2.14---Revolution---Available!

[cellogal]

November 10, 1969

Dust off your vintage formal wear, folks, because we’re going to a wedding. Specifically, the wedding of Terry and Suzanne, as a colorful banner proclaims overhead at the reception, where The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic” plays. People mingle, drink, and dig food out of chafing dishes, and then a band sets up and a guy does a mike check. A uniformed young man in a wheelchair observes the goings-on, but doesn’t seem to be having as much fun as the rest of the crowd. He waves to a few people, and then a blonde in a peach dress comes over to him. The soldier tells the blonde that, when he left, it seemed like she and Suzanne were little kids, and now Suzanne’s getting married. “Me too, soon,” the blonde adds. The soldier says he thought she was jazzed about it, and she insists she is. Honey, if you have to convince people you are, you’re not. She then offers to get him food or a drink, and the soldier, Brian, says he can get it. The blonde’s skeptical.

They’re interrupted by the Best Man, who taps the microphone nervously, then suggests just getting this over with so they can eat. He proudly introduces Mr. and Mrs. Terry Lucas, who enter to cheers and applause, and then the Best Man comes and kisses the blonde. Terry takes the mike and thanks everyone for coming, and also thanks his parents for the new Mustang. More cheering. Terry then announces that the guests have five minutes before they’ll be charged for their drinks, so they should get going, and Suzanne adds a special welcome to Fishtown’s own war hero, the Maid of Honor’s brother, and a brother to her, Brian McCormick. They all applaud, and Brian smiles shyly. The blonde catches the eye of the band guy, and they smile shyly at each other.

Later, accompanied by Master Source’s “Secret Crush On You,” the blonde paces the hallway, rehearsing her toast, when the band guy comes out and begs her not to tell him that guy’s her boyfriend. “Fiance, actually,” she corrects, with a flash of her ring. Band Guy stops her and says that’s not right, and she retorts that she’s not sure he should be smoking marijuana, since this is a wedding, then ducks under his arm and takes off down the hall. “Just tryin’ to get in the spirit,” he calls after her.

Some time later, in an apartment decorated with bead curtains and containing a packed suitcase, the blonde lies dead in a bedroom with bruises on her neck.

In the evidence warehouse, a secretary puts her box on the shelf.

Present day

Street in Fishtown. Lilly and Stillman are sitting in the car when a somewhat bedraggled-looking Scotty approaches and knocks on the window. Lilly rolls it down, eyes him suspiciously, and comments on his new look; Scotty claims to have slept like crap. Um, yeah. Banging Chris and brooding out the window tends to not make for a real good night’s sleep, there, pal. He then gets in the car and asks who they’re calling on, and Stillman tells him it’s Warren Cousins, for whom they have an arrest warrant from 1969. Lilly explains that a local Fishtown girl was found strangled in his apartment, and Stillman identifies the victim as Eleanor McCormick. Scotty asks what they got the first time around, and Stillman says that there wasn’t a first time: Warren fled to Canada the night of the murder, and the Mounties couldn’t find him, since he changed his name and went underground. Stillman finishes by saying that no one’s heard from Warren in 36 years. Scotty asks what brought him back to Philly, and Stillman replies that it was his father’s funeral; Warren’s holed up with a friend of his, and Lilly adds that a busybody neighbor recognized him and called it in. “Let’s go,” Scotty says.

Apartment hallway. The detectives approach, knock on the door, and then Stillman announces that it’s PPD for Warren Cousins. The friend who answered the door moves to reveal the much older band guy from the wedding, who’s ditched the guitar, but now sports a mustache a la the Croatian water polo team. Lilly tells Warren that he’s under arrest for the 1969 murder of Eleanor McCormick. “Ellie’s dead?” Warren asks as they lead him away.

Credits.

Evidence warehouse. Stillman reads that witnesses saw Warren, the singer, hassling Ellie at her best friend’s wedding. Scotty theorizes that Warren was trying to get a piece, and Stillman points out that Ellie was engaged, shut him down, and was strangled at Warren’s place a few weeks later. Scotty adds that the autopsy shows bruising on her knees and neck, and that she was strangled by someone with dirty hands, as evidenced by the unidentified residue across her throat. Stillman asks about prints; Scotty says there’s only a partial, so that’s no help. Stillman suggests having Frannie take a look at the autopsy, thinking perhaps modern medicine can tell them more. Scotty expresses hope that the lab can ID the dirt.

