Quantum Leap (1989–1993): Season 2, Episode 17 - Good Night, Dear Heart - November 9, 1957 - full transcript
Sam leaps into a coroner who must play detective and prove that a female victim was murdered.
Theorizing that one could time travel
within his own lifetime,
Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group
of scientists into the desert...
to develop a top secret project
known as Quantum Leap.
Pressured to prove his theories
or lose funding,
Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped
into the project accelerator...
and vanished.
He awoke to find himself in the past,
suffering from partial amnesia and facing
a mirror image that was not his own.
Fortunately, contact
with his own time was maintained...
through brain wave transmissions
with Al, the project observer,
who appeared in the form of a hologram
that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear.
Trapped in the past,
Dr. Beckett finds himself...
leaping from life to life,
putting things right
that once went wrong...
and hoping each time that
his next leap will be the leap home.
What do you make of that?
Well?
It's a...
It's a... a gold locket.
Melvin, your powers
of deduction astound me.
I'm talkin' about the, uh...
The German stuff on the back.
What's, uh,
"Mein Liebe für 'uwig" '?
No, that's "Meine Liebe für ewig."
Oh. Yeah. That.
"Meine Liebe für ewig"...
means...
"My love forever."
Oh. Oh.
- I didn't know you knew German.
- No, neither did I.
I'm just kind of surprised
that I would remember...
that much from my last...
one German class
I took in high school.
The little girl must be her.
Her?
Her.
She's dead.
Melvin, you should've been
a detective instead of a mortician.
It was the saddest thing...
Finding her purse...
sittin' on top of a neatly folded coat
out there at the end of the dock.
- Hmm.
- She drowned herself?
I found this shoe
floatin' under the dock.
Guess the other one
sunk to the bottom.
Melvin? What is it, Melvin? Hmm?
Nothing.
Come on. It's not like you've
never seen this sort of thing before.
It's just that she's so young.
Well, don't you remember?
What, two summers ago?
The little boy
who got hit by the speedboat.
I'll never forget what he looked like.
Yeah.
That was, uh...
That was horrible.
You know, Melvin,
I think this job's startin' to get to you.
It's just the formaldehyde.
It kind of...
Ah. Must be Greg.
- Mr. Truesdale.
- Evenin', Lyle.
I knew the German girl
worked at the lodge.
That's why I called Greg.
I didn't want to bother you, sir.
You... You told him that,
didn't you, Greg?
- Yeah. Uh, Dad wanted to come.
- I insisted.
Hilla was one of my best employees.
- Melvin.
- Mr. Truesdale.
Uh, she's back here.
Oh.
- You were close?
- Uh...
Yeah. We were friends.
I...
Ah, he's a good-looking kid.
Lots of girls at the lodge
have their eye on him.
Suck it up, Greg.
Kid's got his mother's stomach.
Seems like there was
more to it than that.
Her name's Hilla. Hilla Danner.
I hired her as a desk clerk
at the beginning of the season.
She, uh, have any family?
I believe they were
all killed during the war.
Well, looks like you're gonna
have to bury her in potter's field.
I'll pay for it.
Well, that's real nice of you, sir.
She did work for me.
I've, uh, got some paperwork
in the car we need to fill out.
- Uh, sorry.
- Nonsense.
I'm only sorry
we had to do this at all.
Yeah.
Be right with you, sir.
Melvin,
why were you contradicting
Mr. Truesdale?
Well, it seems like the girl meant a lot
more to his son than he wanted to let on.
- The man was embarrassed.
- Of what?
Of Greg's weak stomach.
Melvin,
if it wasn't for Mr. Truesdale,
you wouldn't be coroner.
I'd remember that.
That was her mother's.
It's the only thing
she had left of her family.
They all died in the war.
Her father in North Africa...
and her mother and her brothers
in the firebombing of Dresden.
Oh, Hillie.
Why?
After surviving all of that?
Why?
She was my friend.
I should have known.
I should have... stopped her.
Friends always feel that way
when someone close to them dies.
Those are Hillie's.
I have to get them cleaned.
- No, no. It's okay.
- No, I have to.
Hillie's clothes were always perfect. She
wouldn't wear anything that wasn't perfect.
It doesn't matter anymore.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
Can I... Can I, uh,
drive you home or somethin'?
I'm sorry, Mr. Spooner. I...
I have to get out of here.
No wonder
nobody wants to touch me.
- Al, you scared me.
- Scared you?
- Comin' out of the coffin.
- What about me?
You know how I feel
about dead people.
I'm a coroner.
Yeah. Well, no.
Actually, you're a mortician.
It's 1957. Uh, you're in
Riven Rock, Massachusetts.
And in little towns like this
sometimes they appoint the
local mortician as the coroner.
This is horrible.
Hey, I wouldn't mind
sitting out this leap either.
Well, maybe you can.
I don't think
I need you on this one, Al.
What do you mean
you don't need me?
I don't need you.
What?
Well, what do you mean you don't...
What do you mean you don't need me?
- Al, if I'm here to help this girl,
- You don't need... me?
I'm a little late.
Maybe I will sit this one out.
Uh, Ziggy doesn't know
why you're here,
and about all he's got
on the girl there is...
- Hilla.
- Yes. Hilla.
Is she committed suicide
by drowning...
on November 9, 1957.
November 9?
What?
- What?
- Today's her birthday. She's 19.
- Forever.
- Why am I here?
I told you we don't know.
It's gotta have something
to do with her. Right?
Who was she, Al?
Who was she?
What songs did she like to sing?
Who'd she dream about at night?
- William Holden.
- What?
William Holden. It's 1957.
