Law & Order (1990) s07e10 Episode Script
Legacy
In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Billy fell asleep about an hour ago, on my bed.
Did you I stacked pillows all around him.
He can't fall off unless he levitates.
And how was the big girl's birthday dinner? She had lobster tails, and chocolate mousse, and Jim even gave her a sip of his wine.
Grandma got mad.
I didn't like it anyway.
Jim's parking the car.
When he gets back, we'll carry Billy upstairs.
I was having some tea.
Do you have any coffee? I like coffee.
Police! Police! Over here! What's going on? I don't see anything.
There's a police car.
Darlene, wait here.
I'll be right back.
I just looked over, and he was on the ground.
I knew something was wrong.
I was across the street.
I think I saw somebody running.
Man down, possible gunshot wound to the head.
Put a rush on the bus.
Oh, God Watch out, ma'am.
Do you know him? He's my husband.
We were just around the corner.
Miss Flores flagged us down.
I was coming back from the gym.
I live over there.
I heard something like a pop.
I thought somebody threw a bottle.
Then I saw him lying on the sidewalk.
His wallet was still in his pocket.
Did you see anybody near him? No.
I was pretty far away, and I wasn't wearing my glasses.
How about a car driving by? You see that? I don't know.
Okay, thanks.
How about you? Just give your number to the officer over there, all right? I was walking my dog on the other side of the street, and I looked up when she shouted, and I think I saw someone running around the corner.
What's your name? Dr.
Paul Sackett.
Did you try any first aid, Doc? I'm a podiatrist.
About this person you saw running away It was really just an impression.
Well, tall? Short? Black? White? I'm sorry.
He might have been wearing a dark jacket.
He? I'm presuming.
Well, which way did he or she go? Right down here I'm sorry.
Dog poop.
Don't mention it.
They said there's a bullet in his head.
Did you catch anyone? We really don't know much about what happened yet.
Anything you can tell us might help.
He was just walking back from the garage where we park our car.
Like he does every time we go out.
And you'd been out where? Oh, um A birthday dinner for my 8-year-old.
Her grandmother treated her to the Coach House.
I have to call the babysitter.
I don't know how long I'm going to be here.
You know, maybe your mother should be here with you.
Or is she your husband's? Who? You said you were with your daughter's grandmother? Oh, it's my first husband's mother.
I could call her and have her pick up Darlene.
Yeah, that'd be good.
I can't believe this is happening again.
When my first husband died, they brought him to this hospital.
Mrs.
Shepard Yes? Your husband will be all right.
He's still unconscious.
Thank God.
Thank God.
Doc, you know where to send the bullet.
Your head's tilted this way, your brains are all over the sidewalk.
Your head's tilted that way, you just have a bad headache.
Mr.
Shepard had a good tilt? Yes.
The bullet went in behind his ear at a shallow angle, hit the inside of his skull, and skidded around to the other ear.
Boy, that'll clear out the wax real good.
If you don't mind loud noises.
The striations on the damaged side of the bullet don't match anything in our files.
Yeah, except the inside of his skull.
Which I can't mount on my microscope.
The good side matches this bullet dead on.
Where's this one from? The right brain of the late Jeffrey Zabner, shot dead on East 96th Street two years ago.
Zabner was broke, but he owed $37,000 to a loan shark named Morelli, who'd just about given up any hope of collecting.
So he figured if he couldn't get his money back, he'd at least turn Zabner into a constructive example.
Yeah, so it wasn't a total loss.
Unfortunately, Mr.
Morelli made a point of being in Miami when the guy got hit.
He hired it done.
Sure.
But Morelli wasn't going to tell me about it.
My best chance was with the victim's wife.
She was there when it happened, but she swore she didn't see a thing.
She was afraid she'd be next.
What I figured.
I offered her protection.
I kept going back, but she was still playing dumb when I got this job.
So what kind of a job rates a private office in the NYPD? Liaison between the community relations officers and the deputy chief of administration.
Yeah, well, since you're obviously too busy to pursue this old murder case, maybe you could at least tell us where we could find Morelli? Try Hell.
He's dead.
But I got an address for the victim's widow.
I was petrified, but I didn't see what happened.
I went into this store to get some aspirin.
My husband, he was waiting for me outside.
Right here? No, he walked down the street a little ways.
I heard the shot.
I came out, I saw him on the ground.
He was already dead.
Mrs.
Zabner, whoever shot your husband is still walking around, shooting people.
Anything you can remember might help us.
Don't you think I would have helped then if I could? I didn't see.
Well, what did you see? It was hot.
There was a couple on some steps over there, drinking beer.
Some kids went by with a huge speaker blasting.
There was a man.
He was middle-aged, kind of pudgy.
He was walking a little dog.
Would he be about 5' 8", thinning brown hair, round face? I didn't see his face.
I love animals.
I was looking at the dog.
That's it.
That's the dog.
Thank you.
You better get some other dogs in for a line-up, when you find it.
Speaking of which, how's that going? Well, the dog-walker said his name was Dr.
Paul Sackett.
There's no such person.
Surprise, surprise.
Well, the dog we have nailed.
The guy, she has no idea.
He's pretty damn cool.
Professional killer.
It's part of the job description.
Yeah, if he's a hit man.
Well, did you find anything to link him personally to the victims? We're gonna go talk to the new one.
The son of a bitch.
The gun was in the dog poop bag.
I don't know him.
Who is he? Mr.
Shepard, you know him? No.
Why? We think he may be the man who shot you.
We're gonna place a uniformed officer at your door.
What for? We think this man is a hired killer.
He shot somebody else two years ago.
Who would hire somebody to kill Jimmy? Do you have any ideas? No.
It doesn't make sense.
Mrs.
Shepard, you mind if we talk to your husband alone for a minute? Why? It's okay.
Do you have any ideas? No.
What do you do for a living, Mr.
Shepard? I have a company that prints T-shirts.
Rock group emblems and comic strip characters.
Licensed designs.
You ever do any business with loan sharks? I have a line of credit at Citibank.
We can't protect you if you don't tell us.
There must be some mistake.
So, you think it was a mistake? Oh, sure.
The hit man's a moron.
So we tear Shepard's life apart.
Tall order.
Let's canvass his neighborhood first.
For someone who knows his secret vice? No, for somebody who saw a chubby white guy walking a dog.
He shot the guy down the street? Well, if he was in on Monday, I'd remember.
Slow night.
Uh He had this dog with him.
Yeah.
He tied the mutt to a parking meter.
I kept an eye on it.
Came in around 9:00.
So, you talked to him? Yeah, he saw I sell cigars.
He asked for an Avo Pyramid.
A little high end for me, but I had a couple of Macanudos.
He bought one, and I put him in the smoking section.
What else you talk about? Nothing.
He had the Times.
He was doing a crossword.
And he didn't say anything else? He gave me his order.
Bourbon and lemon meringue pie.
So I talked to some of James Shepard's associates about his T-shirt company.
No bad debts, no bad habits.
Our shooter, on the other hand, drinks bourbon, smokes Avo Pyramids, and eats lemon meringue pie.
Well, you can buy bourbon anywhere, and lemon meringue pie is hard to trace.
Yeah, but it's getting hard to find good cigars ever since Demi Moore and the beautiful people started smoking them.
How many stores keep these Avo Pyramids in stock? Two, three dozen.
Don't inhale.
Two or three dozen.
Like that's nothing.
You want to try bars and bakeries instead? I want to try a place that gives foot massages.
Police.
This guy.
Avo Pyramids.
He has a dog.
Yeah.
Howard something.
Comes by every day or two.
Great.
You know, before I quit, I used to smoke the real thing.
Montecristos, Ramon Allones.
Of course, they're illegal.
There's some pre-embargo Havanas still around.
Been in this country since before 1962.
Yeah.
Course now they're You know, the CIA once tried to kill Castro with a poisoned cigar.
No, I know.
