November ,
It's fun, right?
It's better than watching frat guys
playing beer pong.
You get credit for working
on the campaign?
Oh yeah, but I'd do it anyway.
Does it bother you that
he's such a womanizer?
He's not gonna do
that in the White House.
Who's the face?
He's David Lake.
He runs our campaign office.
That his girlfriend?
Sister.
Vanessa, that drunk they threw out,
is he with you?
- I'm not with him any..
- Cuz that was embarrassing.
I know, I'm sorry.
It wasn't her fault, Abbey.
David, we never got to talk.
Uh, later. I promise.
Well, him, I'd vote for.
They're saying
he's the future of the party.
It's loud in here.
You wanna walk outside?
Hey.
What took you so long?
Had to doll up.
Vera got lucky.
I'm on the up desk all night,
eight minutes to go on the shift
and this guy's gotta buy it.
Darren Clemen, two in the head.
- Up close.
- Any witnesses?
They heard it,
but they didn't see it.
Working cold jobs, you almost
forget how much blood there is.
It does seem extra gory.
I'm assuming there's a good reason
we got dragged down here?
Inside.
The guy didn't believe in house work.
Looks like some kind of shrine.
Or a trophy case.
About the death of Vanessa Prosser.
Who's that?
m*rder victim, .
Never found her k*ller.
Never say never.
Vanessa Prosser was
a college senior working
on the local Clinton campaign.
Went to election party
on November, rd, .
Washed up on the bank of
the Delaware the next morning
with a broken neck.
Republicans thought
they had a bad night
Best guess is she was tossed
from the Ben Franklin bridge.
It could've been a fall.
Bruising under her arms.
Dragged and dumped.
A letter was found in her pocket.
Signature and most of
the prints were washed away,
but few words are readable.
Been afraid..
Wanting to..
Feelings for you...
An admirer.
With good penmanship.
Lead suspect was Aaron Dutra,
Vanessa's ex,
an ROTC Penn-grad just
gotten back from the Gulf w*r.
He got thrown
out of the party that night.
Case against him didn't stick, though.
Hmm, among other things,
bad penmanship.
We think the letter came from
Clemen, this new victim.
He had a kind of
an obssession with her.
What else do we know
about this guy?
No record, no warrants.
Name's clean.
Can't say the same for his house.
Neighbor said the wife d*ed
three years ago.
He turned into a hermit,
let the place go.
And the relationship between him
and the Prosser girl?
No connections, yet, but he did
have some of her personal items.
Receipts, school papers,
journal entries.
Maybe he was stalking her.
But how'd he get her stuff?
Walter Spar was assigned to this
case. Will, do you know where he is?
Maybe the shore, I'll find him.
Let's see if Vanessa's parents
know who Clemen was to her.
No.
I don't know him.
Who is he?
His name is Darren Clemen.
He was k*lled last night.
k*lled?
What's this got to do with Vanessa?
We were hoping you could tell us.
She was living at home, right?
Yes, she was trying to save money.
She wanted to spend
the summer in Washington.
This man had some of
Vanessa's things at his house.
Well, I don't understand
how that could be.
One theory is Vanessa was
involved with this guy.
But, he looks like he's twice her age.
Though that might explain something.
Few weeks before Vanessa d*ed,
we were making dinner.
George Bush is a w*r hero.
He doesn't know
what a grocery scanner is.
Well, I, for one,
like that Hillary Clinton.
I liked her headbands, and I don't
know why she had to change it.
Dad, you have to vote for Clinton.
I need a job next year.
And never mind
the Jennifer Flowers tapes.
Jennifer Flowers is a skank.
That's one thing we can agree on.
Ahem. For Vanessa.
Aaron? Still thinks
he's in the game, huh?
- No, not from Aaron.
- Oh? Who from?
It's just a thank-you
from the campaign.
Oh, oh, apply pressure. Here.
Direct pressure, come on. Hold it.
Grab it, honey.
Hurry up, hurry up. Here we go.
Keep pressing.
And then we got distracted
when she cut herself.
Her blood didn't clot properly.
So you never found out
who sent the flowers?
No.
This says you didn't realize that
Vanessa was missing till the next day.