She's a teenager. She had to have a crush
on either William Holden or James Dean.
Uh, knowing her background,
my money's on Bill.
I'll bet Picnic is the first movie she
saw when she came to the United States.
She looks like she's sleeping.
Sweet dreams.
Al, she didn't commit suicide.
She was murdered.
Are you sure that's a bullet hole?
I saw more than a few of these
in my last year in med school.
How could the chief of police miss this
when he pulled her out of the water?
Well, uh, maybe her hair
was covering it or...
I don't see an exit wound.
I guess the bullet's still in there.
Sam,
- you're not gonna...
- Al,
I'm a...
A doctor, right?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, I mean,
that... that... that does...
That doesn't mean...
Well, you know.
The only clue we've got...
is the bullet.
I think I'm gonna go
get a cup of coffee.
You can come out now, Al.
It's over.
- Is that the bullet?
- No.
Shrapnel.
I found it under an old scar
behind her ear.
Oh, from the war.
Well, where's the bullet?
- There wasn't any.
- There wasn't any?
Small entrance wound.
No exit.
It's like the bullet went in...
and vanished.
Look at this, Al.
Someone dragged her onto that dock.
Oh, come on. Lots of women have
scuffed-up heels on their shoes.
No, not Hilla. Her friend told me that
Hilla always kept her clothes perfect.
Whoever killed her,
dragged her to the end of the dock.
I hate to tell you this, Sherlock,
but she could have shot herself.
Where's the gun?
- Maybe it fell into the lake.
- No, I don't think so.
Why not?
If Hilla committed suicide,
I wouldn't be here.
The only thing that makes sense is that
I'm here to find out who murdered her.
Whenever I quantum leap,
I get to see what it's like to
walk in another man's shoes.
And sometimes
what it's like to drive in his car.
I knew very little about Hilla,
except that she survived a war when
everyone else in her family died.
She was either lucky
or had a strong will to live.
One of these had run out on her.
I had to find out which one.
- Greg.
- Ah. Melvin.
- How you doin'?
- Fine. Fine.
Uh, we're just wrapping up
for winter here.
Uh... Um,
could you tell me
which room was Hilla's?
The key doesn't have
a number on it.
Yeah. Um,
the one on the left...
The first one.
Thanks.
Uh, what do you want
in Hillie's room?
Well, I need...
I need a dress to bury her in.
Do you have any suggestions?
Her favorite was the blue dress
with the bow on the back.
You loved her, didn't you?
- Uh, everybody loved Hillie.
- But...
you loved her a little more.
You would've made
a great Dr. Watson, Al.
I saw Picnic again.
William Holden is so handsome,
and I know how he feels.
All alone, a drifter with no one to love.
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
Mr. Truesdale's son, Greg,
asked me to a picnic today.
He is so cute.
He turned my camera on me,
and I can't believe
how silly I acted.
But it was fun, and it made us laugh.
He asked me to the movies,
and I decided to take a chance.
I hope it's not a mistake.
July 4. America's independence.
At dusk, we got a bottle of wine
and watched the fireworks.
I drank too much,
but it helped me tell the truth...
That for the first time I had met
someone I could fall in love with.
And after that,
we fought until dawn,
and I realized
I had to end it between us.
Hilla?
What are you doing here?
Oh. I, um...
I came to pick out a dress
for Hilla's funeral.
And to listen to her records
while you read her diary?
It's, uh, in German.
Look, Stephanie,
I am the coroner.
That doesn't give you the right
to go through her things.
She was beautiful.
My camera loved her.
You took that?
It's a hobby I'd hoped to
turn into a profession.
Hillie and I were gonna
go back to New York together.
She was gonna be a big fashion
model, and I'd shoot all her covers.
She'd have made it too.
I keep expecting her
to walk through the door, you know?
Hillie understood life
better than most people.
Maybe because she'd seen
so much death.
That's why I can't believe
she killed herself.
Maybe she didn't.
- What do you mean?
- She may have been murdered.
Oh, God.
Do you have any idea
who may have done it?
No.
Everyone loved her.
No one...
would want her dead.
What?
Nothing.
It's not nothing.
What are you thinking?
- Truesdale fired her.
- Because of his son?
Greg had a fling with Hillie.
A fling?
It seemed like he loved her.
He loves a lot of the girls, but he's not
gonna get serious with someone like Hillie.
His father would kill him.
Stephanie,
would you keep this
to yourself for the moment?
Of course.
Thanks.
- The blue one.
- What?
That's the dress
you should bury her in.
The blue one with the bow.
It's right here, Sam.
It's in the closet.
How long have you been there?
Uh, well, long enough to know that you
think Greg's old man murdered Hilla.
Or maybe Greg.
I thought the kid was in love with her.
According to her diary,
she met someone new.
She broke it off with Greg
on the Fourth of July.
Well, maybe they made up again.
I don't know. After the fourth,
there are no new entries.
- Except she did put this in there.
- What is it?
A blood test result.
Her beta H.C.G. was positive.
Speak English, will ya?
Two people died in that lake, Al.
Hilla was pregnant.
Nah, that's not a bullet wound.
- Damn it, Lyle. Yes, it is.
- Then where's the bullet?
I haven't found it.
You don't have a bullet,
you don't have a bullet wound.
She could've hit anything falling into
the water. A rock, a nail... anything.
But she didn't.
It wasn't suicide. It was murder.
Melvin, I'm startin'
to worry about ya.
Beautiful dead girl
naked under a sheet.
Must have a way
of makin' a man think strange.
Sam. Don't lose your cool, Sam.
Melvin, this is nothin' more than
an unfortunate case of suicide.
Bury the poor girl.
