AVENGING ANGEL
*****
Laura Stone: You're welcome to stay here as long as you feel you need shelter. The rules are simple but absolute. You cut all ties with whomever's abusing you, at least for the first three weeks. No visits, no calls. A cooling off period. However tempted you might be to reconcile, however apologetic your husband, or boyfriend, or whoever the hell it might be...no contact. Not right now. Think you can do that? (The woman nods) Are you sure you don't want to go do the hospital? (The woman shakes her head, and then, Laura moves to leave)
Victim: Mrs. Stone...I mean Laura...thanks.
Laura: Try to get some sleep. I'll check in later.
Julie: No! No!
Laura: (Knocking on the door) Julie? Julie, open the door. (She unlocks it, finding Julie's mother dead on the floor and Julie on the floor in a corner.)
Julie: He killed her. He killed my mother.
Tracy: (after the doorbell rings I'm coming! Hold on. (It rings a couple more times) Okay, okay! (She opens the door) Mom! I, uh, I wish you'd told me you were coming.
Mrs. Barbara Vetter: I figured you were busy and uh...I wanted to surprise you?
Tracy: Sorry, come on in. Come in.
Mrs. Vetter: Well, I tried to get a hotel room, but there's a convention or something in town.
Tracy: Yeah, well, that's the film festival, Mom.
Mrs. Vetter: Everything is booked, and you wouldn't believe it. (They embrace) Anyway, I...I have some business in town and I thought maybe we could do something?
Tracy: Well, you're welcome to stay here. I've got to work, but um...if you're still here on Saturday, we could do something?
Mrs. Vetter: Yes, I'd like that.
Tracy: Okay. (The phone rings.) Detective Vetter? Uh-huh. Okay. Got it. Has my partner been informed? Okay, I'm on my way. (She hangs up) Got to work. Sorry.... Okay, well make yourself at home. Um...the couch folds out. I got satellite hook-up now, so you can watch lots of movies. It's good to see you again.
Mrs. Vetter: You too, baby. I love you, Honey. Please be careful.
Tracy: Yeah Mom, I will. (She heads for the door, turning momentarily and waving good-bye) Okay....
Newsman: Once again, it has been confirmed the metro police are investigating a particularly brutal homicide here tonight at this shelter for battered women, this 'safe house,' though it hardly seems appropriate to call it that now....
Nick: Show's over.
Newsman: Excuse me, we are working here!
Nick: So am I. The location of this facility is strictly confidential.
Newsman: We have a right to be here. This is news.
Nick: *You're all done here. There's nothing more to see. It's what you call a wrap.*
Newsman: Let's go. It's a wrap.
Reese: Check the broken glass out in the alley, there's a lot more of it out there.
Natalie: Multiple stab wounds. I stopped counting at twenty. I don't know what kind of knife right now, just that it was sharp.
Tracy: Still no weapon.
Reese: APB go out?
Tracy: Top priority. Jack Henderson's face is in every law enforcement's fax machine in the western hemisphere right now.
Reese: Well, check hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies. He might be hurt and looking for help.
Nick: Three priors for spousal abuse. He got a fine, community service, counseling. It did him a lot of good.
Laura: I appreciate your keeping the TV cameras at bay, Detective Knight. Womens' lives depend on the anonymity of this place.
Nick: Well, I did what I could, I hope it's enough.
Tracy: If it's all right with you, Mrs. Stone, I'll take Julie down to the ER, have her checked out before we take her downtown for her statement?
Laura: Yeah, thanks.
Nick: We'll need you downtown too. It might help if you're there for Julie.
Laura: Sure. Guess you're used to this. You must see it all the time.... Abuse, domestic violence.
Nick: You never get used to it.
Chinatown - about 1850
LaCroix: They're splendid specimens. It's a pity one of them has to die, really. I just hope that it's not the one that I've wagered on. Nick: I will let you go, if you leave directly. Leave her alone. Touch her again and I will kill you.
