"Please call me back." "Please." "I don't know what's going on, Stan." "Stan, I have been calling you and calling you." "When you didn't call me back, I thought" "I found this in the laundry." "It's her shirt." "Yes, Ahmed was hiding a girl that night, but it wasn't Rosie." "It was a 12-year-old Somali girl." "So where is the girl now?" "We don't know." "She split before we got there." "She's got family in Canada, so maybe she figured they were less likely to cut her." "So you never saw her?" "Never talked to her?" "And this Muhammed guy?" "No longer a suspect." "We cut him loose." "So where does that leave us with the teacher?" "Nowhere." "We were barking up the wrong tree, Lieu." "Well, that's too bad, because right now Ahmed is in critical condition in Seattle General." "Someone beat him half to death." "Let's go." "Come on, Linden, it's almost midnight." "You can get all anal tomorrow." "You don't have to wait for me." "He was a good suspect." "You know, any cop would have done what we did." "I never should have talked to the Larsens." "Yo, Linden, it ain't your fault." "He lied to us." "Lied to us about his relationship with Rosie." "Lied to us about that night." "About the girl." "If he had been straight with us, things would have turned out different." "Maybe." "Or maybe he would have ended up in jail for kidnapping a minor." "He didn't have much choice, did he?" "If you want to get all worked up about it, that's your thing." "I-I'm not saying he deserved it." "You know, I feel bad about it too, but I'm telling you one thing" "I'm not gonna let myself lose any sleep over it." "And neither should you." "Are you coming?" "Yeah." "Linden." "Okay." "Thanks." "Stan Larsen just turned himself in." "I'm sorry it's so late." "Your office said you'd gone home for the day." "Come in." "Nice view." "Can I get you a drink?" "No." "No, thank you." "So what can I do for you, Detective?" "Maybe I will have that drink." "Scotch okay?" "Mm-hmm." "I'm sure you're here for a reason." "I wanted you to know that Bennet Ahmed is no longer a suspect... in the Rosie Larsen murder." "I never believed him capable of such a thing." "Is there something else?" "Ahmed was kidnapped and beaten tonight." "He's fighting for his life at Seattle General." "I don't envy you your job, Detective." "I could say the same to you." "Can I get you another?" "No." "I should go." "I wanted you to know that I was wrong about him." "I made a mistake." "Thank you for the drink." "What are you doing up so late?" "What's wrong?" "Let's see." "I came home today after work... and found Jack and three of his little buds... hanging out alone on the boat, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer." "Oh, God." "Regi, I'm so sorry." "And when I confiscated the beers... and asked them very nicely to get their little asses off my boat," "Jack proceeded to call me a stupid lesbo."" "He's so dead." "I mean it." "No computer, no phone" "He's not the problem, Sarah." "Where were you?" "I mean, these kids were obviously alone here without any supervision for hours." "I was working." "I meant to call." "I should have called." "Your 13-year-old son is obviously acting out all over the place, and you're nowhere to be found." "It's not like I can call his dad." "Of course you can't, because it's all on me, Regi." "Well, I'm not the babysitter, Sarah." "No, you're not." "And I'm gonna make it a lot easier on you." "On both of us." "Jack, get up." "Get up right now." "I mean it." "Get your stuff." "We're leaving." "What?" "Why?" "Sarah, what are you doing?" "Something that I should have done a long time ago." "We've overstayed our welcome for way too long." "Okay, it's the middle of the night." "Can we sleep on it?" "Can we" " No, we need to go right now." "Right now." "Mom, I don't want to go." "You shut up!" "Morn, where are we going?" "I'd like to say I'm happy to stand here." "After all, a men Whose fete has been linked to my own, a man accused of a crime he did not commit, a man I refused to call guilty" "Mr. Bennet Ahmed, has just been vindicated." "But while I stand here, that man lies in a hospital bed fighting for his life, a victim of vigilante justice." "So, no, I am not happy." "What I am is determined." "Determined to reopen the doors... of the after-school program closed down by Mayor Lesley Adams." "Determined to help reinvigorate those communities... damaged by vigilante attacks in this city." "And thanks to a generous donation, I'll be able to do both." "As for my fellow city council members, I have a message." "It is time to stop using innocent schoolchildren as political pawns." "Questions?" "Payback's a bitch." "What's so brilliant about all this is that it just fell into our laps." "A man almost died, Jamie- May still die." "So try to control the glee." "The