Homicide: Life on the Street s05e07 Episode Script

- I don't know what to say.
- Start with your name.
Jude Silvio.
My mother was a Beatles fan.
I don't follow.
"Hey, Jude, don't be afraid, take a sad song, yeah-yeah-yeah.
" You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, Mr Silvio.
I thought I was losing my mind.
I got scared.
That's why I came here.
Maybe the simplest thing would be to tell us what happened.
'My wife was taking my daughter home.
' Oh! Oh, my God! Go, Bill! Go! Get out of here! Come on.
Let's go! What about you, Caroline? Do you feel like talking? Sure.
Would you like to tell us what happened? My husband went out for a drink.
Hey, hey Get lost! Our daughter Lila had met this jerk at the convenience store.
She used to go there to hang out, to see her friends.
She was looking for trouble and found it.
Oh, man! We've got a carjacking victim in Federal Hill, an unidentified body in East Balmer and a dead drunk over at the Waterfront.
The kind of publicity we don't need.
Bayliss, you handle East Baltimore.
Lewis, take Federal Hill.
Munch, give him a hand.
Mike, Frank, stay with Kay, work the phones, get whatever she needs.
Kay, hold the fort.
Supervise all three cases from here.
- Who's gonna take the Waterfront? - I will.
That's our bar.
We got a reputation to maintain.
I should work the Waterfront, or Bayliss or Munch.
You can't investigate a homicide in a place you own.
It's a conflict of interest.
Besides, it's right across the street, I can walk to work.
Well, if we're so short-handed, why don't I go with Tim, huh? That's not gonna happen, Frank.
You're on desk duty.
Sir, don't you think it might be better if you stay here and I go out? I mean, you being shift commander.
I want this case, Kay.
OK? All right, everybody! Let's go! I thought I was lucky, that nothing bad would happen to me or my family.
I was doing well, we had a nice house on Federal Hill.
Our daughter was born with ten toes and ten fingers and a smile so happy that people stopped to look at her.
And what could go wrong? 'I was working late that Saturday night.
'I'm a tax lawyer.
'Natalie, my wife, always said I worked too hard.
' 'Jude, Natalie and Jessica aren't here.
' 'Please leave a name and number, and we'll get back to you.
Thanks.
' Hi, it's me.
I'm still at the office.
Where are you? Give me a call.
'It wasn't like her not to call.
She always called when she got home.
'She was a very punctual person.
' You have no warning when your life's about to change, no clap of thunder, no sign.
'Maybe a premonition, a fear.
'But we're scared most of the time, aren't we? 'So how do you know when it means something? 'How do you know when you're not being paranoid? 'And so it happens, sudden, out of the blue.
' - Mr Silvio? - Yes? I knew it immediately, before anyone came and told me.
I I was in the back room doing the laundry, when suddenly I felt sick, like I was gonna faint.
'I went into the bedroom and sat on the bed 'and stared at his pyjamas under the pillow.
' Hushabye, don't you cry 'I started singing this song my father would sing to me when I couldn't sleep.
' Guardian angel up above Take care of the one I love 'Don't you cry.
Darling angel from up above.
'Take care of the one I love.
' Caroline Widmer? Lieutenant Giardello, Baltimore City Police.
We were listening to the radio.
Lila was 16, going on 26.
She was a late baby.
I was already 40 when I had her.
It was her birthday and I had made a cake.
- 'They're down in nine ' - Pink or yellow? What? - Pink or yellow? - Yellow.
- Really, yellow? You think so? - Pink, then.
No, pink's way too babyish.
After all, she's 16.
Damn Ravens! I can't believe she's 16.
Did you get her a present? Yeah, I got her a present, not that she deserves it.
- You're too hard on her.
- Ravens? Who names a team after an Edgar Allan Poe story? So, what did you get her? A chastity belt.
Ho-ho! Where is she? She should be here by now.
