"thank you, sergeant." "hey, chief." "uh, so, our victim's name is carl nelson." "a 16-year-old high school junior." "he was riding his bike home from school when an unknown assailant shot him 4 times with a 9-millimeter weapon from a slow moving car." "where are the victim's parents?" "his mother died last january, and his father's down there talking to daniels." "brought his priest with him from his church." "do we know exactly why ph. d. is here?" "deputy d. a. garnett asked us to pick this one up." "he said he'd explain everything when he got here." "he didn't call you?" "oh, i can't find my purse." "it's got my new cell phone in it." "you lost your purse?" "no, i didn't lose it, sergeant." "i just can't remember where i put it." "so, garnett's coming here?" "when?" "he's stuck on the 405 right now, but he said if we could wait-- no, we're not waiting, sergeant." "the killer's not waiting, and neither are we." "the very last thing i need is another deputy d. a." "telling me how to run my case." "i think he seems to think it's his case." "it isn't." "doesn't look like a gang member." "nope. these aren't shoot-me clothes." "he didn't have any weapons or drugs on him." "i'd want to search his room, but no, nothing here says gangs." "put the sheet back over him, please." "thank you." "ok, chief." "father, uh, father watson over there... the priest standing next to the boy's dad." "anyway, he tells us that carl here was about to be the star witness in a motion for a new trial." "i guess someone didn't like what he was going to say." "except he already said it." "our victim gave a deposition 2 weeks ago." "who's the defendant?" "i knew you'd ask me that." "may i?" "yes, sir, uh, father." "let me help you, father." "inmate's name is gerald curtis." "he's on death row." "convicted of killing husband and wife owners of a kwikmart about half a mile from here." "well, that's one mystery solved." "garnett called us 'cause he's about to lose a good conviction." "i want to see my son!" "sir, sir." "i want to see my son!" "i'm deputy chief johnson." "i need you to hold yourself together just a few minutes more." "i want to get him off the street." "he shouldn't be on the street. i want to get carl." "sir, we can go inside." "perhaps you can show me carl's room." "there might be something in there." "i'm not leaving carl on the street by himself like that." "no!" "this is what happens from doing the right thing." "richard, you cannot think that." "this!" "this!" "you stay here with your son." "i'll show them through the house." "just relax." "i'll show you through the house." "all right, then." "if you're looking for drugs or weapons, you're wasting your time." "carl wasn't that kind of a boy." "you were close to him?" "yes. yes, i was. and i counseled his mother when she was dying of cancer last january, and carl would... stop by my classroom sometimes." "you were one of his teachers, then?" "no. he went to a public school, but he knew a lot of the kids at our lady queen of peace because he's very involved in our church." "is this carl's girlfriend?" "kendall price." "more like buddies." "she's in my civics class." "so when carl's father said this is what comes of doing the right thing, he was referring to testimony carl was about to give in the case of... gerald curtis and his motion for a new trial." "yes, but i can't imagine that carl would've been killed over that." "really?" "can you think of another reason someone would drive by his house and shoot him to death?" "do you know what carl had to say that was important enough to get mr. curtis a new trial?" "i know he gave a taped deposition to defense attorneys." "a couple of weeks ago." "d. a. : carl, can you tell us about the events you witnessed at the kwikmart on june 21, 2003?" "it was really hot, so i stopped to get a soda." "and then this really tall guy came in, i mean, like, way over 6 feet easy." "and he was wearing a red bandanna on his face." "like a robber in an old western or something." "at first, i didn't know what he was doing, but then he pulled a gun." "and he shouted at us to all lie down and not look at him." "and, uh... the husband and wife that owned the store, koreans, they were behind the counter." "and the robber guy yelled at them to open the register." "but the husband wouldn't." "i mean, he started arguing with him, and then just, boom!" "the guy just shot him." "garnett: you mind pausing the tape, please?" "yes, sir." "chief johnson." "mr. garnett." "thanks for moving so quick." "you know how glad we are to cooperate with the d. a. 