Home Page

Crossing Jordan

Aired 10/24/04

Nigel: Yeah.

Nigel: Oh, last I checked, about three and a half weeks, people. I'm gonna go down to Barbados--

Garret: Three hundred years of hostility doesn't change in a couple of decades. Pack a bag. You're going to Mississippi with Jordan.

Nigel: Say what?

Nigel: Say what?

Nigel: Say what?

{Crossing Jordan Intro}

***Mississippi: Gas Station***

Thad: Hey, Bill. Can't stay away? Weren't you just here visiting your mama last month?

Bill: That's right.

Thad: Y'all from Boston?

Jordan: Yeah.

Thad: We played high school football together. He probably never told you he was the best linebacker this town ever had. Thad Halloran.

Jordan: Jordan Cavanaugh. This is Nigel Townsend.

Thad: So what y'all do up in Boston?

Jordan: Well, uh... Nigel is a scientist. And I'm a doctor. So what is it exactly you do down here in Yates' Bend?

Thad: I got some filling stations. And I'm the county court judge.

Bill: Save you the trouble of checking, Thad. They're from the Boston Medical Examiner's office.

Thad: Is that so? Well you folks enjoy your stay now, you hear? It's always good to have you home. Gimme a call, let's grab a drink or something.

Nigel: Well, I, for one, feel relieved. I was picturing barefoot yahoos with banjos.

***Mississippi: Mrs. Avery's House***

Nigel: You call this a snack?

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

Nigel: So, you play? (referring to a piano)

Mrs. Avery: Oh, yes. I taught music at the high school for twenty years. I just retired a while back.

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

Mrs. Avery: Yes. Because William can't let go of the past.

Bill: Tell them what happened that night, mama.

Mrs. Avery: From the time he was fourteen years old, my husband mowed white people's yards. He pulled their weeds. He watered their roses with his sweat. For three dollars a day. He wanted something better for his child. The son he never saw.

Bill: Mama, please.

Mrs. Avery: (Sighs) I begged Jackson not to go to that theater. He said somebody had to do it. He wore his only suit and tie.

~Flashback~

Voices in crowd:

Hey, hey hey!

Oh, my god, look! He can't be here!

What the hell you'd lookin' at boy?

Where'd you get that tie and suit?

Mrs. Avery: He got turned away, of course. That night, I was in the kitchen, and I heard two shotgun blasts.

~Flashback~

(Gunshots)

Mrs. Avery: (voice over flashback) I ran out the door, and I saw Olin Price standing there with a shotgun. My husband was face down in the dirt.

Mrs. Avery: No! No! No!

Mrs. Avery: His right hand was clutching at the ground a couple of times. And then he died. I knew he was gone. I felt his soul leave his body.

Jordan: Forty years is too long to wait for justice. I hope we can help.

Mrs. Avery: You didn't tell them, William?

Bill: No, mama.

Nigel: Tell us what?

Mrs. Avery: This is William's journey. Not mine.

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

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

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

Mrs. Avery: (Sighs) After all this time, it's better to let god take care of it.

Bill: God fell down on the job.

Mrs. Avery: I will not have that talk in my house.

Jordan: Maybe that's why Nigel and I are here. Maybe god wants to use us to help sort it out.

***ME's Office***

Lily: You needed to see me?

Sidney: Yes. Um, she's got needle marks on her arms, but the tox screen was negative for drugs.

Lily: Okay.

Sidney: Well, can you track down her doctor, you know, see if she was injecting herself with medication, like insulin, ribavarin, interferon, whatever.

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

Sidney: Not if she stopped taking it more than a week ago. (He hands Lily the case file.)

Lily: "Susan Galtieri."

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

Sidney: Can you handle six cases at one time?

Woody: I'm currently juggling eighteen, and I'd love to clear this one. So tell me what you got.

Sidney: Okay, I'm gonna make this real easy for you. I'm like 99% sure that this was a suicide.

