Post by CC Fan on Jun 1, 2005 0:41:12 GMT -5
Recap Provided By Cellogal
August 29, 1998
Shopping mall. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones play “The Impression That I Get,” and I’m thinking this is a pretty cool store. The stores I shopped at in 1998 weren’t playing Mighty Mighty Bosstones. A mom pulls a shirt off the rack and shows it to her school-age son, who is horrified and tells her to put it back. She points out that it’s got Tommy Banzai on it, and he says he doesn’t want to wear Tommy Banzai. Mom is mystified, saying that he loves the Banzai Brigade, but he says he’s gotta look cool. Mom shares this information with Dad, who asks why, and Kyle smiles shyly and says that Shelby Bryan is going to be in his class this year. Dad reminds Mom that the teacher seats alphabetically, so Kyle and Shelby will be sitting together. Mom gets it and puts the shirt back, then Dad shows him a couple shirts that Kyle loves. Mom balks at the $25 per shirt price tag, but Dad cajoles her into “maybe one.” Kyle heads for the dressing room to try them on, saying he can go by himself. Mom’s reluctant, but Kyle reminds her that he’s not a baby, then heads for the dressing room, looking over his shoulder with a smile. Dad says he’ll be fine…
And so, of course, he won’t be. Dad heads for the dressing room with a couple more things for Kyle to try on, calling his name and knocking on the door, but getting no response. He opens the door to see Kyle’s empty dressing room, then starts opening all the other ones, ignoring the curious looks of the occupants, then bursts out into the store, increasingly frantic as he calls his son’s name.
Harbor. We see Kyle’s lifeless body lying there; he seems to have drowned, and I am depressed already.
Back at PPD, Kyle Bream’s evidence box slides down the conveyor belt.
A church. Stillman greets the priest (who, despite the confusing fact that Stillman refers to him by his formal address of “Father,” is actually Stillman’s brother), shakes his hand and thanks him for stopping by. Stillman says he had no choice, because his brother still owes him “a dime.” Father Stillman takes a ten-dollar bill out and hands it to him, saying that our Lord rested on Sunday, and apparently, so does the Sixers’ defense. Heh. Stillman jokingly examines the bill to make sure it’s real, then puts it away. His brother says that Janie stopped by yesterday, making arrangements for the baptism, and Stillman makes an adorable grandfatherly comment that the boy is growing like a weed. His brother asks if something’s going on with Janie, and Stillman says not that he knows of. His brother asks if Stillman’s talked to Janie lately, and Stillman says not for a few weeks, that he’s been swamped at work. His brother says that work is why he called: in 1998, he took confession from a neighborhood kid, Bernie Ganz, who was caught up in the kidnapping of Kyle Bream, who was found dead in Salem Harbor. Ganz didn’t confess to the murder, just to the kidnapping, and Stillman asks where he can be found. The answer? All Saints’ Ground. He got killed robbing a jewelry store. The priest says that Bernie never did much with his life, so maybe some good can come from his death. Stillman says he’ll pull the job and give it another look, and his brother adds that he should give Janie a call. Stillman says he will.
Credits.
Evidence Warehouse. Lilly heads down the aisle as Stillman recaps the case: Nine-year-old Kyle Bream disappears from a department store in Torresdale, and a day later, the parents get a ransom call. Lilly sees that Stillman’s talking to Scotty and steels herself for the encounter, while Scotty asks Stillman if the FBI ever got involved. Stillman says they set up a money drop and put undercovers at the scene. Lilly, having gathered her courage, rounds the corner, and she and Scotty exchange terse “Heys,” prompting Stillman to give them his patented “what’s going on?” look. Scotty and Stillman review the original notes, where they learn that the kidnappers never showed up at the money drop, and the Breams never saw Kyle again: his body was found a month later. Looking at the crime scene photos, Scotty theorizes that the kidnappers realized the heat was on and killed Kyle to cut their losses. Lilly asks if they ever found the original kidnappers. Stillman says there was nothing on phone trace or store cameras, but Jeffries comes in and says that maybe the late Bernie Ganz, the guy who confessed to Stillman’s brother that he was paid to watch Kyle, gets them closer. Jeffries has learned that he was small-time, including charges for petty theft and even trying to forge a lottery ticket. “That’s a real brain trust, huh?” is Scotty’s chuckled response. Jeffries points out the record for Bernie’s older brother Manny: “Same shed, different tool.” Lilly realizes that many of the arrests are the same and thinks that maybe they’re a team.
