All language subtitles for Accused.2023.S02E01.WEB.h264-RBB

(soft music)

(door opens)

- What number am I thinking of?

- It doesn't work like that.

Seven. It's always seven.

- It's time.

(exhales deeply)

(tense music)

- I'm so sorry. I really tried.

Well, three different
spot treatments didn't work.

I wanted to get your okay.
before trying hydrogen peroxide.

Red wine is an acid,
and silks hate acid.

(woman): Red wine? No,
it's a, it's a ketchup stain.

- No, ketchup's redder.
When it's purple, it's wine.

- No, no, no. My husband
was at a Cardinals game

and someone walked into him
holding a hot dog.

- You know what?
You're so right.

It's ketchup.
Um, I will let you know.

- Thank you.
- Okay, bye.

(TV newscast playing)

(bell on door ringing)

We're closed!

- Special delivery.

- Oh.
- Hey, Lorraine.

- Now Ray, you're not here
to get your tux cleaned.

- I saw your car outside.
I'm still getting your mail.

- Oh. Thanks.

- You figure if you wait
long enough,

they'll stop asking
for their money?

- I'm working late, aren't I?
You stopped drinking.

- How in the world
can you know that?

Have you been going
through my trash?

- Oh, your pants are too loose.

You're down to the last loop
on your belt.

- Going on four months now.

Two meetings a week.

I dunno,
maybe this time I'll stick.

- That's great.
Good for you, Ray.

- How's things around here?

- Well, I just got yelled at
by Jeanie Franco,

whose husband's having an affair
with a clumsy red wine drinker.

- Tell me you did not put
yourself in the middle of that.

- I didn't say a word.
You'd have been proud of me.

- Hey, can I at least
pay your cable bill?

I'm the reason you signed up
for it in the first place,

and I'm saving
a fortune on my bar tab.

- You're not paying
my damn bills.

- I could pay off all of 'em

and we still wouldn't be even,
Lorraine.

- Take off your pants.

- What?
- I'll take 'em in.

- You want me to walk out
of here in my underpants?

- I got something in your size.

- He's not gonna
come in looking for it?

- If he hasn't needed a set

of work clothes in a month,
he got fired.

(newscaster): ...in Charlotte
North Carolina this morning...

- All right.
- Melissa and Frank Conley

made an impassioned plea
to the public

for the safe return
of their son Rory Conley.

- Rory is six.
He's tall for his age,

with brown hair
and gaps in his teeth.

He was dressed as a fox.

(newscaster): It's been a year
since their five-year-old son

was abducted from
Charlotte Comic Expo.

- The good news is,
I can always look for work

as a security guard.

- The family now
offering a reward...

- What?
- ...of up to $50,000

for information that could lead
to his safe return.

- Is it happening again?

(soft music)

- Why are you being so dramatic?

You have the best view
in the house.

(sniffs)
You'll be okay.

Yeah.

(microwave beeping)

(police sirens in the distance)

(reporter): Are you frustrated
with the police?

Do you know
if they're following leads?

- They say they're
doing their best,

and I guess we have
to believe them. Thank you.

(Frank): Thank you
for being here.

(line ringing)

(woman): You have reached
the Charlotte Mecklenburg

Police Missing Persons Unit.

Please leave your message
and phone number after the ton.

(beep)

- Hello.
My name is Lorraine Howell.

I live in Branson, Missouri,

and I am calling
about Rory Conley.

- I kept thinking
the worst had passed.

But new lows would
sneak up on us.

Each day that passed meant
it was that much less likely.

The police said they'd call
when they knew something.

But the phone never rang.

And then it did.

The detective on the case
said someone had come forward

with information.
It was unsubstantiated,

borderline insane, but...

when you're in pitch darkness,

no light is too small.

- This will sound strange,
but I can see things sometimes.

Images, strong, clear images,

not hallucinations,
they're real.

I, I can see Rory.

He's is alive.

He... he's...

There's an older woman

with a Southern accent
talking to him.

She's telling him to eat
graham crackers,

but he's not listening.
He has a,

he has a toy car in his hand,

a little purple toy race car.

He's driving it along a seam
in the sofa upholstery,

making sounds
like tires squealing.

