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Post by topbilled on Jan 16, 2023 14:38:32 GMT
035 Security
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
As the episode begins, we learn that Uncle Jim has stayed on longer than planned. He has decided to extend his visit so he can usher in the New Year and continue to keep an eye on Jude, who is still dealing with the recent death of his mother, Kathryn. But Jim’s presence is not helping, and he and Jude have clashed. This morning was the last straw when Jim’s Viagra pills got mixed with Jude’s vitamins. Sensing he is no longer welcome, Jim says he will be leaving the first part of January.
Later as Jude arrives at the precinct, Captain O’Reilly meets him in his office. The captain apologizes for not making it to Jude’s place after Kathryn died, but he’s glad that Spencer Hobbes pleaded guilty. The captain mentions he had a nice Christmas with Bernice and Heidi, and that Heidi will be returning to Boston where she has a job.
Amanda comes in and says her poodle Sparky started convulsing last night. She took the dog to the vet and the vet managed to save the animal, despite its severe seizure. Amanda knows Sparky doesn’t have much time left to live, but the selfish part of her wants to keep Spark alive just a little bit longer, until she’s ready to say goodbye. Marty understands and mentions losing a dog he was fond of. He offers to go with Amanda if/when she must euthanize the animal.
Jim then comes in and says he’s been talking to Sylvia Lee, Jude’s landlady. He says something that Jude already knows, how Mrs. Lee recently lost her husband. But what Jude doesn’t know is how Mr. Lee died under strange circumstances at Rush University Medical Center. Jim begins to give Jude the details.
In the next scene, after Jude has heard everything Jim says, we see him and Jim go to talk with Mrs. Lee. Sylvia Lee says her husband went in for a routine operation around Thanksgiving. But there had been complications, and he died shortly after surgery. When she spoke to the nurse who was in the room when her husband died she was given some very vague answers.
A female physician, Dr. Victoria Baxter, later explained that the nurse described the situation correctly and Mr. Lee had a negative reaction to some medicine. Jude didn’t realize Mrs. Lee’s husband died under these circumstances, and he intends to follow up with the nurse and doctor at Rush. He leaves to go do that, while Jim stays behind and plays cards with Mrs. Lee who genuinely likes his company. They have cocktails and end up playing strip poker.
At the precinct. Jude stops in briefly to tell the captain he’s going to Rush. In the background Amanda gets a call from a neighbor who has been dog sitting Sparky, and the poor pooch has had another bad seizure. She thinks it is time to put the animal to sleep and tells Marty. They sign out and leave together.
We then cut to Jude in his car, driving to Rush. He calls Jim and asks what the name of the nurse was again, because he forgot to write it down. Jim is in bed with Sylvia Lee, when he takes the call and she is tickling him. He tries not to laugh as he tells Jude the nurse’s name.
The call ends as Jude pulls up at Rush. We stay with Jim and Sylvia. They are now getting a bit carried away in bed, and the bed breaks. Jim doesn’t know how he’ll explain this to Jude. Sylvia says Jude will figure out what has happened. But she will give him a free month’s rent and all will be forgotten. That’s what she did the time she slept with Mrs. Malone’s husband in 208. She then starts tickling Jim again.
We go back to Jude. At the hospital, he meets the nurse in the Lee case. Her name is Gillian Reid, and she is in her 40s. She’s been a nurse for over twenty years and is considered to be very competent. Jude says Mrs. Lee feels her husband died under suspicious circumstances.
The camera pulls back and we see that Dr. Victoria Baxter is also present, and the meeting is in fact taking place in Dr. Baxter’s office. Jude would like to know if other patients had a deadly reaction to the medicine that was prescribed. Dr. Baxter does not see how this is relevant. Jude realizes they are stonewalling him, and he is going to have to get a warrant. He exits.
We then cut to Amanda and Marty outside a vet’s office. They’ve just put Sparky down, and Amanda is crying on Marty’s shoulder. They start to feel really close again, and she realizes they shouldn’t do this. But it is New Year’s Eve and Amanda doesn’t want to be alone. Marty is going to take her home and spend the night with her.
The next morning, Jude comes in to the precinct with coffee for everyone. He wishes them all a Happy New Year. He asks Amanda how she is doing. She has a picture of Sparky on her desk. He realizes when Marty walks up, just how close Marty and Amanda are again.
In the next shot the captain comes in and asks what is happening with the Lee case. Jude says he has a meeting with a Judge Greenwood in an hour to get a warrant to search the Dr. Victoria Baxter’s office at Rush.
The idea is to investigate her medical records. Jude intends to see if there is evidence that can prove if the medicine used on Mr. Lee also caused reactions in other patients. And if so, whether they were errors, or premeditated murder. Just then, Jim comes in and says he is proud of Jude and will go with him to get the warrant. But the captain asks Jim to stay behind so they can talk.
In the next scene Jude and Marty have gone to get the warrant, while Jim takes a seat in the captain’s office. There is some discussion about the old days, with Jim saying he could have become a captain if he had wanted. They both know that’s Jim’s wild imagination. The captain cuts to the chase and says he can tell Jude is still grieving his mother, while Jim seems to have moved on. Jim says that is not true, he will always miss and grieve Kathryn.
The captain tells Jim that he doesn’t think Jim is a good role model for Jude and has never been a good role model for Jude. He thinks it would be best if Jim returned to San Diego as soon as possible. Jim mentions the Cohen case and wanting to help, but the captain says they’ll handle it without him. Jim ends up leaving the captain’s office, feeling defeated. Out in the main office, he gets a piece of paper from one of the secretaries and writes a note to Jude that he’s leaving.
We cut to the hospital where Jude and Marty have presented the warrant from Judge Greenwood. In Dr. Baxter’s office, they learn there were other patients during the past year who died from the same medicine given to Mr. Lee. And the catch is—they were all Korean! Nurse Reid begins to make a confession, but Dr. Baxter stops her.
Dr. Baxter says Nurse Reid did not administer the medicine. Dr. Baxter herself gave the injections, knowing they would result in severe reactions and deaths. She is the guilty one. Jude has no choice but to have Marty arrest her. Jude tells Nurse Reid that it had better be the end of all this. What do these two women have against Koreans? Nurse Reid doesn’t say anything. She just stares at Jude before he goes.
In the next scene, Victoria Baxter is in the precinct conference room with her lawyer. Jude and the captain are also present. Dr. Baxter says these were not typical Koreans who died under her watch. These were North Koreans living in the greater Chicago area, and they were spies. Jude finds it hard to believe Mrs. Lee’s husband spied for North Korea.
Dr. Baxter says there will be others like her who will do what they must to stop the North Korean threat to America. Jude asks if she means Nurse Reid, but Victoria is being told by her lawyer not to say anymore. Jude opens the door and has Amanda come in and walk the doctor into the adjacent area for booking. The lawyer rambles on about national security and Jude tells the lawyer it’s not about national security, it’s about hospital security. Then he walks out.
We go with Jude to his office. He sees the note that a secretary put on his desk, the one from Jim. He reads it and pulls out his phone. He dials Jim’s number. Jim is at the airport about to board a plane. Jude says he solved the case. Jim knew he would. Jude asks when Jim will be coming back. Jim doesn’t know.
An announcement for boarding is heard in the background. Jim has to go. He says he left some money on the table at Jude’s place to cover some repairs on the bed in the guest room. Jude can only imagine what happened and doesn’t want to know. ‘Take care of yourself, kid,’ Jim says. Then the line goes dead.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 17, 2023 16:03:54 GMT
036 Requiem for a Lost Soul
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
This episode starts with Bobo Pierce, the homeless wino that had previously appeared in ’What If We Could Kill the Rude Ones?,’ ’Birdie and Bobo,’ and ‘The Devil Knows.’ He is crossing the street early one morning, when he is unexpectedly killed.
Everyone liked Bobo despite, or maybe because of, his eccentric ways. He was an occasional informant. Jude, Marty and Amanda developed a rapport with him. So did Birdie, whose life Bobo had saved. She realizes how much she loved him but never got around to telling him that. They often scavenged dumpsters together. She is broken up about his death.
After work, Jude and the others meet at Biggie’s bar to drink a toast to Bobo’s life. Birdie comes in, despite the bartender’s attempts to keep her out. She needs to speak to Jude. Jude can see the bartender wants her to leave, so he walks Birdie outside where they talk privately. She says she’s sorry for interrupting his time with the others, but this is urgent. She knows how Bobo died, it was no accident.
The next morning, Jude and Amanda investigate Birdie’s claims that a garbage truck driven by two men went out of its way to hit Bobo. Birdie didn’t see it happen, but she knows someone who did. And that person is afraid for their life and is not coming forward. When Jude and Amanda’s search leads nowhere, Jude has Amanda find Birdie and try to talk her into revealing who the eyewitness might be.
Later at Birdie’s section eight apartment, Amanda nearly persuades her to reveal who saw Bobo get killed. But before Birdie divulges anything, she wants Amanda to arrange a get together between Birdie and Father Delacruz. Amanda isn’t sure if she can do that, but when Birdie starts ordering her out, Amanda promises to see what she can do.
In the next scene, Amanda is at the church office. As Sister Agnes looks on, Amanda explains to Father Delacruz her predicament. He knows it’s Birdie’s form of blackmail, and he reluctantly agrees to go along with it to help Amanda. If he weren’t a celibate Catholic priest he would probably let himself admit he fancies Amanda on some level.
In Amanda’s car on the way to Birdie’s, Father Delacruz asks the detective if she ever considered that Birdie might be lying. Maybe there is no eyewitness, except for Birdie and what she believes. Amanda did consider that possibility but she believes the fear in Birdie’s eyes when talking about an eyewitness is real.
We then cut to Birdie’s place. Amanda and Father Delacruz have arrived. Birdie is happy to see the priest. She tells Amanda that the eyewitness is someone named Shorty Crawford who works at a car wash near where Bobo was killed. Amanda asks what Shorty looks like and Birdie laughs. With a name like Shorty, you can’t miss him.
Amanda goes to the car wash to question Shorty, and Birdie then turns her attentions to Father Delacruz. She says she knows his time is valuable, but she came across a picture of his father recently. She has a hard time finding it but after rummaging around a bit, she produces it. She hands it to him and he looks at it. She wasn’t sure if he had ever seen that particular photo before. He humors her and says he hasn’t. She says he can keep it. He thanks her and needs to get back to the church.
Before exiting, the priest tells Birdie she is welcome to come to mass on Sunday. She says all that church junk ain’t for her, but thanks him just the same. He doesn’t know what else to say and leaves. We see him going to get a bus back to the church. At the bus stop he looks at the picture again, and we see it is some religious card with a bearded figure of god that was probably given to Birdie at the mission.
