Without a Trace s05e14 Episode Script

Primed

Hey.
Wow.
Have I heard of her? Depends on how cool you are.
Abby Horton? Hmm, I guess I'm not that cool.
Up-and-coming artist.
She was supposed to meet the gallery owner.
Never showed up.
He came here, found the apartment like this.
What's up with the photographs? Before these become paintings, they start out as photos.
Watch this.
Do they know they're being photographed? I've been looking through these proofs, I don't think so.
They don't seem staged to me.
They kind of remind me of surveillance pictures.
Well, that explains the big lens right here.
- Have you seen this? Sam? - Huh? - Sorry.
- Oh.
Uh Yeah, we got the JPEG file out of that.
These are the last pictures she took before she went missing.
Well, here he's looking straight at camera.
You see that? Over here too.
He knows that she's there.
Look.
When she didn't show up, I went over there and as soon as I saw the loft, I called the police.
I hope you'll let me clean it up before she gets back.
She won't like the mess.
Have you seen this man? Uh, no.
She took a photo of him the night she disappeared.
Boyfriend, ex-boyfriend? I don't know if she has either.
When we had her opening, she didn't ask me to invite anyone special.
Now, she might know him, she might not.
Most of these are strangers.
Well, that's me.
I was out with some friends after my boyfriend left me.
Had several drinks too many.
So she followed you and took a picture of you just before you threw up? Yeah, I never saw her.
Abby calls it "removed reality.
" Catching people in some unguarded moment then distilling the image down to its emotional essence.
Mr.
Blumenthal, we have some experience with surveillance and when people get made, they tend to get pissed off.
You know, I always just thought of it as Abby's process but you might be right.
Just give me the pictures.
If you wait, Abby will be right back.
Keira, what's going on? He wants Soldier Leaving.
My mother was here three days ago.
Saw that painting.
Well, I hope she liked it.
That's me, that's my brother.
I read about you online.
You took our picture.
What makes you think you had a right? This was none of your business.
- I didn't mean to.
- You even know his name? - No.
- Mike.
He was 23.
He was shot in the neck by a sniper.
He didn't even get to see how lucky the Jets were this past season.
Sir, we're all very sorry for your loss.
Yeah, I can tell you're all real broken up about it.
And that's the last time I saw him.
Abby did tell me she wanted to find him, give him the painting.
- Did she? - I don't know.
- Who was the woman who was there? - Keira Saunders.
She's a not-too-successful artist, works as Abby's assistant.
- She around? No.
No, it's weird.
I haven't seen her for several days.
Photograph all the paintings and the ones that have been ripped, take them to the lab.
Got it.
A blue Subaru wagon.
Okay.
Look, you have my number so call me if you hear from her.
Thanks.
Hey, Abby Horton's assistant? She was evicted for being delinquent on her rent.
Her roommate thinks she might be living out of her car.
- Does she have a cell phone? - No, her account was canceled.
Why? The night Abby went missing, she got a call two miles away from her apartment.
I'll run an APB on the Subaru right away.
Did we find anything out about the guy who flipped out at the gallery? Not yet.
I ran a search on icasualty for "Mike" or a "Michael" and I got about 40 names so I'm still running them down.
So this restaurant, Moreno's, is in Brooklyn.
And the owner ID'd this guy as Gil Rusk.
Says he eats there all the time.
- Gil Rusk? You're kidding me.
- No.
Why? The guy's on his way for an interview.
His fingerprints were on Abby's door.
- Does he have a record? - He was printed as part of a routine background check.
Let me go ahead and change his accommodations.
See you.
Psst.
So I looked online and did some research on the Hannah Montana concert.
Are you sure that that's gonna be fun for us to do? It's gonna be a lot of fun for Sofie.
I don't know about me and you, but it's okay.
- I'll buy the tickets.
- There's gonna be a problem.
What? - I was wondering where I left that.
- I know.
Is that you? - Yeah.
- Who's the woman? - Who took these pictures? - That's not an answer to my question.
That's Gretchen, my girlfriend.
We met for dinner before work.
And what's Abby Horton's connection to you and Gretchen? I don't know who you're talking about.
This lady? Why was she taking pictures of me? Do you know her or not? I saw her once.
Couple nights ago.
Listen to me, do not even think about it Hey.
