Original subtitles

The story you are about to see was inspired by actual events.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It was Tuesday, cool in Los Angeles.

My partner and I were working the day shift at a robbery homicide when the

came in at 8 .10 a .m.

A woman found dead in a downtown loft.

On the west side of the L .A. River, just over the 6th Street Bridge, is the

Warehouse District.

By day, it's all shipping and receiving.

By night, these lofts are used for after -hours parties.

This isn't New York.

Clubs aren't open all night.

In L .A., the in -crowd comes to places like this, and they're not easy to find.

There are no signs, no advertising.

You have to know someone.

Once inside, people can lose themselves, their worries, their inhibitions.

Sometimes they lose a lot more.

My name's Friday.

I'm a cop.

I spent some partying.

Sorry you missed that.

I'll live.

Jane does downstairs.

Who found the body?

Cleaning crew about an hour ago.

Printed invite, 25 bucks at the door. What about the owner?

Neighbors say he lives out of state, just rents this place out for events,

shows, cocktail parties, other adult functions.

We get the picture.

Who was renting last night? Cleaning crew says they were hired by a guy named

Adrian Schur.

Schur Fire Production.

Yeah, we tracked him down at home, sent out a unit for him. This way.

I always wondered what went on in the VIP room.

So many cigarette butts upstairs. Must have been a hundred people here last

night.

Someone might have stumbled in and seen this. Maybe not.

Basement door was locked, clean -corrented with the master key.

Locked the door on the way out.

Bought himself some time.

Could have been our hero left to print.

Nobody touches that knob.

Look at this.

Scars on both of her wrists.

ID?

What you see is what you get.

So I'll sign outside in the overnight parking.

Check the impound lot. See who got totaled last night.

Guys, your party host, Adrian Schur.

Party promoter, my friend. There's power in syllables.

He'd be... Dude, come on. What is this? We were hoping you could tell us.

You're the cop.

It's your party.

I don't know everything that goes on in my parties.

You know her?

I might have seen her around. I can't be sure.

I need some air.

I left at five. I thought everyone was gone.

Late party.

Bar's closed at two. People need a place to go.

Get a lot of music industry types. They go late.

What do they get for the cover charge?

They pay for the atmosphere.

You can do better than that.

It's a party.

There's a DJ.

Full bar.

Guys, girls, pros, party girls.

You know how it is.

People meet.

They vibe, hook up, die.

Funny. How does someone get one of these?

I send them out.

I got a list.

Do you have a copy of last night's list?

I'll need it.

Coroner's here.

Gunshot. Medium caliber.

TOD around 3, 330.

Talk about a burning sensation.

One in the back.

How's it look for rape?

That's what I'm trying to tell you. There's trauma to the genitals, but I

think she was raped.

Not in a traditional sense, anyway. What does that mean?

Now, wait a minute.

This isn't an entrance wound.

It's an exit wound.

So where'd the bullet go?

Ouch.

We pulled a 38 slug from the left corner pocket.

Ballistics is trying for a make and model.

It is a guest list?

That's right.

91 names.

So start checking records.

Red flag, any gun charges, sex crimes, violent behavior.

Most of these people were plus one.

Start with what we know. We know a lot more now.

Four cars got towed last night. All the owners picked up their vehicles except

one. I pulled license and registration.

Boom, Jane Doe has a name.

Charlene Cagney.

Check out the court papers.

Restraining order from last year. So maybe she had to stalk her. No, the

wasn't filed for, it was filed against her. Michael Jamelski.

We went out for a few months.

Then I met someone else and tried to break things off.

Charlene didn't take it real well.

Must have been really bad if you had to file a restraining order.

Started with messages on my machine.

She'd scream until the tape ran out.

Then she almost got me fired.

You don't make assistant manager overnight.

You got that right.

It doesn't look real good when your ex comes in and chucks a snare drum at your

head. You filed the papers. That back her off? No.

I came home a couple weeks after that. Found her on my kitchen floor.

She'd gotten some razors.

She slid her wrists.

I think she wanted me to find her like that.

Where were you last night, Mr. Jamelski?

We played the last set at the sinkhole.

