Cold Case s05e04 Episode Script

how much is that doggie in the window? Arf, arf! The one with the waggly tail how much is that doggie in the window? Dimples and cherry cheeks, cherry cheeks, cherry cheeks get behind my counter and sell some makeup, honey.
At ease, soldier.
How'd it go in there, son? Great.
We made our own record.
When she's ready, pop her on the jukebox.
I know your mom will want to hear it.
Will do, dad.
Captured by the sweetest angel face with dimples and cherry cheeks, cherry cheeks baby, why are you so secretive about your songs? 'Cause what if you don't like 'em? Impossible.
you all done there, sugar? Looks like I am, lemon drop.
You're such a spaz! All right, luke.
Cut it out.
Face it, jp: Your cousin's a fream.
So is his outcast fream girlfriend.
Stick it up your wazoo, frankenstein.
Wow, classy lady, bingo.
They can drop dead twice, bingo, 'cause you're my star, and all we need is love.
And music.
never got a chance to ask.
How did round two go with iad? Don't know.
Bad.
So what happened? Someone snitched about burrell.
You're kidding me.
Who? Could have been anyone who knew.
Scotty, come on.
You don't think it was one of us? Pick a stick.
What's it today? Crackpot in the witness room.
Says he saw a murder 54 years ago.
Drawing straws.
How about we just do our job? What's with him? You saying you witnessed a murder? Kinda.
I mean, Sorta.
Which is it, lloyd? I saw blood lots of it back in 1953.
Blood isn't a murder.
I know what I saw.
You going to write this down or what? Go on.
Late one night, my parents are throwing pans at each other.
I snuck out to practice pop flies.
My ball gets away from me, so I chase it down the alley behind valentine's five and dime.
The wallet belonged to bingo zohar.
I heard my parents talking a few days later about him being shot behind some blues club in point breeze.
And where was this five-and-dime you found the wallet at? Germantown.
My old neighborhood.
That's clear across philly from point breeze.
It was all white in '53.
That'S what I'm saying.
You never told your parents what you saw? Shouldn't have been out, you know? Then just got easier not to believe my eyes, pretend it was A dream or something.
Sounds like this memory ain't exactly crystal.
Yeah, well, maybe, uh this will help.
Hung onto it Why come forward now? My eyes.
I'm losing 'em.
Doc says a few more years I'll be blind.
Guess I thought I tell what I saw might set things right.
Can't fix your eyes, but we'll try to set things right.
Bingo zohar, 19 years old.
Shot and killed behind red hot mama's blues club, corner of 20th and south.
Rounded up the usual suspects-- all black.
Never could pin it on anyone.
Cops never found the bullet that cleared bingo's chest.
Makes sense if it's only the dump site.
Strange substance on bingo's sleeve.
Cops back then couldn't id it.
If he was murdered in the five-and-dime changes the suspect list.
He'd recently moved from brandywine-- old farm town.
Parents died in a car accident.
He was living with the valentine family.
Uncle ed aunt julianna, cousin jp.
Who's the girl? Girlfriend.
Uh miranda allison.
Recording booth behind the family.
Typical of the old five-and-dimes.
Doer dumping the body on the other side of town gets the spotlight off himself.
Maybe he did it on the way home.
Arthur brown, aka "aces," worked the night shift with bingo at the five-and-dime.
Oh, lived at 22nd and south.
Two blocks from the dump site.
If we're lucky, evidence still has bingo's shirt.
Send it to the lab, maybe they can id that substance.
Meanwhile, have a talk with aces? Let's have a look around the old five-and-dime, see if we can't find that bullet.
you're kidding, right? Afraid not.
It's been 27 years since this holistic health store was valentine's five and dime.
That so? Kind of out of the realm of possibility that you'll find some 50-year-old bullet.
Could have got lodged in a wall or a floorboard? So what you think you're digging up my floors or walls? It's not out of the realm of possibility.
These are fresh walls.
I just had them painted.
And my floors are malaysian bamboo.
So maybe you should look somewhere else for your phantom bullet.
Did you find anything during that remodel? Like a bullet? Uh no.
