Cold Case 8-9: Pretty, Pretty Princess

[valrush]

“The irony is she won because of that speech. I guess they had to give it to her or risk an audience riot,” Rosa explained. “I have a daughter now; my first decision as her mother was that I was going to put her in sports; I figured that would make her strong and brave like Julie. I tried to interest her in gymnastics of course, but at the end of the day she prefers basketball. Whatever, either way, I’m just glad she’s not into beauty pageants.”


“The long and the short of this story is that Kelly threatened Julie that night,” said Lilly. “That still sounds fishy to me. Kelly blames you, and then you blame Kelly. How do we know you’re not lying to us?”


“I can prove it. I have boxes of my mother’s old things at my house; one of them has a video of the pageant my aunt Celia made for us. I can bring in this tape, and then maybe you will trust me,” Rosa informed.

[valrush]

John closed the glass door to his office and sat across the desk from Will. “What the hell is going on, Will? I’ve seen you get crazed over cases before, but not like this. Then added to it is your taking multiple personal days in a row. You’ve never done that before. Explain this to me, Will,” said John. Will didn’t even move; he just gave John an icy stare. “Will, I’m your lieutenant. Please do not make me threaten you. We’re the old dogs of this unit; we go back a long way. I think that entitles me to some honesty.”


Will leaned in and put his elbows on the desk. ‘The truth is I’m sick, John. I got the medical report; all signs are pointing to early stage lung cancer. I’ve been thinking of leaving. On some level I know I probably should, but then I heard this call come through my police scanner: ‘young girl, blue dress, silver tiara,’ and I knew who it was and I just feel like I should see it through.”


John started scratching his chin. “You realize that with what you just told me; I shouldn’t let you stay on anymore.”


Will shook his head and stood up. “I will start packing my desk.”


“Sit down, Will,” insisted John. Will returned to his seat. “Here is how we’re going to proceed. I did not hear this; as far as anyone here is concerned you are perfectly healthy. Julie Garret is now your only case. You can stay on until the job is closed or until I feel that you are no longer physically fit enough for duty. At either point I will put into the city for your retirement. If, however, you blow up like that at anyone else again, the deal is off the table and I will be forced to terminate you without benefits. Is that clear?”


Will stood up. “Alright, that sounds fair.”


John extended his hand and Will shook it. “You’re a good cop, Will, and you’ve been around almost as long as me. If anyone deserves a cheesy gold watch and a crappy pension, it’s you.”


“Thank you, John,” said Will as he left the office.

[valrush]

Later that night Rosa entered the station waving a VHS tape in the air. “If you have a machine that will play this thing, here’s your proof.” The group of detectives led Rosa to an A/V room. Scotty plugged a VCR-inclusive television into the wall and inserted the tape.


John held the remote for the television. He kept fast-forwarding through the tape until Rosa called to him, “There! That’s the start of Julie’s speech!”


The group listened intently to the tape. “Well, the speech is practically word for word what Rosa told us,” said Lilly.


“Freeze it!” yelled Rosa. John paused the tape on a frame that featured a girl in a white dress leaning into Julie. “That’s Kelly in the white dress.”


“It does look like Kelly, but we can’t really make out what she’s saying,” said John.


“I’m telling you, I was there. She threatened her. I’m just glad I got out of there before the cat fight started,” insisted Rosa.


“Now you’re saying they fought?” asked Vera.


“I had just finished gathering my things and was about to leave through the back entrance when I saw Kelly get in Julie’s face. I don’t know exactly what went down, but Kelly definitely had the claws out because I could hear screaming as I walked away,” Rosa replied.


“It’s a good story. But there’s only one person who can verify it, and we can’t exactly trust her either,” Lilly informed.


“I don’t know, there might be one way to get her to talk. Tomorrow is a school day right?” asked Scotty.

[valrush]

Lilly and Scotty arrived at the entrance of James R. Ludlow Elementary early the next morning. They entered the school and saw Kelly in the center of one of the halls. “Bobby, no running in doors! I’m not going to warn you again!” Lilly and Scotty flashed badges in front of her. “Detectives, I’m kind of busy here. My family and I already told you everything.”


