Magnum, P.I. (1980) s01e06 Episode Script

Skin Deep

I created the woman that every man wanted.
Don't you understand? It's over.
Erin Wolfe blew her head off with a shotgun last night.
The pellets enter the target as a single mass disintegrating all bone and tissue and destroying the cranium entirely.
Women don't blow their heads off with a shotgun.
If you're gonna jump, jump! I'd give anything to see the look on your face, Tony.
Well, not quite anything.
Can't have my cake and eat it too, can I? Why not? So, a woman can't go out like a man, huh? She takes pills or swims out to sea or slits her wrists, but she ain't got the guts to blotto the old face.
Isn't that what you said, Tony? Huh? Well, here's one woman who's gonna take it right between the baby blues just to show you how smart you really are.
Hello? I thought you were in Tahiti.
No, you can't come over here tonight.
You can't come over here ever again.
You are to stay away from me, David.
How many times must I tell you? There is no one else! Some people can end one relationship without starting another one.
I know you might find that a little- That garbage won't work with me anymore, David.
I can handle my own career and my own life.
David, don't you understand? It's over.
Good-bye, David.
David, good-bye.
He can't control you, Erin.
He can't control you ever again.
I'd give anything to see the look on your face, David.
David.
Take two.
I'd give anything to see the look on your face, Tony.
Well, maybe not quite anything.
I can't have my cake and eat it too, can I? Why not? Why can't I have my cake and eat it too? It's a stupid expressión.
I never did understand it.
Why can't I have my cake and eat it too? I don't have to eat it all, do I? Maybe this once.
Maybe this once I do.
So, a woman can't go out like a man, huh? She takes pills or swims out to sea or slits her wrists.
But she ain't got the guts to blotto the old face.
Isn't that what you said, David? Huh? Huh? Well, here's one woman who's gonna take it right between the baby blues just to show you how smart you really are.
Pull.
! Pull.
! Pull! Higgins! What are you doing? It's 6:00! How perceptive of you.
Pull! Higgins, I got in at 4:00.
It is the first time in three days that I've even seen a bed.
Now, I don't want to deprive you of the thrill of killing little clay pigeons, but do you have to do it at 6:00 in the morning? Actually, I prefer Six in the after- I think that's perhaps your strongest point- that ability to instantly comprehend the situation.
Gee, I slept 14 straight hours.
See what I mean? Pull! Gee, I'm sorry- I'm sorry, Higgins.
I just- I wouldn't even blame you if you set the dogs on me.
I would, but, uh, they're obviously busy.
Pull! I almost bit.
Pull.
! You know, ask Higgins if the dogs were out there releasing those clay pigeons.
Pull.
! But I didn't.
- Here you go, Rick.
- Thanks.
I don't know why I bother.
I know I'm not gonna reach him.
I don't know, Rick.
I got a feeling you'll be talking to Magnum any minute now.
You got a feeling, huh? Don't doubt me.
We Hawaiians have a gift for this sort of thing.
We see the future.
I mean, I'd bet you 10 bucks.
Don't try and con a con man, kid.
Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach you all day! Funny, you don't look like my mother.
Maybe you better start thinking of me as your mother.
Give me a beer, Moki.
David Norman's been waiting for you since 10:00.
Oh, you should've sent him home while he could still crawl.
You know, I said no to him three weeks ago, Rick.
I may do divorce cases, but I draw the line at following live-in friends to see who else they're sleeping with.
You haven't heard? Heard what? Erin Wolfe blew her head off with a shotgun last night.
I just heard, David.
I'm sorry.
Are you? Nurse! Uh-oh.
He has been hovering around me all day.
Haven't you, Rick? Let's see.
I, uh- I must be packing them in here, eh? Now appearing twice nightly at the King Kamehameha Club, David Norman in Pygmalion’s Revenge.
Beautiful Hawaiian sunsets thrown in, no extra charge.
Mr.
Norman, as far as I'm concerned, you can drink until your liver does flip-flops.
just don't disturb the other members, okay? I'll leave you a lousy tip, Rick.
What are you staring at? It's not their fault she's dead, David.
- It's not mine.
- I didn't say it was.
- You don't like me, do you? - Not much.
