American Gothic (2016): Season 1, Episode 11 - Freedom from Fear - full transcript

Previously on American Gothic...

JENNIFER: The police believe

the Silver Bells
Killer had an accomplice.

He did.

BRADY: If you're willing to
come clean, tell the entire truth

about your role in the
Silver Bells killings,

that would be an
incredible showing of good faith.

Listen, I need to get out of here now.

I'm gonna be a father.

BRADY: I don't think Mitchell

ever did actually own the knife.



I think it was Garrett's all along.

STORE MANAGER: Good choice.

Top-of-the-line corn grinder.

Little late in the season

to be harvesting corn.

(leaves rustling, crickets chirping)

(grinder whirring)

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

(grunting)

(loud grinding)

Don't move!

We need to talk.

We know you've been lying to us.

We talked to your old boyfriend.



The body on the stairs wasn't him.

(panting)

What is that?

Whose body is that, Garrett?

Garrett, answer me.

All right.

Put your hands on your
head. I'm arresting you,

and I'm taking you back to Boston.

Garrett, put your hands on your head.

I'm not going back to prison.

You're digging up a body.

You're already linked to a murder.

You are out of options.

That's not how I see it.

No.

I'm not going home to my pregnant wife

to her I had to kill her
brother before he could kill me.

I don't want to do that to Tessa.

Do you?

There's another way to do this.

I just want you to start talking to me.

Tell me what's happened.

It can be easy.

There's no other way, Garrett.

Someone put these in my purse.

What are you talking about?

It's a message.

Did you lock the door?

When you came in, did you lock the door?

Yes, Mom, what is going on?

You need to know the whole story.

Because I think we're in danger.

It all started with you.

YOUNG ALISON: Oh, Mom, those
cookies smell amazing

- (Alison and Madeline chuckle)
- Thank you.

You have to try one of
Mom's cookies, they're the best.

♪ Silver bells... ♪

- Here. (laughs)
- (laughing): No.

TOM: How about this one?

Tom, you need to look
capable, approachable.

This looks like you just
won a beer pong tournament.

(Tom and Alison laugh)

No, I want you to win. If
you're class president,

you'll have the dean's ear,

You be able to push real issues

like disability access and LGBT rights...

(garbled): What's LGBT?

Tessa, don't talk with a
thermometer in your mouth.

And Ali, try not to
get glue on my table.

Oh, we put newspaper down.

Well, except there's a...

hole in this one.

Yeah, Dad loves
clipping his true crime stories.

He thinks he's gonna solve one one day.

- Maybe he will. - Oh.
- (thermometer beeps)

Ah, 100.2.

You, my dear,

are officially sick.

We should get you to bed.

- Before we finish our game?
- Yes.

Don't you think so, Garrett?

Well, I've got 20 minutes to
kill before I meet Molly.

MITCHELL: Ali...

did you send that
box of tax returns over

to the new accounting firm?

- Stanbury Newcomb?
- Yeah.

I just got a call. I think
you may have sent over a box

of old payroll files by accident.

Oh, sorry, I've just
been so caught up with finals

and Tom's campaign.

MITCHELL: No problem.

I'll just get over there and get them.

ALISON: Has anyone seen Cam?

He supposed to help
us design these posters.

He's, uh, uh, at Toby's house studying.

GARRETT: Studying?

It's possible. Toby's
a straight-A student,

so maybe his good
habits are rubbing off on Cam.

TOBY: I'm more of a
supplier than a dealer.

(rock song playing over radio)

I just like to help my friends out.

But man, Cam, you're
gonna put me through college.

You're hauling ass through these things.

My shoulder's still killing
me from that cross-check

I took against Milton.

There is a cheaper option.

Is that what I think it is?

Depends, do you think it's heroin?

(chuckles)

Where'd you even get that stuff?

Flew down to Colombia last weekend.

Swallowed a balloon full of the stuff.

From my cousin, he sells a little.

Look, I told him I
could maybe move some.

Look, anyway, it's-it's super mellow,

and it's cheap.

Nah, I'm good with these.

And maybe some of these.

(chuckles)

MITCHELL: That stuff is strong.

I know.

She went out like a light.

How did it go at the
accountant's office?

Did you get the payroll files back?

Did he see them?

Did he realize?

Well, offer him money.

Whatever it takes.

I don't know if he can be bought.

Then call our lawyer.

See if you can find a way out of this

that you haven't thought of.

Wait for my signal,

then come in.

Well, if they prosecute,

what am I looking at? Ballpark?