We figured she'd gone back to her
friend's place on campus, Beth Reardon.
She drove that night.
You build all these?
I just design them.
I'm an architect, not the contractor.
I've never seen him before.
Who is he?
Maybe someone Vanessa
was involved with.
I doubt that.
You have better candidate?
I thought she had something going on,
but she was being secretive.
Anyone else who might know
who Vanessa was seeing?
Ask Aaron Dutra.
He was all but stalking
her at the time.
Her old boyfriend?
She broke up with him, but he
wasn't taking no for an answer.
You see him at the party that night?
He was hard to miss.
I couldn't vote for Clinton,
I was too jealous of the Gore girls.
Gore is crazy.
He kept dropping out of the race.
- I liked Stockdale in the debate.
- Vanessa.
Why are you here?
You were supposed to wait, V.
You're drunk.
Shut up.
Aaron, it's over.
I told you this.
I saw you with him today.
You're following me?
I saw him touch you, like you're his..
Stop.
Where is he? / Aaron.
Where is he?
I know he's here.
Aaron. Sleep it off.
Cops had asked me
about him the first time around.
He was an idiot, but
not a k*ller.
You and Aaron ever compare notes
on who this other guy
might have been?
Aaron and I never compared anything.
He got sick after that.
Sick?
I heard it was Gulf w*r Syndrome.
Sounds like Vanessa's ex saw her
with the new admirer
the day she d*ed.
You've gone to him?
He was too sick to see us today.
We'll go back tomorrow.
That was Walter's partner.
He remembers the Prosser case?
Remembers Darren Clemen, too.
Said he started coming around
few years back,
had a bunch of theories
on how the girl d*ed.
What, he came with here with theories?
Thought it was some kind of
political conspiracy.
So, he was trying to solve her m*rder.
Why was he interested in Vanessa?
We still don't have a connection.
Maybe we do.
Remember all the blood
at the Clemen scene?
The autopsy explained it,
he was a hemophilliac.
Like Vanessa.
Wait, it's hereditary?
Coroner says yes.
Females are just carriers,
but some show symptoms.
Blood relation.
Vanessa was
Darren Clemen's daughter?
Yes, he was Vanessa's father.
It wasn't even an affair.
It was just one night.
You were already married?
Darren was
my high school sweetheart.
We had our ten year reunion.
His pals had a suite upstairs.
Old time's sake?
Stupid,
very stupid.
My husband doesn't know
and neither did Vanessa.
Did Darren keep in touch?
No.
No, we agreed on that.
We had separate lives
till three years ago.
When he started looking into
Vanessa's death?
His wife had d*ed.
Said he was trying to fill the void.
Any idea who he suspected?
No.
I let him look through Vanessa's things
and then I asked him not to come back.
I had just lost my daughter.
I couldn't risk losing
my husband, too.
If Clemen was looking into Vanessa's
m*rder and got too close to the truth,
that could explain his death, too.
So we're thinking one doer
for both murders.
We gotta find out what Clemen knew.
Who he was after.
Where you been, Scotty?
Charming the pants off for
a -year-old historian
who works for the DNC.
You get the photo?
Everyone on the regional
campaign in ' ,
taken at the day of the election.
Vanessa's ex came to the party
looking for her new guy.
Maybe the new guy's here.
Who's Kite with?
I don't know.
- I heard you and him were..
- Yeah, I don't know.
Let's go see
if Aaron's feeling better.
Whatever it is,
I was here watching TV.
It's about Vanessa Prosser.
Of course, it is.
The night of her m*rder, you showed
up at the election party pretty upset.
Look at your records.
I've had this conversation
a hundred times already.
Let's make it hundred and one.
It was the turkey talking, burbon.
I've been drinking all day.
Can you turn off the cooking show?
Before I went to the Gulf,
Vanessa and I got engaged.
When I got back, she was
supposed to be waiting for me.
And instead she found
someone new?
Could you ID her
new boyfriend from a picture?
Him.
Glasses, front.
You're sure?
%.
Thanks.
Hi.
Thank you very much.
I voted, did you? / Yeah.
