Open on two girls, Jill Shelby and Melanie walking down a road. They are laughing. Legend: Philadelphia, 1976. They stop and Jill moves her hair behind her ear and shows her face to Melanie.
More Than a Feeling by Boston plays over the scene.
Melanie: You can barely tell.
She gets her powder out and dabs it on Jill’s face.
Jill: I’m flying.
They laugh.
Melanie: Good as new.
She finishes applying the powder.
Melanie: Look.
She shows her the mirror of the compact.
Jill: Todd’s sick of me.
Melanie: So maybe you’re sick of him.
Jill: Let’s go back to Tim’s room. He’s cooler than any of them.
Melanie: You really want to?
Jill laughs.
Jill: Maybe later.
Melanie laughs at her. They carry on walking and cross the road to a big house on the other side.
Cut to the back of the house. Todd Whitley watches people at his party. His brother, Eric walks up to him. The maid, Bonita Rafaela walks up behind them.
Bonita: You’re not supposed to have people here.
Todd: Who says?
Bonita: Your mom and dad.
Todd: You’re gonna call them in Jakarta?
Charlie: (Behind the bar) Give the lady a beer for her silence.
Bonita looks at him.
Eric: Is Jill coming?
Todd: What do you think?
Eric: I saw her today she said maybe, maybe not.
Todd: Please. She’s coming.
He has a drink of his beer.
Bonita: Who’s gonna clean this up in the morning?
Todd: Go watch TV Bonita.
Bonita walks off. Jill and Melanie walk out of the house behind the two boys. Eric turns and sees them.
Eric: There she is.
Jill walks up to Todd. He turns.
Todd: Hi gorgeous.
They kiss. Melanie looks at them. They pull apart and look out over the back garden.
Cut to later. The party’s over. The camera pans over the swimming pool and back garden and over to the tennis court. The camera closes in on Jill at the bottom of the court. She is dead, with blood around her mouth.
Cut to present day Philadelphia. Legend: Philadelphia 2003. Soul Searching by Soul Hooligan plays over the scene. The camera pans over various neighbourhoods, mainly rough areas, with houses boarded up. ‘Cold Case’ appears over the scene.
Cut to a certain area of the bad lands, outside a small restaurant. The area is a crime scene. There is yellow tape around the restaurant and police cars all around. Detective Lilly Rush walks under the tape and stands outside. An unmarked car shows up with its sirens wailing. Detective Chris Lassing exits the car and looks around. He walks over to Lilly. The music fades.
Chris: What’d we get?
Lilly: A triple.
They walk into the restaurant.
Lilly: You writing?
Chris: Yeah.
There is a police officer stood by the bar area.
Officer: Hey. How you doing detectives?
Lilly comments on what she sees as they slowly make their way to the back of the place. Chris writes what she comments on.
Lilly: Trash still here. Chairs on the floor, they hadn’t closed yet.
Detective Nick Vera has walked in behind them.
Nick: Eight years on the line, never had a trip.
Lilly: Last store(?) gets the action.
Nick: This an overnighter?
The camera pans over the bar area, which hasn’t been cleared.
Lilly: The kid who opens up found them this morning.
Officer: It looked like a steady robbery.
Nick: I’ll talk to the scene man kid.
Lilly: Register’s raided, let’s get it dusted.
Nick and Lilly stop in a doorway at the back of the restaurant.
Lilly: It’s a bad case of death.
The camera turns and we see a woman, a man and a young man all dead in a bathroom stall. The man and woman are lay on the floor; the young man is slumped against the wall. There are blood streaks all over the white walls.
Nick: All three sh*t, her throat’s cut.
Lilly nods.
Lilly: Doers got a g*n, why’s he gotta slit her throat too?
Officer: Um, detective?
Nick turns to look at him, exasperated.
Officer: When you dust the register…
Lilly turns to him.
Lilly: We might find your prints?
He swallows and nods slightly. Nick starts walking towards him.
Nick: That’s why we keep our hands full. Alright I’m knocking on some doors.
Lilly: We boring you in here?
Nick laughs.
Nick: Stillman called, uh, there’s a civilian down at Central wants to talk to you.
Lilly: Me?
Nick shrugs.
Nick: Asked for a lady in homicide.
Chris smiles a little at Lilly. She looks at them then looks down.
Cut to outside Philadelphia police department.
Cut to inside. Lilly holds her badge up to the security guard as she walks past. As she walks in Lieutenant John Stillman joins her.
John: I hear you were in the badlands?
Lilly: Della’s Chicken and Ribs. What’s the deal with this civilian?
John looks at her.
John: Civilian?
Lilly takes the cup of coffee that John’s holding.
Lilly: Probably some nut job. Vera said that she uh…
John: (interrupts) I told Vera to deal with her.
They stop walking.
Lilly: I’ve been on since midnight, I’ve got three murders to solve and he’s pawning his dog calls off on me?
She has a drink of the coffee.
John: I know Lil.
She hands the cup back to him.
Lilly: He is one pain in the ass, boss.
John: Yeah, look she’s right outside. Just chase her demons away, you’re triple’s not gonna go anywhere alright?
Lilly: You better give Vera some hell.
She walks off.
John: Like it would do any good.
He smiles and walks off.
Cut to outside the police department. Lilly walks up to an older Bonita.
Lilly: Detective Rush, homicide.
Bonita: You do murders?
Lilly: I investigate murders.
Bonita: I want to tell you about one.
Lilly: What’s your name?
