In the Electric Mist (2009) Movie Script
My name's Dave Robicheaux.
I'm an alcoholic.
Sometimes I'm tempted
to have a drink.
But I never do.
I hope this poor girl
was dead
before he started
carving on her like that.
This poor girl didn't have
a whole lot of good luck, Dave.
In the ancient world,
people placed heavy stones
on the graves of their dead
so their souls would not wander
and afflict the living.
I always thought
this was simply the practice
of superstitious
and primitive people.
But I was about to learn
that the dead
can hover
on the edge of our vision
with the density
and luminosity of mist.
And their claim on the earth
can be as legitimate
and tenacious
as our own.
Could I see your
driver's license, please?
My what?
Driver's license.
Please take it out your billfold,
hand it to me.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Well...
I was
a little careless back there.
I'm sorry about that.
You're Elrod T. Sykes?
Yes, sir,
that's who I am.
Step out the car,
Mr. Sykes.
Yes, sir.
Anything you say, sir.
Mr. Sykes,
I think you've been drinking,
and I know you've been smoking
marijuana in your automobile.
I believe your lady friend there
just ate the roach.
Ooh, well, that wouldn't
be good now, would it?
You're under arrest for driving
while intoxicated, Mr. Sykes.
I'll take you just down the
street here to the city jail.
I'll send a car, take Ms.
Drummond wherever she's staying.
But your
little red sports car
is going to be towed
to the pound.
This is bad news.
This is not on my agenda,
'cause we're just
starting a movie.
I've always enjoyed
all your films.
Ms. Drummond's too.
Take your car keys
out the ignition please.
El, do something.
I feel real bad
about this.
Can he make a contribution
to Mothers Against Drunk Driving
or something like that?
As an admirer of your work,
Ms. Drummond,
I recommend you don't make any
more mentions of contributions.
I recommend
you stay put.
Deputy will be along here in
a few minutes to take you home.
Allons.
You're not going to get sick
in my truck, are you?
No, I'm just fine.
I know where
there's a dead body.
What?
Looks like a big pile
of gristle and bone.
Where was this?
Way the hell out
in Atchafalaya swamp.
We had to pick up a scene near
the old Indian reservation.
I went to take a leak.
I saw it sticking out
of a sandbar.
Get back in the truck.
That swamp full
of old Indian bones.
Yeah, but...
Sorry, I didn't
catch your name.
Dave Robicheaux.
Mr. Robicheaux,
now, if that was
an Indian I found,
I was wondering
what he was doing
with a chain
wrapped around him.
Say that again.
It's a rusted chain
with links
as big as my fist
crisscrossed
around his rib cage.
Can you find
that sandbar again?
Yes, sir,
I believe I could.
I'm going to make
a confession to you,
Mr. Sykes.
DWIs are a pain
in the butt.
If I take you home,
can I have your word
you'll be in my office,
And sober?
Absolutely.
Hey, I really appreciate this.
Elrod Sykes
and Kelly Drummond?
I want to go
to the set.
Sykes is a drunk.
He's huge!
His head
glows in the dark.
Maybe we could get
an autographed movie poster.
No way!
Not for you,
for the hurricane relief fund.
Okay, cool.
Please?
Will you hush?
I'll take her
and look out for her,
if that's
all right with you.
Maybe we could get Kelly
Drummond to sign one too,
pay for somebody's roof.
Please?
It's over yonder.
Hold on there,
Mr. Sykes.
Best put
some of this on.
We used to have
a lot of bats down here,
but the mosquitoes
ate 'em all.
That boy's a long way
from his Hollywood poontang,
ain't he?
This jackass
is objectifying you,
Mr. Sykes, because
he's had very little exposure
to the outside world.
Don't let it bother you.
Hurricane Betsy blowing through
here in '65 probably buried him
and Katrina unearthed him.
Why '65?
Hurricanes tear up this part
of the country all the time.
See that left shin bone?
Clipped in half.
That's where they shot him
when he tried to run away.
You a psychlc
or some bullshlt like that?
No, I saw it happen
about a mile from here.
Are you saying
that some whlte people
lynched somebody
around here?
When we get back, you're going
to have to talk to your sheriff,
get the coroner
out here now.
I don't know about y'all
over in Iberia Parish,
but around here,
ain't nobody going to be
real interested in nigger trouble
that's 40 years old.
What are you looking for,
Mr. Robicheaux?
I don't see any remnants
of a belt on his trousers...
or any laces
in his boots.
That boy probably did his
shopping at the Goodwill.
They never found him,
didn't even look for him.
Back then, with no body,
no missing persons report,
that sheriff didn't have
any reason to believe me,
must less get off his ass
and go to work.
You're not
The trouble I have with you
is getting you away from work.
You've done everything
that you can.
You have no good reason
to beat yourself up.
Now drink your milk
and come to bed.
I'm horny.
Bootsie was right.
What was the point of reaching
into the distant past?
Just yesterday, a young girl
had been eviscerated.
We had her name now,
Cherry LeBlanc.
Mr. Trajan around?
He's over there, chere.
We've been over this already
three times now.
Cherry's been working here off
and on for the past few weeks.
She's going to show up anyway
to listen to Hogman Pitan.
The girl had a real thing
for Hogman.
Some time around 1:00,
she put her purse behind the bar
and says she's going to go
outside for a walk.
You know she'd been
arrested for prostitution?
I didn't know that.
All right.
Okay.
You hired her
'cause you thought
she was an honor student
at LSU.
I can't say I care for the way
you're talking to me, Detective.
If I found out you've been
holding back information on me,
Mr. Trajan, I'ma come back here
with a warrant, Mr. Trajan,
for your arrest.
Did you know Cherry LeBlanc,
little white girl,
about 19 years old?
She work here,
ain't she?
Do you know if she had
a boyfriend, tante?
If that's what
you want to call it.
She in the business.
Was Mr. Trajan involved?
Ask him.
I don't think he was.
Otherwise you wouldn't be
telling me all these things.
She a sad girl.
I told her,
"A pretty white girl like you
could have anything you want."
When that girl dress up,
she look just like a movie star.
Who was her pimp?
I don't know nothing else, me.
She wasn't about
to give the name
of some rich white man
to an old black woman.
What rich white man?
Some rich white man maybe...
get her out of the business
of selling jelly roll.
She say that just before
somebody done them
awful things
to that young girl.
The sheriff over
in St. Clair Parish
said, "Thanks a lot,"
for that pile of bones you found
out in the Atchafalaya yesterday.
They really appreciate
the extra work.
He need to find
a new line of work,
he don't like them bones.
Now, he said you're welcome
to come over on your days off
and run an investigation.
Their coroner's got them bones
now waiting on you.
Autopsy report came in
on that LeBlanc girl.
Looks like we're talking
about a psychopath,
somebody wired to the eyes
on crack or meth.
Maybe.
I think she knew him.
So you don't think
it was a John?
No, she left her purse
behind the bar
with all her condoms in it.
Cherry LeBlanc was
a working girl with ambition.
Maybe she misjudged
a business opportunity here.
