06x08 - The w*r at Home

[bunniefuu]

The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.

In New York City's w*r on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.

These are their stories.

Come in.

Hey, baby.

Listen, tomorrow after dinner, grandpa wants to take a family portrait, so You didn't have to press it.

Tell that to your father.

Oh, and you know what?

Maybe you could polish this a little bit?

I love you.

I'm so happy you're home.

Hi, babe.

- Is Amanda up yet?

- No.

I think she had a late night at Trisha's.

Amanda! Time to get up! Only four more hours till the Lions game.

Honey, tell her she's gotta make the stuffing.

I know some of you have two Thanksgivings today, so I want to thank everyone for being here.

My children, mother of my children, Todd.

Captain Ross.

The deputy commissioner's daughter?

Okay, I got it.

Bobby, if you see me get disoriented, or weak on one side, please call 911 and have them take me to a real hospital in the city, okay?

/ Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, captain.

Oh, god, I hate this place.

I hate this place! I'm with family, captain.

Captain, is there anybody else, please?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I know.

Good-bye.

Law & Order CI She left last night at 7 to go to her friend Trisha's house.

Trish told me they stayed in.

They had a meal.

And then Amanda left around 2 A.

M.

to come home.

Captain Ross mentioned your daughter is home from Iraq.

Which branch?

Army, specialist.

She was just awarded the bronze star.

A soldier home on leave.

Any chance she went into the city?

No.

Look, I know my daughter.

She would've called.

She never would've put her mother and me through this.

Come on, you know they have to ask these questions.

I know.

Detective, chief, Danny.

Elaine.

- Sorry about all this.

- I know.

We'll find Amanda.

Thank you.

Detective.

Thank you for coming.

Amanda's getting married?

Leland didn't mention?

Next weekend.

It's a small ceremony.

Nothing too traditional.

- Specialist Carlos Ruiz.

- Yeah.

- He was in Amanda's unit?

- No, no, in Afghanistan.

And neither one of them could get any time off for the honeymoon, so right after the wedding they were gonna go back to their separate assignment.

I got the phone company's CEO.

We'll be able to get Amanda's phone records today despite the holiday.

Well, while we're waiting for those, you two drop in on the hometown friend.

Maybe she told Dockerty the sort of story she knows a father wants to hear.

Excuse me.

Can you please stop that?

You and Amanda tied one on last night?

Instead of coming to my parents' house with me.

- We only had the one bottle.

- Here, let me help.

Sharing one bottle of wine usually make you sick?

Maybe I had some bad spinach.

And you and Amanda just stayed in all night?

Just two girls putting their feet up.

You don't seem too worried she hasn't made it home.

Amanda left here maybe later than 2.

She might've pulled over somewhere.

Slept it off.

And hopefully she'll wake up and get home in time for some pumpkin pie.

Chief.

Clear.

For now, we'll take it as good news.

Yeah.

Trish said that Amanda left her home at 2 in the morning.

Well, this lot would be empty at 2 A.

M.

Why park all the way over here?

A woman wouldn't.

She'd only park over here if the lot was full.

Unless she brought a friend.

You know, for a little privacy.

What are you implying, detective?

Amanda's getting married in a week.

We have to consider all possibilities, commissioner.

That's all.

There is another possibility that she could've left earlier.

She was here during peak travel time.

And Trisha's covering for her.

Commissioner, over here! It's Amanda's.

That's a dress purse.

This is what Amanda was carrying when she left your house?

No.

No, she had on a shoulder bag.

Not a purse.

Start a search of the perimeter.

Let's go, go, go! I wonder what this is.

Yeah, Dr.

Sylveste.

As soon as I can.

You're 20 minutes from Carmel ridge.

- Yeah.

- I'll cover for you.

All right.

All right, thanks.

Got something! Commissioner?

This look like Amanda's?

Yes, that's her shoe.

But she wasn't wearing that when she left the house.

Over here, another shoe! Amanda changed her clothes at my house.

A black dress and these shoes.

She didn't want her parents to know that we were going into the city.

We drove her to meet her friend.

Ashton.

Ashton have a last name?

No, but he had a rank.

He's a specialist like Amanda.

He serve in Iraq with her?

He did, but he's out now.

Amanda arranged for us to meet him here.

And then he drove us to the city.

Oh, my god! Where did you go, Trish?

A club in midtown.

Verve.

Amanda said that she needed to cut loose.

She have a thing with Ashton?

No.

Somehow, I ended up with Ashton.

I only had two Cosmos but I got wasted.

He took me to a motel.

When we left the club, Amanda was dancing with some guys.

That's all I remember.

This would've been good for us to hear the first time we talked to you.