'Cause if I find out you tampered with evidence, I'll stick you in the slammer with guys who ain't familiar with buddhist teachings.
You do, and karma will be all over your ass, pal.
Oh, I'll be all over your ass, pal with a warrant.
Goji berry? They make you happy.
You eat enough, you never stop smiling.
This place looks great.
Just like the stories I used to hear growing up.
Yeah, people tend to embellish the past.
Red hot mama's was a dive, but a fun one.
When I came into some money, I decided to make reopening it my pet project.
Well, there's a blues resurgence-- kids hearing it for the first time.
You wouldn't believe what these kids will pay for a drink.
Six dollars.
Nine.
Bingo zohar? You know him or what? I remember bingo.
Cat was one of a kind.
Shot down back of this alley.
See, we think he was killed at valentine's five and dime, where you two worked the night shift together.
I wasn't working that night with bingo, if that's what you're implying.
I ain't implying it.
I'm saying it.
I quit valentine's the week before.
Got tired of cleaning up after white folk, getting treated like dirt.
Bingo treat you that way, too? He treated me with respect.
Kid was way ahead of his time in more ways than one.
now just because you're pretty and you think you're mighty wise you told me that you loved me then you rolled those big brown eyes when I saw you last week uh your eyes were turning black I apologize, sir.
I figured after hours, mr.
Valentine's "no negro music" rule don't apply.
Won't play it again.
This is wynonie harris, right? - You know wynonie harris? - Yeah.
I saw him play in a chicken shack back on brandywine creek, where I'm from.
Heard about your folks.
Sorry.
I used to sing this song for my mama.
The only thing that'd make her smile.
My daddy was a drunk, see, confused her for his punching bag.
I think it made her feel a little better hearing other people carrying it around-- their pain.
Let mama know she wasn't alone.
Yeah.
I think I know how she felt now.
So, you're telling me your uncle lets you listen to this music? Come on.
the night he found my stash of louis jordan records, - smashed every one.
- Mm.
Said he wouldn't have this corrupting devil music in his house.
Mm-hmm.
Now that sound like old man valentine.
hey, you ever see when wynonie shakes his leg like this? Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then he does that spin.
ha! Don't roll those bloodshot eyes at me I could tell you've been on a spree hey, you got some pipes.
Yeah, it's my thing - singing.
- Hmm.
Just not in front of other people usually.
Don't roll those bloodshot eyes hey, you ever try this one? Don't roll those bloodshot eyes got to be good friends, the two of us, listening to that music late at night.
Kid was real decent.
But Mr.
Valentine had a problem with bingo listening to that music? Old man feared it was the beginning of the end.
First black music, then blacks sitting at his lunch counter.
Saying he would have hurt bingo over it? What mr.
Valentine said was law, and he had the temper to back it up, too.
But bingo couldn't hide his love of rock 'n' roll from no one.
Understand your husband, ed valentine, passed away a few years ago.
It'll be 12 years this christmas.
God rest his soul.
He was a good man? Oh, yes.
Ed was an officer in world war ii.
We were happily married, 60 years.
Where was your husband the night bingo was killed? Asleep in his bed.
Right next to mine, of course.
Well, bingo was like a son to us.
We understand your husband didn't approve of the rock 'n' roll music bingo listened to.
No, he certainly did not.
Sounds like neither did you.
Well, the stuff was distasteful.
Ed said all negro music was.
No offense, dear.
None taken.
We were a generation that made it through the depression, the war.
We wanted stability, common decency.
And "negro" music wasn't that.
Well, ed said it made the kids go wild.
And, believe you me, it did.
you're gonna be radioactive out there.
I wanna sing something real, with teeth-- not the usual fake-o, happy land stuff.
Shed his grace on thee.
.
doesn't matter what your song is, baby.
Just matters that you're singing it.
With brotherhood everyone'll see what I see.
That I'm a fream.
That you're the razz's berries.
Sea! jp and the wishing stars.
I know someone's mother is proud.
now please welcome to the stage bingo zohar performing "jeanie with the light brown hair.