- Dr Cox, what have you got for me? - One dead girl, mid-teens, strangled.
She's fresh, just a few hours old.
- Any ID? - None.
- Any wallet or purse? Anything? - No, nothing.
Those two over there found the body.
Hey, you guys found her? Half an hour ago.
- Called 911 right away.
- Is there a reward? I'm gonna need your names.
Tom Scritz.
S-C-R-l-T-Z.
Edgar Gatlin.
OK, so what, you guys came back in the alley and you just found her? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
Uh-huh.
What were you doing? - Huh? - Why'd you come back into the alley? No reason.
No reason? You came back into a dark alley to do nothing? Come on.
Come on, guys.
What? Am I wearing a sign that says "kick me" back there? Schenker, did you frisk them down? Yeah.
Well, now now, that that there is a crack pipe.
That guy has a drug problem.
Gentlemen, I'd like you to come downtown with me.
When Lila was late, I figured it was better not to know why.
She'd do what she was gonna do, whatever I thought, did or said.
He thought she'd run away.
I said she would never do that.
He asked why, and I said because I know my daughter.
He said I should open my eyes and see the truth, that Lila was a slut.
You live in a dream, you know that? You see weeds, you say, "What a beautiful flower.
" The TV says a plane crashed, you say, "How nice to fly to Europe.
" And you never see the good in anything or anyone.
- There you go, Detective.
- What's this? A printout of all the carjackings in Federal Hill.
Find out who's on the street and who's incarcerated.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go.
All's well in Baltimore tonight, Sergeant.
What have you got? The streets are quiet, the churches are full, the poor are fed and we have a teenage girl tied up in an alley.
- You got a name on the victim? - No ID, no ideas.
- Try Missing Persons? - Yeah.
Yeah, I'll see what they got.
There's fresh coffee, and if anyone needs me, I'll be at my desk, counting paper clips.
Jane Doe? Makes it worse somehow, no one knowing her.
Well, someone knows her.
I just gotta find them and soon.
'We just waited for Lila to come home.
That's all we could do, wait.
' - Shelly? Shelly, have you seen Lila? - Not since Wednesday.
- If you do, tell her to come home.
- OK.
Do you know what I bought for her? That dress.
It was on sale, 20% off.
The thing we have to remember is that she's a sensible girl.
I know she acts wild.
I'm not blind, no matter what you say.
Well, maybe she's mad at me about something.
I can't think of anything I did.
Did you say something, Tom? Did you criticise her? Is there something that you're not telling me? - Where are you going? - To call the police.
'She'd been missing for two days.
' All right, let's review.
You went in the alley to smoke some crack.
- We never said that.
- And you stumbled over the body.
Right.
- And that's it? - That's it.
- You saw nothing more, Edgar? - N-no.
You called 911 to see if there was a reward to get money for more crack.
- We never said that.
- Why isn't there a reward? No, no.
Edgar I think that you're lying to me.
And you know what happens when someone lies to a police officer in the course of a murder investigation, don't you? They go to Jessup, Edgar! You have heard of Jessup, haven't you? - What? - Come here.
Stay there.
I'll be right back.
Missing Persons just got this call from a Mr Mr Rath, That's East Baltimore.
His 16-year-old daughter Layla, Lela Rath, whatever, she uh she's been missing for the last two days.
Keep an eye on these two.
They know more than they're telling.
- Yeah, sure.
- Sit down.
Thanks, Frank.
You're er welcome.
You're welcome.
'I can't believe I'll never see his face again, 'that I'll never hear his laugh ' - Widmer, Jack.
- ' feel him touching me.
' 'The hardest part was going to see Jack's body.
'I I couldn't recognise him.
I mean, I knew it was him.
'I said, "That's Jack," 'but it wasn't him at all.
' It was somebody else, a stranger.
What news from the Waterfront? What's the name of the murdered guy? Jack Widmer, 24, stabbed with a broken beer bottle.
