Previously on "Miracles"
Father Calero used to take all us kids to the games.
- He ran the orphanage. - You don't have parents?
Everyone's got parents, I just never knew mine.
Paul, this is my son, Matty.
You must take after your mother. The man who was here...
he was nothing like you.
- Police officer? - Former.
- You don't think that maybe.. - Maybe what?
Maybe we're on our own down here.
What's the point of faith if it's never tested?
You're a good investigator, something which I desperately need.
I also believe that your former employer did not
fully appreciate your rather unique gifts.
To Georgia.
We grew up together. Well, one of us did.
I didn't say which one. Seriously, Georgia's one of the, uh..
one of the coolest people I've ever known.
Who else would throw a mother's day party in an orphanage?
- Tell them about "The Excuse". - Poppi!
- Your junior-year history exam. - It was a legitimate excuse.
- She told a nun her dad died. - He did.
When you were seven.
To Georgia. Happy birthday.
Happy birthday.
- You all right? - Yeah. It's just..
It's great that everybody could make it.
It's weird.
None of us have families, not even Poppi, but...
We have this.
You've had some wine, huh?
You gonna kiss me again?
That was one time when I was twelve.
Seriously, though, don't you feel lucky?
What, to be an orphan?
To not be alone.
Happy birthday.
Get you safe home, now.
You gonna be all right?
I'm fine. I'm just getting into a cab. How all right do I gotta be?
This is it?
It's the last one your dad gave me.
Do you mind? I know I always opened up his letters in front of you, but...
- Since this is the last one... -It's okay.
I almost don't want to open it.
Maybe you should save it until you're ready.
I used to be afraid that I'd stay up and read them all in one night.
You were the only thing that held me back to one a year.
Your dad wanted you to have a piece of him,
and he just wanted it to last as long as possible.
I never wanted this conversation to be over.
I guess tonight it is.
Happy birthday, Georgia.
You grew up just fine, kiddo.
I love you, Poppi.
Dear Georgia. Another year. Another birthday.
- Georgia, hey. - Hey.
What's wrong?
I'm not sure.
You know the letters my father wrote me before he died,
and Poppi gave me the final one last night?
But this morning, I got this in the mail.
Love, dad?
My father's dead.
So, who wrote this?
S01E12 The Letter Subs by Nixie & SubRaccoon
These two letters are completely different.
They don't even sound the same.
Do you think someone's playing a joke?
No. No, I don't.
When I was five, I had rheumatic fever.
My father had to be at the warehouse all day,
but he'd lay awake with me at night anyway.
He bought me this little giraffe that played music
when you bent its neck, he'd sing the words to me.
The song was about a father talking to his daughter.
He called her "Peaches & Cream."
No one else knew about that but me and him.
Did you see the way the letter starts, what he calls me?
She could call the police.
And tell them what? She thinks she's getting letters from her dead father?
- Postmark gets us to Birch Groves. - Where's that?
Western Connecticut.
The P.B. number's blurred. We'll need it to find the post office
it was mailed from, let me make a call.
Of course, there's always the possibility that the letter is from her father.
What do you mean?
The dead can reach us in a number of ways.
Raymond Bayless and D. Scott Rogo devoted an entire
book to the phenomenon of phone calls from the dead.
The letter could be an apport...
...a gift from the void.
I once saw a penniless woman in Gambia receive 18th-century
coins from her deceased grandmother.
You know, Paul, sometimes, if we want or need something badly enough,
- it will find us. - You think?
What about all the people who don't get magic coins?
Perhaps they get something else they need.
Found our post office.
How many mail carriers are there in town?
Exactly none. No resources for pickup.
So, all the pickups and drop-offs happen here?
Take a look at the handwriting, the choice of stationary,
maybe the address it was mailed to.
If someone had to come in here to mail it,
maybe you can remember something.
This stamp... not many people buy this one.
English Sundew, from the horticultural series.
Is there any way you could give us the names of the people
who bought them?
Dale Wilkie, does that sound like a man or a woman to you?
