Previously on Moonlight...
By the way, the whole kiss thing...
Yeah, the kiss... I was thinking that was like an accident.
Oh, ok.
You wanted to know how I became a vampire. I told you I was married, on our wedding night she turned me.
I'm glad you told me about your wife.
I didn't tell her everything
things didn't end well, even by vampire standards
you stop carrying coraline around, Mick. Let her go.
One thing you learn when you live forever.. Is not to get too set in anything.
Because it's all gonna change.
Just when it seems like everything is going your way,and maybe you're even patting yourself on the back,
that's when it happens.
Thanks
try to get some shots of the entrance, but be as discreet as you can, ok.
It's sad,isn't it?
Think they're gonna be able to save it?
The,uh,the warden said they might be able to save a couple of the top floors,
but most of the interior is wood.
- It was built in the '20s. - 1927
My parents used to bring me here for brunch after church on sundays.
I keep forgetting how old you are.
It must be really frustrating having the power
to help people but not being able to do anything.
If only you knew.
At the oddest time,you might find yourself feeling lucky,
like maybe you found somebody...
Then bam! That's exactly when the ex-wife shows up.
Coraline-- the woman who turned me into a vampire.
She's something else,isn't she?
Yeah, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers.
What I would give to go home with that.
Forget it.
She drops more in a day at saks than you make in a year.
Coraline.
No,sorry.
I'm sorry. You look just like someone I used to know.
Ex-girlfriend,maybe?
Ex-wife.
Does this usually work for you?
This isn't a pickup. You look just like her.
Just so you know,it's not a big turn-on when you tell somebody
that they look like your ex.
- What's your name? - Do you guys know each other?-
No.
No,we just met.
So you don't know each other?
No.
I thought we did,but I guess we don't.
I'm Mick.
Morgan.
Now we know each other.
How do you two know each other?
I buy a lot of her photos for"buzzwire."
How long have you two worked together?
A couple months?
She just moved here from chicago.
What's with the interrogation?
He's a private investigator. Can you tell?
Oh,okay. Yeah.
Well,i'm gonna get back to it. It was nice meeting you.
So the,uh,the fire inspector says he found lighter fluid
and dirty rags in the dumpster over there.
- Hey,did you hear me? - What?
They think it's arson.
Uh,i'm gonna wrangle some quotes. I'll catch you later.
There is a good reason I never expected to see coraline again.
I killed her.
moonlight season 01 episode 07
I gotta talk to you,man.
Well,this better be good.
Dawn is in 15 minutes,and i'm about to go home and hit the icebox.
I saw coraline last night.
Coraline,what-- you meancoralinecoraline?
Yeah,that coraline.
Was she dead?
No.
Well,then it can't be coraline.
You killed her,remember?
Yeah,i'm aware of that.
It was at the franklin fire downtown.
There was this photographer there.
She was a dead ringer for coraline.
Well,everybody's got a twin somewhere.
She wasn't a twin.
Josef,it was her.
She-- she moved the same.
She talked the same.
Oh,you talked to this person?
Yeah. Her name's morgan.
She works with Beth.
And did,uh,Beth recognize her as coraline?
No.
Well,if it really was the woman who kidnapped her as a child,
I would think that Beth would have a few opinions about it.
Beth doesn't rember me from back then,and i'm the one who rescued her.
What do you remember from when you were 4?
Well,it was 1603,Mick,it's reasonable to be a little hazy.
Look,Beth has suppressed the whole trauma,okay?
Josef...
I know this sounds crazy,but you got to see her.
Well,did this morgan person have a long history of drinking blood?
No.
She's not a vampire.
I was close enough to tell.
Well,Mick,if she's not a vampire,then she can't be coraline.
I was thinking I could take these reaction shots to the fire
and write a piece about what this landmark hotel has meant to people over the years.
What is this,ladies,n.P.R.?
I mean, I need a celebrity angle,a dead body,something...
Sex it up a bit and get back to me.
Maureen always goes for the lowest common denominator.
Don't worry. I'll wear her down.
Thank you so much for your support.
Oh,please.
Anything to keep me away from restaurants and fashion shows.
Yeah.
Oh,my god,what happened? Did you get burned?
Oh,no. It's just...
A little incident.
A little incident? Look at your arm.
It's just a couple stitches.
What happened?
Well,believe it or not,some guy broke into my house last night,and we scuffled.
You fought him?
Well,you bet I did. He was taking my cameras.
Did you tell the police?
Of course,but you know how the police are.
They just acted like they had all this more important stuff to do than,
you know,help me track down my stolen equipment.
You did tell them he attacked you?
Oh,what I would give to just get my hands on that little punk.
Not to mention getting your cameras back.
What about that p.I.Friend of yours?
Do you think he could help?
- Mick? - Yeah.
I thought you weren't very impressed by him.
Well, I mean,he seemed persistent.
Hey,i'm sorry to stop by without calling,
but since I know you're a night person,
I thought you might be up.
Well,you know me too well.
Hey,Mick.
Hey,morgan.
Morgan has a problem I thought you might be able to help her with.
I had jewelry out in plain sight that he ignored completely.
So it's just the cameras?
Which is why I attacked him.
You wouldn't believe what a digital nikon costs these days.
You attacked the thief?
Well, I had mace,which,turns out,
pissed him off just enough for him to then gouge me with my own letter opener.
Look,she needs her cameras back,Mick.
It's her livelihood.
Beth said that you were the best.
Oh,she did,huh?
Yeah,several times,actually.
Maybe you could go by her apartment,
check it out,see if there's anything to go by.
And also,if it helps,
I would absolutely recognize the thief if I saw him again.
I never forget a face.
Can't you guys play something that'll get this snore on its feet?
Like what?
I don't know,like wynonie harris or little willie john
or just something with a little bit more rhythm.
Well,gee, I don't know if this crowd would like the devil's music.
That's why I want you to play it.
How about "good rockin' tonight"?
How about "ain't that just like a woman"?
I think that that would be much more shocking,don't you?
On one condition.
My name's coraline.
Well, I didn't say what the condition was.
That's always the condition.
I love your place. It's really cool.
Thank you.
I have this,like,'50s thing i'm trying to shake.
So what can I tell you?
Why don't you start with what happened?
Okay.
I was in my bedroom,and it was about 3:00 in the morning.
I was asleep,and then that's when i heard a rattling at the front door.
Were you alone?
Now is that part of your investigation or--
potentially.
Yes, I was alone.
Okay, I think we've established you were alone.
What next?
Well,then I leave the bedroom and come out here,
and I see that there's this man at my desk.
Like I said,he left jewelry,keys to my b.M.W.,Cash...
He wasn't after cash.
I mean,my cameras are worth at least 8 grand.
He took those.
Maybe he was interested in what was inside the cameras.
Pictures.
They said it was arson,right?
Well,maybe your thief was the one who set the fire.
Maybe he thought you took a picture of him.
Yeah,those arsonists-- they really stick around to watch the burn.
Well,if he's after photos then he's out of luck,
because I don't let anybody see these until I sell them.
What is that?
It's a fire.
No,inthe fire.
Nothing, I don't think.
No,look,there is something...
Right there.
You know, I think I have some shots where I racked to the building.
Hold on one second.
That's him. That's the thief.
He's killing her.
Seeing the photo was like looking into the past,reliving a nightmare.
I love you.
******** I freed you from death.
******
That must be why he wanted the photos.
You caught a murder on camera.
You wouldn't believe these photographs,josef.
It was like outtakes from the night.
The night you killed your wife.
You know what?
It's like somebody staged this whole thing for me.
Can you hear yourself right now?
No,it's like...
It's like coraline is baiting me with these photos.
Coraline is dead!
You saw her die with your own eyes.
I never saw the ashes.
In the 22 years since she died,you never told me that.
I never told anybody that.
I never thought she could possibly survive.
I left coraline trapped in an inferno that night,man...
Just like the woman in these photos.
Mick,look at me.
Coraline did not come back from the undead to exact revenge on you.
- You know how dangerous she was. - Yeah.
I've known her for a century more than you,and she's capable of anything,
- but not even she could pull off a resurrection. - No?
Coraline drove you crazy the whole time you knew her.
Now she's dead,and she's still driving you crazy.
Now you need to let her go.
So tell me more about morgan.
Like who'd she work for in chicago?
Uh,everybody.
She was a stringer.
But legit stuff.
She has shot for the "tribune," news corp...
I don't know. She's got a reputation for being a kind of gritty crime photographer.
We've been running her pictures for a couple years.
And you met where?
At a crime scene,kinda like how I met you,actually.
Why are you so interested in morgan?
Just standard due diligence.
On a client?
Yeah,know your client.
It's private eye 101.
Oh,okay.
I'm just not used to being grilled about a girl that you're after,so...
I'm not after her.
I wouldn't have pegged her as your type.
This isn't about types.
Even if it is,it's fine. It's your business.
You're jealous.
Don't flatter yourself.
Okay.
Look, I just need some info on her time in chicago.
- Can you look into it and get back to me? - Sure.
Are you gonna turn her photos in to the police?
Not yet.
I'm gonna wait and see if i find a body at the hotel first.
Mick st.John,california fidelity.
I'm one of their investigators.
Everybody get out okay?
No casualties so far.
Still a lot of debris to get through,though.
What do you think about these arson rumors?
I can't say anything about an ongoing investigation.
Sorry.
My supervisor's kind of a hard-ass.
Hey, I work for an insurance company. I get it.
Okay,i'm gonna take a couple of happy snaps,
then i'll get out of your way.
Don't touch anything.
I found a woman's body at the hotel,
right where you took your pictures.
You're kidding.
I also forwarded your photographs to the police.
Okay.
I'm just gonna dust for prints before homicide gets here.
Please.
Now that-- you know what?
The police didn't do that the first time.
Yeah,they usually don't for a break-in,but they will now,
that's one of my favorite songs.
How could you know that?
You know how you feel like you really know somebody
even if you haven't known them that long?
How does that happen?
It's just one of those great mysteries.
I don't know.
Past life,maybe.
Yeah,maybe.
Any luck?
Yeah, I got a few clean prints,
but it'll only help if your thief's in the system.
Right.
It's hard to believe you caught it on camera.
Were they able to identify the woman?
Not yet.
There wasn't much left.
Just ashes,huh?
Yeah,they just got a couple of bits of pelvis and a few molars to go by.
That has got to be the worst way to die.
Can you imagine the pain before you actually died?
What you'd have to endure--
your hair singed off,your skin blistering.
It's a bad way to go,no doubt.
Bad? It's horrific.
There's something on her back.
What is it?
It's a tattoo.
You wanna get wet?
You don't even know my name.
Do I need to?
Maybe you should come to one of my real gigs.
This was one of your real gigs.
Will you give me a hand?
This is good. It could be a lead to identify her,right?
You sure that's a tattoo?
Yeah.
It's a fleur-de-lis.
So I spoke to her editor of three years at reuter's in chicago.
He said she was the best thing he ever had.
I don't know exactly what you're looking for.
That morgan is who she says she is.
Well,i've found nothing to say that she isn't morgan vincent from highland park,
southwestern class of 2000,daughter of bob,sister of jennifer--
you spoke to her family?
Yeah,you should've heard how ridiculous i sounded talking to her father on the phone
pretending to be from the wildcat alumni board.
Okay,so she's legit.
Unless she's doing areallygood job of faking it.
What is going on,Mick?
You're absolutely sure that you never met morgan before a few months ago?
Yes.
My ears were burning.
Did you hear any feedback on the fingerprints yet?
There's fingerprints now?
Yeah,Mick picked 'em up at my place last night.
Speaking of which,i'd better get back to it.
You should have something this afternoon.
Was that...
Was that a little look?
Are you guys an item?
Me and Mick? No.
Could've fooled me,or anybody else for that matter.
We work together,that's all.
So it'sjustprofessional?
Yes,it's just professional.
I'm a photographer. I see things.
And I have a boyfriend,remember?
Like that ever stopped anybody.
I gotta tell you,man. These fingerprints are suspiciously perfect.
A little too perfect,right?
Take a look at that tattoo.
It's a fleur-de-lis.
Well,it looks like a dog smoking a cigar.
Coraline had exactly the same tattoo on the same shoulder.
Well, I think it's all in your head,Mick.
It's not all in my head.
All right. We've found our thief.
Hank mottola.
Racketeering,trafficking in stolen goods.
Mm,standard issue crook.
Not standard issue,josef.
This guy's dead.
Hank mottola died three weeks ago from acute pancreatis.
So?
So he died before any of this happened--
the fire,the murder,the-- the break-in.
I sense a conspiracy theory coming on.
When crimes are committed by dead people,
this doesn't suggest to you any kind of vampire involvement?
Our break-in was committed by a dead man.
This can only mean one thing.
A minimum wage peon made a clerical error.
No.
Hank mattola is a vampire working with coraline to stage this whole thing.
Seems a little,uh,elaborate,don't you think?
What's elaborate?
- Dump a body,fake a few photos. - Come on.
You're talking about staging a murder and a fire--
that exactly parallels the way coraline died.
Don't you see?
This is just the kind of mind game that reeks of coraline.
Or not.
You need to take the tinfoil hat off,boyo.
Step back,get some perspective.
Maybe you could help.
I don't do perspective.
You could help me look through our thief's house.
I could use another set of eyes...
And teeth.
Where are we again?
City of palmdale?
Next time,i'll try to find a beverly hills thief.
Thanks.
You sure this is mottola's house?The suspected killer,
who's in league with coraline.
Yeah,i'm sure.
So now mattola'sin league with coraline.
Yeah,that's right.
Come on.
Well,why don't you just let me in the door?
Look,can't we hire someone to do this?
Oh,so this is how the little people live,huh?
Oh,vinyl recliners...
Have "crazed killer" written all over them,don't they?
Josef,if you're not gonna help,can you at least be quiet?
I would love to help,Mick.
I just don't know what we're looking for.
Oh,that's weird.
That looks just like coraline and you,only worse.
Must be the woman who died in the fire.
Maybe coraline staged their relationship,too.
Morgan had a copy of this on her bedside table.
Oh,a little french for me. I couldn't finish it.
Yeah.
It was coraline's favorite book.
Hey,what do you got?
Her cameras...
Stolen by a guy who's been dead for three weeks.
I gotta get eyes on this girl for myself.
Yeah. You do.
Hey,morgan.
This is my associate,josef.
It's nice to meet you.
The suspense is just killing me. What's the surprise?
Over here.
Go on. Open it.
My cameras.
How did you do it?
You recognize this guy?
Yeah,that's him. That's the thief.
You're amazing.
It was nothing special.
His prints were in the system.
The cameras were stashed at a safe at his house.
And who's that in the photo?
I presume that's the woman who burned to death in the fire.
Your thief was her boyfriend. He killed her.
He set the fire to cover it up.
And he came after me because he thought I had incriminating evidence. Right.
Well,we'll see when the police get a match on her molars.
So that's that.
Not quite.
There's one little catch.
This is the death certificate of the man whose fingerprints were found on your front door...
From three weeks prior.
This guy was dead when you took his pictures.
He faked his own death?
Or he rose from the grave.
He must have faked it,right?
That's the only explanation. Where is he buried?
He was cremated.
His ashes are now at hollywood forever.
Well,not if he faked his own death.
We need to go to the cemetery and see if his remains are there--
don't you think we should let the police handle this?
Yeah,you got your cameras back.
This case is over.
Wait a second.
The thief is a dead guy,and you guys aren't even just a little bit curious?
Come on. We can't stop now.
You were right.
Morgan is a perfect doppelganger for coraline.
She moves like coraline.
She sounds like coraline.
She didn't flinch,even when I baited her about coming back from the dead.
The nerve.
But,Mick,it isn't coraline.
I could smell morgan in there.
She wasn't a vampire.
She's a human.
And there's no way to assimilate that fact into any conspiracy theory about coraline coming back.
- I know,but- - no,there is no "buts."
But what if it is coraline,and she's reversed it?
Reversed what?
You don't even get it,do you--
what this means?
It means that you're losing it.
- It means she's found a cure. - A cure?
There is no cure for vampirism,Mick.
If there was, I would know about it,and not that I would care.
And personally,there's no way i'd ever go back to the mortal coil.
That's you. I would.
You see that? Right there.
That's your entire problem.
There is no way to un-become a vampire,Mick.
I think this has to do with Beth.
I think Beth is why coraline has come back now,
because she can't stand to see me--
with a human.
Is that what you were gonna say?
She can't stand to see me happy.
Look, I appreciate,you know,
the unwritten rule that we don't give each other advice,
that we don't nag.
What are you saying?
One of these days,you're gonna have to stop hating what you are.
God,this whole story just gets crazier and crazier.
No joke.
It's like one of those true stories that sounds more like fiction.
Inadvertently catching a murder on camera?
A horrific murder-- burned alive,that i happened to catch at that exact moment?
What are the chances?
Beth thinks it's the angle we need with her editor.
She does,huh?
Yeah.
What's the deal with you two,anyway?
There is no deal.
She likes you.
She has a boyfriend.
Well,it's there if you want it,trust me.
What about you?
Me?
Why don't I handle the guards?
What are you gonna do?
I'll think of something.
Why did you leave the other night?
We were just starting to have some fun.
What night?
I get it.
You fight pretty good for a dead guy,mottola--
just like a vampire.
Mick!
Your eyes.
Come back here!
Come here!
You come here.
What's wrong with you?
You tried to kill me!
What are you talking about?
I kill you,then you kill me,and we're even,huh? Is that it?
You're scaring me.
You set me up in there.
It was your idea to check those remains,
and then I get ambushed by hank mottola.
What is he,some friend of yours?
Get away from me!
Just tell me how you did it.
Just tell me how you turned human.
Show me that tattoo!
What tattoo?
Where's your tattoo?
There's no tattoo!
You're bleeding.
How are you bleeding?
********
What did morgan say?
Nothing.
She refused to talk.
I think it's time you tell me what's really going on.
The truth is morgan is the spitting image of my ex-wife.
In fact, I was convinced itwascoraline up until last night.
You know this murder she's caught on camera?
Yeah.
Well,that's exactly how coraline died-- exactly.
In a fire?
Yeah.
That woman was murdered.
So was coraline.
By who?
By me.
How did that happen?
You don't know,do you?
How would I know?
You ever had an intense affair?
Yeah,the first couple months of josh and I were like a honeymoon.
No,not the first six weeks,not a honeymoon--
an intense affair,like a fever.
I was kinda crazy about this guy at college.
I don't know. It's a subjective question.
You'd know if you'd had one.
It's like an infection.
It burns you up.
It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do.
I know you're in there.
Send him out.
I got something for him.
Send who out? There's nobody here.
Then let me in.
I'm not in the habit of letting inebriated men into my house at 2:00 in the morning.
You stood me up.
You stood me up three times.
I'm sorry. Okay?
We'll make it up.
I never thought i'd feel that way again.
What way?
Insane.
Then morgan showed up.
Yeah,and I went crazy,chasing ghosts,nearly got killed.
I let a killer get away.
After all the parallels to the past,
I just didn't know what was in my head and what wasn't.
So you tried to force her to reveal herself at the cemetery.
Yeah.
But I was wrong.
Were you disappointed?
The longer you live,the more surprises you get.
You think you'd come to expect the unexpected.
But you don't.
Authorities now believe that mottola faked his own death
in preparation for the first degree murder of his girlfriend in the franklin hotel fire.
The girl has been identified as diane apple,27.
As of now,mottola is still at large.
This is Beth turner for "buzzwire."
Really great work,Beth.
I knew you'd find a way in that sizzles.
Oh,thank morgan,not me.