Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 4, Episode 3 - Vulnerable - full transcript
A senile elderly lady is found wondering inside in a home that she was familiar with as a child. Detectives realize that she has been suffering abuse, when cigarette burns are discovered all over her frail body. Following the trail from her greedy, neglectful son, to the expensive nursing home he pulled her out of, they discover the man they believe was abusing her. During the course of their investigation, however, Benson and Stabler stumble across an even more sinister criminal committing even more heinous, previously undetected crimes against the elderly.
In the criminal
justice system,
sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Armando,
wake up.
What? Shh. Someone's in the house.
Call 911.
I can't
find the phone.
Just get in
the closet.
Is that you, Itsy?
Who the hell
is Itsy?
Who the hell
is she?
No ID. Can't tell me her name.
Can't
or won't?
I think Granny's only knitting with
one needle, if you catch my drift.
Well, she came in through a window,
so she was pretty desperate to get in.
Well, she thinks she lives here,
apparently with someone named Itsy.
And you canvassed
the building?
Yeah.
No one knows her.
Yeah, Granny Doe made herself right at home.
That's her coat
on the rack.
Okay. Thanks.
Why are all
these men here?
I'm not decent.
It's okay, ma'am.
It's okay.
Please.
Make them leave.
All right.
I'm Detective Benson. Can
you tell me what happened?
I have to talk to Itsy.
Okay. Is Itsy the one
that hurt you?
You don't know anything,
do you?
Just what
Itsy told me.
She promised not to tell.
Well, that's because
she wants you to tell me.
What happened?
He had his way with me.
Who did?
Ma'am, may I?
Did you see that?
Yeah. Someone used her
for an ashtray.
Was she raped?
No abrasions or fluids, you'll
have to wait for the kit.
But she had 12 raw burns
to her breasts and genitals.
She was in shock
when we talked to her.
You think she'll remember more details?
I doubt it.
Her head CT and MRI are
clear, no sign of infection.
She probably
has Alzheimer's.
So, no short-term memory.
Any way to
kick-start it?
Damage done is irreversible. She's in here.
She hasn't been
admitted yet?
No need to. She has mild high blood pressure.
Nothing more serious. I gave her
Silvadene lotion for her burns.
This woman needs
supervised care.
Long-term. We don't provide that here.
I just need someone to release her to.
Do you feel up to
talking now?
Oh, where's my purse?
Look, what happened
to my purse?
You didn't have one
with you.
Did you take it
when you went out?
Well, I had my purse here 10 minutes
ago. Of course I had my purse.
We'll help you
look for it.
Did it have
your name in it?
Of course it had
my name in it.
Okay.
What was the name?
I don't know.
Whatever.
What could have happened
to my purse?
Well, what's it to you?
You took my purse.
You make her give me back my purse.
I promise you, she didn't take your purse.
Yes, she did. She did take my purse.
Nobody else could have taken my purse.
You give me back
my purse.
Maybe the person who
hurt you took your purse?
Were you attacked in your home? Or
someplace else? Can you remember?
I was in my bedroom. I
was... I was asleep, and I...
I was asleep in my bedroom
and I...
I woke up and...
He pushed up my nightgown.
He was in there.
Oh, it hurt so bad.
I tried to hit him.
I tried to push him off,
but I couldn't move.
Did you know
your attacker?
Who was it?
It was...
How did he get
in the house?
Well, he stays there.
He stays there?
Why?
Well, he stays there because he
lost all his money investing it.
He drinks every night.
Whiskey.
Oh, he smells so awful
when he...
Okay.
We can help you.
I don't like it when he comes upstairs to me.
We can help you, but you've
got to tell us his name, okay?
Who?
It's sad.
Frightening. When this steel trap
starts to rust, call Kevorkian.
Consider that done.
Have Adult Protective Services
pick her up. Where are we on her ID?
We re-canvassed the building and
did a sweep of the neighborhood.
No one's
claiming her.
Well, she said her abuser lives with her.
Yeah, so he won't be calling Missing Persons.
Well, how far could this
lady have gone in her nightie?
She broke into that apartment for a reason.
She must have lived there at some point.
Manager's been there 20
years. He's never seen her.
That building's been there at
least a hundred. Go back further.
The 1930 census
was just unsealed this year.
I can give you the name, age, sex
and race of any person at any address.
Assuming they weren't paranoid conspiracy
freaks with a wicked big-brother complex.
Well, that's why it's sealed for 72
years, to cover the average life span.
Actually, 72 is the average
man's life span. A woman's is 79.
Oh, a man
who knows his stats.
Did you know the 1930 census
takes 2,667 rolls of...
Yo, stop, stop, stop. Okay.
There's Seventh. Back up.
There's Sixth and there's the building, 213.
Yeah. Apartment 1-A.
The Staytons.
Ellsworth, Hilda
and three daughters, Lilith, 11,
Isabel, 10, and Millie, eight.
Today they'd be 83,
82 and 80.
She's gotta be
one of these three girls.
This isn't Lilith
or Isabel?
No, both my sisters
passed on.
Lily in '92 and cancer took Izzy back in '78.
You called Isabel
"Izzy"?
Everyone did.
No one ever
called her "Itsy"?
Dear Lord,
Itsy and Bitsy.
I haven't thought
about her in years.
Who was Bitsy?
A neighbor girl down the
street. Isabel's best friend.
It was Bitsy for Bess.
Bess Maclntyre.
Did Bess ever
live with you?
No, no. But sometimes she'd sneak
over in the middle of the night.
Poor thing,
cry herself to sleep.
She would wake up your whole
family in the middle of the night?
Oh, no, no, she'd sneak in through a window.
Why was she crying?
I was too young
to understand at the time,
but Bess had what we used
to call a "funny uncle. "
Mother never let us play at her
house the whole time he lived there.
I got it, thanks.
I'm sorry,
did I wake you?
Who are you?
I'm Olivia. Remember?
And I'm sorry, do you
go by Bitsy or Bess now?
Bess.
We've never met.
We had a long talk
this morning.
After the hospital?
I never go to a hospital.
I'm a very healthy person. I am
healthy as a... As a horseshoe.
What is this place?
Why am I here?
You're in a police station.
I was arrested?
No, no, no.
You were attacked.
You said that it was
the man staying with you.
The man who lost all his
money in the stock market.
Were you talking
about your uncle?
What year did he lose all his money?
What year did he lose all his money? He
lost his money in 1929. Everybody did.
Bess, that was over
70 years ago.
Your uncle hurt you when you were
little. Tell me, who is hurting you now?
Well, in the small favors category,
her rape kit came back negative.
You look at those burns and tell
me this skeev did her any favors.
Looks like the doc's done
with her. What'd you get?
The attack definitely triggered
memories of her childhood molestation.
So she fled to the only safe harbor she
could think of, her friend Isabel's home.
She'd sneak through the
window like she did last night.
Who is she running from?
I doubt she's ever gonna
be able to tell you.
So we just solved
a 70-year-old rape case.
Uncle Ted was arrested in '53 on
five counts of rape, but not for Bess.
He was killed in prison
in '57.
Well, somebody tortured her
again last night
and I'm pretty sure
it wasn't the dead uncle.
So, who are we looking for?
A sadist.
He enjoyed the torture,
though I'm not sure if it
was sexual or anger-based.
He's young
or socially stunted.
He chose an enfeebled woman
because of feelings of inadequacy.
I tracked Bess
through Social Security.
Her checks are sent care of
Jubilee Towers on Madison.
Nice place
for a nursing home.
We're not a nursing home. We're
an assisted living facility.
Hello. Hope Garrett.
Hi.
Assistant Administrator.
How may I help you?
I'm Detective Benson. This is
my partner, Detective Stabler.
Are you aware that one of your
residents went missing last night?
Well, it couldn't have been
anyone from the nursing wing
because they're checked on a
regular basis. Let's see. Uh...
Yes, all our Level One-ers
are accounted for.
You do bed checks?
The residents are required to
flip a switch every morning,
just to let us know
that they're still with us.
Well, I can guarantee you Bess Sherman
did not flip her own switch today.
How could she have?
Mrs. Sherman was released
about two weeks ago.
To whom?
Her son.
Joe Sherman.
Mr. Sherman?
These folks have a warrant.
I'm letting them in.
He's usually home from work
about now.
Nice place.
No, it's his mother's.
Rent-controlled. $350 a
month, you believe that?
Mr. Sherman smoke?
Only in between
the times he quits.
How's Joe been getting along with
his mother since she moved back in?