Who's a girl like that
going to be in business with?
Um... Baby Feet?
Maybe Baby Feet.
What's happening, Cholo?
I thought
you was in the pen.
No, man.
Katrina,
she rinsed my hands clean.
The whole damn crlme lab
washed off
down the river.
Ain't got nothing on me
in New Orleans.
Doing fine, bro.
Besides that, they ain't
even got enough money
to lobotomize
guys like me no more.
What's going on, Dave?
I'm investigating a murder,
Julie.
No kldding.
Y'all worried about me,
Dave?
Hell yes.
How many guys
would burn down their own
father's nightclub with their
own father still in it?
You got to forgive me
if I get a little upset
by these
kinds of attitudes, Dave.
I come home
to this shithole.
I'm a prominent man
in the entertainment business.
I talk on the phone every day
to people in California
you read about
in Entertainment Weekly.
They ought to have
"Welcome Back Balboni Day."
Instead,
I get treated
like sewer gas by you.
You understand
what I'm saying, Dave.
It hurts me.
Sit down
while I take a whiz.
Cholo,
where's your hospitality?
Get the man
a soft drink.
Here, Lieutenant.
Julie was telling me
about that time
that nigger
almost popped you with a .38
in the French Quarter.
Said he saved your life.
Weren't you and Julie baseball buddies
in high school?
Take the hint,
Cholo.
This guy's
not a conversationalist.
You working on that
Cherry LeBlanc deal?
What you know
about that?
All over
today's paper, man.
Julie and me
were just talking about it.
Sounds like you got
one sick fuck on the loose.
My meter's running,
Julie.
I want to talk about
that murdered girl
we found south of town.
Which girl is that?
Cherry LeBlanc.
I guess
I ain't heard about it.
You don't read
the newspaper?
I've been busy.
I can see that.
We used to be friends,
Dave.
I even maybe
did you a favor once.
So I'm going to line it out
for you and any locals
that want to get
the wax out their ears.
Louisiana's flat-ass broke.
New Orleans
is a mortuary.
And the bottom
of a toilet's got more appeal
than this shithole
in the bayou.
So they better
wake up to the fact
that we are dropping
close to $40 million
in Iberia Parish.
They don't like the name
Balboni around here?
We'll move the whole
fucking movie
over to Mississippi.
See how that floats
with those coon-ass jack-offs
on the Chamber of Commerce.
You're
in the movie business now?
Yeah, I'm producing Whlte Doves
with Michael Goldman.
What you think
about that?
I'm sure everybody
wishes you success, Julie.
I'ma do
a baseball movie next.
You want a part in it?
You can go on in.
You remember me, Dave?
It's Doucet, isn't it?
Yes, sir,
Murphy Doucet.
You got a good memory.
I was with the Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's Department
when you were with NOPD.
I guess you're
in the movie business now,
along with everybody else.
Yeah, I own half
of a security service now,
and I'm still with the Teamsters
out of Lafayette.
So I'm kind of doing
double duty here.
Is there some kind of trouble?
Where can I find
Mr. Goldman?
Right on the other side
of them trees.
I'll let him know
you're coming.
It's all right.
I'll find him.
We had two divisions of soldiers
march through that?
Looks like we're shooting
a bread commercial.
Where'd we get this cannon,
Toys "R" Us?
All right, I'm going to need
floaters in there,
one face down,
two belly-up.
Use some of the fat extras.
They'll look bloated.
My dead horse?
No.
Not on the call sheet?
Terrific.
We need some blood,
blood-soaked ground,
if that's what it says
in the script.
This is not
the nightly news.
They never show the blood.
This is an allegory.
We're not shooting
the fall of Vicksburg.
This is Baghdad 2007.
Copy that.
If people don't
connect the dots, fuck 'em.
There's a Detective Robicheaux
here to see you, sir.
So you're
investigating a crime.
Seen any crime
around here?
Only crime I'm aware of is
the air conditioning in my trailer.
You could fry an egg
on the toilet seat in there.
Then I've got a lead actor
digging up skeletons
in sandbars, exactly what
I need to be thinking about
while I'm shooting a picture.
Mr. Goldman, is Mr. Julius
Balboni producing this film?
Producing?
I must've really fucked up
in my previous incarnation.
Maybe I sunk the Tltanlc
or assassinated
Archduke Ferdinand.
I am the only producer.
So Mr. Balboni's lying.
Mr. Balboni is investing
some of his money in a motion picture.
Is that illegal?
Congratulations.
You in business with the man
that hung Fulvio Raneri's cousin
up by his colon
on a meat hook.
Do you recognize
this girl,
Cherry LeBlanc?
How you are, Hogman?
Come on up
on the porch.
Grab a chair.
You knew that LeBlanc girl,
didn't you?
I don't like to have nothing
to do with white folks' business,
but it bothers me
what somebody do to that girl.
I spoke to her about two hours
before she left the juke.
She said, "Hogman,
in the next life, me and you
going to get married."
That's what she said.
I said, "Darling, don't let the
men misuse you for no chicken."
She said, "I'm going
to have myself a town house
on Lake Pontchartrain."
Was she mixed up with somebody
from New Orleans?
Probably some white-trash pimp
told her she special,
she pretty.
Instead,
she got herself killed.
You're mixed up with
that skeleton they found
in the Atchafalaya,
ain't you?
How do you know
about that?
When somebody find
a dead black man,
black people
knows about it.
I'm listening.
A blue jay don't sit
on a mockingbird's nest.
The mockingbird will whoop
the blue jay's ass every time.
What are we talking about here,
Sam?
I'm talking
about a black man.
And he was carrying on
with a white woman
who husband
he worked for.
I think them was his bones
you dug in that sandbar.
What was his name?
Who care what's his name?
I think he got
what he asked for.
I say, "Past is past,
and don't be
messing with it."
You warning me?
What was
that white woman's name?
I got to go
start my beans now.
Alafair,
you got to keep this raccoon
out of my fried pie.
Next time he come in here,
I'm gonna swat him with my broom.
Tripod's just an animal.
Why don't you try kicking the
smell of cigars out of the yard?
Alafair, you shouldn't
talk to Batist like that.
But he threatened Tripod
with menacing violence.
Tripod's a raccoon, baby.
Apologize to Batist.
Sorry for what I said.
And I'm saying it
'cause Dave made me.
That's a beautiful child,
Dave.
By the time
she's 18 years old,
your hair's going
to be solid white,
if there's
any of it left.
This is great!
I love it.
You run a bait shop too.
How you doing,
Mr. Robicheaux?
We want to have dinner
with y'all tonight.
Oh, thanks, but my wife's
already cooking supper.
I was just on my way
over there to take a shower.
Well, hurry up.
We got reservations
at Clementine's, everybody.
The family has plans
for this evening, Mr. Sykes.
This is embarrassing, El.
I have a reservation.
Hey, I don't want
to cause any problems.
We'll just pick up
our liquids at your store here
and hit the road, okay?
Mr. Sykes...
you've been
driving drunk,
and you come to a cop's house
to buy more booze.