Bonita: Bonita. Bonita Rafaela.
Lilly: You been smoking some pot today, Bonita?
Bonita: Helps with the pain. I’ve got cancer.
Lilly: Sorry.
Bonita: I saw a m*rder.
Lilly just stares at her.
Bonita: A girl was k*lled on a tennis court.
Lilly: Where’s the court?
Bonita: Chestnut Hill. At the house where I used to work.
Flashback to a younger Bonita sat on her bed, drinking out of a class.
Bonita: (Voiceover) The boys were having a party.
She hears a boy shouting outside and then a girl screaming. She walks to the window and sees a boy hitting something on the ground. She puts her hand over her mouth in shock.
Bonita: (Voiceover) He hit her over and over and over and over.
End of flashback. Resume to present.
Lilly: You didn’t call the police?
Bonita: I went to bed. I thought it wasn’t my business.
Lilly: A girl dying wasn’t your business?
Bonita shakes her head.
Lilly: And when did this happen?
Bonita: In 1976.
Lilly: 1976 Bonita?
Bonita nods.
Lilly: Twenty seven years ago and you’re just telling this now?
Bonita: I had a son. I needed to work. But now I have this cancer.
Cut to the storage room. The camera pans along all the old box files of previous cases until it rests on Lilly looking at the box of the case. John walks in. He rubs his hand over the top of an old box and looks at the dust that comes off.
John: Something die in here?
Lilly looks round.
Lilly: These cases. The timing adds up. Jill Shelby beaten at a neighbour’s house, found the next morning, case was never solved.
John: Like the rest of these jobs.
Lilly sighs.
Lilly: But now we got a witness.
John: Are you saying we should open a twenty seven year old case, Lil?
Lilly: There’s new direction.
John: Witnesses from that long ago are gonna be pretty shaky.
Lilly: Maybe. But then again time could be on our side. People who wouldn’t talk then might be willing too now. Look at this maid.
John: Mm-hmm.
Lilly: I mean time passes, people’s loyalties and circumstances change.
John: Do you believe this maid?
Lilly: Yeah. I do.
The camera moves up so that we’re looking down on Lilly and John from an upper level, through the floor. John puts his glasses on and looks at the file.
John: I don’t know the assigned detective.
He flips a page and finds the name.
John: Britt.
Lilly: I bet Jeffries does.
We see the front of the file with H 76 – 391 Shelby, J. written on the front.
Cut to Lilly looking at a picture of Jill Shelby at her desk. Detective Will Jeffries is stood over her.
Will: Britt was top shelf. Got k*lled in Camden trying to pick up a fugitive.
John is stood next to them.
John: So he’s not the reason the job went cold?
Will shakes his head.
Will: Uh-uh.
He is looking at a picture of her alive and a crime scene photo of her dead.
Will: I remember this one. Made him crazy. The girl’s mother would come in year after year. Britt never had anything for her.
Lilly nods.
Lilly: Who’d he look at for the doer?
Will: The two brothers. One being her boyfriend. Uh, live in cook made the list.
We see a picture of a young Todd.
Will: And of course some folks thought a g*ng of black kids must of come up to Chestnut Hill that night.
John: The boyfriend is top pick?
Will: It was rumoured that he had been violent with her.
Lilly holds a picture up of him.
Lilly: Uh, Todd Whitley?
Will: Oh yeah. Cocky little jerk as I recall. From a society family.
Lilly turns the photo round and looks at it.
Will: No-one would talk about those boys. No man is too powerful. Put up walls a brick couldn’t even get past.
Lilly: Someone should read the job again. Maybe those walls are shakier now.
John nods and looks at Lilly.
John: How about you?
Lilly: I got a job. But Vera might get a sense of achievement out of it.
John: You spoke to the maid, Lil.
Lilly: Only ‘cause he stuck me with her.
John leans over to her.
John: This job deserves another look. Now Vera doesn’t have the type of personality to get anywhere with society people.
Lilly sighs and looks again at the picture of the dead girl.
Lilly: You give Vera my triple, you’re gonna find him in Della’s freezer.
Cut to the picture of Jill alive.
Cut to Lilly walking into a house. We get glimpses of different children doing different activities. A woman walks past Lilly.
Lilly: Excuse me is Evelyn Shelby here?
The woman shrugs and walks off. An older woman walks out of a room.
Evelyn: I’m Evelyn.
Lilly walks over to her.
Lilly: Hi.
She holds her hand out.
Lilly: Lilly Rush.
They shake hands.
Evelyn: How’d you find this house?
Lilly: Well I’m a detective.
She shows her her badge.
Lilly: Homicide.
Evelyn: Is it about someone who stayed here?
She walks over to put the box she’s carrying on a table.
Lilly: No, uh, it’s about your daughter.
Evelyn looks up and turns round to Lilly. She smiles slightly.
Lilly: A witness has come forward in her case, someone who worked in the neighbourhood.
Evelyn nods.
Evelyn: So you don’t know anything?
She starts to walk away.
Lilly: We have new direction.
Evelyn turns back to her.
Evelyn: Look, I came into homicide every August for over twenty years. Eventually I figured out that Detective Britt was too much of a gentleman to tell me to stop coming. That her case would never be solved. You can only hope so long.
Lilly: So I should just forget about Jill?
Lilly starts walking towards the door. She turns back to Evelyn.
Lilly: How about Todd Whitley? Should I forget him too?
Evelyn: Todd was lovely to Jill.
She walks toward Lilly. Lilly turns away from her.
