All language subtitles for Law and order.SVU.S11E21.HDTV.XviD-2HD

Male announcer:
in the criminal justice system,

sexually based offenses are
considered especially heinous.

In new york city,
the dedicated detectives

who investigate
these vicious felonies

are members
of an elite squad

known as
the special victims unit.

These are their stories.

- Just one quick beer.
- No, I'm hammered.

I gotta be at work
in three hours.

- Hey, I didn't make you
do body shots

with the jager girl.

What?
- Dude, it's her.

No way.

- It's the hot chick
from the bar.

- Oh, dude, you...
- "I'm bored. Wanna hang."

- Ask her to send you
a naked picture.

- If you wanna...
- Fire! Somebody help, please!

My girls!
My girls are in there!

Call 911!
- Frank!

I already called
as soon as I smelled smoke!

- Hey, hey, you can't
go back up there.

- I gotta get my girls...
- Aah!

Get outta here.

You okay?

- There are two little
girls inside

in the back bedroom,
up the stairs and to the right.

- We'll find 'em.
- Kedzie!

- Now, get back.
- Faye!

- Hey, guys, get outta the way.
Rig the ladder.

Kedzie!

- Two girls burned to death,
eight and ten.

Dad's being treated for burns
and smoke inhalation.

And the mom?

- Neighbor says
she's out of the picture.

Single dad.
Three kids.

- Three.
There's a survivor?

Emily sullivan. 18.

She was out babysitting.
She came home to this.

- Well, even if you think
it was arson, why call svu?

- She told me to.
She says she's your new a.d.a.

- Use your cell phone,
shoot some video

of all the looky-loos
standing around here...

Oh, man.

- Do you know her?
- She used to be a cop.

And my old partner.

Sub by Adriano_CSI

- what are you
talking about?

I've been telling you
jo marlowe stories for years.

- Except the one where jo
is actually a woman.

- Did he tell you I was
his training officer?

Taught him everything he knows.
- Right.

- Elliot friggin' stabler.
What's it been, ten years?

Closer to 15.

This is my partner,
olivia benson.

- Lucky girl,
working with el.

- Well, that's what
he keeps telling me.

Yeah.

- So what'd you
call us down for?

- Well, when you got
two dead little girls,

the ledger's gonna run it
on the front page.

- So you want answers before
they hit you with the questions.

- Yeah, the only time
I like to be surprised

with my pants down
is on my birthday.

- Well, pants down
is an svu case,

but, uh, house fire...

I mean, if it's arson,
that's homicide.

- Not in the eyes of the d.a.
When he sees dead little kids...

He thinks special victims.

- So jack mccoy
assigned you to the case.

- No. I've been transferred
to svu.

Elliot never got over it
when I left him for law school.

Looks like he's been
in good hands.

I'll catch up
with you later.

A.d.a. Marlowe?

Deputy fire marshal kurek.
- What do you got?

- Well, I'm just
getting started,

but I did find signs
of an accelerant

in the girls' bedroom.

I'm ruling this one arson.

Let's take a look.

Dad's down at mercy.
Why don't you go talk to him?

- I woke up to kedzie and faye
yelling for me.

At first,
I thought I was dreaming,

and then I smelled smoke.

So I-I ran to their room.

It was...

The door was so hot,
I- I burned my hands and...

I tried to save them.

I should have been there...

Taking care of my sisters
instead of joey bremmer...

It was an accident.

- Well, actually,
mr. Sullivan,

we believe it was arson.

- W-who'd do something
so terrible?

- It's usually
someone you know.

Do you have any enemies?

- I got no problems
with nobody, uh...

Hey, look,
i'm just a working guy.

Sandhog.
Local 242.

- What about
family members?

You're divorced?
- Thank god.

Marcy was a psycho!

Emily...

- If you don't want
to admit it, fine.

But they need to know.

Maybe she set the fire.
- Em.

Could you get me
some orange juice, please?

See, emily's mom,
my first wife,

she died when she was ten.

- And obviously emily has
a problem with her stepmom.

- Marcy's a dreamer.
She doesn't mean any harm.

She wants to be a singer.

I said, "why don't you
join the church choir?"

but she wanted a record deal.

She said that couldn't happen
if she was driving carpools

and helping out with homework.

