Cold Case s04e17 Episode Script

MAN: Everybody, listen up.
I could not be a prouder father today because my son Grant qualified for the Junior Olympic training program in wrestling.
Ha-ha! (laughing): Oh, yeah! We've got a plan to bring a shiny trinket back to the store.
It's a it's a little thing called Olympic gold! (laughing) Hey, hey, no pressure or nothing, huh? This space right here is reserved for the medal.
Work hard, never quit.
That's what we do, right? Beers up front, everybody! Good speech, Dad.
Look at that guy.
Can you believe it? I can remember him when he was a sparkle in my eye.
Now he eats an entire cow in one sitting.
You got a plan for yourself, Maurice? Me? Yeah, you.
Grant set a goal-- there's no stopping him.
So what's it gonna be for you? I guess I don't know yet.
Wh-what I want to be.
Hey.
I'm talking to you about your future.
You're 16-- you're not the baby anymore.
I know.
I'm saying show some direction, Maurice.
Or I'll find a direction for you.
Can always count on the warm atmosphere in here.
You ever wonder if they're not really dead and they're all of a sudden going to sit up? That's not funny.
You going to be okay? What do we got? Construction team razing a landfill up in Northeast found this.
How long has it been in there? Skeletal remains tell us he'd been there about 20 years.
He? Skull shape and size says young adult male.
Pulled all missing persons from '87 back to '77; dental records narrowed it down.
Maurice Hall.
Went missing in October of '84 from the family apartment in Kensington.
Lived above their grocery store.
He was 16 years old.
They thought he was a teenage runaway.
Calcaneus bone is shot.
So are the metatarsals.
Means the right foot was shattered.
So Maurice wasn't running anywhere.
Then what killed him? Multiple skull fractures.
What kind of weapon? These kind of fractures, it was something long and thin.
Can't get more specific than that? The state of decomp, no fibers, no striations left.
For 23 years, the family hoped he was out there somewhere.
Turns out he was practically in their backyard all along.
Cold Case 417 about retirement, boss? Will, there's something I wanted to let you in on.
All right.
I'd rather you hear it from me than someone else.
Okay.
We got a call.
Guy facing an armed robbery charge offers up a proffer.
Says a friend of his, ex-truck driver, confessed to a fatal hit-and-run on the turnpike, winter of '95.
You talking about my wife? Who's it from? Jersey State Police.
Could be the end of the line.
What's his name? They got anything can put him away, better than a con snitching? Proffer is all they have so far.
Jersey has their best guys on it, Will.
They know this is for you.
All right.
Maurice Hall, sophomore at James Marshall High.
Stock boy at his father's grocery store.
Mom died from cancer in '81.
Older brother was a varsity athlete, worked at the store, too.
Hall & Sons' Grocery Mart was the center of the search effort.
Volunteers papered the town with these.
Usual loony callers-- nothing solid.
Father said Maurice was clean-cut, kept to himself.
But it says here Maurice had been acting erratic before he ran away-- late for work, moody.
Maybe he wasn't so clean-cut.
Maybe he was just a sulky teenager.
Father is still in Kensington.
We're the visit he's been hoping not to get for 23 years.
Are you sure it was Maurice that you found? We're sure.
I'm very sorry, Mr.
Hall.
VALENS: Someone from the ME's office will call you.
You said Maurice's behavior was erratic before he disappeared.
Well, he had a pretty much erratic way about him all the time.
What do you mean? He was unique.
Creative, like his mother.
Yeah, those two were peas in a pod.
MR.
HALL: It wasn't easy for Maurice after she passed.
He was different from the usual types in this neighborhood.
Usual type being? Me.
Us.
Regular guys.
Can you be little more specific? Sports, beer, girls.
That's the norm.
Whereas Maurice was into books, music.
That was him.
Anybody give Maurice trouble for being different? One time I know for sure.
That same fall.
With Grant training, I'm one hand short here.
And if you left school High school dropout? Hey, you're looking at one.
You could contribute to the family and your brother's dream.
I don't want to work here the rest of my life.
Why is that, hotshot? I don't mean it as an insult, Dad.
Hey.
You're odd, Maurice.
And you dress funny.
Don't Oh What's this? Nothing.
Some meathead, Dad, just being a jerk.
Should've seen what Idid to him.
You ought to learn to defend yourself.
I'm hoping it won't happen again.
I tried showing him how, Dad.
MR.
HALL: You tell me who did this, and I'll have Grant take care of him.
I don't need his help.
I got it.
I do.
