Life (2007–2009): Season 2, Episode 13 - Re-Entry - full transcript

We are nowhere.

We are nowhere.

We are nowhere.

You can't be nowhere.

Because to be...
Crews.

You have to be...
Crews.

Somewhere.

You can't be nowhere.

We are nowhere.

With the shooting,
your shooting.

Ballistics?



Clean.

Whoever did it was in the car
by the time I got to the door.

What about the car?

Stolen.

Found it wiped clean.

Crews, you were looking
right at whoever did it.

You can't remember?

Okay, you answered
the door and then?

And then I got shot.

What about the person
with the gun?

Nothing.

Really? I thought there
couldn't be nothing.

You wanna come in?

Here you are.



Here you are.

It's an unusual
request, Detective.

Most people wouldn't want to
have the bullet that shot them.

Well, someone
gave it to me.

It'd be rude
just to throw it away.

You fit for duty?
I am fit for duty.

You wanna go
catch a killer?

I thought
you'd never ask.

How come this is
LAPD and not FAA?

I guess this is why.

You think he shot himself?

If he did,
why'd he land the plane?

Why didn't he
just let go?

No gun anywhere in here.

Pilot's license IDs him
as William Ellis.

The late William Ellis has one
entry wound to his right side.

Got a bunch of witnesses out here.
They all say the same thing.

The plane makes a hard landing.
They run up.

Pilot's all alone in the plane.
He looks at them and dies.

There's no one else in the plane.
And no gun.

So someone shoots him
before he takes off?

Or someone shoots him in the air.

And jumps?

Or William Ellis here shoots
himself and then tosses the gun out.

I'll call the airfield,
check if he was alone when he took off.

I'll see if the FAA has a flight path.
Find out where he was going.

Hey, Reese?

He look familiar to you?

Yeah, but I can't
figure out why.

William Ellis.
Guess where he used to work.

In the circus?

No. Why would you
say the circus?

You told me to guess.

Crews.

I'll tell you.

In space.
William Bull Ellis was a shuttle pilot.

He went up there
three times.

Ellis retires
from NASA in 1993.

He starts a company that makes parts
for rocket engines, and he gets rich.

He came down in that plane alone?
- Yep.

The field where he took off from
was private. No control tower.

He logged out alone, but there
was no one there to verify that.

Where was he headed?

Flight wasrt logged in.
The FAA doesn't track planes that small.

I know him.
He looks familiar.

He's been on the news.

He's going back into space.

He was gonna pay the Russians
$35 million to take him back up.

$35 million. Okay.

A rich man gets shot dead.
Who benefits?

He's got a wife that died
10 years ago and one kid.

We're on our way
now to go talk to him.

Detective, a moment.

Not you, Detective.
You, Detective.

Don't you usually kiss Reese
when you call her back like this?

I got something else
in mind for you.

Don't remember
who shot you?

Just a blank space there.

Mmm-hmm. Okay, just so you know,
I don't buy it.

Someone shoots me,
that's not someone I'm gonna forget.

Well, like I said, Captain,
there's just a blank space there.

Dad called this morning.

Said he was taking the plane
up for a couple of hours

and wanted to see me in the
office when he came down.

You work for
your father, Dean?

Yeah, the head of Expended
Resource Control and Distribution.

Can you think of anybody
who'd wanna harm him?

Harm him? No.
Everybody loved him.

The President called, said the
nation had lost a shining light.

Dean, we need to ask you
where you were this morning.

With some friends
here at work.

You... You wanna
talk to them?

Oh, it's just procedure.

He goes back into space at his age.
That doesn't worry you at all?

Dad needed to fly.

Hours alone in his plane.
Climbed K2 last year.

If Dad wanted to go back into space,
Dad was going back into space.

Pretty expensive trip, huh?

$35 million.

Did he have
that kind of money?

Dad was selling the company to
pay for his next trip up there.

Selling it for how much?

A lot, I guess.

William Ellis spends 15 years
building up this company,

and then he sells it
for two weeks in space.

