The Closer s05e09 Episode Script
Identity Theft
[DOOR OPENS.]
There she is.
Oh.
BRENDA: Mama, you look so wonderful.
Well, Brenda Leigh, you left so early.
And I was at work so late.
Y'all were asleep by the time I got home.
Oh, my goodness, Charlene, you have grown.
It's Charlie now, Aunt Brenda.
No one calls me Charlene anymore.
Oh.
So are we going to Disneyland, like we planned or do you have to stay and testify at some horrible murder trial? Uh, no, Mama, the defendant already confessed and made a deal with the DA while Fritz and I were on our honeymoon.
Now he just has to admit to the killing in court.
So it's not a trial, it's an allocution.
JAMES: So sorry.
I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Run into all types, at court.
[BRENDA CLEARS THROAT.]
Why don't y'all have a seat? And I'll be done here, lickety-split.
Ahem, I don't know what Lieutenant Tao is so worried about.
- You should be off with your family.
- I agree, commander.
But, um since Russell Clark lawyered up before y'all had a chance to interview him properly Lieutenant Tao asked me to be here today and these things never take long.
- Excuse me.
- All right.
Dad.
Dad.
I'm back here.
[WHISPERS.]
I miss you.
- That's the defendant's son? - James Clark, yes.
He doesn't look schizophrenic.
Oh, he looks a lot better than the last time I interviewed him.
[WHISPERS.]
But, uh, I think he went back on his meds.
MAN: All rise.
RICHWOOD: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Please be seated.
So I have the pre-plea probation report here.
Both sides ready to proceed? Andrea Hobbs for the People, Judge.
We're ready.
Jeb Kelly for Russell Clark.
We're ready too, Your Honor.
All right, since you both agreed to waive the formal reading of the defendant's rights let's just jump in, shall we? Mr.
Kelly, I understand your client is prepared to enter a plea of guilty to murder in the second degree.
- Yes, Your Honor.
- Will the defendant rise? Let's review the statement of facts here.
Mr.
Clark, it says here that your son - James? - James.
Yes, sir.
Your son was receiving some holistic treatment for schizophrenia from Dr.
Keith Milano.
Could you explain? RUSSELL: Yes, James was seeing a psychiatrist when my mother-in-law discovered Milano's alternative cure for schizophrenia.
I was absolutely against my son changing his therapy but James is over 18, and my mother-in-law offered to pay so James went off of his medication and started in with Milano's outrageously expensive regimen.
And, uh, he got much, much worse.
So on February 26th of this year, you appeared at Dr.
Milano's office where you confronted him about your son's deteriorating mental condition.
You attacked him and killed him.
Is that true? Yes, sir.
The notes also state that you strangled Dr.
Milano.
How? Sir? I'm asking you how you strangled him.
I grabbed him around the neck and I choked him to death.
- With your bare hands? RUSSELL: Yes, Your Honor.
RICHWOOD: Okay, the defendant has admitted his guilt.
I accept his plea.
Let's move on to the impact statement.
I understand that, uh, the victim's wife and parents are here.
Your Honor, excuse me, please.
Permission to approach? I would like to request a continuance before sentencing.
- What? Why? RICHWOOD: I agree, Mr.
Kelly.
- What? Why? KELLY: Mr.
Clark's statement about how the victim was strangled doesn't comport with physical evidence.
He says he strangled the victim to death with his bare hands.
The autopsy photo indicates that Dr.
Milano was strangled with an unidentified implement.
I must strenuously object.
We've had a plea deal Overruled.
People have a right to nitpick.
But let's get it over with.
We'll all meet back here, for victim-impact statements and to pass sentence.
Why wasn't my husband's killer sentenced? You said that this would be over.
Dr.
Milano, I don't know what to say.
Sometimes there are unexpected delays.
Tomorrow, this How much longer are you gonna hold our things? It's been months.
- I can't take this anymore.
- Let me review our evidence.
I'll give you back what we can tomorrow afternoon.
Okay? I'm very sorry for your loss.
Pardon me.
TAYLOR: Okay, this This isn't my fault.
- Let me tell you what happened.
- That would be great.
I picked up Clark and his son from the crime scene.
I brought them in for an interview.
Five minutes in the father says, "I did it," and lawyered up.
Next thing I know, the DA accepts his proffer for murder two.
And I have never seen those photos before in my life.
- Chief, it's my fault, really.
I should - It's the defendant's fault.
Whether to protect his son or to get a lighter sentence he definitely didn't tell the truth in court today.
And I need to know why, so excuse me.
Um, I'm so sorry, y'all.
There's been a problem with the defendant's confession and I don't have a lot of time to sort it out.
Y'all are gonna have to go to the happiest place on earth without me and, uh, I'll meet up with you later.
You're the only one who wanted to go to Disneyland.
Oh.
Yeah, we have one near us and it's really hot outside today.
- We'd rather go to Venice Beach.
- Oh.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
It's a poem.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
My goodness.
That boy.
Argh, he drew pictures of me.
POPE: That's bizarre.
Russell Clark lied during his allocution? Either that or he forgot how he killed the guy.
Anyone ever talk to the son? Lieutenant Tao and Gabriel.
But James was off his meds at the time.
Not competent enough to understand his rights as a suspect.
- Not coherent enough to be a witness.
- I pulled the evidence on the Milano case.
Good.
Everybody grab a pile.
Lieutenant Tao, would you please join me in Interview Two? Mr.
Russell Clark.
Thank you, lieutenant.
I'm Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson.
We never met before, and, uh, you invoked your right to counsel before my colleagues got a chance to get to know you.
But since the judge accepted your guilty plea I thought now might be a good time for us to chat.
About what? I saw your son, James, in court today.
How's he feeling these days? He's fine.
He's hoping to get back to MIT where he had a full academic scholarship.
And where he was arrested for walking around campus naked, twice.
That was 16 months ago, he's much better now.
Listen.
My wife died suddenly just before James went off to college.
And he just broke apart.
And he's fought to pull himself together, very hard.
He also fought very hard with your daughter when he came home.
He seems awfully unstable, sir.
You know all about schizophrenics, then, huh? You think they're all violent? You're wrong.
And James doesn't have multiple personalities either and he's not paranoid.
He's a disorganized schizophrenic.
And when he is on his medication, he behaves very well.
This is about as far as I got with him before he lawyered up.
TAO: He speaks three languages.
In the, uh, short statement you made after you arrived here from Dr.
Milano's office "Dr.
Milano"? Keith Milano was no doctor.
He and his wife are con artists targeting people with incurable diseases.
But according to your statement you had been talking and writing letters to Keith Milano for months begging him to stop your son's treatment and to give your mother-in-law her money back.
And you said you went to Milano's house the night before the murder.
"I appealed to his humanity begged him to stop acting like he could cure my son.
" Then Milano asked you to James' appointment the next day because he finally agreed with you.
And he wanted your help to convince James to go back on his meds.
That's what you said.
You people caught me with the guy just after I'd killed him so I had to make up some story about why I was there.
I mean, what's the surprise? - Milano's office was ransacked.
- File cabinets turned over.
Chairs upended.
Holes punched in walls.
I was angry.
I had to make that clear to Milano Are you sure that your non-violent son didn't do all that? You two arrived separately.
Maybe you showed No, wait, wait.
I got there first.
James came afterwards.
Now, you want me to say that my son committed this murder so that I can avoid going to prison.