I figured she hooked up.

I never thought that if anybody could take care of themselves, it would've been Amanda.

Yeah, it's, uh, the Verve.

It's a club.

It's got two different crowds.

It's got a bridge and tunnel and the m*llitary.

Look, I still got a buddy in CID.

I'll find out if he can give me a list of, uh / Bobby.

guys in her unit who live in that area.

All right.

I got it.

We'll find this Ashton guy.

Bobby, Bobby, Bobby.

I don't trust these people! Look, you got the head radiation technician coming in.

Oh, jeez! / And she'll give you the attention that you need.

Head technician?

Do you really think they're gonna bring in the head person?

/ Mom - On, on, on, on Thanksgiving day?

- Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

I mean, they'd be, they'd never, no, no, no.

They'd have some lackey they can push around! Captain.

This is it.

This is the last of her outfit.

So where's her body?

Get your partner back here.

He's needed.

So, Ashton.

The women soldiers in Iraq treated as equals?

Truth is, sir in Iraq, the guys put the female soldiers into two categories.

Sluts, if they slept around and b*tches if they didn't.

Amanda, which category did you put her in, Ashton?

I say this with respect, sir.

Amanda was a bitch.

But the way she was acting at the club last night You left her there alone.

Trish wasn't feeling well, sir.

I wanted to get her someplace safe.

Yeah, like a motel.

Yes, sir.

I didn't want to put her on a train in her condition and - I didn't want to drive in mine.

- Right.

Amanda, these guys that she was dancing with, they look m*llitary to you?

More like the guys who make your pizza.

These guys might've felt lead on.

See, out in the desert, even though the guys were always trying to score with the female soldiers, there was always respect.

We wore the same uniform.

But out here in the real world, it's every man for himself.

Amanda might've forgotten that.

Sex on the beach.

She had about six of them.

I took her for m*llitary the way she put them away.

When I tended bar, we cut people off if we thought they were losing control.

We get a lot of soldiers here straight from Iraq.

They deserve to forget themselves a little.

So, you can see what a shame it would be if Amanda managed to keep herself alive in Iraq only to get herself k*lled in her hometown.

Last time I noticed her, she was with a guy making out in the corner.

You catch a glimpse of his face?

All I saw of him was his hair.

A little shaggy.

Maybe a beard.

And he wore khakis, pressed.

You know, some of these guys, when they get out they grow their hair long.

It's an expression of freedom.

This guy could be ex-m*llitary.

Someone that she had an affair with in Iraq.

You said her buddy Ashton said she was pure as snow.

Yeah, he left in August.

They could've hooked up after that.

Chief.

The dogs go frantic when they sniff her clothes.

But they can't find her scent on the ground.

They just run around in circles.

Chief, you've combed every inch of these woods.

Trail's gone cold, you know?

I won't make that call.

No blood, no scent, no body.

Somebody scattered her clothes.

To make it look like something happened over there.

Amanda was stressed drinking, making out with a guy in a club.

She could've staged this and gone AWOL.

AWOL or a runaway bride.

Amanda's last call was at 6 P.

M.

to Ashton Rorick arranging to meet at the rest stop.

They went into the city together.

Trish and Ashton ended up spending the night at a hotel.

She's telling you this now?

Did Amanda have mixed feelings about going back to Iraq?

Are you, uh, insinuating that she staged this so she could go AWOL?

Who cares! Who cares! Lee, I just want my daughter to come home safe.

Amanda would not do that.

I talked to the bartender where Amanda was last seen.

Amanda was talking to a man.

They seemed to know each other.

She could've gotten a ride back to her car and scattered the clothes.

And ran off with this man from the club?

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Pardon me.

This is your top man?

Dr.

Sylveste.

Uh, oh, yes.

Yes, he was here.

But I didn't want to talk to him, so I pretended to be asleep.

Well, if you pretend like you're sleeping, - then how's he gonna see - Bobby, Bobby.

Where is your brother?

You said he was going to be here.

And he's not here.

I'm all by myself.

I'm in the middle of if you I'm gonna come, I'm gonna come.

I know the commissioner doesn't want to think Amanda could've gone AWOL.

But if there's anything that she told you that could help us.

She did say that she thought that she was beginning to think Carl wasn't the man that she thought he was.

Did she say why she started to doubt him?

Oh, we were talking about the w*r.

She said that she felt that it was opening up her eyes to things that she really didn't want to see.

Do you know of any place Amanda might go for refuge?

You know, after we married we lived for a year in Ireland.

That's where she was born.

So she has an Irish passport.

Yeah.

I can't believe that you think our daughter could be a deserter.

