Original subtitles

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

(DOOR OPENS)

It doesn't work like that.

Seven. It's always seven.

It's time.

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) (INDISTINCT MURMURING)

I'm so sorry. I really tried.

spot treatments didn't work.

I wanted to get your OK. before trying hydrogen peroxide.

Red wine is an acid, and silks hate acid.

(phone) WOMAN: Red wine? No, it's a...

- No, ketchup's redder.

When it's purple, it's wine.

My husband was at a Cardinals game,

holding a hot dog.

You know what?

You're so right. It's ketchup.

- Um, I will let you know.

OK, bye.

(DOOR BELL CHIMES)

Special delivery.

- Oh.

Now, Ray, you're not here to get your tux cleaned.

I saw your car outside. I'm still getting your mail.

Oh.

Thanks.

You figure if you wait long enough, they'll stop

asking for their money?

I'm working late, aren't I?

You stopped drinking.

How in the world can you know that?

Have you been going through my trash?

Oh, your pants are too loose.

You're down to the last loop on your belt.

Going on four months now.

Two meetings a week.

I dunno, maybe this time I'll stick.

That's great.

Good for you, Ray.

How's things around here?

Well, I just got yelled at by Jeanie Franco,

whose husband's having an affair

with a... clumsy red wine drinker.

Tell me you did not put yourself

in the middle of that. - I didn't say a word.

- You'd have been proud of me. - Hey,

can I at least pay your cable bill?

I'm the reason you signed up for it in the first place,

and I'm saving a fortune on my bar tab.

You're not paying my damn bills.

I could pay off all of 'em

and we still wouldn't be even, Lorraine.

Take off your pants.

- What? - I'll take 'em in.

You want me to walk out of here in my underpants?

I got something in your size.

He's not gonna come in looking for it?

If he hasn't needed a set of work clothes in a month, he got fired.

(NEWS PLAYING ON TV) Alright.

(TV) Melissa and Frank Conley made an impassioned plea

of their son Rory Conley.

Rory is six.

He's tall for his age, with brown hair

since their five-year-old son

was abducted from Charlotte Comic Expo.

I can always look for work as a security guard.

(TV) The family now offering a reward...

- What?

for information

Is it happening again?

(MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

Why are you being so dramatic?

You have the best view in the house.

You'll be OK.

(SPRAY BOTTLE HISSING)

Yeah. (MICROWAVE BEEPING)

(SIRENS WAILING IN THE DISTANCE)

(video) REPORTER: Are you frustrated with the police?

if they're following leads?

They say they're doing their best. I guess we have to believe them.

(LINE RINGING)

Missing Persons Unit.

and phone number after the tone.

(BEEP) Hello. My name is Lorraine Howell.

I live in Branson, Missouri, and I am calling about Rory Conley.

I kept thinking the worst had passed, but new lows would sneak up on us.

Each day that passed meant it was that much less likely.

The police said they'd call when they knew something, but...

..the phone never rang.

And then it did.

with information.

borderline insane, but...

..when you're in pitch darkness, no light is too small.

but I can see things sometimes.

Images, strong, clear images,

not hallucinations, they're real.

I... I can see Rory.

He is alive.

He...

He's...

There's an older woman with a Southern accent talking to him.

She's telling him to eat graham crackers, but he's not listening.

He has a... He has a toy car in his hand,

a... little purple toy race car.

He's driving it along a seam in the sofa upholstery,

making sounds like tyres squealing.

She told us exactly what we needed to hear.

He has crumbs on his shirt.

He's, he's... lost one of his bottom teeth.

(EXHALES)

He is being cared for.

Please don't give up.

believe

their missing son is still alive?

Even if it was a lie?

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

(DRAMATIC THEME MUSIC)

(SOFT MUSIC)

Hey. Hey.

Hey.

I got your pants.

Oh, thanks, Lorraine. Really.

And you're throwing in a free fern? (THEY CHUCKLE)

I'm going out of town. Do me a favour, look after it when I'm gone?

I don't have the best track record for keeping things alive.

I can remember one marriage in particular.

You'll do fine.

Indirect light, somewhere nice and humid.

It'll drink as much as you give it.

