Law & Order Special Victims Unit s04e03 Episode Script
Vulnerable
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.
Armando, wake up.
What? Shh.
Someone's in the house.
Call 911.
I can't find the phone.
Just get in the closet.
Is that you, Itsy? Who the hell is Itsy? Who the hell is she? No ID.
Can't tell me her name.
Can't or won't? I think Granny's only knitting with one needle, if you catch my drift.
Well, she came in through a window, so she was pretty desperate to get in.
Well, she thinks she lives here, apparently with someone named Itsy.
And you canvassed the building? Yeah.
No one knows her.
Yeah, Granny Doe made herself right at home.
That's her coat on the rack.
Okay.
Thanks.
Why are all these men here? I'm not decent.
It's okay, ma'am.
It's okay.
Please.
Make them leave.
All right.
I'm Detective Benson.
Can you tell me what happened? I have to talk to Itsy.
Okay.
Is Itsy the one that hurt you? You don't know anything, do you? Just what Itsy told me.
She promised not to tell.
Well, that's because she wants you to tell me.
What happened? He had his way with me.
Who did? Ma'am, may I? Did you see that? Yeah.
Someone used her for an ashtray.
Was she raped? No abrasions or fluids, you'll have to wait for the kit.
But she had 12 raw burns to her breasts and genitals.
She was in shock when we talked to her.
You think she'll remember more details? I doubt it.
Her head CT and MRI are clear, no sign of infection.
She probably has Alzheimer's.
So, no short-term memory.
Any way to kick-start it? Damage done is irreversible.
She's in here.
She hasn't been admitted yet? No need to.
She has mild high blood pressure.
Nothing more serious.
I gave her Silvadene lotion for her burns.
This woman needs supervised care.
Long-term.
We don't provide that here.
I just need someone to release her to.
Do you feel up to talking now? Oh, where's my purse? Look, what happened to my purse? You didn't have one with you.
Did you take it when you went out? Well, I had my purse here 10 minutes ago.
Of course I had my purse.
We'll help you look for it.
Did it have your name in it? Of course it had my name in it.
Okay.
What was the name? I don't know.
Whatever.
What could have happened to my purse? Well, what's it to you? You took my purse.
You make her give me back my purse.
I promise you, she didn't take your purse.
Yes, she did.
She did take my purse.
Nobody else could have taken my purse.
You give me back my purse.
Maybe the person who hurt you took your purse? Were you attacked in your home? Or someplace else? Can you remember? I was in my bedroom.
I was I was asleep, and I I was asleep in my bedroom and I I woke up and He pushed up my nightgown.
He was in there.
Oh, it hurt so bad.
I tried to hit him.
I tried to push him off, but I couldn't move.
Did you know your attacker? Who was it? It was How did he get in the house? Well, he stays there.
He stays there? Why? Well, he stays there because he lost all his money investing it.
He drinks every night.
Whiskey.
Oh, he smells so awful when he Okay.
We can help you.
I don't like it when he comes upstairs to me.
We can help you, but you've got to tell us his name, okay? Who? It's sad.
Frightening.
When this steel trap starts to rust, call Kevorkian.
Consider that done.
Have Adult Protective Services pick her up.
Where are we on her ID? We re-canvassed the building and did a sweep of the neighborhood.
No one's claiming her.
Well, she said her abuser lives with her.
Yeah, so he won't be calling Missing Persons.
Well, how far could this lady have gone in her nightie? She broke into that apartment for a reason.
She must have lived there at some point.
Manager's been there 20 years.
He's never seen her.
That building's been there at least a hundred.
Go back further.
The 1930 census was just unsealed this year.
I can give you the name, age, sex and race of any person at any address.
Assuming they weren't paranoid conspiracy freaks with a wicked big-brother complex.
Well, that's why it's sealed for 72 years, to cover the average life span.
Actually, 72 is the average man's life span.
A woman's is 79.
Oh, a man who knows his stats.
Did you know the 1930 census takes 2,667 rolls of Yo, stop, stop, stop.
Okay.
There's Seventh.
Back up.
There's Sixth and there's the building, 213.
Yeah.
Apartment 1-A.
The Staytons.
Ellsworth, Hilda and three daughters, Lilith, 11, Isabel, 10, and Millie, eight.
Today they'd be 83, She's gotta be one of these three girls.
This isn't Lilith or Isabel? No, both my sisters passed on.
Lily in '92 and cancer took Izzy back in '78.
You called Isabel "Izzy"? Everyone did.
No one ever called her "Itsy"? Dear Lord, Itsy and Bitsy.
I haven't thought about her in years.
Who was Bitsy? A neighbor girl down the street.
Isabel's best friend.
It was Bitsy for Bess.
Bess Maclntyre.
Did Bess ever live with you? No, no.
But sometimes she'd sneak over in the middle of the night.
Poor thing, cry herself to sleep.
She would wake up your whole family in the middle of the night? Oh, no, no, she'd sneak in through a window.
Why was she crying? I was too young to understand at the time, but Bess had what we used to call a "funny uncle.
" Mother never let us play at her house the whole time he lived there.
I got it, thanks.
I'm sorry, did I wake you? Who are you? I'm Olivia.
Remember? And I'm sorry, do you go by Bitsy or Bess now? Bess.
We've never met.
We had a long talk this morning.
After the hospital? I never go to a hospital.
I'm a very healthy person.
I am healthy as a As a horseshoe.
What is this place? Why am I here? You're in a police station.
I was arrested? No, no, no.
You were attacked.
You said that it was the man staying with you.
The man who lost all his money in the stock market.
Were you talking about your uncle? What year did he lose all his money? What year did he lose all his money? He lost his money in 1929.
Everybody did.
Bess, that was over Your uncle hurt you when you were little.
Tell me, who is hurting you now? Well, in the small favors category, her rape kit came back negative.
You look at those burns and tell me this skeev did her any favors.
Looks like the doc's done with her.
What'd you get? The attack definitely triggered memories of her childhood molestation.
So she fled to the only safe harbor she could think of, her friend Isabel's home.
She'd sneak through the window like she did last night.
Who is she running from? I doubt she's ever gonna be able to tell you.
So we just solved a 70-year-old rape case.
Uncle Ted was arrested in '53 on five counts of rape, but not for Bess.
He was killed in prison in '57.
Well, somebody tortured her again last night and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the dead uncle.
So, who are we looking for? A sadist.
He enjoyed the torture, though I'm not sure if it was sexual or anger-based.
He's young or socially stunted.
He chose an enfeebled woman because of feelings of inadequacy.
I tracked Bess through Social Security.
Her checks are sent care of Jubilee Towers on Madison.
Nice place for a nursing home.
We're not a nursing home.
We're an assisted living facility.
Hello.
Hope Garrett.
Hi.
Assistant Administrator.
How may I help you? I'm Detective Benson.
This is my partner, Detective Stabler.
Are you aware that one of your residents went missing last night? Well, it couldn't have been anyone from the nursing wing because they're checked on a regular basis.
Let's see.
Uh Yes, all our Level One-ers are accounted for.
You do bed checks? The residents are required to flip a switch every morning, just to let us know that they're still with us.
Well, I can guarantee you Bess Sherman did not flip her own switch today.
How could she have? Mrs.
Sherman was released about two weeks ago.
To whom? Her son.
Joe Sherman.
Mr.
Sherman? These folks have a warrant.
I'm letting them in.
He's usually home from work about now.
Nice place.
No, it's his mother's.
Rent-controlled.
$350 a month, you believe that? Mr.
Sherman smoke? Only in between the times he quits.
How's Joe been getting along with his mother since she moved back in? All I know is she sure brought him some luck.
How so? Well, ever since she came back, the repo men stopped coming, deliveries started.
Deliveries.
What kind of deliveries? Big-screen TV came in over the weekend.
Couch, chairs, the media unit.
Got all the bells and whistles, CD, DVD, stereo, video, got a TiVo.
Elliot.