All I know is she sure brought him some luck.
How so?
Well, ever since she came back,
the repo men stopped coming,
deliveries started.
Deliveries.
What kind of deliveries?
Big-screen TV came in over the
weekend. Couch, chairs, the media unit.
Got all the bells
and whistles, CD, DVD,
stereo, video, got a TiVo.
Elliot.
Really fixed
this place up.
Except for this room.
Bess' room,
I'm assuming.
Looks more like her cell. Check this out.
Explains
the restraint marks.
Joe didn't want to lose
his lucky charm.
Who are you, and what are you doing here?
Police. Just checking out
your mother's accommodations.
Well, where is she?
Is she okay?
She's safer than she was
in this place. Let's go.
I wanna see my mother.
When we're done.
Have a cigarette.
I don't smoke.
Really? We heard you did. I quit.
Could I see her
right now?
As soon as
you explain these.
She never
bruised before.
It's some way
to treat your mother.
She wanders at night.
It's for her own protection.
Protection? But you don't
protect her from this.
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God.
Well, you don't think
I burned her?
Actually, we do.
Well, then you're more confused than she is.
Obviously some pervert attacked
her on the street when she got out.
But you didn't notice
she was gone.
I had an early breakfast meeting.
I didn't want to wake her.
But you don't mind leaving her
tied up to a bed for 18 hours?
Now, how was she supposed
to use the bathroom?
Look, the housekeeper takes care of
that. Maria comes in every morning.
She makes Mom breakfast.
She wakes her up.
But she didn't come
this morning.
No. I don't know why Maria didn't
call me. And believe me, she's fired.
Well, we'll take care of that
for you. What's her last name?
Her name is Sanchez.
You know, your mother
would've been just fine
if you hadn't pulled her from
that nice retirement community.
They were draining her. She paid
those crooks seven grand a month.
Leaving
nothing for you.
All right, you know what? I'm done. So
you either charge me, or you let me go.
And I'm gonna
take my mother with me.
No way we're releasing Bess
into his custody.
He's her legal guardian.
He's her abuser.
According to whom?
You have no witnesses, and the
victim can't make a complaint.
Look, we suspect
a parent of abuse,
Child Services doesn't
need the victim's complaint.
The law assumes a child
can't speak up for itself.
Neither can Bess. And her
son is strapping her to a bed.
A lawyer could argue he
believed it was a reasonable,
albeit very misguided,
attempt to keep Bess safe.
Look, Alex, there's gotta be some
way to get this guy on neglect.
In an attempt to ensure her safety,
he endangered her. It's a stretch.
Well, then stretch it
into an order of removal.
We'll stall Joe.
What's the problem now?
I have a protective order to place
your mother back in Jubilee Towers
until this matter
is straightened out.
My mom
belongs with me.
The courts
disagree with you.
Mom. Mom, would you tell
them that I did not hurt you?
Why is it so noisy
in here?
I'm gonna sue
every one of your asses.
Lawyers are
mighty expensive, Joe.
Here's a protective order freezing
your mother's accounts and assets.
You can't do that.
Mom, don't you worry,
I am gonna bring you home!
Captain, got any tissues for me?
I'm about to break out into tears.
Hey, escort Mr. Sherman
out the back.
We'll see if we can dig up
any dirt from the neighbors,
see if Maria the housekeeper
even exists.
Maria Sanchez?
Yes.
You work for Joe Sherman,
take care of his mother, Bess?
Yes, what's wrong?
Did you go to work
yesterday?
No one was there. I thought
maybe he took her to the doctor.
She ran away sometime the night
before. Could you come up here, please?
We'd like to ask you
a few questions.
Do you have any idea
what she was running from?
You ever see any marks or
bruises on Mrs. Sherman?
No.
Did you ever see
Mr. Sherman hurt her?
No, but when things are stressful,
he speaks very harsh with her.
Was he stressed out
Monday?
Very. Everything had to be
just perfect for his party.
I invited
a few investors over.
You failed to mention it.
It wasn't relevant.
I can assure you that none
of them touched my mother.
Delway Furniture Rentals
says your Visa was declined.
Send them a check.
But the bank called...
Just deal with it.
Business troubles?
Police harassment. You shut us
down when you froze our accounts.
I think you mean
your mother's accounts.
This is a start-up business,
my mother's a key investor.
What about those big investors at your party?
Don't go near them.
Why, they see something you
don't want us to hear about?
Maybe Mom wandered out, caused
a scene, embarrassed you?
So you drove home the burning
importance of being a silent partner.
Why are you
trying to destroy me
when the monster who tortured
my mother is still out there?
Joe, just cough up
the party list.
No way in hell you're
ever gonna get that list.
Damn it to hell, you got
crap all over my shoes.
If you wanna bitch,
switch places.
This one's full of rancid
salmon puffs.
Maybe they didn't go over
too big at Joe's party.
You sure it's Joe's?
Incoming.
Housekeeper said she threw out three bags
with yellow ties. We gotta check all of them.
Well, here's a Lick magazine
with Joe's address on it.
Hair dye for men.
And something that's
best applied anally.
Stop jerking around
and find the guest book.
Hello!
Names?
Cigarette butts. One of
them's gotta be our weapon.
You're keeping me busy, Detectives.
Forty-five cigarette butts in all.
Five different brands.
Any way to match
the butts to the wounds?
If we were talking about
cigars or slims.
Unfortunately, most brands
are identical in size,
so there's no way to narrow
down by wound diameter.
Just need to prove that the attack
took place in that apartment.
Any way to find
flesh residue?
Well, at
the point of inhalation,
the burn zone temperature
is around 850 and 900 degrees.
Seared away
all the evidence.
DNA from saliva on the
filters will take weeks to run.
We're screwed.
Not really.
Fingerprints.
Ninhydrin.
I'll spray them all and then
I'll run them through the system.
We already checked out Joe, no priors.
Yeah, but maybe not all his
mystery smoking guests are as clean.
Investing in one of these
is like buying a Monet.
It's easy on the eyes as it gains
in value. Will you excuse me, please?
Hi, there!
Hugh Wilkins?
How can I help you?
By fessing up.
The Tychon Food Chopper,
it couldn't really slice and
dice a beer can, now, could it?
Sure it could.
Of course, you have to follow the
instructional video, sold separately.
How did you...
When you got bonded to sell that crap
door-to-door, you gave up your prints.
We found one on a cigarette butt
you left at Joe Sherman's party.
Did you have any trouble
with his moms that night?
His mother? I never even
saw her. What's this about?
Joe.
Yeah.
What's his racket?
Oh! The Trifecta Wizard. It's an
unbeatable horseracing software program.
Unlike his other get-rich-quick
schemes, this one was "a sure thing. "
His other ventures
stumble out of the gate?
Habitually. You should ask Joe
about his Ilama ranch in Texas.
That one even
scared off his mother.
She was an investor?
Up until two years ago, she
was his principal backer.
After that, she had to guard
what was left of the nest egg.
She cut
the purse strings.
That must have
pissed Joe off.
Well, he went broke.
But then the old lady moves back in, lo
and behold, he has start-up money again.
According to everyone we spoke to,
Joe has been a leech his entire life.
Right behind you,
speak of the devil.
Look, I asked you to stay away from
my investors. Three just pulled out.
And we're only through
half the list.
You're ruining me.
Like you were
ruining your mother?
We pulled
her financials, Joe.
The only money I ever took from her was rent.
Five times a month?
All made to cash.
Let me see those.
Andy.
He your bookie?
My college dropout son. He's talked
her into writing checks before.
And was Andy
at the party?
He stopped by, uninvited, with
one of his deadbeat friends.
He needed a place
to sober up.
They spend the night?
No. I gave him just an hour. Told
him to stay in the den, out of sight.
Where does
your son live?
Jersey.
With his mom.
Now will you leave
my investors alone?
What the hell?
Who let you in?
Your mother.
We heard you were
on the party circuit.
What?
Dad's?
Monday night?
I don't call being exiled
to the broom closet a party.
We also heard that your dad wasn't
too proud of his dropout son.
Dropout?
Is that what he said?
What do you say?
My gran set me up with a college trust
fund. I had to drop out when Dad drained it.
All he left me with is a
ratty old Ilama-hair coat.
Yeah? And now Gran won't
write out any more checks.
That must've
pissed you off.
I'm not pissed at Gran.
It's my dad who's a jerk.
I'm the only one who ever
visited her at the home.
You see her
at the party?