Scorpion's tribute band.

Charlene always loved the Scorps.

Charlene wasn't the only one trying to stand out. This is a hungry city.

Thousands of performers competing for a handful of roles.

It takes a gambler's mentality.

Quitting isn't an option, like leaving a blackjack table when you're down.

What if the next hand turns it all around?

Until that happens, people like Charlene do what they can.

Waiting tables is the high end, the low end you wouldn't believe.

Whatever it takes to break in.

And if they can't be in the business, They'll be around it.

Charlene's big break never came, but it wasn't for lack of passion.

She dreamt about it her whole life.

People sacrifice a lot trying to make their dreams come true.

What had Charlene sacrificed?

And who had she left behind?

You ready, Miss Fagney?

Price.

My last name is Price. I changed it when I remarried.

But

her

face is... No, her nose is all wrong

and her hair was... It was much darker.

Hi,

I'm Charlene Pagni. I'm 27.

I've been dancing in one way or another since I was four years old.

I didn't know she was trying out for a television show.

We hadn't talked for a couple of months.

Is that unusual?

Oh, not really.

I don't give up that easy.

I love it here.

I finally feel like I belong.

You have to understand, she blamed me for a lot of things.

Charlene's dad died when she was nine and her stepfather.

They never really got along.

Did you ever talk to your husband about that? Paul would never do the things

that Charlene said he did.

Her address book wasn't a lot of help, Mrs. Price.

If there's anything at all you can remember.

Well, there was someone.

She stayed with when she first got here.

What was her name?

Oh, it was Melissa.

Melissa. Melissa Edgar.

No. I haven't talked to her in a while.

Not really, anyway. I loaned her some money a few months ago.

Nice, huh? Tell me Charlene's dead and I start talking about finances.

Her dancing wasn't paying the bill?

Not really. I mean, she booked a couple music videos and awards show, but that

stuff really doesn't pay.

Seemed to me like she always had somebody taking care of her.

Boyfriends? No, boy.

Charlene liked older guys.

Like Michael Jemelski?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, she loved musicians, the whole long -haired Sunset Strip thing, but I mean,

that guy, like, worked at Guitar Center.

Uh, anyone current?

I really wouldn't know.

Do you know anything about the party on Thursday night?

Mm -mm.

We'd go out all the time. I had to slow down.

But Charlene was amazing.

Girl never slept.

Guy threw the party. Said he didn't know her.

Means someone else got her on the list.

Yeah, we knew a guy.

He always kept us in the loop.

Kind of a fixture. Knows all the parties. Kevin Grimes?

If you're drinking Cristal in a hot tub at one in the afternoon, chances are

you're in the music business.

It's a lot of bubbles and a lot of booze.

And you never know what's going on beneath the surface.

Studio B, make sure it's fully stocked.

I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting. Can I get you anything?

Cappuccino, horchata, orange bang? Just a couple of questions about Charlene

Pagney and we'll be on our way.

Were you and Charlene friends?

I wouldn't say we were friends, more like acquaintances.

Did you tell her about Adrian Scherz on Thursday night?

Sure, I got a bunch of people on the gutters.

Did you see her there?

For a minute maybe, yeah, but I don't think we even talked.

Did you see who she was with at the party?

Look, the truth is, I was hammered. I don't remember a whole lot.

Sounds like you've got a problem.

I've got the gene.

No, I mean coming up with an alibi, should you need one.

Were you and Shirley never intimate?

No, honestly.

I barely knew her.

When's that stop again?

No.

We weren't intimate.

We weren't anything.

These girls come out here thinking they're going to be next Jennifer Lopez.

reality sets in. They can't hack it, and they'd do anything to stay in the game.

You sound like you think she was asking for it.

I'm just saying. Oh, come on. You saw what happened to her. Nobody asked for

that. Ballistics came back on the 38th slug.

Best guest, Colt Python.

Revolving. Makes sense. Run a list of all the party guests for a registered

Python. We're on it.

On the Charlene side of things, we found this convenience store receipt when we

were looking for our personal items from the apartment.

Note the circled item.

APT home test.