So she left you.

And the girls.

- Always thought
she'd come back.

If not for me...

For kedzie and faye.

- Judge gave full custody
of the girls to frank.

- It's usually
the other way around.

What'd marcy do wrong?

- Failed a court-ordered
psych exam.

It's quite a read.

- She's an extreme narcissist.
Shows poor judgment.

- Yeah, like drugging her kids
instead of hiring a sitter.

Page 12.
Took them to a club

for open-mic night,

gave them warm milk
spiked with whiskey and ambien.

Manager found them unconscious
and covered in puke.

He call acs?

- He didn't want to risk
losing his liquor license,

but the girls told frank,
and he told the shrink.

And marcy lost custody.

- Flipped out when
the judge ruled against her.

Screamed at frank.

Said if she couldn't
have the kids, nobody would.

I can't believe they're gone!

Kedzie and faye
were my little angels.

- When is the last
time you saw them?

Oh... Last week or...

Or maybe last month.

Or maybe family court?

- I only took the girls
to the club

to show them what mommy
does for a living.

- Because they already know
what an alcoholic does at home.

- I'm a performer.
I sing.

I'm gonna make it big soon.

- "Make a million dollars.
Buy a yacht."

Doesn't look like any of your
fantasies have come true yet.

- I-I don't see "take care of
my kids" up there on the board.

So I'm not a perfect mother.

It doesn't mean
I didn't love kedzie and faye.

- Yeah, but if you couldn't
have them, neither could frank?

I didn't mean that.

I had a couple belts before
the hearing to calm my nerves.

- You have a couple
of belts last night?

Black out?
Forget what you did?

i...

I had... An audition
at a club last night.

I... I went home
with one of the owners.

- Do you know of anybody
that would wanna hurt your kids?

Uh... Nah.

He... He wouldn't.

Who's "he"?

- Uh, some kid grabbed
kedzie's vajayjay a while back.

I- I thought
it was just puppy love.

Does he go to kedzie's school?

No, he's 20, 21.

He's...

Kedzie was ten years old.

That's not puppy love.

That's pedophilia.

What'd you do?

I yelled at him.

I mean, I was going to

when I had the time
to get uptown.

- When you had the time.
- I...

I told her,
"talk to emily."

- I didn't know
he touched her.

- Do you know the guy's name?
- Pizza face?

He has really bad acne.

Where did this happen?

- A bodega on 34th
where he hangs out.

Kedzie had to walk by
on her way home from school.

I told her
to take a different way.

Did you tell your dad?

- I thought she was just being
a drama queen, like usual.

She was always exaggerating
to get attention.

That's why
I didn't believe her,

especially the part
about the cat.

What cat?

Uh, the one in the bodega.

Kedzie used to pet it.

And then last week she...

Said she found it in the alley
burned to death.

What?

- She told me
pizza face was there, laughing.

And he said, "that's what
happens to bad pussies."

Hey, good lookin'.

- I know you?
- No. But I know you.

Pizza face, right?

- Look, call me that again,
we're gonna have some problems.

- Yeah, well,
the only problem I got

is you harassing little girls.

- If there's grass
on the field, play ball.

- Not if she's ten years old.
- What are you, a cop?

Call me "detective."

Where you going?

You're running like your pants
are on fire.

Well, what do you know?

They almost were.

Pizza face's real name

is michael parisi.

23. Three prior arrests
for sex abuse in the bronx.

All of the victims
underage girls.

- And none of the cases
went to trial

because all the victims
were too scared to testify.

- He set the fire
to frighten kedzie sullivan

into silence.

The blaze got away from him.

He ends up committing
two arson homicides.

But why set a fire?

Why not threaten
to kill her pet or her parents

like every other garden-variety
child molester?

Because mikey is a firebug.

We found a big-ass lighter
and accelerant in his pocket.

- Maybe he smokes.
- No cigarettes.

- So you've got a perv
who likes to play with fire

and little girls.

Sounds like
you're double-dipping

into the motive pool.

Told you she'd say that.

Good idea, though,

shooting video
at the crime scene.

- Arsonists love to watch
their handiwork.

Problem is...

Mikey's not watching.
He's got his eyes closed.

- He's having
a private moment.