Of course I did.
She write you out
any more checks?
Sometimes
she gives me presents.
She doesn't even know her own name.
Must take some prodding on your part.
She's the only person in my life
who ever gave a crap about me.
I would never,
ever hurt her.
What about that guy
that you hang out with?
Hal?
Yeah. Does he smoke?
Yeah.
Was he ever alone with
your gran at the party?
I don't know.
You don't know.
I might have nodded off a bit. Mmm-hmm.
Where can we find
this Hal?
At work.
Jubilee Towers, where my
gran was. That's where we met.
He took care of her.
Leave me alone!
Stop it!
You can't make me!
Let go,
Mr. Leonard!
Idiot!
Look what you did!
Hey, Hal,
calm down.
Who are you?
We're the police.
Sir, are you okay?
He's trying to kill me.
What do you want?
Are you always this good
with the patients?
Help me, don't let him take me away.
Don't you worry, nobody's
taking anybody anywhere.
Oh, please, don't encourage
him. This happens every day.
Mr. Leonard hates needles.
But he is going to chemo.
We need to talk.
In private.
Look, I've got three patients
late for appointments
and I've had nothing
but troublemakers all day.
Troublemakers?
How about Bess Sherman?
She one of your troublemakers?
No, she's a dream.
We heard you ran into her on the outside.
With the end of a cigarette
butt. Maybe that rings a bell.
I don't know what you guys have been smoking,
but I've got
lives to save.
Jubilee Towers adheres to the
highest standards of safety.
Even we non-medical
employees are trained in CPR.
Well, have the safety standards been
slipping since Hal started working here?
Are all of those
complaints?
You have to understand
that many patients will complain
if you just look at them wrong.
Hal's worked here
a year.
He's only had one serious
complaint against him.
Which was what?
Well, Mr. Jackson accused Hal
of trying to suffocate him.
Well, did you
call the police?
Uh...
Mr. Jackson is senile.
Well, did you
at least check on it?
Of course I did,
but we found nothing.
You have to realize
that fiction and reality blend in
the mind of some of our patients.
You know, we get rape reports after
the enema cart makes its rounds.
Hal didn't strike me as a real people
person. Now, why hire someone like that?
It's a very low-paying job.
Not a lot of people find
changing adult diapers rewarding.
What else
is in the file?
Just incident reports,
on-duty injuries...
Whoa, whoa.
Hal injured
patients?
No, patients
injured him.
Mr. Jackson?
Yeah?
You the nude models
I ordered?
No. Actually we're...
That was a joke.
What can I do you for?
Heard you had problems
with Hal, the nurse's aide.
That man's
a serial killer.
Tell us about it.
He pinches me all the time.
One day I bit him, real hard.
Son of a bitch
cut off my oxygen,
whispered, "You're gonna die soon, old man. "
And nobody did anything about it?
Hell, no.
Took his word over mine.
Well, we believe you. He
done anything since then?
Sheet people scared him off.
Who?
You know who I mean.
Klan comes at night, roams the
halls. Better watch your back.
Okay. We had Mr. Jackson till
he took a left at Mississippi.
Yeah, but even paranoids
are right sometimes.
Oh, we know Hal. A little
short on the bedside manner.
Okay. Well, we heard
you scratched his face.
Why?
I can't say for sure.
Oh, you know,
just tell them.
It was after I broke my hip last fall.
Yeah, taking dancing lessons for that cruise.
Anyway, when I came back after surgery,
I woke up one night, convinced
that someone was suffocating me.
Was it Hal?
Well, it sure
wasn't the morphine.
All I know is that I thought I was
dying. I started clawing at something.
Then, suddenly,
I could breathe again.
When I opened my eyes,
Hal was standing over me, his
face scratched and bleeding.
What'd he say?
That I was hallucinating.
He pinches the patients,
hides their dentures,
and when he wants a real rush, he
plays keep-away with their oxygen.
But here's the rub. Every victim
was either doped up or senile.
Making them
the perfect victims.
Even if they remember what happened,
they're still unreliable witnesses.
That's probably why he took
the job in the first place.
He gets his rocks off
watching them suffer.
What do you got?
A notice of claim filed six
months ago against Jubilee Towers.
A $10 million
negligence suit
brought about by the estate
of a deceased former resident.
What happened?
Doesn't say. A settlement was
reached with a nondisclosure clause.
Who was named in the suit?
Everyone the dead woman
came into contact with,
from the director down to
the lowliest of nurse's aides.
Including our pal Hal?
This dead woman
have a name?
Dahlia Brown.
I'm already working
on an exhumation order.
Not bad for nine months
in the ground.
Skin's perfectly intact.
She's lost some muscle tone,
but haven't we all?
You know the day's coming when
embalming fluid is put in a lotion.
Until then that time, it will remain
the medical examiner's worst nightmare.
When the undertaker flushed out her
blood, he also flushed away any toxins.
The embalming fluid then dissolved
any protein-based poison in her organs.
Anything you
could test for?
Tissue toxicology,
heavy metals,
which came back negative
for arsenic, lead and cyanide.
The death certificate
said cardiac arrest.
Which means we don't
know what really happened,
but we don't think
it was foul play.
The M. E.'s gotta put something
down for cause of death.
What would you have put?
I don't know, but I certainly
would have mentioned this.
A tiny pinprick hole unaccounted
for in the medical records.
She was in the hospital wing.
Maybe they gave her an IV.
She was in to have her knee drained.
The hole's in the wrong place.
You settled with
the deceased's daughter.
Realize you made
a mistake?
No, it was cheaper
than going to court.
Well, then
what happened with Dahlia?
Well, grieving people
sometimes have trouble
accepting the death
of loved ones.
The pain makes them look
for someone to blame.
Well, speaking of which,
I noticed in Dahlia's records
that her last supper was delivered
by somebody with the initials H. S.
Any other nurses' aides with
those initials besides Hal Shipley?
We're gonna need to speak
with anybody
who might have seen him
with Dahlia that night.
Okay.
Man, I don't want
to grow old.
In our line of work, be careful
what you wish for. How'd you do?
No one remembers any fireworks between them,
but I did find out
a little about Dahlia.
Great lady,
lousy patient?
When she was in pain,
she was a pain.
Needy and demanding,
Hal's favorite.
Yeah, he had means,
he had opportunity
with Bess, Dahlia,
Mr. Jackson, a dozen others.
That we know of. He's like a
psycho kid in a candy store.
Time to take away
his candy.
Excuse me, where...
Room 410's coding.
Quick,
get the crash cart.
410 is Bess' room.
Code blue to room 410. Code blue to room 410.
Hurry! In here!
Hope.
You were right. I saw it was him. He was...
Let's calm down. Just take a
breath and tell us what happened.
After we talked,
I called Hal in
and, you know, I told him to
finish his shift and leave.
He wanted to know why,
and I told him.
I said, "It's because of the
way you treat the patients. "
And he was furious
and he just stormed out.
You can't help in there.
Now, did he make any threats?
No, but after what we
talked about, you know...
I was worried, so I came down to check
on Bess, and that's when I saw him.
What was he doing?
He was just...
He was leaving the room,
but I didn't even think.
I just went in there and her
pulse was weak and thready
and I just pushed the code
button and started CPR.
Hold on, hold on.
Bess? Move her to the full-care wing.
I'm gonna go with her.
Put her on a monitor
and start an IV.
She had a fresh
needle mark.
What are you still doing
here? We heard you were fired.
The pencil-pushing bootlicker
told me to finish off my shift.
Account for your whereabouts
for the last 15 minutes.
Stockroom.
Taking inventory.
Let's go for a ride, Hal.
Am I under arrest?
No.
Then screw off.
Excuse me?
Whatever. Let's party.
I hope I'm not
interrupting anything.
Yeah, a big
tearful goodbye.
Oh, you really don't
wanna miss this.
You got
a latent print report?
Hal's known,
identified print.
From that last cig break at the
Towers. You really shouldn't litter.
You can't do that.
Yeah, well, you
voluntarily discarded it.
Meaning legally,
your butt is ours.
As is this one, retrieved
from Joe Sherman's party trash.
Well, that looks like a match. Seven-point.
We've got a bifurcation, three
ending ridges and an island.
Lots of guys were smoking at the party.
Yeah? Well, how many had seared flesh
at the end of their cancer sticks?
That we can match
to Bess Sherman.
Uh... Where's the lab
on the DNA?
I'm on my way there
right now.
Call us when you know.
When we have the results,
we won't need a confession
from pantywaist here.