" I dream of jeanie with the light brown hair boo! Hiss! Wake me when the snoozefest is over! hold back the door and stop all the clocks I just got the news that my baby wants to rock all she wants to do is rock all she wants to do is rock all she wants to do is rock rock 'n' roll all night long my baby don't go for fancy clothes high-class dinner and picture shows all she wants to do is stay at home and huckle buck with daddy all night long all she wants to do is rock all she wants to do is rock all she wants to do is rock rock 'n' roll all night long miranda, stop him.
Stop your boyfriend from doing whatever it is he's doing.
He's not mine anymore.
Just look at him.
All she wants to do is rock bingo drove the girls wild with those swiveling hips of his.
Disgraceful.
Kind of like elvis.
Hot.
So miranda was pushed aside? Something you want to share, mrs.
Valentine? Shortly after bingo's death, miranda's mother caught her playing russian roulette with a loaded handgun.
Sent her to the state mental ward-- poor thing.
Sounds like the "poor thing" was off her rocker.
early 50s, white kidsinging black music-- reminds me of elvis.
I hate to admit it.
I broke up with my junior high sweetheart because she joined the elvis fan club.
No.
Trini rene.
Back in the late '50s, the girls were either elvis girls or pat boone girls, I remember.
I told trini my family wouldn't approve of me going out with an elvis girl.
I guess I was a square.
No, man, you were a cube.
My family hated elvis too especially the ones who thought he ripped off black music.
He certainly was a polarizing figure.
Have to be to make history.
I got the results back on the shirt.
From bingo's sleeve? Can't believe evidence still had it after all these years.
Yeah, pretty dependable, guys in that unit.
Nitrocellulose.
Used primarily as a car finish back in the day.
Could be from the car that dumped bingo.
Making it a long shot.
Lot of cars used it.
It's back to square one.
You have a conversation with the jealous girlfriend? I'm on it.
Have vera go with you.
No, I got it covered.
What the hell is his problem? Where were you that night your boyfriend was shot, Miranda? Bingo and I went to the drive-in.
We saw the band wagon with fred astaire.
Uh, he dropped me off early.
How early? About 10:00 P.
M.
That was the last time I saw him.
The next morning, I received the phone call.
He was dead.
I understand you were locked up in the nuthouse.
Suicide attempt.
I would say that that warrants depression.
Where'd the gun come from? My mother kept a gun in her bedside table, next to her pills.
And I bet, you're going tell me you don't have it anymore.
I didn't kill bingo.
He was my first love, the purest of all my romances.
Well, till you saw him on stage, turning the other girls on, and you got pushed to the back row.
It wasn't the girls bingo loved.
It was the music.
Yeah, right.
Bingo never betrayed me.
He shared his limelight.
ooh, hoo-ooh bingo, play that song you showed me for my girl.
She let me polish her headlights.
easy on the word- painting, luke.
Got a lady present.
Looky here, girls, I'm telling you now Hey, how do you get your hair like that, bingo? Miranda's the one with the style.
Ask her.
Need to grow it out, but it ain't gonna hide that frankenstein head of yours.
Ha, ha.
What about you, jp? Gonna grow your hair out, too? No.
No, high and tight is right for me.
You sound like your dad.
Yeah, well, imagine what my dad would say if I came home looking like you.
Who cares what he'd say? Don't be a square, jp.
Bingo, someone saw that bandstand scout at your last show.
We hear those rumors after our shows, too.
Nothing ever comes of it.
Maybe we should add some rock 'n' roll beats to our line-up.
Maybe dance like bingo, instead of all this sidestepping stuff.
Jp & the wishing stars will not be gyrating their privates on stage like a bunch of natives.
It might serve you to get some practice gyrating your privates.
jp! Come on! It was just a joke.
Hey, come back! The music was changing.
So were the times.
And, uh, mr.
King of the quartet was left in the dust.
And you should hear the music my granddaughter listens to: Uh, "milkshake" this and "booty" that.
She made me a playlist and I learned to appreciate it.
Like you learned to appreciate bingo's music? It took me a while.
I guess I was a stick in the mud back then.
Where were you the night bingo was killed? At wishing star practice.
Like clockwork saturday nights.