Why don't you hand
those keys to Ms. Drummond
before you hit the road?
Where's that beer at?
Hey.
You're a good man.
Y'all need
to be real careful.
Elrod's a shitbird,
but I love him.
It's all right.
Bad timing.
Put it there.
Cool.
Next time.
Hey.
All right.
Um, shit.
We'll settle up.
We'll settle up later,
yeah?
All right.
Other side.
Come here.
Come on.
Come here.
Elrod.
What?
Check this out.
Will you stop?
El!
Check me out.
S'more?
Made 'em myself.
Oh, thank you.
Elrod Sykes
is wearing Dave's jersey.
Can you believe it?
Now go do your homework.
Something to drink?
How about a beer?
I think we're out.
I'm sure there's
one in there somewhere.
I'm going to go feed
Alafair's rabbits.
You care to join me?
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Get back there, Leroy.
Go on.
You ever seen lights
in the cypress trees at night?
That's swamp gas.
It'll ignite and roll out across
the waters like ball lightning.
No, sir,
that's not what it is.
See these guys out yonder
by the lake.
They have lanterns hanging
from some of their ambulances.
A lot of those soldiers
had maggots in their wounds.
That's the only reason
they lived.
It's 'cause the maggots
ate out the infection.
You've been drunk
a long time, Elrod.
Pretty soon all the trees and
alligators will be talking to you.
A wild orchid
sang a song to me one time.
She had the prettiest voice.
Yeah, I wasn't drunk.
This guy, a general,
he's standing on a crutch
right by the water.
And he said to me,
"You and your friend
the law man must repel them."
I think you're delusional.
You might want to think about
going to an AA meeting
with me one time.
Maybe I was
a little drunk.
What happened
to this dude's nose?
Coon bit him.
Lou Girard
always called at night.
I had picked him
out of gutters
from New Orleans
to Lake Charles,
held him
when he had the shakes,
driven him to AA meetings more
times than I could remember.
And he had done
the same for me.
Thanks for the call, Lou.
Yeah, when I saw
that electrical tape
around her hands and her feet,
or what's left of them,
I thought about you and that
LeBlanc case you got going.
Where she at now?
She's right there,
still in that barrel.
She got about
Coroner says, we move her,
she's coming out in pieces.
We're going to have a rough time
getting an ID, maybe.
Maybe by her teeth.
That's the poor bastard
who found her.
When did you
first notice that barrel?
About four
or three weeks back.
See anyone else out there
on that levee?
Yeah, about a month ago
in the evening,
I seen a dark-colored car.
I remember thinking,
it was brand-new, you know?
Why would anybody
want to bring their new car
down on that dirt road
full of holes?
You remember
what kind of car it was?
No, sir.
I'm sorry.
I just wish I hadn't been the one
to find that poor woman.
And, hey, I'm never
going to look inside
another barrel again.
Not me, no.
That'll do.
Thank you.
Officer Guidry
going to take you home.
Thank you.
I need a tow truck
to haul off a limousine.
Where about?
Can't miss it.
Right in front
of Chez Narcisse.
- When?
- Right now.
- Copy that.
- Thank you, chere.
You could get
the Roman Army down here.
One dlvision of these guys
could've knocked off
these squlrrel hunters,
had the Civil War over
in one year.
You know what?
Maybe we'll do
a Bible movie next.
Yeah, but how do you fight
a war with sandals?
That's... stupid.
How did they win wars
with sandals, hm?
What's going on, Dave?
Had a long night
last night.
Found a girl in a barrel down
in south St. Martin Parish.
She covered up
in blue crabs.
You ought to run her again.
We'll have gumbo.
You here
for breakfast?
Sit down.
You're pissed off
about some little thing,
so you have my car towed.
You need to quit parking
in front of fireplugs.
Fireplugs; I'm getting this kind
of shit because of fireplugs?
No, Julie.
I want to know what you have
to do with a teenage hooker
named Cherry LeBlanc.
Who the fuck
is Cherry LeBlanc?
You know
who she is.
You and Cholo
were talking about her
before I got to the Holiday Inn,
and you lied to me about it.
Calling me a liar?
You're a motherfucking lying
piece of dog shit.
I think this
sweet little town's
starting to rub off
on you, David.
Gentlemen, could you please...
I mean,
just not use that language...
Get the fuck
away from my table!
It's all right,
Mr. Meaux.
I'll be gone
in a second.
Oh, sad to hear that.
I don't know
none of these girls.
I don't have nothing to do
with your business.
You said some
ugly things about me, Dave,
and I'm going
to let it slide.
I'll call
a couple of cabs,
I'll pay the fine
on my car,
I'll buy some new tires,
and I'll forget everything
you've been saying to me,
because I got
a business to run.
Everybody's been
pretty polite here.
Keep it simple,
stupid.
It's time for you to let
people alone, Mr. Robicheaux.
Ease off,
Lieutenant.
This ain't good
for nobody.
Come on.
Come on.
You're losing it, Dave.
You need to get yourself
some better tranqs.
No, sir, I wouldn't
exactly call it a dead end.
You have a seat,
I'll be right with you.
Thank you.
It's $100-million contract.
He must've pocketed
$60 million, $70 million.
False load slips,
bogus waybills.
Balboni Trucking hauled
just about enough debris
to fill a Dixie cup.
Yes, sir,
we are trying.
Thank you.
Can I help you
with something?
I hope so.
This is my office.
Oh, my God,
I'm s...
I'm sorry.
I was...
a call came in for me
on your extension,
and I just...
anyway,
I'm Special Agent Rosa Gomez.
Everyone calls me Rosie,
so call me Rosie.
It's nice to meet you,
Special Agent Rosie.
"Your detective's
investigative missteps
are going to hurt you
in November."
That's courtesy of that prick
Bubba Broussard
over at the city council.
So you called the FBI?
The FBI's been trying
to nall Balboni
for over a year now
on a FEMA scam.
And they still have
precisely nothing on him.
That's why I think
they're hoping there's more
to that Cherry LeBlanc case.
Now, Balboni
is throwing a birthday bash
for Mr. Michael Goldman
this evening.
I think you, too,
should attend.
There are 17 unsolved
homicides in Louisiana
that share some
similarities with this case.
And ten of them share
multiple common denominators.
All show marks
from being bound,
all young,
all working class.
One was a high school girl.
Two were waitresses.
Three had been runaways.
And four were prostitutes.
The FBI has an informational advantage
over Iberia Parish.
How do you like
that catfish court bouillon?
Uh, it's interesting.
If you found the remains
of a black man
and he had no belt,
no laces in his boot,
what speculation
would you make about him?
Obviously he'd been in jail,
a parish, or city holding tank,
some place where they were
afraid he'd do harm to himself.
That's what I think.
Mud bugs,
as advertised.
This one
has your name on it.
Get out of here.
Hey, Dave, you ought
to get yourself some food.
It's free.
Thanks.
I've already eaten.
See that man
bird-dogging the blonde?
Twinky Hebert LeMoyne.
That's the other half
of my security service business.
What's he doing here?