exact thing... that was biting us in the ass could turn out to be our greatest asset." "Despite what everyone else thought about Bennet, you didn't waver." "You stuck to your guns." "That's right." "You're the integrity candidate." "As if there is such a thing." "There is now." "It's you." "That's how we brand you." "I don't care how you brand it." "Let's just scrap the attack ads against Adams and run with this." "I already have Valerie pulling new clips for an ad campaign." "And while we're at it, I've been thinking..." "I want to send a message to my friends on the city council." "A message?" "Yeah." "I'm gonna propose a 10% across-the-board funding cut... for each city council member." "Why?" "It's an austerity measure." "The city is suffering." "Why shouldn't the members of the council suffer too?" "That means everyone's gonna have to take pay cuts." "Fire staffers, out per diem." "That's right." "No more free lunch." "You sure you want to burn those bridges?" " Because they are gonna burn." " They lit the match, Jamie." "Those self-interested bastards showed their true colors." "Now they'll see mine." "Okay." "So Rosie got a ride to the dance from Sterling, left there at some point." "Showed up at Bennet's around 10:00 p.m. to drop off this." "Was there about five minutes, and then what?" "Where'd she go?" "How'd she get there?" "Morning to you too, Linden." "When'd you get in?" "What is it?" "It's a maple bacon doughnut." "It's the breakfast of champions." "We know she didn't take her bike." "Maybe she took the bus." "Maybe." "I've got Ervin checking bus schedules and routes from Bennet's." "Aren't you a vegan?" "No, vegetarian." "And it's a doughnut." "She could have walked it." "I mean, Ahmed lives close to the school." "She could have walked that, easy." "Or taken a cab." "I've got a call in to all the local cab companies- see if anybody picked up a fare near Ahmed's." "What else we got?" "Mob angle." "I mean, both Larsen and his rat boy sidekick were mobbed up for years." "From Larsen's performance last night," "I'm guessing he was a pretty badass bagman 30 pounds ago." "Maybe he pissed off the wrong guy." "Maybe he's in deep with gambling again, owes somebody a shitload of money." "Kovarsky's small time." "He's into lotto scams and gambling, not executing family members." "It don't exactly play, but, I mean, we gotta check it out, right?" "Where you going?" "I'm gonna talk to Larsen." "Maybe you're right." "In any event, it's all we got." "That's what I'm saying." "I'm gonna pay a visit to rat boy." "That's the last time I buy you breakfast." "I have a few more questions I need to ask about your daughter's case." "We know you were once an associate of Janek Kovarsky." "Mr. Larsen?" "That was a long time ago." "I was" "I was a different man back then." "How about gambling?" "Is that a problem for you?" "You have no enemies from that time... that might have been seeking retribution now?" "I heard the 911 call." "It was you." "You called." "Is he" "He's alive." "For now." "Knock, knock." "Anybody home?" "That teacher might die." "It's not gonna be good news for your boss." "I don't know nothin' about it." "No?" "Yeah, you're just one of those guys who don't know nothin' about nothin', huh?" "All right." "All right." "Let's talk about something you do know." "Janek Kovarsky." "How long did you work for him?" "I didn't." "No?" "Huh." "That's funny, 'cause I got a friend... who says you used to be a runner for Kovarsky, and that's how you met Larsen." "Me and Stan got out of that a long time ago." "I was just a kid trying to get by on the street." "Yeah." "You were sellin' hot lotto tickets." "That's minimum security juvie digs." "Yeah, yeah, you're real street, homes." "Stan helped me get straight." "Gave me a job." "Never looked back." "I've got nothing more to say about that." "Larsen associating with the old crowd?" "Got any enemies?" "Uh, no." "Family's everything to him." "Wouldn't do nothing to mess with that." "Too bad he forgot about that last night... when he kicked the piss out of that teacher." "Your Honor, at this time, the People would like to file with this court... a two-count complaint against defendant Stan Larsen, date of birth February 8, 1964." "The People are filing two counts of kidnapping in the first degree... and attempted murder, pursuant to Washington state penal codes... 