You know, I consider myself
a reasonably smart guy,
- but those ballots are confusing.
- I know.
What happens if you don't
knock out little square all the way?
Who knows?
David Lake.
I know that name.
Abbey Lake.
Congressman's chief of staff.
Detectives Rush and Valens.
Sister, not wife.
Everyone makes that mistake.
We're here to talk to David.
Oh, sorry, he's in Washington.
Maybe I can help?
We're looking into an old homicide.
Vanessa Prosser?
That was awful.
She was a really nice girl.
We heard she and your brother
might have been involved.
Her and David?
No.
You sure?
A lot of girls in the campaign
were charmed by David.
It's the story of his life.
Occupational hazard.
Vanessa was a lot
like the other girls.
That's all.
Ready?
Are we in a hurry?
We have a conference call
in an hour.
That's right.
We'll see you at the party?
- David, I have something I want to ...
- The polls close in four hours.
We need you on the phones.
Final push.
You'll see him tonight, Vanessa.
She was sweet,
but young, naive.
Starstruck?
David's only human.
He gets flattered.
Part of my job was
and is keeping him focused.
Still, we'd like to talk to your brother.
Soon as he's back in town.
I'm here at the local
Democratic election party
where hundreds of volunteers
have helped Bill Clinton...
: , election night.
Abbey Lake, David's sister.
And the future congressman himself.
No Vanessa, though.
Could be out of frame.
Could be dead.
We think Lake had a relationship
with Vanessa?
His sister says no.
Well, we'll see if his handwriting
matches that letter found on her body.
Be delicate, Scotty.
He runs to his friends
in the mayor's office,
I'm the one who gets the call.
What else do we know about him?
Been in Washington since ,
elected to Congress two years ago.
Went to Princeton,
Columbia Law.
Raised up north in Redding.
Redding?
Yeah.
My victim made a couple calls to
Redding the day he got sh*t.
Clemen did?
Yeah. To a guy named Marvin Dobie.
Marvin Dobie?
Philadelphia Homicide.
Yeah, so?
Hey, nice. Custom job.
Bamboo rod, tail water reel.
Expensive hobby.
Convictions for fraud,
forgery, bad checks.
Which of those hobbies
got you that rod?
What do you want from me?
You know a guy named
Darren Clemen?
Nah.
Really?
He called you last week.
Well, maybe
he got a wrong number.
Talk to wrong numbers
for six minutes?
Maybe I got lonely.
Clemen got k*lled later that day.
You know anything about that?
Dead, whoa.
Know him now?
How about her?
Name's Vanessa Prosser.
Sorry, anyone else?
How about Congressman
David Lake?
Yeah, I'll have him,
he's from the neighborhood.
You friendly?
I wouldn't say that.
Look, I gotta get to the scrap yard.
This your writing?
No, man.
That's the architect.
They all write like that.
Old set of blueprints from Dobie.
Check on the print.
Here's the letter from Vanessa's
pocket. Compare this two.
Dobie's architect wrote
Vanessa a love letter?
- They almost match.
- Almost.
This is called lettering.
You look at any set of plans,
it basically looks like this.
All architects print this way for clarity.
So, it's hard to tell one from the next.
And we only got one architect
in this investigation.
Beth Reardon.
Where did you find this?
It was in Vanessa's pocket.
It's your writing, isn't it?
I guess I was kind of in love with her.
It's my fault she d*ed.
Why do you say that?
We went outside.
I knew something was bothering her.
Don't worry about Aaron.
He'll regret it all in the morning.
I'm not.
Then what are you worried about?
You're not telling me something.
You ever wish you could just go backwards
and unlearn something?
Like?
I just want things to be simple.
But they're a mess.
Tell me what you mean.
I can't.
Beth. / I'm sorry.
I don't know what to say.
Don't say anything.
Just read.
I was awry that night.
If I hadn't left, maybe
she'd still be alive.
You told the first detectives you were
at home the rest of the night.
Passed out on my bathroom floor.
So no alibi, then?
That's my alibi.
That's where I was.
How about this past Thursday night?
I was in the ER.
My son had an asthma att*ck.
Did Vanessa ever mention
the name Marvin Dobie?