- He's getting off.
- I light a couple of candles

if I want to get in the mood...
I don't torch my house.

But a pyrophiliac would.

Bet my paycheck on it.

You can't afford to lose.

Then I won't.

How you gonna prove it?

Mikey, you ready to talk?

Can't hear you.

- I didn't do nothing.
- Louder!

I said I didn't do nothing!

You got a hearing problem?
- Well, it comes with age.

Along with hair loss
and back spasms.

Upside is
most people outgrow acne.

Go ahead, make fun of me.

- No, no, no, not at all.
- Tell a story, build empathy.

- I just meant
that when I was in tenth grade,

they used to call me
pus pocket.

Never could get a date.

I had to take my sister
to the winter formal.

At least you had a sister.

No chick's
gonna go out with me.

- Girls can be cruel.
- Use your family.

I got three daughters.

I haven't heard a nice word
out of them in years.

And I'm the guy
who pays their allowance.

That's cold.

- Look, when they
were younger,

they used to be
all smiles and sweetness.

Go for the close.

- They hadn't learned
to be mean yet.

Mikey, you're not a freak.

You just want someone
to be nice to you.

Pretty girl like kedzie.

I only talked to her.

- Yeah. With your fingers.
- I didn't.

Mikey... You did.

And you were afraid
she was gonna tell someone,

so you went to her house.

You set a fire
to send her a message.

You're crazy.

- You got a thing
for fire, don't you?

The way it looks...

The way the flames...

Dance in front of your eyes.

I mean, it's exciting, hmm?

Beautiful.

The heat, the power.

That's your girl.

She comes when you call her.
You can't do without her.

But she's just not
quite enough, is she?

You touch that girl, mikey?

No, I swear.

Don't lie to me.

You touch that girl?

Okay.

Okay, I might have
copped a feel, but that's all...

- Keep talking. Tell me
how you torched the house.

I didn't.

- You get off on this,
don't you?

It makes you feel like a man.
It turns you on, huh?

You touch that girl?

Tell me.

All right.

All right, I did it.

I set that fire.

- There goes
your paycheck.

- That's not all
it's gonna cost me.

What are you talking about?

- Oh, I can hear
the defense now.

"your honor, detective stabler
sexually aroused my client

"to elicit a confession.

He was raped at svu."

His confession
will be thrown out.

- We have pizza face
on the video.

- Along with
half the neighborhood?

Look, he molested kedzie.

- Yes. And those charges
died with her.

I need to reinterview dad,

see if he'll put
the bastard there.

- Frank said that
he didn't see anybody

hanging around last night.

- You think I don't trust
your interview skills.

- I think that you have
a much more

hands-on approach
than most d.a.s.

Cut the euphemisms, olivia.

Just because you were a cop

doesn't mean
that you're on our side.

- I wasn't just a cop.
I was elliot's partner.

I wouldn't betray him
any more than you would.

- You transferred back here
to work with him again.

- Jack mccoy
needed to replace cabot.

So I was drafted.

It's a happy accident.

Speaking of elliot...

You and he ever...

No. He's married.

Yeah.

Where are you going?

- To rescue our case
against pizza face.

You comin'?

- Had to wait for my report
to finish printing.

You ready to go collar up?
Got my cuffs, my vest.

- We already got the guy.
Pizza face confessed.

- Who's that? I'm talking
about frank sullivan.

- You think frank
set the fire?

Think? I know it.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Run it down for me.

- The burn trail led directly
out of the girls' bedroom.

There was pour pattern
around their beds

then back down through
the hallway to the front door

and onto the doorstep.

- Meaning the arsonist
poured accelerant

while walking backwards
from the children's bedroom

and out the front door.

- He stood there,
lit a match,

and fried his babies.

Only way this happened.
- Hold on.

It could have been anyone.

- Yeah, but frank's story
is total bs.

The burn patterns
on the floor

prove that the hallway
was engulfed in flames.

If he ran through the fire
like he claims,

his feet would have been
burned to cinders.

Looks like
he's walkin' fine to me.

- Is there any way
you could be wrong?

- I been deputy chief
fire marshal for 19 years,

investigated over 300
felony arson scenes.

Every one of my arrests

has resulted in
a top-count conviction.

All right.

Let's cut pizza face loose.

Arrest him.