We'll know in a minute.
Ms. Wilkie? My name's Paul Callan.
I was hoping I could ask you a few questions.
A friend of mine got this in the mail. It upset her quite a bit.
I was wondering if you might have sent it.
Wasn't me.
- Can you tell us who did? - Why would I?
If I didn't send it, I mean, which I didn't.
Because it led back here.
Dale, why do you think we're here?
- 'Cause I'm in trouble? - That's right.
Harassment is a serious offense. And since this involves
mail tampering, you could be looking at a federal charge.
Are you going to arrest me?
What if I told you there's a way where we wouldn't have to do that?
You didn't write that letter, did you, Dale?
No. I just put it in the mail like he asked.
Who? Who asked?
- Someone at work. - Where do you work?
You got visitors.
We know Dubeck's been sending these letters
through one of the prison cooks.
My client didn't write this letter.
We appreciate you letting us ask him ourselves.
You didn't give me alot of choice. I've got a leniency hearing at
the end of this week, and I don't need any bumps in the road.
Mr. Dubeck could be released?
Oh, he'll never be released, but there's a chance he could
be moved off death row and into the general population.
So, this is his third appeal. What happened at the others?
Dubeck's not what you would call "society friendly."
His victims' families always show up and protest any motion that would
prolong his life, which, at this point, is due to end in exactly 11 days.
He has an execution date?
Unless this leniency hearing goes his way.
What exactly did he do?
I can tell you what he's convicted of,
nine counts of conspiracy and first-degree murder.
Conspiracy?
Killing someone for profit.
You'll have a limited timen with him.
Like I said, my client didn't write that letter.
Yes, I did.
What are you talking about?
Ed?
- You wrote this? - Yes.
I'm terminating this interview.
- How? - I don't know.
Something inside me, like a buzzing. I start to write, I can't stop.
What if I told you I thought you were making this up..
to get off death row, to save your own life?
What you think, what I think, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if I live or if I die.
The only thing that matters is that God's forgiven me.
- He has? - Yes. He has.
Something's happened. I've been touched by the hand of god.
These letters are proof.
Letters? There's more than one?
There've been five, six a week.
I was trying to get these out today.
It's to Georgia.
You know her?
Yeah.
Could you take it to her, then?
I seriously advise against that.
It's God's will, Daniel.
Meeting's over. Can I talk to you?
Doesn't make sense. I've worked with Dubeck for six years.
There's no way he could be writing those letters.
Why not?
Because he's illiterate.
He can't read or write.
Did you catch the address on the other letter?
Yeah. 216 Elm, up in Wyckoff.
Do you think it's possible? That he's really writing the letters?
No.
Dale Wilkie said she got them right from Dubeck's hand.
Doesn't mean he wrote them.
Besides, his lawyer claims he's illiterate.
Anyone could've written those letters.
You think it's a con to get him off of death row?
He's a murderer.
It's hard for me to believe he's been chosen as God's stenographer.
Can I help you?
I'm Paul Callan and this is Evelyn.
I'm sorry, but I make it a practice not to buy anything door-to-door.
If you have some literature, I'd be glad to take a look at it.
That's not it.
A close friend of mine has been receiving some letters, and..
I was under the impression that you might understand.
Has your friend been hearing from Cheryl?
Our daughter Cheryl hated to write letters.
We'd get one a week when she went away to summer camp,
and only because we made her promise and
said she could send postcards 'cause they took less words.
- But now we get these. - Five so far.
Memories, mostly, things Cheryl's sorry for, things she's still upset about.
None of her other friends had curfews.
Well, it's just Cheryl.
And the handwriting, is it your daughter's?
Yes.
My friend lost her father when she was very young.
Recently, she started getting letters, too.
And they're familiar and they're intimate, but..
she's having a hard time believing that they're real.
They are. I mean..
I can't speak for what your friend is experiencing,
but I know these letters are from Cheryl, I mean,
they have to be.
Have you ever tried to find out where the letters are coming from?
It's not important to us.
It's just so good to have her in our lives again, and that..
After what he did to her... she seems to be okay.
I'm sorry, when you say 'he'...
Our daughter was murdered by a man named Edward Dubeck.
Sandy and I walked the dog together every morning. Except that one.
I was on the phone. So she took the dog by herself.
If I had asked her to wait till I got off the phone,
if she walked a little slower or missed the light,
then she wouldn't have been standing next to the wrong
person when Dubeck fired.
After she was murdered, I barely hung on.
It's the easy things that get hard.
Eating, watching tv.
Nothing's easy when you're not used to doing it alone.
In her letters, she tries to help.
She, uh, wrote me a recipe last week.
Maybe I'll try it tonight.
My son Leo was 23.
and the only thing he did wrong
was to not try hard enough to get out of jury duty.
He did his job.
He found a criminal guilty, and that criminal paid Edward Dubeck to kill him.
I don't know how I'm getting these letters, or why.
What does he write about?
Dubeck, mostly.
You know, you think.. you think when your time comes,
you get some kind of deeper understanding, but you don't.
Leo's still... so angry. And I don't blame him.
You realize Dubeck has a leniency hearing coming up?
He might be let off of death row.
Yeah. And I'll be there to make sure he isn't.
Did you find out anything?
I'm not sure.
What do you mean?
I have to ask you something.
How, exactly, did your father die?
- It was an accident. - Was there an investigation?
I was seven, Paul. They didn't show me an autopsy.
There was a fire in the warehouse where he worked. He got trapped inside.
What is it?
Another one?
He, uh, he says he thinks I should paint my bedroom blue
because it's my favorite color.
He knows I tell people it's orange, but only because I think it
makes me sound too boring if I say it's blue.
I mean, this doesn't sound anything like him, but he knows.
Where did you get this?
We traced the letter you gave me.
It was supposedly written by a man on death row. His name is Edward Dubeck.
He claims that he feels your father's thoughts, that..
in a way, your dad tells him what to write to you.
That's ridiculous.
I mean, that's - that's not possible, right?
It's not just you. Other people are getting letters, too.
Other people? What other people?
Families of people he murdered. The letters are from his victims.
But you said your dad died in an accident. It doesn't make sense.
Paul, do you think this is real?
I don't know.
This, uh, this guy on death row...
this is his handwriting?
No, it seems he takes on the penmanship of the person he's speaking for,
like they're actually writing through him.
Wait.
If this is my father's writing... then who the hell wrote these?
Hi, kiddo.
What's wrong?
Georgia's dad didn't write those letters, did he, Poppi?
I think you better come in.
Dubeck, it's lights out.
Dubeck, put the pen down.
I've got a situation in Dubeck's cell.
What's going on?
Dubeck, put the pen down and stand at the back of the cell.
You've got three seconds, or I'm gonna lay you out.
How could you lie to me? Every year, you gave me a letter,
and you told me it was from my dad.
I'm sorry, I was only carrying out what your father intended.
So, what do you want from me?
I want you to understand.
Good luck with that.
I was with your father at the hospital when he died.
He asked if I would write down his thoughts and wishes for you,
that you'd never feel alone.
But then, just after we started, he passed on.
It was his last wish. It's what he wanted for you.
But I just, I just had to keep on writing.
But the words in those letters..
Yours! Not his!
How hard is it to meet somebody on death row?
I don't think that's a good idea.
- I want to see him. - Georgia.
That man may be the only connection I have left to my father.
I need to see him.
What else would you like to know?
Georgia, you don't have to do this.
My father was Michael Wilson.
Everyone told me he died in a warehouse fire.
Did you.. did you murder him?
Yes.
Why? Why?
What did he do to deserve that?
I was 17, I think some guy
gave me 300 dollars to do a burn job for insurance or something.
I didn't know anyone was still in there.
- Would it have mattered? - No.
- Come on, Georgia. - Wait.
I need to know. Is he okay?
It doesn't work that way.
I don't talk to them. I talk for them.
I can't control what comes to me.
But I don't have to keep sending the letters if you don't want me to.
Time.
You're still here?
Sit down.
What's wrong?
If Dubeck is running a con, I can't even
begin to understand how he's pulling it off.
And if he isn't, if he is actually somehow channeling
his own victims, it isn't right.
You're looking for good to only come from good and bad from bad.
They're not mutually exclusive.
Have you ever heard of the Fire Principle?
Pine trees have resin-sealed cones.
In a forest fire, heat melts the resin,
the cones pop, and thousands of seeds are scattered all over the earth,
which is how we get more pine trees.
People watch the news and all they see is the devastation.
What they don't see is that the land is being reborn,
it's coming back stronger, more fertile.
It's a necessary evil, Paul.
It's just how things work.
We wouldn't have the forest without the fire.
Hello.
I just got off the phone with Dubeck's lawyer. He's calling a meeting.
With us?
With everyone who's been getting letters from Dubeck.
It's just so wonderful.
It's not wonderful, he's using us.
- How's she holding up? - I don't know.
The one connection she had to her father kind of fell through.
Now she's clinging to whatever she can have.
If I could have your attention.
Thank you for coming.
None of you sounded too pleased to hear from me, and I understand.
But in just nine days, my client will be put to death...
Good.
Unless tomorrow's leniency hearing prevents it.
Recently we've all been made aware of mitigating circumstances.
And here, I'll be blunt.
The letters you've been receiving were indeed written by my client.
But how?
I wish I had an answer to that, but I don't.
This is a petition to the governor.
Your signatures could make the difference in keeping him alive.
- I will never sign that. - We gotta sign that.
We gotta keep him off death row.
Hell, do you believe the letters are real?
Of course I do. So what?
They don't change the fact that my son
is not at the table for breakfast.
Kill the son of a bitch.
I don't need letters. I got a... lifetime full of memories.
What I need is justice.
I'm signing.
Jim, will you talk some sense into these people?
I don't know what to think anymore.
I've been angry for so many years, and you know what?
My wife is still dead.
I'm just not so sure we should spend the rest of our lives trying to kill this man.
It's not the rest of our lives. It's nine days.
Unless the board of pardons gives him his leniency or the governor
picks up the phone. Then we're all back here in 18 months.
I don't think I can do this anymore.
You're gonna sign this?
I'm sorry, Bill.
I need to stop planning the end of his life and get on with mine.
If he dies, the letters stop.
I got what I need right here.
This is my connection to my son.
I don't need his letters.
I do.
Each person in this room got a chance to know the people
they lost, to love them.
But I was seven, when my father died. I never got to know him.
So, these letters... they are my only chance.
So, please don't take that away.
Let him live.
You're making me nervous.
Sorry. I just wanted to, uh..
Check up on me?
When exactly does that start to happen, anyway, hmm..?
The kids you looked after think they need to look after you?
Do you think her dad's really writing to her?
It doesn't matter what I think.
You did the right thing, Poppi. You did the right thing.
Writing the letters or admitting I did?
Sometimes, right or wrong, you have to make a call.
Had a lot of you kids to look after, not a lot of time to make decisions.
You know Georgia, she doesn't suffer from lack of an opinion.
Give her some time, and eventually she'll..
She'll forgive me?
The lord works in mysterious ways, kiddo.
Forgiveness can be.. be a mighty strange thing.
Who knows?
Maybe it's not always deserved.
Did you hear?
Dubeck won his appeal.
The Board of Pardons is releasing him into general population.
Guess that petition made a difference.
Thanks for coming, Paul. I made a decision.
Now, I'm not exactly sure how it's gonna work,
so, if it doesn't, then I'll have to try something else.
I'm gonna write to my father.
- You mean to Dubeck? - No. I mean my father.
I'm gonna write him letters, and I'm gonna put it in the
desk drawer, you know, ask him questions, things I've always
wanted to know about him and mom and, well, everything.
And then the next time I get a letter from Dubeck,
I'll see if he answered, and if he did, I'll know it works.
I mean, I know it sounds ridiculous, but..
every time I go to the doctor, you know that questionnaire?
Well, it asks me about my family history.
I don't know it. I want to.
My mom died when I was two, my dad when I was seven.
- Georgia... - Please, don't.
This is a gift.
I have lost twenty years,
and I now have the rest of my life to get to know my father.
I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. I'm talking to you like
you don't understand. Of course you understand.
It's all right.
It's just, you know, like.. it's like we're sick or something,
you know, the way they look at us when they find out,
"oh, not just one, but both parents, and so young."
What would you give to talk to them?
To ask your parents just one simple question?
Anything.
Paul.
Do you want me to ask my dad about your mom?
No.
I'm sorry. I guess I'm acting crazy.
Yeah.
You got 2 letters from your dad, but you got 20 from Poppi.
-So, you're on his side? - I'm not taking sides, but..
if you never speak to Poppi again, I stand to lose the only
family I ever had, us, you, me and Poppi.
So, what would you have me do?
I finally have my dad back.
Letters from a void versus letters from a man who's actually
been there for you. He's the one your father entrusted you to.
He betrayed my trust.
Your father believed in Poppi. Why don't you?
Do you remember that time I begged you to let me plant zinnias?
You finally said yes... they all died.
It was December.
What would you do Poppi... if you were me?
How would you feel?
I'd be angry.
Getting that letter every year... that was all I had.
There are a few things that I remember about him.
But sometimes I can't tell if the memories are real
or if they're just stories I've heard.
But the letters... they were my dad.
I've had a sort of long-distance conversation with him.
But this year, it was over.
I thought I was okay with that.
But then something happened, something I can't explain or even understand.
He called back.
I'm angry with you, Poppi, and I don't know what to do about that.
I never meant to hurt you, Georgia.
I know you didn't write those letters to hurt me.
You wrote them because you love me.
Getting these letters the past couple of weeks, it's been remarkable.
But something remarkable has been going on all along.
Even if I never get another letter...
I know I have someone looking out for me.
That's what I want.
How'd it happen?
Homemade shank to the back. Dubeck never saw it coming.
- Did you? - I don't know. Maybe I should have.
He always said that the only difference between general pop and death row is
that on death row, you know when they're gonna kill you.
Any idea who did it?
They have a guy in lockdown. His name is Claywood, Claymer, something like that.
- Is he saying why? - Dubeck pissed him off.
- He was paid, it's obvious. - But he's not talking?
No, except of course to his girlfriend, who's visiting a lot more often now
that she's got herself a brand-new car.
40,000 dollar S.U.V. You believe that?
I work a 15-hour day, and I drive home in an '89 clunker.
Hey. How are you?
I'm okay.
I guess you heard about Dubeck.
Yeah.
Well, maybe it's justice. I don't know.
I know what you did.
He had the gall to say he was forgiven.
I thought doing something about it might make a difference.
Did it?
I'm not sure.
Those men have some questions for you.
Send them in.
How did it go?
They took him away.
I don't see the point.
Those families got Dubeck off death row so they could keep
their letters coming, and..
the first thing that happens is he gets killed.
Perhaps that was the point.
Perhaps that's why the spirits of his victims came through in the first place.
Perhaps they knew... that this is how it would end for him.
Is she coming or what?
I think so. She had some stuff to do.
She said she'd be here.
So, how about you? How are you doing with all this?
All right, I guess.
Poppi, if my parents wrote to me, I wouldn't even recognize them.
Are you asking why I didn't write you letters?
No.
Maybe.
Yeah.
I watched you growing up.
What I saw was a person who knew he wasn't alone.
She needed the letters, Paul. You didn't.
- Hello, there she is. - Hello.
So, who wants pizza? Paul's buying.
- I am? - You are.
- How's work? - Oh, my God.
It was crazy. We got nearly identical orders in
from New York and Tucson, and they got switched.
The circuit boards have non-reconfigurable data ports..
Do you have any idea what she's talking about?
Let me get this straight --I'm buying?
You're buying!
Subs by: Nixie & SubRaccoon