Really fixed this place up.
Except for this room.
Bess' room, I'm assuming.
Looks more like her cell.
Check this out.
Explains the restraint marks.
Joe didn't want to lose his lucky charm.
Who are you, and what are you doing here? Police.
Just checking out your mother's accommodations.
Well, where is she? Is she okay? She's safer than she was in this place.
Let's go.
I wanna see my mother.
When we're done.
Have a cigarette.
I don't smoke.
Really? We heard you did.
I quit.
Could I see her right now? As soon as you explain these.
She never bruised before.
It's some way to treat your mother.
She wanders at night.
It's for her own protection.
Protection? But you don't protect her from this.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God.
Well, you don't think I burned her? Actually, we do.
Well, then you're more confused than she is.
Obviously some pervert attacked her on the street when she got out.
But you didn't notice she was gone.
I had an early breakfast meeting.
I didn't want to wake her.
But you don't mind leaving her tied up to a bed for 18 hours? Now, how was she supposed to use the bathroom? Look, the housekeeper takes care of that.
Maria comes in every morning.
She makes Mom breakfast.
She wakes her up.
But she didn't come this morning.
No.
I don't know why Maria didn't call me.
And believe me, she's fired.
Well, we'll take care of that for you.
What's her last name? Her name is Sanchez.
You know, your mother would've been just fine if you hadn't pulled her from that nice retirement community.
They were draining her.
She paid those crooks seven grand a month.
Leaving nothing for you.
All right, you know what? I'm done.
So you either charge me, or you let me go.
And I'm gonna take my mother with me.
No way we're releasing Bess into his custody.
He's her legal guardian.
He's her abuser.
According to whom? You have no witnesses, and the victim can't make a complaint.
Look, we suspect a parent of abuse, Child Services doesn't need the victim's complaint.
The law assumes a child can't speak up for itself.
Neither can Bess.
And her son is strapping her to a bed.
A lawyer could argue he believed it was a reasonable, albeit very misguided, attempt to keep Bess safe.
Look, Alex, there's gotta be some way to get this guy on neglect.
In an attempt to ensure her safety, he endangered her.
It's a stretch.
Well, then stretch it into an order of removal.
We'll stall Joe.
What's the problem now? I have a protective order to place your mother back in Jubilee Towers until this matter is straightened out.
My mom belongs with me.
The courts disagree with you.
Mom.
Mom, would you tell them that I did not hurt you? Why is it so noisy in here? I'm gonna sue every one of your asses.
Lawyers are mighty expensive, Joe.
Here's a protective order freezing your mother's accounts and assets.
You can't do that.
Mom, don't you worry, I am gonna bring you home! Captain, got any tissues for me? I'm about to break out into tears.
Hey, escort Mr.
Sherman out the back.
We'll see if we can dig up any dirt from the neighbors, see if Maria the housekeeper even exists.
Maria Sanchez? Yes.
You work for Joe Sherman, take care of his mother, Bess? Yes, what's wrong? Did you go to work yesterday? No one was there.
I thought maybe he took her to the doctor.
She ran away sometime the night before.
Could you come up here, please? We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Do you have any idea what she was running from? You ever see any marks or bruises on Mrs.
Sherman? No.
Did you ever see Mr.
Sherman hurt her? No, but when things are stressful, he speaks very harsh with her.
Was he stressed out Monday? Very.
Everything had to be just perfect for his party.
I invited a few investors over.
You failed to mention it.
It wasn't relevant.
I can assure you that none of them touched my mother.
Delway Furniture Rentals says your Visa was declined.
Send them a check.
But the bank called Just deal with it.
Business troubles? Police harassment.
You shut us down when you froze our accounts.
I think you mean your mother's accounts.
This is a start-up business, my mother's a key investor.
What about those big investors at your party? Don't go near them.
Why, they see something you don't want us to hear about? Maybe Mom wandered out, caused a scene, embarrassed you? So you drove home the burning importance of being a silent partner.
Why are you trying to destroy me when the monster who tortured my mother is still out there? Joe, just cough up the party list.
No way in hell you're ever gonna get that list.
Damn it to hell, you got crap all over my shoes.
If you wanna bitch, switch places.
This one's full of rancid salmon puffs.
Maybe they didn't go over too big at Joe's party.
You sure it's Joe's? Incoming.
Housekeeper said she threw out three bags with yellow ties.
We gotta check all of them.
Well, here's a Lick magazine with Joe's address on it.
Hair dye for men.
And something that's best applied anally.
Stop jerking around and find the guest book.
Hello! Names? Cigarette butts.
One of them's gotta be our weapon.
You're keeping me busy, Detectives.
Forty-five cigarette butts in all.
Five different brands.
Any way to match the butts to the wounds? If we were talking about cigars or slims.
Unfortunately, most brands are identical in size, so there's no way to narrow down by wound diameter.
Just need to prove that the attack took place in that apartment.
Any way to find flesh residue? Well, at the point of inhalation, the burn zone temperature is around 850 and 900 degrees.
Seared away all the evidence.
DNA from saliva on the filters will take weeks to run.
We're screwed.
Not really.
Fingerprints.
Ninhydrin.
I'll spray them all and then I'll run them through the system.
We already checked out Joe, no priors.
Yeah, but maybe not all his mystery smoking guests are as clean.
Investing in one of these is like buying a Monet.
It's easy on the eyes as it gains in value.
Will you excuse me, please? Hi, there! Hugh Wilkins? How can I help you? By fessing up.
The Tychon Food Chopper, it couldn't really slice and dice a beer can, now, could it? Sure it could.
Of course, you have to follow the instructional video, sold separately.
How did you When you got bonded to sell that crap door-to-door, you gave up your prints.
We found one on a cigarette butt you left at Joe Sherman's party.
Did you have any trouble with his moms that night? His mother? I never even saw her.
What's this about? Joe.
Yeah.
What's his racket? Oh! The Trifecta Wizard.
It's an unbeatable horseracing software program.
Unlike his other get-rich-quick schemes, this one was "a sure thing.
" His other ventures stumble out of the gate? Habitually.
You should ask Joe about his Ilama ranch in Texas.
That one even scared off his mother.
She was an investor? Up until two years ago, she was his principal backer.
After that, she had to guard what was left of the nest egg.
She cut the purse strings.
That must have pissed Joe off.
Well, he went broke.
But then the old lady moves back in, lo and behold, he has start-up money again.
According to everyone we spoke to, Joe has been a leech his entire life.
Right behind you, speak of the devil.
Look, I asked you to stay away from my investors.
Three just pulled out.
And we're only through half the list.
You're ruining me.
Like you were ruining your mother? We pulled her financials, Joe.
The only money I ever took from her was rent.
Five times a month? All made to cash.
Let me see those.
Andy.
He your bookie? My college dropout son.
He's talked her into writing checks before.
And was Andy at the party? He stopped by, uninvited, with one of his deadbeat friends.
He needed a place to sober up.
They spend the night? No.
I gave him just an hour.
Told him to stay in the den, out of sight.
Where does your son live? Jersey.
With his mom.
Now will you leave my investors alone? What the hell? Who let you in? Your mother.
We heard you were on the party circuit.
What? Dad's? Monday night? I don't call being exiled to the broom closet a party.
We also heard that your dad wasn't too proud of his dropout son.
Dropout? Is that what he said? What do you say? My gran set me up with a college trust fund.
I had to drop out when Dad drained it.
All he left me with is a ratty old Ilama-hair coat.
Yeah? And now Gran won't write out any more checks.
That must've pissed you off.
I'm not pissed at Gran.
It's my dad who's a jerk.
I'm the only one who ever visited her at the home.
You see her at the party? Of course I did.
She write you out any more checks? Sometimes she gives me presents.
She doesn't even know her own name.
Must take some prodding on your part.
She's the only person in my life who ever gave a crap about me.
I would never, ever hurt her.
What about that guy that you hang out with? Hal? Yeah.
