Original subtitles

I'm James Patterson.

You know, the rich can be really irritating.

They can get under your skin like hives.

Oh, wait, I'm kind of rich.

Well, anyway, tonight's true crime story is set against the picture perfect

backdrop of sex, money, and revenge.

What starts off as a once in a lifetime opportunity ends with a murderous twist

that would make Agatha Christie proud.

Take it from me.

Truth can be stranger than fiction.

And remember, this really happened.

Cheers.

So happy to see you guys this weekend.

I missed you.

We've missed you, too.

I thought you'd get up here a lot earlier.

Is everything okay?

Yeah,

David's baseball game went into extra innings, so... How are things with you?

Well, actually, the inspection on the Framington project didn't go very well.

Huh. I thought you said the job would be easy.

Yeah.

That's what I said.

This is my favorite hike when I was a kid. View from the top of the main...

down! Get down!

Oh.

David, stay down!

What's happening?

You know it's deer hunting season, right? The sign is clearly posted.

This land belongs to Camp Nelson Lodge. Camp Nelson Lodge, I can read.

We were out with our kids. Someone could have gotten hurt.

We all should have been wearing vests.

We shouldn't have to wear vests on our own hands.

My family's been hunting these woods for 40 years. We're around for the ones

before you and the ones before that.

We'll still be here when you cash in and go back to wherever it is you're

actually from. We're not going anywhere.

Well, this is a little bit more relaxing than that hike, right?

A lot more.

You know, I have to hand it to you, babe.

The lodge is really starting to come together.

But?

Go ahead and say it.

Well, it just tripled the budget. You know, honey, you can't keep adding

projects when you're not turning a profit. It's not good business.

You agreed the renovations needed to be high -end. They have to be done right.

You know, it's not just the money.

I want you back home when the kids do too.

I don't really notice when I'm there.

Well, they really notice when you're not.

Excuse me, Bonnie.

We got a bit of trouble at the bar.

What is it?

Guy refused to pay a tab.

There she is.

I hear you have a problem with your tab.

I know you rip everybody off in this joint, but 68 bucks for beer.

It seems pretty steep.

A little more than beer.

Whiskey, steak?

Okay. You don't like the prices or the way I do things. You don't have to come

here.

Come on, ma 'am.

I don't like the way you do things.

You stick your nose in places it doesn't belong.

Right, Rudy?

Why you all quit trying to change this town and go back to the country club

where you belong?

If you don't pay up, we're gonna call the cops.

Get out of my way before I knock your teeth out.

Does that happen a lot?

No. Not really.

You know that guy?

I've seen him around.

His name's Bones.

And you let him come in here and just harass my wife? Don't blame Rudy.

It's really my fault. How is this your fault?

It's last call.

I'll start closing up.

One of the guests stumbled on a pot farm when they hiked off trail.

I reported it.

What?

Bonnie, you could be messing with some very dangerous people. Last I heard, the

growers moved on. Field's abandoned now. Still. You know as well as anyone that

all new businesses have problems. This business is no different.

But I'm handling it on my own, and it feels good.

Listen, I know you're handling things, okay? And you're doing good, all right?

But I'm allowed to worry about you.

Yeah. You need me to help you close up?

No. You got it. All right.

I'm going to go check on the kids, okay?

I see a few spelling errors.

It's fine.

Okay.

Maybe a few mistakes won't hurt your brain.

You already got an A.

I'll fix them on the way home. Okay, let's go. Traffic's going to be

Come here.

I love you. Me too.

Bye, baby.

I promise.

I love you.

Love you too.

What happened?

A party of six we booked for ten days was canceled.

And the Yates decided to have their rehearsals in our home.

We'll figure something out.

And my idea to stop the high -end bourbon has really hurt our bottom line.

No one's drinking it.

So we'll switch back.

You're doing a great job.

Give yourself some credit.

Thanks.

I've already taken a full statement from your caretaker, Rudy Emanuel.

Of course.

Thanks for waiting for Jane to get here.

So you weren't here when this happened?

No, I drove up as soon as she called.

Can you describe the vehicle or the driver?

No, it was dark.

You know, a guy came into the bar and threatened us, and now this?

What guy was that?

Some biker guy they call Bones. Rudy knows him.

Can you describe him?

Bald, tall, snake tattoo on his arm.

Eric Brunier.

So you're going to arrest him, right?

Right now, I'm just going to talk to him.

Now, Bonnie, our records show you filed formal complaints about illegal activity

around here, marijuana farms, illegal logging. Yes, that's right.

Obviously, that's what this is all about, right?

Well, it's a good place to start.

Apart from the incident at the bar, is anything else happening?

I've been getting letters.

First I thought they were some kind of prank.

Can you put them on the table, please?

He stayed back a couple of months.

Thank you, Bernice.

I'm going to get to the bottom of this whole thing.

Until I do, here's my card.

Call me if there's any more trouble.

I will.

Take care.