If it was suicide,
where's the gun?
- She wasn't shot.
- I'm the coroner. I say she was.
If it was a suicide,
the gun is probably
in the water near the dock.
Maybe the gun's in the lake.
If she shot herself...
And I don't believe that she did...
Then the gun must have
fallen into the water.
That lake's near freezin'.
You want me to send a
man into that icy water
lookin' for a gun
that's not even there.
If the gun is there,
then you're right about the suicide.
And then... I'll bury her.
Okay, Melvin.
I'll look for the gun.
But...
whether I find one or not,
you bury the German girl tomorrow.
You know, he does have
a point there, Sam.
Oh, come on, Al.
I didn't leap in here just to bury Hilla.
Well, there's nothing else
that figures...
Except... Except if she was murdered,
and the killer was never caught.
Uh, well, look,
if the chief finds the gun in the lake...
He won't.
And... And even if he does,
it just means that the killer
threw the gun in the water.
Boy, you won't give up, will ya?
- Not when I feel I'm right.
- All right. Say you're right.
We find the gun...
Even find someone to trace it to.
What does that prove?
You have no bullet to match it to.
I know. I know, Al.
It just doesn't make any sense to me.
I mean, where's the bullet?
Talkin' to the stiffs again, Melvin?
- Excuse me?
- That's the great thing about a stiff.
They don't talk back,
but, boy, can they listen.
Uh-oh.
Uh, Sam,
if... if she's gonna do what...
I think she's gonna do, uh,
I'm out of here.
You okay, Melvin?
Yeah.
I gotta hurry and get back to the shop
before Mrs. Sparling's dryer shuts off.
I'll be out of a 50-cent tip.
Don't worry, honey.
Aggie's gonna fix you up.
That German girl sure was pretty.
Her name is Hilla.
What dress did you get
for her to wear?
A blue one with a...
bow on the back.
- I left it in her room.
- That's not like you, Melvin.
You're always after me
for forgettin' things.
Well, you better get it.
We can't bury her naked.
Even if she didn't have no money.
You knew her?
Nah. But you hear more in a beauty
shop than a priest in confession.
Uh, don't... don't overdo it.
Just... Just keep it natural.
Sure, Melvin.
What are you doin'
back here, Sam?
I came to get a dress
to bury Hilla in.
You decided to stay
for the late show?
I thought you were gonna
sit this leap out, Al.
Now, don't get me wrong.
I've had a lot of fixations
on women,
- but this...
- It's not one of your cheap flings.
Whatever. This is an obsession.
Look at her, Al.
She's so young...
and beautiful and...
full of life.
Is that a girl who could kill herself?
This is 1957, Sam.
An unmarried girl
that got pregnant was an outcast.
Sometimes they'd end the pregnancy.
Sometimes they'd even
end their own lives.
- Maybe Greg helped her do both.
- You really think he killed her?
Hilla tried to break up
with Greg on the fourth.
She said they fought all night.
She broke with him, Al,
but it was too late. She was pregnant.
He's gotta be the killer.
But you've got no proof of that.
I've got feelings.
Feelings? That's a song.
You've got no evidence.
You got no gun.
You got no bullet.
- You got nothin'.
- I got her.
You got shadow and light flickering
on a wall. That's not Hilla.
What you're seeing
is in your imagination.
She's trying to tell me something, Al.
I don't know what it is,
but she's trying to tell me something.
As much as I hate to admit it,
sometimes Al's right.
Hilla was haunting me in a way
even I couldn't understand.
But I kept thinking about the road
she had traveled to get here...
and all she had lost along the way...
to die alone, buried and forgotten,
with her murderer free.
I had to be here to change that.
I told you this was a waste of time.
Not really.
We just proved
that she didn't shoot herself.
Come on, Melvin.
If she committed suicide, the gun
would have been down there. It's not.
- So someone shot her.
- Damn it, Melvin. Will you give it up?
You've got no evidence
and no motive.
- She was pregnant.
- Pregnant?
That's right. And we both know
who the father was.
Oh, come on, Greg.
Ah, I'm just a little off today.
Hey, Melvin, Lyle.
Can you believe it, Melvin?
First time I beat the kid
since he was 16.
Must be the cold.
I've got your check
up at the office.
Looks like we'll have snow
for the funeral.
I can't bury her until
I finish the investigation.
Melvin thinks she was murdered.
Murdered?
You said she committed suicide.
No, I found a bullet hole
in her left temple right here.
So the poor kid shot herself.
Why would anybody
want to kill Hilla?
Maybe because she was pregnant.
Of course, that probably doesn't come
as any big news to you, does it, Greg?
How did he know
she was telling the truth?
She could have just been saying
that so he'd have to marry her.
Got a lot to lose.
Harvard Law School's coming up.
All this one day.
A kid and an unmarried mother...
could ruin everything.
- I was gonna marry her.
- What?
We were gonna elope
the night she died.
- I don't believe it.
- Neither do I.
- Hilla broke it off with you.
- No, she didn't.
On the Fourth of July,
she told you she loved someone else.
You fought,
and she ended it between you.
- Who told you that?
- Hilla.
In her diary.
No, that wasn't me.
Not that weekend.
I was at a tournament in Boston.
That's right.
The kid won.
Brought back a real big trophy.
Whoever she broke it off with,
it wasn't me.
We just started dating
each other around that time.
And you didn't
get her pregnant either.
Next time you come around here
with wild accusations,
get your facts straight, Melvin.
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
That's a beautiful melody.
Haunting, beautiful.
I used to like to play that
on rainy nights...
sitting in front of
a roaring fire by the fireplace.
I don't have a roaring fire.