He's an investor
in the movie
and trying to get laid.
That's funny.
You like doing business
with Twinky LeMoyne?
It's good for me.
For him,
it's no big deal, really.
I mean, if there's a business
around here making money,
you can be sure
he's got a plece of it.
Take a picture?
What?
Picture?
Yeah.
I'm General John Bell Hood,
commander of the Texas brigade,
commander of the
the 5th Texas Cavalry,
and the 17th Texas Infantry.
Do you object
to shaking hands?
Am I dead?
You don't look
like it to me.
You were at Gettysburg.
The war's over.
It's never over.
I would think
you'd know that.
You were a lieutenant in the
United States Army, weren't you?
My head hurts.
My head...
sure does hurt.
Venal and evll people
are destroying the world
you were born in.
It's us against them,
my good friend.
Don't compromise your principles
or abandon your cause.
Do you know what's waiting
for me on down the road?
For one reason or another,
I find I have more insight
into the past than the future.
Try to keep
this in mind:
It's just like when
they load their cannon
with horseshoes
and log chain.
You'd think the barrage
would last forever.
Then all of a sudden,
there's a sllence
louder than the cannon flre.
Please don't be alarmed
by the severity of my comparison.
Have a good night, Lieutenant.
Paramedics who brought you in
said you were talking
about Confederate soldiers
out in the swamp.
It was an usual night.
What's the possibillity that one
of those Hollywood characters
laced your Dr. Pepper?
Do what?
The tox screen came back
positive for LSD.
I need to talk
to the sheriff.
The sheriff
was here this morning.
You talked to him
for half an hour.
What'd I say?
Nothing that made
any sense to me.
When you reel him in
through the water,
his little legs and tail
wiggle like he was swimming.
Makes the black bass hungry.
How would you define
the idea of understanding?
Well, it's knowing something
and knowing what it means.
I think there's two ways
of looking at
the idea of understanding.
One is, if you don't look,
you never will see.
And the other is,
if you look a little less,
you might see
a hell of a lot more.
You might not be over those drugs
they put in your drink.
I know General John Bell Hood
of the Texas Calvary
just like he was
my own grandfather.
Are you accusing me
of working with the mafia?
When you do business with a man
like Julle Balboni,
you create a certain amount
of curiosity about yourself.
I don't do business
with him.
I don't do anything
with him.
I'm a member
of a group of investors
that have put money
into a movie production
in New Iberia.
Investing in the local economy,
that's all.
Are your employees
union people?
No, they certainly are not.
You own half of a security
service with Murphy Doucet,
don't you?
That's right,
I certainly do.
And your partner
in your security service
is a Teamster steward
over in Lafayette.
I think you're involved in
some strange contradictions,
Mr. LeMoyne.
You'll have to excuse me,
Detective.
I've got
to lock up now.
I have a lot of people
I take care of, you know?
Would you like
to have Julie Balboni
for a next door neighbor?
Would you like to have
your granddaughter
working for him?
Mr. Roblcheaux,
I can't express to you
how offensive you are.
Did you get
that blond-haired girl
to lick your leg
the other night?
There's my business card.
Thank you
for your time.
Here you go, Dave.
Still 1965,
July, September, November.
Thank you, chere.
You're welcome.
How's Alafair?
Blen bonne.
Great.
A nigger,
you say?
DeWitt Prejean.
Black man
name of DeWitt Prejean.
Yeah, I remember
that son of a bitch.
What about him?
Were you on duty the night
somebody broke him out of jail?
I was the jailer.
Jailers don't work nights.
They hire a man
for that.
Do you remember what
Mr. Prejean was charged with?
He wasn't charged
with nothing.
Never got to that.
They busted him
out of the tank.
Not according
to the newspaper.
Lot of people wipe
their asses with newspaper.
Newspaper said he broke
into a white woman's house
with a butcher knife.
Was DeWitt Prejean
a rapist?
He couldn't keep
his prick in his pants,
if that's what you mean.
Is it all right if I sit down
here, Mr. Hebert?
Sure.
You think her husband
broke him out of jail?
He might have
if he could've.
He was a crippled man.
Got shot up
in a war.
Where's he at now?
He's in the cemetery
out by the tracks,
east of town.
What about the woman?
She moved away,
up north somewhere.
What's your interest in this
I think I saw him killed.
Where's the man who was on duty
the night of the jailbreak?
He got drunk and got his self
run over by a train.
Wait a minute.
What'd you say?
You saw what?
What you think I saw,
Mr. Hebert?
Hello?
You're a hard man to catch.
Who's this?
Sugar, it's Amber.
Don't you remember me?
Don't hurt my feelings.
No, I'm sorry.
I don't remember who you are.
What can I do for you?
It's me that's going to do you
a big favor, darling.
I'm going to give you
the guy you want.
What guy we talking about?
The nasty old plmp that's been
leaving dead girls around.
Meet me at Club Leon
in an hour.
Thanks for coming out, Lou.
Yeah, who you supposed
to be meeting up with here?
Said her name was Amber.
There's a hooker,
calls herself Amber.
What are we doing tonight?
I'm going to drive around front
and have a look inside.
I'd like you to be out here
to cover my back.
I don't want to walk
into no setup.
What are you having?
Has Amber been in?
Amber Martinez?
Short, skinny,
little Puerto Rican girl,
maybe weigh 100 pounds
sopping wet?
- Yeah.
- No, she ain't been in.
What you drinking?
- Dr. Pepper.
- Dr. Pepper, yes, sir.
I could call somebody,
might know where she's at.
Why don't you do that?
Yes, sir.
Right away.
Hey, Mama 'Ti,
Amber there?
No word from Amber?
No, man,
not a word.
Get back in there!
Dave,
what the fuck's going on?
Shooter fired at me twice.
I put eight rounds
in that Buick.
I think
he's still in there.
Looks like she took one
right in the face.
What you mean, "she"?
You just popped
Amber Martinez.
There's no fucking gun.
There's no gun, man.
I got this throw-down.
Tell me to do it.
I opened up
on that Buick too soon.
You thought your life
was at rlsk, Lleutenant.
I hope you don't mind
my being here.
No.
You shouldn't have remorse.
A desire to live doesn't mean
you lack humanity.
Somebody's trying
to drive me crazy.
Can't believe what I see
or hear anymore.
They say I killed
an unarmed woman.
I think that would
probably bother me too.
I keep seeing that woman,
the back of her head,
her hair glued down
to the carpet with her own blood.
Think about
what you just said.
You're an intelligent man.
What does
your eye tell you?
I need help.
The wind's
out of the south.
There'll be thunder
by afternoon.
It'll sound
like Yankee cannon fire,
but it'll only be thunder.
General...
What time is it?
Why would Amber Martinez
be sitting in the passenger seat
of her own car?
What did
the homicide investigator
have to say last night?
He told me
I'm a hell of a shot.
Everybody thinks
I killed an unarmed woman.
There's not
any bullet holes anywhere.
There's no casings.
And there's no gun.
It was a setup, Dave.
What y'all doing out here?