Woody: Okay, as much as I'd love to close this case, I'm having a little difficulty swallowing that. For one thing, I could not find her ex-husband. He's not at home, he's not at his office.

Sidney: Look at this. You see these superficial little cuts? That's textbook hesitation marks.

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

Garret: Is there a problem here?

Sidney: No.

(Loud arguing in hallway)

Lily: Excuse me! Excuse me!

Woody: Hey, hey, separate corners, everybody! Separate corners! Separate corners!

Lady #1: You don't give a damn about her!

Lady #2: This man's got no business here!

Garret: Okay, who's who?

Mr. Galtieri: My wife's here.

Lady #2: Ex-wife.

Mr. Galtieri: Susan Galtieri.

Woody: All right, you I got to talk to.

Lily: Ladies, please.

Mr. Galtieri: I went by her house this morning to check on her. There was crime scene tape everywhere, an officer told me I should come here.

Woody: Why'd you check up on her?

Mr. Galtieri: She had cancer.

Woody: According to the neighbors, you checked up on her yesterday too.

Mr. Galtieri: The doctor gave her six months. Just because we're divorced doesn't mean I didn't care.

Lady #2: You're not going to give Susan's body to him, are you? We want to take care of her-- of her funeral.

Lily: Was their divorce final?

Lady #1: Yes.

Lily: Then there's no claim. We can only release decedents to their family members.

Lady #2: She didn't have any family. She only had us. The cancer patients' support group.

Lily: I am...so sorry. The law says it has to be a relative.

Lady #2: Well, what happens if there aren't any?

Lily: The state takes care of it.

Lady #1: No. (Starts sobbing)

***Mississippi: Avery House***

Jordan: Okay. So the people we know were part of the conspiracy and cover-up were the killer--

Bill: Olin Price.

Nigel: The four cops who testified that Price was with them at the time of the shooting--

Bill: Are all dead now.

Jordan: Old Judge Halloran.

Mrs. Avery: Also passed.

Jordan: And the so-called doctor who performed the slapdash autopsy.

Mrs. Avery: Dr. Anderson's a good man. (Bill clears his throat) He could've gone away and gotten rich, but he came home because the people here needed him.

Bill: So where do we start?

Jordan: Ma'am, how was your husband's health?

Mrs. Avery: Jackson was strong as an ox.

Jordan: So there's no way birdshot could have killed him at fifty feet. I need an explanation of that. So I will start with the doctor.

***Mississippi: Doctor Anderson's***

Nigel: (looking into the back window of a pickup) Wow. Two rifles and a shotgun. That's more like what I expected. But who needs that?

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

(Two men leave the doctor's house.)

Nigel: I believe the doctor's in.

Bill: That's Olin Price with him.

Olin: How's your mama doing, Bill?

Bill: Still a widow...Olin.

Olin: I know who y'all are.

Jordan: Then you know why we're here.

Olin: I believe I do, little lady. I believe I do.

(Olin gets in his pickup and drives off)

Jordan: Okay, then.

Dr. Anderson: I wasn't a pathologist. Forty years ago, I was barely a doctor at all.

Jordan: I'm just trying to understand how birdshot could've been deadly at that range. You know that your autopsy report makes no sense. You know that the cause of death is wrong.

Dr. Anderson: All I can tell you is that the police found two birdshot casings at the scene, and the victim was dead.

Jordan: And you found birdshot pellets in the body?

Dr. Anderson: Do you have any kind of official standing?

Jordan: No. Does that affect the truth?

Dr. Anderson: Four police officers testified, twice, that Olin Price was with them at the time of the shooting?

Jordan: Mrs. Avery testified, twice, that she saw him standing over her husband's body with a shotgun in his hands. And you are deflecting every question I've been asking.

Dr. Anderson: Mississippi was a very different place forty years ago. And nobody wants to go back.

Jordan: You're a doctor. You know that sometimes you have to open an old wound in order to cure the infection.