“We wouldn’t be here if that was true. We talked to Rosa; she gave a tape she had of the pageant. We saw Julie’s speech, and you conveniently left out the part where she exposed you too. She talked about how you and your mom spied on her and took her song, and she talked about how your mom tried to bribe that judge,” insisted Scotty.


“I just realized something. I don’t have to talk to you,” insisted Kelly.


“Well, you might want to because Rosa’s talking. She’s telling us all about how you and Julie got into it after she won,” Lilly responded.


“And we already know that you’ve been withholding information which is a criminal offense. So you can either cooperate with us now or we can arrest you in front of your kids, and I don’t think either one of us wants that,” Scotty added.


Kelly shook her head. “I thought small when I was a kid. That pageant was my whole world, and I thought Julie was taking that away from me. I’m not proud of what I did that night, and yes, the truth is that I was pretty angry and I don’t know what I might have done if Julie hadn’t left when she did.”


“So, you did fight, but Julie got away,” Lilly explained.


“More like someone pulled her out of the fire…”

[valrush]

Collective Soul: “The World I Know”


 

“It was backstage after the pageant. I went behind the deep red curtain and saw Julie leaning against the back wall wearing her ‘WINNER’ sash and crown. I lost it. I charged up to Julie screaming at the top of my lungs, ‘I hope you’re proud of what you did!’


“’You mean winning this stupid crown. Not really,’ Julie said.


“But I of course didn’t believe her. I just kept on shouting, ‘I was actually talking about your little speech destroying my life! Let me ask you something miss perfect, do you actually have any proof of what you said! I didn’t think so!’


“’Maybe not, but I do now!’ said Julie.


“’What?’


“’You’re doing an awful lot of barking at me for someone who’s innocent! I wasn’t sure of the rumors at first, but now it’s like the truth is screaming in my face!’ Julie yelled. ‘For the record, I was trying to save a life with my speech!’


“’Oh, what? Your little ‘contestant on drugs’ bit! Yeah, what was that all about anyway?’I asked.


“What Julie said next didn’t fully sink in right away. ‘Oh, how can you not know that? Don’t you ever talk to your brother? He—‘


“’You blew my shot at the crown!’ I shouted.


“’Then take it! If this stupid prize means that much to you then take it! I don’t want it anyway; this ‘beauty’ pageant is nothing more than an ugly sham! So take my crown, because, now that I think about, you deserve it a lot more than me!’ Julie told me.


“’I don’t want your sympathy!’ I yelled. That’s when I lunged at her with my nails out and ripped a hole in Julie’s left sleeve.


“That’s when her mother came out of the ladies’ room. ‘What’s going on out here?’ she asked. We split apart and Mrs. Garret got a good look at my work. ‘Jealous much? Julie, let’s go home; I’m getting you away from this psycho!’ She took Julie’s hand and they walked out the back entrance.”

[valrush]

“Julie had guts and called me out on all of my crap. But I swear all I did was rip that stupid hole in her dress; that’s a far cry from killing her,” insisted Kelly.


“That would explain the mystery of the torn dress,” explained Lilly. “You said Julie left with her mother that night.”


“She told police back then that Julie went out with friends to celebrate her victory,” said Scotty.


“Well, let me ask you this, how many friends do you think Julie had after all of that?” asked Kelly.

[valrush]

Maurine Lucas stood back as Jeffries and Miller lead a team of uniformed officers into her house. “You can’t just let these people trash my house!” she yelled as she walked backwards into her blue-carpeted living room.


“I’ve got a warrant that says I can. Back off lady; if I were you, I wouldn’t be crying foul right now,” insisted Jeffries. “You told me in 1996 that Julie went out with friends, but we have a witness who says they saw you leave with her that night. It used to be that cops never suspected parents in these cases. Now they’re the first people the cops question, and after this I can see why.”


“You’ve got it wrong! I didn’t kill Julie!” insisted Maurine.


“Will, you might want to see this!” Miller called out.


Jeffries walked to the back bedroom where Miller was standing holding a shoebox. “A shoebox?” asked Jeffries.


Miller opened the shoebox and showed him the contents. “Blue wedge heels, and they look a little too small to be Maurine’s.”

