THE FOLLOWING STORY IS FICTIONAL AND DOES NOT DEPICT ANY ACTUAL PERSON OR EVENT.
HAPPY ENGAGEMENT BRENDA AND DAVID!
Stole the woman of my dreams, Dave.
I ever tell you at, Brenda?
What? What's it matter now? I said it. Anyway.
Brenda and Dave-- giving the rest of us idiots hope.
Say something nice?
David turned me down,
even after I took my clothes off.
But we've all grown up, right?
Bren, your turn.
Say something to you and Dave 30 years from now,
when you're old and shriveled
and watching this
on your Craftmatic Adjustable Bed.
Hey, you and me, um, 30 years from now.
I guess...
maybe I'll think I'm crazy for saying this,
but I can't wait until we're old... and happy
and grandchildren piled 'round us
on our Craftmatic Adjustable Bed.
Listen up!
Who's the Einstein that left their lights on?
Volv G3D-7L3B
Oh, that's me.
Uh, babe.
Give me your keys. I'll go.
I forgot something in the car anyway.
A surprise.
Ugh, no more surprises, please.
No, this is a good one,
so you don't have to tell the proposal story all night.
Long as you're not running out on me.
Prevailing wisdom is that I don't deserve you.
You don't.
Brenda.
Brenda!
There's no way she'd just disappear.
She probably went to get something.
If she went somewhere, she would have taken her car.
Brenda!
What is that?
No.
I really don't remember,
but if you say I was there, I guess I was.
Her fiancé must be real broken up.
Bet he misses her.
Ted Huffard, deputy sheriff
in Ripley, West Virginia, sent it.
Pulled him over for an illegal turn,
finds the plates in the trunk.
Car is not only stolen, it's in felony vehicle status.
What for? Seen leaving a restaurant
parking lot in Chestnut Hill
the night Brenda MacDowell was abducted.
August 12, '07.
Car's a late-model gold Honda Accord.
Driver's side dent.
Reported stolen in Grays Ferry
two days before Brenda disappears.
Hmm, the night of her engagement party,
guy lures her out of the restaurant
by turning on her Volvo's headlights,
then calls the plates into the restaurant.
Smart trick.
Presumed homicide-- investigation
never turned up the body.
Looks like a happy girl.
There's a ribbon bouquet found at the scene, lots of blood.
No matches,
not even hers.
Till now. VERA: DNA matched this guy's?
Huffard offered him a cigarette,
got a match off his saliva.
RUSH: His blood.
So she fought back.
Lot of good it did her.
This nutjob got a name?
He calls himself John Smith, but the number
on the Florida license he was carrying
doesn't exist. No match on the prints
and DNA's not in CODIS.
More like a John Doe. We need a body
and a confession before he gets to Philly and lawyers up.
Tonight.
STILLMAN: Who's going to take the ride?
Toni's making casserole.
You gonna play the casserole card again?
I'll go.
Going to need you on call, Nick,
in case we get anything.
Chasing a bag of bones, boss.
STILLMAN: Tell that to her fiancé.
You found Brenda?
STILLMAN: You know him?
No, if I did, I'd kill him myself.
Could be the guy
who reads your meter or the grocery store clerk.
Never seen him before in my life.
Well, thanks for taking a look, David.
We'll keep you posted.
You know, everyone keeps telling me I need to, uh, move on.
But how am I supposed to do that?
I need you to find her this time.
I need to bury her.
See what we can do.
STILLMAN: I'll walk you out.
Take a ride?
West Virginia is more than a ride.
You're talking all night here.
You got something else going on?
Was planning on washing my hair, actually.
Still having trouble sleeping, huh?
Look, you coming or not?
Yeah.
But I'm driving. Then let's go.
John Smith's waiting.
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did you?
About four hours.
From Philly, that's flying.
Well, my partner's got a lead foot.
Judge took care of the extradition papers.
Hope y'all have better luck getting a body out of him.
Plan on taking our time getting back.
Give us a chance to talk.
He's polite, good manners.
Wouldn't have picked him out of a crowd.
He was going nuts in his cell, so I put him over here instead.
Get up now, John.
Detectives Rush and Valens taking you back to Philly.
Man said get up.
??? Things make it hard to stand.
Not meant to be comfortable.