Dr. Anderson: Only if you're sure the wound is infected.

Jordan: A cold-blooded killer walking free for forty years? It's not just infected, it's oozing.

Dr. Anderson: If you'll excuse me, I have a patient waiting. It was nice meeting you, Doctor.

***ME's Office***

Lily: Garret. Are there any circumstances under which a body can be released to non-family members?

Garret: If the deceased left a will stating that preference, sure. Who're we talking about?

Lily: Susan Galtieri. The woman Sidney and Woody were fighting over.

Garret: It doesn't have to be close family. It could be third cousin twice removed, it could be your mother's sister's daughter's aunt.

Lily: That would be your mother.

Garret: You know what I mean.

Lily: Yeah. Thanks.

Garret: Unclaimed bodies go out of here every day. What makes this one special?

Lily: The devotion of friends.

***Mississippi: Police Station***

Nigel: Look, either the evidence was preserved or it wasn't, ya know?

Officer: Just keep your shirt on, Mister. Forty years is a long time.

(Police chief and Olin Price come walking in)

Police Chief: Oh, hey, Bill, I heard you were in town.

Bill: I'm sure you did. Got all your ducks in a row?

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

Bill: (face to face with Olin) You got away with murder for forty years. Time's up. It's over, Price.

Olin: Get out of my way, nigger. (Bill shoves Olin)

Police Chief:  For god's sake, Olin.

Nigel: Bill, Bill, Bill! It's not worth it. Now, the evidence in the Jackson Avery killing: Is it still around?

Police Chief: Yeah. Are you sure you want to go through with this?

Bill: You know he killed my father. You know he got a pass.

Police Chief: And you know we've come a long way from then. We don't need any strangers picking our scabs.

Nigel: Are you going to let us look at the evidence or not? Would you rather have the news media? Or the federal authorities?

***Autopsy: Susan Galtieri ***

Garret: Explain to me why you think this might be suicide.

Sidney: No defensive wounds, no myocardial ischemia, no sign of a struggle, and no foreign tissue under her nails.

Garret: All right, we've got two nicks. Splicing defect of the rib and the heart. So the knife caught on this rib, then was repositioned and thrust deeper on the second try. That doesn't scream suicide to me.

Sidney: Liver cancer.

Garret: Right.

Sidney: She'd just finished a debilitating round of chemo. I mean, there was only 20% shrinkage of the tumor. I mean, she was terminal. And depressed. She could've repositioned the knife herself for the second thrust.

Garret: Not likely. She'd have to be impervious to pain.

Sidney: Or really determined. And I think she was.

Garret: Something you want to learn, Sidney: Don't jump to conclusions. Look at the evidence, consider the possibilities, do the math.

Sidney: And I did. And it's my considered professional opinion this woman committed suicide.

***Mississippi: Avery House***

Jordan: Ma'am, can I ask you something? I asked Bill this on the plane, but he didn't really have an answer. Why now?

Mrs. Avery: William turned forty a couple of months ago, and it all just came crashing down on him. Forty's when it hits you how little time you got left. Forty's when his father died.

Nigel: He really didn't want to give it up, but silver-tongued devil that I am.

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

Nigel: Well, we did ask the Chief about that, and he pled ignorance. "Before my time," he said.

Jordan: Do you see the shotgun shells in there?

Nigel: Let's be methodical, luv. Police report. Oh, the autopsy report that started it all. (Jordan dumps the box out) Jordan--

Jordan: Okay, one, two, three...

Nigel: Four.

Bill: My mother heard two blasts. Why are there four shells?

Jordan: I have no idea.

Nigel: This one's birdshot.

Jordan: So's this one, but these two are twelve-gauge buckshot.

Bill: These weren't a part of the evidence. No one ever even mentioned buckshot.

Jordan: I want that gun.

Bill: And it's gonna tell us what?

