Due South (1994) s04e05 Episode Script

Empty can.
Garbage can.
How hard is the equation? I mean, I don't get it.
How hard is that? Look at this.
Box.
You put one box in the other box, then you take it to the dump or wherever.
How hard is it? - You know, I sympathize with your sentiments, Ray, so you'll have to forgive me for asking, but when did you become so interested in neatness? - This is not about neatness, Fraser.
This is about the nut, the bone core of what keeps the city ticking.
Little things.
You don't chuck stuff in the street.
You stop at a red light, you go at a green light.
If you cannot agree on the little things, how are you going to manage the big stuff? That's an interesting question.
My father - I'm not looking for an answer.
This is one of them whatchamacallits.
- Rhetorical questions? - Yeah, I mean, think about those countries where they cut your hands off for stealing.
Do you think they keep stealing? No.
Why? They got no hands.
- Are you proposing that we cut people's limbs off for littering? Let go of the gun.
Ray.
Stop! - You all right? - Guy tried to get my gun.
Got a big knife.
Ran down the alley.
Cover the corner.
- When I was six, I made this paper mask and I lit it almost burnt down the house.
Dad wanted to skin me alive.
Did he? - No, but the threat was there.
See, that's my point.
No threat, no danger.
No danger, anarchy.
How do you want to work this? - I think I can see an entrance at the back of the alley through the building.
Dief.
- Give me your gun.
- You don't want my gun.
- Don't tell me what I want.
I know what I want.
Your gun.
Why not buy one? - If I could afford it, I wouldn't need it.
Any idea the cost of maintaining a single-family dwelling in the greater Chicago area? No, you probably live in an apartment.
I want to put down roots.
Pay for a new roof, pink insulation.
So give me the gun.
- What will you do with it? - Rob the Credit Bank before closing.
- You think that's a smart idea, to tell me what Ugh! Excuse me.
I don't think you want to do this.
You really want to shoot a man? - Sometimes.
You realize it's a felony? - I don't care.
- He doesn't care, Fraser.
- You'll go to prison.
- I don't care.
- He doesn't care, Fraser.
- Or be attacked by a wolf.
- In prison? - No, right now.
- You want this gun bullet by bullet? Should I pound it into your head? - Excuse me, what are you doing? This is my car.
How much do you want it? - Is he crazy? - He's a police officer.
- How much? Tell me! - Scratching up the paint.
- You can't kill me.
- Can't kill you? Don't think so? - Ray, Ray.
Look at me.
Look at me.
You're not going to kill this man.
Why not? It's what I do.
It is not what you do.
You talk to me in two days.
I guarantee you I've killed someone.
- Ray there's a selection here of dates, apricots, prunes, figs and two cheese sticks.
Mmm look at that.
Look at that.
I'm just I'm just, I'm pressed right up against some I don't know what.
Breakdown? No, it's just I got to get my Head.
screwed on right, and I'm just As you know, Ray, I first came to Chicago on the trail of father's killers And have remained.
Indeed.
Over the course of the long hunt for the murderers, I would often picture myself, picture the moment when I came face to face with them.
And in every scenario I would concoct, I would exact revenge in like kind.
- Like kind? What does that mean, like kind? - Well, it means I would see myself killing the killers.
But the impulse to murder, no matter how justified, was dulled by time and reality.
- What if it's out of your hands? Then what? It's never out of your hands.
It's your decision.
Not in this case.
I don't follow.
- Beth Botrelle gets a needle stuck in her arm in two days.
I was the arresting officer.
I took the call.
My first big case.
The door was open.
I was a rookie, no backup.
It was dark, quiet.
Then I saw him laying there, in the blood.
There was a piece of paper near the body.
I picked it up.
Then I heard a noise.
Okay.
You're good you're good.
It was the shower.
There was all this steam and and there she was.
See, I'm the first link in a long chain.
I'm the first link in a long chain that leads to somebody getting killed, okay? Let me tell you something.
There's a big difference between, you know, the The abstract.
- The abstract and, and, and the abstract And reality.
Hey, do you mind? Reality.
You know, it's like this, Fraser.