A Middle Eastern Restaurant. Manny sits at a table, where a couple teenage girls get up and leave. Lilly smiles and asks if they can step into his office, Manny protests that he just eats there, that they have the best (something that sounds like koobaday) west of the Nile. Scotty tells Manny that they want to talk to him about Kyle Bream; Manny seems confused, so they remind him of the details, and Lilly says his brother Bernie was in on it. Manny says that Bernie had his own life, Scotty says their rap sheets say different. Lilly says that Bernie’s dead, but they can still get Manny for murder. Manny tells them to back the truck up, that he didn’t have anything to do with Kyle’s death. “So just the kidnapping then?” Lilly swoops in to ask. Heh. Manny is silent, and Lil tells him he can talk to them or the Feds, who would probably be interested in his Fake ID operation. Manny protests that it isn’t a big deal, Lilly scoffs at this, telling him that selling forged papers out of a Middle Eastern restaurant kind of is a big deal, and Scotty’s got two words for him: Patriot Act. No lawyer, no trial, and no koobaday, whatever that is. It sounds good. Maybe I’m just hungry. Manny finally talks, saying he and Bernie were paid to watch the kid, but that’s it. Lilly asks who paid him, Manny says it was anonymous, the way the guy wanted it. Lilly, frustrated, asks how it worked. Manny says there were no names, no faces, and he only saw the guy once.
What looks like an extremely low-rent apartment, where we hear “6th Avenue Heartache” by The Wallflowers. Manny and Bernie are playing gin; Manny wins, then asks Kyle if he wants to play, saying he can’t do any worse than Bernie. The clearly frightened Kyle says his dad’s coming to get him, and laments the fact that he’ll miss the first day of school. He doesn’t get much sympathy from Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and he reminds them that he’s supposed to sit next to Shelby. Awww. I hate this case.
There’s a knock on the door, and Kyle thinks it’s his dad, but Manny orders Bernie to take Kyle into the other room. Manny answers the door to reveal a greasy-looking guy with a goatee, tattoos, and a tank top, who asks if Kyle’s okay. Manny says he’s asking for his dad, and Greaseball says he gave the parents the terms, and they’ll get the kid as soon as they pay up. Manny is doubtful, but Greaseball reminds him of the bonds the parents have in their safe, and that they’ll pay.
Scotty asks how Greaseball knew about the bonds, and Manny doesn’t know, but that the drop went south and Greaseball got cold feet and paid them off. Lilly, disgusted, asks if Manny just left Kyle with Greaseball, and Manny says it was business. Scotty’s getting cranky, and retorts, “So’s this,” as he hauls Manny to his feet and slaps the cuffs on him. Ooooh, burn. No koobaday for you!
The Bream house. Kyle’s dad, Ken, is explaining to Jeffries that they packed up Kyle’s room last year, that it was hard to know what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to do with the room. Jeffries is clearly sympathetic, his expression saying more than words ever could. Thom Barry is just awesome. Ken expresses his hope to his wife, Tina, that maybe someday it’ll be a nursery again. Vera softly tells them there might be a lead. Jeffries asks Ken about the bonds, and he says they had some, but they cashed them in to pay the ransom. Tina says that the FBI told them their best chance was to go along with the sting, but she didn’t want to. Jeffries asks if she was against it, but she and Ken say the Feds explained the percentages, but Tina says that unfortunately those percentages didn’t apply to them.
Harbor. Tina looks in disbelief at the bag containing Kyle’s body and tearfully says that’s not Kyle, that they can’t put Kyle in a bag. She then lashes out at Ken, telling him that he said to go along with it; that he said that’s how they’d get him back, that he said Kyle could go to the dressing room by himself. They’re both in tears now, and Ken watches them zip up the body bag. My goodness, this case is depressing.
The look Tina gives Ken says she still blames him for what happened. Jeffries says that they think whoever knew about the bonds had something to do with the kidnapping, and Ken says nobody knew about them, that he never told a soul. Tina did. She told her sister, in case something ever happened to them, Tina wanted she and her husband to know. Ken is dumbfounded that Tina told Ed, and Jeffries asks who Ed is. The parents look stricken.