Ex-con from Redding.
No bells?
Redding.
Um, she took a bus to Redding,
a few days before the election.
She say why?
I heard her on the phone
checking schedules.
When I asked her about about it,
she changed the subject.
Darren Clemen calls Dobie
in Redding, ends up dead.
Vanessa goes to Redding..
Probably to contact Dobie.
Same ending.
All roads lead to Redding.
Congressman's hometown.
Believe me, I understand
the need for low income housing.
I come from humble beginnings,
and if it were up to me,
we'd break ground tomorrow.
But we just simply
don't have the resources.
Me siento mucho.
He just told them he sets down a lot.
Gracias, gracias.
Thank you for coming.
How are you?
Vanessa and I worked
on the campaign together.
That all you did together?
We hear you may have been
more than co-workers.
Excuse me, just had lasik.
Put it off as long as I could.
in both eyes.
Contacts never seem to fit right.
This a fillibuster, Congressman?
Okay.
Vanessa and I were involved.
But you kept it quiet.
Well, I didn't want more than
one people in the campaign to know.
And after Vanessa d*ed?
My coming forward
wouldn't have helped.
Wouldn't helped you.
I had no information.
And I was concerned about being
associated with an event like that.
Even though it was
your girlfriend that got k*lled?
She wasn't though.
We broke things off that night.
You been avoiding me?
No, I think you have that reversed.
Where's your friend?
She went home.
And the ex-boyfriend?
Don't know.
Don't care.
V, I've been offered a position
in Washington.
That's great. / Yeah.
That's what you wanted.
Thing is,
it wouldn't make sense for us
to make this long distance.
I thought the idea was that we were
gonna go to Washington together,
not break up.
Things have a way of turning
on a dime in this business.
Is it because of Abbey?
What did Abbey have to do with it?
She was always worried about
loose ends with the girls I dated.
You ever get back to your humble
beginnings in Redding?
Not really, no time.
Cuz Vanessa did.
Yeah, went to see a guy
named Marvin Dobie.
I don't know the name.
Says he lived in your neighborhood.
I pride myself on my ability to
remember people.
Thanks for being frank with us.
If there's one thing I learned
from Bill Clinton,
never lie about that sort of thing.
Maybe he didn't lie about Vanessa.
He lied about Dobie.
You found a connection?
Yeah, pulled the forms to see
who posted bail
on Dobie's arrest. Fraud, ' .
dollar bond posted
by Linda Savis.
Who's that?
Got her own record for prostitution,
but only once under that name.
In her married year,
she was known as..
Linda Lake.
Mother of David and Abbey.
What did she had to do with Dobie?
Shared an address for an year.
Probably a boyfriend.
So Dobie didn't live in the same
neighborhood with David Lake.
He lived in the same house.
And Lake can't place the name.
Which is doubly curious considering
the checks he's been writing.
Marvin Dobie
has been getting payments
from a trust since the late eighties,
a trust set up by David Lake.
Had the congressman giving
Dobie a financial support?
But what is Dobie giving him?
You said you didn't know
Darren Clemen.
Or Vanessa Prosser.
We think you did though and
now they're both dead.
Not cuz of me.
Cuz of something you know then?
You also lied
about Congressman Lake.
Not only did you know him,
you lived in his house
when he was a teenager.
I ain't talking about Lake.
Don't want them checks
to stop coming.
Someone's going away
for this girl's m*rder.
Comes down to you or Lake,
who do you think gets
the benefit of the doubt?
The congressman or
the ex-con?
Lake has resources,
lawyers, status.
What have you got?
Self respect.
That's more than he can say.
You tell me I don't get rung up
on some extortion rap.
And I tell you what you wanna know.
I think we can sell that to the D.A.
Clemen called me up.
Said he found my name
in this girl's stuff.
How that happened, I don't know.
Okay.
Asked what I knew
about her getting k*lled.
What'd you tell him?
Nothing to tell.
I didn't know she was dead.
I met her that one time.
That's all I knew of her.
So Vanessa did visit you in ' .
I don't know how she found me.
She just showed up at my door,
out of the blue.
Why does David Lake
send you money?
David who, darling?