Charlene had no health insurance, so I scoured all the free clinics in the

Found that Dr. Navarro saw her a week ago.

Confirmed it.

She was pregnant?

Three weeks.

I know you're new and everything, but how do you miss a pregnant corpse?

New, huh?

I was in the San Bernardino County Coroner's for nine years, presumably the

amount of time you were in high school.

The fact is, a fetus is practically imperceptible in the first month.

Was there enough fetal tissue for a genetic print, anything we can match

the father's DNA?

Uterine trauma was extensive.

Maybe. It would take at least a week to generate.

Did she have money?

I don't think so. Why? She had some work done.

Teardrop implants, subpectral placement, incision hidden in the umbilicus.

That's an $8 ,000 surgery.

And a $5 manicure. She didn't pay for those.

Makes you wonder who did.

Where are you at with a boyfriend?

It's a tough one. Girl didn't have many friends.

Come on, Charlene's a pretty girl. She ought to be dating someone.

Found a facialist in West Hollywood.

Said she came in once a month, always wearing headphones.

Took her music seriously.

Well, she's a dancer, right? What about an agent? Had a manager worked out of a

strip mall in Tarzana.

He said he couldn't book her, let her go last year. All right, then let's work

the evidence. What do you have on partygoers?

The notables.

Robert Radden, possession of a firearm.

Bill Bryant, possession of a firearm, lewd conduct.

And Victor Hellman, two CCWs, unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Victor Hellman.

Yeah, he was a big -time music producer, early 90s, created all that lo -fi

garage sound that wiped out the hair bands.

I like him already.

Sounds like money.

Yeah. Everyone wanted to work with him. He just disappeared, became reckless.

Well, maybe he came out of hiding.

Why don't you guys check out the first two, and we'll check out Hellman.

In show business, there are stars behind the stars, people who pull the strings,

idol makers.

The general public doesn't know their names, but they've seen their work or

heard it.

If Charlene needed help getting her big break, Victor Helmut would have been a

good person to know.

But people who live behind the curtain are hard to know.

You have to be careful when you pull that curtain back.

You never know what you're going to find.

See what I say, this guy was huge and he died.

Kurt Cobain.

Layne Staley.

Tom Gossard.

You know those guys?

They're scientists.

Weren't we just there?

Triscofonics.

It's an anagram.

Any guesses?

I give up.

Psychotronics.

It's a form of remote mind control, not unlike music, a trigger.

People act in ways they wouldn't without the stimuli.

The music's the switch.

We'd like to ask you about your whereabouts at a party Thursday night on

Street downtown.

6th Street.

Dorman was checking names off the list. Yours was one.

Oh, yes, yes. God, I'm sorry. I barely leave the house anymore.

It's hard to conceive of the...

The world outside.

Right. What time did you arrive?

Ah, let's see.

I had, um, late supper, tripe. Do

you like tripe, detective?

I mean, they say organs are unhealthy, but there is something immortal about

the, about digesting the digestive system of another creature.

I guess I got there around 1.

And you left?

Oh, not long after. Maybe 2 .30.

Didn't stay long?

Oh, I never stay out long. I'm kind of agoraphobic.

I mean, not clinically, but more like a rendering than the actual disorder.

You recognize this woman?

No, I'm...

I'm afraid I don't.

Charlene Pagney. She was killed at the party.

Huh.

What a tragedy.

Do you own a gun, Mr. Hellman?

A gun.

It's quite a collection. Our murder weapon was a .38 Colt.

Hellman might have owned one, but we couldn't press him on it.

If he was our guy, we didn't want to tip him off and risk him dumping the gun.

Then again, he might have dumped it already.

I'm Mexican, you know, in touch of evil. I'm Mexican. And Jimmy Stewart, Jimmy

Stewart played an Indian once.

Guns don't kill people, detective.

You know what kills people?

Advertising.

People kill because of what they've been promised by the world. So the growth

hormone won't be until Tuesday, but I got enough tiger down to last at

Six months.

Are you guys following me?

No, just following up. We didn't know you and Mr. Hellman had a relationship.

Oh, yeah. Victor and I go way back. I work for him at the studio.

He lives in the guest house.

So you guys went to the party together?