You don't have a girl
in your arms either.
Now, look, this isn't Laura.
Hilla is not gonna come through
that door drenched with rain.
Al,
look, I... I know I'm being
a little irrational about this, but...
I'm the only one on Hilla's side.
That's not true.
She's got me.
You finally can see
that she didn't do it?
Hilla and I are both orphans.
We gotta stick together.
Now... Let's see... Let's see if Ziggy's
got anything new here. Let's see.
- Start with Roger.
- Roger. Okay.
In '62 he marries
a showgirl from Las Vegas.
The dirty dog.
Okay, how about Greg?
Greg.
Uh, well, he went to Harvard
Law School and became a divorce.
Attorney.
Never marries.
Nothing else?
I told you there wasn't
very much on this leap.
Well, what... what about...
What about the sheriff, Lyle?
Or... Or Aggie. Maybe there's even
somebody in town that we missed.
I know this is a small town, but we're
still talkin' about 2,000 people here.
All right. Lyle.
Uh, he's chief for 33 years,
and then he retires to Florida.
Aggie. Aggie.
Oh, now this is interesting.
Uh, in '63, she gets indicted
for performing an illegal abortion.
All the charges
are eventually dropped,
but they wipe out
her beauty shop business.
- You don't suppose...
- I don't know.
But I'm gonna find out.
What are you tryin' to do,
scare my customers away?
I wanna talk to you about Hilla.
You said you wanted
her lookin' natural.
I want to know
about the abortion.
I don't know what
you're talking about.
You want me to ask about it louder?
She came to me
a couple of weeks ago.
- But she couldn't go through with it.
- Who brought her in?
No one. She came alone.
Alone?
- Aggie, how could...
- Okay.
- Someone brought her.
- Who?
Roger Truesdale.
She was cryin'
and acting hysterical on the table.
I told her not to worry.
I knew what I was doin'.
But she kept cryin'
and screaming something in German.
The only word I understood was "fire."
She lost her family
during a firebombing in the war.
Well,
she got up and ran out...
and that's the last
I've seen of her until...
Yesterday.
You ain't gonna
hold this against me, are ya?
You ain't never gonna find
nobody between here and Boston
can fix 'em better than
me, Melvin.
What do you want me to
do, Melvin?
Arrest Mr. Truesdale for
tryin' to get Hilla an abortion?
No. I want you to
arrest him for murder.
- I can't do that.
- Why?
Because he bought
you that badge?
Nobody owns me, Melvin.
Except maybe my wife.
- Why won't you arrest him?
- Because...
even if what you're sayin' is true,
which I don't believe for a second it is,
the D.A. will never prosecute.
All you've got is a possible motive.
You've got no weapon,
no bullet, no witness.
Hell, it'll never get past
the grand jury.
She committed suicide, Melvin.
Now put the poor girl
in the ground...
before she puts you there too.
Oh, Hillie.
Lyle, this is an outrage.
Melvin, get on with it.
You'll notice that the camera movement
in this film was taken by an amateur.
I shot it.
So he took her picture.
That doesn't mean he shot her.
Actually, I thought you shot her.
- What?
- With an arrow.
It would make
the same hole as a bullet...
and explain why I couldn't find one.
- I didn't shoot her.
- I know.
I compared this field point to
the fatal wound. It didn't fit.
Well, then it was suicide.
No. It was murder.
And the murderer shot this film.
I didn't shoot her, Melvin.
I swear.
And you didn't shoot this part
of the film either.
You shot the first part...
And rather badly.
This part...
As you can tell by the focus...
and the composition...
This part was taken
by a professional.
Or someone who wants to be
a professional.
I didn't take that.
Yes, you did.
On the Fourth of July,
Hillie tried to end a relationship.
I assumed it was with Greg.
It was with you.
- You and Hillie?
- He's crazy.
We were just friends.
Until she fell in love with Greg.
Some of the things Hillie tried
to tell me make sense now.
All that time she spent growing up in
the displaced person camps after the war.
She had to fight off men all the time.
I even think she was raped.
She said it was so bad that...
the only people that she
could let get close to her...
were women.
And even that got confusing.
I'm not gonna listen to this.
I'm afraid you're gonna have to,
Miss Heywood.
I've never shot anyone in my life...
Except on film.
You were on the dock
with Hilla the night she was killed.
That's a lie.
Lyle found this floating
near Hilla's body.
I assumed it was hers.
But she had a small foot.
Size five.
This is an eight.
Of course, I'm just guessing
that this is your size.
Even if it is mine,
it couldn't kill her.
This hole is the exact size...
as the one in Hilla's temple.
Would you care to try this on?
Everything was so perfect.
Until you came along.
I hoped she'd see
how wrong she was to love you.
What did you do?
You got her pregnant.
You fixed it so she could
never leave you.
I didn't mean to hurt Hillie.
I swear I didn't.
I loved her.
But she said that
she'd made a terrible mistake...
That she had been confused...
and that for the first time in her life
she understood what love was.
She didn't love me anymore.
I loved her, but she didn't love me.
Hey, Melvin.
You know her?
No.
You okay, Sam?
I don't think I did her any good, Al.
Yeah, you did her good.
Then why am I still here?
Well, maybe you just
need to say goodbye.
I found this book of Mark Twain in
her room. I think it was her favorite.
Twain wrote this
when his daughter died.
"Warm summer sun,
shine kindly here.
"Warm southern wind,
blow softly here.
"Green sod above,
"lie light, lie light.
"Good night, dear heart.
"Good night. Good night."
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
Oh, you've got him on the ropes now.
Come on, old man.
Double or nothin'.
What do ya say?
Which ball was I shooting at?