Plenty of witnesses, but too drunk to remember anything.
- I brought them all in.
- I'll give you a hand.
- You're on the Silvio case.
- That's a dead-end carjacking.
- What do you have so far, Lewis? - Er Silvio, Natalie, age 28.
Address 31 Landen Road.
She was carjacked three blocks from home.
Suspects took off with her daughter, Jessica, age three.
The baby's yet to be found.
- How's Bayliss doing on the Jane Doe? - He thinks he's located the family.
- Mrs Rath? - Yes.
I'm Tim Bayliss, Baltimore Police, Homicide.
What is it? I'm responding to your missing persons report, sir.
- You found Lila? - Who did you say you worked for? - Baltimore Police, Homicide.
- Where is she? Where where is Lila? The man said homicide.
Is she OK? Is Lila OK? Don't you ever listen? Ho-mi-cide.
I'm sorry.
Just wait right here, please.
- Julianna, is that my Jane Doe? - Yeah.
You find anything that I can use? She recently had sex, and besides being strangled, she was beaten.
I found a few fibres of what looks like rope, currently being examined.
OK.
Any identifying marks? There's a tattoo of a rose on her left ankle.
- Oh, cover up her face.
- Why? I think I found her parents.
Why don't you come on in? Did your daughter have any identifying marks? She's a good girl.
She had a tattoo on her ankle, a rose.
Tom, that's something all the kids are doing.
- It's like a bracelet.
- It's a tattoo.
Truck drivers get tattoos, sailors get tattoos, whores get ta That's when we knew.
We saw her there and we knew Lila was dead murdered.
You poor thing.
Do you have children, Caroline? No.
I do.
A girl, three years old, Jessica.
I can't imagine what you must be going through with a child.
I know it's Saturday.
Can you just do this? Well, then put them on.
- Have you found my daughter? - Excuse me? - Jessica Silvio.
Have you found her? - Uh, no.
No, we haven't.
- Have you found the car? - I'm sorry.
I don't know.
- How do you not know? - Sergeant Howard? - What's up? - My wife is dead, that's what.
My baby's gone, and this idiot doesn't know what I mean.
- Don't you people communicate? - Yes, we do.
Every available car is looking for your Volvo.
We've issued a state-wide teletype.
Communications is broadcasting a description every half hour.
Everything that can be done is being done.
I want my baby.
She is three, and I want her back.
That's not so complicated, is it? My daughter here, in my arms, safe? I understand, Mr Silvio.
Come with me and we'll get you a cup of coffee.
Bring 'em out one at a time.
My husband and I met on the water taxi.
He was coming home from an Orioles game.
He was drunk, but he made me laugh, and I thought he was a gentleman.
If it won't track, go ahead and use the fluoroscope.
- Can I help you? - I'd like to see my husband.
- That's not a good idea.
We're busy.
- I want to see my husband again.
Let's get you out of here.
I'll find somebody to take you home.
I don't understand it.
I can't get it through my head that he's dead.
- Name? - I'm not gonna tell you.
- I know it.
This is a formality.
- I hate cops.
Tell me what happened at the Waterfront.
No, my lips are sealed.
Next.
Frank, did you do the 24 hour report? - Yes, it's done.
- Good, just wanted to make sure.
You know, Mike, you can laugh at me or criticise me, but please don't ever, ever con-condescend to me.
Relax, Frank.
We're in the same boat.
You and I, we have nothing in common.
What are you talking about? We're stuck in the squad room.
We're both pissed off.
We have something in common.
But y-you are accused of a crime.
Not me, you.
So I'm a class below you, is that what you're saying? I'm dirty, right, just because I'm accused of being dirty, and you, you're clean, because all that happened is your brain frizzled and popped.
Huh? Screw you, Frank.
Know something? You're not just arrogant, you're vain.
You're like a girl who hates showing the bad side of her face.