No confession,
no plea bargain.
Which means
you do the max.
CSU said they couldn't get
flesh off of the cigarette.
Oops.
Okay, I burned her.
What?
I burned her.
Why?
It's not like
I planned it.
Andy owed me a lot of money, which he
said he could get from Grandma Bess.
Owed you money
for what?
Nothing to do
with this.
He pulls a check from her purse,
says, "You need to sign this, Gran. "
Bam, she does.
So it's so easy, you think
you're gonna try it yourself.
So you go back in,
get another check.
And she yells, "Rape."
Just like she used to at the home
when I'd help dress her. As if.
Your job sucked, we know.
No, you don't know!
I had to clean them and feed
them and wipe up their crap.
They owed you.
So all she had to do
was sign the other check.
But what does she do? She screams?
She tried to get you in trouble.
So I go over
to quiet her down,
and my cigarette
accidentally burns her chest.
And she starts screaming rape
at the top of her lungs,
and I just...
I just snap.
I say,
"I'll show you rape."
And I pull up her nightgown
and I jab that cigarette at
her again and again and again.
What happened
when you saw her today?
I didn't see her today.
Sweetie, we've got a witness
who saw you leaving her room.
Then they were hallucinating.
When she coded, I was in the
stockroom. I can prove it.
Hal's been hacking into the drug computer.
Son of a bitch was stealing drugs.
Maybe he fudged
the times.
According to the tech, this machine is
like the Fort Knox of drug dispensers.
Then he's covered. His
list of stolen nurses' codes
matches perfectly to what
we found in his locker.
Well, Hope swore she saw
him leaving Bess' room.
So, if the computer's
not lying...
Bess isn't the first patient
Hope has saved, you know.
Really?
She found Mrs. Mercer in cardiac
arrest last Christmas Eve.
Same situation?
She started CPR?
Can you imagine a more depressing day to die?
Sounds like
a Christmas miracle.
I think there was
one other time.
Zona?
Yeah?
Didn't Hope Garrett
save another patient before?
Oh. She tried.
The guy didn't make it.
No, this was a woman.
Remember, uh, senior prom?
Oh, yeah.
Senior prom with the emphasis on "senior"?
It's a dance the Level
One-ers throw every spring.
Their anti-youth
counterstatement.
You know, the punch always gets spiked,
somebody tries to limbo and breaks a hip.
So this woman that Hope saved was
otherwise a healthy dance casualty.
Well, she wasn't dancing. She
collapsed at the buffet table.
It's a good thing
Hope knows her CPR.
I'm not gonna let anybody else hurt
you, Ma. You're coming home with me.
You sure that's
in her best interest?
Oh, I don't know, maybe
I'll throw her back in
with that lunatic who
burned her, like you did.
Dad, you're upsetting Gran.
No lip from you.
You're the one that started
this whole thing by letting
that drug supplier into my house.
I'll come by later, Gran.
I'll bring those brochures
of the other homes.
Sweet boy.
Just so you know, Hal's in custody.
He won't be hurting anybody else.
Oh, you're so quick.
It only took two attempts on my
mother's life for you to figure it out.
You're my friend,
aren't you?
Yes, I am, Bess.
Make this man be quiet.
Don't you worry about it.
He's just leaving.
Guess again.
I was wrongly accused. The
protective order was dropped.
Well, I hear that the
misappropriation of funds investigation
is just beginning.
Uh, I'm sorry,
is this a bad time?
No, you're welcome
anytime.
And thanks for
saving my mother's life.
Oh, well, Bess is one of our favorites.
No way she's going anywhere while I'm around.
So, you have saved,
what, three now?
Including Bess,
yeah, I guess so.
And just that
one loss.
Mr. Tazelo.
Yeah, what happened?
I was passing by X-ray and there he
was, just slumped over in his wheelchair.
So, he'd been left
unattended?
I'm sure an aide
was on the way.
But he was alone long
enough to die unnoticed.
Or was he still breathing
when you found him?
He was. I mean,
you know, he was dead.
But you still tried
to resuscitate him.
Well, I didn't know how long he'd been there.
We bring people back
all the time. So, I just, um,
you know, pulled him to the floor and
started CPR. I didn't want to give up.
They had to pull me off.
This woman
is a complete wacko.
It could be
malignant hero syndrome.
A person sets up a risky
situation to create an emergency
and then comes out a hero.
Like a fireman
starting a fire.
It's all about personal gain. In
this case, attention, prestige.
Like Munchausen by proxy.
She kills people just to bring them
back to feel better about herself.
What was she
shooting them up with?
I picked up Bess' tox screen
report from the hospital wing.
There's no poisons,
no anomalous drugs.
She had epinephrine
in her system.
That's what they give when
your heart stops, right?
Exactly.
I guess that's why it's under
the "no big surprise" column.
Well, Hope revived Bess
with CPR.
Once her heart was started again, she
shouldn't have been given epinephrine.
And according to
this chart, she wasn't.
What would happen if that was given
to somebody who had a healthy heart?
It would speed up
heart rate,
increasing cardiac output and
blood pressure to a dangerous level.
Mimicking a heart attack.
Perfect crime.
Son of a bitch.
Hope was a nurse.
She worked at
Oak Glade Nursing Home.
Her license was revoked 15 years ago.
On what grounds?
Gross negligence.
"Failed to dilute
potassium chloride doses."
It's cozy, isn't it? An elevator
adjacent. Do you like to swim, Mr. Hamrick?
Because you're gonna love
the water aerobics class.
I hear that really gets
your heart rate up.
It's a hell of a lot safer than
being injected with epinephrine.
Is everything
all right?
Absolutely.
Excuse me one minute.
Elliot, Olivia. Um...
This probably isn't a good time
to talk about the unpleasantness.
Oh, we don't plan
to discuss it here.
Good.
A squad room would be
much more appropriate.
Did something new
happen with Hal?
Well, our techs pulled the used
syringes on the Sharps boxes here.
Hal's prints weren't on any of them.
Well, he had access to,
you know, over a dozen
boxes of surgical gloves,
so maybe he thought to use a pair.
You didn't.
They found your prints on a syringe of
epi in the box at the nurses' station.
Well, you know Hal did it.
He confessed.
To burning her.
But you didn't give a damn about that
as long as you could grab the spotlight.
Why are you trying to embarrass
me? People can hear you.
Drama queen, you enjoy
being the center of attention.
Hope Garrett, you're under arrest for
the attempted murder of Bess Sherman...
What are you talking about?
... and suspicion of murders
committed at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
This is ridiculous, okay? You
have the right to remain silent.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
It's a mistake.
If you give up that right, anything
you say... This is a mistake!
I examined the records
of 22 deaths at Oak Glade
between May of 1982
and March of 1987.
And what did you find?
Evidence of potassium
poisoning in seven of them.
Why wasn't this discovered
in any of their autopsies?
People expect
the elderly to die.
An autopsy is performed
maybe one out of 25 cases.
Well, surely
some of them were examined?
Yes, but when cells die,
they release potassium.
It would have been
impossible to detect.
So, how did you?
By examining
their EKGs.
Could you please
show us on the board?
All showed tachycardia and a widened
QRS, indicative of hyperkalemia.
Uh...
In layman's terms?
Their hearts
were beating too fast.
Dr. Warner, what causes there to
be too much potassium in the blood?
Kidney failure can, or it was
introduced by an outside source.
Did any of them
have kidney disease?
No. Someone administered
lethal doses.
Do you have any idea how
many mistakes doctors make,
how many times
I've covered their asses?
Counselor,
you control your client,
or I'll have her removed
from this courtroom.
Yes, Your Honor.
The jury will disregard
the defendant's outburst.
The People may proceed.
One last question, Dr. Warner.
In all these cases, how many different
administering nurses were there?
Just one.
Hope Garrett.
Yes, but you
have to understand
every last one of them was
at death's door. Counselor.
Your Honor, I'm sorry.
This won't happen again.
You know, I don't think you realize
how little time that they had left.
I don't care if they were
on their very last breath.
You had no right
to take it from them.
You don't understand. I
help people. What do you do?
You stupid bitch!
Hope!
This is not helping. Court is
recessed. Bailiff, take the jury out.
How can you just sit there
and let them crucify me?
I don't need this, you know.
I'm leaving.
Court officers,
remove the defendant.
This is not fair. All you tell them
about is Oak Glade and Jubilee Towers.
But I've worked in homes
for 15 years in between.
And how many of them
did you kill?