Hey.
- I mean it.
- Let go of me.
Hey, lady, you okay? You want me to call the cops? No.
You okay? Uh I will be, I guess.
Yeah.
Well, he's gone now.
If you're not busy would you mind walking me home? It would take like 20 minutes.
I can get you a cab wherever you wanna go.
You don't have to.
Is something wrong? You just remind me of someone.
So is that guy your boyfriend or something? He's not worth talking about.
Let's talk about you.
It'll make the walk home a lot more interesting.
I dropped her off at home, made sure she got inside okay.
That was it.
And did she tell you anything more about what was going on between them? I asked, but she didn't wanna say so I dropped it.
Did you get a good look at the guy? Not really.
Tallish.
Something like this, maybe? It was dark.
Okay.
Where'd you go after you had dinner with your girlfriend? To work.
I didn't leave until 3 in the morning.
I have to keep a log.
You can check it.
Oh, we will.
This is weird to think that somebody was watching me.
I was just minding my own business.
This is getting interesting.
She goes from voyeur to stalker.
After that confrontation at the gallery, seems odd she'd risk being recognized.
- Maybe she gets off on the danger of it.
- Yeah.
Check the area for surveillance cameras see if we can ID the guy who was manhandling her.
- All right.
- Where you going? Catacombs.
They found Abby's assistant living out of her car.
Uh, keep me in the loop.
Sure.
It's not illegal to sleep in my car.
That's not the reason we're here.
Where did you get these? The artist gave them to me.
Abby Horton? - Yeah.
- Do you have the letter, a receipt? Anything that might prove that she gave them to you? I didn't think I'd need anything.
- Do you know where she is right now? - No.
- You'll have to come with us.
- Why? Abby Horton's missing and I think you know more than you're telling us.
I swear.
Abby was going to destroy these.
I was just keeping her from doing that.
And why would Abby destroy her own paintings? I don't know.
I went over there a few days ago.
She was out of her mind.
The art store is back-ordered on the aspen frames, so I'Il Abby, stop it.
What are you doing? The guy at the gallery was right.
I'm just a cipher preying on other people's tragedies.
You're interpreting their tragedies.
It's different.
It's art.
Doesn't make it right.
Why don't we talk to Dr.
Hillman? He'll help you see what you're doing doesn't make sense.
I can't.
Sure, you can.
Where's his number? He's not my shrink anymore.
Since when? Since I slept with him.
I told her it was screwy he'd slept with her even if she wanted to.
- That she should turn him in.
- Did she? She said she was gonna write a letter to the What's it called? The APA.
You're gonna have to come downtown with us anyway.
What about my car? Help her get her valuables out of the car and we'll tow it to the FBI impound.
If she wrote a letter the APA would start investigation and he could lose his license.
So maybe this Dr.
Hillman decided to shut her up before she could do any real damage.
Abby's been coming to me for two years.
She has a sleep disorder.
Nightmares.
Anything specific? Her nightmares are like yours and mine.
They just seem to affect her more.
You know, the APA was kind enough to send me this document.
"Inappropriate behavior with a client.
" It's a catchy phrase.
Abby's a very troubled young woman.
I imagine that most of the people that come to see you are troubled.
Is it part of your therapy to sleep with them all? I didn't sleep with Abby.
She might not have written the letter if I had.
You sounded upset on the phone.
Do you like this painting? I'm not sure "like" is the word, but I find it very moving.
I watched that woman berate that child for 25 minutes.
I knew she was gonna hit her.
Why didn't I stop her? You didn't stop her, Abby, because you couldn't.
Something in you needs to stay in these moments of pain and sadness.
For two years, we've danced around it.
I think it's time we face it.
I tried.
Today.
All that happened is that I found out everybody's screwed up.
Not just me.
I just wanna feel good again.
- You'll help me, right? - Abby, stop it.
Please, I'm so tired.
- I wanna sleep.
I just wanna sleep.
- Abby.
I wanna help you but this isn't the way.
Just get out.
She called me two days later told me she had written a letter and that she was sorry.
Do you make a habit out of making house calls to all your patients? No, Abby There was something about her that I found appealing.
Sexy.
I'm sure that doesn't reflect well on me.
No, it certainly does not.
When was the last time you saw her? That night.
She told me she was done with therapy.
