Cold Case s04e07 Episode Script

The Key

Shake it, baby.
I just finished reading The Feminine Mystique, and I don't get it, Alison.
I mean, I'm not some kind of man-hater.
(scoffs) 'Cause there's so much to love.
I mean, I'm proud, being a housewife, a mother.
I don't hate my life.
Well, hating your life isn't Betty's point.
Then what is? Loving it.
Do you love your life, Libby? Last chance, macho men.
If your keys aren't in the bowl, I can't pick 'em! MAN: Whoo! You heard my wife! Time to get real free and real naked! Now that's women's lib for you.
What's going s ? Carl didn't tell you? It's a key party.
Everyone's doing it.
Not everyone.
Carl, let's go.
What? We just got here.
I want to go home.
Loosen up, Lib.
Get yourself a drink.
You knew about this, didn't you? I promised Joe I'd play.
It's something he heard about when he was in California.
We live in Pennsylvania.
It's just a game, Lib.
When Joe got home, he left his wife for a It's not just aame.
Take a cab, then.
I'm staying.
God knows it's en a frigid winter.
WOMAN: Let's go, foxy ladies.
You pick his keychain, and he sticks his keys in your ignition.
Who's gonna kick things off? I will.
Libby? I said, I will.
Who's the lucky macho man? GIRL: Mom? Mom! I hate this part.
Mom! Mommy! Mom! Oh! Young lady, you're gonna have to step back.
(sobbing): Oh, my God! That's my mom! Breathe.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
Just breathe.
You're going to be all right.
We'll find the person who did this.
You will? Yeah.
I promise.
Got here fast as we could, Will.
VERA: Missing my beauty sleep.
Better be good.
Kids camping out, having some sort of Blair Witch scarefest.
Making a movie? Looking for a ghost.
As in Casper the Friendly? Libby Bradley.
Found stabbed in tse woods, 1979.
Kids been calling the place haunted ever since.
What'd they find? Ski jacket stuffed in a tree trunk.
??? Amount of blood looks like a stabbing.
From 27 years ago.
Halfile from where we found her.
A few hundred yards beyond our search area.
Called her daughter to ID it.
You called a family member at 2:00 a.
m.
over a jacket? She's been calling me for 27 years.
You worked the job back in '79? And made a promise I couldn't keep.
Rookie mistake.
WOMAN: Will? Helen.
Detectives Rush, Vera.
You found something? Ski jacket.
Thinking it might be your mom's.
Oh, God.
You recognize it? She used to call it her bumblebee jacket because of the black stripe.
Found this in the pocket.
Car keys.
That doesn't make sense.
What doesn't? Those car keys couldn't be hers.
Why not? Because my mother didn't know how to drive.
Cold Case 407 LENS: Blood on the jacket's O-positive, same as Libby Bradley's.
Best theory back in '79 was a mugging gone wrong.
Lots of transients in those woods back then.
No signs of sexual assault? Nope.
Always wondered why she wasn't dressed for the cold.
Dead of winter.
Doer must have lifted her jacket.
Never found the murder weapon? Never ID'd it.
Puncture wound to the left lung.
Drowned in her own blood.
RUSH: Husband Carl and daughter Helen were the last to see her before they left for work, school.
Estimated time of death: 2:00 p.
m.
Carl was at work all day.
Alibi checked out.
Real stand-up people.
Every year, Helen sends me a card on her mother's birthday.
Not this year.
VALENS: It's tough to hold on, keep believing.
I never forgot.
Checked wi the manufacturer.
Key was for a '75 Cadillac Eldorado.
Transients don't drive Cadillacs.
RUSH: Doer was close to home, same social circle.
Let's talk to the husband.
Oh, and, uh, boss needs you.
Scotty.
ADA Thomas.
Heard you on the stand a few months back.
Impressive.
Thanks.
So what's up? My sole witness in the Fitzpatrick molestation trial committed suicide.
You talking about Jimmy Donohue? Yeah.
You know him? Yeah, old neighborhood.
When'd it happen? Last night.
He hung himself.
You knew the guy.
Sorry.
Don't pull punches.
Don't need to.
Bottom line, Scott, is Fitzpatrick's gonna walk.
ne else is willing to come forward.
Unless your brother does.
Already talked to him.
No dice.
It's tough when it's family.
Your meaning? Seen you on the stand, detective, working that magic.