Interview room. Looks like Scotty and Lilly found Ed, who happens to also be the greaseball from earlier. They remind him of his failed marriage to Tina’s sister, and Ed says he had a problem. Scotty agrees, pointing out Ed’s frequent arrests for drugs and theft, and Ed says he was stealing to support his habit. Lil points out the slippery slope from stealing to kidnapping to murder, and Ed protests that he didn’t kill Kyle. Scotty says that Manny picked him out of a photo spread as the guy who snatched Kyle, and accuses him of killing his own nephew. Ed protests his innocence, but they keep going: Ed needed money, the in-laws had it, he knew how to get it, but when things got hinky with the ransom, Kyle became a liability. Ed says he’s leaving, Scotty begs to differ as he kicks the chair, forcing Ed to sit back down. Man, Scotty’s cranky today. Not that I blame him. At all. Scotty reminds Ed that they’ve got witnesses, and Ed reluctantly admits that he’s a scumbag. The detectives don’t disagree. He says he snatched Kyle, but when he saw the Feds at the drop, he got scared and made other arrangements.
Same dingy apartment, where “Waltz #2” by Elliot Smith plays. Ed looks on as a guy in a suit talks to Kyle, and they chat about comics and video games for a while. Kyle says his mom says Sega makes your head soft, and Suit Guy says he’s got a Sega, and his head’s okay. Why do I not believe him? Suit Guy tells Kyle he can come play video games at his house, but Kyle wants to see his mom and dad. Suit Guy says they went on a trip, and Kyle can’t believe they’d go without him. He asks, as only a sweet, naïve kid can, if it was because his shirt cost $25 a pop, and Suit Guy agrees. Man, I hope this guy meets up with Cranky! Scotty, because it takes a special kind of evil and depravity to break a kid’s heart like that. Seriously, what has to be wrong with someone to make them do that to a kid?? Okay, I’m in danger of getting tiresome here, so I’ll just go back to recapping, as ill as this case is making me.
Anyway, Suit Guy comforts Kyle and says they can take a trip of their own together, like an adventure, and Kyle can have his own secret identity. Kyle’s intrigued, and asks if it’s like Peter Parker in Spiderman. Suit Guy says he likes the name Parker.
Ed says he and this guy made a deal, and Scotty, crankily, of course, asks what kind of deal they’re talking about. Lilly gets all Ice Queen, and asks Ed what he did with Kyle. Ed responds that he sold him. This case just gets more and more horrifyingly evil, and the expressions on the detectives’ faces tell me that this case is sickening even to them. Glad I’m not the only one.
A bar. Something must have happened on TNT’s end, because it looks like we’re jumping into the middle of a conversation with Stillman and Janie. From a summary I found elsewhere, I can surmise that Janie and Stillman are talking about the baptism, and then Janie says she went to a restaurant and found her rapist tending bar. Stillman he was going to do something at the time, but that Janie and Mom stopped him. Janie says she wishes he hadn’t listened to them, that she wishes she wasn’t so worried about what people would think of her. Stillman reminds her that she begged him, that she wanted to just forget it. Janie says she was eighteen and wrong.
Evidence warehouse. Vera asks Scotty and Lilly what they know about the guy who bought Kyle, and they say that the man, Rudy Tanner, is a cold job himself. Darn. I was hoping to see Cranky! Scotty in action. Oh, well. At least Rudy got what was coming to him. Anyway, Rudy was a 45-year-old school administrator who lived in a nice neighborhood, and found shot to death in his tomato garden. They reveal that Rudy was running a kiddie porn website, charmingly named Boys In Bloom. The detectives conclude that Kyle was an investment, and Vera wonders why kill him, then. Scotty suggests that they take a look and see if the Feds red-flagged any visitors to the site, and Vera asks if Rudy had family. Scotty says he had a wife, and Lilly, looking disgusted, comments, “Didn’t she get the prize?” Heh.
Neighborhood. Vera and Jeffries are chatting with Rudy’s ex-wife, Sandra, a realtor who says she doesn’t remember Kyle, saying she and Rudy were separated by then, and she wasn’t home much anyway, what with the three jobs she was working. She’s a whirling dervish of stressed-out energy, as is evidenced by the fact that she’s carrying an Open House sign and almost running away from the detectives. Sandra says that Rudy ditched her to raise their son, Archie on her own; Vera asks if Rudy ever spent any time alone with Archie. She says Archie would stay with Rudy on the weekends while she worked. Jeffries is suspicious, and Sandra insists that Rudy wouldn’t…”not his own son.” They show her the picture of Kyle, and she remembers him, but his hair was different: blonde, like Archie’s. She remembers thinking they could have been brothers. She says she saw Kyle at Rudy’s house one Sunday when she went to pick up Archie.