Look, I'm not looking for trouble.
I just..
I just wanna know why.
I don't know
what you're talking about.
He writes you checks.
I've seen them.
Are you some kind of a reporter?
No.
I'm a friend.
You go home, little girl.
Buy yourself some shoes,
take your mind off of things.
I don't know what you're doing,
but I know enough to call the police.
Why don't you just ask David?
I did.
He won't tell me anything.
You aren't just a friend of his,
aren't you?
God, I almost feel bad for you.
Why did you feel bad for her?
She was in over her head.
See,
David and his sister Abbey,
they were more than friends, too.
Brother and sister.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dobie caught them a few times
while he was living with them.
He have proof?
What, like pictures?
Yeah. / No, no pictures.
But David and Abbey were worried
enough to be paying him off
for past years.
Man, I voted for this guy.
Dobie told Vanessa Prosser about it.
We think she went and
confronted the happy couple.
And got k*lled for it.
And last week, Dobie called
the congressman
to report that Darren Clemen
was sniffing around.
Few hours later, Clemen ends up
with two in the head.
But Lake was in D.C. that day.
Dobie says Abbey took the call.
So you think Abbey did both jobs.
When it comes to her brother,
Abbey takes care of everything.
Dobie's got a sheet like a w*r
and peace, Kite.
Maybe he can be compelled to testify.
Hearsay from a repeat felon
won't buy you much.
You wanna get our m*rder?
You gotta get her to talk.
I didn't k*ll anyone.
What would give you
an idea like that?
Not what,
who.
Acquaintance of yours.
Kind of an in-law actually.
Marvin Dobie.
What rock did he crawl out
from under?
You should know.
You paid for it.
Hush money couldn't keep
him quiet though.
Your own brother, Abbey?
My own brother what?
When it gets out David Lake took
advantage of his sister
when they were teenagers.
That'll finish him.
Do you have any idea
how that sounds?
I know how it's gonna read.
- National Enquirer, Star.
- The jit papers, too.
Now, they'll stop
the presses for this one.
That would be slander,
we'd sue you.
By that time, everyone will know.
Canon, ring a bell?
That charming brother of
yours won't have a career left.
Maybe that's what Abbey wants.
To have her favorite guy all to herself.
That's why you k*lled Vanessa,
isn't it?
What do you say, Abbey?
We call up the gossip rags or
you start spilling.
Okay.
I need assurances.
What kind?
You keep certain things
out of the press.
They'll come out at trial.
Not if I plead guilty.
David didn't take advantage of me,
I was older.
It was me.
And Vanessa found this out?
She should've minded her
own business.
Adams Morgan.
How about Georgetown?
It'd be so great if we could work
at the White House.
Assuming Clinton wins.
We could get an apartment together.
Dog?
Cat.
Both.
I wanna go to every museum
on the mall.
It's easy train trip back to Philly.
It would be great, V.
Abbey. / Hi.
Sorry, it's late, I know.
How long have
you been standing there?
What do you mean?
I just got here.
I need you to sign some checks.
, now?
That's his new number.
Forget it, we can't let him
keep raising the amount.
You want a future in the public eye,
you pay him.
Then we get a girl curious.
If I'd been more successful
at deflecting her,
I wouldn't have had to do
what I did.
Which was?
I sent her down the stairs
to the hotel parking garage,
then dumped her from the bridge.
All for David's brilliant career?
I owed him
for what I did
when we were young.
And David agreed to sweep
the sound of the rug?
He doesn't know anything.
What about Clemen?
Doesn't know about him either.
You admit to sh**ting him?
Two sh*ts.
He was as close as
you are right now.
That was your . ?
IT was a . .
You can find it in my apartment.
Hey, we got a g*n.
Ballistics will test fire and compare
but she looks good for it.
Well, that'll make the bosses happy.
Better her than the congressman.
You were getting
nervous upstairs, huh?
Can I show you something?
He ain't wearing his glasses.
So? / So,
where'd they go?
I lose mine three times a day,
Scotty.
You're not blind without them.
Lake said he had vision.
What's your theory?
Maybe lost them in a struggle.
Abbey's taking the fall.
