Cold Case 8-6: Enemies With Benefits

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Scotty and Lilly were walking into Pete’s radio station. “I’ve been meaning to ask you; how come John can reach you and I can’t?” asked Lilly. “Every time I call you I get a message saying your phone is out of service.”

“Oh, I thought I told everyone. I had to get a new number after breaking my old phone,” Scotty replied.

“They made you change your number?” asked Lilly.

“Yeah, the phone company said it was some new security thing,” insisted Scotty.

“Really. Well, make sure you give me your new number soon,” said Lilly unsure if she believed him.

Pete walked into the lobby where he saw the two detectives. “The station manager sent me here so I’m here, but as far as I’m concerned this is harassment! I already told you I had nothing against Bella Valdez!”

“We both know that’s a lie,” insisted Rush.

“According to some other sources; it sounds more like you had you against Bella Valdez. That makes us wonder if you’re being honest with us,” said Scotty.

Pete sat down in a chair near the two detectives. “Oh yeah, I didn’t really lie; I just… forgot. It’s been 25 years; I’ve had a few girlfriends since then.”

“So you were involved with her?” asked Lilly.

Pete sighed. “I wouldn’t say ‘involved’… Have you ever heard of couples picking a fight with each other just so they can make up and fool around right away? That was us; after talking trash about each other all day it was like a pressure release.”

“So maybe Bella wanted more from the relationship and that’s why you had to shoot her?” asked Scotty.

Pete jumped out of his seat. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told the idiots back in 1986; I don’t have a gun and I never did!”

“Brenda Moore had a gun, and she was sharing a hotel room with Bella,” said Rush.

“There was a gun in that room?” asked Pete stunned.

“You didn’t know, that’s convenient,” insisted Scotty.

“I swear I didn’t know about a gun in that room! I don’t even think Bella knew, because if she had, I think she would have used it that night!” Pete fired back.

“On who?” asked Scotty.

“That jackass who busted us…”

[valrush]

The Mary Jane Girls: “In My House”


Me and Bella were in the bed next to each other. “You’re amazing, Bella. I hope you don’t take it too personally when I call you a psychotic bat on my show tomorrow,” I said as I began to redress.

“I never do. Then after I call you a fat, drunken lunatic, maybe we can come back here for another… session,” said Bella as she redressed.

“It would be perfect if we didn’t have to keep kicking Brenda out all the time. You don’t think…”

“I don’t think Brenda is up for a threesome right now,” Bella insisted.

“I didn’t think so. Are you ever going to tell me what is going on with her?” I asked.

“You’ll find out soon…” A series of flashes caused Bella to freeze. She turned to the window where she saw a man with a camera. More flashes followed. “I told you to close the curtains; that bastard took our picture!” Bella bolted from the room out to the balcony. A struggle ensued and Bella elbowed the photographer in the ribs and wrestled the camera away from him. He chased her back into the room.

“Give me back my camera you little slut!” he yelled.

“Destroy the film and you will get your camera back!”

“Fat chance lady! A picture of you two in a hotel room is worth five cameras, easy!” he yelled back.

“Is that right? Then you won’t miss this one!” Bella replied. She heaved the camera at the window. The glass shattered to bits and the camera crashed into the street below.

The photographer charged at her. “You’ll pay for that, b*tch!”

“Bella, get out of here!” I yelled. Bella ran for the room door. I threw myself between them, and got a kick in the stomach and a punch in the face for my trouble. I collapsed to the floor. The photographer jumped over my limp body and chased Bella out of the room.

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“I had to have blacked out, because the next I saw it was morning,” insisted Pete.

“Can you describe the man who attacked you?” asked Lilly.

“I can do better than that; the idiot dropped his business card as he was running out,” said Pete.

“Which would have the man’s name on it. Why didn’t you mention this to the police in 1986?” asked Lilly.

“When I came to my wallet was on the floor, and the card was next to it; at first I assumed it was mine. I looked at it, didn’t recognize the name, and then I heard this voice saying the cops would break down the door if I didn’t answer so I just shoved everything in my pocket. I had just had the piss beaten out of me; I wasn’t thinking straight,” Pete explained.

“Do you still have this business card?” asked Scotty.

“I had completely forgotten about it until you guys showed up again. You talking about Bella made me think about Bella and… well, I found this in a shoebox this morning,” Pete explained.

