Cold Case 8-10: Good Night, Nurse

[valrush]

The Cars: “You Might Think”

 
“We were seated in a corner booth opposite the entrance. I had just returned from the bar to see Nichole turned around and staring at Kyle who was in his own world of dots, cherries, and blue ghosts. At first I didn’t think anything of it; she knew him from school after all. ‘I ordered a bottle of white wine.’ I said.

“Nichole jolted back around to me. ‘Oh… what?’

“’I said I ordered a bottle of white wine. It’s a little expensive, but I figure we’ll live a little for one night,’ I repeated.

“’Works for me I guess,’ said Nichole as she casually turned back to Kyle.

“’So you go to school with Stephanie?’ I asked. At this point I was just making small talk to try and salvage this thing. ‘What kind of nurse do you want to be? Stephanie said something about a children’s hospital.’

“’Oh… God no. That’s Stephanie’s thing. It’s not that I have anything against kids; I just don’t think I could handle twenty of them all day long. I don’t really know what… Wow, Kyle is really going to town on that machine. How long has he been at it?’ she asked.

“That’s when I knew it was time to give up the night. ‘He’s been at it since before we came in. I don’t… Okay, I can’t do this.’

“’Do what?’ asked Nichole.

“’I can’t sit here talking to your hair all night!’ I told her.

“’What? Craig—‘

“’Oh, stop pretending! You’ve been watching my brother since we got here! Well, it looks like you can bore a hole in the back of his skull; he’s clearly not looking back at you! Take the hint!’ I fired back.

“Nichole got up, retrieved her purse from the seat, and said, ‘Yeah, I guess it’s time to do that.’ She started to walk out but not before turning to Kyle and saying, ‘This was a brilliant idea.’ Then she left.

“But Kyle still didn’t look up for like another five minutes until apparently has last man was killed. Then he backed up from the machine and started shouting, ‘Hey Craig, read it and weep! Six figures! I beat your ass!’

“’It looks like it’s your lucky night, Kyle!’ I remember one of the waitresses saying.

“’1-2-0-4-5-0! How do you like that older brother! In fact, that’s what I’m going to do!’ Kyle shouted. He turned back to the machine and started moving the joystick to select initials, ‘Craig’s… Little… Brother!’ Now every time you look at that machine you can remember how I kicked your ass tonight’

“’Congratulations, you’re the big winner tonight,’ I said. Then I started to walk out.”

[valrush]

“That was hands down the worst date I have ever been on. I left the wine there, went home, and called Stephanie to chew her out for setting me up on that crappy date. I figured girls tell each other everything; how could she not have known how Nichole felt about Kyle?” Craig asked. “That was the one thing that made me think that maybe Kyle just wasn’t interested. She was there for the taking, and he didn’t take her.”

“Do you expect us to believe that your rage just died like that? I don’t know subtraction, Craig, but I do know addition,” Vera informed. “I know one girl plus one guy equals happiness. One girl plus two guys equals jealousy, anger, and, not to coincidentally, homicide cops.”

“I didn’t kill my brother. They archive phone records, right? I think I was with AT&T back then, and I’m sure my old address is somewhere in my arrest record. Check those if you don’t believe me,” Craig insisted.

Lilly and John were observing behind the two-way mirror. “So Nichole tried to make Kyle jealous, but he wasn’t having any of it,” said Lilly.

“Nichole made it sound like there was no way she would ever be interested in Kyle. So why are we getting a completely different story from Craig?”

“Victor did say a girl was with Kyle that night. Maybe she was the one chasing him,” Lilly added.

John scratched his bald head. “Check those phone records, and then bring her in.”

[valrush]

5

Lilly and Scotty were about to enter the holding room when Scotty’s phone began to vibrate. Scotty touched the screen to bring up a text message: ‘MEET ME AT THE CITIZEN’S BANK ON N BROAD ST. IN 1 HR.’ Scotty shoved the phone back in his pocket and turned to Lilly. “Lilly, can you have someone else do this interview with you?”

“Is anything up?” asked Lilly.

“It’s a lead on another case that might be somewhat time sensitive,” Scotty replied.

Lilly stood silent for a moment. “Go. Stillman can do the interview with me; it probably makes more sense since he’s questioned this girl before.” She turned and walked towards Stillman’s office.