Lilly: Really? I hear he knocked her around.
She faces Evelyn.
Lilly: What’s lovely about that?
Evelyn: I still see Todd Whitley. And Melanie. They’re married now.
Lilly: Melanie?
She opens her folder.
Lilly: Jill’s best friend?
Evelyn: They became close after she d*ed. And I’m not interested in stirring up more accusations against him.
Lilly smiles.
Lilly: Well I’m re-opening the case.
Evelyn: I’m not saying don’t do your job. It’s just that no-one's been able to solve it after all these years. And, and, and I just can’t get pulled in again.
She walks away leaving Lilly to stare after her.
Cut to the American flag flying on top of the police department.
Cut to Homicide.
Lilly: What kind of person doesn’t want to solve her daughter’s m*rder?
John: Someone in a lot of pain.
Lilly: Well she won’t help me with Todd, she thinks he’s a golden boy and the best friend’s married to him.
John: That’s a tight inner circle.
Lilly: So if Jill’s own mom isn’t on board, who’s this for?
John holds up the picture of Jill. Chris steps into frame putting his coat on.
Chris: (To Lilly) You working a dead case instead of our triple?
Lilly points to John.
Lilly: Talk to him.
Chris looks at John.
John: Unsolved isn’t dead, Lass. And she’s got direction, don’t you?
Chris walks to his desk.
Lilly: Yeah I also got three murders at this restaurant.
John: Alright, who else can you go to on this?
Lilly: Well not Melanie. So I guess that leaves the brothers.
John: And what was the party line on the abuse?
Lilly: The party line was don’t talk to the cops.
Nick walks past.
Nick: We’re out on the street boss.
John: Right.
Chris: (To Lilly) Neighbourhood survey on Della’s. You coming or not?
Lilly: Let me just work with this one for one more interview, then I’m back.
She smiles.
Chris: Great.
He leaves.
John: Alright, what’s your play with the brothers?
Lilly: Well Todd’s a superstar lawyer now. Eric is more of a fringe case. Divorced, drinking problem, doesn’t exactly work.
John: Sounds like he’s your first stop.
He gets up and walks away. The camera pans over Lilly’s shoulder and we see a picture of a young Eric.
Cut to outside Eric’s house, day. There is a black Mercedes parked outside. Lilly walks up and looks inside the car. Eric walks out of the house with a briefcase and sees Lilly. Lilly looks at him. When we go back to Eric, younger Eric is stood there. There’s a small flash and older Eric’s back.
Lilly: Eric?
Eric: Yeah.
Lilly holds her badge up.
Lilly: Detective Rush.
Eric: I’m heading out, I have a meeting.
He starts walking to his car.
Lilly: Uh, there’s a one o’clock in Old City.
He stops.
Eric: It’s not that kinda meeting.
Lilly: Oh.
He starts walking again.
Lilly: Um, uh, it’ll just take a few minutes. It’s about Jill Shelby.
He stops again.
Lilly: You were in school with her right? Chelsea Day?
He turns back to her.
Eric: I can’t talk to you.
Lilly: How come?
Eric: They treated me and my brothers like suspects back then.
Lilly: Well it was an open secret Todd was hitting Jill.
Eric: He loved Jill.
Lilly sighs.
Lilly: Well people hit people they love.
She shrugs. Eric shakes his head.
Eric: I shouldn’t say anymore.
He walks to his car door.
Lilly: Maybe you could just tell me what she was like.
Eric looks at her.
Eric: She was nice. When you were alone with her at least.
Lilly: When you weren’t alone?
Eric: I don’t wanna speak ill of the dead.
Lilly: Aw, it’s okay I hear it everyday.
Eric shrugs.
Eric: She’d ignore you.
Lilly: She ignore you that night?
Eric: She was at her worse at parties.
Flashback to the party. A group of people are playing spin the bottle including Jill, Melanie and Eric. Melanie spins the bottle and it lands on a boy named Charlie. You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate plays over the scene.
Melanie: I see dollar signs already Charlie.
They kiss. Eric watches Jill watching Melanie and Charlie. Melanie pulls away.
Melanie: That was a fifty dollar value.
She laughs.
Charlie: Thank you.
Jill spins and it lands on Eric.
Melanie: C’mon Jill, tell us what a kiss from Eric’s worth.
Jill looks at Eric.
Jill: I can’t. He’s Todd’s brother.
Eric: You’ve already kissed two other guys.
Jill: I’m not into it.
Melanie looks at Eric.
Melanie: Come here Eric.
She crawls over and kisses him. He looks at Jill throughout the kiss. Melanie moves away. Jill smiles and laughs. The music fades. End of flashback. Resume to present.
Lilly: So she was kind of a bitch to you that night?
Eric shakes his head.
Eric: She didn’t mean it.
He shrugs.
Eric: It’s just the way she got sometimes.
Lilly nods.
Eric: Anyway, um, I need to go.
Lilly: Oh.
He opens his car door.
Lilly: Did you letter in high school? You look kind of athletic.
Eric: One year. Wrestling.
He gets in his car and closes the door.
Cut to the outside of an old building.
Cut to Todd’s office inside the building. Lilly meets with Todd Whitley.
Todd: Todd Whitley.
Lilly: Lilly Rush.
They shake hands.
Todd: Have a seat Lilly.
She looks at some medals on the wall and some pictures of people rowing.
Lilly: Who’d you row for?
They sit down.