You and the wishing stars ever incorporate bingo's style into your act? We did.
As a matter of fact, we picked up some of his moves and played one of his songs, too.
Yeah? Which one? I can't remember the name, but the chorus was something like, uh, I'll take my chance, 'cause the truth be told you only get one dance.
It sounds meaningful.
I liked that one.
Not too racy.
Well, it wasn't always the lyrics that were racy.
It was the, the beat that unnerved people.
The beat? Things were different back then.
Neighborhoods were segregated, even the music, and the beat was considered an african-american thing.
So bingo bringing that sort of "thing" into your world had repercussions.
Oh, sure.
And some people took the heat more than others.
Dad, can we watch bandstand? No one wants to watch kids dance.
That show is going to get yanked.
We're going to watch milton berle like we always do.
Uncle ed, you haven't received a telegram for me, have you? Hoping to hear from bandstand, actually.
They don't play your kind of music.
nothing for you, bingo.
But jp here was accepted at princeton.
Go show him the letter, son.
Didn't go to college myself.
Jp, first one in the family I noticed that you and bingo are pinned.
Oh, it's just for fun-- ironic, actually.
Ironic? Oh, well, it's our anti-commitment to never plan for the future for the rest of our lives.
If you don't plan for a future, what will you live on? Love and music.
miranda, I'm sure your mother has explained this to you, but your husband's livelihood will be your livelihood.
I guess I thought I'd get my own job or something.
Oh.
As a teacher or a nurse? Miranda, dear, I suggest you secure a future for yourself before the bloom is off the rose.
You don't want to end up a penniless old maid, now, do you? Since jp is going away to college, I'll need someone to take over the store someday, so i am promoting you to counter manager, bingo.
uh, thank you, sir, but I I was really hoping to focus on my music.
Can we afford to give promotions right now, ed? Mother, don't you worry your pretty little head about money.
I fired aces anyhow.
Aces? But he's your best worker.
That job is the only thing that's keeping his family out of the poorhouse.
Well, he should've thought about that before he left that devil music on the jukebox.
Oh, no, sir, I left that record on.
No need to cover for him, son.
Kid's a bad apple.
Now he's gone.
So aces didn't quit.
He was fired.
Bingo was determined to find him.
He wanted to make it up to him somehow.
When was this? A few days before he was killed.
Aces worked five solid years for mr.
Valentine.
Gets fired 'cause of bingo.
Maybe he catches up with him at the five-and-dime, gets even? So why make the distinction of quitting Wake up, miller.
The guy's covering his motive.
Unless he's covering his motive.
You want to let me finish? Scotty.
We need to talk.
so go ahead.
Air it out now.
'Cause if I got to watch you stomping around here like some bullheaded jackass one more minute, somebody's gonna lose some teeth.
Ain't gonna be the only one, brother.
You really think one of us ratted you out to iad? You tell me.
Who do you think you're talking to, scotty? You know us better than that.
Then who was it, hmm, told that iad jerk about burrell? Get real, man.
You think we're the only ones who knew? People talk, but you start turning on the people that's got your back it ain't your job they're coming after now, is it, will? They're out to get me, man.
Using this burrell thing as an excuse to hang me on the shoot.
Iad's on a fishing expedition.
That's what they do.
Nah.
This guy won't let it go.
They want my badge.
Boss'll never let that happen.
And you got to know, none of us would ever help them.
I don't get it, will.
It was a good shoot.
Well, you did the right thing.
Then why are they coming after me? I don't know.
But you got to hang tough, circle the wagons.
And stop acting like such a jackass.
yeah.
all right, then, maybe I should scream or something, so they don't think we're in here hugging.
Yeah, make it sound good.
Scotty, look! No cop in their right mind plays along with iad! They don't like us.
We don't like them! what's going on? Scotty and will.
Having a talk.
About time.
Found aces' social security records.
Checks out.
He was fired a week before bingo's murder.
Picked up a part-time job finishing cars at an auto repair.
Using nitrocellulose.
It's the same substance found on bingo's sleeve the night he was killed.
Hm, looks like bingo found aces after all.
with bingo the night he was murdered.