Vera enters then, saying he found one of Ellie’s relatives: her brother, Brian, who still lives at the old address. Stillman instructs Vera to take Jeffries and visit with Brian, and Vera then asks Scotty if he doesn’t believe in shaving anymore. “It’s, uh….late night,” Scotty replies. Stillman asks Scotty why he’s looking so haggard, and Scotty smiles and says he should go home and start over again. Stillman stops him with a look, and Scotty insists there’s no reason. Yeah. More like an ill-advised blonde reason.

Interview room. Warren insists he hasn’t spoken to Ellie in 36 years, which Lilly tells him is sort of the point. Heh. Warren says he didn’t know she was dead, and says he wouldn’t kill her; they had a relationship and he loved her. “So true love made you change your name and disappear for 36 years?” Lilly asks him. Warren says he went to Canada to resist the draft, and Lilly’s amazed that he didn’t ever call or write Ellie. Warren insists he was a fugitive; Lilly asks him if anyone told him the cops were looking for him. Warren says he broke off all contact when he went to Canada. The buddy he went to Canada with came back in the ‘90s, he explains, and called him when he saw his dad’s obituary. “And you never asked after Ellie,” Lilly replies. Warren says Ellie was the one who got away; he still thought about her, but let her go when she didn’t come North with him.

Scotty comes in and asks how they’re doing, and Lilly explains that Warren says Ellie was going to Canada, too. Scotty deems them Bonnie and Clyde, running from the law, and Warren explains that that was their plan, but Ellie never showed up. Lilly and Scotty point out a couple hinks in that story, namely, Ellie being dead in Warren’s apartment. Warren says she left her suitcase there earlier that day and theorizes that maybe she went to get it and someone killed her. Lilly points out that there’s no suitcase in the report, and Scotty spins his own version of what happened: a screwup like Warren sets his sights on a pretty girl, can’t close the deal, so she gets punished. Warren says they’ve got it all wrong: Ellie’s the one who came after him.

Wedding reception. Ellie gives her toast, talking about how they planned out their lives and wrote about them in a diary at age seven. Ellie explains that Suzanne wrote pages and pages about a plan to move to Hollywood and marry Elvis, but expresses joy that Suzanne found her real true love in Fishtown. She adds that her plan was that Suzanne was her neighbor, her Maid of Honor, her kids’ godmother, and her best friend for life, and proposes a toast to that. Everyone claps, and then the band starts to play Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay.“ Terry and Suzanne start to dance, and Ellie sees the girl Brian is with walk away from him. Ellie and Brian look at each other for a long moment, and then she turns her attention to the stage, where Warren seems to be singing the song directly to her.

Outside the reception, Warren’s taking a smoke break when Ellie approaches, telling him she doesn’t know why she came out there, since she doesn’t even know him. “Maybe that’s why,” Warren replies. He hands her the cigarette, and she takes a drag, telling him her speech was stupid. Warren disagrees, then says he saw her brother. Ellie asks if he also saw Brian’s girlfriend ditch him, then says she doesn’t know what to do for him. Warren suggests talking to Brian, betting that’d mean something. Ellie asks Warren if he’s going to Vietnam, and he says he’s not; it’s not a cause he’d give his life for. “So you’re one of those,” Ellie observes, as he wraps his jacket around her shoulders, and then he asks her what she is. She says she’s not sure, lately. She then asks Warren what he meant by saying that her engagement wasn’t right, and Warren responds by asking her if she knows that it’s impossible not to look at her. She demurs, but he insists that it is; it’s not just that she’s pretty, it’s how she is. Ellie then tells him she really enjoyed his singing. Warren says he’s a Valentine’s Day baby, and he just says what he feels. She starts to back away, then returns his jacket and hurries back inside.

Warren explains that they were together for six weeks after that, and then he left. Lilly can’t quite believe that Ellie would chuck her marriage plans after one conversation at a wedding, but Warren insists it’s the truth. Scotty points out that he’s still not hearing how Ellie ended up dead at Warren’s place; Warren doesn’t know how that happened. All he knows it that he loved that girl. “And that always ends well,” Lilly remarks drily. Heh.