[valrush]

“I just need you to refresh my memory, Nichole. You said you and Kyle were just friends. Are you certain it never went beyond that?” asked Stillman to Nichole across the table in holding.

“I think I would remember that. Like I said I just didn’t think of him that way,” insisted Nichole.

“Right, you were more interested in Craig. You even went out once; is that correct?” asked Stillman.

“Yes. I’m a little confused; you brought me in here to repeat myself,” said Nichole.

“I just think it’s interesting that we have Craig Ambros in the other room, and he’s telling us a very different story,” insisted Lilly.

“He said that the whole time you were with him you couldn’t keep your eyes off Kyle,” said Stillman. “The love of your life was sitting right across from you, and all you could do was stare at his brother. That just seems odd to me; unless of course you lied to us.”

“Kyle was at the bar that night, and I’ll admit that date didn’t go very well. But he was alive when I left,” Nichole replied.

“The first time, but we’re thinking maybe you went back later to settle some things,” insisted Lilly.

“You see, there’s a little more to the story. Craig told us that Kyle didn’t exactly look back; he was fixated on ‘Ms PacMan’ that night. Now, I’ve been on both sides of rejection many times in my life, and I have to say for somebody that you have feelings for to not even acknowledge that you exist is almost impossible to get over. In my early twenties that would have tiffed me off to no end,” Stillman explained.

“You think I killed Kyle because he rejected me? I already told you I wasn’t interested in him like that! Besides, if what you say is true, how do you know Craig didn’t blame him for screwing up the date?”

“We thought of that, but we contacted Stephanie Dale who told us that Craig called her from his home during the time Kyle was killed to chew her out over what you did. We also have phone records backing up her story. So I’ll ask you again, did you have feelings for Kyle?” asked Stillman.

Nichole shook her head. “Fine, I had a crush on Kyle back then, and I agreed to go on that date with his brother in a half-baked attempt to make him jealous. Look I don’t have to care what you think of me; I didn’t kill him.”

“You should care, because I think you had an argument with Kyle that went too far. I think you chased Kyle out of the bar and attacked him,” insisted Lilly.

“That’s not true!” insisted Nichole.

“But what I don’t think is that you meant to kill him. Otherwise, why go through the trouble of trying to save him?” asked Lilly as she showed her the crime scene pictures. “You tried to save his life, didn’t you? At the least that says remorse to me, and at the most it says this whole thing was an accident. I can sell either of those to the District Attorney and push for a manslaughter conviction as opposed to murder. But you have to tell us what happened.”

“I can’t do that because I wasn’t there when he was killed!” insisted Nichole. “If you really must know, I went back to my dorm room and spent the entire night brooding over how stupid I was!”

“Can anyone confirm that? Otherwise, you don’t have much of an alibi,” insisted Stillman.

“You asked me what happened and I told you. I can’t give you more than that—“ Nichole picked up one of the pictures to examine it. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That… that’s the chain. The silver chain; I recognize it from the picture.”

“You should, Kyle gave it to you as a birthday gift,” said Lilly.

“Who the hell told you that? Kyle never gave me this! It was never meant for me. I only remember it because he showed it to me before I went out with Craig, and that’s when I should have known that nothing was going to happen…”

[valrush]

Heart: “What about Love?”

 
“Kyle and I were in my dorm room quizzing each other for our upcoming final exams. ‘Uremia?’

“’Scientific term for kidney failure,’ he said.

“’Analgesic nephropathy?’

“’Refers to the damage of kidneys that can be caused by mixing over-the-counter pain remedies.’

“’Renal Calculi?’

“’Scientific name for a kidney stone. Nichole, we’ve been over this crap about four times now,’ Kyle insisted.

“’Yeah, it’s a little more about kidney function than I ever wanted to know. I don’t know why, but suddenly I have to pee,’ Kyle laughed along with me at that. ‘Kyle, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time. Why nursing? Why not just be like most men and become a doctor?’

“’You’re going to give me that gender bias bull too? Like I don’t get enough of that crap from my family,’ Kyle explained.

“I clearly hit a nerve so I tried to back off. ‘Easy, I didn’t mean it as a judgment. It’s just that you’re obviously smart, and either way you still have to memorize the names of all those bones. So why not go for the big money?’

