04x17 - Shuffle, ball change

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Cold Case". Aired: September 2003 to May 2010.*
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04x17 - Shuffle, ball change

Post by bunniefuu »

MAN:
Everybody, listen up.

I could not be
a prouder father today

because my son Grant
qualified for the Junior Olympic

training program
in wrestling. Ha-ha!

(laughing):
Oh, yeah!

We've got a plan to bring
a shiny trinket back to the store.

It's a... it's
a little thing called...

Olympic gold!
(laughing)

Hey, hey, no pressure
or nothing, huh?

This space right here
is reserved for the medal.

Work hard, never quit.

That's what we do, right?

Beers up front, everybody!

Good speech, Dad.

Look at that guy.

Can you believe it?

I can remember him when
he was a sparkle in my eye.

Now he eats an entire
cow in one sitting.

You got a plan for yourself,
Maurice?

Me?

Yeah, you.

Grant set a goal--
there's no stopping him.

So what's it gonna be for you?

I guess I don't know yet.

Wh-what I want to be.

Hey.

I'm talking to you
about your future.

You're -- you're not
the baby anymore.

I know.

I'm saying...

show some direction,
Maurice.

Or I'll find
a direction for you.

Can always count
on the warm atmosphere in here.

You ever wonder if
they're not really dead

and they're all of a
sudden going to sit up?

That's not funny.

You going to be okay?

What do we got?

Construction team razing a landfill
up in Northeast found this.

How long has it
been in there?

Skeletal remains tell us
he'd been there about years.

He?
Skull shape and size
says young adult male.

Pulled all missing persons
from ' back to ' ;

dental records narrowed it down.

Maurice Hall.

Went missing
in October of '

from the family apartment
in Kensington.

Lived above their grocery store.

He was years old.

They thought he was
a teenage runaway.

Calcaneus bone
is sh*t.

So are the metatarsals.

Means the right foot
was shattered.

So Maurice wasn't
running anywhere.

Then what k*lled him?

Multiple
skull fractures.

What kind
of w*apon?

These kind of fractures,

it was something
long and thin.

Can't get more specific
than that?

The state of decomp,
no fibers, no striations left.

For years, the family hoped
he was out there...

somewhere.

Turns out he was practically
in their backyard all along.

Cold Case

about retirement, boss?

Will, there's something
I wanted to let you in on.

All right.
I'd rather you hear it
from me than someone else.

Okay.
We got a call.

Guy facing an armed robbery
charge offers up a proffer.

Says a friend of his,
ex-truck driver,

confessed to a fatal
hit-and-run on the turnpike,

winter of ' .

You talking about my wife?

Who's it from?

Jersey State Police.

Could be the end of the line.

What's his name?

They got anything
can put him away,

better than
a con snitching?

Proffer is all they have so far.

Jersey has their
best guys on it, Will.

They know this is for you.

All right.

Maurice Hall, sophomore
at James Marshall High.

Stock boy at his father's
grocery store.

Mom d*ed from
cancer in ' .

Older brother
was a varsity athlete,
worked at the store, too.

Hall & Sons' Grocery Mart
was the center of the search effort.

Volunteers papered
the town with these.

Usual loony callers--
nothing solid.

Father said Maurice
was clean-cut, kept to himself.

But it says here Maurice
had been acting erratic

before he ran away--
late for work, moody.

Maybe he wasn't so clean-cut.

Maybe he was just
a sulky teenager.

Father is still in Kensington.

We're the visit
he's been hoping
not to get for years.

Are you sure it was
Maurice that you found?

We're sure.

I'm very sorry, Mr. Hall.

VALENS: Someone from
the ME's office will call you.

You said Maurice's
behavior was erratic
before he disappeared.

Well, he had a pretty much
erratic way about him
all the time.

What do you mean?

He was unique.
Creative, like
his mother.


Yeah, those two
were peas in a pod.

MR. HALL: It wasn't easy
for Maurice after she passed.

