Life s02e19 Episode Script

Hard to believe something so small could cause so much pain.
It only hurts when it's where it's not supposed to be.
And where's that bullet supposed to be next? I could've killed you if I wanted to.
Didn't hit anything vital.
Same here.
So are we done shooting each other? Yeah, I think so.
I need you to do something for me.
- My partner - Detective Reese.
She's on loan to you FBI guys.
Some kind of organized crime task force? And you want me to do what? Find out what kind "some kind" is.
Why would you want to know that? I think then I'll know where this is supposed to be.
- I got it.
- I got it.
The coroner's transpo guy was making a delivery when he found him.
(SIGHS) Jonah Grant.
Assistant Coroner.
Lots of people get killed at work.
He just happened to work here.
Blunt force trauma.
Perfect circle wound.
Some kind of hammer, maybe? Weird, though.
Not a lot of blood.
There's something wrong with him.
Yeah, he's dead.
Something else.
He looks deader.
- Deader? - More dead.
Extra dead.
Well, he's got another wound here.
- Looks like - Where a shunt went in.
- Shunt? - Shunt.
A device used to introduce or extract fluids from a body.
And you are? Tom Santos, Assistant Coroner.
I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside with one of the officers.
Extract fluids? Like blood? Yes, very good.
Blood's a fluid.
It appears the wound to the head killed Jonah.
But he was rapidly exsanguinated directly thereafter.
Exsanguinated? His blood was taken? From the looks of him, I'd say Jonah was drained just about dry.
Extra dead.
Well, I guess we'll have to make two reports.
Homicide and robbery.
Someone stole his blood.
Why would someone take his blood? Do you know how they do it? His heart would've stopped, so there'd be no pressure.
You'd need an external pump to get the pressure back to exsanguinate him.
Is the pump something you'd have in here? Yeah, but it's usually broken.
I had to use a bike pump last week.
Maybe you want to take a break.
We were short-handed before.
Losing Grant means I'm down a coroner, and I have to do his work and my work.
And we're at a hiring freeze.
The county won't let me hire a replacement.
(SHARPLY) Do not touch that.
Candle wax? Maybe from someone's birthday cake.
You eat cake in here? We're like any office.
Just because we deal with corpses doesn't mean we're not fun.
We are fun.
And why was Dr.
Grant in the morgue? I don't know.
Checking on bodies, finishing up paperwork.
Anyone else have access to the crypt? Everybody.
There's no lock on the crypts.
There's no locks on most doors.
What about surveillance cameras? You can't have cameras in a coroner's office except in designated rooms, to protect the dead's privacy.
Do you know how many people I've had to fire for taking cell-phone shots? Did Dr.
Grant have any enemies? He was a coroner's coroner.
He liked the dead more than the living.
He still went out in the field, even though he didn't have to.
And where were you last night? Sleeping.
Now, you'll excuse me.
I've been doing paperwork for two years, I don't want to slip.
Why would they take his blood? (SAW WHIRRING) Kyo kept working while we talked to her about Grant's death.
A lot of people use work as a painkiller.
(SCOFFS) Me, I use painkillers for pain.
And you use work for work? You're very certain, aren't you? Of what? Everything.
No, just the things I'm certain of.
You sure about that? They took his blood? Holy Hannah.
It is ripe in here.
It's supposed to be 30 degrees, but with the doors opening and closing, it's 38.
Stuff goes bad faster.
Like meat in your fridge.
Like meat.
That's all we are, really.
Hey, how we doing on that autopsy? Uh, I'm lining up the Ventura County Coroner, but it's going to take a few days.
We can't use any of the coroners from this office because they're all suspects.
(SNIFFLING) How exactly does the nose smell things anyway? You don't want to know.
Why? You just don't.
(SIGHS) No circular objects.
Whatever the killer used isn't here.
People doing time.
MAN: Drag it out and get it to the bins.
Court ordered community service.
DUIs, unruly conduct, first-time arrests.
Junior offenders.
Maybe someone stepped up.
(MUNCHING) There's no eating in the lab.
I can still smell it out here.