“Shoebox?” asked Scotty.

“A bunch of stuff from my glory days in television: some pictures, magazine articles where I mentioned Bella, magazine articles where Bella mentioned me, and of course my old wallet with that business card,” said Pete.

“Hearing all this makes it sound like you fell for her,” insisted Scotty.

“Bella was a pawn just like I was. That little scam screwed us both. I wasn’t in love with her, but she didn’t deserve what she got,” Pete explained.

“Rush,” said Scotty. He took her aside and showed her the business card. “Does this look familiar?’

Lilly took the card. “’Goldman studios’!? Well, he is a P. G.”

“Looks like our star witness just became our prime suspect.”

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5

Nick Vera and Kat Miller rushed through the door of Goldman Studios. “What the hell? You can’t just barge in here!” Paul yelled.

“We have a warrant that says otherwise; stay out of our way!” Vera replied.

A red-haired woman entered from a staircase behind the counter. “What’s going on?”

“Brenda, what are you doing here?” asked Miller.

“There’s an apartment above the studio; she lives here!” insisted Paul.

“Good, we’ll remember to search that too!” Vera responded.

Miller was rifling through Paul’s file cabinet on the far left side of the studio when she found some photographs under the bottom row of files. “Nice work. Anyone ever tell you this girl looks a lot like Bella Valdez, and the guy looks like Pete Galespi?”

Vera found a small wood box hidden under one of the camera display cases. He opened the box and showed the contents. “Hey Miller, does this look like a 9mm pistol to you?”

“That’s not my gun; I didn’t shoot Bella!”

“Nice try, we’re taking you in!” insisted Vera.

Vera slapped the coughs on Paul Goldman. “This is a mistake; I didn’t shoot Bella!”

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“I didn’t shoot Bella!” Paul yelled at the mirror in the gray interrogation room.

“You keep saying that, but we all know it isn’t true. You shot Bella here… and here… and then you chased her into that parking garage and shot her here,” said Miller as she laid out a series of pictures leading up to Bella’s crime scene photo.

“I never touched that gun!” Paul insisted.

“Come on, do you think we’re stupid? The gun was in your studio, ballistics confirmed that it was the type of gun that shot Bella Valdez, and you had motive; those pictures would have made you famous!” insisted Vera.

“We know Bella destroyed your camera. How did you get those shots anyway? There’s no way that camera survived a two story fall,” asked Miller

“I never touched that gun!”

“We’re testing the gun for prints. If they find your print on that trigger, you’re done. But if you tell us what happened now, we’ll tell the D. A. to go light and maybe you’ll at least see the sunset once again before you die,” added Miller.

Paul leaned back in his cold, metal chair. “Those pictures were from earlier that week. I used to take still photos of some of the people who worked at Channel 5. One day I saw Pete and Bella leaving together. I thought it looked weird, so I followed them to the Omni Hotel. I attempted this a few times that week in the daylight, but I didn’t get concrete evidence until the night Bella was killed and the damn camera flash gave me away. So there it is: I took those pictures, I chased Bella out of the hotel, and I… roughed her up a little. But I never pulled that trigger.”

“Roughed her up how?” asked Vera.

“All I wanted was money for a new camera, but she just kept fighting…”

[valrush]

Cold Case Soundtrack: “Freely’s Flashback”

Bella ran through the lobby of the hotel and then two blocks to the parking garage; I was close behind. It was pitch black outside, but the garage was lit well enough for Bella to find her car. Bella searched frantically in her bag for the keys. She found the keys and opened the door but before she could start the engine I jumped on the hood and kicked in the windshield.

“GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!” I yelled. Bella shielded her face from the shards of broken glass. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the hole twisting her wrist until it snapped. “You owe me a new camera! Give me your money!”

“Never!” Bella shot back.

“Big Mistake! You think I let sluts like you bully me around…”

“What the hell is going on, Paul?” I turned around at the sound of a woman shouting.

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“Multiple gunshots followed, and next I knew I was covered in blood. At first I thought I’d been shot, but it wasn’t my blood. It was Bella’s; my shirt was covered with it. I heard a siren in the distance, so I took off the shirt, stuffed in the trunk of my car, and left,” Paul explained.

“So you were the shirtless man?” asked Vera.

“Yes.”

“You said there was another woman there… who called you ’Paul’?” asked Miller.

“Yes!”

“That means she knew you. Who was it?” asked Miller.