I didn't kill anybody.
Maybe a few of them
wouldn't pull through for me,
but I have saved hundreds.
Hundreds.
And you don't even care
about them, do you?
Take your hands off of me!
Let go of me!
justice system,
sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.
In New York City,
the dedicated detectives who
investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Armando,
wake up.
What? Shh. Someone's in the house.
Call 911.
I can't
find the phone.
Just get in
the closet.
Is that you, Itsy?
Who the hell
is Itsy?
Who the hell
is she?
No ID. Can't tell me her name.
Can't
or won't?
I think Granny's only knitting with
one needle, if you catch my drift.
Well, she came in through a window,
so she was pretty desperate to get in.
Well, she thinks she lives here,
apparently with someone named Itsy.
And you canvassed
the building?
Yeah.
No one knows her.
Yeah, Granny Doe made herself right at home.
That's her coat
on the rack.
Okay. Thanks.
Why are all
these men here?
I'm not decent.
It's okay, ma'am.
It's okay.
Please.
Make them leave.
All right.
I'm Detective Benson. Can
you tell me what happened?
I have to talk to Itsy.
Okay. Is Itsy the one
that hurt you?
You don't know anything,
do you?
Just what
Itsy told me.
She promised not to tell.
Well, that's because
she wants you to tell me.
What happened?
He had his way with me.
Who did?
Ma'am, may I?
Did you see that?
Yeah. Someone used her
for an ashtray.
Was she raped?
No abrasions or fluids, you'll
have to wait for the kit.
But she had 12 raw burns
to her breasts and genitals.
She was in shock
when we talked to her.
You think she'll remember more details?
I doubt it.
Her head CT and MRI are
clear, no sign of infection.
She probably
has Alzheimer's.
So, no short-term memory.
Any way to
kick-start it?
Damage done is irreversible. She's in here.
She hasn't been
admitted yet?
No need to. She has mild high blood pressure.
Nothing more serious. I gave her
Silvadene lotion for her burns.
This woman needs
supervised care.
Long-term. We don't provide that here.
I just need someone to release her to.
Do you feel up to
talking now?
Oh, where's my purse?
Look, what happened
to my purse?
You didn't have one
with you.
Did you take it
when you went out?
Well, I had my purse here 10 minutes
ago. Of course I had my purse.
We'll help you
look for it.
Did it have
your name in it?
Of course it had
my name in it.
Okay.
What was the name?
I don't know.
Whatever.
What could have happened
to my purse?
Well, what's it to you?
You took my purse.
You make her give me back my purse.
I promise you, she didn't take your purse.
Yes, she did. She did take my purse.
Nobody else could have taken my purse.
You give me back
my purse.
Maybe the person who
hurt you took your purse?
Were you attacked in your home? Or
someplace else? Can you remember?
I was in my bedroom. I
was... I was asleep, and I...
I was asleep in my bedroom
and I...
I woke up and...
He pushed up my nightgown.
He was in there.
Oh, it hurt so bad.
I tried to hit him.
I tried to push him off,
but I couldn't move.
Did you know
your attacker?
Who was it?
It was...
How did he get
in the house?
Well, he stays there.
He stays there?
Why?
Well, he stays there because he
lost all his money investing it.
He drinks every night.
Whiskey.
Oh, he smells so awful
when he...
Okay.
We can help you.
I don't like it when he comes upstairs to me.
We can help you, but you've
got to tell us his name, okay?
Who?
It's sad.
Frightening. When this steel trap
starts to rust, call Kevorkian.
Consider that done.
Have Adult Protective Services
pick her up. Where are we on her ID?
We re-canvassed the building and
did a sweep of the neighborhood.
No one's
claiming her.
Well, she said her abuser lives with her.
Yeah, so he won't be calling Missing Persons.
Well, how far could this
lady have gone in her nightie?
She broke into that apartment for a reason.
She must have lived there at some point.
Manager's been there 20
years. He's never seen her.
That building's been there at
least a hundred. Go back further.
The 1930 census
was just unsealed this year.
I can give you the name, age, sex
and race of any person at any address.
Assuming they weren't paranoid conspiracy
freaks with a wicked big-brother complex.
Well, that's why it's sealed for 72
years, to cover the average life span.
Actually, 72 is the average
man's life span. A woman's is 79.
Oh, a man
who knows his stats.
Did you know the 1930 census
takes 2,667 rolls of...
Yo, stop, stop, stop. Okay.
There's Seventh. Back up.
There's Sixth and there's the building, 213.
Yeah. Apartment 1-A.
The Staytons.
Ellsworth, Hilda
and three daughters, Lilith, 11,
Isabel, 10, and Millie, eight.
Today they'd be 83,
82 and 80.
She's gotta be
one of these three girls.
This isn't Lilith
or Isabel?
No, both my sisters
passed on.
Lily in '92 and cancer took Izzy back in '78.
You called Isabel
"Izzy"?
Everyone did.
No one ever
called her "Itsy"?
Dear Lord,
Itsy and Bitsy.
I haven't thought
about her in years.
Who was Bitsy?
A neighbor girl down the
street. Isabel's best friend.
It was Bitsy for Bess.
Bess Maclntyre.
Did Bess ever
live with you?
No, no. But sometimes she'd sneak
over in the middle of the night.
Poor thing,
cry herself to sleep.
She would wake up your whole
family in the middle of the night?
Oh, no, no, she'd sneak in through a window.
Why was she crying?
I was too young
to understand at the time,
but Bess had what we used
to call a "funny uncle. "
Mother never let us play at her
house the whole time he lived there.
I got it, thanks.
I'm sorry,
did I wake you?
Who are you?
I'm Olivia. Remember?
And I'm sorry, do you
go by Bitsy or Bess now?
Bess.
We've never met.
We had a long talk
this morning.
After the hospital?
I never go to a hospital.
I'm a very healthy person. I am
healthy as a... As a horseshoe.
What is this place?
Why am I here?
You're in a police station.
I was arrested?
No, no, no.
You were attacked.
You said that it was
the man staying with you.
The man who lost all his
money in the stock market.
Were you talking
about your uncle?
What year did he lose all his money?
What year did he lose all his money? He
lost his money in 1929. Everybody did.
Bess, that was over
70 years ago.
Your uncle hurt you when you were
little. Tell me, who is hurting you now?
Well, in the small favors category,
her rape kit came back negative.
You look at those burns and tell
me this skeev did her any favors.
Looks like the doc's done
with her. What'd you get?
The attack definitely triggered
memories of her childhood molestation.
So she fled to the only safe harbor she
could think of, her friend Isabel's home.
She'd sneak through the
window like she did last night.
Who is she running from?
I doubt she's ever gonna
be able to tell you.
So we just solved
a 70-year-old rape case.
Uncle Ted was arrested in '53 on
five counts of rape, but not for Bess.
He was killed in prison
in '57.
Well, somebody tortured her
again last night
and I'm pretty sure
it wasn't the dead uncle.
So, who are we looking for?
A sadist.
He enjoyed the torture,
though I'm not sure if it
was sexual or anger-based.
He's young
or socially stunted.
He chose an enfeebled woman
because of feelings of inadequacy.
I tracked Bess
through Social Security.
Her checks are sent care of
Jubilee Towers on Madison.
Nice place
for a nursing home.
We're not a nursing home. We're
an assisted living facility.
Hello. Hope Garrett.
Hi.
Assistant Administrator.
How may I help you?
I'm Detective Benson. This is
my partner, Detective Stabler.
Are you aware that one of your
residents went missing last night?
Well, it couldn't have been
anyone from the nursing wing
because they're checked on a
regular basis. Let's see. Uh...
Yes, all our Level One-ers
are accounted for.
You do bed checks?
The residents are required to
flip a switch every morning,
just to let us know
that they're still with us.
Well, I can guarantee you Bess Sherman
did not flip her own switch today.
How could she have?
Mrs. Sherman was released
about two weeks ago.
To whom?
Her son.
Joe Sherman.
Mr. Sherman?
These folks have a warrant.
I'm letting them in.
He's usually home from work
about now.
Nice place.
No, it's his mother's.
Rent-controlled. $350 a
month, you believe that?
Mr. Sherman smoke?
Only in between
the times he quits.
How's Joe been getting along with
his mother since she moved back in?
All I know is she sure brought him some luck.
How so?
Well, ever since she came back,
the repo men stopped coming,
deliveries started.
Deliveries.
What kind of deliveries?
Big-screen TV came in over the
weekend. Couch, chairs, the media unit.