Found nitrocellulose on bingo's sleeve.
From your job working on cars.
Turns out you didn't quit the five-and-dime.
You were fired.
I lose everything 'cause some white kid forgets to take a record off the juke, while mr.
Valentine spends his night pawing the makeup girl behind his office door? World ain't just.
So you got even.
You could say that.
I saw bingo that night, standing about where you are now.
Why lie about it, aces? Why do you think?! Grew up black, didn't you? Maybe it was different for you, but for my generation, the color lines weren't drawn exactly fair.
Talk about that night.
Treated the kid bad.
Stomped on his dream you ain't nothin' but a hound dog been snoopin' 'round my door you ain't nothin' but a hound dog been snoopin' 'round my door you can wag your tail but I ain't gonna feed you no more you told me you were high-class but I could see through that you're a hard man to find.
But I could see through that it ain't right what my uncle did.
He's trying to give me a promotion.
I told him I wouldn't take it.
Man, you really don't get it, - do you? - What? We do not live in the same world.
This is two towns.
Rules ain't the same in both.
You think it's hep to dress like a colored man, sing like a colored man? That make you cool? But you don't suffer the consequences of a colored man.
Do you? No.
I don'T.
That ain't right.
Hey, but this music it's the only thing that speaks to me.
You don't even know what it means.
You don't think I know about loss? About wanting the pain to go away, but it won't? About living when you think you can't go on.
I'd be lost without my music.
Then sing it like you mean it.
Make it your own.
How do I do that? Ain't you always, uh, scribbling something down? Your songs? Not ready to share that yet.
Then get out of my face.
Bingo! Mrs.
Valentine told me you turned down the promotion.
How could you?! Miranda?!What are you doing here? What about our future?! You have to take it! You have to tell mr.
Valentine you will right now.
Bingo: Keep it down.
What has gotten into you? Don't tell me to keep it down! Let's talk out back.
so miranda came here the night bingo was murdered? Brought her out back to talk.
Same place his body was dumped.
Valens: "Bingo and I went "to the drive-in.
"Saw the band wagon with fred astaire.
He dropped me off early.
" But you saw him later that night.
Behind red hot mama'S.
That wasn't me.
You panicked.
Demanded bingo take that promotion.
Secure his future.
And yours.
So what happened to living on love and music,miranda? I lost faith in myself.
In us.
There were no opportunities for me then.
I was terrified I'd be dependent on a broke musician the rest of my life.
Mrs.
Valentine got to you.
The times got to me.
I didn't want to end up like my mother.
Nobody does.
And so I told bingo he had to give up everything that he was.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, bingo, but mrs.
Valentine is right.
I can't be a nurse.
Blood makes me queasy.
And I'm not gonna be a teacher.
Why not? Kids think I'm weird.
We'll make it on my music.
No.
I have to hurry before my rose is off the bloom.
I think your rose is just fine.
you love me, right, bingo? Of course I do.
Then we should get married.
Settle down.
Buy a house, a car,start a savings account.
You'll need a job--a steady paycheck.
No.
We don't need any of that.
We've got love and music, the only things that are real anyhow.
Huh, you remember? Bingo,if that telegram from bandstand were coming, it would have made it already.
It's time to grow up.
You need to be realistic about the limitations of your talent.
You're just not that talented.
But we can be happy together.
Settled.
Safe.
Right, bingo? I'll talk to my uncle.
He's probably still at the store.
I love you, Bingo It was a lie, of course.
Bingo was tremendously talented.
But talent ain't the same as security.
Mmm.
And the next morning bingo was dead.
Turns out.
security doesn't exist.
what's up? Warrant came through on the old five-and-dime.
Feel like fishing for a bullet? What do we got? Did some more digging on nitrocellulose.
Turns out it was used for making records.
the old recording booth in the five-and-dime.
You know,if bingo was recording when he got shot, he could have fallen back into the record.
???? Looks like karma's on our side today.
.
40 or .
45.
Wasn't common back in the '50s.
Street thugs were using .
38 revolvers then.
But my father had a .
45-- world war ii military issue.
He an officer like uncle ed? War hero, too.
