Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021) s04e06 Episode Script

Beyond the Sea

1
In the nation's largest city,
the vicious and violent
members of the underworld
are hunted by the detectives
of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
These are their stories.
I got myself suspended.
You're being questioned as part
of an official IAB investigation.
Rita Lasku, she's missing.
Rita said if anything happened
that I should come find you.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
What do you know about Noah Cahill?
He pokes around here,
thinks he calls the shots.
This man was one of the
last people to see her alive.
- Two missing girls.
- You are not the only one
who wants to find these girls.
This is my investigation
and my town.
You're safe. You're gonna be OK.

Do you remember Rita?
No. No!

Rita's body wasn't the
only one they found.
We got ourselves a serial killer.

We've exhumed nine victims so far.
The search obviously continues.
Have you identified the victims?
I can say we have identified several,
but we can give no details
until we have positively identified them
and notified next of kin.
Do you believe the killer is local?
There are no indications that the person
or persons who are
behind these horrible acts
are from the local area.

Rest assured, the
Westbrook Police Department
will be working round the clock on this.
Thank you.

You found her?
[SOMBER MUSIC]

[SOBBING]

[PHONE RINGS]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]

[SOFT MUSIC]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[PANTING]
[TENSE STING]
- [SIREN WAILING]
- [POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
Kathy.
[SPEAKING SPANISH]
[GUNSHOT]
- This is for Papi!
- [GUNSHOT]
[GRUNTS]

[TRAIN TRACKS WHIR, RATTLE]
They're trying to spin this whole thing,
saying that the killer
couldn't possibly be a local.
Maybe they think it's bad for business.
Have they identified more victims?
Yeah, they say they have, but
the ME's report has been sealed.
OK, that smells like a cover-up.
You know what'd be
really helpful there, Jet,
is if we could take
a look at that report.
Are you suggesting that
I should, uh, take a peek?
I leave it in your capable hands.
Copy that.
And the count's still at nine, right?
As of now, yeah.
Apparently all women, early to mid-20s.
So what's your next move?
I'm on my way to see Christine Olston,
talk with her again.
Uh, is now a good
time for a friendly reminder
about your upcoming IAB meeting?
[PHONE BEEPS]
Stabler?
[ENGINE REVVING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

Here he is.
Judge,
welcome.

I don't care who's at fault here.
The task before us now is to, uh,
clean up this mess
as quickly as possible.
And I have full
confidence that my daughter,
our chief of police,
will do what's right
because she knows, as do the rest of us,
that some things need to stay buried.

We found nine so far.
They just keep coming.
I need help.
I need experts who know
how to handle this sort of thing.
Can I give you some fatherly advice?
I'll take anything.
This is the biggest case of your career.
But your job right now
is to protect our quiet little community
and everything we've
worked so hard to build here.
We have dead bodies in cold storage,
and you're telling me
protecting our town's
reputation is my job right now?
Meredith, you know as well as I do
that we take care
of our own around here.
Keep your eyes facing
forward on what you have to do next,
like you've always done.
[SOFT MUSIC]

Doctor said I should
be able to go home tomorrow.
That's great.
That's good to hear.
In the meantime, you know why I'm here.
I need to ask you a few questions,
starting with, is there anything else
you can tell me about
the man who abducted you?
No, not really.
Nothing more than I already told you.
OK. [CLEARS THROAT]
How about the party at the beach house
where you were working?
Did anyone approach
you, ask you out for a date,
maybe hang out with
you a little too long?
Lots of guys.
I knew what was going on at that party.
I thought I was there to serve drinks.
OK.
How'd you get the burner phone?
I didn't tell your parents.
I was in way over my head.
I had to get out of there, so I left.
Driving home, there
was a buzz in my pocket.
And there's this phone.
So he slipped it into your coat pocket?
I answered it.
And the guy on the other
end said he saw me at the party.
He hated parties like that too.
And he was also leaving.
Did he ask you to meet him somewhere?
Yeah.
I went home first.
My mom said it was too late to go out.
We got in a huge fight.
I stormed out of the house.
I arrived at Audrey's around 11:00
in the back parking lot,
which is what he told me to do.
And that's the last thing I remember
before you found me in that place.
So that's where the
initial attack took place?

He just sounded so nice over the phone,
kind of charming.
He said he got me the phone
so that he could talk to me
and I could feel safe.
Stabler,
Chief Bonner is looking for you.
Keep getting better.
To be continued.

Bobby?
I used to be able to
put this kind of thing in a box
and not let it throw me.
What's all this?
Victims found on Westbrook Cove Beach.
I hacked into the local ME's server.
- I probably shouldn't have.
- Probably not.
This is not our case, Detective.
You're wrong. It is our case.
- Excuse me?
- Jet.
Two years ago, Detective Stabler saved
Rita Lasku from a trafficking ring.
And now she's lying in a shallow grave
with eight other women.
Looks like Stabler didn't
really save her after all,
which is why
we should do everything in our
power to find those responsible.
As you were.
Wait, what just happened?
A text message came in on
Christine Olston's phone
last night.
What did it say?
"I can't stop.
Can you stop me?"
It sounds like a taunt.
Who is he taunting? You?
Well, he's done it before, so
What makes you so special?
Officer Logan, how about
you pop down to Audrey's
- and get us a couple of coffees?
- What?
Get something for yourself, too.
Here, my treat.
I'll take it black.
Sorry, procedure.
I understand.
What can you tell me about this guy?
I'm not a profiler. I'm not an expert.
Well, I don't need your expertise.
I need your gut.
[SOFT MUSIC]

OK, my opinion is that we're
looking for a young man,
low self-esteem, loner.
But when he engages,
then we're looking at two, three people.
What? Do you mean he has accomplices?
No, personalities.
What I mean is,
one, you have a young man, shy,
um, difficulty engaging others.
And then all of a sudden,
he'll see his prey.
Two, he becomes the hunter.
Now, in order to track down his prey,
he will summon up a combination
of charm, brute force.
And then, three,
once he has secured his prey,
and from what little
I've seen in that bunker,
then you have the monster.

I want to show you something.
Come with me.
We got nine female victims.
The five more recents appear
to be early to mid-20s.
We're still analyzing the older remains.
Needless to say, we're
a little backed up.
Right.
Are you seeing a
consistent cause of death?
Too early to tell.
But there are signs of strangulation
in the three latest
victims, including this one.
Will you show him the other wounds?
Deep puncture wounds in the palms
in both hands and both feet.
Stab wound in the right upper torso.
None of these are fatal
or even life-threatening.
Perhaps they're symbolic.
They are symbolic, five sacred wounds.
Stigmata emulating
the crucifixion of Christ.
The nails going through
the hands, the feet
and right down to the gash
from the sword of Longinus.
Stigmata was supposed to
be some kind of miracle.
Are you seeing identical
wounds on the others?
The latest, yes.
The older, too early to tell.
There is one more,
looks like a small laceration.

Oh, yes, it's like one of those fish
some people put on their cars.
The Ichthys, second century AD stuff.
What does it mean?
Early Christians marked their
catacombs and tombs with it.
And later, other Christian
denominations adopted it.

Looks like our boy's a true believer.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
We pulled all the video clips
Rita took from Cahill's parties.
We're using the facial
recognition engine
on Vargas' magic box
to build a suspect list.
Most seem to be local
Westbrook officials,
town council members,
a couple of lawyers.
We've also IDed several out-of-towners.

You know those men?
Yeah, but that doesn't
make them suspects.
I don't even know if what you're
doing will hold up in court.
Hey, guys, appreciate it.
Keep up the work and let us know
when you've got a complete list.
Got it.
What?
Exactly.
What is this?
What do you mean?
What's going on with you?
I mean, are you hiding something?
Protecting someone?
Are you accusing me of something?

No.
No.
I just want to know what this is.
What is going on with you?
All right, I am protecting this town.
It may all be cut-and-dried to you,
but all I see is collateral damage.
This town that I grew
up in, these people
that I grew up with I have
a lot of history here, Stabler.
Five generations of
Bonners have been born
and died in this place.
And I love this town.
And I will be damned if I
will let your investigation
My investigation?
It's your investigation
our investigation.
All right, our investigation
come in and destroy people's
lives and reputations.
These are people that I have
spent my entire life with.
Are you able to understand that?
I'm not sure.
Yeah, well, think about it.
Where are you going?
Dinner with my father.
We're probably gonna have
the complete list of suspects
by the time you're done.
Yeah, I bet you will.

Heidi.
- Hey.
- Detective Stabler.
Finally, a friendly face.
Were they rough on you in there?
Not more than most,
present company excluded.
Who took your statement?
Um, this Officer Logan,
I think his name was.
What's wrong? What's the matter?
I just
I have this terrible feeling that, um,
no one cares about Rita,
about the other girls they found
or me.
I, uh I can't sleep.
I'm scared. [SOBS]
I don't want to go home.
OK.
Is there someone you can call?
Family?
Someone you trust?
It would have been Rita.
But, no, my family would hang up on me.

I know someone.
[FOREBODING MUSIC]
You're not hungry.
Lost my appetite.
It's a terrible thing that
happened on that beach.
I understand what you're going through.
Mm?
I don't remember you dealing
with any serial killers
when you were in my position.
All you can do is knuckle down,
get the job done.
Let justice prevail.
Justice?
I don't think there'll be any
justice for those poor women.
They made bad choices.
The guy who did this
marked them.
Marked?
Some sort of religious symbol
from the second century.
I've never seen anything like this.
Hmm.
[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]
What do you know about
Cahill's beach house parties?
Just, uh, the same
rumors everyone hears.
Why?
Did you ever go to any of them?
[LAUGHS]
Do you think I'm some kind
of degenerate or something?
Did you know that Eric's been to them?
Your brother?
Did you know?
Eric's an adult.
He makes his own decisions.
Is Cahill connected to those dead women?
I don't know yet.
But I will get to the bottom of this,
one way or another.
I know you will.
[PHONE VIBRATES]
Sorry.
I have to get back to the station.
Our work is never done.

I want to know more about
About how things work around here.
Westbrook's the model community.
It's got a good downtown,
hardly any crime.
Look, I don't want to buy a condo here.
I just want the truth.
The truth is Westbrook
is a model community,
for some.
But for the rest of us,
it's not Westbrook at all.
It's Bonnerville.
I thought Cahill was the big dog.
No, not even close.
All right, so it's the chief of police?
No, it's the Honorable Clayton Bonner
who's running things around here.
Runs things how?
Mostly it's your run-of-the-mill
small-town corruption
bribes, kickbacks,
the occasional extortion.
You don't want that DUI on your record,
it's gonna cost you.
He's got DA Cahill and the entire
town council under his thumb.
And, of course, he put
his daughter in as chief.
No trouble there.
[PHONE RINGING]
Hello?
It's Chief Bonner.
Hi, Chief.
Forensics found something
at the crime scene.
I'll be there as soon as I can.
- [LINE BEEPS]
- Speak of the devil.
Thanks.
[SIGHS]
- Hi, my name is
- Heidi.
Stabler told me you were coming.
Make yourself at home.
Thanks.
I hope you like takeout and video games.
[SOFT MUSIC]

You're working late.
Yeah, I could say the same about you.
Hey, Chief, you got something?
This.
What is it?
The Westbrook Cove Yacht Club.
The yacht club's new
commodore is Noah Cahill.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

Eric?
- Eric?
- Dad.
What are you doing out here?
It's my cabin.
Yeah, but it's not hunting season.
I need to speak to you.
Can this wait till Sunday?
No, it can't.
Eric, have you been attending
DA Cahill's beach parties?
Dad, no, I
OK, I went once.
You told me I should get
out more, be with people.
I said people, not prostitutes.
[SIGHS]
Noah kept bugging me
about his stupid party,
so I went once.
I had a rum and Coke and I left.
It's not my thing, Dad.
[TENSE MUSIC]

See you in church.

See? Who needs takeout?
You're a great cook.
And you're a bad liar.
Listen, thanks again for doing this.
I'm sure it's weird to have
a stranger invade your home.
You might be surprised
by my tolerance for weird.
Stylistic choice?
Oh, yeah, I keep meaning
to throw those out.
Coworker got them for me.
Boyfriend?
No.
Well
it's complicated.
Always is.
Do you mind if I ask how you
Got started?
It's fine. Uh
everyone's usually curious,
and I'm not ashamed.
Honestly, um,
it's still a short-term
thing in my head.
It's lasted six years.
But after what happened to Rita
I'm done. I can't do it anymore.
I'm sorry. I know you two were close.
And I promise, whoever did
this, we're gonna find him.
No offense, but, um,
I never really had much faith in cops.
- [PHONE VIBRATES]
- One second.
Where's Stabler?
I don't know.
I'm not his mother, thank God.
I've left him five messages.
I need you to find him
and get him to his IAB
meeting down at OnePP.
- And do it personally.
- On it.
It seems I've just become
Stabler's personal chauffeur.
Hang tight.
Make yourself at home until I get back.
Keep the door locked.
[DOOR CLICKS CLOSE]
So what?
It's a goddamn keychain.
Is it yours?
Really?
Meredith, I mean, come on,
our club has over 100 members.
It could belong to any one of us.
You and I both know that this keychain
is nothing more than
circumstantial evidence.
I mean, if this is
all that you've got
The parties at your beach house.
OK, what happens at my parties
- Mm-hmm.
- Truly has nothing to do
with what happened to those girls.
Well, you or one of your guests
knows who murdered those women.
Detective, really,
you should know better.
That's just idle speculation.
A lot of guests, a lot of stories.
Okay. Are we doing this again?
Because it's ridiculous.
[TENSE MUSIC]
This interview ends now.
Who is this?
My father, Judge Clay Bonner.
Oh, the Honorable Clayton Bonner, sir.
I know who you are, Detective.
I also know that you're suspended
and outside your jurisdiction.
So why don't you do yourself a favor
and go back to the
city where you belong?
There's some folks down at
OnePP who want a word with you.
Oh, you better get to OnePP.
Um, guess we're done?
We're done.

The purpose of today's meeting
is to review the incident
involving the juvenile
Lucas Pescador, whom
you allegedly assaulted.
According to your file,
you have numerous complaints
about violating a suspect's rights,
multiple instances in the
use of excessive force,
withholding information from superiors,
intimidating witnesses,
and the list unfortunately
goes on and on.
Your point being?
This could be construed as what we call
a pattern of behavior.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the term.
A pattern of behavior
not unlike your father's.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

I believe he was suspended as well.
What are we doing? What are we doing?
We here to talk about me or my old man?
You tell me.
I'm not my father.
Are you sure about that?
You have a history of
withholding information
and covering things up.
Are you doing that now?
Highly unlikely.
Why is that?
Because you haven't asked me a question.
Your record is impressive,
as is your closed case file history.
But we have a
not-so-slight problem here.
A child has been injured.
Lucas Pescador discharged a weapon.
That may be so.
But IAB has a job to do, and
my role is to get to the bottom
of what happened that night.
I don't know about you,
but I'm a little bit
over all this foreplay.
Can we just get down to it?
Start by walking me through your version
of what went down that night.
OK.
[TENSE MUSIC]

[THUD]
[GROANS]
[TENSE MUSIC]

Get forensics in there.
Check all CCTVs in the area.
Have Reyes go out on a canvass.
You keep me posted.
On it.
Heidi Morris, it
seems, has been abducted
from one of my colleague's apartments.
This is about you.
Christine Olston's burner phone
do you still have it,
or is it in evidence?
No, no, it's here.
What are you thinking?
Well, what you just said.
If it's about me, maybe
he's trying to connect.
Maybe he wants to
interact. I don't know.
If I get him talking,
maybe I can reason with
him or stall him or
You're gonna call a serial killer?
Do you have a better idea?
[LINE RINGING]
Hello? It's me.
I want to talk with you.
I know you took Heidi.
And I know why.
[MODULATED VOICE] I don't
know what you're talking about.
Heidi has nothing to do with this.
Maybe we can meet, on your terms.
[MODULATED VOICE] I said I don't know
what you're talking about.
Please just let the young woman go.
[DISCONNECT TONE]
[EXHALES]
Police, excuse me.
Hey. You OK?
Luckily the bastard
wasn't here when I got home
or I would have shot him.
Look, best thing you can
do is compartmentalize this,
box it in.
Easier said than done.
I know what you mean.
Are you OK?
Yeah.
Any luck finding out how this happened?
I've been checking every door, ATM,
and traffic cam in my area.
Found this turning down my street.
- One of Cahill's?
- Looks like it.
We gotta let Stabler know.
[SIREN WHOOPS]
Looks like he's here.
Noah!
Come on out.
Noah.
Open up.
- I'm gonna head around back.
- No, don't strain yourself.
Benefit of poker night.

Hey, Noah.
Come out!
Come out before I put a
bullet in your sorry ass.
I'ma check upstairs.
I'll check over here.
Chief.
Find something?
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Yeah, I found something.

[POLICE RADIO CHATTER]
We searched the house.
We checked the grounds.
No sign of Heidi.
We also got access to his
primary residence in town.
Looks like nobody's been there for days.
His wife and kids are
in Florida for the month.
Forensics confirmed the
gun was registered to Cahill.
So where else should we be looking?
Does he own a place in Manhattan,
maybe a vacation home somewhere?
No, nothing that I know of.
This place was his pride and joy.
Hold on.
A few years back, he made a lot of noise
about buying a party boat.
Where does he keep it?
[SIREN WHOOPS]

I'll find the harbormaster
and get the marina manifest.
What's the name of Cahill's boat?
No clue.
Reyes, that way. Jet, over here.
Start with the big boats.

Heidi!

Heidi?

Heidi, can you hear me?
Heidi, can you hear me?
Heidi.
Heidi.
[THUMPING]

Heidi.
[THUMPING]
Heidi.
- [THUMPING]
- [MUFFLED SOBBING]
Heidi?
[THUMPING]
[SOBBING]

Heidi, Heidi, it's me.
It's me.
You're safe. You're safe. I've got you.
I've got you.
You're safe. I got you. I got you.
[COUGHING]
Shh.
OK.
It's all right. I got you.
I'll get a list of the marina's members.
Hopefully somebody saw something.
When this is over,
I need to talk to you about something.
OK. Everything all right?
It will be.
I shouldn't have left the apartment.
I went out to buy some
I told you flowers were
nothing but trouble.
How are you feeling?
Better now. Thanks.
Heidi, do you feel up
to walking us through
anything you remember?
- Yeah? OK.
- Yeah.
I, um
I went out to buy some flowers.
Jet's been so nice, and hers were dead.
I, um, was coming back to the apartment,
and, um,
someone hit me.
Someone I, uh
I don't remember. It was it was dark.
And I
I don't know.
I don't know what happened after that.
I'm sorry.
- I don't remember anything.
- No, it's OK. You did great.
You did great.
I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.
You did good.
- I'm sorry.
- OK.
OK, OK.
What are you doing?
I'm taking a leave of absence.
Is
Is this because of us?
No.
No, this is because of me.
Tammy and I haven't
been good for a while.
And when Jamie died,
I went off the rails.
So the therapist isn't helping?
It is.
But being here isn't.
I get it.
I signed the divorce
papers this morning.
[SOFT MUSIC]
It's been unofficial for months.
But now it's real.
My kids, they don't get it.
I need to be with them
and try to put myself back
together while I'm at it.

I'm not good at
the emotional heart-to-heart stuff.
So
I don't know what to
say other than to ask
if there's anything I can do.
[LAUGHS]
I could use a friend when I get back.
I'll be here.

Cheers.
Nice work.
So how come I don't
feel like celebrating?
Doesn't sit well with me either.
What's your gut telling you?
I don't like Cahill for this.
Do you?
Someone wants us to
like Cahill for this.
Who?
Why?
[OMINOUS MUSIC]

Oh, hey, Dad.
You heard about DA Cahill?
It's all over the news.
Isn't there something
you want to say to me?
Oh, yeah, I got a new gig in the city.
St. Mary's Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
What a name.
I'll be restoring a dozen statues,
an altarpiece, miles of moulding.
It's a big job.
I was hoping I could stay at your condo.
Of course.
But, Eric, you did hear
about DA Cahill, right?
Yeah.
Isn't there something
you want to say to me?
I don't know, Dad. What?
How about thanks?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[WOLF HOWLS]
Previous EpisodeNext Episode