Loading dock at a brewery. Vera and Jeffries approach Brian, who asks them if they’re the detectives that called. Vera tells Brian that Warren’s back in town, and Brian asks what the creep has to say for himself. Vera says Warren claims to not have killed Ellie, and Jeffries asks Brian if he’s got other ideas. Brian points out that her being found dead in his apartment gives him ideas. As it would for most people, I’d think. Jeffries tells him that Warren claimed he and Ellie had a relationship, and Vera asks him if there’s anything to that. Brian says that something had hold of Ellie those last few weeks, and Vera supposes maybe it’s Warren. “Seemed like somethin’…beatnik,” Brian replies. Hee.

McCormick home, where “Time of the Season” by The Zombies plays. Brian looks even more bedraggled than Scotty, and when Ellie asks him if he’s okay, he has the same excuse: he didn’t sleep well last night. Their mother calls for someone named Pat, and Brian insists that it’s okay. They’re all watching TV, and Ellie’s fiancé admits that he’s nervous. Ellie asks Brian what it was like there, and Brian says it was muggy, with mosquitoes the size of crows. Ellie sadly asks about the war part. Her mother starts to scold her, but Ellie continues, saying that she’s heard the US is losing and not prepared. Her fiancé angrily tells Ellie that if her brother wants to brag about it, he’ll do it to him over beers, but Ellie insists she just wants to hear about it. They’re then interrupted by the announcer drawing the birthdays for the draft lottery. Quietly, Brian tells Ellie that you never know who to trust over there; the one who hurt him was just a little girl who came up to him like she needed help, opened her hand…he trails off, and Ellie looks stricken. October 20 is called, which the fiancé identifies as Terry’s birthday, and the next birthday is February 14. Ellie begins to cry, and her fiancé asks her if she’s got her fingers crossed, then notices that she’s crying and asks her what the matter is, saying that his birthday wasn’t called yet. Ellie knows. The fiancé then tells her she’s real strange lately, then gets up and goes back to watching TV.

Jeffries asks what she was crying about; Brian doesn’t know, since the guy she was in love with since she was twelve just got saved, and says it made no sense. Brian adds that it’s been most of his life, but not being somebody’s older brother anymore never settles with you.

Stillman’s office. Lilly wonders what got Ellie so upset that night, and Stillman theorizes that perhaps it was what Brian said to her about Vietnam. Frannie comes in then, announcing that the lab put in a rush job: a swab of the residue around Ellie’s neck found minute traces of chrome. Scotty asks if it came from the doer’s hands, and Jeffries theorizes that it flaked off a car or an appliance. Frannie also adds that an abrasion above Ellie’s eye points to an injury from days earlier. Stillman summarizes: chrome on the doer’s hands, plus someone roughed Ellie up recently. Lilly finally realizes that it was the draft lottery that caused Ellie’s tearful reaction, noting the fifth birthday called. Stillman reads aloud that it was Valentine’s Day, and Jeffries realizes that it was lover boy Warren’s birthday. “She was crying ‘cause he got drafted,” Lilly concludes. “Maybe she did love him.” Ya think?

Lilly’s place. She comes down the stairs with a cup of coffee, getting ready to leave for work, when Christina comes in. “Just gettin’ in?” Lilly asks. Chris claims to have slept at the bar, but Lilly laughs. “Sure you did,” she says, then pointedly reminds her flutterheaded sister that she’s a detective. Chris grins and then says she met someone. Lilly asks if he’s from the bar, and Chris says he is, but it’s not like how Lilly thinks. Lil doesn’t believe that, either. Chris says it’s someone good for a change: they talk, laugh, connect... Oh, blech. Connect? Seriously? That’s what you’re calling it? Lilly doesn’t say anything for a while, then asks, almost shyly, if the guy’s taking Chris out for her birthday tomorrow, because if he isn’t, Lilly is. Chris smiles and says that would be great, and Lilly tells her that she’d never have guessed it, but it’s been good having Chris there. Oh, Chrissy…this should seriously make you feel guilty. From the look on her face, we can tell that it might be doing exactly that.