I'm sorry.

I should have told you about the letters.

You called the cops on drug dealers, Bonnie.

You got threatening letters. That's major stuff.

I don't understand why you didn't tell me about that. Because I knew if I did,

you'd make me come home.

You're not safe here.

I am. I've got Rudy.

And there's plenty of people around.

I think we should sell the lodge and you should move back to Newport. No, honey,

no.

I love this place.

The kids love this place. It's part of our family. I know that. You've given it

a good run, okay? But with the cost overruns and now this... Please, give me

another year.

I promise to lay low around town.

We had our best month yet. We just booked our first wedding.

I want to give up my dream because some idiot threatened me.

Look, I know how much Elijah means to you, okay? It's just...

All right, you know what?

Okay, another year.

I better get back. I love the kids with Teresa, okay?

I love you.

I love you, too.

Hello? Hello?

Hello? Hello?

Is someone there?

I've got to fix that back door.

You scared the crap out of me.

Sorry.

You all right? Yeah, I'm fine.

Just a little spook taken.

Can't afford it, David. End of discussion, okay?

Come on, Dad.

Look, if you want to work on one of my crews, And you could earn the money.

You're kidding, right?

The only way that you're going to this camp is if you pay for it yourself.

You sent me to surf camp last year and I didn't have to pay?

Not for six weeks in Costa Rica.

I could buy a car for that.

Bye bye.

Take whatever you want! Take whatever you want!

He shot us.

What's your location, sir?

At the lodge.

Sir, stay there. We're sending someone out.

She's dead.

Bunny's dead.

Detective O'Dowd.

The coroner just told us.

Good.

Got money invaluable than plain sight.

Doesn't look like a robbery.

I got called here a couple of weeks ago.

She was being threatened.

By who?

Bones Bormier, for one.

Right after I talked to her, I booked a month's outstanding warrant, so he's in

jail. You ID anyone else?

I had a few leads.

They sent some threat letters after the crime lab were processing.

It was a misdemeanor, so it was low priority.

Maybe I should have pushed them harder to process those letters.

This is not your fault.

Besides, crimes might not even be connected.

Yeah, well, I won't find out soon enough.

Call the lab.

I'm going to put those letters at the top of the list. Got it.

Okay. Get the gurney in there.

Where is she on Bonnie's husband?

Sir, this is the crime scene.

Official personnel only. Listen to me. Where's my wife?

What happened?

I can't let you go in there. Come on.

You know, the whole drive up here, I hoped it was a mistake.

How am I supposed to tell my kids?

There's something else.

The caretaker, Rudy, was also shot.

What do you mean?

He and your wife were both shot in her bedroom.

At around three this morning.

You know she got death threats, right? I did.

Did you talk to the Bones guy that we told you about?

He's in custody.

He couldn't have done this.

So who else did you talk to?

What else did you do?

You've had over a month to investigate this, and now she's been murdered.

That's great work, Sergeant.

I'm so sorry.

I knew she wasn't safe here.

Sorry to interrupt, Detective O'Dell.

What is it?

Dispatch just called.

Rudy Emanuel is awake and talking.

I saw... You saw the shooter. Can you describe him?

Forties.

Paul. Mom, it's Greg Lee here.

Is it somebody you know?

Not a local.

Ever seen him before?

At the bar that night.

He was at the lodge.

You saw the shooter.

I think so.

Yeah. Bartender remembers him through.

You remember what he was drinking? Beer.

From a bottle.

Yeah. There's a dumpster full of them out back.

Get them all in here.

Let's print every one of them.

Both beat him.

Guy's got a long criminal history.

He's done some prison time.

According to this, his last known address was in Fontana.

That's over 250 miles away.

Let's show this to Rudy.

Him.

Number four.

That's the guy.

You're sure?

Positive. It's him.

Bruce Beecham.

Who's that?

Sergeant Wiley, Detective O'Dowd, Tulare County Sheriff's Department.

You got a minute?

Heard you were at the Camp Nelson Lodge bar last Saturday night.

Yeah, so that's a long way to go for a beer.

I like the mountain air.

What are they doing here?

They're back inside, Sheriff.

Oh, what's this about?

Bruce Beecham, you're under arrest for the murder of Bonnie Hood.

The attempted murder of Rudy Manuel.

Great.

Don't say anything to anyone.

Call my lawyer.

happened in there.

You changed your statement.

I'm sorry.

The defense attorney was all over you when you fell apart.

Why didn't you just admit why you were in Bonnie's room? I couldn't do that to

her. They were trying to make her look dirty. It wasn't like that. That's what

defense attorneys do.

I couldn't do it.

Everyone in the courtroom could see you were lying.

We needed you to tell the truth.

I told the truth about who shot us. It was Beecham.

I hope the jury can tell the difference.

A surprise verdict in the Camp Nelson murder of Bonnie Hood.

Many here in Tulare County assume that Bruce Beecham would spend the rest of

life in prison.

But after confusing eyewitness testimony from victim Rudy Manuel, coupled with

an alibi witness placing Beecher miles away at the time of the shooting, the

jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

We go now to Bruce Beecher and his lawyer who made a statement.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

It's another hang -up.

That's strange.

Can I call Hannah? We're going to hang out tomorrow.

Sure, go ahead.

Again, same amount.

You can threaten me all you want. I'm not paying you. Do you hear me?

I'm not paying you, you son of a bitch.

I'm hungry.

Me too.

Can we get food?

Yeah, tell you what, grab me one too and I'll go get the car.

Thanks, Dad.

Are you following me?

You're good.

You know, I could meet him sometime.

Stay away from them, you hear me?

I think they might be interested in what happened today.

Three hot dogs, please.

And no onions on mine.

Thanks.

I thought you were getting the car. Yeah, something came up. We gotta go.

What? Why?

We need to leave right now, okay?

Let's go now. Let's go. Come on.

Are you going to get that? It's fine.

All right. Good luck on the quiz.

Bye, Dad. Bye, Dad.

You want to end it?

Sure.

Let's end it.

No games, no weaving around.

Monday, you're up.

First thing.

A man just tried to kill me and I had to shoot him.

I shot him. I think he's dead.

Oh, God.

Oh, God. I think he's dead.

Let's dig up everything we can about Bruce Beecham and Jim Hood.

Did he say anything to you?

I don't remember.

All I remember is he... He pointed at the gun. I didn't have a choice.

You okay? Yeah, I'm just...

This officer will stay with you.

We'll talk more a little later.

I don't know why your husband met with Jim Hood the day he was killed.

He didn't go there to get shot, that's for sure.

Bruce and Hood go back a while.

How far back?

A few years at least.

Bruce worked on one of Hood's conscripts.

Look, Bruce was no saint, but Hood's worth.

He paid for 50 grand to kill his wife.

How do you know that?

Bruce showed me the money.

Why didn't he speak up during his trial?

If he had talked, they would have made Bruce take a plea.

He had a better idea.

He had a friend give him an alibi and get him off.

After that, Bruce figured Hood owed him for keeping his mouth shut.

So Hood was paying your husband money to keep quiet?

That's what I said.

Do you have any record of that?

No. I'd want them to do that. He paid in cash.

What about phone records?

You can check. I know they talked.

How's the wife?

Too soon.

Yeah, well, look, I'm getting that feeling again.

You're the one.

Where am I going to go to the cops?

So we need some cash.

Again, same amount.

You can threaten me all you want. I'm not paying you. Do you hear me?

I'm not paying you, you son of a bitch.

What did he say?

Same thing he always says.

Right before he pays up.

How much money?

Not sure.

Bruce would call and Hood would pay.

Bruce said that he was getting pissed off about it.

You've got to stop, okay? I'm not going to keep paying you.

We need to talk about like a lump sum.

We'll both walk away.

All right? Meet me at my office, 915.

Monday morning.

Can I show you some crime scene photos?

She was gone before.

No.

Wait.

Can you say that again?

Love her with me, Jim.

You lived big, but your cash poor.

Some of your investments failed.

The lodge was bleeding money.

Having your wife killed could solve all your problems.

For a million dollar life insurance policy and a two million dollar

policy on the lodge, you could cover a lot of bills.

But you couldn't do it yourself.

That would have ruined your squeaky clean image as a perfect family man.

Oh, I hope you don't mind. I asked Sergeant Wiley to join us.

He has particular interest in this case.

Hey, Jim.

Been a while.

We think you paid Beecham to kill your wife.

No way.

We heard about your connection with Beecham before his trial.

But couldn't get anyone to testify.

People were afraid of him.

He didn't do anything to Bonnie.

We took a calculated risk in his trial.

Figured once Beecham got convicted, we could flip him and go after you.

Only he got out.

Nothing gets interesting.

When he was acquitted of double jeopardy, he came into play.

He walked into any police department, many killed Bonnie, and no one could

him. There was no way he was going to prison for Bonnie's murder.

But you... No.

Different story.

If he talked, you'd go to prison and stay there.

You were paying him to keep his mouth shut.

That's crazy.

The man was terrorizing my family.

What's crazy is getting shot seven times and still managing to hold on to your

gun.

You ever heard of that before, Sergeant? Never have.

These lab results, even more crazy stuff.

There was no blood spatter on the gun in the victim Beecher's hand, but there

was spatter in his palm.

I don't know what that means.

It means the gun was put in his hand after he was shot.

You shot him, planted the gun on him, and then did things that looked like

-defense.

I don't think Beecham brought a gun at all.

Oh, I almost forgot.

There's one more thing, Jim.

Sergeant, in which hand does Beecham hold the gun?

His right.

When you planted the gun on him, you put it in the wrong hand.

Beecham was a lefty.

You're under arrest for the murder of Bruce Beecham.