That's just the particles lodged in your nose.
Particles? Particles of what? Are they always here? KYO: If we're here, they're here, hoping to get a shot of some OD-ed rock star.
Let's keep a lid on this.
Anybody asks, Grant fell and hit his head.
Every murder case we do goes through this office.
Goth? What? Your scene.
My scene? Is it goth? It is, isn't it? I don't have a scene.
We all have a scene.
Yeah? What's yours? It's complicated.
Like a puzzle, with a missing piece.
You know? No, I don't.
It's dark, right? Goth? It's dark? Fiera Schwartz, arrested for drunk and disorderly outside a club called Bleak.
That a goth club? Yeah, drunk and disorderly.
So now you think I killed that death doc.
I'm just asking questions.
Where were you last night between 4:00 and 6:00 a.
m.
That was the middle of the night, I was asleep.
Where were you? Working on your puzzle? You got a mouth on you.
Thanks.
Guess I don't have to be drunk to be disorderly.
Court ordered community service.
Next time, I'm asking for jail.
Oh.
You're not having fun? The coroners, the transpo guys hit on me all the time.
With dead people around, it's gross.
Did Dr.
Grant ever hit on you? No, he just yelled at me.
What a jerk.
If you find the guy who killed him, thank him for me.
Hey, what were you drinking? When you were drunk and disorderly.
Bloody Marys.
You will know when I know.
Okay? That's all I can tell you.
(PEOPLE CLAMORING) You having a party? Yes, we are.
And you're just in time for the pinata.
So why don't you go get a stick, and then hit me over the head with it? You seem a little stressed.
Maybe you want to try this breathing exercise I know.
It's pretty easy.
- Detectives? - That's right.
With cases handled by the morgue.
Two for two, Detective Seever.
As of my last cup of coffee, which was my eighth cup of coffee, the Chief instructed me to instruct every one of my detectives that every one of their current and past cases may be thrown into doubt.
That's a legal term.
It means "screwed.
" Maybe you want to sit down.
I am sitting down.
We took statements from all the employees.
Alibis? Time of death was 4:00 in the morning.
Most people were asleep.
Those miscreants on the lawn? No one with a serious record.
Alibis? Still 4:00 in the morning.
Grant dies, the cases they're working on get thrown out of court.
So what was Grant working on now? You really know a breathing exercise? Yeah.
Just breathe.
I said it was easy.
KYO: The case Grant was currently working on is Errol Brand.
Celebrity chef.
He's got those restaurants and that show.
Brand New Kitchen.
When do you have time to watch TV? In the morning before work, while I'm on the rowing machine.
In the morning? Actually, it's closer to 4:00 a.
m.
So I guess everyone isn't asleep.
Errol Brand also has one gunshot wound to the back of his head.
But no exit wound.
- Small caliber.
- How small? It doesn't say.
I'm not familiar with this case.
It was Dr.
Grant's.
May I? She's a very fast reader.
Entry wound, no exit wound, no bullet recovered.
No bullet? Someone shoots the chef, then digs the bullet out? Didn't work out? (SIGHS) No.
Turns out I'm not FBI material.
Well, that's too bad.
I know you wanted this to help you move up.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I'm where I belong.
- So when you coming back? - In a few days.
Just a few things I need to finish up.
There still room for me in the car? Right behind the wheel.
Birthday cakes? Condoms? I guess they are fun.
(DOOR OPENING) (DOOR CLOSING) Crews gets close to your father, he disappears.
Crews gets close to Rayborn, he disappears.
Maybe it's just coincidence.
Maybe they're not connected.
Everything's connected.
Excuse me? Nothing.
Well, maybe it's nothing, and then all this goes away.
Crews trusts you? Then let him tell you the truth.
You're doing the right thing.
What's that? Your job, Detective Reese.
Errol Brand, celebrity chef, had that show, those restaurants, a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
He also had something else.
An investor named Jimmy Ellison.
Did Mr.
Ellison invest in anything other than Errol Brand? Mr.
Ellison invests in gambling.
He was the biggest bookie in the county.