[valrush]

Will Jeffries had Maurine Lucas in the box back at the station. “You know Maurine, I’m practically the oldest member of my team; people are saying I should retire. It’s not like I haven’t considered it. I have been thinking a lot lately about time; time I’ve wasted to be more specific. To think I wasted fifteen years feeling sorry for you.”


“You should retire. If you think I killed Julie, you must be losing your mind!” insisted Maurine.


“You lied to me Maurine! At the morgue you said you had no idea what happened to Julie’s shoes, but you’ve had them the whole time!” Will informed. Then he pulled out a file and opened to a series of papers with highlighter marks on them. “I’ve done a little research on you. Do you recognize this?”


“Yeah, it’s my name on a list,” said Maurine.


“The Miss Philly Queen and Princess Pageant has a website with archives of past contestants. This is your name on multiple lists of past contestants going all the way back to 1971. It’s alongside your mother Deborah Lucas. You competed in the pageant when you were younger, but you didn’t win did you? According to this the closest you ever came was a runner-up in 1974,” Will explained.


“I did the pageant as a kid. So what?” asked Maurine.


“So I’ll bet the happiest day of your life was when you found out you were going to have a daughter; it gave you a second chance at glory!” insisted Jeffries.


Maurine let out a sigh. “Maybe I was doing a little vicarious living through my daughter. But it’s not like I forced her hand; she wanted to dress up and do the pageant with me. Anyway, we got crowns that night! Why would I get mad at my daughter for winning?”


“Not winning, quitting! That’s what she threatened to do in her big speech, right! But you couldn’t let that happen; it would put an end to your glory days!” insisted Will.


“You’re wrong about that!”


“I’ll bet you got really mad over her quitting! You argued when you got home, didn’t you? Things got heated; it got physical—“


“No!”


“But the real genius was burying her in Kelly’s backyard! Even if someone did find her, you still had the perfect patsy because you saw them arguing backstage!”


Maurine shook her head. “No! … Had I known then what I know now I would have understood where that speech was coming from!”


“Really, and what do you know now?” asked Jeffries.


“A few months after Julie disappeared I went to visit the Betista house; I thought maybe they would remember seeing something that night that might be helpful. As luck would have it, there was this news report on the television about this diet pill called Fen Phen. It talked about the dangerous side effects, how it was killing people, and the movement to get it taken off the shelves. Rosa came clean about how she and her mother were using it; suddenly what Julie did that night made a lot more sense. Then years later I saw an obituary in the paper for Rosa’s mother. My idiot ex-husband was right; that pageant was everybody’s undoing,” Maurine explained. “I didn’t get mad about Julie quitting. What I did was a lot worse.”


Jeffries leaned in. “It’s truth time, Maurine. What did you do?”


“At the time I thought that speech was a stunt to win over an audience. This is going to sound really naïve, but I competed in those pageants as a kid. The most devious thing I ever saw was a girl stuffing her
bra. I never saw half the craziness Julie was talking about. You hear stories, but you don’t always believe something until you see it. I just didn’t see it,” Maurine responded. “You said we argued when we got home; the truth is we didn’t even make it that far….”

[valrush]

Oasis: “Wonderwall”


 

“I was driving us home. I had just turned onto Girard Ave. to get back into Ludlow; that’s when our last conversation started. ‘I can’t believe that psycho girl tore your dress. I’ll call Grandma Lucas; she should be able to fix it,’ I said.


“’It’s okay, really,’ Julie told me.


“’Don’t let that girl get to you. That’s your victory dress; you earned it with that speech. Granted, I would have appreciated some notice if you were planning to adlib, but whatever. It worked; you had that audience eating out of the palm of your hand, Threatening to quit like that was a stroke of genius,’ I told her.


“Julie didn’t respond right away. For a moment she just stared at her hand; I didn’t know what to make of it. Then she spoke up, ‘It is a nice dress. Nice nails too; they’re good and sharp.’


“That’s when Julie just started digging into the left side of her face. I actually saw blood; that’s when I pulled off the road and we got out of the car. ‘Girl, are you crazy? That’s blood! You’re scratching yourself raw!’


“’Good! I hope I get a big jagged scar so I won’t be pretty anymore!’ she yelled.