“Kyle sat down next to me on the bed. ‘Well, it’s not just about money for me. When I was eight years old I had to have my appendix removed. Between surgery and recovery I was in the hospital for close to a week. My family came to see me, but even their time was limited. My dad worked, and my mom had another kid to contend with. The one person I clearly remember from then was this nurse; I think her name was Jill. She was a heavier woman and she had a round face and blonde hair that she usually kept tied back.’

“’But it wasn’t Nurse Jill who performed the operation that night. You do realize it was the surgeon who actually saved you?’ I asked.

“’An E.R. surgeon who happened to be on call that night; I couldn’t describe the doctor if you paid me. A doctor may have saved my life, but it was Nurse Jill who made me feel better. She was the one I leaned on the whole time I was there. She’s the one who got me food, she’s the one who helped me get dressed every morning, and she’s the one who got me to take my medicine every day. She even got me ‘Superman’ comics one day, and that’s the point when I realized that I wanted to be like her some day.’

“It was quite a story, and at that point I thought there was a connection between us. For a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, but instead he stood up and retrieved his jacket from the doorknob. ‘Isn’t your date with Craig tonight?’

“The question caught me off guard. ‘Yeah… We’re meeting up at the bar later. Are you… going out tonight by any chance?’

“’Yeah, in fact I have a special delivery for someone tonight,’ Kyle said as he retrieved a small, white box from his jacket pocket. ‘I hope she likes it; it took a huge chunk out of what I made working at the student health center this term.’ Then he opened the box and showed me the chain.”

[valrush]

“Then he closed the box, and I saw that he had written a name on the lid. It wasn’t mine. It turns out you can’t make someone jealous unless you have something they want. He didn’t want me,” Nichole said shaking.

John shook his head. “I don’t get it, Nichole. If you had feelings for Kyle, I would think you would want to help us find out what happened to him. Why act like he meant nothing to you?”

“Detective, I’ve been acting for 27 years. I’ve been pretending that my feelings for Kyle weren’t real ever since they told me he was dead. Lie to yourself enough times and you start to believe it. It was just easier to blame what happened between us, or rather the lack of what happened between us, on his personality than my stupidity,” Nichole explained.

“Whoever that chain was meant for was probably the last person to see him alive that night,” Lilly informed. “If you want to clear your name, you have to tell us the truth. Who was the chain meant for?”

[valrush]

Lilly waited in the employee lounge until a girl in a blue Best Buy shirt entered the room. “My manager said a detective was asking for me.”

“Laura Wullinski, I’m Detective Lilly Rush. I’m just here to clear up some things about the Kyle Ambros case. You mentioned earlier that you and Kyle were friends. Did it ever go beyond that?” Lilly asked.

“It’s like I told the other detectives; I just saw Kyle as a friend. Our group had a good thing going; I just couldn’t see risking it,” insisted Laura.

“Maybe, but the real question is did Kyle feel the same way?” Lilly asked. Then she pulled a file out from under her jacket. She flipped it open on the table to a picture of the silver chain. “We have reason to believe that this chain was meant for you.”

Laura looked at the picture. “No, Kyle gave this chain to Nichole. It was a birthday gift.”

“We talked to Nichole Lititz. She said she saw this chain in a white box with your name on it right before Kyle took it and went to the bar that night. Kyle said it was for her so that you would be surprised when he gave it to you,” Lilly explained.

“Look, I get how you felt. Dating a close friend can be risky. I’ve never told anyone this, but there’s this guy I work with’ he’s been a significant part of my life for a long time now. Even though he is a good guy and I know I can trust him; I just keep asking myself the same questions. Should I leave things as they are, or should I take it to the next level and risk losing the best partner I could ask for?”

“Well, I didn’t feel that way about Kyle,” Laura insisted.

“But Kyle felt that way about you; he bought you what looks like a very expensive piece of jewelry,” Lilly responded. “I found your old school records from La Salle; you were a Dean’s List student your first three semesters. That is right up until your last term when you took a series of incompletes.”

“That last term was when Kyle was killed, so I wasn’t exactly focused on final exams. Surely you can understand that,” insisted Laura.

“But an incomplete means you can go back and finish the course. It’s been 27 years. I’m just curious as to why you never did; you’re obviously capable,” Lilly replied. “I think it’s because you could never face school again after what happened that night; how you wrapped your chain around the cloth to try and save him”

“Nichole’s chain,” Laura responded.