Ain't my brother's keeper.
But you are a cop, right? You know where you can reach me.
Sure, Alex.
We have new evidence in your wife's murder, Carl.
New evidence.
Like what? Kids out in the woods found her ski jacket.
Keys in the pocket.
For a Cadillac.
Wondering if you might know something about it.
Well, I, uh I don't know what to say.
Your daughter wants answers.
I assume you do, too.
You have to understand, it was the '70s.
MILLER: Okay.
We didn't always behave like that.
We had families.
We were decent people.
Talk about the keychain.
Libby picked it.
JEFFRIES: What do you mean, picked it? At a key party.
Who's the lucky macho man? I guess that'd be me.
JOE: Far out! Man of the house goes home with the foxiest lady at the party! Oh.
Don't let me get in the way, honey bunny.
JOE: You pick now, hot pants.
I want to know who's grooving in our pad tonight.
You sure about this, Libby? I-I think so.
I don't know.
Those are mine! Those are mine.
You be easy on my wife, macho man.
Think you mean your second wife.
I'll just get my coat.
Hey, I thought you were in bed.
It's hard to sleep in Studio 54.
Hi, Mrs.
Bradley.
Hi, Jed.
Ready if you are.
Night, son.
So Libby and Bill left together.
JEFFRIES: And two months later, she's dead with his keys in her pocket.
I started this.
Taking her to that key party.
Maybe Bill finished it.
VERA: Bill Huxley? Son of a bitch! Detectives Rush, Vera.
This is a members-only establishment.
So is police headquarters.
How about we chat down there instead? I'll catch up on the next hole.
You remember Libby Bradley, stabbed in '79? That was a lifetime ago.
VERA: Maybe for you.
For some, still feels like yesterday.
Something going on between you two? What? No.
We just knew each other from the neighborhood.
What about that key party? Oh, that.
Yeah, that.
It was one night.
RUSH: Really? Then why were your car keys in her pocket the night she died? Maybe sitting in a cell for a few hours will jog that memory.
She had my keys because it wasn't just a one-night stand.
Go on.
We had something special.
I've never done this before.
Don't tell anybody, but neither have I.
Well, I guess we should just, you know, what Joe said.
Take off our cloes.
Right, right, okay.
Wow, you look You have a nice body.
Thank you.
What's wrong? You okay? I've been with Carl since was I was 18.
He's the only man I've, I've ever been with.
When everybody else was going to Woodstock, the whole sexual revolution thing, we were raising families.
I got pregnant when I was 20.
Yeah, same as Alison.
Well, 21.
Carl and I were just kids when we t, I mean We don't even have anything in common anymore.
Maybe that's why he cheats on me.
Alison and I haven't had sex in over two and a half years.
I'm sorry.
I'm telling you things you don't want to hear.
No, no, it's just I-I didn't know that, that other people Yeah.
Bill? Yes, Libby.
You ever feel like we missed out on things? Maybe it's not too late.
RA: So how'd your wife feel about your newfound soulmate? What the hell am I protecting her for? We're divorced 25 years.
Okay.
After that key party, Alison took the angry, cynical thing to a whole new level.
She became downright hostile.
That Cadillac was the family car.
Alison drove it mostly.
So the happy face keychain? Wasn't mine.
It was hers.
Alison Huxley? You're new here.
I know just the class to open up your chakras.
My chakras can't wait.
We're here about Libby Bradley.
Oh, real tragedy, that.
It threw all of us into a tailspin.
On the bright side, it put an end to her affair with your husband.
I wasn't happy Libby was banging my husband, but somebody had to do it, right? So you knew about the affair? Maybe you helped bring it to a close.
I was too blitzed to get out of bed in the morning, never mind murder.
Bill said you were pretty angry.
Oh, and Bill's still an idiot.
I wasn't angry.
I was depressed.
I was popping "Mother's Little Helpers" by the fistful.
Self-medicating.
Bingo.
No one ever talked about depression back then.
We were just bored housewives.
So, why'd Libby have your car keys? Don't ask me.
I wasn't the one driving that boat.
You are a stone fox.
Think we can sneak out of here? JOE (tapping glass): Okay.
Julie and I have an announcement to make.
Hot stuff? You say it, Joey baby, you're so dynamite with words.
The key party was, like, the coolest, most far out thing that ever happened to us.
JULIE: Right on.
