Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999): Season 4, Episode 5 - Hate Crimes - full transcript
Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the murder of a man outside a gay night club.
- Will you be the primary on this one?
- You took the call.
Oh, I know, I know I took the call. I
answered the phone after you said,
"Tim, grab that." But I'm
asking you to be the primary.
Why should I?
What does Gaines, Pratt, Hobbs,
Gannon and Eddington mean to you?
- A law firm.
- No. It's my open cases.
The last thing I need
is a stone whodunit.
You know a murder at Park and
Read is just gonna sink like a stone.
- You would wish this stone upon me?
- No, with you it won't sink.
With you it'll skip across the surface.
You've been touched by the gods.
- I'll be the primary.
- You were fast.
- You beat the ME and the paramedics.
- So, somebody's alive?
- The victim.
- The victim isn't dead yet?
- He will be.
- We got a name?
Name, address, birth sign.
Zeke Lafeld, 48 Falls Road. Virgo.
- He's not from around here.
- Can you hear me?
- Yeah.
- I'm from the Baltimore City Police.
- Can you tell us what happened?
- Don't worry about it.
- I'm gonna take care of this myself.
- Who hurt you?
- Mr Lafeld, who hurt you? Mr Lafeld?
- I'm gonna tell you in a minute.
Back up, please. Give the
paramedics some room. Back up.
This way, guys.
Forget about it. He's
the ME's responsibility.
- Get out of my blood!
- Back up, folks, please. Back up.
Secure this area.
We got a listing
on a next of kin.
His father, Bailey Lafeld. Lives
on Lake Avenue and Mayfield.
You saw what happened?
I was standing out in front of the
bar, lookin' to see what was cruisin' by.
The dead dude is walkin' along, a car
pulls up, and these two cueballs get out.
- Cueballs?
- Skinheads.
They're callin' him names, start
whackin' him. One pulls out a knife.
I run back to the bar to get help. By the
time we get back, the baldies are gone,
and the dude's lyin'
in his own body waste.
- Did the attackers seem to know him?
- This happens all the time.
A couple of neo-Nazi billy boys
get tired of snorkelin' their sisters,
come here and beat up a fag.
- The make of the car?
- It was red.
- You could identify them?
- I got a good look at their faces.
Sergeant Rollo!
Escort Mr Pinnock
to headquarters.
Show him some mug shots, and
have him give a description to the artist.
- Thank you very much.
- Sure.
- Hey, Happy Thanksgiving.
- You, too.
- Are we done here, Frank?
- What's your hurry?
No hurry. I'm just saying, you know,
if we're done here, we should go.
What you worried about, Tim?
One of these men gonna
ask you to stuff his turkey?
No. It's weird watching someone
die. Usually when we get here,
they're cold
already. It's weird.
Come in.
I got him.
Ah. Mr Brodie.
Come in and sit down.
You gonna yell at me for
videotaping that girl's murder scene?
Cos that was not my
footprint in the blood.
No. Sit down.
This has to do with the
domestic abuse on Ann Street.
And I don't touch
murder weapons.
Would you sit down,
or do I knock you down?
Thank you. Now, Mr Brodie,
Lieutenant Giardello tells me
that since Channel 8 fired you,
because you helped us
during the Gould shooting,
you've been working freelance.
Yes...
That you need to pay
for Graduate school.
Lieutenant Giardello also
tells me that you have been
a royal pain in the ass to
our men, always under foot.
Yeah, but...
The Sicilians have a saying,
"Make friends of your
enemies, or kill them."
Which would you prefer?
- What?
- We'd like to offer you a job.
- A job?
- A job.
Working for the Homicide
Unit, videotaping crime scenes.
We feel that having crime scenes
on videotape will help our detectives
during their investigations,
as well as the Attorney's office.
Yeah.
This being the City of Baltimore,
it doesn't pay much money.
- Well, how much does it not pay?
- Yes or no, Brodie?
Well, yes... I'd love to be in the
thick of it, helping to solve crimes.
This is not a Batman and
Robin thing. You are not a cop.
Your job is to shoot what
the primary tells you to shoot.
To shoot what the
primary tells me to shoot.
- You can start tomorrow.
- Cool.
Congratulations.
Thank you. You've got really
big hands. You won't regret this.
I already do, Brodie.
Er, do I get health insurance?
Hey, Meldrick, what do
you do for Thanksgiving?
This gig is so deadline orientated,
I keep my holidays spontaneous.
I usually spend the
day with my folks,
but they're going to St Louis
to be with my sister's family.
- You'll be able to rustle up a date.
- I don't know. Thanksgiving?
Take a woman to Thanksgiving
dinner, she means a lot to you.
I don't have anybody in
my life like that right now.
What?
I figured a guy like you, your looks,
your personality, you'd get a date.
I can get a date, I
just don't want a date.
Yeah, OK. Sure you can.
Sure you can. Tell you what,
how about me and you, we'll
do something for Thanksgiving?
- Like what?
- Be spontaneous.
Something juicy'll come up.
Lewis, Kellerman, this is Officer
Debbie Haskell. She's from the crime lab.
Hi.
Officer Haskell will demonstrate
the Voice Stress Analyser.
This is a revolutionary
breakthrough in lie detection.
So, how does this
revolutionary gizmo work?
I ask you a question, and your
answer gets recorded into this machine.
Then so by the way I talk,
this machine will gauge what?
- Whether or not you're telling the truth.
- Just by how I talk? What'll it say?
This device measures changes
in your voice caused by stress.
These changes are
called "microtremors".
By analysing the stress
patterns on a printout
a trained technician can tell whether
you are telling the truth or a lie.
It's more reliable than
the old polygraph?
That's like saying that a high-tech
computer is like a manual typewriter.
Typewriter? Man, I... I'm a quill pen
and parchment paper kind of guy myself.
- Yeah, and you write by candlelight.
- No, I write by moonlight.
I'm sorry, I have a hard
time dealin' with all this
new tech stuff on the
market - surveillance cameras,
body heat sensors, motion
sensors and the Voice Stress, er...
Analyser.
See, the thing is we
the murder police. Mmm?
And we have but one given,
and that is that everybody is a liar.
Me, you see, I rely on... the
most sensitive machine there is.
See, it knows when somebody's lumpy,
and it knows when somebody's honest.
And this...
This is smart enough to
trust what this... can detect.
And I would much rather take
you out to dinner, than this machine.
- Analyser.
- Analyser.
- How does a guy know he likes guys?
- How does he know?
Same way a guy
knows he likes women.
No, I mean when does he
decide that he likes guys?
- Age 26.
- What?
At 26, every man determines
his sexual preference.
That's what the Jesuits
at Saint Ignacius taught us.
Oh, they told you that there
was a specific age that you knew
once and for all
that was it? Mmm?
- Yes.
- Oh.
That's just...
26 seems a tad late, you see, because
I knew I liked girls when I was 12.
- No.
- Yes.
- Not for sure. You had doubts.
- I didn't have doubts.
- You had doubts.
- No.
- You're in denial.
- No, I'm not in denial.
- Let go of me.
- Sorry.
26, huh? Not maybe
25 for some, maybe 27?
26.
So, one morning you wake up
on the morning of your
26th birthday, and you say,
"OK, you know, that's
it. I'm gay." Is that it?
- That's nonsense.
- Of course. The question is nonsense.
People don't decide their
sexuality. It's thrust upon them.
Some people get so uptight about it,
they never truly know it themselves.
- They get homophobic.
- I'm not a homophobe.
- Fine.
- I'm not.
I'm your partner, I believe
every word you say.
How is this possible?
Who would do this?
Mr Lafeld, we're pretty certain
that Zeke's murder was random,
that he didn't
know his attackers.
Even so, we're gonna need
to get access to his apartment.
He just moved. I
don't have the key.
- 48 Falls Road?
- Somethin' like that. Yeah.
We found an address book with his
knapsack, we'd like to go over names
so you can identify relationships of
the people to him - friend, co-worker.
- We have to do that now?