Maurice never told you who gave him the black eye? It wasn't easy for Maurice.
Big brother-- this great athlete.
Girls going after him the way they did.
That's some balls on that bully, picking on your kid brother? Some people are real jerks.
I got inventory to do.
You okay, Dad? All this time, I'm thinking Maurice would turn up one day and "Hey, Dad, "got the wandering out of my system.
I'm back home.
" Not going to happen, huh? If somebody picked on me when I was little (chuckles) I'd tell him who my brother was, guy would step off in a hurry.
That's right.
You didn't have Maurice's back like that? Believe me, I did-- it was known.
So who gave him that black eye? I told you, nobody! Nobody picked on my kid brother.
Except you.
It was for his own good.
The only way to get through to him.
What's that mean? One night, I'm jogging in the neighborhood, I find Maurice doing something would've given our old man a heart attack.
What are you doing? What? Are you a queer? Tell me.
Are you a queer?! I-I'm not.
You're sure acting like one.
Leave me alone, Grant.
Get up, little brother.
Huh? Oh, no, you don't! Get away from him right now! I am not even kidding.
Excuse me? No, excuse me.
I'm Crystal, this is my boyfriend, and you must be the piece of scum on the bottom of my shoe.
He's your boyfriend? (laughs softly): I don't think so.
You okay, baby? I'm okay baby.
Get out of here.
Is this your girlfriend, Maurice? Yeah.
You heard her.
Get lost, Grant.
Blew my mind.
I thought he was you know.
Uh, why didn't this girlfriend come up in the original investigation? I couldn't take about her-- my dad would've lost it.
'Cause Crystal was black.
She was a dancer.
And so was your brother.
That's the kind of thing gets you offed around here.
??????? ???? Dance class Maurice's brother saw was at the Jacob Hays School of the Arts.
Art school in the middle of Kensington.
Yeah.
Bet the neighbors loved that.
Bunch of freaks run amok.
You find anything on this Crystal? She's back at that school teaching now.
I'll send Kat and Scotty.
For you.
Jersey State Police.
Case file on Isaac Keller.
Okay.
This is for the Hall case? Nope.
Okay.
Crystal Stacy? Detectives Valens, Miller.
Got a few questions for you.
Remember this kid? Maurice Hall.
I remember this boy.
Saw him get into a fight with some jerk.
His brother.
I didn't even know his name.
I thought Maurice was your boyfriend.
No.
I never met him before that night.
He's a total stranger who you save from a fight? Not a total stranger.
I had seen him outside our class almost every night, doing the routine with us.
Is that why you intervened on his behalf? It was my superhero act.
Saving my people from evil.
Your people.
The inspired ones.
Who are you? Best in the school.
Star of the future.
Crystal Stacy.
Maurice Hall.
You're good-- your moves.
I've seen you.
Really? Who do you study with? And don't tell me it's just natural talent because then you're a liar or I have to hate you.
My mom taught me some things.
She would dance in the kitchen, and and I'd try to keep up.
And now she lets you dance on the street? She's dead.
Sorry.
Look, if you're serious, you have to go to our school.
I mean, it's the max.
You get the best teachers, then can join a great company in New York, and then be famous.
Like a Solid Gold dancer? Do you know who Martha Graham is? Bob Fosse? Twyla Tharp? I'm talking about greatness.
Say it with me.
I work in a grocery store.
Well, auditions for the school are on the 30th.
You should try out.
But not if you can't nail the hip snap.
The what? You got to snap it, like, fast.
This a private lesson? Relax, Carlos.
We were just practicing.
Yeah, I know what stock boy is practicing.
Stay away from her.
Ow! Carlos, stop it! Stop! Stop! Let her go, man.
You think you got moves, poser? You, me, right here, we'll see.
This guy have violent tendencies? Did he ever.
I had no sense back then.
What was Carlos up to, asking Maurice to meet him? I don't know.
But I never saw Maurice again after that.
Okay, let's do this thing 'cause I have an open call in 20.
You got a tutu to wear over those? Oh.
You distracted? We got an idea you know how Maurice Hall died.
That idea don't hold water.
Sorry, sweetheart.
Looked up your record, Carlos.
You got a long history for using your fists freely.
They got a word for that, sweetheart? Passionate.
Homicidal.
Maurice pissed you off, hitting on your girlfriend, and you told him to meet you the next day? It was a duel-- mano a mano.
Like a catfight, right? You think dancing's for weaklings? When was the last time you carried your body weight on your toes, while running, throwing a woman in the air and catching her, without breaking a sweat? It's been a while.