In fact, they also found out he liked to scuba dive.
They were gonna try an exploding seashell.
How'd you like to catch that case? Hey, a guy goes boom, you gotta look at who his enemies are.
And those Kennedys seem like so much fun.
Hey Wait, wait.
Let's see where he goes.
This is quiet.
Except for them.
Well, when he gets past them, we can take him.
Take him on what? His dog was spotted at two different crime scenes? Well, he's your kind of guy, Rey.
Well, at least we know where to find him.
He goes by the name of Howard Philips.
We pulled his prints off a garbage bag.
He did a term for assault 10 years ago under the name Howard Jackson.
Anything on his phone tap? His wife making arrangements for their daughter's ballet lessons.
So Mom takes care of the kids, and Dad goes off to work and kills people.
He keeps an office in the Graybar Building.
Listed on the lease as a business consultant.
Well, work it the other way.
Who had a motive to hire him to kill Shepard? Well, Shepard keeps coming up clean.
If you want to sell T-shirts at a rock concert, he's the guy you want to have print them up.
So his business is fine.
How's his marriage? I told your people that night.
I didn't see anybody suspicious, but I wasn't looking out the window.
You were taking care of the Shepards' baby? I do it once in a while.
Billy's a sweet little boy.
You know, when my kids were babies, I used to walk around with them to put them to sleep.
Maybe you walked by the window with Billy? Oh, I was too tired for walking.
They told me they'd be back at 9:00, but the restaurant was crowded.
It was after 10:00.
I'm not a night person.
Did Mrs.
Shepard say anything to you when she came in? I mean, she was pretty upset when we spoke to her.
She was only worried that I'd stacked enough pillows around the baby.
And you two get along? She and Jim moved in five years ago.
I was a widow.
She'd been a widow.
We've always talked.
What happened to her first husband? He had an accident.
Rock climbing in Central Park.
You believe it? That poor girl, left alone with Darlene.
Robin and her current husband, how do they get along? Fine.
And you're close enough so you'd know otherwise? Yes, I would.
He's planning to adopt Darlene, for goodness' sake.
They are very happy.
Well, zero minus one leaves us, I believe, with less than zero.
Is that possible? I don't know, Lennie.
She said the Shepards came home from the restaurant an hour late.
Yeah? So the hit man had time on his hands.
That's why he went looking for cigars and a place to do his crossword.
My kind of hit man.
Right.
The bartender had to watch his dog.
He was in the smoking section.
He couldn't see the street.
So how did he know exactly when Jim Shepard was gonna be walking home from the garage? There's a pay phone at the restaurant where the family had dinner.
We pulled the LUDs and found two calls to a cell phone number owned by a dummy company.
Untraceable.
Mmm.
The kind of thing a hit man would use.
One call was at 9:15, when they were getting dessert.
The other was at 9:45, right when they were leaving.
"Hello, Mr.
Hit Man.
Finish your pie.
Jim Shepard's on the way.
" Who was at this dinner? Darlene, who's eight, the wife, and her former mother-in-law, Estelle Muller.
Split up and talk to the ladies separately, so they can't get their stories straight.
We left the restaurant together.
I took a cab.
Darlene and Robin and Jim got in his car.
And what did you talk about at dinner? I believe there was some discussion of Donkey Kong.
Must be hard seeing your granddaughter without your son being around.
Everything's hard without my son being there.
Until my husband died, I was an assistant in his law office.
Rick worked there while he went to law school.
He was fascinated by criminal law.
He had a very quick mind.
This has to be a mistake.
Nobody has any reason to hurt Jim.
Not even you? I love Jimmy, and he loves me.
Well, somebody doesn't love him.
And we have evidence that says that somebody was with him that night in the restaurant before he was shot.
That'd be you, your daughter, and your former mother-in-law.
What? It can't be anything.
Tell me anyway.
After Rick died, Estelle said some crazy things.
What kind of crazy things? She blamed Jim for Rick's death.
Why? They were together when it happened.
How do you get along with Jim Shepard? All right.
And Robin? They don't fight in front of me.
In front of Darlene? She's never said anything, and we're close.
For the last five years, I've tried to fill some of the role in her life that Rick would've played.
Your son died five years ago? That's right.
The Shepards' neighbor said they moved in five years ago? They married seven months after my son died.
They were playing softball, and on the way out of the park, they were fooling around on some steep rocks, and Rick fell.
So, why was that Jim's fault? It never made any sense, but Estelle kept harping on it, until I finally said I didn't want to hear it anymore.
Or else you would've cut her off from her only grandchild, huh? Did you make a phone call when you left the restaurant? No.
Did Estelle? I didn't see her.
Well, who left the restaurant first? We walked out together.
But then Estelle went back in.
She said she forgot something.
The file on Rick Muller's death five years ago.
It was investigated? Yeah, up to a point.
Jim Shepard came running out of some woods, screaming for help.
A scooter officer found Muller lying on a rock at the bottom of a steep drop.
Shepard was drunk.
He said Muller was, too.
Estelle Muller came into the precinct and said it wasn't possible.
Her son was afraid of heights.
There's no way he'd climb a big rock.
Well, unless he'd had eight or 10 beers.
Which was the attitude the investigating officer took.
Accidental death.
Even after the widow married Jim Shepard? Body was already in the ground.
Case was closed.
And Estelle Muller's been walking around, nursing the mother of all grudges.
But where does she find a hit man? Her husband was a criminal lawyer.
She used to work in his office.
Criminal lawyers know a lot of criminals.
He was a pretty good criminal lawyer.
I remember him.
And too bad he's dead.
His widow might need him.
I asked around.
Here's a list of all his clients anybody remembers.
Vincent Blocker, Steven Sandler, Diane Juliar Plus I ran his name through Westlaw, looking for criminal appeals.
His name came up on a dozen briefs.
People v.
Sloan, People v.
O'Rourke People v.
Morelli.
Morelli? The loan shark who used the same hit man we're looking at here? None other.
He and an associate named Bronson were convicted of extortion.
Mrs.
Muller's husband won their appeal.
They must've been grateful.
Hmm.
Yeah, the guy got me and Morelli off.
That means we were acquitted.
As in innocent.
As in take a hike.
You think we give a crap about some old extortion beef, Bronson? You just came by to play oldies on the jukebox? No, we're looking at an attempted murder.
Guy named Jim Shepard, gunned down on the street.
Never heard of him, and I don't own a gun.
You want to search me? Don't tickle.
We know you didn't pull the trigger, Bronson, but we also know who did.
Therefore you're hassling me.
Why? The shooter's a pro, but you set up the job for the interested party.
You're dreaming.
Your late pal Morelli used this hit man to take out an overdue customer.
You would've known about that.
Uh-huh.
Meanwhile, you'd become acquainted with a lawyer named Muller and his wife, Estelle.
Her, I remember.
She worked in the office.
Well, see? Now we're starting to get someplace.
So when she wanted to hire a hit man, she called you.
You set her up with a guy you knew about.
Now there you lost me again.
Hey, you don't think we're gonna find a trace of this when we rip through your phone records, your money records, and every little piece of your miserable life? Then you're in for attempted murder.
Unless? Did you set the lady up with the shooter? Yeah.
And she won't pay the back half 'cause the job wasn't done, and the shooter is getting very unpleasant on the subject.
Well, then we're gonna make everybody happy.
You just call the lady back, and tell her you found a new man who's gonna finish the job.
He's sitting in that hospital room, drinking milkshakes.
I can take care of that.
No more frozen treats.
But there's a policeman outside the door.
That's why the other man wouldn't try again.
Hey, you know how bored that cop's gotta be by now? Won't be that hard to distract him.
You're not afraid of policemen? They're underpaid.
And, as a group, they're stupid.
What are you going to do? I don't ask you your secrets, do I? He has a way with mature women.
It's a gift, Detective.
I am a little bit curious, though.