Know ed worked nights at the five-and-dime.
Getting made over by the makeup girl.
If bingo caught him, it could've turned ugly.
??? at home with you No the night of bingo's murder.
He was at the five-and-dime,wasn't he? I'm not sure.
Frankly, it was so long ago.
Spent a lot of nights at the store, old ed.
And not by his lonesome, either.
I used to tell myself that she was for his urges.
I was the one he truly loved.
Now you know I'm a fool.
We found a bullet.
Matches the type of gun mr.
Valentine used in the war.
Ed was a philanderer, but he he-he never would've hurt his own nephew's own blood.
His own blood caught him with his pants down.
Could've ruined his marriage,his reputation.
Isn't it time to stop protecting your husband? Ed wasn't with me that night.
But he wasn't at the store,either.
oh, sorry to scare you.
Oh, no, you didn't scare me.
I'm just, um, uh, looking for uncle ed.
Oh, he's at the store, dear.
No, ma'am.
I just came from there, and, uh, he it's one thing when he's doing it behind closed doors, but to go out with her someone could see.
My marriage just one big stinking lie, and I am a fool to believe otherwise.
But it isn't foolish to believe.
If only I had gone to college, I could've done something with my life.
I dropped out for him.
To start a family.
A home.
Well, maybe it isn't too late.
It is for me.
but I was good at it.
I loved it, you know.
Nobody should keep you from doing what you love.
There's something I need to show you.
that's from bandstand.
They saw you perform, bingo, and they liked you.
A lot.
They want a record to play for their producers by tomorrow morning.
Well, you'd better hurry.
Oh use the recording booth at the store.
But I don't know what to sing.
Well, you must have something.
I have an original, actually, been puzzling together.
Not ready, though.
Can't get the chorus right.
Let-let's hear it.
Uh I'll take my chance 'cause truth be told you only get one life to live.
I it just doesn't work.
Chance--you can't rhyme chance with chance.
Dance.
You only get one dance.
That's it.
That's great.
I'll take my chance 'cause truth be told you only get one dance.
what if I'm no good? What if you are? No one should stop you from doing what you love, bingo.
Ed came in a few minutes later reeking of cheap perfume and whiskey.
And you never left him.
I should've.
But then bingo I stayed.
Arranged the funeral.
Kept up appearances.
It was easier.
That chorus-- you ever tell anyone about it? No.
Why? "I'll take my chance "'cause truth be told you only get one dance.
" You weren't at wishing star practice, jp.
You were at home.
You must be confused.
We talked to your old pals.
They kicked you out.
Wanted to play rock 'n' roll.
Not you, though.
You heard your mother confess she was trapped in a loveless marriage, and that your father was a philanderer.
Before bingo came along, everything made sense.
You father was a great war hero, your mother the doting housewife.
And you-- the golden boy everyone wanted to be.
But bingo had that new style-- that cool,new sound.
And everyone in your life started changing because of him.
No.
Bingo was a fream.
He didn't have the power to change people.
But he did.
That's why you had to get rid of him.
Restore your world to its rightful place.
Do you really think that I could shoot my own cousin? No.
You didn't need to but it happened.
I just wanted him to leave.
I wanted my life back the way it was.
So you took your father's gun to scare him off.
But he wouldn't listen, would he? I just wanted him gone.
I'm taking my chance 'cause truth be told, you only get one dance gee, jp, you scared me half to death.
We have to leave now.
What? I'm taking you back to brandywine, where you belong.
What's wrong with you? I heard the lies that you made my mother say.
I'm about the only one not lying.
Everything was perfect until you came.
Perfect? What's so perfect about a smart woman like your mom baking cookies instead of following her dream? Or a guy like aces getting fired just 'cause he's colored? Shut up! You don't know anything.
What's perfect about miranda out of her gourd 'cause she's scared she's nothing without a man.
It's a twisted world, jp.
It ain't all puppy dogs and holding hands.
Open your eyes.
I was happy.
Everyone was happy.
My family was happy.
And I'm going to make sure they're happy again.
I know times are changing and for the good.
And I'm seeing to it the only way I know how.
Not if I can help it.