- Came back to get my car.
Is there news?

- You murdered those
two precious angels...

Calm down, calm down!

- It's okay.
This is a big mistake.

No. Let go of me.

- Put your hands
behind your back.

You're wrong about this.

- Frank sullivan,
you're under arrest

for the murders
of kedzie sullivan

and faye sullivan.

- Hey, hey!
That's enough!

You okay?

Your cuffs on our killer?

I'm fine.
- Let's go.

Frank sullivan killed his kids.

I wanna know why.
What do you got?

- Well, for starters,
frank has been lying to you.

Said he's a sandhog.

Hasn't worked
since last summer.

And take a look
at his financials.

They're a complete mess.

He cashed out his 401k
to live on.

He's underwater
on the house.

- And looky here... It was
insured for the full value.

$1.1 million.

Frank have any record
of fraud?

Criminal record is clear.

Never filed an insurance
claim in his life.

But emily sullivan has.

As soon as she turned 18,
she took out a car loan.

Six months later,
the car was reported stolen

and torched
under the bqe.

Total loss.

And the insurance company
paid off just in time.

- Dress rehearsal
for the big show.

And a prior bad act.

This is just what I need
to convince the jury.

- If the melted mazda
was daddy's idea.

heh.

How's my father?

He's fine.

You're making a mistake.

Where is he?
I want to see him.

- You can't, emily.
He's under arrest.

Then he needs a lawyer.

My father did not
burn down our house.

- Well, if you really
want to help him,

I suggest you talk to me.

You know him best.

So why don't you help me
get to know him better?

Have a seat.

He's a great dad.

He never let my little sisters
see him worry.

Worried about what?

Money mostly.

Uh, collection agencies
were calling all the time.

They got pretty nasty.

- You must have been
really worried.

- Dad told me everything
would be okay.

But I-i'm supposed
to start college in the fall.

I- I don't know how we're
gonna afford the tuition.

- Like you couldn't afford
your car payment.

Until your mazda conveniently
showed up stolen

and was torched.

- Am I in trouble?
- Well, that depends.

Emily, whose idea was that?

It was dad's.

He didn't want a repo
on my credit report,

just in case it screwed up
my financial aid.

- So he did it
to protect you.

- Well, it's not like
we were stealing.

We didn't get any money.

Insurance
just paid off the loan.

- And now the bank
was gonna take your house.

Your dad was in trouble,

and he didn't know
what else to do.

Emily, if it worked before...

Why not do it again?

Oh, god.

He really set that fire.

- Hey, hey, look,
this is all a mistake.

- Sit down.
- No, I didn't do it!

- I said sit down!
Now...

You're gonna tell me

why you burned up
those two innocent children.

- No. I-I loved them
with all my heart.

- You couldn't pay the bills.
You were gonna lose that house.

You were gonna
wind up on the street

or some cruddy
homeless shelter.

- No. No, I would have
figured something out.

Yeah, I think you did.

Right?

You torch the house.

Walk away
with the insurance money.

You keep the family
together.

- No, I'd never do that.
That's crazy!

Emily's car.

Worked with emily's car.

Now, frank, I get it.

You did that
to protect her.

This time you were protecting
all your girls.

- No!
- It was a good plan.

It just went bad.

You were gonna get
those girls out in time,

but the fire
got the best of you.

- I tried to save them.
I tried to save them.

What did they say to you?

What'd they call out?

"help me, daddy, help me"?
- God.

- And you tried to get
through that door,

but the flames pushed you back.
- Stop, will you, will you...

- Frank, you did
the best you could.

Stop!

Tell me it was an accident.

Tell me that you didn't
mean for it to happen.

You never thought
your two beautiful girls

would burn to death
in that fire.

Just tell me that, frank.

It's gonna be okay.

I understand.

Just tell me.

There's nothing to tell...

So help me god.

I did not kill my babies.

I want a lawyer.

- I don't want to breathe
the air in here anymore.

He really got to you.

You bought that act?

- I know tears
when I see 'em, el.

- The tears were real.
It's a...

Raw onion.

- Munch likes 'em
on his liverwurst.

You got me.

I didn't get him.

- We have enough
to charge him, though, right?

- Oh, yeah. Now it's
my turn to put on a show.

No tears.

Docket ending 1241,

people v. Frank sullivan.

One count of arson
in the first degree.

Two counts of murder
in the second.

Appearances, counselors?

- Jo marlowe
for the people, your honor.

Mitchell shankman,

legal aid society
for Mr. Sullivan.

How does your client plead?

- Not guilty.
- Liar!

- Young lady...
- Liar!

- Please escort
this woman out.

- Emily, please,
listen to daddy.

- I hate you!
I hope you rot in prison!

Em. I didn't do it.

- I'll hear the people
on bail.

- Remand.
- That's punitive.

My client has to plan
the funeral of his daughters.

His victims.

- What happened to innocent
until proven guilty?

- I have the proof right here.
It's a conclusive determination

made by fdny's most seasoned
arson investigator

that the defendant set the fire
that killed his daughters.

They were innocent.
He's guilty.

- This is starting to sound
suspiciously like a trial.

I remind you
we're in arraignment court.

The defendant is remanded.
Anything else?

Five-minute recess.

- Gimme the blowback.
- Excuse me?

- Shankman,
do I have to school you?

Your client killed
those two girls.

He's guilty.
You know it, I know it.

This is the time where
you're supposed to come up with

some harebrained theory
of justification.

Try "he was sleepwalking"

or "he was delusional
because he was up all night

worrying so much
about paying his bills"...

- Actually, I was gonna
ask for a deal.

- I told him,
frank pleads to the indictment.

In return, I don't ask
for consecutive sentencing

on the two deaths.

He does 25 to life.
- And what'd shankman say?

- That he'd tell his client
to take it.

I almost hope he doesn't.
- Oh, jo jo.

When you taste blood,

you gotta be in there
for the kill, don't you?

- Yeah. Well,
you still get me.

That last moo shu pancake
is mine.

A.d.a. Marlowe.

Give me half an hour.

That was fast.
- Sullivan?

Yeah. Called himself.

Wants to talk.

Where's shankman?

- I wanted
to talk to you alone.

- Well, a guy named miranda
ruined that for both of us.

Your lawyer
needs to be present.

I fired him.

why?

- 'Cause he thinks
i'm guilty.

- Honey, all of legal aid's
clients are guilty.

Doesn't mean
they're not gonna provide

a kick-ass defense
for you.

Please, just listen to me.

Please?
- No.

You listen to me.

Anything you say,
I can and will use

to crucify you on the stand.

I know. I know. I know.

But I need you to understa...
- I'm not some priest

that dropped by
to hear your confession

and forgive you.

It's my job to put you away.
- No.

It's your job to get justice
for my daughters, isn't it?

Yeah.

- Yeah, well,
that's what I want too.

So just...

Hear me out.

I fired my lawyer...

So you'd take me seriously.

What else can I do?

Give us a minute.

All right.

You know, I'll take a, uh...

I'll even take a polygraph.

I'll... I'll take
any test you want.

I'll tell you every
bad thing I've ever done.

- That's not necessary.
- I cheat on my taxes.

I cheated on my wife
with a $10 hooker

behind the bus station.

Uh, what else?
I, uh...

I got a stash of porn
in my closet.

I've had numerous affairs...
- That's enough.

- No.
It's not enough.

Not until you see that I've
done a million crappy things,

and I don't deserve
the family I had,

but I will swear
on their graves

that I did not
kill my girls.

Well, that's a nice speech.

Now, what am I supposed to do?

Just let you waltz
outta here

while I spend the rest
of my days

chasing after
some mythical killer?

My daughters are dead.

They're dead,
'cause I couldn't save them.

I can't live
with that guilt.

Well...

You should have just asked me
to bring a razor blade.

- Is that all this is
to you, just a...

Just a freaking joke?

- 1013!
1013!

- What do I have to do
to convince you?

- 1013!
- Is that good enough?

Do you believe me now?
- Frank...

Don't make another mistake.

Do you believe me?

Guard!

Frank.

- Do you believe me now?
Are you satisfied?

- how's frank?
- He'll be okay.

He's on suicide watch
at the prison hospital.

- Too bad
he's not in the morgue.

Stunt he pulled.

It worked.

- Jo, don't tell me.
- I was a cop for ten years.

I know when somebody's
lying.

I'm telling you
that frank sullivan

did not set that fire.

- Well, then your bs detector
is on the fritz.

- I believe him.
- Jo, he's a con artist.

Look, we all bought
the grieving father routine.

Now you're falling
for the fake suicide?

- Fool me once,
shame on you.

- And fool me twice,
and I'm an idiot,

and I am telling you
that frank sullivan

did not set that fire.
- Okay.

Okay. So who did?

- I don't know,
and neither does he.

But we need to look at this case
with a new set of eyes.

- What... We've been over
every detail.

Nobody broke into that house
and doused it with accelerant.

- There is one witness
we haven't questioned.

who?

The house.

Everybody says
when it comes to fire

you're the best independent
investigator in the business.

They would be right.

You know, I spent 20 years
helping corporations

defend against lawsuits

where anything from cars
to nuclear reactors blew up.

And then one day I woke up,
had a change of heart,

and...

- Well, sounds like
you're my dream man.

I got a guy looking at life.
Arson, double homicide.

I think he's innocent.

- I thought you said
you were a prosecutor.

I am.

- Wow. I guess we both
had a change of heart.

The reason I need an expert

is the fire marshal
refuses to take a second look.

To him it's an open
and shut case... Dad did it.

- Fire marshals.
Don't get me started.

Did you know it only takes
one 40-hour class

to become a fire marshal?

I spent seven years
getting my phd.

I did my dissertation
on the physics of combustion.

- Good thing
I didn't get you started.

- Damn it. There was a case
just like this in texas.

Got an innocent man executed
for an arson/homicide.

It was really an accident.

Kurek's whole case
is half-assed.

- Give me an example.
- Okay.

He cites the presence
of crazed glass

as proof that an accelerant
was used.

Says only
an accelerant-started fire

can cause glass
to heat enough

to cause spider cracks.

Not science.

It's an old wives' tale.

- How does glass
like that break?

Rapid cooling.

When fire hoses
spray cold water

on superheated glass.

wow.

So is his entire
investigation flawed?

I didn't say that.

I would need to see samples
from the fire scene.

I would need to see statements
from the eyewitnesses

and the defendant

on the exact nature
of the fire's behavior.

I'll do you one better.

Walk us through exactly what
happened the night of the fire.

- If I woke up
one second sooner,

my girls
would still be alive.

- Frank, I need you
to help us out here.

Come on.
- I-I was sleeping.

And then I heard my girls
yelling out, "daddy! Daddy!"

so I shot up, and then,
well, I ran down the hall.

- Was any smoke
in the hallway?

- It was just pouring out
from under the doorway.

I gave this to faye
on her second birthday.

Should have heard her laugh.

No matter how bad
your day was going,

she'd laugh and make
everything all right.

- Okay.
Check this out.

You see these spots?

Fire marshal claims
that these are pour patterns

caused by an accelerant.

- Are you saying
that that's not true?

Let's show them, frank.

Now, if the fire
started in this room,

then it would have grown
into a monster

fighting to get out
to find more oxygen.

Tell me what happened.

- Well, I-I ran
to the bedroom door,

and I grabbed the doorknob,
but it almost melted my hand.

So then I just...
I rammed the door,

but it still wouldn't budge.

Heat expanded the wood.

You'd have needed an ax
to break it down.

Had you opened it,

you would have been
swallowed up by flame.

Then what happened?

- So I ran to...
To the front door

to get some help,

and... And then I opened
the door.

Uh-huh. Okay.

The fire in the back,

starving for oxygen,

sucks in air
from the outside.

When it hits the fire,

it breaks through
the bedroom door,

racing down the hallway,
jumping down the stairs

and out the front door
leaving...

These pour paths
in its wake.

This theory is plausible.

So is kurek's.

- So you can't prove it.
- No.

I'm sorry.

- Dang it.
I thought drexel

was gonna blow the fire marshal
out of the water.

- You're so sure
frank didn't do it, huh?

- Oh, kurek screwed up.
We screwed up.

It's up to us
to clean this up.

What happened to my partner
who used to back my play?

- We haven't been partners
for a long time, jo.

Yeah. I've been replaced.

Looks like the party's over.

- Well, actually,
it's just getting started.

Mccoy's at the squad room
waiting for you.

Sent me to bring you in.