“’This isn’t you, Julie! What’s going on? You’re not making any sense!’ I shouted.


“Oh right, just like my speech didn’t make any sense to you! After all, who would want to quit this wonderful pageant?’ Julie yelled.


“’Julie—‘


“’You think I made that up just to win a stupid crown! You think I’m as bad as Kelly! Well, you got your crown, and here take your shoes! I’m done!’ she shouted as she threw her shoes down on the hood of the car.


“I should have known that I had stepped on a landmine, but it all just sounded like rambling to me. ‘Kelly? … Well, where do you think you’re going in your bare feet?’


“’You called me a liar! I’m going to prove that I’m not! And don’t worry, I know how to get home from here!’ Julie yelled. Then she just ran off.


“’Julie, get back here!’ I tried to chase after her, but heels aren’t exactly meant for running. I kept up with her for about two blocks. Then she turned a corner, and I lost her in the white hot light of the streetlights. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just started shouting, ‘Julie! Okay, I get that you’re angry! Just come back and we’ll talk about this! … … JULIE!’

[valrush]

“I went back to the car and waited for about a half an hour. When she wasn’t there, I just drove home. I figured she would come back once she cooled down, but then morning came and… she didn’t. That’s when I knew I had to call the police,” Maurine explained.


“Why not just tell me this in 1996? There might have still been a chance that I could have saved her!” insisted Will.


“That’s just what I wanted to do back then, relive my crowning achievement as a mother. Julie was trying to get people’s attention, and I called her a liar. I didn’t believe her and it cost me everything,” Maurine replied. “Do you want to know the sad part of this story? Somebody else must have believed her.”


“How do you figure that?” asked Jeffries.


“When you apply to join the pageant you have to give them your address, and they put that address on a mailing list. I didn’t take our names off of that list right away; I guess I kept hoping that Julie would come home and everything would magically go back to the way it was. Anyway, we received information from the pageant about six months after Julie disappeared regarding new rules as of 1997 requiring mandatory weigh-ins and drug screenings for all contestants. I guess she got someone’s attention after all,” Maurine informed.


Nick Vera stuck his head inside the interview room door. “Will, we’ve got something.”


Will stepped out into the hall. “I guess that explains the missing shoes and the scratches on her face; I don’t think she’d lie about witnessing something like that. Maurine said Julie ran off looking for proof; she had to be running to Rosa’s house. That’s the only real evidence she had.”


“The question is did she get there, and I’m not so sure. Do you remember that letter we found with Julie’s body?” asked Vera.


“Questioned Documents finally did something with it?” asked Will.


“After I broke the record for the longest chain of curse words ever, yes. It turned out part of the reason that it took so long was that they had to send it to trace because they found fluids on it,” said Vera.


“Well, that makes sense. It was buried under a pool for fifteen years,” added Will.


“I mean saliva, Will. The lab ran tests on it, and it’s a DNA match for Julie,” Vera explained.


Will looked puzzled. “How does that happen? You lick an envelope not a letter.”


“Either that or someone really shoved it in her face. Secondly, they were able to restore most of the document,” Vera said handing Will a piece of paper. “For your reading pleasure.”


Will started to read aloud. “’Texas’… ‘We regret to inform you…’ … Okay, how the hell did Julie get this?”

[valrush]

“Do you recognize this letter, Brent?” asked Vera of Brent Pressman. They were in the box with Jeffries.


“Where the hell did you get this?” asked Brent.


“Let’s just say it was buried under some stuff,” said Vera. “It was pretty faded too, but we were able to restore it. You see when you right with a pencil it leaves an impression on the paper. Even if you erase it the impression is still there and able to be read. I don’t understand all the technical stuff behind it, but apparently it’s the same with printer ink.”


“Well, I don’t see what this has to do with anything. Besides, I already told you I didn’t get into Texas A&M,” said Brent.


“That’s what I thought too, but you need to read a little further down. That’s not a rejection letter from the school; it’s a rejection letter for a scholarship from the school. You see, I’m just trying to figure out why somebody would apply for a scholarship from a school that turned them down,” added Jeffries.


“I applied for the school and the scholarship at the same time. One rejection followed the other,” said Brent.