(OPERA MUSIC PLAYING) All that gambling money sure does buy a nice place.
(TURNS OFF MUSIC) We're looking for Jimmy Ellison.
(SCREAMING) Hector, who turned off my music? I already talked to you cops about Errol.
I didn't do it.
You got no proof I did, you gotta leave me be.
We're not here about Errol Brand.
We're here about Jonah Grant.
Who the hell is that? - The coroner.
- The coroner? We're here about something else, too.
- Yeah? What would that be? - Blood.
So why don't you show us what you got behind your back? Since Chef died, Mr.
Jimmy just stays back there, drinking his wine, listening to opera, cutting meat.
That's all he does? Sometimes.
Sometimes he cries.
How you doing, Jimmy? You wanted to shoot me.
You cops just can't wait to shoot someone.
Actually, 97% of all cops never use their gun, except on the range.
You talk like a lawyer.
You'll have to cut that out if you want to be mayor.
She wants to be mayor? Fifteen-year plan! You'll just be going up for parole.
What's with the meat, Jimmy? Sitting back here getting drunk, cutting all this meat? Errol died back here, right? What's with all this meat, Jimmy? Errol had a way of cutting meat.
So tender.
Melt in your mouth.
Never taste meat like that again.
Well, if you miss it so much, you shouldn't have shot him.
Where's the bullet, Jimmy? Did you get the coroner to dig it out for you? And then you killed the coroner? I don't know what you're saying.
Where's the coroner's blood? I don't know what you're saying! Errol gets shot in the freezer, staggers back out into the kitchen, and dies right here.
Where's the bullet, Jimmy? That is my cleaver.
This is my meat.
This is my place! Take your cuffs and get out of here! Hector! Turn my music back on! Loud! (OPERA MUSIC BLARING) He was cutting meat? And crying.
Ellison gets that bullet back, he's going to get rid of it.
But why take the coroner's blood? He was cutting meat and crying.
Hmm.
Anything interesting in there? Well, yeah, there is.
A tabloid shot, much closer to the ground.
There's something in here that's not in the police photos.
Under his right hand.
See? There's a puddle of something on the floor.
Blood? No.
You look at the police photos, there's no blood on his hand.
Who took that picture? Uh, Kathy White.
This is mine.
SEEVER: How'd you get past the cops? I got a pretty smile.
How'd you find the killing? Did you use a police scanner? Well, you can get those online, but I've always had this weird ability to know when people are going to die.
- Really? - Yeah.
Ever since I was a little girl.
Am I going to die? I mean, soon? What's the possible upside of asking a question like that? You really want to know? Yeah.
Yeah, I really want to know.
No.
Not you, not soon.
But somebody very close to you is going to die.
Soon.
Your photo of the dead chef, we need to see the digital file it came from.
Why so close to the ground? It's where we all end up when we're dead, so I like to get right down in there.
Can you enlarge this section? You were at the morgue yesterday.
I'm at the morgue a lot.
Didn't happen to know that Dr.
Grant was going to die? No.
But those morgue boys are so covered in death, it's hard to tell.
Is it true someone took his blood? There.
Slide that over.
It's a clear liquid.
What is that? They swabbed the chef's hand, nothing.
No substance on it at all.
So it's a clear liquid that leaves no trace, that we like to call Water.
It evaporated by the time they got to the morgue, so it would not have been noticed.
So, he gets shot in there, stumbled out, and scoop a handful of water? - He reaches down for this - Someone comes up behind him, shoots him in the head.
What? Hand me that melon, would you? He reaches down, stands up, and (GROANS IN DISGUST) The chef stumbles out He reaches back, pulls it out Falls, dies, icicles melt by the time anyone gets there, leaves a puddle under his hand.
And no bullet in his head.
So who took the coroner's blood? (SOBBING WRETCHEDLY) (OPERA MUSIC BLARING) I want to thank you for coming back.
It was wrong, what I did last time.
Ask me anything you want, any way you want.
Let me just ask you one question, though.
Your eyes are very red.
You're not on drugs? I'm not prying, this is a legal matter.