$400.
Yeah. Shoot. He'll never
make that eight ball.
Oh, boy.
within his own lifetime,
Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group
of scientists into the desert...
to develop a top secret project
known as Quantum Leap.
Pressured to prove his theories
or lose funding,
Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped
into the project accelerator...
and vanished.
He awoke to find himself in the past,
suffering from partial amnesia and facing
a mirror image that was not his own.
Fortunately, contact
with his own time was maintained...
through brain wave transmissions
with Al, the project observer,
who appeared in the form of a hologram
that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear.
Trapped in the past,
Dr. Beckett finds himself...
leaping from life to life,
putting things right
that once went wrong...
and hoping each time that
his next leap will be the leap home.
What do you make of that?
Well?
It's a...
It's a... a gold locket.
Melvin, your powers
of deduction astound me.
I'm talkin' about the, uh...
The German stuff on the back.
What's, uh,
"Mein Liebe für 'uwig" '?
No, that's "Meine Liebe für ewig."
Oh. Yeah. That.
"Meine Liebe für ewig"...
means...
"My love forever."
Oh. Oh.
- I didn't know you knew German.
- No, neither did I.
I'm just kind of surprised
that I would remember...
that much from my last...
one German class
I took in high school.
The little girl must be her.
Her?
Her.
She's dead.
Melvin, you should've been
a detective instead of a mortician.
It was the saddest thing...
Finding her purse...
sittin' on top of a neatly folded coat
out there at the end of the dock.
- Hmm.
- She drowned herself?
I found this shoe
floatin' under the dock.
Guess the other one
sunk to the bottom.
Melvin? What is it, Melvin? Hmm?
Nothing.
Come on. It's not like you've
never seen this sort of thing before.
It's just that she's so young.
Well, don't you remember?
What, two summers ago?
The little boy
who got hit by the speedboat.
I'll never forget what he looked like.
Yeah.
That was, uh...
That was horrible.
You know, Melvin,
I think this job's startin' to get to you.
It's just the formaldehyde.
It kind of...
Ah. Must be Greg.
- Mr. Truesdale.
- Evenin', Lyle.
I knew the German girl
worked at the lodge.
That's why I called Greg.
I didn't want to bother you, sir.
You... You told him that,
didn't you, Greg?
- Yeah. Uh, Dad wanted to come.
- I insisted.
Hilla was one of my best employees.
- Melvin.
- Mr. Truesdale.
Uh, she's back here.
Oh.
- You were close?
- Uh...
Yeah. We were friends.
I...
Ah, he's a good-looking kid.
Lots of girls at the lodge
have their eye on him.
Suck it up, Greg.
Kid's got his mother's stomach.
Seems like there was
more to it than that.
Her name's Hilla. Hilla Danner.
I hired her as a desk clerk
at the beginning of the season.
She, uh, have any family?
I believe they were
all killed during the war.
Well, looks like you're gonna
have to bury her in potter's field.
I'll pay for it.
Well, that's real nice of you, sir.
She did work for me.
I've, uh, got some paperwork
in the car we need to fill out.
- Uh, sorry.
- Nonsense.
I'm only sorry
we had to do this at all.
Yeah.
Be right with you, sir.
Melvin,
why were you contradicting
Mr. Truesdale?
Well, it seems like the girl meant a lot
more to his son than he wanted to let on.
- The man was embarrassed.
- Of what?
Of Greg's weak stomach.
Melvin,
if it wasn't for Mr. Truesdale,
you wouldn't be coroner.
I'd remember that.
That was her mother's.
It's the only thing
she had left of her family.
They all died in the war.
Her father in North Africa...
and her mother and her brothers
in the firebombing of Dresden.
Oh, Hillie.
Why?
After surviving all of that?
Why?
She was my friend.
I should have known.
I should have... stopped her.
Friends always feel that way
when someone close to them dies.
Those are Hillie's.
I have to get them cleaned.
- No, no. It's okay.
- No, I have to.
Hillie's clothes were always perfect. She
wouldn't wear anything that wasn't perfect.
It doesn't matter anymore.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
Can I... Can I, uh,
drive you home or somethin'?
I'm sorry, Mr. Spooner. I...
I have to get out of here.
No wonder
nobody wants to touch me.
- Al, you scared me.
- Scared you?
- Comin' out of the coffin.
- What about me?
You know how I feel
about dead people.
I'm a coroner.
Yeah. Well, no.
Actually, you're a mortician.
It's 1957. Uh, you're in
Riven Rock, Massachusetts.
And in little towns like this
sometimes they appoint the
local mortician as the coroner.
This is horrible.
Hey, I wouldn't mind
sitting out this leap either.
Well, maybe you can.
I don't think
I need you on this one, Al.
What do you mean
you don't need me?
I don't need you.
What?
Well, what do you mean you don't...
What do you mean you don't need me?
- Al, if I'm here to help this girl,
- You don't need... me?
I'm a little late.
Maybe I will sit this one out.
Uh, Ziggy doesn't know
why you're here,
and about all he's got
on the girl there is...
- Hilla.
- Yes. Hilla.
Is she committed suicide
by drowning...
on November 9, 1957.
November 9?
What?
- What?
- Today's her birthday. She's 19.
- Forever.
- Why am I here?
I told you we don't know.
It's gotta have something
to do with her. Right?
Who was she, Al?
Who was she?
What songs did she like to sing?
Who'd she dream about at night?
- William Holden.
- What?
William Holden. It's 1957.
She's a teenager. She had to have a crush
on either William Holden or James Dean.
Uh, knowing her background,
my money's on Bill.
I'll bet Picnic is the first movie she
saw when she came to the United States.