I mean, when it comes right down to it, the question is, Could you pull the switch? Look, I had this, um this dog once, this crazy little mutt, and, um and he got hit by this car, and it didn't kill him, but he's laying there on the ground, a lot of pain, and he's looking up at me, wanting me to, you know, help him.
I couldn't look at him.
I could not look at him.
I put him in the car, and I drove him to the vet, and I got the vet to give him the needle.
It's just I know what I got to do.
What's that? Look her in the eye.
I got to look her right in the eye.
- Beth Botrelle's lawyer, Carolyn Sherman, is a daily visitor to the prison.
Clemency from the governor is now Beth Botrelle's last and only hope.
- Against my better counsel, Beth has consented to see you.
Ooh, I love a man in uniform.
- Can't prevent this.
I can impose one condition.
- Bet you got ways of making me talk.
- Anything said between you remains between you.
Agreed? - Understood, yes.
- Oh, are you really a Mountie? - Uh, yes, ma'am, I am.
Never mind her.
I want to taste your Musical Ride.
I see.
Thank you.
Excuse me, ma'am.
Are you all right? Yes, yes, can you really sing? Well, I can, yes.
- Oh, please? - Oh, all right.
K- k-k-katie my beautiful Katie You're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore Fraser.
I've just about finished, Ray.
When the m-m-m-moon shines over the cow shed I'll be waiting by the k-k-k-kitchen door - That's enough.
Get back to the range.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, mm.
My name's not Katie.
- Beth, this is Constable Fraser of the RCMP.
- Hey, the British wore coats like that during the War of Independence.
Minutemen picked them off like it was a turkey shoot.
No wonder you lost an empire.
And, uh, this is Detective Yeah.
I know him.
Couldn't forget him.
Sure you want to do this? Yeah, sure, I'll talk to him.
Alone.
- Beth, I'm not sure - Alone, alone, alone, alone.
Very well.
I loathe this place.
Mm.
You know, in the middle ages, they would often open a hole in an accused person's torso into which they would pour molten lead as an encouragement to confession.
So I suppose, if you viewed it in a favourable light, you could consider this a form of progress.
- You under the care of a qualified psychiatrist, Constable? - So you're looking for forgiveness? Is that what you think? - You know, people visit me for a limited number of reasons.
You're not press.
You're not family.
If it's not a pardon you're looking for, what is it? - I'm just here because I, um - You're just here because I'm here because I'm here because I'm queer.
Kind of nutty, huh? - Actually, I'd say I'm fairly well adjusted, considering.
You got a point.
You can rest easy, Kowalski.
They took me to the death room four times.
One time, the needle pricked my skin before the call came and they had to stop.
I would prefer they killed me.
Why? Because you killed him? I loved him.
It's not your fault.
Any cop could have taken that call.
- I know that.
- So don't let it wear on you.
I know how hard it is.
I was a cop's wife for 10 years.
- I know.
- Yeah.
So let your conscience be clear, Officer Kowalski.
I killed him.
You all right? I am good.
I'm good.
I'm great.
She's lying, Fraser.
She's going to die, and she tried to make me feel better.
How do you know she's lying? - I know when somebody's lying, Fraser.
She is lying.
She did not kill her husband.
Throw some of this down the old food tube, boost you right back up.
What is that? - It's a little concoction of my own devising.
I call it Despondency.
It's got wind flowers, it's got a little bit of dried cuttlefish, but the main ingredient? St.
John's Wort - You want me to eat something that's got warts in it? - No, I believe that's "wort," w- o-r-t.
It's an herb renowned for its medicinal qualities.
- Gotta respect a guy who knows his roots.
- I'd respect you if you took your Despondency and give yourself a colonic we're talking here.
Look, Fraser, it was an open-and-shut case.
Number one, her fingerprints were all over the trigger.
Number two, she had threatened to kill him in public.
Number three, she couldn't account for her movements on the night in question.
It was over in a week.
What about the piece of paper, the one you said you found near the body? - A piece of paper won't change the outcome.
In 48 hours, she's dead.
- Indulge me.
Let's just follow the paper trail.
Follow the paper trail.
Okay, I found the paper near the body.
- And did you read what was on it? - No.
I heard the shower, I shoved it in my pocket, and I carried it with me to the bathroom.
And after that? - Everyone else showed up, the backup, and eventually I gave it to Detective Franklin.