Even now, with all the information that we have, you refuse to accept that she's a very vulnerable, confused, normal 22-year-old young woman.

What?

Are you blaming me?

Lee, I found this in the trash on the side of our house.

Leland, this thunderstorm is maybe ten minutes away.

Gonna hit hard.

You've got a lot of people out there.

Bring them in.

Bring them all in.

Call the whole damn thing off.

Found both her passports in her bedroom.

If she left the country, she used fake ID, different name.

What about her bank account?

How is she?

I'll have you out of here as soon as I can.

Amanda have any ATM withdrawals?

$200 before she got to the club.

That's it.

Not exactly a w*r chest.

In the meanwhile, her fiance Carlos Ruiz is expected to touch down at JFK in an hour.

I'd rather we talk to him before the commissioner does.

I told Amanda what goes on TDY stays TDY.

Sure, I've seen soldiers do things on temporary duty that they wouldn't do back home but, your fiancee?

Come on.

Back here in our civvies, I wouldn't tolerate an affair.

But when Amanda's is in uniform, she's a soldier first.

And soldiers have sex with each other?

It has nothing to do with the real world.

You wouldn't understand.

Did she tell you his name?

No.

This guy's squad joined her platoon at the beginning of September.

He was going home in three weeks.

They were never gonna see each other again.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Last time anyone saw Amanda, she was kissing a man we believe to be an ex-soldier.

No.

You're mistaken.

She might've slept with this guy, but it meant nothing.

The only thing that matters over there is surviving.

Doing whatever you have to do to make sure you and your buddies get home in one piece.

Elaine said Carl was old world, but he's ahead of my time.

He gets the culture Amanda's part of.

Would she leave a guy like that at the alter?

My husband Joe, he was a cop.

He gave me a taser g*n once for our anniversary.

Sometimes you want to be more than your job.

I take it Joe is an ex.

He d*ed eight years ago.

Sorry.

All right, four men from Amanda's platoon finished tours at the end of September.

One lives in Michigan.

Two of them went to California.

And one's in Queens.

Wesley Burkhartz.

Squad leader.

Joined Amanda's platoon September 1st.

Where is he now?

Looks like he works as an EMT for st.

Vincent's hospital in Manhattan.

I saw Amanda there, sure.

Night before Thanksgiving at Verve was like Old Home Week.

I ran into a lot of people from my tour.

The bartender said you and Amanda looked pretty cozy in that corner.

Yeah, well I had an idea how I wanted the night to go.

But Amanda told me to get lost.

I did.

So you left the club?

I had to punch in here at 0800.

So I got some shut eye.

Did you go home?

My uncle's place nearby.

He can vouch for you?

Maybe.

He's a metal worker.

A little hard of hearing.

Engine first due phone alarm.

Apartment fire, 129 west 4th street.

Looks like you got a fire radio up front here.

Look at that, police and fire.

You like to buff calls, huh?

Yeah.

Do you mind stepping out of my bus?

How'd you get that?

Loser.

It was stupid accident.

I was bent down, giving someone mouth-to-mouth.

When I sat up, I hit my head on the corner of the table.

Those stitches are sloppy.

Did you do that yourself?

Yeah, you learn how to DIY when you're in the desert.

Happened on the job.

You fill out a workman's comp form?

- Not yet.

- Unit 22-adam, - go to 13th street and 10th avenue.

- I gotta go.

Possible heart att*ck.

There goes a big hero.

That scab on his head was fresh.

Eames.

Okay, thanks.

SID may have tracked Amanda's last hours.

Amanda's last call on her cell phone was at 6, right?

Right.

To Ashton.

But she left her phone on.

SID was able to track her movements Wednesday night by which cell sites her phone hit.

Up until 8 o'clock, Amanda was in Rockford with Trish.

They leave the rest stop, drive south, connecting with different cell sites all the way into the city.

She went to midtown.

West side until after 2 A.

M.

That would be Verve, the club.

Then her signal starts roaming again.

East through the tunnel into Queens.

Queens?

What the hell is she doing there?

Then her signal, it stops there at 3:30 in the morning.

No signal after that.

But the phone was found in Rockford.

Yeah, the assailant might not have known that the cell phone was on until he dumped her off.

And where he shut it off there.

And he drove back to Rockford and got rid of the cell with her clothes.

And left Amanda behind?

In Shea stadium?

Uh, behind the stadium.

Willets point.

The iron triangle.

There's nothing there but auto junkyards.

Yeah.

Well, we're out Willets point about a hundred yard away from the antenna there.

Eames.

She was ex*cuted.

Fog of w*r followed her home.

Head sh*t's the only trauma.