She looks like she's sleeping.
Sweet dreams.
Al, she didn't commit suicide.
She was murdered.
Are you sure that's a bullet hole?
I saw more than a few of these
in my last year in med school.
How could the chief of police miss this
when he pulled her out of the water?
Well, uh, maybe her hair
was covering it or...
I don't see an exit wound.
I guess the bullet's still in there.
Sam,
- you're not gonna...
- Al,
I'm a...
A doctor, right?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, I mean,
that... that... that does...
That doesn't mean...
Well, you know.
The only clue we've got...
is the bullet.
I think I'm gonna go
get a cup of coffee.
You can come out now, Al.
It's over.
- Is that the bullet?
- No.
Shrapnel.
I found it under an old scar
behind her ear.
Oh, from the war.
Well, where's the bullet?
- There wasn't any.
- There wasn't any?
Small entrance wound.
No exit.
It's like the bullet went in...
and vanished.
Look at this, Al.
Someone dragged her onto that dock.
Oh, come on. Lots of women have
scuffed-up heels on their shoes.
No, not Hilla. Her friend told me that
Hilla always kept her clothes perfect.
Whoever killed her,
dragged her to the end of the dock.
I hate to tell you this, Sherlock,
but she could have shot herself.
Where's the gun?
- Maybe it fell into the lake.
- No, I don't think so.
Why not?
If Hilla committed suicide,
I wouldn't be here.
The only thing that makes sense is that
I'm here to find out who murdered her.
Whenever I quantum leap,
I get to see what it's like to
walk in another man's shoes.
And sometimes
what it's like to drive in his car.
I knew very little about Hilla,
except that she survived a war when
everyone else in her family died.
She was either lucky
or had a strong will to live.
One of these had run out on her.
I had to find out which one.
- Greg.
- Ah. Melvin.
- How you doin'?
- Fine. Fine.
Uh, we're just wrapping up
for winter here.
Uh... Um,
could you tell me
which room was Hilla's?
The key doesn't have
a number on it.
Yeah. Um,
the one on the left...
The first one.
Thanks.
Uh, what do you want
in Hillie's room?
Well, I need...
I need a dress to bury her in.
Do you have any suggestions?
Her favorite was the blue dress
with the bow on the back.
You loved her, didn't you?
- Uh, everybody loved Hillie.
- But...
you loved her a little more.
You would've made
a great Dr. Watson, Al.
I saw Picnic again.
William Holden is so handsome,
and I know how he feels.
All alone, a drifter with no one to love.
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
Mr. Truesdale's son, Greg,
asked me to a picnic today.
He is so cute.
He turned my camera on me,
and I can't believe
how silly I acted.
But it was fun, and it made us laugh.
He asked me to the movies,
and I decided to take a chance.
I hope it's not a mistake.
July 4. America's independence.
At dusk, we got a bottle of wine
and watched the fireworks.
I drank too much,
but it helped me tell the truth...
That for the first time I had met
someone I could fall in love with.
And after that,
we fought until dawn,
and I realized
I had to end it between us.
Hilla?
What are you doing here?
Oh. I, um...
I came to pick out a dress
for Hilla's funeral.
And to listen to her records
while you read her diary?
It's, uh, in German.
Look, Stephanie,
I am the coroner.
That doesn't give you the right
to go through her things.
She was beautiful.
My camera loved her.
You took that?
It's a hobby I'd hoped to
turn into a profession.
Hillie and I were gonna
go back to New York together.
She was gonna be a big fashion
model, and I'd shoot all her covers.
She'd have made it too.
I keep expecting her
to walk through the door, you know?
Hillie understood life
better than most people.
Maybe because she'd seen
so much death.
That's why I can't believe
she killed herself.
Maybe she didn't.
- What do you mean?
- She may have been murdered.
Oh, God.
Do you have any idea
who may have done it?
No.
Everyone loved her.
No one...
would want her dead.
What?
Nothing.
It's not nothing.
What are you thinking?
- Truesdale fired her.
- Because of his son?
Greg had a fling with Hillie.
A fling?
It seemed like he loved her.
He loves a lot of the girls, but he's not
gonna get serious with someone like Hillie.
His father would kill him.
Stephanie,
would you keep this
to yourself for the moment?
Of course.
Thanks.
- The blue one.
- What?
That's the dress
you should bury her in.
The blue one with the bow.
It's right here, Sam.
It's in the closet.
How long have you been there?
Uh, well, long enough to know that you
think Greg's old man murdered Hilla.
Or maybe Greg.
I thought the kid was in love with her.
According to her diary,
she met someone new.
She broke it off with Greg
on the Fourth of July.
Well, maybe they made up again.
I don't know. After the fourth,
there are no new entries.
- Except she did put this in there.
- What is it?
A blood test result.
Her beta H.C.G. was positive.
Speak English, will ya?
Two people died in that lake, Al.
Hilla was pregnant.
Nah, that's not a bullet wound.
- Damn it, Lyle. Yes, it is.
- Then where's the bullet?
I haven't found it.
You don't have a bullet,
you don't have a bullet wound.
She could've hit anything falling into
the water. A rock, a nail... anything.
But she didn't.
It wasn't suicide. It was murder.
Melvin, I'm startin'
to worry about ya.
Beautiful dead girl
naked under a sheet.
Must have a way
of makin' a man think strange.
Sam. Don't lose your cool, Sam.
Melvin, this is nothin' more than
an unfortunate case of suicide.
Bury the poor girl.
If it was suicide,
where's the gun?
- She wasn't shot.
- I'm the coroner. I say she was.
If it was a suicide,
the gun is probably
in the water near the dock.