What did you think of Erin? I never met her.
She was the same on-screen as off.
Well, I've never seen any of her films either.
I'm sure she was a fine actress.
She couldn't act her way out of bed.
Or into it, for that matter.
I'm a pragmatist, Magnum.
Always have been.
A clam could out-act Erin.
But she had the greatest "T'' and "A'' the screen has ever seen.
I saw that 10 years ago.
Everybody else saw a gawky kid.
I saw the future- bone structure, the skin, the eyes, potentially the most beautiful woman in the worid.
So I took her in.
You think beauty is something that just happens? Like the sunsets here? No, no, no, no.
It has to be developed, nurtured.
So I created the woman that every man wanted, and one of them murdered her.
- I thought Erin- - Hmm? Committed suicide? No, no, no.
Maybe your brah cops think that, but I know better.
She was murdered.
She was murdered by the man I wanted you to find.
Do you remember, Magnum? Do you remember? I begged you.
I begged you to find him.
Yeah, I said she was in trouble, that she was gonna get hurt.
But no, no, no.
You just- You just weren't interested.
Maybe if you had been, she'd still be alive today.
Hmm? It's obscene what a load of buckshot can do to the human face.
Or any part of the anatomy, for that matter.
Upstairs they're calling this a suicide.
Do you agree? I don't know.
I'm waiting for the tox screens and tissue analysis before I make any decisions.
I take it you don't accept what they're saying? No.
Why not? Women don't blow their heads off with a shotgun, especially a beautiful woman like Erin Wolfe.
They do in the movie she was gonna make.
It's probably what gave her the idea.
How long have you been a medical examiner, Doctor? In my experience as a medical examiner, I've never seen a woman, beautiful or otherwise, who committed suicide by setting off a shotgun blast in her face.
But I can tell you of a dozen other strange ways of committing suicide that I've seen and seen only once.
Maybe Miss Wolfe just showed me another.
Maybe.
- Yeah? - Excuse me.
I have a pass here to view Erin Wolfe's remains.
He's a thumper.
You know, there has to be some kind of a mistake here.
Erin cannot be dead.
Why not? Well, she starts a movie in 10 days.
No actress with a megabuck deal and the lead in Skin Deep would ever kill herself.
She'd die first.
Have you ever viewed a body before, Mr.
Stein? What, are you kidding? I'm an agent.
I've had so many of my clients O.
D.
, I could retire on the flower money.
Mr.
Stein, a shotgun blast doesn't make a pretty picture.
She used a shotgun? I didn't know that.
A shotgun! just like in the script.
Afraid so.
I told him.
I told that lousy writer that that scene was sick.
I didn't even enjoy reading it.
No, he insisted we keep it in.
Damn writers! I can spot a thumper every time.
It's kind of tough if you're not used to it.
There ain't no way you can ever get used to anything like that.
No, I guess not.
Thank you.
I still can't believe it really happened.
Took me six months to put her deal together.
One of the sweetest I ever made too.
Now she's dead.
The deal's dead.
I thought David Norman handled Erin's career.
Norman? The only thing Norman's handled in the last 10 years has been a bottle.
He got lucky.
He picked her up as a kid on a one-night stand and introduced her to Saul Baxter.
Saul produced all those jungle movies for her.
That's all she ever would've done if I hadn't come along-jungle flicks.
The only credit I'll give Norman is the fact that he didn't start her out in X-rated, like he did all the others.
The others? Come on, now.
Erin certainly wasn't his first or his last.
Word around Hollywood is that he'd already found a new one- some, uh, island honey he was hot to promote as the new Erin Wolfe.
While he was living with Erin? Operative word there is "was.
'" Was living.
She kicked him out about a month ago when word she was cast in Skin Deep leaked to the trades.
Who leaked it? I did.
I put together the deal of the decade, and she wanted to keep it under wraps.
I guess she was afraid to tell him.
Look, Magnum, I know David Norman is paying you your 500 a day to find whoever- What's your point, J.
J.
? The point is that she was afraid other ex-lover, your client.
That lecherous leech.
She was afraid he was gonna murder her if he ever found out that she was gonna do a picture without him.