This duel it a fight to the death? Yeah, sort of.
Death of the ego.
Where are you taking me exactly? What's this? The lion's den.
Break a leg.
And we go! Five, six, seven, eight, go! One And Let me see it.
Yes.
And Come on, come on, come on, come on! You can dance better than that! Oh, my God! This poor child done got lost and wandered in here.
Why did none of you tell him that this was a dance class and not the steel mill? I-I'm here for the class.
To dance.
That's sad.
You're going to make me cry.
Over here.
Five six five, six, seven, eight, go.
One, two, lift up! Three, four, and five, six.
Now spot.
I said spot.
Spot! I am! What's wrong with you? You almost took my toe off! And so what if I did? A dancer has to know pain.
Who taught you to be so lazy? My mother taught me to dance.
On break from the wallpaper factory? She teach you how to do the foxtrot? Don't talk about my mother.
Thin skin.
You'll never make it.
Now go home and cry to your mama.
What would you know about making it? You are a insolent little piece of white trash.
Now out! And five six, five Dr.
Leroy.
The second abusive dad I never wanted.
What was with the wooden staff? His trademark.
Broke a girl's foot with it one time.
???? ??? I used to come here twice a week when I was on the road.
Home away from home.
On the road.
Hauling freight.
Oh, me, too, man.
Hmm.
This was ten years ago.
Me, too.
Ten years ago.
Time flies.
It certainly does.
Thought you might have looked familiar.
Didn't do runs here though.
No? Ohio to Bakersfield for seven years.
Why did you give it up? One day, I just couldn't do it anymore.
Just like that? Yeah, just like that.
Thought about what was important.
Kids and the wife won out, you know what I mean? Sure do.
That's your wife? Yeah.
Kind of woman you want to stay home with.
Yeah.
Well Good thing you never drove the turnpike.
Rough ride.
That's right.
I did, you know, for a few weeks when I first started out.
Winter of '95.
That right? The rain Loads of it.
I had put that out of my head.
???????? ??????? and then he winds up buried in a landfill.
Hideous coincidence, I assure you.
His foot was crushed.
Which is what you did to one of your students with your staff.
If that girl had known the routine, her foot would not have been in the way of my staff.
We've got former students of yours say you were unbalanced.
Unbalanced? No.
Ruthless, yes.
I was a drill sergeant, getting my students ready for the war that is the dance world.
And where did Maurice fit in? He wasn't your student.
Oh.
But he benefited from my teaching.
How's that? The grocery store.
It became our classroom.
Dr.
Leroy? You.
You come to grovel? Please don't.
Can't you see I'm meditating? Wait.
I want to dance.
Not in the street.
In your class.
With my-my head held right, my-my feet.
I want to bleed.
Oh, brother.
Work hard, never quit.
That's what my dad says.
What? Do you think you have talent? Yeah.
I do.
Fine.
You'll have to quit this job.
There's work to be done and only so many hours.
I-I can't.
It's my dad's store.
He needs me.
Hard choices.
Get used to them.
I can do both, practice and work.
Dr.
Leroy, I'm going to audition and make it in, and I'll be in your class.
Just watch me.
No, Detective Rush, we are not all light in our jazz shoes.
Gene Kelly.
Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Lady-killers.
And Maurice with Crystal.
Dancers in love.
You see, if they're really good, it's their soul out there, moving in rhythm with another.
Very romantic.
Not when one of them ends up dead.
MILLER: You didn't tell us about the grocery store, Crystal.
VALENS: You and Maurice getting it on.
I'm sorry.
It's not a good idea, lying to us.
I can't even think about him.
I try not to.
Maybe it's time you get it off your chest.
Maurice was my hope.
Somebody'd love me and be sweet.
You know? I was just trying to help him.
With his audition, for your school? You guys can't imagine what it was like to watch him dance.
It was like he was telling you all about him, without saying a word.
I was there when his father found out.
About his dancing? And Maurice's dream it fell apart.
When are you going to tell your dad? I can't.
I can't.
You can't keep doing this double-life thing.
It's messing with your dance, and that's, like, a tragedy.
After my mom died my dad caught me in her room, doing this dance that she had taught me and he just grabbed I can't tell him.
Tell him.
I can't.
Tell him.
Shh.
Shh.
Hide.
Quick.
Hide quick.
Hey, I'm taking a few ??????? I told you not to do that.
I'm not doing anything.
Do you want Dad to find out? Is that what you want? So what if he does? It wouldn't be the worst thing.
Ow! My knee! God! What?! Grant, what the hell?! I fell.