Does he smoke? Yeah.
Was he ever alone with your gran at the party? I don't know.
You don't know.
I might have nodded off a bit.
Mmm-hmm.
Where can we find this Hal? At work.
Jubilee Towers, where my gran was.
That's where we met.
He took care of her.
Leave me alone! Stop it! You can't make me! Let go, Mr.
Leonard! Idiot! Look what you did! Hey, Hal, calm down.
Who are you? We're the police.
Sir, are you okay? He's trying to kill me.
What do you want? Are you always this good with the patients? Help me, don't let him take me away.
Don't you worry, nobody's taking anybody anywhere.
Oh, please, don't encourage him.
This happens every day.
Mr.
Leonard hates needles.
But he is going to chemo.
We need to talk.
In private.
Look, I've got three patients late for appointments and I've had nothing but troublemakers all day.
Troublemakers? How about Bess Sherman? She one of your troublemakers? No, she's a dream.
We heard you ran into her on the outside.
With the end of a cigarette butt.
Maybe that rings a bell.
I don't know what you guys have been smoking, but I've got lives to save.
Jubilee Towers adheres to the highest standards of safety.
Even we non-medical employees are trained in CPR.
Well, have the safety standards been slipping since Hal started working here? Are all of those complaints? You have to understand that many patients will complain if you just look at them wrong.
Hal's worked here a year.
He's only had one serious complaint against him.
Which was what? Well, Mr.
Jackson accused Hal of trying to suffocate him.
Well, did you call the police? Uh Mr.
Jackson is senile.
Well, did you at least check on it? Of course I did, but we found nothing.
You have to realize that fiction and reality blend in the mind of some of our patients.
You know, we get rape reports after the enema cart makes its rounds.
Hal didn't strike me as a real people person.
Now, why hire someone like that? It's a very low-paying job.
Not a lot of people find changing adult diapers rewarding.
What else is in the file? Just incident reports, on-duty injuries Whoa, whoa.
Hal injured patients? No, patients injured him.
Mr.
Jackson? Yeah? You the nude models I ordered? No.
Actually we're That was a joke.
What can I do you for? Heard you had problems with Hal, the nurse's aide.
That man's a serial killer.
Tell us about it.
He pinches me all the time.
One day I bit him, real hard.
Son of a bitch cut off my oxygen, whispered, "You're gonna die soon, old man.
" And nobody did anything about it? Hell, no.
Took his word over mine.
Well, we believe you.
He done anything since then? Sheet people scared him off.
Who? You know who I mean.
Klan comes at night, roams the halls.
Better watch your back.
Okay.
We had Mr.
Jackson till he took a left at Mississippi.
Yeah, but even paranoids are right sometimes.
Oh, we know Hal.
A little short on the bedside manner.
Okay.
Well, we heard you scratched his face.
Why? I can't say for sure.
Oh, you know, just tell them.
It was after I broke my hip last fall.
Yeah, taking dancing lessons for that cruise.
Anyway, when I came back after surgery, I woke up one night, convinced that someone was suffocating me.
Was it Hal? Well, it sure wasn't the morphine.
All I know is that I thought I was dying.
I started clawing at something.
Then, suddenly, I could breathe again.
When I opened my eyes, Hal was standing over me, his face scratched and bleeding.
What'd he say? That I was hallucinating.
He pinches the patients, hides their dentures, and when he wants a real rush, he plays keep-away with their oxygen.
But here's the rub.
Every victim was either doped up or senile.
Making them the perfect victims.
Even if they remember what happened, they're still unreliable witnesses.
That's probably why he took the job in the first place.
He gets his rocks off watching them suffer.
What do you got? A notice of claim filed six months ago against Jubilee Towers.
A $10 million negligence suit brought about by the estate of a deceased former resident.
What happened? Doesn't say.
A settlement was reached with a nondisclosure clause.
Who was named in the suit? Everyone the dead woman came into contact with, from the director down to the lowliest of nurse's aides.
Including our pal Hal? This dead woman have a name? Dahlia Brown.
I'm already working on an exhumation order.
Not bad for nine months in the ground.
Skin's perfectly intact.
She's lost some muscle tone, but haven't we all? You know the day's coming when embalming fluid is put in a lotion.
Until then that time, it will remain the medical examiner's worst nightmare.
When the undertaker flushed out her blood, he also flushed away any toxins.
The embalming fluid then dissolved any protein-based poison in her organs.
Anything you could test for? Tissue toxicology, heavy metals, which came back negative for arsenic, lead and cyanide.
The death certificate said cardiac arrest.
Which means we don't know what really happened, but we don't think it was foul play.
The M.
E.
's gotta put something down for cause of death.
What would you have put? I don't know, but I certainly would have mentioned this.
A tiny pinprick hole unaccounted for in the medical records.
She was in the hospital wing.
Maybe they gave her an IV.
She was in to have her knee drained.
The hole's in the wrong place.
You settled with the deceased's daughter.
Realize you made a mistake? No, it was cheaper than going to court.
Well, then what happened with Dahlia? Well, grieving people sometimes have trouble accepting the death of loved ones.
The pain makes them look for someone to blame.
Well, speaking of which, I noticed in Dahlia's records that her last supper was delivered by somebody with the initials H.
S.
Any other nurses' aides with those initials besides Hal Shipley? We're gonna need to speak with anybody who might have seen him with Dahlia that night.
Okay.
Man, I don't want to grow old.
In our line of work, be careful what you wish for.
How'd you do? No one remembers any fireworks between them, but I did find out a little about Dahlia.
Great lady, lousy patient? When she was in pain, she was a pain.
Needy and demanding, Hal's favorite.
Yeah, he had means, he had opportunity with Bess, Dahlia, Mr.
Jackson, a dozen others.
That we know of.
He's like a psycho kid in a candy store.
Time to take away his candy.
Excuse me, where Room 410's coding.
Quick, get the crash cart.
Code blue to room 410.
Code blue to room 410.
Hurry! In here! Hope.
You were right.
I saw it was him.
He was Let's calm down.
Just take a breath and tell us what happened.
After we talked, I called Hal in and, you know, I told him to finish his shift and leave.
He wanted to know why, and I told him.
I said, "It's because of the way you treat the patients.
" And he was furious and he just stormed out.
You can't help in there.
Now, did he make any threats? No, but after what we talked about, you know I was worried, so I came down to check on Bess, and that's when I saw him.
What was he doing? He was just He was leaving the room, but I didn't even think.
I just went in there and her pulse was weak and thready and I just pushed the code button and started CPR.
Hold on, hold on.
Bess? Move her to the full-care wing.
I'm gonna go with her.
Put her on a monitor and start an IV.
She had a fresh needle mark.
What are you still doing here? We heard you were fired.
The pencil-pushing bootlicker told me to finish off my shift.
Account for your whereabouts for the last 15 minutes.
Stockroom.
Taking inventory.
Let's go for a ride, Hal.
Am I under arrest? No.
Then screw off.
Excuse me? Whatever.
Let's party.
I hope I'm not interrupting anything.
Yeah, a big tearful goodbye.
Oh, you really don't wanna miss this.
You got a latent print report? Hal's known, identified print.
From that last cig break at the Towers.
You really shouldn't litter.
You can't do that.
Yeah, well, you voluntarily discarded it.
Meaning legally, your butt is ours.
As is this one, retrieved from Joe Sherman's party trash.
Well, that looks like a match.
Seven-point.
We've got a bifurcation, three ending ridges and an island.
Lots of guys were smoking at the party.
Yeah? Well, how many had seared flesh at the end of their cancer sticks? That we can match to Bess Sherman.
Uh Where's the lab on the DNA? I'm on my way there right now.
Call us when you know.
When we have the results, we won't need a confession from pantywaist here.
No confession, no plea bargain.
Which means you do the max.
CSU said they couldn't get flesh off of the cigarette.
Oops.
Okay, I burned her.
What? I burned her.
Why? It's not like I planned it.