Nick: This is barbaric.
LaCroix: Oh, really, Nicholas. This is sport. It's better to die proudly in the pit rather than at the hand of the butcher. (Nick sees a man hitting a woman) She's his concubine, Nicholas, his property. We have no right to interfere.
LaCroix: Trust me, he means what he says. (The man, Wei, leaves.)
Nick: You may come with me if you've nowhere else to go. Come with me. *Come with me, and I will see to your safety.*
Mai-Loong: No! I must go to my master. He will punish me if I am not prompt.
LaCroix: Your powers of suggestion need honing and your gallantry is misplaced. She has nothing without him and she knows it.
Nick: He beats her and yet she runs to him.
LaCroix: She would have more right to freedom if she were his dog, Nicholas. Let it go.
Julie: I was after her to leave him almost from the time I could talk. One of my earliest memories is of watching him beat her unconscious. One big happy family.
Tracy: I want you to tell me what happened, Julie. The whole story.
Julie: He followed her. She'd said that she thought he was stalking her. She was supposed to come over, just drop off some clothes and stuff. I didn't have much, because when I left, I just left. I had to get out of there. He was coming after me again.
Tracy: To beat you?
Julie: To rape me. Again.
Laura: As long as he's out there, she's in danger.
Nick: We could put her under protective custody until he's found.
Reese: If he's the one we're looking for.
Laura: You don't believe he did this, do you?
Reese: The jury's still out Mrs. Stone.
Laura: Did you look at his record?
Reese: Yes, I did. We've got a long way to go, before we can make a case against Jack Henderson. You know the law in these areas as well as anyone, Mrs. Stone.
Laura: Detective, Captain? May I show you something?
Laura: Its okay, Julie. We want them to understand. When Julie was fourteen years old, she was raped repeatedly by her father. She was threatened with death if she ever told anyone what her father was doing to her. Julie told. Gloria, her mother, confronted her husband and she was beaten so badly on that occasion that they had to take a cab to the hospital. Julie had to go with her. This was Julie's punishment for telling the truth, for seeking help.
(Julie shows them a scar on her shoulder)
Laura: Okay. Um...I got these form the hospital. Even while they were being treated, they were so terrified of Jack Henderson they lied to the doctors...made up a story about their injuries. This is what we're up against. Jack Henderson killed his wife. Julie watched him do it. You say the jury's out. I say, I rest my case.
Nick: I'm sorry but we can't.
Reese: The law won't let us.
Tracy: (On the phone with her father) She's staying with me. I don't know why she's here, she didn't tell me. Well, she didn't tell me anything about suing you. Dad...Dad, Dad, listen, its okay. It's okay. Where else is she going to go? I just, I won't be around her that much, and when I am, I'll just try to uh...keep a lid on it. Okay?
Julie: He followed her. He must have come up the fire escape or something....I don't know. He was like a mad man. I've seen him angry, but never like that. He.... He just went at her. He pulled out a knife.
Tracy: Did you try to stop him?
Julie: I tried to stop him.
Reese: I want to keep her here. I'll tell her and Laura Stone it's a protective measure for now. We've got no murder weapon. Suspect's at large. His story is still out there. I'm not letting her walk out of there until I absolutely have to. What's that?
Nick: Well, everything's not in yet, but Jack Henderson was there at some time. There's no doubt about it, we have his fingerprints.
Reese: Any blood?
Nick: No, DNA's not done yet, but we have samples and stains that are consistent with his type, yeah.
Reese: Any mixed with the victim?
Nick: No, none so far.
Tracy: (On the phone with her father) Look, I don't know. Okay? Well, what was I supposed to do, give her a field sobriety test in my living room? The divorce is your business. The settlement's your business. Look, she's not happy about it, okay? Dad, I am not taking sides! Look, you know what? I-I've got to go. I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you, too. I am being careful. Okay, bye. (She hangs up)
Nick: Headache?
Tracy: Mmm. Family thing.