- She was so sure. She told us
exactly what we needed to hear.

- He has crumbs on his shirt.

He's, he's uh lost one
of his bottom teeth.

(exhales)

He is being cared for.

Please don't give up.

- Who wouldn't want to believe
their missing son

is still alive?

Even if it was a lie?

(theme music)

(soft music)

- Hey. Hey.

- Hey.

- I got your pants.

- Oh, thanks, Lorraine. Really.

And you're throwing in
a free fern?

- I'm going out of town.
Do me a favor,

look after it when I'm gone?

- I don't have the best
track record for keeping

things alive. I can remember
one marriage in particular.

- You'll do fine.
Indirect light,

somewhere nice and humid.

It'll drink as much
as you give it.

- My kinda plant.
(chuckles)

So, how long am I
taking care of Mr. Fern?

- I don't know.
Couple weeks, maybe.

- It's the kid, isn't it?
The one on TV?

Why, Lorraine?

It's never worth it,

putting yourself
in the middle of all that pain.

You're always worse off
on the other side.

- I have to do this.

- No, you don't. Stay.

Let me take you
out to dinner. We--

- I have to go. I have to go.

Don't over-water it.
You'll rot the roots.

- The purple toy car,
that's what did it.

He had it in his pocket
the day that he...

It's people like her
who claim to be psychics,

they do research.

Maybe she saw him
holding it in pictures.

- So given that skepticism,
why bring her to North Carolina?

- She said she needed to be
in Rory's room.

Establish a connection.

I wasn't sure. Frank was.

And he knew the magic words.

He said the same thing
I tell all my buyers

when they're looking at a house:

All the research in the world
doesn't compare to the feeling

you get when it's right
in front of you.

(city hubbub)

- You must be Frank.

- Thank you for coming.

- Oh.

(woman on speakers):
... outcomes to yourself.
- Oh, sorry.

- ...through the power of
manifestation, by focusing on
positive thoughts--

- My wife doesn't believe
in any of this stuff.

She'd rather listen to nails
on a chalkboard.

I guess even that beats
the quiet.

Unless, do you need quiet to...

get the energies
in alignment, or... ?

If you'd rather,
I can turn it off.

- No, it's fine. I'm a...

normal person, I promise.

- Okay.
(chuckling)

(soft music)

I'll go get Melissa. Melissa!

- Hi. Nice to meet you.
I'm Melissa Conley.

- Uh...
(clears throat)

Lorraine.

I'm so sorry
for what you've been through.

- Thanks. Thanks for coming.

- Oh. You smell that? Cookies.

She's been out of
the real estate game for a year,

but she still pulls
the open house trick.

Don't fall for it, Lorraine.
Place is a dump.

- I'll bet Rory
loved oatmeal raisin.

- I, I thought it might help.
I don't know.

- Yeah.
- Set the mood.
(laughs)

Anyway. Shall we...
shall we begin?

It's this way.
- Oh, okay.

- Please.

- Anything you need
to get started,

you just let us know.

Or, if you'd rather,
we could go over what we know.

We've got that folder
from the police

around here somewhere--
- Frank. Remember...

what we talked about?
- Yeah. Right. Sorry.

- My husband's a talker,
but maybe there are things

you could tell us instead?
(Frank): Mm-hmm.

- Um...
(clicks tongue)

You don't have
to tell me anything. I just...

I get a feeling.

- But only sometimes.

(exhales)
- Yeah.

It comes or it doesn't.

(soft piano music)

May I?

- Yeah.

(sighs)

- Was Rory allergic to peanuts?

(exhaling)

- No. He didn't
have any allergies.

- Then why did he sort
his Halloween candy

one pile with peanuts,
and one without?

- I'm allergic.
- Frank...

- I, I, I told Rory not to bring
peanuts into the house

or he couldn't
kiss me goodnight.

And so he would trade
the ones with peanuts

for sour gummy worms.

- But that doesn't mean
that he's alive.

Or that we're gonna find him.
- Yeah. But, yeah, but--

- No, no, no. You're right,
you're right. This is scary

letting a stranger
into your house.

Your heart's already broken,

you don't wanna
have it broken again.

I promise I wouldn't
put you through this

unless I knew there was
reason to hope. Just hope.