Can't be messing around
a crime scene.
I'm really just
an observer here, Doobie.
Who's she?
Speclal Agent Gomez.
This is part
of an FBI investigation.
Do you have
a problem with that?
Why piss people off,
Robicheaux?
St. Martin Parish ain't going
to indict you over this,
but if I were you,
I wouldn't hang around here.
You might piss me off.
Well, from the size of the wound
and the impact of the round,
I'd say a .45 killed her.
Look at her head.
I only use hollow-point
ammunition, Sollie.
It ain't no hollow point
passed through this girl's head.
Her hair was stuck to the carpet,
the blood already dry.
Did she die in that car,
you want to ask me?
Her blood lividity tells me
that she was dead before
she ever got into that car.
If I can vacuum the Buick,
what are we looking for?
I saw muzzle flashes
coming out that Buick.
I didn't see no bullet holes
in that beer joint wall.
See what you
can find out.
What we waiting on here,
me to smoke this?
Allons.
Thank you, Henry.
Anybody else
got something to share?
My name's Dave.
I'm an alcoholic.
Want some cappuccino mix?
You cops like coffee, right,
or a stereo?
You know anybody been recruiting
girls out the parishes?
Try the bus depot,
for starters.
But who's going to recruit?
Ever since Katrina,
there's cash on the hoof
all over this town.
Maybe this guy does more
than just pimp.
Maybe he likes
to hurt these girls.
Been two of them
killed already,
maybe more.
Talking about somebody
that operates way down
at the bottom
of the food chain, Dave.
You think Baby Feets Balboni
might have something to do
with something like this?
You're using the names
of local personalities now.
It stays with me,
Jimmie.
You looking for a guy
who likes to kill hookers?
Don't sound
like Baby Feet.
His outfit's running girls,
all right, but...
they're not worth nothing to him
if they're dead.
Try the bus station.
Try Adonis Brown.
You, uh,
ladies seem lost.
You're not from around here,
are you?
You'll be able
to find some peace,
I promlse you.
Don't sweat it.
I want you to make a public
service announcement for me,
chere.
I know what it's like
to run away.
Praise Jesus.
There's a call
for Mr. Adonls Brown at
the publlc restroom pay phone.
There's a call
for Mr. Adonls Brown
at the
publlc restroom pay phone.
This is Adonis.
What's up?
Hello?
What you want?
Don't do that, man.
I ain't no threat to you.
Look, I ain't got a gun.
I ain't no trouble.
I want to know
the name of the guy
you've been delivering
all these girls to.
This one's occupied,
by the way.
Nobody. I ain't
bringing nobody to nobody.
You know the guy
I'm talking about.
Don't do this
to me, man.
Tell me his name.
This guy
likes to hurt people.
You tell me his name,
this'll all be over with.
There's a...
baid-headed,
squirrel-faced white guy.
He carries a gun too.
Nobody fucks with him.
Is that the guy
you're talking about?
You tell me.
He's got juice.
That's all I know.
I don't know
his fucking name, man.
He connected?
With the cops
or the mob.
He's got to be
to stay in business.
That's all I know.
Why you doing this
to me, man?
God.
I shit my pants.
I can't
go back out there.
That's right, Adonis.
You ain't ever
gonna go back out there.
You're going
to treat that bus station
like it's downtown Baghdad.
Not a good place
for you to be.
Who the fuck are you, man?
You don't want to know
who I am.
What you want to do
is start acting right
and quit doing wrong.
I'll kill you, Adonis.
I'll blow
your Goddamn head off
if you don't find
an honest line of work.
You stay gone
most of the night.
You don't call.
I'm sorry.
I don't deserve to be afraid
you've been hurt.
No.
You don't.
But I'm not
going to nag you.
I really need your help, Dave.
I really need help.
Go ahead.
You go ahead
and drown yourself, man.
I don't care.
Dave,
I planned this all week.
The guy already charged me
for the boat, man
Elrod...
It's going
to rain like hell.
Now, why don't you wait until
after it quits raining,
and you can go fishing
for black bass and perch
and bream right out here
in the bayou.
When was the last time you
caught freshwater fish
after it rained?
Oh, hell,
suit yourself.
You want to leave
that beer cooler here with me?
It came with the boat,
dude.
Sure you don't
want to come?
Miss Drummond,
you need to get yourself
off of that boat right now.
Please,
it's Kelly.
Watch the bend
in the channel.
It's about
three miles south.
The water's been low
and gill nets
are on the left
floating on
Clorox bottles.
I got it.
Hello?
How far
down the bayou?
Well, that's that bend
Batist warned you about.
What you asking me, Elrod?
Can you come
give us a hand?
Yeah,
I'll come help you out.
But I am also going
to bill you for my time.
I got it.
How'd you hit
the gill net?
Dldn't you see
the bottles?
Oh, man...
I'm an idiot,
right?
You want me to get down
in the water?
Yeah.
Get down by the bow
and be ready to push
when I put the motors
in reverse.
Hey, are there
any alligators around here?
Oh, hell yeah.
They're not hungry, though.
All right.
Put on a life jacket, El.
Okay, honey.
I swam
the Trinity River once.
Watch out
for water moccasins.
What?
Don't worry about him.
That water's
not very deep.
I've got to give him
a life jacket.
He'd drown
in a bathroom sink.
Here you go.
It's nothing personal,
Miss Kelly.
But I think you're a very fine,
beautiful young woman.
I'm already soaked.
I was burdened greatly
by the deaths of those
around me, Lieutenant.
But incorporating
their suffering
into our own lives does not
change the way of the world.
An act of kindness,
one as simple
as giving a girl my raincoat,
had resulted
in her death.
The shooter
had left nothing behind,
no ejected brass,
no recoverable prints.
We had no suspects.
But one heart-sinking
and unalterable
conclusion remained.
Kelly Drummond was dead.
And she was dead because
she had been mistaken for me.
The tragic death
of Kelly Drummond,
the longtime companion
of Elrod Sykes
and star of the popular
television series
River Valley,
now appears certain
to have been a case
of mistaken identity.
Sources within
the sheriff's department
conflrmed that
they now belleve the fatal shot
may have been intended
for someone else.
I'm going to miss her, Dave.
You want him
to stay here?
Guy's in bad shape.
This is our home.
Mr. Sykes just did
the rainbow yawn again.
Go to bed.
The guy needs an AA friend,
or he's not going to make it.
So what?
I don't care.
Tell you what,
I'm going to make you a deal.
First time he takes a drink,
he gets 86ed
right straight back
to his movie star
trailer house.
He pays for his share
of the food.
He does not
tie up the bathroom.
He does not come in late.
Okay, but only
for a few days.
Do you like
being a movie star?
It's just a job, honey.
Really?
Yeah.
It's like Dave.
You think he enjoys
enforcing the law,
catching the bad guys,
making the good people
feel better?
Yeah.
Yeah, well...
I like my job.
I'm sorry
about Kelly.
Me too, honey.
I've got 50 movie posters here
from Tears and Diamonds.
I hate that picture.
