Cold Case 8-11: Girl 20

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

“I thought that would be the end of it. Obviously I never thought I would marry Harry Brock,” insisted Sarah.

“You won’t be for much longer if I have a say! Good bye!” Harry yelled as he slammed the door behind him.

“Your little plan didn’t exactly work! You still lost to Crystal, and we have a witness who says you were about ready to tear your cousin a new one after the contest! That tells me you were still spitting venom at that point!” insisted Vera.

“You knew Susan was pregnant; it’s not such a stretch to believe that you knew about the anti-nausea pills she was taking; the pills she brought with her that day! Maybe you slipped a few of them into Crystal’s punch!” Stillman added. “David told us that Crystal was acting drugged before she died, and we’re pretty sure he’s telling the truth now!”

“Pills … in her drink? Was that… what she was looking for?” Sarah asked.

“If you know anything else, now is the time to talk!” Vera informed.

“I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but if you say Susan had drugs on her,” Sarah began. “It was right before we took that stupid picture. I had split off from the celebration; I didn’t want to be around anyone at this point. I was standing in the back corner planning an exit strategy when I saw Susan facing the wall. She had a cup of that fruit punch in one hand, and she was fumbling through her purse with the other.”

“That’s a pretty flimsy story. It doesn’t make any sense; what’s Susan’s motive for killing Crystal?” Vera asked.

“I can only tell you what I saw, and I swear I didn’t know about any pills! As for her reasons you’ll have to talk to her, or are you not done ruining your life?” Sarah replied.

Stillman shot a long stare back at Sarah. “Let’s get one thing perfectly clear; you ruined your own life! You started your relationship with Harry on a lie; you cost a father 48 years with his son! Your actions twisted the fates of everyone involved that night! Maybe you didn’t do anything I can charge you with, but you are far from clean here lady!” Stillman turned back to Vera and they walked out the door.

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

Susan Macluski opened her door to find Harry standing outside with Stillman and Vera behind him. “Harry, detectives, what are you doing here?”

“Sarah Polaski finally came clean,” said Stillman.

“I’m sorry for not believing you back then. My soon to be ex-wife started a stupid rumor, and I was just stupid enough to believe it,” Harry explained.

“She came clean about something else. She told us how she saw you at the end of the contest. She saw you rifling through your purse for something while you were holding a cup of punch in your other hand,” Stillman added.

“We know Crystal was drugged, and the only drug present that night was the Kevadon that you were taking,” Vera informed.

Susan shook her head. “You’ve got it wrong, detectives.”

“Before she fell, Crystal broke off her engagement. She believed the rumor too,” Stillman explained. “You see, we’ve been trying to figure out why you would want to poison Crystal. The only thing that we can figure is that you try to convince her that you and David were never involved. But she didn’t believe you either, and that sent you over the edge.”

“There was no convincing Crystal of anything that night. But you have it wrong! I never wanted to hurt Crystal! I tried … I tried to stop her!” Susan informed.

“Stop her?” Stillman asked.

Vera turned his gaze fully onto Susan. “The poison wasn’t meant for Crystal, was it?”

“What’s going to happen to my son if I go to prison? I’m all he has!” Susan squeaked.

“That’s not true; he has me! If Bertram wants me, he’ll have me!” Harry called. “For what it’s worth, Susan, I’ve already forgiven you!”

“Forgiven me?”

“I should have believed you from the start; I can’t blame you for feeling the way you felt,” Harry replied. “Just say it, the poisoned punch was meant for me.”

Susan sighed. “You left me, Harry, and the thought of being a single mother back then terrified me. My whole world was coming down around me. But it wasn’t meant for you, and it wasn’t meant for Crystal. It was meant for me…”

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

Cold Case Soundtrack: “Best Friends” www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMfUK4SFbeQ

“I took the ladle and poured some punch into a cup. Then I took the pills from my purse and dropped a few of them in the punch. I was about to down the whole thing in one shot when you walked up to me, Harry. ‘If it was up to me, I’d never have to be near you again. But the photographer wants everyone to stay for a picture of the final three couples. So let’s just do this damn picture and go our separate ways.’

“So that’s what we did. I set the cup down on the table and met everyone under the banner. The photographer lined up his shot, and then he snapped the picture. He did this a few more times before he said, ‘That should do it.’ Then we all separated.

“Crystal made her way over to the table where I saw her taking a sip from her cup. ‘I think this punch is going stale.’

“All those cups looked the same; that’s why I tried to lay mine separate from the others. But I looked over the table and saw my cup was missing. ‘Crystal no!’

“’What Susan?’ she snapped at me.

“’That was my drink!’ I shouted.

“’Seriously?’

“’Yes, I put it down in that exact spot!’ I told her.

“Crystal shook her head and smiled at me. ‘Nice try, Susan, but you’re not going to steal this from me too.’

“I started to speak, ‘Steal…’. But that’s when I knew that Crystal didn’t believe me either. I just took my purse off of the wall and left. What else could I do? I couldn’t tell her what I did, and I certainly didn’t know how to save her. Damn it Crystal, why didn’t you trust me?”

The Shirelles
“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwjqRZ9J_M

Harry entered the house as Stillman and Vera walked Susan to the car. She would be charged with first degree manslaughter.

Sarah Brock could only wonder how much longer she would be keeping that name. She sat on her couch holding a picture from her and Harry’s wedding, but all she could think of was the impending divorce.

At David’s home Andrew Darius explained the final moments leading up to Crystal’s poisoning. David walked over to his shelf of records, pulled the copy of ‘Tonight’s the Night’ by The Shirelles off of the shelf, and inserted it in an old record player. To both of their surprises it still played. He danced across the living room with the ghost of Crystal Hanley until she faded from view. It was at this moment that Darius realized his importance as a cold case detective.

At the station, Kat Miller returned Crystal’s file box to the shelf and marked it CLOSED.

A shirtless Scotty Valens could barely sleep. He spent most of the night peering through an opening in his bedroom door at a barely-clothed Lilly Rush as she sat at his desk poring over the Albert Dent case file.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAtHKs_Uqww

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

Audio PowerPoint slides also available.

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

AFTER THE SHOW

Okay ladies, let me have it.

I describe this episode as being equal parts context and controversy because I kept wondering if anyone was going to buy this. Is anyone going to buy that this lady, between 2-3 months along, was going to be on her feet for 15 hours? I want to be proud of the story, the music, the context, but it all hinges on that one question.

Thalidomide/Kevadon was in deed a real drug that did have real consequences for thousands of children across the globe. The drug was manufactured by the William S. Merell Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, my research suggests that most of the damage caused by this drug was suffered in Europe, Canada, and the Middle East. As I understand it, the drug did exist in the U.S., but it did not stay on the shelves long due largely to the work of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey who was in charge of approving new drugs at the FDA in 1960. Her persistence eventually caused Kevadon to be pulled from the shelves in the U.S. and ultimately the world at large. Dangerous consequences from Kevadon were later sited by those in the feminist movement to legalize birth control as well as the pro-choice movement.

This episode was what I like to call a fish bowl case; it took place in a closed setting and had a limited number of people involved. It was in a similar vain to that of season 4 episode 13: "Blackout" or season 3 episode 18: "Wilkomen" where the drama was largely contained. To that end, I needed the fish bowl to be believable; it needed to feel like a real Port Richmond neighborhood gathering. The first note would be a significant presence of Polish/Eastern European names; the Port Richmond district of Philadelphia was a largely Polish community during this time. Charles Caroll High School was a real place that no longer exists; I seem to recall news reports saying that the school was shut down in 2013. Beyond that, every element from the over sized bowl of punch to the frequent bouts of flash photography to the over the top, out of sync, slightly corrupt DJ that everyone hated was intended to make one feel as if this was an actual event that would bring back memories for people involved.

The music for this episode would be what I would call a happy accident. All I can say is "Thank you Comcast Music Choice". I did not exactly grow up with these songs, but, thanks to the music by decade channels offered by my cable company, I have become somewhat of an expert on oldies. I also knew a little about dances that were popular around this time such as the twist or the mashed potato. In searching these dances, all of these names kept coming up: Sam Cooke, Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, The Shirelles ... . I did not really intend for this episode to be a solute to early 1960s R&B, but when I saw what was happening I just decided to run with it. Regarding my book end songs, I started with Sam Cooke's "Having a Party" for obvious reasons. I chose The Shirelles's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" because a lot is left up in the air at the end of this episode: Harry and Susan's relationship, Harry and Sarah's relationship, David finally gets some closure in regard to Crystal, Lilly and Scotty finally get together.

That brings me to the final issue that I am sure will divide the audience. Some people wanted Lily and Scotty together, others did not. I know that the original producers went on record saying that it seemed too simple to just throw Lily and Scotty together, but I still believe that they had gotten very close near the end of season 7 and that their being a couple was not out of the realm of possibilities.

That concludes my rant on this episode. I hope you enjoyed it and found at least somewhat believable.