Todd: Uh, Chelsea Day then Penn. I’m still in the water most mornings.
Lilly: Impressive.
She opens her folder.
Todd: This is about Eric I assume?
Lilly goes with it.
Lilly: You don’t seem too shocked he might be in trouble.
Todd: Patterns of behaviour, right?
Lilly smiles. She puts the picture of Jill on the table.
Lilly: Recognise her?
He looks at the picture.
Todd: What is this?
Lilly: A homicide investigation.
Todd: Look that was painful for a lot of people. I suggest you leave it alone.
Lilly: I can’t do that. It’s an open case.
Todd: Why did someone like you become a cop?
Lilly sighs.
Lilly: Oh bad education, limited talent…
She smiles. He smiles back at her.
Todd: You should be married.
He smiles widely.
Todd: Living the good life.
Lilly laughs.
Lilly: Well no-one ever asked.
Todd nods.
Lilly: So here I am working a homicide.
Todd: Well as I told the cops at the time I was with my brother all night.
Lilly: Actually a lawyer told them that in a statement three weeks later.
Young Todd is now sat in Todd’s seat.
Young Todd: So?
Flash back to Todd. Lilly shrugs.
Todd: Look my father owned half of Philadelphia.
He laughs and Lilly nods for him to go on.
Todd: People liked to see families like ours in trouble. We hired a lawyer. Maybe your kind of people don’t do that. Mine do.
Lilly blinks, smiles a little and looks down before looking back at Todd.
Lilly: Even if there’s nothing to hide?
Todd: I can’t help you anymore.
He gets up and walks back to his desk.
Lilly: I, uh, understand you’re married to Melanie now.
Todd: She can’t help you either.
Lilly: Do you still have a problem with v*olence?
She stands up.
Lilly: I know you once hit Jill hard enough to give her, uh, three stitches in all.
Todd: Everyone knew the cops had it in for me over Jill. They were wrong then, you are wrong now.
Lilly: Ever hit Melanie?
Todd: Alright Lilly.
He walks up close to her.
Todd: You’re right. Someone did b*at the crap out of Jill on a regular basis but it wasn’t me. Her father was a real son of a bitch.
Lilly stares at him. After a b*at he walks back to his desk as he walks away Lilly looks him up and down.
Cut to Evelyn walking to her house. Lilly is stood outside.
Evelyn: You sure know how to find people.
Lilly: I thought you’d still be living in Chestnut Hill.
Evelyn: I like the city.
Lilly smiles.
Evelyn: Did you find something?
Lilly: Autopsy reports and medical records.
Evelyn: And?
Lilly: I just don’t understand these injuries Jill had before she d*ed.
Evelyn: Injuries?
Lilly: Broken rib when she was twelve, uh, a concussion, a jaw fracture at nine years old? What’s the deal?
Evelyn smiles.
Evelyn: Well she played field hockey and soccer.
Lilly looks at her disbelievingly.
Lilly: Uh-huh.
Evelyn: She was very active.
Lilly: Evelyn my ex-husband was a mean drunk. I know the difference between a soccer injury and a trip down the stairs. Did your husband b*at your daughter?
Evelyn: He was in Houston the night she d*ed.
Lilly: That wasn’t my question.
Evelyn: He’s been dead nine years.
Lilly looks at her pad.
Lilly: And now you work at a shelter for battered women and children.
Evelyn sees the picture of Jill in Lilly’s hand.
Evelyn: Where did you get that?
Lilly hands it to her.
Lilly: The case file.
Evelyn looks at the picture for a b*at before looking up at Lilly.
Evelyn: I took this picture.
She sits down on the step outside her front door.
Lilly: I don’t see how you can just forget her Evelyn.
Evelyn: Forget? I think about her everyday. This ruined my life.
Lilly: Then it still matters.
Evelyn shakes her head.
Evelyn: I-I can’t look back it’s too hard.
She hands the photo back to Lilly.
Lilly: So, so you sell your Chestnut Hill house, pack up your old life and-and think you can just walk away? You can’t walk away from her Evelyn. She’s a part of you. There’s new hope now.
Evelyn: And what if you don’t solve it? Where does that leave me?
Lilly: What if I do solve it?
The two women simply stare at each other.
Cut to Todd and Melanie’s house. Evelyn and Lilly walk up to the front door. Evelyn opens the outer gate and knocks. We see Melanie arranging flowers. She turns to open the door. When the door opens, it is younger Melanie at the door. There is a flash and older Melanie is back.
Melanie: My husband doesn’t want me talking to you.
Lilly: Todd doesn’t want you helping with your best friend’s m*rder investigation?
Melanie: I thought we put this to rest.
Evelyn: It’s important to me Melanie.
Short time cut to inside Todd’s house. Lilly interviews Evelyn and Melanie.
Lilly: So you came to the party with Jill but left alone?
Melanie: I drank too much. I had to go home and I couldn’t find her.
Lilly: You made a big point in your interview that you were sure it wasn’t Todd.
Melanie: The detective made a big point of asking about it.
Evelyn: He was fixated on the Whitley’s but barely looked at Tim Dorn.
Lilly: This is the cook?
Evelyn: He lived in our guest house and he was with the girls that night.
Melanie: When we left for the party he told Jill she should come by later if she wanted. When I heard she was missing the next day Tim was the first person I thought of.
Cut to outside the police department.
Cut to homicide.
Lilly: All this information and I got one page on the guy the mother and best friend think did it.
Chris: You gotta listen to the best friend. Teenage girls tell each other everything.