Got all the bells
and whistles, CD, DVD,
stereo, video, got a TiVo.
Elliot.
Really fixed
this place up.
Except for this room.
Bess' room,
I'm assuming.
Looks more like her cell. Check this out.
Explains
the restraint marks.
Joe didn't want to lose
his lucky charm.
Who are you, and what are you doing here?
Police. Just checking out
your mother's accommodations.
Well, where is she?
Is she okay?
She's safer than she was
in this place. Let's go.
I wanna see my mother.
When we're done.
Have a cigarette.
I don't smoke.
Really? We heard you did. I quit.
Could I see her
right now?
As soon as
you explain these.
She never
bruised before.
It's some way
to treat your mother.
She wanders at night.
It's for her own protection.
Protection? But you don't
protect her from this.
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God.
Well, you don't think
I burned her?
Actually, we do.
Well, then you're more confused than she is.
Obviously some pervert attacked
her on the street when she got out.
But you didn't notice
she was gone.
I had an early breakfast meeting.
I didn't want to wake her.
But you don't mind leaving her
tied up to a bed for 18 hours?
Now, how was she supposed
to use the bathroom?
Look, the housekeeper takes care of
that. Maria comes in every morning.
She makes Mom breakfast.
She wakes her up.
But she didn't come
this morning.
No. I don't know why Maria didn't
call me. And believe me, she's fired.
Well, we'll take care of that
for you. What's her last name?
Her name is Sanchez.
You know, your mother
would've been just fine
if you hadn't pulled her from
that nice retirement community.
They were draining her. She paid
those crooks seven grand a month.
Leaving
nothing for you.
All right, you know what? I'm done. So
you either charge me, or you let me go.
And I'm gonna
take my mother with me.
No way we're releasing Bess
into his custody.
He's her legal guardian.
He's her abuser.
According to whom?
You have no witnesses, and the
victim can't make a complaint.
Look, we suspect
a parent of abuse,
Child Services doesn't
need the victim's complaint.
The law assumes a child
can't speak up for itself.
Neither can Bess. And her
son is strapping her to a bed.
A lawyer could argue he
believed it was a reasonable,
albeit very misguided,
attempt to keep Bess safe.
Look, Alex, there's gotta be some
way to get this guy on neglect.
In an attempt to ensure her safety,
he endangered her. It's a stretch.
Well, then stretch it
into an order of removal.
We'll stall Joe.
What's the problem now?
I have a protective order to place
your mother back in Jubilee Towers
until this matter
is straightened out.
My mom
belongs with me.
The courts
disagree with you.
Mom. Mom, would you tell
them that I did not hurt you?
Why is it so noisy
in here?
I'm gonna sue
every one of your asses.
Lawyers are
mighty expensive, Joe.
Here's a protective order freezing
your mother's accounts and assets.
You can't do that.
Mom, don't you worry,
I am gonna bring you home!
Captain, got any tissues for me?
I'm about to break out into tears.
Hey, escort Mr. Sherman
out the back.
We'll see if we can dig up
any dirt from the neighbors,
see if Maria the housekeeper
even exists.
Maria Sanchez?
Yes.
You work for Joe Sherman,
take care of his mother, Bess?
Yes, what's wrong?
Did you go to work
yesterday?
No one was there. I thought
maybe he took her to the doctor.
She ran away sometime the night
before. Could you come up here, please?
We'd like to ask you
a few questions.
Do you have any idea
what she was running from?
You ever see any marks or
bruises on Mrs. Sherman?
No.
Did you ever see
Mr. Sherman hurt her?
No, but when things are stressful,
he speaks very harsh with her.
Was he stressed out
Monday?
Very. Everything had to be
just perfect for his party.
I invited
a few investors over.
You failed to mention it.
It wasn't relevant.
I can assure you that none
of them touched my mother.
Delway Furniture Rentals
says your Visa was declined.
Send them a check.
But the bank called...
Just deal with it.
Business troubles?
Police harassment. You shut us
down when you froze our accounts.
I think you mean
your mother's accounts.
This is a start-up business,
my mother's a key investor.
What about those big investors at your party?
Don't go near them.
Why, they see something you
don't want us to hear about?
Maybe Mom wandered out, caused
a scene, embarrassed you?
So you drove home the burning
importance of being a silent partner.
Why are you
trying to destroy me
when the monster who tortured
my mother is still out there?
Joe, just cough up
the party list.
No way in hell you're
ever gonna get that list.
Damn it to hell, you got
crap all over my shoes.
If you wanna bitch,
switch places.
This one's full of rancid
salmon puffs.
Maybe they didn't go over
too big at Joe's party.
You sure it's Joe's?
Incoming.
Housekeeper said she threw out three bags
with yellow ties. We gotta check all of them.
Well, here's a Lick magazine
with Joe's address on it.
Hair dye for men.
And something that's
best applied anally.
Stop jerking around
and find the guest book.
Hello!
Names?
Cigarette butts. One of
them's gotta be our weapon.
You're keeping me busy, Detectives.
Forty-five cigarette butts in all.
Five different brands.
Any way to match
the butts to the wounds?
If we were talking about
cigars or slims.
Unfortunately, most brands
are identical in size,
so there's no way to narrow
down by wound diameter.
Just need to prove that the attack
took place in that apartment.
Any way to find
flesh residue?
Well, at
the point of inhalation,
the burn zone temperature
is around 850 and 900 degrees.
Seared away
all the evidence.
DNA from saliva on the
filters will take weeks to run.
We're screwed.
Not really.
Fingerprints.
Ninhydrin.
I'll spray them all and then
I'll run them through the system.
We already checked out Joe, no priors.
Yeah, but maybe not all his
mystery smoking guests are as clean.
Investing in one of these
is like buying a Monet.
It's easy on the eyes as it gains
in value. Will you excuse me, please?
Hi, there!
Hugh Wilkins?
How can I help you?
By fessing up.
The Tychon Food Chopper,
it couldn't really slice and
dice a beer can, now, could it?
Sure it could.
Of course, you have to follow the
instructional video, sold separately.
How did you...
When you got bonded to sell that crap
door-to-door, you gave up your prints.
We found one on a cigarette butt
you left at Joe Sherman's party.
Did you have any trouble
with his moms that night?
His mother? I never even
saw her. What's this about?
Joe.
Yeah.
What's his racket?
Oh! The Trifecta Wizard. It's an
unbeatable horseracing software program.
Unlike his other get-rich-quick
schemes, this one was "a sure thing. "
His other ventures
stumble out of the gate?
Habitually. You should ask Joe
about his Ilama ranch in Texas.
That one even
scared off his mother.
She was an investor?
Up until two years ago, she
was his principal backer.
After that, she had to guard
what was left of the nest egg.
She cut
the purse strings.
That must have
pissed Joe off.
Well, he went broke.
But then the old lady moves back in, lo
and behold, he has start-up money again.
According to everyone we spoke to,
Joe has been a leech his entire life.
Right behind you,
speak of the devil.
Look, I asked you to stay away from
my investors. Three just pulled out.
And we're only through
half the list.
You're ruining me.
Like you were
ruining your mother?
We pulled
her financials, Joe.
The only money I ever took from her was rent.
Five times a month?
All made to cash.
Let me see those.
Andy.
He your bookie?
My college dropout son. He's talked
her into writing checks before.
And was Andy
at the party?
He stopped by, uninvited, with
one of his deadbeat friends.
He needed a place
to sober up.
They spend the night?
No. I gave him just an hour. Told
him to stay in the den, out of sight.
Where does
your son live?
Jersey.
With his mom.
Now will you leave
my investors alone?
What the hell?
Who let you in?
Your mother.
We heard you were
on the party circuit.
What?
Dad's?
Monday night?
I don't call being exiled
to the broom closet a party.
We also heard that your dad wasn't
too proud of his dropout son.
Dropout?
Is that what he said?
What do you say?
My gran set me up with a college trust
fund. I had to drop out when Dad drained it.
All he left me with is a
ratty old Ilama-hair coat.
Yeah? And now Gran won't
write out any more checks.
That must've
pissed you off.
I'm not pissed at Gran.
It's my dad who's a jerk.
I'm the only one who ever
visited her at the home.
You see her
at the party?
Of course I did.
She write you out
any more checks?
Sometimes
she gives me presents.
She doesn't even know her own name.
Must take some prodding on your part.
She's the only person in my life
who ever gave a crap about me.
I would never,
ever hurt her.