Not together, no. I mean, we saw each other, but Victor left early. Turns into

pumpkin at 2 .30. 2 .30. So he told us.

Oh. You can just sign this waiver and give us a DNA swab, cross your name off

our list.

I don't want to step on any toes here, but maybe Victor should call his lawyer.

Just so everything goes through the proper channels.

You know, I think you got a point.

Yeah, I mean, Bernie should be in on this.

And I get in trouble for signing things, you know.

You guys don't mind, do you?

I figured Hellman paid the mortgage on his house with publishing points from

songs, but that was just the beginning.

God got himself a little empire.

Record label, recording studios, net worth around 70 mil. Half of which he

apparently spends on firearms.

And among those firearms are registered .38 Colt Pythons.

Our best guess murder weapon, good work.

What about his personal life? Wife divorced him seven years ago and moved

London, citing mental abuse and fearing for her sanity and her life.

They don't talk. He's got a daughter, Claudia, 27, sits on the board of his

company, splits her time between here and New York. Left a message for her.

Anything on current relationships?

Not current. The guy at the Globe gave me a short list of women he's been known

to frequent.

Charlene make the list?

No, but it's not up to date.

Someone else on there you might recognize, though.

My sex life is none of your business.

Victor Hellman's our business.

And the fact that you had a thing with him last year. We were hoping you could

give us some help with some information.

Like what his relationship was with Charlene?

He killed her, didn't he? Now, why do you think that?

Was he involved with Charlene?

For the past couple months.

You didn't mention that earlier.

I didn't want to say anything.

I was afraid.

Of Hellman?

Look, the guy's a freak.

You don't know the things that he did.

Was he abusive?

Not so much physical as... Things had to be twisted for him to get off.

Sexually, I mean. He likes guns. He always had one.

He threaten you?

I gotta make a phone call.

Yeah.

You can talk to me, Melissa.

Sometimes, in the bedroom, he'd use one.

A gun.

What do you mean, use it?

You know, use it?

Unpleasant as that sounds, it's still circumstantial. Come on.

This ex -girlfriend is an incredible witness by virtue of the fact that she

dumped, correct?

Do you want to get this guy or not?

Hellman has resources, and he'll have a dream team when it comes time to lawyer

up. They'll attack any flaws in your warrant and use them to get the case

tossed. I don't want to be put in that position.

You need us to put Hellman with Charlene.

You usually work this late?

We're kind of at the mercy of the talent. They work late, I work late.

you going to do?

I'm sure Hellman pays you well.

Takes care of me.

You take care of him, clean up his little messes.

You know, I've been nothing but cordial with you guys. I really don't appreciate

that attitude.

Cordial means lying like a little bitch? Then yeah, you've been great.

Hey, I don't have to talk to you, you know that? Take it easy.

A good cop, bad cop approach needs to be tailored to fit an individual's

character.

Kevin Grimes was loyal to Hellman on the surface, but the surface was thin and

with a little warming, easily cracked.

I'm sorry about that. He gets emotional, I tell him.

keep objective. But, you know, some people, it's not natural to turn off

feelings. Yeah.

I guess I can understand that. Well, I think you can because it's your emotions

not letting you say bad things about Victor. He's a friend.

He's a good friend. But if you were able to be objective, I think that you would

see that he could be getting you in real trouble here.

Seriously? If Victor is involved with Charlene's murder and you're covering

him, that makes you an accessory after the fact. Now, that's real jail time.

Now, I know Victor's been good to you, Kevin.

But has he been that good?

Sometimes Victor isn't real skilled at meeting people, so I'll, you know, make

introductions. You introduced him to Charlene.

And they were sleeping together.

Exclusively?

No, Victor doesn't know the meaning of the word, but Charlene, yeah.

She was really into him.

And you saw them together at the party.

Need your fingerprint from the DNA sample.

It's in the warrant.

Bull's annex.

Scrape the inside of your cheek.

You have a registered Colt Python revolver on the record. It's not here.

I guess you don't know where it is. He's got a lot of guns. You lied to us about

knowing Charlene. I'm assuming you're lying now. Do the rest of the house.