Reese: Saddle up. Neighborhood clinic in Parksdale thinks they've made Henderson. Nurse over there says a guy came in over there all sliced and diced up who looks like the fax APB. The Doc's putting him back together right now. I told her to just take her time.
Nick: Tracy? Trust me, it's loaded. You expecting trouble?
Tracy: You know, you're lucky you don't have family. I mean, I know it must be a drag around the holidays but, trust me, family is not all it's cracked up to be.
Nick: You got problems?
Nick: My parents. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be their daughter or their referee.
Laura: Tired?
Julie: This is awful. Why won't they let us go? How am I ever going to make it through this?
Laura: It'll work out. The most important thing is you're here, you're safe, and I'm going to stay here with you as long as I can. They'll catch him, don't worry. This time he won't get away with it, I promise you. He'll get what he deserves.
Nurse: It's a good thing you came in. These are some nasty lacerations. Bet you thought you'd never stop bleeding, huh? How'd you do it, anyway?
Henderson: Fixing up around the house.
Nurse: Hold on a minute. I've got to get some more bandages. Here, hold this...right there. I'll be right back.
Nick: I'll take the front.
Tracy: I've got the side.
Tracy: Police officer! Don't you move! Go ahead, you son of a bitch, give me a reason.
Nick: Tracy, take it easy, it's done. Okay, come on. Trace? (She lets go of Henderson) Okay.
Nick: Okay, here we go, fresh out of Henderson's pockets. Maps. Collingwood, Mistoga(?). Cottage country.
Tracy: Very fugitive friendly places.
Nick: Well, it looks like he was holed up in the Sunderland Hotel. Called in for a warrant, sent the lab boys to turn his place over.
Tracy: Guess its too much to ask, maybe he left the weapon there?
Nick: Nah, I bet you he ditched it someplace where it couldn't be found. You know, mud works for you.
Tracy: I'll go home and clean up after we skewer Henderson at the precinct.
Nick: You really want him, don't you?
Tracy: You know, I know were not supposed to get emotionally involved in these cases, but I'm having a hard time with this one.
Nick: Yeah, I know.
Reese: We found him. He's under arrest.
Julie: Oh good. Can I...can I get out of here now?
Reese: Well, not just quite just yet. Look, I know you gave your statement to Detective Vetter, but I'd like to go back over it with you. I'd just like to make sure we've got it all straight before we bring it to the crown. Okay?
Julie: Sure, whatever it takes.
Reese: Good. Oh, Mrs. Stone, you're welcome to stay, but I know you've got some very troubled women to look after back at the shelter.
Laura: I can stay for a while.
Reese: Okay. Well, this shouldn't take long. Uh, Julie, let's uh...let's take this back to the beginning, okay? Your Dad and Mom, were they living together as of tonight?
Julie: No. Not really, I mean...my father moved to Collingwood a few months ago, and he just came back for some stuff.
Reese: Um-hmm. But you were living with your Mom, right?
Julie: Yeah, but after he came back, things just started up again, and I had to get out. I had to find somewhere. I-I went to Laura. Thank God for Laura.
Reese: Yes, thank God.
Henderson: She's lying. That's not the way it went down at all.
Nick: Okay, then you tell us. How did you kill your wife?
Henderson: I'm telling you, I didn't kill my wife.
Tracy: Where's the knife?
Henderson: Why don't you ask Julie.
Nick: Julie? What are you saying? That she killed your wife? C'mon!
Tracy: That's a stretch Mr. Henderson.
Henderson: Listen to me, Gloria brought me over there tonight to make peace with Julie. (The screen flashes on his wife and him at the door to where Julie was staying, knocking and then answering) It was Gloria's idea, she wanted a reconciliation, you know?
Nick: (He momentarily flashes back) Your wife wanted to reconcile you? Someone who had beaten her within an inch of her life, and the next time might have gone all the way, killed her, huh?!