Scratches on her body are postmortem.

Most likely got them when she was being stuffed into that oil drum.

No sign of sexual as*ault?

Not that I can tell.

No blood or skin under her nails.

I'll take a closer look in the lab.

Leland, I'm so sorry.

Amanda! Mama, see.

Lee! How could this happen, Lee?

How could you let this happen?

You think you can protect your own, but you can't.

Captain, Dockerty didn't try to protect his daughter.

His expectations pushed her into this.

Not ours to say, detective.

I sent a couple of unis over to pick up Wesley for questioning.

He's gone.

He took off after we talked to him?

That doesn't make him look guilty.

He's jealous.

Wanted to stop Amanda from getting married.

"If I can't have you, nobody can.

" Your brother?

There would've been signs of sexual as*ault.

It was cold.

It was impersonal.

It was planned in advance.

Those barrels, I bet they're usually picked up on Fridays.

If not for the holidays, Amanda's body would be on a slow boat to a distant refinery.

The k*ller knew this location.

If Wesley's the k*ller, there should be something that ties him to this place.

He was infantry when his squad joined Amanda's platoon.

Nothing to do with machinery.

He said he crashed at his uncle's.

Metal worker.

Lotta body shops around here.

His uncle only needs to work at one of them.

Most of these businesses are closed for the holiday weekend.

The few people I've found haven't heard of anybody named Burkhartz.

You have any luck?

His "son is defending our freedom" bumper sticker.

Auto machinery, they rebuild engines in cars.

Let's see if they pay their phone bill.

"B and B engineering and machinery will reopen on Monday.

" Burkhartz and Burkhartz.

Ken Burkhartz says he hasn't seen his son since September.

That's convenient.

He give you any ideas where to look for him?

He said Wesley works all the time.

Doubles when he can get them.

Not much of a social life since he came back from Iraq.

Tox screen from Amanda's autopsy.

Traces of rohypnol.

No sign of sexual as*ault.

He used the date r*pe drug, but he didn't r*pe her.

The whole night was meant to lead to Amanda's m*rder.

Trish said she got wasted on two cosmos.

She was vomiting the morning we saw her.

- She couldn't remember things.

- All side effects of rohypnol.

Goren, phone for you.

Ashton Rorick.

He was the wingman.

He arranged to take the girls to the club, and separated them so Wesley could be alone with Amanda.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Even though Ashton and Wesley knew Amanda from the same platoon, they weren't there at the same time.

So how did they end up planning her m*rder together?

Oh, it's amateur hour here today.

The doctors, the nurses they talk to me like I'm an idiot.

I'm telling you, I've had it with these people.

If you don't come soon, I'm, I'm walking out.

Mom Come on, Ashton.

I thought you said you were with Trish all night.

I was.

I just went out to get a burger.

Where, in Connecticut?

The videotape shows you getting back to the motel two hours later.

Trish and Amanda were given rohypnol.

You took Trish back to the motel.

Wesley took Amanda to Willets point.

Did you help him k*ll her?

No! I would never hurt Amanda.

You helped m*rder the daughter of the first deputy commissioner of the NYPD.

You're in trouble, Ashton.

I didn't k*ll her.

Wesley did, then you helped him mop it up.

Why did he k*ll her?

'cause he was jealous?

I don't know.

You don't, do you?

That's 'cause you're a good soldier.

You know, a good soldier does what he's told.

Problem with being a good soldier is that you need a good leader to rely on.

Wesley's gone, Ashton.

He left you to take the fall.

You didn't know Wesley.

You finished your tour two weeks before his squad joined your unit.

Why trust him?

My buddies told me he was a stand-up guy.

- That he had their back over there - He had their back?

What is that, "had their back?

" Look, I don't have the time for this, man.

I don't expect you to understand, sir.

We checked with CID.

Late August, after Ashton came home, two soldiers from his and Amanda's unit were k*lled in an ambush.

They were set up by the Iraqi army.

Five days later, an entire Iraqi platoon was slaughtered, execution-style.

- I don't remember reading about this.

- You didn't.

The investigation concluded the Iraqis were k*lled by insurgents.

- It's a cover-up.

- It wouldn't have been hard.

Their unit investigated the incident.

They were sh*t by insurgents.

That's what Amanda told you?

She couldn't say much.

The only place she could use a phone was a tent where six other guys worked.

- But she was very emotional.

- What did you tell her?

I told her not to say anything.

That we'd talk about it stateside.

And this was when?

This was a week.

That's a long time to sit on a secret.

Amanda said she wanted to quit the army.

But I didn't want to hear that.

The army's given me everything.

I let her down.