Will shook his head. “Brent, we may not have engineering degrees like you, but we’re not stupid. We called the school! The registrar’s office checked their records; you got into Texas A&M in 1996!”


“But I couldn’t afford it without the scholarship so same difference,” Brent replied.


“Do you know what? Let’s stop beating around the bush! The letter was found under Julie’s body in a hole in what was once your backyard! How do you explain that, Brent?”


“I got frustrated and threw the letter in the dirt. The killer must have dumped Julie’s body on top of it,” said Brent.


“That’s possible. I’d say you missed your calling as a criminal lawyer were it not for the fact that dead girls don’t spit! How did her saliva get on the letter?” Jeffries asked.


“Saliva?”


“That’s right genius! The letter tested positive for saliva; it was a genetic match for Julie!” Jeffries yelled. Brent froze trying to think of his next move.


“You don’t believe us. That’s fine, here’s a copy of the DNA report,” said Vera as he placed another paper on the desk. “Being a big shot scientist, you’d probably understand it better than me anyway. But I got the long and short of it; the bottom line says ’99.9% match with Julie Garret’.”


Brent put his hand to his chin. “They tell you all the time as a kid that if you work hard and get good grades good things will come from it. I was an honor student right up until I graduated from high school. I had a 1400 SAT score. I thought I was set, but what the fairy tale doesn’t tell you is that you’ll be going up against 1,000 other kids with the exact same grades and the exact same SAT score and the chances of you actually seeing any money are slim to none!”


“But Julie got money; a $1,000 dollar college savings bond,” Vera added.


“Yeah, she got money, and for what? Having nice hair? Looking good in a dress? You tell me how that’s fair!” Brent yelled.


“You’re right, Brent, it’s not fair. But, then again, neither is a mother outliving her child. You see, that’s the thing that nobody thinks about in the heat of the moment,” said Vera.


Brent sighed. “Damn it, why couldn’t she just read that letter? That’s all I wanted. I wanted her to see how, while she was playing supermodel all day, a good person who wanted to actually contribute to the world was getting screwed to the wall!...”

[valrush]

Cold Case Soundtrack: “The Professor”


“Julie walked by my house that night as I was about to go in. I shouted to her, ‘Well, if it isn’t the new princess!’


“’Get out of my way, Brent. I need to see Rosa,’ she said.


“’I don’t think Rosa wants to speak to you right now!’ I told her.


“’Maybe not, but I need to see her,’ Julie said.


“’Why? So you can dig up more dirt you can use against everyone! Kelly came home in a fit over what you did! She even said how you told her to ask me about it!’ I screamed.


“’Fine, stand here and yell. I’ll just find another way around,’ Julie said.


“Julie went behind my house and I chased after her. ‘You said you were done! You lied to me!’


“Julie turned to me. ’What?’


“’You said you were quitting, but instead you used the information you had to win! That’s what you spoiled princesses do; you use people to get what you want!’ I said.


“’Why do you care so much about what I do? You’re going away to school next year; you’ll be able to put this nonsense behind you,’ she said.


“’No, I’m not. Read this letter if you want to know more.’ I pulled the letter out from my coat pocket, but Julie wouldn’t take it.


“’What happened?’ she asked.


“’If you really want to know, read the letter! I haven’t been able to put it down all day!’ I yelled. ‘I didn’t get the scholarship; I’m not going to Texas A&M next year!’


“’That’s impossible! You’re the smartest guy I know; you said you had a 1400 on your SAT!’ Julie said.


“Well, I guess I needed a 1401! But you got money tonight, didn’t you, princess?’ I replied.


“’I’m really getting sick of that!’ Julie yelled.


“’You don’t look sick of it to me; nice crown princess!’


“’Stop calling me that!’


“’Why? It’s an honor; you’re an American princess! You’re a pretty, pretty princess, and we’re just the peasants who serve you!’ I yelled.


“’Shut up, Brent!’


“’That’s what’s wrong with this country; everybody is obsessed with looks! Nobody wants to pay attention to anything not pretty! ‘More fighting in the Middle East today, but who cares! We have a bigger crisis to report; Michael and Lisa Marie might be splitting up!’,’ I shouted. ‘Read this letter!’


“’No!’


“’Read the damn letter!’


