My Name is Earl s04e26 Episode Script

Inside Probe: Part 2

A week ago, the show Inside Probe aired part one of an investigation they shot 8 years back about the disappearance of Crab Shack owner Ernie Belcher.
It's on! Second part is really on! I guess we are in the Central time zone.
Sorry for doubting you, Sam.
Last week's episode of Inside Probe was our highest rated ever.
It seems all of America wanted to know what happened to this man eight years ago.
Camden's popular restaurant owner Ernie Belcher.
It seemed like everyone we talked to in the small town of Camden loved Ernie, from dirtbags Everyone loved Ernie.
He was funny.
to the mentally disabled Ernie taught me how to tie my shoes.
I've known him for a long time, almost two years.
to coworkers Ernie was a genius.
to hot women Ernie was cool.
to NASCAR drivers.
I met Ernie at an autograph signing, and we just hit it off.
And even a so-called celebrity.
I liked Ernie.
Ernie was a respected businessman and beloved member of the community.
Or was he? Because on the warm summer night of April 9, 2001, Ernie Belcher vanished.
But how could he just evaporate into thin air? Was he murdered? The Camden Police sure thought so.
And their investigation led them to these two men.
Angry letters from Randy Hickey found in Ernie's office uncovered a motive for murder.
"How dare you stop providing free toothpicks?" "How dare you only serve my favorite item, "fish wings, "on Wednesdays.
" Had Randy Hickey murdered Ernie in his outrage over the lack of toothpicks and fish wings in the Crab Shack? The Camden Police sure thought so.
And after 24 hours of interrogation, they had a forced confession to prove it.
Then we did it! We killed Ernie! Randy Hickey, town simpleton, had confessed.
He and his brother Earl were notorious lowlifes in Camden.
And the arrest sent the town of Camden into virtual chaos.
I'm freaking out.
I've seen those boys.
The dancers at the club call them Mustache and B.
O.
I call them B.
O.
One and B.
O.
Two.
The fact that they murdered someone is the least of their problems.
I hope those Hickey boys fry for what they did.
I'm gonna miss Ernie.
He was a gentleman.
I remember one time, I was performing a sexual act on him and it started to rain, and he held his shirt out over my head so my hair wouldn't get wet.
Made me feel a little bit like a princess.
And with the cheapest lawyer in town at their side, it wasn't looking good for the Hickey brothers.
But the Hickey brothers were provided with an alibi from a reliable witness.
Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, whose testimony counts for as much as three regular Americans.
Fortunately for those guys, I'm a bit of a shutterbug, and I had my camera with me, so I got a pretty complete record of what happened that night.
The police were stymied and gave up their case.
How is it possible that Ernie Belcher could simply disappear? Inside Probe decided to dig a little deeper into the earth to find the treasure chest of the truth of this mystery.
Tonight on Inside Probe.
INSIDE PROBE (PART 2) I can't wait to find out who killed Ernie.
I'm just glad it wasn't me.
That would've been an awesome twist, I've always thought I was a nice guy.
I bet it was the cheese grater killer that got Ernie.
Remember when we found that big pile of ground beef with the sock in it? I hope that wasn't Ernie 'cause I ate that.
- And I'm wearing that sock.
- We don't even know if he's dead.
It could be a perfectly normal thing, like the government forced him to leave town, change his identity, marry a hot blonde.
Who marries a hot blonde and doesn't brag about it? You get a trophy, you put it on a shelf.
Ernie was our friend.
If he was still alive, he would've found a way to get in touch with us.
And if all he did was move away, he would've said good-bye.
I'm sticking with the cheese grater.
So once it was established that the Hickey boys were not responsible, which came as a shock to everyone here at Inside Probe, our investigation moved on to something a little more out of this world.
Well, Randy's got an interesting hypo pot hyp hypo thesis.
A theory.
Aliens.
From outer space.
Stories of alien abduction are nothing new.
Even cavemen recorded these primitive drawings of the phenomena.
You can ask my wife all about it.
She saw some sort of alien thing right on that very night.
That's a great 'stache, by the way.
Do you put some kind of conditioner? Yes, but it's very expensive.
It was this strange whooshing noise, then a loud boom.
Then I saw these amazing lights.
For a minute, I thought it was Jesus, but he would say, "Hey, Joy.
What's up?" So it must have been aliens.
I was coming out of the Crab Shack, fixing to sell Wilfrid Dierkes some muscle relaxants, which were really just leftover birth control pills, when we were both awestruck by this blinding light from above.