(lock unlatches, alarm beeps)

(keypad beeps, then alarm stops)

(quiet rustling)

(thunder crash, Tessa screams)

(grunting)

Tessa.

You all right, sweetheart?

MADELINE: (gasps) Mitch.

Take her back to her room.

I pushed a man down the stairs?

I don't remember that.

Did he...

Did he live?

(sighs)

I killed someone?

It gets more complicated than that.

He's dead.

(sighs)

(whispers): What is that?

(bell jingling)

The man you pushed down the stairs

was the Silver Bells Killer.

BRADY: That's your story?

Tessa pushed the real
SBK down the stairs?

That's the beginning of it.

MOLLY: Who would I kill?

Definitely kill Ross.

Marry Chandler.

(snorts) I like his last name.

- Bing! (laughs)
- Oh.

I like the sound of that.

Molly Bing.

So you'd change your last name.

Maybe.

Well, if you do, I think

you can do better than "Molly Bing""

You need something strong and literary.

With two syllables.

Careful what you say.

I'll hold you to it.

(laughs)

(phone ringing)

Hello?

Tessa, what's wrong?

GARRETT: She sounded foggy,

confused, very upset.

She wanted me to come home right away.

When I got there,

I saw a body crumpled on the stairs.

Then my parents

showed me who he was.

The bag,

the rope,

the bells.

They call the police?

No.

No, they said they
didn't want to do that.

Why not?

MITCHELL: Think it through, Garrett.

The press descends on this place,

we're defined by this forever.

MADELINE: And Tessa...

She's already so... fragile.

But to know she came
so close to a monster

and that she killed him?

It's horrifying. It'll haunt her.

- There's-these's no choice here.
We have... - Yes, there is.

We can dispose of the body.

No one needs to know.

What?

That's...

This is crazy.

Why?

He won't be missed.

And the world will be far
better off without him.

And Tessa will be

better off not
knowing how close she came.

But she was there.

She'll remember.

MADELINE: She's running a fever.

She's groggy and confused.

But if you tell her

that it was nothing,

that it was another bad dream,

she'll believe you.

She trusts you more than
anyone else in the world.

GARRETT: So I did what they said.

I told her it was just another
one of her nightmares.

And she believed me.

Tomorrow, you're going to wake up

and you're going to feel better.

I remember Garrett

comforting me after a nightmare.

But SBK was here

to kill one of us?

And you stopped him, thank God.

CAM: So...

the real SBK

was the body I saw

dragged down the stairs that night.

Yes.

Okay.

CAM: Crap.

What?

Lights are on.

My parents are awake.

Why are they awake?

That sucks, man.

(exhales)

But you're still gonna have
to get out of my car.

CAM: A 'shroom...

for the road.

Oh.

(unfastens seatbelt)

God...

♪

(chuckles softly)

(footsteps approach, thump)

(footsteps, thumping continue)

(thumping)

GARRETT: I went into autopilot.

Told myself that I was

being a good big brother.

That I was protecting Tessa.

Anyway...

we needed to get rid of the body...

somewhere no one could
find it, so I came up here.

Alone?

I put the body in the back of the car,

threw a tarp over it,

and I was here in a few hours.

Wasn't meant to be complicated.

(Garrett grunts)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

GARRETT: I turned around,

and he wasn't there.

He was just gone.

(Garrett panting)

(grunts)

(both grunting)

♪ ♪

(panting)

- (grunts)
- (groans)

(grunting)

(grunts)

(SBK breathing unsteadily)

(knife slides free)

(groans)

(panting)

I kept the knife.

Why?

It was a reminder that
I had to do what I did.

That if I hadn't fought back,

I'd be the one that was dead.

A decade and a half we've
been looking for this guy,

and he was buried up
here the whole time.

Who else knew what happened?

MADELINE: Garrett?

What did you do?

He tried to kill me.

I had to fight back.

Oh...

I'm here. I'm here.

Tell me what happened.

It tortured me thinking
about what he had to do.

And what we convinced him to do.

He was traumatized. Of course he was.

You put him through hell.

He had to kill or be killed.

This doesn't add up.

How is Dad's DNA on the belt?

After the incident...

...your father was

trying to get the payroll files back

that you'd accidentally sent...

What does that matter?

Just answer the question.

Listen to me.

The files are a part of this.

Two and a half million dollars.

That's how you
thought this was gonna go?

Cover a crime with another crime?

You stole from your own employees,

took money from their 401 kays,

and then put it in a company slush fund.

We used that money to land a
major construction contract.

Fraud!

A contract that kept our
workers employed for years to come.

You took that money from your workers,

from families, from children!