Back inside her place, Birdie finds another picture. This is the one she meant to give Adrian. She’ll save it for next time. She goes over to an end table and lights a candle and then picks up her tarot cards.
Meanwhile, Amanda has arrived at the car wash. She is asking to speak to Shorty but one of the workers does not speak English, and Amanda does not speak Spanish. She walks around for a few seconds, trying to ascertain whether the spot where Bobo was killed can be seen from here, and she realizes it can.
Just then a gigantic man, about 7 feet tall, approaches. He tells her that his name is Shorty. She laughs, and he says people always laugh at his nickname given his size. How can he help such a pretty lady? She says Birdie Conwell told her about him.
In the next scene, Shorty admits that despite his size those dudes who took Bobo out could come around here and flatten him like a pancake real easy. Amanda insists he will be protected. She wants to know what he saw the morning Bobo was killed, and he tells her.
When Amanda gets back to the station, she learns from Jude that a man who drove a garbage truck was murdered an hour ago. They figure he was probably involved with Bobo’s death. The other guy is at large. Amanda fills Jude and the captain in on everything Shorty told her. Jude knows Shorty, since he has been to that car wash before. Given Shorty’s description of the second man, Jude says it could apply to any number of cons. But his guess is it’s a guy on parole named Lawrence Hotchkiss.
Meanwhile, we see Hotchkiss visiting a crooked magistrate named Judge Harry Greenwood. Hotchkiss is telling him that Bobo and the other guy will no longer be a problem. It seems Bobo had witnessed the judge taking a bribe from mobster Antonio Salerno. The other man who helped kill Bobo got a little greedy and threatened to go to the cops.
What Hotchkiss doesn’t know is that Shorty saw everything go down. Jude stops by the car wash to speak to Shorty, but Shorty is afraid he is being watched after Amanda’s earlier visit. Jude gets the squad car washed and tells Shorty that if Hotchkiss comes around to call him immediately. Shorty agrees to do that.
At the same time, Birdie is looking through the trash in an alley near a hot dog stand where Hotchkiss is meeting Judge Greenwood. She knows the judge from some of her past arrests for vagrancy. She believes it is suspicious that Greenwood would associate with a creep like Lawrence Hotchkiss. The judge drives off in his Mercedes, and Hotchkiss hangs around for a minute finishing his hot dog. He realizes Birdie has been watching him and he follows her down the alley.
Birdie is pushing her cart as fast as she can. Hotchkiss reaches her and corners at the end of the alley. He tells her she will not say anything or he will kill her. She says that she figures the judge is crooked, and she wants to know what her silence is worth. Her life, he says and pushes her against a wall. She gets the message then straightens herself up and quickly pushes her cart out of there.
In the next scene, Birdie is at mass on Sunday. She took Father Delacruz up on his offer after all. She is more cleaned up than usual and sitting down from Jude in the same pew. When she shakes his hand during the sign of peace, she says she needs to see him after the service. It’s a matter of life and death.
We then cut to people having coffee in the church hall after mass. Birdie tells Jude about Lawrence Hotchkiss and Judge Greenwood. She then takes him to the hot dog stand, and Hotchkiss is there again. When he sees Birdie and Jude, he takes off. Jude chases him down a few streets and corners him. Hotchkiss gives up when the gun he is carrying is out of bullets.
The next morning, Jude arrives at Judge Greenwood’s chambers to arrest him. The judge acts like he doesn’t know what this is all about. Jude says Greenwood’s pal Lawrence Hotchkiss confessed everything. The judge is upset that the killer he hired is making a deal with the cops. Today is his grandson’s birthday, and he was about to take a present to him. Jude hands the gift to the judge’s secretary and tells her to take it to the boy with grandpa’s apologies. Then he arrests Greenwood.
In the last scene, we are back at Biggie’s bar after work. This time Birdie and Shorty are both having a drink with Jude and the other detectives. Shorty asks Amanda out on a date, and she blushes. She doesn’t give him an answer, which suggests she is thinking it over, or else doesn’t want to turn him down so quickly and hurt his feelings in front of the others.
Shorty orders Amanda another drink. He likes this place and has always wanted to run his own bar and grill. As Biggie serves the drinks, he is a bit more polite to Birdie this time. Birdie is going on about how much she’ll miss Bobo. Jude tells everyone to drink in memory of Bobo.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 18, 2023 15:41:06 GMT
037 Alien Conspiracies and Cover-ups
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Chicago is hosting foreign visitors from all over for a special convention at McCormick Place. And it’s not a typical gathering—it’s an alien convention. Jude, Captain O’Reilly and Marty are watching the TV screen in the precinct. The event is attracting a lot of press coverage.
Jude and Marty talk about all the strange people who’ve come in from out of town that believe this junk. The captain reveals one of his oddball relatives in Boston claims he experienced an alien abduction. Of course, he also claims Elvis and Jesus visit him each night. As the captain goes back into his office, Jude tells Marty to turn the TV off. They are headed to the convention center to handle crowd control. Before Marty turns the set off, we see an attendee being interviewed outside the McCormick Place by a reporter.
We then cut to the scene, where the action is happening live. The interview subject tells reporter Ashley Clark and the crowd around them that his name is Lorcan, and he’s an alien from a land far away. He’s been sent here on a special mission. Ashley tries to ask him about the shiny object pinned to his shirt. Everyone else is wearing alien buttons, but Lorcan has something else on his shirt. Just then, someone steps in front of Ashley, and Lorcan disappears inside.
In the auditorium, we see Lorcan take a seat to hear the keynote speaker. As he sits down, he has a vision of being at a faraway place. We present this in a way that could be real but could also be the fantastic realm of a seriously deluded young man. In the vision, a superior officer comes up to him before he boards a ship and taps him on the shoulder with an ornamental stick. As Lorcan gets into the ship, he knows without words having been exchanged, his mission is to kill these people in Chicago.
As the vision ends, Lorcan looks down at a backpack he’s been carrying with him. He unzips it slightly and peers inside. There is a white uniform, a bomb and a gun.
We cut back to the precinct. The captain’s ex-wife Bernice has stopped by to see him. Amanda warns her that he’s not in a good mood. Bernice knows what she is about to say won’t brighten the man’s disposition.
In the next scene Bernice in the captain’s office. She tells him that she thinks they made a mistake getting so close again at Christmastime when Heidi visited. She is expecting him to get cross with her, but to the contrary, he says he had the same thoughts. They both know they can’t go back to reclaim what they lost. They are each a lot more mature now than when they were married. She’s relieved to hear him say this. She says he’s her best friend. They will always be connected by Heidi and by Lance (a missing son they seldom discuss). She kisses him and exits.
Back at the convention center. Jude and Marty are outside handling the crowd. Attendees are going inside or else leaving. Ashley Clark, the black female reporter, and her cameraman are no longer transmitting live. She is on the phone with the station manager at the studio, while the cameraman is checking the battery. Jude knows Miss Clark from other events she’s covered. She finishes the call with her boss and she engages in small talk with Jude. She’s more than a bit icy to him.
Inside the auditorium, a shy young woman with thick glasses takes one of the last remaining seats, next to Lorcan. The girl’s name is Reva Dawn. She is barely 18. She thinks he’s cute and notices the medal on his shirt. She tries hard to strike up a meaningful conversation with him, but he is more interested in hearing what the speaker has to say at the podium on stage. Either Reva Dawn is not aware of that, or else she is so blinded and unable to see through those thick spectacles that she doesn’t realize he’s not interested in what she has to say. He tries to find another seat to move over to, but the place is packed and he’s stuck next to her.
In the background, Jude and Marty enter the auditorium. Jude is curious about what kind of nonsense is being spewed on stage and he wants to get a closer look at the people eating it all up. Marty asks Jude about Ashley Clark’s negativity. Jude says it’s a long story. Ashley has never forgiven the department for her brother’s death and she is very tough on the way the police handle cases now. In short she’s a real pain in the you-know-what. Marty thinks Ashley is fighting an attraction to Jude. Jude says she can keep fighting it for all he cares. He’s not interested in any woman that doesn’t respect what they do to keep the city safe.
In the next scenes, the keynote speaker has finished, and the crowds have gone off to individual conference rooms. Jude and Marty are still walking around, but they’ve split up. Marty bumps into Ashley Clark who was told by her manager at the news station to find more human interest stories. She and her cameraman quickly get a comment from the keynote speaker who is leaving the building.
We see up close that it’s the same person who was in Lorcan’s vision, where he was told to kill earthlings. The speaker’s name is Seamus McDuff, and he has an Irish brogue. We see him leave the building. On his way out, he passes by Jude who notices an ornate walking stick he’s using.
We go with Jude into one of the conference rooms where Lorcan is sitting. Reva Dawn, the girl we saw earlier, has followed Lorcan to this meeting. She pretends it is a coincidence, and he’s annoyed by her. He gets up and heads out, walking right into Jude. Lorcan just wants to leave. Jude follows him into the main hallway and watches Lorcan go outside for some fresh air.
At the same time, Reva Dawn exits the conference room. She notices the medal that was pinned to Lorcan’s shirt fell onto the floor when he bumped into Jude. She picks up the shiny object, then steps over where Jude is standing. She asks Jude where that interesting guy went. Jude says she needs to stop stalking him, and Reva Dawn blushes.
Outside, we see Lorcan interacting with McDuff. They are not exchanging words, just cryptic glances. Then, Seamus McDuff taps Lorcan on the shoulder with the walking stick (shillelagh), and Lorcan knows it is time to do what he has come here to do.
In the next scenes, Lorcan has gone into the ballroom where tables are being set for lunch that will occur in an hour. Lorcan goes off to a bathroom and comes back wearing some sort of caterer’s outfit. He takes over a certain area of the ballroom, to help set the tables.
But at one point, we watch him plant a bomb under a table. He has strapped it with masking tape and set it to go off 90 minutes from now during the middle of lunch. He does this without arousing suspicion. He has a voice over where we hear him saying his people are going to make everyone pay for being allies with the other side.
An hour later, everyone is in the ballroom. Lunch is being served. Reva Dawn takes her glasses off to clean them, but she drops them under the table. As she crouches down, she sees the bomb. She puts her glasses back on and sees it has 15 minutes. In a panic she resumes her seat, then she scans the room for the police lieutenant she talked to earlier. She can’t see him. Jude and Marty walk by in the hallway. She darts out, without trying to draw attention to herself. She catches Jude and Marty by the front door. They are about to return to the precinct.
As Reva Dawn runs up to them to tell them about the bomb, Ashley and her cameraman overhear this and start rolling. Reva Dawn says there is a bomb that has 15 minutes before it goes off. For some reason, Jude believes her. Jude calls the captain and requests back up. Ashley says that if Jude lets more people die like her brother Isaac, it will be recorded on film for all her viewers to see. Jude tells her to get out of the way. He and Marty go inside the ballroom and quietly start clearing people out with the help of the lunch hostess.