Andy owed me a lot of money, which he said he could get from Grandma Bess.
Owed you money for what? Nothing to do with this.
He pulls a check from her purse, says, "You need to sign this, Gran.
" Bam, she does.
So it's so easy, you think you're gonna try it yourself.
So you go back in, get another check.
And she yells, "Rape.
" Just like she used to at the home when I'd help dress her.
As if.
Your job sucked, we know.
No, you don't know! I had to clean them and feed them and wipe up their crap.
They owed you.
So all she had to do was sign the other check.
But what does she do? She screams? She tried to get you in trouble.
So I go over to quiet her down, and my cigarette accidentally burns her chest.
And she starts screaming rape at the top of her lungs, and I just I just snap.
I say, "I'll show you rape.
" And I pull up her nightgown and I jab that cigarette at her again and again and again.
What happened when you saw her today? I didn't see her today.
Sweetie, we've got a witness who saw you leaving her room.
Then they were hallucinating.
When she coded, I was in the stockroom.
I can prove it.
Hal's been hacking into the drug computer.
Son of a bitch was stealing drugs.
Maybe he fudged the times.
According to the tech, this machine is like the Fort Knox of drug dispensers.
Then he's covered.
His list of stolen nurses' codes matches perfectly to what we found in his locker.
Well, Hope swore she saw him leaving Bess' room.
So, if the computer's not lying Bess isn't the first patient Hope has saved, you know.
Really? She found Mrs.
Mercer in cardiac arrest last Christmas Eve.
Same situation? She started CPR? Can you imagine a more depressing day to die? Sounds like a Christmas miracle.
I think there was one other time.
Zona? Yeah? Didn't Hope Garrett save another patient before? Oh.
She tried.
The guy didn't make it.
No, this was a woman.
Remember, uh, senior prom? Oh, yeah.
Senior prom with the emphasis on "senior"? It's a dance the Level One-ers throw every spring.
Their anti-youth counterstatement.
You know, the punch always gets spiked, somebody tries to limbo and breaks a hip.
So this woman that Hope saved was otherwise a healthy dance casualty.
Well, she wasn't dancing.
She collapsed at the buffet table.
It's a good thing Hope knows her CPR.
I'm not gonna let anybody else hurt you, Ma.
You're coming home with me.
You sure that's in her best interest? Oh, I don't know, maybe I'll throw her back in with that lunatic who burned her, like you did.
Dad, you're upsetting Gran.
No lip from you.
You're the one that started this whole thing by letting that drug supplier into my house.
I'll come by later, Gran.
I'll bring those brochures of the other homes.
Sweet boy.
Just so you know, Hal's in custody.
He won't be hurting anybody else.
Oh, you're so quick.
It only took two attempts on my mother's life for you to figure it out.
You're my friend, aren't you? Yes, I am, Bess.
Make this man be quiet.
Don't you worry about it.
He's just leaving.
Guess again.
I was wrongly accused.
The protective order was dropped.
Well, I hear that the misappropriation of funds investigation is just beginning.
Uh, I'm sorry, is this a bad time? No, you're welcome anytime.
And thanks for saving my mother's life.
Oh, well, Bess is one of our favorites.
No way she's going anywhere while I'm around.
So, you have saved, what, three now? Including Bess, yeah, I guess so.
And just that one loss.
Mr.
Tazelo.
Yeah, what happened? I was passing by X-ray and there he was, just slumped over in his wheelchair.
So, he'd been left unattended? I'm sure an aide was on the way.
But he was alone long enough to die unnoticed.
Or was he still breathing when you found him? He was.
I mean, you know, he was dead.
But you still tried to resuscitate him.
Well, I didn't know how long he'd been there.
We bring people back all the time.
So, I just, um, you know, pulled him to the floor and started CPR.
I didn't want to give up.
They had to pull me off.
This woman is a complete wacko.
It could be malignant hero syndrome.
A person sets up a risky situation to create an emergency and then comes out a hero.
Like a fireman starting a fire.
It's all about personal gain.
In this case, attention, prestige.
Like Munchausen by proxy.
She kills people just to bring them back to feel better about herself.
What was she shooting them up with? I picked up Bess' tox screen report from the hospital wing.
There's no poisons, no anomalous drugs.
She had epinephrine in her system.
That's what they give when your heart stops, right? Exactly.
I guess that's why it's under the "no big surprise" column.
Well, Hope revived Bess with CPR.
Once her heart was started again, she shouldn't have been given epinephrine.
And according to this chart, she wasn't.
What would happen if that was given to somebody who had a healthy heart? It would speed up heart rate, increasing cardiac output and blood pressure to a dangerous level.
Mimicking a heart attack.
Perfect crime.
Son of a bitch.
Hope was a nurse.
She worked at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
Her license was revoked 15 years ago.
On what grounds? Gross negligence.
"Failed to dilute potassium chloride doses.
" It's cozy, isn't it? An elevator adjacent.
Do you like to swim, Mr.
Hamrick? Because you're gonna love the water aerobics class.
I hear that really gets your heart rate up.
It's a hell of a lot safer than being injected with epinephrine.
Is everything all right? Absolutely.
Excuse me one minute.
Elliot, Olivia.
Um This probably isn't a good time to talk about the unpleasantness.
Oh, we don't plan to discuss it here.
Good.
A squad room would be much more appropriate.
Did something new happen with Hal? Well, our techs pulled the used syringes on the Sharps boxes here.
Hal's prints weren't on any of them.
Well, he had access to, you know, over a dozen boxes of surgical gloves, so maybe he thought to use a pair.
You didn't.
They found your prints on a syringe of epi in the box at the nurses' station.
Well, you know Hal did it.
He confessed.
To burning her.
But you didn't give a damn about that as long as you could grab the spotlight.
Why are you trying to embarrass me? People can hear you.
Drama queen, you enjoy being the center of attention.
Hope Garrett, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Bess Sherman What are you talking about? and suspicion of murders committed at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
This is ridiculous, okay? You have the right to remain silent.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
It's a mistake.
If you give up that right, anything you say This is a mistake! I examined the records of 22 deaths at Oak Glade between May of 1982 and March of 1987.
And what did you find? Evidence of potassium poisoning in seven of them.
Why wasn't this discovered in any of their autopsies? People expect the elderly to die.
An autopsy is performed maybe one out of 25 cases.
Well, surely some of them were examined? Yes, but when cells die, they release potassium.
It would have been impossible to detect.
So, how did you? By examining their EKGs.
Could you please show us on the board? All showed tachycardia and a widened QRS, indicative of hyperkalemia.
Uh In layman's terms? Their hearts were beating too fast.
Dr.
Warner, what causes there to be too much potassium in the blood? Kidney failure can, or it was introduced by an outside source.
Did any of them have kidney disease? No.
Someone administered lethal doses.
Do you have any idea how many mistakes doctors make, how many times I've covered their asses? Counselor, you control your client, or I'll have her removed from this courtroom.
Yes, Your Honor.
The jury will disregard the defendant's outburst.
The People may proceed.
One last question, Dr.
Warner.
In all these cases, how many different administering nurses were there? Just one.
Hope Garrett.
Yes, but you have to understand every last one of them was at death's door.
Counselor.
Your Honor, I'm sorry.
This won't happen again.
You know, I don't think you realize how little time that they had left.
I don't care if they were on their very last breath.
You had no right to take it from them.
You don't understand.
I help people.
What do you do? You stupid bitch! Hope! This is not helping.
Court is recessed.
Bailiff, take the jury out.
How can you just sit there and let them crucify me? I don't need this, you know.
I'm leaving.
Court officers, remove the defendant.
This is not fair.
All you tell them about is Oak Glade and Jubilee Towers.
But I've worked in homes for 15 years in between.
And how many of them did you kill? I didn't kill anybody.
Maybe a few of them wouldn't pull through for me, but I have saved hundreds.
Hundreds.
And you don't even care about them, do you? Take your hands off of me! Let go of me!