How can I let that go and
then look my daughter in the eye?

I'm not giving back the files.

I'm giving them to the
State Attorney General.

Mr. Morales, please.

There's got to be
something we can do about this.

I'm not changing my mind.

Three million.

(sighs)

Put it toward
restitution for your victims.

- Four.
- Enough!

I need you to leave.

MOLLY: I think I
know where this is going.

He's gonna show up again

right when she's moved on.

WOMAN (over TV): Uh, um...

I... I started a project.

I was finishing a project.

MAN: Brought you coffee, but I...

(turns down TV)

You all right?

I'm just tired.

You sure?

(news theme plays over TV)

What is it?

ANNOUNCER: We interrupt
your regularly scheduled program

for a breaking news report.

Stanbury Newcomb
accountant David Morales

was found strangled this morning

in what appears to be the
sixth Silver Bells killing

in three years.

A string of murders
that have continued...

It's not possible.

...to stump authorities
and grip this city...

GARRETT: My dad killed him.

That's why he wanted
me to get rid of the body.

It was never about protecting Tessa.

He manipulated me.

So that he had cover.

A scapegoat.

So that he could silence David Morales

to save himself.

And in doing that...

he made me a killer.

Just like him.

So Dad wasn't Silver Bells.

He was a copycat.

He didn't kill

out of some compulsion or sickness...

But to protect his fortune?

TESSA: Why didn't you tell us

when we found the bells?

Or when the DNA matched the belt?

You made us think he was a monster.

He was.

He was still a killer.

It seemed better to
let it all die with him.

Did you know that he was
gonna kill David Morales?

Of course not.

TESSA: It doesn't matter, Mom.

You went along with it for years.

I kept telling myself that this was

a desperate effort to keep us safe.

You should've turned him in.

And if I had,

do you think for one second

you'd be in the position you are now?

Days from potentially

being elected mayor?

Your father would've gone to prison.

Garrett would've gone to prison.

I might've, too.

And I couldn't do
that to the rest of you.

You were starting down

a bad road, Cam.

And you were just a child.

All of you needed

your family intact.

Mom said Tom lost the election.

Yeah, he, uh,
couldn't get the Greek vote.

How come you didn't run?

Because you have to have a certain...

Because, uh... I'm not as...

(chuckles) I don't know.

That's a fair question.

There's always senior year.

I bet you'd get the Greek vote.

Cam said he's not sure

he even wanted to go to college.

Bet that went over well with Mom.

MADELINE: I can't believe this.

Do you know how easy it is
to get hooked on this stuff?

- (toilet flushes)
- (faint shouting in distance)

MITCHELL: I would've gone to prison!

GARRETT: You should go to prison!

He tried to rationalize it.

He tried to rationalize murder.

Imagine what it's like

to stand across from your father

and have him admit that he's a killer.

That he strangled an innocent man.

He took a belt,

he wrapped it around
his neck and he squeezed

the life out of him.

Can you imagine that?

So I went to my mom.

It was Dad.

He killed David Morales.

And he made it look like SBK,

because nobody else knows SBK is dead.

No, there's no way.

He admitted it, Mom.

He told me.

And she was horrified.

Said she had no idea.

None.

We need to call the police.

No.

No.

What?

She said that whatever he did,

he did it to protect the family.

That he was wrong, but
that he did it for us.

And she didn't want to turn him in.

You're going to stand beside a killer?

Well, then I'll go to the police myself.

No, you won't!

You killed someone, too, Garrett.

If you call the police on your father,

you're gonna go to
jail right alongside him.

It was self-defense!

You took a body...

and drove it to Maine to bury it.

You paved the way for a copycat murder.

That doesn't look like self-defense.

That looks like you and your
father were working together.

I couldn't stand to look at her.

Or him.

It was all over the news.

Pictures of David Morales.

Christina.

I couldn't stand it.

But I also couldn't come forward.

Not without ruining everyone's
lives, including my own.

The only thing I could
think to do was to start over.

So one night...

I left.

(crickets chirping)

Hey, Cam?

My mom flushed my pills.

Got to give me more.

That's gonna take me a couple weeks.

Look, here.

No, no. Those messed me up.

Made me hallucinate.

It was bad.

(sighs) Well,

still got this H.

Uh, do... do I, like, inject it?

Nah, you... you can snort it.

MITCHELL: What if we lose him forever?

Garrett just needs time to
come to terms with what happened.

He'll come back.

What if he decides...

he can't...

live with the secret anymore?

If he was going to
talk, he would have already.

We just need to put this behind us.

How?

By pretending it never happened.