Meanwhile, Lorcan is over in the corner at a table and he goes to the main door and pulls the gun out of his backpack. He prevents people from leaving. He wants them to remain here until the bomb goes off. As Marty goes around behind Lorcan to get the drop on him, Jude engages in a strange conversation with Lorcan. Jude pretends to be a fellow compatriot who says their plan of mass destruction has changed. Ashley and her cameraman are getting this all on film.
But Lorcan feels it’s a trick, and he still intends to blow the place up. Lorcan tells Jude about McDuff and his instructions to do this in the name of peace. Jude says violence is not going to bring peace. But Lorcan says it will and this is what his people are fighting for. Just then, Marty comes up behind Lorcan and jumps him.
There is a brawl, with Marty and Lorcan sliding across tabletops, knocking trays of food everywhere. One of the tables they are fighting on top of has the bomb directly underneath it. Eventually it ends with Marty pinning Lorcan down and Jude coming up and taking the gun away from Lorcan. Next, they quickly deactivate the bomb with the help of a special squad that has just arrived.
The crisis is over, and even Ashley Clark seems impressed. Her opinion of Jude and the police have changed. In the resolution (presented as a followup story on the news by Ashley Clark), we learn the bomb was successfully deactivated with only three seconds left on the timer.
Lorcan turned out to be an Irish freedom fighter being controlled by a terrorist named Seamus McDuff. McDuff has disappeared. Reva Dawn is just a local girl who really believes in conspiracies and cover-ups. She felt a deep connection to Lorcan.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2023 16:24:22 GMT
038 Sugar and Arnie
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
In this episode, we see Arnie Harris again. He’s the banker's son, who helped extend Sugar’s loan back in ‘Smart People and Dumb People.’ His mother Mabel who runs Harris Bank with an iron fist has learned he gave Sugar more time to make her payments, and she is not happy Arnie went behind her back to do this.
When Mabel confronts Arnie about this in her office, he admits he never disobeyed her before, but this time he felt it was necessary. He’s stuttering to get the words out—but he loves Maureen (Sugar’s real name). Mabel says this is all preposterous and she is going to put a stop to it. Arnie says if she does, he’ll never speak to her again, and with his father in a coma, she will have nobody.
Arnie leaves, and Mabel thinks about this. She calls in her accountant, a man who happens to be Mabel’s most trusted employee. His name is Jarvis Reynolds. Jarvis tells Mabel he will handle things and convince Arnie to be reasonable. In the meantime, Mabel has her secretary schedule an appointment with Sugar/Maureen. Mabel will have Miss Marland over to the house for tea tomorrow and set things straight.
We then cut to Sugar at the motel. She is getting a call from Mabel Harris’ secretary setting up the meeting for the next day. Sugar hangs up and turns to the man in her bed. It’s Arnie. We learn they’ve been carrying on, and Sugar has come to develop real feelings for him, though she usually never does that. Arnie claims he understands her business, but he knows she has feelings, maybe not as strong as he has for her.
He wants to marry her, and she turns him down. This is not the first time she’s turned him down. He vows he will get her to change her mind and leave her world for his. Speaking of his world, Sugar says she has been summoned to a meeting with Arnie’s mother the next afternoon. Arnie finds that interesting and warns Sugar that his mother can be very calculating. He believes his mother caused his father to fall into a coma, so she could assume control of the bank. Sugar reacts.
As Arnie goes, Jude comes by to talk to Sugar about a bunch of burglaries that are occurring at the motel. He has seen Arnie drive off in a Mercedes Benz. Jude tells Sugar not to string Arnie along, because Arnie is under his mother’s control, and Mabel Harris is not a nice woman. Jude then takes a look around the motel and talks to a few of the girls about what was stolen. In the background we see a customer sneaking out. It’s Jarvis Reynolds, the guy who works for Mabel Harris.
The next day, Sugar visits the Harris home. She is having tea wth Mabel, and she learns from Mabel that her loan extension is ending and the payments on the motel are due in full next Monday. However, Mabel will extend the loan again if Sugar promises to stop seeing Arnie. Jarvis the accountant is in the next room eavesdropping.
Sugar tells Mabel that it’s up to Arnie whether they will stop seeing each other. Mabel says if she forecloses on the motel, she is going to have it torn down and all Sugar’s girls will be back on the streets. She suggests Sugar think over her decision very carefully.
We then cut to Sugar meeting Arnie at Grant Park. He is on a break but has to get back to the bank. He wants to know what his mother told Sugar. She repeats what Mabel had threatened about foreclosing on the motel. But she says she’s not going to let Mrs. Harris bully her, and she’s decided to marry Arnie to stick it to Mabel.
In the next part of the story, it is a day later, and Jude has been summoned to Mabel Harris’ home. Marty is with him this time. They learn Mabel has been the victim of a burglary the night before. As Marty starts to interview a maid, Mabel wants to ask Jude a few questions about Sugar/Maureen. She says that woman is engaged to her son. This is news to Jude. She wants to know if Jude can shut down the motel and throw Sugar and all her girls in jail. Jude tells Mabel she doesn’t want to go there. Her son would never forgive her for that.
On his way back to the precinct, Jude and Marty stop by the motel. Jude wants to talk to Sugar again about the burglaries at the motel, because the way the thefts occurred here match the way the theft happened at the Harris home. This time Jude gets a description of a regular customer who seems to be around when the robberies occur. The description matches Jarvis Reynolds.
Marty heads to the bank to speak to Jarvis. As he goes, Jude gives Sugar another pep talk about the Harrises. He tells Sugar that Mabel wants her arrested. Sugar insists she will go through with her plan to marry Arnie. He is her chance to get out of the racket and marry into a family with legitimate money-- but can she settle down with one man? And would she even grow to love Arnie? Plus, Arnie's mother, who controls the bank and literally the purse strings, is not going to make it easy for her.
We cut to the bank, where Marty arrives to speak with Jarvis Reynolds. But Jarvis is not there, and Marty instead talks to Arnie. They learn from the secretary that Jarvis has not come in all day. Arnie calls his mother, and she’s in her limo on the way to the bank. When she arrives, they learn that Jarvis has stolen items out of the safe, and he must have been the one who committed the robbery at the house.
Marty tells them Jarvis also seems to have been lifting things from the girls at Sugar’s motel. Mabel finds this all dreadfully sordid. She tries to track Jarvis down, but it is learned he disappeared. Marty calls Jude who has just walked into the precinct. The captain says they just got a report that a man is hijacking a small plane at Midway Airport.
At the same time, Mabel learns from a contact at the airport that Jarvis is stealing the Harris private jet. He is trying to leave the country with all the stolen money and bonds. Marty will meet Jude at the airport. Mabel orders her driver to meet her out front, since she wants to go out to the airport to confront Jarvis when the police stop him. Arnie will tag along. He and his mother learn that Jarvis is on the jet with a red-headed woman. Jarvis picked up Sugar at the motel on his way out of town, and is using her as a hostage to prevent Jude and Marty from stopping him.
In the next part, there is a standoff on their airstrip. Captain O’Reilly and more men have arrived. With Jude and Marty, they tell Jarvis he is surrounded. We also see Mabel and Arnie nearby in their limo. Arnie is blaming his mother for trusting Jarvis, and if anything happens to Sugar, he will hold his mother personally responsible.
We cut to the inside of the jet. Marty and Jude are sneaking on board as Jarvis ties Sugar to a seat. He then goes into the cockpit to start the engine. Meanwhile, Arnie has jumped out of the limo disobeying the captain’s orders. Soon he has run across the airstrip and into the jet.
Inside the jet, Jude starts to untie Sugar while Marty breaks into the cockpit. Marty is struggling with Jarvis as he’s trying to take off in the jet. Jude leaves Sugar and goes to help Marty subdue Jarvis who has a gun. At the same time, Arnie comes out of the back of the jet and rushes up to Sugar. He finishes untying her and says he loves her.
The cockpit door is open and they see Jude and Marty take Jarvis down and stop the aircraft. But before Jarvis is totally subdued he manages to get a shot off, and it hits Arnie in the head. Blood splatters everywhere, covering Sugar, the seat, the floor and the wall behind her. She screams out, and Jude turns to look and sees that Arnie has been instantly killed.
The last scene is a few days later. Sugar has gone back to the Harris home. Mabel Harris hasn’t come out of her bedroom since the funeral, but she makes an exception when she hears Sugar is downstairs. She goes down and Sugar hands her the engagement ring Arnie gave her. Mabel refuses to take it and says she wants Sugar to keep it. She also says she is forgiving the loan on the motel and none of it has to be paid back. She was glad that her son loved Sugar, and that Sugar was there with him in her son’s final moments.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 20, 2023 16:22:53 GMT
039 Blackmailer's Amnesia
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We start with the captain in his office. He’s looking at photos on his desk. One is from years ago— it’s him, Bernice and two children (Lance and Heidi). Another one is recent— him and Nenita. The camera pulls back and we see he’s being visited by a divorce attorney. The attorney, a friend of Amanda’s, is advising him on how to file for divorce on grounds of desertion. Since Nenita left after the baby was stillborn, she has not been in touch and the captain has tried several times to reach her.
We cut to Nenita, who is staying in a low-rent area with her cousin Kokoy and some friends of theirs who had been at the hospital when the baby died. There is a knock at the door and a tall imposing man named Shiro comes in. He’s the boss of this group. He is angry at Nenita, and screams at her while Kokoy tries to run interference.
Back at the precinct, the captain is telling the attorney to go ahead and start the legal proceedings against Nenita. The attorney then leaves and catches up with Amanda before exiting.
Meanwhile, at the low-rent apartment, Shiro is telling Kokoy to step aside. Shiro has a whip and he gives Nenita a few lashings. She is soon in tears, howling in pain. After a few more lashings, Shiro stops and tells Nenita that she’s had long enough to get over losing the baby. She is going back to the captain to save her marriage. If she doesn’t, she will die. Nenita says she never wanted to be part of this. Oh yes, she did, Shiro says. She wanted to be part of it, when she did what she did to get to the United States. Nenita reacts.
After Shiro leaves, Kokoy tells Nenita that he will help take her back to her husband. Nenita wonders if it is now too late, since she never answered any of the captain’s calls, texts or emails. Kokoy convinces her it is not too late. He has her wash her face and fix her make-up.
We then cut to Jude stopping at the coffee shop. Dewey was just about to close early. He says Sonja left for a date night with Marek. Jude reacts and gets a coffee. He asks Dewey if Sonja is really happy being married to Marek. Dewey doesn’t think it’s his place to comment either way.