“Your chain,” Lilly said.

“Nichole’s chain,” Laura replied.

“Laura, we talked to Kyle’s brother! Their stories of the date they had that night match up! Nichole was nowhere near the bar when Kyle was killed! We know that chain was meant for you!” insisted Lilly.

“Well, it was supposed to be for Nichole! He said it was for Nichole! I thought it was for Nichole! … None of this was supposed to happen! We’re were all supposed to graduate together! I was supposed to be a successful nurse, and not working in this dive just to get by!’ Laura shouted. She stopped to catch her breath before continuing. “Let me ask you something. That guy, you said he was your partner. So that means he’s a cop. I know people say a lot of things about cops, but I’m willing to bet that nobody makes sweeping judgments about his personal life because at the end of the day a cop is a normal career for a man to choose. I didn’t know what Kyle was going through; I didn’t know that you could take being called ‘friend’ the wrong way.”

“And you didn’t know that the first person you would ever treat would die in front of you? I don’t think you meant to kill him; I think it was an accident that you never forgave yourself for. Well, now is your chance. Tell me what happened; let Kyle go,” Lilly insisted.

Laura’s voice caught in her throat. “I was already… doubting myself… and then Kyle… Everything just got all twisted that night…”

[valrush]

Cold Case Soundtrack: “Best Friends”

“Kyle was already at the bar by the time I arrived. It was late, but they were still open. I found Kyle seated at a table with a bottle of wine in the center. ‘Laura, you made it. Have you really been cramming this whole time? I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show.’ Kyle said.

“’Well, I want to be prepared for this test. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready… You ordered wine?’ I asked. ‘We never drink wine.’

“’Well, it’s on my brother actually. He and Nichole ended their date early for some reason. So, I figured it’s paid for. Why waste it?’ Kyle said.

“’I guess we’ll have to thank your brother then,” I said as I attempted to open the wine. That’s when Kyle pulled the box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me. I opened the box and immediately recognized the chain. ‘I thought this was—‘

“’For Nichole, I had to tell you that. I couldn’t risk blowing the surprise,’ Kyle explained. ‘I know how you’ve been feeling lately. You feel like you don’t fit in with this place. I just want you to know that you will always belong with me. Even if you don’t feel like you belong at this school or in nursing; I want you to know that you will always belong with me.’

“All I could do was look at the chain. I examined it closely in my hands. ‘Kyle, this looks expensive. I feel like I have to ask; how much did you spend on this?’

“’I won’t give you an exact dollar amount. Let’s just say I worked a lot of extra hours on weekends for a reason,’ Kyle explained.

“I stood up from the table. ‘So basically you’re telling me that this is real silver! Kyle, you have to take this back! Get your money back; I can’t accept this!’

“’Why not? It’s a gift,’ Kyle replied.

“’It’s a gift for a girlfriend, and I don’t think of you like that! I like you, but I just see you as a close friend! You know what I mean.’ I explained.

“Kyle stepped back. ‘You don’t think… I see.’

“’Kyle, please don’t be mad—‘

“’No, believe me, I get it! I get it from my father! I get it from the guys where I live! But I never thought I would get it from you!’ Kyle shouted.

“I just remember being totally stunned; I didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘Get what from me? What are you talking about?’

“’’Girls night out’ right? I thought you were different! I thought you were open-minded enough to see a male nursing student and not jump to conclusions! Now I find out that all this time you thought I was some gay too!’ Kyle shouted. He snatched the chain off the table and said, ‘Screw you, Laura,’ before he stormed out of the bar.

“’Kyle… you forgot your wine!’ I said as I took the wine and left. To this day I don’t know why I took the wine. I guess I just figured like Kyle did; it was paid for.

“Anyway, I chased Kyle down the block calling out to him. ‘Kyle, will you come back here so we can talk!’

“’No, you blew it, Laura!’

“’Kyle, that is not what I meant at all! Will you please turn around?’

“’No!’

“’Kyle, just listen to me!’

“’Listen to what? More betrayals!’