He rolls his shirt up and injects himself with something.
Lilly: Well Britt wrote two sentences on him then blew him off.
Chris looks up at her. She shows him the pad she’s reading.
Chris: It’s hard to tell if he even worked the mard(?) note.
Lilly: Especially when he had it out for Todd.
Chris nods and Lilly sighs.
Lilly: Dorn’s up in Frackville.
Chris: Locked up?
Lilly puts her coat on.
Chris: Why do you think he’s gonna talk to you?
She shrugs.
Lilly: I’m an optimist.
Chris: Lil I got a wife at home.
Lilly: You don’t have to come. You think it’s a dead case.
He looks at the clock.
Chris: Let me just call her.
Cut to Frackville. Lilly and Chris interview Tim Dorn.
Chris: Five years for forgery.
Tim: I got a facility for it, gets me into trouble.
Lilly: You ever dabble in more serious crime?
Tim: Like the v*olence done to Jill Shelby? No ma’am. I’m strictly a cerebral criminal.
Chris: Pretty attractive wasn’t she?
Tim: She was pretty cute for a girl.
He looks at Chris seductively.
Lilly: You did tell her to come over that night.
Tim: She came over a lot. To get high. She and her little vixen friend, that Melanie.
Lilly: So that little vixen thinks that you k*lled Jill.
Tim scoffs.
Tim: Well if you marry the prime suspect I guess you better point to someone else.
Chris: Jill’s mom also thinks you did it.
Tim: A woman lives in a certain world, if the shining neighbour boy k*lled her daughter, that world’s a lie.
Lilly: Britt has your alibi down here as going to bed at ten o’clock.
Tim: I guess he must of kept his word.
He laughs a little.
Tim: Actually I was with a, uh, friend that night.
Chris: What friend?
Tim: Bobby Jordan. This big luscious college boy down the street.
Lilly looks at Chris.
Tim: Neither of us was exactly out and proud at the time so we asked Britt not to document the sleepover.
Chris: Bobby’s gonna confirm that?
Tim: Well I imagine he’s come to terms by now.
Lilly: Did Jill ever talk to you about Todd?
Tim: Oh sure, those girls told me everything.
Chris: Like what?
Tim: Teenage drama. They even told me things they didn’t tell each other. Like all the while Jill was fretting that Todd doesn’t treat her right, Melanie was doing him on the side.
He looks at Lilly. Lilly thinks about it and looks at Chris.
Fade Out.
Fade in on a statue in Todd Whitley’s front garden. Lilly and Chris walk in through the gate. Melanie is sat on the grass playing with two children, when she sees Chris and Lilly walking towards her she stands up.
Melanie: You can’t be here.
Lilly: Gate was open. My partner Chris Lassing.
Chris: How you doing?
Melanie: Todd is furious at you.
Lilly looks at Chris and back.
Lilly: Uh-oh.
Melanie: Thanks to you his brother came here last night. Drunk. After six years being sober.
Chris and Lilly share a glance.
Lilly: Eric did?
Melanie: Look I’ve told you about Tim Dorn, why do you have to keep bothering us?
Chris: Dorn’s alibi checked out. We know about you and Todd stepping out on Jill back then.
Melanie: I-I-I don’t have to talk to you.
She turns and starts walking back to the house.
Lilly: We have to arrest you?
Melanie stops.
Chris: You don’t want that lady. You should see our holding cell; your headband’ll get all dirty.
He smirks. She turns to them.
Melanie: Why does this matter?
Lilly: ‘Cause when you tell us one lie Melanie, even if it’s small, that makes us think you’re hiding other things.
Chris: Like whatever Todd did to Jill that night.
Melanie: It wasn’t Todd, okay? I know because I was with him that night.
Flashback to Melanie, Todd, Eric and Jill sat round the Whitley’s pool. I’m Not in Love by 10CC plays over the scene.
Todd: (To Jill) That is some top.
Jill flips her hair back so he can look at it better. It is a halter-top.
Jill: It’s new.
Todd: You look like a, uh…
Jill smiles.
Jill: What?
Todd: A patriotic streetwalker.
Todd laughs.
Jill: It was in Seventeen.
She scoffs, looks away, then gets up and walks away. Eric gets up off his chair to watch her go. He looks down at Todd.
Eric: Why do you have to be a jerk?
Todd: Why don’t you go and comfort her?
Eric walks off the way Jill went, leaving Melanie and Todd alone.
Melanie: You know you could use some time in charm school.
Todd: Could I?
Melanie: I could give you a tutorial.
She looks at him.
Melanie: Upstairs.
Todd: What about Jill?
Melanie looks away and raises her eyebrows.
Melanie: What about her?
She smirks. The music fades. End of flashback. Resume to present.
Melanie: I’m obviously not proud of it.
Chris: It sounds like Eric had pretty strong feelings for Jill.
Melanie: So?
Chris: So why’d he fall off the wagon just cause Jill’s name came up?
Cut to a rowing club in a park.
Cut to Lilly hiding behind a tree. She peeps out looking for somebody. She sees Todd Whitley leaving the rowing club. Lilly has a drink of her water and starts breathing really fast. She dabs some water on her chest and face. She starts running and throws the water away as she passes a bin. She runs over to Todd. He stops walking when he sees her.
Lilly: Two million people in this city, I gotta run into you.
Todd: You think I’m thrilled seeing you?
Lilly holds her hands up.
Lilly: Alright look I’m sorry if I was obnoxious at all in your office.