I never met a female detective.
Certainly hope they appreciate everything you've given up
to do what you do.
You got a real name
or we part of this John Smith charade?
You want to talk to me.
Blood, DNA.
Already got enough to put you away.
Don't need you saying jack.
Then why are we taking the scenic route,
unless you want to find her body?
Give you a chance to help yourself, cooperate.
We'll talk to the DA, see what we can do.
You a Kenso?
You sound like you're from Kensington.
Port Richmond maybe.
I'll ask the questions.
Kensington.
There's no place to stop for food this way, bathroom.
Guess you'll have to hold it.
Your perfume.
It's flowery.
Not what I'd expect from someone in your position.
Don't wear it.
Cologne then.
It's aftershave.
There's nothing flowery about it.
So how'd you do it, John?
Taking a child's one thing.
Woman like Brenda would have screamed.
You see the world in a certain way,
the way you want it to work.
You don't know that. Are you saying
you two had some kind of... relationship?
I'm saying
sometimes the pieces of the puzzle don't fit.
'Cause she fought back.
Your blood at the scene.
You get your ass handed to you
by a woman, Johnny boy?
I'm not the guy you look at and think "rapist."
I'm more like the guy you see at the dentist's office.
No reason to fight me.
So you wanted
to be important,
stand out.
'Cause women
like Brenda don't notice losers like you.
A well-mannered woman like that?
She notices.
All you got to do is ask.
Excuse me.
Sorry, over here.
I pick up take-out for my wife--
she's six months along, craving chili fries--
and my car won't start.
Murphy's Law, right?
Uh, mind if I use
your cell phone to call AAA?
Mine just died.
You can use the phone inside.
Hey,
Brenda MacDowell, right?
I'm John Smith.
We ran the marathon for Hart-Fitzgerald together.
You're at the firm?
Paralegal, getting my degree at night.
Right.
John Smith.
Hey, don't worry about it. I work in the basement.
You're in litigation, right?
Didn't think that WestTech case was winnable.
Thanks.
If you could, um, you know, hurry.
That party in there is for me.
I'm getting married.
Oh, congratulations.
Best decision I ever made.
Hi, John Smith again.
We got cut off.
Right, '96 Accord.
Do you mind giving it a try?
I might have done the trick there.
Hey.
Hey, it worked.
Real stunt you pulled there at the end of the marathon.
Never seen a girl so pleased
with her damn self.
Just gave us abduction, brain trust.
SMITH: Well, don't say
I never gave you anything.
RUSH: Oh, impressive, John.
Any ape can hold a gun.
You talked to her, roped her in.
You got her when she least expected it
in some parking lot going to turn off her lights.
RUSH: She saw the world a certain way.
The way she wanted it to work.
SMITH: Makes a person
weak, vulnerable.
And that's how you work.
Finding their soft spot.
Kind of like you, Detective.
Well, read me well.
Just like you read her.
You a runner, John?
No. What were you doing
at the marathon?
Not a paralegal,
are you, John?
JEFFRIES: No John Smith
at your fiancée's law firm, nobody who matches
his description.
We think he was stalking her.
Following her routine, knew where she worked.
We ran the marathon together last year.
You see anyone suspicious?
Showing a real interest in Brenda there?
No.
I just had eyes for her.
BRENDA (breathless): Oh! We did it!
DAVID: We... did it.
What's our time?
Four hours, 23 minutes, and 13 seconds.
BRENDA: So, if I ever had any doubts
about what we're capable of doing... together...
I mean, everything in front of us...
DAVID WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Are you...? Bren!
Will you?
(Brenda panting): Marry me?
DAVID: I-I'm supposed to ask!
I was gonna ask you!
BRENDA: So, is... is that...?
DAVID: Yes! Yes!
Let's get married!
We'll have to check that footage, David.
Give you a few minutes.
You meet a lot of people like me, don't you?
Does it ever get any easier?
I'll be outside when you're finished.
WOMAN: You can do it, Brenda.
That's it!
You okay, honey? You all right?
I'm okay.
You scraped your knee.
BRENDA: I can do it, Daddy.
I want to try again.
Go, sweetie! Go, Brenda!
Never let go, do they?
Ones that don't get the bodies.
Vera found the owner of that gold Honda.