By the way, I I never said that you were dirty.
Yeah, well, you never said I wasn't, either.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hey.
Natalie Silvio's car.
And the baby? No baby.
I wonder if Gee's solved the Waterfront murder.
There's a dead guy in our bar.
How will it look if we can't solve it? Besides, we're not gonna solve this carjacking thing.
No, Munch.
The Volvo's going to the lab.
Maybe we'll get lucky and get a print or hair.
- Maybe.
Let's wait in the squad room.
- No, no.
Uh-uh.
We're going to the crime scene, to canvass the neighbourhood.
- Excuse me? - There's a little girl out there.
If she's dead, don't you wanna find her killer? All right.
Let's tell Kay we need her help.
'I went home, even though I didn't want to.
' 'Jude, Natalie and Jessica aren't here right now.
'Please leave a name and number and we'll get back to you.
' There's a world outside And I know, cos I've heard talk In my sweetest dreams I would go out for a walk But I don't think I'm ready yet Not feeling up to it now Just not that steady yet And I don't need you telling me how There's some happiness And my stone face cracks again Maybe some time, sooner or later, But I don't think I'm ready yet Not feeling up to it now Just not that steady yet And I don't need you telling me how - Hey, Frank? - Yeah? Did you keep an eye on Tom and Edgar? - A very close eye.
- Good.
I found the girl's parents.
They don't know what happened.
Dad thinks she was Satan's disciple, and Mom thinks she went to the prom.
- Where are they? - Who? Who? The morons I asked you to watch.
The crackheads you said you kept a good eye on.
- I let 'em go.
- You let them go? - I let 'em go.
- I'm in the middle of an investigation! - They had information, Frank! - Whoa! They saw a man in the alley taking a leak.
Gary er Swirn, a neighbourhood sleazeball.
They're afraid of him, with good reason.
Convicted felon, assault and battery, attempted rape.
He got out of Jessup last er April.
I have the address of his aunt, the woman who raised him from a child, in a manner of speaking.
Here you go.
- That's what I've been up to.
- Yeah, OK.
Thanks.
- Thanks.
- You're You're - Welcome.
- You're welcome.
Did they catch whoever killed your daughter? Appreciate you letting me in, Mrs Swirn.
No problem.
Can't sleep anyway.
- That's where Gary stays, huh? - He loves it down here.
- He's really a vampire.
- Oh.
I have a search warrant.
Do you mind me looking around? Oh, no.
Help yourself.
Maybe you'll find something to put him away, get him out of here.
- What's in here? - Storage area, a lot of junk.
There's a light.
Mr Silvio, did they find who killed your wife? No, they did not.
Call to see if the toxicology report is in.
Just the two faces I wanted to see after a long day.
Ah, Chief Cox.
You got anything for us? - Your investigation's going well.
- What makes you say that? You only come to the ME when you have nothing else.
- That's not true.
- Although in this case, it is true.
We found skin under Natalie Silvio's fingernails, so I sent samples to the lab.
And? What, that's all you got? You want me to tell you the killer left his address? - Can you do that? - That's very funny.
- I'm out of here.
- Hold on.
What about the results? In the morning.
There's somewhere I gotta be.
- At this hour? - You got some secret coven? Yeah, that's right, Lewis.
I'm a witch.
Every Saturday we put hexes on people who stand in our way.
They caught the man who murdered Jack.
I saw him at the pre-trial hearing.
He seemed like a nice man.
Ah, thanks.
So you were drinking? - Don't remind me.
- Then what happened? Um all hell broke loose.
- Why? - Saturday night.
That's all you remember? That that's it.
What? What? I kind of remember some girl.
- We were dancing.
- And? I think some guy tried to hit on her.
Some guy tried to hit on her? Which guy? Some jerk.
I I don't know.
Damn, I I let him have it.
Blam.
- I I didn't even know the girl.
- How exactly did you "blam" him? With a beer bottle.