's office." "right." "this is gerald curtis." "this is the man convicted of killing the two owners of the kwikmart you just heard about." "now, listen to carl's description of the assailant." "yeah. like i said, he was way taller than me." "i don't know, maybe 6'1", 6'2"." "and blonde hair." "but not like light blonde, like in between, like darker." "and, uh... it was pale." "not old, either." "like maybe 20." "and when he was emptying the register and his bandana fell down, he had this, like, scar running right here." "why are you just coming forward now, carl?" "father watson's class put up all these fliers asking for witnesses." "and i knew gerald curtis was about to die." "so i decided, i had to do something." "buzz, thank you." "father watson, he's the priest that took us through carl's room." "mm-hmm." "and gerald curtis said he was innocent all along?" "pope: yeah, but they all do that." "lawyers for the freedom initiative took him very seriously." "also, in complete frankness, gerald's first attorney was not so hot, so if we've got the wrong guy in line for lethal injection, i want to know about it, chief johnson." "given curtis' record, it made sense he did those murders." "two people put him in the store at the time of the murders, and he never denied being there." "also, in fairness, until we heard the deposition, we weren't sure in which order the victims were shot." "so his testimony is very good." "and now he's dead, which looks to me like somebody didn't want him in court." "and it also makes it a lot harder for you to get another conviction." "and we all know how much you hate to lose, mr. garnett." "well, it's gonna be hard to cross-examine a videotape on the stand." "so who exactly knew that carl was coming forward with this information?" "me. gerald curtis' new defense team." "carl, of course, his dad, father watson, his students, members of carl's church, and probably curtis himself." "in other words, the entire state of california." "mm-hmm. including our killer." "maybe carl didn't just describe the guy who killed the koreans at the kwikmart, but... his own murderer as well." "chief johnson... a moment." "a little good news." "i paid most of the ransom estelle wanted, and i have complete custody of my kids." "oh... that's wonderful." "oh, congratulations." "thank you." "thanks for your testimony." "you stuck your neck out, and that really meant a lot." "oh, no problem." "chief?" "dinner's here." "oh, coming." "uh, i'll think of a more appropriate way to thank you later." "don't. don't." "it's my good deed for the year." "oh, and there was something else i wanted, it was kind of important, what was it, um... can it wait?" "sure, yeah." "yeah, i can't think of it anyway." "yeah, we'll talk later." "ok." "two weeks ago, this carl kid records his testimony." "and then 3 days before he gets to court, where the deputy d. a." "can cross-examine him, someone blows the boy away." "doesn't that sound a little coincidental?" "i don't believe in coincidence." "so let's take the systematic approach." "has anyone seen my purse?" "i looked in my office and my car, and where are my keys?" "ok, good." "keys, lipstick." "what else?" "daniels and i could pull the booking photos of everyone with assault charges who match the description in carl's deposition." "that would be white males, under 30, over 6 feet with a scar from the mouth to the chin." "ok, sounds good." "how far back do you want us to go?" "uh, let's start a year before the kwikmart murders and take it through to today." "and then, lieutenant tao, if you could follow up on the casings and bullets that were in carl's body, see if we're lucky enough to have any of them match up with the gun that killed that korean couple, because if we are," "detective sanchez, i think someone else might have seen carl's killer." "who's that?" "gerald curtis." "he's visiting l. a. right now to appear at his motion for a new trial which means that the contents of his cell at folsom have been vaulted." "we need a search warrant to go through them." "see if you can manage that and have his things over-nighted to us." "thank you." "and then while we're waiting, let's put together a removal order and send it over to our new friends over at the da's office because tomorrow morning, gerald curtis is gonna have to tell us his side of the story." "listen, uh... do you think the two of you could look for my purse?" "it's big and it's black." "trust us, chief." "we know what your purse looks like." "ok, thank you. it's got my license in it, and my credit cards, my ammunition clip, my phone." "brand-new cell phone." "it's got a ring." "um, have you tried calling it?" "hundreds of times." "it's just, please see if you can find it." "i am losing my ability to function." "thank you, officer." "gerald curtis." "i'm deputy chief johnson." "i'm sorry to put you through transport from county." "that's no problem." "i loved the trip." "did detective sanchez reappraise you of your rights?" "yeah. yeah. and, uh..." "i'm not sure how much i can tell you without my lawyers." "i'm not investigating the kwikmart murders." "i'm looking into who killed carl nelson yesterday afternoon, and you're not a suspect in that crime, so you don't need a lawyer." "and from those chains you're wearing, i'm guessing that you had a pretty good alibi." "yes, ma'am, i do." "you know, more than that, i really needed him alive, but i'm... trying not to think about it so selfishly." "all i keep thinking about is how close i came to having a new trial, and now... i don't know." "but on the other hand, you know, i only made it this far because the kid stood up for me." "i guess i should do the same for him, but i'm not really sure what