John entered the room from the other side of the wall. “Miller and Vera, there’s something you need to see.”

Miller and Vera followed John out. Vera turned back, “Don’t think we’re done, Paul.”

John walked them around to the other side of the two way mirror when Lilly and Scotty were observing. “Print analysis came back; he didn’t fire that gun.”

“But he did confess to breaking Bella’s wrist and smashing her car. He might still know something,” insisted Miller.

“There’s more, Rush and Valens think they may have found Magdon Lapul,” insisted John.

“Brenda’s abuser; but we can’t find anything connecting him to any of this,” said Miller.

“I think we did, and we’re looking at it,” informed Lilly.

Lilly pointed at the mirror. “Paul! That’s quite a leap, Rush. Do you have any evidence to back this up?” asked Vera.

Lilly pulled a small piece of paper out of her pocket and showed it to Vera. “That’s a little coincidental wouldn’t you say?”

Vera handed the paper back. “More like circumstantial. Besides, forensics excludes him.”

“We’re not saying it was him,” insisted Scotty.

Miller had to think for a moment. “He did say it was a lady who pulled that trigger; a lady that called him ‘Paul’.”

“But he didn’t give us a name. We need a reason to bring her in,” informed Stillman. “Vera and Miller go back in and see if you can make him give her up. Rush and Valens, all I can say is get those prints.”

[valrush]

Brenda Moore was seated across from Scotty. Lilly handed her a cup of water. “Thank you, but I still don’t understand why I’m here.”

“We just thought you should know that Paul Goldman confessed,” Scotty informed.

Brenda swallowed the water and threw the cup in the garbage can next to the desk. “So then… you found Bella’s killer! But you could have just come to my place to tell me that.”

“Well, we also thought you should know that Magdon Lapul is still in town,” said Scotty.

Brenda looked surprised. “What?”

“Apparently, he never left Philadelphia,” Lilly explained. “But then you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“What are you saying?” asked Brenda.

“We’re just saying that you’re clever, but so are we,” insisted Scotty. He pulled a folded paper from his pocket and unfolded it. The paper had ‘Paul Goldman’ and ‘Magdon Lapul’ written on it with arrows between the letters. “Paul Goldman, Magdon Lapul; It’s an anagram. I have to give you credit on that; you even fooled Rush, for awhile.”

“In fact we really have to give you credit on the whole website: ‘P. G. did it.’ You had us all running in circles with that,” added Lilly. “We traced the domain name; bellavaldezfan.com is registered to you. But the thing we don’t get is why you insisted on just giving us initials; why not just give us Paul’s name?”

Brenda started to sweat. “Fine you got me. Paul threatened me; he said that he would kill me if I talked to the cops. I thought if I just posted initials that maybe a cop might find it and figure it out. I guess I got lucky.”

“Lady, I could let you keep hanging yourself, or I could be merciful,” said Scotty shaking his head. “We found the gun and it had prints on it, but they weren’t his.”

At first Brenda could only shake her head in return. “No, Paul Goldman killed Bella. You said he confessed.”

“He did confess to smashing her car and assaulting her. But then he said a woman entered the scene; a woman with a gun… who called him ‘Paul’,” insisted Scotty.

“Paul Goldman killed her.”

“Keep saying that, but I have a suspicion that when we check that cup you just voluntarily discarded in a public place for prints they’ll match the ones found on that gun,” Lilly explained. “We have you, Brenda, but I’d like you to explain it anyway because I just don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” asked a nervous Brenda.

“An abuse victim protecting their abuser; as a cop I’ve seen it more times then I’d care to count. But I’ve never seen one take it this far,” said Lilly. “You conned her; she actually thought that you were ready to leave him!”

“I was ready to leave him!”

“Yeah, I can tell by the way you still live with him!” added Lilly. “If you ask me, the saddest part of this was that Bella actually trusted you. She thought you were friends and so she told you all the dark secrets of her childhood, and you just kept leading her on!”

Brenda kept shaking her head. “Bella was a hero and a pioneer; one of the first people willing to discuss domestic violence in a public forum. Now they discuss it on talk shows all the time, and it’s always the same damn clichés: ‘why doesn’t she just leave the bastard?’, ‘it won’t stop unless she leaves the bastard.’, ‘I don’t understand why she doesn’t leave the bastard!’ Do you know what happens when you try to leave the bastard? The bastard follows you!”

