Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (2024) s02e01 Episode Script

1
[NARRATOR]: In Toronto's war on crime,
the worst offenders are
pursued by the detectives
of the Specialized Criminal
Investigations Unit.
These are their stories.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
Hey yo, Mick! What's good, man?
Got an extra sandwich if you want it.
Jonah says he's
gluten-free, so it's yours.
- Thank you, my man. I love it.
- Shut up, just okay?
- Go do some meth, you bitch.
- Hey, no.
- Give me back my phone, Roger.
- I don't have it.
I know you took, I saw you.
That's a lie, you dumb bitch.
He went into my tent
and he took my phone.
Okay, can you just give it back, man?
Go to hell, Mick.
[GRUNTS]
Mick, what are you doing?
Bitch owes me money, man.
Roger! She is not a bitch,
so stop calling her that.
Why? 'Cause you're screwin' her?
A little meth head and her sugar daddy?
- What a joke.
- Okay, you know what?
One more strike, and
you are out on your ass.
All you gotta do is just keep the peace,
keep your side of the street
clean or you're outta here.
- Got you a sandwich, Ruthie.
- Thanks, Mick.
- Friend or foe?
- They're all plants, Dad.
Yeah, okay. Well, this
one's been hanging out
in my alyssum, pretty sure it's a weed.
What are you doing there, bud?
[GASPS]
Where'd you get this from?
The park.
Okay. Nate, go inside right now.
[CAR HORN HONKING]
Hey!
Hey!
Do you know anything about this?
'Cause my seven-year-old
just found it here.
Right across the street from my house.
Alright, I'm sorry about that.
There were never needles in this park
- before you guys showed up.
- I'm sorry about that!
My son used to play here all day long.
Nobody was frightened, nobody
was tripping over garbage,
nobody was getting hassled for money.
Hey. Hey, Ward, take a beat.
We're all citizens,
we're all neighbours here.
This guy's not my neighbour.
He's a squatter, and a pervert.
And I want him the hell out of my park!
Get that camera out of my face.
Five, six, seven, eight.
I'm like a bird I'll only fly away ♪
I don't know where my soul is ♪
I don't know where my home is ♪
And baby all I need ♪
- Go in again, babe.
- Mom, c'mon. It's fine.
No, Ava. It's not fine, okay?
If I'm gonna stop working nights on set,
we need paid endorsements, okay?
We have to crack 10,000 followers,
which means we gotta be tight.
My God, hashtag, "mother-daughter BFFs,"
hashtag, "Moves Like Jagger."
It's like, oh my God,
Mom, it's so phoney.
Okay, then. That's fine.
- Mom.
- No, Ava.
We have been through hell together.
You and me, against the world.
You know, I just wanna
show 'em what we're made of.
Whatever, it's fine.
Mom, stop. It's okay. Let's go again.
[CHIMING]
Leila, I need a hand.
You can't just sit there all day.
[SIGHS]
Hey.
What are you drinking?
My own damn business, why?
Can I have some?
No, but I'm happy to draw your picture,
if you like.
I already know what I look like.
[CHUCKLING]
[DOG BARKING]
It's on the house.
- Hyuh!
- Ugh!
[GRUNTING]
What are you doing?!
Stop it!
[GRUNTING]
[THEME MUSIC]
Eh, it's hot as hell out here.
But I guess that's
Toronto in June for you.
So yeah, it was just
another Monday morning,
I was riding through the park.
I thought it was gonna be a good day.
Sorry for your loss.
- We get a name?
- Mick McCarthy,
lives out here in the park.
I'm guessing he's homeless.
It's "unhoused," that's the word
we're using these days.
It's a basic combat knife.
About 30 bucks, standard issue.
Every army surplus store
in town's going to have
a few of those lying around.
Who found the body?
Uh, another "unhoused" person,
Ruth Pearson. She was over
near what's left of his tent.
I'm guessing it burned down,
you can smell the gasoline from here.
Yeah.
Unlike this, it smells like iced tea.
Which one's Ruth?
[ECHOING GAVEL]
- She's right over there.
- Thank you.
Ruth Pearson.
I understand you found the
deceased body this morning.
- Yes.
- I take it he was your friend.
He was everyone's
friend, he was the mayor.