I mean, what's your beef with this guy? I shouldn't think a man in your position would want to be too curious.
Hey, it's your nickel, lady.
I'm as curious as you want.
Here's $4,000.
So when do I get the rest? When Jim Shepard is dead.
That's it! Just one more thing, Mrs.
Muller.
How did you know my name? You're under arrest for the attempted murder of James Shepard.
You have the right to remain silent.
Excuse me, Dr.
Sackett.
Howard Philips, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of James Shepard.
You have the right to remain silent.
What are you going to do with my dog? Take her inside.
My wife's there.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Come on.
My kid'll go nuts.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will appointed to you.
"Case numbers 96147 and 96148, "People v.
Howard Philips and People v.
Estelle Muller.
"Charges are Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree, "Attempted Murder, and Assault in the First Degree.
" Pleas? Not guilty.
Not guilty.
This is a case of attempted murder for hire, Your Honor.
Defendant Muller hired defendant Philips, a professional hit man.
Professional, eh? Well, Mrs.
Muller can use her refund to post bond.
Which would give her an opportunity to finish the job.
The People request both defendants held without bail.
My client's roots are in New York.
There's no flight risk.
I think that's what the People are afraid of.
Any argument, Mr.
Kaye? My client doesn't oppose remand.
Well, neither do I.
So ordered.
Next.
Your client likes Rikers? Short-term only.
Clear your schedule for 9:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow.
You're getting an invitation from the U.
S.
Attorney.
You get the hit man, we get to keep Granny Muller? She bought the hit.
That's the one you want to get, isn't it? You're just thinking of our well-being.
Mr.
Philips has done jobs for two major crime families.
He can do us a lot of good.
And himself.
Where are you off to, Mr.
Philips? Hawaii? Florida? He serves an indeterminate term at a federal penitentiary under a new name.
And before he goes, he testifies against Mrs.
Muller.
You are getting your little old lady off the street, and I'm getting a witness against some real bad guys.
I don't see the problem.
James Shepard.
What can I say? I guess the guy's number wasn't up.
It was your intention to kill him? That's what I do.
You and your dog.
Pumpkin takes care of her business, I take care of mine.
And Estelle Muller hired you? Yep.
Takes all kinds, doesn't it? Considering your client's age and the cost of a trial, we'll drop the conspiracy and assault if she pleads to attempted murder.
Well, that's the A felony.
Where's the break? We've got the conversation with Detective Briscoe and the testimony of the original hit man.
We don't have to give you a break.
I'll plead to whatever they want.
Estelle What does it matter? On one condition.
That you prosecute Jim Shepard for the murder of my son.
Your son's death was ruled an accident.
My son wouldn't climb that rock.
He was drunk.
He couldn't get that drunk.
It was a lie.
The police believed it.
Sure.
Who was I? Just the mother, deranged with grief.
Maybe you were.
There was something going on between Robin and Jim.
I saw the looks between them, the way they touched each other.
They killed my son.
If you're so sure, why did you wait until now to do something? Jim Shepard was about to adopt my son's child.
I couldn't bear it.
Blood is thicker.
Yeah.
Maybe Estelle Muller's blood is a little too thick for the arteries going to her brain.
She's willing to plead.
Go figure that one out.
If we follow her orders about whom to prosecute.
Good luck to her.
I have trouble making you follow mine.
I'm tempted, Adam.
She's hiring hit men.
Offering to plead to whatever I want.
She's very sure about this.
Didn't the police look into it five years ago? Sort of.
I called the M.
E.
For Rick Muller's autopsy report.
This is what they sent.
No autopsy.
It was a busy weekend.
They did a physical exam, ran some labs, confirmed alcohol in the blood.
They didn't know the widow had plans to remarry.
You're taking her seriously? She's crazy.
She's out hiring murderers.
You did remarry pretty quickly.
Do you know what I was going through? My husband was dead, and I had a baby.
Jim would come over after Darlene was asleep and bring tea and cookies, and we would sit and talk.
We helped each other through it.
Jim needed help? He blamed himself for Rick's death.
Not the way Estelle did.
But he was the one that brought the beer to the game, and he's the one that wanted to climb the rock.
And there'd been no romance between the two of you before? I never cheated on Rick, and I never wanted to.
And Jim had plenty of other fish to fry.
How do you know? We used the same Laundromat.
He would fold sheets and tell me some amazing things women would do to get straight, single guys like him and his roommate.
Believe me, he didn't need me.
Jimmy had the best possible quality in a roommate.
He traveled a lot.
He was a T-shirt sales rep then.
You had the place to yourself? Yeah, a couple of days a week.
It was great for entertaining the ladies.
I understand you and Shepard were pretty big in that area.
We haven't met, have we? No.
Nothing worse than running into someone you used to bonk and saying, "Nice to meet you.
" They really get mad.
Was Jim Shepard's social life as active as yours? Jimmy didn't have a social life.
Which is kind of weird.
That's not what he told Robin Muller.
Oh, her, he spent time with.
Yeah, he talked about her a lot, too.
She was so much fun, he could really be himself when he was with her.
Do you think he might have done more than just admire her? Jimmy? I guess.
He spent a lot of time at her place.
She said they just did their laundry together.
That, too.
We had machines in the basement.
Jimmy would schlep two bags of clothes around the block.
You think he just liked the soap better over there? I break a sweat trying to put on a shirt.
Hope you're planning to throw away the key.
She's going to prison.
That's good.
We know why you don't like her.
Can you tell us why she hates you? 'Cause she's crazy.
That's it? Well, does the sane person hire a professional killer to shoot somebody for no reason? She says she had one.
Right.
I killed Rick.
I forgot you're actually investigating that.
We understand you were close with Robin before Rick died.
Yeah, close friends.
I only ever saw her 'cause she was my best friend's wife.
And when you went out of your way to do your laundry with her? My laundry? You took it to her Laundromat.
Your roommate says your building had a laundry room.
Yeah, that's right.
And it was full of rats.
And my roommate wouldn't know that because he'd wear the same shirt eight days in a row.
I'm rolling away now.
Don't follow me.
He denies it.
She denies it.
So now you believe they're innocent.
Or you don't think you can prove they're not.
We can find out if there really were rats in that laundry room.
You volunteering for the assignment? Estelle Muller smelled an affair, the roommate smelled an affair, the husband conveniently died, and the two people who swear they weren't having an affair got married.
Hung jury.
I can talk to other people.
Old friends, neighbors.
Sure.
Maybe somebody saw him leaning a ladder against her window.
Is Estelle Muller crazy? She seems sane to me.
You know where Rick Muller's buried.
Dig him up, and have the Medical Examiner do it right this time.
He's very well preserved, Jamie.
Just a little skin sluffing off the hands and feet.
You want to take a look? Maybe later.
I'm holding off cutting open the skull to take out the brain because I think the skull is what you're going to be interested in.
The death certificate said, "Presumed cranial fracture.
" I took some pictures.
Used mammography film for finer detail.
There are two fractures.
They missed one last time.
He fell on his head, then he got up and fell on it again? No, only one of the fractures is consistent with landing from a height of 20 feet onto a flat rock.
And the other? Deeper.
Acute angles.
More forceful.
I keep a bunch of things that people use to crack each other.
Tire irons, pipe wrenches, candlesticks, baseball bat.
Perfect fit.
Hey, what's this? Hey, we're done talking to you people.
That is your legal right.
You're under arrest for the murder of Richard Muller.
You have the right to remain silent.
No! Sorry, ma'am.
Get him dressed.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
I'd bought some Christmas presents for the baby.
I thought I'd drop them off at their apartment instead of taking them home.
What time of day was it? After dinner.
I expected that Darlene would be down for the night and Rick would be home from school.
Was he? No.
He was at the library.
Robin was alone with Jim Shepard.
Please tell the jury what you saw.
Robin opened the door.
The lights were low.
I smelled liquor on her breath.
Her hair was a mess.