Maybe the gun's in the lake.
If she shot herself...
And I don't believe that she did...
Then the gun must have
fallen into the water.
That lake's near freezin'.
You want me to send a
man into that icy water
lookin' for a gun
that's not even there.
If the gun is there,
then you're right about the suicide.
And then... I'll bury her.
Okay, Melvin.
I'll look for the gun.
But...
whether I find one or not,
you bury the German girl tomorrow.
You know, he does have
a point there, Sam.
Oh, come on, Al.
I didn't leap in here just to bury Hilla.
Well, there's nothing else
that figures...
Except... Except if she was murdered,
and the killer was never caught.
Uh, well, look,
if the chief finds the gun in the lake...
He won't.
And... And even if he does,
it just means that the killer
threw the gun in the water.
Boy, you won't give up, will ya?
- Not when I feel I'm right.
- All right. Say you're right.
We find the gun...
Even find someone to trace it to.
What does that prove?
You have no bullet to match it to.
I know. I know, Al.
It just doesn't make any sense to me.
I mean, where's the bullet?
Talkin' to the stiffs again, Melvin?
- Excuse me?
- That's the great thing about a stiff.
They don't talk back,
but, boy, can they listen.
Uh-oh.
Uh, Sam,
if... if she's gonna do what...
I think she's gonna do, uh,
I'm out of here.
You okay, Melvin?
Yeah.
I gotta hurry and get back to the shop
before Mrs. Sparling's dryer shuts off.
I'll be out of a 50-cent tip.
Don't worry, honey.
Aggie's gonna fix you up.
That German girl sure was pretty.
Her name is Hilla.
What dress did you get
for her to wear?
A blue one with a...
bow on the back.
- I left it in her room.
- That's not like you, Melvin.
You're always after me
for forgettin' things.
Well, you better get it.
We can't bury her naked.
Even if she didn't have no money.
You knew her?
Nah. But you hear more in a beauty
shop than a priest in confession.
Uh, don't... don't overdo it.
Just... Just keep it natural.
Sure, Melvin.
What are you doin'
back here, Sam?
I came to get a dress
to bury Hilla in.
You decided to stay
for the late show?
I thought you were gonna
sit this leap out, Al.
Now, don't get me wrong.
I've had a lot of fixations
on women,
- but this...
- It's not one of your cheap flings.
Whatever. This is an obsession.
Look at her, Al.
She's so young...
and beautiful and...
full of life.
Is that a girl who could kill herself?
This is 1957, Sam.
An unmarried girl
that got pregnant was an outcast.
Sometimes they'd end the pregnancy.
Sometimes they'd even
end their own lives.
- Maybe Greg helped her do both.
- You really think he killed her?
Hilla tried to break up
with Greg on the fourth.
She said they fought all night.
She broke with him, Al,
but it was too late. She was pregnant.
He's gotta be the killer.
But you've got no proof of that.
I've got feelings.
Feelings? That's a song.
You've got no evidence.
You got no gun.
You got no bullet.
- You got nothin'.
- I got her.
You got shadow and light flickering
on a wall. That's not Hilla.
What you're seeing
is in your imagination.
She's trying to tell me something, Al.
I don't know what it is,
but she's trying to tell me something.
As much as I hate to admit it,
sometimes Al's right.
Hilla was haunting me in a way
even I couldn't understand.
But I kept thinking about the road
she had traveled to get here...
and all she had lost along the way...
to die alone, buried and forgotten,
with her murderer free.
I had to be here to change that.
I told you this was a waste of time.
Not really.
We just proved
that she didn't shoot herself.
Come on, Melvin.
If she committed suicide, the gun
would have been down there. It's not.
- So someone shot her.
- Damn it, Melvin. Will you give it up?
You've got no evidence
and no motive.
- She was pregnant.
- Pregnant?
That's right. And we both know
who the father was.
Oh, come on, Greg.
Ah, I'm just a little off today.
Hey, Melvin, Lyle.
Can you believe it, Melvin?
First time I beat the kid
since he was 16.
Must be the cold.
I've got your check
up at the office.
Looks like we'll have snow
for the funeral.
I can't bury her until
I finish the investigation.
Melvin thinks she was murdered.
Murdered?
You said she committed suicide.
No, I found a bullet hole
in her left temple right here.
So the poor kid shot herself.
Why would anybody
want to kill Hilla?
Maybe because she was pregnant.
Of course, that probably doesn't come
as any big news to you, does it, Greg?
How did he know
she was telling the truth?
She could have just been saying
that so he'd have to marry her.
Got a lot to lose.
Harvard Law School's coming up.
All this one day.
A kid and an unmarried mother...
could ruin everything.
- I was gonna marry her.
- What?
We were gonna elope
the night she died.
- I don't believe it.
- Neither do I.
- Hilla broke it off with you.
- No, she didn't.
On the Fourth of July,
she told you she loved someone else.
You fought,
and she ended it between you.
- Who told you that?
- Hilla.
In her diary.
No, that wasn't me.
Not that weekend.
I was at a tournament in Boston.
That's right.
The kid won.
Brought back a real big trophy.
Whoever she broke it off with,
it wasn't me.
We just started dating
each other around that time.
And you didn't
get her pregnant either.
Next time you come around here
with wild accusations,
get your facts straight, Melvin.
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
That's a beautiful melody.
Haunting, beautiful.
I used to like to play that
on rainy nights...
sitting in front of
a roaring fire by the fireplace.
I don't have a roaring fire.
You don't have a girl
in your arms either.
Now, look, this isn't Laura.
Hilla is not gonna come through
that door drenched with rain.