- In most cases, sooner is better.
You'll need to come with
us to ID the, er... Your son.
- Yeah.
- OK.
Why would anyone
want to kill Zeke?
Mr Lafeld, we have reason to believe
that this may have been a hate crime.
Wait. Uh... hate crimes
happen to... people like you.
- They also happen to homosexuals.
- What are you trying to imply?
Sir, how much did you know
about your son's lifestyle?
Er... Since his mother
died, we sorta grew apart.
Please, have a seat here.
Just for a moment, have a seat.
Sir, it's possible that Zeke
was killed because he was gay.
He was no queer. My
son was not a queer.
Your son was killed outside of a
bar in a homosexual neighbourhood.
Queers are sick, perverted animals,
all right? Diseased, unnatural.
I watched your son die tonight.
Spare me this attitude about his lifestyle.
My only concern is
finding out who killed him.
Who are you? Who are you to come
into my house and say such things?
Who are you to come here
in the middle of the night
and say these
things about my boy?
You guys come in the middle of
the night like a couple of thieves...
- Get outta here! Get out!
- Come on, Tim.
I got a life! I
got a reputation!
If what you say is true,
it's better that he's dead.
Get out!
- They're like the Doublemint Twins.
- Maybe they're brothers.
Or maybe our witness can't identify
them as well as we first hoped.
In any case, Frank, get
'em over to the photo shop.
Whoa, hey! Got Lafeld's knapsack
back from Evidence Control.
Besides the address
book, we've got, let's see...
A paperback novel. We got
lifesavers. We have a video.
- We got keys, a wallet, and, er... that.
- A locket?
- Maybe Zeke was a transvestite, huh?
- Did you go into his apartment?
We got the landlord to let us in.
There were boxes everywhere,
and there were no
dresses in his closet.
Frank, coordinate this
investigation with Violent Crimes.
They deal a lot
with gay bashing.
They have a skinhead directory,
indexed by homophobes and racists?
No, but they can take you around to the
places where creeps like that hang out.
Violent Crimes can take us around,
but I wouldn't bet on much on results.
There's only one minority than
skinheads hate more than gays.
Police.
- Bring him here. Bring him here.
- I don't know nothin' about nothin'.
- That doesn't surprise me. Your name?
- Jimmy Kruger.
Frank! Come on, come on!
We know that two of your
pals killed that gay man,
and we know you know
which of your friends that is.
- I ain't tellin' you squat.
- You don't have to.
Our bosses don't
care who's guilty.
They just want the case
closed and the paperwork tidy.
So, me and my partner, that
angry black man over there,
we don't care
who's guilty either.
So, you know something?
- We... are gonna make it you.
- Me?
Yeah. You. What we're gonna
do is we're gonna twist the facts,
we're gonna taint the
evidence until you are guilty!
You think cops are capable
of anything, don't you?
Remember Waco, Mr Kruger?
We'll execute you and not think about it
when we kiss our loved ones goodnight.
- You can't do that.
- We can do whatever we want to do.
I'm gonna personally applaud
when they put you in the gas chamber.
- Bring him home.
- Wait! Wait, wait!
What? What?
- The guys are gone.
- They're gone, but they're not forgotten.
They're a thousand
miles away by now.
- But you know their names, don't you?
- Yeah.
OK, now we can do business.
OK, but look, you got... You... You
gotta cuff me and rough me up a lot
for me to... If those guys
knew I said anything...
No problem. One more thing.
- What?
- Don't let that nigger touch me.
I will be spending the entire
holiday season skiing in Vermont.
I will be shooshing down the slopes
to the shlaus, then I'll get sloshed.
That's not a traditional
way to express thankfulness.
You know what this
holiday celebrates?
It celebrates European
expansionism,
and the death of
American Indian culture.
The pilgrims weren't martyrs.
They were thrown out of England
for telling people not to dance.
You guys come with me to
Killington. We'd all have a good time.
- You want to go?
- Something juicier will come along.
I used to make one of these
every year in grade school.
Speaking of youth, where's
Brodie? I sent him to get some food.
- Mr Video? He's an errand boy now?
- I wanted to expand his job.
- There you are.
- Pizza pie.
Meldrick. I got someone here
who wants to talk to a detective.
- Shelley Ziegler.
- This is Detective Lewis.
My name is Meldrick, and
that goofy lookin' guy over there,
that's Detective Mikey.
And what's your name?
- Well, what'd I say?
- I'll get her.
- You got a real cute kid there.
- Oh, no. She's not my daughter.
I teach second grade.
- Have a seat.
- Catherine is one of my students.
Catherine's mother was
murdered last year, smothered.
She's been asking to play "murder"
with the other children in the class.
She takes one of the floor
cushions we use for exercises,
and she squeezes it
against her own face.
Miss Zeigler, I found my name. This
is the same last name as me, right?
This is the same last
name as me, right?
You remember talkin' to me the
night that your mummy was killed?
- No.
- No. Well, I was there.
But it was with another detective,
not this one. He had a moustache.
- Fat like Santa Claus?
- Fat like Santa Claus.
I asked you if you heard
anything. You remember?
- No.
- Of course not.
That was a long time ago. But
maybe now you can remember stuff.
Stuff that you didn't remember
way back then. Hmm?
Catherine, tell the detectives about
the man you see when you sleep.
- His clothes look like a dragon.
- Whose clothes?
His shirt. It's a
big white monster.
- So, he's wearing a white shirt?
- He's not wearing it.
It's on the floor. It's
got letters on the pocket.
- We didn't find no shirt in the room.
- It's on the floor, next to the bed.
And your mummy's
in the bed? Yeah.
Can you see the face of
the man in the white shirt?
No.
Lewis.
Chilton is my case. I should
be leading the interview.
Kid wanted to talk.
You weren't around.
- I'm in the building.
- How do I know?
You find me. It would have
taken seconds to get here.
Little girl, she's starts talkin',
what am I supposed to do?
Say, "Hold it, I gotta round somebody
else up cos she'll get bent outta shape."
- You didn't want to find me.
- Her mother was murdered last year.
- She starts talkin' today, I don't wait.
- You should've, for me and for Juvenile.
Let me tell you about Juvenile.
When interviewin' a kid,
you gotta have
a little diplomacy.
Any interview, of any
witness, on any case
must include the
primary, which I am!
This case was dropped in your
lap. It was Crosetti's to begin with.
There was no interview of this
girl in files when I got the case.
We talked to the girl, but
she couldn't say anything.
Crosetti pulled the plug, the
kid was gonna go over the edge.
There should've been a note about
that. It was very sloppy on Steve's part.
You want to take
a shot at Steve?
When he was here, you were a
mouse. Now, you're queen of the roost.
I wouldn't have a problem if you
follow procedure, and don't exclude me.
You exclude yourself
with your arrogant attitude.
- This is about my clearance rate?
- Clearance rate?
That's what this is about? This ain't
about this girl, or her dead mother.
- This is about your clearance rate!
- That's enough.
This is about you! Because
Gee gave the case to me.
You've got some misguided
loyalty to your dead partner.
I said that's enough!
'AII right, tell me
what you said again.'
'On the shirt, the letters on the
shirt. I remember an "M" and a "T".
'He's holding a pillow over my mummy's
face and sees me looking at him.'
"M" and "T"?
She could have it reversed. The
mother's fiancé's name is Tom Marans.
Get Kellerman, pick up this Marans
guy, and bring him in for a little talk.
I can force him to include you,
or the two of you can work it out.
You can do it.
Pazze! Perché sempre mi sento
come se sprofondo
dentro un mare di merda?
Hey! I better be kept informed
of every step of this investigation.
First, I'll get in this Cavalier, and then
me and my partner are gonna pull out.
- Ann Street or Broadway?
- I'm feeling whimsical... Broadway.
There you have it, Sergeant.
You bring in Tom
Marans, I better be there.
I aim to please.
You're in love with
her, aren't you?
- Undyin'.
- You only fight with people you love.