And then you can ship him off to some underfunded mental hospital, where he'll be treated like a freak? He'll die.
And he doesn't deserve that.
He is innocent.
He's innocent.
If you're guilty, then why can't you tell us how you really killed him? Because Keith Milano was not strangled with anyone's bare hands.
And we haven't found the implement that was used to choke him to death.
Why do you care so much about that? Well, besides a passing interest in the truth, sir if you brought that implement or weapon with you intending to kill Dr.
Milano, that is premeditated murder and the DA gave you a parole date that you don't deserve.
And if you didn't kill Dr.
Milano and you're covering up for your son, then I should really be talking to him, sir.
Well, you sound confused.
Tell you what? Why don't you find this so-called implement? Especially in the time that you have left before I'm sentenced tomorrow.
You find it.
I hope it gives you some clarity.
In the meantime, if I'm not mistaken I think I have the right to go back to my cell.
Don't I? It's not my fault.
It really isn't.
So since you never saw the crime scene I had the office Dr.
Milano and his wife shared completely reconstructed in here.
Oh.
Excuse me.
Chief, this is, um, a little smaller than the Milanos' consulting room but everything's about the same scale.
This is a little bigger.
The room looks smaller but we're a little bigger Thank you.
Thank you, Buzz.
So both of the Milanos worked out of the same office? Kept the overhead low.
Keith Milano dealt mostly with the patients.
His wife mixed the meds.
And we tagged everything with Russell Clark's fingerprints.
See here? There was nothing from the office matches the marks on Milano's neck.
Okay.
What about money? Well, ugh, we found, uh, $600 in Dr.
Milano's desk drawer and his wife had $2000 cash in her little black bag here.
Oh.
So robbery's out.
The receptionist had the day off.
The other Dr.
Milano, the wife, was out delivering their so-called meds.
TAO: For the record, neither Milano is an MD.
Their business license lists them as holistic dieticians.
FLYNN: Which made it easy to grab their, uh Sorry.
Grab their files.
Take a look at this, chief.
Five thousand for a month's supply of their voodoo treatments.
Altogether, the Milanos were pulling in about 300,000 a month.
Desperate people pay desperate prices.
[BRENDA SIGHS.]
Russell Clark said that he arrived before his son.
- Any way to verify that? - Uh, no witnesses.
No one else showed up at the crime scene the entire time you were there? Ah, well, the guy in the office next door who called in to complain about holes being punched through his wall.
What about the patients who came to see the Milanos before the Clarks, and the ones who came after? The Milanos were supposedly two of the most successful witch doctors in all of Los Angeles and there were no other patients the entire rest of the day? - These are all good questions, chief.
- Well, thank you, detective.
By the time we would have asked them Mr.
Clark had lawyered up and made a deal with the DA.
TAYLOR: Now, that's exactly right.
Plus, Clark was telling the truth about some things.
We have letters here from him to Dr.
Milano going back two months before the murder, begging him to stop treating his son.
- Does sound like motive, chief.
- But why won't he tell us how he did it? I want to know what happened to the other patients the day Milano was killed.
And where his receptionist was, please.
Oh, and I wanna talk to the suspect's son, James.
We know how to get ahold of him? I'm working on getting James in here for you.
The kid freaks out easily.
Even on his meds, he might still be a little confused.
Oh, and he doesn't like confined spaces.
Interviewing him won't be easy.
Talk him into sitting down with me.
And I'll worry about how to get him to cooperate later.
Chief, this is the original interview that Lieutenant Tao did with James Clark.
Thank you.
Good job, everyone.
Good job.
FRITZ: Thank you, Willie Ray.
The chicken and dumplings look wonderful.
- Charlene, if you would - Charlie.
WILLIE: Charlie, if you would please put that phone down while we eat that would be the ladylike thing to do.
- One second.
So, Charlie, how are you liking Los Angeles? I'd tell you, but I'm really not allowed to have my own opinions.
- Grandma? - Ugh, she loves it here.
And that reminds me, your father and I thought Well, Clay and I discussed this and we thought it might be, oh, fun if Charlene Charlie could stay with y'all for the rest of the summer.
Really? What on earth made you think that? My parents hate me now.
Your parents do not hate you, Charlene.
- Charlie.
- They love you very much.
[CELL PHONE BUZZES.]
They hate my friends.
They hated the guy I was dating till he dumped me.
They spy on me.
- What are you doing? - I asked you to put away the phone and I'm not used to asking that kind of thing twice.
I'm sure Brenda and Fritz don't use their cell phones at the table.
She's right about that.
See, during dinnertime, we usually [CELL PHONE RINGING.]
Well, try to, uh Try to ignore the outside world for a few minutes.
Usually we do that, but, um, I really need to set up this interview.
And it'll just take one moment, I promise.
Pardon me.
Hello? Yes.
Hello? Your Aunt Brenda is working.
And she excused herself from the table.
It's okay.
I'm used to adults making rules for me they don't live by themselves.
BRENDA: Thank you so much, sergeant.
All right.
Bye, now.
I'm so sorry about that.
Um, Charlie, you remember that boy who drew pictures of you today in court? - Yeah.
- Want to see what he's like when he's off his medication? - Okay, yeah.
- Good.
Uh, why don't you grab your dinner, and I'll meet you in the bedroom, okay? Just be a minute.
Pardon me.
[MOUTHING.]
Her, here? No.
Ahem, okay.
What's really going on here, exactly? Charlene has decided she doesn't have to obey her parents anymore.
- Mm-hm.
- And it's tearing Bobby and Joyce apart.
So Clay and I agreed to take her for the summer.
Only Clay will not exercise one ounce of discipline with her.
And her friends keep coming over to our house and we don't know I am not able [WHIMPERS.]
[SNIFFS.]
She is uncontrollable right now.
Yeah, well, when you say "uncontrollable" what do you mean? JAMES: No, no, no! No, no, no! Wouldn't talk to me.
Wouldn't talk to me.
Wouldn't talk to me.
Who wouldn't talk to you, James? Dr.
Milano? - Hey, where you going, James? JAMES: To Grandmother's house.
GABRIEL: Oh, no.
You probably should sit back down.
Sit back down.
- That can't be the same kid.
- It is.
Wow.
What happened to your hand, James? Looks like you hurt yourself.
Your grandmother dropped you off at Dr.
Milano's office.
You went upstairs into the waiting room.
Was your father there yet? I don't know.
It was dark.
It was dark in the room.
But I saw them, and she was gone.
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go.
- What do you mean, "it was dark," James? - It was dark this time in the office.
And there were no questions.
My friends kept telling me to run.
But I couldn't because he shut the door.
And we were all trapped inside.
He wouldn't answer my questions.
And Dad told me to sit back down.
And he wouldn't open the door.
The door is shut.
Open the door.
You have to open the door.
My friends want out.
They want out.
So your father was in the room with Dr.
Milano when you arrived? Looking, looking in the dark.
- Why was it dark, James? - No light, no sun.
Lids over the eyes of the building.
And he's looking.
- What were you looking for? - He was looking! He was looking and he won't open the door while he looks! Open the door! You have to open the door! - Open the door! Open the door! TAYLOR: Hey! TAYLOR: Calm down! So did James do it instead of the dad? Did he strangle the guy? I don't know, but whether he did or not he may have told us that the murder was premeditated.