Al,
look, I... I know I'm being
a little irrational about this, but...
I'm the only one on Hilla's side.
That's not true.
She's got me.
You finally can see
that she didn't do it?
Hilla and I are both orphans.
We gotta stick together.
Now... Let's see... Let's see if Ziggy's
got anything new here. Let's see.
- Start with Roger.
- Roger. Okay.
In '62 he marries
a showgirl from Las Vegas.
The dirty dog.
Okay, how about Greg?
Greg.
Uh, well, he went to Harvard
Law School and became a divorce.
Attorney.
Never marries.
Nothing else?
I told you there wasn't
very much on this leap.
Well, what... what about...
What about the sheriff, Lyle?
Or... Or Aggie. Maybe there's even
somebody in town that we missed.
I know this is a small town, but we're
still talkin' about 2,000 people here.
All right. Lyle.
Uh, he's chief for 33 years,
and then he retires to Florida.
Aggie. Aggie.
Oh, now this is interesting.
Uh, in '63, she gets indicted
for performing an illegal abortion.
All the charges
are eventually dropped,
but they wipe out
her beauty shop business.
- You don't suppose...
- I don't know.
But I'm gonna find out.
What are you tryin' to do,
scare my customers away?
I wanna talk to you about Hilla.
You said you wanted
her lookin' natural.
I want to know
about the abortion.
I don't know what
you're talking about.
You want me to ask about it louder?
She came to me
a couple of weeks ago.
- But she couldn't go through with it.
- Who brought her in?
No one. She came alone.
Alone?
- Aggie, how could...
- Okay.
- Someone brought her.
- Who?
Roger Truesdale.
She was cryin'
and acting hysterical on the table.
I told her not to worry.
I knew what I was doin'.
But she kept cryin'
and screaming something in German.
The only word I understood was "fire."
She lost her family
during a firebombing in the war.
Well,
she got up and ran out...
and that's the last
I've seen of her until...
Yesterday.
You ain't gonna
hold this against me, are ya?
You ain't never gonna find
nobody between here and Boston
can fix 'em better than
me, Melvin.
What do you want me to
do, Melvin?
Arrest Mr. Truesdale for
tryin' to get Hilla an abortion?
No. I want you to
arrest him for murder.
- I can't do that.
- Why?
Because he bought
you that badge?
Nobody owns me, Melvin.
Except maybe my wife.
- Why won't you arrest him?
- Because...
even if what you're sayin' is true,
which I don't believe for a second it is,
the D.A. will never prosecute.
All you've got is a possible motive.
You've got no weapon,
no bullet, no witness.
Hell, it'll never get past
the grand jury.
She committed suicide, Melvin.
Now put the poor girl
in the ground...
before she puts you there too.
Oh, Hillie.
Lyle, this is an outrage.
Melvin, get on with it.
You'll notice that the camera movement
in this film was taken by an amateur.
I shot it.
So he took her picture.
That doesn't mean he shot her.
Actually, I thought you shot her.
- What?
- With an arrow.
It would make
the same hole as a bullet...
and explain why I couldn't find one.
- I didn't shoot her.
- I know.
I compared this field point to
the fatal wound. It didn't fit.
Well, then it was suicide.
No. It was murder.
And the murderer shot this film.
I didn't shoot her, Melvin.
I swear.
And you didn't shoot this part
of the film either.
You shot the first part...
And rather badly.
This part...
As you can tell by the focus...
and the composition...
This part was taken
by a professional.
Or someone who wants to be
a professional.
I didn't take that.
Yes, you did.
On the Fourth of July,
Hillie tried to end a relationship.
I assumed it was with Greg.
It was with you.
- You and Hillie?
- He's crazy.
We were just friends.
Until she fell in love with Greg.
Some of the things Hillie tried
to tell me make sense now.
All that time she spent growing up in
the displaced person camps after the war.
She had to fight off men all the time.
I even think she was raped.
She said it was so bad that...
the only people that she
could let get close to her...
were women.
And even that got confusing.
I'm not gonna listen to this.
I'm afraid you're gonna have to,
Miss Heywood.
I've never shot anyone in my life...
Except on film.
You were on the dock
with Hilla the night she was killed.
That's a lie.
Lyle found this floating
near Hilla's body.
I assumed it was hers.
But she had a small foot.
Size five.
This is an eight.
Of course, I'm just guessing
that this is your size.
Even if it is mine,
it couldn't kill her.
This hole is the exact size...
as the one in Hilla's temple.
Would you care to try this on?
Everything was so perfect.
Until you came along.
I hoped she'd see
how wrong she was to love you.
What did you do?
You got her pregnant.
You fixed it so she could
never leave you.
I didn't mean to hurt Hillie.
I swear I didn't.
I loved her.
But she said that
she'd made a terrible mistake...
That she had been confused...
and that for the first time in her life
she understood what love was.
She didn't love me anymore.
I loved her, but she didn't love me.
Hey, Melvin.
You know her?
No.
You okay, Sam?
I don't think I did her any good, Al.
Yeah, you did her good.
Then why am I still here?
Well, maybe you just
need to say goodbye.
I found this book of Mark Twain in
her room. I think it was her favorite.
Twain wrote this
when his daughter died.
"Warm summer sun,
shine kindly here.
"Warm southern wind,
blow softly here.
"Green sod above,
"lie light, lie light.
"Good night, dear heart.
"Good night. Good night."
That's what's missing from my life...
Someone to love.
Oh, you've got him on the ropes now.
Come on, old man.
Double or nothin'.
What do ya say?
Which ball was I shooting at?
$400.
Yeah. Shoot. He'll never
make that eight ball.
Oh, boy.