- She could have seen
Frank's EpiPen in the car,

she could have noticed
we had no nuts in our kitchen,

or a million other clues
I might have missed.

But still. That night,
I slept a full eight hours

for the first time in a year.
So, I guess in some way,

I did believe it.

- You put the defendant up
in your guest room, correct?

- Yes. It was impossible
to know when, or if,

she'd see anything
that we could have used.

So she stayed.

- And did she ask
for anything besides the room?

Some sort of payment?

- We offered, she refused.

Then she got a call
from her landlord.

She was behind on rent,
so she'd have to go back

and move her things out.
So we paid it off for her.

We could afford it.

Little by little,
other things came up.

Loans. Car payments.
So she stayed.

And a week turned into a month,
which turned into two months.

- Why welcome her in?
Why pay off her debts?

What made you think
she was legitimate?

- She'd done it before.

She found that girl.
The one in Nevada.

Lorraine led the police
right to her,

and now she's in college.

She'd done it once.

I thought she could do it again.

(music swells up)

(chuckles): Hi.
- Hi.

Still keep the freezer
stocked with mint chip.

- Good.

Never know when he might
come back and want some.

- Nothing new?

- It's only been four days
since I last saw him.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- Don't read into it.

- Thanks.
- Hm.

- You're all right to stay,
yeah?
- Of course.

There's no one
missing me in Missouri.

- No one? No, no family?
- Mm-hmm. Not really.

You and Melissa are...

It's good you have each other.

- Yeah, it's a great balance.

She's vegetables,
and I'm ice cream.

- Mm.
- I was always the one

who indulged Rory.

Like the stuffed koala
on his bed.

When he saw that
at the convention,

he begged me for it.

He'd look at me
with those big eyes.

I swear to god, the kid
knew exactly what he was doing.

Yeah. There were so many
people there.

I turned away for a second.

Maybe if I didn't,

he wouldn't have...

- Hey. It's not your fault.
It's not.

- Yeah...

- Nothing made him happier
than mornings his dad

woke him up to play hooky.
Nothing.

- I bet. Good night.

- Have you seen anything else?

- Not yet.
- How, how long did it

take the last time?
That girl you found in 2007.

- Amelia Price.

- How long until
you saw the thing

that led the police to her?

- I couldn't piece it together.

I just saw fleeting images.

I kept...

I kept seeing this row
of little jars

with peeling labels
on a windowsill.

Then I could see
past the grimy windowpane,

out to a water tower
with faded lettering.

I-T-E space S-T.

Then someone found
a manufacturer

named Granite State Steel,

and next to one of their, um,
water towers was...

a trailer park.

They knocked on doors,

the guy ran,
and they found Amelia.

Her family sends me
Christmas cards every year.

- It's been 17 years since
you've seen a missing child?

- Yes.

Good night.
- Good night.

(man): That's it? A blue sedan?

- From the '90s, right?
- It could be the early aughts.

Definitely an older model.
With a pull-down armrest

in the backseat.
Rory was using to draw on it.

- And, and there was a burger
wrapper in the cup holder.

Didn't you say that?
- Yeah.

Are, are you gonna
write it down?

- Okay. Uh, I'll write it down,

along with your other tips.
Yeah.

An older woman with
a Southern accent,

a backyard with a tire swing,

and the sounds of jack-hammering
from a construction site.

You didn't also happen
to see like a license plate?

Or um, a street sign?
Or a state flag?

- Lorraine has seen things that
can't otherwise be explained.

She knew Rory
had that purple car

the day he disappeared.
- It's not much to go on.

- Yeah, but it's something.

- I didn't peg you as much
of a believer, Ms. Conley.

- Well, at least it's better
than the nothing your office

has to show for the past year.

- Okay. Just because
we don't have answers,

doesn't mean we're not
still looking.

We're tracking half a dozen
child-abduction cases.

Three in particular.

If we solve one of those,
it could lead us to him.

So, I apologize

if I'm not keen
on wasting our resources

tracking down
a palm reader's tip.

- She found that girl,
Amelia Price.

- A broken clock's right
twice a day.

- But it's not just
random guesses,

I gave concrete details.

- Yeah, that's great,
fine, great,

but you're not exactly
one for one,

are you, Ms. Howell?