Like this? You mean it was an accident? Yes.
Does that make your husband's death any less painful? No.
But you feel better that he's in jail, right? - No, I - I don't believe you.
If that scumball was dead, you would feel better.
Maybe.
I wish I knew more about the stars, the names of the constellations.
Do you believe in telepathy? I'm not sure.
It's a question of belief? You don't think one person can see what another person's thinking? - No.
- Cigarettes.
- What? - You're thinking about cigarettes.
- No, I'm not.
- Yes, you are.
- I'm not.
- You're not? - Nope.
- Well, I am.
Is that Orion? Maybe.
By the way, Kellerman, you're OK by me.
I'm going in to answer the phones.
Come in.
- Hey, Gee.
- Hey.
A guy goes to a gin mill for a drink, has a few too many, brawl breaks out, does his John Wayne thing, and when he sobers up, he realises he's a murderer.
- You got the killer.
- I got him.
- Will Webster.
- That's great, Gee.
- Saturday nights.
- I gotta ask you something.
How come you wanted to go out? How come you didn't let me? - Remember the Lugo case? - Sure.
First time out in more than a decade, I managed to shoot a man.
- It wasn't your fault.
- Yeah, it was.
- He pulled a gun.
- I was too slow.
Maybe too old.
You figured you'd take another case, succeed and forget the Lugo case? Did it work? No.
We all make mistakes, mistakes in judgment.
Is Webster guilty because he made a mistake? He's responsible, Gee.
And so am I, Kay.
So am I.
I tried to change him.
Stupid, huh? When I told him not to drink, what's he gonna do? Drink, that's what.
And then he'd try and pick up other women.
Thank God he wasn't good at it.
I don't even know if I miss him really.
That's terrible, isn't it? I'll go to hell for that.
You said your husband's death was painful for you.
Yes.
I just I just don't know why.
What I can't accept is why whoever murdered my wife is enjoying his life.
- I'd like to see him fry.
- The police will get him.
I don't think so.
The police are incompetent.
- So you might never see them "fry".
- No.
Then how are you gonna come to terms with all this? I'm not.
I don't want to come to terms with all this.
I think I'd like to visit the place where Jack was killed.
It's some terrible bar in Fells Point.
How come Bayliss weasels out of any real work here? He's closing a case, which is what we should be doing.
- Case? We have a bad joke.
- At least they found the baby.
I figured out the secret of life.
After we finish this, we'll go to Federal Hill, and talk to the neighbours again.
This came to me in a flash.
It was an epiphany, like Paul's vision on the road to Damascus.
Are you listening? Life is basically an ironic experience.
After we're done with the neighbours, we're gonna come back, we'll open the case file on every carjacking in the past five years and put a trace on every suspect.
Say you start out in life trashing the establishment, calling cops pigs, thumbing your nose at authority.
What is the most ironic thing that could happen to you? Becoming a cop, right? Look at me, a cop.
The most ironic thing that could happen.
Look, they even broke the damn jukebox! "Ironism And Human Emotion" by John Munch.
I think J-P Sartre's hearing footsteps.
Don't you? Could you do me a favour? For once will you shut up? God, do I miss Bayliss.
- Gary Swirn? - Yeah? I want to talk to you.
Gary and I got a date.
- Who are you? - I'm a friend of Lila Rath.
Baltimore Police.
Gonna read you your rights.
Comfy? - Hey, Frank! Look what I found? - This would be Gary Swirn? Oh, yeah.
The one and only.
Mike, take my gun? As you surmised, Frank, he was staying with his aunt, living in the basement, his childhood room, surrounded by mementos of the past, including his sled.
His sled for snowy days now gone.
Guess what was attached to the sled? - What? - Rope.
Mm-hm, for pulling.
Recently sliced rope.
Rope that, even as we speak, is being analysed to see if it matches the rope that strangled Lila Rath.