Well, 50 movie posters
signed by Elrod Sykes
will fetch $25,000.
That's four roofs,
eight with volunteer labor.
Here's your felt-tip pen.
The worst thing
a cop can do to himself
is eat his own gun.
Lou Girard
always called at night.
Tonight someone else
had to make the call for him.
There's a half empty bottle
of Bourbon here on the dresser,
spilled bottle of Diazepam
here on the coffee table.
Y'all writing that off
as a suicide?
Well, that's the way
it looks to me.
He was in bad shape.
Mattress is covered
in piss stains.
The sink is full
of raw garbage.
Where's the gun at?
By the bedside.
If Lou Girard wanted
to kill his self,
how come he didn't use
that .357?
'Cause he was drunk
on his ass.
Not an unusual condition
for him.
He was helping me
on a case, Doobie.
And?
Maybe he found out something
somebody did not
want him to know.
He was trembling,
eating pills every morning,
in front of everybody.
There's no big mystery
to what happened here tonight.
He was a good cop.
He was a sorry-ass drunk.
Now, if you want to look
at anything else, hurry up.
I'm going
to seal the place.
I appreciate you waiting outside
just for a moment.
Matter of fact, I appreciate you
staying as far away from me
as you can possibly get.
What had Lou found out
that had cost him his life?
Hogman Patin knew a lot
and seldom said anything.
Now I got word
he wanted to talk to me.
I started to think about
when I was in the pen.
And your daddy,
he brought my mother food
and paid for her medicine
up at the store
when she was sick.
You got something
to say to me, Sam?
What was the name of that nigger
you dug up out the sandbar?
DeWitt Prejean.
He was fucking
a white man's wife.
Start asking what
he's doing for a living,
and you'll find the people been
causing you all this grief.
Who's the man
I'm looking for?
I said
all I can say.
This still
the state of Louisiana.
Why you keep
bothering me?
I need to know what kind of work
DeWitt Prejean did.
Done nigger work.
You know, he cut lawns,
cleaned out grease traps,
got the dead rats out
from under people's houses.
What the fuck
you think he did?
Don't sound right to me.
I think he did
some other kind of work too.
You leave me alone.
You're a pretty good
judge of character, Mr. Hebert.
Do I look like somebody
that's going to go away?
Hm?
It was better
back then.
You know it was.
What kind of work he do,
Ben?
Drove a truck.
Who for?
It was over
in Jeanerette.
I brung her out here
'cause she works for me,
'cause I can't get in and out
of the car good by myself.
He worked seasonal
for a white man,
owned some big sugar mill.
I don't know
nothing about him
except he was a brother
of that crippled fellow.
That's all I know
and nothing more.
You saying I do,
then you're a Goddamn liar.
Something else
you want to say?
You got a fish
on your line.
Batist.
How many sugar mills they got
over there in Jeanerette?
Just one.
Hey.
Come on in.
Stopped by
to say good-bye,
give you
a going-away present.
Where you headed,
Cholo?
Thought I might
go to Florida,
maybe open a business
like you got here.
What you doing with
all that lawn furniture
in the back end
of your pickup?
Guy at the Holiday Inn wanted me
to take it when I checked out.
Said I'd kind of be doing
him a favor, you know?
Giving him a write-off.
You had some trouble
with Baby Feet.
Yeah.
I told him he was a douche bag
and I wouldn't work for him again
even if he begged me.
That Cherry LeBlanc girl
was right
when she
called him a needle-dick.
That's when the son of a bitch
comes across my mouth
with this big...
Now, wait, wait, wait.
What's this
about Cherry LeBlanc?
If he tells you
he never knew her,
ask him about this.
Julie forgot he told me
to take some souvenir pictures
when we drove over
to Biloxi last year.
Is that her or not?
Did Baby Feets
kill this girl?
Come on, Lieutenant.
You know how it works.
A guy like Julie
don't do hits.
He says something
to somebody,
then he forgets it.
If it's a speclal kind of job,
maybe somebody calls up a geek.
Did Baby Feets
make that call?
Start a photo album,
Lieutenant.
Make up
your own mind.
What's Murphy Doucet
doing in this picture?
What's wrong, Dave?
Got a loose ignition wire.
You got a knife
I could use?
Yeah, I ought
to have something.
This should do.
Some Mexican pulled this on me
in Lake Charles.
I didn't know
you were a cop in Lake Charles.
I wasn't.
I was working highway
for the state police.
That's where
I retlred from last year.
Is that when you got into
business with Twinky LeMoyne?
No, we go back
a ways further.
Thanks for the knife.
What's the deal?
Lou Girard was
looking at her file last week.
Lou arrested her
on a prostitution charge.
It wouldn't be
one officer.
It was a state police raid
on a bar...
State police?
Who sent that arrest report?
Oh, Sgt. Murphy Doucet.
Murphy Doucet.
I'd missed it.
Lou Girard had dug up
Cherry LeBlanc's arrest record,
and it had
cost him his life.
But this was going to be the end
of the line for Murphy Doucet.
I wasn't planting evidence,
I kept telling myself.
I was just removing it
before a guilty man
could destroy it.
Why the hell
are y'all here?
We're here because of you,
Mr. Doucet.
We've been checking
all the unsolved murders
of females in areas
surrounding highways
during the time you were working
for the state police.
Rosie, I think
we just found the knife
that he used
on Cherry LeBlanc.
That knife
wasn't there.
I say it was,
and I say your fingerprints
are all over it.
I see.
You and this Mexican bitch
are in on it together, huh?
No, Murphy.
I'm fucking you
all by myself.
Get your hands up now.
Get your hands up,
up against that...
up against that wall.
Y'all are setting me up,
and I don't even know why.
Think about it.
Think hard.
Think all the way back
to 1965,
just before
that hurricane hlt.
Y'all made DeWitt Prejean
run with that chain
locked around his chest,
shot his leg out
from underneath him.
You didn't notice the boy
that was watching you
from across the swamp,
though, did you?
I don't know how you did it,
but you planted that knife.
Time is always on
the bad guy's side, Rosie.
We wait for warrants while
they deep-six the evidence.
I didn't hear
what you said.
Jesus wienie, Dave.
Y'all done
tore this place to pieces.
You want to stay behind
and clean it up?
I don't want to be
nowhere around here
when that guy
gets home.
You heard he's out on bond?
Screw that.
He'll be here
any minute.
We got nothing.
Alfie.
You know where
your little girl's at?
She's right here
on my knee.
You sound speechless.
Turn her loose,
Doucet.
You don't want
to do this.
I'll make it simple
for both of us.
You take that knlfe
out of the evldence locker,
you put it in a Ziploc bag.
At 8:00 tomorrow morning,
you leave the bag
In a trash can
on the corner of Royal
and St. Anne in New Orleans.
You listen to me,
Doucet.
Think about this.
You're a cop.
You can skate on this.
We've been jacking you around
the whole time.
You lying
son of a bitch.
You won't rest till you
fuck me up every way you can.
You said
only one thing right today:
I'm going to skate.
And you're
going to help me.
Finally
lost your mind, Dave?