I looked you up
on the NCIC database

and there were six cases,
six I could find,

I'm sure there were more
where you offered information.

For someone who can't
force a vision,

you've got a lot to say.

And not enough of a track record
to back it up.

- I wonder if you're more
worried about your track record

than mine.
Those are a lot of case files.

Maybe you've bitten off
too much?

A man your age has to be
looking at the clock,

hoping for that promotion
to Captain.

Maybe it's easier to brush
these pesky,

unsolvable cases out of sight.

- I think we're done here.

(sighs)

- Do yourself a favor?
Start ironing your shirts.

- You're so right,
I mean, look at his case load.

He can't afford to have
someone else show him up.

- There were other cases?

- Sorry?
- You said the last case

you took was the Nevada girl.
But there were others.

- Yeah six.
Six, since Amelia Price.

- Why didn't you tell us?
- In some cases, my...

connection was severed.

- So you lied.

(sighs)

- Yes, I lied.

Did you really want to know

that I stopped being able to see

four of the six children,

and that they were
later found dead?

Did you really want to know
how often this doesn't work out?

I'm sorry,
but I was protecting you.

Rory is alive.

That much I know.

Just like I knew about Amelia.

Ugh!

- The day we found Amelia Price
was a great day.

A great day.
I was on Dan Rather,

and I remember,
he called me a hero, and I said,

look, the world had given up.

But not me. Not the family.

And not Lorraine.

We had no leads, you know.

Most of the team
had been reassigned.

It was just me and the tip desk.

Lorraine was a godsend.

Deserved every bit
of that reward.

- And how much of the reward
did you receive

for solving the case?
- None.

- And how were your financial
circumstances at the time?

- I was doing all right.

I picked the Steelers
over the Seahawks

in the Super Bowl, so--
- So you weren't experiencing

any financial hardship in 2006,
correct?

- Not particularly.
- Your Honor,

I'd like to offer into evidence
the following document.

(tense music)

Detective, do you recognize
what this is?

- Yeah, it's a letter
from the court from March 2006.

- You're eight months behind
on your child support.

- Well yeah, but--
- Explain the highlighted

portion on the list of assets
from your divorce settlement?

- Uh, this has nothing
to do with it.

I'd just bought
a new Ford F-150.

I was paying it off.
Look, I saved up,

I got a promotion.
I could pull in more overtime

once the Price case
was off my desk, all right?

- You said you were the only one
monitoring the tip line,

and had a tip come in,
you would have received

none of the reward money,
correct?

- That's what I said.

- So, just at time
that you were short on funds,

an outside party who claimed
to have a supernatural gift,

happened to offer up information

that would reinforce her claim

and secure her the reward money?
- Hold on...

- Wouldn't you both
have benefited

from splitting the reward money?

- That's not at all
what happened, all right?

I did my job,
I brought Amelia home,

and I'm not
the one on trial here.

- No further questions,
Your Honor.

- I...

I-I can't get my statements.

The bank's records
don't go back that far.

But I used the reward
to pay off my credit card debt.

I didn't know that man before.
- Okay. Okay.

- I didn't speak to him after.
You have to trust me.

(little girl babbling)

(soft piano music)

- Detective Serrano,
you have stated

that the defendant
fed the Conleys false hope,

that her so-called visions
had nothing to do

with the disappearance
of Rory Conley.

Can you state that conclusively?
- Yes, I can.

- And how do you know
that for a fact?

(door bell rings)

- Frank?

- Maybe it's better if we sit.

- No, I don't want to sit down.
- Ms. Conley--

- Just say it.
(man sighs)

- I have some news.

It's not good news,

but maybe, I hope,
it'll bring you

some amount of peace.

Last night, we charged a man
with the murder of your son.

(ominous music)

- No.

- How do... how do you know?

- He confessed.

- Oh! Oh no!

(crying)

- Four days ago,
a retired contractor

named Matthew Lee Boyd
was stopped at a D.U.I.

checkpoint in Virginia.

His fingerprints matched those

of a case of a missing
Pittsburgh boy, Noah Jackson.

In the trunk of his car,
we found children's toys

and zip ties.

Now, while under interrogation,

he admitted to two more murders.