Well, it's hitting him hard.

Maybe you should console him, commissioner.

He was almost your son-in-law.

My daughter's dead, detective.

I don't owe anyone my sympathy right now.

Well, maybe you never do.

Maybe that's why Amanda didn't tell you the whole story.

Detective.

What do you know about my daughter?

Or about what kind of father I am?

Well, as little as you know about who I am.

Detective, you're out of line.

Whatever happened over there, they must've been afraid Amanda would talk about it when she came home.

This Wesley Burkhartz sounds like a leader.

That ambushed unit, that must've been his.

They caught him doing 80 on a rural road in Pennsylvania.

Should have him here in about two hours.

What the hell was that, Bobby?

You want to throw it all away?

- Just I know - Back off.

My name is Wesley Burkhartz.

I reside at 324 Cosseboom road.

My date of birth is 1/25/1980.

Name, address, DOB.

A civilian version of the rules of conduct.

You are not a prisoner of w*r, Wesley.

My name is Wesley Burkhartz.

I reside at 324 Cosseboom road.

My date of birth is 1/25/1980.

This is a t*rture technique, isn't it?

Having to listen to the same sound over and over again.

I've heard enough of this.

Take him to the holding cell.

If he won't talk to you, maybe he'll talk to me.

Do you know who I am, boy?

I'm deputy commissioner Leland Dockerty.

Amanda's father.

And you're in my house now.

He's been in there a few minutes.

Don't worry.

He'll play it by the book.

I know I did.

I haven't said "sir" so many times since I was 12.

Had time to cool off?

He doesn't scare.

He's a cold-blooded k*ller.

He knew that I could do anything I wanted to him.

He k*lled my daughter.

He didn't confess?

No.

No, he just stood there.

He didn't flinch.

Didn't plead.

No concern for anyone's life.

Not even his own.

It's hard to get a confession if he's incapable of guilt.

Maybe we should tell him that he's got nothing to feel guilty about.

You do that.

My name is Wesley Burkhartz.

I reside at 324 Cosseboom road.

My date of birth is 1/25/1980.

- My name is Wesley Burkhartz.

- I know who you are, Wes.

Tell me who these guys are.

That's Tyrone Yulin and David Hovath.

They were in your unit.

Your brothers.

We know that they were dragged down the street all the way to your camp by a truck.

That they were set on fire.

You were their squad leader.

It was your fault.

No.

No.

I was acting on a tip.

A sergeant in the Iraqi army told me he had, uh good intel from a reliable source.

Some hostiles holed up in a house nearby.

You raided that house.

And it was an ambush.

These guys only had a few days before they went home.

These are the men from that Iraqi sergeant's unit.

k*lled five days after your squad was ambushed.

Execution-style by insurgents.

Or that's what you'd like us to believe.

Can you tell me what's in these pictures?

w*r.

When Tyrone and David were hit, you you did what a hero would do.

You investigated this.

Army's short staffed.

No CID where we were.

Right, but they were sh*t in the back of the head.

At close range.

What I can't figure out is how did the insurgents get so close without this unit putting up its guard?

Come on, you're not buying this, are you?

This guy has no respect for the law.

It wasn't insurgents.

US soldiers k*lled those Iraqi soldiers.

Eames.

The report concluded it was insurgents.

But your unit wrote that report.

What about Amanda?

Her name's not on the report.

She thought things might've happened differently.

Yeah, she betrayed her brothers.

I thought that you would've talked to her.

You know, especially since you were having an affair.

It didn't matter to her.

Headstrong type.

Well, she was sticking up for the Iraqis.

She's lucky she didn't get k*lled by friendly fire.

Did your brothers ask you to keep an eye on her?

I wanted to talk some sense into her.

But she was headstrong.

And she thought she was being a hero.

I just wanted to talk to her.

But she was insistent.

She kept saying she was gonna talk to her dad.

You couldn't let her do that.

I mean, you couldn't take the risk of another traitor being in your midst.

I didn't want to hurt Amanda.

I know.

I believe you.

Did she start a scene in the club?

She was, uh she was loud, drunk.

I took her outside.

I, um but she fought me.

Struggled at the car.

That's how you got the cut on your head?

I hit my head on the corner of the door.

I did what I had to do.

On my own.

For my brothers.

Why didn't she come to me first?

Before anyone?

She was afraid of me.

She was going to tell you.

She was waiting for the right time.

Did she think I would actually put the army before her?

I would've put her above everything.

Didn't she know that?

She was my daughter.

My daughter.

Good job, detectives.

You can get me your paperwork You can save it, all right?

I'm leaving.

You want to fire me?

Fire me, I don't care.