What about that guy
that you hang out with?
Hal?
Yeah. Does he smoke?
Yeah.
Was he ever alone with
your gran at the party?
I don't know.
You don't know.
I might have nodded off a bit. Mmm-hmm.
Where can we find
this Hal?
At work.
Jubilee Towers, where my
gran was. That's where we met.
He took care of her.
Leave me alone!
Stop it!
You can't make me!
Let go,
Mr. Leonard!
Idiot!
Look what you did!
Hey, Hal,
calm down.
Who are you?
We're the police.
Sir, are you okay?
He's trying to kill me.
What do you want?
Are you always this good
with the patients?
Help me, don't let him take me away.
Don't you worry, nobody's
taking anybody anywhere.
Oh, please, don't encourage
him. This happens every day.
Mr. Leonard hates needles.
But he is going to chemo.
We need to talk.
In private.
Look, I've got three patients
late for appointments
and I've had nothing
but troublemakers all day.
Troublemakers?
How about Bess Sherman?
She one of your troublemakers?
No, she's a dream.
We heard you ran into her on the outside.
With the end of a cigarette
butt. Maybe that rings a bell.
I don't know what you guys have been smoking,
but I've got
lives to save.
Jubilee Towers adheres to the
highest standards of safety.
Even we non-medical
employees are trained in CPR.
Well, have the safety standards been
slipping since Hal started working here?
Are all of those
complaints?
You have to understand
that many patients will complain
if you just look at them wrong.
Hal's worked here
a year.
He's only had one serious
complaint against him.
Which was what?
Well, Mr. Jackson accused Hal
of trying to suffocate him.
Well, did you
call the police?
Uh...
Mr. Jackson is senile.
Well, did you
at least check on it?
Of course I did,
but we found nothing.
You have to realize
that fiction and reality blend in
the mind of some of our patients.
You know, we get rape reports after
the enema cart makes its rounds.
Hal didn't strike me as a real people
person. Now, why hire someone like that?
It's a very low-paying job.
Not a lot of people find
changing adult diapers rewarding.
What else
is in the file?
Just incident reports,
on-duty injuries...
Whoa, whoa.
Hal injured
patients?
No, patients
injured him.
Mr. Jackson?
Yeah?
You the nude models
I ordered?
No. Actually we're...
That was a joke.
What can I do you for?
Heard you had problems
with Hal, the nurse's aide.
That man's
a serial killer.
Tell us about it.
He pinches me all the time.
One day I bit him, real hard.
Son of a bitch
cut off my oxygen,
whispered, "You're gonna die soon, old man. "
And nobody did anything about it?
Hell, no.
Took his word over mine.
Well, we believe you. He
done anything since then?
Sheet people scared him off.
Who?
You know who I mean.
Klan comes at night, roams the
halls. Better watch your back.
Okay. We had Mr. Jackson till
he took a left at Mississippi.
Yeah, but even paranoids
are right sometimes.
Oh, we know Hal. A little
short on the bedside manner.
Okay. Well, we heard
you scratched his face.
Why?
I can't say for sure.
Oh, you know,
just tell them.
It was after I broke my hip last fall.
Yeah, taking dancing lessons for that cruise.
Anyway, when I came back after surgery,
I woke up one night, convinced
that someone was suffocating me.
Was it Hal?
Well, it sure
wasn't the morphine.
All I know is that I thought I was
dying. I started clawing at something.
Then, suddenly,
I could breathe again.
When I opened my eyes,
Hal was standing over me, his
face scratched and bleeding.
What'd he say?
That I was hallucinating.
He pinches the patients,
hides their dentures,
and when he wants a real rush, he
plays keep-away with their oxygen.
But here's the rub. Every victim
was either doped up or senile.
Making them
the perfect victims.
Even if they remember what happened,
they're still unreliable witnesses.
That's probably why he took
the job in the first place.
He gets his rocks off
watching them suffer.
What do you got?
A notice of claim filed six
months ago against Jubilee Towers.
A $10 million
negligence suit
brought about by the estate
of a deceased former resident.
What happened?
Doesn't say. A settlement was
reached with a nondisclosure clause.
Who was named in the suit?
Everyone the dead woman
came into contact with,
from the director down to
the lowliest of nurse's aides.
Including our pal Hal?
This dead woman
have a name?
Dahlia Brown.
I'm already working
on an exhumation order.
Not bad for nine months
in the ground.
Skin's perfectly intact.
She's lost some muscle tone,
but haven't we all?
You know the day's coming when
embalming fluid is put in a lotion.
Until then that time, it will remain
the medical examiner's worst nightmare.
When the undertaker flushed out her
blood, he also flushed away any toxins.
The embalming fluid then dissolved
any protein-based poison in her organs.
Anything you
could test for?
Tissue toxicology,
heavy metals,
which came back negative
for arsenic, lead and cyanide.
The death certificate
said cardiac arrest.
Which means we don't
know what really happened,
but we don't think
it was foul play.
The M. E.'s gotta put something
down for cause of death.
What would you have put?
I don't know, but I certainly
would have mentioned this.
A tiny pinprick hole unaccounted
for in the medical records.
She was in the hospital wing.
Maybe they gave her an IV.
She was in to have her knee drained.
The hole's in the wrong place.
You settled with
the deceased's daughter.
Realize you made
a mistake?
No, it was cheaper
than going to court.
Well, then
what happened with Dahlia?
Well, grieving people
sometimes have trouble
accepting the death
of loved ones.
The pain makes them look
for someone to blame.
Well, speaking of which,
I noticed in Dahlia's records
that her last supper was delivered
by somebody with the initials H. S.
Any other nurses' aides with
those initials besides Hal Shipley?
We're gonna need to speak
with anybody
who might have seen him
with Dahlia that night.
Okay.
Man, I don't want
to grow old.
In our line of work, be careful
what you wish for. How'd you do?
No one remembers any fireworks between them,
but I did find out
a little about Dahlia.
Great lady,
lousy patient?
When she was in pain,
she was a pain.
Needy and demanding,
Hal's favorite.
Yeah, he had means,
he had opportunity
with Bess, Dahlia,
Mr. Jackson, a dozen others.
That we know of. He's like a
psycho kid in a candy store.
Time to take away
his candy.
Excuse me, where...
Room 410's coding.
Quick,
get the crash cart.
410 is Bess' room.
Code blue to room 410. Code blue to room 410.
Hurry! In here!
Hope.
You were right. I saw it was him. He was...
Let's calm down. Just take a
breath and tell us what happened.
After we talked,
I called Hal in
and, you know, I told him to
finish his shift and leave.
He wanted to know why,
and I told him.
I said, "It's because of the
way you treat the patients. "
And he was furious
and he just stormed out.
You can't help in there.
Now, did he make any threats?
No, but after what we
talked about, you know...
I was worried, so I came down to check
on Bess, and that's when I saw him.
What was he doing?
He was just...
He was leaving the room,
but I didn't even think.
I just went in there and her
pulse was weak and thready
and I just pushed the code
button and started CPR.
Hold on, hold on.
Bess? Move her to the full-care wing.
I'm gonna go with her.
Put her on a monitor
and start an IV.
She had a fresh
needle mark.
What are you still doing
here? We heard you were fired.
The pencil-pushing bootlicker
told me to finish off my shift.
Account for your whereabouts
for the last 15 minutes.
Stockroom.
Taking inventory.
Let's go for a ride, Hal.
Am I under arrest?
No.
Then screw off.
Excuse me?
Whatever. Let's party.
I hope I'm not
interrupting anything.
Yeah, a big
tearful goodbye.
Oh, you really don't
wanna miss this.
You got
a latent print report?
Hal's known,
identified print.
From that last cig break at the
Towers. You really shouldn't litter.
You can't do that.
Yeah, well, you
voluntarily discarded it.
Meaning legally,
your butt is ours.
As is this one, retrieved
from Joe Sherman's party trash.
Well, that looks like a match. Seven-point.
We've got a bifurcation, three
ending ridges and an island.
Lots of guys were smoking at the party.
Yeah? Well, how many had seared flesh
at the end of their cancer sticks?
That we can match
to Bess Sherman.
Uh... Where's the lab
on the DNA?
I'm on my way there
right now.
Call us when you know.
When we have the results,
we won't need a confession
from pantywaist here.
No confession,
no plea bargain.
Which means
you do the max.
CSU said they couldn't get
flesh off of the cigarette.
Oops.
Okay, I burned her.
What?
I burned her.
Why?
It's not like
I planned it.