Interesting, huh? Oh, I figured the odds were 50-50 that David Norman killed her when I took the case.
- Not bad for a private eye.
- Investigator.
And I didn't say he did it, just that it wouldn't surprise me.
Who was she seeing? I just put together the deal.
I didn't check on her bedroom.
I haven't seen Erin in over a month till today.
Hey, Suzy, wait a minute.
I'll get a drink with you.
Excuse me.
I need another drink.
Sometimes I get these itches.
Erin Wolfe was one.
Only I didn't know where to scratch.
So I did what every private investigator manual tells you on page one- investigate the scene of the crime.
I'd gone months without remembering 'Nam until this morning.
The scary part wasn't the memories that kept popping into my head.
It was the idea that someday I might flash back in my mind and never return.
I may have been the only male in the English-speaking worid who hadn't seen an Erin Wolfe film and fantasized about being alone in the jungle with her.
I'd seen her posters and photos.
She was beautiful.
But I knew half a dozen giris in the Islands who were just as beautiful.
There had to be more to Erin's appeal than looks, and I wanted to know what it was.
The guns were expensive sports models that I assumed were left by David.
The shotgun was gone, of course.
Police would have it.
The rifles were cleaned and well-oiled.
But one of the pistols had been fired and reloaded without cleaning.
I doubted it was an oversight.
You don't own guns like these and not take care of them, which meant it probably had something to do with Erin's death.
There were tapes of everything, from her films to probably every acting class she'd ever taken.
I decided to give the tapes a couple of hours and started with one ofher films.
It was pretty bad.
No plot.
No acting.
just a lot of shots of Erin taking baths in waterfalls and swimming nude through crocodile-filled waters.
I could hardly sit through the whole film.
You've got to marry me, Billy! I "can't.
" There ain't no such word as "can't.
" I turned down Henry Elkins's proposal, and he's got a good job at the sawmill and a new convertible and promise.
! Then go marry Henry Elkins! I can't.
Why not? 'Cause I ain't carryin' Henry Elkins's baby.
I'm carryin' yours.
Good try, kids.
That was very nice.
First attempt.
Really good.
Erin, a little less- Okay? Don't let it all hang out.
Keep it there, but don't show it quite so much.
John, you're the psychiatrist and, Erin, you’re an alcoholic.
Go.
We're just trying to find out what- what this problem is.
My problem is my husband's leaving me and I can't stop drinking, and he comes home with his boss and the house is a mess 'cause I can't get it together.
! It's okay.
Have you ever thought of hiring a maid? Who can afford maids? All my money's going to you.
Well, I'm not really that expensive if you think about it- You're expensive if you're not solving the problem.
! Okay, okay.
Oh, boy.
How was that? A little short.
It's coming along.
Now, Erin, you’re the psychiatrist and, John, you're a wife beater.
There was something electrifying about her.
Even when she was just beginning, there was something special.
She was going to be a star.
No doubt about it.
But we got the guns ashore right under the noses of the very Black and Tan, all cuddled warm and toasty in front of their fires, a hot toddy in their bloody hands, while Ian froze to the oars and Sean smashed against the rock.
She'd worked hard to improve her acting over the years, and it had paid off.
Erin wasn’t just a beautiful body anymore.
She was good.
Then suddenly I was reminded that she was also dead.
So, a woman can't go out like a man, huh? It was on the end ofher last class tape.
Probably why the police missed it.
In a way, I wish I had too.
The last thing I wanted to see after this night was Erin Wolfe blowing her head off.
Well, here's one woman who's gonna take it right between the baby blues just to show you how smart you really are.
She takes pills or swims out to sea or slits her wrists.
Shut it off.
Please, shut it off! Well, here's one woman who's gonna take it right between the baby blues just to show you how smart you really are.
The shotgun isn't loaded, David.
She didn't even blink.
Where'd you get that? Police? No.
I found it here.
You know, there was another rehearsal before this one, but she was interrupted by a phone call, David.
From whom? The police? You can't give 'em that tape, Magnum.
Why not? It proves Erin didn't commit suicide.
Isn't that why you hired me? To prove she was murdered? I hired you to find her lover.
He killed her.
The cops would never understand about my call.
They'd think I did it.