My kinda plant. (CHUCKLES)

So, how long am I taking care of Mr Fern?

I don't know. Couple weeks, maybe.

It's the kid, isn't it?

The one on TV?

Hmm...

Why, Lorraine?

It's never worth it,

putting yourself in the middle of all that pain.

You're always worse off on the other side.

I have to do this.

No, you don't.

Stay. Let me take you out to dinner.

- I mean, We... - I have to go. I have to go.

Don't over-water it. You'll rot the roots.

in his pocket the day that he...

It's people like her who claim to be psychics,

holding it in pictures.

So, given that scepticism, why bring her to North Carolina?

She said she needed to be in Rory's room.

Establish a connection.

I wasn't sure.

Frank was.

all my buyers when they're looking at a house...

All the research in the world

doesn't compare to the feeling you get when it's right in front of you.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(SOFT MUSIC)

You must be Frank.

Thank you for coming.

Oh.

(radio) ..the power of manifestation. - Oh, sorry.

My wife doesn't believe in any of this stuff.

She'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard.

I guess even "that" beats the quiet.

Unless, do you need quiet to...

..get the energies in alignment, or...

- No, it's fine. I'm a...

..normal person, I promise.

(chuckling) OK.

(DOOR CLOSES) (SOFT MUSIC)

Hi. Nice to meet you.

I'm Melissa Conley.

Uh... (CLEARS THROAT)

Lorraine. I'm so sorry for what you've been through.

- Thanks. Thanks for coming. - Mh.

Oh. You smell that? Cookies.

She's been out of the real estate game for a year,

but she still pulls the open house trick.

Don't fall for it, Lorraine.

I'll bet Rory loved oatmeal raisin.

I... I thought it might help.

I don't know.

- Set the mood.

(CHUCKLING)

Anyway. Shall we... Shall we begin?

- It's this way. - Oh, OK.

(SOFT MUSIC)

Please.

Anything you need to get started, you just let us know.

Or, if you'd rather, we could go over what we know.

We've got that folder from

the police around here somewhere... - Frank.

- Remember what we talked about. - Yeah. Right. Sorry.

My husband's a talker,

but maybe there are things you could tell us instead?

Mm-hmm.

Um... (CLICKS TONGUE)

You don't have to tell me anything. I just...

I get a feeling.

But only sometimes.

(EXHALES) Yeah.

It comes or it doesn't.

(SOFT PIANO MUSIC)

May I?

Yeah.

Was Rory allergic to peanuts?

(EXHALING)

No.

He didn't have any allergies.

Then why did he sort his Halloween candy one pile with peanuts,

and one without?

Frank...

I... I told Rory not to bring peanuts into the house,

And so he would trade the ones with peanuts for sour gummy worms.

But that doesn't mean that he's alive or that we're gonna find him.

- Yeah. But, yeah, but... - No, no. You're right, you're right.

This is scary, letting a stranger into your house.

Your heart's already broken,

you don't wanna have it...

..broken again.

I wouldn't put you through this

there was reason to hope.

Frank's EpiPen in the car,

she could have noticed

we had no nuts in our kitchen,

or a million other clues I might have missed.

But still.

That night, I slept a full eight hours for the first time in a year.

So, I guess in some way, I did believe it.

You put the defendant up in your guest room, correct?

impossible to know when, or if,

she'd see anything that we could have used.

So... she stayed.

besides the room?

- We offered, she refused.

Then she got a call from her landlord.

so she'd have to go back

So we paid it off for her.

other things came up.

turned into a month, which turned into two months.

Why welcome her in?

Why pay off her debts? What made you think she was legitimate?

She'd done it before.

She found that girl. The one in Nevada.

Lorraine led the police right to her, and now she's in college.

She'd done it once.

I thought she could do it again.

(SOMBRE MUSIC)

- (chuckling) Hi. - Hi.

Still keep the freezer stocked with mint chip.

Good.

come back and want some.

Nothing new?

It's only been four days since I last saw him.

- Yeah.

- Thanks. - Hm.

You're alright to stay, yeah?

Of course. There's no one missing me in Missouri.

No one? No... No family?

Mm-hmm.

Not really. You and Melissa are...

It's good you have each other.

Yeah, it's a great balance.

She's vegetables, and I'm...

..ice cream. - Mm.

who indulged Rory.

Like the stuffed koala on his bed.

he begged me for it.

exactly what he was doing.

Yeah.

There were so many people there.

(SPOON CLATTERING)

I turned away for a second.

Maybe if I didn't,

he wouldn't have...

It's not your fault.

- It's not. - Yeah...

Nothing made him happier than mornings his dad woke him up

to play hooky.

Nothing.

I bet.

Good night.

Have you seen anything else?

Not yet.

How, how long did it take the last time?

That girl you found in 2007.

- Amelia Price.

..saw the thing that led the police to her?

I couldn't piece it together.

I just saw fleeting images.

I kept...

I kept seeing this row of little jars with peeling labels

on a windowsill. Then I could see past the grimy windowpane,

out to a water tower with faded lettering.

I-T-E space S-T.

Then someone found a manufacturer named Granite State Steel,

and next to one of their... water towers was...

..a trailer park.

and they found Amelia.

Her family sends me Christmas cards every year.

It's been 17 years since you've seen a missing child?

Yes.

Good night.

BOTH: Good night.

From the '90s, right?

It could be the early aughts. Definitely an older model.

With a pull-down armrest in the backseat.

Rory was using to draw on it.

And there was a burger wrapper in the cup holder.

- Didn't you say that? - Yeah.

Are... Are you gonna write it down?

OK... I'll write it down, along with your other tips.

Yeah.

An older woman with a Southern accent, a backyard with a tyre swing,

and the sounds of jack-hammering from a construction site.

You didn't also happen to see like a licence plate?

Or... a street sign? Or a state flag?

Lorraine has seen things that can't otherwise be explained.

She knew Rory had that purple car

the day he disappeared. - It's not much to go on.

Yeah, but it's something.

I didn't peg you as much of a believer, Ms Conley.

Well, at least it's better than the nothing your office

has to show for the past year. - OK. Just because

we don't have answers, doesn't mean we're not still looking.

We're tracking half a dozen child-abduction cases.

Three in particular. If we solve one of those, it could lead us to him.

So... I apologise if I'm not keen on wasting our resources

tracking down a palm reader's tip.

She found that girl, Amelia Price.

A broken clock's right twice a day.

But it's not just random guesses,

I gave concrete details.

Yeah, that's great, fine, great,

but you're not exactly one for one, are you, Ms Howell?

I looked you up on the NCIC database

and there were six cases, six I could find,

I'm sure there were more where you offered information.

For someone who can't force a vision, you've got a lot to say.

And not enough of a track record to back it up.

I wonder if you're more worried about your track record than mine.

Those are a lot of case files.

Maybe you've bitten off too much?

A man your age has to be looking at the clock,

hoping for that promotion to Captain.

Maybe it's easier to brush these pesky,

unsolvable cases out of sight.

I think we're done here.

(SIGHS)

Do yourself a favour?

Start ironing your shirts.

You're so right, I mean, look at his case load.

He can't afford to have someone else show him up.

There were other cases?

Sorry?

You said the last case you took was the Nevada girl.

- But there were others. - Yeah, s... six.

Six, since Amelia Price.

Why didn't you tell us?

In some cases, my...

..connection was severed.

So, you lied.

(SIGHS)

Yes, I lied.

to know that I stopped

being able to see four of the six children,

and that they were later found dead?

Did you really want to know how often this doesn't work out?

I'm sorry, but I was protecting you.

Rory is alive!

That much I know. Just...

..like I knew about Amelia.

Ugh!

Amelia Price was a great day.

and I remember, he called me a hero,

and I said, "Look,"

"the world had given up."

"But not me."

"Not the family."

"And not Lorraine."

had been reassigned.

Lorraine was a godsend.

Deserved every bit of that reward.

How much of the reward did you receive for solving the case?

- None. - How were your financial

circumstances at the time?

I picked the Steelers over the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, so...

So, you weren't experiencing any financial hardship

Your Honour, I'd like to offer into evidence the following document.

Detective, do you recognise what this is?

Yeah, it's a letter from the court from March 2006.

You're eight months behind on your child support.

portion on the list of assets

- This has nothing to do with it.

I could pull in more overtime once the Price case

was off my desk, alright?

You said you were the only one monitoring the tip line,

and had a tip come in, you would have received none of the reward money.

- Correct? - That's what I said.

So, just at time that you were short on funds,

an outside party who claimed to have a supernatural gift,

her claim and secure her

the reward money?

- Wouldn't you both have benefited

from splitting the reward money?

I did my job, I brought Amelia home, and I'm not the one on trial here.

No further questions, Your Honour.

I... I can't get my statements.

The bank's records don't go back that far.

But I used the reward to pay off my credit card debt.

- I didn't know that man before. - OK.

- OK. - I didn't speak to him after.

You have to trust me.

(LITTLE GIRL BABBLING)

(SOFT PIANO MUSIC)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

you have stated that the defendant

fed the Conleys false hope,

that her so-called visions had nothing to do

with the disappearance of Rory Conley.

Yes, I can.

How do you know that for a fact?

(DOORBELL RINGS)

Frank?

- Maybe it's better if we sit. - No, I don't want to sit down.

- Ms Conley... - Just say it.

(HE SIGHS)

I have some news.

It's not good news, but maybe, I hope,

it'll bring you some amount of peace.

Last night, we charged a man with the murder of your son.

No. (BREATHING SHAKILY)

How do... How do you know?

He confessed.

(WHIMPERING) Oh, no!

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

Four days ago,

a retired contractor named Matthew Lee Boyd

was stopped at a DUI checkpoint in Virginia.

His fingerprints matched

those of a case of a missing Pittsburgh boy, Noah Jackson.

In the trunk of his car, we found children's toys

and zip ties.

Now, while under interrogation,

he admitted to two more murders.

One boy had gone missing in Richmond, that's Caden Greer,

and the second was...

..was Rory.

Did he...

Did he tell you where he took Rory?

Well, he was on a bender, so

he doesn't remember much, but he is cooperating.

to track down the bodies.

But for now, we have his licence plate charged with a highway toll

on I-85 around the time that Rory disappeared.

- Are you sure that's... - No, you don't talk!

You don't say one single damn thing.

(TENSE MUSIC)

What are you doing?

Why aren't you packing?

Do you need some help?

(voice breaking) Here, I'll help you.

- Melissa, hey, whoa... - I told you to get out.

What is wrong with you? Why won't you go?

The police have it wrong.

The police have it wrong.

- How do you know? - Oh, Frank,

How can they say anything conclusively

if there's no physical evidence? - Evidence? You read tea leaves!

I swear, I can still feel him.

Yeah, and so can I.

But he was my son,

and hallucinated a boy that was already dead, you leech!

Just... get her out of here.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC SWELLS)

Maybe I'm stupid for still believing you.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking. But I don't want you to go.

'Cause once you go, it's over. I'm never finding him.

So, Frank kept her around.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

Inside, a man is being charged for three murders,

but there are only two bodies.

I feel for the parents of Noah Jackson and Caden Greer,

who are experiencing the unimaginable,

but at least they know what happened to their child.

I don't.

Matthew Lee Boyd has not been able to point to Rory's body.

He doesn't know.

The true crime podcasts, the social media sleuths.

Someone found CCTV footage of a blue '98 sedan near the convention centre

Lorraine must be right.

Right now, I'm focused on convicting a confessed criminal, OK?

So please, out of my way.

I understand why Detective Serrano wants this case closed,

but he hasn't produced sufficient proof.

You don't always get the physical evidence, but I'm pretty damn close.

If the police are asking me

to abandon hope that my son is alive, I need certainty.

Not "pretty damn close."

You can't blame a grieving father.

He wanted to keep his boy alive.

But what did she want?

Why couldn't she let it go?

her resume clean for next time.

(KNOCKING)

Can I come in?

Yes. Of course.

I found this place on our credit card statements.

Sixty bucks a night? That's highway robbery.

- Frank said he wanted to...

to tell you no.

Same as with Rory.

He lets you take advantage of him.

Rory couldn't take advantage of you, could he?

No.

I was the strict one.

(SCOFFS) Yeah.

Otherwise, he'd be up till midnight every night eating Froot Loops.

And you thought, when he was older, he would understand.

I figured he'd have self-control, and teeth with no cavities,

and he'd thank me.

But now he's gone.

And he knew me as the lady who only said no.

I'm sure he didn't...

The district attorney reached out to me.

They want to prosecute you for exploiting our situation

and standing in the way of an investigation.

These things carry prison time.

Forfeiture of assets.

Wh... Why are you telling me this?

They won't have a case without my testimony.

- So I won't cooperate.

On one condition.

Tell Frank you got it wrong.

Tell him Rory's gone.

- Melissa... - As long as you keep his hope alive,

the wound will never heal.

And... And we have to move on.

And it is not too late, and we could start over, and...

Please?

I've already lost my son.

I can't lose my husband, too.

(SOFT MUSIC)

I didn't ask for this.

I saw something.

You said it had enough truth to it that I should uproot my life.

And yes, I didn't leave much behind.

And yes, I accepted your money, but that doesn't mean I am a fraud.

Please, just tell me how much.

Please.

(SCOFFS)

Look at where I am.

If... If I could be bought, don't you think I would have been bought?

If... If I were a fraud,

I would cut my losses and take the get-out-of-jail-free card.

If... If I were a fraud, I would be able to sleep at night

without seeing a missing child I never knew.

Do you have any idea

what this gift has cost me?

A marriage.

A family.

Everyone wants me to see something!

But if I can't, or if I do, but it's not the right thing,

then I am a con artist and a liar!

I don't see lottery numbers!

I see pain.

I... (SIGHS)

I turn toward it...

..'cause I am the only one who can.

(DOOR OPENS AND SLAMS SHUT)

Matthew Lee Boyd's case go to trial?

He took a plea. Three life sentences.

- Was that your recommendation? - Absolutely not.

I said, "Forget the death penalty, I'll strangle him myself."

But when it came down to it, I could forego

the punishment to save the families

he was so guilty beyond reasonable doubt,

a trial would only serve to prolong the victims' families' pain?

Correct.

Your Honour, I would like to offer the following video into evidence.

Detective, what do you recognise this video to be?

That is my interrogation of Matthew Lee Boyd.

There's another one, isn't there?

There was a third.

A third kid?

A boy?

These are capital crimes.

But if you cooperate, we may not pursue the death penalty.

Where was the third boy?

MATTHEW: Near the water. Big crowd.

A convention?

Yeah. A convention.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

during a confession that

during which that confession

- He waived his right to a lawyer.

If he pointed you to the other two bodies within hours, why not

make the location of the third body a condition of the plea agreement?

- It wasn't up to me.

not pursuing the death penalty in order to elicit a confession

for Rory Conley's murder?

- That's how confessions happen.

rested upon information you yourself gave him?

(TENSE MUSIC)

Do you swear that the evidence you give to the court shall be

the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,

so help you God?

I do.

When did you first become aware you possessed

such an extraordinary gift?

I was too young to remember when my brother

was shipped off to Vietnam, but I remember when my family

got the call saying his unit had gone out

on night patrol and never come back.

two Missing in Action.

He was dead, but no bodies.

My mother was out of her mind.

Joe was the oldest, her golden boy.

I didn't understand what was happening. I couldn't...

(SIGHS)

..console her.

..I saw him.

Somewhere far away, wrapped in a chequerboard quilt.

Green and white.

What did you make of it?

I knew it wasn't a hallucination.

I tried to imagine where he was before, but this was different.

I knew...

..this was happening.

I knew... he was alive.

Did your family believe you?

My mother didn't need any convincing. We'd sit...

..together at night and I'd tell her what I saw.

How Joe needed a haircut and...

(SIGHS)

... a shower.

you got the call. - Yes.

They had negotiated his release...

from a prison camp, and he was alive and coming home.

It...

And it was, it was like our lives were starting up again.

(SNIFFLING)

he said that the one thing

that kept him going was playing chess.

And it turned out that...

..that chessboard was green and white.

(CHUCKLES)

to offer into evidence.

(CROWD WHISPERING)

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

is it fair to say

quite early?

And for no money at all?

seeing how grateful the Conleys were?

How much your information meant to them?

I was happy to be able to provide that hope.

Hmm, just as I'm sure you were happy to provide hope

that to your own mother?

- Yes.

was the golden child. What did that make you?

The youngest of five.

Uh, my mother was sure I would ruin my eyesight with how much time

I spent reading, but she was much more focused on my brothers.

And when you were the only one that knew your brother was alive,

did it bring you together?

Yes.

- We leaned on each other.

That feeling, that feeling of being a hero, being important...

Must have been intoxicating.

I suppose. I was very young.

Well, fast-forward to now.

You've had some very high-profile successes,

why do you keep going back to it?

Because I...

I...

I have to.

You have to what? Make up for your first, greatest failure?

Please tell us about the passing of your brother.

(CROWD CHATTERING)

Uh, four years after he came home,

he was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver on Route 108.

He was on his way to pick me up from school.

When you failed to foresee the accident, did you blame yourself?

(whispering) He was...

He was on his way to pick me up, how could I not?

But I, I never claimed to be able to see the future.

I wish I could.

But your mother believed wholeheartedly in your gift,

didn't she?

And did that belief lead her

keeping your brother safe onto you?

She didn't blame me, no.

But she never quite trusted me again.

of your family,

would you consider yourselves estranged?

No.

When was the last time you saw them?

2002 at my mother's funeral.

new families?

Desperate, broken ones like the Conleys,

(CROWD CHATTERS)

I just wanna help.

what you couldn't provide for your own family

gives you meaning in your life? - If I did it only for myself,

I'd have learned by now to stay far, far away.

And yet you've spent your life seeking to be

indispensable to people in pain, haven't you?

Would you say, Ms Howell,

that the trouble with an unpredictable gift,

felt only by the one who possesses it, is that

it bears a striking resemblance to somebody just making guesses?

But I'm not just making guesses.

I'm... I'm not lying.

But how can you be sure you're telling the truth?

I mean, after all,

isn't a truly successful fraudster's first victim herself?

(DRAMATIC MUSIC SWELLS)

the State is required to prove three things beyond a reasonable doubt.

One: That the defendant knowingly misrepresented facts.

Two, the defendant had an intent to deceive

and succeeded in that deceit.

was done for financial benefit.

It's not a question of whether the defendant was right or wrong.

We may never know.

It's not a question of whether she profited financially

when all is said and done.

It doesn't even matter whether you believe she's entirely delusional.

What it comes down to is this:

Did Lorraine Howell

believe what she was telling the Conleys?

The girl who kept her family's hope alive,

the woman who knowingly exposes herself

the worst pain in the world...

have faith in her own gift?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

(CHUCKLING)

I don't want the money back.

I don't want her to go to jail.

I didn't do it to punish her, I did it to convince you.

Maybe seeing it all laid out, in court...

You saw the same tape I saw. It wasn't a real confession...

Stop.

I can't keep going around and around.

There will always be reasons to doubt.

What kind of father would I be if I gave up?

You were a wonderful father.

And you could be, again.

But I'm tired of hoping, Frank.

I can't do it anymore.

Has the jury reached a verdict?

We have, Your Honour.

of the State of North Carolina

find the defendant

not guilty.

(CROWD CHATTERS)

thank you for your service.

(GAVEL BANGS)

Congratulations.

- Thank you. - Lorraine. Lorraine.

You'll call me, right?

Even if you think something's too small, I wanna... I wanna hear it.

Yeah.

Yeah, this isn't over.

It isn't over.

(SOMBRE MUSIC)

Thank you.

(SIGHS)

(SOFT HOPEFUL MUSIC)

I figured since you weren't calling me back,

you probably didn't want me sitting in the back of the court

for the trial. But I wanted to be here when it was over.

(sobbing) It's good... It's good to see you, Ray.

You ready to go home?

Car's fixed.

Um, more or less.

(THEY CHUCKLE)

(INDISTINCT ARGUING)

(SIGHS)

You did all you could.

What else was there to do but tell the truth?

(SNIFFLING)

You OK?

Sottotitoli a cura di SKY ITALIA