Sonja is waiting for Marek to meet her at the movies downtown after work. He is running late, and she figures his job is delaying him again. She is not happy and leaves an annoyed message on his voicemail.
We go to Jude who has left the coffeeshop and gone to pick up a woman named Iona. He got to know her on some dating app. She asks where they’re going. He says, how about the movies? That’s fine with her.
At the precinct, Amanda is telling the captain that if he changes his mind and wants to stop the divorce proceedings, it will be easy to do. But the captain isn’t sure he’d have any reason to do that. Just then Kokoy enters with Nenita. The captain and Amanda are surprised to see them here. Nenita says she’d like to talk to her husband. The captain walks to his office and Nenita follows him. As they go, Amanda asks Kokoy if Nenita intends to save the marriage. Yes, Kokoy says.
Inside the office, the captain asks Nenita the same things. Yes, she wants to save their marriage. She says she was wrong to leave, but her head was all over the place after losing the baby. The captain tells her that just a short time earlier he spoke with an attorney to initiate proceedings for a divorce. He isn’t sure what they have left to save. He isn’t sure he still feels the same feelings for her he had before.
Nenita looks through the glass and sees Kokoy and Amanda watching. Then she kisses the captain, long and passionately. She needs him to still feel something, or else Kokoy will tell Shiro she failed and Shiro will punish her some more.
We go to Sonja at the movie theater, still waiting for Marek. A familiar car pulls up and parks. She realizes it is Jude. She sees him walk up and get tickets with an attractive female (Iona). As Iona steps off to get some popcorn, Jude notices Sonja and walks over.
She tells him she is waiting for Marek. It’s their date night. Jude pretends as if he doesn’t know this. They make small talk about the movies they are going to see. Iona now has the popcorn and joins them. She meets Sonja. Is that a bit of jealousy Jude detects from Sonja towards Iona?
After Jude and Iona go off to watch the film they came to see, Sonja gets a soft drink. She gives up waiting for Marek and heads in to see her movie but five minutes into it, she gets a text from Joey Sheridan. Joey says there’s been an emergency. Sonja quickly exits the theatre, leaving her drink behind. Out on the sidewalk, she calls Joey and he tells her there was an accident and Marek was hurt.
In the next scene, Sonja is with Marek at the hospital as he is being prepped for surgery. He can barely talk and what he is trying to say is not coherent. The medics wheel him into the operating room, and Sonja asks Joey to explain what happened. How did Marek get shot?
Joey is intentionally vague with Sonja, because he knows she is in the dark about Marek and him working for the Salerno crime family. He just says a delivery of the coffee Marek supposedly sells was hijacked. Marek stood up to the hijackers and was gunned down. Sonja realizes what a dangerous place the world can be.
Just then Jude shows up. He was called out of his movie date with Iona because of the shooting. Joey repeats to Jude what he told Sonja. Jude would like to comfort Sonja, but he has a job to do. Sonja goes off to the chapel to pray while the doctor operates on Marek. In the chapel, she is joined by Father Delacruz and he speaks with her.
The next morning, we learn that Marek survived and will recover. But he apparently has no recollection of what happened when he was shot. Jude finds this all too convenient. Jude is about to drive back to the precinct, but not before watching Joey go into Marek’s room.
At the precinct, Jude asks Marty and Amanda to find out all they can about Joey Sheridan. His gut tells him that Marek and Joey are part of some shady business. The captain agrees. During this conversation, Jude and Marty both realize the captain is wearing his wedding ring again.
At the hospital, Joey tells Marek what he told Sonja and the police. Marek is glad Sonja does not know the coffee he distributes is really cocaine for Tony Salerno. She could be a liability at a time like this. Their chat is interrupted when Sonja comes in to see her husband. Joey exits. Marek feeds Sonja lies about how he can’t remember anything that happened.
In the next scene, Marty and Amanda are tailing Joey when he goes to see Tony Salerno. They are meeting at Grant Park. Joey tells Salerno what Marek wanted him to say, that Marek has no memory of the drug deal that went bad the night before. Like Jude, Salerno also doesn’t quite buy this version of events.
A few days later Marek is released from the hospital. Jude goes to Hegewisch, a Polish neighborhood on the southeast side where Sonja and Marek live. He would like to go over the shooting again. Marek still claims he does not recall anything. Outside on the porch, Sonja angrily tells Jude that if he has something to arrest her husband about, then he should do it. Otherwise, let Marek alone so he can rest and get back to work. Jude can see she’s going through a hard time and leaves.
After Jude drives off, Sonja steps back inside the living room. She says Dewey needs her help at the coffee shop, and she’s going downtown. Marek tells her he will be all right. After Sonja leaves, Marek gets a visitor. It’s Joey. Joey asks Marek how long he is going to fake amnesia, because Salerno and the police don’t seem to believe it.
Marek laughs and says that when the time is right, he’ll remember everything. Then it will be whether Salerno is willing to pay a price for his silence, or if Marek is going to make a deal with Salerno’s archenemy, Ernie D’Amico. Joey thinks Marek is playing a dangerous game.
Several days later, Jude comes into the coffee shop on his way to the precinct. Marek is there, and he’s recovered. Marek is going to meet Joey to check on a new shipment. He tells Jude to have a nice day. After he exits, Sonja pours Jude his usual. She says it’s the first day Marek is back to work. She hopes Jude has taken Amanda and Marty off her husband’s tail. He smiles, because at least Marek is clever and told her that much.
Jude suspects Sonja is in the dark about most of Marek’s activities. She asks about Iona, the girl he had on his arm at the movies. He says it was just a blind date; they didn’t have much in common. The movie, what little he saw of it, was more interesting than Iona. Sonja says that’s too bad. She and Marek are going to try another movie date tonight.
We follow Jude back to the precinct. Amanda and Marty ask if he wants them to stay on Marek. No, Jude says. He’s taking a few days off. But when he comes back, he’s going to make Marek Dembrowski his own personal priority. Jude dials a number for a motor lodge south of Chicago. He asks the desk clerk how the fish are biting.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 21, 2023 14:46:42 GMT
040 Caught in a Storm
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Jude has taken a few days off and has gone south of the city for some ice fishing. The captain is also not around right now, because he and Nenita went to see a doctor about whether they should try for another baby, or if Nenita could have another stillborn child. During these absences, Amanda is in charge at the precinct. She is giving orders, which Marty doesn’t like. Having to be subordinate to her, while they are still having a sexual relationship, is giving him an inferiority complex.
There is a bit of an argument between them, and Marty storms out before Amanda can talk it out with him. After he leaves, Bernice shows up to see if the captain’s free for lunch. Amanda says he is with Nenita.
We cut to the doctor’s office. The captain and Nenita learn they can try again for another child, though the captain feels it is too soon. But when the time is right, they will definitely try again. Nenita texts Kokoy, who then informs Shiro. Shiro doesn’t care if Nenita has another baby with Captain O’Reilly, just so long as the captain remains interested in Nenita.
At the precinct, Amanda asks Bernice how she’s doing. She admits it was a bit hard to hear the captain reconciled with Nenita, but she is glad they are happy. Marty returns because he forgot something. Amanda needs to speak with him. Bernice is leaving and will call the captain later.
We go with Amanda and Marty into the conference room where she closes the door, so the secretaries won’t hear. She tells Marty they are fighting too much and reminds him about the last time this happened. He asks if it was a mistake starting up again. She says they had broken up for a reason. To which he says they got back together for a reason. She doesn’t deny the sex is fantastic but just feels it is not working out. In his heart, he knows she’s right. Still this isn’t easy for them. He appreciates her honesty and goes off on rounds.
As Marty reaches his car outside the precinct, he sees a text. It’s from Pamela Vickers, the gal he almost married. She was thinking of him. He drives off and debates calling Pamela. In the next shot, he has pulled over and decides that he does want to speak to her again. She is happy to hear from him. He asks how things are in Kankakee. She says it’s cold, good ice fishing weather. He mentions Jude went down there to fish.
We cut to Jude who’s arrived at a motor lodge near Kankakee. He walks into the office to pay for a room. He is handed a room key by the clerk, a shy 18 year old kid named Shane Newmar. After Jude scopes out his room, he goes to his truck for some things. This is the first time we see what kind of vehicle he drives when he is not on duty.
A bit later Shane puts a newspaper outside Jude’s door. Heading back to the office, Shane stops in front of a window that looks into the room next to Jude’s. Inside is a voluptuous looking 30 year-old woman who goes by the name Vivian Caldwell. She undresses with the shades not closed, and it excites Shane who is probably still a virgin and awkward re: women.
The woman knows she has an audience and gets a kick out of doing a bit of a striptease in front of the boy. At one point she makes eye contact with Shane, who blushes and hurries off.
In the next scene, Jude steps out to get the paper. He sees a headline about mobster Antonio Salerno. Jude remembers a recent argument he had with Sonja, where she had found out Jude was investigating Marek. She asked if he was going to arrest Marek. She then requested that he back off. Out of the flashback, he is still thinking about that conversation. He knows Sonja is mostly in the dark about Marek, whom he suspects is part of both the Salerno and D’Amico organizations.
Just then, the door to the next room opens, and the sexy lady steps out. She didn’t know there was someone else here. Jude introduces himself. She introduces herself. She guesses he came to fish. He smiles and says yes, in the morning. It’s snowing right now, and she lights a cigarette. She asks Jude if he wants one, and he says he gave up smoking.
She asks if he knows how to fix cars. She had engine trouble on the road and had to stop here for the night. But there’s no mechanic around. Jude sets the paper down on a chair, takes the key from her and goes to look at it. It’s the BMW in the lot next to his truck. While he does that, she looks at the paper. She knows the men in the photo, Antonio Salerno and his lawyer Blake McCandless.
A short time later, the snow is coming down harder. Jude comes back and hands the woman her key. He tells her the car is working fine now. She thanks him. She is having another cigarette, and this time she lights one for him and puts it into his mouth.
We cut to a scene where he is in her room with her, in front of the fire place. They kiss, and he can see where this is headed. He stands up and says it is not really his style, especially with a person he barely met. She says he can pretend he’s known her a long time, then he won’t feel guilty. He is about to leave, but then she takes off her clothes and it’s hard for him to say no. He spends the night with her as a storm rages outside.
Shane knocks on the door the next morning to bring coffee and another newspaper. He discovers his guests have become very acquainted. Shane thinks Jude is like a god to score with this luscious babe.
Shane goes back to the office. The woman is about to take a shower and entices Jude to join her. In the next scene, they shower together. She asks if it would matter whether she’s married. He wasn’t expecting her to say this. It is not his style to sleep with a married woman. The spell has been broken. He gets out of the shower, with some soap still on him.