Did you? Magnum, I swear to God I did not kill Erin Wolfe.
Then why didn't you tell me you were in love with someone else? What? Who told you that? - J.
J.
- The lying leech! That's the kind of bull he used to feed into Erin's head to get her as a client.
He told her she could act.
She can.
You know, if you were in love with someone else, maybe you just wanted to get rid of Erin, maybe even replace her on the screen.
Magnum, you are insane.
Ginger is simply a body I sleep with.
Nothing more.
Oh, sure, I promised her a career in the movies.
In this business, who doesn't? I loved Erin.
She ran out, not the other way around.
I mean, you heard the phone call.
No, I didn't.
She stopped the tape before she picked up the phone.
The house isn't that big.
Well, did you run the tests? Oh, come on, Higgins! I told you over the phone.
I want to hear it in person, Magnum, face-to-face, so there are no misunderstandings.
I will bring no visitors, hold no parties, use none of the recreational facilities nor make my presence known to any of Robin's guests for a period of one week.
Two.
Two? Two.
David Norman? I say, this is a great pleasure.
Magnum didn't tell me you were involved.
I've been a fan of yours since your first film.
Khyber Pass, wasn't it? Bloody good show.
- He's not from 5-0.
- I never said he was.
Higgins was just running some ballistics tests for me.
And I would love to know the results, Higgins.
Actually, the tests weren't really necessary.
One can compute the results from standard ballistic tables.
However, some of us require visual aids.
just get on with it, Higgins.
This is a 12-gauge double-ought shotgun shell.
It contains 1230-caliber pellets.
Or buckshot, as I believe you Yanks call it.
As you requested, on the first test shot, fired precisely at four feet with a full choke and bore.
Now, as you can see, at this distance, the pellets enter the target as a single mass, approximately five centimeters in width.
This would put a rather nasty hole in one's head but leave some of the cranium intact.
Uh, could I have a drink? Scotch and water will do nicely.
And, uh, no ice, please.
Test shot number two, fired from At this distance, the pellets are spread to over 25 centimeters in width.
They no longer penetrate as a single mass but as 12 individual missiles, disintegrating all bone and tissue and destroying the cranium entirely.
In other words, gentlemen, at 12 feet, double-ought blows one's bloody head off.
Cheers.
Of course, the further you are from the target, the wider the pattern.
At some point, the dispersal becomes so wide, it's no longer lethal- usually 60 or 70 meters.
Higgins- Although I personally have seen loads kill up to 150 meters, catch an eye- Higgins! I remember once on a night patrol in North Africa- we were running out of water and we had to pinch it from a Jerry well.
Shut up.
just get him to shut up.
Higgins, please.
See, the police found the shotgun tied to the chair here, where Erin was found dead.
The young actress who committed suicide? It happened here? Yeah, it happened here, only it wasn't a suicide.
See, the tape shows that she put the shotgun here, four feet away, to rehearse a scene.
Now, why move it back eight feet to commit suicide? No, Erin was murdered.
But whoever did it must've had to have her just sit there while he moved the shotgun back and pulled the trigger.
Why- I don't know.
What is it? Nothing.
Oh, don't give me nothing! Your eyes just popped right outta your head.
- You didn't take that picture? - No.
Wonder who did.
You recognize the cove? Ow! Boy, that sure was a good-lookin' woman.
You recognize the cove, T.
C.
? It's gotta be on one of the islands.
Oh, yeah, that looks like one of those coves around- Uh, don't touch that.
You'll get grease on it.
Yeah.
Anyway, looks like one of those coves around Moloka'i along the Paui Coast.
Yeah, you're right.
I'll bet that's where it is.
Or it might be one of the coves on Koolaus, right here on Oahu.
The beaches on the Koolaus are wider than this, a lot wider.
Yeah, you're right.
So it can't be on the Koolaus.
It also eliminates West Maui.
But, you know, I know of some coves around East Maui, and I also know of a couple around the Big Island.
You know, there's also some coves around the smaller islands along Kauai- T.
C.
, what you're telling me is you don't know where this picture was taken.
Uh, no, not really.
Thanks a lot.
Hey, Thomas.
Hey, buddy, it's that important? No.
I just came out here because I like to see helicopters take off and land.