Young lady, you need
to stay away from this man.
Okay, let's go.
Get out of here.
Come on, let's go.
Nothing good
on TV tonight, Dave?
Murphy Doucet
has my daughter.
Did you hear
what I said?
That's too bad.
I don't like
to hear stuff like that.
It upsets me.
Hey, maybe you can get her face
on one of them milk cartons.
Where's my daughter, Julie?
Where's Alafair at?
I cut Doucet loose.
I got nothing to do
with what he does.
You get off
my fucking back
or I swear to God,
I'll square this.
Cop or not,
I'll put out on open contract.
I'll cowboy
your whole fucking family.
Your window of opportunity's
closing down.
Where's my baby girl?
I'm telling you
the truth.
I got nothing to do
with what he does.
He's a geek.
I don't hire geeks.
I run them off.
Last by God chance.
He's got a camp
out by Bayou Vista,
almost at Atchafalaya Basin.
The deed's
not in his name.
Nobody knows about it.
It's at the end
of the dirt road,
by the salt marsh.
Alafair there?
I hope to God
she's not.
Alfie!
Come here.
Did he hurt you, baby?
I told him
he better not.
I told him
what you do.
I just shot a man
armed with a rolled-up magazine.
No, no.
He had a gun on him.
You just don't
remember it yet.
You okay?
Should I call my lawyer?
Mr. LeMoyne,
I saw you
and Murphy Doucet
kill DeWitt Prejean
out on the Atchafalaya.
I watched it
from across the swamp.
Your crippled brother
couldn't kill DeWitt,
so you did it for him.
Am I under arrest?
I think Murphy Doucet's
been blackmailing you with it
all these years.
A lot of bad things happened
back in that era
between the races.
But we're not
the same people
we were then,
are we?
I think we are.
You seem unable
to let the past rest.
It's been my experience
that you let go of the past
by addressing it.
Please, leave.
It won't make
any difference if I leave.
You're going to drag this one
around with you all day long
every day,
like a log chain,
for the rest of your life.
Have you no mercy, sir?
No, sir.
No, sir, I don't.
Julie Balboni
finally went down,
but in a way
nobody expected,
in a beef
with the IRS.
They shipped Baby Feet
up to a maximum security unit
at Leavenworth, Kansas,
a place that,
in wintertime,
makes you believe
that sub-zero winds blow from
four directions simultaneously.
Elrod Sykes
never took another drink.
He brought Alafair to the set
and gave her a little part
in the movie.
Months later,
when the picture was finished,
he called us from California
to say that Alafair
had been his salvation.
I thought in the morning mists
that curled around the bayou
I might again see
General John Bell Hood,
just a glimpse,
perhaps,
a doff of his hat,
the kindness
of his smile,
the beleaguered affection
that always seemed
to linger in his face.
Then as the days passed
and I began to let go of all the
violent events of that summer,
I came to accept that the
General, as Bootsie had said,
was only a figment
of my imagination,
there to remind me
out of the distant past
that the contest
is never quite over,
the field never quite ours.
Dave?
I'm an alcoholic.
Sometimes I'm tempted
to have a drink.
But I never do.
I hope this poor girl
was dead
before he started
carving on her like that.
This poor girl didn't have
a whole lot of good luck, Dave.
In the ancient world,
people placed heavy stones
on the graves of their dead
so their souls would not wander
and afflict the living.
I always thought
this was simply the practice
of superstitious
and primitive people.
But I was about to learn
that the dead
can hover
on the edge of our vision
with the density
and luminosity of mist.
And their claim on the earth
can be as legitimate
and tenacious
as our own.
Could I see your
driver's license, please?
My what?
Driver's license.
Please take it out your billfold,
hand it to me.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Well...
I was
a little careless back there.
I'm sorry about that.
You're Elrod T. Sykes?
Yes, sir,
that's who I am.
Step out the car,
Mr. Sykes.
Yes, sir.
Anything you say, sir.
Mr. Sykes,
I think you've been drinking,
and I know you've been smoking
marijuana in your automobile.
I believe your lady friend there
just ate the roach.
Ooh, well, that wouldn't
be good now, would it?
You're under arrest for driving
while intoxicated, Mr. Sykes.
I'll take you just down the
street here to the city jail.
I'll send a car, take Ms.
Drummond wherever she's staying.
But your
little red sports car
is going to be towed
to the pound.
This is bad news.
This is not on my agenda,
'cause we're just
starting a movie.
I've always enjoyed
all your films.
Ms. Drummond's too.
Take your car keys
out the ignition please.
El, do something.
I feel real bad
about this.
Can he make a contribution
to Mothers Against Drunk Driving
or something like that?
As an admirer of your work,
Ms. Drummond,
I recommend you don't make any
more mentions of contributions.
I recommend
you stay put.
Deputy will be along here in
a few minutes to take you home.
Allons.
You're not going to get sick
in my truck, are you?
No, I'm just fine.
I know where
there's a dead body.
What?
Looks like a big pile
of gristle and bone.
Where was this?
Way the hell out
in Atchafalaya swamp.
We had to pick up a scene near
the old Indian reservation.
I went to take a leak.
I saw it sticking out
of a sandbar.
Get back in the truck.
That swamp full
of old Indian bones.
Yeah, but...
Sorry, I didn't
catch your name.
Dave Robicheaux.
Mr. Robicheaux,
now, if that was
an Indian I found,
I was wondering
what he was doing
with a chain
wrapped around him.
Say that again.
It's a rusted chain
with links
as big as my fist
crisscrossed
around his rib cage.
Can you find
that sandbar again?
Yes, sir,
I believe I could.
I'm going to make
a confession to you,
Mr. Sykes.
DWIs are a pain
in the butt.
If I take you home,
can I have your word
you'll be in my office,
And sober?
Absolutely.
Hey, I really appreciate this.
Elrod Sykes
and Kelly Drummond?
I want to go
to the set.
Sykes is a drunk.
He's huge!
His head
glows in the dark.
Maybe we could get
an autographed movie poster.
No way!
Not for you,
for the hurricane relief fund.
Okay, cool.
Please?
Will you hush?
I'll take her
and look out for her,
if that's
all right with you.
Maybe we could get Kelly
Drummond to sign one too,
pay for somebody's roof.
Please?
It's over yonder.
Hold on there,
Mr. Sykes.
Best put
some of this on.
We used to have
a lot of bats down here,
but the mosquitoes
ate 'em all.
That boy's a long way
from his Hollywood poontang,
ain't he?
This jackass
is objectifying you,
Mr. Sykes, because
he's had very little exposure
to the outside world.
Don't let it bother you.
Hurricane Betsy blowing through
here in '65 probably buried him
and Katrina unearthed him.
Why '65?
Hurricanes tear up this part
of the country all the time.
See that left shin bone?
Clipped in half.
That's where they shot him
when he tried to run away.
You a psychlc
or some bullshlt like that?
No, I saw it happen
about a mile from here.
Are you saying
that some whlte people
lynched somebody
around here?
When we get back, you're going
to have to talk to your sheriff,
get the coroner
out here now.