He was different from the usual
types in this neighborhood.

Usual type being...?

Me.

Us. Regular guys.

Can you be...
little more specific?

Sports, beer, girls.

That's the norm.
Whereas...

Maurice was into
books, music.

That was him.

Anybody give Maurice trouble
for being different?

One time I know for sure.

That same fall.

With Grant training,
I'm one hand short here.

And if you left school...
High school dropout?

Hey, you're
looking at one.

You could contribute to the
family and your brother's dream.

I don't want to work here
the rest of my life.

Why is that, hotshot?

I don't mean it
as an insult, Dad.

Hey. You're...

odd, Maurice.

And you dress funny.

Don't...

Oh...

What's this?

Nothing. Some meathead,
Dad, just being a jerk.

Should've seen
what Idid to him.

You ought to learn
to defend yourself.

I'm hoping
it won't happen again.

I tried showing him how, Dad.

MR. HALL:
You tell me who did this,

and I'll have Grant
take care of him.

I don't need his help.

I got it.

I do.

Maurice never told you
who gave him the black eye?

It wasn't easy for Maurice.

Big brother--
this great athlete.

Girls going after him
the way they did.

That's some balls on that bully,

picking on your kid brother?

Some people are real jerks.

I got inventory to do.

You okay, Dad?

All this time, I'm thinking
Maurice would turn up one day
and...

"Hey, Dad,

"got the wandering
out of my system.

I'm back home."

Not going to happen, huh?

If somebody picked on me
when I was little...

(chuckles) I'd tell him
who my brother was,

guy would step off in a hurry.

That's right.

You didn't have Maurice's back
like that?

Believe me, I did--
it was known.

So who gave him
that black eye?

I told you, nobody!

Nobody picked...
on my kid brother.

Except you.

It was for his own good.

The only way to get
through to him.
What's that mean? One night,

I'm jogging in the neighborhood,
I find Maurice doing something

would've given our old man
a heart att*ck.

What are you doing?

What?

Are you a q*eer?

Tell me.

Are you a q*eer?!

I-I'm not.

You're sure acting like one.

Leave me alone, Grant.

Get up, little brother.

Huh?

Oh, no, you don't!
Get away from him right now!

I am not even kidding.

Excuse me?
No, excuse me.


I'm Crystal,
this is my boyfriend,

and you must be the piece of
scum on the bottom of my shoe.

He's your boyfriend?

(laughs softly):
I don't think so.

You okay, baby?

I'm okay... baby.

Get out of here.

Is this your girlfriend,
Maurice?

Yeah.

You heard her.

Get lost, Grant.

Blew my mind.

I thought he was... you know.

Uh, why didn't this girlfriend
come up in the original investigation?

I couldn't take about her--
my dad would've lost it.

'Cause Crystal was black.

She was a dancer.

And so was your brother.

That's the kind of thing
gets you offed around here.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

♪♪♪♪

Dance class
Maurice's brother saw

was at the Jacob Hays
School of the Arts.

Art school in the middle
of Kensington.

Yeah. Bet the neighbors
loved that.

Bunch of freaks
run amok.

You find anything
on this Crystal?

She's back at that
school teaching now.

I'll send Kat
and Scotty.

For you.
Jersey State Police.

Case file on
Isaac Keller.

Okay.

This is for
the Hall case?

Nope.

Okay.

Crystal Stacy?

Detectives Valens, Miller.
Got a few questions for you.

Remember this kid?

Maurice Hall.

I remember this boy.

Saw him get into a fight
with some jerk.

His brother.
I didn't even know his name.

I thought Maurice
was your boyfriend.

No. I never met him
before that night.

He's a total stranger
who you save from a fight?

Not a total stranger.

I had seen him outside our class
almost every night,
doing the routine with us.

Is that why you intervened
on his behalf?

It was my superhero act.

Saving my people from evil.

Your people.

The inspired ones.

Who are you?

Best in the school.

Star of the future.

Crystal Stacy.

Maurice Hall.