And he'd been
up there before.

He knew what
he was paying for.

I guess he thought
it was won'th it.

Could you imagine seeing
the world from up there?

The Earth is floating. You are floating.
Everything is floating.

I hear there's a lot of barfing,
and you crap into a vacuum.

Yeah, a floating vacuum.

A floating vacuum?
You don't even know what that means.

It's space talk.

We joined NASA together,
trained together, flew together.

We retired within
months of each other.

When Bill opened up
this shop,

I came on board.

As an employee?

You're checking up on me.
Yes, as an employee.

Mr. Breem,
Bill Ellis was selling this business.

What's that
leave you with?

That leaves me with having worked
for Bill Ellis for the last 15 years.

That leaves me with time to get
back in the cockpit where I belong.

I never wanted to be
a businessman. I'm a flyer.

So you worked
for him because...

Because Bull asked me to.

Did Bull have any enemies?

No, no.
Everyone loved Bull.

The President
called this morning.

Is it possible
he took his own life?

We all get a little
depressed at this age.

One foot in the grave,
another on a banana peel.

But to be honest with you,
for folks like us, it's worse.

To be down here
and not up there?

That's exactly right.

But Bill was going back. He...

He was going back up.

What's it like
to be up there?

It's like...

Like going back
where I came from.

"Like going back
where I came from."

A lot of the astronauts turn to poetry.
The spacemen poets.

We're gonna have to ask.
Where were you this morning?

I was fishing at Castaic.

Detectives, you will find
out who did this, won't you?

Mr. Breem, how much was Bill
Ellis selling his company for?

$30 million.

The trip back up costs $35 million.
Where was the rest coming from?

His savings.

How much of his savings?

Well, all of it.

Can you point us toward
his son Dears office?

He pays for that trip,
the kid gets no ineritance.

How come everyone says
the President called?

Well, people like to think that they
will be remembered after they're gone.

You know,
that their lives have made an impact.

After I got shot,
you thought about me, didn't you?

Come on. You did. Admit it.

Yes, Crews,
I thought about you.

About what it would be like
if I, you know, floated away.

How empty your life would be.

Reese with no Crews.

Hey, when I was unconscious,

the President didn't call me,
did he?

No. He didn't call.

You'd tell me
if he did, though.

I mean, you'd make sure
I got that message?

Model planes.

You were flying
model planes yesterday?

We're a club.

And where do you
fly these planes?

Desert.
Wind currents are primo.

I have a Fokker.

Excuse me?

A Fokker.

It's vintage. It's what
the Red Baron flew.

A model of what
the Red Baron flew.

You were all out
there together?

We meet once a week.
Once a week.

Or when the currents
are primo.

And what do you fly?

SR-71 Blackbird.

That alibi seem
rehearsed to you?

Dears dad flew rockets.

Dean flies
model airplanes.

His dad knew the President.
He knows them.

His dad owns
this company, but...

He makes Dean work
in that closet.

His dad sells the company.

And Dean is left
with nothing.

Was there something else?

Dean said his job is Expended
Resource Control and Distribution.

Can you tell us
what that means?

Waste removal.

His father made him
take out the garbage.

Paid him minimum wage, too.
Said he had to start at the bottom.

Why don't you guys
just head over?

Dears father flew high.

I guess Dean gets high, too.

How's your injury?

Hundred percent. Why?

You wanna kick in a door?

What the hell is it?
I have no idea.

You ever seen
anything like it?

Nope. You?

Nope. You?

Nope.

What did
those kids say?

Nothing
without a lawyer.

Maybe Dears father caught Dean dealing,
so Dean killed him.

Dealing.
But dealing what?

I've never seen
anything like it.

Reese, remember those
guys who came to buy?

What did they have
in common?

They drove nice cars.

No. They drove
race cars.

Not sure I'd go
and do that.

Race cars.

Anyone got a light?

Not sure if I'd go
and do that either.

Dean worked
at a rocket plant.

All right,
let's talk about scarcity of resources.

