Joan Collins is not a man in drag.
How do you know?
You believe everything you hear.
- I do not. - What don't you believe?
I don't believe Pop Rocks and Coke makes your stomach explode.
I don't believe Rock Hudson has liver cancer.
Face it, honey, you're gullible.
And a conspiracy nut.
Sticks and stones..
Who killed Kennedy?
Lyndon Johnson and Fidel Castro.
'Oh, and Joan Collins.'
'He was the ringleader.'
♪ 'Cause tonight for the first time ♪
What?
♪ Just about half-past ten.. ♪
No, don't come here.
Artie, I'm coming there.
What is it, honey?
♪ It's gonna start raining men ♪
I got it.
♪ It's raining men ♪
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ It's raining men ♪
♪ Amen ♪
♪ I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get ♪
♪ Absolutely soaking wet ♪
♪ It's raining men ♪
♪ Hallelujah ♪
♪ It's raining men.. ♪
Ah, Detective Rush?
I'm Artie Russo. I called.
Oh, have a seat.
Scotty? Artie Russo.
I'm an AIDS survivor.
I was supposed to be dead 20 years ago.
Lucky, huh.
I got into an early drug trial.
I was, uh, diagnosed in 1983
given six months.
Instead, my partner Jeff was dead in six months.
From AIDS?
Murdered in Rittenhouse Square.
Strangled.
Were there any suspects?
Yeah. Me.
What was the theory?
That I killed the love
of my life in a rage
because he gave me AIDS.
- Did he? - No one knows.
In '83 there was no test for it.
You found out you had it by getting sick.
And, Jeff never did?
No.
'The strange thing is'
I accepted my death coming.
It was Jeff who was in a rage.
Over what?
The dying of the light, as he put it.
He rage against anything besides the light?
Government, doctors, the gay community
the newspapers, the President.
That's a long list.
And 20 years is a long time.
What brings you in now?
I'm getting married
to my partner of ten years.
But before I do
I want to put an end to any doubt that I loved Jeff.
You want us to re-open a cold job for your wedding?
It'd be a nice gift.
This ain't Pottery Barn.
The gift I want is justice.
'We'll read the job again.'
Maybe um, we'll beat the odds.
Like you did.
Thank you.
When did you first hear?
About AIDS, um..
I guess high school.
I got the talk from a nun at St. Franny's.
That's something you don't forget.
Oh, here it is. Kern, Jeffrey.
When brother Donnelly died of it..
...it really hit home.
Jeff was 25 in 1983.
Unlucky timing for a gay man.
No warning what was out there.
Take it upstairs?
Hit with a rock, strangled.
From the front. Bare hands.
Sounds personal.
No robbery, either.
Lab didn't get much blood to test.
Maybe they were scared to collect it.
Guys on the scene knew he was gay?
Earring in his right ear.
You know, lot of unknowns about AIDS in '83.
Nicky's probably right.
All we have are a few blood stains
on Jeff's shirt.
Never analyzed.
Well, the lab will know how to deal with it now
if your victim fought back.
Might be the killer's blood.
Anything else to go on?
You ever hear of the Benjamin Kern Foundation?
I heard of the Kern Building. Cool. Big fountain out front.
This is Jeffrey Kern.
The victim was rich.
Might be significant.
Who stood to gain from Jeff dying?
You got any siblings, Scotty?
Ah, yeah, a brother.
Oh, you got that
and you got the blood.
So where's that cool building?
'Is your dad able to join us?'
He's able, but unwilling.
Got a lot of art.
Beats our wanted posters.
I'd like a wanted poster with my brother's killer on it.
Never bought Artie as the doer?
No.
And I don't think the cops knocked themselves out
trying to find the killer of this low-status, gay kid.
His family was high status.
'Fear of AIDS'
trumped everything in '83.
'The paramedics left Jeff's body'
in the rain for three hours
'cause they didn't want to touch him.
Jeff being from this flush family
kind of makes us look at money as motive.
He didn't have any money.
My dad disinherited him a year before he died.
Because he was gay?
Dad couldn't accept it.
'So Jeff being cut off'
then dying left you sole heir
to the family fortune.
I didn't profit from his death.
His half of all that money?
Goes to three charities.
I convinced my dad to do that much.
You were close to your brother?
He made me crazy
but he was the kind of guy you just love anyway.
'My dad adored him too.'
But their relationship ended at my engagement party.
- You came. - I wouldn't miss it.
You're brave.
Look who's here.
I'm so glad.
Congratulations, Ellen.
- 'Where is he?' - Walking over here.
Do you have to do this, Jeffrey?
There's the perfect Kern manners.
Are you making some kind of point?
I'm attending a family event
with Artie who's part of my family.
Nice to see you again.
If you want to flaunt your lifestyle
there's a time, a place.
- When? Where? - Not at Paul's party.
We don't mind.
I don't want this for you.
If Artie can't stay, I can't either.
♪ Our house in the middle of our ♪
♪ Our house it has a crowd ♪
♪ There's always something happening ♪
♪ And it's usually quite loud ♪
Congratulations. I know you'll have a happy life.
♪ Our house in the middle of our street ♪
After that, my dad acted like he only had one son.
So what'd Jeff do for money?
Worked as a towel boy at a bathhouse.
To really stick it to Dad.
Didn't last too long, though.
- What happened? - There was some trouble there.
I...I never knew the whole story.
Would Artie know the details?
Yeah, probably.
Jeff was supposed to be passing out towels in that place
instead, he was, uh, posting warning signs.
About AIDS?
Well that must've gone over big with the owner.
Artie, they need an answer.
The white chair covers or the light blue?
Uh, this is Russ.
What do you think?
White goes with a wedding.
I like white, too.
So was Jeff trying to shut this bathhouse down?
Basically.
He have any success?
The fire was pretty effective.
What he burned the place?
He never admitted it, but..
- You could have killed people. - You're killing people.
This place is a hotbed of disease.
No one knows how it's spread.
Whoever set this fire did a public service.
"Whoever", I like that.
- Jeff, what's going on? - This is my boss, Barney.
- Who has no conscience. - Let's go home, calm down.
Hey, hey, hey, Jeff.
How are we going to take care of this, huh?
I didn't do anything.
- I'll have you locked up. - Hey, let's be reasonable.
Reasonable is you reaching
into your dad's deep pockets and compensating me.
I don't have a dad anymore.
- You seem rational. - I am.
Why don't you talk to your lunatic boyfriend
and stop him, or I will!
'You ever see Barney again after that?'
I only hoped he was content with just firing Jeff
'cause there wasn't any money to give him.
You float the Barney theory with detectives in '83?
Gave 'em his name.
Never heard back.
'It was a terrible time. Terrible.'
'Okay, but through all the terribleness'
you were raking it in.
Bathhouses were hot in the '80s.
No one knew what was coming down the pike.
And you made a couple mill a year.
So you did your research.
'And here comes this towel boy Jeff'
decides to save the world
by shutting down your booming business.
It was the turning point, anyway.
Virus was making the papers.
AIDS shut down my bathhouse.
But Jeff lit the match.
- Kid was a hothead. - You a hothead too?
I can be.
The insurance paid for all my losses.
And Jeff got out of my sight for good.
This Jeff sounds like he pissed off every other person he met.
Roughly.
Anyone else around that place
get into it with Jeff?
There was someone Jeff targeted in particular.
Carlo, we got to talk.
- Talk? No thanks. - Five minutes.
I thought you said you just wanted to talk.
All that time you spend in front of the mirror
I know you've noticed this.
- It's nothing. - You're sick.
I'm fine.
Did you tell that guy
you just had sex with that you have it?
It's cancer
and cancer's not contagious.
You're purposely giving it to people?
- You're such a drama queen. - What are you, a sociopath?
I think you're still upset that we stopped. You and me.
Carlo, it kills people.
Stay out of my way
and I'll stay out of yours.
Now, Carlo was the prettiest of them all.
'Literally got by on his good looks.'
Ah, I thought I saved this.
Jeff made these.
Handed them out around Queens Village.
I'm seeing a motive.
"Carlo is spreading the gay cancer
to ten men a night at Barney's."
Ten a night?
At that pace, Carlo must be long dead.
Need a last name to find out.
Barney didn't know it?
Now, this Carlo said some about when "we stopped."
It sounded like him and Jeff were together.
Did Artie know that?
And did Artie get the bug from Jeff, who..
...got it from Carlo?
Sounds like the cops in '83 were on to something.
Better go back to the bride-to-be.
No, I think, technically, they're both grooms.
I knew about Jeff and Carlo.
- And you didn't mind? - I didn't like it.
But?
You're not gonna find this palatable.
Consider me warned.
Most gay men were living out
what a lot of straight men fantasize.
Which is?
Spouse at home, affairs on the side.
That was our arrangement, too.
Until I got sick.
♪ Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick ♪
♪ And think of you ♪
♪ Caught up in circles confusion ♪
How is he?
He's the same.
He's very brave.
He's sleeping. If you could keep your voices down.
Sure.
- Hey, Artie. - Is it my birthday?
It's a metaphor. Every day is a celebration.
Every day's gonna be my birthday from now on?
Yes.
We'll be in a never-ending production of"Our Town"
treasuring every single moment as we live it.
That's right.
Don't do that.
Stay back. Don't get this.
I saw Carlo today.
How is the Adonis of Queens Village?
He can't believe I only want to be with you.
Neither can I.
Well, it's true.
Jeff left Carlo for me.
Who would've thought?
Carlo getting dumped, that must've been new to him.
Brand-new.
You think he was dangerous?
I think he purposely infected hundreds of men in this city.
That's murder, isn't it?
You know his last name?
Fishman.
First name is Melvin.
Carlo is Melvin Fishman?
He's an Ohio boy.
Reinvented himself when he moved to the big city.
He alive?
Try South Philly.
Now, how's a guy like him make it
when so many others don't?
If God was punishing people for their sins
he had a badly researched list.
I was Melvin for 18 miserable years in Shaker Heights.
Here... I'm Carlo.
Here, hold Louise.
'Let's talk about this homicide.'
You want to know if I murdered Jeff Kern? No.
You had a reputation for playing roulette with people's health.
This just put me more in demand.
I'm ugly now, and make money cleaning bird cages
but look at me there.
I was gorgeous.
Nobody cared about the "he'll kill you" part?
Jeff was seen as a hysteric
like the lady who smashed up liquor bottles with an axe.
People laughed.
So guys still wanted you?
Jeff was the one who ended up ostracized.
Even though he was right in the end.
People don't know how to act in an emergency.
When AIDS hit the world..
...most of us froze in disbelief.
- Not Jeff. - No, he fought.
In ways a lot more stupid than this.
Like?
Jeff usually hid his background.
Now he decided to use it.
How?
A fundraising party
for rich, closeted gay men
who wanted to stay that way.
Be sure not to set off the alarm.
Thanks for helping me do this.
- Don't tell dad. - Are you kidding?
You should call him.
He should call me.
I'll be in the guest house.
♪ I'm all out of hope ♪
♪ One more bad dream ♪
♪ Could bring a fall ♪
Thirty-seven men have died in Philadelphia
425 in New York
and the government is ignoring it.
Ronald Reagan? Interfere with God's work?
Everyone in this room has money and clout
so we're the ones who have to do something.
We could hire a lobbyist.
A doctor, maybe.
Giving money isn't enough.
We have to put ourselves on the line.
- How do you mean? - Come out.
Make a joint statement.
We're gay, we're powerful
'and attention must be paid.'
Your father would love that.
My father will have to handle it.
If we came out
we'd lose whatever credibility we might have had.
People are dying. This is a crisis.
Don't be an alarmist.
There's no cure. No one's even looking for a cure.
This is a press release, from everyone in this room.
Are you crazy?
I'm sending it out in a week.
'I'd like your signatures'
but I don't need them.
Jeff was gonna break the biggest taboo
in the gay world.
Outing.
He had more guts than brains
threatening those men.
So, who were these guys who had everything to lose?
You wantmeto out them?
'For a homicide investigation?'
You bet.
Screw 'em.
What've they done for me lately?
Right, Bobo?
Got a pen?
'Terrence Overton'
president of East Line Bank.
Christopher Duncan, chief of staff to councilman byers.
Byers. He's right of Attila the Hun.
Don't ask, don't tell.
Just hide in the log cabin.
Chief of emergency medicine at Penn General.
Russell Bennet.
Who's that?
Russ.
That's Artie's fiance.
You were at Jeff's party the week before he was murdered.
- Yes. - This is unbelievable.
A lot of people in that room had motive to kill Jeff.
Not me. I've been out since I was 16.
How could you not tell me this?
It's a time of my life I'm embarrassed about.
I was a drunk and an addict who dated older men.
I was there with one.
He have a lot to lose by being outed?
Only everything.
Who we talking about, Russ?
You better tell them.
You better tell them every detail.
Iwill.
So?
Carson Finch.
Oh, this just gets worse and worse.
'Who's that?'
A conservative columnist for theTimes.
It'd be like finding out Pat Buchanan was gay.
If I'd been sober for five minutes
while I was with him, I might have realized he was the devil.
You think Finch could have hurt Jeff?
I know he read him the riot act after the party.
Things don't get done
when you rant and rave and threaten.
Things get done quietly.
We'll be dead. That's quiet.
Russell, I need five minutes.
- Lovely family. - They're okay.
Powerful, too.
I've never met your father
but I see his name everywhere..
...hospitals, libraries.
He's a major donor in Philadelphia.
I know all that.
You had some people here tonight
who could bring his empire crashing down.
Now you're the one threatening.
Just saying.
Even the picturesque Kern family has dirty secrets.
I grew up here. I know hardball.
You don't..
...want to play it..
...with me.
Satan himself.
How far would Finch go?
I thought he was content eviscerating people in print
but who knows?
So is the wedding off?
That's between them.
Mine was honored off three times.
New police resource.
Yeah? What?
Half the guys on the party list are now on the AIDS quilt.
'Gone, huh?'
Yeah.
Ain't all Mary's. Women, kids.
IV drug users, and my niece being one of 'em.
Hmm.
'Two panels for Jeff Kern.'
One from Artie, one from his brother.
'Guess where Finch lives?'
Rittenhouse Square.
Near where Jeff ended up.
Jeff Kern was lucky
he lived through the night of that party.
Highball?
We heard about the threats, especially from you.
I just warned him.
You hurt me, I'll hurt you.
Like maybe with a rock to the face?
- That wasn't necessary. - Why's that?
Between my friend at the East Line Bank and I
we had plenty of dirt on the magnificent Kern family.
And that made Jeff back off?
'Cause he doesn't seem to be the backing off type.
Who knows what he would have done.
Maybe he died before he knew himself.
Or maybe he died so he couldn't put out
that press release.
Maybe.
But I fight with words, not rocks.
For what it's worth
I never believed that Jeff died at the hands of a gay man.
Beating him with a rock?
I'd look for a heterosexual.
Got one in particular?
Jeff found out I was gay because we both had friends
on the AIDS floor at Penn General.
I saw him there.
Yeah, so?
Artie shared a room with a boy who had AIDS.
The boy's father was..
...rageful.
Carson Finch?
Jeff? Hello.
Hi.
Sick friend?
♪ Time it needs time ♪
♪ To win back your love again ♪
Can I get you anything?
Food?
You can get me a cure.
I know.
He's dying.
I'm sorry.
Take your hand off me.
Kenny got sick because of people like you.
- Excuse me? - He is innocent.
He should be helped before your friend.
I like to help everyone.
He's eight. Please.
I don't know if I can help Artie.
Damn you!
'What happened?'
Jeff walked away.
Now, how did this guy think Jeff could help his son?
I don't know.
'But he knew where to find Jeff.'
And I know hate when I see it.
We gotta talk to you about Jeff Kern
'the guy you fought with at the hospital.'
I don't remember half of what came out of my mouth that night.
- You threatened him. - Two weeks later he was killed.
Not by me.
I was angry, yeah.
I thought Kenny got AIDS from his second-grade teacher.
Now I know it was the transfusions he had..
...skateboard accident.
Why'd you target Jeff?
It just seemed unfair.
I mean, if there was some miracle
my kid should get it, not the gay guy.
What miracle do you mean?
That guy, Jeff, said he had a way
to get his boyfriend into a drug trial.
- Maybe save him. - How?
I don't know, but, uh...they kept arguing about it
the sick guy saying "It's not worth it. I accept my death."
I'm thinkin', "You accept your death? Great!"
Give my kid the drug.
How do you get access to these drug trials?
Connections, clout.
Know a board member be a major donor to the hospital.
What hospital you talking about?
Penn General.
They do a lot of research there.
Jeff's father is on the board of directors
for Pennsylvania General.
Oh, that qualifies as a major donor.
Has been for years.
So Jeff needs Dad to save
Artie's life, potentially.
Only Jeff and Dad are estranged.
But Jeff will do anything. He and Artie are in love.
Which is why dad will say no.
'That writer, Finch'
told Jeff he had something that could ruin his dad.
Maybe Jeff asked him what the dirt was
so he could throw it at dad himself.
We gotta talk to the old man, whether he likes it or not.
Do you think a father would kill his son
to save his business empire?
'Why not?'
Jeff was dead to him already.
Did Jeff come to you for help before he died, Mr. Kern?
He called.
Asked if we could meet.
Said it was important.
I made him beg.
I was a jerk.
Dad, don't say that.
Sorry it offends you.
Well, what happened when you two met?
We didn't.
He was murdered the night before.
So you don't know what he wanted to talk about?
No, and I never will.
I think Jeff wanted you to help Artie get into the drug trial
'at Penn General.'
Yes. You've told me.
What would you have said?
I would have said no.
But Artie got into that trial.
Yes.
After Jeff died, I made sure
'his "friend"'
got a place.
Strange logic.
Well, maybe it was guilt
for something you did, Mr. Kern?
You have something to say to me, say it.
Be a man.
Carson Finch had dirt on your family.
Finch is a dilettante.
Jeff knew what it was, and was gonna use it against you.
You've got fire, huh?
Just like Jeff did.
What did Finch tell him? What did he hold over you?
Oh, what could be worse than what Jeffrey flaunted every day?
- Dad. - It was unnatural.
Let's not go into that.
Only thing more unnatural
is for a father to bury his son.
Hearing of his death was the worst day of my life.
- You should go now. - Yes, go.
You getting Artie into that trial
'may have saved his life.'
Furthest thing from my mind.
I don't believe you, Mr. Kern.
I think you loved Jeff.
Well..
He was always my favorite.
They both are.
You really think Jeff would blackmail his own father?
He wasn't shy about confrontation.
I suppose that's true. He was a chip off the old block.
You told him you had something on his family.
- We need to know what it was. - That's water under the bridge.
'Something on the foundation?'
- Financial scandal? - Or personal?
I believe in discretion.
- A man was murdered. - Bludgeoned, strangled.
'That ain't discreet.'
Do right by this kid, Finch.
Summer of '78.
That's me in the, uh, swim trunks.
Lord have mercy.
These are our housemates..
...Brian, Doug, and Leonard.
And this man..
...is Leonard's hot summer romance.
Paul was thinner then.
When I went to the party that night
I didn't know he was Jeff's brother.
How'd you find out?
I recognized him from family photos.
Same swim trunks.
I realized Jeff didn't know.
- So you told him? - No.
I went outside for a smoke
there was the man himself.
Paul?
Carson Finch.
Of course.
I had no idea you were Jeff's brother.
Listen, this is..
I'm married now, and my family doesn't know--
Say no more. I understand.
I read your column.
You're crazy.
Miss Finch isn't everyone's cup of tea.
How's Leonard?
I've been thinking of sending him a card.
Leonard died last year.
Why didn't you tell anyone?
'I didn't believe in outing.'
And then death outed us all.
Paul's worried that his brother will out him
to their dad at this meeting.
Which, if dad treats his kids equally
means Paul gets disinherited, too.
So he kills Jeff the night before
Ipso facto.
Except we don't got no factos.
Blood results were inconclusive.
How come?
Eighty-five percent match to Jeff's DNA.
The lab's assuming the sample's degraded.
But there's another explanation for an almost match.
A sibling.
No, you can't take that to court.
Now, we need a confession.
He'll lawyer up in record time, Scotty.
Maybe not.
I think, uh, Paul wants to tell someone what he did.
He put it on the quilt panel he made for Jeff.
"He was lost, and is found."
'The Prodigal Son.'
Someone want to catch me up here?
I, uh, missed all of Sunday school.
It's a story about two sons and a father.
One son does everything to please his father.
- The other one.. - Bad.
Goes off whoring and drinking, shaming the family.
While the good son is home working the field.
Then one day the bad son wants to come back home.
'And the father instantly forgives him'
welcomes him, and gives him his fatted calf.
All his stuff.
Which makes the good, dutiful son
very, very angry.
I have a meeting in ten minutes.
Not today, Paul.
What are you doing?
Telling you a story.
Then we want you to tell us a story.
Sorry, you're losing me.
"He was lost, and is found."
The Prodigal Son?
Wendy, get Ben Kelton on the phone.
I think you should talk to my attorney.
Look at that kingdom.
All yours.
The good son.
You sacrificed for it.
'Gave up your own desires.'
'Did everything right.'
And earned this.
While Jeff went out and played.
'Defied your father.'
I loved my brother.
As long as he was exiled from the family.
But what if Jeff went to your dad for help..
...and they made amends?
What if dad welcomed him home?
Would leave you on the outside.
You couldn't risk that.
So you made sure that meeting never happened.
At least, that's the version Paul likes to tell himself.
- It's cleaner. - Straighter.
But it was simpler than that, wasn't it, Paul?
You had a secret.
You were terrified
Jeff would tell dad.
Come on, Paul.
You want to make it right.
You confessed 20 years ago.
'Ben Kelton on the line.'
Tell him..
...I'll call him back.
'Yes, sir.'
I...tried to talk to Jeff.
- Thanks for treating. - Yeah.
I'm gonnawalk that way
pick up some mocha-chip for Artie.
I'd like to be at dinner tomorrow night
with you and Dad.
- I have to do it alone. - Do what?
Get Artie in the drug trial.
- But how? - Any way I can.
Beg, bribe, blackmail.
Would that include ruining my life?
What are you talking about?
You saw me with Finch.
Think I didn't know you were a closet case?
It was one summer.
Dad can't know.
I would never out you.
You threatened to out a room full of men.
- They're not my brother. - I know you.
You can't control yourself when you want something.
- Don't be crazy. - He'll piss you off.
You'll do anything to help Artie.
Paul, I won't hurt you.
You don't want to, but you will!
- Cool off. - Me?
- Cool off? - Go home to your wife.
No. I won't let you.
- Paul! - No!
I gave up too much.
♪ I never needed love like I need you ♪
♪ And I never lived for nobody but I live for you ♪
♪ Oo-o-h babe lost in love ♪
♪ Is what I feel when I'm with you ♪
♪ Maybe it's the way you touch me ♪
♪ With the warmth of the sun ♪
♪ Maybe it's the way you smile I come all undone ♪
♪ Oo-o-h babe lost in love is what I feel ♪
♪ When I'm with you ♪
♪ Baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay-yay ♪
♪ Oh I get chills when I'm with you ♪
♪ Whoa-whoa whoa-whoa ♪
♪ Oh baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay yay ♪
♪ My world stands still when I'm with you ♪
♪ When I'm with you ♪
♪ I never cared for nobody like I care for you ♪
♪ And I never wanted to share the things ♪
♪ I want to share with you ♪
♪ O-o-o-h babe ♪
♪ Lost in love is what I feel ♪
♪ When I'm with you ♪
♪ Baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay ♪
♪ O-o-o-h I get chills when I'm with you ♪
♪ Whoa-whoa whoa ♪
♪ Oh baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay yay ♪
♪ My world stands still when I'm with you ♪
♪ Who-o-o-a who-o-a ♪
♪ Who-o-o-a whoa ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ Baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay-yay ♪
♪ Oh I get chills when I'm with you ♪
♪ Who-o-o-a whoa ♪
♪ Oh baby ♪
♪ Yay-yay yay yay ♪
♪ My world stands still when I'm with you ♪
♪ When I'm with you ♪