Tanner house. Over the whir of the blender, we hear “Let It Go” by Kelda. Sandra comes in calling for Archie; he’s in the kitchen making milk shakes. She hurriedly says that they have to go grocery shopping and need to go, now, and starts to go into Archie’s room to get his stuff, but Archie says she can’t go in there. She opens the door to see Kyle there, reading a Samurai Planet comic book, and Archie introduces Kyle as Parker, some family friend whose parents were out of town. Sandra asks what the kid’s doing in the bedroom, and Archie says that he had to give it up for Parker. Kyle complains that he doesn’t like Samurai Planet, that he’s got all 24 issues of Banzai Brigade at home. Rudy comes in and asks Sandra what she’s doing there. She says she got off early, and tells Archie to come with her. Archie leaves to get his coat, and Rudy sleazily turns to Kyle and calls him “Star,” telling him that naptime’s in ten minutes. Sandra looks shocked at this, and Rudy explains that both of Kyle’s parents are colleagues of his, and that they’re sick. Sandra says Archie told her they were out of town, and Rudy says it’s a cover story. They both agree that Kyle looks like a nine-year old Archie, and Rudy sleazily reminisces about how it’s a wonderful age. Gaack.
Sandra tells Vera and Jeffries that she didn’t know anything was wrong.
Hospital ambulance bay. A grown-up Archie perches on the bumper of an ambulance smoking a cigarette, and Scotty comes up to him and shows him a picture of Kyle. Archie says it’s Parker, that his dad took him in for a while, that his dad was generous. Scotty tells Archie that Parker’s real name was Kyle Bream, that he got murdered after his dad took him in. Archie is clearly shocked, and says his dad didn’t have anything to do with that. Scotty reminds Archie that Rudy bought Kyle from his kidnapper, and that he was a child pornographer. Archie doesn’t want to hear it, saying his dad was generous and took in Kyle after his parents bailed on him.
Tanner house. We hear “Got You Where I Want You” by The Flys, the title of which is now disturbingly appropriate. Archie, who’s making milk shakes again, asks Rudy if they can play football, Rudy says they can later. Kyle walks in, looking heartbroken. Rudy asks him what’s wrong, he says it’s nothing. He sits down next to Rudy, and Rudy asks him again. Kyle tearfully says that he didn’t really care about cool shirts, and Rudy explains that sometimes parents can get overwhelmed, and that’s why Kyle’s parents didn’t want him. It’s about this time that I start wondering if maybe Cold Case has a deal with the anti-depressant industry. Rudy reminds Kyle that he won’t leave him, and Archie interrupts to ask again about football. Rudy says they’ll do whatever Parker wants, and Archie bitterly says that Parker isn’t good at football.
Archie says his dad was just trying to help, and Scotty reminds Archie of Kyle’s naturally brown hair. Archie asks why this matters, and Scotty points out that Rudy dyed Kyle’s hair blonde to look like Archie’s, that Sandra said they could have been brothers. Archie reiterates that his dad was a good man, and Scotty just glares silently as Archie tosses his cigarette away and leaves.
Stillman’s office. Stillman looks through what appears to be a yearbook, and his eyes fall on a picture of a kid named Brad who was voted to have the “Best Smile.” Lilly comes in, and Stillman puts the yearbook away and asks her what the latest is. Lilly recaps Rudy’s brainwashing of Kyle, and also points out that Archie thought he was the world’s greatest dad. Stillman reflectively says you have to believe in someone. Jeffries comes in with pictures of Kyle, among others, from the website and hands them to Stillman, who glances briefly at them. Jeffries says that might not be the worst of it. Oh, jeez, there’s MORE? Oh, yeah. There’s more. Jeffries reveals a federal watch list of the website’s members, and Lilly is shocked to see Ken Bream’s name on the list. Jeffries confirms that Kyle’s dad had a membership. Oh, SNAP. It just got a LOT worse.
Interview room. Ken is in there with a still-cranky Scotty, who asks him about his membership to Boys In Bloom, and asks if he likes boys. Vera, also cranky, tells Ken that Kyle showed up on that site as a model. Ken tells them it’s not what they think, and Vera asks what it is.
Stillman’s office. Tina says that Ken didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Kyle, Lilly points out that she doesn’t sound too sure. Tina says she just shouldn’t have believed Ken, that Kyle would be okay by himself. Lilly says they’re not talking about the dressing room, and Jeffries tells her that Ken was accessing child porn on the Internet. Tina knows.
Interview room. Vera asks Ken if he knew Rudy Tanner, Ken says no. Scotty says that the innocent answer would have been “Rudy who?”, and Vera adds that they also would have accepted just, “Who?” Ken says he didn’t know Rudy. Vera picks up on the use of the past tense, and Scotty gets up and leans over Ken, calling him a pervert and saying that he knows what Ken is, that he makes a study out of people like Ken. Ken says Scotty doesn’t know anything. Vera calmly orders him to tell them.
