Without a Trace S2E14 - English Transcript

Open up, Bob! Come on, Bob. Don't make me kick down the door. I got my nice boots on. Hey. Hey. So we got Jessica Prince, 29, bounty hunter, showed up to haul in a skip named Robert Bellaqua. Jessica Prince. I know her. She was a cop for the NYPD. Worked a couple of cases together. She was good. I even offered to get her an interview at the Bureau. Hum. Before your time. A bureau candidate to bail bonds that's sort of a step down. Yeah. Anything from the neighbors? Yeah, it's a pretty sketchy report gunshots, a car driving away. The blood on the porch matches Prince's type. Unfortunately, we struck out with the morgues and hospitals. Anyone see the shooter? No, but apparently, Bellaqua hasn't been around since, uh, he skipped bail on a possession of stolen property charge. Now, Prince and her mother run a bail bonds business. They posted his bail. How much? Fifteen grand. On a stolen property charge? What's that, uh, three to five, maximum? Yeah, if that. Yeah, it just doesn't make sense to me why this guy would try and take out a bounty hunter for that kind of time. Anything in the house? It was cleared out when NYPD got here. They didn't have much to go on until prince's mother called in a missing persons report. Excuse me. Fitzgerald. Yeah. Where? Right. Thanks. Jessica's car just turned up on the overland parkway. Windows and tires are shot out. The officer said there's a lot of blood inside. Okay. Let's go. The Clash Trad by Yeah, I'll take those two. Thank you. I got sick. Breast cancer. About eighteen months ago. That's when Jessie left the force, to help me out. I-I told her I'd be fine, but she was worried I was going to run myself into the ground. So she left the force in good standing? Yeah, of course. Okay, so what happened the other night? We were about to close up shop for the night when a tip came in. He's back at his house? Oh, great. Thanks for your help. Sounds like Bob's girlfriend. Hmm. Bob must have pissed her off. Or she knows we pay nice for a good tip. I'll be back by eleven. Wait until morning, honey. I doubt Bob's an early riser. I'd sleep better knowing we have our fifteen grand back. Well, at least take The Bear with you. It's Bob, ma. Take The Bear. It never hurts to have a little muscle. All right, I'll pick him up along the way. Here. Five hundred for the girlfriend. Nothing like true love. Love you. When I didn't hear from her by morning, I called The Bear. He said she never showed up and never called him. That's when I went to Bob's address and saw the police. Was this Bob Bellaqua was he much of a fighter? Not that I could tell. I've posted his bail before. Never missed a court date. Does Jessie usually go out alone on jobs? Nah. She's very thorough. She almost always calls The Bear. This Bear character uh, does he have a real name? Larry. Larry Andrews. Larry Andrews. We're going to speak to Larry Andrews. Excuse me. Uh, these files they only seem to go back six months. Oh, I'd have to go down to the basement for the rest. That would be great. Thanks. She doesn't seem to be a hundred percent sure that Bob's girlfriend called in the tip. Hum. You know, it could be, uh, some skip that Jessie's chasing who didn't want to get caught so he lured her over to the house. Yeah. I'm going to go over to Jessie's old precinct and sniff around. Um, check out this Bear character, Larry Andrews. You got it. Thanks. All right, see you. I was, uh, out on patrol. When I heard about the shooting over the radio. Wasn't my neighborhood. I-I didn't even know it was her that got shot until this morning. Went over and checked it out, but, uh, it looks like a lot of gunfire. We haven't found her body yet. If she's still alive, any idea why she wouldn't go to a hospital? No. You guys don't speak anymore? Uh, we-we split up a couple of weeks after she quit. You split up- what is that? She broke up with you, you broke up with her, what? She-she broke up with me. No hard feelings? I'm over it. So why'd she quit? She said she was going to help her mom with the business. Did she have any problems with any of the perps? Anything personal? No. I mean, you know how it is. Nobody's happy when you're putting them away, but, no, nothing that stands out. When's the last time you saw her? A couple of weeks ago. One of our guys, Dale Elliot, went down in the line. She showed up