“You know, Kyle, you are being such a jerk!’ That’s when I threw the wine in rage. I swear I meant to throw it past him; I just wanted to slow him down and get his attention. But the next thing I know I hear the sound of broken glass and there’s blood pouring from Kyle’s head. Kyle stumbled forward a few steps, and then he just collapsed face down on the sidewalk. ‘KYLE!’ I shouted. But he didn’t respond.

“I ran to him shouting, ‘Kyle! Kyle, say something if you can hear me! … Damn it Kyle, wake up! … Kyle!’ I’ll never forget how I froze. I saw the blood, and it’s like I forgot how to think straight. I couldn’t remember anything I was ever taught about first aid. I eventually thought to call for help, but there were no pay phones near me.

“Finally things started coming back to me. I reached around and found some loose fabric from the orange skirt I was wearing. I tore it off and wrapped it around Kyle’s head, but the fabric wasn’t very heavy and the blood just kept coming. Then I noticed that Kyle had dropped the silver chain. I tried to loop it around Kyle’s head; I figured that would keep the makeshift bandage in place, but I touched Kyle’s body in the process and realized it was too late. He was cold; he had lost too much blood.

“I stood over his body paralyzed for a few minutes. Then I heard a rustling in the alley nearby and a voice asking, ‘What the hell?’ I jumped at the sound and started running.”

[valrush]

Genesis: “Man on the Corner”
 

At the Atria Retirement Community Stillman and Vera explained the circumstances that lead to Kyle’s death to Stephanie Dale and Nichole Lititz. Rookie detective Andrew Darius would do the same with Kyle’s family.

At the station, Kat Miller took the white file box for Kyle Ambros and marked it ‘CLOSED’. As she placed the lid on the box, Lilly Rush walked past her with Laura Wullinski in handcuffs. Lilly stopped briefly at Scotty’s desk and took a glance at one of the pictures of Scotty with his family.

Laura Wullinski would be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Victor Willard walked along the sidewalk near the alley where he used to live. He saw the ghost of Kyle Ambros standing next to a streetlight. Victor placed a white lily near the street corner and the ghost of Kyle Ambros faded from view.

Scotty Valens paced nervously in front of Citizens Bank. He frequently glanced down at his phone and then back up at the faces passing him by wondering which one held his future in its hands.

[valrush]

Audio PowerPoint slides also available.

[valrush]

AFTER THE SHOW

I will just say it.  There are some episodes that I am more proud of then others.  I had one goal with this episode, introduce the new guy.  Beyond that, I mostly just wanted to get this episode out of the way.  The case itself I do not feel was one of my better efforts; it mostly felt like throwing a bunch of 1980s references at the wall and seeing what stuck.  I can tell you that the "Foot Loose" poster I described in this story was very closely based on something I saw on Amazon years ago.

Believe it or not, the case itself was partly inspired by season 6 episode 22 "The Long Blue Line".  Having seen several stories in the vane of a young girl trying to succeed in a predominantly male environment, it made me wonder how many times have writers ever tried to flip it? Stereotyping does go both ways (I have never been what anyone would call a macho man), and I wanted to do a story that pointed that out.  Thus, I created a male nursing student and put him in the highly masculine world that I can only assume would have been 1980s Kensington.  The only difference is I just don't know that Kyle Ambros would have had all eyes on him the same way that Kate Butler would have.  I just don't know that people would have truly cared as much in my case, and that was the real downfall of the episode for me.

It was also a bit of writer's revenge episode for me as well.  Throughout my life, I have had several girls tell me "I just want to be friends".  It got frustrating after awhile.  The girls in this story were loosely based on a few of such girls that I grew up with.

Regarding the opening song, I went with Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" partly because the story focused on a guy who was effectively one of the girls and partly because I was looking for any excuse to finally use that song.  I chose Genesis's "Man on the Corner" because it fit in two ways; Kyle was misunderstood and where he was killed.  It also stuck with the then homeless man who found the body.  You may also note the two Genesis songs in the episode.  Originally this was going to be a featured artist episode, and the two names I wanted to steer clear of were George Michael and Elton John because my victim was not overly masculine but yet he was not gay either.  I was originally planning to do the whole thing in Genesis/Phil Collins, but the timing of some of the songs just did not line up.  Further research suggests I should have steered clear of Phil Collins as well; I think he's out now too.  I should have just gone with my first instinct and gone back to Cyndi Lauper with "Time After Time".