Without a Trace s04e04 Episode Script

Beware of Drew and Jonah's.
I got a contact high just walking by the door.
Skye, what's going on? I'm going home for the weekend.
I'll see you Monday.
Hey, Skye.
- Got Beale.
- Hey, Viv.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- What's all this? A case Jack and I worked back in '98.
"Skye Petersen.
Car found abandoned at a highway rest stop in Woodbridge.
" Backpack she had the day she disappeared got dropped off in a thrift-store bin two days ago.
When they found the ID inside, they passed it on to us.
And I'm hoping that if we ID the person that gave it away they'll tell us where they found it and maybe we can find Skye's body.
- Never found the body? - No.
Well, says here "case closed.
" The guy she was having an affair with confessed.
He recanted later, but we got a conviction anyway.
He's serving 25 years.
Conviction without a body, that's no easy task.
This him? Yeah, Thomas Beale.
Her English professor.
She was sleeping with a teacher.
Disappeared on her way home from college.
- Hey, Viv.
- Yeah? You're gonna wanna see this.
From the thrift store? That girl looks exactly like Skye Petersen.
She sure does.
Maybe that's why you never found a body.
All right, so I stabilized the image and then used a frame average to boost detail.
- I still can't tell.
How about you, Viv? - No.
Is this the best you can do? - With this footage, yeah.
- What about facial-recognition software? Okay, I tried that, but here's the thing, I need six points of reference minimum.
And with the way she's positioned, I'm getting two.
- Thanks.
- Yeah, you got it.
Forensics is printing the backpack.
Should tell us if the woman in the video is Skye.
I don't buy it.
Where's she been for seven years? She could have orchestrated her own disappearance.
So she framed Beale for murder.
- He's been in prison for a long time.
- Her case proceeded pretty fast.
Maybe there was something we missed.
If she's hiding, why ditch a backpack with her ID? After seven years, maybe there's a part of her that wants to be found.
Right.
Hello.
- I don't know if you remember - I remember.
- This is Agent Spade.
- Hi.
Why are you here? Is that Skye's backpack? Yeah, this is hers.
Have you had any contact with your daughter in the last seven years? Why would you even ask me that? We think there's a possibility that your daughter dropped the backpack off herself.
Oh, my God.
- You think she's alive? - We don't know.
Excuse me.
- Malone.
- Jack.
I'm in the shop.
The guy here says he remembers a woman who comes in often.
I'm praying it's our girl from the video.
- Any possibility that it's Skye? - He's not sure.
I'm gonna leave him Skye's picture and we'll see.
- All right.
I'll see you back at the office.
- Okay, bye.
Skye, pick up.
I'm serious.
Just pick up the phone, damn it.
I need to talk to you.
You can't end things like that.
I don't know who you think you are but I won't let you, Skye.
Am I understood? How many times you gonna play that? Until you tell me what you did after you made that threat.
It wasn't a threat.
I just I went to the bar and I got drunk and I called her.
You know, it was stupid.
All right, so you left the bar at 6 p.
m.
Then where'd you go? - We've been over all of this.
- So go over it again.
I didn't wanna drive home like that and so I took a walk.
We canvassed the entire area.
Shopkeepers, the police, nobody saw you.
How come? I don't know.
I should have worn a sign.
Put "Remember Me" on it.
Nobody saw you, smart-ass, because you went straight to Skye's dorm.
When you saw her leave, you followed her.
That's ridiculous.
- Look, I was upset - How did her blood end up in your car? We had sex in it.
She didn't I didn't know she was a virgin.
So you don't make it a practice to deflower your students in the car? No.
Never had a relationship with a student before.
Good, because people send their kids to college to get an education not to get raped by their professors.
- I didn't rape Skye! I have a little girl.
If I was Skye's father and I found out you were tapping my daughter I'd kill you.
- Jack.
You're just lucky that her father's dead.
Been pounding him for hours.
I don't know that this is working.
We need more information.
Put every available resource on it.
I'd have to take the manpower from the university.
Okay, so do it.
Jack, why do you think he hasn't asked for a lawyer? You don't believe the story he's selling, do you? I think that he can be a world-class scumbag without having killed Skye.
Please just do it for me.
That man is in prison for murdering her.
If she's still alive, why would he say he did such a terrible thing? - I'm sorry, we just don't know yet.