i can tell you." "well, did you ever meet him?" "carl?" "no. no, i didn't even know his name until my lawyers told me about him a couple of days ago." "you tell anyone in prison about carl?" "any of your friends?" "i don't have any friends in prison, ma'am." "and no, i didn't tell anyone." "you know, i mean, that was something that my lawyers and father watson warned me not to do." "you were in touch with father watson personally?" "yeah." "well, a little." "through the freedom initiative." "i was, like, a project for his class." "you know, it was a good thing for me." "it's a really good thing because carl came forward." "and i mean, you know, i know that in some ways, i didn't deserve a second chance." "oh, excuse me." "i keep thinking about myself." "and i know that that's wrong. i'm sorry." "you're disappointed." "that's understandable." "i am." "i am, because... i'm different now." "you know?" "i mean, i admit, i admit i have made a lot of mistakes when i was young." "but the reward for change isn't freedom." "it's, uh... supposed to be spiritual." "at least that's what my priests tell me." "so maybe i've been wishing for the wrong thing anyway." "sorry, how else can i help?" "you said you were in the kwikmart during the killings, and i was wondering if you might have remembered anything about the gunman." "you may have to revoke your right to counsel to answer that question." "thank you." "oh... i have been waiting years for somebody to ask me that question." "i can answer you without my lawyers." "i'll just, i'll go ahead and just tell you what i told them, ok?" "i appreciate that." "i was... i was high on pcp at the time." "i wasn't even sure what the guy was doing, really, probably because he had this, uh... handkerchief, you know, tied around his face." "it looked like a joke, you know, but he had a gun, and he told everybody to put our heads down." "i thought, you know, in case this isn't a dream, i better stare at the floor." "uh, what else." "he was really tall." "he had lighter hair than mine. i remember that." "you have any idea why two of the witnesses thought that you were the killer?" "i hadn't showered in a couple of days." "and i was... out of my mind." "as soon as the guy left, i ran up to the counter, and if people had looked up then, they would've seen me taking all the beef jerky." "it's so stupid." "i stuffed it in my pants." "i thought, you know, free stuff." "and he's been paying for it ever since." "which made him ideal for me to introduce to my civics class, the freedom initiative." "chief." "we got the report back on the casings and the gun that killed carl-- completely different from the one used at kwikmart." "ok, so it won't be easy." "thank you, lieutenant tao." "but you knew gerald before his arrest." "no." "but i was looking for someone just like him." "really, why?" "i want my students to see from personal experience that injustice can be found in their very own neighborhood and maybe even at the kwikmart and, that the consequences of that injustice could be life and death." "well, i'd say you made that point very clear, father." "this way." "have a seat." "but carl wasn't one of your students, though." "no. no, he wasn't." "so how did he become involved in giving mr. curtis a new trial?" "i called the freedom initiative to see what they were doing in our area, and they sent over copies of everything they'd obtained from gerald's trial, and i noticed, from the timestamp of the kwikmart's register" "that about 15 people had come in and out of the store minutes, maybe even seconds, before the murders took place." "but the lapd only interviewed 4 of those people." "so we papered the neighborhood looking for a witness that the police might have missed." "and the person who finally turned up just happened to be someone you knew." "didn't that strike you as... coincidental?" "struck me as a miracle, ms. johnson." "you saw carl's testimony." "didn't you find it compelling?" "i found it convenient." "excuse me?" "carl nelson, a young boy, with whom you were extremely familiar, suddenly turns up with crucial, never before heard information about a murder involving a death row inmate that you had made the personal cause of your class." "soon after the boy gives his video deposition, he is conveniently shot to death before the prosecution has a chance to question him." "a young man performed an act or rare moral courage." "he stood up for the most powerless and needy in society." "and he was senselessly murdered for it." "i don't find it convenient, ms. johnson, because it's also the story of christ." "the foundation of my faith... which is not to say that i am any less than horrified by carl's death." "but now it's a responsibility to make sure that gerald curtis receives the benefit of carl's sacrifice, isn't it?" "that is not my job, father." "no." "my responsibility is to find and arrest the person who killed carl nelson." "so, unless you can think of any other connection between your work and carl's death." "no." "i wonder, ms. johnson." "do you believe in god?" "right now, i believe in god a whole lot more than i believe you, father." "we