“So maybe you felt betrayed; Bella said she would keep you safe but she didn’t. In the end, Bella was just another person who let you down. Is that why you killed her?” asked Scotty.

“Paul killed her.”

“No. But he was a witness, and that’s why you stay with him. On top of everything else, now he really owns you. He’s been keeping the secret for 25 years about how you killed Bella; he’s kept you out of prison… or has he?” asked Scotty noticing the long scar on Brenda’s exposed left arm. “I’m just guessing you didn’t get that cut from a hanger.”

“Paul killed Bella!”

“Fine, keep digging that grave!” yelled Lilly. “But we know the truth; you were in the parking garage that night, you had a gun, you pulled that trigger!”

Brenda stood up and slammed her fist on the desk. “You’re damn right I pulled that trigger! Paul Goldman was never going to leave me alone; I had no choice! I had to pull that trigger!”

“But you didn’t shoot Paul, you shot Bella!” added Lilly.

“I NEVER WANTED TO SHOOT BELLA!” Brenda’s heart was beating out of her chest and she could feel her legs going out from under her. She fell back into the chair. “I may have pulled the trigger, but I meant what I said. Paul Goldman killed her…”

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Cold Case Soundtrack: “Carl’s Reflection”

I was returning from the restaurant when a blurry figure ran past me. I didn’t recognize him at first, but then it hit me. I ran back to the room and found Pete sprawled on the floor; Bella was nowhere in sight. Then I saw a mysterious piece of cardboard next to the body. I picked it up, saw the logo, and dropped it instantly. “He found me. That son of a b*tch found me!” I ran to my bag and pulled out the pistol that Patricia had given me, and then bolted from the room.

I didn’t see Bella downstairs either, so I figured Paul must have chased her outside. If he had threatened her—which it appeared that he had—she would most likely make a run for her car. I headed for the parking garage where our cars had been stationed for nearly a week. I arrived just in time to see Bella being dragged through the broken windshield of her convertible.

“Big mistake! You think I let sluts like you bully me around…”

“What the hell is going on, Paul?” Paul turned at the sound of my voice. I pointed the gun at him.

“You! Where the hell did you come from?” asked Paul.

“Shut up, Paul! I’m not afraid anymore!” I yelled I fired once, but it was a wasted bullet. In spite of some practice sessions; the gun’s recoil continued to catch me off guard throwing off my aim. The bullet struck Bella’s tire. “What, using me as your personal punching bag get boring? Now you have to go after my friends!”

Bella was cut and holding her wrist near the hood of the car. “Is that…”

“Yeah, he’s the one!” I said.

“You don’t scare me, Brenda. You may have a gun, but you won’t shoot me because you’re mine! I broke you just like I broke that uppity b*tch friend of yours!” Paul yelled.

“Shoot him, Brenda!” yelled Bella.

“Slut, stay out of this!” Paul replied.

“You walked in on an assault, and you shot him to protect me! The cops will understand that!” Bella explained.

“I said shut your damn mouth!” yelled Paul as he lunged at Bella. I took two shots in Paul’s direction but only managed to hit Bella’s driver’s side door.

“I’m not broken anymore! You’ve used me long enough; I won’t let you hurt her too!” I yelled.

“Really, you’re not broken? You’re obviously blind; you missed me three times!” insisted Paul.

A few quick strides put my gun an inch from Paul’s chest. “I won’t miss this time! Go home and pack your bags; I don’t want to see you again!”

Paul was shaking and starting to sweat but he did not move. My eyes locked on Paul, I aimed my gun at Paul’s chest… and backed off; the reality that I was actually about to shoot a man caused me to freeze. “See, I knew you were weak. All sluts are,” said Paul. I stood their staring and thinking—thinking about all the times he had abused me, all the bruises I explained away, all the fights and insults, and all the times he called me weak. I saw red. I turned back to Paul, aimed my gun at Paul, fired twice at Paul… and hit Bella; that brief instant was all Paul needed to grab her and use her as a shield.

Paul collapsed under Bella’s bloody body. My jaw went slack at the sight of Bella’s crimson corpse on the cement. I heard a distant siren and all I could think to do was run. 

“If I could only have that one minute back when I froze, Bella might still be alive,”

[valrush]

Stevie Nicks: “Talk To Me”

 
In the archive room, Vera and Jeffries put Bella’s box back on the shelf and marked it CLOSED; her death being ruled accidental. They said no words but only passed a silent, understanding glance between them.