Holding cell. Scotty tells Warren that part of his story holds up, and maybe Ellie did fall for him, but the part that’s still shady is that all of Ellie’s stuff was at home and accounted for: no missing suitcase. Warren says he told Scotty what he knows: it was light blue with white handles. Scotty then pulls out a picture of the fiancé, Bud, and asks if Warren knows anything about him. Warren saw him at the wedding, and Scotty points out that if he and Ellie got together, she must have broken up with Bud. Warren confirms it, and Scotty asks if Warren knows how Bud handled getting traded in… “for a long-haired draft-dodger,” Warren finishes, then says Bud probably wasn’t thrilled. Scotty asks if there was any specific backlash, and Warren says he didn’t think so at the time, but Ellie did come to see him one night about a week after the wedding.

Warren’s apartment. Ellie and Suzanne walk into a room filled with smoke and hippies and approach the stage, where Warren and his band are serenading the crew with “Touch Me“ by The Doors. The song finishes, and as it’s replaced by Five Alarm Music Library’s “Je Vous Aime,” Warren enthusiastically greets Ellie, saying he didn’t think she’d come. Ellie reintroduces him to Suzanne, and he congratulates her again. Suzanne says Terry would flip his lid if he saw this place, citing one specific woman with, “like, PAINT, on her, and nothing else.” Warren asks if he can get them some beer or dope. Suzanne initially refuses, then relents, using the classic The Beatles Are Doing It excuse. Ellie says she’ll have a beer, then Suzanne conveniently exits by asking for the powder room.

After she leaves, Ellie tells Warren that she talked to Brian, and it was bad for him over there. She says her parents don’t want to hear it, but she thinks he wants to talk. She then tells Warren that she keeps thinking about everything he said, and Warren replies by saying that he keeps thinking about her, then kisses her. Suddenly, a brick crashes through the window, and a black man with a fro proclaims that twisted. Suzanne, who’s suddenly reappeared, tells Ellie that she knows it was him. “Who?” Warren asks blankly. “No one,” Suzanne replies.

Scotty surmises that Warren thinks Bud threw that brick, and Warren thinks maybe Bud should be in the holding cell instead of him. He wants to go see to his dad’s arrangements, but Scotty informs Warren that he’s still their number one guy. He starts to leave, but Warren stops him and asks if he found anything else out about Ellie. Scotty hesitates for a minute, then tells him that she cried when Warren got drafted.

Abandoned movie theater, where Bud is talking to a group of people. When he sees Vera and Jeffries, he urges the group to look around, then approaches the detectives, lamenting that he’s losing the group, and sarcastically congratulating them on their timing. “You want another 36 years?” Vera asks, and Bud tells them to go ahead. Jeffries asks how he took it when Ellie threw him over for this Warren guy, and Bud protests that he threw her over; he dried up on them after Terry’s wedding and cut her loose. “So that brick through her new guy’s window, that was you sayin’ ‘we could still be friends?’” Vera asks. Hee. Bud cops to the brick, but says he didn’t know the hippie lived there: the brick was meant for Bridezilla, on account of her behavior at the wedding.

Bathroom. Accompanied by “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations, Bud’s coughing and gagging, and Ellie’s escorting him in. Much to the consternation of all involved, they switch on the light to catch Suzanne in a restroom stall making out with the Afroed drummer from the band, who we’ve also seen at Warren’s party. Ellie asks Suzanne what she’s doing, and Bud sarcastically asks Ellie if she needs an interpreter, then screams for Terry. Ellie and Suzanne both shush him, and Suzanne orders Terry to turn his back while she gets dressed. “I undid all those buttons?” her makeout buddy asks, clearly impressed with himself, and Ellie shoves him out. Ellie helps Suzanne redo the buttons, and Suzanne implores her not to look at her like that. “Jeez, Suzanne,” Ellie chides gently, and Suzanne softly orders her not to be a hypocrite, not after what she told her. Bud demands to know what they’re talking about; Ellie insists that it’s nothing. He repeats his demand, she tells him to just forget about it and walks out. Bud glares at Suzanne, then kicks the sink and proclaims them both “Fishtown b*tches” before storming out himself.