looked at the register tape, too." "asked for witnesses on the news, only so many responded." "and when it comes to this carl nelson kid, summers in l. a. , we got more stray bullets than rain." "you're suggesting that 4 bullets strayed into carl nelson's chest?" "the wrong kid may have been hit. yeah." "his death could be completely random." "what physical evidence do you have suggesting otherwise?" "well, you might try investigating." "look, we are not being defensive about it." "it's possible, too, that detective ross did everything right in his investigation and the d. a. convicted the wrong man." "if you know what you want to do, we're here to help." "if gerald curtis didn't kill that couple at the kwikmart, it's possible that someone passing themselves off as one of the witnesses did." "did anyone who testified or that you interviewed, detective ross, match the description that carl gave of the killer?" "it's been awhile." "i don't remember exactly, but, twenties, white, tall, male, blonde, a scar." "doesn't narrow down very much, does it?" "you think?" "so far, we have found 323 men with priors who could be the assailant." "we're still running more searches, but i've got their booking numbers, their photos, so... ok, detective ross, if you could look through those people with us." "see if you recognize anyone-- estelle:" "where is she?" "mrs. pope, who are you looking for?" "you know who." "where is she?" "estelle." "hello." "can i help you?" "ok, we have the contents of gerald curtis' cell." "excuse me." "estelle, why don't we go into my office?" "i don't need to go into your office." "i just came by to say that if you think that now that my husband is free, you're gonna pick up your little affair with him where you left off, and take over as the mother of my children," "you had better think again." "i--i'll take care of this." "maybe we should continue this-- get your hands off of me." "and don't you ever even step into my house, i am warning you." "because if i find out that you are sleeping with will again, i will reopen this custody issue, and i am not kidding." "sorry." "sorry." "sorry, about that, uh... little interruption." "detective sanchez, is that the... contents of mr. curtis' cell?" "uh, yes, ma'am." "straight from folsom." "so if we could maybe get organized a little." "um, sergeant gabriel and detective daniels, if you could pass the booking photos off to detective ross, and he can look through them and see if there's anyone he recognizes, and then maybe lieutenant flynn" "wait a minute." "you mean, we're not gonna talk about what just happened?" "no, i don't, i don't think so. no." "chief, listen-- if you could look through-- chief, wait one second." "did you go deaf all of a sudden?" "she said no." "gabriel: so you want us to go through the boxes." "yes, and, um, if... chief pope." "chief pope." "and if, um, someone could please set up some interviews, with the old witnesses from the kwikmart, to see if any of them... are tall and blonde." "excuse me just one moment." "chief pope." "i can take care of this." "what have you been telling estelle?" "why does she hate me so much?" "estelle is angry about the terms of our divorce." "she's guilty about having basically sold our children because her husband to be doesn't want them." "she's lashing out at me." "at you?" "my god." "i may have just lost the respect of everyone who works here." "look, before you were hired, i made a full disclosure to the chief about our previous relationship." "what?" "you told the chief we had an affair?" "oh... god." "is that the thing you forgot to tell me last night?" "no, no, no." "that was about, i don't know." "i forget what i forgot to tell you, but, look, it's not as important as this." "i will manage the fallout from estelle." "give me a day." "i'll take care of it." "how am i supposed to go back in there and face my people?" "ahem. chief, we found something you should see." "ok." "excuse me." "these are gerald curtis' pen pals." "this is kendall price." "look familiar?" "the same kendall price from carl's bedroom." "i think i'd like to see this girl in person." "kendall, i'm deputy chief brenda leigh johnson." "and this is sergeant gabriel." "now, i don't want to scare you, but everyone who comes into this room... i'll tell you why it matters." "because if pope pulled her into our department because she's his ex, i mean, come on, how does that sound?" "i don't give a flying you know what." "it's nobody's business what she did with pope then or now." "i mean, even if she has fooled around with him, who does a better job around here, you?" "ah!" "ah!" "i don't want to hear another word about it." "and neither does tao or buzz, do you guys?" "ok, guys." "but you guys don't think that taylor isn't gonna have a field day with this?" "i mean, it's bad." "i mean, if she's banging the boss, i want to know." "well, now that we've got that out of the way, we can go on to more important matters." "you were close to carl nelson." "is that right, kendall?" "i knew him." "he went to our church, and i saw him a few times after school in father watson's classroom." "oh. i