I fell.
It's my fault.
Grant, get up! What-what-what happened? Dad, we got in a fight because Maurice! Shut up! Because I was practicing in here.
Practicing what? Dancing.
I've been dancing, Dad, and I've been getting really good and and there's a school that I want to go to.
Let's get you upstairs, Grant.
There's an audition tomorrow.
You're not going to any damn audition.
Oh, my knee.
I can't I can't Sorry, Grant.
I-I didn't mean to.
MR.
HALL: You're sorry? Your brother can't walk because of you.
It's not his fault, Dad.
If you ruined it all for him, God help you, Maurice.
God help you! MILLER: What happened after that? I beat it out of there.
Leaving Maurice with his dad.
And Dad's pride and joy with a bum knee.
It's my fault.
I pushed Maurice to stick up for his dream.
And his father went ballistic.
VALENS: I found out, Pat, what Maurice did to Grant.
Kids were messing around, next thing you know he wrenches his knee.
Never got back on the horse.
Your loser son ruins it for the good son.
Your family was going to be something if he made it.
But Maurice blew it for all of you.
That ain't how it was.
We got a witness says you lost it that day, threatening Maurice.
No, that wasn't what happened.
"God help you, Maurice.
" Your words.
Yeah.
The last I ever spoke to my son.
How do you think that feels? What's your problem? I'll bet you were relieved when he didn't come home.
Get twinkletoes out of the house? That kid had more fricking talent in his little toe than you've got in your whole body.
I thought you said the last time you talked to him was at the store.
So? So When did you see him dance, Pat? I went to the audition.
Where is he? Dad.
I'm Maurice Hall.
I'm 16.
I've only been to one dance class and it didn't go very well.
I learned from my mom, and if she's watching me tonight I hope I make her proud.
MR.
HALL: Maurice! Maurice! He thought I was coming after him.
VERA: You can't blame him.
The night Maurice's dream took off, Grant's was going down the tubes.
Big disappointment.
No Olympics, no gold.
VALENS: Tell you what's even worse-- disappointing your father.
I love Grant, gold medal or not.
You ever tell him that? It haunts me.
The way I was a father to those boys ignoring the one and pushing the other.
I paid for that.
RUSH: You didn't tell us what a good dancer your brother was.
JEFFRIES: Or how he ruined your life.
What are you talking about? A knee injury ruined your wrestling career.
Everything you'd worked for.
Things happen when you're an athlete.
I blew my knee out senior year.
Football dreams down the drain.
That's rough.
Think you know who you are, then not so much.
It didn't get me that way.
Made me real angry.
For a long, long time.
And right when your dreams are dying, Maurice takes the spotlight.
The look your dad had on his face when he saw Maurice dance that was how he used to look at you.
You couldn't let Maurice have it.
What did I care about his fricking dancing? Come on.
Shattered foot, crushed skull.
Lot of rage there.
Kind of injuries could have been caused by a crutch.
Is that what you think? Yeah.
That's what we think.
Um, Mom Maurice was her baby.
Me, I only ever had my dad thinking I was somebody.
So Maurice took that away? I used to have this crazy dream.
I had it again last night.
I find Maurice, and I grab him, and I put him on a bus to New York City.
And even though he's scared, I give him my big brother look, you know, and I say, "Forget about us, Maurice Just go.
" What happened after the audition, Grant? Talk about regret feeling it every second of your waste of a life.
He never should have come back.
Never.
Got to face the old man sometime.
He's not asleep yet, is he? Sitting in his chair.
How mad is he? "Now, that stuff don't come all naturally.
That's real training.
" He said that? About me? Said him and Ma used to go down to Atlantic City, dance all night, but he never saw anyone do it like you.
He's saying that tonight, but once your knee's better, he'll be on my case again.
Your knee.
I thought it was messed up royally.
Be careful with your leg, Grant.
You're going mess it up even worse.
What? What?! You're faking it.
Why? 'Cause I quit wrestling.
Quit? Only I can't 'cause of Dad.
So this is me quitting.
Get it? I went to my first Junior Olympic training session.
Got so freaked out, I didn't even change out of my street clothes.
Pretended like I was just some guy headed someplace else looking in.
They were good.
So what? You're good, too.
Not like them.
Tonight I was really nervous.
Shut up.
Thought everybody was better than me.
You know, you're making it worse! Talking about your stupid, stupid show! If you don't make it all the way, Shut up! at least you tried.
Shut up! Shut up! You tried.
Dad will still love you.
No, he won't! He will! He won't! Dad! Dad!