Nigel: See that mark right there? That's where the firing pin strikes. Every shotgun has its own signature. It's kinda like the striations on a bullet.

***ME's Office***

Sidney: Dr. Macy. The Susan Galtieri report? How did manner of death go from suicide to undetermined?

Garret: I changed it.

Sidney: Why?

Garret: The second knife thrust. That needs to be explained.

Woody: Hey. That my report? And I know you did not rule it a suicide.

Sidney: I did. However, I was overruled.

Woody: There a problem here?

Garret: No.

Woody: "Homicide" would be better, but "undetermined" is okay, I can work with "undetermined."

Sidney: She committed suicide.

Woody: Here's some friendly advice for you, kid. If your boss with twenty-odd years of experience--

Sidney: Look, I don't know what happened in the house, but I'm telling you, forensic science says--

Woody: The ex-husband was on the premises shortly before the woman was found dead. Oh, by the way, all the doorknobs were wiped clean.

Sidney: She could've done that herself. You do know people polish their own doorknobs.

Woody: They had a terrible relationship. He threatened her when she left him. Oh, and he's still her beneficiary for a million dollars.

Sidney: She was dying. All he had to do was wait.

Woody: Well, apparently he did not want to. Renewed his passport five days ago and bought a one-way ticket to Tenerife. Anyway, I arrested him.

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

***Mississippi: Avery House***

(Door shuts, Jordan is jumpy)

Bill: Oh, did I scare you? Sorry. I couldn't sleep. What are you doing?

Jordan: I'm just trying to find some hint about what happened to that shotgun.

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

Jordan: We may never find this gun. Tomorrow I'm going to apply for an exhumation order.

Bill: What?

Jordan: You must've known that we'd need to examine your father's body.

Bill: Well, d-does he have to be disturbed? I mean, this will kill my mother.

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

(Gun cocks)

(Gunshot through window)

Mrs. Avery: William?

Nigel: No!

(Gunshot)

Mrs. Avery: William!

Nigel: Get down! Get down.

(Gunshot)

(Car door slams, motor accelerating)

Bill: I'm sorry.

~Next morning~

Nigel: Your neighbors say that you have to eat something.

Jordan: Hey, Nigel. Could you call Garret? Give him all the information we have. Just in case.

Nigel: Yep.

Mrs. Avery: Jackson and I lived in a tarpaper shack. William built is house for me five years ago. Saved up his money so he could pay the builder in cash.

Jordan: Well... I'm sorry. I guess this is why you didn't want us coming down here.

Mrs. Avery: William's got to travel his own road, like everybody else.

Jordan: Well, you did a great job with him.

Mrs. Avery: I just wish he would find his peace about his father.

Jordan: It's kinda hard to find peace with Olin Price walking around free.

Mrs. Avery: He's not free. His wife's got Alzheimer's. They got no kids, and there's nobody but him to take care of her. All I would ever want from Olin Price is an apology.

Jordan: I need to exhume your husband's body.

Mrs. Avery: Jackson deserves his rest.

Jordan: There's no other way. Bill, there's no other way.

Bill: Mama. For me to find my peace, I've got to know. (Mrs. Avery starts crying)

Garret: No, do not try to downplay it, listen, I-- I told Jordan this would happen. All right, just pack up and get the hell out of there. Both of you. Now.

Nigel: I'm not even going to try and sell that to her. I've gotta go, Dr. Macy.

***ME's Office***

Lily: (Yawns) Hi.

Garret: You're in early.

Lily: You too. Last night I went to a meeting of the support group that Susan Galtieri attended. It was unbelievable, Garret. They're in pain, they're queasy, they're frail. A lot of them are going to die soon. But the love and support they give each other. Oh. There was more laughter and courage in that room than I have ever seen.

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

Lily: They all have times when that seems like the best solution, but they carry each other through it. Most of the time.

Garret: (Knock on door) Yes, Sidney?