thought you were good friends, no?" "not really." "that surprises me." "because... this picture was the only one carl had in his room of anyone." "and i know that his mother just passed away." "i didn't give him this picture." "i think it's off of his cell phone or something." "carl and his mom fought a lot." "he said that she drank, and stuff like that." "so he spoke with you about his home life?" "that sounds like you were pretty close to me." "we just started spending more time together." "recently." "i mean, you know how it is." "when you only really like someone but they have a really big crush on you, and you don't want to hurt their feelings, but you know, you just want to be friends." "i know exactly what that's like, yes." "that was me and carl." "was that you and gerald curtis as well?" "did he have a little crush on you?" "do you know how he got this photo?" "actually, did you know he had this photo?" "i sent it to him." "brenda: you were in contact with gerald?" "we all wrote to gerry. gerald." "it was part of our class assignment." "how often did you write to him?" "i don't know." "only a few times." "we didn't find any of your letters in gerry's cell." "prison mail isn't private." "they can read it if they want to." "so gerry threw away all of his personal letters." "so the letters that you wrote to gerry were personal?" "no." "no, he had a small cell, and he didn't have a lot of room to keep things, so you know, he threw away my letters." "how do you know that?" "did he write you back?" "well... yes." "how often?" "only a few times." "and it was not at all personal." "gabriel: hmm. then why did you send him the photo?" "it's just a school photo." "is there anything wrong with that?" "nothing. nothing, kendall." "not one thing." "now, do you mind if i look at the letters that gerry wrote you since they are not at all personal?" "i didn't save them." "i, um... shredded them." "and threw them away." "gabriel:" "you shredded them?" "well, kendall, you certainly are careful with how you dispose of your meaningless correspondence." "so just right down this hall, to the left." "ok." "ok, thank you." "so, now what?" "let's get a search warrant for her house, and let's get there before she does." "hi." "i still can't find my purse." "i think i should cancel my credit cards." "what do you think?" "did you have a bad day?" "what is it?" "yeah, i had a bad day." "did you?" "i think i need a glass of merlot." "yeah, well, i'm not surprised." "that must've been a big shock." "having estelle pope burst in on you like that." "dredging up the past." "making all those..." "wild accusations." "oh, i know that look." "you're trying to figure out how angry i am." "so you can decide how much you ought to explain." "look... i don't know what you heard." "but i don't like what happened today either." "how do you know about all this anyway?" "that's not important." "what's important is that estelle accused you of wanting to get back together with pope." "and she wouldn't have done that if she didn't think it was true." "and why does she think that?" "i don't know, because it's-- it's not true." "it is not what i want." "it doesn't matter what you want, brenda." "i know what you want." "just like estelle knows what pope wants." "which is why she burst in on your murder room today, and now everybody else knows how pope feels." "and you're not doing anything about it. nothing." "you just, it just goes on." "well, i don't know what you want me to do." "i mean, i can't help how pope feels." "see, that's why i'm mad, brenda." "because you can help how pope feels by being absolutely clear with him." "i'll show you how it's done." "all right?" "i will be clear about how i feel." "i love you, brenda." "i love you." "how is that for clarity?" "fritzy, is that you?" "uh, chief?" "chief?" "we searched kendall price's house." "do you need help there?" "no. no." "oh." "uh, and?" "we didn't find any letters from gerald curtis." "so maybe she really did get rid of them." "i don't think so." "no." "in fact, i'd be surprised if she dumped a single one." "they may not be at her house, but they might be at school." "so i think we should give father watson a call." "ok." "it's my locker." "kendall, let me handle this." "this is a violation of a student's trust." "i think you probably should look-- high school students don't have any reasonable expectation of privacy." "there is no trust to violate." "what this boils down to, father, is that i'm investigating the murder of a young boy who yesterday you compared to jesus christ." "and now you are standing in my way here." "because you're using gerry's innocent love letters to undue everything carl died for." "i guess i'm not the only one listening to confession." "so, you want to finish this now, father, or do you want us to post a guard around this locker while we get the archdiocese involved?" "father watson, don't." "i'm sorry, kendall." "we have no choice." "let's arrange gerry's letters to kendall in a timeline." "february 3, first contact." "march 12th, they start writing each other every other day." "then there's the first, i think i might love you