“So you break up with Ellie because her best friend’s a cheater,” Vera concludes, and Bud says the girls were birds of a feather, and Ellie would be following suit soon enough. Besides, he adds, he’s with the same girl since he was twelve, and he was done. Jeffries asks what Suzanne meant by calling Ellie a hypocrite, and Bud brushes it off as something related to their “chick conspiracy” and says he didn’t press for details, telling them to ask ‘Zilla herself. Vera asks him for an alibi, and Bud says he was working late at the sugar factory, and his dad waited up to tell him. “She’s the first person I knew close that died,” Bud says, then reflects on Ellie for a moment.

[cellogal]

Break room. Suzanne concludes that they finally got that singer, and Scotty tells her that Warren is in custody for Ellie’s murder. Suzanne proclaims it a long time coming, and then Lilly tells Suzanne that Warren says he and Ellie were in love. Suzanne confirms that Ellie was dreamy about Warren, and no other man could compare, not Bud, or the rest of the species. Scotty tells her that Bud admitted to throwing the brick, and Suzanne says she knew it, but Scotty mentions that Bud claimed it was for a different reason, something about her wedding night. Uncomfortably, Suzanne admits that mistakes were made. Lilly asks Suzanne what she meant by calling Ellie a hypocrite that night, and Suzanne says Ellie told her about meeting Warren, and that it was suddenly making her question things. “Like settlin’ with Buddy boy?” Scotty asks. “And endin’ up with her mother’s life,” Suzanne replies, then says the same thing crossed her mind walking down the aisle, and at the reception, all she could think was “What did I just do?” Lilly smiles. “Enter the drummer,” Scotty surmises. Lilly asks Suzanne if Ellie was going to do something to change her plans.

Lucas home, where “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas and The Papas plays. Suzanne tells Ellie, who’s lighting a cigarette, that she wishes Terry’s parents had never given them that Mustang, since Terry’s been in the driveway every day this month and doesn’t have a word to say to her. As she turns around, I can’t help but notice her black eye, and Ellie tells her quietly that she doesn’t think it’s like this for everyone. Understatement of the century. Suzanne brushes off her concern, saying that Terry’s birthday got called, so he’s a little upset. Ellie persists, asking Suzanne if she really wants to be like this, and telling her that there are men who are different, who she could have a new life with, who’d let her be herself and would die before they hurt her. Suzanne considers this for a moment, and Ellie asks her if she wants to leave and start over, to go someplace far-out where Terry couldn’t find them, then says that Warren’s going to Canada, and they could, too.

Terry comes in then for a glass of water, then greets Ellie by surmising that she’s got a lot to say today. Ellie says they’re just catching up. He smiles, then throws his water in her face, then grabs Suzanne and orders her not to yammer about him while he’s at work, then snaps at Ellie not to bring any more stupid talk into this house; she doesn’t need any more wild ideas than she’s already got. “That’s what you say,” Ellie retorts angrily, and Suzanne steps between them. Ellie starts to leave, and Terry calls after her that he knows where she goes at night, then calls her a lovely woman. Ellie storms out and slams the door, and Suzanne walks off in the opposite direction.

Lilly surmises that Terry meant Warren’s place, and Scotty remembers that this is where Ellie was killed. Lilly asks Suzanne where Terry was that night, and Suzanne says he was out ‘till morning, getting blitzed, then insists that he wouldn’t have hurt Ellie; they grew up together. Lilly reminds Suzanne that Terry was in a bad way then, and Suzanne reluctantly nods. Scotty asks Suzanne about the Mustang, and Suzanne says it was a ’65 and his true love. Scotty, ever the car expert, mentions that it’s a chrome bumper.

High school gym, where a bunch of kids are running suicides, and Scotty asks Terry what kind of person makes a kid run those at eight in the morning. Terry asks if they’re coming down on him for that, and Scotty replies that they’re Homicide, and it’s a little more serious. Terry calls over his shoulder instructions for the kids to do sit-ups until the whistle, and Lilly then asks him if he remembers Ellie. Terry does, and Lilly continues, saying that they heard she tried to get Suzanne to pull a Thelma and Louise on him; run off together, leave him alone, and Scotty concludes that Terry would be short a punching bag if that happened. Terry says that the girls were always talking, but it was just talk. Lilly points out that Terry took them seriously, then asks him what he called Ellie. “Somethin’ unflattering, I think,” Scotty answers, and Lilly adds that there was chrome on Ellie’s body, like the chrome on his Mustang. “From your hands to her neck,” Scotty adds, and Lilly reminds him that he knew where she went that night. Terry promises to give them the straight story: he went over there, once; he heard the girls talk and thought maybe he could change his plans, since all he had to look forward to was going to die in the jungle.