We don't need a game to do what comes naturally.
We decided to have an open marria.
HELEN: Pigs in a blanket? Anyone? They're from a box.
My mom's specialty.
Helen, please.
We're totally into it and we think you guys should be, too.
JULIE: Our egos are liberated from our fear of our own id.
What the hell are you people talking about? Means Mr.
Puka Beads here gets to dip his fondue fork in all our pots.
Jed, pour me another.
Wow, Mom, you actually remember my name.
Ha.
Well, that's one way to put it, Alison.
But yeah, sure.
I can dig it.
Maybe we should give it a try.
How 'bout you ease up on those martinis? How about we quit pretending like our marriages mean anything? JOE: That's the attitude I'm talking about.
Oh.
You know, maybe I have had a little too much to drink.
I should go.
I'm really not feeling too hot.
You look fine to me.
JOE: Way too hot for a fifth grade teacher.
Why don't you stick around? OhI think I'll be fine once I've had a good night's sleep.
Hey, Jed, why don't you give her a ride home, buddy, would you? More cheese for the rest of us.
Last time I saw those keys-- the night my hubby recruited our son to help with his affair.
Help with his affair? The whole I'm-not-feeling- well routine was a ruse for them to meet while the rest of us got hammered.
Jed was their personal chauffeur.
You're kidding.
Wish I were.
My son was an innoct bystander.
How'd you find out about this arrangement? Well, I was drugged, not brain-dead.
Ask Jed.
His memory was a lot better than mine.
STILLMAN: Chauffeuring your father's mistress, not exactly an ideal childhood.
od (chuckles) Whose was? Got a point there.
Still, not many fathers asking their kids to get involved like that.
RUSH: Make you upset? Your dad running around like that? I was a lonely kid, sort of caught in nowhere land.
Meaning? I was happy to do it.
Because I got something out of it, too.
What's that? A friend.
You know, Mrs.
Bradley Libby.
Please, I'm not that ancient.
You were, like, my favorite teacher in fifth grade.
All that stuff you taught us about astronomy? I'm, I'm totally into it now.
Well, that's nice, Jed.
There's so much going on out there.
The universe is expanding.
Here it's just it's always the same.
Ah, here's not that bad.
Yeah.
It kind of is.
You've got your whole life ahead of you.
You can do anything that you want.
Just don't wait until it's too late.
Like you did? Yeah.
Right.
There's an eclipse coming.
That's right.
They say it's like once-in-a-lifetime.
Ah, true.
It is beautiful.
But you can't even look at them.
You'll go blind.
You can with a pinhole camera.
Oh, yeah, you showed us in class.
Mine fell apart.
How about I help you make a new one? Okay.
Thanks.
Um, and I can teach you to drive if you want.
About time I learned.
Oh, here, um, take your own set.
You planning to walk home? Oh, no, I I got a spare.
Um, you know, Mrs.
Bradley Libby.
Oh.
I know about you and my dad.
Jed.
No, no, it's cool.
Really, because he and my mom don't really talk.
Your dad's a special kind of guy.
Once-in-a-lifetime? Yeah.
See you soon, Jed.
Bye.
Once a week, I'd take her driving and we'd talk about astronomy.
Got close.
Jed.
Libby ever mention someone she might have been afraid of? You know, a few times after our lessons, I'd drop her at her house and he'd be waiting.
Who? Joe Livingston.
Dr.
Free Love was hot for Libby? Seemed that way.
Always there when Mr.
Bradley wasn't around.
Never thought to mention that back in '79? Everyone said it was a homeless person.
Right? Scotty.
Since when do you smoke? Bad habit.
What are you doing here? Something came up.
Something like what? With that Coach Fitzpatrick thing.
What the hell is wrong with you, Scotty? Just listen.
No.
No.
I told you I've got nothing to do Jimmy Donohue killed himself.
What? You gotta tell them, Mike.
I'm going inside.
Hey, you're on the same road as Jimmy unless you say something.
Get off of me.
I know what happened.
You shut up.
You didn't come home.
So I went to the gym.
Shut up! You always came home at 6:00, so I went to find you.
Swear to God, you don't shut your mouth I saw you in his office.
You don't know what you saw.
I saw what he was doing! Shut up! I saw what Coach Fitz was doing to you.
Shut up! I never told no one.
I I let you down, Mike.
I'm sorry.
???? swinger-type, Joe.
Still am.
Also heard you were trying to get in Libby Bradley's bell bottoms.
Come again? Why else camp out on her doorstep 24/7? She was a foxy lady.
I wanted a piece of the pie.
Can you blame me? And when she told you to take your puka beads and shove 'em, maybe you killed her.
Lots of fish in the sea back then.
Now, too.
Not much of an alibi, Joe.
The day Libby was killed, Julie and I were joining the Mile-High Club first class to Waikiki.
I'll check that out.
Bottom line: Libby turned me down; I moved on to greener pastures.
Too bad she couldn't.
What do you mean? Took her little affair too seriously.
She thought Bill was the answer.
I'm guessing he wasn't? She found out the hard way at Helen's Sweet 16 party.
And at our next lesson, I'll teach you how to parallel park.
My dad, he's just He doesn't mean it.
Just stop, would ya? ???? ????? You said that we had something special.
Yeah, yeah, we did.
"Did"? I wanted to have fun.
But now you're just suffocating me.
I thought what we had was Was what, Libby? Once in a lifetime.
If you were going to fall in love I never would've climbed into the bed.
Oh.
I don't want another wife.
Sorry.
Mom.
Come on.
You okay? What the hell is your problem? Leave me alone.
You're embarrassing me, acting like a fool.
You're the one that started all this wanting to spice up the marriage.
Well, now I don't.
Too late.
Shut up.
We're going home.
Take it easy, man.
You're hurting her.
It's too late to go home.
I told you to shut up! Let's go! So Carl wanted to go back to the way it was.
It was too late.
Genie was already out of the bottle.
I'd never seen him lose his cool like that.
When was this party? The night before Libby was killed.
VALENS: Real ugly fight, night of your daughter's party.
Night before your wife died, in fact.
You couldn't control her anymore and you like control.
Don't you, Carl? It doesn't mean that I killed Libby.
Lot of times that's how it happens.
Wife changes on you, you go nuts.
I did not kill my wife! Never heard that before.
I told you.
I was at work all day.
Three-martini lunches back then.
Plenty of time to duck out and do murder.
Libby wanted a divorce.
And I didn't.
Never mentioned that back in the day.
Well, I knew how it would look.
It would've put a serious crack in that perfect image of yours.
Big house.
Beautiful wife Not to mention a motive for murder.
I tried to talk her out of it.
Till I saw the damage we were doing.
The person who was suffering the most.
Who was that? Our daughter.
We're not going to make it, Carl.
You don't just walk out on a marriage.
Why? It's not what people do.
I've been doing what people told me my whole life.
I'm sick of it.
We built a life together.
No, you built it, Carl.
I was just along for the ride.
You're leaving me for Bill? No, this has nothing to do with him.
Not anymore.
I've always been scared to be alone.
But maybe not anymore.
Maybe we can both make it on our own.
See what you did? Oh, my God, you're bleeding.
You humiliated me! In front of the whole world! What the hell were you trying to do? I hate my life! I hate both of you! Get away from me! Don't touch me! CARL: Helen, enough! Give me your hand! You're sleeping with our neighbors.
You're a joke, you know that? Just a common whore! Helen, please.
Don't touch me! You come near me and I swear to God I will kill you! I swear to God! (sobbing): I will.
VERA: No suicide attempt on record.
It was a family secret.
Now Helen picked up an ice pick? Yeah.
Why? Could've caused a puncture wound.
VALENS: Probably didn't go to school the next day.
Of course she did.
After a traumatic night like that? Wh-- what exactly are you implying? Your daughter was home the day Libby was murdered.
That's crazy.
Explains why she's been hounding us all these years.
Maybe she was looking to get caught.
r, Helen.
Know about your suicide attempt.
And the fight with your mom.
Night before she was killed.
What are you saying? Your mother embarrassed you in front of all your friends.
Bad enough you wanted to die.
That state of mind make you do crazy things.
You should have told me, Helen.
I couldn't.
I was so ashamed.
The day after the party, we were in the house together alone-- my mom and me.
Go on.
She tried to talk to me.
And I just pushed her away.
When all she wanted to do was make things right.
We need to talk about last night, Helen.
I don't want to talk to you.
How about I talk? You just listen.
Okay? I'm sorry for how I acted these last few months.
I haven't been much of a mother to you.
I don't care, Mom.
Helen, please.
Just listen.
Okay? All my life I've been somebody's daughter or wife.
Always someone else's somebody.
I never had the chance to just be me.
But what you did last night made me realize what is truly important to me.
You.
I don't need a man.
But I need my little girl.
You can't act like that anymore.
You're the grown-ups, not us.
I promise you things are going to change.
I just want my mom back.
I'm right here.
No.
I just need to be alone.
Okay? Okay.
You're my once-in-a-lifetime.
I don't even know what that means.
You will.
Cardboard box and tinfoil? Where was she going with those things? I-I don't know.
That was the way I treated my mother the last time I saw her.
She knew you loved her, Helen.
acting out doesn't fool anyone.
Know what you can make with a cardboard box and tinfoil? Mm, I give up.
Pinhole camera.
I'm supposed to know what that is? It's used to watch an eclipse.
Only other thing you need to make it is a sharp object.
Like an ice pick.
Right.
The day Libby was killed, February 26, 1979, there was a total solar eclipse.
Which Jed wanted to see.
??? Hey.
I been thinking about what you said the other day.
Letting me down.
Forget about it.
That wasn't your fault.
You know.
Yeah.
I know.
So let's do it.
Let's put this guy away.
Ever get around to seeing that eclipse, Jed? What eclipse? The one Libby promised to show you.
Libby didn't promise me that.
Oh, that's too bad.
Once-in-a-lifetime thing to see.
Right.
Your mom told us you were in the woods that day, watching the eclipse.
She couldn't have known that.
My parents never knew where I was.
So you were out in the woods.
Well, I went out there, but not near Libby.
JED: I mean not where she was found.
JEFFRIES: So if you weren't out there watching the eclipse, what were you doing? Musta been confusing.
Parents acting like kids.
And where'd that leave you? I was fine.
Fine? Driving your dad's mistress around? Pouring their drinks while they talked about open marriage and key parties? Dirty dancing with your fifth-grade teacher? I was 15, that would've screwed me up good.
It was like they forgot we were there.
But you were there.
Listening to every word they said.
Watching everything they did.
We were just kids.
They took that all away.
What they did to you was wrong.
What Libby did to you was wrong.
Talking to me dancing with me like that.
So when she met you in the woods I I thought she wanted more.
Libby, I didn't think you were going to show.
You must be freezing.
Here.
I wasn't sure, you know, I mean after last night with you and my dad.
Oh, that has nothing to do with us, Jed.
I'd promised you I'd show you this.
When are we going driving again? Look.
You have been a great teacher.
But I need to give these back to you.
I don't get it.
I can't meet you anymore.
Why? Did I do something wrong? No, no.
So why are you I need more time with Helen.
But what about me? What do you mean? Dancing last night that blew me away.
I mean, it was hot.
And now that you and my dad are done What? You and me can.
You know.
Jed, that's not I never meant to give you that idea.
But I make you laugh.
And on our driving lessons sometimes you touch my hand.
No, Jed, that's not what I meant.
But you held me against you.
You turned me on, on purpose.
I have to go.
I'm sorry.
Don't walk away from me.
Jed, you're a kid.
We're friends.
That's all.
We have something heavy, okay.
Our egos are liberated and I want to get it on with you.
Jed, stop! You did it with my father.
Wha's wrong with me? Jed, stop.
You promised.
You promised.
(screams) Mrs.
Bradley? Get up.
Mrs.
Bradley.
* Every now and then I cry * * Every night * * You keep staying on my mind * * All my friends say I'll survive * * It just takes time * * But I don't think time is gonna heal this broken heart * * No, I don't see how it can * * If it's broken all apart * * A million miracles could never stop the pain * * Or put all the pieces together again * * No, I don't think time is gonna heal this broken heart * * No, I don't see how * * It can while we are still apart * * And when you hear this song * * I hope that you will see * * That time won't heal * * A broken-hearted me * * Every day is just the same * * Playing games * * Different lovers, different names * * They keep saying I'll survive * * It just takes time * * But I don't think time is gonna heal this broken heart * * No, I don't see how it can * * If it's broken all apart * * A million miracles could never stop the pain * * Or put all the pieces * * Together again * * No, I don't think time is gonna heal this broken heart * *o, I don't see how it can * * While we are still apart * * And when you hear this song * * I hope that you will see * * That time won't heal * * A broken-hearted * * Time won't heal * * A broken-hearted me.
*
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