- You can hang up, jack.
- So your phone isn't broken.

- I was busy.
- I heard.

When I call, you answer.

When you tell you to do
something, you do it.

- Even if it means sending
an innocent man to jail

for the rest of his life.

- Innocent? He lied to you
about being out of work.

He forgot to mention
that he torched a car.

He even attempted suicide,

with you there
to call for help.

Come on, jo.
He's snowing you.

- Jack, when I first came
to the d.a.'s office,

you told me to stop
thinking like a cop

because probable cause
wasn't good enough in court.

I needed proof
beyond a reasonable doubt.

Aren't my doubts reasonable?

- The fire marshal
doesn't think so.

- But drexel's theory
is equally viable.

- So let the jury decide.
That's what they're for.

Go to trial, jo.

- I remember what you told me
about trial, jack,

that a good prosecutor
got convictions...

Together:
and great ones get justice.

- I give that speech
to all new a.d.a.s.

Well. I believed you.

Now I'm asking you
to believe me.

- Do you believe her,
detective?

- I think if jo's gut
is telling her

frank's not our guy,
it's worth listening to.

Detective benson,

do you now think
frank sullivan is innocent?

I don't know.

- There is not one single
shred of evidence

that anyone else
set this fire.

Take him to trial.

- We're all in this
together, jo.

Got a confession
from pizza face.

Maybe he's our guy.

- Or maybe frank
killed his kids,

and we'll never know it
unless we find a smoking gun.

- What about a smoking house?
- We can't burn a house down.

I can.

- It's a crazy idea.
You know that, don't you?

But it could work.

- And you've got the ability
to record all this data.

Sensors on the walls,

and...

The floor
to record burn temperatures

throughout the whole fire.

Every single angle
of the house

is covered with these
special heat-resistant cameras.

All right then.

Let's light this baby up.

The fire was set
in a condemned house

structurally identical
to the sullivans' home,

recreated with the exact
same furnishings.

Right. Everything's the same,

so the fire burns just like
it did the first time.

You could have saved
a lot of time and money

by just reading my report.

- And how long did it take
for the fire to consume

the entire house?

A little over two minutes.

So in two minutes' time,

faye and kedzie sullivan
went from being sound asleep

to trapped inside
an inescapable inferno?

- It's call an accelerant
for a reason,

and somebody
did manage to escape.

And he's sitting
right over there.

- And this fire will tell us
if he's guilty.

That's right.

- And what are we
looking at here on the floor

and on the walls?

- The same puddle patterns,
burn patterns,

and spidered glass
that I described in my report

on the sullivan house fire.

On the right,

are these the burn patterns
in the sullivan home?

- Yep. Like I said,
they're identical.

- And only an accelerant
can cause those burn patterns.

Correct.

- And you are absolutely
sure of that.

- As sure as I'm sitting
here right now.

- Yet no accelerant was used
to start that fire.

- What the hell
are you talking about?

- Watch.
Maybe you'll learn something.

This fire will be started

by shorting out

these two wires
on this space heater

beside the bed.

No accelerant is being used

anywhere in the house.

That's impossible.

- Impossible
that it happened?

Or impossible
that you were wrong?

I know what I saw.

- And we know
what we just saw...

The exact same fire caused
by an electrical short circuit,

not by arson.

And this...

Is an animation
of the recreation of the fire

with frank sullivan's actions
exactly as he described them

to Dr. Drexel.

- An electrical
short circuit starts the fire.

The girls cry out,
waking frank,

who runs to their room.

Unable to break down the door,
he runs down the stairs,

out of the house,
opening the front door,

and the sudden rush
of fresh air

causes the flashover.

- You testified
that those spots

were caused by an accelerant.

These exact same spots
in the recreation

were caused by a fire that
started in those girls' bedroom,

not arson.

That is the danger
of junk science.

Your honor,

based on this newly
discovered evidence,

the people move
to dismiss this case

in the interest of justice.

I, uh...

I don't know what to say,
i...

- you don't have to say
anything.

I am so sorry, daddy.

- She wanted to see you,
frank.

- I can't believe
I thought you did it.

It's okay, sweetheart.

That's all right.

- Now I have to go give
mccoy the bill

for the house I burned down.

- Want some backup?
- Sure.