You're good-- your moves.
I've seen you.

Really?

Who do you study with?

And don't tell me
it's just natural talent

because then you're a liar
or I have to hate you.

My mom taught me some things.

She would dance
in the kitchen, and...

and I'd try to keep up.

And now she lets you
dance on the street?

She's dead.

Sorry.

Look, if you're serious,

you have to go
to our school.

I mean, it's the max.

You get the
best teachers,

then can join
a great company in New York,

and then be famous.

Like a Solid Gold dancer?

Do you know
who Martha Graham is?

Bob Fosse? Twyla Tharp?

I'm talking about greatness.

Say it with me.

I work in a grocery store.

Well, auditions for the school
are on the th.
You should try out.

But not if you can't
nail the hip snap.

The what?

You got to snap it,
like, fast.

This a private lesson?

Relax, Carlos.
We were just practicing.

Yeah, I know what
stock boy is practicing.

Stay away from her.

Ow! Carlos, stop it! Stop!

Stop!

Let her go, man.

You think
you got moves, poser?

You, me, right here,

: tomorrow...
we'll see.

This guy have
violent tendencies?

Did he ever.

I had no sense back then.

What was Carlos up to,

asking Maurice
to meet him?

I don't know. But I never saw
Maurice again after that.

Okay, let's do this thing

'cause I have an open call
in .

You got a tutu
to wear over those?

Oh. You distracted?

We got an idea you know
how Maurice Hall d*ed.

That idea don't hold water.

Sorry, sweetheart.

Looked up your record,
Carlos.

You got a long history
for using your fists freely.

They got a word
for that, sweetheart?

Passionate.

Homicidal.

Maurice
pissed you off,

hitting on your girlfriend,
and you told him
to meet you the next day?

It was a duel-- mano a mano.

Like a catfight, right?

You think dancing's
for weaklings?

When was the last time you carried
your body weight on your toes,

while running,

throwing a woman in the air
and catching her,

without breaking a sweat?

It's been a while.

This duel...

it a fight to the death?

Yeah, sort of.

Death... of the ego.

Where are you
taking me exactly?

What's this?

The lion's den.

Break a leg.

And we go!

Five, six, seven,

eight, go!

One...

And...

Let me see it.

Yes.

And...

Come on, come on,
come on, come on!

You can dance better than that!

Oh, my God!

This poor child
done got lost

and wandered in here.

Why did none of you tell him

that this was a dance class
and not the steel mill?

I-I'm here for the class.

To dance.

That's sad.

You're going to make me cry.

Over here.

Five...

six...

five, six, seven, eight, go.

One, two, lift up!

Three, four,
and five, six.

Now spot.

I said spot. Spot!
I am!

What's wrong with you?
You almost took my toe off!

And so what if I did?

A dancer has to know pain.

Who taught you to be so lazy?

My mother taught me to dance.

On break from the
wallpaper factory?

She teach you how
to do the foxtrot?

Don't talk about my mother.

Thin skin. You'll
never make it.

Now go home and
cry to your mama.

What would you know
about making it?

You are a insolent little piece
of white trash.

Now out!

And five...

six, five...

Dr. Leroy.

The second abusive dad
I never wanted.

What was with the wooden staff?

His trademark.

Broke a girl's foot
with it one time.

♪♪♪♪

♪♪♪

I used to come here
twice a week

when I was
on the road.

Home away from home.

On the road.

Hauling freight.

Oh, me, too, man.

Hmm.

This was ten years ago.

Me, too.

Ten years ago. Time flies.

It certainly does.

Thought you might
have looked familiar.

Didn't do runs here though.

No?

Ohio to Bakersfield
for seven years.

Why did you give it up?

One day, I just
couldn't do it anymore.

Just like that?

Yeah, just like that.

Thought about
what was important.

Kids and the wife won out,
you know what I mean?

Sure do.

That's your wife?

Yeah.

Kind of woman you want
to stay home with.

Yeah.

Well...