- When did he say that? - When he said the office was dark.
No, Bobby, it's no trouble at all.
I just wanted to make sure that Charlie's being here Okay, Charlene, then.
That Charlene's being here was something that you wanted.
I promised your mother we'd try it for a week or so.
And I'm trying to get us out of it.
No! Mama should have told you that she was bringing Charlene out here.
My goodness.
I don't understand her.
I mean, you're her parents.
It's like kidnapping, really.
Oh, no, no.
Bobby, don't be embarrassed.
Look, if there's anyone who can figure out what's going on with Charlene, it'll be me.
Where, where, where are my keys? [IN NORMAL VOICE.]
I already know what's going on with Charlie.
Shh No.
No, no, no.
You tell Joyce not to worry.
This is all gonna work out.
Okay.
All right, I love you too.
All right.
Bye, now.
Bobby was no help at all.
He's probably lying and knew exactly what Mama was planning all along.
He can't handle anything that interferes with his martini schedule.
What did Mama say was going on Charlene? - Charlie.
- Charlie.
Charlie.
Whoever she is.
Well, according to your mother Charlie's parents think she's been smoking pot.
And she may have had sex with her ex-boyfriend.
And she's making some not very good friends.
And you agreed to let her stay here? Well, if she needs us And maybe you know, we could think of it as something of a dry run.
You know, how we are with a child around the house.
She's not a child anymore.
She's a teenage girl.
Bobby's just gonna have to get it through his head that boys are naturally gonna be attracted to her.
- Oh.
- What? I already know someone who's attracted to her.
And if Charlie's gonna hang around here, she might as well make herself useful.
BRENDA: Charlie, you're up.
How would you like to go to work with me today? And watch another interview with that boy? - Really? - Brenda, we're planning a day of culture.
And I don't think your brother Bobby would want Charlene to be spending time around a murder investigation.
Grandma, I have asked you a 100 million times to stop calling me Charlene.
It drives me crazy.
Oh, honey, I forget.
Mama, look, if Charlie's gonna be staying here, then murder is part of the deal.
Brenda, she is not dressed to go to work with you.
Fine.
Why don't we let her decide? Charlie, which would you rather, museums with Grandma or schizophrenic murder suspects with your Aunt Brenda? - Bye, Grandma.
BRENDA: Okay.
Well, I've got a terrible deadline, so we'll meet back up again for dinner, okay? Love you.
Bye.
Yummy biscuit.
Yummy.
Yummy, yummy.
So we looked up all the patients on Milano's schedule.
Of the nine people originally set to see him on the day he was murdered three have died, cancer.
Four are in hospice care.
Their treatments are less successful than their business.
Then there was the guy who was supposed to come in after James Clark Bob Geddes, MS.
He said his appointment was canceled by none other than Milano himself.
- The victim told him not to come? - Receptionist said the same thing.
Milano called her the night before and told her to take the day off.
So Milano canceled all the potential witnesses to his own murder and left himself alone to meet a schizophrenic boy and his angry father.
Why would he do that? James Clark wouldn't get on the elevator.
Sanchez is reading his rights as they come up.
- He's almost here.
BRENDA: Thank you.
TAO: I've got picture and sound.
Okay, uh, Lieutenant Tao, please make sure that both doors are open.
Let's see how well James does with glass.
JAMES: Excuse me.
- Here we are.
- Yes, we're here.
I can go places by myself now.
I have a bus map.
- And did you find me well-behaved? - Oh, yeah.
You were great.
Chief Johnson, this is James Clark.
- Hello - Thank you for inviting me to visit.
- It's very nice of you.
BRENDA: Oh.
You're welcome.
Um, we almost met in court.
Yes.
Yes, I remember your hair and your voice.
It's odd.
BRENDA: Well, thank you.
That's Thank you.
So, James, um, would you like to sit down for a few minutes and talk to me in my office about what happened with Dr.
Milano? - Oh.
- Yes, I can do that.
Yes.
- Good.
So, James, I hear that you're fluent in three languages.
One of the voices I hear speaks French.
It's a little schizophrenic humor.
I can make jokes, so people don't feel self-conscious about me.
My father taught me that.
Yes.
- Do you remember my niece, Charlie? - Um Thanks for the pictures you drew of me yesterday.
Oh, you're very welcome.
People should draw pictures of you all the time.
Okay, let's come on here into my office.
You can have a seat right here.
And here, have some chocolate.
Is that chair okay for you, James? It's a very nice chair, yes.
- And I can eat your chocolate? - You may.
And, um, I think I'll have some too.
So, James, do you remember much about the day that Dr.
Milano was murdered? - Oh, yes.
Not only do I remember things that happened I can also remember things that didn't happen.
JAMES: But I'm not good with chronology.
That's the order of things.
And sometimes, I dream awake.
But otherwise, I have a great memory.
BRENDA: So, uh, you were dropped off and you went upstairs to the Milanos' waiting room.
And then what happened? There was no one else there.
The lady who usually sits behind the sliding glass window was gone.
Or maybe she was invisible.
And Dr.
Milano called me in.
- Dr.
Milano called for you? - Yes.
And I went in the office, even though I didn't want to.
It was dark, and then all the blinds were pulled down.
The blinds were usually up? Yes, but not on that day.
And the lights were off too.
And Dr.
Milano sat behind his desk.
And he wouldn't answer any questions.
I moved up next to him because all my friends were telling me - Excuse me, your friends? - That's what I call them.
When I'm off my medication, I have friends.
My father says they're not good for me.
My friends will keep me from getting back into college and managing my mind.
Have to get rid of them.
Hallucinations.
No hallucinations.
[CHUCKLES.]
Would it be considered bad behavior to ask for another chocolate? Not at all.
James, was your father there with you and Dr.
Milano in the dark? Well, he was either there already or after.
But he was yelling and mad.
He trapped us while he searched the office.
- By closing the door? - Both doors, yes.
And I was afraid and upset.
And I BRENDA: So you punched the wall? Yes.
I'm sorry.
I would never do that today.
James, you said that your father was searching for something.
Do you know why? Because Dr.
Milano was dead.
So, Dr.
Milano called you into the office and you sat by him and then he was dead, and then your father came in and started searching for something? Yes.
Yes.
I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Are you sure it's okay for us to discuss it? Yes, it's absolutely okay.
I promise you.
Do you know how Dr.
Milano died? I was standing next to the desk and my father My My father wanted to know Come on, James, you can tell me.
What did your father want to know? My father wanted to know why I strangled the doctor and how I did it.
Jeez Louise.
How many people are gonna confess to this murder, anyway? TAO: And what did you say to him, your father? That I did it with one of my socks.
I took off a shoe, and I took off one of my socks.
I strangled Dr.
Milano with it and then I put the sock back on.
But my father kept looking for things and wouldn't let us go.
He told me to stop talking to my friends.
That's when I punched in the wall and cried a little bit.
Why did you cry, James? Because my father used to be so proud of me.
And now if I don't behave If I can't I must behave very well, or I will be sent away.
I must make people comfortable by smiling and I can do that.
But also, I can make mistakes.
I can slip up.
So I must manage my drugs get rid of my friends and try to behave, or I might be sent away.
But I think I am behaving very well today.
Yes? Yes.
Yes, today you behaved very well, James.
All right, so And now what should we talk about? But I took off a shoe, and I took off a sock and I strangled Dr.