The less there is of something,
the more it is won'th.

Like innocent men in here.

No, baby.
We're all innocent in here.

Actually, I am innocent
this time. Last time I did it.

I did what they said.

But this time,
I am innocent.

Then you're
the scarce resource.

Charlie Crews says
hang tough, Mr. Earley.

It won't be much longer.

Solid rocket fuel.
No wonder our HAZMAT guy couldn't ID it.

You need security clearance to
get your hands on that stuff.

Or a dad
in the business.

Those street racers
put this in their cars,

man, oh, man,
are they going somewhere fast, huh?

Your dad flew jets
in the Navy?

Carrier landings at night.

Takes a real man to do that.
Flew those three shuttle missions, too.

I looked it up and... Oh, wait,
maybe you know this too.

How fast your dad was going
when he flew up there?

Seventeen thousand
miles per hour.

Did you hear that, Reese?

Bill Ellis was flying through
space at 17,000 miles per hour.

Your dad's a spaceman, and there
you are with your toy airplanes.

Model.
Okay, toy model.

And taking the company trash out, stealing
your father's fuel. That make you popular?

It make you cool?
Make you money, Dean?

Bull Ellis find out
you were ripping him off?

Is that what he wanted
to talk to you about?

We're pretty sure you were
not flying model airplanes

when your dad
got shot, Dean.

I was selling fuel
in Pomona.

Had breakfast at the diner. Flirted
with the waitress. She'll remember.

Oh, it went that well, huh?

Not very smart still working this
with us cops snooping around, Dean.

Biggest race of the year. I had
obligations. I didn't kill my father.

If you didn't do it,
who did?

Don't you want to know
who did it, Dean?

His fly buddy Mick Breem wants to know.

We wanna know.
The President wants to know.

But you, Dean,
how come you don't wanna know?

Or are you not asking
who it is because

you know who it was?

Who killed your father,
Dean?

Since last year, he...

He spent too much time
alone in his plane.

He loved that company
and he was selling it.

To go back into space.

What was
he gonna do up there?

You didn't think
he was coming back?

My partner here thinks he took his
own life. Is that what you think?

Did he ever talk
to you about this?

Dad never spoke
to me about himself.

Never spoke to me.

Like a man?

Because you didn't fly.

I'm afraid of heights.

Dean said his father changed
his behavior about a year ago.

Something happen then?

Bill Ellis was a hero.

It's our job
to find Mr. Ellis' killer,

even if the killer
is Mr. Ellis himself.

Now, did something
happen a year ago?

K2. Bill climbed regularly,
several peaks a year.

Last year he ascended K2.
When he came back, he had changed.

Something happened on that mountain?
I don't know.

But he came back down off that mountain,
put that pick up on that shelf there,

and he never climbed again.

What is that?

You don't know
what this is?

This is a Buddhist
mourning flag.

It's got some English writing on it.
"K2. 2008." Flag for the dead?

Someone died
during that trip up K2.

Who else was
on that climb?

Bill only ever climbed with
one other man, Evan Tucker.

It was just the two
of them on K2.

Evan Tucker come back?

Yes. Bill and Tucker both
came down off that mountain.

So who died up there?

What's going on?

I don't know.
You tell me.

Didrt you call me in here?

I called you in here,
both of you. I got a problem.

Maybe you two don't
want me here for this.

Stow it, Stark.

Now, I have an unsolved shooting of
a police officer, my police officer,

and I've got a witness
who's not talking.

Charlie says he doesn't remember
who shot him. It happens.

Did I say it was
a good time to talk?

Now, you are his old partner,
and you're his current partner.

So I wanna ask you two a question.

I don't think I like being
questioned in this room.

Why wouldn't Crews tell us who shot him?
Why would he keep that to himself?

What's he doing?

When I wish to
forgive another, what do I mean?

I mean I wish
to forgive myself.

When I wish to harm another,
what do I mean?

I mean I wish
to harm myself.

Close your eyes, and think of
the world as seen from space.