What do you mean "mayor"?
Mayor of White Squirrel City.
[CHUCKLING] That's what
everyone called him.
White Squirrel City, is that
some kind of inside joke?
No, it's just stupid.
There's a bunch of albino
squirrels who live in the park.
So what? Makes the boss of a
bunch of freak show rodents?
Roger's just pissed
because Mick wanted him out.
Told him to clean up
his garbage or get out.
Fake news. Mick's a perv.
He was hitting on Shauna.
I was just looking out for her.
Uh, Shauna? Do you know
where Shauna is now?
I dunno. I haven't seen her.
- Where you going?
- Everyone wants me to leave,
- so I'm leaving.
- I don't want you to leave,
Roger, because I'm pretty sure
you set fire to Mick's tent.
You wiped the gasoline off your fingers,
and that's too bad,
because it never really
comes out of leather.
But Mick wasn't in his tent.
So now I'm thinking that you found him
elsewhere in the park,
beat the crap out of him
and stabbed him with a combat knife.
I didn't stab anyone!
Okay. So why'd you torch his tent?
Maybe somebody paid me.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
They're living right
across the street from me.
They're doing drugs,
defecating everywhere.
Scaring the kids,
scaring the homeowners.
I get it, I do. I mean,
you must have paid
what, 2.8 million dollars
- to live on this park?
- 2.84, but yeah, exactly.
What's the city doing about it?
Agreed. I mean, you should
feel safe in your own backyard.
I don't blame you for taking
matters into your own hands.
Cut off the head of the snake, right?
Sir, a kid from the park told us
that you gave him 100 bucks
to burn Mick McCarthy's tent.
No. No, I gave that kid 100 bucks
- out of the goodness of my heart.
- Right.
Yeah, you seem very sympathetic
to the plight of the unhoused.
I hope you got a receipt.
Mr. Kondas, six people saw you
fighting with Mr. McCarthy yesterday.
Yeah, we had words.
Right after I found my
seven-year-old playing with a needle.
Was it Mick's needle?
I don't know whose needle it was,
but I do know Mick's the guy
who brought the tents here
three months ago, and I'm
pretty sure he's a pervert.
He's always sitting down
there, drinking from a flask,
sketching young women as they walk by.
- He got what he deserved.
- What are you talking about?
Turns out Mick was found
dead in the park this morning.
Stabbed to death. That's pretty clear
you had strong feelings about the man.
That's absurd. I didn't kill anyone.
I'm an investment
banker, for God's sake.
Ward's story checks out.
He and his kid were at
his parents' horse farm
- in Caledon last night.
- I pity the horses.
Yeah. Well, at least we
got him and Roger for arson,
maybe they can be cellmates.
Poor guy. Hard life, hard death.
Lots of old injuries,
but I guess that's life
on the street for you.
What?
Oh, it's just It's not like you.
My brother's unhoused.
Lives under the Gardiner.
Won't take his meds, won't take my help.
Breaks my heart.
Mick McCarthy, 44, multiple contusions
and abrasions on the head
and torso indicating
- Multiple assailants.
- Correct.
The victim was attacked,
beaten, rendered senseless,
but cause of death was
external exsanguination
as the result of a deep
penetrating wound to his liver.
Wound matches the
knife, no surprise there.
What is a surprise, Ident
got prints off the knife.
Obviously, prints aren't on file.
I would have led with that.
Any drugs or alcohol in his system?
No. Calling time of death
around midnight, give or take.
It's a little early for decomposition.
Compressed charcoal?
Yes. Actually, artist's grade.
- How did you know that?
- There's a sketchbook found on the scene.
Clearly our man liked to draw.
[MIDDLE EASTERN MUSIC]
[MAN]: Miss? Excuse me?
Nice fit, loser. You look like a bucket.
[PHONE BUZZING]
[RINGING]
Inventory from the park.
You want flask or sketchbook?
Dealer's choice.
Your forensics came
back. You were right,
nothing but iced tea in them.
"Happy Father's Day. XO, J."
Maybe he was holding on to
this for sentimental reasons.
Yeah. But there's no next
of kin listed, no siblings,
no wife, no kids.
Could've just picked up somewhere.
He'd been on the street
for 12 years. Hmm.