Soon he is towel dry and putting his clothes on. She comes up and says a fight with her husband in Chicago led her to go for a long drive to clear her head. She is sorry she wasn’t honest about her situation, but she still had a nice time with him. Jude says the fish are waiting for him. He exits.
An hour later the woman is leaving to return to Chicago. Shane watches her drive off. Her car drives past the lake where Jude is fishing. She waves as she cruises by then heads off. Jude turns back to the fish.
The next morning Jude is settling the bill with Shane. There’s another newspaper on the counter. They both read the front-page headline. It says Vivian Caldwell was murdered at her home, and there is a photo. Jude gets into his truck and leaves.
We then cut to downtown Chicago. Jude has gone directly to the precinct in his truck. The captain and Marty are surprised to see him. He isn’t scheduled to work again until Monday. Jude wants to know all about the Vivian Caldwell murder. He says he met a Vivian Caldwell in Kankakee.
In the next scene, Jude goes to a law office downtown. The secretary lets him in. As Jude waits for Blake McCandless, he is surprised to see Blake’s wife come in looking for her husband. It’s the woman Jude met in Kankakee. She is still alive. She didn’t know he was a police lieutenant.
They are soon having coffee in Blake’s office. After the secretary exits, she tells Jude her name is really Vivian Caldwell. The woman that died was her twin sister Veronica Caldwell, who sometimes impersonated her. This explains why she was misidentified by the media. Vivian is an artist who kept her maiden name. Her husband is Blake McCandless, a high-powered lawyer who works for mobster Antonio Salerno.
The fight she and Blake had, which led to her taking a long drive, was about whether he’d be able to break free from the Salernos. She says Blake has a weird loyalty to Antonio Salerno. Plus the money is too good, and she fears Blake will never get away from working for the mob. She will help in any way possible to nail her sister’s killer. She tells Jude that her sister Veronica was involved with Salerno’s son, A.J.
They are interrupted when Blake enters. Jude takes the opportunity to ask Blake questions about Marek Dembrowski’s recent shooting and where McCandless’ client, Antonio Salerno, was when that happened. Blake says Salerno was hosting a dinner party, which he and his wife Vivian attended with her sister Veronica. Speaking of Veronica, Jude asks the lawyer what he knows about the relationship his deceased sister-in-law’s had with A.J. Salerno. Blake says he disagrees with Vivian that A.J. was behind the murder.
The following morning, Jude gets a call from Vivian that she has proof A.J. killed Veronica. She wants to see Jude later in the day at a private meeting place. She suggests a suite at a downtown hotel. She wants to resume their sexual relationship. Jude says he won’t have sex with her again. He’ll meet her at the restaurant inside the hotel. As she hangs up, we see that someone is in the shadows watching her.
We then cut to the hotel. Jude is waiting in the restaurant but Vivian never shows up. He texts then calls her but there are no responses. He goes to find the manager, and they head up to her room. When they knock on the door to the suite, it’s unlatched. Someone has been there. Jude goes in and discovers Vivian’s body on the floor. The manager calls for paramedics. Jude gives her mouth to mouth resuscitation but she is still not breathing. She is pronounced dead when the paramedics arrive.
In the next scene, Marty has shown up and he’s helping Jude question the hotel staff about anyone suspicious seen entering or leaving Vivian’s suite. Just then, McCandless turns up, having been notified about his wife. The coroner is wheeling her body out, and McCandless is upset.
All of this is on the news. Ashley Clark is on the scene reporting live. We then cut to the Salerno mansion. Tony Salerno is watching the newscast and tells his son to turn it off. This is the first time we’ve shown A.J. As A.J. turns off the TV, Salerno looks at two photos on his desk.
Salerno tells A.J. he knows his son killed both Caldwell women, and that if Blake finds out he will turn state’s evidence against them to the cops. Salerno gets up out of his chair and says that if A.J. doesn’t stop killing, he’s going to have to take a trip somewhere under an assumed name.
A.J. doesn’t want that to happen and promises to behave. Salerno tells him behaving involves more than not killing helpless women. It means staying away from that other bitch, too. He’s now referring to D’Amico’s wife Felicia. We can see this is something that will be hard for A.J. to do.
Just then, Salerno and his son are interrupted when the butler tells them that Salerno’s wife and niece are waiting for them in the dining room. As they go off to dinner, we zoom in on the two photos Salerno was looking at. The first one is A.J., and the other one is another young man in a cop’s uniform we haven’t met yet.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 22, 2023 17:12:13 GMT
041 The Wife Who Didn't Pay Her Husband's Ransom
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
In the previous episode, we learned that A.J. Salerno killed his ex-girlfriend Veronica Caldwell and her sister Vivian who was causing problems for him. He seems to have gotten away with it. To dull the pain from that experience, he is drinking more and has gone back to another woman with whom he’s had an on-again/off-again relationship. Felicia D’Amico is a very beautiful woman, and she’s ten years older than A.J.
The relationship is a huge problem, for two major reasons. First, A.J.’s father has someone else in mind for A.J. to settle down with, a sweet innocent girl named Giuliana who is back in the old country. And second, Felicia is married to Salerno’s archenemy, Ernesto D’Amico. Ernie and Tony used to be business partners years ago, but they split up and went separate ways. Ever since, there’s been a lot of bad blood between them.
Felicia never really loved Ernie, not even when she was singing in a nightclub and first met him. She married him, because he had power and was a way for her to feel important. Ernie gave her everything money could buy, and Ernie loved Felicia deeply. She never earned that love or deserved it.
Every time Felicia takes up with A.J., she has to be careful, because she could lose everything. But unknown to her, Ernie is aware of her affair with A.J., because Marek told him. But Ernie explains to Marek that if he eliminates A.J., it would launch a bigger war between the Salernos and D’Amicos that could decimate them all.
Although Ernie seems to be tolerating Felicia’s infidelity with A.J., it makes him a bit unhinged. And to get A.J. to stay way from his wife, Ernie arranges to have A.J. kidnapped for a day and then released. It almost goes according to plan, except Marek Dembrowski figures out where A.J. is being held in some warehouse downtown. He breaks in, and he unties A.J. When Ernie comes to check on A.J., he is knocked out by Marek and Joey, then tied up in A.J.’s place. A.J. then goes back to the Salerno home and reports to his father what has happened.
In the next scene, Salerno calls Marek to the house for a visit. He wants to keep Ernie captive for a while, and figures he can get some money out of Felicia and force her to end her relationship with A.J. In the meantime, Marek and Joey will make sure Ernie stays put inside the warehouse and doesn’t escape.
In the next scene A.J. goes to see Felicia. She learns what has happened. Felicia admits she has been toying with the idea of divorcing her abusive spouse. She wants to be with A.J. all the time. A.J. would like that. As they make love and get a bit rough, he has flashbacks of killing Veronica and Vivian. He seems to get off on mistreating women. But Felicia gets off on his sadomasochism because she has those tendencies too.
After they have sex, A.J. leaves. Felicia gets a ransom note delivered by Marek and Joey. It has instructions about how to pay the ransom for her to get Ernie back. But Felicia just lets the letter sit on the counter. She doesn’t do anything about it until Jude shows up the following day and says her husband’s business associates have reported him missing. She then admits she received a ransom note and hands it to Jude and Marty.
In the next part of the story, while Jude investigates with Marty various leads into Ernie D’Amico’s whereabouts, Felicia gets a face-to-face visit from Marek and Joey. She says she is still getting the money together, but when they talk to A.J. shortly afterward, they learn that Felicia is stalling. They go back and tell Salerno this. Salerno tells the boys what to do next.
Marek and Joey return to the warehouse where Ernie is still tied up. Joey holds Ernie steady while Marek moves in with a knife.
In the very next scene, A.J. is with Felicia when she receives an ear in a box that has been cut off her husband’s head. A.J. realizes his father means business, but Felicia refuses to pay the ransom, hoping more than an ear will be cut off. If Salerno and his goons kill her husband, she will be free to marry A.J. while inheriting her husband’s wealth.
A bit later Jude and Marty visit Felicia again to ask more questions, and she shows them the box with the sliced ear in it. They take it with them for evidence. Back at the precinct, Jude and Marty show Amanda and the captain what Felicia received. Amanda thinks they are dealing with sick people. The captain doesn’t disagree.
Meanwhile, at the warehouse, Ernie finally manages to escape. We see him show up back at his home. Felicia is startled to see him waiting for her in the living room when she comes home after getting her hair done. He asks why she didn’t pay the ransom. There is a bandage where his ear used to be. He is furious and determined to teach Felicia a lesson. He is going to do to her ear what she let happen to his. He has a butcher knife from the kitchen, and as he moves closer, she screams.
In the next scene, we see Jude and Marty getting a statement from Felicia at the emergency room at St. Joseph’s hospital. One of her ears has been whacked off, and she wants charges pressed against her husband. When Jude and Marty return to the D’Amico residence, they discover that A.J. came over to confront Ernie for what he did to Felicia. He and Ernie both wound up shooting each other. Ernie is dead in the living room, and A.J. is still alive. The paramedics are on their way.
The last scene is almost a week later. A.J. survived surgery and is recovering. Salerno has come to see him. Salerno tells Jude he’s glad Ernie is dead. It was obviously self-defense and A.J.’s murder of Ernie was justifiable homicide. But Jude says he’s going to be watching A.J. Salerno says he will be watching his son, too.
As Salerno and Jude look through the window of the hospital room door, they see Salerno’s wife Concetta inside A.J.’s room holding A.J.’s hand. She just wants all the violence to stop.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 23, 2023 15:50:49 GMT
042 The Price of Silence, Part 1
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Birdie gets a visit by an old friend from the east coast, a gal named Gracie Pruitt. We learn the women knew each other from their days together in Atlantic City. Birdie was a professional singer who headlined in a mobster’s casino, and Gracie was a backup singer in Birdie’s act. But Birdie always thought Gracie had the talent to headline, too.
Gracie reveals she just moved to Chicago and is flat broke with nowhere to go. Birdie feels sorry for her, and says Gracie can bunk with her until she gets back on her feet. It will be like old times. Soon the women are going around together, and they are even rehearsing a song for a talent show fundraiser at the church.
But while Gracie seems nice on the surface, it is quickly evident that she has an agenda. She has been sent here by the mob to get some document that could incriminate a mafia boss. It has fallen into Birdie’s possession, and Gracie can’t tell if Birdie got the paper accidentally or if she stole it.