WOMAN: Draggin' my ass
out of bed in middle of the night, and for what?
I reported that car stolen eight months ago.
We need your help finding the man who took it.
Have you seen this guy?
He the SOB who got me my parking tickets?
Parking tickets?
Four of 'em since it's stolen.
Newark, all of 'em.
Parking guy got the VIN number through the windshield.
Same cross street's on all four.
He's going back to the same place,
staying long enough to get ticketed.
His neighborhood?
Or where he dumped the body.
Thank you, Mrs. Phillips.
What about my damn car?
Don't know him.
Great idea, Miller: knocking on doors
in the middle of the night.
None of these mopes has seen the guy.
Memory serves, it was your great idea, Mr. Casserole.
MILLER: Philly PD.
You seen this guy?
Live over there, the brown door,
about a year back.
Only cracker on the block.
This cracker got a name?
Keep to himself.
Drove an old gold thing.
Honda?
Sound about right.
PPD! Open up!
Do you hear something inside?
I don't hear nothin'.
Neither do I.
What the hell?
I think we found her.
♪♪♪
VERA: What the hell?
The place belongs to a John Smith.
Bought it with $6,000 cash.
John Smith? He buys a house with an alias?
I find a buyer in this neighborhood,
I ain't asking questions,
either.
Yeah, he's ready for us.
Couldn't hide her forever.
Toilet, sink.
You could keep someone alive for however long
you wanted.
MILLER: How long?
Long enough to do this.
This is like a POW camp.
Your mind on the wall,
all you got.
MILLER: Must have taken her weeks.
Months.
She didn't just die in this dungeon.
She lived here, too.
I AM ALIVE
We found her, John.
Game over.
You found Brenda?
Kept her in that
Newark dungeon for months
before you killed her. What the hell
you doing with her all that time?
Newark?
You mind opening a window?
Yeah, I do mind.
I can't breathe.
You didn't like
your cell back in West Virginia.
Don't like to feel crowded.
You spend time in lockup, John?
You showing her what it feels like? No.
'Cause that's where you're headed.
Rest of your days in a cage.
Yeah, pretty girl, Brenda.
Yes, she was.
Oh, so what?
You can't pitch a tent, Johnny?
That your problem?
You think it was about sex?
Power. You can't imagine
a man wants to keep a woman around without hurting her,
can you?
Not locked in his basement, homes.
If I wanted to have sex, I could pay for women
off the streets, in bars.
Common as road kill, filth like that.
Nice tail on this one.
Sure you didn't get a piece of that?
You get a piece of that?
Bet you think about it, time to time?
Oh, if you weren't having your way with her,
why did you keep her for so long?
Tell me something first.
What gets you out of bed
in the morning?
Everyone's got something
they hold onto.
Keeps them tethered to this world.
No wedding ring.
A boyfriend, perhaps?
So what was Brenda holding onto?
Love.
What are you doing?
Where am I?
You were sleeping. You woke up.
You stay away from me!
David!
(shouting): David!
David's not here.
Help!
Someone help me!
Help!
No one can hear you.
Who are you?
What do you want?
Nothing.
They'll find me.
They won't stop until they find me!
They might be looking
for you,
but no one's looking for me.
How long do you think it'll be
till there's a red Mustang in his driveway?
Everyone's going to tell him to move on.
That's a guarantee.
How do you know about David's ex-girlfriend?
Who are you?
That look on your face.
It's just like little Brenda on her bike.
Red lips.
Red knee.
Any other kid would have run to Mommy.
Not you.
Determined.
Always.
You don't know me.
I know you.
I'm just waiting for you to catch up.
VALENS: That get you off, huh?
The mind games?
SMITH: I told you once: it wasn't about sex.
You wanted something.
Drive her nuts?
The chicken scrawl on the walls.
She tried to keep her sanity
for a while by marking off the days,
but there was no point to that.
Little Brenda.
You knew her when she was a kid?
You're the detective.
Figure it out.
He said she was marking off the days.
No windows, no lights coming into that room.
So how did she know what day it was?
Will, it's Rush.
Brenda on her bike.
A fall, um, skinned knee maybe?
That mean something to you?
JEFFRIES: The part of the movie where Brenda
learned to ride her bike, skinned her knee--
he must have seen it.