Who was he? The primary investigator.
He bagged it, tagged it, that was it.
Don't worry about it.
Okay? I contaminated the evidence.
Procedure would suggest that it had been disturbed, yes.
I forgot about that.
I forgot about that until right now.
Whole careers are wrecked over things like that.
What happens to me? I get promoted.
- Ray, you mustn't be so hard on yourself.
You were young.
It was your first situation.
There was blood on the floor.
There was a corpse.
It could happen to anybody.
- You ever make a mistake like that? - No.
But that's not important.
What is important is that we need to know what was on that piece of paper.
- A woman is sitting on death row 'cause I screwed up.
You got any of that Despondency? You know I do.
Okay, bring me a jumbo, to go.
What the hell is that? - Two days: it's wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.
- Take it down.
- What's your problem? Take it down.
I said take it down.
Knock it off! What's going on? What's going on? Come on, it's not the middle ages here.
You want to celebrate this thing, do it in private.
And the countdown continues towards Friday's execution of convicted cop-killer Beth Botrelle.
- No one gets any pleasure from what's going to happen here.
But people should let the state get on with the business of dispensing justice that is the will of the people.
- What is this, a paid political advertisement? Turn it off.
Am I missing something here? She killed one of us.
She killed a cop.
And she's getting what she deserves, all right? The big sleep.
End of story.
- Are you trying to become a colourful personality? Screw you, Jack.
- Botrelle was a good cop, Constable.
You kill a cop, eight years or not, people are going to remember.
Not easy, is it? Inspector Sam Franklin.
Good to see you, Ray.
Good to see you.
Walk me down the hall.
- What the hell are you doing down here in 27th? - I'm just passing on the new regulations for petty-cash accountability.
I was in the area, so I thought I'd pop my head in and see how you're holding up.
Truth? Not so good.
Ray, I know it's hard.
Maybe you should take a few days, get out of town till it's over.
- I don't want you to think I'm off my nut.
I'm not so sure she did it, Sam.
- Come on, Ray, you know she did.
- No, I do not.
I mean, there's - Come on, I know what you're going through.
Jake Botrelle and I worked together.
He was a hell of a guy.
I thought I'd be the first one to lead the cheer when his killer was taking the walk.
Come on.
All we can do now is feel sad.
- What happened to that piece of paper? What paper? - That piece of paper that I gave you.
- It was bagged, tagged, like everything else.
Listen, Ray.
You and I, we did a hell of a job.
That's all you got to think about.
You keep thinking about this other stuff, it's going to make you crazy.
You got to let it go.
Right.
- Come on, take care of yourself.
If you need to talk to someone, call me.
I had land acquisitions right next to the aboriginal spirit walks.
Can you believe it? No, I can't.
- Oh, you have to come to the Art Institute.
I'm giving a lecture on the geopolitics of post-colonial Burmese puppet theatre.
- Oh, you scamp.
- Yeah.
I'll get the evidence log.
I'll be right back.
- Thank you.
- Okay.
Friend of yours? - Yes.
I mean, we share some common interests.
Inuit throat-singing, for example.
As a matter of fact - Hold the story.
There is the man.
- You know, we used to watch his movies at the cinema in Dawson Creek.
Few were more surprised than we when he actually became president.
- Not Reagan.
The guy beside him.
That's Jake Botrelle, everybody's favourite cop.
And who's this? - That's our fearless state's attorney, Robert Bedford.
Known to his intimates as "Ordinary Bob.
" Made it big after the Botrelle case.
Keeps it up, he's going to make governor.
- Here it is.
You know, we really must go for bark tea sometime.
Oh, that's an inspired idea.
Hang on, where's the evidence? It's not here.
After five years, they move it across town into storage.
Which is stupid, but it's government.
I could call ahead and get you a time.
I'd appreciate that.
And I am looking forward to that bark tea.
Yes.
Okay.
Look for Evidence Bag 26.
One pair of sunglasses.
There's no reference to a piece of paper.
Sorry.
Hmm, bay-rum cologne.
- I'm Detective - We're closed.
- You don't look closed.
- Well, we are closed.
Very closed.
- Since when does evidence lockup - Ray, Ray.
Thank you kindly, sir.