I'm on parole No, I am not on drugs.
Now, what do you remember about your parents? Why are your eyes so red? Has she been crying? You know, I saw a lot of crying in prison, Ann.
A lot.
I know what it looks like.
You've been crying.
No, I have not been crying.
- I think you have.
- I'm just tired.
Those are not tired eyes.
They are! The baby keeps me up.
The baby? Your baby? I'm a grandfather? Doesn't your husband help you? (STIFLING SOBS) About what Kathy White said about someone close to me.
It didn't have to be you.
There are a lot of people close to me.
You just, you know, happened to be standing close to me at the time.
Actually, there aren't a lot of people close to me.
I guess there should be more.
I've been away.
Complaints, filed against Jonah Grant.
Complaints filed by Grant's been dead for two days and you just discover I filed all those complaints against him.
Geniuses.
Well, maybe now you can tell us why you hated Dr.
Grant.
He wasn't my dream slab mate.
Slab mate? We used to have our own labs, now we have to double up.
Budget cuts? Yeah, like you know.
Cops get everything.
Helicopters, guns.
We have to buy our own toilet paper.
Cheap, scratchy.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Tell my ass you're sorry, ma'am.
Oh, that must've been Grant's.
Typical.
Is this what you complained about? (SIGHS) No.
I complained about Grant's practical jokes.
- Practical jokes? - Yeah, brilliant stuff.
Fingers in my coffee mug, cranial cap saucers.
Hiding my pen down an esophagus.
I filed numerous complaints against him for creating a hostile workplace.
Dr.
Kyo did nothing.
Why not? Grant did all her work for her.
They were buds.
They're all buds around here.
A confederacy of dunces.
Dr.
Kyo knew that you and Grant didn't get along? Oh, yes.
She said I was the one being unreasonable.
Well, you see how that worked out.
She ignored the problem, and Grant got himself murdered in the office.
Chickens coming home to roost.
You seem almost happy about that.
I won't pretend to mourn Dr.
Grant.
You know he used to kick me out of the lab? He said I "harshed his buzz.
" And you went? I had to.
He had seniority.
Your statement said that you were home when Grant was killed.
It was 4:00 a.
m.
Where were you? Which equipment is yours, and which was Dr.
Grant's? My equipment is the newer-looking, well-maintained, clean equipment engraved with a small "S.
" Dr.
Grant's is everything else.
Could any of these tools leave a perfect circle wound? That would be a bone mallet.
Do you have a bone mallet? I do.
It's usually here.
But Grant was always moving my things.
So you don't have a bone mallet.
No, I have one.
I just don't know where it is.
(SIGHING) Circular head.
And engraved with a small "S.
" Recognize this? It's mine.
Why does LAPD always ask questions they know the answers to? Why do you think we do it? Because you're stupid and lazy.
You take something obvious, and then you flail around until a DA pays attention.
The coroner's office does a perfectly acceptable job, but if there's a way to blow a case, the LAPD will find it.
We found your prints on this mallet.
Well, you would.
It's my mallet.
And Grant's skin and blood.
(MOCKINGLY) Which I forgot to wash off! I assure you, had I killed him, I would've made time.
I'm very good at prioritizing.
You complained.
Nothing was done.
(SIGHS) That made me angry, not stupid.
Angry people don't think clearly.
They grab the first thing they can and smash in someone's skull.
I'm quite aware of that.
I've overseen a few murder cases.
Including, by the way, many that your squad handled.
How clearly are you thinking? Are you threatening us? I don't know.
Am I? Convict me, and I will personally put 200 guilty killers back on the street.
And why on Earth would I take that man's blood? Do you even know what five quarts of blood looks like? Ten pints.
Five quarts.
Fruit punch.
I don't think there's any fruit in it, though.
Are you going to drink that? I wanted to see what it looked like.
Am I supposed to understand that? No.
I mean, yes, but No.
What did you find out about Reese? About the organized crime task force? There isn't any.
There's no current cooperation between the FBI and LAPD at all.
I've seen surveillance video of Reese going in and out of the building, so I know she's there.