So, if you gentlemen will excuse me, Gary and I have some reminiscing to do.
Have fun.
- Speak.
- What? - Say something.
- I got nothing to say.
All right, how about, "I'm not guilty.
" I'm not guilty.
- Of what? - Killing that girl.
What girl? Whoever said anything about a girl? You said something about Lila somebody.
No, I never said anything about a girl.
Now, what if that person had been someone's grandmother? - You spoiled her.
- No, I paid attention to her.
Tell me about her.
- Who? - The girl.
I don't know nothing about no girl.
"Oh, here, Lila, here's a nice new bedspread.
" Just because you know Lila doesn't mean you killed her.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe you didn't kill her.
Maybe you can help me figure out who did.
Hmm? - I met her at the convenience store.
- Did you like her? - She was OK.
- Was she sexy? "Lila, eat my potato.
I don't want it.
" - She talked big.
- About sex? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
Huh.
She was a tease, right? "Lila, you look tired.
I'll take out the trash.
" That makes me mad.
Doesn't that make you mad? Girl comes on, she's all she's all breasts and smiles.
Is that spoiling? I ask you, is that spoiling? And you're thinking, you're thinking, like, "Wow.
Wow, man, tonight tonight's my lucky night.
" And suddenly it's, like, you know "Oh, God, don't touch! Don't touch," and bam! Bam! What happened he took her back to the room in the basement, strangled her, raped her and dumped her in the alley.
Oh, I'm sorry I'm late.
Work.
I didn't mean to interrupt.
Sorry.
This is Julianna Cox.
She's been coming here since her father was murdered.
- Your father? - Yeah.
He er He was coming from Towson when a car ran him off the road.
No one got a licence plate number.
They just ran him off the road.
He lingered for a long time, refusing to die, and then, one day, his body just shut down.
- So they never found out who did it? - No.
Excuse me, Julianna? Have have we ever met before? - No, I don't think so.
No.
- I could have sworn that we met.
Really? I'd I'd remember.
I don't forget faces usually.
- Is it hard? Do you miss your father? - Oh Yeah.
I wake up every morning and I think he's still alive.
- Caroline doesn't miss her husband.
- That's not what I meant.
- It's what you said.
- What did you mean, Caroline? I was gonna leave him.
I had made up my mind that night.
I was sick of his drinking and womanising and decided it was time to leave.
But he left me first.
Bastard.
And I hate him for that! You shouldn't hate him.
Hate whoever killed him.
I'm tired of you and your opinions.
You got opinions all day.
You judge your daughter, but never once did you say you loved her.
- You shut up.
- Tom, please.
- Do you mind if I say something? - Not at all.
I'm a doctor of sorts, and where I work, I see death every day.
I see people reduced to pieces of flesh and bone, body parts, slabs of meat.
And yet somehow, I'm able to do my job without thinking about what's in front of me.
I daydream usually about my father.
I remember him in the back yard, watering his vegetable garden, and then, suddenly, what I'm doing will come into focus, and and I'll realise that this this dead body in front of me used to be someone just like my father.
Maybe our brains know what we need to do to survive, and if we could allow ourselves to understand that we're not our bodies, you know, we are not that part of us that dies.
You're the woman from the morgue.
When when I went to see Jack.
Yeah.
You were very kind to me.
You know, I think you two are funny.
I'm all alone now.
I have no one.
But you, you've lost a child, but you still have your wife.
And you, your wife is gone, but you still have your child.
There's got to be some peace in that.
There isn't.
He's right.
There isn't.
But we try, don't we, honey? We go on.
'Most nights, we go out for dinner.
'We can't stand to be in the house.
Reminds us of Lila.
'But, sooner or later, we have to go back, 'and then we can't sleep.
' 'You have to feel free to really sleep ' and we're not free.
' 'We're trapped by this thing that happened to us 'and won't let us go.
'Trapped.
'There's no escape.
'