During one scene, Gracie goes off to Grant Park without Birdie and meets Marek. She says she needs a bit more time to get the paper from Birdie for Tony Salerno. But after Gracie returns to Birdie’s place, we see that Marek intends to take the paper and sell it to Felicia D’Amico who has now taken over her late husband’s business.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Birdie can see that Gracie has a few angles, because Birdie used to be that way. Birdie tries to tell Gracie about what happened to Millie Joles. She suggests that the city can be quite dangerous, especially for those who get in over their head.
The next morning, Birdie is feeling under the weather when Gracie gets up. Gracie is going to Mr. Harper’s corner market and will pick up soup for Birdie. She will also buy a few lottery tickets for Birdie, who didn’t play her lucky number yet for the weekend jackpot drawing on TV.
We go with Gracie to Harper’s market. Mr. Harper knows Gracie doesn’t play the lottery and he correctly guesses the tickets are for Birdie. While he looks for the kind of soup Birdie prefers, there is a teenaged hood named Yancy on the sidewalk across the street. Gracie talked to him on her way over to the market. Mr. Harper can’t find the soup on the shelf, but he thinks he has some in the back.
As he goes to get it, a car races up outside and Gracie watches two men kill the teen, then take off. It all happens fast. Mr. Harper returns with the soup and asks what just went down outside. Gracie says it was a hit and run. Mr. Harper steps out and sees Yancy on the ground. He rushes back inside to grab his phone and calls the police.
In the next scene, Jude and Marty have pulled up. They were on rounds in the area when the call came in. Mr. Harper explains he was in the storage room, but one of his customers saw some it happen. Jude wants to know where the customer is now, and Lewis Harper says she must have gotten scared and left. He tells Jude that Gracie Pruitt is staying with Birdie Conwell. Marty remains with Yancy, and waits for the ambulance. Yancy has been critically wounded and is barely hanging on.
We cut to Birdie’s place. Gracie is giving Birdie the lottery tickets but says Mr. Harper was out of the soup. She then starts explaining what happened outside Harper’s market. Birdie knows Yancy and says he’s a good kid. A car pulls up outside. It’s Jude, who is soon knocking at the door. He wants to speak to Gracie.
Birdie listens intently as Gracie repeats the story she just told Birdie, but conveniently leaves out key facts. Jude thanks Gracie for her time and will be in touch. As he drives off, Birdie asks Gracie why she didn’t tell Jude everything. Gracie says she doesn’t fully trust cops.
Gracie has to go off to an appointment. But Birdie knows that Gracie has a new angle and is going to play it to her advantage. Birdie sips some tea, determined to get better soon. She intends to keep a close eye on Gracie.
We then have short scenes at the hospital. Father Delacruz has come to administer last rites, because Yancy is not going to make it. A short time later, Yancy is declared dead. Jude and Marty admit to Captain O’Reilly all they have to go on is what Gracie told Jude.
At the same time, we see Gracie hovering around the hospital. She learns Yancy has died. She then goes to Sonja’s coffee shop and gets something to drink. As she sits at a table, she waits for someone to come in. Jude drives up to get his usual brew and sees Gracie at the table. He asks her questions and she appears cooperative but her recollections are vague.
Dewey hands Jude his coffee. Jude still thinks Sonja makes better coffee than Dewey. But he gives Dewey a tip. Dewey tells Jude that Sonja is in back talking to Marek, but he will be sure to let Sonja know how much he prefers her coffee. Jude is tempted to take the tip back out of the jar for that wisecrack. Jude exits and Marek comes out from the back. He has to return to work. He goes on to the street and Gracie follows him.
In the next scene as Marek gets into his car, Gracie approaches him. He pretends not to know her, in case Sonja or Dewey are watching through the coffee shop window. She chides him for his faulty memory. But that’s okay, she has a faulty memory sometimes too. She’ll conveniently forget he was involved with the shooting of Yancy Cooke, if his price is right.
Marek doesn’t like the direction of this conversation. He has to get going. She hands him a piece of paper. It is half of the paper that Birdie had, which Tony Salerno wants. She has Marek’s full attention. This paper shows she found what Birdie has, and combined with Yancy Cooke’s death, she definitely has Marek over a barrel.
He says he will be in touch later and starts the motor. She says he better, or she will go back inside the coffee shop and talk to Marek’s wife. It will be easy for her fill Sonja in on all of Marek’s mob activities. He reacts.
At the precinct, we see Jude and Marty discussing Yancy’s death with the captain. It is learned Yancy was a witness in a drug deal and working as an informant with Amanda on another case. Amanda comes in and verifies all this. They also discuss the fact there were two men in the car when Yancy was shot and killed.
We then cut to Gracie going back to Birdie’s place. She passes by Sugar’s motel and sees a man come out. It’s Joey Sheridan, the other guy in the car with Marek that day. She tells him that she is going to offer him the same deal she offered Marek. She knows he was only a passenger and that Marek is the one that was behind the wheel, who ran over Yancy Cooke. She won’t tell Lieutenant Anthony about Joey’s involvement in any of this, if he decides to pay her nicely for the info Salerno wants.
Joey hands Gracie a C note and says she can trust him. Then she turns the corner to Birdie’s apartment building. When she arrives, Birdie is practicing the song they plan to sing at the church—‘God Bless the Child.’ Gracie joins her in the middle of the tune, and it’s like they’re back in Atlantic City during their younger glory days.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 24, 2023 13:49:04 GMT
043 The Price of Silence, Part 2
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We replay the part where Gracie has gotten a hundred dollar bill from Joey and gone back to Birdie’s apartment. They practice the song they’ll sing at the church talent show, ‘God Bless the Child.’ They are both still in good shape vocally, even if their figures have gone by the wayside.
Meanwhile, Marek has driven to the apartment building and he’s knocked on the wrong door. Marek thinks Birdie and Gracie are inside and not answering, so he goes round to the back, through the courtyard, to break in.
At the same time, Birdie goes to water her flowers on the back patio. Birdie knows who Marek Dembrowski is and realizes he’s come here to kill someone. Gracie is about to step on to the patio to join Birdie and have a cigarette, but Birdie quickly pushes her back inside. Gracie sees Marek across the way breaking into the neighbor’s place with a gun, while Joey keeps lookout at the other end of the courtyard.
Birdie closes the sliding door and locks it, then pulls the blinds shut. She gives Gracie a tongue-lashing. She says Marek and Joey are dangerous. Gracie could wind up dead like Yancy Cooke. Gracie insists she knows what she’s doing.
As they talk, Gracie admits she is playing Marek and Joey against each other. She knows the one she doesn’t provide an alibi for will find a way to kill her from behind bars. But if she doesn’t help one of them, then she will have two people gunning for her. Plus there’s money to be made off the deal. This is when Gracie admits she came here to get an important document Birdie has. Birdie seems to know the significance of it.
Birdie goes into the other room to get the document and realizes it’s gone. Gracie says she has it and made a copy, giving Marek half of it, since she thinks he’ll be the one to cough up the dough she wants. Birdie tells her she needs to give the document back. They start arguing.
At the same time, Marek didn’t find anyone inside the neighbor’s place, and since there are some children coming into the courtyard area to play, the men leave.
Back inside Birdie’s place, Birdie forces Gracie to turn over the document she took. Gracie realizes she was wrong to take it. She is sorry for betraying her friend. She has enjoyed the idea of performing with her Birdie again. But says she needs money from Marek and Joey, to take a dying friend to Florida. Birdie doesn’t know whether to believe her.
That evening Marek and Joey return, and this time they find the right apartment. While Birdie listens from behind a door in the next room, Gracie talks to Marek and Joey. She wants to know how much they’re going to pay her, combined, for the second half of the paper Salerno wants, plus to keep silent about what they did to Yancy.
Marek gets angry and smashes a lamp. He refuses to play her game and calls her a crazy old broad. Sensing Gracie’s life is in danger, Birdie quietly calls Amanda at the precinct. Jude is just about to get off duty, and Amanda tells him what is going on. Soon they are speeding over to the apartment complex where Birdie and Gracie are.
As they go inside Birdie’s place, they discover a struggle had occurred. Gracie has been murdered. Birdie is hiding in a closet in the bedroom. Amanda tells her it’s safe to come out now. Birdie watched Marek kill Gracie, while Joey ransacked the place and found the document, which Birdie had put back inside a shoebox.
Birdie is afraid to say anything more, because she knows Marek is involved with Tony Salerno and Felicia D’Amico. So this could bring more trouble to her door. She doesn’t want to end up like Gracie. She just tells Jude and Amanda that some strange men she had never seen before showed up and started arguing with Gracie.
We cut to Marek’s car outside the coffee shop. He gives Joey a copy of the the document, telling Joey he stashed the original somewhere for safe keeping. He orders Joey to take the copy to Salerno. Joey’s instructions are to tell Tony that the original document is in a deposit box at Harris Bank. Yancy Cooke is dead and out of the way. So is Gracie Pruitt. And if Salerno meets Marek’s price, this can all be taken care of right now. Or else he will give the document to Felicia D’Amico.
Joey says Salerno isn’t going to like being strong armed this way. Marek doesn’t care what Salerno likes, and he tells Joey to go deliver the message. As Joey walks off to get the subway to the Salerno home, Marek goes inside the coffee shop to pick up Sonja who is getting off duty.
We then cut to Birdie who has gone to the church for the talent show. She tells Adrian and Sister Agnes she won’t be performing, just watching. During the show, there is a young sister act and they are quite good. They remind Birdie of when she and Gracie were in their prime. She goes up to them afterward and tells them they have a lot of talent and will go far. This makes the gals feel good.
We then go to Joey Sheridan arriving at the Salerno home. A servant ushers Joey inside. Joes goes into the study where Salerno is smoking a cigar. Joey gives Salerno the copy of the document Marek has in safe keeping. Salerno looks over the copy. He’s not happy.
All Salerno wanted was to get the original from Birdie. And now it’s being used against him by Marek, whom he has often rewarded in the past. Joey admits that when Marek was shot, he was faking memory loss and playing both families. Salerno takes a long puff. He decides Marek has gone too far this time and he wants Joey to help take Marek out.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 25, 2023 15:47:46 GMT
044 Killers Are Like Dominoes
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Tony Salerno is figuring out how he should have Joey take Marek out. He wants it to be excruciatingly painful. He and Joey are talking over ideas in the study at the Salerno mansion. Tony’s son A.J. is with them. A.J. seems to have taken particular interest in Marek’s fate.
During this visit at the mansion, Joey bumps into Salerno’s niece Sandra who never says anything. We reveal that they look forward to bumping into each other and have known one another for awhile. Sandra’s mute. Something traumatic happened to her that impairs her ability to speak. She’s a very beautiful girl and Joey is taken with her, and she likes the attention he gives her. But she seems either very shy or afraid of her uncle Tony, who would discourage her getting to know Joey better.
Back in the study, A.J. is asking his father when he plans to eliminate Marek. But Tony is vague. Tony does admit that Marek faked amnesia a while back and is extorting money out of him about a document that Gracie Pruitt found in Birdie Conwell’s possession. Salerno doesn’t like how disloyal Marek has been, but he knows Marek still has connections to the D’Amico organization which he won’t be able to use if he gets rid of Marek too soon. A.J. reacts.
The next day, A.J. is seen calling someone. He warns the person on the other end of the line that something has to be done today, before his father can finalize plans. After the call ends, A.J. dials someone else.
Meanwhile Marek has just come into Sonja’s coffee shop with Joey. They hang out for a bit, while Marek waits for Sonja to finish with customers. Soon Sonja is free and able to have lunch with Marek. Marek acts like he wants to be alone with his wife and asks Joey to take his vehicle to the car wash. As Joey goes outside and starts the engine, the car explodes.
In the next scene, Jude is on the scene investigating the explosion with Marty. Joey’s body was burned beyond recognition. Sonja is thankful her husband wasn’t killed. Jude and Marty take Marek to the precinct for additional questioning, while Sonja turns the reigns over to Dewey so she can go to the church to pray. At the church, Sister Agnes sees Sonja and comforts her. She knows Sonja married a man with a dangerous life, but doesn’t come out and say it.
At the precinct, the captain is brought up to speed on the car bomb. He asks Marek about who wanted him out of the way. Jude and Marty both suspect the explosion that killed Joey Sheridan was intended for Marek. Marek’s cryptic answers support their theory, since he suggests the explosion was a message from Antonio Salerno. The captain asks why Salerno would turn on Marek, but Marek insists he does not know.
The captain thinks Marek is playing games and he slams his fist down on the table to show Marek he means business. The captain then goes to get some water, and while he is out of the room, Jude tells Marek his life is in danger. This is something Marek already knows. Marek seems to be cooperating with Jude, acting as if he needs to help bring down Salerno.
In the other room, while watching Jude question Marek, behind a mirror, the captain tells Marty that Marek is more valuable now than ever to the police department, and Marek knows it. He wonders what Marek is withholding from them but feels they can still use Marek to nail Salerno.
Meanwhile, at the Salerno mansion, Sandra is watching the TV news with her Aunt Concetta. They learn on screen that Joey has been killed. Concetta realizes it seems like the kind of hit Tony would order. Connie tries to get A.J. to verify this but he’s on his way out to meet someone. At the same time Sandra has gone upstairs to mourn Joey.
Back downstairs A.J. has left and Tony comes into the room. Concetta asks him about Joey’s death. Tony says he needs Marek out of the way, but that he did not order the car bomb explosion that took Joey’s life. He had other plans to get rid of Marek. Concetta doesn’t know how Sandra will get over her loss. We cut back to Sandra crying softly on her pillow.
At the same time Marek tells Jude he has answered all the questions, and there’s nothing more. Jude says they need to find the person responsible for the explosion. The captain steps back into the interrogation room and says Marek can leave, but if they need more information, they’ll be in touch. Marek understands. We go with Marek on his way out of the precinct. As he walks to the church to meet Sonja, he gets a text from A.J. who is coming to pick him up.
In the next shot, A.J.’s car pulls up alongside Marek and Marek hops in. A.J. drives Marek to the church. As they pull into the parking lot, A.J. hands Marek a wad of cash. We reveal that A.J. rigged the car bomb, to get Joey out of the way and that he and Marek are in cahoots. A.J. wants Marek to keep spoon-feeding information about his father to the police, to gradually incriminate Tony Salerno. A.J.’s goal is to bring his father down, to merge business and personal interests with Felicia D’Amico.
Marek has tucked the money into his pocket, which he will be using to buy a new car. He gets out of A.J.’s vehicle and goes up to the front of the church where Sonja is now exiting. He tells her that the police are now done with him. Sonja’s glad he’s cooperating with Jude.
We pan over to another car across the street. It’s some sort of private detective who’s just watched Marek’s meeting with A.J. As Marek and Sonja walk back to the coffee shop, the detective dials a number and tells the person who hired him about Marek meeting A.J.
We cut to the person that was just called by the detective. It’s Concetta. She now knows that her son A.J. was probably the one behind Joey’s death, but that her husband Tony is in the dark about this.
At the same time A.J. has gone to see Felicia. They have a romantic reunion and he tells her that soon his father will be caught in the cops’ net and they will be free to be together. Felicia wants to know why he hates his father so much. He says his father is a sick and twisted man that he needs to get out from under. Felicia reacts.
We cut to the Salerno mansion that evening. Concetta is checking on Sandra, who is now fast asleep. Concetta turns off the lamp, closes the door and goes down the hall to the bedroom she shares with her husband. She gets into bed with Tony, but he rejects her physical advances, saying he has too much on his mind about Marek. Concetta turns over and pretends to go to sleep.
A short time later she hears her husband leave their bedroom. He sneaks down the hall to Sandra’s room, wakes her up and gets into bed with her. He has a sick and twisted relationship with his niece.
The next morning the family is at breakfast. Nobody is saying anything that’s really on their minds. Sandra has an appointment with her shrink. Tony is heading to his office, so he and his driver will drop Sandra off. After they leave, Concetta tells A.J. she wants a word with him. He asks his mother what it’s about.
She admits she hired a detective to follow him yesterday and knows he’s working with Marek to bring down his father. He reacts. He starts to say something but she stops him. She tells him she supports what he is doing, and anything she can do to help make her husband pay for all the horrible things he’s done, she’s on board with that.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 26, 2023 15:39:45 GMT
045 Cassie
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
Naldo Benini is the son of one of Jude’s high school buddies who died recently in a car accident. Naldo has been helping his mother Adeline with the bills, by taking a part-time job at a car dealer while he goes to college. But the job is not enough because we see that the Beninis are deeply in debt. Naldo feels an obligation to keep giving his mother the type of life she had with his late father.
We find out when Marek visits to check on Adeline that Naldo’s father Fausto Benini had been on the Salerno payroll (something Jude suspected). Marek doesn’t tell Adeline that he killed Fausto who caught Marek tampering with the drugs that were being smuggled in the cars belonging to Salerno.
As Marek visits the Benini home, he has an offer of a better job for Naldo. Adeline is grateful and encourages Naldo to hear Marek’s offer. Adeline goes to check on some lasagna she’s baking, and the guys step on to the porch.
Outside while having a smoke, Marek makes his offer to Naldo. He wants Naldo to stay at the car dealer and to help be the inside guy on a new deal. Marek gives Naldo a thousand dollars in cash as an advance and says this is just the beginning. Naldo can’t turn the cash down and agrees. Marek will give Naldo more instructions tomorrow and he drives off in the new car he bought , saying he has to meet Sonja. Adeline opens the screen door and says the lasagna is ready. Naldo says Marek got a text from his wife and had to go. As Naldo steps inside to eat dinner, he doesn’t tell his mother exactly what Marek wanted.
When Marek leaves, he doesn’t go to see Sonja. He drives to the waterfront to meet another woman. It’s a blonde haired girl named Cassie. She knows Naldo from school. She promises to make sure Naldo carries out Marek’s orders.
We learn during their conversation that Naldo is being set up. Marek wasn’t able to get rid of the drugs he stole from Salerno, and he’s going to put them in Naldo’s possession, claiming that Fausto stole it all and Naldo took over after his old man died. He is betting that Salerno will kill Naldo for this. Marek tells Cassie to be a good girl, and this time he really does get a text from Sonja and leaves to meet her.
The next day we see Naldo at the car dealership. Cassie comes by and asks how things are going. He wants to take her out dancing after work, and she agrees. She will see him later and leaves.
That evening on the way to the club, Cassie says she received a message from Marek and she hands it to Naldo. It’s his instructions about what to do with the latest shipment.
As they get to the club, they have a good time on the dance floor. Cassie enjoys being with Naldo, since he’s a good dancer and is attractive. They go to the Benini home afterward. Adeline is sleeping in her room, and Naldo starts getting hot and heavy with Cassie on the sofa. But she asks him to stop what he’s doing and to stop calling her Cassie. She runs out and takes a ride share home. Naldo is confused. He then looks at Marek’s instructions and decides to just focus on the job he has to do tomorrow.
We have a scene at the Salerno mansion, where Jude visits to ask some questions about Joey Sheridan’s car bombing death. As Concetta Salerno looks on, her husband Tony laughs and says Jude is on a fishing expedition and has no way to tie it to the Salerno family, especially since he did not order the explosion. Jude believes Tony may be telling the truth for once in his life, but someone still wanted Joey dead and he intends to get to the bottom of it.
Before Jude leaves, Salerno reminds him that Marek is one of his assistants and a valuable man in his company. He would not kill Marek. Maybe the game plan has changed, Jude says. Salerno has other matters to attend to and he refers Jude to his lawyer Blake McCandless, if there are other questions or vague insinuations.
As Jude is ushered out, he bumps into Sandra in the foyer. She still doesn’t speak. Her Aunt Concetta, who is showing Jude to the door because it’s the housekeeper’s day off, explains that Sandra lost her ability to speak at the age of 10. The family therapist thinks the girl will regain her voice one day. In the meantime, Sandra sits in on some classes at DePaul University and she is running late now. Jude finds all this rather interesting.
We then watch Sandra leave in her car as Jude leaves in his. He decides to tail her for a while, but not to make it too obvious. She stops off at a girlfriend’s dorm on the campus at DePaul. She goes inside, and some time passes. About ten minutes later, Jude sees a blonde haired girl exit the same building. It’s Cassie, and Naldo picks her up. Jude is still waiting for Sandra to come out of the building he saw her go inside. We cut to Cassie in Naldo’s car, and she apologizes for last night.
Soon Cassie and Naldo are arriving at the car dealership. She is helping Naldo by distracting the manager. Meanwhile Naldo is following Marek’s instructions in the back of the shop. He is taking the drugs and placing them behind the seat of a vehicle. But in the middle of this operation, Marek calls the manager and gives him an anonymous tip about what’s going on. The manager breaks away from Cassie and goes to see what is happening. He catches Naldo red-handed while Cassie sneaks off.
In the next scene, the manager is calling the Salerno home. This is when we find out the Salerno family owns the car dealership and it’s one of the fronts for Tony Salerno’s drug business. Only Tony doesn’t answer the house phone. Concetta does. She summons her husband to the phone.
Tony didn’t know a kid named Naldo was working there. The manager says the kid is Fausto’s son. Tony assumes, just like Marek figured, that Naldo is cutting in on Salerno’s business like the old man supposedly did. Salerno hangs up and summons A.J. and tells him to go over to the dealership and pick up that punk kid Naldo. Concetta observes all this.