From that distance,
it is calm, silent.

At peace.

One.

Calm, silent.

At peace.

One.

Because of a paper flag?

Paper mourning flag. If Ellis had
it made, someone died up there.

We checked with the K2
base camp station,

there were no reported
fatalities during the time

that Ellis and Tucker
were up on that mountain.

You see that flag, you think
there was an unreported fatality.

Ellis and Tucker both
went up that mountain.

Ellis and Tucker
both came down.

Evan Tucker is
not Fortune 500.

Tucker's a manager
at Sportymart.

How did he know
William Ellis?

Tucker only works half the
year to pay for the six months

he spends on the global
adventure circuit.

That's how he met Ellis. According to
Breem, they just became real close.

They only climbed with each other,
a club of two.

You two talk to Tucker.

Find out who didn't come
down off that mountain.

Thank you.
Thank you.

You go first. Okay, okay,
I'll go first.

That was Tucker's kid.

Says her dad has been on a
company retreat for the last week.

Backwoods, no phones.

Okay. That was the assistant
manager from Sportymart.

She says that Tucker has been on a
family vacation for the last week.

Backwoods, no phones.

Both Ellis and Tucker knew
who died on that mountain.

But now Ellis is dead and...

Tucker's been
missing for a week.

Hi, this is Detective Crews.
Your mom around?

Hi, Mrs. Tucker,
this is Detective Crews, LAPD.

We're investigating
the death of Bill Ellis.

We know that your husband
climbed K2 with him last year.

Were there any
fatalities on that trip?

Did someone die up there?

Okay, well, then maybe you'd like to
come down here and talk about that.

Tucker's wife says
there was a death up there.

Does she know who it was?

Well, did she tell you?

Tucker's wife
says Tucker died.

You saw
your husband last week.

Yes.

But you told my partner on the
phone that he died up on K2.

He did.

How did he die,
Mrs. Tucker?

William Ellis killed him.

His body isn't dead,
is it, Mrs. Tucker?

He's just not the same man that
went up that mountain, is he?

My husband and William Ellis
were at 12,000 feet,

tethered together.

My husband lost his footing,
and went over the edge.

He was pulling Ellis down.

Ellis cut the rope.

And Evan fell.

Hundreds of feet.

He fell.

All alone and falling.

But he didn't die.

Nope.

Angles of slope, drift density,
wind speed, he was barely bruised.

Ellis, the hero,
cut the rope.

Ellis let my husband fall.

Do you know where
your husband is?

Where were you
when Ellis died?

Alone with our children.

I'm always alone
with our children

since he came down
off that mountain.

Mrs. Tucker, do you think your
husband could've killed Ellis?

No. But I'm glad
someone did.

Ellis cuts the rope,

Tucker falls to his death,
but doesn't die.

And Ellis needs to
go back into space.

Thanks so much.

Got a little more information from
the assistant manager where Tucker worked.

Since he'd come back from K2, he'd
become less interested in all the sports

he usually did,
and he focused on just one sport.

Did she say what it was?

She did.

Was it skydiving?

We're looking for someone who could've
shot Ellis, then jumped out of that plane,

and our lead suspect has a
sudden interest in skydiving.

Ran a credit card
check on Tucker.

We got a hit
at a Perris motel.

Paris, France?

Perris, California.
Skydiving capital of America.

Tucker's credit statements show that he's
been out there on and off for the last year.

Since K2.

Then you two
head out to Perris.

Captain?

A word.

This isn't the part where you kiss me,
is it?

Don't you ever call me into
that interrogation room again.

And if you have a question for my
partner, then you ask my partner.

I just wanted to find out who shot him,

because he's one of my cops
and because you were there.

Maybe next time
you get hit, too.

Don't you ever call me into
that interrogation room again.

Okay, you asked about debt.
Let's talk about debt.

Simply put,
debt is anything that you owe.

Now, can anybody
give me an example?

Well, I still owe you
a beating.

Oh, you mean because
of that bun I took from you?