Milano with it.
Couldn't the kid be found not guilty? No way.
James Clark went off his meds after attacking his sister knowing he could be dangerous, against doctor's orders.
That's reckless endangerment and I'll try his ass for murder.
James' confession isn't supported by the physical evidence any more than his dad's.
Milano was strangled with something heavier than a sock and if you had just bothered to ask about the weapon six months ago we wouldn't be here today.
HOBBS: I admit I settled fast.
But here we are, and as far as I'm concerned come 4:00, I'm going through with the deal with Russell Clark or arraigning his son for murder.
You decide.
Look, the father had motive.
He had opportunity.
Is there no way we can consider, just for a second that he may have been telling the truth from the beginning? You're absolutely right.
Russell Clark was telling the truth from the beginning.
And if he was Uh Excuse me.
Pardon me.
Chief, what do you want us to do here? Bring in Behavioral Science and examine this kid? Arrest him for No, no, no.
Don't arrest him unless he tries to leave.
Make sure that Lieutenant Tao stays with him in my office.
FLYNN: Dr.
Milano's widow called.
She's on her way down here to pick up the stuff we took.
Don't give her a thing until I get back.
Get another removal order to have Russell Clark brought back.
We're gonna have to get the father and son in the same room.
- Yeah.
- What about me? Uh, just stay here and play computer games or something and wave to James every now and then.
You're doing a great job.
Great job of what? PROVENZA: Chief.
Chief, where are you going? - Shopping.
- Shopping? I'm compelled to show the tape of James confessing to the defense before sentencing, and I can't wait.
Is Chief Johnson going to come back and interview Clark ever? What are we doing? What you should have done six months ago.
Chief, James is in your office.
His dad is in Interview Two.
The morgue sent over these blown-up photos of Milano's neck.
- I guess you asked for them.
- Thank you.
Oh, there you are, finally.
Um, I need Lieutenant Tao in Interview One.
I've got minutes.
We have another problem.
Apparently, you promised Dr.
Milano that she could collect her belongings from the crime scene.
I'm so sorry, Dr.
Milano.
We haven't wrapped up your husband's murder yet.
Just tell me this, then.
How long are you legally entitled to hold our things? Uh, you know what, I have just enough time to return some of your things right now.
Why don't you come right this way? And we will, uh, deal with the rest later.
Oh, you brought boxes.
Good.
Lieutenant Tao.
Okay.
Inside here.
Oh, my God.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I had forgotten that it's We'll hurry this along.
We'll just, uh, do this quickly.
Let's just get some of your things together here.
Why don't you hand me this? Here are your, uh, patients' files.
You're gonna need those.
I can't imagine what you're going through.
This must be horrible, just Just horrible.
ROBIN: It is awful.
- What is she doing? - What is going on? - Hold on a minute.
Russell Clark destroyed my life, and he admitted to killing my husband.
So I don't understand why he's not in prison.
Well, it's mostly because, uh, Mr.
Clark didn't know certain facts about the murder that the killer would.
- Like what? Like how he strangled your husband, for one thing.
- Obviously, they fought.
- No one heard anything.
Until James punched through these really thin walls here, into the next office.
Your husband never called for help.
No, we think that most of the mess that was created here happened after the murder.
TAO: Clark entered the office you shared with your husband.
He saw his son standing over the body, so he started to look for the implement James used to choke your husband.
That's why the office is like this.
BRENDA: But the weapon wasn't here.
Where'd it go, then? Well, I'm guessing that you must've taken it with you.
Excuse me? Taken it with me? How? BRENDA: By removing the chain that comes as a strap on your handbag.
I was able to find one just like it.
And my mama has something like this.
Very versatile.
Can be used as a purse a clutch or, in your case a murder weapon.
But that You're not suggesting that I killed my husband, are you? - Oh, I think I am.
- But why would I do that? For the money, I'm sure.
Russell Clark was telling the truth all along.
He had succeeded in convincing the doctor to stop his treatment for James.
- So Russell Clark didn't have a motive.
- But you did.
Because not only had your husband decided to stop treating James he was canceling all your patients, shutting your entire practice.
Maybe even returning some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars y'all conned from sick people on their way to the grave.
ROBIN: You don't understand.
- Oh, my God.
We'll have more confessions than we know what to do with.
BRENDA: Just have a quick seat here.
Just [THUDS.]
We have a witness.
James Clark.
James Clark said Dr.
Milano called him into the waiting room but your husband was already dead.
So the only Dr.
Milano who could have called him into the office was you.
And before he came in, you went out the back door.
No, no.
Wait.
Wait.
Keith and I were helping people that had terrible health problems.
And because of Russell Clark, Keith was going to abandon them.
See, Keith [WHIMPERING.]
he said that we were charlatans, frauds.
Yes, we argued about him giving the money back.
And, yes, I tried to stop him, and our argument, it got physical, and somehow, I don't know how it happened exactly but the chain on my purse, it wrapped around his neck and I pulled He pulled It was It was an accident.
I swear, it's the truth.
I just find that so hard to believe.
No, that is the truth, though.
I promise you.
No, I don't I don't think it is.
See, James said that when he came into the office it was dark when it had always been light before, with the blinds open.
A point I confirmed with Mr.
Bob Geddes one of your few long-term patients I was able to contact without a Ouija board.
As you can see, from the photos of the crime scene the shades are closed, lights are turned off.
Because you didn't want anyone to see you strangling your husband to death.
And that's premeditation, ma'am, which means murder in the first degree.
Lieutenant Tao, would you please do the honors? Robin Milano, you're under arrest for the murder of your husband.
- You have the right to remain silent.
- Oh, my.
This confession is no good.
Chief Johnson didn't advise Dr.
Milano of her rights before questioning her.
I didn't hear the chief ask a question.
- Did you, lieutenant? - Not one.
As far as the law is concerned the good doctor here made a spontaneous confession which should make you very happy.
It's called "strategy.
" And the next time you wanna close a case without asking any questions this is the way to do it.
TAO: Do you understand? Good evening, everyone.
Oh.
Willie Ray, what a pleasant surprise.
Oh, it is so good to see you.
Oh, Lieutenant Provenza, don't you look dashing? Yeah, he's got a whole new wardrobe.
Check out the picture on his desk.
Oh, my goodness, isn't she beautiful.
Is she your daughter? [SANCHEZ CHUCKLES.]
Well, no.
No, Willie Ray, actually, uh, she's my girlfriend.
Ah! Ah! There they are.
What is Charlene doing with that strange boy? Just through this door.
Back here.
Charlie, let's go.
Right this way, sir.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
So will James go back to living with his dad now? Looks like it.
And you're part of the reason why.
[SNIFFLES.]
Well, thank you, Aunt Brenda.
Lieutenant, you'll handle the paperwork on our end? TAO: Happy to, chief.
- Thanks.
Oh.
Excuse me.
I'm almost afraid to ask did I hear Charlene say the words "thank you"? Oh, Mama, y'all are overreacting to Charlie.
She's just going through a phase.
Nothing I can't handle.
I so admire your confidence, Brenda Leigh.
- Do you? - Yes, I do, honey.
And the terrific thing here is that while you're teaching Charlie about life and all you're gonna learn a lot from her too.
I just know it.
Mm-hm.
You are going to learn things now that you're gonna remember for the rest of your life.
[WILLIE CHUCKLES.]