9A.40.020 and 9A.28.020." "Do you understand the charges as read to you, Mr. Larsen?" "Mr. Larsen?" "Yes, Your Honor." "How do you plead?" "Guilty." "I did it." "Uh, your Honor" "Clearly my client is under some duress... and not completely rational at this moment." "On behalf of Mr. Larsen, I'd like to enter a plea of not guilty." "Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in prison, we're gonna need to do some work here, Mr. Larsen." "Mr. Larsen, in light of the seriousness of the charges," "I'm going to defer to your lawyer... and allow him to enter a not guilty plea on your behalf." "All right." "Let's get an expedited report on the bail issue and take it up tomorrow." "Is that agreeable to the calendars of both?" "Unden." "Detective, a cabbie picked up your vic at Ahmed's." "You sure he picked her up from that address?" "Yeah." "That's what he said." "Where's the driver now?" "Outside the Federal Building." "I'm on my way." "This her?" "Yeah." "Hair was longer." "Looked kind of like Alanis Morissette when she was better looking." "That's why she stood out." "Where'd you drop her?" "Let me check." "Do you remember if she had a backpack or a purse or" "Look, lady, I don't know." "I drive up to 40 people a day sometimes." "You can check the security cam if you want, unless it's been erased." "You got a camera in your cab?" "Here it is. 235 Ballard Ave." "Northwest." "That's where I took her." "You sure?" "You took her home?" "Well, if that's her home, that's where I took her." "Boy, I heard she was a hot little piece." "Yeah, you got that right." "Yeah, man." "Shh, shh!" "Guys, you're supposed to be there at 1:00." "Move your asses." "Yeah, we're going." "All right." "Yeah." "Okay." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Bye." "Who are those new guys?" "Uh, just some guys we bring in from time to time." "Why?" "Well, I've just never seen them before." "Hey, Mitch, we got a problem." "But we can talk about it later if you don't want to." "What is it?" "It's just we got a big client who's got a job for us tomorrow, and we don't got the manpower, and they don't want to pay overtime." "So call Ronny and Jim." "Stan don't like working with those guys." "Just call 'em." "Stan doesn't need to know about it." "10:37." "We got our timeline." "She's smiling." "Seems relaxed." "Clearly not under any duress." "So she went home." "Then what?" "How'd she end up in Discovery Park?" "She abducted from the house?" "She meet someone?" "Play it again." "Wh" " Where's that dude parked?" "Mm, in front of the house." "Looks like he overshot the door by 20, 25 feet." "Wait." "Check it out." "You see that?" "Where that light is behind her?" "That's the Larsens's front door." "It's on- the inside light." "Yeah." "So what?" "The Larsens were out of town that weekend." "Now watch." "But someone was in the apartment." "Turned off the lights when they saw she was coming." "Okay, let's try to make a dent in this room before your mom gets back." "Let's clean up some of this crap off the floor." "Clothes in the basket, toys on the shelf or under the bed." "I don't want to." "Denny, dishes in the sink." "Get a move on, Tommy." "Come on." "Okay, okay." "I'm going." "Do we have to?" "Look, you guys, there's some serious ice cream in this for you... if we finish this before your mom gets back, so come on." "What's up with Wookie?" "Is he sleeping?" "That's what Mom said." "She said he was just resting." "Okay, then I'll just let him rest." "Aunt Terry?" "Yeah, squirt?" "Why is Dad in jail?" "He's not the bad guy." "Why don't they put the bad guy in jail?" "Yeah." "Well, sometimes the world doesn't work out the way that it should." "Sometimes things are all screwed up, and that's just the way that it is." "Look, your dad is a good guy." "He's a great guy." "But sometimes" "You do what you think is right, and it ends up being wrong." "He'll be back soon." "Yeah?" "Mrs. Larsen home?" "No." "You're the sister, right?" "Yeah, I'm the sister." "Is Belko Royce around?" "I don't know." "You can go look if you want." "Yeah?" "Mind if I ask you a few questions?" "All right." "Yeah, I have keys." "I'm with the kids almost every day." "So?" "Is there anyone else who might have access to the house?" "Grandparents?" "Cleaning lady?" "Yeah, cleaning lady." "You're looking at the cleaning lady." "This is important, Miss Marek." "Can you think of anyone else?" "I don't know." "I mean, besides Belko." "He has keys?" "Well, yeah." "The guy practically lives here." "I mean, he has no life." "He sleeps in the garage half the time." "You're not friendly with Mr. Royce?" "Friendly enough." "He's just always around, like he thinks he's par': of this family or something." "And I told Mitch, I don't think it's good... that he hangs around the boys so much." "It's not that I think he's a pervert or something." "He's just weird." "Like he don't have a personality." "Kind of like this table." "Tell me again where you were that night." "At home with Bev." "Bev?" "My ma." "You call your morn Bev?" "That's her name." "You got keys to this place, right?" "Yeah." "I work here." "I gotta look after it when Stan's not around." "So sometimes you come into the house when the Larsens ain't home?" "No, never." "Just- Stan