Security.
Right.
Right away.
- So what you're saying is, basically nothing is in the right bag.
- Yeah, but there does seem to be a pattern.
The contents of every fifth bag have been switched.
Ones with six, two for seven, so on up till 20.
Then the pattern repeats itself.
I think the paper should be in Bag 111, marked "eyebrow pencil.
" Eyebrow pencil.
Eyebrow pencil I saw that, I saw that.
How'd you do that? - Someone's just entered the building.
Yeah, this way.
Down here.
- This doesn't look like the same piece of paper.
It's two men, heading this way, carrying weapons.
Come on.
Ah, it's locked.
- Detective Kowalski, Lieutenant Welsh tells me that you've more than lived up to your promise as a rookie.
As a matter of fact, he tells me you're one of his finest officers, which dismays me.
It dismays me because I can't have anyone from the CPD making public statements that inflame the situation.
You know what I mean? - I'm not sure.
- Am I not getting through to you, Detective? I'm really not sure, sir.
All right, let's cut the nail.
Carolyn Sherman is one of the finest defence attorneys in the state.
You have been talking to her.
You have been talking to her client.
You have been requesting evidence from the Botrelle case.
See, in my eyes, this is not a good thing.
It's not official, sir.
I hope it's not personal.
You have a job, I expect you to do it.
- I just want to do what's right, sir.
I'm suggesting you're not.
Now, this woman was sentenced by the people to be put to death with cause.
That's our mandate.
Personally speaking, she deserves it.
Now, the longer we drag this thing out, the more negative PR we attract to one of the greatest cities in America.
- So we should kill her to avoid any bad press sir? You're a smart-ass, huh? I'm going to make this very simple, Kowalski.
Drop the Botrelle case.
That's a direct order from the state's attorney.
Lieutenant, it would be a good thing if you learned to control your men.
What do you do? - Well, sir, I first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father, and - Detective, I have never met anyone with as great a capacity to piss off people as you.
Just people I don't like, sir.
- Well, actually, Ray, even people you do like.
I mean, if you think about Sandor, who you beat about the head - Fraser.
Lieutenant, don't shut me down on this, I'm close.
- All right, look, you got sick days coming.
Take a couple.
Go home.
What you do on your own time is your business.
All right? Oh, Detective.
Find something.
Now what? - We must learn everything we can about Jake Botrelle.
If his wife didn't kill him, somebody else did.
They must have had a reason.
- Crime-scene videotapes.
They in the boxes? - I didn't see them.
We won't get a second look.
But I do have another source.
- Good.
Oh, first thing's first.
Let's pull the files.
Yeah, I knew Jake.
Everybody loved Jake, especially the ladies.
Want to know why? Why? Sincerity.
He had it down.
You couldn't tell that he didn't mean a single word he was saying.
Or that as soon as you were out of his sight, you were out of his mind.
You're lucky.
If anybody was in charge around here, we'd have gotten rid of those a long time ago.
Thank you kindly.
This is Detective Botrelle's daytimer, and there's several entries with a single reference: mermaid.
Is that standard police nomenclature? - I don't know no "clature" from my elbow, but the mermaid, that is not standard cop talk.
- And here is a monthly payment reminder to Callahan's.
Does that mean anything to you? Sounds like a bar.
- Still investigating the victim? - Is that not standard procedure in a homicide investigation? - Well, if it's an unsolved homicide, yes, but we know the murderer on this one, so what's the point? - The point is walk on.
That's all, just walk on.
Get out of here.
Okay? Thank you.
Detective, how you feeling? - I'm fine.
- No, you don't look too good.
- No, I'm fine.
- No, you look sick.
You should go home.
Right, I'm sick.
Coming.
Ray.
Am I interrupting anything? You bet.
Look at me.
Come on in.
I've been offered a job, you know.
Chief investigator for Phalanx Insurance.
- Never thought you were the type to retire.
Well, after the Botrelle case, I I don't know.
Can't say I lost my nerve exactly, but if it could happen to him Found it.
But I don't think that's the same paper.
You? - How'd you get it? - Evidence locker.
You broke in? - You think that's the same piece of paper? If it was in the bag.