She was gonna work everything out on her own.
Where were you two nights ago? Symphony.
With a colleague.
You might wanna think about using a dating service.
Hey, Sam.
I can't find a single thing on Abby's whereabouts the day she saw Dr.
Hillman.
I can tell you what she did after.
- What? - These paintings.
- Wanna ask how I know that? How do you know? She told Hillman she was gonna work things out her own way.
Next day, she goes and buys two tubes of cadmium.
- Wait.
What's cadmium? - It's a paint.
It's blood-red, very expensive.
This color right here.
Now her gallery says she's never used this color in her work before.
And check this out.
Oak-something high school.
Oak Grove High School.
Hold on.
There was a call Here it is.
From the Blumenthal Gallery to a number in Oak Grove a few days before Abby disappeared.
The number was registered to a Bob Leard.
- Bob Leard.
- I don't know.
I'm her stepdad, sort of.
Abby's mom and I never got married.
Well, where is Abby's mom? Died when Abby was in the seventh grade.
There weren't any other relatives to take her.
It's not like I wasn't happy to have her.
I really loved being Abby's dad.
When she called last week, what did she want? She said she wanted to come by and pick some stuff up say hi.
I was really happy to see her.
It had been a long time.
Did you find it? It was right where I left it, in my closet.
I didn't mess with anything.
I didn't know what you wanna keep, what you wanna throw away.
Your mother was a very pretty woman.
You look a lot like her.
No, I don't.
Got the same eyes.
Nice to see you, honey.
I missed you.
I've just been so busy, you know? With the painting and everything.
So you had some success? Yeah.
Are the Hewitts still in town? Mr.
And Mrs.
Hewitt moved.
Lan's still around.
I'd like to see him.
Lan's kind of lost his way a bit.
What do you mean? He's into drugs.
I'd still like to see him.
Let me drive you.
It's not a good neighborhood.
You don't have to take care of me anymore, Bob.
I'm a big girl.
I'll be fine.
She promised she would come back after she talked to him and she didn't.
Is that Hewitt with one or two T's? Two.
Okay, and do you have an address? Let me ask you something.
What were the other photos in the box? I assume personal stuff from when she lived in town.
I didn't really look.
- What about prom pictures? - Could be.
Did Abby and Ian go to the high-school prom together? How did you know that? See, we found a painting.
They were as thick as thieves in high school.
I've never seen the work Abby does before.
When she was little, she drew these happy pictures with lots of bright colors.
I guess we all grow up, don't we? Guess so.
- Did you find Ian Hewitt? Yeah.
He's dead.
They think he overdosed after Abby went to see him.
- "Think"? - It's still an open investigation.
A neighbor saw a woman running from the apartment before the police got there.
- Well, what did she look like? - Tall, skinny, dark hair.
A lot like Abby Horton.
What happened with Ian? I don't know.
The landlord says you're his girlfriend.
How about this woman? Nope.
A neighbor saw a woman running from your apartment before they found Ian's body.
If it wasn't you, I'm guessing it might be her.
Listen, I don't know anything about anything.
Hey.
Those track marks look pretty fresh.
Must be about time to start chasing the dragon again, yeah? What do you want? For you to stop wasting our time.
Now, have you seen her? She showed up early last week talking to Ian.
Forget it.
Forget it.
I don't need to be part of whatever Lan, we can't go on like this.
I mean, look at you.
You look like you weigh a hundred pounds.
- And your arms - Screw you.
So this is the way you want things to be? Look, I'm doing fine.
No, you're not.
Neither of us are.
I just think it's time.
All we have to do is tell the truth.
Damn bridge.
I know.
You and I are totally screwed up.
And he's fine.
I'm tired of not being fine.
You do what you have to.
I can't help you.
Babe.
I don't think he was straight for five minutes after.
Who was the "he" that Ian talked about? No idea.
What about the bridge? I don't know anything.
Did you see Abby again? She called later.
Wanted to talk to Ian.
I kind of gave it to her.
Why? Lan was a junkie but he knew his limits.
To the edge, no further.
If he fell off, it's because Abby pushed him.
I don't know if there's any relevance, but this is the only painting we found that has a bridge featured in it.
Gallery owner says he's never seen it before.
That looks like the guy in the prom picture.
- Could be Ian.
