years ago, right? I'm calling from the police department, not Immigration.
Sir, we have nothing to do with deportation.
Okay, yes, thank you.
Hello? Find anything? Yeah.
Eastern Europeans don't trust cops.
I have two that are unaccounted for.
I have three.
How are you guys doing? Yearning to be free of this.
Five people I can't place.
One.
Okay.
Let's just get them over to missing persons, okay? No match.
How many more of these? Three boxes.
You know how many women go missing in this city every year? Hey.
You find something? I don't know.
You tell me.
Pretty damn close.
"Ava Parulis.
" That's P-A-R.
Reported missing: April of '98.
Here we go.
Ava Parulis rented an apartment behind the crime scene in February '98.
Gone by that April.
Skipped out on the last month's rent.
How far did you guys get with her? From what it says here, not too far.
The detective who worked the case retired to Arizona last year.
And who reported her missing? Let me see.
Guy in Queens, George Burton.
The address is in Rego Park.
Hi.
What's your name? I'm not supposed to talk to strangers.
You're right.
What if I tell you we're police officers? Do you have badges? Right answer again.
My name is Elliot.
This is my friend, Olivia.
Can I help you? They're policemen, Daddy.
Go inside, Julia, it's getting cold.
Bye.
Sorry to bother you.
I'm Det.
Stabler, this is my partner, Det.
Benson.
Something's wrong? You reported your sister-in-law Ava Parulis, missing.
You found Ava? We may have.
I gave this picture to the police.
What happened to Ava? The police are here? Is everything all right? My twin sister, Ava, and I came here five years ago from Romania.
She was always bossing me around.
She was older by six minutes.
Do you have any idea who could have killed your sister? No.
I have twins.
They're inseparable.
You two must have been close.
Ava was wild.
The two of them couldn't have been more different.
Ava played by her own rules.
She went from one rich man to the next.
Until she finally met the wrong one.
Irina.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive my wife.
Mr.
Burton, we know how difficult this must be for you.
Irina and Ava lived through hell.
Orphanages, abuse.
When they came to this country, all they had was each other.
What happened? They had a falling-out.
Over what? Ava said she could never settle for a life like this and Irina told her to stop dreaming and grow up.
I never saw Ava again.
And this was about three years ago? Little longer.
It was Julia's first birthday party.
Ava was supposed to be there.
She just didn't show.
This was the last straw for Irina.
Now, what made you think that Ava was missing? I went looking for her.
Try to patch things up between the two of them.
But the apartment was empty and Ava was gone.
Irina said she must have run off with one of her men.
I had a bad feeling, that's why I called the police.
Do you know the names of any of these boyfriends? Only one.
Matt Matt Sloane, I think.
Ava was sexy and adventurous.
You mean, kinky? Let's just say she was wild.
Did you ever tame her? You know, S&M, bondage, discipline? I'm not into that.
How long were you two together? About four months.
These your girlfriends? I love beautiful women.
Did you love Ava? It was a business arrangement.
She was smart, charming, multi-lingual.
She helped me develop business contacts in Eastern Europe.
And the sex was great.
Yeah, what'd she get out of it? Her passion was expensive jewelry.
She'd throw a tantrum if I got her anything else.
Like the thousand-dollar bottle of perfume she threw in my face.
That must've made you angry.
Angry enough to end it.
I terminated our agreement.
Did you see her after that? Unfortunately, yes, at a reception at the UN.
Who was she with? I don't know who brought her there but she left with the Romanian Deputy Chief of Mission.
A diplomat? And an importer, and who knows how many others.
She was definitely a player.
She'd get her hooks into these guys for as long as she could get what she wanted.
When the well ran dry, she'd move on and drink from the next one.
What about the sister? They were on the outs.
Ava walked on the wild side while Irina settled down with the husband, the kid.
We checked Sloane's record.
Got picked up during a undercover vice sting.
One count of soliciting prostitution.
And he was very specific about what he wanted, a doggie collar, the whole works.
Unfortunately, his passport showed he was out of the country when Ava was reported missing.
Find out how Ava got into the country and check whether her former landlady has anything more to tell us.
What do you want us to do about our friend from the Romanian Mission? Well, he has immunity from arrest, but not from talking to us.
Play nice, maybe he will.
Ava had that odd combination of greed and innocence.
Very common in girls from the countryside.
You were romantically involved? No.
I attend many official functions.
I needed at my side a woman who spoke my language, knew our customs.
And Ava was okay with that? Very much so.
She got to meet many important men.
Any of them want her dead? I can't imagine so.
Look at this orchid.
This orchid took years of cultivation.
A hybrid I developed.
It's beautiful.
Do you know the orchid is also a parasite? It devours the host plant while it blooms magnificently.
Is that how you thought of Ava, as a parasite? No, our relationship was more symbiotic.
We benefited mutually.
Can you tell us how Ava got into this country? Our emigration agency deals with thousands upon thousands of applications and there is no way I can tell you about circumstances of each one.
Besides Ava and I had never discussed it.
I remember her.
She walked around like she was the Czarina of 13th street.
This was hers.
Mr.
Sanchez? Ava have any regular visitors? Only one I remember.
Older guy.
Always dressed to kill.
Rich uncle? Sugar daddy.
I see he kept her in the lap of luxury.
Mercedes owners, they think they run the world.
He parked his by the fire hydrant every time.
What'd he look like? Somebody important.
Specifics don't concern me.
How about a name? Too specific.
What'd you do with her stuff? The place comes completely furnished.
She showed up with one suitcase.
Is there anything else you can tell us? She was two months behind in the rent.
Seeing as how she was murdered, shouldn't the city reimburse me for that? Call your councilman.
Ava had a room with a view.
Yeah, of her own grave.
Guy at the Mission was another one of Ava's boys.
Claims he had no idea how or why Ava came into this country.
Our immigration was a little more helpful.
Ava came here in '96 on a fiancé visa.
Name of the fiancé: Paul Amis.
Address in Minneola on Long Island.
Arrangements made through an agency by the name of Euromatch.
Mail-order brides.
I should've tried that instead of the traditional courtship and wedding ritual then I'd be paying less of my paycheck to alimony.
We'll take the groom, you take the matchmaker.
Maybe you'll get lucky.
Okay.
I shelled out $50,000 to bring Ava here.
You know what the average wage is in her country? $50 a month.
And all she had to do was cook and clean and be available for sex.
It's called being a wife.
When'd you last see Ava? The day I returned her, after the 90-day trial period.
Didn't work out, huh? Must have made you angry.
I got my money back.
Did you get a divorce? Annulment.
This is my wife, May Ling.
Sweetheart, this is Det.
Benson and Det.
Stabler.
May I bring you something to drink? No, doll.
They're not staying.
Leave us alone for another minute.
You didn't tell us why you returned Ava.
Because I didn't pay all that money for her to run around with some dentist.
She was exotic.
Pretty, smart, the whole package.
I was ready to take the big step with Ava.
And the fact that she was already married had no bearing on that? Her husband was beating her up every night.
He once hit her so hard, I had to put in five caps.
The marriage was over.
Where'd you two meet? Party.
She was there with her husband.
Someone told her I was known as the "Dentist to the Stars" and she was all over me.
Who called off the wedding plans? I did.
Why? Because she lied.
She said she was a student, she had cousins who brought her over.
And you found out otherwise? I hired a private detective to do a background check.
Sounds like true love.
I have a very lucrative practice.
I have to take precautions.
I found out she was a mail-order bride like those Russian Natashas, gold diggers.
Okay.
We're gonna need Ava's dental records.
I'll get them together for you.
We match girls with traditional values with men who want wives instead of partners.
You mean, "Stay at home, make my dinner, do the laundry "be available when I need you for sex," type of woman? You make it sound so tawdry.
The divorce rate among our couples is half that of the population.
If a guy wants to get married, he needs a fiancé visa he has to prove he knew his wife-to-be before she comes over.
Correct.
We send our clients to Estonia, Romania, Latvia, or Russia for two weeks where he meets maybe eight girls a day.
Once he makes his choice, we photograph them together for the INS and take care of the paperwork.
And if by some fluke it doesn't work out? Satisfaction guaranteed for 90 days, or your money back.
Interested? Too easy.
Without abject suffering, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
Green card status on a fiancé visa is conditional for two years.
If the marriage doesn't last that long, then what happens? The girl is usually deported.
Unless she left because her husband abused her.
Then the INS will grant an exception.
How often does that happen? Almost never.
We do thorough background checks on the men.
You're lucky Ava didn't sue you.
Her hand-picked hubby was a wife-beater.
If we had known that, we would have intervened.
Sent her to stay with her sister, Irina.
You know about Irina? She and Ava came over together.
Fortunately Irina's marriage is a match made in heaven.
Why didn't you tell us that Ava was married? I was afraid.
Of what? Her husband, he hit me once when I went to see her.
Why? Because I told her she should leave him, and she wouldn't.
He beat her up.
Degraded my sister.
Could he have killed her? I know he came close.
Civil sexual harassment suit filed by a former employee.
Wow.
Restraining orders, filed by your first and second wives.
Hey, I didn't kill Ava.
You forced her to have sex with you.
That's called rape.
You pulled out fistfuls of her hair, knocked her teeth out.
That's assault.
Prove it.
You think that we'd call you all the way down here if we couldn't? Maybe she was blackmailing him.
Threatening to call the cops.
Is that why you shut her up? Is that it? This is like a game of Clue.
Ava went through a diplomat, an importer, a dentist, and now this loser.
This loser give you anything? Not yet.
Why? Taylor called.
Wants you down at the lab.
I'll keep this guy on ice until you get back.
No way these belong to Ava Parulis.
You got us down here for that? The dentist must have made a mistake.
We'll go back.
Don't bother.
The dental work doesn't match, but everything else does.
Shape of the teeth, jaw is identical.
Son of a bitch.
Irina is Ava.
I need proof she killed Irina.
We've got Irina's dental records.
They match the skull.
That doesn't mean Ava murdered her sister.
Well, she did assume her identity.
Ava's apartment overlooked Irina's grave.
Circumstantial.
Give me a motive.
Ava's marriage is annulled.
She doesn't want a one-way trip back to hard times in Romania.
I need physical evidence linking them.
Come on, Counselor, we've done a lot more with a lot less.
All right.
Search the house.
The cars are gone.
Go around back.
Police.
Mrs.
Burton? Go fill in our friends.
Right.
All clear.
Nobody downstairs.
Nothing messed up in the kid's room.
Ava left in a hurry.
She must've decided not to pack.
Looks like a train ran through here.
It looks like she took all the available money they had on hand here.
Get the note.
"I'm sorry.
I do love you, George.
I never meant to hurt you or Julia or Irina.
" We should talk to the husband.
You mean the brother-in-law.
If she cleaned out their emergency money she may have wiped out their bank accounts.
We'll finish up here and check it out.
My wife can't be dead.
What are you talking about? You're crazy.
The dental records prove it.
You're saying Irina is buried in that grave? We're sorry.
My wife is a loving woman.
She's a good mother.
All Ava ever cared about was herself and her money.
We've been to the house.
Ava's gone.
She packed up and left.
I don't believe that.
She left this note.
I don't care.
It's not true.
Mr.
Burton.
Irina's crucifix.
Where'd you get that? From the grave.
When we were first married, she used to go to Mass every morning and then she just stopped three years ago.
Said she'd lost her faith.
You said you never saw Ava after she and Irina had a falling-out.
Do you know if Irina saw her? Ava called, said she needed money.
We'd just had the baby and business was slow so Irina went over there to explain why we couldn't help and she didn't come back until 2:00 in the morning.
She killed her.
Did she say anything? She wouldn't talk.
Said she was sick.
Spent the next two weeks in bed.
Why would she do this? That's what we're trying to find out.
Where's your daughter? Oh, my God! "Up, up, up.
Faster and faster the little engine climbed " Daddy! Is there a problem, Mr.
Burton? No, everything's fine.
You just missed your wife.
When was that? About 20 minutes.
She seemed upset.
Talked to Julia and then left.
Hi, Julia.
You remember us? Do you know why your mommy came to see you today? To give me this.
It has her picture inside it.
Wow, that's pretty.
Did she say where she was going? No.
But she told me that we couldn't go see the puppet man today.
Who's the puppet man? Walt.
He's nice.
Why do you call him the puppet man? Because when Mommy goes to see her friend, Walt shows me the puppet.
I have no idea who she's talking about.
Okay, Julia, do you remember the name of your mommy's friend? Valentina.
She's nice, too.
We pulled the Burtons' bank statements.
Yeah? What'd you find? A lot of zeros.
Ava cleaned out their accounts this morning.
On top of the $300 she withdraws on the last Friday of every month.
Her husband know about this? All the cancelled checks have her signature.
She must be paying the household bills.
Any idea where the money's going? We pulled their LUDs.
Also on the last Friday of every month one phone call to Euromatch, Valentina Bilescu's mail-order bride agency.
Olivia just called.
The Burtons' kid said she and her mother were regulars.
Mom met with Valentina while some guy entertained the girl with a puppet.
Why is Ava going to a matchmaker? I don't know.
I think it's time we paid Miss Bilescu a visit.
Can I help you gentlemen? Where's Valentina? Not here.
Not an answer.
Where is she? I haven't done anything illegal.
Really? Where's your puppet? What are you guys talking about? The one you entertain Julia Burton with while her mother's paying off your boss.
I take the money, give it to Valentina.
I don't know what it's for.
Hear that? Says he doesn't know what it's for.
He doesn't know that his boss smuggles women into the country? I wouldn't know anything about that.
You take the money, that makes you an accessory.
One more time, where is she? At her other office.
Some warehouse down in Chelsea.
Not a sweatshop.
The kind you had in mind.
Police! Where's Valentina? I don't know about anything.
English.
Do you speak English? These women aren't being held against their will, are they? Because if they are, you're going for kidnapping, as well as pimping.
Valentina is in there.
What is this? It's called a raid.
Put your hands behind your back.
Let go of me.
Where's your warrant? Signed on a judge's desk.
Valentina Bilescu, you're under arrest for unlawful imprisonment kidnapping, and promoting prostitution.
Where's Ava? I don't have to tell you anything.
What's the cash for? No.
Please, no.
Ava Parulis, you're under arrest for the murder of Irina Burton.
I didn't kill her! It's not It's not Irina! Who is this? She's my little sister.
I was buying her freedom.
Take her.
I didn't kill Irina.
So why'd you run? Didn't murder her, you just happened to take her identity and her family.
When the bones were identified, you got scared.
You helped yourself to George and Irina's bank account.
Figure that'll keep you going for a while? No.
None of it's true.
Then how did Irina end up underneath the hydrangea in the back of your apartment? I buried her there! Right.
You buried her but you didn't murder her? When I came home that night to my apartment, Irina was dead.
She was lying on the floor.
The neighbor had his garden dug up.
I put Irina in a garbage bag and dragged her downstairs.
I covered her with dirt.
I buried her.
What about the collar and the leash? They were mine.
I buried my past with Irina.
Well, why didn't you just call the police? Whoever killed Irina was really after me.
Valentina had our sister.
I had to get her out.
Did Valentina threaten you? If you cooperate, we can help you.
In my country, the police help no one.
Ava kills one sister while paying to rescue the other? It doesn't make any sense.
There's no way someone her size dragged a body down three flights of stairs and then buried it.
If she didn't kill her sister, what is she hiding? Maybe she's protecting whoever did.
Valentina Bilescu? Let's ask the other sister.
You didn't know it was Ava? I haven't seen my sisters for years.
Since Valentina bring me to this hellhole.
What happened to Irina? Ava's been impersonating Irina since she murdered her three years ago.
Ava would never harm Irina or anyone else.
I want to see her.
You can't.
She's going to jail.
Valentina did this.
Why? She promised me marriage.
A new life.
I went to her parties in Bucharest to meet American men and one of them, he proposed to me.
So Valentina, she bring me back here.
Did you get married? Yes.
But the pig changed his mind.
I thought I would get deported.
Who let you stay here? Valentina.
She said she would protect me.
And she take me to that place.
She turned me into a whore.
Why didn't you say no? No one says no to Valentina.
How long did she keep you there? Three-and-a-half years.
Until the debt was paid off.
What debt? My ex-husband.
Valentina give him back his money.
She say it was my fault he wasn't satisfied.
That I have to pay her back for all the money she lost.
Why didn't you run away? Because Valentina say she will kill my sisters if I went back to Romania.
When can I go? The only place you're going is Rikers Island.
I'll make bail.
Don't count on it.
Judges don't usually send accused killers home.
Who did I kill? You're being charged as an accessory to the murder of Irina Burton.
I am not a killer.
I bring American men the brides they want.
You mean, the women you kidnap.
I brought these girls here to marry, have a better life.
I sheltered them after their husbands rejected them.
You forced them into prostitution.
You can't prove anything.
When Ava Parulis threatened to blow the whistle, you decided to kill her.
Except you got her sister by mistake.
Who helped you? Get me my lawyer.
Now.
Valentina gave me nothing.
And Ava's acting more like a victim than a perp.
She hooked up with Valentina, got in over her head.
They're both afraid of someone.
If Valentina's not gonna tell us who maybe there's something in her office that will.
Oksana's statements about the death threats should be more than enough probable cause for a search warrant.
I'll call it in.
I'll have John and Fin execute it.
Bring George Burton in.
He may be able to help us get something out of Ava.
What do you guys want now? This is a search warrant.
Where does Valentina keep her financial records? At the accountant's.
Not those records.
The real books for her whorehouse.
I don't know what you're talking about.
You don't know much for a valued employee? Maybe he knows what accessory to a murder is.
Murder? I'm just a clerk.
Who is Valentina's partner? I don't know.
Did any of Valentina's friends hang around here more than others? Some old guy, same accent, always in a suit.
Comes in a couple times a week.
He and Valentina always lock themselves in her office.
Maybe that's where they keep the real books.
Follow me.
What have we got? Valentina's silent partner.
A Razvan Toscu.
Romanian Deputy Chief of Mission and orchid lover.
Which means he could run you down, leave skid marks and we still couldn't issue a speeding ticket.
With his diplomatic juice he may have been able to get visas keep product in the pipeline, girls We'll deal with him later.
What about George Burton? Says he's willing to play.
There's another sister? We have her upstairs.
Where did you find her? She was being held against her will and forced into prostitution.
We found Ava there trying to buy her freedom.
With the money that she stole from you.
Why didn't she tell me? Maybe she thought you'd be in danger if you knew.
You sure you're ready for this? No.
When are you going to let me out of here? No, it's me, Ava.
I didn't expect you to come.
You shared my bed for three years.
You raised my daughter.
And it was a lie? Irina was dead.
She would have wanted this.
They know about the Toscu guy.
If he finds out, he's gonna kill you, like he killed Irina.
Why did he kill Irina? Because I threatened to tell the police about him if he didn't let Oksana go.
How do you know he killed Irina? I saw him, outside my apartment building.
He left something next to the trash in a plastic bag.
I looked inside and it was Irina.
I put on her wedding rings, and buried her under the neighbor's garden.
He raped her.
He made her wear the collar.
He did to her what he used to do to me.
How could you let that happen? I wasn't there! I couldn't stop him.
Irina never told him it wasn't me.
Why didn't you tell me? As long as they thought I was dead, we were safe.
All the men the jewelry, the money I took from you all I wanted it for was to get Oksana out.
I'm so sorry.
You're sorry.
Sorry won't bring Irina back.
George, please.