Otherwise, you wouldn't
waste your energy.
Six months, a year from
now, you guys are gonna elope.
That's Eric Jarrett.
- How about this one here?
- That's Karl Wolpe.
OK, thank you very much,
Mr Kruger. You can go now.
It's a pity you're goin'
after Karl and Eric.
- Why is that?
- All they did was kill a faggot.
- Hey!
- Frank!
Hey, you promised you
wouldn't let him touch me!
It's funny how some murders
bother you, and some don't.
- Give me their names.
- This case has gotten under your skin.
Not this case. All cases
bother me in equal measure.
Wait a minute, that's not true.
What about Adena Watson,
murdered three years ago?
- I still get angry. So do you.
- Tim, Adena Watson was 11 -years-old.
See, they're different.
Now, this Zeke Lafeld...
- I want to close the case. But...
- You don't care.
Maybe. Yeah, maybe it's me. Maybe
the more I do this job, the less I care.
- Maybe it's because he's gay?
- All right. Maybe that's it.
You joinin' the Kruger's
of the world, Tim?
Frank, that's uncalled for. What I mean
is you and Mary are havin' a baby, right?
Yes.
What would you do if someday
your son came home and says,
"Hey, Dad, this is
my new boyfriend."
Get him outta here.
I don't know, Tim.
I hate to speculate
about my behaviour.
I hope and pray that if a homicide
detective comes to my door,
unlike Zeke Lafeld's father, I would
not be relieved my child is dead.
I just talked to Violent Crimes. We could
be waiting a long time for these guys.
These supremacy groups
are separate, but collaborative,
so our two suspects
could be anywhere.
We put the kids names on the NCIC.
Where do you want us to go from here?
Let the State's Attorney
know where we are on this.
Update Zeke Lafeld's family,
and let's get it started on an
early Thanksgiving weekend.
- Happy Thanksgiving.
- And to you, brother.
Frank, Tim! A couple of
young Turks in the lobby.
They want to talk to you
about the Lafeld murder.
We... just came from the
funeral, and Zeke's dad,
he said somethin'... that one of
you said about Zeke, and it's not true.
- What is that, Mr Lambert?
- That he's gay, was gay. It's not true.
I know that it's difficult to
hear things about friends...
No, Detective, come on. I roomed
with Zeke in college, all right?
He was a regular guy.
Drank too much beer,
smoked dope, had a few dates.
He wasn't a stud, or
anything, but he did all right.
The whole time, he talked about
sex, about women. He was straight.
The older we get, Mr Lambert,
the more we realise that few
things are what they seem.
- You don't believe us, huh?
- Ultimately, it doesn't matter.
It matters to us.
Hey, if you don't
believe me about Zeke,
there's somebody else you
better talk to. Sandra Delaney.
- Who's that, again?
- Zeke's fiancée.
This is a big favour
you're doing us.
How did those two other
detectives lose Erica's letters?
They're not lost,
just misplaced.
You know, buried under somethin',
at someplace called Evidence Control.
I told this other detective,
that woman with the curly hair,
how Erica had saved those letters.
Her old boyfriend had stalked her.
- This nightmare continues.
- Those letters are pretty key, huh?
Erica thought they
were worth keeping.
You never located
her old boyfriend?
- Nope.
- I heard he left the country.
- How'd you hear that?
- I forget where.
- You can't remember his name?
- It was in those letters.
Erica wanted me to read
'em. But I told her, "No."
She says, "Read 'em. They'll show
you how insane this joker really is."
Right. Here.
- Officer Haskell, yoo-hoo.
- You need the room?
- You want us to come back?
- No, I'll get out of your way.
- You want to be with your machine?
- It's fine.
This is Tom Marans. He's
helpin' us out with an old case.
- I'll go to get Howard.
- We don't need her for this.
- You want a coffee, or somethin'?
- Nah, I'm all right, thanks.
Wait a minute. Where you
goin'? You don't need to leave yet.
Can we fun with this machine?
We gotta couple of minutes here now.
Me, me, me, me.
OK, ask me somethin'.
Ask me about...
- If he likes his partner.
- Not that!
- You don't wanna say?
- You don't believe I like you?
This will figure if
you're square business.
- Ask him first.
- Are you crazy?
- That's the question. Are you crazy?
- You gotta be to do this job, huh?
- Yes or no?
- Yes, I am crazy!
- You're nuts.
- You can't even read this.
OK, Detective Kellerman, we're
gonna catch you in the mother of all lies.
- All right, fine, OK. Ask me if I'm crazy.
- Are you crazy?
Si, I am muy loco.
Our survey says...
It's your turn. Come on, give it a shot.
A volunteer from our studio audience.
- You want to know if I'm insane?
- Insane, that's too easy.
Ask him... why he
killed Erica Chilton.
- What?
- Ask him.
Why'd you kill Erica Chilton?
Me?
Erica's daughter, Catherine.
She remembers a white shirt.
She remembers a white shirt
with initials on it, your initials, Tom.
Pretty soon, she's
gonna remember you.
No, it was Erica's old
boyfriend who killed her.
No. It was you.
Do you guys really think I
could murder the woman I love?
- Wanna to talk to a lawyer?
- Why?
- You're saying you don't need a lawyer?
- No.
Maybe Catherine
should ask the questions.
Could you lie to a
seven-year-old girl? I don't think so.
You killed her mother
when she was right there.
- I don't have to be here.
- No, you do.
- She has nightmares. What about you?
- No.
You killed Erica, but something kept you
from killing the little girl. What was it?
I would never hurt Catherine. I
helped raise that child half her life.
She saw you. She sees you put
the pillow on her mother's face.
- You looked her dead in the eye.
- Something stops you though.
You just lost it. But in spite of
how pissed off you were, Tom,
you didn't hurt
that little girl.
You've got enough good in
you not to hurt that little girl.
- Because whatever was goin' on...
- You guys got it wrong.
Between you and her had
nothing to do with that little girl.
I didn't kill Erica! All right!
How's he doin'?
His microtremors are
dancing like the San Andreas.
This piece of
paper... says you lie.
This says you killed Erica.
I wasn't as good a lover
as Erica's old boyfriend was.
I found her letters
from him, about the sex.
We never had sex like that.
And when me and Erica would...
I would always think that she's
closing her eyes to think about him...
and I just couldn't
take it anymore.
She could have thrown those letters
away, but she just keeps them around.
I told her to throw them
out, but she just takes them
and hides them in another place.
What? I wasn't gonna find them?
Yeah... I killed her.
But I am a good person, right?
I mean, I didn't hurt
Catherine, right?
She's just standing
there lookin' at me.
All I could say was...
"Go back to sleep, Catherine.
It's only a bad dream, honey."
I was going to have Zeke
over for dinner tomorrow.
Instead, we're gonna bury him.
Imagine, burying someone
on Thanksgiving Day.
It's like his father, couldn't wait to get
him into the ground, like toxic waste.
You and Zeke were engaged?
We were engaged, we were
unengaged, we were engaged.
I stopped keeping track.
- Problems in the relationship?
- Oh... yeah.
Would you mind... I mean, if it isn't
too painful, telling us about those?
I met Zeke, junior year of high school.
He just transferred over from Polytech.
He cheated on me with Heidi
Edelman, so we broke up.
We got back together. He
cheated on me with Sarah Eadie.
We broke up, we got back together.
All through college, same dance.
All these years, same dance.
He... couldn't keep his zipper up.
Miss Delaney, he still could
have had some secret life.
- I'd know.
- Not necessarily.
- I'd know. Either of you married?
- I am.
Ask your wife. A woman can tell.
You sit in a restaurant with a man.
You watch him watching
breasts go by... The eyes...
The focus goes off
you for just a second.
If he's lookin' at a fella, it's
the same thing. How's the pie?
It's very good.
This is Zeke Lafeld's
address book.
Tomorrow we make a visit to anyone
he knew who lived near Park and Read.
- Tim, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
- Yeah, and?
- Don't you have yams to candy, or, er...