Henderson: I'm not the guy I was before. I used to drink, I had a problem, I did things to my family that I'm honestly ashamed of. I got help. I changed.
Nick: Okay. So you didn't kill your wife, but you did run away from the murder scene, and you ran away from the hospital. What were you getting? A little exercise?
Tracy: Flight suggests guilt, Mr. Henderson.
Nick: And you were headed to Collingwood for what, a little ice fishing?
Henderson: I got a little place there, okay? I ran out of Julie's room because Julie was coming after me. She would have killed me if I hadn't jumped through the window. (Flashes on what happened, seeing Julie with the knife) She wanted no part of any reconciliation. As for the hospital, I'm number one suspect because of my record. Nobody's going to listen to my side of the story. I got scared, I ran. Julie's the one you want, not me. She was mad at her mother for even suggesting the idea we could be a family again.
(There's a knock on the door, Nick opens it and an officer hands Nick a bag with a knife in it)
Officer: Tech boys found this in his hotel room. There's blood all over, too...in his car, on his clothes, in his bathroom. They're testing it now.
Nick: Okay, thanks. (She leaves, and Nick heads back to Henderson, holding it up.) Well, look familiar?
Henderson: No.
Nick: It was found in your motel room.
Henderson: Yeah, okay, it's mine. But I used it to cut off my clothes when I was bleeding to death. Look, why don't you just consider the possibility I might be telling the truth?
Nick: Because, you've been playing hard and fast with the truth ever since you've been here. You're in deep, Henderson. Way over your head.
Mrs. Vetter: Tracy, Honey, is that you? Oh my, what happened to you?
Tracy: I got into it with a suspect. Mom, I thought you stopped drinking!
Mrs. Vetter: Oh, well, I like to have a little drink on special occasions.
Tracy: Oh, yeah. And what's so special about today, huh? Let me guess, Wednesday?
Mrs. Vetter: I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Tracy.
Tracy: Do you have any idea how much trouble the drinking caused you and Dad?
Mrs. Vetter: Oh, you know damn well that it wasn't because of my drinking that your father wound up in bed with the....
Tracy: I don't want to hear it!
Mrs. Vetter: Well, you try! Try to imagine how much that hurts! All those nights that I spent alone waiting to see if my husband, the peace officer, was going to come home in a bag! Well, I deserve a drink for putting up with him and his brothers.
Tracy: And me? This is an old argument, Mom. You won't win it. Ever. I am a cop because I want to be.
Mrs. Vetter: And you never considered anything else. I wanted something else for you, something better. I didn't want to worry about you, too. I was sick with worrying!
Tracy: So you drink. And you made yourself sicker.
Mrs. Vetter: Well, you wait until you're as lonely as I am, and make no mistake, you are heading that way. (Tracy hits her.) You like to think of yourself as your own person, don't you, Tracy? Well, you are not, and you never will be. You are your father's person, and that's why you're a cop, Tracy. He made you what he wanted you to be, and you never had a choice. Well, I am sorry that I even came here. I had nowhere else to go.
Natalie: I'm afraid it's bad news, Nick. That is not the weapon that killed Gloria Henderson. All the blood on that knife belongs to Jack Henderson. There isn't even a trace of Gloria Henderson's type. And, I pulled this out of her sternum. The tip of the blade that killed her. The force of the blow embedded it in the bone and shattered the ribcage. He really meant business.
Nick: What about the knife we found in the room?
Natalie: Lab compared the metal. They're similar, they could be from a matching set. It's likely that they're both his, but there is still reasonable doubt. Oh, man, I would hate for this creep to walk away because of a technicality.
Nick: Well, we're doing our best to make sure this doesn't happen.
Natalie: You know, I'm seeing more and more of these cases, and it's really starting to get to me.
Nick: It's an old story. It doesn't seem to want to end.
Nick: It's not right. Someone should do something.
LaCroix: You had your chance, Nicholas, and you didn't. So, put it out of your mind.
Nick: Maybe I should help her.
LaCroix: Oh, don't be such a fool, Nicholas. After all, which is more amusing, some tawdry domestic melodrama, or a pair of prize cocks pecking each other's eyes out?
Nick: I'll catch up with you later. (He hears screaming, and starts off...LaCroix following. He finds the woman from earlier, dead.) I'm sorry, I should have-
Newsman: Call it what you will, but the word 'safe house' doesn't apply.
Nick: I don't believe it.
Newsman: Metro police are investigating a particularly brutal killing here tonight, and have, at last report, a suspect in custody. The victim's husband. A man with a history of spousal abuse.
Reese: Don't tell me that! I don't want to hear that! Knight? Over here. Where's your partner?
Nick: Oh, she went home to clean up. Why?
Reese: You tell him.
Derrick Schmidt: Detective, I'm Derrick Schmidt, from the Crown Prosecutor's office. You were the one who called in the phone warrant and sent forensics over to Mr. Henderson's hotel room?
Nick: Yeah, routine, right?
Derrick Schmidt: Uh, maybe not. Forensic guys were a little eager turning over Henderson's flop. They searched and seized before the bench rubber stamped the warrant. They should have waited, but they didn't. Sorry, but the Crown's real anal about this kind of thing. We've been thrown out of court twice before on the same precedent.
Nick: So, all the evidence we found in Henderson's room....
Derrick Schmidt: Is inadmissible. So, uh...unless you can come up with something definitive...
Reese: What? A murder weapon?
Derrick Schmidt: Well, at this point I'm thinking a full confession, a video tape of the crime, maybe?
Reese: An eye witness? Blood from the scene?
Derrick Schmidt: It's two hundred kilos of circumstantial zilch without a murder weapon. She's an extremely prejudiced eye witness, whose testimony is suspect. Look, this kid has got a history of drug abuse, she's got emotional problems, she's a walking catalog of teenage angst.
Nick: She's been sexually abused! We all know Henderson did it. We all know it!
Derrick Schmidt: Yeah. Uh, like I was saying, unless you can come up with something definitive.
Laura: You're going to let him go, aren't you? He's gonna get away with this. What about all the evidence? There's blood everywhere. You said you found a knife.
Nick: All the blood we found is Jack Henderson's. There is no evidence of his wife's blood on him, on his clothes, in his room. And as for the knife, Natalie's a hundred percent sure that the knife we found is not the one that killed Gloria Henderson. Technically, we have no evidence.
Laura: This is stupid, right? Tell me this is stupid.
Officer 2: Captain, Detective Knight, we just monitored a 911 dispatch. Ms. Stone, I'm afraid there's been more trouble at your shelter. There's been another attack.
Tracy: How the hell did it happen? This place is supposed to be covered by uniforms.
Nick: It is. She left the grounds to go to the corner store, figures her husband caught the news report on TV, stalked her, caught her on the way home. Got an APB out on him now.
Tracy: First the screw-up with the search warrants, and now this! What can we do?
Nick: I don't know.
Laura: That's it! We've got to get out. This is no safe haven, anymore. I've got to find places for all these women. I mean, Jack Henderson opened all this up, and now you're telling me that you can't make a case against him.
Nick: We might be able to salvage something.
Laura: How do you people sleep at night? How do you rationalize your incompetence?
Henderson: What about my car?
Reese: Your car has been impounded for evidence. It will be returned to you as soon as the papers have been processed. Wouldn't count on that happening soon. They're a little slow down there.
Henderson: Keep it, it's a rental. I'll take the bus.
Reese: Sign for your things. I'm releasing you on our own recognizance against my better judgement, but I'm told by my superiors I can't hold you.
Henderson: You don't know it yet, Captain, but you're doing the right thing.
Reese: You will stay in touch.
Henderson: I have a place in Collingwood. Here's the address and phone number. You can have me followed if you want.
Reese: I might do it myself.