There she is.
Oh.
BRENDA: Mama, you look so wonderful.
Well, Brenda Leigh, you left so early.
And I was at work so late.
Y'all were asleep by the time I got home.
Oh, my goodness, Charlene, you have grown.
It's Charlie now, Aunt Brenda.
No one calls me Charlene anymore.
Oh.
So are we going to Disneyland, like we planned or do you have to stay and testify at some horrible murder trial? Uh, no, Mama, the defendant already confessed and made a deal with the DA while Fritz and I were on our honeymoon.
Now he just has to admit to the killing in court.
So it's not a trial, it's an allocution.
JAMES: So sorry.
I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
[CHUCKLES.]
Run into all types, at court.
[BRENDA CLEARS THROAT.]
Why don't y'all have a seat? And I'll be done here, lickety-split.
Ahem, I don't know what Lieutenant Tao is so worried about.
- You should be off with your family.
- I agree, commander.
But, um since Russell Clark lawyered up before y'all had a chance to interview him properly Lieutenant Tao asked me to be here today and these things never take long.
- Excuse me.
- All right.
Dad.
Dad.
I'm back here.
[WHISPERS.]
I miss you.
- That's the defendant's son? - James Clark, yes.
He doesn't look schizophrenic.
Oh, he looks a lot better than the last time I interviewed him.
[WHISPERS.]
But, uh, I think he went back on his meds.
MAN: All rise.
RICHWOOD: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Please be seated.
So I have the pre-plea probation report here.
Both sides ready to proceed? Andrea Hobbs for the People, Judge.
We're ready.
Jeb Kelly for Russell Clark.
We're ready too, Your Honor.
All right, since you both agreed to waive the formal reading of the defendant's rights let's just jump in, shall we? Mr.
Kelly, I understand your client is prepared to enter a plea of guilty to murder in the second degree.
- Yes, Your Honor.
- Will the defendant rise? Let's review the statement of facts here.
Mr.
Clark, it says here that your son - James? - James.
Yes, sir.
Your son was receiving some holistic treatment for schizophrenia from Dr.
Keith Milano.
Could you explain? RUSSELL: Yes, James was seeing a psychiatrist when my mother-in-law discovered Milano's alternative cure for schizophrenia.
I was absolutely against my son changing his therapy but James is over 18, and my mother-in-law offered to pay so James went off of his medication and started in with Milano's outrageously expensive regimen.
And, uh, he got much, much worse.
So on February 26th of this year, you appeared at Dr.
Milano's office where you confronted him about your son's deteriorating mental condition.
You attacked him and killed him.
Is that true? Yes, sir.
The notes also state that you strangled Dr.
Milano.
How? Sir? I'm asking you how you strangled him.
I grabbed him around the neck and I choked him to death.
- With your bare hands? RUSSELL: Yes, Your Honor.
RICHWOOD: Okay, the defendant has admitted his guilt.
I accept his plea.
Let's move on to the impact statement.
I understand that, uh, the victim's wife and parents are here.
Your Honor, excuse me, please.
Permission to approach? I would like to request a continuance before sentencing.
- What? Why? RICHWOOD: I agree, Mr.
Kelly.
- What? Why? KELLY: Mr.
Clark's statement about how the victim was strangled doesn't comport with physical evidence.
He says he strangled the victim to death with his bare hands.
The autopsy photo indicates that Dr.
Milano was strangled with an unidentified implement.
I must strenuously object.
We've had a plea deal Overruled.
People have a right to nitpick.
But let's get it over with.
We'll all meet back here, for victim-impact statements and to pass sentence.
Why wasn't my husband's killer sentenced? You said that this would be over.
Dr.
Milano, I don't know what to say.
Sometimes there are unexpected delays.
Tomorrow, this How much longer are you gonna hold our things? It's been months.
- I can't take this anymore.
- Let me review our evidence.
I'll give you back what we can tomorrow afternoon.
Okay? I'm very sorry for your loss.
Pardon me.
TAYLOR: Okay, this This isn't my fault.
- Let me tell you what happened.
- That would be great.
I picked up Clark and his son from the crime scene.
I brought them in for an interview.
Five minutes in the father says, "I did it," and lawyered up.
Next thing I know, the DA accepts his proffer for murder two.
And I have never seen those photos before in my life.
- Chief, it's my fault, really.
I should - It's the defendant's fault.
Whether to protect his son or to get a lighter sentence he definitely didn't tell the truth in court today.
And I need to know why, so excuse me.
Um, I'm so sorry, y'all.
There's been a problem with the defendant's confession and I don't have a lot of time to sort it out.
Y'all are gonna have to go to the happiest place on earth without me and, uh, I'll meet up with you later.
You're the only one who wanted to go to Disneyland.
Oh.
Yeah, we have one near us and it's really hot outside today.
- We'd rather go to Venice Beach.
- Oh.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
It's a poem.
[SPEAKING IN FRENCH.]
My goodness.
That boy.
Argh, he drew pictures of me.
POPE: That's bizarre.
Russell Clark lied during his allocution? Either that or he forgot how he killed the guy.
Anyone ever talk to the son? Lieutenant Tao and Gabriel.
But James was off his meds at the time.
Not competent enough to understand his rights as a suspect.
- Not coherent enough to be a witness.
- I pulled the evidence on the Milano case.
Good.
Everybody grab a pile.
Lieutenant Tao, would you please join me in Interview Two? Mr.
Russell Clark.
Thank you, lieutenant.
I'm Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson.
We never met before, and, uh, you invoked your right to counsel before my colleagues got a chance to get to know you.
But since the judge accepted your guilty plea I thought now might be a good time for us to chat.
About what? I saw your son, James, in court today.
How's he feeling these days? He's fine.
He's hoping to get back to MIT where he had a full academic scholarship.
And where he was arrested for walking around campus naked, twice.
That was 16 months ago, he's much better now.
Listen.
My wife died suddenly just before James went off to college.
And he just broke apart.
And he's fought to pull himself together, very hard.
He also fought very hard with your daughter when he came home.
He seems awfully unstable, sir.
You know all about schizophrenics, then, huh? You think they're all violent? You're wrong.
And James doesn't have multiple personalities either and he's not paranoid.
He's a disorganized schizophrenic.
And when he is on his medication, he behaves very well.
This is about as far as I got with him before he lawyered up.
TAO: He speaks three languages.
In the, uh, short statement you made after you arrived here from Dr.
Milano's office "Dr.
Milano"? Keith Milano was no doctor.
He and his wife are con artists targeting people with incurable diseases.
But according to your statement you had been talking and writing letters to Keith Milano for months begging him to stop your son's treatment and to give your mother-in-law her money back.
And you said you went to Milano's house the night before the murder.
"I appealed to his humanity begged him to stop acting like he could cure my son.
" Then Milano asked you to James' appointment the next day because he finally agreed with you.
And he wanted your help to convince James to go back on his meds.
That's what you said.
You people caught me with the guy just after I'd killed him so I had to make up some story about why I was there.
I mean, what's the surprise? - Milano's office was ransacked.
- File cabinets turned over.
Chairs upended.
Holes punched in walls.
I was angry.
I had to make that clear to Milano Are you sure that your non-violent son didn't do all that? You two arrived separately.
Maybe you showed No, wait, wait.
I got there first.
James came afterwards.
Now, you want me to say that my son committed this murder so that I can avoid going to prison.