from gerry, march 18, and his happiness at her having said i love you back, march 23." "flynn: may 2, he wishes some witness would come forward to clear his name, so he could get out of prison, and "wrap my arms around you. "" "signed, "yours in christ, " and then, "please burn this. "" "and then again on may 12," ""i pray every night that someone will appear and tell the truth about what happened, "" "and then like all the other letters, it's signed," ""yours in christ, please burn this. "" "and then, for two weeks, no letters." "when they start back up again, there's no mention of the gap." "it's like it never happened." "then kendall's running errands for him." "forwarding mail, making phone calls, and then the idea of a new witness never pops back up." "she was forwarding mail?" "to whom?" "gerald's mother in fullerton, his uncle, someone named stevie, and phone calls to him as well." "kendall's supposed to "ask if he got my letter." "tell him i need a response. "" "last letter was 8 days ago." ""call stevie and tell him" ""i'm coming to town, and i still don't know what he wants to do. "" "brenda:" "did detective ross bring back the booking photos of known perps matching carl's description?" "yes, he said none of them were witnesses." "ok, let's look for someone named steven, steve, stevie, initial s." "detective sanchez, would you help her with that?" "sergeant gabriel, do we have mr. curtis' rap sheet?" "uh, yeah, but it's a little sketchy." "most of his offenses were committed when he was a minor." "that's ok, i just need the dates of his arrests." "excuse me." "sorry to interrupt." "just wanted to say a word or two about what happened here yesterday." "that's not necessary, commander. thank you." "well, it is." "just had a long conversation with the chief, and he feels it's in the department's best interest if i help put this episode with estelle pope behind us." "especially considering the success rate of your division." "and the long and the short of it is... there's nothing substantive to the terrible things that were said about chief johnson." "and i'm also supposed to remind everyone that there's a big blue line at the door in this building, and estelle pope crossed over it." "and i hope we all know how to behave when one of our own is falsely accused." "so... pardon me for interrupting." "and if you need any further help with this problem, chief johnson, you know where i am." "thank you, commander, for that spontaneous defense of my honor." "my pleasure, ma'am." "my pleasure." "you know they made him come down here and say that." "yes. that's exactly what happened, lieutenant." "they agreed on their story, and they went over what they wanted him to say." "i, uh, found 4 steves, and this one, steven brand, arrested 8:45, october 15, 1998, possession of a controlled substance by hollywood division." "gerald curtis, arrested october 15, 1998, 8:45 p. m. , possession of a controlled substance by hollywood division." "steven brand arrested by valley division." "breaking and entering, robbery, on august 3." "gerald curtis arrested by valley division on august 3, 2000." "both sentenced to juvie for a year and a half." "steven and gerry were partners." "we arrested steven brand and executed a search of his apartment and his car looking for weapons or any mail forwarded from folsom." "we found what we believe to be the murder weapon, a 9-millimeter pistol used to kill carl nelson, under the driver's seat of his black honda accord." "we also found letters to the suspect from gerald curtis in a lockbox under his bed." "subsequent to the search, we checked phone records and discovered that steven had received" "4 phone calls from you, kendall." "is this the guy gerry had you forwarding mail to?" "as you can see, he's white, he's got dirty blonde hair, a scar running from his mouth to his chin, and if he were to stand up, he'd be pretty tall." "does that description sound familiar, or do you need a red bandana to jog your memory?" "kendall." "what'd you do?" "nothing, father." "i... he just wanted steven to know that he was back in town." "to have him come visit in jail." "they were friends, and gerry said that steven was still using drugs, and that he wanted to talk to him about how sobriety had made a change in his life." "that's all." "i have looked through the letters that gerry sent you from prison, and i think some of them are missing, kendall." "you have everything." "look, you're making things very difficult for me because like many hardened criminals, your friend steven here has asked for an attorney." "that means we cannot question him directly." "you've got information i need, kendall." "and you're not telling me." "we'd like to do this without arresting you." "buzz, could you please turn on that other monitor?" "yes, ma'am." "gerry." "i'm gonna give you one more run at this, kendall." "i want you to listen very closely to what gerry has to say." "brenda: thank you, officer." "ma'am, it's great to see you again." "you, too, gerald." "i hope i'm not disturbing your sleep too much." "you've got your motion for a new trial tomorrow, right?" "yes, ma'am." "well, you'll