Sidney: Susan Galtieri? The suicide? What about her? Just so you know, I called her ex-husband's lawyer. To offer my expert opinion. He seemed pleased. (Garret stands there for a few seconds and then goes to leave but Lily stops him)

Lily: Wait until you calm down. If you do it now, you'll kill him.

***Mississippi: Avery House***

Lady: Mr. Avery and my father were like brothers. Mama told me daddy cried the whole time he was embalming the body.

Jordan: We'll let you know what we find.

Bill: I want to see him.

Jordan: That's not a good idea. After forty years--

Bill: I want to see him. (Nigel opens the casket)

Nigel: My god.

Jordan: (to the lady) How can this be?

Lady: It was July. There was no air conditioning. Daddy knew the viewing would go on for a couple of days. He used four times the normal strength of embalming fluid.

(Camera shows the body: it is in perfect condition)

***ME's Office***

Garret: I want to talk to you. The rest of you, find somewhere else to be. Now! The only reason I'm not firing you is that you have the makings of a first-rate medical examiner.

Sidney: You should trust my--

Garret: Don't... speak. When I overrule you, you can talk to me about it. But if you ever again take it to the level of pig-headed insubordination. I swear to god you're gonna be out on your ass-

Woody: Where the hell do you get off? I'm desperately scrambling to get this Galtieri bastard sewed up, and you go and chop me off at the knees!

Sidney: First of all, let me tell you something the first thing you learn--

Woody: He killed her!

Sidney: The forensics support suicide.

Garret: (SCREAMING!) Shut up! Both of ya! (Calmer now) The forensics support suicide. Except for one thing-- second knife thrust, so I'm with you. It's hard to believe she did that herself. Now, if we can reconcile that, gentlemen, we're done.

***Mississippi: Autopsy: Jackson Avery***

Nigel: Why are there still people here who want to cover up for Olin Price?

Jordan: You are asking the wrong person.

Nigel: It's just been driven underground, hasn't it, the racism? It's right there under the surface.

Jordan: I think maybe the surface is just a little deeper than it used to be, that's about all.

Nigel: I know, it's creepy.

Jordan: Even if we don't find the real answer, we can testify this is way more damage than you'd get from birdshot.

Nigel: Hmm.

Jordan: Ah-hah. Twelve-gage buckshot.

Lady: Found something?

Jordan: Yeah, proof the doctor lied.

Nigel: It doesn't give us Olin Price.

Jordan: Yeah, you're right. We really need to find that gun.

Lady: Probably at the judge's house. The old judge, Thad's daddy, kept souvenirs from all his cases. Had a kind of museum in his parlor.

Bill: That can't be the right gun. Thad Halloran would have never given it to you that easy. His dad was part of the cover-up.

Jordan: The serial numbers match. I don't know, maybe Halloran wanted to come clean.

(Nigel takes a shot with the gun)

Jordan: Ay, these casings are the buckshot. We match this gun to those casings, we've got enough to force somebody to reopen this case officially.

Nigel: (Sighs) They don't match.

Jordan: They have to.

Nigel: They don't match. (Jordan switches out one of the casings for another one) That's not gonna match. We know he wasn't hit with the birdshot.

Bill: The birdshot matches?

Jordan: Yes.

Bill: But he wasn't hit with birdshot.

Jordan: The answer is here. We just don't know what it is yet.

***Mississippi: Doctor Anderson's***

Jordan: You missed one.

Dr. Anderson: I didn't miss it. I left it there. It sure took forever for somebody to find it.

(Jordan and Bill are walking)

Jordan: Dr. Anderson said he hoped the feds would take over the case and redo the autopsy. They'd find the buckshot pellet, and then he could say that he had no choice, he had to tell the truth.

Bill: Come on, he's just covering his ass. If he had any remorse, he wouldn't have waited until he got caught to start showing it.

Jordan: You didn't see him.