Her skirt zipper was halfway down.
She didn't invite me to stay.
Thank you.
Mrs.
Muller, didn't you come to learn that your daughter-in-law was changing her clothes because she'd just returned from playing racquetball, during which time Mr.
Shepard had been babysitting? That's what she said.
She did occasionally play racquetball, didn't she? I didn't believe her.
The Lord gave me a brain.
So, in your good judgment, she was lying? That's right.
The same good judgment that led you to hire a professional hit man to assassinate my client? Objection.
Withdrawn.
Nothing further.
Mrs.
Muller, why were you willing to risk going to jail for the rest of your life to hire that hit man? Because I believe Jim Shepard killed my son.
It was a small two-bedroom, one bath.
It was all we could afford.
I was in school, and Jimmy was basically a traveling T-shirt salesman.
As roommates, did you ever discuss the women in your lives? Sure.
Do you remember what kind of social life Mr.
Shepard had? About average.
Sometimes he had a girlfriend, sometimes he didn't.
To your knowledge, did he spend much time with Robin Muller? To my knowledge, no.
What, if anything, did he say to you about her? Nothing.
Are you sure about that? I don't remember anything.
Do you remember telling my associate, Ms.
Ross, that the defendant spent a great deal of time with Robin Muller, and often spoke of her affectionately? No.
Didn't you tell her Mr.
Shepard talked about Mrs.
Muller a lot? Objection.
Asked and answered.
Sustained.
Do you have anything different, Mr.
McCoy? Mr.
Goldman, where did Mr.
Shepard do his laundry? I have no idea.
Didn't you tell Ms.
Ross that he went out of his way to do it with Mrs.
Muller? Your Honor, he can't cross-examine his own witness.
I can remind him of the truth.
Enough, Mr.
McCoy.
If you have no additional proper questions, this examination is concluded.
Wonderful.
The witness recants, and you almost get held in contempt.
I had to let the jury know he was lying.
Sure.
They were roommates for three years.
Obviously they're still friends.
And now the only witness who put the lovebirds together is Estelle Muller, the woman who tried to have the defendant killed.
We've talked to old friends, neighbors, meter readers.
Robin and Jim Shepard were very discreet.
On their home ground.
He did a lot of traveling.
Find out if the woman ever packed a bag.
He's getting away with it, isn't he? You're losing.
It's not over yet.
I'll be in jail.
Darlene will have his name, as if my son never existed.
Mrs.
Muller, when Robin was married to your son, did she ever go out of town without him? They didn't have much money then, and the baby.
We're trying to find out if she ever sneaked away with Jim Shepard.
You never babysat overnight? Once.
A few weeks before Rick died, Robin went to Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, for her high school reunion.
Leave an empty seat next to you, any riffraff could sit down.
Are you sitting down? You check out Harrisburg? Robin Shepard's reunion was held in a ballroom at the Regent Hotel.
I got their guest register.
She didn't book a room.
James Shepard.
Room 406.
I'm going to call you to the stand.
And you better tell the truth, Robin.
Or I'm going to charge you as conspirator in the murder of your first husband.
What? Why? We know about your rendezvous in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg? The weekend of your high school reunion.
I rendezvoused with 200 classmates, and we danced to golden oldies.
You're going to arrest me? We know Jim Shepard was there.
Yes.
Yeah, I ran into him in the hotel lobby.
It was a coincidence.
He was there on a business trip.
You ran into him? What happened then? I went to the Pep Club cocktail party and sang school songs.
I didn't see Jim again until I got back to New York.
Except across the bed in his hotel room.
You didn't even bother to get a room of your own for appearances' sake.
That's right, because I stayed with Joni Marsh.
I was trying to save money.
She had a double.
I talked to Joni Marsh.
Robin stayed with her? His hotel registration was our smoking gun.
Except it wasn't.
I'll still put it into evidence that they were both in Harrisburg.
Let the jury draw its own conclusion.
Even if it's the wrong conclusion? Maybe it really was a coincidence.
Come on.
Harrisburg? Joni Marsh gave me the names of three women to call.
Between them, they can account for every minute of Robin Shepard's time that weekend.
None of them ever laid eyes on Jim Shepard.
But Robin saw him.
Maybe it was a coincidence, for her.
Rick Muller was my best friend.
I never stop thinking about his death.
If only I hadn't brought the beer.
If only we'd just taken the sidewalk out of the park.
Did you kill Rick Muller, Mr.
Shepard? No, I did not.
The People have presented evidence that you were in Harrisburg at a time when Robin Muller was there without her husband.
Yeah, I was.
But I didn't even know she'd be there.
But you saw her? For a few minutes, yeah.
By chance.
I was working.
Did you have an affair with her that weekend? No.
Did you ever have an affair with her? No.
See, we'd always been friends, the three of us.
And after Rick died, it just became something more.
I mean, we were both surprised when we fell in love.
Thank you.
So, Mr.
Shepard, when you ran into the woman who is now your wife in Harrisburg, it was only for a few minutes? That's right.
What did you talk about? Uh "What are you doing here? What a coincidence.
" That kind of thing.
Did you invite her to join you for a meal? Yeah, I might have.
A drink? Yeah, that would be natural.
But she said no.
She was busy with her reunion.
I see.
You must have been terribly disappointed.
What do you mean? That she rejected your invitation, after you had gone to all the trouble of arranging this supposedly chance meeting.
Oh, I didn't arrange anything.
I didn't know she'd be there.
Right.
You were surprised to see her in the midst of your business trip.
That's right.
At that time, you were working for Atlantic Novelties? Yeah.
I sold T-shirts to concert venues.
I traveled all the time.
Is this your travel booking form for 1991? I'm not sure.
Well, doesn't it say, "Atlantic Novelties.
Travel booking form, 1991.
James Shepard"? Yeah.
Would you show me where it says you took a trip to Harrisburg? It's not on here.
It must be on another sheet.
Really? These are your expense reports for 1991.
You claimed reimbursement for every trip on that list.
Would you show me your expense report for Harrisburg? Uh It's not here.
It's not here because it never existed? No.
Uh You didn't claim reimbursement because it wasn't a business trip.
Isn't it a fact that you went to Harrisburg because you wanted to run into your best friend's wife? Because you were obsessed with her? You asked her to join you for a drink in your room hoping that nature would take its course, but she turned you down.
Is there a question there? Isn't that right, Mr.
Shepard? No.
She turned you down, so you had to find another way to get her for yourself.
Objection.
Argumentative.
Dial it back, Mr.
McCoy.
Fine.
Tell us, Mr.
Shepard, what exactly were you doing in Harrisburg? Well, thanks, Jack.
You just conceded there was no affair.
I hope the jury was listening.
I hope your client's wife was listening.
Were you, Mrs.
Shepard? Hey, she doesn't have to talk to you.
She can if she wants to.
Robin, we're going.
She's got to be looking at every minute of her life with him in a new light.
Got to be interesting.
Rick threw me a birthday dinner at this restaurant in Chinatown, and Jim gave me a bracelet.
It was gold.
I thought it was too expensive, but Jim said he had just gotten a raise.
I didn't think it meant anything.
Were there any other occasions when his behavior seemed inappropriate? Sometimes he sat a little close.
Sometimes he touched me.
We were friends.
Did he do anything to indicate that he wanted to be more than friends? The last New Year's Eve that Rick was alive, we had a party.
I was coming out of the bathroom just at midnight, and Jim was in the bedroom, almost like he was waiting there for me.
He kissed me.
It wasn't a casual kiss.
I pulled away, and he said, "Come on, Robin.
Let's get out of here, just you and me.
" I thought he was drunk, and we both just tried to make a joke out of it.
What did you say? "If only I weren't a married woman.
" Almost a record.
They convicted him in an hour and a half.
How's the wife doing? Shaky.
But she served him with divorce papers on his way out of the courtroom.
Got to be tough finding out you married your stalker.