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.
Armando, wake up.
What? Shh.
Someone's in the house.
Call 911.
I can't find the phone.
Just get in the closet.
Is that you, Itsy? Who the hell is Itsy? Who the hell is she? No ID.
Can't tell me her name.
Can't or won't? I think Granny's only knitting with one needle, if you catch my drift.
Well, she came in through a window, so she was pretty desperate to get in.
Well, she thinks she lives here, apparently with someone named Itsy.
And you canvassed the building? Yeah.
No one knows her.
Yeah, Granny Doe made herself right at home.
That's her coat on the rack.
Okay.
Thanks.
Why are all these men here? I'm not decent.
It's okay, ma'am.
It's okay.
Please.
Make them leave.
All right.
I'm Detective Benson.
Can you tell me what happened? I have to talk to Itsy.
Okay.
Is Itsy the one that hurt you? You don't know anything, do you? Just what Itsy told me.
She promised not to tell.
Well, that's because she wants you to tell me.
What happened? He had his way with me.
Who did? Ma'am, may I? Did you see that? Yeah.
Someone used her for an ashtray.
Was she raped? No abrasions or fluids, you'll have to wait for the kit.
But she had 12 raw burns to her breasts and genitals.
She was in shock when we talked to her.
You think she'll remember more details? I doubt it.
Her head CT and MRI are clear, no sign of infection.
She probably has Alzheimer's.
So, no short-term memory.
Any way to kick-start it? Damage done is irreversible.
She's in here.
She hasn't been admitted yet? No need to.
She has mild high blood pressure.
Nothing more serious.
I gave her Silvadene lotion for her burns.
This woman needs supervised care.
Long-term.
We don't provide that here.
I just need someone to release her to.
Do you feel up to talking now? Oh, where's my purse? Look, what happened to my purse? You didn't have one with you.
Did you take it when you went out? Well, I had my purse here 10 minutes ago.
Of course I had my purse.
We'll help you look for it.
Did it have your name in it? Of course it had my name in it.
Okay.
What was the name? I don't know.
Whatever.
What could have happened to my purse? Well, what's it to you? You took my purse.
You make her give me back my purse.
I promise you, she didn't take your purse.
Yes, she did.
She did take my purse.
Nobody else could have taken my purse.
You give me back my purse.
Maybe the person who hurt you took your purse? Were you attacked in your home? Or someplace else? Can you remember? I was in my bedroom.
I was I was asleep, and I I was asleep in my bedroom and I I woke up and He pushed up my nightgown.
He was in there.
Oh, it hurt so bad.
I tried to hit him.
I tried to push him off, but I couldn't move.
Did you know your attacker? Who was it? It was How did he get in the house? Well, he stays there.
He stays there? Why? Well, he stays there because he lost all his money investing it.
He drinks every night.
Whiskey.
Oh, he smells so awful when he Okay.
We can help you.
I don't like it when he comes upstairs to me.
We can help you, but you've got to tell us his name, okay? Who? It's sad.
Frightening.
When this steel trap starts to rust, call Kevorkian.
Consider that done.
Have Adult Protective Services pick her up.
Where are we on her ID? We re-canvassed the building and did a sweep of the neighborhood.
No one's claiming her.
Well, she said her abuser lives with her.
Yeah, so he won't be calling Missing Persons.
Well, how far could this lady have gone in her nightie? She broke into that apartment for a reason.
She must have lived there at some point.
Manager's been there 20 years.
He's never seen her.
That building's been there at least a hundred.
Go back further.
The 1930 census was just unsealed this year.
I can give you the name, age, sex and race of any person at any address.
Assuming they weren't paranoid conspiracy freaks with a wicked big-brother complex.
Well, that's why it's sealed for 72 years, to cover the average life span.
Actually, 72 is the average man's life span.
A woman's is 79.
Oh, a man who knows his stats.
Did you know the 1930 census takes 2,667 rolls of Yo, stop, stop, stop.
Okay.
There's Seventh.
Back up.
There's Sixth and there's the building, 213.
Yeah.
Apartment 1-A.
The Staytons.
Ellsworth, Hilda and three daughters, Lilith, 11, Isabel, 10, and Millie, eight.
Today they'd be 83, She's gotta be one of these three girls.
This isn't Lilith or Isabel? No, both my sisters passed on.
Lily in '92 and cancer took Izzy back in '78.
You called Isabel "Izzy"? Everyone did.
No one ever called her "Itsy"? Dear Lord, Itsy and Bitsy.
I haven't thought about her in years.
Who was Bitsy? A neighbor girl down the street.
Isabel's best friend.
It was Bitsy for Bess.
Bess Maclntyre.
Did Bess ever live with you? No, no.
But sometimes she'd sneak over in the middle of the night.
Poor thing, cry herself to sleep.
She would wake up your whole family in the middle of the night? Oh, no, no, she'd sneak in through a window.
Why was she crying? I was too young to understand at the time, but Bess had what we used to call a "funny uncle.
" Mother never let us play at her house the whole time he lived there.
I got it, thanks.
I'm sorry, did I wake you? Who are you? I'm Olivia.
Remember? And I'm sorry, do you go by Bitsy or Bess now? Bess.
We've never met.
We had a long talk this morning.
After the hospital? I never go to a hospital.
I'm a very healthy person.
I am healthy as a As a horseshoe.
What is this place? Why am I here? You're in a police station.
I was arrested? No, no, no.
You were attacked.
You said that it was the man staying with you.
The man who lost all his money in the stock market.
Were you talking about your uncle? What year did he lose all his money? What year did he lose all his money? He lost his money in 1929.
Everybody did.
Bess, that was over Your uncle hurt you when you were little.
Tell me, who is hurting you now? Well, in the small favors category, her rape kit came back negative.
You look at those burns and tell me this skeev did her any favors.
Looks like the doc's done with her.
What'd you get? The attack definitely triggered memories of her childhood molestation.
So she fled to the only safe harbor she could think of, her friend Isabel's home.
She'd sneak through the window like she did last night.
Who is she running from? I doubt she's ever gonna be able to tell you.
So we just solved a 70-year-old rape case.
Uncle Ted was arrested in '53 on five counts of rape, but not for Bess.
He was killed in prison in '57.
Well, somebody tortured her again last night and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the dead uncle.
So, who are we looking for? A sadist.
He enjoyed the torture, though I'm not sure if it was sexual or anger-based.
He's young or socially stunted.
He chose an enfeebled woman because of feelings of inadequacy.
I tracked Bess through Social Security.
Her checks are sent care of Jubilee Towers on Madison.
Nice place for a nursing home.
We're not a nursing home.
We're an assisted living facility.
Hello.
Hope Garrett.
Hi.
Assistant Administrator.
How may I help you? I'm Detective Benson.
This is my partner, Detective Stabler.
Are you aware that one of your residents went missing last night? Well, it couldn't have been anyone from the nursing wing because they're checked on a regular basis.
Let's see.
Uh Yes, all our Level One-ers are accounted for.
You do bed checks? The residents are required to flip a switch every morning, just to let us know that they're still with us.
Well, I can guarantee you Bess Sherman did not flip her own switch today.
How could she have? Mrs.
Sherman was released about two weeks ago.
To whom? Her son.
Joe Sherman.
Mr.
Sherman? These folks have a warrant.
I'm letting them in.
He's usually home from work about now.
Nice place.
No, it's his mother's.
Rent-controlled.
$350 a month, you believe that? Mr.
Sherman smoke? Only in between the times he quits.
How's Joe been getting along with his mother since she moved back in? All I know is she sure brought him some luck.
How so? Well, ever since she came back, the repo men stopped coming, deliveries started.
Deliveries.
What kind of deliveries? Big-screen TV came in over the weekend.
Couch, chairs, the media unit.
Got all the bells and whistles, CD, DVD, stereo, video, got a TiVo.
Elliot.
Really fixed this place up.
Except for this room.