- I'll handle this myself.
I'm the primary on this case.
Right, officially. Technically, I
picked up the phone, so it's my case.
All I'm saying is we know the
skinheads killed Zeke Lafeld.
- There's no doubt about that, right?
- Right.
- But his friends all think he's not gay.
- What does it matter if he's gay, or not?
I don't know, Frank! His
buddy says that it matters.
Whoever knew confessing to
murder was so much paperwork.
This gentleman will escort you to a
holding cell till your lawyer arrives.
Couldn't have
done it without you.
The VSA may not hold up in court.
Admissibility hasn't been tested.
I'm glad we got the confession.
- I can take that.
- You got plans for turkey day?
Yes.
You'll spend the day
with your husband?
- I don't have a husband.
- I don't have a husband either.
But I have reservations for Hampton's
for dinner tomorrow. Wanna join me?
- I don't know.
- It'll be fun. It'll be expensive.
I'm supposed to go to my cousin's
house. She has 12 kids, very loud kids.
Then maybe you had just better tell her
that, er... somethin' juicier came along.
I'll make a call.
May I please have my
VSA now? Thank you.
Tomorrow?
Meldrick, what did I say, huh? Did I say
you bring in Marans, I want to be there?
I beat the
confession out of him.
- Marans did it?
- Yup.
I interviewed him last year.
He had an alibi, he was at work.
He got a secretary to cover for
him. Sloppy police work, Sarge.
Why don't you just say it. You gotta
problem with me being your boss.
Erica Chilton's name is off "The Board".
Your clearance rate is back to 100%.
Instead of suckin' all
the air outta the room,
you oughta be thanking me, Kay.
Hey, Sarge?
It's you, Kellerman? What you up to?
What's that you got? Are you smokin'?
Nah. So, you got big
plans for Thanksgiving?
I'm going out to Rocky Point,
gonna spend the day
with my dad and brother.
I'll give my sister, Carrie,
a call. She's in Florence.
- Italy?
- Uh-huh. How about you?
I don't have any plans yet, but
Meldrick says something'll happen.
You're welcome to come with me.
There's always enough food for 50.
Nah, I don't think so, no. Thanks.
It's just when I was a kid growin' up,
Thanksgiving was a
big day in my house -
my parents, my
brothers, sisters,
aunts, uncles, cousins,
my grandparents.
It was a whole day of foolin'
around - football, watchin' the parade,
my grandma's stuffing.
Now my parents are old, and people
are married with kids of their own.
Some have moved
away, some have died.
Thanksgiving isn't
the same anymore.
I could go to your house, try to
feel like I'm part of your family,
but it'd just be a fraud.
Hey, Kellerman, can you
come here for a minute, man?
Would it be OK with you if Debbie
was spontaneous with us tomorrow too?
- No, she's great.
- Oh, cool.
- I asked if she got a friend for you...
- Meldrick...
You know anyone at Hamptons?
I gotta get reservations.
- You and Debbie have dinner.
- No.
- I may go to Rocky Point with Kay.
- What? No.
- She invited me.
- Really?
You and her? You want to
spend Thanksgiving with her?
- Have a great time.
- You too, man.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I'll see you Monday.
- Later, Kay.
- Goodnight.
You and Meldrick
don't like each other.
I thought we did. I thought
we understood each other.
When Gee gave me Crosetti's
case, it... Well, maybe I thought it was
gonna end my streak, but
the more I got into the case,
the more I got to know
who Erica Chilton was.
The more I wanted to
close the case for her.
Or for myself.
I saw a lot of me in Erica's
life. The me I could have been.
Tom Marans loved Erica Chilton,
but he was afraid of losing her.
So, he kills her to keep
her. He loses her anyway.
Right now he's sitting in a cell with only
one thing in the world to be thankful for.
That he didn't
kill the little girl.
I'm leavin' around 6:30 in the morning.
If you change your mind, let me know.
Thanks a lot.
Hi, can I help you?
We're from Baltimore City Homicide,
to talk about the death of Zeke Lafeld.
- Oh, yes.
- Sorry to disturb you on Thanksgiving.
- We were just sitting down to eat.
- We can talk out here.
No, no. Come in, please.
- Mmm.
- Can we talk back here?
You were friends
with Zeke Lafeld?
We lived next door over on Lake.
My son, Doug, played football
with Zeke at Towson High.
His mother was my best
friend, I watched him grow up.
Does, uh... Does...
does... Zeke's...
Does Zeke's family know
that you're a lesbian?
What does that have to
do with your investigation?
Er... We've... Well,
it's just important for us
to get a full sense of
the victim's background.
Bailey Lafeld cut me dead
when I finally came out.
But Zeke, he didn't have
those kind of prejudices.
Did he visit you
on Tuesday night?
Yes, he came to the store to... I
sell antique clothing and jewellery.
He wanted to buy a
gift for his girlfriend.
He finally settled on a
locket, a beautiful locket.
He was such a fine boy.
- Mr Lafeld?
- Oh, for God's sake.
- I'm sorry to disturb you.
- I just came from the funeral.
I just thought that you would want to
know that we know who killed your son.
We don't have
them in custody yet...
Uh-huh.
Earlier, my partner
and I, we misspoke.
Your son was not gay.
Thank God.
I knew it, though. I knew it, I
knew. I knew that he wasn't...
The two young men who killed
him thought that he was gay.
That's all? They
just made a mistake?
Er... yeah, yeah. They
just made a mistake.
Hey! I just wanted the
best for Zeke, that's all.
A father just wants
the best for his son.
Yes, sir.
- How'd he take it?
- Like a man.
A father only wants what's best
for his son. That's what he said.
- Meaning he's glad Zeke wasn't queer?
- I guess.
Oh, so now it's OK for him to
feel sad that his son is dead.
Look, the guy is just walkin'
down the street, you know,
two other guys assume he's
gay, and they beat him to death.
That makes no sense to me.
If you, Tim Bayliss, were
walkin' along Park and Read,
not dressed like a cop, but in that
black jacket you sometimes fancy?
You got a new haircut, kinda
butch? I might assume the same thing.
- Me?
- Yeah. And that pisses me off.
I've lived with strangers makin'
assumptions about who I am,
and I broke the first rule of a detective.
I assumed Zeke Lafeld was homosexual.
It's what people
do, human nature.
Yes, to kill someone because
their sexual orientation is different.
People get afraid, threatened.
People? That's you
and me, Tim. Grown-ups.
Why is it that
children don't care?
As adults, we get socialised.
We learn to behave.
No, we learn to hate.
My back's startin' to go again.
Hetero, homo, what
does it matter? He's dead.
Agh! That's the worst part. It
shouldn't matter, but it does.
♪ When I was born
they looked at me and said
♪ What a good boy, what a
smart boy, what a strong boy
♪ And when you were born
they looked at you and said
♪ What a good girl, what a
smart girl, what a pretty girl
♪ We've got these chains
hangin' 'round our necks
♪ People to strangle us with
them before we take our first breath
♪ Afraid of change,
afraid of stayin' the same
♪ When temptation
calls we just look away
♪ This name is
the hairshirt I wear
♪ And this hairshirt is
woven from your brown hair
♪ This song is
the cross that I bear
♪ Bear it with me, bear
with me, bear with me
♪ Be with me tonight
♪ I know that
it isn't right... ♪
Oh, I thought your
shift had the day off.
I'm just finishing up some
last-minute paper work.
Don't stay too long. You
don't wanna miss the festivities.
- Happy Turkey Day.
- You, too. Have a good one.
♪ Afraid of change,
afraid of stayin' the same
♪ When temptation
calls we are afraid
♪ This name is
the hairshirt I wear
♪ And this hairshirt
is woven from
♪ It's woven from,
it's woven from hair
♪ This song is
the cross that I bear
♪ Bear it with me, bear
with me, bear with me
♪ Be with me tonight
♪ When I was born
they looked at me and said
♪ What a good boy, what a
smart boy, what a strong boy
♪ When you were born
they looked at you and said
♪ What a good girl, what a
smart girl, what a pretty girl ♪
- You took the call.