And making a promise to each other

never to speak of it again.

We thought it was our secret.

We didn't know there
was anybody else out there.

An accomplice.

And now they're back.

CAM: Okay.

That is just about all the crazy

I can take for today.

Somebody broke into this house

and put those bells in my purse.

ALISON: You could have
put them there yourself.

What?

TESSA: She's right.

Why should we believe a word you say?

You've been lying to us for years.

MADELINE: I was protecting you.

The same reason I'm
telling you the truth now,

because we're in danger.

There is an accomplice.

And whoever it is killed
Jennifer Windham

and that poor blind woman...

That doesn't mean they're after us.

CAM: Guys?

(chuckles): This could
just be a manipulation,

a desperate attempt to scare us

into keeping quiet about what you did.

CAM: Guys?

Guys, look at this.

Here in...

It's us.

ALISON: Who could have done this?

W-We've been here.

It's the accomplice.

Taunting us.

Yeah, here's an idea. Why
don't we call the cops,

let them figure it out, so
we can, you know, stay alive.

We can't do that.

You should have done it 14 years ago!

Cam, you are right.

But if we bring in the police now,

we have to tell them everything.

And Garrett will go to jail,

after everything he's been through.

(mumbles): Yeah.

BRADY: Why take the risk?

Why come back up
here after all this time

and dig up these bones?

Well, I figured if I got rid
of the one piece of evidence

that connects me to this whole thing,

I might have a chance at a new life.

Christina's pregnant.

We can work out a deal for you.

We can make sure that you don't miss

your kid's whole life.

What about when we get
back and all this comes out?

- Your superiors...
- Listen to me. Listen to me.

When you were in prison,

and you talked to me, you told me

that you believed I'm a good man.

You have my word.

If you cooperate,

and you help us find this accomplice,

I will do everything that I
can to keep you out of jail.

You need me, Garrett.

And I need you, too.

Why do you need me?

Because you're the biggest
lead we've ever had.

You've seen Silver Bells' face.

I told Tom to take
the girls out of town.

I wish we could get ahold of Garrett.

I know, I tried Brady and
left him a message. No answer.

You know, my son's upstairs sleeping.

I'm not waiting
around... I'm calling the cops.

What about Garrett?!

Garrett's not here, and
Garrett's not coming.

And I'm not gonna wait around

while some craft-loving
psychopath toys with us!

Listen to me. We'll give
him till the morning.

If he's not back by
then, we'll call the police.

Fine.

Should've turned Dad in.

(door opens)

(door closes)

Where's the phone?

We need to get the police here.

Wait.

Think about this for a second.

Think about...

David Morales.

What about him?

What happens when he talks?

Company goes bankrupt.

I go to prison.

They freeze

all of our assets, we become pariahs,

and the children have nothing.

Or...

Or what?

Or maybe...

...David Morales becomes the next victim

of the Silver Bells Killer.

If we don't call the police,
we can get rid of this body

and pretend like it never happened.

People will think Silver
Bells is still out there.

Maddie.

You cannot be serious.

I know.

You're right.

It's awful.

But we're in a horrible situation.

And suddenly,

we're given a way out of it.

We have all the tools

to make it look like he did it.

A silver bell that will
match the other crime scenes.

You know all about this case.

You've read all the articles.

You can make it look real.

Mitchell, we're in this mess

with Morales because you cheated,

and you put all of us

in jeopardy.

(sighs)

Please, Mitchell.

We need you.

We need you

to save your family from your mistakes.

(door opens)

Garrett.

Tessa called me.

Is she...

- Oh, my God.
- Wait.

Wait.

What happened?

Who is that?

He broke in.

And he ran into Tessa

when he was on his way up the stairs.

She was scared and...

(voice breaking): she pushed him.

What, is he dead?

Garrett...

it's the Silver Bells Killer.

Well, have you called the police?

No.

Why not?

Think it through, Garrett.

The press descends on this place.

We're defined by this forever.

Mr. Morales, please,

there's got to be
something we can do about this.

I'm not changing my mind.

$3 million.

Put it toward
restitution for your victims.

Four! Enough!

I need you to leave.

(sighs)

(gagging, grunting)

(yells)

(groaning)

(Dave gagging)

Maddie.

- I can't do this.
- (coughing)

(grunts)

- (belt tightening)
- (grunts)

(breathing heavily)

(breathing fades)

(sighs)

(sighs)

(bell rings)

We're all victims of
your father's decisions.

It's true.

We're all being targeted.

So we need to stick
together as a family.

Until we figure out what's going on.

Figure out who's out there.

Hunting us.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.