But there's no record she's there on official business.
Officially, Reese isn't there at all.
You going to drink those here, honey, or should I get them to go? (SIGHING) Oh, it's just stupid office politics.
I didn't even think it mattered.
I need Santos.
I have bodies piling up.
I didn't even have time for lunch.
He accused you of incompetence.
Santos thinks everyone's incompetent.
I'm making too much money, I'm trying to screw him Did you ever work in an office? Do you think Santos killed Grant? I haven't had much time to think about it.
Why don't you take the time and think about it now? Please.
If this job teaches you anything, anyone's capable of murder.
I find that kind of sad.
With Grant dead, Santos is Senior Coroner with a pay bump.
I guess that's motive, huh? You have some new equipment here.
It must be expensive, this stuff.
I'm sure it is.
Purchasing the equipment was Dr.
Grant's job.
But there's a budget crisis.
So if you got no money coming in, how'd you buy this equipment? As I said, it was Dr.
Grant's job.
We need to see his records.
(SIGHING) It's a lot, five quarts.
Ten pints, 160 ounces.
You can't drink it all at once.
I mean, not in blood, in fruit punch.
It's a lot.
There is no record in here of any money coming in or the purchase of new equipment, but there is new equipment out there, so how did Grant pay for it? "We'll be seeing you.
" How will they be seeing us? Should I leave the room? No, no, come over here.
- Will I be laying down, too? - No.
Pretend I'm dead.
Should I pretend to be sad? No, pretend I'm dead.
Pretend you're a coroner.
What do you do? Does your phone have a camera now? Yeah, five megapixels.
Is that a lot? It's "mega," so, yes, it is.
Hold on.
(CAMERA CLICKS) "It's where we all end up when we die.
" So she likes to get down there.
That's what Kathy White said.
Mmm.
Oh, God! I'm Sorry, I'm I'll come back.
SEEVER: They're all low-angle and close to the ground.
Like the position a coroner would be in when examining a body.
Maybe Kathy White didn't need to be on the scene to get these.
Maybe she wasn't the one taking these pictures.
Maybe she was buying them.
We can check your financials.
- My what? - Your bank account, credit cards - You can just do that? - We can just do that.
We're the police.
She's a lawyer, too.
Is it going to show payments from you for those photos? Because looking at these photos of yours up here on these walls, they're really stunning.
But the photos in the paper, not your best work.
Not your work at all, right? Look, you don't have to check my financials, okay? I paid Grant to take those pictures.
It's competitive out there.
He needed the money, and I needed the pictures.
Where were you when he was killed? (STUTTERING) It was 4:00 in the morning.
I was Asleep? Why would I kill him? He needed the money and I needed the pictures, so Just just out of curiosity, what would I be worth dead? Six figures.
Six figures? But not anytime soon? No, not anytime soon.
Hmm.
So he left you? For a dog walker.
Ann, what's a dog walker? She walks dogs.
She walks dogs.
For a living? And he doesn't help with the baby? He doesn't want to see the baby.
He doesn't want to see the baby? He doesn't want to see me.
He doesn't want to see you? Ann, what's the baby's name? Ted.
You can go home when you solve it.
I am not reopening those cases.
Can I ask you something? Is it about prison? Fruit? Zen? No, it's about Tidwell.
Is it true he's dating your partner? Well, that would be against regs.
Yeah, it would be.
You know what else is against regs? Vodka in the lab.
And condoms in the stairwell.
That lab needs money.
What else were they selling? You know what that adds up to.
I have a pretty good idea.
(ROCK MUSIC BLARING) (MOANING) Fiera Schwartz? Party in a morgue? I guess your scene is pretty dark after all.
Are you Shane Banks? Jeez! You scared the hell out of me.
(SIGHS) I think you might be in the wrong truck, pops.
First of all, it's "grandpops.
" And you know who I am? I'm the grandpops you didn't want to meet.
My scene is just money.
They all paid a lot to be in here.
$250 each.
To dance with the dead? It makes them feel more alive.
"Them"? Not you, Fiera? CREWS: You're just about the money.