August 29, 1998
Shopping mall. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones play “The Impression That I Get,” and I’m thinking this is a pretty cool store. The stores I shopped at in 1998 weren’t playing Mighty Mighty Bosstones. A mom pulls a shirt off the rack and shows it to her school-age son, who is horrified and tells her to put it back. She points out that it’s got Tommy Banzai on it, and he says he doesn’t want to wear Tommy Banzai. Mom is mystified, saying that he loves the Banzai Brigade, but he says he’s gotta look cool. Mom shares this information with Dad, who asks why, and Kyle smiles shyly and says that Shelby Bryan is going to be in his class this year. Dad reminds Mom that the teacher seats alphabetically, so Kyle and Shelby will be sitting together. Mom gets it and puts the shirt back, then Dad shows him a couple shirts that Kyle loves. Mom balks at the $25 per shirt price tag, but Dad cajoles her into “maybe one.” Kyle heads for the dressing room to try them on, saying he can go by himself. Mom’s reluctant, but Kyle reminds her that he’s not a baby, then heads for the dressing room, looking over his shoulder with a smile. Dad says he’ll be fine…
And so, of course, he won’t be. Dad heads for the dressing room with a couple more things for Kyle to try on, calling his name and knocking on the door, but getting no response. He opens the door to see Kyle’s empty dressing room, then starts opening all the other ones, ignoring the curious looks of the occupants, then bursts out into the store, increasingly frantic as he calls his son’s name.
Harbor. We see Kyle’s lifeless body lying there; he seems to have drowned, and I am depressed already.
Back at PPD, Kyle Bream’s evidence box slides down the conveyor belt.
A church. Stillman greets the priest (who, despite the confusing fact that Stillman refers to him by his formal address of “Father,” is actually Stillman’s brother), shakes his hand and thanks him for stopping by. Stillman says he had no choice, because his brother still owes him “a dime.” Father Stillman takes a ten-dollar bill out and hands it to him, saying that our Lord rested on Sunday, and apparently, so does the Sixers’ defense. Heh. Stillman jokingly examines the bill to make sure it’s real, then puts it away. His brother says that Janie stopped by yesterday, making arrangements for the baptism, and Stillman makes an adorable grandfatherly comment that the boy is growing like a weed. His brother asks if something’s going on with Janie, and Stillman says not that he knows of. His brother asks if Stillman’s talked to Janie lately, and Stillman says not for a few weeks, that he’s been swamped at work. His brother says that work is why he called: in 1998, he took confession from a neighborhood kid, Bernie Ganz, who was caught up in the kidnapping of Kyle Bream, who was found dead in Salem Harbor. Ganz didn’t confess to the murder, just to the kidnapping, and Stillman asks where he can be found. The answer? All Saints’ Ground. He got killed robbing a jewelry store. The priest says that Bernie never did much with his life, so maybe some good can come from his death. Stillman says he’ll pull the job and give it another look, and his brother adds that he should give Janie a call. Stillman says he will.
Credits.
Evidence Warehouse. Lilly heads down the aisle as Stillman recaps the case: Nine-year-old Kyle Bream disappears from a department store in Torresdale, and a day later, the parents get a ransom call. Lilly sees that Stillman’s talking to Scotty and steels herself for the encounter, while Scotty asks Stillman if the FBI ever got involved. Stillman says they set up a money drop and put undercovers at the scene. Lilly, having gathered her courage, rounds the corner, and she and Scotty exchange terse “Heys,” prompting Stillman to give them his patented “what’s going on?” look. Scotty and Stillman review the original notes, where they learn that the kidnappers never showed up at the money drop, and the Breams never saw Kyle again: his body was found a month later. Looking at the crime scene photos, Scotty theorizes that the kidnappers realized the heat was on and killed Kyle to cut their losses. Lilly asks if they ever found the original kidnappers. Stillman says there was nothing on phone trace or store cameras, but Jeffries comes in and says that maybe the late Bernie Ganz, the guy who confessed to Stillman’s brother that he was paid to watch Kyle, gets them closer. Jeffries has learned that he was small-time, including charges for petty theft and even trying to forge a lottery ticket. “That’s a real brain trust, huh?” is Scotty’s chuckled response. Jeffries points out the record for Bernie’s older brother Manny: “Same shed, different tool.” Lilly realizes that many of the arrests are the same and thinks that maybe they’re a team.