How could you live with yourself? So, we believe her? She might be lying to us, but she wasn't lying to him.
Which makes her the only one to put Toscu at the scene.
We could have videotape of him in the act we still couldn't touch him because of his diplomatic immunity.
Alex, there's got to be something you can do.
Let me check with a friend.
I need the State Department's help.
It's almost impossible to convince a foreign nation, even a friendly one to waive diplomatic immunity.
Precedent was set by the former Soviet Union.
The Republic of Georgia waived immunity on that drunk driving case down in D.
C.
All those former Soviet Republics were looking for most-favored-nation status.
I'm looking to put away a murderer, and I don't care where he's from.
We can always appeal to their decency and see what happens.
What are you suggesting? A long shot.
But it's worth a try.
My government respectfully requests you to waive Mr.
Toscu's diplomatic immunity.
That's an extraordinary request.
Warranted by extraordinary circumstances.
Mr.
Toscu has used his position to keep women in this country against their will for the purposes of prostitution.
Now he's a murderer.
We didn't invite you here to be insulted by baseless allegations.
Mr.
Toscu is a distinguished member of our diplomatic corps.
Here's what your distinguished diplomat did to a woman from your own country.
Let me see that.
Tragic.
And you think I'm responsible? Miss Cabot assures me that she has an eyewitness who places Mr.
Toscu at the murder scene carrying the victim's body.
Her sister.
Ava Parulis? She has quite a reputation.
I'm surprised you'd believe her.
Before we even consider something as severe and irrevocable as waiving our diplomat's immunity we must be convinced of guilt.
The evidence is right in front of you.
You have nothing but the word of criminals and the eyewitness account of a woman who buried her sister in a shallow grave.
We assert our sovereign rights to protect our country's diplomat.
And we have the right to protect our country from your diplomats.
Alex.
Mr.
Davia, you're leaving us no alternative.
My government has authorized me to declare Mr.
Toscu persona non grata.
He has 48 hours to leave the United States.
That's it? He walks? I didn't know Greenwalt was gonna do that.
Why didn't he just threaten him with expulsion? Jack said, had the Romanians known our government was even considering this they would have put Toscu on the first plane to Bucharest.
So the bastard murders a woman and his only consequence is being sent home? At least it bought us some time.
What do you need from us, Alex? Something more than Ava Parulis' word.
But there's nothing left.
We want Toscu, we need proof he's guilty.
Physical evidence.
Go back to the bones.
This report on soil samples is a real page turner.
Very descriptive.
Written from the point of view of a slug.
The good earth swallowed our evidence.
Maybe not all of it.
You found something? Irina's clothes were pretty decomposed but they did find a couple of samples from her panties and the lab sent them to a forensic geologist.
Where's the report? Due back next week.
You know how many microorganisms there are in soil? If we test everything, you'll still be getting results 10 years from now.
Yeah.
These samples.
Found on what was left of the victim's clothing.
What are those? Horticulturalists use them to collect and store microscopic pollen.
The samples your lab sent us weren't consistent with the plant life in the area.
Okay.
What did your tests show? I haven't tested them yet.
When are you gonna test them? Tomorrow morning.
How about now? Good morning, Detectives.
Come to see me off? You're not getting away with this.
I'll send you a card from my next post.
I hope it's a warmer climate.
What is this? You're under arrest for the murder of Irina Burton.
You cannot arrest me I have diplomatic immunity.
Had diplomatic immunity until this morning.
Your government doesn't appreciate your sideline business as a murderer and a pimp.
They cut you loose.
You have no evidence.
Sure we do.
Two little grains of pollen belonging to the Gigas Firmin Lambeau.
My orchids? Found on Irina's clothing.
You should have washed your hands before you murdered her.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you Detectives.
Thank you.
Thank us when Toscu's convicted.
We're very sorry for your loss.
We hope everything works out for you and Julia.
We'll be all right.
We have to.
Ava could have gone on forever being Burton's wife, Julia's mother.
If it hadn't been for the bones.
Irina can rest in peace now.