These are their stories.
Billy fell asleep about an hour ago, on my bed.
Did you I stacked pillows all around him.
He can't fall off unless he levitates.
And how was the big girl's birthday dinner? She had lobster tails, and chocolate mousse, and Jim even gave her a sip of his wine.
Grandma got mad.
I didn't like it anyway.
Jim's parking the car.
When he gets back, we'll carry Billy upstairs.
I was having some tea.
Do you have any coffee? I like coffee.
Police! Police! Over here! What's going on? I don't see anything.
There's a police car.
Darlene, wait here.
I'll be right back.
I just looked over, and he was on the ground.
I knew something was wrong.
I was across the street.
I think I saw somebody running.
Man down, possible gunshot wound to the head.
Put a rush on the bus.
Oh, God Watch out, ma'am.
Do you know him? He's my husband.
We were just around the corner.
Miss Flores flagged us down.
I was coming back from the gym.
I live over there.
I heard something like a pop.
I thought somebody threw a bottle.
Then I saw him lying on the sidewalk.
His wallet was still in his pocket.
Did you see anybody near him? No.
I was pretty far away, and I wasn't wearing my glasses.
How about a car driving by? You see that? I don't know.
Okay, thanks.
How about you? Just give your number to the officer over there, all right? I was walking my dog on the other side of the street, and I looked up when she shouted, and I think I saw someone running around the corner.
What's your name? Dr.
Paul Sackett.
Did you try any first aid, Doc? I'm a podiatrist.
About this person you saw running away It was really just an impression.
Well, tall? Short? Black? White? I'm sorry.
He might have been wearing a dark jacket.
He? I'm presuming.
Well, which way did he or she go? Right down here I'm sorry.
Dog poop.
Don't mention it.
They said there's a bullet in his head.
Did you catch anyone? We really don't know much about what happened yet.
Anything you can tell us might help.
He was just walking back from the garage where we park our car.
Like he does every time we go out.
And you'd been out where? Oh, um A birthday dinner for my 8-year-old.
Her grandmother treated her to the Coach House.
I have to call the babysitter.
I don't know how long I'm going to be here.
You know, maybe your mother should be here with you.
Or is she your husband's? Who? You said you were with your daughter's grandmother? Oh, it's my first husband's mother.
I could call her and have her pick up Darlene.
Yeah, that'd be good.
I can't believe this is happening again.
When my first husband died, they brought him to this hospital.
Mrs.
Shepard Yes? Your husband will be all right.
He's still unconscious.
Thank God.
Thank God.
Doc, you know where to send the bullet.
Your head's tilted this way, your brains are all over the sidewalk.
Your head's tilted that way, you just have a bad headache.
Mr.
Shepard had a good tilt? Yes.
The bullet went in behind his ear at a shallow angle, hit the inside of his skull, and skidded around to the other ear.
Boy, that'll clear out the wax real good.
If you don't mind loud noises.
The striations on the damaged side of the bullet don't match anything in our files.
Yeah, except the inside of his skull.
Which I can't mount on my microscope.
The good side matches this bullet dead on.
Where's this one from? The right brain of the late Jeffrey Zabner, shot dead on East 96th Street two years ago.
Zabner was broke, but he owed $37,000 to a loan shark named Morelli, who'd just about given up any hope of collecting.
So he figured if he couldn't get his money back, he'd at least turn Zabner into a constructive example.
Yeah, so it wasn't a total loss.
Unfortunately, Mr.
Morelli made a point of being in Miami when the guy got hit.
He hired it done.
Sure.
But Morelli wasn't going to tell me about it.
My best chance was with the victim's wife.
She was there when it happened, but she swore she didn't see a thing.
She was afraid she'd be next.
What I figured.
I offered her protection.
I kept going back, but she was still playing dumb when I got this job.
So what kind of a job rates a private office in the NYPD? Liaison between the community relations officers and the deputy chief of administration.
Yeah, well, since you're obviously too busy to pursue this old murder case, maybe you could at least tell us where we could find Morelli? Try Hell.
He's dead.
But I got an address for the victim's widow.
I was petrified, but I didn't see what happened.
I went into this store to get some aspirin.
My husband, he was waiting for me outside.
Right here? No, he walked down the street a little ways.
I heard the shot.
I came out, I saw him on the ground.
He was already dead.
Mrs.
Zabner, whoever shot your husband is still walking around, shooting people.
Anything you can remember might help us.
Don't you think I would have helped then if I could? I didn't see.
Well, what did you see? It was hot.
There was a couple on some steps over there, drinking beer.
Some kids went by with a huge speaker blasting.
There was a man.
He was middle-aged, kind of pudgy.
He was walking a little dog.
Would he be about 5' 8", thinning brown hair, round face? I didn't see his face.
I love animals.
I was looking at the dog.
That's it.
That's the dog.
Thank you.
You better get some other dogs in for a line-up, when you find it.
Speaking of which, how's that going? Well, the dog-walker said his name was Dr.
Paul Sackett.
There's no such person.
Surprise, surprise.
Well, the dog we have nailed.
The guy, she has no idea.
He's pretty damn cool.
Professional killer.
It's part of the job description.
Yeah, if he's a hit man.
Well, did you find anything to link him personally to the victims? We're gonna go talk to the new one.
The son of a bitch.
The gun was in the dog poop bag.
I don't know him.
Who is he? Mr.
Shepard, you know him? No.
Why? We think he may be the man who shot you.
We're gonna place a uniformed officer at your door.
What for? We think this man is a hired killer.
He shot somebody else two years ago.
Who would hire somebody to kill Jimmy? Do you have any ideas? No.
It doesn't make sense.
Mrs.
Shepard, you mind if we talk to your husband alone for a minute? Why? It's okay.
Do you have any ideas? No.
What do you do for a living, Mr.
Shepard? I have a company that prints T-shirts.
Rock group emblems and comic strip characters.
Licensed designs.
You ever do any business with loan sharks? I have a line of credit at Citibank.
We can't protect you if you don't tell us.
There must be some mistake.
So, you think it was a mistake? Oh, sure.
The hit man's a moron.
So we tear Shepard's life apart.
Tall order.
Let's canvass his neighborhood first.
For someone who knows his secret vice? No, for somebody who saw a chubby white guy walking a dog.
He shot the guy down the street? Well, if he was in on Monday, I'd remember.
Slow night.
Uh He had this dog with him.
Yeah.
He tied the mutt to a parking meter.
I kept an eye on it.
Came in around 9:00.
So, you talked to him? Yeah, he saw I sell cigars.
He asked for an Avo Pyramid.
A little high end for me, but I had a couple of Macanudos.
He bought one, and I put him in the smoking section.
What else you talk about? Nothing.
He had the Times.
He was doing a crossword.
And he didn't say anything else? He gave me his order.
Bourbon and lemon meringue pie.
So I talked to some of James Shepard's associates about his T-shirt company.
No bad debts, no bad habits.
Our shooter, on the other hand, drinks bourbon, smokes Avo Pyramids, and eats lemon meringue pie.
Well, you can buy bourbon anywhere, and lemon meringue pie is hard to trace.
Yeah, but it's getting hard to find good cigars ever since Demi Moore and the beautiful people started smoking them.
How many stores keep these Avo Pyramids in stock? Two, three dozen.
Don't inhale.
Two or three dozen.
Like that's nothing.
You want to try bars and bakeries instead? I want to try a place that gives foot massages.
Police.
This guy.
Avo Pyramids.
He has a dog.
Yeah.
Howard something.
Comes by every day or two.
Great.
You know, before I quit, I used to smoke the real thing.
Montecristos, Ramon Allones.
Of course, they're illegal.
There's some pre-embargo Havanas still around.
Been in this country since before 1962.
Yeah.
Course now they're You know, the CIA once tried to kill Castro with a poisoned cigar.
No, I know.
In fact, they also found out he liked to scuba dive.