In her twisted devotion to David,
she figures better to let him go on
doing all his good,
she'll sit in jail.
- That's a little thin.
- It makes sense.
Scotty, we got nothing on him.
- I know he did it.
- But we can't make the case.
Sooner or later, Scotty,
one's gonna get by you.
Happens to us all.
I wanna go see Lake
one more time.
I don't know who Darren Clemen is.
He's Vanessa's real father.
He was looking into her death.
Which means he was looking into you.
You think I k*lled Vanessa?
Leaning there.
Except, your sister says she did it.
She said that?
Made a deal.
Copped to both murders
in exchange,
we don't leak your dirty little secret.
I have to call Abbey.
Without your help,
she's looking at life.
How can I help?
Tell us what happened to Vanessa.
I don't know.
You know.
Excuse me.
I don't have anything more to say.
He almost sweat in there.
You know that call Stillman
didn't want to get from the brass?
He got it.
We have to leave Lake alone.
Commissioner's orders.
Hey.
Heard you went back
at the congressman.
Yeah. Till the bosses shut us down.
Got a pretty good case against the sister.
Yeah, it must be nice having
a different set of rules.
Saw you with that new A.D.A.
Julie? / Yeah.
Julie.
Actually, I'm on my way to meet her now.
Have fun.
Rush,
Rush.
I'll cut her loose right now
if it's just you and me,
but I haven't heard that from you.
- So until you've decided that...
- Okay, okay.
Okay what?
Just you and me.
Then, I'll go meet her right now.
Be polite for now and tell her
that I'm otherwise engaged.
Okay.
Okay.
Congressman.
You're not allowed to be here.
Off duty.
Just two guys talking.
I don't think so.
Your life's pretty important, huh?
Everyone's life is important.
Not Vanessa's apparently.
Or Abbey's.
What kind of man
lets his sister take his b*llet?
You don't know about Abbey and me.
I know more than I want to know.
We had a hard upbringing.
Yeah, humble beginnings.
It was a lot worse than humble.
It made us very close.
I can't make you understand.
I don't need to understand that.
I just want the truth about Vanessa,
how she d*ed.
You got a law degree, right.
You know about Miranda.
Yeah. / Well, I haven't Mirandized you,
so anything you tell me right now,
I can't use it in court.
You're protected.
And we can have a conversation.
About what? / The truth.
Why would you wanna
know something
you could do nothing about?
That's for me to know.
What you need to know is
I ain't leaving till you tell me.
I thought that she had left the party.
I never expected to see her again.
Vanessa,
what are you doing here?
I went to Redding this weekend.
I met Marvin Dobie.
Why would you do that?
I just wanted to know
what was coming between us.
What did he say?
It doesn't matter.
What did he say?
He told me.
About you and Abbey.
It's all right.
Vanessa, we can't.
I can't.
We can.
We can be together.
You just have to look forward
and not back.
I love you.
I can't.
V.
Oh god, Vanessa.
Abbey.
Abbey, I screwed up.
♪ Came in from a rainy Thursday
on the avenue ♪
♪ Thought I heard you talking softly. ♪
♪ I turned on the lights,
the tv and the radio ♪
♪ Still I can¡¯t escape the ghost of you ♪
♪ What has happened to it all? ♪
♪ Crazy, some¡¯d say, ♪
♪ Where is the life that I recognize? ♪
♪ Gone away... ♪
♪ But I won¡¯t cry for yesterday, ♪
♪ there¡¯s an ordinary world, ♪
♪ Somehow I have to find. ♪
♪ And as I try to make my way,
to the ordinary world... ♪
♪ I will learn to survive. ♪
♪ Passion or coincidence once
prompted you to say ♪
♪ Pride will tear us both apart ♪
♪ Well now pride¡¯s gone out the window
cross the rooftops, run away, ♪
♪ Left me in the vacuum of my heart. ♪
♪ What is happening to me? ♪
♪ Crazy, some¡¯d say, ♪
♪ Where is my friend when I need you most? ♪
♪ Gone away... ♪
♪ But I won¡¯t cry for yesterday,
there¡¯s an ordinary world, ♪
♪ Somehow I have to find. ♪