probably be glad to hear that we found the person who murdered carl nelson-- steven brand." "he also matched the description that carl gave of the person who shot the korean couple." "he's not talking, of course." "he has a lawyer." "wow, that's amazing." "when did you find him?" "a couple hours ago." "so the only thing i have left for you is a question or two about some letters that we found in his apartment from you forwarded to him by a young girl by the name of kendall price." "you know kendall." "you kept a picture of her." "in your cell at folsom." "she was one of several young ladies you had photographs of." "so who are these women, by the way, whose pictures you had up in your cell?" "uh, just girls that i write to." "or who write to me." "some of my girlfriends." "was kendall one of your girlfriends?" "no. not really." "no." "she was, uh, too young for me." "really?" "that's not what you said in the letters that you wrote to her." "ok..." "look." "i was nice to her because she wrote me all this... like fan mail." "and i didn't want to hurt her feelings." "that's all." "let's see if that story matches what you told steven brand-- your friend that kendall forwarded mail to." "look, here it is." ""dear stevie, good news." ""one of my girlfriends," ""i've mentioned her to you before, butterface. " i think i know that nickname." "doesn't that refer to a girl who has a great figure but her face isn't so great?" "maybe you meant something else by it." "no?" "let's go on." ""butterface has helped me find" ""a witness to the murders i was falsely accused of." ""his name is carl nelson," ""of 4503 patterson drive, and he's a 16-year-old boy who wears glasses. "" "gosh, that sounds an awful lot like you did know who carl was before your lawyers mentioned him." "see, this postmark was dated two weeks ago." "well, it's just chock-a-block with surprises, this letter, isn't it?" "well, let's go on." ""carl, " there's his name again," ""was actually in the kwikmart" ""when the murders took place." ""and has just finished giving a sworn deposition" ""describing the real killer." "as being a tall, blonde man" ""with a scar from his mouth to his chin." ""i know you'll be happy to have this information." ""just goes to show you, doesn't it," ""that things are never over." "yours in christ. gerry. "" "here's what i believe." "i think you had a lot of time in prison to plan how you might get out and that you corresponded with a lot of susceptible young women who you hoped would lie for you." "or get a friend to lie." "and that kendall did just that." "and you know what else i think... stupid, stupid girl." "i think the description that carl gave was probably that of steven brand, who i believe drove you away from the kwikmart after the robberies." "and once carl gave that description to your defense attorneys, you thought that steven might be scared into killing him." "and you were right." "i wonder how steven will feel when he knows that you gave a description out?" "but you can't trust anyone these days." "go to hell." "i want my lawyer." "and especially, you couldn't trust carl, a 16-year-old boy who might fall to pieces on the witness stand, if examined too closely." "and if i were to find out that you had written all that out for kendall so that she could help carl make his testimony more believable, why, that would be as good as a confession." "i said, go to hell." "you first." "i have the letters." "i have them." "uh... i talked carl into saying he was there." "he had a crush on me, and i... father watson, i was just trying" "oh, my god." "oh, my god, oh, my god." "i killed him." "oh, god. i killed him." "i had no idea that gerry had asked someone to lie for him." "i had no idea. none." "unfortunately, father, you don't answer to me." "i'm so sorry." "so did you find gerry's other letters?" "yes. kendall kept them in her bible that she got for confirmation." "and this is the letter that really does it for gerald curtis." "writes out the entire script for carl, and it's filled with stuff that only the shooter would know about." "and it's in his own hand." "all right. you think that'll convince a judge?" "yeah. and he signed it "yours in christ. "" "so i hope taylor's visit cleared everything up for you." "i hope so, too." "you're not mad at me about all this, are you?" "no. it's not your fault." "you doing some house cleaning?" "what?" "yeah--oh." "yes... just a little." "ok, all right." "well, as long as we're good." "good work." "hey!" "hey!" "hey, that tune you're whistling." "that's the ring on my new cell phone." "oh, that's what i keep forgetting to tell you." "your purse." "it's in my office." "you must have left it there sometime this week during all the... i'll go get it." "no, that's ok." "i'll come up, and... ok." "i have something, uh... i do have something i want to say to you." "so... will you wait?" "sure." "ok." "but you don't have to say anything." "i mean... is it about us?" "well, uh... 'cause we're, you know, we're good." "i, uh, i know, brenda." "i get it." "we're good." "so you gonna be long?" "i'll... just be a minute." "ok. all right, great."