The results from Charlene's talk screen came back.

All sorts of sedatives in her system. All right, we'll be in the living room.

Don't bother us unless it's something substantive.

I was wondering how you got her in that position, but it makes sense. You

drugged her, right? I didn't drug anyone.

Probably wasn't even conscious when you did it to her, right?

They weren't lewds, okay?

Devin got me some lewds. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get lewds these

days? Did you know Charlene was pregnant?

He didn't know.

I had assumed that Charlene told Hellman about the baby and that it had

something to do with her death, but it was clear from Hellman's face.

She hadn't told him at all.

Just don't open your mouth.

Now that we've got your DNA, we can go ahead and confirm paternity.

It was an accident, Victor.

I'm already going to hell, Bernie. It's simple physics.

I'd be able to send a little slower without the weight of this on my

By law, I have to remind you of your rights at this time.

It was just a game.

We'd played it before.

This time she even asked for it.

I don't know how it happened, the gun.

The gun wasn't supposed to be loaded.

Come on.

You forgot the gun was loaded? I never load my guns.

You can ask anybody.

That night when I left to go to the party, I swear that gun wasn't loaded. I

mean, it couldn't have been.

It just couldn't have been.

It was just a day.

So by Hellman's account, he shoots Charlene by accident, leaves the party,

the gun, goes home and plays posse. The actions of an innocent man. Yeah.

Again, a gun that magically loads itself.

I hope he was right about where he dumped the piece. I don't know how much

longer I can dig in Frank Fong's leftovers.

Looks like Mr. Fong serves his Peking duck without the head.

Looks like he was telling the truth about one thing.

Oh.

I'm looking for the lead detective on the Charlene Pagni case.

I can help you with that.

If you're not the lead detective, then no, you can't.

Who should I say is calling?

Claudia Hellman.

I'm Victor Hellman's daughter.

Thank you. I could use this.

I caught a plane out of JFK as soon as I got your messages. This must be very

difficult. We're going to try to get you a meeting with your father as soon as

we can. Oh, that won't be necessary.

My father needs his time to himself.

He needs to ask himself who he's going to be under these circumstances.

Who he's going to be?

People need to discover their own abilities to generate and create

in challenging situations.

I take it the two of you aren't real close.

My father is an emotionally incomplete person.

He doesn't connect in meaningful ways.

I had the same problems.

The form showed me how to redesign my relationships.

You meet these types in L .A., hooked on motivational seminars, ideology for

sale. Some call it brainwashing. All I know is once they start talking about

it changed their lives, pull up a chair, you're going to be there a while. So

what brings you here, Ms. Helmuth?

I just wanted you to know that I won't be standing in the way of your

investigation.

In a way, I think this could be a healthy process for my father.

I'm in town for five days.

If you need anything, I'm staying at the Montclair.

Thank you.

She tell you how misunderstood her father is?

Not even close.

I swapped the inside of the barrel of your .38. I found trace amounts of blood

and tissue.

Inside the barrel? Mm, blowback.

happens when a gun is fired close to, or in this case, inside the target.

You typed the blood?

Yep. Matches your victim.

The only thing in the cylinder was a single -spend shell casing.

I sent it over to Prince with the gun.

Okay, Victor Hellman's thumbprint matched the lock on the door at the

scene.

We also matched him to the latents on the pistol grip.

What about the shell casing?

No, I only got a partial.

Can't tell you who it belongs to, but I can tell you it's not Victor Hellman.

Are you sure? I checked it three times.

That's somebody else's print on the casing.

What if I'm hearing about new evidence?

The print on the casing, not his.

Oh, come on. Someone else loaded his gun?

Somebody at the party, maybe.

Without his knowledge.

Said he was high on pills his houseboy gave him, doesn't remember who else

handled the gun.

Don't you think we should run this print down before you formally charge him? I

don't see the need. We've got a good case.

What happened to all this concern about Hellman's dream team? We've got a

celebrity defendant with a confession, material evidence, great wit. The

defendant they've already convicted in the media, and now you're rushing to

catch up.

Defense is going to get to some discovery. Don't you want to know who it

to before you walk in that courtroom?

I'll stall, but keep me apprised.

Theory.

That Hellman up, someone would have to have known about his little fetish.

Nobody keeps secrets in this town. He's right.

He's got to remind you of a certain actor and his pet gerbil.

All right, let's stay with the facts.

We got somebody else's prints on the casing.

Now, assuming for the moment that's the set -up scenario, we're looking for

somebody with opportunity.

That brings us back to the guest list.

Who on that list would have motive to ruin Victor Hellman's life?

It could have been any one of them. They all despised me equally.

Let's narrow it down to the people you actually saw at the party.

Do you have a pen?

Ungrateful bastard.

Sociopath.

Oppressed homosexual.

Canadian.

I mean, you having me generate suspects like this, you sure you can trust me?

We double -check everything.

Oh, that's good, because what an opportunity.

I spoke to your daughter today.

That's strange, Detective.

That's okay, Barney.

Did she convert you with platitudes about personal responsibility and

completion? She mentioned something.

She didn't want to see me, though, did she?

Oh, it's okay. I mean, if there were anyone else I could blame, I would, but

it's only me.

I turned my daughter into an automaton.

At least it's beat the alternative.

What's that?

Turning her into me?

That should keep you busy.

He killed one of the most promising young guitarists I've ever known.

Kid had talent on loan from God.

And Hellman killed him?

He didn't actually put the heroin in his veins, but he might as well have.

Helm's a monster in the studio.

Worked the kid half to death.

Mac took care of the other half.

I saw him at the party.

Trust me, I stayed away from him.

Let's take some prints.

Just in case.

I didn't see him.

Had I known he was at the party, I probably would have left.

Sounded like you guys were tight.

Helm got it in his head one day. Wanted an acoustic track with no finger drags.

Basically impossible.

After the 40 -second take, he comes screaming out of the booth, puts a

my head, tells me to leave the state.

I wanted to sue the guy, but no one would take the case.

He fired me.

People change managers all the time. It happens.

Fact is, I'm elated not to be working with the guy anymore.

I can see how it might be difficult.

Mixer wasn't the problem. You allow for a certain level of insanity when you're

dealing with an innovator. He was worth those headaches.

The real problem was his daughter.

Claudia, right?

Very ambitious lady.

Not that it's done her much good.

She's on the board, but Victor makes all the real decisions.

I wouldn't trust that guy to decide on lunch.

There was this industrial band called Fury 66.

Claudia was desperate to find them, swore they were the future.

She brought the demo in for Victor, and he passed.

30 seconds into the first track.

So they signed with Epic.

Wow. Their album was huge.

Triple platinum.

Claudia was livid.

If you ask me, that's what prompted her to play for the company.

What play was that?

She tried to have Victor declared mentally incompetent, pull the company

from under him.

Didn't work.

But still, you have to admire Moxie.

The pulled court documents on Claudia's power grab, they threw out the case

after Hellman submitted to a psych evaluation and was deemed competent.

Zero print matches from Hellman's hate list.

The daughter's worth a look.

Well, we know she didn't put the bullet in the gun because she was in New York

and we confirmed it. She couldn't have loaded herself if someone could have

loaded for her.

It's a stretch.

But if any of you want to trek over to the Montclair, check it out. Be my

Friday's right, you know.

It's kind of a stretch.

You haven't let this girl play ice.

Even so, it means we're looking for an accomplice who was at the party, who got

close to Hellman, handled his gun, who's also close to Claudia, someone she

trusts. All right, it's a stretch.

And again.

Is that my crab?

Crab's gonna have to wait.

How long have you and Claudia been seeing each other?

Almost a year.

Did Hellman know about it? No.

That was Claudia's call.

Did you really bring me here to talk about my love life? Hellman said the gun

was empty when he left the house to go to the party.

So? Means it got itself loaded after he left.

It's probably loaded the whole time. Victor has a tendency to forget things.

Especially when he's been drugged, right?

Drugged? He said you gave him pills at the party.

I got him some party favors. What is that?

You think that I loaded his gun? Is that why you took my fingerprints?

Thelma, out of the way. Claudia assumes control. You get what?

An A &R gig piece of the company?

Oh, you can't be serious.

Victor's my hero. I idolized the guy. Why would I want to do something like

that? Maybe it's not a question of what you wanted.

You tried to get control of the company with the competency, Aaron. The company

was the one thing standing between my father and his realization of what he'd

become. He needed to confront that. You're saying challenging his sanity was

intervention? Sure it was, but the court ruled in his favor, so she needed a new

plan.

Plan? Frame him for murder, he goes to prison, the company goes to you.

You think I'm somehow responsible?

After what he put me through, you think I put him in this position?

Kevin was a perfect choice, wasn't he? Not only could he get close to your dad,

but look what he represented.

You weren't only stealing the company, you were slumming with the help.

Love is a function of communication.

Kevin and I have something my father will never know.

Claudia didn't manipulate me. So you're a willing participant.

We have no interest in toppling Victor's empire. We love each other. That's

nice. I'm serious. I have a ring and everything. I was going to surprise

in New York. This whole thing with Charlene happened...

Don't get me wrong.

I feel horrible about what happened to her.

If I hadn't invited her to the party, I was just trying to help.

Help?

I thought that maybe Victor and Charlene could get back together, work things

out. She made him happy.

Why'd they break up in the first place?

Victor has what he calls the five keys to life.

Food, drink, shelter, tail, and strange tail.

Another woman?

There's always another woman.

My publisher sends me everything with my name on it. I got less coverage when I

won the Grammy.

Oh, that's terrible.

A joke all you want, detective.

I certainly wouldn't want to find out all those press leaks are coming out of

your office. Tomorrow morning, your client's getting charged with murder.

It's in his best interest to cooperate now.

You cheated on Charlene. She found out.

It happened.

When we were fighting, Charlene wanted more from me than I could give. It was

all a big mistake.

She'd think I'd get electrocuted if I went in the water with it.

Who was she?

Just some girl I used to know.

But she couldn't have had anything to do with it, though she wasn't even at the

party. Mr. Hellman, who is she?

Melissa.

Melissa Edgar.

Seven years, and I never once used this pool.

What do you want from me?

When we talked to you before, you were ready to burn Hellman at the stake.

Now we find out you slept with him two weeks ago behind Charlene's back.

Does that make sense to you?

Tell us what happened.

Two weeks ago, Victor came into the club.

When we were closing, he only goes to public places when no one else is

I guess that him and Charlene were having problems.

What kind of problems?

He didn't say, and I didn't ask.

We had a few drinks, and I don't know if maybe I felt sorry for him.

You went home with him?

Yeah.

I should have known that something was going to happen.

I didn't put it together until after we talked.

Put what together?

On the day of the party, I got a message from her.

It was weird. She was all calm.

She said that she didn't blame me and that it was Victor's fault and he would

have to face the consequences.

What else did she say on the tape?

She was rambling. It didn't make a lot of sense.

She said that... She was going to make him understand what it was to feel pain

that never went away.

She said that she was going to make him suffer.

Make him suffer.

Somebody get the coroner's protocol on Charlene. Right here.

Just had a call from SID.

They confirmed paternity.

Tell them it was the father of Charlene's baby. I know.

Are you going to tell us what you're looking for?

Fifth. Her fingerprints.

Do you want me to point out the matching characteristic?

No, I see it.

Unbelievable.

Charlene.

It was vengeance.

I'll call the DA.

Who knows how many times Charlene had tried to die.

We knew she'd put her wrists in her ex -boyfriend's kitchen.

We knew she'd loaded the bullet in Hellman's gun.

Maybe it was just a matter of time.

It might be hard to understand how someone could choose to die in such a

horrible way, but it was this horror that achieved her purpose, to plant a

nightmare in Victor Hellman's mind that would last forever, damning him to

relive her death and the death of their unborn child at his own hands.

Was she avenging his infidelity or avenging the failures of her own life?

Those are the questions that haunt you.

Did Charlene give up on the world, or did the world give up on her?

Victor Hellman was charged with involuntary manslaughter. In an effort

trial, Hellman agreed to a plea bargain of ten months to be served at the Los

Angeles County Men's Jail.