They were gonna try an exploding seashell.
How'd you like to catch that case? Hey, a guy goes boom, you gotta look at who his enemies are.
And those Kennedys seem like so much fun.
Hey Wait, wait.
Let's see where he goes.
This is quiet.
Except for them.
Well, when he gets past them, we can take him.
Take him on what? His dog was spotted at two different crime scenes? Well, he's your kind of guy, Rey.
Well, at least we know where to find him.
He goes by the name of Howard Philips.
We pulled his prints off a garbage bag.
He did a term for assault 10 years ago under the name Howard Jackson.
Anything on his phone tap? His wife making arrangements for their daughter's ballet lessons.
So Mom takes care of the kids, and Dad goes off to work and kills people.
He keeps an office in the Graybar Building.
Listed on the lease as a business consultant.
Well, work it the other way.
Who had a motive to hire him to kill Shepard? Well, Shepard keeps coming up clean.
If you want to sell T-shirts at a rock concert, he's the guy you want to have print them up.
So his business is fine.
How's his marriage? I told your people that night.
I didn't see anybody suspicious, but I wasn't looking out the window.
You were taking care of the Shepards' baby? I do it once in a while.
Billy's a sweet little boy.
You know, when my kids were babies, I used to walk around with them to put them to sleep.
Maybe you walked by the window with Billy? Oh, I was too tired for walking.
They told me they'd be back at 9:00, but the restaurant was crowded.
It was after 10:00.
I'm not a night person.
Did Mrs.
Shepard say anything to you when she came in? I mean, she was pretty upset when we spoke to her.
She was only worried that I'd stacked enough pillows around the baby.
And you two get along? She and Jim moved in five years ago.
I was a widow.
She'd been a widow.
We've always talked.
What happened to her first husband? He had an accident.
Rock climbing in Central Park.
You believe it? That poor girl, left alone with Darlene.
Robin and her current husband, how do they get along? Fine.
And you're close enough so you'd know otherwise? Yes, I would.
He's planning to adopt Darlene, for goodness' sake.
They are very happy.
Well, zero minus one leaves us, I believe, with less than zero.
Is that possible? I don't know, Lennie.
She said the Shepards came home from the restaurant an hour late.
Yeah? So the hit man had time on his hands.
That's why he went looking for cigars and a place to do his crossword.
My kind of hit man.
Right.
The bartender had to watch his dog.
He was in the smoking section.
He couldn't see the street.
So how did he know exactly when Jim Shepard was gonna be walking home from the garage? There's a pay phone at the restaurant where the family had dinner.
We pulled the LUDs and found two calls to a cell phone number owned by a dummy company.
Untraceable.
Mmm.
The kind of thing a hit man would use.
One call was at 9:15, when they were getting dessert.
The other was at 9:45, right when they were leaving.
"Hello, Mr.
Hit Man.
Finish your pie.
Jim Shepard's on the way.
" Who was at this dinner? Darlene, who's eight, the wife, and her former mother-in-law, Estelle Muller.
Split up and talk to the ladies separately, so they can't get their stories straight.
We left the restaurant together.
I took a cab.
Darlene and Robin and Jim got in his car.
And what did you talk about at dinner? I believe there was some discussion of Donkey Kong.
Must be hard seeing your granddaughter without your son being around.
Everything's hard without my son being there.
Until my husband died, I was an assistant in his law office.
Rick worked there while he went to law school.
He was fascinated by criminal law.
He had a very quick mind.
This has to be a mistake.
Nobody has any reason to hurt Jim.
Not even you? I love Jimmy, and he loves me.
Well, somebody doesn't love him.
And we have evidence that says that somebody was with him that night in the restaurant before he was shot.
That'd be you, your daughter, and your former mother-in-law.
What? It can't be anything.
Tell me anyway.
After Rick died, Estelle said some crazy things.
What kind of crazy things? She blamed Jim for Rick's death.
Why? They were together when it happened.
How do you get along with Jim Shepard? All right.
And Robin? They don't fight in front of me.
In front of Darlene? She's never said anything, and we're close.
For the last five years, I've tried to fill some of the role in her life that Rick would've played.
Your son died five years ago? That's right.
The Shepards' neighbor said they moved in five years ago? They married seven months after my son died.
They were playing softball, and on the way out of the park, they were fooling around on some steep rocks, and Rick fell.
So, why was that Jim's fault? It never made any sense, but Estelle kept harping on it, until I finally said I didn't want to hear it anymore.
Or else you would've cut her off from her only grandchild, huh? Did you make a phone call when you left the restaurant? No.
Did Estelle? I didn't see her.
Well, who left the restaurant first? We walked out together.
But then Estelle went back in.
She said she forgot something.
The file on Rick Muller's death five years ago.
It was investigated? Yeah, up to a point.
Jim Shepard came running out of some woods, screaming for help.
A scooter officer found Muller lying on a rock at the bottom of a steep drop.
Shepard was drunk.
He said Muller was, too.
Estelle Muller came into the precinct and said it wasn't possible.
Her son was afraid of heights.
There's no way he'd climb a big rock.
Well, unless he'd had eight or 10 beers.
Which was the attitude the investigating officer took.
Accidental death.
Even after the widow married Jim Shepard? Body was already in the ground.
Case was closed.
And Estelle Muller's been walking around, nursing the mother of all grudges.
But where does she find a hit man? Her husband was a criminal lawyer.
She used to work in his office.
Criminal lawyers know a lot of criminals.
He was a pretty good criminal lawyer.
I remember him.
And too bad he's dead.
His widow might need him.
I asked around.
Here's a list of all his clients anybody remembers.
Vincent Blocker, Steven Sandler, Diane Juliar Plus I ran his name through Westlaw, looking for criminal appeals.
His name came up on a dozen briefs.
People v.
Sloan, People v.
O'Rourke People v.
Morelli.
Morelli? The loan shark who used the same hit man we're looking at here? None other.
He and an associate named Bronson were convicted of extortion.
Mrs.
Muller's husband won their appeal.
They must've been grateful.
Hmm.
Yeah, the guy got me and Morelli off.
That means we were acquitted.
As in innocent.
As in take a hike.
You think we give a crap about some old extortion beef, Bronson? You just came by to play oldies on the jukebox? No, we're looking at an attempted murder.
Guy named Jim Shepard, gunned down on the street.
Never heard of him, and I don't own a gun.
You want to search me? Don't tickle.
We know you didn't pull the trigger, Bronson, but we also know who did.
Therefore you're hassling me.
Why? The shooter's a pro, but you set up the job for the interested party.
You're dreaming.
Your late pal Morelli used this hit man to take out an overdue customer.
You would've known about that.
Uh-huh.
Meanwhile, you'd become acquainted with a lawyer named Muller and his wife, Estelle.
Her, I remember.
She worked in the office.
Well, see? Now we're starting to get someplace.
So when she wanted to hire a hit man, she called you.
You set her up with a guy you knew about.
Now there you lost me again.
Hey, you don't think we're gonna find a trace of this when we rip through your phone records, your money records, and every little piece of your miserable life? Then you're in for attempted murder.
Unless? Did you set the lady up with the shooter? Yeah.
And she won't pay the back half 'cause the job wasn't done, and the shooter is getting very unpleasant on the subject.
Well, then we're gonna make everybody happy.
You just call the lady back, and tell her you found a new man who's gonna finish the job.
He's sitting in that hospital room, drinking milkshakes.
I can take care of that.
No more frozen treats.
But there's a policeman outside the door.
That's why the other man wouldn't try again.
Hey, you know how bored that cop's gotta be by now? Won't be that hard to distract him.
You're not afraid of policemen? They're underpaid.
And, as a group, they're stupid.
What are you going to do? I don't ask you your secrets, do I? He has a way with mature women.
It's a gift, Detective.
I am a little bit curious, though.
I mean, what's your beef with this guy? I shouldn't think a man in your position would want to be too curious.