Grant ever catch you doing this? Grant catch me? (SCOFFS) Grant knew.
- You give Grant a cut? - Thirty percent.
- That's a big cut.
- He knew he had me.
This is the only place in town where you can dance with the dead.
Who else knew? Santos.
Kyo.
They all knew? Are there any rules anymore? No smoking.
That was the rule.
No smoking.
That woman Kyo was real strict about it.
You know, didn't want a fire, I guess.
But candles were okay.
Huh! Yeah, they were.
Debbie Kyo, always eating.
Debbie Kyo doesn't allow smoking.
Prenatal vitamins charged on your credit card.
How far along? Four months.
The father, it's Grant? Debbie, don't you think this is something you should've told us about? I wanted to, I just couldn't.
Why couldn't you? I'd lose my health insurance.
If it got out in the office that I'd had an affair, they'd fire me, it would go on my record, no one would hire me in the system.
I need my insurance.
(VOICE TREMBLING) We need my insurance.
Jonah would want me to have it now.
Debbie, you told us he liked the dead more than the living.
(SIGHS) Until he met me.
He loved death until he met me.
I guess he was just in bad relationships.
Until he met you.
The first time Jonah and I kissed, he said, "Lips are just a valve, but yours are sweet.
" Jonah thought my valve was sweet.
You took money for those parties.
To pay for equipment.
And from the photographer.
You ever think about opening up a gift shop? We have a gift shop.
What we never took any money from a photographer.
Kathy White was paying for photos that Grant took for her.
(EMPHATICALLY) We never took any money from a photographer.
What was Grant doing with the money that photographer gave him? According to Kyo, he wasn't sharing it.
But there's nothing in Grant's financials that show him getting any kind of money at all.
And there was no cash found when his house and car were searched, so Maybe we're looking at the wrong financials.
Maybe we should be looking at that photographer's financials.
You mean the ones she told us not to bother looking at? Just a valve.
Lips.
He said hers were sweet.
Kathy White's financials.
(SIGHING) Nothing.
There's no evidence here that Kathy White gave any money to Grant at all.
So, if she wasn't paying him Why was he taking those photos? There's something else.
Kathy White has two apartments in that building.
One that we talked to her in, 314, and another one, 319.
Must be right down the hall.
Got the pass key from the manager.
Did he say why she has two apartments? Said she used it for storage.
Shunts.
A device used to introduce or extract fluids from the body.
Five quarts.
Kyo said Grant was in bad relationships.
I guess this is one of them.
He loved death until he met Kyo.
Kathy White loves death, too.
(DOOR BANGING) He thought you could make life.
You can't make life.
You can't.
(FLASH CHARGING) You can't make life.
(FLASH CHARGING) CREWS: Grant didn't want to have a baby with you? (FLASH CHARGING) (CAMERA CLICKS TWICE) KATHY: Didn't want to have a baby with anyone, until he met her.
SEEVER: He still took that chef picture for you, Kathy, didn't he? KATHY: He said it was his last.
He said we were over.
He said he was making a life with that other woman.
(FLASH CHARGING) So I took him.
All five quarts.
(BEEPING) (FLASH CHARGING) (CAMERA CLICKING) (THREE GUNSHOTS) (KATHY GROANS) (GROANING) Detective, take my picture.
She was right next to me.
What she said about someone close to me was going to die.
She was standing right next to me.
You all right? I was in that 97%.
I never fired my gun, except on the range.
(DOOR CLOSING) ZEN COACH: Objects are not deceiving.
They are deception.
What we see, what we hear, all that our senses present to us is a fiction, no more real than a dream.
We can only know that which we believe.
That which we believe.
That is all we have.
(FAINTLY) You ready? You ready? Yeah.
But not for this.
I don't understand.
I go back to my partner, I go back working for the LAPD.
Not for you.
I thought you wanted the truth.
I know it.
I understand.
Good for you.
You know, there is an operation we're running right now down in San Diego, border stuff.
You want in? Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
They'll take you down to the San Diego field office, get you set up.
You boys out of San Diego?