While officially the police discounted the alien theory, there was one officer who had a different point of view.
I remember that night well.
Earlier, the captain was giving out assignments, and one of us had to go investigate some sort of underground gay homosexual party at the park.
And I drew the long straw, so I was forced to do it.
Isn't it usually the short straw that loses? No, it's the long straw.
The long straw loses.
We set up some surveillance cameras ahead of time.
And then, to make sure that I would blend in with the gay sexuals, I went undercover.
Nothing criminal seemed to be going on.
Just a lot of well-built men letting off some steam.
And then I ended up being the meat in a dance sandwich.
It was terrible.
Where'd you get that shirt? To stay in character was one of the toughest professional challenges of my career.
Then suddenly there were these bright lights in the sky.
I didn't know what to think.
One of the guys said it was like being at a Cher concert, but all I could think was UFOs.
Aliens were spotted all over Camden, including at the Crab Shack the night of Ernie's disappearance.
I remember that night.
I was working in the Crab Shack bathroom.
I just finished pouring the new cement floor, and I was heading out to my truck when I saw the flash, and it about blinded me, and I was like, "Whoa! I need to get some Radnor 6400 welding goggles.
" You know what I'm saying? I saw UFO once.
It was like a big silver football.
It was from the planet Goodyear.
I tried to shoot it down, but their force field technology must have been too strong.
It turns out that in Camden, it's harder to find someone who had not seen a UFO than somebody who had.
Next! I believe in alien life.
I've seen some freaky-deaky things in my day.
And just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a guy with a green wiener.
Explain that.
Aliens.
Listen, don't believe too much of what you hear around here.
claim they've seen a leprechaun.
Trust me, Ernie wasn't abducted by aliens.
I'll tell you what I think.
What was Darnell Turner about to say before we realized this would be a good dramatic breaking point? If it wasn't a UFO that took Ernie, then where is he? Is it possible that Ernie's disappearance is a result of the Civil War? We'll stick the probe even deeper inside when Inside Probe returns.
What the hell were you about to say? Darnell, what were you about to say on that TV show? I don't remember what I said.
Eight years is a long time ago.
The mystery of Ernie Belcher was raising more questions than answers.
Was it murder? Was it alien abduction? Or could it have been something of historic proportion? History.
During the Civil War, Camden was reluctant to make a commitment to the North or the South.
So they decided to create a neutral country, a tiny nation they would call "the Central.
" Even though it was over a hundred years ago, Ernie was profoundly loyal to the Central.
Even flew the Central flag on the roof.
Central is number one! Central is number one! My great, great, great, great, great That's too many.
He was my great, great Anyway, he was around during the Civil War and he led the Central.
General Jefferson Washington Hickey, leader of the Central.
We shall not be forced to pick sides between the North's industrial economy or the South's tradition of slavery.
We deserve and demand and shall have both.
It's sad, you know, 'cause my great, great whatever, he just wanted to get North and South to come to an agreement.
And the North and South did come to an agreement: that they need to massacre the Central.
The Central was formed at 3:30 on March 10, 1861.
By 3:45, it was gone.
Like I said, Ernie insisted on flying the flag of the Central on the roof, even though people thought it was an embarrassment to the town.
It's not an embarrassment! When Civil War II starts, the Central will rise again.
Rise again! People get pretty worked up.
If you really want to talk to somebody about Central pride, you should talk to Ernie.
He's missing, isn't he? That's the whole reason you're here.
I just got carried away with all that Central stuff.
Hey, man, can't you see I'm doing an interview with "Girardo"? Sorry about that.
So, was it overzealous loyalty that lead to the end of Ernie or was it something darker? Could it have been Ernie's involvement in the world of underground kinky sex? I'd bet on the sex.
He had an Internet business that gather a clientele of straight-up freaks.
Just how freaky was Ernie Belcher? Pretty freaky.
We will be right back.
All right, everybody, I got $20 that Ernie was that torso they found floating in the Camden swamp.
And I got $20 that he was torn to shreds by that half-dog half-coyote that hangs out behind the truck stop.
You think Dogote did it? You can't take bets on what happened to Ernie.
Why not? We took bets on what was wrong with that blue kid we found at the park.
But this is different, Ernie was a friend.
He was part of our everyday lives.
I don't know about you guys, but that matters to me.
Hush up, princess.
It's coming back on.
If Ernie Belcher's mysterious disappearance was not a result of anti-Centralist zealotry, could it be because this pillar of the community had a secret, darker side? For anyone out there who is not aware of the vast array of pornography on the Internet, you're about to become far less productive.
Ernie had a little side business where he shot fetish videos and sold them on his website.
I starred in some.
Made a little money on the side.
Got a little weird.
Who's been a bad boy? Me, right-right here.
I- I've been a bad boy.
Yeah, I was in some of Ernie's videos.
He told me I could have all the free crabs I could eat forever.
Of course, Ernie's missing now, and apparently, he never told anyone else who works here about it! So, I'm a little pissed about that.
Oh, man.
It's a size 11 from, like, 1988.
And, look, it's filled with macaroni and cheese.
This is going to be so good.
Wow, this is good.
Do I really get to eat the whole shoeful? No, I didn't appear in any of Ernie's sex videos.
Are you pretty? Yes, I'm pretty.
Yeah, I did some kinky videos for Ernie.
I mean, how often is it that you get to work with a real TV star? Nice.
I don't remember doing any fetish videos.
Of course, I'm told I was on a show called Parker Lewis Can't Lose for three years and I don't remember that, either.
Can you think of anyone who might have wanted Ernie gone? Oh, hell, anybody who might have found out about his hidden cameras in the bathroom.
He had secret hidden cameras all over the women's bathroom.
When I found out, I almost killed him my own self.
Why didn't you say anything about this? He paid me off not to tell the other girls.
That's why I always peed in the alley.
Can you show me? Well, I don't really have to go right now.
Buy me a beer I'll see what I can work up.
I meant, can you show me the hidden cameras? Well, buy me a beer and I'll show you.
Inside Probe went to work and found all of Ernie's hidden cameras.
Yeah, they're all still here.
There's overheads one two three.
And there's the behind-the-mirror cam.
And the pee-pee cam.
And we probed a little deeper and found something else.
A video tape, just as I suspected.
Could Ernie's sick, perverted hidden bathroom tapes finally shed some light on his disappearance? Sure, there were innocent things, like a drunken Randy Hickey stealing tampons and sanitary napkins.
A local stripper trying to hide the shame of her secret eating.
A daytime prostitute having a working lunch.
Earl Hickey hiding in the bathroom after snatching a bottle of booze from behind the bar.
The hidden cameras even caught an icon of American television putting on his game face.
Never show weakness.
Never show weakness.
You're a rock star.
You're Geraldo Rivera.
This is what they pay you because you're worth it.
Someone's in here.
It's not Geraldo.
Hidden cameras, historical grudges, lights in the sky, a bathroom that was being remodeled.
Four seemingly random events, until we revisited an interview we had done with the black co-worker who, at the time, we assumed was giving us a fake alibi.
Every night at closing time, I had to go up on the roof to take down the flag of the Central or else someone would snatch it and destroy it.
I saw some malcontent trying to pull down the flag and, while I agreed with him, it was my duty to protect Ernie's property.
So, I attacked him with lethal precision.
He was a worthy opponent, and our fight caused us to fall into the flagpole.
The flagpole hit the power line, and it was a pretty big explosion.
This would explain the UFO that several people saw that night.
You might be asking, "What does any of this have to do with Ernie?" Well, we're about to show you.
These were victim Ernie Belcher's final moments.
Here you see Ernie enter the bathroom.
It's awkward because he's avoiding the wet cement.
He's presumably going to change the tape in his hidden VCR when suddenly, he is startled by a commotion on the roof.
As the battle on the roof raged on, the power went out, and, unable to see, Ernie lost his footing.
And, for the semi-conscious Ernie Belcher, the harsh reality was sinking in, as was his body.
Wow.
I always thought that was a nose-shaped doorstop.
I can't believe it.
Ernie's been right here in the Crab Shack for eight years, - and nobody knew it.
- You know what's so funny? For years, I've been using that thing to clean gum off the bottom of my shoes.
Well, Ernie, the Crab Shack was always a part of you.
Now you will always be a part of the Crab Shack.
We can finally give you a real good-bye.
Good-bye, friend.
You got a little I got it.
Well, boss, you died like a hero from the Central, quickly and in the bathroom.
Later, Ernie.
Say hey to Grandma Nancy for me.
Unless, by some miracle, you ended up in heaven.
Good-bye, pal.
Just in case there's some chance you're alive breathing through your nose, I want you to know that I forgive you for the toothpicks, but I will never forgive you for the fish wings.
Jarick & loky
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