A Middle Eastern Restaurant. Manny sits at a table, where a couple teenage girls get up and leave. Lilly smiles and asks if they can step into his office, Manny protests that he just eats there, that they have the best (something that sounds like koobaday) west of the Nile. Scotty tells Manny that they want to talk to him about Kyle Bream; Manny seems confused, so they remind him of the details, and Lilly says his brother Bernie was in on it. Manny says that Bernie had his own life, Scotty says their rap sheets say different. Lilly says that Bernie’s dead, but they can still get Manny for murder. Manny tells them to back the truck up, that he didn’t have anything to do with Kyle’s death. “So just the kidnapping then?” Lilly swoops in to ask. Heh. Manny is silent, and Lil tells him he can talk to them or the Feds, who would probably be interested in his Fake ID operation. Manny protests that it isn’t a big deal, Lilly scoffs at this, telling him that selling forged papers out of a Middle Eastern restaurant kind of is a big deal, and Scotty’s got two words for him: Patriot Act. No lawyer, no trial, and no koobaday, whatever that is. It sounds good. Maybe I’m just hungry. Manny finally talks, saying he and Bernie were paid to watch the kid, but that’s it. Lilly asks who paid him, Manny says it was anonymous, the way the guy wanted it. Lilly, frustrated, asks how it worked. Manny says there were no names, no faces, and he only saw the guy once.
What looks like an extremely low-rent apartment, where we hear “6th Avenue Heartache” by The Wallflowers. Manny and Bernie are playing gin; Manny wins, then asks Kyle if he wants to play, saying he can’t do any worse than Bernie. The clearly frightened Kyle says his dad’s coming to get him, and laments the fact that he’ll miss the first day of school. He doesn’t get much sympathy from Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and he reminds them that he’s supposed to sit next to Shelby. Awww. I hate this case.
There’s a knock on the door, and Kyle thinks it’s his dad, but Manny orders Bernie to take Kyle into the other room. Manny answers the door to reveal a greasy-looking guy with a goatee, tattoos, and a tank top, who asks if Kyle’s okay. Manny says he’s asking for his dad, and Greaseball says he gave the parents the terms, and they’ll get the kid as soon as they pay up. Manny is doubtful, but Greaseball reminds him of the bonds the parents have in their safe, and that they’ll pay.
Scotty asks how Greaseball knew about the bonds, and Manny doesn’t know, but that the drop went south and Greaseball got cold feet and paid them off. Lilly, disgusted, asks if Manny just left Kyle with Greaseball, and Manny says it was business. Scotty’s getting cranky, and retorts, “So’s this,” as he hauls Manny to his feet and slaps the cuffs on him. Ooooh, burn. No koobaday for you!
The Bream house. Kyle’s dad, Ken, is explaining to Jeffries that they packed up Kyle’s room last year, that it was hard to know what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to do with the room. Jeffries is clearly sympathetic, his expression saying more than words ever could. Thom Barry is just awesome. Ken expresses his hope to his wife, Tina, that maybe someday it’ll be a nursery again. Vera softly tells them there might be a lead. Jeffries asks Ken about the bonds, and he says they had some, but they cashed them in to pay the ransom. Tina says that the FBI told them their best chance was to go along with the sting, but she didn’t want to. Jeffries asks if she was against it, but she and Ken say the Feds explained the percentages, but Tina says that unfortunately those percentages didn’t apply to them.
Harbor. Tina looks in disbelief at the bag containing Kyle’s body and tearfully says that’s not Kyle, that they can’t put Kyle in a bag. She then lashes out at Ken, telling him that he said to go along with it; that he said that’s how they’d get him back, that he said Kyle could go to the dressing room by himself. They’re both in tears now, and Ken watches them zip up the body bag. My goodness, this case is depressing.
The look Tina gives Ken says she still blames him for what happened. Jeffries says that they think whoever knew about the bonds had something to do with the kidnapping, and Ken says nobody knew about them, that he never told a soul. Tina did. She told her sister, in case something ever happened to them, Tina wanted she and her husband to know. Ken is dumbfounded that Tina told Ed, and Jeffries asks who Ed is. The parents look stricken.
Interview room. Looks like Scotty and Lilly found Ed, who happens to also be the greaseball from earlier. They remind him of his failed marriage to Tina’s sister, and Ed says he had a problem. Scotty agrees, pointing out Ed’s frequent arrests for drugs and theft, and Ed says he was stealing to support his habit. Lil points out the slippery slope from stealing to kidnapping to murder, and Ed protests that he didn’t kill Kyle. Scotty says that Manny picked him out of a photo spread as the guy who snatched Kyle, and accuses him of killing his own nephew. Ed protests his innocence, but they keep going: Ed needed money, the in-laws had it, he knew how to get it, but when things got hinky with the ransom, Kyle became a liability. Ed says he’s leaving, Scotty begs to differ as he kicks the chair, forcing Ed to sit back down. Man, Scotty’s cranky today. Not that I blame him. At all. Scotty reminds Ed that they’ve got witnesses, and Ed reluctantly admits that he’s a scumbag. The detectives don’t disagree. He says he snatched Kyle, but when he saw the Feds at the drop, he got scared and made other arrangements.