Todd: More than obnoxious.
Lilly: It’s just the way that you were looking out for Eric it was…
She keeps breathing like she’s out of breath and makes it look like she’s trying to catch her breath.
Lilly: I hear he’s drinking again.
Todd: Don’t talk about Eric.
Lilly: Todd I know that you were with Melanie that night.
Todd: Excuse me?
Lilly: Which doesn’t add up with you saying you were with Eric so I figure that you just said that to protect him.
Todd: Okay let’s say that I was with Melanie that night; you can understand why I wouldn’t want the entire world knowing that, right?
Lilly: Right.
She nods.
Lilly: So why not just say that you were sleeping? Why give Eric an alibi?
Todd: You should drop this.
Lilly: Eric did it. That’s why you can sleep at night and have a normal life and he’s a mess.
Todd: You should just watch it.
Lilly: When did the hard drinking start? After he k*lled her?
Todd: I can make your life very difficult.
Lilly: Eric kills Jill, you clean up after him, brother’s keeper ever since. Am I close?
Todd: Tell me something Lilly. What is the point of all of this? After so many years?
Lilly: People shouldn’t be forgotten. Even if they are my kind of people. Maybe they don’t have a lotta money, they don’t have lawyers but they matter. They should get justice too.
Todd nods.
Todd: I see. You’re a crusader.
Lilly: I guess I am.
Todd laughs.
Todd: Good luck.
He walks away leaving Lilly to stare after him.
Cut to outside the Philadelphia police department. It fades to night.
John: (Voiceover) So is sleep like an optional thing for you?
Cut to homicide. Lilly is sat at her desk.
Lilly: I’m not tired.
John nods.
John: Guess who weighed in on your case today.
Lilly thinks for a minute.
Lilly: Uh… the Commissioner?
John doesn’t say anything. Lilly is stunned.
Lilly: The Commissioner?
John: Apparently he and the Whitley’s father were college pals.
Lilly: Todd called Bradley to tattle on me? What a baby.
John: And now Bradley’s wondering when you’re going back on the line.
Lilly: He couldn’t pick me out of a line-up suddenly he’s tracking my career? Screw him.
John: Don’t say that too loud in this building.
Lilly: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nick Vera walks up to her desk. He gives her a cup of coffee.
Nick: Rush your boyfriend’s downstairs.
Lilly: I’m single. You sure it’s not your boyfriend?
She has a drink of her coffee.
Nick: One of the Whitley’s. Booked for DUI.
Lilly looks from Nick to John. She gets up and walks out.
Cut to another part of the building. Lilly meets with Eric who is starting to leave.
Lilly: You crash that nice car of yours Eric?
Eric: Thanks to you.
Lilly scoffs.
Lilly: I had something to do with it? All I did was bring up Jill, why’s that send you on a bender?
Eric: My brother called our lawyer who called the Commissioner.
Lilly nods.
Eric: He’s a very close family friend.
Lilly: I heard all about it.
Eric: Then why don’t you take a hint and back off?
He walks away. Lilly calls after him.
Lilly: ‘Cause something tells me you and I are one scotch away from a good conversation.
Lilly walks away in the opposite direction to Eric.
Cut to a police car pulling up outside the building the next day.
Cut to Lilly walking into homicide. Will is stood near the door looking through a filing cabinet.
Will: Hey Lil.
Lilly: Hey.
Will: Hey. Lassing’s in with Evelyn Shelby.
Lilly: Huh.
She walks further into homicide towards the interview room, putting her bag on a chair as she walks past.
Cut to the interview room. Lilly and Chris are sat with Evelyn. Evelyn is opening a box.
Evelyn: I kept my own box on Jill. It’s been packed away for years. I thought maybe it could help.
Lilly: Good.
Evelyn: Melanie told me about her and Todd in high school, behind Jill’s back.
Lilly pulls some pictures out of the box of Melanie and Jill.
Lilly: Well she was only fifteen.
Evelyn smiles at Lilly.
Chris: Mrs. Shelby it looks like we’re closing in on Eric Whitley.
Evelyn: The younger one?
Chris: Yeah. Well he doesn’t have an alibi for that night and, uh, he was pretty sick in love with your daughter.
Evelyn: I was looking at her yearbook and I remember this boy.
She opens the yearbook to a certain page with a picture of a boy on.
Evelyn: Ann Winters' son. A few years after Jill d*ed; he said something to Ann about the Whitley’s getting away with m*rder.
Chris looks at Lilly. Lilly sighs.
Lilly: Why isn’t this in the file?
Evelyn: Well it should be. John told it to the police.
Chris: What’s the kid’s name?
Evelyn: Charlie Winters.
Chris scratches his head.
Lilly: If Britt talked to him I’d have a record of it. He was meticulous.
Chris: Well are you sure your husband mentioned it to Britt?
Evelyn: He told me he did.
Lilly: Could he have lied Evelyn?
Evelyn: Well I don’t know I mean I hounded him about it. He said it came to nothing, that I should stop bringing it up, stop pointing fingers at the Whitley’s.
Chris: They were a powerful family.
Evelyn smiles and nods slightly. She looks at Lilly.
Evelyn: I guess we both know what it’s like to have a husband fail you.
Chris looks at Lilly, surprised. Lilly smiles and looks at Chris out of the corner of her eye. Lilly leans forward and grasps Evelyn’s hand.
Lilly: We’ll find Charlie Winters, Evelyn. We’ll talk to him and we’ll let you know what he says.