would never allow that, so just here, in the garage, working- which I wasn't that night." "Right." "Rat boy's a liar." "He lied about running with Kovarsky, and I'm betting he lied about that beat-down too." "His hands are shredded." "The sister's not a fan." "She doesn't trust him." "But he's got an alibi, right?" "Yeah." "His mom." "He was my miracle baby." "I had him later in life." "I thought it was menopause, but it was Belko." "He's an only child?" "That's right." "His daddy was a lush and a deadbeat." "We were never really together." "It was just me and Belko." "He was my little man." "So he always lived here?" "Mm-hmm." "But that don't mean I'm a nun, if you know what I'm saying." "Yeah." "So Mrs. Royce, you told Detective Preston that Belko was here... on the night of October 5?" "You remember telling him that?" "Of course I do." "He was even younger than you are." "Mm." "Not nearly as cute." "So" "So he was here that night?" "He was here." "He's here every night." "He's my little man." "Here we are." "My Belko's a good boy." "He always makes his bed." "When he was little, he had this cat... named Cleo or Chloe or something." "Pissed on that bed every friggin' day." "So one night I took that little pisser out and I dumped him into the trash." "I don't think Belko even knew." "Linden." "We really appreciate you coming down, Mr. Royce." "Sure." "Anything I can do to help." "Milk, two sugars." "Thanks." "But I gotta get back soon, you know." "The guys are gonna be wondering where I am." "Of course." "Shouldn't take long." "Damn." "What" "What happened to your hand?" "Nothing." "It's just, uh, my job, you know." "I'm always banging it on something." "Yeah, yeah." "So it's got nothing to do with that teacher's beating last night?" "No." "I-I told you no." "Come on." "I believe that's not true." "I don't care what you believe." "I didn't do it." "Well, see, that's not what Stan says." "That teacher killed Rosie." "Anybody would have done what Stan did." "See, here's the thing." "That teacher didn't kill Rosie, Mr. Royce." "He's innocent." "And now he's probably gonna die." "He's- He's not gonna die." "That's what it looks like." "He's all hooked up on life support." "See, your pal Stan- he's in some deep shit, man." "And you are too, from the looks of it." "When I heard about Stan, I-I got mad." "I pounded the wall." "I didn't hurt nobody." "Oh, you banged the wall?" "I thought you said it was a work injury." "Yeah." "I don't know." "Hey, bottom line, Mr. Royce?" "We don't care if you beat up some teacher." "No?" "We're Homicide detectives." "See, you assaulting some guy- that's not our problem." "But if we're gonna work together, let's see if we can at least be honest with each other." "Now, you were with Stan Larsen last night." "We know you were." "Okay." "Yeah." "Good." "Good." "See, now we can just drop that, move on, 'cause we got trust." "Right?" "Okay," "All right." "So... now let's talk about the night Rosie Larsen was killed." "I've been going through these clips for the ad campaign." "I've got hours of this stuff." "That's Rosie Larsen, that dead girl, isn't it?" "Maybe." "It's hard to tell." "I looked at all the pictures of her online." "I'm pretty sure it's her." "Actually, that's a good catch, Val." "Very good catch." "Why don't you leave the disc with us, and we'll look into it." "Isn't it ironic that she was found in his campaign car, and there he is, shaking her hand?" "Mm-hmm." "Thank you so much, Val." "Valerie." "I hate Val." "Good to know." "You know, Valerie, I can't believe you've only been doing this for three months." "You're really good." "Thanks." "Do me a favor." "Let's just keep this between the three of us for now." "Mm-hmm." "Okay." "Well, so much for never met her." "Must have shaken a hundred hands that day." "It doesn't mean anything." "What are we gonna do?" "Bury it." "Well, we have to tell Darren." "Absolutely not." "He needs plausible deniability." "As far as Darren's concerned, he's never met Rosie Larsen." "Let's keep it that way." "The night of Rosie's death, you were?" "I told you." "At home with Bev." "Mm." "We were at your house earlier, Belko." "Met your mother." "Yeah?" "She's a different sort of person, huh?" "Yeah." "Seventy years old." "Sure hope I look that good in lingerie." "Yeah." "She wears that sexy stuff all the time." "I tell her to put on some clothes, but she don't listen." "Must have been tough growing up with a mother like that." "Did she bring her boyfriends home while you were there?" "She make you watch?" "Can" " Can we not talk about this?" "Or could you just hear them through the walls?" "No wonder you spent all your time with the Larsens." "Perfect little family." "You could pretend that you were one of them." "Oh, Bev showed us your bedroom." "But