Same dingy apartment, where “Waltz #2” by Elliot Smith plays. Ed looks on as a guy in a suit talks to Kyle, and they chat about comics and video games for a while. Kyle says his mom says Sega makes your head soft, and Suit Guy says he’s got a Sega, and his head’s okay. Why do I not believe him? Suit Guy tells Kyle he can come play video games at his house, but Kyle wants to see his mom and dad. Suit Guy says they went on a trip, and Kyle can’t believe they’d go without him. He asks, as only a sweet, naïve kid can, if it was because his shirt cost $25 a pop, and Suit Guy agrees. Man, I hope this guy meets up with Cranky! Scotty, because it takes a special kind of evil and depravity to break a kid’s heart like that. Seriously, what has to be wrong with someone to make them do that to a kid?? Okay, I’m in danger of getting tiresome here, so I’ll just go back to recapping, as ill as this case is making me.
Anyway, Suit Guy comforts Kyle and says they can take a trip of their own together, like an adventure, and Kyle can have his own secret identity. Kyle’s intrigued, and asks if it’s like Peter Parker in Spiderman. Suit Guy says he likes the name Parker.
Ed says he and this guy made a deal, and Scotty, crankily, of course, asks what kind of deal they’re talking about. Lilly gets all Ice Queen, and asks Ed what he did with Kyle. Ed responds that he sold him. This case just gets more and more horrifyingly evil, and the expressions on the detectives’ faces tell me that this case is sickening even to them. Glad I’m not the only one.
A bar. Something must have happened on TNT’s end, because it looks like we’re jumping into the middle of a conversation with Stillman and Janie. From a summary I found elsewhere, I can surmise that Janie and Stillman are talking about the baptism, and then Janie says she went to a restaurant and found her rapist tending bar. Stillman he was going to do something at the time, but that Janie and Mom stopped him. Janie says she wishes he hadn’t listened to them, that she wishes she wasn’t so worried about what people would think of her. Stillman reminds her that she begged him, that she wanted to just forget it. Janie says she was eighteen and wrong.
Evidence warehouse. Vera asks Scotty and Lilly what they know about the guy who bought Kyle, and they say that the man, Rudy Tanner, is a cold job himself. Darn. I was hoping to see Cranky! Scotty in action. Oh, well. At least Rudy got what was coming to him. Anyway, Rudy was a 45-year-old school administrator who lived in a nice neighborhood, and found shot to death in his tomato garden. They reveal that Rudy was running a kiddie porn website, charmingly named Boys In Bloom. The detectives conclude that Kyle was an investment, and Vera wonders why kill him, then. Scotty suggests that they take a look and see if the Feds red-flagged any visitors to the site, and Vera asks if Rudy had family. Scotty says he had a wife, and Lilly, looking disgusted, comments, “Didn’t she get the prize?” Heh.
Neighborhood. Vera and Jeffries are chatting with Rudy’s ex-wife, Sandra, a realtor who says she doesn’t remember Kyle, saying she and Rudy were separated by then, and she wasn’t home much anyway, what with the three jobs she was working. She’s a whirling dervish of stressed-out energy, as is evidenced by the fact that she’s carrying an Open House sign and almost running away from the detectives. Sandra says that Rudy ditched her to raise their son, Archie on her own; Vera asks if Rudy ever spent any time alone with Archie. She says Archie would stay with Rudy on the weekends while she worked. Jeffries is suspicious, and Sandra insists that Rudy wouldn’t…”not his own son.” They show her the picture of Kyle, and she remembers him, but his hair was different: blonde, like Archie’s. She remembers thinking they could have been brothers. She says she saw Kyle at Rudy’s house one Sunday when she went to pick up Archie.