at the funeral. Hey. Hey. Uh, how-how have you been? I've been okay. I can't believe- Dale. Yeah. I Know. How are you holding up? Okay, I guess. Hum. Hey. What's, someone got to croak to catch sight of you? Mm-hmm. Tom. Brett. What happened to you, girl? Ah. I've been, you know, helping out at the family store. Hey since you're not dating that one anymore doesn't mean you can't come around. Okay. Good. We're all heading over to Stanton's. Everybody would love to see you. Yeah. No, uh, I got to go back to the office. Send my regards. That's the, uh, thing about it. Once you leave, it's it's like you're not in the club anymore. I think she found it hard to be around me. It was just too hard for her. Okay. Thanks for your help. I just spoke to the Sarge. He's going to send over Jessie's case files. He also gave me these. They're threatening letters. They say things like, "I'm going to screw you, because you screwed me. " "Watch your back. " They all have the same return address - white hills correctional facility. Know the name of the con? Just a prisoner number. I'm going to track it. Okay. Do you recognize him, Bear? Yeah, that'd be Bob. And you're sure you didn't see him that night? I didn't see him, because I wasn't there. Like I told Lorraine Jessie never came by. Well, we'll be canvassing your neighborhood, so, if she did stop by your house, we're going to know about it. You know, I wish she did. Then we wouldn't be sitting here getting acquainted. So where were you? I was at home with my wife. We were baby-sitting our granddaughter. You know that song, "The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round?" Yeah. Sang it fifty fricking times. I feel your pain. You got kids? No, just a couple of nieces. So, why do you think she went alone? I don't know. She's been a little distracted lately. Like her mind's been somewhere else Know where he's headed. Donuts, must have just come out of the fryer. You thinking about going back? On the force? Nah. Been there. Mm-hmm. No offense, but sitting outside some skel's house sipping diet soda it doesn't seem like your destiny. Well, my mom needed the help. Mm-hmm. Yeah,well, she can place an ad you know You know what I mean. Yeah, sure, I know. I just figured the reason you've been so quiet lately is because you were you been thinking about moving on? I've been quiet lately? Well, it isn't like you were Kathy Lee before. But yeah, quieter than usual. Well, get used to it. I'm not going anywhere. Oh, I think that's our guy. She always missed being a cop, and I don't think she ever got over that, uh, that guy she was dating. You mean Mark Casey? Yeah that guy. Yeah, he dumped her pretty hard, I think. She's barely been dating since. Oh, come on, you're telling me she got careless over a guy who broke up with her a year and a half ago? All I'm saying is, she let her guard down. I don't know why. Okay, thank you. Yeah, bye. Got a sighting on Bob Bellaqua walking into his girlfriend's apartment ten minutes ago. You looking for Bob? Yeah. Well, he's staying with Debbie downstairs. Hey! FBI! FBI! Frease! FBI! FBI Frease! Come on. Back over there. Yeah. All right now. Give him your jacket. Use your own jacket. Cover it up, Bob. I was taking a bath. Next time try hot water. Debbie and I went to Atlantic City for a couple of days. I wasn't running from anybody. We just got back this morning. Then you didn't call in the tip saying that Bob was at his house? No. Jessie Prince went to your house based on that tip, and somebody tried to kill her. And it looks like you've got a good motive, Bob. Me? Why? You tried to skip out on your bail, Bob, and Jessie wanted to haul your *** in. Oh, come on! It's been a couple of weeks. The judge hands out another month, whatever. I just wanted a little extra time with Deb, that's all. All right, look. I got nothing against Jessie or her mom. We had no beef. She treated me right. Not like this. Yeah. Sorry for the inconvenience. Where were you staying in Atlantic City? Um The Knightsbridge. Call them. They'll tell you I was there. I checked all the hospitals and morgues no Jane Does, no Jessie. Who's this? This is Dewayne Mitchell the guy who sent those letters to Jessie. He did three years for carjacking. Jessie was the arresting officer. He just got out of jail a month ago. His P. O. Officer know where he is? Doesn't have a damned clue. All right, so I did a little digging into Jessie's NYPD personnel file. Turns out she had a misconduct charge filed against her a few months before she quit. This guy said that she planted a gun on him. Name's Keenan Carson. He's doing fifteen to life on a drug-related homicide rap. Is this the kind of guy hat could organize a hit from the inside? Oh, yeah. And he's got a long list of nasty associates. Where is he now? He's being held in the tombs waiting another trial, but we're bringing him over. Now we have two of her collars that claim she's dirty. Mm-hmm, but for what it's worth, the conduct charge was dropped before it ever got to a review board, so, so Jessie was cleared. Danny, I want you to talk to the ex-boyfriend about this misconduct charge. See whether you can shed any light on it. Martin, let me know when Carson gets here. Tell us what you know about Jessie Prince. Who's that? She's the reason you're doing fifteen to life. Oh, yeah that Jessie Prince. So, what's up with the police misconduct charge you filed against her a couple of years ago? She planted a gun on me. A gun that wasn't mine. Police! Freeze! Let go of me! I've got a gun! It's not mine, It's not mine! It's not mine! Hey, come on, that's not mine! It's not mine! I guess this isn't either, huh? Nice. But I'm telling you, that gun was not there before those cops came. I own guns just not that one. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear that Jessie Prince took a bullet two days ago. No kidding. Is she all right? I'm sure she'll appreciate the concern, especially when she finds out you're the one that called in the hit. You think I'm John Gotti? No one's doing me any favors. If somebody got to her, I'm all for it. I just don't know anything about it. The guy's probably lying, but if she was planting guns as a cop, she could be doing the same thing as a bounty hunter. If the guy's not lying. And if a perp wanted to get even with her, it's a lot less risky to take out a bounty hunter than it is a cop. If it was a revenge hit, we'd probably have a body by now. Well, maybe she's still alive, and if that's the case, then why is she hiding if she's not dirty? I don't know. But I'm inclined to give the people I work with the benefit of the doubt. That charge against Jessie? Mm-hmm? That's a crock. Come on, you mean to tell me you've never had a perp throw one of those your way? No one's ever accused me of planting a gun. Look, the guy was a scumbag and a liar. That's why the charge got dismissed, end of story, all right? I'm, uh sorry it slipped my mind. Did you love her? Yeah. Yeah, I loved her. Why'd you dump her? It wasn't working out. Why'd you tell Agent Malone that she's the one that dumped you? Every breakup's got a story, right? I thought that maybe it was that you just didn't want to date a dirty cop anymore. We're back to that? Look, I know you're protecting her. I need to know why you're protecting her. If I was protecting her, I didn't do such a good job, did I? Okay, thanks. Bye. Well, that was The Knightsbridge Motel. Bobby B. And his girlfriend checked in the day before the shooting, checked out this morning. Somebody who knew Bobby B. And his girl were going to be out of town lured Jessie to that house. Mm-hmm. Somebody smart with reliable inside information. And somebody ballsy enough to set up a good frame job. I just got a lead on the ex-con that sent those letters to Jessie. Brother says he's shacked up in Brooklyn. Let's go. Junkie said Dewayne's been squatting in a room on the third floor. All right, Sam and Viv, cover the fire escape and the alley. Martin, come with me. There's someone in there. Come out! FBI! Show me your badge! Just drop the gun! Show me your badge! Come out! I'm working with bail enforcement! Bear. Who's that? It's Agent Fitzgerald. Drop the gun and come out. Okay. Slide it out. All right, put your hands on your head. Turn around. You got him? Where's Jessie? Lorraine sent me. She said she was here. Are you sure it's Jessie's blood? We won't know a hundred percent until we get the lab results back. Oh, god. When we went to Mitchell's apartment, we found bear in there snooping around. I almost blew his head off. What did he say? Has he heard from her? He said that you sent him. Look, I had a feeling she might be there so I told him to check it out. I mean, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but we don't go by the book like you. What's going on, Lorraine? Did she contact you? Is that what's going on? You had better play ball with me, or I'm going to haul your *** in. Yeah, she contacted me a couple of hours ago. Ma, it's me. Honey, oh, my god, are you okay? Where are you? I can't talk. I need you to do something for me. What's happened to you? Let me come get you. Mmm, it's not safe. My ph-phone book. A kid named Luca Velez. Why are you in trouble? What's going on? Ma, I can't explain this right now. You don't have to. I don't care what's happened. Whatever it is, you can come home It'll be okay. Just get his pager number. Hurry. I got a pal at the phone company, so I traced the call to the building on Jefferson Street. Who is this Luca Velez? He's a gangbanger. Do you think your daughter is involved in any criminal activity? I don't know. Okay, Lorraine, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave an agent here to watch you if she calls in, you're going to play ball with us, you got it? Got it. Freeze! Who are you? FBI. Come on Dewayne. I don't know where Jessie is, I swear it. Well, you know where she was last night. She was here. Notice how we cleaned the place up? Yeah, sorry if we missed a couple of bloodstains on the floor. Look, I'm not denying she was here, all right? She needed help, and I helped her. Yeah, so what kind of help could she need from an ex-con? Ex-con? I was in the army for four years, all right? I learned how to deal with all kinds of gunshot wounds. And she had a gunshot wound. Dewayne I need you to help me. I need you fix me up. What happened to you? I got shot. I need you to get the bullet out. I'm not a doctor, all right? You need to be in a hospital right now. I'm not going to a hospital, now fix me up. Okay, so let me get this straight. You write a novel's worth of hate mail. Out of the blue, she shows up here, and you decide to play Florence Nightingale. Why'd she come to you? I sent all those letters when I was upstate, right? Well, being locked up in that place, it wasn't long before I realized by busting me was actually a good thing. Considering where I was headed, she pretty much saved my life. So, when I got out last month, I tracked her down and I told her my story. Thanked her. Yeah, and she remembered your medical expertise in her time of need. I guess. I don't think it did her much good, though. This looks bad, Jess. Just do it. This is going to hurt. Hold on. You're doing good. You're doing great. Hold on. Just hold on. I'm going to need that. It ain't going nowhere. I'm telling you. She was ripped up. Did she say who shot her? I asked her, but she didn't tell me. She just slept it off and got up and left in the morning. She say where she was going next? I didn't ask. I figured that if somebody followed her to, so I got up out of here also. Where'd you go? Library. I'm going to pass my EMT exam. Yeah, well, that's going to have to wait. You're coming with us. But I didn't do nothing. Yeah, well, we'll find out, won't we? Let's go. Jack. Remember Luca Velez? The guy Jessie was asking her mom about? I'm bringing him in. There's this file. Aggravated Assault, Larceny all gang related. Jessie listed on any of the arrest reports? No, no, no. But, in one of the busts, Luca got arrested with a guy named Shawn Percel. So, Three weeks ago, Percel murdered a cop named Dale Elliot who was on the same crash squad as Jessie. I know. Jessie was at the funeral. Did you talk to NYPD about Percel? Yeah, yea. He's on the run. They've had an APB out on him for three weeks. Yeah, well, this character had better have some answers. Right. Yeah, I may have seen her. What do you guys want? Well, we gotta drop the attitude to start. All right? I'm not interested in you. Now, we know that Jessie was trying to contact you about your friend Percel. Did she find you? Yeah. She found me. And? And I told her, I didn't know where he is. His life is in danger. From the cops? What do you mean? Well, they said he killed the cop. And my bet is, he's never making it to court. Doesn't have anything to do with the cops. Okay, look. You know what? Don't tell me where he is. Just give Shawn a message. You can do that much for me, right? I don't know, maybe. If you want your friend alive, you will. Tell him to meet me at martha b-line at noon. The b-line? Yeah. You mean the bus? Which stop? He'll know. That's all she said, so I paged Shawn and I told him the b-line. Luca, we're going to need that pager number, okay? Whatever. Did she tell you that the cop Percel killed was a friend of hers? It's none of my business. Thanks for your help. Alive and on the run, hooking up with gangsters. That's not good. Unless the reason that she's trying to find Percel is payback for him killing her cop friend. You know, there is a b-line that runs through the Bronx in Brooklyn. I know it's a long shot, but see if you can pin down where they might meet. Okay. We really need to find a connection between Percel and this murdered cop. All right. I'll talk to the D. A. 'S office, see if I can get someone down there. Okay. You okay? Yep. Coffee's cold. Turns out that Shawn Percel worked at a laundromat ten blocks from one of the b-line bus stops last year. That is such a long shot. Well, we've got someone staking it out just in case Jessie shows up. I guess it's possible that Dale Elliot found out that she was into something dirty that she hired Percel to kill him. Well, that would explain why she was trying to find him. You met her, right? Couple times. I spent four days with her doing surveillance. It was just the two of us. Sitting in a van with a broken heater. It was, like, ten below outside. We had to talk just to keep warm. She felt really solid to me. Like she was a cop who would do the right thing. Jack, it was only four days. You know? I guess. I'll keep you posted if we find anything else. Yeah. So, when did you take over the Dale Elliot case? Three weeks ago. Shawn Percel was our suspect from the beginning. He was alone in his place when Elliot was shot. Eyewitnesses near the scene saw him run out right after the gunshot. It looked open and shut. Do you know of any connection between Percel and a Bounty Hunter named Jessie Prince? Why? We believe that Ms. Prince may be involved in the ***. I don't think so. Why not? Because she called me a couple weeks ago, wanted to talk. I told her to come up to the office, but she couldn't. She said she had some information on the Elliot case, so I went over to her office. I know how this looks, but Percel is innocent. Wonderful. Let me see the proof. I need to know that you're not going to talk to anyone. Not even the police. Whatever you tell me will be held in confidence. I think Percel was framed. By cops? Yeah. Who? I don't' know, yet, but I'm working on it. Why don't you go to I. A. ? Trust me, my word's not going to be very good with I. A. So how will you get the proof? I'll get it. Did you see her again? No. Has something happened to her? There were only four other cops at the scene that day. Dale Elliot, who's dead. Tom Mulcahey and his partner Brett Louney . . And Mark Casey, Jessie's old boyfriend. I want to talk to him. Officers Louney and Mulcahey left the motor pool 'bout a half hour ago. They're on patrol. Where are we with the b-line? Well, it's 18 square miles of bus routes. And no leads. Not yet. I tracked down Casey. He called in sick today. That's convenient. No, he really is home. Department dispatch reached him about ten minutes ago. Well, it might be a good chance for us to separate Casey from Louney and Mulcahey. I've already brought him in. There is no way he's going to come back a second time, especially without a lawyer. I don't want him coming in here. Hey. Hey. Thanks for getting out of bed to come and see me. How you feeling? Well, you know, that time of year. Said you had some information? I do. All right. What are we waiting for? Why don't we step inside? Guess he's doing a little remodeling. You know what I can't figure? Is why Bellaqua would invite Jessie back to his house to kill her. I don't know the guy, but, uh, from my experience, most criminals aren't too smart. Well, the smart ones are hard to pin down, especially when they're wearing a badge. You got a gun? Yeah. Sure. Where? What? Show me. You know what? I-I'm out of here. I said show me. So, what? You going to shoot me? I am seriously considering it. Where's your gun? Turn around. Huh? Spread your legs. Spread 'em. Spread 'em. Where's your gun? Where's your gun? Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Sit! You shot Jessie. You shot her like a dog in the street, and you left her outside this dump to bleed to death. You know, I could say I shot JFK, and it wouldn't hold up in court. You got a gun in my face. I'm going to have your badge for this. You know what, Mark? Nobody knows we're here. Not my people, not your people. No one. It was Mulcahey and Louny. They shot Dale. And you knew nothing about it? No, I knew. Yeah, I knew about Dale, I knew they shot him, but I wasn't there. Found out about it afterwards. I told 'em she was on to them. They wanted to take care of it, but I said that I could handle her. I wanted to talk to you at the funeral, but I couldn't with everybody there. What's on your mind? I think I know who killed Dale. Come on, it's that-that punk, Shawn Percel. No. No, I know Percel. He was one of my skips Okay? I know you guys have been hot after him, so I got a tip, and I went and found him, and he told me what happened. He said Dale showed up at his house, started to search the place. Next thing the kid knows, couple other cops show up and blow him away. You got him there, Dale? Yeah. Keep an eye on this dirt bag while I check the back. Get him! Get him! Go! Go! And you and I both know that Dale would never have turned his back on a perp like that. You know it. Okay. Listen. I think you're crazy, okay, but I will look into it. No, you need to go to IA. With-with what, Jess? You don't have anything, and you don't have any credibility. Now, just d-don't do anything stupid, all right? I'll look into it, and I'll get back to you. I promise. Jessie had no idea you were involved in this? No. So, what'd you do, run back to your boys and rat her out? No. They were just supposed to take out Percel. They couldn't find him, and they panicked. They said they said that we had to take her out also. Where are they now? Following Percel. They've been on him since yesterday. They knew Jessie would find him to testify. What were you going to do? Take a sick day while they killed her? Get up, you scumbag. Agent Johnson. It's Jack. What's going on? We're tracking Mulcahey's car through his radio transmission They're moving through Astoria. They're trailing Percel. He'll lead them right to Jessie. But the B-line is nowhere near there. We just lost the signal. Dammit. We just lost the signal. What was the last location? What was his last location? Maybe the B-line isn't a bus. Check all the registered businesses in the area. Got it. You head down to the left. I got Percel moving three rows in. Stay on him. Shawn. Shawn. How you doing, sweetheart? How you doing, Shawn? Freeze! Freeze! FBI! Get down! FBI! Get down! Down! Get his gun away. You got it covered? Yeah. Got him. I'll help you up. Easy, Easy, easy, easy. All right. How are you doing? It's good to see you again. Come on. Let's get you out of here. Hi, Jess. Hi. Take a seat. Mulcahey's been upgraded to stable. Looks like he'll be out of the hospital in a week. Lucky for him. The DA's office thinks it's a slam dunk. But they're going to need you to testify against all three men. Yeah, I don't have a problem with that. Okay. I just wish I figured it out earlier. Figured out what? Dale came to me a few weeks after I got hit with the misconduct charge. I just I I didn't put it together. Internal affairs still thinks you planted that gun. This thing's not going away. Come on. You were there. I didn't do anything. I know. Wait, so IA's going to take this guy's word over five cops that were in the room that say I'm clean? Mm. It's very political right now. You got to believe me. You don't want IA in your life. 'Cause once they get their teeth in you, they don't let go. So what am I supposed to do, quit? Take a leave of absence. After a year or so, things will cool down. Apply for reinstatement. At another precinct -- Is that what? It wouldn't hurt. So what am I supposed to say? Like, what, after four years on the job, I need a break? Your mom's sick, right? Say you're going to help her out. Look, it's all going to work out. You'll be back in no time. So, he was trying to save my career. He was trying to save your life. I just talked to my friend in the recruiting office. That offer for an interview is still out there. You're going to let a Bounty Hunter into the FBI? Sure. Why not? Everybody's got a past. Think about it. Okay. Come on. I'll walk you to the elevator. Thanks. Uh, listen, uh, stay in touch, huh? Yeah. I'll see you. Hey. Hey, there. So, I'm curious. How did you break Casey? I don't know. He had a guilty conscience.