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 Monday. It was warm in Los Angeles.

My partner and I were working the day shift out of robbery homicide.

The call came at 1115.

Abandoned car, Santa Monica Canyon.

Female, decomposed body.

Possible gunshot to the head.

A fire department brush clearance team spotted the car.

Santa Monica Canyon was on the western edge of the city, quiet, isolated.

That was one of the strange things about L .A., patches of barren wilderness

hidden in a vast metropolis.

People came out here to forget the city.

Sometimes, if they were unlucky, the city forgot them.

My name's Friday.

I'm a cop.

Seven Series Beamer went over the edge. Could have sat there forever. No one

would have known.

You on this one?

Captain, you know I was in court in Santa Monica. Asked if I could swing by.

idea how long the car was down there?

Tag says April 97.

We're running the place. Six years. Anything left of the victim?

Depends on your definition of anything.

Mind if I say it on this?

Well, if it is what it looks like, everyone will be on it.

Detective, take a look.

Adult female.

Partially mummified from the elements.

Well, the stall is shattered here.

It could have happened when she drove off the road.

Looks more like a small caliber gunshot. That's why I called it in. Anyone touch

this car?

No, none on the inside.

Well, I don't think she drove off the road. You don't drive off a cliff in

neutral. Well, maybe a robbery?

I don't see any jewelry or a handbag.

Maybe she picked up someone she shouldn't have. I don't think you drive

and pick up hitchhikers.

Well, whoever did this, why don't they take the car?

Looks like she had a son. Maybe 15, 16.

Okay, auto status says car was registered to Christopher and Carolyn

Six years.

You couldn't help wondering what had happened in this house since then.

A child becoming an adult without his mother.

A husband mourning the loss of his wife.

Time had stopped for Carolyn Meeker.

For those who loved her, life had gone on.

How had they coped? Who had they been then?

And who would they be now?

I kept hoping the phone would ring.

She'd say she was sorry that she was coming back.

Are you sure it's Carolyn?

We'll know better after the autopsy.

I, uh... I... I thought she'd abandoned us.

Why did you think that?

Too many business trips.

I actually... I said it to my son.

I thought she was having an affair and that she ran off with someone.

When was the last time you saw her?

It was dinner the night before. I left early the next morning to go to the

airport. I had this consulting business.

My son called and said that she didn't come home.

So I called her office and a friend.

I called the police.

Other than the idea that she was having an affair, was there anything else?

Didn't make any sense.

She had everything.

She had a great job. She loved it. ComSec.

They're defense contractors.

I went on TV. I asked everyone if they'd seen her.

Nothing.

People say, move on, let it go.

You'll recover from this.

You know what?

You never do.

Christopher Meeker was right.

We say we recover from the worst. The truth is, people don't.

We could offer one thing, a version of finality.

Who took this woman from the people who loved her?

What would the evidence tell us?

Single shot, fired into the right frontal lobe.

Stomach contents? The insects took care of that.

But the other organ says a remarkable state of preservation.

That's a uterus, completely mummified.

It appeared slightly enlarged, so I did some sections. I expected endometriosis,

maybe cancer, but...

That is clearly an embryo.

Eight weeks at most.

Carolyn Meeker was pregnant.

This is one of the biggest missing persons files I've ever seen. Detective

the case was Louisa Rainer. Retire. Spend more time with her kids.

She'll be here in ten minutes.

From the looks of it, she was good. Over 51 interviews.

Anything on the weapon?

22 Browning automatic.

Start at the beginning of that, call everyone.

What are they going to remember after six years? Anything they've thought

her since she disappeared.

Six years. A month hasn't gotten by. I haven't thought about Carolyn Meeker.

She was about my age.

16 -year -old son.

My boy was 16.

She was very successful.

Big bucks. Found the time to volunteer for a nursing home.

One of those weird things that sticks in your head.

Husband had some vague idea about an affair.

Her friend said she was distracted.

Something on her mind.

She came home late a couple of times too often. It says here that she had passed

in corporate stock options just a week before she disappeared.

Yeah, it was a defense contractor.

350 grand.

Well, that's motive.

Her husband?

No. Now, first of all, he was out of town.

Everyone said they were happy.

And on top of it all, she was making a fortune, twice what he did. So you never

thought of any suspects?

Nobody? I thought about the son, Zachary.

He had no alibi, truancy, ran with a bad crowd.

The father never mentioned that.

Kid ended up doing juvie time.

Him along with a couple other kids.

Liquor store, armed robbery.

She's tagging along.

I think that's running my friends.

Why go through with the robbery, then?

Just being a punk.

Acting out, I guess.

We found that in the car with your mother.

She's six years now. I thought she bailed on me.

It's like I can't let myself believe that she's, um... She's dead.

Do you...

Do you know who killed her? We have a lot of unanswered questions.

Does that include, you know, someone she might have been seeing?

Why would you say that?

Blew off school one day, went down to Melrose, bought some CDs, and I saw her

a restaurant with this guy.

My mom looked pretty upset, and this guy reached over and took her hand, and he

just kept holding it, and my mom was letting him.

And that's the last time you saw them?

I know they were together another time, a business trip.

I called her hotel, and a guy answered.

I'm not really sure it was him, but who else could it have been?

You didn't mention this to the police six years ago.

I was 16, man.

I didn't know what to think.

I was mad. I figured, she doesn't want to be found.

I'm not going to look.

Do you remember the date that you called?

How could I forget that one?

It was the night before we robbed a liquor store.

You think that was honest?

Sure. He misses his mother. Feels guilty for being angry at her. Look what he

tells us. I get angry, I act out. He calls a hotel.

A man who's not his father answers the phone. Then what? He robs the store. You

think he lost control?

Maybe. He's got no alibi.

Thinks his mother's having an affair.

Can you honestly tell me you think that kid murdered his mother?

When I had it all up, no. But something's wrong.

What? I don't know.

But he gave us the date of his mother's hotel stay.

Let's call ConSec, see if they have her travel record.

We were horrified by the news about Carolyn.

Please.

You worked with her at that time?

I brought Carolyn into the company. She was my protege.

The truth is, if she hadn't disappeared, she'd have ended up CEO, not me.

She must have been very smart.

They don't come much smarter.

She turned our guidance system division around in six months.

Looking back, is there anything you've thought that might help explain her

disappearance? Wasn't it a robbery or something?

What can I tell you?

Well, for example, she exercised stock options at the same time.

Yeah, the police asked about that. I don't know what to say. She was cautious

about money.

Did other executives cash in their options?

I'm sorry, why would that have anything to do with Carolyn's disappearance?

Mr. Hindle, it's a simple question.

Look, it was a long time ago.

This was a smart guy, Martin Hindle.

He knew all about stock options.

What they were worth when you sold, when you didn't.

Six years ago, Carolyn Meeker had sold hers. He knew why.

He didn't want to tell us.

Thank you.

Carolyn's former assistant has the travel records that you wanted.

She was terrific.

She treated me like a real person.

Did you know her outside of work?

Oh, not really. She was awfully busy most of the time.

Before she disappeared, did you notice any change in her behavior?

Well, I didn't think about it till later.

She was... Yeah, I don't know what it was.

For years, I made all her calls, and then suddenly she started closing her

office door and making her own calls.

Possibly to a man who wasn't her husband?

No.

Not Carolyn, no.

Absolutely not, no. She would never cheat on Chris.

If you had seen Carolyn with her family, you'd know. She wasn't that kind of a

person. Ah, Carolyn's travel, September through October, 1997.

Carolyn Meeker had some secrets.

You mean an affair?

Maybe, or maybe something entirely different.

Kendall was holding something back. Why did she cash in those options?

That's something we need to follow up. Before that, I want you to see where

are on the gun.

They dug some bullet fragments out of Carolyn Meeker's skull, sent them over.

Your shooter used the hollow point .22.

Man, you said fragments. You really meant it.

What about the shell casings they found in the BMW?

Here it is.

This you can get a match on.

Pin strike and extraction marks.

Well, there's only one problem.

What makes us think we're going to find the gun used in the six -year -old

murder?

The guy you just spoke with, Martin Hendel?

According to this, he said the same exact thing about Carolyn Meeker when he

interviewed six years ago. Run him. See if anything turns up. Sexual harassment

charges, anything.

Carolyn Meeker was at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco three weeks before she

disappeared. Just like the son told us around the time of his arrest.

Get the names of all the male guests at the same time. Look for anyone who was

alone and had an LA drug.

Carolyn Meeker's son, the armed robbery?

I checked the juvenile record.

One of the kids fired a gun to scare the clerk. That kind of gun.

22 Ruger. Helen Meeker was shot with a Browning. Ballistic said they weren't

sure.

Check with evidence. See if they have the gun from the robbery.

It didn't seem likely that Zach Meeker was involved in his mother's death, but

we follow every lead.

Was it possible?

Could we match the gun used by a friend of Zach Meeker's to the gun that killed

his mother?

I know. He thought Carolyn Meeker was shot with a Browning.

Could it have been a Ruger?

Browning, Ruger, Beretta, maybe. Hard to tell from fragments. Either way.

You don't get anything from this.

Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop.

Okay, there. There's a knock from the lands. Turn the, uh, plug from the

robbery.

That's something.

Yeah, something I never testify to.

If the son killed his mother, this doesn't make your case.

Zach Meeker's a dead end. No way to rule him out, no way to rule him in.

He might still be helpful.

DMV photos, four men, all say that the Fairmont at the same time as Carolyn

Meeker. Maybe one of them is the same guy Zach saw his mother with.

My God.

Ben.

That's the guy.

You sure?

Yeah, I've been sitting with her at the restaurant. I wouldn't forget that face.

Gerald Kanan?

She ever mentioned that name before?

No.

But, I mean, that's him. I remember him.

He always had this habit. He was running his hands through his head like it was

spinning, and he was feeling it or something.

And the way he stared at her, I mean, he was always staring at her, always.

He did remember.

He was telling the truth.

It was as if we were back there right now.

Still, I couldn't help wondering, was he remembering the right things?

What had he forgotten?

What did the passage of six years erased?

My mom was cheating on my dad, right?

Did he kill her?

Gerald Kanan was in room 404 of the Fairmont the night Carolyn Miko was

She was in 406.

That helps if you want to have an affair.

Gerald Canaan, UCLA law, used to work for the Public Interest Policy Council.

Is that government?

That's left -wing consumer advocates.

She's a corporate officer. Why is she having an affair with the enemy?

The year Carolyn Meeker disappeared, Gerald Canaan quit his job as man of the

people and opened a patio furniture store.

Canaan Gerald, registered in Smith and West and 38th. What's the year of the

registration?

November 97th. Well, I have a question.

Are we so sure that an affair and a pregnancy are motives for murder?

Here's another question. What's a public interest lawyer doing with a gun?

Let's ask him.

Mrs. Cannon?

Yes? Detective Friday, LAPD. My partner, Detective Beltran. Is your husband

home?

What's this about?

Daddy, door.

It's okay, honey. Go on in.

We need to ask you some questions about Carolyn Maker.

Yeah. Mind if we do this out here?

I saw about Carolyn on the news.

Maybe it'd be easier if you came downtown to talk with her.

I'm not sure I could be much help. I only knew her briefly and I don't

that much about her. Well, maybe it would jog your memory if we told you you

were a suspect in a murder.

What my client says never goes beyond this room.

Counselor, he can talk now or he can talk in front of a grand jury. Uh -oh.

What he's going to say puts him at great risk.

If he sounds paranoid, he's got a right to.

He needs protection. We'll make sure he gets it.

In July 1997, I got a call from a woman who wouldn't identify herself.

Do you know what Carolyn Meeker did at CONSEC?

Department head on her way up. She oversaw risk analysis on their laser

systems.

Their biggest client was the Defense Department.

I, uh, I first met her in the garage of the Chandler.

She was, uh, she was scared.

She said that they were suppressing evidence of design flaws in their

and she had documents to prove the cover -up. How did she get to you? She saw me

on TV. I was loud in those days.

She trusted me.

told me who she was and that she wanted to blow the whistle and get a federal

investigation. You think Konsek is behind Carolyn Meeker's death?

Does that surprise you? What surprises me is you met this woman in garages and

hotels for a couple of months, and you're making this sound like it was all

business.

Did you have an affair?

No, I didn't.

She was the most courageous woman that I ever knew, and she wanted her life to

make a difference.

Why'd you buy a 38?

When she disappeared, I was scared out of my mind. Wouldn't you be?

Do you have anything to back this up?

What do you think?

I think it's a stretch.

You didn't let Karen Meeker's boss.

Want to go back and squeeze him? No. If there's any case to be made, I want to

talk to the DA first.

You think Carolyn Meeker was murdered because she was a whistleblower? It's a

lead. What do you think? I want to hear what our science guy thinks of the

document. Joe, Kanan sounds legit.

Kanan thought Velcro was a conspiracy.

I have trouble with conspiracy theories, too. This is hard to buy.

I read your stuff, guys.

It's scary.

If these are real, CONSEC knew its guidance systems were prone to failure.

You're saying they knew they were making a defective product.

Defective and potentially dangerous.

If that was in the L .A. Times, company officers would start worrying about

prison. Where do you start? CONSEC's a big company.

Carolyn Meeker's boss was a man named Martin Hindle, now CEO.

Oh, Hindle, you sure can't pick him. Talk about the height of respectability.

Why call the criminals respectable if he'll indict it? Hey, we're not talking

fraud. We're talking murder for hire.

I'm not convinced.

At the very least, we need to know Carolyn Meeker really was going to blow

whistle. If you were going to rat out your employer, who would you tell first?

I knew she was having some problems at work, but we never talked specifics.

We believe your wife was going to the feds over a cover -up at CONSEC.

That's serious stuff.

Wouldn't she have shared that with you? I knew she was concerned with something

about test results, but that was her job. She was more than concerned.

These were confidential documents.

Look, even if what you say is true, what would they do? This is not the most

ethical company, but they wouldn't resort to murder.

It didn't make sense.

Was Carolyn Meeker planning to blow the whistle or not?

If she was, wouldn't she have told her husband? Maybe she wouldn't have told

anyone else.

She certainly would have told him.

Carolyn Meeker was on the brink.

That's why Cana was so scared once we disappeared. The question is, why didn't

her husband know?

Beltran?

Yeah.

Okay, thanks.

Those are the DOC.

A prisoner in Calipatria has some information on Carolyn Meeker.

Wants to trade.

They'll be coming out of the woodwork.

I'll let the hell go up and see him.

It's 150 miles.

Take Langer along. He's a good company. I know you like looking at him.

Carolyn Meeker, shot in the head, October 97.

Keep talking.

What do I get?

Well, you don't get a reduced sentence.

You can raise my comfort level.

Transfer me to Lancaster. I want to be closer to my wife.

Gilbert Muncie, 35 years with an armed robbery, one strike prior, and...

Man started with an unidentified object.

You all pulled the meeker woman out of her car in the Santa Monica Mountains,

right? Everyone read that in the paper.

The paper says she was done with a .22.

Yeah.

Yeah, she was shot in her Mercedes.

Beamer.

You're on a roll.

You do for us, we do for you.

Well, I once was on the block with a man named Ancona.

Ancona, huh?

Got a first name?

John. J -O -N. Big talker. I must have heard this story a hundred times.

Well, we just need to hear it once.

He had a thing for blondes. She caught his eye.

You know, you never know who's behind you online at the grocery store.

He followed her out. He put a gun on her. Had her drive to a nice spot. But

he tried to get it on, well, she rejected his advances.

He took it badly.

He popped her, took her cash, some hardware, and dumped her car down in the

woods.

I never believed these stories. Any reason to believe this one? He knew

the 22.

Yeah, and we didn't release that, so he didn't hear about it on the 5 o 'clock

news. No, he definitely knew details.

What do we have on the con who he says killed her? Uh, John Ancona. Half a

badass. On robbery, assault, rape.

Fits the bill.

Ancona got out of Quentin a month ago, and until two weeks ago, he was living

north in Danville. Where's he living now? He's not. What?

Dead. John Ancona was shot during an armed robbery last week. San Jose.

It's set up.

Suspect conveniently dead.

Someone doesn't want us to find out who killed Carolyn Meeker.

Get the prison visitor's log. Someone visited your snitch in the last 24

told him exactly what to say.

You visited your husband in Calipatria yesterday.

I go out there whenever I can.

He gets lonely.

Listen, Regina, your husband told us a story. Now, we think he was paid to tell

it.

What's that got to do with me?

Someone gave him the information he was trying to sell.

You were the only person who visited him.

I don't know what you mean. He's probably hustling you. He does that.

So, uh, how do I get one of these at the food stand, sir?

I work half days when I can get a sitter.

So that's what you make?

Seven, eight bucks an hour?

Regina, someone paid him to lie. You got the money. Nobody paid me anything.

Then you wouldn't mind showing us your most recent pay stub.

Without a warrant?

I don't have to show you anything but the door.

Well, this was fun.

Let's stay in touch.

She went up there to her husband and told him to make up a story. What are

people saying? Major corporate executives paid a convict to screw up

investigation? It's been known to happen.

Carolyn Maker was a threat to that company.

Says who? Some burned -out left -wing radical.

Your expert likes the evidence.

Listen, anyone ever hear of Karen Silkwood? A lot of people think that she

killed by the nuclear power industry.

Sandy, I agree with you. I don't think corporations are running around killing

people. But we do need to get back there and talk to her boss.

Sandy, they've got to confront this guy. See what he says.

Then your chief gets a call from the contact lawyers, and you know what they

say. One word of this leaks to the press, and the city gets sued for 50

My advice?

Be careful.

Don't piss this guy off.

Come on. You don't think anyone from this company was involved in her death?

What would it have cost had Carolyn Meeker gone public with those documents?

Absolutely nothing. We lost that contract in 99.

Clinton administration.

Budget cuts.

Can you answer two direct questions?

Ask them.

Did you know Carolyn Meeker had the documents?

Did you know she was going public?

We knew.

That probably shook things up around here.

I'll tell you exactly what we did. It's the way you handle these things.

The general counsel in the company took me to Carolyn's house.

We told her and her husband that we would litigate them into the ground.

would be destroyed.

They'd need expensive lawyers.

They'd spend every nickel that they had ever saved.

When it was over, they'd be broke.

Back up.

You said her husband was there. Chris Meeker? He was there. He was terrified.

He knew precisely what his wife was doing.

And he wasn't too happy about it.

had concerns.

Consick threatened you and your wife. They basically told you your lives would

be destroyed.

A meeting like that, that's not something you forget.

Look, they're a powerful company.

Why would I say anything about them?

If they wanted to hurt me now, they still could.

He was different this time. His pain was gone.

In its place, self -assurance, confidence.

It all sounded reasonable, except for one thing.

They threatened him six years ago, and he's afraid to tell us now?

How could it matter?

She realized that those documents were not going to be enough, and so she

reconsidered the whole thing. You're saying she changed her mind?

No, she never committed to it in the first place. It's like I told you. She

thought about it, and in the end, she decided that it wasn't worth the risk.

You're not buying. I'm on a budget. I'm not buying a story that changes every

day. Well, he's a basic. Does that mean he had the reason to kill his wife?

Call me a sap, but these two people look like they loved each other. At one

point they did.

Suppose she wouldn't be able to get a job. Suppose they were going to be

Is that enough?

Nothing's ever just about money.

I don't believe he did it. He killed her or he had it done. The question is why

and how do we prove it?

We need to know a lot more about Chris Meeker.

No doubt about it. Chris Meeker, he was telling the truth.

Said he went to the papers for help looking for his wife?

Big paragraph on page 31, not exactly a desperate attempt.

He was smart enough to do more if he wanted to.

These diplomas, Stanford, full scholarships the whole way. Full

Stanford doesn't hand out any full rides for good grades. Either he was some

kind of all -star athlete or he grew up in a lower tax bracket.

Well, Mika strikes me as the guy who comes from money.

Well, guess again.

He's from La Puente. Not exactly a high -dollar neighborhood.

All right, get a subpoena.

Get Meeker's canceled checks from July to December 97.

Get his savings and money market accounts, too.

You feel like taking a ride?

A trailer park.

Meeker had started his life here.

The kind of place you aren't proud of.

A place you'd sooner forget.

I was starting to understand who Christopher Meeker was.

If Meeker was born rich, his parents sure hid it well.

Oh, this is the one.

Sir, Meeker still live here.

You're about four years late. Tom Meeker died of lung cancer.

How long have you lived here? 20 years.

Tom lived here at least twice that long.

You ever talk to Chris?

Chris? Tom's son?

God, he looked just like Tom.

I knew Tom all those years, and I never knew he had a son.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yeah, Beaker walked away from all this. He never looked back.

Can you blame him?

It wasn't the American dream, no.

He had it, too.

Yeah, he'd have done anything to keep it.

We're ruling out an affair as motive, and we're not thinking some corporate

executive paid for a hired hit.

We're moving off of that.

And based on no physical evidence whatsoever, we're going with the idea

husband killed him. I'll grant you, no physical evidence, got an alibi, but he

has motive.

Oh, come on. Being poor as a child? Put yourself in his place.

He grew up with nothing less than nothing.

Worked his ass off.

Got the big car. Got the big house. He had it made.

Erased his childhood.

And his wife says, I'm taking a stand on concept.

Which, by the way, will cost us everything.

So he stood to lose his money, so he killed her.

Deeper than money, it's about him.

It's about who Meeker was and who he wanted to be.

And she was going to take it all away from him. You got motive.

I got opportunity.

A connection between Christopher Meeker and our snitch at Calipatria.

Tell me your snitch grew up in La Puente. Not quite, but his wife did.

Regina grew up right around the corner from the Royal Gardens trailer park.

Bingo. Back to her.

Nah, she won't budge. We need someone with information who's willing to talk.

We've talked to everyone.

Well, maybe not. Sometimes the best information comes from people who don't

know they have it.

Look, it was six years ago. I don't remember.

Well, try to think back. Had anything in their relationship changed?

Why are you asking this?

Did they fight?

Sure. Not as bad a thumb, though. I had friends whose parents used to throw

things at each other.

The day your mother went missing, your dad was out of town.

Yeah, Phoenix.

What's with the questions? Do you remember how long that trip may have

planned in advance?

I don't know whether or not it was planned.

He told us he was going to leave the night before.

I'm going to go. I only have a few more questions. Yeah, well, you know what? I

don't want to answer them.

The officer will drive you home. I'll take the bus.

What happened?

He knows more than he wants to know.

We'll go through Meeker's checks.

You don't think he'd hire someone to kill his wife and leave the papers for

The checks are cash. We can find them.

Now, this might not mean anything, but six weeks before Carolyn Meeker

disappeared... $500 cash machine withdrawals every third day for the

weeks. Well, they could have spent that out of their pockets.

Well, wouldn't she spot a check to someone she didn't know? Unless they

cleared. Or unless he found a way of paying somebody without her noticing.

HP Landscaping.

$15 ,000 ten days before Carolyn Minka disappeared.

And over here?

Another $10 ,000 the day after.

Look at that yard.

That big pool area. They could have spent that easy.

Except for the timing.

One check right before she disappeared, another check right after. Uh -huh.

H .B.

Landscaping. It's not a corporation. It's a DBA.

Full of business license.

We find out who's behind H .B.

Landscaping.

We find out who killed Carolyn Meeker.

H .B. Landscaping. A guy named Henry Burke.

Mr. Burke stays busy when he's not trimming the hedges.

Burglary, 18 months.

Armed robbery, a Deuce Pacino. And the good part.

Two years ago, CCW, a .22 Browning Buckmark automatic.

Meeker hired his gardener to kill his wife? Why not?

Burke's mowing his lawn. He and Meeker get to talking. Comes out, Burke's done

time. We don't have a Henry Burke's gun, so we can't match shell casings. They

still have a picture of the .22.

Yeah?

That's no good to us. Well, sure it is.

Pull Henry Burke's prints.

Get me a picture of that gun. Meet me at Ballistics.

This was a nice gun.

Started production in .92, I think.

There's a new model now. They changed the barrel.

Can you get this exact gun?

I told you it's been scrapped.

All right, find one. Age it to look just like this one.

Then check the scratches on the grip and barrel. Try to duplicate it exactly.

I get the feeling we're about to do something unethical. Unethical, no.

Devious, maybe.

Henry Burke?

Hank, only people calling you Henry are family or cops.

Step away from the truck, please.

Stop moving, Henry.

What are you, some kind of lamey? Keep your hands away from your body now. Look

here, man. I'm clean. I made all my parole meetings, all right? You're under

arrest for the murder of Carolyn Meeker.

You're under arrest for the murder of Carolyn

Meeker. You have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.

You have the right to an attorney if you cannot afford one more.

You're a three -time loser, Hunter.

I got two felonies.

You're about to get a third.

Says you.

$25 ,000, that's pathetic.

Killing a woman, you should ask for more.

I remember I used to work for those meeker people a long time ago.

Put in some trees and bushes.

And a bullet in Carolyn Meeker's skull.

Look familiar?

You carried it without a permit.

Cops took it away from you.

Shell casing from a bullet they fired this morning.

This one's from Carolyn Meeker's car.

You see those firing pin marks, Henry?

They're identical.

Now, this is how this goes.

You enter a plea to a straight first, tell us everything, or take your chances

at trial. But that's risky, because you can wind up with a needle in your arm.

Now, this offer is good for ten seconds.

Five.

I never popped anybody before.

I mean, he even told me where to push the car so they'd never find her.

He didn't want to know if I really did it.

I told him.

She showed me a picture of her kid.

She begged me.

They didn't want to hear about it.

Beautifully done.

Thank you. He's nailed it.

Do the speech.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the sole witness in this case is a convicted

felon who avoided the death penalty by entering a plea.

Do you believe him, or do you believe the upstanding citizen, Christopher

Meeker? Will the DA offer him a deal?

They said no. We need a confession.

An arrest would give us the last chance.

You surprise a man, you arrest him, take him away in handcuffs, He's nervous,

disoriented, tense.

Yes, we would tell Christopher Meeker his rights, but somehow I thought he

wouldn't call a lawyer.

It would make him look guilty.

He had hired a man to kill his wife, but he would make every pretense of

innocence.

And while he did, I had a window of opportunity.

Time to push him before he could think.

I didn't kill my wife. You were out of town.

You paid a man named Henry Burke to kill your wife.

I loved my wife.

Did you love your son?

You took his mother away.

That's who he is.

He's trying to recover from the worst loss he'll ever know.

Zach's doing just fine.

When I first met you, I wondered, a successful guy has it all.

How come he never remarried?

Now I think I understand.

You never did get over it.

You never came to terms with killing your wife.

You don't know who I am.

You couldn't visit your own father when he was dying.

Must have been hard for you.

Remembering when there was no food on the table.

Kids at school had new clothes. You didn't have any.

Where'd you grow up?

Nice little tract house in the valley.

Fake cedar shingles on the roof.

Your dad was a cop.

Your mom taught high school.

She was the principal.

Close enough.

No one ever said you weren't smart.

I can almost be there with you.

Your nice house.

Standing by your pool.

Thinking how hard you worked to get this far.

Now you're going to lose it all.

And all you could see was the dirt yard of a trailer park.

Your son was 16 years old.

I protected my son. You killed your own unborn child.

Now if you knew about that, if she told you...

About the baby.

Would she still be alive?

She... She said she had to do it.

Why?

Why?

It wouldn't change anything. You can't change the world.

It would destroy us. For what?

ComSec. would go on doing what they always did. They'd be on the front pages

a day, and they'd go back to their lives, and they'd still have everything

had.

And we... we had nothing.

There was no way out.

I couldn't let her do it.

You arrested my dad?

Sit down, Dad.

I'm so sorry.

Where is he?

You can't see him right now.

How could he have done it? He wasn't even here.

We're charging him with paying someone else to have it done.

You knew, didn't you?

Knew what, sir?

When you asked about my mom and dad.

About the last day.

It's funny, I... I always wondered.

I couldn't ever really explain it.

I can't tell now, but...

I think I always knew.

Sometimes we know things.

We can't do anything about it, so we put it away.

So we don't have to know.

Detective Beltran will take you down to county jail, and you can see him when

he's rebooked.

What else could I say to him?

He would be looking for peace the rest of his life.

We try to leave the past behind.

Sometimes we have to, just to survive.

But the past is never past.

It's there with us all the time.

We can try to rewrite it. It doesn't work.

Either we learn to deal with the past or we don't.

If we don't, it deals with us.

entered a plea to murder in the first degree.

He is currently serving a life sentence at the state penitentiary at San

Quentin.

Christopher Meeker entered a plea to murder in the first degree.

He is currently serving a life sentence at the state penitentiary at Folsom.

Bye. Bye.

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