Warren’s apartment. Accompanied by Master Source’s “My Silver Sitar/Let’s Take A Trip,” Terry gets out of his Mustang and approaches Ellie, who’s walking down the sidewalk with a grocery bag. He knows what she thinks of him, he says, but he claims he’s flipped out, then reminds her that he’s going to ‘Nam. Ellie’s listening, and Terry continues, saying he saw Brian at the wedding, how his girlfriend was embarrassed to be with him, and says that can’t be him. Ellie says he’s nothing like Brian, then tells him she’s gotta go. Terry’s not finished: he says he know Suzanne doesn’t love him, so maybe he can just beat it to Canada, where Ellie and Warren are going, then asks if he can talk to Warren. Ellie refuses, and Terry grabs her sleeve and says he’s scared, like her boyfriend. “He’s not scared, he has beliefs,” Ellie corrects, then orders him to find his own way to Canada before going inside and slamming the door in his face.

Scotty concludes that Terry wanted to duck the draft, too, and Terry says he didn’t have the nerve, but he got lucky; he ended up watching the border in Korea. Lilly asks Terry how he knew where to find Ellie, and Terry says that Bud watched Ellie and was camped out outside Warren’s place night after night. Lilly says she thought Bud gave Ellie the brush-off. Terry says that’s not for him to say, but if that were true, why’s he stalking her? An excellent question, methinks.

Interview room. Bud protests to Scotty that he already talked to the other two, and Scotty’s aware of this. Bud then asks why he’s there, and Scotty says they didn’t get the truth about how Bud and Ellie ended. Bud tells Scotty that he can go pound sand if he doesn’t believe him, and Scotty calmly guesses that maybe Bud misrepresented how that final talk went. “You ever had a fiancée?” Bud asks. Oh, snap. There’s an uncomfortable pause for everyone involved, including Stillman and Lilly behind the glass. Scotty hesitates, then glances over his shoulder in their direction before replying, “And, uh… she screwed my head up good.” Awww, Scotty. Bud explains that that’s what Ellie did to him, so maybe over time, he wants to remember it a little differently. “Pride thing?” he finishes. Scotty plays along, saying that Bud put in the time; he was the long-term guy. Some new act waltzes in, she goes nutty…Bud can’t talk to her about it. “A rational conversation with a woman,” Scotty scoffs, and Bud says he’s never had one. Scotty adds that you try, but two seconds later, they’ve got you frothing at the mouth. “Pretty soon,” Scotty concludes, “you got a mess on your hands.” Oh, Scotty. You so do. He asks Bud if that’s how it went; he can’t have Ellie, no one can? Bud’s taken aback, saying he took it a little harder than he said, but he didn’t kill her. Scotty reminds Bud that he staked the place out, and Bud calls it watching for her one night…a few nights. “I heard a week,” Scotty pipes up, and Bud admits to this, but says he wasn’t the messed-up one. He went to the door finally and walked into World War III.

Outside Warren’s apartment, where “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Blind Faith plays. His ear pressed to the door, Bud hears shouting voices and objects being thrown. He then hears Ellie scream, then pounds on the door calling for her. When she answers it, he demands to know where Warren is, insisting that he’s bad news and points out the bleeding wound on her forehead. He then calms down and asks her one question: Is she serious about giving up nineteen years in Fishtown and running off with this hippie guy she’s known for six weeks, who’d do that to her? Ellie tells Bud that he doesn’t understand, then nods. Bud asks her if she remembers that time the four of them went down to Atlantic City for beers and surf ‘n’ turf; he says he went into the water, and she came in and pulled him out. Ellie remembers, but says she’s in love with Warren and apologizes to Bud. Bud glares at her and says it’s screwy, then bids her adios and walks off, punching a phone booth as he departs. Ellie stands outside the apartment for a second, then goes back in.

Bud says he and Ellie weren’t perfect, but he never laid a hand on her. Scotty concludes that Warren did, and Bud says Warren acted like this peace-loving guy, but not behind closed doors.