And then you can ship him off to some underfunded mental hospital, where he'll be treated like a freak? He'll die.
And he doesn't deserve that.
He is innocent.
He's innocent.
If you're guilty, then why can't you tell us how you really killed him? Because Keith Milano was not strangled with anyone's bare hands.
And we haven't found the implement that was used to choke him to death.
Why do you care so much about that? Well, besides a passing interest in the truth, sir if you brought that implement or weapon with you intending to kill Dr.
Milano, that is premeditated murder and the DA gave you a parole date that you don't deserve.
And if you didn't kill Dr.
Milano and you're covering up for your son, then I should really be talking to him, sir.
Well, you sound confused.
Tell you what? Why don't you find this so-called implement? Especially in the time that you have left before I'm sentenced tomorrow.
You find it.
I hope it gives you some clarity.
In the meantime, if I'm not mistaken I think I have the right to go back to my cell.
Don't I? It's not my fault.
It really isn't.
So since you never saw the crime scene I had the office Dr.
Milano and his wife shared completely reconstructed in here.
Oh.
Excuse me.
Chief, this is, um, a little smaller than the Milanos' consulting room but everything's about the same scale.
This is a little bigger.
The room looks smaller but we're a little bigger Thank you.
Thank you, Buzz.
So both of the Milanos worked out of the same office? Kept the overhead low.
Keith Milano dealt mostly with the patients.
His wife mixed the meds.
And we tagged everything with Russell Clark's fingerprints.
See here? There was nothing from the office matches the marks on Milano's neck.
Okay.
What about money? Well, ugh, we found, uh, $600 in Dr.
Milano's desk drawer and his wife had $2000 cash in her little black bag here.
Oh.
So robbery's out.
The receptionist had the day off.
The other Dr.
Milano, the wife, was out delivering their so-called meds.
TAO: For the record, neither Milano is an MD.
Their business license lists them as holistic dieticians.
FLYNN: Which made it easy to grab their, uh Sorry.
Grab their files.
Take a look at this, chief.
Five thousand for a month's supply of their voodoo treatments.
Altogether, the Milanos were pulling in about 300,000 a month.
Desperate people pay desperate prices.
[BRENDA SIGHS.]
Russell Clark said that he arrived before his son.
- Any way to verify that? - Uh, no witnesses.
No one else showed up at the crime scene the entire time you were there? Ah, well, the guy in the office next door who called in to complain about holes being punched through his wall.
What about the patients who came to see the Milanos before the Clarks, and the ones who came after? The Milanos were supposedly two of the most successful witch doctors in all of Los Angeles and there were no other patients the entire rest of the day? - These are all good questions, chief.
- Well, thank you, detective.
By the time we would have asked them Mr.
Clark had lawyered up and made a deal with the DA.
TAYLOR: Now, that's exactly right.
Plus, Clark was telling the truth about some things.
We have letters here from him to Dr.
Milano going back two months before the murder, begging him to stop treating his son.
- Does sound like motive, chief.
- But why won't he tell us how he did it? I want to know what happened to the other patients the day Milano was killed.
And where his receptionist was, please.
Oh, and I wanna talk to the suspect's son, James.
We know how to get ahold of him? I'm working on getting James in here for you.
The kid freaks out easily.
Even on his meds, he might still be a little confused.
Oh, and he doesn't like confined spaces.
Interviewing him won't be easy.
Talk him into sitting down with me.
And I'll worry about how to get him to cooperate later.
Chief, this is the original interview that Lieutenant Tao did with James Clark.
Thank you.
Good job, everyone.
Good job.
FRITZ: Thank you, Willie Ray.
The chicken and dumplings look wonderful.
- Charlene, if you would - Charlie.
WILLIE: Charlie, if you would please put that phone down while we eat that would be the ladylike thing to do.
- One second.
So, Charlie, how are you liking Los Angeles? I'd tell you, but I'm really not allowed to have my own opinions.
- Grandma? - Ugh, she loves it here.
And that reminds me, your father and I thought Well, Clay and I discussed this and we thought it might be, oh, fun if Charlene Charlie could stay with y'all for the rest of the summer.
Really? What on earth made you think that? My parents hate me now.
Your parents do not hate you, Charlene.
- Charlie.
- They love you very much.
[CELL PHONE BUZZES.]
They hate my friends.
They hated the guy I was dating till he dumped me.
They spy on me.
- What are you doing? - I asked you to put away the phone and I'm not used to asking that kind of thing twice.
I'm sure Brenda and Fritz don't use their cell phones at the table.
She's right about that.
See, during dinnertime, we usually [CELL PHONE RINGING.]
Well, try to, uh Try to ignore the outside world for a few minutes.
Usually we do that, but, um, I really need to set up this interview.
And it'll just take one moment, I promise.
Pardon me.
Hello? Yes.
Hello? Your Aunt Brenda is working.
And she excused herself from the table.
It's okay.
I'm used to adults making rules for me they don't live by themselves.
BRENDA: Thank you so much, sergeant.
All right.
Bye, now.
I'm so sorry about that.
Um, Charlie, you remember that boy who drew pictures of you today in court? - Yeah.
- Want to see what he's like when he's off his medication? - Okay, yeah.
- Good.
Uh, why don't you grab your dinner, and I'll meet you in the bedroom, okay? Just be a minute.
Pardon me.
[MOUTHING.]
Her, here? No.
Ahem, okay.
What's really going on here, exactly? Charlene has decided she doesn't have to obey her parents anymore.
- Mm-hm.
- And it's tearing Bobby and Joyce apart.
So Clay and I agreed to take her for the summer.
Only Clay will not exercise one ounce of discipline with her.
And her friends keep coming over to our house and we don't know I am not able [WHIMPERS.]
[SNIFFS.]
She is uncontrollable right now.
Yeah, well, when you say "uncontrollable" what do you mean? JAMES: No, no, no! No, no, no! Wouldn't talk to me.
Wouldn't talk to me.
Wouldn't talk to me.
Who wouldn't talk to you, James? Dr.
Milano? - Hey, where you going, James? JAMES: To Grandmother's house.
GABRIEL: Oh, no.
You probably should sit back down.
Sit back down.
- That can't be the same kid.
- It is.
Wow.
What happened to your hand, James? Looks like you hurt yourself.
Your grandmother dropped you off at Dr.
Milano's office.
You went upstairs into the waiting room.
Was your father there yet? I don't know.
It was dark.
It was dark in the room.
But I saw them, and she was gone.
Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go.
- What do you mean, "it was dark," James? - It was dark this time in the office.
And there were no questions.
My friends kept telling me to run.
But I couldn't because he shut the door.
And we were all trapped inside.
He wouldn't answer my questions.
And Dad told me to sit back down.
And he wouldn't open the door.
The door is shut.
Open the door.
You have to open the door.
My friends want out.
They want out.
So your father was in the room with Dr.
Milano when you arrived? Looking, looking in the dark.
- Why was it dark, James? - No light, no sun.
Lids over the eyes of the building.
And he's looking.
- What were you looking for? - He was looking! He was looking and he won't open the door while he looks! Open the door! You have to open the door! - Open the door! Open the door! TAYLOR: Hey! TAYLOR: Calm down! So did James do it instead of the dad? Did he strangle the guy? I don't know, but whether he did or not he may have told us that the murder was premeditated.