- Do you really think this could be her? Oh, my God.
Hey, Martin.
- Blast from the past, huh? - Any luck ID'ing the thrift-store lady? None of the other businesses had video surveillance.
As for Skye, I faxed her picture to the police departments around the store.
You really think it could be her? If it is, an innocent man has spent the last seven years in prison.
You and Jack don't shoulder the responsibility.
- Remember, a jury still convicted him.
- Beale's entire life was ruined.
His wife was six weeks pregnant when he was arrested.
She didn't even know he was having an affair until we told her.
- Vivian? - Yeah.
Can you come here, please? Listen, I think I have a problem.
Yeah.
I was going through the old investigation and found some references to the Middlesex County Police file.
And? Well, a tip that came in after Beale's confession never made it over here.
What? And it puts Skye at a bar near the rest stop where her car was found at about 10:30 p.
m.
Were the Middlesex police able to verify this? No, they figured you had the guy.
The DA passed the information on to Beale's lawyer but he didn't follow it up either.
If the tip is legit, part of Skye's timeline was never investigated.
- Have we talked to this witness yet? - I can talk to him right now.
Okay.
Take Danny with you.
- Randy Stone? - Yo.
Special Agent Taylor, this is Special Agent Delgado.
We're with the FBI.
My boss said you called.
What's this about? Skye Petersen's disappearance.
- Well, you sure took your time.
- The turnpike was jammed.
Report said you spoke to someone who saw Petersen the day she went missing.
- That's all they wrote down? - There's more? Wayne did a lot more than just see her.
Beale was transferred today to county jail after confessing to the murder of New Jersey native Skye Petersen.
Beale, an associate professor - Guess that gets me off the hook.
- For what? I was one of the last to see that girl.
- No, you weren't.
- Sure was.
Right here.
- Least I sent her off with a smile.
- What's that supposed to mean? She came in looking to make friends.
We got to talking.
Let's just say we hit it off.
What happened next? Like I said, I'm glad I'm off the hook.
- What is Wayne's last name? - Gorn.
Listen, did you believe the story? Well, he'd been in prison for raping a girl.
That's why I called the police.
You told a friend of yours that you were one of the last people to see her alive.
You also boasted that you had sex with her.
- That a crime? - Rape is a crime.
One that I believe you're very familiar with.
- I didn't rape that girl.
- I don't know the mind of the typical college coed, Mr.
Gorn, so I'm gonna consult with my colleague.
Agent Spade, if you were Miss Petersen, in college with 10,000 young men at their sexual peak, would you choose to sleep with that? There wasn't any sex.
That part of the story was What do you call it? Creative license.
Why don't you tell us what really happened? She had a flat tire, something, she came into the bar looking for help.
You have a phone? My friend's got a flat down the road.
- Doesn't have a spare.
- I'd be happy to give you a ride, sugar.
Where you wanna go? In back.
Phone book's got the tow company number written on the cover.
Thanks.
Come on, now.
How about a little fun? Just you and me.
Son of a bitch.
Sorry about that, Wayne.
I guess she called for a tow and took off.
- What time was it? - Ten-thirty.
You have a good memory for something that happened seven years ago.
Bar's down from the warehouse where I was working.
I was on third shift.
- I had to clock in at 11.
- Place of employment will verify that.
What are you giving me the third degree for? You got the guy.
Right? Find who was working that night.
Right, I'm also gonna pull their payphone records.
Beale's time is accounted for after 9:30 p.
m.
- Lf Gorn's telling the truth - Listen, Jack.
He's a convicted felon.
He could have made the whole thing up.
There's a real possibility that I screwed up.
I got off the phone with the thrift shop.
The lady that dropped off Skye's backpack is there right now.
- Great, get on it.
- All right.
I tried to keep her here, but as soon as I got off the phone with you she took off.
- You're letting me down, Sean.
- She was fast.
Besides, she had a head start.
But I got a good look at her.
She's not the girl you're looking for.
Do me a favor, can we back it up to the moment when she walked in here? She said the backpack was her husband's.
She needed to get it back for him.
I'm happy to pay for it.
Oh, you know, I think I know the bag you're talking about.
Let me just check in the back and see if I can find it.
You're saving my life.
Thanks.
No, no, no, wait! Hold on! Hold on! I think I found it! She drove off in a blue Prius.