“Julie tore the letter from my hands, threw it in the dirt, and spat on it. ‘Get away from me, Brent!’


“’You are such a spoiled little princess just like the rest of them!’ I shouted. I finally snapped. I wrapped my hands around her prissy little neck and squeezed and squeezed, and squeezed… until she went limp in my arms.


“When I cooled down I realized that this girl was dead; I had to do something. They hadn’t poured the foundation for the pool yet, so I took a shovel that one of the workers left behind and dug the hole a little deeper.”

[valrush]

 S a r a h McLachlan: “I Will Remember You”




 John Stillman stood in the middle of the office. “Everyone, can I have your attention! As some of you may know; Will Jeffries has decided that this was his last case! It’s a decision he agonized over for a long time, but he has finally decided to retire! As of tomorrow, Will Jeffries is no longer a member of the Philadelphia Police Department! We’ll miss you, Will!”


Lilly and Scotty stood outside Rosa’s gymnastics class with Rosa. They explained to her about the final moments before Julie’s death.


Kat Miller had the task of doing the same with Kelly Pressman. She explained that her brother was most likely going to be charged with second degree murder, but, because he was still a minor when he committed the act, they might be able to get him tried as a juvenile.


Back at her home, Maurine Garret sat on the edge of her bed. She held her old pair of blue heels in her hands and stared at the wall. She was startled for a moment when she saw a shadow on the wall. It was Willis. He joined her on the bed and for a moment they briefly saw the ghost of their daughter parading about the room in her blue pageant dress before she faded from view.


Back at the station Will Jeffries put Julie’s blue heels in a white file box. John handed him a felt-tipped marker and Will marked the box CLOSED. He then put the things from his own desk, the last of which being a picture of his late wife, into a brown box. He shook Vera’s hand before he picked up the box and walked out of Philadelphia PD one last time.

[valrush]

Audio PowerPoint slides also available.

[valrush]

AFTER THE SHOW

This episode marks the beginning of some serious changes for the cold case team.  I am sure some might question my decisions as a writer here; you might ask why I chose to get rid of the black guy first or why I chose to get rid of the old guy first ... That is really just how I saw a season 8 playing out; I felt this would be the time to change things up.  I had a plan for most of the characters for how a season 8 would play out and it did involve losing some people.  I also have a new detective arriving on the scene soon.  Also, technically I just retired him for now.  I have not made up my mind weather or not to actually kill him yet.

Will Jeffries deserved a decent send off; I knew that much going into this project.  All of the characters on this series had cases from their pasts that haunted them for years; Will Jeffries had more than most.  Thus, it only seemed natural to me to end his career on an unsolved case from his past.

The case itself came to me after I saw a documentary on the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.  There was a scene in the film where they featured a press clip of someone else who had a child go missing and they made a point of stating that everyone knew who Elizabeth Smart was but nobody knew his kid because his family did not have the resources to garner nationwide support and press attention.  This reminded of the suspicious death of another rich girl, JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, and her world of child beauty pageants.  That same year, the dangerous side effects of the weight loss drug Fen Phen were also starting to come to light, and I knew this fit in well with the eating-disorder-riddled world of modeling and pageants.  I felt I needed to create a less well off version of JonBenet that would make Will go so far as to risk his health to solve her case.

I also know that I messed up the music again, although not as bad as the last one.  TLC's "Unpretty", I don't believe this song was released until 1999.  Someone brought up Aqua's "Barbie Girl" to me after I showed them this case; if only I had thought of that sooner.  I started the episode with Jill Sobule's "Supermodel" as I felt her sarcastic undertones depicted what could be the hidden ugliness of the beauty world (and based on what little of this stuff I have seen on television, I probably watered this episode down a lot).  I ended with S a r a h McLaughlin's "I Will Remember You" in part because I felt that parts of it could apply to the Garrets, but also I thought it was a good send off for Will.  I seriously hope I did Will justice here.

On another note, something weird happened at the end of the episode.  When I posted the link to S a r a h McLaughlin's song, her name did not come up.  It somehow turned into "the one whose name we shall not say McLaughlin".  Is there some history here that I don't know about? I am bringing this up now because that is going to be very annoying in an upcoming episode.