Bess' room, I'm assuming.
Looks more like her cell.
Check this out.
Explains the restraint marks.
Joe didn't want to lose his lucky charm.
Who are you, and what are you doing here? Police.
Just checking out your mother's accommodations.
Well, where is she? Is she okay? She's safer than she was in this place.
Let's go.
I wanna see my mother.
When we're done.
Have a cigarette.
I don't smoke.
Really? We heard you did.
I quit.
Could I see her right now? As soon as you explain these.
She never bruised before.
It's some way to treat your mother.
She wanders at night.
It's for her own protection.
Protection? But you don't protect her from this.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God.
Well, you don't think I burned her? Actually, we do.
Well, then you're more confused than she is.
Obviously some pervert attacked her on the street when she got out.
But you didn't notice she was gone.
I had an early breakfast meeting.
I didn't want to wake her.
But you don't mind leaving her tied up to a bed for 18 hours? Now, how was she supposed to use the bathroom? Look, the housekeeper takes care of that.
Maria comes in every morning.
She makes Mom breakfast.
She wakes her up.
But she didn't come this morning.
No.
I don't know why Maria didn't call me.
And believe me, she's fired.
Well, we'll take care of that for you.
What's her last name? Her name is Sanchez.
You know, your mother would've been just fine if you hadn't pulled her from that nice retirement community.
They were draining her.
She paid those crooks seven grand a month.
Leaving nothing for you.
All right, you know what? I'm done.
So you either charge me, or you let me go.
And I'm gonna take my mother with me.
No way we're releasing Bess into his custody.
He's her legal guardian.
He's her abuser.
According to whom? You have no witnesses, and the victim can't make a complaint.
Look, we suspect a parent of abuse, Child Services doesn't need the victim's complaint.
The law assumes a child can't speak up for itself.
Neither can Bess.
And her son is strapping her to a bed.
A lawyer could argue he believed it was a reasonable, albeit very misguided, attempt to keep Bess safe.
Look, Alex, there's gotta be some way to get this guy on neglect.
In an attempt to ensure her safety, he endangered her.
It's a stretch.
Well, then stretch it into an order of removal.
We'll stall Joe.
What's the problem now? I have a protective order to place your mother back in Jubilee Towers until this matter is straightened out.
My mom belongs with me.
The courts disagree with you.
Mom.
Mom, would you tell them that I did not hurt you? Why is it so noisy in here? I'm gonna sue every one of your asses.
Lawyers are mighty expensive, Joe.
Here's a protective order freezing your mother's accounts and assets.
You can't do that.
Mom, don't you worry, I am gonna bring you home! Captain, got any tissues for me? I'm about to break out into tears.
Hey, escort Mr.
Sherman out the back.
We'll see if we can dig up any dirt from the neighbors, see if Maria the housekeeper even exists.
Maria Sanchez? Yes.
You work for Joe Sherman, take care of his mother, Bess? Yes, what's wrong? Did you go to work yesterday? No one was there.
I thought maybe he took her to the doctor.
She ran away sometime the night before.
Could you come up here, please? We'd like to ask you a few questions.
Do you have any idea what she was running from? You ever see any marks or bruises on Mrs.
Sherman? No.
Did you ever see Mr.
Sherman hurt her? No, but when things are stressful, he speaks very harsh with her.
Was he stressed out Monday? Very.
Everything had to be just perfect for his party.
I invited a few investors over.
You failed to mention it.
It wasn't relevant.
I can assure you that none of them touched my mother.
Delway Furniture Rentals says your Visa was declined.
Send them a check.
But the bank called Just deal with it.
Business troubles? Police harassment.
You shut us down when you froze our accounts.
I think you mean your mother's accounts.
This is a start-up business, my mother's a key investor.
What about those big investors at your party? Don't go near them.
Why, they see something you don't want us to hear about? Maybe Mom wandered out, caused a scene, embarrassed you? So you drove home the burning importance of being a silent partner.
Why are you trying to destroy me when the monster who tortured my mother is still out there? Joe, just cough up the party list.
No way in hell you're ever gonna get that list.
Damn it to hell, you got crap all over my shoes.
If you wanna bitch, switch places.
This one's full of rancid salmon puffs.
Maybe they didn't go over too big at Joe's party.
You sure it's Joe's? Incoming.
Housekeeper said she threw out three bags with yellow ties.
We gotta check all of them.
Well, here's a Lick magazine with Joe's address on it.
Hair dye for men.
And something that's best applied anally.
Stop jerking around and find the guest book.
Hello! Names? Cigarette butts.
One of them's gotta be our weapon.
You're keeping me busy, Detectives.
Forty-five cigarette butts in all.
Five different brands.
Any way to match the butts to the wounds? If we were talking about cigars or slims.
Unfortunately, most brands are identical in size, so there's no way to narrow down by wound diameter.
Just need to prove that the attack took place in that apartment.
Any way to find flesh residue? Well, at the point of inhalation, the burn zone temperature is around 850 and 900 degrees.
Seared away all the evidence.
DNA from saliva on the filters will take weeks to run.
We're screwed.
Not really.
Fingerprints.
Ninhydrin.
I'll spray them all and then I'll run them through the system.
We already checked out Joe, no priors.
Yeah, but maybe not all his mystery smoking guests are as clean.
Investing in one of these is like buying a Monet.
It's easy on the eyes as it gains in value.
Will you excuse me, please? Hi, there! Hugh Wilkins? How can I help you? By fessing up.
The Tychon Food Chopper, it couldn't really slice and dice a beer can, now, could it? Sure it could.
Of course, you have to follow the instructional video, sold separately.
How did you When you got bonded to sell that crap door-to-door, you gave up your prints.
We found one on a cigarette butt you left at Joe Sherman's party.
Did you have any trouble with his moms that night? His mother? I never even saw her.
What's this about? Joe.
Yeah.
What's his racket? Oh! The Trifecta Wizard.
It's an unbeatable horseracing software program.
Unlike his other get-rich-quick schemes, this one was "a sure thing.
" His other ventures stumble out of the gate? Habitually.
You should ask Joe about his Ilama ranch in Texas.
That one even scared off his mother.
She was an investor? Up until two years ago, she was his principal backer.
After that, she had to guard what was left of the nest egg.
She cut the purse strings.
That must have pissed Joe off.
Well, he went broke.
But then the old lady moves back in, lo and behold, he has start-up money again.
According to everyone we spoke to, Joe has been a leech his entire life.
Right behind you, speak of the devil.
Look, I asked you to stay away from my investors.
Three just pulled out.
And we're only through half the list.
You're ruining me.
Like you were ruining your mother? We pulled her financials, Joe.
The only money I ever took from her was rent.
Five times a month? All made to cash.
Let me see those.
Andy.
He your bookie? My college dropout son.
He's talked her into writing checks before.
And was Andy at the party? He stopped by, uninvited, with one of his deadbeat friends.
He needed a place to sober up.
They spend the night? No.
I gave him just an hour.
Told him to stay in the den, out of sight.
Where does your son live? Jersey.
With his mom.
Now will you leave my investors alone? What the hell? Who let you in? Your mother.
We heard you were on the party circuit.
What? Dad's? Monday night? I don't call being exiled to the broom closet a party.
We also heard that your dad wasn't too proud of his dropout son.
Dropout? Is that what he said? What do you say? My gran set me up with a college trust fund.
I had to drop out when Dad drained it.
All he left me with is a ratty old Ilama-hair coat.
Yeah? And now Gran won't write out any more checks.
That must've pissed you off.
I'm not pissed at Gran.
It's my dad who's a jerk.
I'm the only one who ever visited her at the home.
You see her at the party? Of course I did.
She write you out any more checks? Sometimes she gives me presents.
She doesn't even know her own name.
Must take some prodding on your part.
She's the only person in my life who ever gave a crap about me.
I would never, ever hurt her.
What about that guy that you hang out with? Hal? Yeah.
Does he smoke? Yeah.