Oh, I know, I know I took the call. I
answered the phone after you said,
"Tim, grab that." But I'm
asking you to be the primary.
Why should I?
What does Gaines, Pratt, Hobbs,
Gannon and Eddington mean to you?
- A law firm.
- No. It's my open cases.
The last thing I need
is a stone whodunit.
You know a murder at Park and
Read is just gonna sink like a stone.
- You would wish this stone upon me?
- No, with you it won't sink.
With you it'll skip across the surface.
You've been touched by the gods.
- I'll be the primary.
- You were fast.
- You beat the ME and the paramedics.
- So, somebody's alive?
- The victim.
- The victim isn't dead yet?
- He will be.
- We got a name?
Name, address, birth sign.
Zeke Lafeld, 48 Falls Road. Virgo.
- He's not from around here.
- Can you hear me?
- Yeah.
- I'm from the Baltimore City Police.
- Can you tell us what happened?
- Don't worry about it.
- I'm gonna take care of this myself.
- Who hurt you?
- Mr Lafeld, who hurt you? Mr Lafeld?
- I'm gonna tell you in a minute.
Back up, please. Give the
paramedics some room. Back up.
This way, guys.
Forget about it. He's
the ME's responsibility.
- Get out of my blood!
- Back up, folks, please. Back up.
Secure this area.
We got a listing
on a next of kin.
His father, Bailey Lafeld. Lives
on Lake Avenue and Mayfield.
You saw what happened?
I was standing out in front of the
bar, lookin' to see what was cruisin' by.
The dead dude is walkin' along, a car
pulls up, and these two cueballs get out.
- Cueballs?
- Skinheads.
They're callin' him names, start
whackin' him. One pulls out a knife.
I run back to the bar to get help. By the
time we get back, the baldies are gone,
and the dude's lyin'
in his own body waste.
- Did the attackers seem to know him?
- This happens all the time.
A couple of neo-Nazi billy boys
get tired of snorkelin' their sisters,
come here and beat up a fag.
- The make of the car?
- It was red.
- You could identify them?
- I got a good look at their faces.
Sergeant Rollo!
Escort Mr Pinnock
to headquarters.
Show him some mug shots, and
have him give a description to the artist.
- Thank you very much.
- Sure.
- Hey, Happy Thanksgiving.
- You, too.
- Are we done here, Frank?
- What's your hurry?
No hurry. I'm just saying, you know,
if we're done here, we should go.
What you worried about, Tim?
One of these men gonna
ask you to stuff his turkey?
No. It's weird watching someone
die. Usually when we get here,
they're cold
already. It's weird.
Come in.
I got him.
Ah. Mr Brodie.
Come in and sit down.
You gonna yell at me for
videotaping that girl's murder scene?
Cos that was not my
footprint in the blood.
No. Sit down.
This has to do with the
domestic abuse on Ann Street.
And I don't touch
murder weapons.
Would you sit down,
or do I knock you down?
Thank you. Now, Mr Brodie,
Lieutenant Giardello tells me
that since Channel 8 fired you,
because you helped us
during the Gould shooting,
you've been working freelance.
Yes...
That you need to pay
for Graduate school.
Lieutenant Giardello also
tells me that you have been
a royal pain in the ass to
our men, always under foot.
Yeah, but...
The Sicilians have a saying,
"Make friends of your
enemies, or kill them."
Which would you prefer?
- What?
- We'd like to offer you a job.
- A job?
- A job.
Working for the Homicide
Unit, videotaping crime scenes.
We feel that having crime scenes
on videotape will help our detectives
during their investigations,
as well as the Attorney's office.
Yeah.
This being the City of Baltimore,
it doesn't pay much money.
- Well, how much does it not pay?
- Yes or no, Brodie?
Well, yes... I'd love to be in the
thick of it, helping to solve crimes.
This is not a Batman and
Robin thing. You are not a cop.
Your job is to shoot what
the primary tells you to shoot.
To shoot what the
primary tells me to shoot.
- You can start tomorrow.
- Cool.
Congratulations.
Thank you. You've got really
big hands. You won't regret this.
I already do, Brodie.
Er, do I get health insurance?
Hey, Meldrick, what do
you do for Thanksgiving?
This gig is so deadline orientated,
I keep my holidays spontaneous.
I usually spend the
day with my folks,
but they're going to St Louis
to be with my sister's family.
- You'll be able to rustle up a date.
- I don't know. Thanksgiving?
Take a woman to Thanksgiving
dinner, she means a lot to you.
I don't have anybody in
my life like that right now.
What?
I figured a guy like you, your looks,
your personality, you'd get a date.
I can get a date, I
just don't want a date.
Yeah, OK. Sure you can.
Sure you can. Tell you what,
how about me and you, we'll
do something for Thanksgiving?
- Like what?
- Be spontaneous.
Something juicy'll come up.
Lewis, Kellerman, this is Officer
Debbie Haskell. She's from the crime lab.
Hi.
Officer Haskell will demonstrate
the Voice Stress Analyser.
This is a revolutionary
breakthrough in lie detection.
So, how does this
revolutionary gizmo work?
I ask you a question, and your
answer gets recorded into this machine.
Then so by the way I talk,
this machine will gauge what?
- Whether or not you're telling the truth.
- Just by how I talk? What'll it say?
This device measures changes
in your voice caused by stress.
These changes are
called "microtremors".
By analysing the stress
patterns on a printout
a trained technician can tell whether
you are telling the truth or a lie.
It's more reliable than
the old polygraph?
That's like saying that a high-tech
computer is like a manual typewriter.
Typewriter? Man, I... I'm a quill pen
and parchment paper kind of guy myself.
- Yeah, and you write by candlelight.
- No, I write by moonlight.
I'm sorry, I have a hard
time dealin' with all this
new tech stuff on the
market - surveillance cameras,
body heat sensors, motion
sensors and the Voice Stress, er...
Analyser.
See, the thing is we
the murder police. Mmm?
And we have but one given,
and that is that everybody is a liar.
Me, you see, I rely on... the
most sensitive machine there is.
See, it knows when somebody's lumpy,
and it knows when somebody's honest.
And this...
This is smart enough to
trust what this... can detect.
And I would much rather take
you out to dinner, than this machine.
- Analyser.
- Analyser.
- How does a guy know he likes guys?
- How does he know?
Same way a guy
knows he likes women.
No, I mean when does he
decide that he likes guys?
- Age 26.
- What?
At 26, every man determines
his sexual preference.
That's what the Jesuits
at Saint Ignacius taught us.
Oh, they told you that there
was a specific age that you knew
once and for all
that was it? Mmm?
- Yes.
- Oh.
That's just...
26 seems a tad late, you see, because
I knew I liked girls when I was 12.
- No.
- Yes.
- Not for sure. You had doubts.
- I didn't have doubts.
- You had doubts.
- No.
- You're in denial.
- No, I'm not in denial.
- Let go of me.
- Sorry.
26, huh? Not maybe
25 for some, maybe 27?
26.
So, one morning you wake up
on the morning of your
26th birthday, and you say,
"OK, you know, that's
it. I'm gay." Is that it?
- That's nonsense.
- Of course. The question is nonsense.
People don't decide their
sexuality. It's thrust upon them.
Some people get so uptight about it,
they never truly know it themselves.
- They get homophobic.
- I'm not a homophobe.
- Fine.
- I'm not.
I'm your partner, I believe
every word you say.
How is this possible?
Who would do this?
Mr Lafeld, we're pretty certain
that Zeke's murder was random,
that he didn't
know his attackers.
Even so, we're gonna need
to get access to his apartment.
He just moved. I
don't have the key.
- 48 Falls Road?
- Somethin' like that. Yeah.
We found an address book with his
knapsack, we'd like to go over names
so you can identify relationships of
the people to him - friend, co-worker.
- We have to do that now?
- In most cases, sooner is better.
You'll need to come with
us to ID the, er... Your son.