Evelyn nods. Chris looks at Lilly and Lilly leans back in her chair.
Fade Out.
Fade In on a car driving up through woodland. It passes a sign that reads:
Clear Vista
Meditation Retreat
Quiet Please.
Cut to a clearing in the woods. People are doing meditation exercises. Lilly and Chris walk into the clearing and up to the group. Charlie Winters is stood observing the group. He turns, sees Lilly and Chris and walks over to them. The camera shows Lilly and Chris walking to meet him. The camera goes back and a younger Charlie is walking to them. There is a flash and present day Charlie is back.
Charlie: Uh, thanks for coming out. I can’t really leave the retreat.
Lilly nods and smiles.
Lilly: Sure. It’s about Jill Shelby.
Charlie: So now you wanna hear?
Lilly nods.
Lilly: Yeah. You told the cops you didn’t see anything.
Charlie: Yeah at first.
He glances behind him.
Charlie: And then I came to the Shelby’s with some good information. And I got the brush off.
Chris: Did you come stoned in your VW van?
Charlie: So?
Lilly: Charlie, Evelyn Shelby’s the one who told us about you.
Charlie: Screw Evelyn Shelby okay? I tried to help her years ago. She wouldn’t hear it.
Lilly: Your right Charlie but she’s not afraid now and we wanna hear.
Charlie sighs and nods.
Charlie: Okay.
Charlie: I was um…
Flashback to the night of the party.
Charlie: (Voiceover) …kinda passed out on a lounge chair.
Eric and Todd walk in behind a passed out Charlie.
Todd: Shut up.
Eric: (Upset) How could this happen?
Todd: Just shut up.
Eric: Why’d you have to wear this?
Todd: What?
Eric: It’s ruined.
We see Charlie watching them from under his hat. The brothers are arguing about a jacket that they’re both holding.
Todd: That’s what you were thinking about, that stupid jacket? Just leave things to me.
Todd walks off and we see a tennis racket in his hand. Eric is holding the jacket to his face, it has blood on it.
Charlie: (Voiceover) So they got in their car and left.
End of flashback. Resume to present.
Charlie: And I just got the hell out of there.
Lilly: Why did Eric care so much about the jacket?
Charlie: There was this, uh, one year that Eric did wrestling and Todd couldn’t wrestle to save his life.
He laughs a little.
Charlie: I think it was the only thing that he could do better than Todd.
Lilly nods.
Cut to Lilly walking up to a school, where parents are picking their children up. She walks up to Melanie putting her children in her car.
Lilly: I need a couple of minutes. I, I have to tell you something that is gonna be hard to here. Todd was seen with the m*rder w*apon that night.
Melanie: But I was with him.
Lilly: You were asleep after drinking all night. He could of got out of bed later.
Melanie: This is the father of my children.
Lilly: He was involved with the m*rder Melanie. That’s someone that you don’t know very well.
Melanie shakes her head.
Melanie: Well maybe he was just covering up for Eric.
Lilly: Even if that’s all he did, that’s accessory to m*rder.
Melanie thinks about it. She looks away for a minute and then looks back.
Melanie: I wanna tell you something. But if I do I can’t go home.
Lilly nods.
Lilly: I can help you with that.
Melanie: They’re talking every night. They’re arguing. Todd keeps telling Eric to stay away from Tabby’s.
Lilly: What’s that?
Melanie: They have an aunt, Tabitha. She has a house in Chestnut Hill. It was-it was close to where we all used to live.
Lilly: Pack a bag for you and the kids. You’re coming with me.
Cut to Lilly walking through the police car park later that night. She gets her car keys out of her pocket. Todd steps out in front of her.
Todd: Hey.
Lilly is startled.
Todd: Where’s my wife?
Lilly walks close to him.
Lilly: Safe.
She starts to walk past him but he grabs her arm. She jumps away from him.
Todd: You bitch. You tell me where she is.
Lilly laughs.
Lilly: Is this how you handle women you can’t control? Is this supposed to scare me?
Todd: It’s supposed to make you think.
Lilly: I’m not like the girls you’re used to, Todd. You can’t try to charm me, then when that doesn’t work talk down to me. Then when that doesn’t work get aggressive. I’m not Jill or Melanie. I’m the police and we’re at the police headquarters you moron.
Todd steps close to her.
Todd: You’re gonna talk to me like that?
Lilly: What’re you gonna do? k*ll me in the parking lot of Central? You think you’ll get away with it again? (Whispers) I know about Tabby’s. (Normal) I’ll have a warrant tomorrow and guys are sitting on it right now. Whatever you hid there, we’re about to find it. (Whispers) So it’s over.
Todd: Okay.
He takes a step away from her. He pauses for a moment.
Todd: I can’t protect him anymore.
He shakes his head.
Todd: I did as much as I could.
He shrugs.
Lilly: Why don’t you come in, give me a statement?
Todd: Okay.
They start walking towards the police building.
Cut to Todd sat in an interview room. Lilly and John watch him in the observation room. Lilly sighs.
Lilly: Flipped on his brother.
John looks at Todd.
John: Do you believe him?
She sighs.
Lilly: I don’t know. I’ve gotta find Eric.
Cut to a bar. Eric is sat there having a drink. Lilly walks up next to him and sits down. Eric looks at her and then does a double take as he realises who it is.
Lilly: No meeting tonight, huh?
Eric: Screw the meetings.
He nods to the bartender.
Lilly: (To the bartender) Scotch and soda.