That's not half bad.
Hmm. All young women, though.
Let's not discount predator.
Well. That is refreshingly lo-fi.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
That's Alice. She walks
her pug here every night.
And that's Shauna. She
lives in one of the tents.
That V-shape on her
forehead, is she Indigenous?
- Mm-hmm.
- I wondered if those
- were kakiniit markings.
- Kakiniit?
Inuit tattoos. They put the V-shape
on their forehead to
celebrate entering womanhood.
And yeah, she's from
Iqaluit, originally.
Have you seen Shauna today?
No, but I've been at
my girlfriend's house
- since yesterday morning.
- And you own this property.
Right? But you're pro-encampment.
Seeing these folks set up camp,
getting to know them,
hearing their stories.
I don't know, it got me fired up.
The NIMBY narrative about
the unhoused is so scary.
- What do you mean?
- Well, it's just
fabricated truths. They're
gonna drain the system,
harass the normals. Steal your packages.
It's just not true.
So why was Mick McCarthy calling you?
I'm an independent
filmmaker, we were talking,
working on something together.
Working on what, exactly?
A documentary about the encampment.
The stories of the residents,
intercut with reactions
from people around the park,
cinema vérité style, you know?
So you know the community.
Did you notice anything
strange yesterday?
Well, I caught Ward Kondas
having a fight with Mick,
but otherwise, no.
Caught it, like what, on your phone?
Oh, we're gonna need to see that.
- Sure.
- And you said vérité, right?
You find the stories in the footage,
fly on the wall stuff.
So where's the rest of the cameras?
You can't be out in the
park all of the time,
you must have a few cameras planted.
[TENSE MUSIC]
It's not a great angle, but there he is.
[COMPUTER BEEPS]
Could you slow it down?
Uh, up the exposure a bit.
Mick sees something there.
Zoom in.
Oh my God, it's a swarming.
So, navy hoodie approaches our victim
who's just sitting,
sketching in the park.
He draws her, and he hands
the sketch over and walks away.
And now, that's when the
two other assailants show up.
Boom. So now we got navy hoodie,
black balaclava and red
bandana. All disguised.
- Anyone holding a knife?
- Not that we can see.
God, they look like kids.
Yeah, we think they are
kids. Body language tracks.
Fast, awkward and look
at what they're wearing.
Balaclava's wearing
Bluebird Veloce sneakers,
but aside from that, it's
a basic teenage uniform.
- So what are we doing?
- I'm working with the video
forensics team going through
CCTV footage in the area.
We've also got the C3 unit putting a net
over the area of the crime,
pulling all the social media
from that timeframe.
Okay, we'll leave you to it.
Three masked teenage
girls kill an unhoused man
in Montrose Park, well
this is gonna be a ride.
Okay, was it random?
Was it premeditated?
- What are your instincts?
- I don't know.
Youth violence is up higher
than it's been in five decades.
At least once a week, my kid comes home,
shows me video of a fight that
took place in her schoolyard.
So what, Lord of the
Flies. Gang initiation.
Adolescent hysteria. What?
Well, maybe it was motivated.
Fear? Revenge? At least two people
have suggested that Mick is a predator.
Who's this? She looks about the
same age as the girls in the video.
That's Shauna.
We don't know her last name. Inuk.
She lived in the tents,
and she hasn't been
seen since the night of.
Well, if Mick was harassing
her or abusing her,
she'd definitely have motive.
And it sure as hell might explain
why she made herself scarce.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
So, you work with the
unhoused in the area.
Uh, I always feel like a tool,
handing out cocktail party
sandwiches to these folks,
but we take what we can get.
I was, uh
sorry to hear about Mick. Thanks.
He was a great guy, I've
known him for a while now.
What about this woman here?
Yeah. Yeah, sure. That's Shauna Kanuk.
My partner and I drove her to Ellie's
the same night Mick died.
It's a woman's shelter on Dundas.
- What time you drop her off?
- Almost 2 a.m.?
There had been a fire
in one of the tents,
she said she was just
too scared to go back.
I was just glad they had a bed for her.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
I knew Mick wasn't in his tent,
so I thought that he'd be okay.
Was it Roger that did this to him?
Roger lit the fire,
but he didn't kill Mick,
and that's why we're here.
Shauna. What was your
relationship with Mick McCarthy?
- What do you mean?
- Were you friends?
Were you lovers? Is there any way
in which he was taking advantage of you?
No, Mick was more like
my dad than anything else.
Actually, he was a lot better
than my dad. My dad's a fool.
Mick took care of me.
He brought me food, he set up my tent,
he bought me a phone.
Mick was like my dad, and my brother,
and my bodyguard.
So yeah, we were friends.
It's just that in his sketchbook
that we found at the scene,
there's a lot of drawings of you.
[CHUCKLES]
My God.
I told him to get rid of
half of these. I look awful.
Shauna, they're all
drawings of young women.
Yeah, that's because that's
what was missing for him.
That was the hole in his heart.
Mick had a girlfriend.
They had a little girl together,
but he lost both of them years ago.
That's why he got so messed up.
It's like that for half
the people in these tents.
You know, people think that it's
laziness or lifestyle, but
sometimes, it's just plain old grief.
We've got a hit on navy hoodie
through social media. 12:20 a.m.
Two wasted dudes on the
streetcar livestreaming.
Who knows why, it doesn't matter,
but navy hoodie was there.
College streetcar, eastbound.
We pulled transit security footage,
she's next to the two guys.
Okay, where'd she get off?
Not sure yet.
Two guys got off at Yonge,
this is from their livestream.
Ah, how come we didn't see
that logo on the other footage?
That was her disguise, she's
reversed it to hide the logo.
T-S-N, what's that?
Taylor Swift Nation?
Um [SCOFFS]
What can I say, the woman's a poet.
Or it's TSN Collegiate in Scarborough.
I played basketball
against them a few times.
And that is a far
better guess. Good man.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
This is absurd.
My daughter is a good kid.
Works here every night.
Was she working on Sunday?
Because a teacher at TSN Collegiate
identified Leila as the same kid
we saw headed eastbound on a
College streetcar at 12:20 a.m.
No. She was at home. In her room.
Leila.
Leila!
It was the first time we
were meeting up in real life.
- Who were you meeting?
- These two girls.
We became friends
online a few months ago.
We just thought it
would be funny, you know?
Funny. What would be funny?
Uh, meeting up. Without
seeing each other's faces.
So like, no judgment about how
we look, or where we're from.
So you met up in disguise?
We met in an alley.
We were going to go into a corner store,
to boost some Red Bull, or something.
Smoke some weed.
But then, afterwards, we
started walking into a park.
And the girl in the black mask thing,
she told me to go up
to the homeless guy,
get his alcohol.
I did, but he said no.
And then, after that, it was a blur.
Do you know who brought the knife?
No. I got there late.
They were already talking,
and I didn't even see a knife.
I don't even know who these girls are.
And the chatroom that we've
been using's been shut down.
So you don't even know their names.
The girl in the black mask was Iko.
She was the one who started the chat.
But I never saw her face.
What about the girl in the red bandana?
She had an accent. Really strong.
Her screen name was Dost Kara.
But I figured her real
name must be Kara Dost.
So my gun arm comes up
and around, block my arm.
Disarm the gun, it goes
down. Nice. Do the throw.
I go down. Okay? Go in again. Alright.
Okay. Ready?
[GASPS] I'm so sorry!
No, no! You're not gonna
hurt me, I promise, okay?
You've just gotta
lean into it, you know?
Um, Ava, can you come help me?
Katie, why don't you just
step off for a second?
- Just watch, okay?
- Okay.
Okay, babe. So gun arm's
gonna come up and around,
- you're gonna block my arm
- Yeah, I got it.
I was watching.
[GRUNTING]
[LAUGHING] Aw, yeah. Ha!
That's my girl.
Okay, Katie, see what we're doing here?
Fight back a little bit, you know?
Mark's working on
Leila's phone right now,
but she's right, the chatroom is gone.
It was on Ghostgram, it's made for
this kind of anonymous stuff,
it's gonna be hard to track.
- You find anything on Kara Dost?
- Maybe, I think I have a lead.
Dost means friend in Hindi.
Dost also means friend or
ally in Persian and Turkish.
Dost Kara, Dost Kara got me thinking,
I knew I'd heard it before.
There was this political
dissident from Turkey last year.
Altan Balik.
He was getting out of prison,
and he turns to the camera,
and he says, "Dost kara
g ünde belli olush,"
I made a meal of that.
But the gist of it is,
"A real friend is known
in times of trouble."
Okay, so red bandana could be Turkish?
Yeah, and she could be his daughter.
Turns out, Altan Balik came
to Toronto six months ago,
and according to that,
he's living in North York
with his wife and two teenage daughters.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
Nothing to see here, detectives.
It's two rooms, four people.
A thousand mice in the walls.
Well, it was very brave of
you to leave your country.
It would have braver of me to stay.
So what do you want with my daughter?
You see, we have reason to
believe that a young woman
operating under the name of Dost Kara
was involved in a violent
incident on Sunday night.
Felice, you are under no
obligation to speak with us.
And if you want a lawyer,
we'll get you one, no charge.
But, sir,
we will need your daughter to
accompany us to the station.
And if her prints match
those on the weapon,
then we have a problem.
If I say no?
Then I'm sorry,
we'll have to pull her
prints from immigration.
Don't bother. Because you're right.
I did it.
I stabbed a man in the
park on Sunday night.
So, Felice, turns out your fingerprints
match the prints we found on the
knife that killed Mick McCarthy.
The evidence lines up, you
stabbed him, and then he died.
- Whatever you say.
- No, it's not whatever we say,
it's whatever you say
right now that counts.
So, how about we start with the truth?
You want to know the truth? Here it is.
Felice came from Istanbul
to Toronto six months ago
after being persecuted for
her father's so-called crimes.
After being beaten
at a student protest when
she questioned the government.
- Yeah, we understand that.
- Felice Balik is 15 years old.
She's a minor. She's being bullied.
That doesn't give her the
right to stab a man to death.
Nothing justifies murder.
I have file upon file about trauma.
- PTSD. Dissociation in minors.
- Yeah, we also have a file.
I didn't mean to do it, alright?
It was supposed to
scare him, not kill him.
A prank, "kick the bucket,"
move on. That's what's she said.
Sorry, "kick the bucket."
What does that mean?
That's what she called
them. Homeless people.
They, they pee in a bucket,
they collect change in a bucket.
So why did you stab him
if you were just trying to scare him?
Because it wasn't real.
The knife, it was fake.
Well, I'm sure Mr. McCarthy
would beg to differ.
She stabbed it into her
own leg, nothing happened.
The blade disappeared into the handle.
And then she gave it to me to use.
It was supposed to be like a joke.
We do this thing together, she said.
We'd be bonded, friends for life.
You keep talking about she. Who is she?
Her screen name was Iko.
I never saw her face, she had the
best disguise out of all of us.
A black mask, it covered her whole face.
I have no idea what she looks like.
So we've got our killer.
Felice Balik, 15 years old,
recent immigrant from Turkey.
She's confessed, admits
to killing Mick McCarthy
with the knife we found at the scene.
- But
- Kid says she didn't know what she was doing.
She's saying she thought
it was a fake knife,
she thought it was a joke.
Well, that's a hell of a joke.
- Yeah.
- Do you believe her?
- I think we do.
- Doesn't change the fact
that we have a confession.
I mean, Theo, we can pull
the trigger on this right now.
Bump Felice up to adult court,
charge her with second degree,
possibly first.
I came here from Jamaica
when I was seven years old.
Moved in with my grandmother.
My mom was stuck in Kingston,
but that's a whole other story.
First and only time I
got suspended from school,
I threw a snowball at a teacher.
Kid handed me a snowball,
told me it'd be fun, funny.
That by acting like a
jackass, I'd finally fit in.
Snowball had a rock in it.
I remember that teacher staring at me,
confused, blood coming down his face.
I'm not feeling this story just yet.
I'm not gonna prosecute this young woman
until I have some idea
of what really happened
or what she did.
So if Felice threw the snowball,
who planted the rock? All
we know is her name is Iko.
Black balaclava, the best disguise.
She really didn't want those
other girls seeing her face.
What was she wearing again?
Grey sweats. Those fancy sneakers
with the bluebird on them.
She was the one who
started the chatroom.
And the one who dissolved it.
She made some vulnerable friends online,
and then weaponized them into
killing an unhoused man. Why?
Well, maybe he insulted
her on the street.
Maybe she drew a picture
one day, she didn't like it.
Maybe she lives in the
area and doesn't like having
all those tents in her
park, I mean teenage NIMBY?
I'm sure they exist. Ketchup?
I'm sorry, have we met?
Okay, so maybe we go back
to the rock in the snowball.
Felice said the knife was
a joke knife, a prank knife.
But she said that it felt real.
Maybe we figure out why.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
We're the only real game in town.
A couple of clown
operations up in North York,
but their props are garbage.
What kind of knife are you looking for?
Ooh. That the real
knife the bad guy used?
No, but it's the same make and model.
Can I ask what the crime was?
No, Brando, you cannot.
I'm merely curious to know
if you have a prop knife
in stock that matches this one.
Wee, wee! [LAUGHING]
It's a very common model,
we rent out a lot of these.
Dull retractable blade, but otherwise,
pretty much identical.
- [BATEMAN]: Who do you rent to?
- Mostly props people.
Sometimes stunts, prosthetics.
We try not to rent
to the general public.
You don't want normals running
around with those things,
- am I right?
- Mm.
Right.
Brando, we're gonna
need a list of everyone
who rented that model
in the last six months.
Yeah, happy to help.
Anna Wilson, props, shooting
a feature in Sudbury,
no kids.
Ron Head, props master on The Girls,
but it says here he's already
returned it. You got anything?
Yeah. Jade Lancaster.
She's a stunt coordinator,
hasn't returned the knife.
She lives on Grace,
just near Montrose Park.
Uh Looks like she's
pretty big on social media,
for whatever that's worth.
These days, that can
actually be worth quite a lot.
And that looks like
a teenage girl to me.
Hashtag "mother-daughter
BFFs," hashtag "twinsies,"
hashtag "singlemomlife."
- You mind?
- No.
I'm like a bird ♪
- Graff. Those are the shoes.
- Yeah.
- Iko was wearing those shoes.
- Yeah.
Nikita's obsessed with them,
they're limited edition
Veloce's, they go for 800 bucks,
at least, if you can
get your hands on them.
Honestly, I'm more
excited about the rabbit.
Look.
He was making fun of us!
Our videos, saying horrible
things right to my face, okay?
You always told me to fight back.
Okay, Ava, could you just
give us a minute, please?
Thank you.
Mrs. Lee, I'm so sorry about
what happened at lunch today,
and I know Ava is too. It's just
Ava reacts strongly to aggressive men.
- I don't understand.
- Ava's dad.
- He was extremely abusive.
- Oh!
- Verbally, physically.
- I'm so sorry.
Now we have her in therapy, but
once in a while, she overreacts.
Of course, Ryan should
never had made fun of her.
I'll talk to him.
Ava's a good kid.
But I'll keep a closer eye on her.
- She won't hurt anyone else.
- Thanks, Jade.
Ava Lancaster. 15 years old,
lives with her stunt
coordinator mother near the park.
Very expensive taste in shoes.
Ava makes some
impressionable friends online,
she takes one of her
mother's prop knives,
Ava's grown up around
props her whole life,
she's gotta know how they work.
So she buys a real knife
that matches the prop,
and tricks one of her new friends
into stabbing Mick
McCarthy. Okay. But why?
He drew her. He knew her.
And according to his friend Shauna,
Mick had a girlfriend, they
had a little girl together,
- but he lost them both.
- And as you can see
in the photo there,
that tatty old rabbit
pried a place on her bed.
We got to thinking
that maybe she's had it
since she was a little girl. Maybe
Mick gave it to her as a child.
Are you suggesting that Mick
McCarthy was Ava's father?
We're not suggesting it. We know it.
Ava's birth certificate.
Why would Ava kill her father?
He's never even been in her life.
No, maybe that's exactly why.
Resentment, abandonment,
maybe she found out who he was
and wanted to make him
pay for leaving her.
Yeah, or maybe it's the exact opposite.
Maybe she was embarrassed to learn
that this unhoused man
was her long-lost father?
Felice Balik wielded the knife,
but we all know she wasn't the
mastermind, she was tricked.
And it's about to ruin her life.
Okay. It's not a slam dunk,
but it's definitely
worth a conversation.
Ms. Lancaster?
Hi. Can I help you?
I'm Detective Graff,
this is Detective Bateman,
Toronto Police.
We're here about a man who
was killed the other night.
He was living in a
tent just down the hill.
Yes, I heard about that.
Didn't wanna get into it with Ava,
'cause I didn't want her
to be afraid of the park.
Um
How can we help, exactly?
The deceased was identified
as your ex-partner, Mick
McCarthy, Ava's father.
We thought you both should know.
So, you're saying that
the man at the park,
the homeless man who died,
that that was Mick?
I haven't seen that man in 12 years.
I have.
I don't know him, if
that makes any difference.
I don't remember him.
I know he was awful to my mom,
but I don't really remember.
But you knew he was your father.
He came up to me at a café
by the park a few months ago.
He introduced himself,
called me Ava Marie, started crying,
and told me he was my father.
I said, "I'm sorry, I don't have a dad."
But he knew my middle name.
He knew my birthday down to the minute.
He knew about Bunny,
said he gave her to me when I was two.
He said I have his eyes.
Okay. Ava you need to stop talking.
That must have been incredibly
strange for you, Ava.
It was and it wasn't.
When you don't know your
dad, you're kind of always
waiting for him to appear.
I mean, I never pictured that,
but I don't know.
I guess I always knew he'd come back.
And you were embarrassed?
No. Not embarrassed.
Maybe mad?
He was a terrible father,
he beat my mother up,
shoved her head into a toilet.
Left me alone in my crib for four days,
forgot to feed me and went on a bender.
Four days?
But looking at him then?
I was actually happy.
Just to know who he was.
Ava, where were you on Sunday night?
Watching a movie on my own.
My mom was working, so
Okay, that's enough.
Um, I have to work tonight,
and I think we're done here.
So
Ava, we actually have
one more question
I said we're done!
No more questions. Not without a lawyer.
Ah, well, she's protecting her
daughter. You'd do the same.
Well, maybe she's protecting herself.
Theo, this mother, Jade Lancaster.
Look at her. I mean, she looks
almost as young as her daughter.
Hashtag twinsies.
Now, she's good online,
she knows how kids work.
Easiest thing in the
world is for her to pose
as a teenager, because basically,
she is a teenager, and
she's a stunt coordinator.
She knows how to imitate
the way that people move.
Jade's current alibi is iffy at best.
She said she was working
a night shift Sunday night,
but the producer said
that she felt sick.
She left for a few
hours, he didn't see her
back on set until after 1 a.m.
Okay, but the daughter
doesn't even have an alibi.
So why are we discounting her?
She said he was happy
to finally meet her dad,
and it seemed real.
Okay, so if it's the
mom, what's the motive?
Well, apparently, Mick was abusive.
Now the stories sound exaggerated,
but even if they're half-true,
revenge would fit the bill.
Any past complaints,
any charges against him?
Nothing. I'm still waiting
on Jade's medical records.
She never pressed charges
against Mick McCarthy,
but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
We're looking into Mick's
medical records as well.
You know, trying to see if
anything lines up timewise,
broken hand or lacerations
from punching someone,
- that kind of thing.
- Mm-hmm, okay well,
if it's the mom, it's gonna be tricky.
Lavallee defense.
Battered woman syndrome,
maybe Jade thought
Mick was coming for her.
He moves into the park near her house,
announces himself to her daughter?
Jade must have been terrified.
Sure. But even if Jade was
operating out of self-defense,
or revenge, or fear,
it was premeditated.
It was planned.
And it ruined the lives
of the two teenage girls
she coerced into helping her.
Well, we've got enough for a warrant.
- Okay.
- What do you want to do?
I think we take a run at her.
- What do they call this again?
- They call it the circus.
- Ava.
- What are you guys doing here?
I'm not supposed to
talk to you, my mom said.
Yeah, it's okay. We're
actually here to see her.
She's inside. She's working.
Can you do us a favour and text her,
get her to come out?
Hey, dumb question, while we're waiting.
You have the shoes my
daughter dreams about.
- Can I ask where you got 'em?
- What shoes?
The Veloce Bluebirds, limited edition.
I saw 'em on your social.
Oh, yeah. Um, those aren't mine,
those are my mom's.
She got them at a set sale or something.
She only lets me wear them for photos
'cause they're crazy expensive.
Hey, what's going on?
This is my workplace.
Oh, we can take it downtown if you like,
you can call in your
lawyer. We just wanted
to avoid all that, it's
a bit of a rigmarole.
We just have a few more questions.
Ava, stay here baby, okay?
- What do you guys want?
- Jade, just like you,
we want this to go away.
And you know what? It probably will.
Video footage tells us
that Mick was stabbed
by three teenage girls.
Two of those girls
are already in custody, one of them
has already confessed to the murder.
Well, yes and no.
Felice Balik wielded the knife,
but she didn't know it was real.
- That doesn't make any sense.
- Agreed.
It's, um, what's the
expression? A fabricated truth.
Like so many things
these days, you know,
pizzagate, birther theories,
social media. Special effects.
Stunts. Props. In short,
someone coerced two
vulnerable teenage girls
into committing murder, and for what?
To prove themselves? To bond?
See, that's fabricated truth writ large.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BELL RINGING]
Look.
Mick McCarthy forced
himself back into your life.
He approached Ava at a coffee shop.
Ambushed her out of
nowhere, full of lies,
wanting time with her.
Wanting money, no doubt.
What kind of father does that?
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BELL RINGING]
I mean, Mick McCarthy was a monster.
My God, you had it hard.
June 2009, patient was hit in
the head with a baseball bat.
Treated for severe concussion.
October 2010, patient admitted
to Sinai with defensive wounds.
January 2011,
patient treated for a broken shoulder
after suspected domestic dispute.
The thing is, Jade.
You weren't the patient in
any of these medical reports.
These are Mick's records.
You were the perpetrator.
Mick was abusive.
To me and my daughter.
I don't care what you
say, that's the truth.
Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't,
maybe that's your truth.
The story that you've been
polishing for the last 12 years
doesn't change the fact of what you did.
Thing that I'm pondering is the why now?
I mean, Mick wasn't a threat,
except maybe to your relationship
with your best friend and daughter.
Your online image, your perfect persona,
your abuse survivor
narrative, hashtag "singlemom."
You know actually, now I'm saying it,
maybe Mick was a threat.
You and Ava, you're a team.
In life and on social.
You didn't need some bum
coming around looking for money,
looking to spend time with your child.
Some homeless guy, disrupting everything
you've fought for, with his no doubt
very different version of the truth.
Mick is a drunk.
He left when Ava was three.
Disappeared for 12 years.
And then, all of a
sudden, he just shows up.
Smelling like garbage, wanting
to spend time with my child.
Mick McCarthy was clean,
he was sober for four years,
and by all accounts, he was kind.
Maybe he just wanted to get to know her.
It's too late!
I killed myself for this life.
Me and Ava, that's my everything.
She doesn't need a
dad, and I sure as hell
am not sharing my life
or my kid with that man.
Go home, detectives. You have nothing.
Okay, but was it your plan to
have all the evidence point to Ava?
Because if so, we have more
than enough to arrest her.
Including those very specific shoes
she was wearing on the video evidence.
- Yeah.
- I mean, she just told me
that they were yours,
but we can't prove that,
- right, Graff?
- Agreed.
Now, should I call her over?
Look, I'll just go get her.
No, she didn't do this.
You know she didn't do this.
What I do know, Jade,
is that when Ava realizes
who she's protecting, she's
probably gonna confess.
Best friends forever, right?
Mom?
Hey baby, it's okay. Everything is okay.
[STAMMERING]: I want you to text Kira.
You'll stay at her place tonight, okay?
You'll have a sleepover
with your cousins.
Where are you going?
I'm just gonna
talk to these guys a
little bit more downtown.
[VOICE BREAKING]: I'm gonna
come with you guys, okay?
I just need a moment with my daughter.
I don't understand. What's going on?
I did what I taught you
to do, okay? I fought back.
I protected us.
It's gonna be okay, we got this.
[SOBBING]
[SIRENS BLARING]
Imagine, having her as a mother.
Imagine not having her.
I feel for the kid.
[THEME MUSIC]