Andy owed me a lot of money, which he
said he could get from Grandma Bess.
Owed you money
for what?
Nothing to do
with this.
He pulls a check from her purse,
says, "You need to sign this, Gran. "
Bam, she does.
So it's so easy, you think
you're gonna try it yourself.
So you go back in,
get another check.
And she yells, "Rape."
Just like she used to at the home
when I'd help dress her. As if.
Your job sucked, we know.
No, you don't know!
I had to clean them and feed
them and wipe up their crap.
They owed you.
So all she had to do
was sign the other check.
But what does she do? She screams?
She tried to get you in trouble.
So I go over
to quiet her down,
and my cigarette
accidentally burns her chest.
And she starts screaming rape
at the top of her lungs,
and I just...
I just snap.
I say,
"I'll show you rape."
And I pull up her nightgown
and I jab that cigarette at
her again and again and again.
What happened
when you saw her today?
I didn't see her today.
Sweetie, we've got a witness
who saw you leaving her room.
Then they were hallucinating.
When she coded, I was in the
stockroom. I can prove it.
Hal's been hacking into the drug computer.
Son of a bitch was stealing drugs.
Maybe he fudged
the times.
According to the tech, this machine is
like the Fort Knox of drug dispensers.
Then he's covered. His
list of stolen nurses' codes
matches perfectly to what
we found in his locker.
Well, Hope swore she saw
him leaving Bess' room.
So, if the computer's
not lying...
Bess isn't the first patient
Hope has saved, you know.
Really?
She found Mrs. Mercer in cardiac
arrest last Christmas Eve.
Same situation?
She started CPR?
Can you imagine a more depressing day to die?
Sounds like
a Christmas miracle.
I think there was
one other time.
Zona?
Yeah?
Didn't Hope Garrett
save another patient before?
Oh. She tried.
The guy didn't make it.
No, this was a woman.
Remember, uh, senior prom?
Oh, yeah.
Senior prom with the emphasis on "senior"?
It's a dance the Level
One-ers throw every spring.
Their anti-youth
counterstatement.
You know, the punch always gets spiked,
somebody tries to limbo and breaks a hip.
So this woman that Hope saved was
otherwise a healthy dance casualty.
Well, she wasn't dancing. She
collapsed at the buffet table.
It's a good thing
Hope knows her CPR.
I'm not gonna let anybody else hurt
you, Ma. You're coming home with me.
You sure that's
in her best interest?
Oh, I don't know, maybe
I'll throw her back in
with that lunatic who
burned her, like you did.
Dad, you're upsetting Gran.
No lip from you.
You're the one that started
this whole thing by letting
that drug supplier into my house.
I'll come by later, Gran.
I'll bring those brochures
of the other homes.
Sweet boy.
Just so you know, Hal's in custody.
He won't be hurting anybody else.
Oh, you're so quick.
It only took two attempts on my
mother's life for you to figure it out.
You're my friend,
aren't you?
Yes, I am, Bess.
Make this man be quiet.
Don't you worry about it.
He's just leaving.
Guess again.
I was wrongly accused. The
protective order was dropped.
Well, I hear that the
misappropriation of funds investigation
is just beginning.
Uh, I'm sorry,
is this a bad time?
No, you're welcome
anytime.
And thanks for
saving my mother's life.
Oh, well, Bess is one of our favorites.
No way she's going anywhere while I'm around.
So, you have saved,
what, three now?
Including Bess,
yeah, I guess so.
And just that
one loss.
Mr. Tazelo.
Yeah, what happened?
I was passing by X-ray and there he
was, just slumped over in his wheelchair.
So, he'd been left
unattended?
I'm sure an aide
was on the way.
But he was alone long
enough to die unnoticed.
Or was he still breathing
when you found him?
He was. I mean,
you know, he was dead.
But you still tried
to resuscitate him.
Well, I didn't know how long he'd been there.
We bring people back
all the time. So, I just, um,
you know, pulled him to the floor and
started CPR. I didn't want to give up.
They had to pull me off.
This woman
is a complete wacko.
It could be
malignant hero syndrome.
A person sets up a risky
situation to create an emergency
and then comes out a hero.
Like a fireman
starting a fire.
It's all about personal gain. In
this case, attention, prestige.
Like Munchausen by proxy.
She kills people just to bring them
back to feel better about herself.
What was she
shooting them up with?
I picked up Bess' tox screen
report from the hospital wing.
There's no poisons,
no anomalous drugs.
She had epinephrine
in her system.
That's what they give when
your heart stops, right?
Exactly.
I guess that's why it's under
the "no big surprise" column.
Well, Hope revived Bess
with CPR.
Once her heart was started again, she
shouldn't have been given epinephrine.
And according to
this chart, she wasn't.
What would happen if that was given
to somebody who had a healthy heart?
It would speed up
heart rate,
increasing cardiac output and
blood pressure to a dangerous level.
Mimicking a heart attack.
Perfect crime.
Son of a bitch.
Hope was a nurse.
She worked at
Oak Glade Nursing Home.
Her license was revoked 15 years ago.
On what grounds?
Gross negligence.
"Failed to dilute
potassium chloride doses."
It's cozy, isn't it? An elevator
adjacent. Do you like to swim, Mr. Hamrick?
Because you're gonna love
the water aerobics class.
I hear that really gets
your heart rate up.
It's a hell of a lot safer than
being injected with epinephrine.
Is everything
all right?
Absolutely.
Excuse me one minute.
Elliot, Olivia. Um...
This probably isn't a good time
to talk about the unpleasantness.
Oh, we don't plan
to discuss it here.
Good.
A squad room would be
much more appropriate.
Did something new
happen with Hal?
Well, our techs pulled the used
syringes on the Sharps boxes here.
Hal's prints weren't on any of them.
Well, he had access to,
you know, over a dozen
boxes of surgical gloves,
so maybe he thought to use a pair.
You didn't.
They found your prints on a syringe of
epi in the box at the nurses' station.
Well, you know Hal did it.
He confessed.
To burning her.
But you didn't give a damn about that
as long as you could grab the spotlight.
Why are you trying to embarrass
me? People can hear you.
Drama queen, you enjoy
being the center of attention.
Hope Garrett, you're under arrest for
the attempted murder of Bess Sherman...
What are you talking about?
... and suspicion of murders
committed at Oak Glade Nursing Home.
This is ridiculous, okay? You
have the right to remain silent.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
It's a mistake.
If you give up that right, anything
you say... This is a mistake!
I examined the records
of 22 deaths at Oak Glade
between May of 1982
and March of 1987.
And what did you find?
Evidence of potassium
poisoning in seven of them.
Why wasn't this discovered
in any of their autopsies?
People expect
the elderly to die.
An autopsy is performed
maybe one out of 25 cases.
Well, surely
some of them were examined?
Yes, but when cells die,
they release potassium.
It would have been
impossible to detect.
So, how did you?
By examining
their EKGs.
Could you please
show us on the board?
All showed tachycardia and a widened
QRS, indicative of hyperkalemia.
Uh...
In layman's terms?
Their hearts
were beating too fast.
Dr. Warner, what causes there to
be too much potassium in the blood?
Kidney failure can, or it was
introduced by an outside source.
Did any of them
have kidney disease?
No. Someone administered
lethal doses.
Do you have any idea how
many mistakes doctors make,
how many times
I've covered their asses?
Counselor,
you control your client,
or I'll have her removed
from this courtroom.
Yes, Your Honor.
The jury will disregard
the defendant's outburst.
The People may proceed.
One last question, Dr. Warner.
In all these cases, how many different
administering nurses were there?
Just one.
Hope Garrett.
Yes, but you
have to understand
every last one of them was
at death's door. Counselor.
Your Honor, I'm sorry.
This won't happen again.
You know, I don't think you realize
how little time that they had left.
I don't care if they were
on their very last breath.
You had no right
to take it from them.
You don't understand. I
help people. What do you do?
You stupid bitch!
Hope!
This is not helping. Court is
recessed. Bailiff, take the jury out.
How can you just sit there
and let them crucify me?
I don't need this, you know.
I'm leaving.
Court officers,
remove the defendant.
This is not fair. All you tell them
about is Oak Glade and Jubilee Towers.
But I've worked in homes
for 15 years in between.
And how many of them
did you kill?
I didn't kill anybody.
Maybe a few of them
wouldn't pull through for me,
but I have saved hundreds.
Hundreds.
And you don't even care
about them, do you?
Take your hands off of me!
Let go of me!