Good thing
you never drove the turnpike.

Rough ride.

That's right.

I did, you know,

for a few weeks
when I first started out.

Winter of ' .

That right?

The rain...

Loads of it.

I had put that out of my head.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

and then he winds up
buried in a landfill.

Hideous coincidence,
I assure you.

His foot was crushed.

Which is what you did
to one of your students

with your staff.

If that girl had
known the routine,

her foot would not have
been in the way of my staff.

We've got former students
of yours say you were...

unbalanced.

Unbalanced? No.

Ruthless, yes.

I was a drill sergeant,

getting my students ready for
the w*r that is the dance world.


And where did Maurice fit in?

He wasn't your student.

Oh. But he benefited
from my teaching.

How's that?

The grocery store.

It became our classroom.

Dr. Leroy?

You.

You come to grovel?

Please don't.

Can't you see I'm meditating?

Wait.

I want to dance.

Not in the street.
In your class.

With my-my head
held right, my-my feet.

I want to bleed.

Oh, brother.

Work hard, never quit.

That's what my dad says.

What?

Do you think you have talent?

Yeah.

I do.

Fine.

You'll have to quit this job.

There's work to be done
and only so many hours.

I-I can't.

It's my dad's store.
He needs me.

Hard choices.
Get used to them.

I can do both,
practice and work.


Dr. Leroy, I'm going to audition

and make it in,
and I'll be in your class.


Just watch me.

No, Detective Rush,

we are not all
light in our jazz shoes.


Gene Kelly.

Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Lady-K*llers.

And Maurice... with Crystal.

Dancers in love.

You see,
if they're really good,

it's their soul out there,

moving... in rhythm
with another.

Very romantic.

Not when one of them
ends up dead.

MILLER:
You didn't tell us about
the grocery store, Crystal.

VALENS:
You and Maurice...

getting it on.

I'm sorry.

It's not a
good idea,

lying to us.

I can't even
think about him.

I try not to.

Maybe it's time you
get it off your chest.

Maurice was my hope.

Somebody'd love me...

and be sweet.

You know?

I was just trying
to help him.

With his audition,
for your school?

You guys can't imagine what it
was like to watch him dance.

It was like...

he was telling you...

all about him,

without saying a word.

I was there

when his father found out.

About his dancing?

And Maurice's dream...

it fell apart.

When are you going
to tell your dad?

I can't. I can't.

You can't keep doing
this double-life thing.

It's messing with your dance,

and that's, like, a tragedy.

After my mom d*ed...

my dad caught
me in her room,

doing this dance that
she had taught me

and he just grabbed...

I can't tell him.

Tell him.

I can't.
Tell him.

Shh. Shh.
Hide. Quick.

Hide quick.

Hey, I'm taking a few...

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

I told you not to do that.

I'm not doing
anything.

Do you want Dad to find out?

Is that what you want?

So what if he does?
It wouldn't be
the worst thing.

Ow! My knee! God!

What?!

Grant, what the hell?!

I fell. I fell.

It's my fault.

Grant, get up!
What-what-what happened?

Dad, we got in a fight
because...

Maurice! Shut up!

Because
I was practicing in here.

Practicing what?

Dancing.

I've been dancing, Dad,

and I've been getting
really good and...

and there's a school
that I want to go to.

Let's get you upstairs, Grant.

There's an audition
tomorrow.

You're not going
to any damn audition.

Oh, my knee.
I can't... I can't...

Sorry, Grant.
I-I didn't mean to.

MR. HALL:
You're sorry?

Your brother can't walk
because of you.

It's not his fault, Dad.

If you ruined it all for him,

God help you, Maurice.

God help you!

MILLER:
What happened after that?

I b*at it out of there.

Leaving Maurice with his dad.

And Dad's pride and joy
with a bum knee.

It's my fault.

I pushed Maurice
to stick up for his dream.

And his father went ballistic.

VALENS:
I found out, Pat,

what Maurice did to Grant.