Eric: Look I can’t talk to you. My brother chewed me out the day you came by.
Lilly bites her lip.
Lilly: Really? ‘Cause he’s been talking to me a lot.
Eric: Yeah well I guess he puts himself in a different category.
Lilly: Oh, he told me about you and Jill. How you were in love with her.
Eric: She was his girlfriend.
The bartender hands Lilly her drink. She picks it up.
Lilly: Oh she’d hang around with you when uh...
She has a drink.
Lilly: …no-one was around but drop you at the second Todd showed up.
Eric: Look I already told you that she was like that.
Lilly: And then he found you two together that night.
They stare at each other for a b*at.
Eric: Look I said that I couldn’t talk to you.
He has a drink.
Lilly: What happened to your letter jacket, Eric?
Eric: I don’t know. (To bartender) Another.
Lilly: I don’t think there’s time for another. I have to arrest you.
Eric looks at her.
Lilly: He told me you did it and that you came to him for help afterwards and you two buried the jacket at your aunt’s house.
Eric: Why would I k*ll her?
Lilly: Because she humiliated you. She accused you of watching them.
Eric: Oh my God. So he’s pinning it on me now?
Lilly: It’s his story against yours. And you’re the problem drunk who never got his life together so if you have anything to give me, you should do it now.
Eric: Look he ruined my jacket. He got his blood all over it. Hers too.
Lilly stares at him, thinking.
Lilly: You didn’t throw it out, did you?
He shakes his head.
Eric: And Jill didn’t humiliate me. He did.
Flashback to Jill and Eric kissing on a bench in the tennis court, the night of the party. Todd walks on to the court wearing Eric’s jacket. He walks behind them and leans in next to Jill’s ear.
Todd: Hi gorgeous.
Jill jumps up off the bench.
Jill: Where were you?
Todd: Well you can’t really ask me that.
Eric: That’s my jacket.
He stands up.
Todd: So you finally got a taste of her, huh? Now you have something real to jack off to.
Jill: Todd!
Todd: Have you seen him in the window watching us have sex?
Jill looks at Eric.
Eric: That’s crazy.
Todd: Up in the tree with his hand down his pants.
Jill: Stop. Please.
Todd: Well you’re the one who just screwed him.
Jill: I didn’t screw him. Give me some credit.
Todd and Eric both walk towards Jill and she backs away.
Todd: I saw you all pressed up to him.
Jill: Only because you were off with Melanie.
Todd: Just stop talking.
Jill: assh*le.
Todd: Bitch.
Eric: Don’t.
Todd: (To Eric) Shut up! You’re so pathetic.
He turns back to Jill.
Jill: And you’re such a prick.
Todd: You shut your mouth.
Jill: Screw you.
Todd: Hey slut! I said shut your mouth!
She gives him the finger. He backhands her across the face; she gasps and falls to the ground. She gets up and pushes her into the chain link fence. She falls over and curls up in a ball. He picks the tennis racket up at his feet and hits her repeatedly. Eric stands there watching him, shocked. End of flashback. Resume to present.
Cut to Eric in an interview room giving Lilly his statement. Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by Creedence Clearwater Revival plays over the following scenes.
Cut to the back garden of Tabitha’s house. Lilly, John and a photographer stand over a man kneeling over a hole in the ground. He pulls out the tennis racket.
Lyrics: Someone told me long ago
Lilly and John look down at the racket covered in blood.
Lyrics: There’s a calm before the storm I know
Cut to Todd in handcuffs being led out of his house by Lilly.
Lyrics: It’s been coming for some time / when it’s over so they say / it’ll rain a sunny day I know
Cut to outside police headquarters. There are lots of people outside. It’s pouring rain. The car pulls up with Todd in the back. This scene is all in slow motion.
Lyrics: Shining down like water
Lilly gets out of the car.
Lyrics: I wanna know / have you ever seen the rain?
She opens the back door and pulls a young Todd out.
Lyrics: I wanna know / have you ever seen the rain?
We see the flash of cameras as reporters take his picture.
Lyrics: Coming down a sunny day.
The camera cuts a little and present day Todd is back. He looks over and sees young Eric being helped out of another car by Chris.
Lyrics: Yesterday and days before
They walk up to Lilly and Todd and present day Eric is back.
Lyrics: Sun is cold and rain is hard I know
They lead the brothers into Central.
Lyrics: Been that way for all my time.
Lilly looks up at people stood on a little ledge watching the scene holding umbrellas. We see Bonita.
Lyrics: Till forever on it goes
We go back to Lilly and Chris.
Lyrics: Through the circle fast and slow I know
When Lilly looks back it is young Bonita watching her.
Lyrics: It can’t stop I wonder
Lilly continues to lead Todd inside. We see young Melanie watching him.
Lyrics: I wanna know
Someone walks in front of her. When they move, older Melanie is back.
Lyrics: Have you ever seen the rain? / I wanna know
Eric looks through the crowd and sees Evelyn watching him.
Lyrics: Have you ever seen the rain? / Coming down a sunny day
Lilly hands Todd to a police officer who takes him inside. Lilly looks at the crowd and sees Melanie and Evelyn stood together.
Lyrics: I wanna know / Have you ever seen the rain? / I wanna know / Have you ever seen the rain?
Lilly looks at another part of the crowd and sees Jill Shelby in the middle of some police officers.
Lyrics: Coming down a sunny day
Lilly blinks and looks back at her.
Fade to Blac
End Credits.