All right.
If it's that important, why don't you ask John over there at Paradise Found? john? Yeah.
That's his camping equipment there in the background.
He knows where that cove is.
Thank you very much.
She was twice as beautiful in the flesh.
I still can't believe she's dead.
Is this your camping equipment? Yeah, that's our gear.
All you need is desire.
We supply the rest- food, equipment, isolation.
We got spots on all the Islands, wherever a chopper or a boat can get into.
Paradise Found.
Well, where is this paradise? West side of Kapua.
It's a small, unpopulated island north of Kauai.
We cut a landing pad in the jungle on top of the mountain and a trail from there to the cove below.
She go there often? Almost every weekend lately, maybe more.
She said sometimes she went by boat.
It was the only place she could get away from the press.
Who went with her? Nobody I know of.
Except the first time, about a year ago.
Then her old man David Norman went along.
That's why he wanted to go back there today.
He said the weekend they spent- Hey, wait a minute! David Norman went out there today? Yeah.
Billy took him a half hour ago.
Take care.
Yeah, John.
Never saw the photo.
! He took it.
! He tried to hire me a month ago because she'd been slipping away on weekends.
So what does dummy here do? I see him looking at the photo, see the light bulb go off in his head, and I still buy the lies! If her lover killed her, he still may be hiding out on that island.
Or if he didn't kill her, he still may be there waiting for her to show up.
Or he may not be there at all.
David Norman could find some poor guy from Dubuque, Iowa getting a sunburn and think he's Erin's lover.
Or he may think it's your friend Billy, who's flying him- What's wrong? I don't know.
Oil pressure's dropping.
I replaced some leaky seals earlier, but I don't know.
Well, you wouldn't go up if there was anything really wrong, right? Well, Thomas, you gotta test these things in the air sometime.
T.
C.
was doing this on purpose.
There wasn't anything wrong with the chopper.
He just wanted to get a rise out of me.
Well, I wasn't going to bite.
Damn! What? I'm gettin' grease all over my upholstery.
Paradise Found, Paradise Found, this is Island Hoppers.
Do you read me? - Billy, do you read me? Over.
- Ten-four.
What you doin'in my turf, T.
C.
? Cuttin'in on my business? Business? You call that gigolo service of yours a business? T.
C.
Don't you talk about Paradise that way.
I'll take this little chopper and run rings around that flying paint can of yours.
With what? That rubber band-driven collection of spare parts you call a chopper? T.
C.
.
! - I've seen Frisbees hover longer.
- T.
C.
, ask him about David Norman! Oh, yeah.
Eh, Billy, did you fly a ahole by the name of David Norman to that pad of yours on Kapua? Big 10-4.
Hey, how'd you know who I flew over there? Billy, this is McGarrett of 5-0.
Was David Norman armed? No, he just had a backpack and an orchid lei he wanted to leave in Erin's memory.
Somebody's camping on the beach.
Oil pressure's dropping, man.
I gotta put down fast.
Well, why not right down there? It's too small.
The only chance we've got is Billy's pad on top of the mountain.
I gotta warn who's ever down there.
Well, if you're gonna jump, jump.
I got less than 50 seconds before my fan seizes up.
Come on, mama.
Just hang in there just a few more seconds.
We're gonna make it! Catch, damn it! Catch! Hello? Anybody here? Hello! Anybody here? Unfortunately.
I don't believe you guys.
! jumping out of helicopters.
! How'd you find me, anyway? No one knew I was here.
- You're alive.
- I sure hope I am.
- Look, Mister- - Magnum.
Thomas Magnum.
Okay, listen, Mr.
Thomas Magnum.
I don't know who you're a stringer for and I really don't care.
But this is my last weekend here on the Islands for a long time, - and I'd like to enjoy it alone.
- Erin! Erin! We're gonna get in your boat and get out of here right now.
- I think you better leave.
- I'm not here to harm you.
That's what all reporters say, and none mean it.
If you are a reporter- I'm a private investigator, and I don't have time to explain.
Did a Paradise Found chopper fly over here a little while ago? Yep.
Well, it dropped David here.
What? I think he's come here to kill you.
Look, I don't have time to explain.
just swim out to the boat with me and I will.