Did you show it to anyone else?
No.
Brenda was going to show it at the engagement party.
Uh, it was still in her car when she disappeared.
She make it herself?
Or give it to one of those places
that edits your home video for you?
She gave it to, uh, some company.
She got the movies from our families
and gave them to some place.
She mention the name?
Your Best Angle.
Something like that?
It was, uh... It was near her office.
John, just talked to the owner of Best Angle.
Place Brenda brought her home videos?
VERA: Turns out John Smith worked there.
Owner says he was their best editor.
Worked there for a year,
paid in cash, before quitting four days ago.
Owner says he's on his way to Marion, Illinois
for his next gig. Till his bad turn in Ripley.
Four previous employers since '02:
Life Videos in Newark,
Edit Right in Detroit.
Two more in Atlanta and Queens. All editing houses.
So?
One client from each
of his jobs matches a missing woman
from the same city,
same year. Boss.
ME's preliminary report is back.
Dental records on the Newark body didn't match
Brenda MacDowell's.
Wasn't Brenda in that basement. Newark?
Colleen Legarth.
Missing since November '06.
They find a cause of death?
No strangulation, no ligatures,
no broken bones. Tox report's clean.
How's he killing them?
Five women.
Five cities.
Five basements.
Let Lil and Scotty know.
This guy is not just a serial killer.
He's a collector.
Notice
you never use your signal.
Cops drive however they want.
Gotta have some perks
with the job.
Body in Newark wasn't Brenda.
You lied.
I never lied.
You made an assumption.
The way you wanted to see it.
Four other women locked up out there somewhere.
You wanted us to know about 'em.
Why?
How did you kill them? Your fancy labs
can't tell you?
You watched their tapes,
picked them for a reason. Somethin' you liked
about 'em.
Or hated. You still haven't
told me what gets you out of bed, Detective.
Tell me where Brenda is
and I'll make sure you don't get the needle.
Is it the rush you get from seeing dead people?
Has to be a reason you became a homicide cop.
That what happens to you? When you kill 'em?
Death's the only thing
that's real.
It's the purest thing you'll ever see.
You God now?
Question is,
what's that rush covering for you?
You seem to know a lot about it.
Why don't you tell us?
When there's one thing you hold onto,
it takes on
a special significance.
And when that's taken away,
you're left with nothing.
Like that woman from Newark.
Colleen.
COLLEEN (on video): What'd you say?
That's right.
I'm right here.
Look at that smile.
Honey!
She just smiled at me!
She smiled!
Look at you.
Beautiful as the sun.
Please.
Pretty little girl.
Maybe she'd like it here, too, someday.
Such fragile things they hold onto.
And when they're gone, they just...
float away.
That's
how you kill them? Kill them.
That's a funny way to put it, really.
Talk about Brenda.
You got nothin'
to lose, right? Where'd you put her body?
We've been talking about that one all night.
Boring.
But not the end.
Not how you crushed her.
No, you don't talk about that.
Why not?
It takes
a lot of discipline keeping a woman locked up for months.
No one hearing her screams.
Must be a reason you got caught now.
And made that bad turn.
Meticulous guy
like you. Something rattled you.
No. You're wrong.
Got under your skin. For you to make
a mistake like that.
I don't make mistakes!
Brenda's still alive, isn't she?
You know, I think I'm done talking.
He left Philly
four days ago. If she's still alive,
we don't have much time.
??? Newark's the only city where you have
both the abduction site and the dump site.
JEFFRIES: The abduction took place here.
Here's the basement.
Less than a 20-minute drive.
STILLMAN: He gets them inside before the chloroform wears off.
He's finding basements in poor neighborhoods
where no one sees anything, says anything.
Here's the restaurant
where Brenda was abducted.
Searching a 20-minute radius,
three low-income
neighborhoods fall inside.
Our contact at the recorder's office is looking for properties
bought in cash for less
than ten grand by John Smith.
♪♪♪ How's Miller doing on the videos♪
Got Tech Support
out of bed,
downloaded the movies John Smith made of his victims.
What's the common thread?
We know that, we find Brenda.
COLLEEN: We dreamed about this day for so long.
And here you are.
Different classes, different ages.
Some had families; some didn't.
Only thing
in common is...
they all had something to live for.