Was he ever alone with your gran at the party? I don't know.
You don't know.
I might have nodded off a bit.
Mmm-hmm.
Where can we find this Hal? At work.
Jubilee Towers, where my gran was.
That's where we met.
He took care of her.
Leave me alone! Stop it! You can't make me! Let go, Mr.
Leonard! Idiot! Look what you did! Hey, Hal, calm down.
Who are you? We're the police.
Sir, are you okay? He's trying to kill me.
What do you want? Are you always this good with the patients? Help me, don't let him take me away.
Don't you worry, nobody's taking anybody anywhere.
Oh, please, don't encourage him.
This happens every day.
Mr.
Leonard hates needles.
But he is going to chemo.
We need to talk.
In private.
Look, I've got three patients late for appointments and I've had nothing but troublemakers all day.
Troublemakers? How about Bess Sherman? She one of your troublemakers? No, she's a dream.
We heard you ran into her on the outside.
With the end of a cigarette butt.
Maybe that rings a bell.
I don't know what you guys have been smoking, but I've got lives to save.
Jubilee Towers adheres to the highest standards of safety.
Even we non-medical employees are trained in CPR.
Well, have the safety standards been slipping since Hal started working here? Are all of those complaints? You have to understand that many patients will complain if you just look at them wrong.
Hal's worked here a year.
He's only had one serious complaint against him.
Which was what? Well, Mr.
Jackson accused Hal of trying to suffocate him.
Well, did you call the police? Uh Mr.
Jackson is senile.
Well, did you at least check on it? Of course I did, but we found nothing.
You have to realize that fiction and reality blend in the mind of some of our patients.
You know, we get rape reports after the enema cart makes its rounds.
Hal didn't strike me as a real people person.
Now, why hire someone like that? It's a very low-paying job.
Not a lot of people find changing adult diapers rewarding.
What else is in the file? Just incident reports, on-duty injuries Whoa, whoa.
Hal injured patients? No, patients injured him.
Mr.
Jackson? Yeah? You the nude models I ordered? No.
Actually we're That was a joke.
What can I do you for? Heard you had problems with Hal, the nurse's aide.
That man's a serial killer.
Tell us about it.
He pinches me all the time.
One day I bit him, real hard.
Son of a bitch cut off my oxygen, whispered, "You're gonna die soon, old man.
" And nobody did anything about it? Hell, no.
Took his word over mine.
Well, we believe you.
He done anything since then? Sheet people scared him off.
Who? You know who I mean.
Klan comes at night, roams the halls.
Better watch your back.
Okay.
We had Mr.
Jackson till he took a left at Mississippi.
Yeah, but even paranoids are right sometimes.
Oh, we know Hal.
A little short on the bedside manner.
Okay.
Well, we heard you scratched his face.
Why? I can't say for sure.
Oh, you know, just tell them.
It was after I broke my hip last fall.
Yeah, taking dancing lessons for that cruise.
Anyway, when I came back after surgery, I woke up one night, convinced that someone was suffocating me.
Was it Hal? Well, it sure wasn't the morphine.
All I know is that I thought I was dying.
I started clawing at something.
Then, suddenly, I could breathe again.
When I opened my eyes, Hal was standing over me, his face scratched and bleeding.
What'd he say? That I was hallucinating.
He pinches the patients, hides their dentures, and when he wants a real rush, he plays keep-away with their oxygen.
But here's the rub.
Every victim was either doped up or senile.
Making them the perfect victims.
Even if they remember what happened, they're still unreliable witnesses.
That's probably why he took the job in the first place.
He gets his rocks off watching them suffer.
What do you got? A notice of claim filed six months ago against Jubilee Towers.
A $10 million negligence suit brought about by the estate of a deceased former resident.
What happened? Doesn't say.
A settlement was reached with a nondisclosure clause.
Who was named in the suit? Everyone the dead woman came into contact with, from the director down to the lowliest of nurse's aides.
Including our pal Hal? This dead woman have a name? Dahlia Brown.
I'm already working on an exhumation order.
Not bad for nine months in the ground.
Skin's perfectly intact.
She's lost some muscle tone, but haven't we all? You know the day's coming when embalming fluid is put in a lotion.
Until then that time, it will remain the medical examiner's worst nightmare.
When the undertaker flushed out her blood, he also flushed away any toxins.
The embalming fluid then dissolved any protein-based poison in her organs.
Anything you could test for? Tissue toxicology, heavy metals, which came back negative for arsenic, lead and cyanide.
The death certificate said cardiac arrest.
Which means we don't know what really happened, but we don't think it was foul play.
The M.
E.
's gotta put something down for cause of death.
What would you have put? I don't know, but I certainly would have mentioned this.
A tiny pinprick hole unaccounted for in the medical records.
She was in the hospital wing.
Maybe they gave her an IV.
She was in to have her knee drained.
The hole's in the wrong place.
You settled with the deceased's daughter.
Realize you made a mistake? No, it was cheaper than going to court.
Well, then what happened with Dahlia? Well, grieving people sometimes have trouble accepting the death of loved ones.
The pain makes them look for someone to blame.
Well, speaking of which, I noticed in Dahlia's records that her last supper was delivered by somebody with the initials H.
S.
Any other nurses' aides with those initials besides Hal Shipley? We're gonna need to speak with anybody who might have seen him with Dahlia that night.
Okay.
Man, I don't want to grow old.
In our line of work, be careful what you wish for.
How'd you do? No one remembers any fireworks between them, but I did find out a little about Dahlia.
Great lady, lousy patient? When she was in pain, she was a pain.
Needy and demanding, Hal's favorite.
Yeah, he had means, he had opportunity with Bess, Dahlia, Mr.
Jackson, a dozen others.
That we know of.
He's like a psycho kid in a candy store.
Time to take away his candy.
Excuse me, where Room 410's coding.
Quick, get the crash cart.
Code blue to room 410.
Code blue to room 410.
Hurry! In here! Hope.
You were right.
I saw it was him.
He was Let's calm down.
Just take a breath and tell us what happened.
After we talked, I called Hal in and, you know, I told him to finish his shift and leave.
He wanted to know why, and I told him.
I said, "It's because of the way you treat the patients.
" And he was furious and he just stormed out.
You can't help in there.
Now, did he make any threats? No, but after what we talked about, you know I was worried, so I came down to check on Bess, and that's when I saw him.
What was he doing? He was just He was leaving the room, but I didn't even think.
I just went in there and her pulse was weak and thready and I just pushed the code button and started CPR.
Hold on, hold on.
Bess? Move her to the full-care wing.
I'm gonna go with her.
Put her on a monitor and start an IV.
She had a fresh needle mark.
What are you still doing here? We heard you were fired.
The pencil-pushing bootlicker told me to finish off my shift.
Account for your whereabouts for the last 15 minutes.
Stockroom.
Taking inventory.
Let's go for a ride, Hal.
Am I under arrest? No.
Then screw off.
Excuse me? Whatever.
Let's party.
I hope I'm not interrupting anything.
Yeah, a big tearful goodbye.
Oh, you really don't wanna miss this.
You got a latent print report? Hal's known, identified print.
From that last cig break at the Towers.
You really shouldn't litter.
You can't do that.
Yeah, well, you voluntarily discarded it.
Meaning legally, your butt is ours.
As is this one, retrieved from Joe Sherman's party trash.
Well, that looks like a match.
Seven-point.
We've got a bifurcation, three ending ridges and an island.
Lots of guys were smoking at the party.
Yeah? Well, how many had seared flesh at the end of their cancer sticks? That we can match to Bess Sherman.
Uh Where's the lab on the DNA? I'm on my way there right now.
Call us when you know.
When we have the results, we won't need a confession from pantywaist here.
No confession, no plea bargain.
Which means you do the max.
CSU said they couldn't get flesh off of the cigarette.
Oops.
Okay, I burned her.
What? I burned her.
Why? It's not like I planned it.
Andy owed me a lot of money, which he said he could get from Grandma Bess.
Owed you money for what? Nothing to do with this.
He pulls a check from her purse, says, "You need to sign this, Gran.
" Bam, she does.
So it's so easy, you think you're gonna try it yourself.
So you go back in, get another check.
And she yells, "Rape.
" Just like she used to at the home when I'd help dress her.
As if.
Your job sucked, we know.
No, you don't know! I had to clean them and feed them and wipe up their crap.
They owed you.
So all she had to do was sign the other check.
But what does she do? She screams? She tried to get you in trouble.
So I go over to quiet her down, and my cigarette accidentally burns her chest.
And she starts screaming rape at the top of her lungs, and I just I just snap.
I say, "I'll show you rape.
" And I pull up her nightgown and I jab that cigarette at her again and again and again.
What happened when you saw her today? I didn't see her today.
Sweetie, we've got a witness who saw you leaving her room.
Then they were hallucinating.
When she coded, I was in the stockroom.
I can prove it.
Hal's been hacking into the drug computer.
Son of a bitch was stealing drugs.
Maybe he fudged the times.
According to the tech, this machine is like the Fort Knox of drug dispensers.
Then he's covered.
His list of stolen nurses' codes matches perfectly to what we found in his locker.
Well, Hope swore she saw him leaving Bess' room.
So, if the computer's not lying Bess isn't the first patient Hope has saved, you know.
Really? She found Mrs.
Mercer in cardiac arrest last Christmas Eve.
Same situation? She started CPR? Can you imagine a more depressing day to die? Sounds like a Christmas miracle.
I think there was one other time.
Zona? Yeah? Didn't Hope Garrett save another patient before? Oh.
She tried.
The guy didn't make it.
No, this was a woman.
Remember, uh, senior prom? Oh, yeah.
Senior prom with the emphasis on "senior"? It's a dance the Level One-ers throw every spring.
Their anti-youth counterstatement.
You know, the punch always gets spiked, somebody tries to limbo and breaks a hip.
So this woman that Hope saved was otherwise a healthy dance casualty.
Well, she wasn't dancing.
She collapsed at the buffet table.
It's a good thing Hope knows her CPR.
I'm not gonna let anybody else hurt you, Ma.
You're coming home with me.
You sure that's in her best interest? Oh, I don't know, maybe I'll throw her back in with that lunatic who burned her, like you did.
Dad, you're upsetting Gran.
No lip from you.
You're the one that started this whole thing by letting that drug supplier into my house.
I'll come by later, Gran.
I'll bring those brochures of the other homes.
Sweet boy.
Just so you know, Hal's in custody.
He won't be hurting anybody else.
Oh, you're so quick.
It only took two attempts on my mother's life for you to figure it out.
You're my friend, aren't you? Yes, I am, Bess.
Make this man be quiet.
Don't you worry about it.
He's just leaving.
Guess again.
I was wrongly accused.
The protective order was dropped.
Well, I hear that the misappropriation of funds investigation is just beginning.
Uh, I'm sorry, is this a bad time? No, you're welcome anytime.
And thanks for saving my mother's life.
Oh, well, Bess is one of our favorites.
No way she's going anywhere while I'm around.
So, you have saved, what, three now? Including Bess, yeah, I guess so.
And just that one loss.
Mr.
Tazelo.
Yeah, what happened? I was passing by X-ray and there he was, just slumped over in his wheelchair.
So, he'd been left unattended? I'm sure an aide was on the way.
But he was alone long enough to die unnoticed.
Or was he still breathing when you found him? He was.
I mean, you know, he was dead.
But you still tried to resuscitate him.
Well, I didn't know how long he'd been there.
We bring people back all the time.
So, I just, um, you know, pulled him to the floor and started CPR.
I didn't want to give up.
They had to pull me off.
This woman is a complete wacko.
It could be malignant hero syndrome.
A person sets up a risky situation to create an emergency and then comes out a hero.
Like a fireman starting a fire.
It's all about personal gain.
In this case, attention, prestige.
Like Munchausen by proxy.
She kills people just to bring them back to feel better about herself.
What was she shooting them up with? I picked up Bess' tox screen report from the hospital wing.
There's no poisons, no anomalous drugs.
She had epinephrine in her system.
That's what they give when your heart stops, right? Exactly.
I guess that's why it's under the "no big surprise" column.
Well, Hope revived Bess with CPR.
Once her heart was started again, she shouldn't have been given epinephrine.
And according to this chart, she wasn't.
What would happen if that was given to somebody who had a healthy heart? It would speed up heart rate, increasing cardiac output and blood pressure to a dangerous level.
Mimicking a heart attack.
Perfect crime.
Son of a bitch.
Hope was a nurse.
She worked at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
Her license was revoked 15 years ago.
On what grounds? Gross negligence.
"Failed to dilute potassium chloride doses.
" It's cozy, isn't it? An elevator adjacent.
Do you like to swim, Mr.
Hamrick? Because you're gonna love the water aerobics class.
I hear that really gets your heart rate up.
It's a hell of a lot safer than being injected with epinephrine.
Is everything all right? Absolutely.
Excuse me one minute.
Elliot, Olivia.
Um This probably isn't a good time to talk about the unpleasantness.
Oh, we don't plan to discuss it here.
Good.
A squad room would be much more appropriate.
Did something new happen with Hal? Well, our techs pulled the used syringes on the Sharps boxes here.
Hal's prints weren't on any of them.
Well, he had access to, you know, over a dozen boxes of surgical gloves, so maybe he thought to use a pair.
You didn't.
They found your prints on a syringe of epi in the box at the nurses' station.
Well, you know Hal did it.
He confessed.
To burning her.
But you didn't give a damn about that as long as you could grab the spotlight.
Why are you trying to embarrass me? People can hear you.
Drama queen, you enjoy being the center of attention.
Hope Garrett, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Bess Sherman What are you talking about? and suspicion of murders committed at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
This is ridiculous, okay? You have the right to remain silent.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
It's a mistake.
If you give up that right, anything you say This is a mistake! I examined the records of 22 deaths at Oak Glade between May of 1982 and March of 1987.
And what did you find? Evidence of potassium poisoning in seven of them.
Why wasn't this discovered in any of their autopsies? People expect the elderly to die.
An autopsy is performed maybe one out of 25 cases.
Well, surely some of them were examined? Yes, but when cells die, they release potassium.
It would have been impossible to detect.
So, how did you? By examining their EKGs.
Could you please show us on the board? All showed tachycardia and a widened QRS, indicative of hyperkalemia.
Uh In layman's terms? Their hearts were beating too fast.
Dr.
Warner, what causes there to be too much potassium in the blood? Kidney failure can, or it was introduced by an outside source.
Did any of them have kidney disease? No.
Someone administered lethal doses.
Do you have any idea how many mistakes doctors make, how many times I've covered their asses? Counselor, you control your client, or I'll have her removed from this courtroom.
Yes, Your Honor.
The jury will disregard the defendant's outburst.
The People may proceed.
One last question, Dr.
Warner.
In all these cases, how many different administering nurses were there? Just one.
Hope Garrett.
Yes, but you have to understand every last one of them was at death's door.
Counselor.
Your Honor, I'm sorry.
This won't happen again.
You know, I don't think you realize how little time that they had left.
I don't care if they were on their very last breath.
You had no right to take it from them.
You don't understand.
I help people.
What do you do? You stupid bitch! Hope! This is not helping.
Court is recessed.
Bailiff, take the jury out.
How can you just sit there and let them crucify me? I don't need this, you know.
I'm leaving.
Court officers, remove the defendant.
This is not fair.
All you tell them about is Oak Glade and Jubilee Towers.
But I've worked in homes for 15 years in between.
And how many of them did you kill? I didn't kill anybody.
Maybe a few of them wouldn't pull through for me, but I have saved hundreds.
Hundreds.
And you don't even care about them, do you? Take your hands off of me! Let go of me!