Tony goes back into the study to pour a drink, and as Concetta walks A.J. to the door, she tells him to have Marek give Naldo more money to get a lawyer and claim that Tony gave him his instructions, nobody else.
Meanwhile, we cut to Jude at the DePaul campus. He is speaking to the resident advisor of the dorm where Sandra went in and never seemed to come out. The R.A. says there is no Sandra Salerno who stays here. But there is a girl named Cassie. The R.A. walks Jude down the hall, and they see the door to Cassie’s room is not latched. Jude looks inside, and he sees make-up on a table and a strand of blonde hair.
Jude has to go when he gets an anonymous call (from A.J.) about the drugs at the car dealership. He heads over there where Marty has already arrived and started investigating. Naldo is being arrested.
We cut to the precinct a short time later. Naldo is already lawyered up thanks go Marek and A.J. He is grilled in the interrogation room by Jude, Marty and the captain. Naldo admits his late father Fausto worked for Tony Salerno, and says Tony had his old man killed. The cops have no idea if this is true or a lie. It’s one more thing to look into.
Out in the main area, Amanda sees a fragile looking young woman. It’s Sandra Salerno. She seems to be worried about whether Naldo is in trouble. Amanda reads her mind, and says Naldo will go before a judge and the lawyer will probably post bail for him. Sandra is relieved. She tells Amanda ‘thanks for the information’ and leaves. This is the first time she has spoken. Her voice sounds just like Cassie’s voice.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 27, 2023 15:29:56 GMT
046 What’s Around the Bend When the Road Comes to an End?
Outline written by Jarrod McDonald, c) 2023
We pick up the action from the previous episode. Sandra has just spoken for the first time, sounding like Cassie. She seems relieved by assurances given to her by Amanda and leaves the precinct. In the other room, Naldo learns that he is going before a judge but the lawyer says they’ll post bail. Naldo’s mother Adeline arrives, but she worries they don’t have money for bail. The lawyer has been in contact with Concetta Salerno, and money will be no problem. Adeline and Naldo react.
We then cut to a courtroom where Naldo goes before a tough female judge. She sets the bail quite high, but as the lawyer promised, the funds have been arranged. Soon Naldo is outside with his mother. She is glad that her boy can come home with her. But she fears he will be convicted. He says the lawyer will arrange a plea deal to lessen charges, if he agrees to offer testimony against Antonio Salerno whom the courts are more invested in convicting. As they get into their car and drive home, Naldo gets a text from Cassie. He replies back and says he’s out and plans to stay out.
We cut to someone at the Salerno mansion reading the text. She seems glad by the reply he sent. But then she suddenly gets disoriented and doesn’t understand what all this means. The person has switched back from Cassie to Sandra mode.
Downstairs we see Connie telling her husband that he’d be smart to skip the country, since Naldo Benini will help the prosecutors tighten the noose around Tony’s neck. Tony is surprised by how much Concetta knows. Usually she remains in the background about such stuff. But she says she is a lot more involved in this than he realizes. Before he has a chance to learn what her cryptic remarks remain, she has left, on her way to an important meeting somewhere.
After Concetta has gone, Tony goes up to Sandra’s room. He tells her how much he needs her. She is very confused. He reminds her how much she needs him and kisses her.
We cut to Concetta arriving at Felicia D’Amico’s place. Felicia was wondering when Concetta would get around to visiting. Concetta will keep this brief. She’s here to talk about A.J. She will make sure her husband goes away for a long time, thus freeing the territory for Felicia if Felicia breaks things off with A.J. Felicia guesses this is because of Concetta’s desire to keep A.J. close to her, for her own unnatural purposes. Concetta doesn’t dignify that with an answer but says she will give Felicia till tomorrow to think things over and make the right choice.
After Concetta leaves, A.J. comes out of the bedroom. He’s overheard everything. He kisses Felicia passionately and asks if she’s going to cooperate with his mother. She reacts.
We then cut back to the Salerno mansion. Concetta is returning from her visit with Felicia. She sees lawyer Blake McCandless’ car out front. She goes inside and learns that Blake came by for a business meeting. As Concetta takes her coat off and joins him for a drink, they hear a shot upstairs. It’s come from Sandra’s room. They rush upstairs and find Tony unconscious on the floor. Sandra is crying over his motionless body, speaking as Cassie.
In the next part Jude and Marty have arrived to investigate. Tony is fighting for his life and is taken by paramedics to St. Joseph's hospital. A.J. has arrived at the house, shocked to learn his father was shot. Sandra is still talking in strange words as Cassie. Concetta says her niece hasn’t spoken in years. It’s as if she’s an entirely different person.
Cassie admits she shot and killed Tony, because Tony wouldn’t leave Sandra alone. Jude has no choice but to have Marty arrest her. As she is led out, Blake vows to Concetta and A.J. he will help get the girl committed to Oak Haven. A short time later the police have finished collecting evidence and leave. Concetta and A.J. talk about what his father’s shooting and incapacitation means for the family business.
A.J. says he has no intention of leaving Felicia, and he admits he had overheard his mother’s earlier conversation with Felicia. Concetta says A.J.’s relationship with Felicia is unhealthy, just like Tony’s was with Sandra. A.J. says he is nothing like his father, and that he and Felicia will be married. Concetta says she will have Marek Dembrowski kill Felicia before she will ever let him marry that woman. A.J. storms off.
We dissolve to the next morning at the Benini home. Naldo has heard about Sandra/Cassie. Adeline knew that girl was trouble. She doesn’t want Naldo to contact her again, but he feels compelled to reach out to her. This is interrupted when Naldo’s lawyer shows up. Since Tony has been shot, the courts cannot proceed in their case against him, until they know whether or not he'll survive. Naldo reacts.
We then cut to Jude at the precinct. He is with the captain and Amanda, discussing recent events. Jude feels sorry for Sandra, whom he now knows was the girl wearing the blonde wig that came out of the dorms that day.
Meanwhile Naldo has gone to meet A.J. at Navy Pier. A.J. says he will help Naldo avoid trial, if Naldo will help incriminate his mother. Naldo doesn’t need time to think it over and asks what he needs to do. A.J. gives him some instructions.
After Naldo leaves, Marek shows up. A.J. tells Marek that he is going to remove his mother from the picture, so A.J. can build a new empire with Felicia. Marek knows how treacherous Concetta can be and isn’t sure this will be easy. A.J. says Naldo will help.
Later that day Naldo shows up at the Salerno mansion to visit with Concetta about Sandra/Cassie. Also he says that he and his father both stashed drugs in cars for Tony, and that if he reveals this in his trial, it could affect her. She doesn’t quite follow. He says he will perjure himself on the stand and say everything he did was on Concetta’s orders, to set Tony up. Then everyone will go after her.
Concetta says there is no proof to connect her to the drug business. But Naldo says A.J. is having Marek create proof as they speak. Concetta is unnerved to realize her son has turned against her, all because of Felicia D’Amico. This is intercut with Marek hacking into Tony’s business accounts and creating a trail back to personal accounts that Tony has with Concetta.
Back at the Salerno mansion, A.J. has shown up. He tells Naldo that he’s done a good job putting his mother in her place. He will take over. Naldo leaves, and A.J. tells Concetta to check her accounts. She logs on to her accounts and realizes that she is now implicated in much of Tony’s old business. A.J. says Marek came in quite handy, and it’s a good thing his father never got rid of Marek.
We then cut to Marek in the Polish neighborhood on the southeast side where he lives with Sonja. She did not go into the coffee shop today, because she wanted to discuss his involvement with the Salernos and D’Amicos. He has been on the computer for hours and has been vague with her. After he has finished incriminating Concetta for A.J., he logs off the computer and tells Sonja they need to get away for awhile.
She doesn’t want to go anywhere with him. But he says he already contacted her aunt Wanda in the country, who’s expecting them. Sonja reacts.
Meanwhile Jude has gone to the coffee shop downtown for his usual brew. He learns from Dewey that Sonja didn’t come in to work, that she’s having problems with Marek.
In the next scenes, we see Marek driving Sonja out to the country. They are still arguing in the car. Marek gets distracted when she tries to open the door and get out, while they are traveling at a high speed along a winding country road. Around one of the hairpin curves, the car careens off the road and down into a river.
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Post by Hrothgar on Jan 27, 2023 18:09:18 GMT
Excuse me if I raise my hand.
These are certainly good as a measure of creatively. Curious ; have you written screen plays or plan to , for these episodes.
Thanks
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Post by topbilled on Jan 27, 2023 20:33:56 GMT
Excuse me if I raise my hand. These are certainly good as a measure of creatively. Curious ; have you written screen plays or plan to , for these episodes. Thanks
I haven't written any teleplays for it yet. I wanted to make sure I had all the outlines fleshed out first. As you can expect, it's a lot of revising.
There are six seasons, 150 episodes. One of the supporting characters, Birdie Conwell the bag lady, I had planned to kill her off in the middle of season 3. But when I went back to revise the outline for the one where she is murdered, I couldn't bring myself to kill her off because I had grown very attached to her and realized there was a lot more mileage I could get from her. So I have had to revise seasons 4, 5 & 6 to ensure she has a continuing role in the main storylines.
So you can see why I don't want to start the teleplays until I am sure how long each character remains relevant. My only hard rule when I started was that Jude has to appear in every single episode, since the title of the show is named after him. But as I have been developing the storylines, several of the supporting and recurring characters have grown in importance like Birdie. |
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Post by Hrothgar on Jan 28, 2023 4:34:05 GMT
Excuse me if I raise my hand. These are certainly good as a measure of creatively. Curious ; have you written screen plays or plan to , for these episodes. Thanks
I haven't written any teleplays for it yet. I wanted to make sure I had all the outlines fleshed out first. As you can expect, it's a lot of revising.
There are six seasons, 150 episodes. One of the supporting characters, Birdie Conwell the bag lady, I had planned to kill her off in the middle of season 3. But when I went back to revise the outline for the one where she is murdered, I couldn't bring myself to kill her off because I had grown very attached to her and realized there was a lot more mileage I could get from her. So I have had to revise seasons 4, 5 & 6 to ensure she has a continuing role in the main storylines.
So you can see why I don't want to start the teleplays until I am sure how long each character remains relevant. My only hard rule when I started was that Jude has to appear in every single episode, since the title of the show is named after him. But as I have been developing the storylines, several of the supporting and recurring characters have grown in importance like Birdie.Actually I have not read them all and I don't think I am following the story line very well. At the beginning it doesn't seem be a continuous story, just different episodes. Later on it seems that there IS a story line. My reading was not all that attentive I'm afraid and sometime I skimmed. Nevertheless, overall quite an achievement. I'm impressed. |
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