- We find anything more on him? Only that Ian and Abby kept in touch until about three years ago.
Then the calls just stopped.
Anything else that might help us ID the other two people in the painting? - No, nothing's popped yet.
Agent Taylor.
- Here's the information you requested.
- Oh, thanks, Cindy.
I gotta believe there's a photograph that relates to whatever these guys were hiding.
Maybe the guy who trashed the place took it.
You know what, I think Abby's stepdad can help.
- Why is that? - According to Ian's checking account he sends Ian 300 bucks a month.
I wonder why he didn't tell us about that.
Secrets.
They're a bitch.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Where are you going, Mr.
Leard? I was feeling squirrelly, I figured I'd go look for Abby.
Where were you gonna look? Since you told me about Ian, maybe around his apartment.
Around his apartment? You sure you don't know exactly where to look? - What do you mean? - Listen, sir we know that you were sending Ian money.
What was it for? He find out you were diddling your stepdaughter? - What? I love Abby.
- You pay him off? You don't know! - Don't raise your voice to me! - Enough, Sam.
- You got that? Don't raise your voice.
- Sam.
Okay, listen.
Then tell us what we should be talking about.
What was the money for? She left town and she wouldn't let me help her.
I guess I wanted to do something so I tried to help him.
Help with what? I didn't know exactly.
Abby? Hey, Abby? What's wrong with you? What's going on? Nothing.
You've been crying.
Put something on and tell me.
You always say you wanna be my father.
Fine.
You wanna be my dad so bad, just stop asking questions okay? Abby, honey Please.
Everything's gonna be fine.
I promise.
You should get cleaned up.
Go to bed.
Okay.
I knew she was manipulating me, but I felt like I was all she had.
Oh, you never asked her what happened? I didn't have to.
There was an incident that night out by the bridge.
A younger girl from Abby's school, she fell off.
Died.
I'm gonna guess you were assuming Abby was there.
What about Ian? Probably.
He was never quite the same.
I would never hurt Abby.
Well, sticking your head in the sand instead of finding out what happened wasn't helping her.
Well, thank you, sir.
We'll let you know if we need anything else.
Hey.
You wanna tell me what that was about? No.
Martin, you hear anything from the sheriff's office? The cop who worked the case died two years ago.
But I was able to get my hands on the case summary.
This is the first part of it.
You know, Ian's dead, Abby's missing.
Why all this activity six years later? Victim had alcohol in her system, no trauma other than from the fall no sexual assault.
They pegged it for an accident.
Hey, brother, take a look at this.
Well, looks a lot like our vic, Marcia Rusk.
I guess this guy gets bonus points for being a good actor.
Okay, here we go.
"Marcia Rusk, sophomore, survived by her mother and brother, Gil.
" Did Abby feel guilty and tell you the truth about your sister? Or maybe you saw one of her paintings and recognized Marcia? I've never seen this before.
That's your sister the night she died.
Why are you doing this to me? What are we doing? This, uh This guy went to high school with your sister.
You recognize him? He looks familiar.
That's Abby Horton right there.
She looks a lot different now.
Other than two nights ago, when was the last time you saw her? My sister's funeral.
Not many people came, at least not many people her age.
One of us has to say something.
Are you kidding? No.
Come on.
Let's go.
This is so I'm really sorry about Marcia.
I thought you might like to have this.
Did you take it? When was this? I don't know.
A couple weeks ago, maybe? It's a very nice picture.
You took a very nice I'm glad you like it.
Well, Gil and I really appreciate you coming today.
Don't we, honey? Other than me and my mom she was the only one that seemed to care Marcia was dead.
Mind going through the yearbook see if you can ID the third kid at the funeral? No.
Why don't you start at the senior class? You know, I think my mom always thought that Marcia went out to the bridge and killed herself.
Would have been nice to know she wasn't out there all alone.
- Hey.
What do we got? - Made some progress.
Gil Rusk identified Adam Clark.
This guy lives in Baltimore.
Recently married the daughter of a big real-estate developer and the marriage came with a nice promotion.
Hm.
No wonder he didn't wanna come clean.
You know, I can't tell if this was him.
Can you? All right, Adam Clark bought two Metro tickets.
One to New York the day before Abby's disappearance the other back to Baltimore the day after.
- I'll have local P.