- Well, yeah, it was in the bag, but - But what? You remember something about a piece of paper eight years ago? Listen to yourself.
You're losing it.
- Look, I think that Bedford suppressed the evidence.
- Bedford's an ambitious bastard, but that's as far as it goes.
Tell me something.
Why would he rig a trial he already had red-handed? - I don't know, but that's not the paper I found eight years ago, or the piece of paper you put in Evidence Bag number 26.
- If you're sure, we better move forward now, 'cause the clock's ticking on that woman.
- We don't have nothing solid yet.
Jake ever talk about mermaid? Like, it showed up in his notebooks a lot.
Who knows? He was called "Jake the Make.
" Maybe it was one of his women.
He had some bad habits? There were rumours about him and Bedford's wife.
I never believed them.
- What exactly are you looking for, Constable? - Well, I'm not exactly sure, to be perfectly honest with you.
There are certain questions that we have that may be answered by the crime-scene tape.
And those that aren't? - I was hoping that you'd be able to help us.
For instance, why didn't the subject of detective Botrelle's philandering arise in court? - Because it didn't help our case.
Every step down that road led to a witness who'd testify that they heard Beth threaten to kill him in public.
At some point, you cut bait and run.
- But it might have provided another party with a motive.
- No physical evidence placed anyone else inside the house.
Do you believe she's guilty? That's an irrelevant question.
The only real question is, do I think she should die.
Constable, if you're actually onto something, be quick about it.
It'll be a matter of academics in less than 30 hours.
It's all over but the crying! It's about time.
- You there, Ray? - Mm.
- Carolyn Sherman gave me the crime-scene videotape.
I'm not sure it's going to be all that revealing.
- And I got a piece of paper that's not the real piece of paper.
I suppose you'd like a cup of that bark tea? - Oh, yes, I'd love some.
Thank you.
Yeah, well, I don't have any.
Oh, well, another time.
Okay.
Ray, look.
What, I'm a pig? No, no, not that.
Here.
I think we'll be able to prove that this piece of paper is not the piece of paper that you found underneath the body.
Oh.
Here it is.
See that? It's a partial stain.
Look there.
The coffee table.
Three overlapping pieces of paper, three partial stains, like this.
Three overlapping pieces of paper, three partial stains.
- Right, now look at the time code.
That means that paper was in the kitchen an hour after the crime.
This is our proof.
We have the proof.
I think we do, yes.
Ray, you really ought to consider dusting.
I'm a slob.
Okay, so I'm a pig, I'm a slob, and I have an infestation.
Huh? Oh! Uh, those guys from the Trib sure thought I was full of it.
- And you are supposed to meet them within the hour, aren't you? Yes, I am, at the at the Gladstone, behind the corner of Shuster and Wayne.
- I believe that's Wayne and Shuster, isn't it, Ray? Here we go.
Backing up.
He's turning in.
This is it.
- Why the hell are you doing here? - What are you doing here? - We were tipped there was a drug deal going down.
- Somebody's playing with us.
- The piece of paper.
You want a lift? - Uh, not in that car.
Thank you kindly.
The paper? Gone.
- That man we passed in the hallway I've smelled him before.
At the evidence lockup.
- Here we go.
Uh, sergeant Eddie Polito.
Twenty-year veteran, currently in charge of evidence and seized property.
This is the guy? - I think so.
In 1989-1990, Officer Polito worked undercover with Officer Drop Robertson under the direction of Detective Jake Botrelle on Project Neptune for the state's attorney's office investigation into into union corruption on the waterfront, an investigation headed up by Robert Bedford.
Neptune, mermaid Connection? - Other than they both have maritime associations, I have no idea.
- You guys investigating other cops now? You want a job in I.
A.
, why don't you apply to I.
A.
? Look, this is personal.
You want to get in the middle of it? That's fine with me.
You want to be filled in? 'Cause I'll fill you in.
Maybe another day, tough guy.
- Hey, Bedford, turn it up! Turn it up.
Let us pray not just for Beth Botrelle, but for America.
- Will you be running for governor? - I don't think this is the time to be discussing that.
I will say that my faith in, and my love for, this country has never been stronger.
Thank you.
- The body's not even cold and he's running for governor.
- That may have provided us with the opening we need.
How so? - Now that the rumour of his seeking the governorship is confirmed, he'll be walking on eggshells until Ms.
Botrelle is dead.
That'll make him vulnerable.
What if we could trap him into talking about that piece of paper on tape? That should Ray.
Ray.
Ray.
That should give us all the evidence we need.
- We can't meet him, and if we call him, he'll have us off the street in no time flat.
- Exactly, so it will have be someone he could trust.
I know who.
I'll talk to him.
Where are you going? To find a mermaid.
Here.
Mm-hmm.
Mermaid.
No.
Nothing springs to mind.
- Constable Fraser found the reference in your husband's journal.
I thought perhaps it might be one of his contacts.
- Well, you could ask State's Attorney Bedford.
Jake was his chief investigator into waterfront corruption.
So he would know better than me.
He called Jake the night that he died.
- Do you happen to know what they talked about? - No.
No, he didn't talk about his business.
- I don't imagine he ever mentioned Callahan, or Callahan's? - Callahan's.
- Mm-hmm.
Yeah, Jake ran up a bunch of charges on our credit card, and I thought it was a bar.
We had one of our biggest fights about that.
It wasn't a bar? - No, no, it was a storage place.
It was the only time he was ever telling the truth.
Is this of any use? I hope so.
Yeah, me too.
I, um I lied the other day to Officer Kowalski.
I didn't kill my husband.
He knows.
You ask me to save a woman who killed a cop.
- She didn't do it, Sam.
I know it.
Come on, Ray, what do you got? - We think Jake Botrelle was having an affair with Bedford's wife.
That piece of paper I found at the scene had something to do with it.
He knew that this case would make his career, so he destroyed the piece of evidence that could disqualify him from the case and kill his family image at the same time.
No, Bob wouldn't do that.
Sam, come on.
Power, ambition people do crazy things.
Besides, she's guilty anyway, right? So what do you want me to do? Set up a meeting.
Hasn't been opened in years.
You sure this okay? Oh, absolutely.
- It's really strange that the warrant department ran out of forms like that, huh? It's unlike them.
Botrelle's.
Probably his love letters.
- Ooh, love that writing paper.
- Whoa.
- There.
- What? I found a mermaid.
- What'd you tell him? - I just said we had to talk.
I hope you're right about this, Kowalski.
- Yeah, you, me and Beth Botrelle.
You're up.
Move.
Hey, what's going on here? Sorry, Bob.
You would have made a good governor.
You know, mostly you always got what you wanted.
But not this time.
It's my turn.
- Far enough.
- Sam, what the hell's going on here? I don't understand.
It's not that complicated.
Why don't you give it a try? Why don't I take a stab at it? Beth Botrelle did not kill her husband.
He committed suicide.
A suicide that was prompted by a telephone call from State's Attorney Bedford in which Jake Botrelle learned he was about to be indicted in a kickback scheme.
The piece of paper found under his body was a suicide note, a note that also implicated his partner in the crime, Inspector Sam Franklin.
- You really like these dramatic revelations, don't you, Fraser? Not really, Ray, actually all that exposition makes me feel a little thirsty.
This scheme was going to be my payoff and no one's going to take it away from me.
- Are you willing to kill all of us for it? - I was willing to let a woman die for it.
So why not the three of you? Only three? Look again.
You were frightened.
Uh, yeah.
Uh No, I wasn't, uh frightened, and then And then I bumped him, and then I pulled my gun out, and I and I 'cause I didn't know.
I didn't And he was here.
He was He was lying here.
Yeah.
Look, we don't have to, uh - No, please, you just you keep going, please.
- I kneeled down and I picked up the piece of paper and I - But you didn't read it.
You didn't read it, did you? No.
No.
'Cause I heard, um You heard the water running.
So the water drew you here.
Yeah, but the, uh, the door wasn't closed all the way anyway.
So you opened it.
I pushed it open, yeah.
And where was I? There.
And the water was running.
I'm sorry.
No.
I am.
I'm so sorry.
No.
Thank you, Officer Kowalski.
High winds northern sky Will carry you away You know you have to leave here You wish that you could stay There's four directions on this map But you're only going one way Due South That's the way I'm going Due South Saddle up my travelling shoes I'm bound to walk away these blues Due South