Hey, it's your nickel, lady.
I'm as curious as you want.
Here's $4,000.
So when do I get the rest? When Jim Shepard is dead.
That's it! Just one more thing, Mrs.
Muller.
How did you know my name? You're under arrest for the attempted murder of James Shepard.
You have the right to remain silent.
Excuse me, Dr.
Sackett.
Howard Philips, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of James Shepard.
You have the right to remain silent.
What are you going to do with my dog? Take her inside.
My wife's there.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
Come on.
My kid'll go nuts.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will appointed to you.
"Case numbers 96147 and 96148, "People v.
Howard Philips and People v.
Estelle Muller.
"Charges are Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree, "Attempted Murder, and Assault in the First Degree.
" Pleas? Not guilty.
Not guilty.
This is a case of attempted murder for hire, Your Honor.
Defendant Muller hired defendant Philips, a professional hit man.
Professional, eh? Well, Mrs.
Muller can use her refund to post bond.
Which would give her an opportunity to finish the job.
The People request both defendants held without bail.
My client's roots are in New York.
There's no flight risk.
I think that's what the People are afraid of.
Any argument, Mr.
Kaye? My client doesn't oppose remand.
Well, neither do I.
So ordered.
Next.
Your client likes Rikers? Short-term only.
Clear your schedule for 9:00 a.
m.
Tomorrow.
You're getting an invitation from the U.
S.
Attorney.
You get the hit man, we get to keep Granny Muller? She bought the hit.
That's the one you want to get, isn't it? You're just thinking of our well-being.
Mr.
Philips has done jobs for two major crime families.
He can do us a lot of good.
And himself.
Where are you off to, Mr.
Philips? Hawaii? Florida? He serves an indeterminate term at a federal penitentiary under a new name.
And before he goes, he testifies against Mrs.
Muller.
You are getting your little old lady off the street, and I'm getting a witness against some real bad guys.
I don't see the problem.
James Shepard.
What can I say? I guess the guy's number wasn't up.
It was your intention to kill him? That's what I do.
You and your dog.
Pumpkin takes care of her business, I take care of mine.
And Estelle Muller hired you? Yep.
Takes all kinds, doesn't it? Considering your client's age and the cost of a trial, we'll drop the conspiracy and assault if she pleads to attempted murder.
Well, that's the A felony.
Where's the break? We've got the conversation with Detective Briscoe and the testimony of the original hit man.
We don't have to give you a break.
I'll plead to whatever they want.
Estelle What does it matter? On one condition.
That you prosecute Jim Shepard for the murder of my son.
Your son's death was ruled an accident.
My son wouldn't climb that rock.
He was drunk.
He couldn't get that drunk.
It was a lie.
The police believed it.
Sure.
Who was I? Just the mother, deranged with grief.
Maybe you were.
There was something going on between Robin and Jim.
I saw the looks between them, the way they touched each other.
They killed my son.
If you're so sure, why did you wait until now to do something? Jim Shepard was about to adopt my son's child.
I couldn't bear it.
Blood is thicker.
Yeah.
Maybe Estelle Muller's blood is a little too thick for the arteries going to her brain.
She's willing to plead.
Go figure that one out.
If we follow her orders about whom to prosecute.
Good luck to her.
I have trouble making you follow mine.
I'm tempted, Adam.
She's hiring hit men.
Offering to plead to whatever I want.
She's very sure about this.
Didn't the police look into it five years ago? Sort of.
I called the M.
E.
For Rick Muller's autopsy report.
This is what they sent.
No autopsy.
It was a busy weekend.
They did a physical exam, ran some labs, confirmed alcohol in the blood.
They didn't know the widow had plans to remarry.
You're taking her seriously? She's crazy.
She's out hiring murderers.
You did remarry pretty quickly.
Do you know what I was going through? My husband was dead, and I had a baby.
Jim would come over after Darlene was asleep and bring tea and cookies, and we would sit and talk.
We helped each other through it.
Jim needed help? He blamed himself for Rick's death.
Not the way Estelle did.
But he was the one that brought the beer to the game, and he's the one that wanted to climb the rock.
And there'd been no romance between the two of you before? I never cheated on Rick, and I never wanted to.
And Jim had plenty of other fish to fry.
How do you know? We used the same Laundromat.
He would fold sheets and tell me some amazing things women would do to get straight, single guys like him and his roommate.
Believe me, he didn't need me.
Jimmy had the best possible quality in a roommate.
He traveled a lot.
He was a T-shirt sales rep then.
You had the place to yourself? Yeah, a couple of days a week.
It was great for entertaining the ladies.
I understand you and Shepard were pretty big in that area.
We haven't met, have we? No.
Nothing worse than running into someone you used to bonk and saying, "Nice to meet you.
" They really get mad.
Was Jim Shepard's social life as active as yours? Jimmy didn't have a social life.
Which is kind of weird.
That's not what he told Robin Muller.
Oh, her, he spent time with.
Yeah, he talked about her a lot, too.
She was so much fun, he could really be himself when he was with her.
Do you think he might have done more than just admire her? Jimmy? I guess.
He spent a lot of time at her place.
She said they just did their laundry together.
That, too.
We had machines in the basement.
Jimmy would schlep two bags of clothes around the block.
You think he just liked the soap better over there? I break a sweat trying to put on a shirt.
Hope you're planning to throw away the key.
She's going to prison.
That's good.
We know why you don't like her.
Can you tell us why she hates you? 'Cause she's crazy.
That's it? Well, does the sane person hire a professional killer to shoot somebody for no reason? She says she had one.
Right.
I killed Rick.
I forgot you're actually investigating that.
We understand you were close with Robin before Rick died.
Yeah, close friends.
I only ever saw her 'cause she was my best friend's wife.
And when you went out of your way to do your laundry with her? My laundry? You took it to her Laundromat.
Your roommate says your building had a laundry room.
Yeah, that's right.
And it was full of rats.
And my roommate wouldn't know that because he'd wear the same shirt eight days in a row.
I'm rolling away now.
Don't follow me.
He denies it.
She denies it.
So now you believe they're innocent.
Or you don't think you can prove they're not.
We can find out if there really were rats in that laundry room.
You volunteering for the assignment? Estelle Muller smelled an affair, the roommate smelled an affair, the husband conveniently died, and the two people who swear they weren't having an affair got married.
Hung jury.
I can talk to other people.
Old friends, neighbors.
Sure.
Maybe somebody saw him leaning a ladder against her window.
Is Estelle Muller crazy? She seems sane to me.
You know where Rick Muller's buried.
Dig him up, and have the Medical Examiner do it right this time.
He's very well preserved, Jamie.
Just a little skin sluffing off the hands and feet.
You want to take a look? Maybe later.
I'm holding off cutting open the skull to take out the brain because I think the skull is what you're going to be interested in.
The death certificate said, "Presumed cranial fracture.
" I took some pictures.
Used mammography film for finer detail.
There are two fractures.
They missed one last time.
He fell on his head, then he got up and fell on it again? No, only one of the fractures is consistent with landing from a height of 20 feet onto a flat rock.
And the other? Deeper.
Acute angles.
More forceful.
I keep a bunch of things that people use to crack each other.
Tire irons, pipe wrenches, candlesticks, baseball bat.
Perfect fit.
Hey, what's this? Hey, we're done talking to you people.
That is your legal right.
You're under arrest for the murder of Richard Muller.
You have the right to remain silent.
No! Sorry, ma'am.
Get him dressed.
Anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney.
If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
I'd bought some Christmas presents for the baby.
I thought I'd drop them off at their apartment instead of taking them home.
What time of day was it? After dinner.
I expected that Darlene would be down for the night and Rick would be home from school.
Was he? No.
He was at the library.
Robin was alone with Jim Shepard.
Please tell the jury what you saw.
Robin opened the door.
The lights were low.
I smelled liquor on her breath.
Her hair was a mess.
Her skirt zipper was halfway down.
She didn't invite me to stay.
Thank you.
Mrs.
Muller, didn't you come to learn that your daughter-in-law was changing her clothes because she'd just returned from playing racquetball, during which time Mr.
Shepard had been babysitting? That's what she said.
She did occasionally play racquetball, didn't she? I didn't believe her.
The Lord gave me a brain.
So, in your good judgment, she was lying? That's right.
The same good judgment that led you to hire a professional hit man to assassinate my client? Objection.
Withdrawn.
Nothing further.
Mrs.
Muller, why were you willing to risk going to jail for the rest of your life to hire that hit man? Because I believe Jim Shepard killed my son.
It was a small two-bedroom, one bath.
It was all we could afford.
I was in school, and Jimmy was basically a traveling T-shirt salesman.
As roommates, did you ever discuss the women in your lives? Sure.
Do you remember what kind of social life Mr.
Shepard had? About average.
Sometimes he had a girlfriend, sometimes he didn't.
To your knowledge, did he spend much time with Robin Muller? To my knowledge, no.
What, if anything, did he say to you about her? Nothing.
Are you sure about that? I don't remember anything.
Do you remember telling my associate, Ms.
Ross, that the defendant spent a great deal of time with Robin Muller, and often spoke of her affectionately? No.
Didn't you tell her Mr.
Shepard talked about Mrs.
Muller a lot? Objection.
Asked and answered.
Sustained.
Do you have anything different, Mr.
McCoy? Mr.
Goldman, where did Mr.
Shepard do his laundry? I have no idea.
Didn't you tell Ms.
Ross that he went out of his way to do it with Mrs.
Muller? Your Honor, he can't cross-examine his own witness.
I can remind him of the truth.
Enough, Mr.
McCoy.
If you have no additional proper questions, this examination is concluded.
Wonderful.
The witness recants, and you almost get held in contempt.
I had to let the jury know he was lying.
Sure.
They were roommates for three years.
Obviously they're still friends.
And now the only witness who put the lovebirds together is Estelle Muller, the woman who tried to have the defendant killed.
We've talked to old friends, neighbors, meter readers.
Robin and Jim Shepard were very discreet.
On their home ground.
He did a lot of traveling.
Find out if the woman ever packed a bag.
He's getting away with it, isn't he? You're losing.
It's not over yet.
I'll be in jail.
Darlene will have his name, as if my son never existed.
Mrs.
Muller, when Robin was married to your son, did she ever go out of town without him? They didn't have much money then, and the baby.
We're trying to find out if she ever sneaked away with Jim Shepard.
You never babysat overnight? Once.
A few weeks before Rick died, Robin went to Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, for her high school reunion.
Leave an empty seat next to you, any riffraff could sit down.
Are you sitting down? You check out Harrisburg? Robin Shepard's reunion was held in a ballroom at the Regent Hotel.
I got their guest register.
She didn't book a room.
James Shepard.
Room 406.
I'm going to call you to the stand.
And you better tell the truth, Robin.
Or I'm going to charge you as conspirator in the murder of your first husband.
What? Why? We know about your rendezvous in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg? The weekend of your high school reunion.
I rendezvoused with 200 classmates, and we danced to golden oldies.
You're going to arrest me? We know Jim Shepard was there.
Yes.
Yeah, I ran into him in the hotel lobby.
It was a coincidence.
He was there on a business trip.
You ran into him? What happened then? I went to the Pep Club cocktail party and sang school songs.
I didn't see Jim again until I got back to New York.
Except across the bed in his hotel room.
You didn't even bother to get a room of your own for appearances' sake.
That's right, because I stayed with Joni Marsh.
I was trying to save money.
She had a double.
I talked to Joni Marsh.
Robin stayed with her? His hotel registration was our smoking gun.
Except it wasn't.
I'll still put it into evidence that they were both in Harrisburg.
Let the jury draw its own conclusion.
Even if it's the wrong conclusion? Maybe it really was a coincidence.
Come on.
Harrisburg? Joni Marsh gave me the names of three women to call.
Between them, they can account for every minute of Robin Shepard's time that weekend.
None of them ever laid eyes on Jim Shepard.
But Robin saw him.
Maybe it was a coincidence, for her.
Rick Muller was my best friend.
I never stop thinking about his death.
If only I hadn't brought the beer.
If only we'd just taken the sidewalk out of the park.
Did you kill Rick Muller, Mr.
Shepard? No, I did not.
The People have presented evidence that you were in Harrisburg at a time when Robin Muller was there without her husband.
Yeah, I was.
But I didn't even know she'd be there.
But you saw her? For a few minutes, yeah.
By chance.
I was working.
Did you have an affair with her that weekend? No.
Did you ever have an affair with her? No.
See, we'd always been friends, the three of us.
And after Rick died, it just became something more.
I mean, we were both surprised when we fell in love.
Thank you.
So, Mr.
Shepard, when you ran into the woman who is now your wife in Harrisburg, it was only for a few minutes? That's right.
What did you talk about? Uh "What are you doing here? What a coincidence.
" That kind of thing.
Did you invite her to join you for a meal? Yeah, I might have.
A drink? Yeah, that would be natural.
But she said no.
She was busy with her reunion.
I see.
You must have been terribly disappointed.
What do you mean? That she rejected your invitation, after you had gone to all the trouble of arranging this supposedly chance meeting.
Oh, I didn't arrange anything.
I didn't know she'd be there.
Right.
You were surprised to see her in the midst of your business trip.
That's right.
At that time, you were working for Atlantic Novelties? Yeah.
I sold T-shirts to concert venues.
I traveled all the time.
Is this your travel booking form for 1991? I'm not sure.
Well, doesn't it say, "Atlantic Novelties.
Travel booking form, 1991.
James Shepard"? Yeah.
Would you show me where it says you took a trip to Harrisburg? It's not on here.
It must be on another sheet.
Really? These are your expense reports for 1991.
You claimed reimbursement for every trip on that list.
Would you show me your expense report for Harrisburg? Uh It's not here.
It's not here because it never existed? No.
Uh You didn't claim reimbursement because it wasn't a business trip.
Isn't it a fact that you went to Harrisburg because you wanted to run into your best friend's wife? Because you were obsessed with her? You asked her to join you for a drink in your room hoping that nature would take its course, but she turned you down.
Is there a question there? Isn't that right, Mr.
Shepard? No.
She turned you down, so you had to find another way to get her for yourself.
Objection.
Argumentative.
Dial it back, Mr.
McCoy.
Fine.
Tell us, Mr.
Shepard, what exactly were you doing in Harrisburg? Well, thanks, Jack.
You just conceded there was no affair.
I hope the jury was listening.
I hope your client's wife was listening.
Were you, Mrs.
Shepard? Hey, she doesn't have to talk to you.
She can if she wants to.
Robin, we're going.
She's got to be looking at every minute of her life with him in a new light.
Got to be interesting.
Rick threw me a birthday dinner at this restaurant in Chinatown, and Jim gave me a bracelet.
It was gold.
I thought it was too expensive, but Jim said he had just gotten a raise.
I didn't think it meant anything.
Were there any other occasions when his behavior seemed inappropriate? Sometimes he sat a little close.
Sometimes he touched me.
We were friends.
Did he do anything to indicate that he wanted to be more than friends? The last New Year's Eve that Rick was alive, we had a party.
I was coming out of the bathroom just at midnight, and Jim was in the bedroom, almost like he was waiting there for me.
He kissed me.
It wasn't a casual kiss.
I pulled away, and he said, "Come on, Robin.
Let's get out of here, just you and me.
" I thought he was drunk, and we both just tried to make a joke out of it.
What did you say? "If only I weren't a married woman.
" Almost a record.
They convicted him in an hour and a half.
How's the wife doing? Shaky.
But she served him with divorce papers on his way out of the courtroom.
Got to be tough finding out you married your stalker.