Erin, look, if I was gonna harm you, I- I could do it here just as easily as on the boat.
just please trust me.
No! Stay back! Keep going.
You're bleeding.
Magnum, do you hear me? Who was that woman at your place Friday night? Ginger.
Ginger? David's new girl? How'd you know anybody was at my place? How long have you been following me? Why would she come to see- No, no, don't do that.
I got it.
You just watch out for David.
She's young.
She wanted one of those young, naive ex-girlfriend/new girlfriend talks.
What did you tell her? To leave him while she could, before she wasted 10 years like me.
You're not answering my questions.
I will in a minute.
Was Ginger still there when you left? Yes.
She was pretty high when she got there, and she drank almost a whole bottle of wine while she was there.
She got sick.
I told her to use the bedroom till she felt better.
The place will be hers soon anyway.
Can you walk? Yeah, yeah, I can.
In a minute.
I bet you Ginger looks a lot like you, right? Same hair, same height, same build.
All David's women look alike.
Now, will you please tell me what's going on? I think David let himself in, took a pistol from the gun cabinet, and in the dark shot Ginger in the head.
He probably intended to make it look like a suicide all along.
But with Ginger, see, he couldn't do that, so he put her in your clothes and put her body on the sofa.
The shotgun.
Yeah.
Erin, the whole worid thinks you're dead.
David hired me to find your lover.
I don't have a lover! David believes you do because of all the weekends you disappeared.
I was here, alone! David didn't know that.
He figured wherever your lover was, that's where you'd be.
That's why he hired me to find your lover.
Once I led him to your lover, then he'd kill all three of us.
Look, he can still kill the two of us.
Don't give up on us yet.
T.
C.
will have made a call.
He had to make an emergency call.
Kauai Center, this is Bravo fiver-one-six.
I need emergency assistance.
Over.
Anyone this frequency, this is Bravo fiver-one-six.
I have made an emergency landing on Kapua.
I need assistance.
Do you read me? Over.
Rick! Who? T.
C.
fired that flare.
Come on.
Charlie'll be tracking us by now.
You can follow this stream to the beach.
Swim out to the boat and get the hell out of here.
What about you? Erin, look, I make a pretty tough target alone.
But you don't even have a gun.
T.
C.
does.
I'll get to him.
But you don't even know me.
Why are you risking your life? I know you better than you think.
I spent last night with you- on tape, anyway.
In fact, this kind of reminds me of Queen of Borneo.
I think that was the title.
Oh, unfortunately.
It wasn't that bad.
Honest.
It was awful.
They were all awful.
But at least they had happy endings.
Uh, Erin, play dead.
Don't say anything.
You're not gonna die, Rick.
Hear me? You're not gonna die.
She's dead, David.
You killed her! I didn't kill her.
! You did.
! Stay still.
- If you'd found her lover, none of this would've happened.
- She had no lover! She was alone all those weekends.
She was here alone, to think.
Think? Think? She couldn't think.
She was a body.
No, he's here somewhere! I'll find him once I take care of you.
You may as well come out.
Be quicker that way.
Don't say anything.
just stay there.
Uh-huh.
Clean kill.
I promise.
If I have to come in after you, Magnum, I swear to God I'll gut-shoot you and leave you for the rats.
I wouldn't do that, boy.
Uh, T.
C.
, help.
Help? You sure do need help.
Man, they're whipping your behind.
My behind? We're a team.
Huh! We are a gaggle.
- Two can't be a gaggle.
- They can if one of them is you.
We'll come back.
Here we go.
I got it.
Now, I love two-man volleyball, but I wasn't at my peak.
A month was hardly enough time for my wound to heal.
But, then, I didn't want to use it as an excuse.
Geez, my leg must not be healed.
Uh-huh.
Thanks, guys.
Anytime, Magnum.
Erin called last night.
Oh, yeah? How is she? Oh, she's terrific.
The doctor said she could start the film next week.
Her body must have been in great shape.
Hey, T.
C.
Yo.
You ever think about 'Nam? I mean, have memories flash through your head without really thinking about it? No.
Never.
Oh.
That's kinda what I thought.
How about you? Who, me? No.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode