Original subtitles

[The Chambers Brothers] ♪ Time has come today

♪ Young hearts can go their way ♪

♪ Can't put it off another day ♪♪ Time

♪ Time has come today

♪ Time has come today... ♪♪ Time

No.C'mon, Jordan.

You take this call, I'll cover for you on Saturday.

I'm swamped.

Sixteen hours straight, man, I am so outta here.

Doctors.

Hi.

I'm Bill Avery.

I'm a pharmacist over at Nelson's Drugs on Eighth.

I was wondering if I could...[elevator bell chimes]

get your professional opinion on this.

Oh, absolutely, brother, uh, Dr. Cavanaugh

would love to help you with this.

'Cause she would love to do that.

There's no one here more helpful than she is.

Okay, uh, thanks. Uh...

Wow. 1964.

"Jackson Avery, age forty."

He was my father.

You must've been a baby.

I was born six weeks after he died.

Two shotgun blasts to the back.

I'm very sorry.

Uh...

There's no indication here of lividity.

Uh...no liver temp.

There's no tissue samples.

This is slop.

Oh, okay, yeah.

There's no way that, uh, birdshot

could have been fatal from a distance of 50 feet.

This is--There's something very wrong here.

What's the best way to go about this?

What, exactly, are you looking for?

Justice.

Justice for my dad.

Weird, isn't it?

Do you think she just sat there

while he trashed the room

and buried a knife into her heart?

He who?

She's got an ex-husband out there somewhere.

My money's on him.

What the hell was he looking for?

Who leaves anything interesting in a kitchen?

You got a lot of rhetorical questions.

All right, then, answer the real ones.

Okay.

Well, she's been dead for less than eight hours.

Pretty obvious what killed her.

No defensive wounds.

Doesn't look like she scratched anybody either.

I wouldn't apply for that arrest warrant just yet.

Come on, now, Sidney,

I know you don't think this is a suicide.

Take a look around you.

Would you just sit there

and let somebody plunge a knife into you?

That a rhetorical question?

Hey, I thought you left an hour ago.

Look at this, Garret.

The deceased--you'll notice his race is listed as colored--

was shot in the back outside of his home one night

forty years ago.

Guess why.

No.

The day the Civil Rights Act was passed,

he went down to a white movie theater,

tried to purchase a ticket. Somebody got offended.

Where did this come from and what's it got to do with us?

This man's son wants to reopen the case.

Then he should be in Mississippi.

No, he doesn't trust them.

They know who did it. They've always known.

Look at this.

Two trials. Two hung juries.

The son has spent forty years knowing who killed his father

and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

I've got some vacation time stored up.

Jordan.

I wanna go down there for a few days.

I know it's a long shot, but I want to do this.

They shoot people there.

They shoot people here.

It's not the sixties, Garret. I'll be fine.

Nigel.

Yeah.

How much vacation time do you have coming?

Last I checked, about three and a half weeks, people.

I'm gonna go down to Barbados--

Three hundred years of hostility

doesn't change in a couple of decades.

Pack a bag. You're going to Mississippi with Jordan.

Say what?

Thanks, Garret. I could use the help.

As a bodyguard.

Say what?

I'll get tickets and rent the car.

Say what?

[suspenseful rock music]

♪

Hey, Bill.

Can't stay away?

Weren't you just here visiting your mama last month?

That's right.

Y'all from Boston?

Yeah.

We played high school football together.

He probably never told you

he was the best linebacker this town ever had.

Thad Halloran.

Jordan Cavanaugh.

This is Nigel Townsend.

So what y'all do up in Boston?

Well, uh... Nigel is a scientist.

And I'm a doctor.

So what is it exactly you do down here in Yates' Bend?

I got some filling stations.

And I'm the County Court judge.

Save you the trouble of checking, Thad.

They're from the Boston Medical Examiner's Office.

Is that so?

Well, you folks enjoy your stay now, you hear?

It's always good to have you home.

Gimme a call, let's grab a drink or something.

Well, I, for one, feel relieved.

I was picturing barefoot yahoos with banjos.

You call this a snack?

Well, I heard they don't feed people on airplanes anymore.

So, you play?

Oh, yes.

I taught music at the high school

for twenty years.

I just retired a while back.

So you know why we're here, Mrs. Avery.

Yes.

Because William can't let go of the past.

Tell them what happened that night, Mama.

From the time he was fourteen years old,

my husband mowed white people's yards.

He pulled their weeds.

He watered their roses with his sweat.

For three dollars a day.

He wanted something better for his child.

The son he never saw.

Mama, please.

[sighs]

I begged Jackson not to go to that theater.

He said somebody had to do it.

He wore his only suit and tie.

Oh, my god, look! He should not be here!

He shouldn't be here!

That's right.

He got turned away, of course.

That night, I was in the kitchen,

and I heard two shotgun blasts.

[gunshots]

I ran out the door,

and I saw Olin Price standing there with a shotgun.

My husband was face down in the dirt.

No!

His right hand was clutching at the ground a couple of times.

And then he died.

No!

I knew he was gone.

I felt his soul leave his body.

Forty years is too long to wait for justice.

I hope we can help.

You didn't tell them, William?

No, Mama.

Tell us what?

This is William's journey. Not mine.

I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't think I understand.

Forty years is too long to hold hatred in your heart.

It's not about hatred; it's about justice.

[sighs]

After all this time, it's better to let God take care of it.

God fell down on the job.

I will not have that talk in my house.

Maybe that's why Nigel and I are here.

Maybe God wants to use us to help sort it out.

You needed to see me?

Yes.

Um, she's got needle marks on her arms,

but the tox screen was negative for drugs.

Okay.

Well, can you track down her doctor,

you know, see if she was

injecting herself with medication,

like insulin, ribavarin, interferon, whatever.

Wouldn't that just show up on the tox screen?

Not if she stopped taking it more than a week ago.

Here ya go.

"Susan Galtieri."

Oh, man, please do not tell me you are just getting to her.

Can you handle six cases at one time?

I'm currently juggling eighteen, and I'd love to clear this one.

So tell me what you got.

Okay, I'm gonna make this real easy for you.

I'm like 99% sure that this was a suicide.

Okay, as much as I'd love to close this case,

I'm having a little difficulty swallowing that.

For one thing, I cannot find her ex-husband.

He's not at home, he's not at his office.

Look at this.

You see these superficial little cuts?

That's textbook hesitation marks.

Maybe you're going a little too textbook on this one.

Is there a problem here?

No.

[loud arguing]

Hey, hey, separate corners, everybody!

Separate corners!

Separate corners!

You don't give a damn about her!

This man's got no business here!Okay, who's who?

My wife's here.

Ex-wife.

Susan Galtieri.

All right, you I got to talk to.

Ladies, please.

I went by her house this morning to check on her.

There was crime scene tape everywhere,

an officer told me I should come here.

Why'd you check up on her?

She had cancer.

According to the neighbors,

you checked up on her yesterday too.

The doctor gave her six months.

Just because we're divorced doesn't mean I didn't care.

You're not going to give Susan's body to him, are you?

We want to take care of her-- of her funeral.

Was their divorce final?

Yes.

Then there's no claim.

We can only release decedents to their family members.

She didn't have any family.

She only had us.

The cancer patients' support group.

I am...so sorry.

The law says it has to be a relative.

Well, what happens if there aren't any?

The state takes care of it.

No.

[sobbing]

[Jordan] Okay.

So the people we know were part of the conspiracy and cover-up

were the killer--

Olin Price.

The four cops

who testified that Price was with them

at the time of the shooting--

Are all dead now.

Old Judge Halloran.

Also passed.

And the so-called doctor

who performed the slapdash autopsy.

Dr. Anderson's a good man.

[clears throat]

He could've gone away and gotten rich,

but he came home because the people here needed him.

So where do we start?

How was your husband's health?

Jackson was strong as an ox.

So there's no way birdshot

could have killed him at fifty feet.

I need an explanation of that.

So I will start with the doctor.

Wow.

Two rifles and a shotgun.

That's more like what I expected.

But who needs that?

Never know when you might need to shoot a 'coon.

[door hinge squeaks]

I believe the doctor's in.

That's Olin Price with him.

How's your mama doing, Bill?

Still a widow...Olin.

I know who y'all are.

Then you know why we're here.

I believe I do, little lady. I believe I do.

Okay, then.

I wasn't a pathologist.

Forty years ago, I was barely a doctor at all.

I'm just trying to understand

how birdshot could've been deadly at that range.

You know that your autopsy report makes no sense.

You know that the Cause of Death is wrong.

All I can tell you

is that the police found two birdshot casings

at the scene, and the victim was dead.

And you found birdshot pellets in the body?

Do you have any kind of official standing?

No.

Does that affect the truth?

Four police officers testified, twice,

that Olin Price was with them at the time of the shooting.

Mrs. Avery testified, twice,

that she saw him standing over her husband's body

with a shotgun in his hands.

And you are deflecting every question I've been asking.

Mississippi was a very different place forty years ago.

And nobody wants to go back.

You're a doctor.

You know that sometimes you have to open an old wound

in order to cure the infection.

Only if you're sure the wound is infected.

A cold-blooded killer walking free for forty years?

It's not just infected, it's oozing.

[tower bell tolling]

If you'll excuse me, I have a patient waiting.

It was nice meeting you, doctor.

Garret.

Are there any circumstances under which a body can be

released to non-family members?

If the deceased left a will stating that preference, sure.

Who're we talking about?

Susan Galtieri.

The woman Sidney and Woody were fighting over.

It doesn't have to be close family.

It could be third cousin twice removed,

it could be your mother's sister's daughter's aunt.

That would be your mother.

You know what I mean.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Unclaimed bodies go out of here every day.

What makes this one special?

The devotion of friends.

Look, either the evidence was preserved or it wasn't,

ya know?

Just keep your shirt on, mister.

Forty years is a long time.

Oh, hey, Bill, I heard you were in town.

I'm sure you did.

Got all your ducks in a row?

Don't be gettin' all paranoid on us, now, Bill.

You got away with murder for forty years.

Time's up.

It's over, Price.

Get out of my way, nigger.

Bill, Bill, Bill!

For God's sake, Olin.

[Nigel] It's not worth it.

Now, the evidence in the Jackson Avery killing:

Is it still around?

Yeah.

Are you sure you want to go through with this?

You know he killed my father.

You know he got a pass.

And you know we've come a long way from then.

We don't need any strangers picking our scabs.

Are you going to let us look at the evidence or not?

Would you rather have the news media?

Or the federal authorities?

Explain to me why you think this might be suicide.

No defensive wounds, no myocardial ischemia,

no sign of a struggle,

and no foreign tissue under her nails.

All right, we've got two nicks.

Splicing defect of the rib and the heart.

So the knife caught on this rib,

then was repositioned and thrust deeper on the second try.

That doesn't scream suicide to me.

Liver cancer. Right.

She'd just finished

a debilitating round of chemo.

There was only 20% shrinkage of the tumor.

She was terminal.

And depressed.

She could've repositioned the knife herself

for the second thrust.Not likely.

She'd have to be impervious to pain.

Or really determined. And I think she was.

Something you want to learn, Sidney:

Don't jump to conclusions.

Look at the evidence,

consider the possibilities, do the math.

And I did.

And it's my considered professional opinion

this woman committed suicide.

Ma'am, can I ask you something?

I asked Bill this on the plane,

but he didn't really have an answer.

Why now?

William turned forty a couple of months ago,

and it all just came crashing down on him.

Forty's when it hits you how little time you got left.

Forty's when his father died.

He really didn't want to give it up,

but silver-tongued devil that I am.

That box isn't nearly big enough for the shotgun to be in there.

Well, we did ask the chief about that,

and he pled ignorance.

"Before my time," he said.

Do you see the shotgun shells in there?

Let's be methodical, luv.

Police report.

Oh, the autopsy report that started it all.

Jordan--

Okay, one, two, three...

Four.

My mother heard two blasts.

Why are there four shells?

[Jordan] I have no idea.

This one's birdshot.

So's this one,

but these two are twelve-gauge buckshot.

These weren't a part of the evidence.

No one ever even mentioned buckshot.

I want that gun.

And it's gonna tell us what?

See that mark right there?

That's where the firing pin strikes.

Every shotgun has its own signature.

It's kinda like the striations on a bullet.

Dr. Macy.

The Susan Galtieri report?

How did Manner of Death go from Suicide to Undetermined?

I changed it. Why?

The second knife thrust. That needs to be explained.

Hey. That my report?

And I know you did not rule it a suicide.

I did.

However, I was overruled.

There a problem here?

No.

"Homicide" would be better,

but "Undetermined" is okay, I can work with "Undetermined."

She committed suicide.

Here's some friendly advice for you, kid.

If your boss with twenty-odd years of experience--

I don't know what happened in the house,

but I'm telling you, forensic science says--

The ex-husband was on the premises

shortly before the woman was found dead.

Oh, by the way, all the doorknobs were wiped clean.

She could've done that herself.

You do know people polish their own doorknobs.

They had a terrible relationship.

He threatened her when she left him.

Oh, and he's still her beneficiary

for a million dollars.

She was dying.

All he had to do was wait.

Well, apparently he did not want to.

Renewed his passport five days ago

and bought a one-way ticket to Tenerife.

Anyway, I arrested him.

Well, you don't need me anymore, then.

[door shuts]

Oh, did I scare you?

Sorry.

I couldn't sleep.

What are you doing?

I'm just trying to find some hint

about what happened to that shotgun.

Jordan, I really appreciate y'all coming down here.

We may never find this gun.

Tomorrow I'm going to apply for an exhumation order.

What?

You must've known

that we'd need to examine your father's body.

Well, d-does he have to be disturbed?

I mean, this will kill my mother.

I won't do anything without talking to your mother first.

[footsteps]

[gun cocks]

[gunshot]

William?

No!

William! Get down!

Get down.

[gunshot]

[motor accelerating, tire screech]

I'm sorry.

Your neighbors say that you have to eat something.

Hey, Nigel.

Could you call Garret.

Give him all the information we have.

Just in case.

Yep.

Jackson and I lived in a tarpaper shack.

William built this house for me five years ago.

Saved up his money till he could pay the builder in cash.

Well...

I'm sorry.

I guess this is why you didn't want us coming down here.

William's got to travel his own road,

like everybody else.

Well, you did a great job with him.

I just wish he would find his peace about his father.

It's kinda hard to find peace

with Olin Price walking around free.

He's not free.

His wife's got Alzheimer's.

They got no kids,

and there's nobody but him

to take care of her.

All I would ever want from Olin Price is an apology.

I need to exhume your husband's body.

Jackson deserves his rest.

There's no other way.

Bill, there's no other way.

Mama.

For me to find my peace, I've got to know.

No, do not try to downplay it, listen, I--

I told Jordan this would happen.

All right, just pack up and get the hell out of there.

Both of you. Now.

I'm not even going to try and sell that to her.

I've gotta go, Dr. Macy.

[yawns] Hi.

You're in early.

You too.

Last night I went to a meeting

of the support group that Susan Galtieri attended.

It was unbelievable, Garret.

They're in pain, they're queasy, they're frail.

A lot of them are going to die soon.

But the love and support they give each other...oh.

There was more laughter and courage in that room

than I have ever seen.

How many of them commit suicide when it gets really bad?

They all have times when that seems like the best solution,

but they carry each other through it.

Most of the time.

[knock on door]Yes, Sidney?

Susan Galtieri?

The suicide?

What about her?

Just so you know, I called her ex-husband's lawyer.

To offer my expert opinion.

He seemed pleased.

Wait until you calm down.

If you do it now, you'll kill him.

Mr. Avery and my father were like brothers.

Mama told me Daddy cried the whole time

he was embalming the body.

We'll let you know what we find.

I want to see him.

That's not a good idea.

After forty years--

I want to see him.

My god.

How can this be?

It was July.

There was no air conditioning.

Daddy knew the viewing

would go on for a couple of days.

He used four times

the normal strength of embalming fluid.

I want to talk to you.

The rest of you, find somewhere else to be.

Now!

The only reason I'm not firing you

is that you have the makings

of a first-rate Medical Examiner.

You should trust my-- Don't...

speak.

When I overrule you, you can talk to me about it.

But if you ever again take it to the level

of pig-headed insubordination.

I swear to god you're gonna be out on your ass-

Where the hell do you get off?

I'm desperately scrambling

to get this Galtieri bastard sewed up,

and you go and chop me off at the knees!

First of all, let me tell you something--

He killed her!

Shut up! Both of ya!

The forensics support suicide.

Except for one thing--

second knife thrust, so I'm with you.

It's hard to believe she did that herself.

Now, if we can reconcile that, gentlemen, we're done.

[Nigel] Why are there still people here

who want to cover up for Olin Price?

You are asking the wrong person.

It's just been driven underground, hasn't it,

the racism?

It's right there under the surface.

I think maybe the surface is just a little deeper

than it used to be, that's about all.

I know, it's creepy.

Even if we don't find the real answer,

we can testify this is way more damage

than you'd get from birdshot.

Hmm.

Ah-hah.

Twelve-gauge buckshot.

Found something?

Yeah, proof the doctor lied.

It doesn't give us Olin Price.

Yeah, you're right.

We really need to find that gun.

Probably at the judge's house.

The old judge, Thad's daddy,

kept souvenirs from all his cases.

Had a kind of museum in his parlor.

[William] That can't be the right gun.

Thad Halloran would have never given it to you that easy.

His dad was part of the cover-up.

The serial numbers match.

I don't know, maybe Halloran wanted to come clean.

[gun cocks]

[two gunshots]

[Jordan] Okay, these casings are the buckshot.

Now, we match this gun to those casings,

we've got enough to force somebody

to reopen this case officially.

[sighs]

They don't match.

They have to.

They don't match.

That's not gonna match.

We know he wasn't hit with the birdshot.

[William] The birdshot matches?

Yes.

But he wasn't hit with birdshot.

The answer is here.

We just don't know what it is yet.

You missed one.

I didn't miss it.

I left it there.

Sure took forever for somebody to find it.

Dr. Anderson said he hoped the Feds

would take over the case and redo the autopsy.

They'd find the buckshot pellet,

and then he could say that he had no choice,

he had to tell the truth.

Come on, he's just covering his ass.

If he had any remorse,

he wouldn't have waited until he got caught

to start showing it.

You didn't see him.

For forty years...

I have been balanced on what seemed like...

a single point of time.

Just waiting for somebody braver than I was

to do the right thing.

I'd just started my practice.

I had a wife, two small children.

And I did what they told me to do.

And what was that?

I filled out a new autopsy form.

I put in birdshot

instead of buckshot.

Why would they want you to do that?

What was it about this damn birdshot?

Olin Price did play poker with the four cops that night.

They were all upset over what your father did that day.

And they decided that somebody had to do something about it.

They were drinking.

The drunker they got, the more stupid the plan got.

One of the cops got a shotgun

that couldn't be traced to Price.

They fired it off.

[two gunshots]

He drove across town to your parents' house

assuming he'd have to kick the door in.

But your dad was just getting home

from an NAACP meeting at the church.

No!

Price was so drunk he didn't realize

that what they'd discharged back at his place was birdshot.

He used his own shotgun to kill your father...

[crying]

but left the other one,

the one that matched the birdshot,

the one that couldn't be traced to him,

at the scene.

If that's what happened,

why was there buckshot in the evidence case?

One week after the killing...

I borrowed Olin's shotgun.

Told him I had to kill some rats.

I discharged it in the woods,

and I kept the shell casings.

I kept them for six years

before I got up the nerve to go out to the warehouse

and slip them into the evidence box.

How do you even know that was the right gun?

I didn't care.

I just wanted to point in the right direction,

if there was ever anybody interested.

If you knew you'd done wrong--

Your father was already dead.

I didn't want my children

to grow up without a father too.

William, I was the first person to see you

when you came into this world.

I'm so sorry.

Nigel went to the beauty parlor with your mom.

I would pay to see that.

Look, you haven't said a word

since we left Dr. Anderson's.

My mom's right, you know?

Let God take care of Olin Price.

You can't be serious.

"Balanced on a single point of time."

That's what it's like, you know.

One event overshadows everything else in your life,

until you realize you don't have a life at all.

You're asking me to be a part of a whole new cover-up.

You don't have any real evidence.

Just stop now.

My mom's not gonna get dragged through another trial.

Dr. Anderson can keep whatever shred of self-esteem

he's got left.

Olin's wife won't lose her only caretaker.

And I can finally put my father where he belongs.

In my heart.

Just in my heart.

What about Price?

You met him.

You don't think he's in his own hell?

She was sitting here just like this.

I know what you've got.

What about you?

I've got abusive jerk ex-husband

who just happened to show up

around the same time that she died

with a million-dollar motive.

Now, I do not believe

that she got the knife halfway through her chest.

Then wiggled it around

to clear the ribcage.

And thrust it the rest of the way in.

I mean, come on, people.

How much would that have to hurt?

Wow, so you think she just sat there while he did it?

She didn't resist him?

Scratch him?

Grab the knife? Her adrenaline didn't spike?

Is that really easier for you to believe?

Why does the ex-husband still inherit?

She never changed the paperwork.

She had other things on her mind.

Like terminal cancer.

This is a nice little house,

but it doesn't say "millionaire" to me.

The inheritance, life insurance.

Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,

with a quadruple homicide indemnity.

Was there a pen on the table?

No, on the floor. Why?

Right, you dug your heels in.

Gotta be suicide. Gotta be murder.

You're both right, but you're both wrong.

If she was murdered, Galtieri rakes in a million bucks.

Not if he killed her.

But if she did it herself...

He gets nothing.

She was in pain, just found out she was terminal.

She couldn't take it anymore.

The first thrust killed her.

[Woody] So jerk-o ex-husband comes in...

sees her dead, sees the note she left...

sees a million smackeroos go up in smoke.

So then he proceeds to make it look like murder.

If we can't prove it, he gets away with a million.

Not if Woody gets him convicted for murder.

Not much of a chance of that happening,

with two testifying on behalf of the defense.

Okay, drop the murder charge.

Rearrest him for tampering with evidence.

Sidney and I will find a way to make it stick.

Right?

Yes, sir.

Woody?

Now you two.

Good.

It's a tie. Suicide.

Well, I have to tell you, Jordan,

I'm, uh...

I'm really proud and, uh...

quite amazed by you.

Never in a million years would I have ever have thought you

capable of acceding to someone else's wishes.

Especially when they ran counter to your own.

Hey.

I mean, have you ever done that before?

Stop obsessing just because somebody asked you?

Bill Avery finally got to a place

where he doesn't need blood for blood.

I wouldn't want to mess with that.

See, that's exactly what I'm talking about!

That's not the Jordan I know.[tires screeching]

Company.

Heard you were all leaving,

thought you might need an escort back out of town.

Hey, wasn't that gun rack full before?

[Nigel] Yeah, there was another shotgun.

What happened to it?

It's in the bed there.

Nice. How'd you do it?

I packed the barrels with mud,

tied a string to the trigger,

stood back, and boom.

Good job.

I hated to do it.

My daddy got me that gun for my twelfth birthday.

What, to kill birds with?

Well, nah.

'Coons, more like it.

You think we're leaving because you beat us?

Your drunken plan to kill Jackson Avery

was so numbingly stupid

it took us two days to figure it out.

Two days.

The card game, the drinking,

the gun that wasn't yours, the gun that was yours,

the idiotic mistake with the birdshot,

the faked-up autopsy.

No, we are leaving because the Averys asked us to.

You see, they're nicer people than we are.

No, no.

They actually care who will take care of your wife.

God, you were so close, you half-wit.

One call to the state police,

I could have you arrested and charged before nightfall.

And you think I'm going to worry about your wife?

Well, you don't know me very well.

And this time, you know what, no all-white jury, bigot.

You will be convicted. You will rot in prison.

Or--

Or, you know what,

you get in our car.

We drive you to the Averys' house,

where you apologize to them

for what you did forty years ago.

If they have questions for you, you answer them.

With respect!

That's my offer.

Your choice.

Your move.

I've trolled every genealogical data base I could find.

There just aren't any relatives.

Massachusetts doesn't treat unclaimed bodies

with disrespect.

There's no Potter's Field.

You're given a real burial in a real cemetery,

and the state pays for it.

One of the things we talk about in the support group is death.

We talk about it a lot.

We know what Susan wanted

if she didn't make it.

And we promised her

we'd take care of it if...if the time came.

Fill out this form.

You are the third cousin twice removed.

Will you get in trouble?

No.

You're sure?

Yes.

[Price] I, uh...

Mrs. Avery...

I...

I'm sorry.

I apologize.

I'd be more inclined to believe you mean that

if you would show me the respect

of taking your hat off in my house.

So it was all for nothing.

I wouldn't say that.

I wouldn't say that at all.

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