Yeah, because of that bun
they let you take from me.

It's okay.
It's okay. Okay.

Yeah, you still
owe me a beating.

Yeah, but I guess those
babysitters Charlie Crews sent

are gonna keep you from
collecting that beating, huh?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You don't have
to do this.

Yeah, I do.

It's okay.
The guards will break it up.

Not quick enough.

Okay, white collar,
let's get it on.

We're looking
for Evan Tucker.

Tucker?
He's around here someplace.

You're cops.
Is he in trouble?

We just need
to talk to him.

He just went to jump.
He should be back in half an hour.

Tuck been
coming here long?

About a year.
He started as a student.

Now he's as good
as any of the instructors.

Tuck is fearless.

That a record
of the students' jumps?

Yeah, heights,
pull times.

Tuck on that board?

He's there somewhere.

Ellis' plane was flying
at about 8,000 feet.

Let's see if Tucker was training
to jump from that height.

I want to jump
out of a plane.

Be a part of the air
and one with the sky?

No, I just want to
jump out of a plane.

Oh!

Tucker's jumps
over the last month.

Look at this.

He was waiting longer and longer
before he pulled the cord.

He was getting closer
and closer to the ground.

You want to jump out of a plane
and you don't want to be seen.

Then you wait as long as possible
before opening your chute.

Tucker was training to jump out
of a plane without being seen.

Don't you need
a warrant for that?

Maybe.
Maybe not.

Is this Tucker's only chute?

What is he doing on a
plane without a chute?

Hey, which plane
is Tucker in?

That one.

He's fearless,
huh?

Yeah, Tuck sure
is fearless.

Were you always
that way?

Or was it just because what happened
to you and Ellis up on that mountain?

Fearless? You touch death,
and all that fear just goes away, right?

It's time for me to fall.

Evan Tucker,
on your knees.

It's time for me to fall!

On your knees now!

A Buddhist flag
for the dead.

How'd you know what happens
when you touch death?

Detective Crews.

Got something that
belongs to you.

That bullet was yours.

The next is mine.
Make the call.

What call?

The call that gets
Ted Earley out of prison.

There, it's done.

What was that?

Text message.

The call isn't even a call anymore?
It's a text?

I'm never catching up.

How much did Roman
pay you to shoot me?

You think
it's about the money.

Roman uses
people's weaknesses.

Where's your family,
Agent Bodner?

I sent them away.

Because you're afraid of
what Roman will do to them?

Roman Nevikov
came to my house.

I come home,
he's drinking tea with my wife.

My daughter is
on Romars knee.

I sent them away.

Call me after
your leg heals.

And don't throw
that bullet away.

Found this when we searched
your Perris motel room, Tucker.

Ballistics matched it to the
gun that killed William Ellis.

You remember him,
don't you?

Will Ellis cut your rope.
William Ellis let you fall.

Is that why you killed him?

You wouldn't understand.

We understand you went
up without a chute today.

Tucker, you feeling
guilty about Ellis?

You wouldn't understand.

Not that we blame you.

Anybody would want to do that to
someone who did what Ellis did to you.

What William Ellis did is
show me the face of God.

The face of...

Of God.

What did it look like,
Tucker?

It was beautiful.

Like, the sun
coming closer,

blinding me,
but I could still see everything.

Tucker, you didn't hate
William Ellis, did you?

Why would I?
Because he cut your rope.

No, I had to
beg him to do it.

We were both going over. I told him to
cut the rope. He didn't want to do it.

He didn't want to do it.
I had to beg him.

And then you fell.

But now Ellis is dead.

No, he's not dead.

Just went back
where he came from.

What was that, Tucker?

Just went back
where he came from.

That's what
Ellis used to say.

About going back
into space.

What?

It's like going back
where he came from.

That's what Breem said
about being in space.

That's what Tucker said Ellis
said about being in space.

Well, maybe they were
both spacemen poets, Crews.

And they both wrote
the same poem?

Maybe one's a poet,
and one's a liar.