One boy had gone missing
in Richmond, that's Caden Greer,

and the second was... was Rory.

(exhales)

- Did he...

Did he tell you
where he took Rory?

- Well, he was on a bender,
so he doesn't remember much,

but he is cooperating.
It'll take some time

to track down the bodies.
But for now,

we have his license plate
charged with a highway toll

on I-85 around the time
that Rory disappeared.

- Are you sure that's--
- No! You don't talk!

You don't say
one single damn thing.

(tense music)

What are you doing?
Why aren't you packing?

Do you need some help?
Here, I'll help you.

- Melissa, hey, whoa--
- I told you to get out.

What is wrong with you?
Why won't you go?

- The police have it wrong.

The police have it wrong.
- How do you know?

- Oh Frank, please don't
keep falling for it.

- How can they say
anything conclusively

if there's no physical evidence?
- Evidence?

You read tea leaves!

Don't talk to us about evidence!

- I swear, I can still feel him.

- Yeah, and so can I.

But he was my son,
and I knew him and you didn't.

And you watched this news clip
and hallucinated a boy

that was already dead,
you leech!

Just get her out of here.

(dramatic music swells)

- Wait, Lorraine.

Maybe I'm stupid
for still believing you.

Maybe it's just
wishful thinking.

But I don't want you to go.

' Cause once you go, it's over.
I'm never finding him.

- So Frank kept her around.

And that's when
all hell broke loose.

- Inside, a man is being charged
for three murders,

but there are only two bodies.

I feel for the parents
of Noah Jackson and Caden Greer,

who are experiencing
the unimaginable,

but at least they know
what happened to their child.

I don't. Matthew Lee Boyd
has not been able

to point to Rory's body.
He doesn't know.

- The true crime podcasts.
The social media sleuths.

Someone found CCTV footage
of a blue '98 sedan

near the convention center
that day,

so that meant
Lorraine must be right.

Right now, I'm focused
on convicting

a confessed criminal, okay?
So please, out of my way.

- I understand why
Detective Serrano

wants this case closed,
but he hasn't

produced sufficient proof.

- You don't always get
the physical evidence,

but I'm pretty damn close.

- If the police are asking me
to abandon hope

that my son is alive,
I need certainty.

Not "pretty damn close."

- You can't blame
a grieving father.

He wanted to keep his boy alive.

But what did she want?

Why couldn't she let it go?

Maybe she needed to keep
her resume clean for next time.

(knocking)

- Can I come in?

- Yes. Of course.

- I found this place
on our credit card statements.

Sixty bucks a night?

That's highway robbery.

- Well, Frank said
he wanted to--

- Frank doesn't have it in him
to tell you no.

Same as with Rory.

He lets you
take advantage of him.

- Rory couldn't take
advantage of you, could he?

- No. I was the strict one.

- Someone had to be.

(chuckles)
- Yeah.

Otherwise, he'd be up
till midnight every night

eating Froot Loops.

- And you thought,
when he was older,

he would understand.

- I figured he'd have
self-control,

and teeth with no cavities,
and he'd thank me.

But now he's gone.

And he knew me as the lady
who only said no.

- I'm sure he didn't--
- The district attorney

reached out to me.
They want to prosecute you

for exploiting our situation
and standing in the way

of an investigation.

These things carry prison time.

Forfeiture of assets.

- Wh... Why are you
telling me this?

- They won't have a case
without my testimony.

So I won't cooperate.
- Oh.

On one condition.

Tell Frank you got it wrong.

Tell him Rory's gone.

- Melissa--
- As long as you keep

his hope alive,
the wound will never heal.

And-and we have to move on.

And it is not too late,
and we could start over, and...

Please.

Please?

I've already lost my son.

I can't lose my husband, too.

(soft music)

- I didn't ask for this.
I saw something.

You said it had enough truth
to it that I should

uproot my life. And yes,
I didn't leave much behind.

And yes, I accepted your money,

but that doesn't mean
I am a fraud.

- Please, just tell me
how much. Please.

(laughing)

- Look at where I am.

If I could be bought,
don't you think

I would have been bought?
If, if I were a fraud,

I would cut my losses

and take
the get-out-of-jail-free card.