Restaurant. Lilly, who’s wearing the ugliest dress I believe I’ve ever seen, asks Chris if she ever hears from that New York guy. Chris shakes her head and says he doesn’t know where she is, and that’s a good thing. Lilly asks if that ended badly, and Chris explains that the guy got overly invested. “Like…Joe Dennison, and Danny Frost?” Lilly replies, and Chris giggles. “Steve Regus,” Lilly adds teasingly, and Chris laughingly insists that she was never with Steve. Lilly calls her a liar, but Chris maintains her innocence. Lilly says she wouldn’t admit to it either, and the two share a laugh. A true sisterly bonding moment. Of course, Chris chooses that moment to throw a monkey wrench into the works by saying that there’s someone good now, and Lilly asks her what about that. “Well…actually, he’s a cop,” Chris says nervously, and Lilly asks if she knows him. Oh, you do, Lil. You do. Chris says as much, and they laugh uncomfortably for a second. “Not Valens,” Lilly says, and Chris nods. Uh-oh. Lilly’s silent for a minute, then says she can’t believe Chris is doing this again. Chris isn’t sure what she’s talking about, but Lilly says she should have guessed, and Chris figures it out, asking Lilly how this is like Patrick at all. Hey, yeah…how IS this like Patrick? And who is Patrick, anyway? Lilly snaps at Chris not to talk about him. Chris protests that she’d never do that, because of how it hurt Lilly, but Lil’s not listening. “Don’t you know by now you ruin everything you touch?” she demands, and Chris whispers that she doesn’t ruin things. For just the teeniest moment, I feel sorry for Chris. Lilly gets up, pulls some cash out of her purse, and flings it on the table, wishes Chris a sarcastic “happy birthday” and informs her that she’s leaving for work at seven, so Chris can come by after that and pick up her stuff, then storms out. Yyyyikes.

Church. Pallbearers are carrying Warren’s father’s casket, and Warren walks behind them. Scotty comes up to Lilly and asks her if something’s wrong. “Nope,” Lilly replies snappishly. “Let’s do this.” She heads over to the procession, slapping the file against Scotty’s chest as she walks off. Oh, Scotty, I do not want to be in your shoes right now. Warren comes up to them and points out that he’s back in the cell in two hours, so can’t this wait? It can’t. Lilly says she’s starting to believe he did love Ellie, which Warren reminds them is what he’s been saying from the start, and Lilly says that it’s always the guys who love too hard who end up smacking their girls around. Warren protests that he never touched her. Scotty says that a witness outside his apartment heard screaming and violence; Warren insists it wasn’t him. “Oh, Ellie got her face bloody all by herself?” Lilly asks sarcastically. Warren says he promised her he’d never tell, but he guesses he’s been keeping promises to a ghost for a long time now. He then explains that it was Brian yelling in his apartment. Scotty asks if Brian was the one who hurt Ellie, and Warren says that Brian was detoxing, and not in his right mind. “Heroin,” Scotty concludes, and Warren says that a lot of guys came back with a habit, and he knew the signs as soon as he saw Brian at the wedding. Warren adds that it was ugly, and one night, Brian got so mad that he threw a plate at Ellie and cut her face. Scotty asks Warren why he got involved with it, and Warren explains that Ellie wouldn’t leave with him with Brian sick. The plan was, after he got clean, Warren and Ellie would go north.

Street. Accompanied by Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover,” Warren puts Brian in a car and tells him to take it easy, then puts his wheelchair in the trunk and asks Ellie if she can get Brian home okay. She can. “So…eleven tonight?” he asks her, and Ellie hesitantly tells him she doesn’t know if she can do this. Warren protests that she’s all packed; her stuff’s up there, ready to go, and Ellie says she doesn’t think she can leave Brian. Warren insists that Brian’s in the clear, but Ellie’s worried he might relapse. No one else here knows, she says, and he’ll be all alone. “What about our plan?” Warren asks. Ellie urges him to look at Brian, and he does, then asks her if she still loves him. She reassures him that she does. “Then come with me,” Warren insists. Ellie tells him that he’s the first person who ever told her she could be bigger than this place. Warren says it’s true, and Ellie thanks him for that. Warren implores her not to talk like she’s not coming; Ellie protests that she needs time, but Warren says they’re picking them up at the bus station at eleven. He knows what he’s asking her, but it’s because he loves her, and if she comes tonight, he’ll love her his whole life, he tells her. Ellie says she knows. “And if you don’t come,” Warren says, “I won’t make it hard for you. I’ll let you go.” He then says he’ll see her tonight, and they kiss.