You think NASA has
a listed telephone number?

It's a government agency.

Our tax dollars at work.
I'll bet they got a listed phone number.

Yes!

Need the number
for NASA.

Checked with NASA.

Mick Breem never
actually went into space.

He trained with Ellis,
but he was an alternate.

He never went up there.

He padded his resume.
I don't think that makes him a killer.

And you got the guy
with the gun, right?

What?
You don't think Tucker did it?

Because?

Because he saw
the face of God.

Saw the face of... Yeah.

We had a guy once in Manattan
South who saw the Virgin Mary

on a grilled
cheese sandwich.

Killed seven people with a tire
iron over the course of the week.

Tucker didn't mention
grilled cheese.

Is this about him nearly
dying and you nearly dying?

Nope. I don't think it is.

At least Tucker remembers
who cut his rope.

Finally got the financials
on Ellis Propulsion.

They just unsealed his will.

Guess who William Ellis
left his company to.

Dean, how come you didn't tell us you
werert getting your father's company?

What? I'm not
getting the company?

Mick Breem is
getting the company.

What?

Mick Breem is
getting the company?

Oh.

Well, yeah, I guess.

Oh, well, yeah,
you guess?

You guess what, Dean?

I guess that makes sense.

Dad always said,
"The right person for the right job."

I guess Dad knew
that wasrt me.

Did Mick Breem
kill my father?

If your father lived,
Breem gets nothing.

When he died,
Breem got the company.

Because Mick Breem is the
right person for the job.

Reese?

We're the wrong people
for this job.

Excuse me.
Excuse me.

Watch out.
Coming through.

But it's not a plane.
I know that.

But let's just
say it is.

Let's just say this is the
plane William Ellis died in.

Crews.

Breem and Ellis were both NASA trained.
It's what made them.

Okay, I understand that, but why are
you and Tucker sitting like that?

It's the plane
William died in.

Breem isn't gonna tell us how he did it.
How would Ellis do it?

Ellis is dead.
Ellis is dead.

It's the plane
Ellis died in.

They both went through NASA,
did things the same way.

If we knew how Ellis
would've done it,

maybe we can figure
out how Breem did it.

Oh, not you, too.

Tucker.

If Ellis were gonna do this. Kill a
man and then jump from that plane,

how would he
have done it?

It's the plane
Ellis died in.

William Bull Ellis was NASA.

He said everything
in life was a mission.

And for a mission,
you have to train.

So how did Breem train?

And where would he do it?

Let's start faxing his picture around,
shall we?

I have a Captain
Tidwell on line one.

Mr. Breem,
Captain Kevin Tidwell, LAPD.

What can I do
for you, Captain?

Tracked down that
charter pilot you used.

Nevada, out of state, nice.

Used? Used for what?

To train.
Once a week for the last two months.

Training to...

Jump from a small plane at 8,000 feet,

the cruising altitude
of William Ellis' plane.

You used a different name, so we faxed your
picture to the airfields in four states.

One of them puts your
face to the fake name.

And once we have that name, we get
you buying that gun there in Nevada.

The gun you planted
on Tucker.

William Ellis sells his company,
goes up into space,

you get nothing.

William Ellis dies,
you get it all.

You never actually
went up into space.

I never actually
said I did.

Well, think of it
this way, Mr. Breem,

that now you get to go someplace
Bill Ellis never got to go.

Okay, you don't
remember who shot you.

Anything else you don't
remember about that day?

If I don't remember it,
how would I know if I remembered or not?

Unless I forgot
to remember.

Crews, you know
what I mean.

Yeah, I know
what you mean.

I remember you
asking me a question

about your father having something
to do with me going to jail.

You still want
to know the answer?

Yeah, I do.

Your father wasrt responsible
for me going to jail.

I was teaching a class
on the nature of debt.

We had a discussion.

Where do you want to go?

Anywhere else.

Fast.

Well, that, Ted,
will not be a problem.

And think of the
world as seen from space.

From that distance,
it is calm, silent.

At peace.

One.