If, if I were a fraud,

I would be able
to sleep at night

without seeing a missing child
I never knew.

Do you have any idea
what this gift has cost me?

A marriage. A family.

Everyone wants me
to see something!

But if I can't, or if I do,
but it's not the right thing,

then I am a con artist
and a liar!

I don't see lottery numbers!

I see pain.

I...
(sighs)

I turn toward it...

'cause I am the only one
who can.

(door opens and slams shut)

(man): Why didn't Matthew Lee
Boyd's case go to trial?

- He took a plea.
Three life sentences.

- Was that your recommendation?
- Absolutely not.

I said forget the death penalty,
I'll strangle him myself.

But when it came down to it,

I could forego the punishment

to save the families
from sitting through a trial.

- So other words,
he was so guilty

beyond all reasonable doubt,

a trial would only
serve to prolong

the victims' families' pain?
- Correct.

- Your Honor, I would like
to offer the following video

into evidence.

Detective, what do you recognize
this video to be?

- That is my interrogation
of Matthew Lee Boyd.

(intriguing music)

There's another one,
isn't there?

- There was a third.
- A third kid? A boy?

(Matthew): A boy, yeah.
- Where?

(Matthew): I don't remember.
- Yeah, you do.

What do you remember?
(Matthew): Are they gonna
kill me?

- Maybe.
These are capital crimes.

But if you cooperate,

we may not pursue
the death penalty.

Where was the third boy?

(Matthew): Near the water.
Big crowd.

- A convention?

- Yeah. A convention.

(ominous music)

- So Boyd had no lawyer
during a confession

that led to a guilty plea,

and no trial during
which that confession

could be properly examined?

- He waived his right
to a lawyer.

- If he pointed you
to the other two bodies

within hours, why not make
the location of the third body

a condition
of the plea agreement?

- It wasn't up to me.
- Did you recommend

not pursuing the death penalty

in order to elicit a confession
for Rory Conley's murder?

- Yes. That's how
confessions happen.

- Even knowing his confession

rested upon information
you yourself gave him?

(tense music)
(audience chatter)

- Do you swear that the evidence
you give to the court

shall be the truth,
the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?

- I do.

- When did you first
become aware

you possessed such
an extraordinary gift?

- I was too young to remember

when my brother was shipped off
to Vietnam.

But I remember when my family

got the call saying his unit

had gone out on night patrol
and never come back.

Four confirmed dead,
two Missing in Action.

We knew what that meant.
He was dead, but no bodies.

My mother was out of her mind.

Joe was the oldest,

her golden boy.

I didn't understand what
was happening. I couldn't...

(sighs)
console her.

One day, I was in Joe's room.

Um, and I saw him.

Somewhere far away,
wrapped in a checkerboard quilt.

Green and white.

- What did you make of it?

- I knew it wasn't
a hallucination.

I tried to imagine
where he was before,

but this was different.

I knew...

this was happening.

I knew he was alive.

- Did your family believe you?

- My mother didn't
need any convincing.

We'd sit... together at night

and I'd tell her what I saw.

How Joe needed a haircut and...

(sighs)

...a shower.

- And then you got the call.

- Yes. They had negotiated
his release...

from a prison camp, and he was
alive and coming home.

It...

And it was, it was like our
lives were starting up again.

Um...
(sniffling)

The day after he came back,
he said that the one thing

that kept him going
was playing chess.

And it turned out that...

that chessboard
was green and white.

- We have some clippings
from the local paper

to offer into evidence.

(crowd whispering)

(ominous music)

So, if you are a fraud,
is it fair to say

you began your grift
quite early?

And for no money at all?

- Ms. Howell, did it feel good,

seeing how grateful
the Conleys were?

How much your information
meant to them?

- I was happy to be able
to provide that hope.

- Hmm, just as I'm sure
you were happy to provide

hope that to your own mother?
- Yes.

- Now you said that your brother
was the golden child.

What did that make you?

- I was shy. Quiet.
The youngest of five.

Uh, my mother was sure
I would ruin my eyesight

with how much time
I spent reading.

But she was much more focused
on my brothers.

- And when you were the only one
that knew your brother

was alive,
did it bring you together?

- Yes. We leaned on each other.

- Gosh, that feeling,
that feeling of being a hero,

being important...

must have been intoxicating?

- I suppose. I was very young.

- Well, fast-forward to now.

You've had some very
high-profile successes,

some quiet failures.

Tell me, why do you keep
going back to it?

- Because I... I...

I have to.
- You "have to".

You have to what?
Make up for your first,

greatest failure?

Please tell us about
the passing of your brother.

(crowd chattering)

- Uh, four years after
he came home,

he was killed in a head-on
collision with a drunk driver

on Route 108. He was on his way
to pick me up from school.

- And when you failed
to foresee the accident,

did you blame yourself?
(whispering): He was on...

(louder): He was on his way to
pick me up, how could I not?

But I, I never claimed
to be able to see the future.

I wish I could.

- But your mother believed
wholeheartedly in your gift,

didn't she? And did that
belief lead her to place

all the responsibility
for keeping your brother safe

onto you?
- She didn't blame me, no.

But she never quite
trusted me again.

- And what about the rest
of your family,

would you consider
yourselves estranged?

- No.

- When was the last time
you saw them?

- 2002 at my mother's funeral.

- Is that why you seek out
new families?

Desperate, broken ones
like the Conleys,

who welcomed you with open arms?

(crowd chatters)

- I just wanna help.

- Maybe.

Maybe by offering them
what you couldn't provide

for your own family gives you
meaning in your life?

- If I did it only for myself,

I'd have learned by now
to stay far, far away.

- And yet you've spent your life
seeking to be indispensable

to people in pain, haven't you?

Would you say, Ms. Howell,
that the trouble

with an unpredictable gift,
felt only by the one

who possesses it, is that
it bears a striking resemblance

to somebody just making guesses?

- But I'm not just
making guesses.

I'm, I'm not lying.

- But how can you be sure
you're telling the truth?

I mean, after all, isn't
a truly successful fraudster's

first victim herself?

(dramatic music swells)

No further questions Your Honor.

- In a trial for fraud,
the State is required

to prove three things
beyond a reasonable doubt.

One: that the defendant
knowingly misrepresented facts.

Two, the defendant
had an intent to deceive

and succeeded in that deceit.

And three, the deception
was done for financial benefit.

It's not a question
of whether the defendant

was right or wrong.
That much we may never know.

It's not a question of whether
she profited financially

when all is said and done.
It doesn't even matter

whether you believe
she's entirely delusional.

What it comes down to is this:

Did Lorraine Howell

believe what she was telling
the Conleys?

The girl who kept
her family's hope alive,

the woman who knowingly
exposes herself

to some of the worst pain
in the world...

Does that woman have faith
in her own gift?

(exhales deeply)

(chuckling)

- I don't want the money back.

I don't want her to go to jail.
I didn't do it to punish her,

I did it to convince you.

Maybe seeing it all laid out,
in court--

- You saw the same tape I saw.

It wasn't a real confession--
- Stop.

(soft music)

I can't keep going
around and around.

There will always be
reasons to doubt.

- What kind of father
would I be if I gave up?

- You were a wonderful father.

And you could be, again.

But I'm tired of hoping, Frank.

I can't do it anymore.

(judge): Has the jury
reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

We the jury, in the case
of the State of North Carolina

versus Lorraine Howell,
find the defendant not guilty.

(dramatic music)

(crowd chatters)

(judge): Jurors,
thank you for your service.

This court is adjourned.

(gavel bangs)
(bailiff): All rise.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

- Lorraine. Lorraine.

You'll call me, right?

Even if you think something's
too small, I wanna,

I wanna hear it.

Yeah. Yeah, this isn't over.
It isn't over.

(grave music)

Thank you.

(sighs)

(soft hopeful music)

- I figured since you weren't
calling me back,

you probably didn't want me
sitting in the back of the court

for the trial. But I wanted
to be here when it was over.

(sobbing): It's good....
It's good to see you, Ray.

(sighs)

- You ready to go home?

Car's fixed.

Um, more or less.

(chuckles)

(indistinct arguing)

(sighs)

You did all you could.

What else was there to do
but tell the truth?

(muffled sob)

You okay?
(sniffles)

(intriguing music)

Subtitling: difuze