I couldn't get the license.
Okay.
Sean, I know that she touched this.
Do you remember if she touched anything else? I think she put her hands on the counter.
So why don't you take your hands off the counter? Thanks.
It's Taylor.
I'm at the thrift shop.
I need somebody to lift prints.
It had to be somebody.
There's no other explanation for what happened.
- Except the obvious explanation.
How many times do I gotta tell you I did not do anything.
Let's go back to the start.
Tell me what happened after she broke it off with you.
Agent Johnson just had a conversation with Professor Molina.
He says that he saw you leave the office at 9:30.
Is that correct? Yeah, that's right.
I stopped by at the end of my walk, before I went home.
Been talking for two and a half hours, you never mentioned that.
Why is that? - I just forgot.
- How long were you at the office? - I don't know.
- You don't know.
No.
I must've blacked out.
I just woke up there.
What's the last thing you remember? - Leaving the bar.
- And that was at about 6.
Correct? So that's three and a half hours.
You know, a lot of things can happen in three and a half hours.
You teach English Literature, right? - What's that got to do with anything? - Well, I'm trying to remember this term.
It's when you're reading a story and you're not sure if the person who's telling the story is telling the truth.
It's called the unreliable narrator.
Sometimes the narrator's fooling himself.
I don't see what you're getting at.
I don't think that you're lying to me about what you did to Skye.
I think you're lying to yourself.
Did you hurt her? Did you kill her, Thomas? - Maybe.
- Well, she never made it home.
So, what other possible explanation could there be? I don't know.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, I must have killed her.
I just want you to write down everything you told me.
In your own words.
- Where do I start? - Where Skye ended the relationship.
You went to a bar, you got drunk.
You decided that you needed to convince her.
You followed her to the rest stop.
You got angry, you didn't know what else to do.
And that's when And that's when I killed her.
Right.
The cocktail waitress verifies Gorn's story and we found the tow company that Skye called.
Hopefully, they'll have records.
And we'll be able to find out who she was with that night.
Kept trying to tell me there was someone else.
What do you mean? - Maybe she was seeing somebody else.
- Another boyfriend that nobody knows anything about? It had to be somebody.
There's no other explanation for what's happened to her.
I thought he was throwing stuff in my path to get me off the track.
- Did he tell you who it could have been? - I never gave him the chance.
- Mr.
Beale, counselor.
- Agent Malone.
I appreciate your time.
Your request came as quite a surprise.
So why are we here? New evidence has come to light that would suggest that Mr.
Beale had nothing to do with Miss Petersen's murder.
And what's this new evidence? An eyewitness places her at a bar at 10:30 the night she disappeared.
You son of a bitch.
I've been rotting for seven years in here because of you.
I've lost everything.
I've lost my entire life.
- I understand.
I'm trying to help.
- You trying to help? Is that like you helped me confess to a crime that I didn't commit? Mr.
Beale, you had said that Skye had been acting strangely when she ended the relationship.
You said that there might be someone else.
Like I haven't spent the past seven years trying to figure out who that might be.
Look, I know we've been through this before but tell me exactly what happened the night she ended the relationship.
That didn't work out so well for me last time.
I know.
This time, I'm listening.
Everything seemed fine and then suddenly she wanted to end it.
- It's just the right thing to do.
- Well, I don't agree.
What about your wife? - Skye, I'm in love with you.
- Don't - Don't say that.
- I am.
There's something you're not telling me.
I think I should start seeing people my age.
Oh, now that's the reason.
- There's somebody else? - No.
- Skye - There isn't anyone.
Now, you need to go.
I am not going until you tell me what's going on.
Dori is gonna be back any second.
No.
No, we need to talk about this some more.
I'm going home.
Besides, I've made up my mind.
It's over.
I actually thought that going home would be good for her.
Straighten out whatever's on her mind and then maybe, when she got back You know, anyway.
Did she talk about crushes she had? Flirtations? We led completely separate lives.
Okay.
Mr.
Beale, I'm gonna do everything I can to get you out of here.
- What are you doing? - Interview transcripts.
Trying to figure out who the other man in Skye's life was.
This feels like a waste of time.
I mean, the old investigation went over everyone she knew.
What if we're going about this completely the wrong way? What if the person that got Skye to break off the affair wasn't connected to Skye? What if that person was connected to Thomas? You know, that's a good point.