Fiancé,
kid, God.
Wide net there.
Maybe not so wide.
Monica had God.
Colleen had her baby.
And Brenda had David.
Chose women with something to live for.
Someone they loved.
Not something you'd know about.
Must have driven you crazy.
All the things they had.
Not you, though.
I edited their sloppy lives into something beautiful.
I gave them a way to believe the delusions
they were hanging onto.
Delusions? Look who's talking.
What's on those videos isn't who they are.
It's a charade.
To give their lives meaning.
Like the job gives your life
meaning. I've had it with your BS.
Where's Brenda?
Don't pretend you don't know what I mean, Detective.
Where'd you put her body, you freak?
No, I, I do.
I know what you mean.
Who are you when it's taken away?
The job.
No one.
Like them.
Even the one who had God.
VALENS: Monica.
The singer.
She gave up the easiest.
She couldn't understand
how God could leave her in that room so alone.
I saw it in her eyes.
The moment she realized there was no God.
That if God was anything,
he was the greatest con man of all.
Once hope is gone,
dying is just a formality.
You sealed her in there alive?
First, I took the door off its hinges.
She was free to go, run.
I wouldn't have stopped her.
But she wasn't looking for a way out anymore.
Sounds like you're...
familiar, Detective.
Son of a...
Where's Brenda?
Hmm?
Where is she?
Scotty! Hmm?
Hey! Stop!
She's here.
In these woods.
A mile further, there's a blinking yellow light.
Path to the right heads into the woods.
A quarter mile in, there's a clearing.
Put him in the car.
I'll drive.
I'm going in.
The guy's got an endgame, Lil.
Who knows what he's got waiting in those woods?
We're running out of time.
But we know his pattern.
Houses, basements.
Not woods. What if we're wrong
and she's in there right now?
No service.
We don't have time to wait for backup.
We're armed. He's not.
You ready to pull the trigger?
Let's go.
Try anything, I'll blow your head off.
You get Lil or Scotty on the line yet?
Cell phone keeps dumping to voice mail.
Last time they called was Waynesburg.
Nothing between here and there but lumber.
The hell are they doing?
Going renegade. With a psychopath in custody.
Almost there.
VALENS: Keep moving.
RUSH: Know these woods pretty good.
This where you're from, you sick bastard?
RUSH: What's that?
Got something.
SMITH: If only you had
videos of your own.
Of course, there'd be no one in them.
No one to show them to. Shut up.
I'm taking a look.
Scotty...
I got it.
What do you got? Nothing.
It's a dried-up well.
You said you wanted to know what happened
to Brenda. Well, Brenda's not in there.
No, but someone else is.
WOMAN: So cold.
So cold...
Please help me!
It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.
Watching a woman die?
Watching her give up.
The rest is just a formality.
We understand each other finally.
Dungeons like this well.
You were trying to recreate this, hmm?
Who was she? Nobody.
I came here.
I listened to your story.
Now tell me where Brenda is.
You're just like them,
trying to hold on to something make-believe.
Because there will always be another
Brenda out there, another me.
Maybe it's time you see, detective,
how false your God is.
Tell me where she is.
Looks like we've run out of time.
Where is she?!
She's dead.
No.
Pull the trigger!
You son of a...
Lil, it's what he wants.
Can't spend his life
in a cell like his victims did.
That's why he brought us out here.
She was weak.
Like you.
Brenda's alive.
I know she is.
She wasn't like that woman in the well; she was strong.
You need to believe that, but you're wrong.
No.
She broke in that dark, lonely,
little room.
Just like one day you will, too.
You can't tread water forever.
Eventually, you'll get tired
just like Brenda. No, that song.
She was humming that song.
"Chasing far all gloom and terror,
"brightening all the path
we tread."
The bells at Ascension Church in Kensington
have been playing that song
every morning since I was a kid.
That's how Brenda knew what day it was.
That's how she held on.
I told you, she's dead.
Even in the ugliness of Kensington,
she found something to cling to, something beautiful.
She didn't break, did she, John?
She never gave up.
Because when it was all taken away in the end,
she still had herself.
I know where that church is. (sirens blaring in distance)
I know that neighborhood.
Find her, Lil.
Don't walk away from me!
Don't you leave!