Brenda Moore wrote out her statement as two uniformed officers walked past with Paul in cuffs—charged with domestic battery.

At WAEJ radio, Miller showed up before Pete’s broadcast. She explained why Brenda was staying with Bella and the circumstances of Bella’s death.

John stood outside Patricia’s office with her and explained what happened.

At his desk at the station, Scotty jumped when he heard the ring of his new phone. He started to panic but it was only Lilly; Alicia was there with her daughter. It was time for the interview.

Lilly sat at her desk where Alicia sat across from her with her daughter asking questions and taking notes. Scotty joined them.

When she finally asked about what happened to her aunt, Lilly just told her the truth; Bella was a hero and she was killed trying to protect a friend. As they talked, Alicia looked past Lilly to see the ghost of her sister Bella. She was holding a microphone in her hand and interviewing some unknown guest. The interview concluded, Alicia packed up her daughter’s supplies, and the ghost faded from sight.

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Audio PowerPoint slides also available.

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So, it seems demand for these audio presentations is not exactly skyrocketing. Let me state here once and for all that I do not charge for these presentations. I make no money off of the Cold Case Virtual Season 8; I never intended to make money off of this. This is just a passion that I have had for several years because I thought the show deserved a better ending. Even if I wanted to make money off of this, I would most likely face serious copyright claims due to the amount of music and background audio that I use.

The audio presentations consist of my slightly adlibed narrations of the five acts of each episode. Flashback sequences also play featured music just like in the show or I use selections from the Cold Case Soundtrack. I also treat listeners to a brief commentary after each episode. I suppose I could just post those After the Show segments here as messages, but I just thought the audio component would be a nice addition.

I thought about learning how to post these presentations on YouTube, but, once again, copyright laws.

[valrush]

AFTER THE SHOW

There it is, my first effort.  There may have been some parts of the episode that were a little far fetched, but over all I believe that I can be proud of this.  I learned a few things while doing this episode.  You may notice that most of my flashback sequences are written in first person; this is different from the original five episodes where the flashbacks were written in third person.  It occurred to me as I was writing my first witness-initiated flashback that most of these flashbacks are supposed to be based on witness recollections.  That means that the witness was some how a part of the flashback, and therefore, much like Lily told Scotty when they first met, the flashback should be written in first person.

The episode itself came out of a time when I was out of work and watching a lot of daytime talk shows.  Many were the times when I saw the domestic violence story play out in these shows, and the question "why do you stay?" did start to become a cliche after awhile.  That in turn gave me the idea for a talk show host who might have been at least a witness to abuse and would thus want to call attention to the issue of domestic violence on a talk show.  Through research, I also learned that The Oprah Winfrey Show first went national on September 8, 1986, and so the idea of a strong, charismatic female who could have potentially beaten Oprah to the punch had she not been killed began to seem appealing.  Thus was born the character of Bella Valdez.  Weather or not she would have been the first to discuss domestic violence on television I cannot say for sure, Donahue had been on the air for several years at this point.

I know some people might give me some flack over some of my song choices, noting that Tears for Fears's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" were already featured in Season 1 Episode 20: "Greed".  But if you look back over the series, you will note that there were a few precedents for using a song more than once.  What I am most concerned with when I write one of these episodes is that I don't match beginning songs or ending songs from previous episodes.  I call these the book-end songs; they are the most remembered songs from an episode and they also try to grant some insight into what the episode is about.  As long as my beginning/ending song was not used as the beginning/ending song from an original episode, I feel like I have violated no rules.

As for the book-end songs here, I started with Tears for Fears's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" because I originally thought that would be what the episode was about, a career woman who wanted a better, more substantial offer than what she was getting.  But as I wrote the episode I began to realize that was only part of the story.  The episode really wound up being about the secrets people keep: Pete and Bella's secret, Bella's childhood secrets, Brenda's secret, the murder itself, and the secrets between members of the cold case team.  The episode changed on me and so I chose Stevie Nicks's "Talk to Me" for my ending song.  It's a lesser known song from her, but I felt it best captured what the episode was really about--keeping secrets and weather or not you feel safe enough with someone to reveal those secrets.

In the end, I felt I could be proud of this first effort, and I hope you all enjoyed it as well.