- When did he say that? - When he said the office was dark.
No, Bobby, it's no trouble at all.
I just wanted to make sure that Charlie's being here Okay, Charlene, then.
That Charlene's being here was something that you wanted.
I promised your mother we'd try it for a week or so.
And I'm trying to get us out of it.
No! Mama should have told you that she was bringing Charlene out here.
My goodness.
I don't understand her.
I mean, you're her parents.
It's like kidnapping, really.
Oh, no, no.
Bobby, don't be embarrassed.
Look, if there's anyone who can figure out what's going on with Charlene, it'll be me.
Where, where, where are my keys? [IN NORMAL VOICE.]
I already know what's going on with Charlie.
Shh No.
No, no, no.
You tell Joyce not to worry.
This is all gonna work out.
Okay.
All right, I love you too.
All right.
Bye, now.
Bobby was no help at all.
He's probably lying and knew exactly what Mama was planning all along.
He can't handle anything that interferes with his martini schedule.
What did Mama say was going on Charlene? - Charlie.
- Charlie.
Charlie.
Whoever she is.
Well, according to your mother Charlie's parents think she's been smoking pot.
And she may have had sex with her ex-boyfriend.
And she's making some not very good friends.
And you agreed to let her stay here? Well, if she needs us And maybe you know, we could think of it as something of a dry run.
You know, how we are with a child around the house.
She's not a child anymore.
She's a teenage girl.
Bobby's just gonna have to get it through his head that boys are naturally gonna be attracted to her.
- Oh.
- What? I already know someone who's attracted to her.
And if Charlie's gonna hang around here, she might as well make herself useful.
BRENDA: Charlie, you're up.
How would you like to go to work with me today? And watch another interview with that boy? - Really? - Brenda, we're planning a day of culture.
And I don't think your brother Bobby would want Charlene to be spending time around a murder investigation.
Grandma, I have asked you a 100 million times to stop calling me Charlene.
It drives me crazy.
Oh, honey, I forget.
Mama, look, if Charlie's gonna be staying here, then murder is part of the deal.
Brenda, she is not dressed to go to work with you.
Fine.
Why don't we let her decide? Charlie, which would you rather, museums with Grandma or schizophrenic murder suspects with your Aunt Brenda? - Bye, Grandma.
BRENDA: Okay.
Well, I've got a terrible deadline, so we'll meet back up again for dinner, okay? Love you.
Bye.
Yummy biscuit.
Yummy.
Yummy, yummy.
So we looked up all the patients on Milano's schedule.
Of the nine people originally set to see him on the day he was murdered three have died, cancer.
Four are in hospice care.
Their treatments are less successful than their business.
Then there was the guy who was supposed to come in after James Clark Bob Geddes, MS.
He said his appointment was canceled by none other than Milano himself.
- The victim told him not to come? - Receptionist said the same thing.
Milano called her the night before and told her to take the day off.
So Milano canceled all the potential witnesses to his own murder and left himself alone to meet a schizophrenic boy and his angry father.
Why would he do that? James Clark wouldn't get on the elevator.
Sanchez is reading his rights as they come up.
- He's almost here.
BRENDA: Thank you.
TAO: I've got picture and sound.
Okay, uh, Lieutenant Tao, please make sure that both doors are open.
Let's see how well James does with glass.
JAMES: Excuse me.
- Here we are.
- Yes, we're here.
I can go places by myself now.
I have a bus map.
- And did you find me well-behaved? - Oh, yeah.
You were great.
Chief Johnson, this is James Clark.
- Hello - Thank you for inviting me to visit.
- It's very nice of you.
BRENDA: Oh.
You're welcome.
Um, we almost met in court.
Yes.
Yes, I remember your hair and your voice.
It's odd.
BRENDA: Well, thank you.
That's Thank you.
So, James, um, would you like to sit down for a few minutes and talk to me in my office about what happened with Dr.
Milano? - Oh.
- Yes, I can do that.
Yes.
- Good.
So, James, I hear that you're fluent in three languages.
One of the voices I hear speaks French.
It's a little schizophrenic humor.
I can make jokes, so people don't feel self-conscious about me.
My father taught me that.
Yes.
- Do you remember my niece, Charlie? - Um Thanks for the pictures you drew of me yesterday.
Oh, you're very welcome.
People should draw pictures of you all the time.
Okay, let's come on here into my office.
You can have a seat right here.
And here, have some chocolate.
Is that chair okay for you, James? It's a very nice chair, yes.
- And I can eat your chocolate? - You may.
And, um, I think I'll have some too.
So, James, do you remember much about the day that Dr.
Milano was murdered? - Oh, yes.
Not only do I remember things that happened I can also remember things that didn't happen.
JAMES: But I'm not good with chronology.
That's the order of things.
And sometimes, I dream awake.
But otherwise, I have a great memory.
BRENDA: So, uh, you were dropped off and you went upstairs to the Milanos' waiting room.
And then what happened? There was no one else there.
The lady who usually sits behind the sliding glass window was gone.
Or maybe she was invisible.
And Dr.
Milano called me in.
- Dr.
Milano called for you? - Yes.
And I went in the office, even though I didn't want to.
It was dark, and then all the blinds were pulled down.
The blinds were usually up? Yes, but not on that day.
And the lights were off too.
And Dr.
Milano sat behind his desk.
And he wouldn't answer any questions.
I moved up next to him because all my friends were telling me - Excuse me, your friends? - That's what I call them.
When I'm off my medication, I have friends.
My father says they're not good for me.
My friends will keep me from getting back into college and managing my mind.
Have to get rid of them.
Hallucinations.
No hallucinations.
[CHUCKLES.]
Would it be considered bad behavior to ask for another chocolate? Not at all.
James, was your father there with you and Dr.
Milano in the dark? Well, he was either there already or after.
But he was yelling and mad.
He trapped us while he searched the office.
- By closing the door? - Both doors, yes.
And I was afraid and upset.
And I BRENDA: So you punched the wall? Yes.
I'm sorry.
I would never do that today.
James, you said that your father was searching for something.
Do you know why? Because Dr.
Milano was dead.
So, Dr.
Milano called you into the office and you sat by him and then he was dead, and then your father came in and started searching for something? Yes.
Yes.
I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Are you sure it's okay for us to discuss it? Yes, it's absolutely okay.
I promise you.
Do you know how Dr.
Milano died? I was standing next to the desk and my father My My father wanted to know Come on, James, you can tell me.
What did your father want to know? My father wanted to know why I strangled the doctor and how I did it.
Jeez Louise.
How many people are gonna confess to this murder, anyway? TAO: And what did you say to him, your father? That I did it with one of my socks.
I took off a shoe, and I took off one of my socks.
I strangled Dr.
Milano with it and then I put the sock back on.
But my father kept looking for things and wouldn't let us go.
He told me to stop talking to my friends.
That's when I punched in the wall and cried a little bit.
Why did you cry, James? Because my father used to be so proud of me.
And now if I don't behave If I can't I must behave very well, or I will be sent away.
I must make people comfortable by smiling and I can do that.
But also, I can make mistakes.
I can slip up.
So I must manage my drugs get rid of my friends and try to behave, or I might be sent away.
But I think I am behaving very well today.
Yes? Yes.
Yes, today you behaved very well, James.
All right, so And now what should we talk about? But I took off a shoe, and I took off a sock and I strangled Dr.