Warren says he made them wait until midnight, and then he waited for a long time after that, thinking she was going to knock on his door one day. She made a choice, he says. Lilly realizes that Brian never said anything about this, and Warren says it’s not a great look back; probably the worst time of his life.

Brian’s place. He ushers Scotty and Lilly in, saying he was just about to go to sleep. Scotty surmises that Brian works the graveyard shift, and Brian says it’s a good schedule for him, since he never could lay down at night. Lilly asks if he woke up the night Ellie left to go to Canada, but Brian’s confident that Ellie wasn’t going anywhere with that guy. Scotty tells Brian that they know he came back from the war with a drug problem. Brian shrugs and says a lot of guys struggled with that, and Scotty says that that stuff holds on tight, you can’t just give it up easy. Lilly theorizes that maybe Brian slipped up the night Ellie died. Scotty guesses maybe he went to talk Ellie out of it, only he was in such a haze he did something he regrets. “Something you’re just sittin’ on for all these years,” Lilly continued. Brian insists he wouldn’t do that, and he got clean, but Scotty tells Brian that there was chrome on Ellie’s neck, from his wheelchair. Lilly angrily continues, saying Brian’s got that junk in his veins, “and now your baby sister goes behind your back and sneaks off.” Scotty looks briefly alarmed at this. Oh, yes, Scotty. You’re in big, big trouble. If I were you, I’d run. “You got nobody,” Lilly continues. “You’re down so low, you break.” Brian roars that he was clean…when he did it. He says that for the first time in so long, he was clear; he could see right to tomorrow, and all the way down the line.

Warren’s apartment. Ellie comes through the beaded curtains with her suitcase, and is surprised to see Brian. He says he heard Ellie get up and go, and asks her if she’s really going to leave him. Ellie apologizes for not saying goodbye, telling him it hurts too much. “So don’t,” Brian replies, but Ellie protests that she loves Warren and wants to start a life with him up there. “While I’m down here, alone in the house?” Brian asks. Ellie says he’s not alone; Mom, Dad, and Kate are there. Brian says Kate is gone, and that there’s not going to be anyone for him. Ellie insists that there is, but he’s unconvinced. He uncomfortably explains that he doesn’t work how men do. Ellie sits down and tells him that that’s not what a man is: it’s about who he is on the inside, how you treat people, how you love them. Brian laughs and says that’s where it’s all rotten: the little girl who did this to him recognized him, because they went into her hut and dragged out her parents and grandparents, threw them in a bunker, and tossed in a grenade. She found him later, he says; she was starving, and probably weighed forty pounds wet, and all he was thinking was that he should have killed her, too. He then tells a teary Ellie that she’s the only one he can tell those things to. Ellie tries to reassure him, but Brian roars at her that she doesn’t know; she gets to leave, but he’s stuck there for the rest of his life. “What about me?” he asks. She tries to tell him it’s all right, but he repeats that he’s stuck, then shoves her to the ground. She kneels in front of him, trying to apologize, but he snaps, grabs her by the neck, leaps out of his chair, and strangles her, all the while repeating over and over that he’s stuck.

As Aretha Franklin’s “Say A Little Prayer For You” starts up, Scotty wheels Brian out of his house while Lilly pauses to look at a picture of Brian with Ellie, then follows them out.

Bud leaves the movie theater and watches a couple walk down the street before heading in the opposite direction.

Suzanne drives past Terry’s high school, where she sees him outside running herd on the students. He sees her, and their eyes meet for just a second before she drives away.

Chris stands outside Scotty’s apartment, ringing his buzzer. He apparently doesn’t answer, because she sits down on the step with her suitcase and waits for him.

Vera and Jeffries take Ellie’s box back to the evidence warehouse.

Scotty and Lilly look on in the squad room as Stillman pats Warren on the shoulder and Warren leaves. Later, he walks down the street outside his old apartment, and as he looks at the door, he sees Ellie standing there, suitcase in hand. She smiles at him, then turns and walks away.