Tanner house. Over the whir of the blender, we hear “Let It Go” by Kelda. Sandra comes in calling for Archie; he’s in the kitchen making milk shakes. She hurriedly says that they have to go grocery shopping and need to go, now, and starts to go into Archie’s room to get his stuff, but Archie says she can’t go in there. She opens the door to see Kyle there, reading a Samurai Planet comic book, and Archie introduces Kyle as Parker, some family friend whose parents were out of town. Sandra asks what the kid’s doing in the bedroom, and Archie says that he had to give it up for Parker. Kyle complains that he doesn’t like Samurai Planet, that he’s got all 24 issues of Banzai Brigade at home. Rudy comes in and asks Sandra what she’s doing there. She says she got off early, and tells Archie to come with her. Archie leaves to get his coat, and Rudy sleazily turns to Kyle and calls him “Star,” telling him that naptime’s in ten minutes. Sandra looks shocked at this, and Rudy explains that both of Kyle’s parents are colleagues of his, and that they’re sick. Sandra says Archie told her they were out of town, and Rudy says it’s a cover story. They both agree that Kyle looks like a nine-year old Archie, and Rudy sleazily reminisces about how it’s a wonderful age. Gaack.
Sandra tells Vera and Jeffries that she didn’t know anything was wrong.
Hospital ambulance bay. A grown-up Archie perches on the bumper of an ambulance smoking a cigarette, and Scotty comes up to him and shows him a picture of Kyle. Archie says it’s Parker, that his dad took him in for a while, that his dad was generous. Scotty tells Archie that Parker’s real name was Kyle Bream, that he got murdered after his dad took him in. Archie is clearly shocked, and says his dad didn’t have anything to do with that. Scotty reminds Archie that Rudy bought Kyle from his kidnapper, and that he was a child pornographer. Archie doesn’t want to hear it, saying his dad was generous and took in Kyle after his parents bailed on him.
Tanner house. We hear “Got You Where I Want You” by The Flys, the title of which is now disturbingly appropriate. Archie, who’s making milk shakes again, asks Rudy if they can play football, Rudy says they can later. Kyle walks in, looking heartbroken. Rudy asks him what’s wrong, he says it’s nothing. He sits down next to Rudy, and Rudy asks him again. Kyle tearfully says that he didn’t really care about cool shirts, and Rudy explains that sometimes parents can get overwhelmed, and that’s why Kyle’s parents didn’t want him. It’s about this time that I start wondering if maybe Cold Case has a deal with the anti-depressant industry. Rudy reminds Kyle that he won’t leave him, and Archie interrupts to ask again about football. Rudy says they’ll do whatever Parker wants, and Archie bitterly says that Parker isn’t good at football.
Archie says his dad was just trying to help, and Scotty reminds Archie of Kyle’s naturally brown hair. Archie asks why this matters, and Scotty points out that Rudy dyed Kyle’s hair blonde to look like Archie’s, that Sandra said they could have been brothers. Archie reiterates that his dad was a good man, and Scotty just glares silently as Archie tosses his cigarette away and leaves.
Stillman’s office. Stillman looks through what appears to be a yearbook, and his eyes fall on a picture of a kid named Brad who was voted to have the “Best Smile.” Lilly comes in, and Stillman puts the yearbook away and asks her what the latest is. Lilly recaps Rudy’s brainwashing of Kyle, and also points out that Archie thought he was the world’s greatest dad. Stillman reflectively says you have to believe in someone. Jeffries comes in with pictures of Kyle, among others, from the website and hands them to Stillman, who glances briefly at them. Jeffries says that might not be the worst of it. Oh, jeez, there’s MORE? Oh, yeah. There’s more. Jeffries reveals a federal watch list of the website’s members, and Lilly is shocked to see Ken Bream’s name on the list. Jeffries confirms that Kyle’s dad had a membership. Oh, SNAP. It just got a LOT worse.
Interview room. Ken is in there with a still-cranky Scotty, who asks him about his membership to Boys In Bloom, and asks if he likes boys. Vera, also cranky, tells Ken that Kyle showed up on that site as a model. Ken tells them it’s not what they think, and Vera asks what it is.
Stillman’s office. Tina says that Ken didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Kyle, Lilly points out that she doesn’t sound too sure. Tina says she just shouldn’t have believed Ken, that Kyle would be okay by himself. Lilly says they’re not talking about the dressing room, and Jeffries tells her that Ken was accessing child porn on the Internet. Tina knows.
Interview room. Vera asks Ken if he knew Rudy Tanner, Ken says no. Scotty says that the innocent answer would have been “Rudy who?”, and Vera adds that they also would have accepted just, “Who?” Ken says he didn’t know Rudy. Vera picks up on the use of the past tense, and Scotty gets up and leans over Ken, calling him a pervert and saying that he knows what Ken is, that he makes a study out of people like Ken. Ken says Scotty doesn’t know anything. Vera calmly orders him to tell them.