Skye's old phone records.
There was a call from Beale's house the morning she went missing.
The first thing that tipped Jack off to the affair.
- See if I can find it.
Right here.
- Thomas did deny making that call.
- Jack and Viv just figured he was lying.
- What if he wasn't lying? His wife.
She had an airtight alibi, so she was never a suspect.
She could definitely have made that call.
Something to do with my ex-husband's case? We'd just like to go over a few details.
Mind if I ask what for? - We think he may be innocent.
- What? He confessed to killing her.
- We've had some new evidence.
- Someone made a call from your house to Petersen's dorm the morning she disappeared.
- All right.
- I think it was you.
I don't see how any of this could possibly be relevant.
During the investigation, you said that you had no idea that your husband was having an affair.
But you found out, didn't you? That's why you made the call.
What did Skye say to you? I didn't wanna talk about it over the phone, so I asked her to meet me.
Hi.
You need to stop seeing my husband.
- Mrs.
Beale, I didn't - Why try to deny it? At least give me the respect.
- Where did you get these? - How long has it been going on? - How long have the two of you been? - Four months.
- Well, you need to end it.
- Lf you want it to end, tell Thomas.
I don't want him to know I ever found out.
I just want it to end.
I'm pregnant.
- Oh, my God.
- Thomas doesn't know yet.
I want our baby to have a father.
Do you understand? Yeah.
I do.
Why didn't you tell us this before? I knew it made Thomas look guilty.
I didn't think he did it.
I was trying to protect him.
But then he confessed.
And then I thought if he couldn't live without Without that girl then let him burn.
The photos that you confronted Miss Petersen with where'd you get them? Someone sent them to me the day before, to my office.
- Who? - They were in a blank envelope.
There wasn't any name.
Did it ever occur to you that whoever sent those photos to you could be responsible for Miss Petersen's disappearance? You're the ones who got Thomas to confess.
Do you remember them? Yeah, of course.
Would anybody else have known about them? Skye was super careful about stuff like that.
Whoever sent those photos to your wife could be responsible for Skye's disappearance.
I really need you to take the time and think.
- Okay.
- Oh, the light's blinking.
You don't like them? Look at that face, it's so cute.
Wait, wait, wait.
Oh, man.
Hey, Skye.
Paul, what's up? I was just checking out a chopsocky festival at Theater 80.
Oh, this is Professor Beale.
We just ran into each other a couple seconds ago.
Weird.
Are you headed back to school? - Yeah.
- Well, I'll come with you.
It was nice bumping into you.
See you in class.
- Yep.
Nice to meet you, Paul.
- Likewise.
This Paul guy, you remember his last name? No, not really, but I'm pretty sure that they lived in the same dorm.
Thanks, Mr.
Beale.
You've been a great help.
Skye's residence hall had 600 students.
So far I've got seven Pauls.
Give me the ones you got, start running them down.
You might not have to.
That was the tow company.
I got the make and model of the car she was in, a red Honda CRX.
Okay.
Okay, the only Paul in Redford with a car matching that description is a Paul Cartwright.
Current address is in Millburn.
That's the same town as the thrift store.
Okay.
Mr.
Cartwright.
Agent Malone.
This is Agent Johnson.
- This is about Skye Petersen? - Yes.
We're reinvestigating her disappearance.
- You went to school with her, right? - We were friends.
There's a guy in prison for killing her, right? There is.
Where were you the night she disappeared? That was seven years ago.
I don't remember.
But if you were with her, you'd remember.
- Yes.
- So were you with her? - No.
Why would you think that? - Your car.
It broke down off Route 531.
Skye called for a tow truck.
Someone was with her.
You know dorm life, I left my keys out all the time.
Whoever was with Skye must have taken them.
Well, if it wasn't you, how'd you get hold of Skye's backpack? Your wife dropped it off at a thrift store three days ago.
I was pretty messed up with what happened to her.
I went into her room and I took it.
To have something to remember her by.
Paul it wasn't in her room.
It was with her when she disappeared.
No, it wasn't.
Why'd you marry somebody that looks just like her? Leave my wife out of it.
My hair was short when Paul and I met.
It was his idea to let it grow.
Listen, we know this is hard.
So then the backpack was hers? Yeah, she had it the night she disappeared.
Why would he keep something like that? We're not sure.
He was furious when I gave it away.
Ever since, he's been moody and upset.
It's like he's a whole other person.
Must have been mad when you found out that Skye had been dating her professor.
That was a secret.
I didn't know until the news.
You didn't know when you saw them coming out of the subway together? I don't know what you're talking about.
You sent those photos to Mrs.
Beale to break up the affair.
We talked to her, Paul.
She told us.
He was using her.
She was just gonna get her heart broken.
That's why I sent them.
If Beale was out of the way, you'd stand a chance with her? It wasn't about that.
Because as far as I can tell, she wasn't even remotely interested in you.
- You weren't even a blip on the radar.
- What would make you say that? Thirty-seven interviews done with people that loved and cared about Skye.
We asked about every person in her life.
You know how many times your name came up? Zero.
What did you do to her, Paul? Let Skye's mother put her daughter to rest.
I'm sorry, but I can't help her.
Your wife is watching this entire interview.
- We told her what you did to Skye.
- I didn't do anything.
You still can't admit it.
You ran like a coward, let this guy rot in jail for seven years for something you did.
Why don't you look at him? Go on, look at him.
You flush this guy's life down the toilet, and what do you do? You marry the first copy of Skye that you meet.
- Stop it.
Beale wasn't the reason that Skye wasn't in love with you.
I know that.
Why don't you do the right thing, admit that you did it? Just tell us what happened, Paul.
I saw how upset she was when she left the dorm.
Hey, Skye.
So I followed her in my car.
When she pulled over at the rest stop, I decided I would try and talk to her.
Skye.
- Hey.
- Where are you headed? Home.
- How about you? - Aunt's house.
She's got some old furniture I'm picking up.
- Hey, are you all right? - Yeah.
I just kind of broke up with my boyfriend.
I didn't even know you had one.
He was sort of my professor.
It was this big secret.
That guy who you were with that day I ran into you by the subway.
Yeah.
Right.
You're the first person at school I've told.
It feels pretty good.
Anyway, you're practically a stranger, and here I'm unloading my entire life.
It's cool.
Unless you have to go.
Going home may be the worst idea I've ever had.
So don't go.
We could hang out.
Talk.
I know a place nearby that's pretty cool.
Sure.
That sounds great.
I drove.
We thought about turning around when we got the flat, but by then we were practically there.
Everything was going great.
It's beautiful.
I'm glad we came.
- Are you feeling a little better? - Yeah.
Thanks.
Wait.
I thought you said you were glad to be here with me.
Doesn't mean that I wanna make out with you.
Right.
Maybe you should take me back to my car.
- Are you still in love with him? - What? No.
It's none of your business.
Even if he had chosen you over his wife five years from now, you'd be just like her.
Finding out that your husband is a liar and a cheat.
How did you know she found out? - You sent her those pictures.
- I had to make sure it ended.
- I didn't want you to get hurt.
- They were in my room.
- You followed me tonight.
- I knew you were upset.
- I gotta go.
Leave me alone.
- Skye, please.
I can explain.
- Skye! Let me help you.
- Don't touch me.
Just go! - Skye.
- Let go! Leave me alone.
Help me.
Please.
Help me.
Help me.
Skye? Skye! I tried climbing down the hill, but it was too steep.
- Why'd you bother? You let her go.
- No.
My hand slipped.
You're still lying to yourself.
Write it down.
Write down what happened.
We're about 15 feet.
I'm so sorry.
Paul Cartwright confessed to the murder.
They recovered Skye's remains about an hour ago.
So, what does that mean for me? I have a meeting with the district attorney to get your conviction overturned.
- And how long is that gonna take? - Hopefully, a couple weeks.
In the meantime, I'm gonna get you moved.
My son - His birthday's in nine days.
- Okay.
I'll see what I can do.
You know, I had a lot of time to think about why this happened to me.
For a long time, I hated you.
Sometimes I thought I brought it on myself for what I did to my wife and my family.
And what happened to Skye.
But I didn't deserve this.
No, you didn't.
- Talk to Beale? - Yeah.
Think he'll sue? Probably.
The government will settle.
At least he'll get something.
If we had kept agents doing interviews when you wanted to back then none of this would've happened.
But we didn't.
I did what I thought was best.
And under the circumstances, if I had to do it again I'd do the same thing.
And most of the time, you'd be right.
Adapted by: