Out of the Mouths of Babes

Out of the Mouths of Babes
Season 01, Episode 04
Airdate:	March 27, 2011
Writer(s):	Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora
Director:	Michael Waxman
Previous:	The Bag Man
Next:	Queen of Hearts

Out of the Mouths of Babes is the fourth episode of the first season of the A&E Drama series, Breakout Kings. In this episode Joe Ramsey, a convicted pedophile, disguises himself as a crewmember on a film shoot and makes a break for it. The team must not only catch him, but must be sure he doesn't commit any more crimes while on the loose. Their first lead sends them to the school where Joe worked as a counselor and where the six children are who he as accused of molesting. They also manage to track down Joe's estranged wife and children, whose lives have been seemingly destroyed by Joe's life-sentence in prison. Meanwhile, Erica is determined to see her six-year-old daughter on her birthday and Charlie's wife urges him to take her on a much-needed vacation.

Plot

At Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, big tatted inmates hover over their rudimentary paintings while a documentary crew films for the show "Prison Life." In a separate fenced-in area, Joseph Ramsey works on art with a distinctive black marker. Back in his cell, Joe sits at a metal desk welded to his cell wall, ignoring the threat shouted by a passing prisoner through the door. He breaks off a pencil eraser and removes the distinctive black marker from his pants. He colors the eraser black and then reaches under the desk to retrieve a wire hanger that was taped there and begins bending it into shape. In the yard, Joe stands alone, taking in the controlled chaos of the film-making. His eyes land on a "Prison Life" jacket and a baseball cap that hangs from a chair back. Surreptitiously, he grabs them and slips behind an equipment truck to put them on. He pulls out the coat hanger from his pants and loops a curved end over his ear. He made a makeshift headset complete with a black eraser microphone. It surprisingly looks real. Joe, acting as a PA, grabs an apple box, trying his best to blend in with the crew. He walks across the yard and toward a cluster of guards, feigning a conversation with his wife about what time he's likely to get home. Covering his face with the baseball cap, Joe breaks into character and walks right through the gates, after a brief exchange with a member of the crew. Once out, Joe breaks into a full sprint and disappears.

At Maybelle, Erica sits in the visitation room, watching through the glass while other inmates receive visits from their families, including young children. A corrections officer walks in to let her know the work release van is waiting outside. Clearly upset that her expected visitor hasn't arrived, she angrily complies. Outside, Shea and Lloyd are leaning against the transpo van discussing, between Erica and Julianne, who they would rather be with. Shea, sensing Lloyd's defensiveness when talking about Julianne, calls Lloyd out on liking her. It's clear that Lloyd does. Erica walks out and shoves past the guys, who are visibly annoyed that she took so long.

Lloyd, Erica, and Shea arrive at the Bullpen and are greeted by donuts and coffee. Shea lets Ray and Charlie know that they're late because Erica took her sweet time. Swelling with anger, Erica sits down while Julianne quickly moves from her desk, alerting the team that the CIA put extra bodies on the Internet Child Protective Service. The runner, Joseph Ramsey, is a convicted child sex offender, with five victims, all eight-year-old girls.

The team gets the rundown on Joe. He was married with two kids and was a counselor at the elementary school in his suburban Massachusetts town. He was doing a 60 year stretch for his crimes. Looking over Joe's file, Lloyd notices he refused counseling - which, he points out, is common for many pedophiles. Shea, suspicious on why Lloyd got a longer sentence than he did, asks him if he's a "diaper sniper." Erica, clearly fed up with the useless accusations, slams the appellate papers from Joe's file on the desk. She looks over Joe's legal briefs, and points out he was filing them left and right in prison - starting with a $200/hour attorney and bottoming out at a jailhouse lawyer. He lost his final appeal a few weeks ago. Joe's jailhouse lawyer was a con named Wes Herman, who was just paroled six months before. Julianne calls Herman's parole officer to bring him in.

Meanwhile, a young girl is waiting at a crosswalk, holding hands with her mother. She's staring at Joe, who is across the street, stooped over and collecting "wish" coins from a public fountain. He looks up and locks eyes with the girl. Her mother notices and pulls the girl by the arms and crosses the street. A bus pulls up on the corner and Joe quickly grabs what little change he has and hurries over with his bus fare.

Back at the office, and inside the interrogation room, Erica is pacing while on her cell. She's on the phone with Denny, her ex, asking why he didn't bring their daughter to visit her. He hangs up and anger washes over her face. She looks like she's about to explode.

Outside the room, a nervous Wes Herman sips coffee. Charlie, Ray, Lloyd, and Shea sit across from him. Herman, also a sex offender, after trying to "explain" his actions, attempts to get up and leave, but is stopped by a furious Erica, who slams him back into his chair. Charlie grabs her by the arms and pulls her into the hallway by Julianne's desk. He's both mad and concerned. Erica explains she's upset because she wasn't able to see her daughter. Not impressed with her "excuse," Charlie tells her to bottle it up and goes back to the group. Herman tells the group that Joe never owned up to his problems and he was obsessed with his first victim, Tess Samuels.

It's recess at Tess Samuels' elementary school. Tess is off in a corner, playing ball by herself. Thirty yards away, Joe's watching. The team's SUV pulls in and they start talking to the school director, just as Joe begins to walk towards Tess. Erica spots him, he sees her, then notices the others. He sprints towards the woods. Erica sprints after him. The rest of the team hurries into the SUV, but Erica has a head start and pursues him into the woods, past trees and over branches. Joe's further ahead and Erica eventually loses him. She stops to catch her breath and realizes she's completely alone...

Back at the school Ray, stressed, keeps trying Erica on her phone, but it continues to go to voice-mail. Charlie sits across from Tess in the gym and gently asks her if she knows where he might have gone. Tess just looks down, scared and clearly affected by the day's events. Her parents burst in. Mrs. Samuels clings to her and Mr Samuels is beside himself. He asks Tess if Joe said anything to her. Lloyd watches Tess as she looks down and picks her cuticle that's now bleeding. Ray approaches from the back of the classroom with the map of the woods where Joe escaped on his laptop. The area is massive. They realize both he and Erica could be anywhere.

Erica walks through the woods, taking a deep breath and briefly enjoying the freedom of being alone. Ray disrupts the silence with his phone call, asking her where she is. But Erica isn't listening. She's eyeballing a muddy footprint on the banks of the creek. She looks up to see a middle class home off in the distance. It's Joe's wife's house.

The team is outside the front of the house. Charlie and Ray slowly move toward the house, guns out. The front door is open a crack. Charlie nods to Ray who slowly pushes the door open. After a few steps inside, Charlie stops as he sees Meredith Ramsey, Joe's ex-wife, on the couch, shocked, her eyes red from crying. He's gone.

In the living room, the team interviews Meredith who tells them she was in the kitchen when he broke in. Ray holds up a picture of a young girl and boy proudly holding a fish they caught on vacation. There's a sign in the background that reads "Bar Harbor, Maine."

Meanwhile, George Slotkin, Joe's former lawyer, is putting books on a shelf behind his desk. A noise makes him turn to find Joe standing before him.

Back at the office, the team snacks on pizza and buries their heads in files. Charlie's at the wall where there are photos of the victims and police reports. He stares at Tess' photo, clearly disturbed. Ray assures him that they couldn't have known Joe would go after her like that. Lloyd, completely intrigued by Joe's case file, holds court and begins to give his professional opinion of the con's behavior and abuse progression. The others get upset with Lloyd's clinical breakdown, and Erica, her rage at the surface again, storms off toward the bathroom. But Lloyd continues, stating that, like Ray mentioned, these cons usually avoid daylight, but when they finally decide to act upon their urges, they invariable dip a toe in the water. As for Joe, he jumped right into the deep end. According to Lloyd, this is something he's never seen and indicates that he is much more dangerous than others with more predictable patterns. Julianne, bothered, looks away.

Just then, Marisol appears at the elevator and asks a visibly uncomfortable Charlie to talk for a second. The cons exchange telling looks.

Charlie and Marisol sit at Turro's pizza where Marisol presents an amazing deal she got from their travel agent for a vacation in St. Thomas. Charlie attempts to explain he can't take any days off, and that he has to prove himself to the unit. Charlie's phone rings - Joe has beaten up the attorney. Charlie gets up and is out the door.

George sits at the law offices, a bruise on the right side of his forehead where Joe clocked him. He tells the team that he took out the gun he keeps in his top drawer to defend himself, but before he knew it, Joe was on top of him. The gun went off, tearing a bullet through Joe's shoulder. Joe pulled the gun from George's hands and knocked him over the head, then stole his car. Shea tells the team that since the gun was a 9mm with a small caliber, Joe's going to have a slow bleed, which will make things tougher for him. Lloyd wonders why he just didn't shoot George while he had the chance. Erica figures it's because he just wanted to get out of there and treat his wound.

A few miles away, the team discovers George's BMW dumped by the side of the road. After trying to figure out why Joe left the car, Erica realizes it's because he saw something he wanted: the red line into Boston. Charlie whips out his laptop and furiously types, cross-referencing all the stops on the red line with the case file from Joe's trial. He gets a hit: Carla Rodriquez, a social worker who testified for the prosecution. Ray, already on his cell, tries dialing Carla. No answer.

Charlie and Ray move quickly down the hall of Carla's office building. They hear a scream and race down the hall. Charlie kicks the door open and find a terrified Carla, pointing toward the fire escape. Charlie races to the window to see Joe hopping off the last level to the ground below. Charlie races after him. Still inside, Ray relays Joe's location to the Breakout Kings.

Outside in the SUV, Erica, determined to catch Joe, tries to split up the group to track him. Lloyd agrees and goes off in one direction. Shea, who doesn't want to mess with anybody who has a gun, stays by the car.

Joe, still running, heads down an alley and frantically cuts between two buildings. A beat, then Charlie comes into the alley, gun out. Ray appears at the other end of the alley, gun out. They make eye contact and shake their heads. Nothing. Lloyd is looking around and on the phone with his mother when Joe turns the corner and plows over Lloyd. Joe gets up and keeps running across the street to the subway. Charlie and Ray turn the corner and race toward the subway entrance.

They both move slowly through the packed crowds. Charlie steps onto a jammed subway car, where he's met with a gun to his ribs. Joe's front is pressed against Charlie's back. The subway car takes off. Nobody else in the packed car knows what's going on. Joe tells Charlie to get off the subway or he'll start shooting into the crowd. The subway stops and Joe exits, watching until the doors close to make sure Charlie is unwillingly taken to the next stop.

The team heads back to the office. Lloyd limps in, carrying a large file. Shea, glad that he's not the hurt one, tells Lloyd he got what was coming to him. Erica is sitting in the corner, looking longingly at a photo of her daughter. Lloyd pours through the large file he was holding and starts going though Tess' pictures she drew for the social worker. He points out how vulnerable she must feel - she didn't even draw her parents into any of the pictures. Erica, still looking at her daughter's photo, is still obviously affected. After looking at Tess' photo, she moves to the interrogation room. Lloyd follows her and tries to get her to calm down. She admits that she's upset because she hasn't been there for her daughter and that's why she's been acting up. She tells Lloyd that Charlie told her to just bottle it up. Lloyd leaves the room and limps over to Charlie and angrily tells him to think before he "plays doctor." Erica needs an emotional release, not to bottle up her frustrations. Julianne breaks the tension before Charlie or Lloyd can say or do anything further. Julianne reports a hit she got in Portland, Maine on a credit card Joe was using. Ray remembers the photo he saw at Joe's ex-wife's house... he's going to Bar Harbor. The crew heads out and leaves Julianne to supervise the injured Lloyd, after Charlie quickly deputizes her.

Lloyd's engrossed in the files. He lays out Tess' drawings and notices a common depiction: a series of screaming eagles lording over a defenseless Tess. Julianne wonders out loud why Tess picked a bird and not a fiercer animal. Suddenly, something clicks for Lloyd. Flash back to a silver belt buckle with a violent, screaming eagle etched in it worn by Tess' father at the school. Lloyd is starting to finally put the pieces together. Again, he has another flashback to Tess' dad sitting next to her. She starts to pick her cuticle. Lloyd jumps up, and runs his hand over his head, wheels spinning. He starts to uncover more important details he previously missed. A flashback to Tess' dad asking, "what did he say to you?" Lloyd, not up and pacing, has finally figured things out, and Joe's not guilty. Tess' dad is the one who has been molesting her. Tess, being young and obviously petrified of her father, blamed it on another adult she constantly saw. The other accusations were false and involved well-meaning but hysterical parents who heard a counselor in their child's school was a pedophile. They questioned their kids until they admitted to something that never happened. Lloyd grabs his jacket and throws a nervous Julianne Charlie's car keys. Lloyd's mother never let him get his permit, so she has to drive. An intimidated Julianne finally agrees.

Lloyd and Julianne arrive at the Samuels home, where Mrs. Samuels lets them in. Lloyd, trying to get her out of the room, asks her to get Tess' report cards so they could show the adverse affect Joe's had on all aspects of Tess' life, including academics. This gives Lloyd and Julianne some time alone to talk with Tess, who is sitting by herself at the kitchen table, coloring. Julianne approaches Tess and kneels down next to her, letting her know that it's always good to tell the truth. Julianne gets a text from the police precinct in Maine. They got a hit on someone fitting Joe's description in a minivan outside of Bar Harbor. Lloyd, urging Julianne to keep talking to Tess, grabs the phone and forwards the text to Ray. Right before they're able to get "the truth" out of Tess, her enraged mother comes back downstairs and kicks them out of the house.

The team's SUV screeches to a stop at the gas station where they spot the minivan that matches the tip. Charlie and Ray exit, using their open doors for cover, guns drawn. Slowly, the door from the mini van opens up and Joe exits, gun at his side. At that moment, all of their cell phones go off simultaneously - it's a 911 text from Julianne. Charlie calls Julianne who tells them that Joe is innocent. Lloyd chimes in that Joe broke out in search of help. Joe finally drops his gun and Charlie takes him down. The minivan door slides open and inside are Joe's wife and kids. Erica takes this in and begins to think that maybe Lloyd is right. Why would his family run away with him if he did hurt these kids?

Back at the office, Joe, cuffed, waits for Transpo back to prison. Charlie tells Lloyd and Erica that he's upset with their actions today and has to reconsider their placement on the team. After they leave he checks his voice-mail, and gets a message from Marisol saying she left for St. Thomas for the week. Erica catches the tail end of it and encourages him to go meet his wife, but he tells her it's too late. She's already left.

A beat then the elevator door opens. Mrs. Samuels is standing there with Tess. Her daughter finally told her the truth. Tess walks up to Joe and tells him she's sorry. Joe sobs, tears of joy and relief stream down.

Ray shows up at the restaurant where Mr. Samuels works with a team of Massachusetts police officers. They cuff him and lead him away in front of his co-workers.

Meanwhile, Charlie is driving the cons back to Maybelle, but makes a pit stop first. He pulls up in front of a low rent house. Erica looks out the window and gets out of the van and starts to sprint toward the house as her six-year-old leaps into her arms. Lloyd watches from the car. "Now that's the emotional release I was talking about," he says. Erica tightly holds her daughter, equally happy and pained.

Cast

Main Cast

• Laz Alonso as Charlie Duchamp
• Domenick Lombardozzi as Ray Zancanelli
• Brooke Nevin as Julianne Simms
• Jimmi Simpson as Lloyd Lowery
• Malcolm Goodwin as Shea Daniels
• Serinda Swan as Erica Reed

Guest Cast

• Derek Phillips as Joe Ramsey
• Tammy Isbell as Meredith Ramsey
• Yara Martinez as Marisol
• Joel Stoffer as Wes Herman
• Jenny Ross as Tess Samuels
• Wes Burger as Mr. Samuels
• Emma Campbell as Mrs. Samuels
• Howard Gerome as George Slotkin

Production Notes

• The rap performed by the inmate during the taping of "Prison Life" was actually written by Breakout Kings's Creator/Writer/Executive Producer Nick Santora and two of his friends at the tender age of seventeen. The trio originally planned to perform this rap at their high school "Battle of the Bands", but dropped out of the competition at the last minute, "common sense getting the better of (them)". Twenty-three years later Nick resurrected the lyrics for the sake of Breakout Kings, proving that "great art never truly dies."

• The exterior of Maybelle Minimum Security is established as the exterior of Pinewood Toronto Studios. This footage was captured on a sunny yet bitterly cold October morning. The cast had to watch their breathing to make sure their warm breath wouldn’t be visible in the crisp air for the sake of continuity.

• Charlie’s apartment was shot at a turn-of-the-century boutique hotel in Toronto's west end. The Breakout Kings Set Decoration Department completely revamped the space with modern furnishings and art to render the location believable as Deputy Charlie DuChamp’s home.

• The subway footage was shot on Toronto's "TTC Rocket", beginning at 2am. To film on The Rocket, crews have to wait until this late hour in order to gain full, uninterrupted access to specific train cars and platforms. Part of the footage was also shot at the infamous "Lower Bay Station", a section of the TTC line that has been closed to the public since the 1960s but is used frequently by Toronto film crews.

Music Featured

Song: "The Seed 2.0"

Artist: Cody Chesnutt and The Roots

Album: The Headphone Masterpiece