Henderson: Captain, if it means anything, I'm sorry about what happened to my ex-wife, to my family. I'd stay for the funeral, but Gloria's family? They won't want me around.
Nick: Henderson gone?
Reese: Yeah, couldn't hold him. Crown sent down a writ. Look, he's heading back to Collingwood. I'd like you to follow up, make sure he's there, and stay on him, Nick.
Nick: I'd like to do more than that.
Reese: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Nick: Look, I'd like to go back to the shelter. I want to check it out to see if I can find anything to nail him before he leaves town.
Reese: Yeah, you do that. I'm going to put a unit on him while he's still here in town. Vetter, come sit in with me with Julie Henderson. I want to go over her story one more time before I send her...where do I send her?
Tracy: Oh, Laura Stone is looking for some temporary shelter now. She's going to take Julie in till this all blows over. (Spies her mom) Oh, Cap, um can I catch up with you? My mom.
Officer 2: Miss Henderson? Captain Reese would like to speak to you before we release you. He'll be in a few minutes. And you have a phone call on line three. Tracy: Mom, come on. Its late! You're not going to find a place. Just go back to my apartment and wait for me there. Reese: Just once more, so I can be clear. Now, your mother came by to drop off some clothes and things, right? Nick: Laura, are you here?
Nightcrawler: I hear something familiar on the wind tonight. A lonely woman's cry for justice, from beyond death. And what justice is sweeter than that exacted by those who have been wronged? What law more perfect than that exercised by an advocate who moves swiftly and with resolve. Only you who've practiced it know what I'm talking about. A man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green.
Dispatch: Ten-fifty-seven reported in progress outside Sutherland Hotel. Dundas and Broadbent. Repeat, shots fired, unit on route. 81-Kilo, please respond. 81, please respond.
Nick: Where are they? Julie: I don't know why she stayed with him as long as she did. I hated her for that. I hated that she kept me there, that she tried to keep us together. She brought him over that night. She said that he wanted to apologize. I don't know what happened. I just, I just snapped. I just was so angry that she betrayed me, I just...that she told him where I was. I don't know how many times I stabbed her. I wanted to kill him, too. He jumped out the window, right through the glass.
Julie: Hello?
Laura: Julie, are you okay?
Julie: I'm tired. I want to get out of here. They say they're going to let me go soon.
Laura: I can't come to pick you up, Julie. When they release you, ask them to give you a ride to my apartment. You know where I keep the spare key?
Julie: I know. Will you...will you be there later?
Mrs. Vetter: No. I am going home. Now, I'm, I am sorry that I got you involved. I didn't mean to. I-I thought that I would just sneak into town, you know, and do my thing with the lawyers and get out. But I really did want to see you. I couldn't resist.
Tracy: Mom, I want you to stay. I want to work this out.
Mrs. Vetter: Well, we will. In time. Maybe not tonight, but someday.... I'd better go.
Tracy: Mom. I'm sorry for what I did. I don't even know why I did it.
Mrs. Vetter: It only hurt my pride. I'll live. It'll take a lot more than that to kill me.
Julie: Yeah. Just stuff I needed. Like I said, I left in a hurry.
Tracy: In what? A suitcase, a shopping bag?
Julie: A bag, like uh...a Bay Company bag.
Reese: Julie, tell us again how your father got into the room. Laura Stone says she's very good about security. You need a pass. Your Mom had a pass, right?
Julie: Um, my mother had a pass. My father must have been stalking her, I guess.
Reese: You said he came up the fire escape?
Julie: He smashed through the window. He-he was insane. He was in a rage. (She sees what happened by her description of events.)
Reese: Julie. Our criminologists were all over that room tonight.
Tracy: They didn't find any bag of clothes, Julie.
Reese: But you know what they did find? They found your father's fingerprints on the outside of the door to your room, Julie. They determined that the window was broken from the inside out.
Officer: Still in there. They've been at it for hours, now.
Tracy: What did you do with the knife, Julie? You have to tell us now, Julie. What did you do with the knife?