- Yeah.
- OK.
Why would anyone
want to kill Zeke?
Mr Lafeld, we have reason to believe
that this may have been a hate crime.
Wait. Uh... hate crimes
happen to... people like you.
- They also happen to homosexuals.
- What are you trying to imply?
Sir, how much did you know
about your son's lifestyle?
Er... Since his mother
died, we sorta grew apart.
Please, have a seat here.
Just for a moment, have a seat.
Sir, it's possible that Zeke
was killed because he was gay.
He was no queer. My
son was not a queer.
Your son was killed outside of a
bar in a homosexual neighbourhood.
Queers are sick, perverted animals,
all right? Diseased, unnatural.
I watched your son die tonight.
Spare me this attitude about his lifestyle.
My only concern is
finding out who killed him.
Who are you? Who are you to come
into my house and say such things?
Who are you to come here
in the middle of the night
and say these
things about my boy?
You guys come in the middle of
the night like a couple of thieves...
- Get outta here! Get out!
- Come on, Tim.
I got a life! I
got a reputation!
If what you say is true,
it's better that he's dead.
Get out!
- They're like the Doublemint Twins.
- Maybe they're brothers.
Or maybe our witness can't identify
them as well as we first hoped.
In any case, Frank, get
'em over to the photo shop.
Whoa, hey! Got Lafeld's knapsack
back from Evidence Control.
Besides the address
book, we've got, let's see...
A paperback novel. We got
lifesavers. We have a video.
- We got keys, a wallet, and, er... that.
- A locket?
- Maybe Zeke was a transvestite, huh?
- Did you go into his apartment?
We got the landlord to let us in.
There were boxes everywhere,
and there were no
dresses in his closet.
Frank, coordinate this
investigation with Violent Crimes.
They deal a lot
with gay bashing.
They have a skinhead directory,
indexed by homophobes and racists?
No, but they can take you around to the
places where creeps like that hang out.
Violent Crimes can take us around,
but I wouldn't bet on much on results.
There's only one minority than
skinheads hate more than gays.
Police.
- Bring him here. Bring him here.
- I don't know nothin' about nothin'.
- That doesn't surprise me. Your name?
- Jimmy Kruger.
Frank! Come on, come on!
We know that two of your
pals killed that gay man,
and we know you know
which of your friends that is.
- I ain't tellin' you squat.
- You don't have to.
Our bosses don't
care who's guilty.
They just want the case
closed and the paperwork tidy.
So, me and my partner, that
angry black man over there,
we don't care
who's guilty either.
So, you know something?
- We... are gonna make it you.
- Me?
Yeah. You. What we're gonna
do is we're gonna twist the facts,
we're gonna taint the
evidence until you are guilty!
You think cops are capable
of anything, don't you?
Remember Waco, Mr Kruger?
We'll execute you and not think about it
when we kiss our loved ones goodnight.
- You can't do that.
- We can do whatever we want to do.
I'm gonna personally applaud
when they put you in the gas chamber.
- Bring him home.
- Wait! Wait, wait!
What? What?
- The guys are gone.
- They're gone, but they're not forgotten.
They're a thousand
miles away by now.
- But you know their names, don't you?
- Yeah.
OK, now we can do business.
OK, but look, you got... You... You
gotta cuff me and rough me up a lot
for me to... If those guys
knew I said anything...
No problem. One more thing.
- What?
- Don't let that nigger touch me.
I will be spending the entire
holiday season skiing in Vermont.
I will be shooshing down the slopes
to the shlaus, then I'll get sloshed.
That's not a traditional
way to express thankfulness.
You know what this
holiday celebrates?
It celebrates European
expansionism,
and the death of
American Indian culture.
The pilgrims weren't martyrs.
They were thrown out of England
for telling people not to dance.
You guys come with me to
Killington. We'd all have a good time.
- You want to go?
- Something juicier will come along.
I used to make one of these
every year in grade school.
Speaking of youth, where's
Brodie? I sent him to get some food.
- Mr Video? He's an errand boy now?
- I wanted to expand his job.
- There you are.
- Pizza pie.
Meldrick. I got someone here
who wants to talk to a detective.
- Shelley Ziegler.
- This is Detective Lewis.
My name is Meldrick, and
that goofy lookin' guy over there,
that's Detective Mikey.
And what's your name?
- Well, what'd I say?
- I'll get her.
- You got a real cute kid there.
- Oh, no. She's not my daughter.
I teach second grade.
- Have a seat.
- Catherine is one of my students.
Catherine's mother was
murdered last year, smothered.
She's been asking to play "murder"
with the other children in the class.
She takes one of the floor
cushions we use for exercises,
and she squeezes it
against her own face.
Miss Zeigler, I found my name. This
is the same last name as me, right?
This is the same last
name as me, right?
You remember talkin' to me the
night that your mummy was killed?
- No.
- No. Well, I was there.
But it was with another detective,
not this one. He had a moustache.
- Fat like Santa Claus?
- Fat like Santa Claus.
I asked you if you heard
anything. You remember?
- No.
- Of course not.
That was a long time ago. But
maybe now you can remember stuff.
Stuff that you didn't remember
way back then. Hmm?
Catherine, tell the detectives about
the man you see when you sleep.
- His clothes look like a dragon.
- Whose clothes?
His shirt. It's a
big white monster.
- So, he's wearing a white shirt?
- He's not wearing it.
It's on the floor. It's
got letters on the pocket.
- We didn't find no shirt in the room.
- It's on the floor, next to the bed.
And your mummy's
in the bed? Yeah.
Can you see the face of
the man in the white shirt?
No.
Lewis.
Chilton is my case. I should
be leading the interview.
Kid wanted to talk.
You weren't around.
- I'm in the building.
- How do I know?
You find me. It would have
taken seconds to get here.
Little girl, she's starts talkin',
what am I supposed to do?
Say, "Hold it, I gotta round somebody
else up cos she'll get bent outta shape."
- You didn't want to find me.
- Her mother was murdered last year.
- She starts talkin' today, I don't wait.
- You should've, for me and for Juvenile.
Let me tell you about Juvenile.
When interviewin' a kid,
you gotta have
a little diplomacy.
Any interview, of any
witness, on any case
must include the
primary, which I am!
This case was dropped in your
lap. It was Crosetti's to begin with.
There was no interview of this
girl in files when I got the case.
We talked to the girl, but
she couldn't say anything.
Crosetti pulled the plug, the
kid was gonna go over the edge.
There should've been a note about
that. It was very sloppy on Steve's part.
You want to take
a shot at Steve?
When he was here, you were a
mouse. Now, you're queen of the roost.
I wouldn't have a problem if you
follow procedure, and don't exclude me.
You exclude yourself
with your arrogant attitude.
- This is about my clearance rate?
- Clearance rate?
That's what this is about? This ain't
about this girl, or her dead mother.
- This is about your clearance rate!
- That's enough.
This is about you! Because
Gee gave the case to me.
You've got some misguided
loyalty to your dead partner.
I said that's enough!
'AII right, tell me
what you said again.'
'On the shirt, the letters on the
shirt. I remember an "M" and a "T".
'He's holding a pillow over my mummy's
face and sees me looking at him.'
"M" and "T"?
She could have it reversed. The
mother's fiancé's name is Tom Marans.
Get Kellerman, pick up this Marans
guy, and bring him in for a little talk.
I can force him to include you,
or the two of you can work it out.
You can do it.
Pazze! Perché sempre mi sento
come se sprofondo
dentro un mare di merda?
Hey! I better be kept informed
of every step of this investigation.
First, I'll get in this Cavalier, and then
me and my partner are gonna pull out.
- Ann Street or Broadway?
- I'm feeling whimsical... Broadway.
There you have it, Sergeant.
You bring in Tom
Marans, I better be there.
I aim to please.
You're in love with
her, aren't you?
- Undyin'.
- You only fight with people you love.
Otherwise, you wouldn't
waste your energy.
Six months, a year from
now, you guys are gonna elope.
That's Eric Jarrett.
- How about this one here?
- That's Karl Wolpe.
OK, thank you very much,
Mr Kruger. You can go now.
It's a pity you're goin'
after Karl and Eric.
- Why is that?
- All they did was kill a faggot.
- Hey!
- Frank!
Hey, you promised you
wouldn't let him touch me!
It's funny how some murders
bother you, and some don't.
- Give me their names.
- This case has gotten under your skin.
Not this case. All cases
bother me in equal measure.
Wait a minute, that's not true.
What about Adena Watson,
murdered three years ago?
- I still get angry. So do you.
- Tim, Adena Watson was 11 -years-old.
See, they're different.
Now, this Zeke Lafeld...
- I want to close the case. But...
- You don't care.
Maybe. Yeah, maybe it's me. Maybe
the more I do this job, the less I care.
- Maybe it's because he's gay?
- All right. Maybe that's it.
You joinin' the Kruger's
of the world, Tim?
Frank, that's uncalled for. What I mean
is you and Mary are havin' a baby, right?
Yes.
What would you do if someday
your son came home and says,
"Hey, Dad, this is
my new boyfriend."
Get him outta here.
I don't know, Tim.
I hate to speculate
about my behaviour.
I hope and pray that if a homicide
detective comes to my door,
unlike Zeke Lafeld's father, I would
not be relieved my child is dead.
I just talked to Violent Crimes. We could
be waiting a long time for these guys.
These supremacy groups
are separate, but collaborative,
so our two suspects
could be anywhere.
We put the kids names on the NCIC.
Where do you want us to go from here?
Let the State's Attorney
know where we are on this.
Update Zeke Lafeld's family,
and let's get it started on an
early Thanksgiving weekend.
- Happy Thanksgiving.
- And to you, brother.
Frank, Tim! A couple of
young Turks in the lobby.
They want to talk to you
about the Lafeld murder.
We... just came from the
funeral, and Zeke's dad,
he said somethin'... that one of
you said about Zeke, and it's not true.
- What is that, Mr Lambert?
- That he's gay, was gay. It's not true.
I know that it's difficult to
hear things about friends...
No, Detective, come on. I roomed
with Zeke in college, all right?
He was a regular guy.
Drank too much beer,
smoked dope, had a few dates.
He wasn't a stud, or
anything, but he did all right.
The whole time, he talked about
sex, about women. He was straight.
The older we get, Mr Lambert,
the more we realise that few
things are what they seem.
- You don't believe us, huh?
- Ultimately, it doesn't matter.
It matters to us.
Hey, if you don't
believe me about Zeke,
there's somebody else you
better talk to. Sandra Delaney.
- Who's that, again?
- Zeke's fiancée.
This is a big favour
you're doing us.
How did those two other
detectives lose Erica's letters?
They're not lost,
just misplaced.
You know, buried under somethin',
at someplace called Evidence Control.
I told this other detective,
that woman with the curly hair,
how Erica had saved those letters.
Her old boyfriend had stalked her.
- This nightmare continues.
- Those letters are pretty key, huh?
Erica thought they
were worth keeping.
You never located
her old boyfriend?
- Nope.
- I heard he left the country.
- How'd you hear that?
- I forget where.
- You can't remember his name?
- It was in those letters.
Erica wanted me to read
'em. But I told her, "No."
She says, "Read 'em. They'll show
you how insane this joker really is."
Right. Here.
- Officer Haskell, yoo-hoo.
- You need the room?
- You want us to come back?
- No, I'll get out of your way.
- You want to be with your machine?
- It's fine.
This is Tom Marans. He's
helpin' us out with an old case.
- I'll go to get Howard.
- We don't need her for this.
- You want a coffee, or somethin'?
- Nah, I'm all right, thanks.
Wait a minute. Where you
goin'? You don't need to leave yet.
Can we fun with this machine?
We gotta couple of minutes here now.
Me, me, me, me.
OK, ask me somethin'.
Ask me about...
- If he likes his partner.
- Not that!
- You don't wanna say?
- You don't believe I like you?
This will figure if
you're square business.
- Ask him first.
- Are you crazy?
- That's the question. Are you crazy?
- You gotta be to do this job, huh?
- Yes or no?
- Yes, I am crazy!
- You're nuts.
- You can't even read this.
OK, Detective Kellerman, we're
gonna catch you in the mother of all lies.
- All right, fine, OK. Ask me if I'm crazy.
- Are you crazy?
Si, I am muy loco.
Our survey says...
It's your turn. Come on, give it a shot.
A volunteer from our studio audience.
- You want to know if I'm insane?
- Insane, that's too easy.
Ask him... why he
killed Erica Chilton.
- What?
- Ask him.
Why'd you kill Erica Chilton?
Me?
Erica's daughter, Catherine.
She remembers a white shirt.
She remembers a white shirt
with initials on it, your initials, Tom.
Pretty soon, she's
gonna remember you.
No, it was Erica's old
boyfriend who killed her.
No. It was you.
Do you guys really think I
could murder the woman I love?
- Wanna to talk to a lawyer?
- Why?
- You're saying you don't need a lawyer?
- No.
Maybe Catherine
should ask the questions.
Could you lie to a
seven-year-old girl? I don't think so.
You killed her mother
when she was right there.
- I don't have to be here.
- No, you do.
- She has nightmares. What about you?
- No.
You killed Erica, but something kept you
from killing the little girl. What was it?
I would never hurt Catherine. I
helped raise that child half her life.
She saw you. She sees you put
the pillow on her mother's face.
- You looked her dead in the eye.
- Something stops you though.
You just lost it. But in spite of
how pissed off you were, Tom,
you didn't hurt
that little girl.
You've got enough good in
you not to hurt that little girl.
- Because whatever was goin' on...
- You guys got it wrong.
Between you and her had
nothing to do with that little girl.
I didn't kill Erica! All right!
How's he doin'?
His microtremors are
dancing like the San Andreas.
This piece of
paper... says you lie.
This says you killed Erica.
I wasn't as good a lover
as Erica's old boyfriend was.
I found her letters
from him, about the sex.
We never had sex like that.
And when me and Erica would...
I would always think that she's
closing her eyes to think about him...
and I just couldn't
take it anymore.
She could have thrown those letters
away, but she just keeps them around.
I told her to throw them
out, but she just takes them
and hides them in another place.
What? I wasn't gonna find them?
Yeah... I killed her.
But I am a good person, right?
I mean, I didn't hurt
Catherine, right?
She's just standing
there lookin' at me.
All I could say was...
"Go back to sleep, Catherine.
It's only a bad dream, honey."
I was going to have Zeke
over for dinner tomorrow.
Instead, we're gonna bury him.
Imagine, burying someone
on Thanksgiving Day.
It's like his father, couldn't wait to get
him into the ground, like toxic waste.
You and Zeke were engaged?
We were engaged, we were
unengaged, we were engaged.
I stopped keeping track.
- Problems in the relationship?
- Oh... yeah.
Would you mind... I mean, if it isn't
too painful, telling us about those?
I met Zeke, junior year of high school.
He just transferred over from Polytech.
He cheated on me with Heidi
Edelman, so we broke up.
We got back together. He
cheated on me with Sarah Eadie.
We broke up, we got back together.
All through college, same dance.
All these years, same dance.
He... couldn't keep his zipper up.
Miss Delaney, he still could
have had some secret life.
- I'd know.
- Not necessarily.
- I'd know. Either of you married?
- I am.
Ask your wife. A woman can tell.
You sit in a restaurant with a man.
You watch him watching
breasts go by... The eyes...
The focus goes off
you for just a second.
If he's lookin' at a fella, it's
the same thing. How's the pie?
It's very good.
This is Zeke Lafeld's
address book.
Tomorrow we make a visit to anyone
he knew who lived near Park and Read.
- Tim, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
- Yeah, and?
- Don't you have yams to candy, or, er...
- I'll handle this myself.
I'm the primary on this case.
Right, officially. Technically, I
picked up the phone, so it's my case.
All I'm saying is we know the
skinheads killed Zeke Lafeld.
- There's no doubt about that, right?
- Right.
- But his friends all think he's not gay.
- What does it matter if he's gay, or not?
I don't know, Frank! His
buddy says that it matters.
Whoever knew confessing to
murder was so much paperwork.
This gentleman will escort you to a
holding cell till your lawyer arrives.
Couldn't have
done it without you.
The VSA may not hold up in court.
Admissibility hasn't been tested.
I'm glad we got the confession.
- I can take that.
- You got plans for turkey day?
Yes.
You'll spend the day
with your husband?
- I don't have a husband.
- I don't have a husband either.
But I have reservations for Hampton's
for dinner tomorrow. Wanna join me?
- I don't know.
- It'll be fun. It'll be expensive.
I'm supposed to go to my cousin's
house. She has 12 kids, very loud kids.
Then maybe you had just better tell her
that, er... somethin' juicier came along.
I'll make a call.
May I please have my
VSA now? Thank you.
Tomorrow?
Meldrick, what did I say, huh? Did I say
you bring in Marans, I want to be there?
I beat the
confession out of him.
- Marans did it?
- Yup.
I interviewed him last year.
He had an alibi, he was at work.
He got a secretary to cover for
him. Sloppy police work, Sarge.
Why don't you just say it. You gotta
problem with me being your boss.
Erica Chilton's name is off "The Board".
Your clearance rate is back to 100%.
Instead of suckin' all
the air outta the room,
you oughta be thanking me, Kay.
Hey, Sarge?
It's you, Kellerman? What you up to?
What's that you got? Are you smokin'?
Nah. So, you got big
plans for Thanksgiving?
I'm going out to Rocky Point,
gonna spend the day
with my dad and brother.
I'll give my sister, Carrie,
a call. She's in Florence.
- Italy?
- Uh-huh. How about you?
I don't have any plans yet, but
Meldrick says something'll happen.
You're welcome to come with me.
There's always enough food for 50.
Nah, I don't think so, no. Thanks.
It's just when I was a kid growin' up,
Thanksgiving was a
big day in my house -
my parents, my
brothers, sisters,
aunts, uncles, cousins,
my grandparents.
It was a whole day of foolin'
around - football, watchin' the parade,
my grandma's stuffing.
Now my parents are old, and people
are married with kids of their own.
Some have moved
away, some have died.
Thanksgiving isn't
the same anymore.
I could go to your house, try to
feel like I'm part of your family,
but it'd just be a fraud.
Hey, Kellerman, can you
come here for a minute, man?
Would it be OK with you if Debbie
was spontaneous with us tomorrow too?
- No, she's great.
- Oh, cool.
- I asked if she got a friend for you...
- Meldrick...
You know anyone at Hamptons?
I gotta get reservations.
- You and Debbie have dinner.
- No.
- I may go to Rocky Point with Kay.
- What? No.
- She invited me.
- Really?
You and her? You want to
spend Thanksgiving with her?
- Have a great time.
- You too, man.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I'll see you Monday.
- Later, Kay.
- Goodnight.
You and Meldrick
don't like each other.
I thought we did. I thought
we understood each other.
When Gee gave me Crosetti's
case, it... Well, maybe I thought it was
gonna end my streak, but
the more I got into the case,
the more I got to know
who Erica Chilton was.
The more I wanted to
close the case for her.
Or for myself.
I saw a lot of me in Erica's
life. The me I could have been.
Tom Marans loved Erica Chilton,
but he was afraid of losing her.
So, he kills her to keep
her. He loses her anyway.
Right now he's sitting in a cell with only
one thing in the world to be thankful for.
That he didn't
kill the little girl.
I'm leavin' around 6:30 in the morning.
If you change your mind, let me know.
Thanks a lot.
Hi, can I help you?
We're from Baltimore City Homicide,
to talk about the death of Zeke Lafeld.
- Oh, yes.
- Sorry to disturb you on Thanksgiving.
- We were just sitting down to eat.
- We can talk out here.
No, no. Come in, please.
- Mmm.
- Can we talk back here?
You were friends
with Zeke Lafeld?
We lived next door over on Lake.
My son, Doug, played football
with Zeke at Towson High.
His mother was my best
friend, I watched him grow up.
Does, uh... Does...
does... Zeke's...
Does Zeke's family know
that you're a lesbian?
What does that have to
do with your investigation?
Er... We've... Well,
it's just important for us
to get a full sense of
the victim's background.
Bailey Lafeld cut me dead
when I finally came out.
But Zeke, he didn't have
those kind of prejudices.
Did he visit you
on Tuesday night?
Yes, he came to the store to... I
sell antique clothing and jewellery.
He wanted to buy a
gift for his girlfriend.
He finally settled on a
locket, a beautiful locket.
He was such a fine boy.
- Mr Lafeld?
- Oh, for God's sake.
- I'm sorry to disturb you.
- I just came from the funeral.
I just thought that you would want to
know that we know who killed your son.
We don't have
them in custody yet...
Uh-huh.
Earlier, my partner
and I, we misspoke.
Your son was not gay.
Thank God.
I knew it, though. I knew it, I
knew. I knew that he wasn't...
The two young men who killed
him thought that he was gay.
That's all? They
just made a mistake?
Er... yeah, yeah. They
just made a mistake.
Hey! I just wanted the
best for Zeke, that's all.
A father just wants
the best for his son.
Yes, sir.
- How'd he take it?
- Like a man.
A father only wants what's best
for his son. That's what he said.
- Meaning he's glad Zeke wasn't queer?
- I guess.
Oh, so now it's OK for him to
feel sad that his son is dead.
Look, the guy is just walkin'
down the street, you know,
two other guys assume he's
gay, and they beat him to death.
That makes no sense to me.
If you, Tim Bayliss, were
walkin' along Park and Read,
not dressed like a cop, but in that
black jacket you sometimes fancy?
You got a new haircut, kinda
butch? I might assume the same thing.
- Me?
- Yeah. And that pisses me off.
I've lived with strangers makin'
assumptions about who I am,
and I broke the first rule of a detective.
I assumed Zeke Lafeld was homosexual.
It's what people
do, human nature.
Yes, to kill someone because
their sexual orientation is different.
People get afraid, threatened.
People? That's you
and me, Tim. Grown-ups.
Why is it that
children don't care?
As adults, we get socialised.
We learn to behave.
No, we learn to hate.
My back's startin' to go again.
Hetero, homo, what
does it matter? He's dead.
Agh! That's the worst part. It
shouldn't matter, but it does.
♪ When I was born
they looked at me and said
♪ What a good boy, what a
smart boy, what a strong boy
♪ And when you were born
they looked at you and said
♪ What a good girl, what a
smart girl, what a pretty girl
♪ We've got these chains
hangin' 'round our necks
♪ People to strangle us with
them before we take our first breath
♪ Afraid of change,
afraid of stayin' the same
♪ When temptation
calls we just look away
♪ This name is
the hairshirt I wear
♪ And this hairshirt is
woven from your brown hair
♪ This song is
the cross that I bear
♪ Bear it with me, bear
with me, bear with me
♪ Be with me tonight
♪ I know that
it isn't right... ♪
Oh, I thought your
shift had the day off.
I'm just finishing up some
last-minute paper work.
Don't stay too long. You
don't wanna miss the festivities.
- Happy Turkey Day.
- You, too. Have a good one.
♪ Afraid of change,
afraid of stayin' the same
♪ When temptation
calls we are afraid
♪ This name is
the hairshirt I wear
♪ And this hairshirt
is woven from
♪ It's woven from,
it's woven from hair
♪ This song is
the cross that I bear
♪ Bear it with me, bear
with me, bear with me
♪ Be with me tonight
♪ When I was born
they looked at me and said
♪ What a good boy, what a
smart boy, what a strong boy
♪ When you were born
they looked at you and said
♪ What a good girl, what a
smart girl, what a pretty girl ♪