(Back at Dr. Anderson's)

Dr. Anderson: For forty years... I have been balanced on what seemed like... a single point of time. Just waiting for somebody braver than I was to do the right thing. I'd just started my practice. I had a wife, two small children. And I did what they told me to do.

Bill: And what was that?

Dr. Anderson: I filled out a new autopsy form. I put in birdshot instead of buckshot.

Bill: What-Why would they want you to do that? What was it about this damn birdshot?

Dr. Anderson: Olin Price did play poker with the four cops that night. ~Flashback with voiceover~ They were all upset over what your father did that day. And they decided that somebody had to do something about it. They were drinking. The drunker they got, the more stupid the plan got. One of the cops got a shotgun that couldn't be traced to Price. They fired it off. (Two gunshots) Olin drove across town to your parents' house assuming he'd have to kick the door in. But your dad was just getting home from an NAACP meeting at the church.

Two gunshots.

Mrs. Avery: No!

Dr. Anderson: Price was so drunk he didn't realize that what they'd discharged back at his place was birdshot. He used his own shotgun to kill your father. But left the other one, the one that matched the birdshot, the one that couldn't be traced to him, at the scene.

Bill: If that's what happened, why was there buckshot in the evidence case?

Dr. Anderson: One week after the killing... I borrowed Olin's shotgun. Told him I had to kill some rats. I discharged it in the woods, and I kept the shell casings. I kept them for six years before I got up the nerve to go out to the warehouse and slip them into the evidence box.

Bill: How do you even know that was the right gun?

Dr. Anderson: I didn't care. I just wanted to point in the right direction, if there was ever anybody interested.

Bill: Well, If you knew you'd done wrong--

Dr. Anderson: Your father was already dead. I didn't want my children to grow up without a father too. William, I was the first person to see you when you came into this world. I'm so sorry.

(Back at the Avery house. Jordan gets a note tucked in behind the screen door)

Jordan: Nigel went to the beauty parlor with your mom. I would pay to see that. Look, you haven't said a word since we left Dr. Andersons'.

Bill: My mom's right, you know? Let god take care of Olin Price.

Jordan: You can't be serious.

Bill: "Balanced on a single point of time." That's what it's like, you know. One event overshadows everything else in your life, until you realize you don't have a life at all.

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

Bill: You don't have any real evidence. Just stop now. My mom's not gonna get dragged through another trial. Dr. Anderson can keep whatever shred of self-esteem he's got left. Olin's wife won't lose her only caretaker. And I can finally put my father where he belongs. In my heart. Just in my heart.

Jordan: What about Price?

Bill: You met him. You don't think he's in his own hell?

***Susan Galtieri's House ***

Woody: She was sitting here just like this.

Garret: I know what you've got. What about you?

Woody: I've got abusive jerk ex-husband who just happened to show up around the same time that she died with a million-dollar motive. Now, I do not believe that she got the knife halfway through her chest, then wiggled it around to clear the ribcage. And thrust it the rest of the way in. I mean, come on, people. How much would that have to hurt?

Sidney: Wow, so you think she just sat there while he did it? She didn't resist him? Scratch him? Grab the knife? Her adrenaline didn't spike? Is that really easier for you to believe?

Garret: Why does the ex-husband still inherit?

Woody: She never changed the paperwork. She had other things on her mind. Like terminal cancer.

Garret: This is a nice little house, but it doesn't say "millionaire" to me.

Woody: The inheritance, life insurance. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with a quadruple homicide indemnity.

Garret: Was there a pen on the table?

Woody: No, on the floor. Why?

Garret: Right, you dug your heels in. Gotta be suicide. Gotta be murder. You're both right, but you're both wrong. If she was murdered, Galtieri rakes in a million bucks.

Woody: Not if he killed her.

Garret: But if she did it herself...

Sidney: Well, he gets nothing.

Garret: She was in pain, just found out she was terminal. She couldn't take it anymore. The first thrust killed her.

Woody: So jerk-o ex-husband comes in... sees her dead, sees the note she left... sees a million smackeroos go up in smoke.