Milano with it.
Couldn't the kid be found not guilty? No way.
James Clark went off his meds after attacking his sister knowing he could be dangerous, against doctor's orders.
That's reckless endangerment and I'll try his ass for murder.
James' confession isn't supported by the physical evidence any more than his dad's.
Milano was strangled with something heavier than a sock and if you had just bothered to ask about the weapon six months ago we wouldn't be here today.
HOBBS: I admit I settled fast.
But here we are, and as far as I'm concerned come 4:00, I'm going through with the deal with Russell Clark or arraigning his son for murder.
You decide.
Look, the father had motive.
He had opportunity.
Is there no way we can consider, just for a second that he may have been telling the truth from the beginning? You're absolutely right.
Russell Clark was telling the truth from the beginning.
And if he was Uh Excuse me.
Pardon me.
Chief, what do you want us to do here? Bring in Behavioral Science and examine this kid? Arrest him for No, no, no.
Don't arrest him unless he tries to leave.
Make sure that Lieutenant Tao stays with him in my office.
FLYNN: Dr.
Milano's widow called.
She's on her way down here to pick up the stuff we took.
Don't give her a thing until I get back.
Get another removal order to have Russell Clark brought back.
We're gonna have to get the father and son in the same room.
- Yeah.
- What about me? Uh, just stay here and play computer games or something and wave to James every now and then.
You're doing a great job.
Great job of what? PROVENZA: Chief.
Chief, where are you going? - Shopping.
- Shopping? I'm compelled to show the tape of James confessing to the defense before sentencing, and I can't wait.
Is Chief Johnson going to come back and interview Clark ever? What are we doing? What you should have done six months ago.
Chief, James is in your office.
His dad is in Interview Two.
The morgue sent over these blown-up photos of Milano's neck.
- I guess you asked for them.
- Thank you.
Oh, there you are, finally.
Um, I need Lieutenant Tao in Interview One.
I've got minutes.
We have another problem.
Apparently, you promised Dr.
Milano that she could collect her belongings from the crime scene.
I'm so sorry, Dr.
Milano.
We haven't wrapped up your husband's murder yet.
Just tell me this, then.
How long are you legally entitled to hold our things? Uh, you know what, I have just enough time to return some of your things right now.
Why don't you come right this way? And we will, uh, deal with the rest later.
Oh, you brought boxes.
Good.
Lieutenant Tao.
Okay.
Inside here.
Oh, my God.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I had forgotten that it's We'll hurry this along.
We'll just, uh, do this quickly.
Let's just get some of your things together here.
Why don't you hand me this? Here are your, uh, patients' files.
You're gonna need those.
I can't imagine what you're going through.
This must be horrible, just Just horrible.
ROBIN: It is awful.
- What is she doing? - What is going on? - Hold on a minute.
Russell Clark destroyed my life, and he admitted to killing my husband.
So I don't understand why he's not in prison.
Well, it's mostly because, uh, Mr.
Clark didn't know certain facts about the murder that the killer would.
- Like what? Like how he strangled your husband, for one thing.
- Obviously, they fought.
- No one heard anything.
Until James punched through these really thin walls here, into the next office.
Your husband never called for help.
No, we think that most of the mess that was created here happened after the murder.
TAO: Clark entered the office you shared with your husband.
He saw his son standing over the body, so he started to look for the implement James used to choke your husband.
That's why the office is like this.
BRENDA: But the weapon wasn't here.
Where'd it go, then? Well, I'm guessing that you must've taken it with you.
Excuse me? Taken it with me? How? BRENDA: By removing the chain that comes as a strap on your handbag.
I was able to find one just like it.
And my mama has something like this.
Very versatile.
Can be used as a purse a clutch or, in your case a murder weapon.
But that You're not suggesting that I killed my husband, are you? - Oh, I think I am.
- But why would I do that? For the money, I'm sure.
Russell Clark was telling the truth all along.
He had succeeded in convincing the doctor to stop his treatment for James.
- So Russell Clark didn't have a motive.
- But you did.
Because not only had your husband decided to stop treating James he was canceling all your patients, shutting your entire practice.
Maybe even returning some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars y'all conned from sick people on their way to the grave.
ROBIN: You don't understand.
- Oh, my God.
We'll have more confessions than we know what to do with.
BRENDA: Just have a quick seat here.
Just [THUDS.]
We have a witness.
James Clark.
James Clark said Dr.
Milano called him into the waiting room but your husband was already dead.
So the only Dr.
Milano who could have called him into the office was you.
And before he came in, you went out the back door.
No, no.
Wait.
Wait.
Keith and I were helping people that had terrible health problems.
And because of Russell Clark, Keith was going to abandon them.
See, Keith [WHIMPERING.]
he said that we were charlatans, frauds.
Yes, we argued about him giving the money back.
And, yes, I tried to stop him, and our argument, it got physical, and somehow, I don't know how it happened exactly but the chain on my purse, it wrapped around his neck and I pulled He pulled It was It was an accident.
I swear, it's the truth.
I just find that so hard to believe.
No, that is the truth, though.
I promise you.
No, I don't I don't think it is.
See, James said that when he came into the office it was dark when it had always been light before, with the blinds open.
A point I confirmed with Mr.
Bob Geddes one of your few long-term patients I was able to contact without a Ouija board.
As you can see, from the photos of the crime scene the shades are closed, lights are turned off.
Because you didn't want anyone to see you strangling your husband to death.
And that's premeditation, ma'am, which means murder in the first degree.
Lieutenant Tao, would you please do the honors? Robin Milano, you're under arrest for the murder of your husband.
- You have the right to remain silent.
- Oh, my.
This confession is no good.
Chief Johnson didn't advise Dr.
Milano of her rights before questioning her.
I didn't hear the chief ask a question.
- Did you, lieutenant? - Not one.
As far as the law is concerned the good doctor here made a spontaneous confession which should make you very happy.
It's called "strategy.
" And the next time you wanna close a case without asking any questions this is the way to do it.
TAO: Do you understand? Good evening, everyone.
Oh.
Willie Ray, what a pleasant surprise.
Oh, it is so good to see you.
Oh, Lieutenant Provenza, don't you look dashing? Yeah, he's got a whole new wardrobe.
Check out the picture on his desk.
Oh, my goodness, isn't she beautiful.
Is she your daughter? [SANCHEZ CHUCKLES.]
Well, no.
No, Willie Ray, actually, uh, she's my girlfriend.
Ah! Ah! There they are.
What is Charlene doing with that strange boy? Just through this door.
Back here.
Charlie, let's go.
Right this way, sir.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
So will James go back to living with his dad now? Looks like it.
And you're part of the reason why.
[SNIFFLES.]
Well, thank you, Aunt Brenda.
Lieutenant, you'll handle the paperwork on our end? TAO: Happy to, chief.
- Thanks.
Oh.
Excuse me.
I'm almost afraid to ask did I hear Charlene say the words "thank you"? Oh, Mama, y'all are overreacting to Charlie.
She's just going through a phase.
Nothing I can't handle.
I so admire your confidence, Brenda Leigh.
- Do you? - Yes, I do, honey.
And the terrific thing here is that while you're teaching Charlie about life and all you're gonna learn a lot from her too.
I just know it.
Mm-hm.
You are going to learn things now that you're gonna remember for the rest of your life.
[WILLIE CHUCKLES.]