D.
Pick him up.
- It gets better.
He also spent $200 on auto repairs at a transmission shop in Queens the day he was here.
- Whose car? - Keira Saunders'.
Why was Adam Clark fixing your car? Because he borrowed it and it broke.
- Why'd you let him borrow it? - He's a good friend of Abby's.
He needed a car.
I lent him one.
We've looked into Abby and Adam's phone records.
We can't find a call between them in the past five years.
Or any e-mails on her computer.
Wanna tell me again what good friends they are? I didn't do anything to Abby.
You know, forensics is going over your car as we speak.
If we find anything related to Abby's disappearance it's gonna be on you, not on Adam Clark.
Unless you make me think differently.
- I thought he might give me money.
For what? The two of them they had a lot to hide.
The art store is back-ordered on the aspen frames, so I'Il Abby, stop it.
What are you doing? Starting over.
You're really starting to sell your paintings.
Why would you? Wow.
These are incredible.
Really? Come on, Abby.
Why don't you tell me about these pictures? They're photos I got from my dad's house.
From high school.
Marcia.
Hang on.
Wait.
One more.
Lan.
Thanks for inviting me out here, you guys.
Here you go.
I've had three.
That might be enough.
Come on, Ian.
I'd rather drink beer.
You're such a putz.
Come on.
Watch your step.
What's going on? Well, we call it "bridge.
" The name's a little obvious, but at least we all know what it means.
Now, you see, if she opens her eyes she sucks.
Oh, can you feel the breeze? That felt like forever.
Your turn, Marcia.
I don't think so.
Oh, come on, we'll take care of you.
Hey.
Feels good.
- Yeah? Come on.
Close your eyes.
You're not gonna let me fall? No way.
Oh, she's scared.
Now, wait for the kiss.
- What are you doing? - What'd she ever do to you? - Just go get her.
- Just wait.
- I think I'd like to open my eyes now.
- Then no kiss.
Where are you? Marcia, it's okay.
- No! Marcia.
Marcia! Lan and I went down to see if she was And Adam convinced us not to tell anyone.
Why Marcia? I don't know.
She had a class with him.
She had a crush on him, I guess.
She was shy.
Kind of easy to make fun of.
Yeah, I know the type.
Since high school, I kept hoping that one of these paintings would make me feel better, but it never did.
How could it? She said that after that Ian guy died she'd been painting for two days straight.
I gave her one of her pills and she fell asleep.
And what time did you call Adam Clark? About an hour later.
After I found his number on the Internet.
How much did he pay you for tipping him off? When he brought my car he bought one of her paintings for $ 1500.
Keira Saunders told us she called you.
Yes, that woman called me, and as far as I can tell, she's nuts.
- Then why did you come to New York? - To see Abby.
I was worried about her with that woman around.
Marcia Rusk didn't have anything to do with it? - Marcia? - Yeah, she fell off the bridge.
Yes.
I know.
She was a nice girl.
Well, she didn't just fall.
Abby wanted to tell everyone what happened, didn't she? And I'm assuming, of course, you didn't want that to happen.
Look, I didn't bring a lawyer here because I thought I was here to help find Abby.
If that's not why, I'd be happy to talk to you after my lawyer gets here.
Listen.
The bridge.
Marcia, with the same exact outfit she had the night she died Ian Hewitt and who's this? You.
I do hope you have some real proof.
Because otherwise, that's just a very beautiful painting.
I should know.
I own one.
Listen, sweetie I am really good at what I do.
So I'm just gonna go get you the phone so you can call that lawyer of yours.
He's awfully confident.
- Yeah, he's a little too confident like a guy who knows where all the bodies are buried.
You know, he's the only one with a real motive.
It wouldn't surprise me if he stole those photographs.
Just got forensics back on that car.
No blood.
But there was creosote on the underside.
What's creosote? - A wood preservative.
- They use it on railroad ties.
And? And that bridge that she's been painting is a train trestle.
If the search doesn't turn anything up, let's focus on the ravine.
We need to make molds of the tire tracks to compare to the car he drives This is Reynolds.
I'm about 75 yards south.
I've got something.
I, um I want you to set up a perimeter and secure this area.
Okay? And get Forensics over here right away.
Go.
What are you doing? Stop.
Sam! Stop! Adapted by:
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