Sidney: So then he proceeds to make it look like murder. If we can't prove it, he gets away with a million.

Garret: Not if Woody gets him convicted for murder.

Woody: Not much of a chance of that happening, with two testifying on behalf of the defense.

Garret: Okay, drop the murder charge. Rearrest him for tampering with evidence. Sidney and I will find a way to make it stick. Right?

Sidney: Yes, sir. (Garret and Sidney shake hands)

Garret: Woody? (Garret and Woody shake hands) Now you two. (Woody and Sidney shake hands) Good.

Woody: It's a tie.

Sidney: Suicide.

***Mississippi: Gas Station***

Nigel: Well, I have to tell you, Jordan, I'm, uh... I'm really proud and, uh... quite amazed by you. Never a million years would I have ever have thought you capable of acceding to someone else's wishes. Especially when they ran counter to your own.

Jordan: Hey.

Nigel: I mean, have you ever done that before? Stop obsessing just because somebody asked you?

Jordan: Bill Avery finally got to a place where he doesn't need blood for blood. I wouldn't want to mess with that.

Nigel: See, that's exactly what I'm talking about! That's not the Jordan I know.  (Tires screeching) Company.

Olin: Heard you were all leaving, thought you might need an escort back out of town.

Jordan: Hey, wasn't that gun rack full before?

Nigel: Yeah, there was another shotgun. What happened to it?

Olin: It's in the bed there. (Nigel uncovers a blown up gun)

Jordan: Nice. How'd you do it?

Olin: I packed the barrels with mud, and tied a string to the trigger, stood back, and boom.

Nigel: Good job.

Olin: I hated to do it. My daddy got me that gun for my twelfth birthday.

Jordan: What, to kill birds with?

Olin: Well, nah. 'Coons, more like it.

Jordan: (with passion) You think we're leaving because you beat us? Your drunken plan to kill Jackson Avery was so numbingly stupid it took us two days to figure it out. Two days. The card game, the drinking, the gun that wasn't yours, the gun that was yours, the idiotic mistake with the birdshot, the faked-up autopsy. No, we are leaving because the Avery's asked us to. You see, they're nicer people than we are. Yeah. (Nigel tries to get her to leave) No, no. They actually care who will take care of your wife. God, you were so close, you half-wit. One call to the state police, I could have you arrested and charged before nightfall. And you think I'm going to worry about your wife? Well, you don't know me very well. And this time, you know what, no all-white jury, bigot. You will be convicted. You will rot in prison. Or-- or, you know what, you get in our car. We drive you to the Avery's' house, where you apologize to them for what you did forty years ago. If they have questions for you, you answer them. With respect! That's my offer. Your choice. Your move.

***ME's Office***

Lily: I've trolled every genealogical data base I could find. There just aren't any relatives. Massachusetts doesn't treat unclaimed bodies with disrespect. There's no Potter's field. You're given a real burial in a real cemetery, and the state pays for it.

Lady #2: One of the things we talk about in the support group is death. We talk about it a lot.

Lady #1: We know what Susan wanted if she didn't make it.

Lady #2: And we promised her we'd take care of it if...if the time came.

(Lily pauses, gets up and closes the door to her office)

Lily: Fill out this form. You are the third cousin twice removed.

Lady #1: Will you get in trouble?

Lily: No.

Lady #1: You're sure?

Lily: Yes.

***Mississippi: Avery House***

Olin; I-uh, Mrs. Avery, I-I'm sorry. I apologize.

Mrs. Avery: I'd be more inclined to believe you mean that if you would show me the respect of taking your hat off in my house.

(After a long pause, Olin takes his hat off. Mrs. Avery sighs.)

***ME's Office***

Garret: And so it was all for nothing?

Jordan: I wouldn't say that. (Jordan walks out of the office with a calmness and a smile.) I wouldn't say that at all.

Home Page