they aren't your family, are they?" "You don't belong anywhere, do you?" "And yet you can't stay away." "And here comes that pretty little girl, Rosie, growing up right before your eyes." "And suddenly she's not so much of a little girl anymore." "No, don't talk about Rosie like that." "Did you like to watch her?" "No." " Watch her walking around the house half naked?" " No." "No." "That's disgusting." "Sneaking into the house with a boy, feeling each other up on the couch?" "No." "No." "That night, she came home." "You were there all alone, knowing nobody else was in the house, and it was your chance... to have her all to yourself." "You dirty, dirty bitch!" "Sit down." "Sit down!" "Tell me what happened, Belko." "Tell me what you did." "I like the house." "I like" "I like sitting at the kitchen table, even when no one's there." "Make a cup of hot coffee." "Listen to the rain on the roof." "That night, she came home, and I was there." "I was there." "I heard her come up the steps real fast, like she was in a hurry, so- so I hid, because Mitch doesn't like me being upstairs." "And then what happened?" "Then, uh, I could hear her in her room, opening drawers, the closet, and keys jingling." "And then she went into Tom and Denny's room." "That's where you took her?" "No." "I didn't touch her." "Bullshit!" "What happened after that?" "Uh, she" "What happened?" "Uh, sh-she was on the phone." "She" "Who was she talking to?" " Who was she talking to?" "S-Someone named Adela, I think." "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Adela." "You're sure?" "Yeah." "Adela?" "Mm-hmm." "She said, Adela, I'll be there."" "And" " And then- And then she left, and-and- and then I never saw her again." "I never saw her." "Don't" " Don't tell Mitch I was upstairs." "Please." "Please don't tell on me, all right?" "Please don't tell on me." "Belko!" "Larsen's Moving and Storage." "Hi." "Is Mr. Larsen in?" "No." "He's not here." "Can I help you?" "Who am I speaking to?" "I'm his wife." "Will he be back soon?" "No." "He won't be here for a while." "I'm calling from Tilden Mutual Bank, and we have" "What?" "Wait." "Which bank?" "Tilden Mutual." "Oh." "Yeah, right." "Mrs. Larsen, we wanted to let you know... that your last check was returned for insufficient funds." "It appears that your account is overdrawn." "Mrs. Larsen?" "Overdrawn?" "How can we be overdrawn?" "I can't answer that." "I" " How" " Are you sure?" "Yes, quite." "But I can send you a duplicate of the statement... which you should have already received." "Then just take it out of the savings account." "Well, as a matter of fact, you do have overdraft protection, so that's what we would have done if you had any funds in the savings account." "But unfortunately, your balance in that account is two dollars and 13 cents." "Okay." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." "You're looking at the wrong account." "Not according to my screen." "Whatever you had is gone." "Gone?" "We had $16,000 in that account." "How can it be gone?" "I don't understand." "Perhaps you should talk with your husband, Mrs. Larsen." "Rosie's note from the Koran." "Adela, Friday, 11:45."" "I believe him." "Rosie left the house that night to meet someone named Adela." "Okay, but there's no Adelas in the school." "None of her friends, none of her relatives got that name." "Yeah, but there's 47 Adelas in the King County phone book." "Well, so send the unis to go talk to them." "I've been up 50 hours straight." "Adela was out there somewhere that night waiting for Rosie." "She knows something." "We have to find her." "Where are you going?" "Sleep." "You should try it sometime." "Rick." "Regi told me where you were." "I wanted to see where you live." "You want to come inside?" "I'm good." "Why didn't you return my calls?" "I knew what you were gonna say." "What I need to know is" "Look, if you don't- This isn't about us." "Right." "It's about the girl." "It is." "Like hell." "You know the odds." "You're not gonna solve it." "It's been over a week since they found her body." "I found her body." "I've got a flight to catch." "You flew all the way here just to tell me you're pissed?" "No, I flew all the way here 'cause I was tired of waiting for you to come to me." "But that's never gonna change, is it, Sarah?" "I'm always gonna be waiting." "Won't I?" "This is important to me." "Look, I know you well enough to know there's always gonna be another case." "There's gonna be another body." "There's gonna be another excuse not to move forward." "And I know where it's going, Sarah, and I'm not gonna end up... sitting in a hospital again, watching you stare at a blank wall." "I won't." "I can't." "Look." "I've got three tickets." "Midnight flight to Oakland tonight." "Are you coming?" "I don't" "It's gonna be okay."