Kids were messing around,

next thing you know
he wrenches his knee.

Never got back on the horse.

Your loser son ruins
it for the good son.

Your family was going to be
something if he made it.

But Maurice blew it
for all of you.

That ain't how it was.

We got a witness
says you lost it that day,

threatening Maurice.

No, that wasn't
what happened.
"God help you, Maurice."

Your words.

Yeah.

The last I ever spoke
to my son.

How do you think that feels?

What's your problem?

I'll bet you were relieved
when he didn't come home.

Get twinkletoes
out of the house?

That kid had
more fricking talent

in his little toe than
you've got in your whole body.

I thought you said
the last time

you talked to him
was at the store.

So?

So...

When did you see
him dance, Pat?

I went... to the audition.

Where is he?

Dad.

I'm Maurice Hall.

I'm .

I've only been
to one dance class

and... it didn't go very well.

I learned from my mom,

and if she's
watching me tonight...

...I hope I make her proud.

MR. HALL:
Maurice!

Maurice!

He thought
I was coming after him.

VERA:
You can't blame him.

The night Maurice's dream
took off,

Grant's was going
down the tubes.

Big disappointment.

No Olympics,
no gold.

VALENS:
Tell you what's
even worse--

disappointing your father.

I love Grant, gold medal or not.

You ever tell him that?

It haunts me.

The way I was a father
to those boys...

...ignoring the one
and pushing the other.

I paid for that.

RUSH:
You didn't tell us what a good
dancer your brother was.

JEFFRIES:
Or how he ruined your life.

What are you talking about?

A knee injury ruined
your wrestling career.

Everything you'd worked for.

Things happen
when you're an athlete.

I blew my knee out senior year.

Football dreams down the drain.

That's rough.

Think you know who you are,
then... not so much.

It didn't get me that way.

Made me real angry.

For a long, long time.

And right when
your dreams are dying,

Maurice takes the spotlight.

The look your dad
had on his face when
he saw Maurice dance...

that was how he used
to look at you.

You couldn't let Maurice
have it.

What did I care about
his fricking dancing? Come on.

Shattered foot,
crushed skull.

Lot of rage there.

Kind of injuries could
have been caused by a crutch.

Is that what you think?

Yeah.

That's what we think.

Um, Mom... Maurice was her baby.

Me, I only ever had my dad
thinking I was somebody.

So Maurice took that away?

I used to have this crazy dream.

I had it again
last night.

I find Maurice, and I grab him,

and I put him on a bus
to New York City.

And even though he's scared,

I give him my big brother look,
you know,

and I say,
"Forget about us, Maurice...

Just go."

What happened after the audition, Grant?

Talk about regret...

feeling it every second
of your waste of a life.

He never should have come back.

Never.

Got to face the
old man sometime.

He's not asleep
yet, is he?

Sitting in his chair.

How mad is he?

"Now, that stuff
don't come all naturally.

That's real training."

He said that?

About me?

Said him and Ma used to
go down to Atlantic City,

dance all night,

but he never saw anyone
do it like you.

He's saying that tonight,
but once your knee's better,

he'll be on
my case again.

Your knee.

I thought it was
messed up royally.

Be careful with
your leg, Grant.

You're going mess
it up even... worse.

What?

What?!

You're faking it.

Why?

'Cause I quit wrestling.

Quit?

Only I can't 'cause of Dad.

So this is
me quitting.

Get it?

I went to my first

Junior Olympic
training session.

Got so freaked out,

I didn't even change
out of my street clothes.

Pretended like I was
just some guy

headed someplace else
looking in.

They were good. So what?

You're good, too.

Not like them.

Tonight I was really nervous.

Shut up.
Thought everybody
was better than me.

You know,
you're making it worse!

Talking about your stupid,
stupid show!

If you don't make it
all the way,

Shut up!
at least you tried.

Shut up! Shut up!
You tried.
Dad will still love you.

No, he won't!
He will!

He won't!

Dad!

Dad!
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