I don't know about y'all
over in Iberia Parish,
but around here,
ain't nobody going to be
real interested in nigger trouble
that's 40 years old.
What are you looking for,
Mr. Robicheaux?
I don't see any remnants
of a belt on his trousers...
or any laces
in his boots.
That boy probably did his
shopping at the Goodwill.
They never found him,
didn't even look for him.
Back then, with no body,
no missing persons report,
that sheriff didn't have
any reason to believe me,
must less get off his ass
and go to work.
You're not
The trouble I have with you
is getting you away from work.
You've done everything
that you can.
You have no good reason
to beat yourself up.
Now drink your milk
and come to bed.
I'm horny.
Bootsie was right.
What was the point of reaching
into the distant past?
Just yesterday, a young girl
had been eviscerated.
We had her name now,
Cherry LeBlanc.
Mr. Trajan around?
He's over there, chere.
We've been over this already
three times now.
Cherry's been working here off
and on for the past few weeks.
She's going to show up anyway
to listen to Hogman Pitan.
The girl had a real thing
for Hogman.
Some time around 1:00,
she put her purse behind the bar
and says she's going to go
outside for a walk.
You know she'd been
arrested for prostitution?
I didn't know that.
All right.
Okay.
You hired her
'cause you thought
she was an honor student
at LSU.
I can't say I care for the way
you're talking to me, Detective.
If I found out you've been
holding back information on me,
Mr. Trajan, I'ma come back here
with a warrant, Mr. Trajan,
for your arrest.
Did you know Cherry LeBlanc,
little white girl,
about 19 years old?
She work here,
ain't she?
Do you know if she had
a boyfriend, tante?
If that's what
you want to call it.
She in the business.
Was Mr. Trajan involved?
Ask him.
I don't think he was.
Otherwise you wouldn't be
telling me all these things.
She a sad girl.
I told her,
"A pretty white girl like you
could have anything you want."
When that girl dress up,
she look just like a movie star.
Who was her pimp?
I don't know nothing else, me.
She wasn't about
to give the name
of some rich white man
to an old black woman.
What rich white man?
Some rich white man maybe...
get her out of the business
of selling jelly roll.
She say that just before
somebody done them
awful things
to that young girl.
The sheriff over
in St. Clair Parish
said, "Thanks a lot,"
for that pile of bones you found
out in the Atchafalaya yesterday.
They really appreciate
the extra work.
He need to find
a new line of work,
he don't like them bones.
Now, he said you're welcome
to come over on your days off
and run an investigation.
Their coroner's got them bones
now waiting on you.
Autopsy report came in
on that LeBlanc girl.
Looks like we're talking
about a psychopath,
somebody wired to the eyes
on crack or meth.
Maybe.
I think she knew him.
So you don't think
it was a John?
No, she left her purse
behind the bar
with all her condoms in it.
Cherry LeBlanc was
a working girl with ambition.
Maybe she misjudged
a business opportunity here.
Who's a girl like that
going to be in business with?
Um... Baby Feet?
Maybe Baby Feet.
What's happening, Cholo?
I thought
you was in the pen.
No, man.
Katrina,
she rinsed my hands clean.
The whole damn crlme lab
washed off
down the river.
Ain't got nothing on me
in New Orleans.
Doing fine, bro.
Besides that, they ain't
even got enough money
to lobotomize
guys like me no more.
What's going on, Dave?
I'm investigating a murder,
Julie.
No kldding.
Y'all worried about me,
Dave?
Hell yes.
How many guys
would burn down their own
father's nightclub with their
own father still in it?
You got to forgive me
if I get a little upset
by these
kinds of attitudes, Dave.
I come home
to this shithole.
I'm a prominent man
in the entertainment business.
I talk on the phone every day
to people in California
you read about
in Entertainment Weekly.
They ought to have
"Welcome Back Balboni Day."
Instead,
I get treated
like sewer gas by you.
You understand
what I'm saying, Dave.
It hurts me.
Sit down
while I take a whiz.
Cholo,
where's your hospitality?
Get the man
a soft drink.
Here, Lieutenant.
Julie was telling me
about that time
that nigger
almost popped you with a .38
in the French Quarter.
Said he saved your life.
Weren't you and Julie baseball buddies
in high school?
Take the hint,
Cholo.
This guy's
not a conversationalist.
You working on that
Cherry LeBlanc deal?
What you know
about that?
All over
today's paper, man.
Julie and me
were just talking about it.
Sounds like you got
one sick fuck on the loose.
My meter's running,
Julie.
I want to talk about
that murdered girl
we found south of town.
Which girl is that?
Cherry LeBlanc.
I guess
I ain't heard about it.
You don't read
the newspaper?
I've been busy.
I can see that.
We used to be friends,
Dave.
I even maybe
did you a favor once.
So I'm going to line it out
for you and any locals
that want to get
the wax out their ears.
Louisiana's flat-ass broke.
New Orleans
is a mortuary.
And the bottom
of a toilet's got more appeal
than this shithole
in the bayou.
So they better
wake up to the fact
that we are dropping
close to $40 million
in Iberia Parish.
They don't like the name
Balboni around here?
We'll move the whole
fucking movie
over to Mississippi.
See how that floats
with those coon-ass jack-offs
on the Chamber of Commerce.
You're
in the movie business now?
Yeah, I'm producing Whlte Doves
with Michael Goldman.
What you think
about that?
I'm sure everybody
wishes you success, Julie.
I'ma do
a baseball movie next.
You want a part in it?
You can go on in.
You remember me, Dave?
It's Doucet, isn't it?
Yes, sir,
Murphy Doucet.
You got a good memory.
I was with the Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's Department
when you were with NOPD.
I guess you're
in the movie business now,
along with everybody else.
Yeah, I own half
of a security service now,
and I'm still with the Teamsters
out of Lafayette.
So I'm kind of doing
double duty here.
Is there some kind of trouble?
Where can I find
Mr. Goldman?
Right on the other side
of them trees.
I'll let him know
you're coming.
It's all right.
I'll find him.
We had two divisions of soldiers
march through that?
Looks like we're shooting
a bread commercial.
Where'd we get this cannon,
Toys "R" Us?
All right, I'm going to need
floaters in there,
one face down,
two belly-up.
Use some of the fat extras.
They'll look bloated.
My dead horse?
No.
Not on the call sheet?
Terrific.
We need some blood,
blood-soaked ground,
if that's what it says
in the script.
This is not
the nightly news.
They never show the blood.
This is an allegory.
We're not shooting
the fall of Vicksburg.
This is Baghdad 2007.
Copy that.
If people don't
connect the dots, fuck 'em.
There's a Detective Robicheaux
here to see you, sir.
So you're
investigating a crime.
Seen any crime
around here?
Only crime I'm aware of is
the air conditioning in my trailer.
You could fry an egg
on the toilet seat in there.
Then I've got a lead actor
digging up skeletons
in sandbars, exactly what
I need to be thinking about
while I'm shooting a picture.
Mr. Goldman, is Mr. Julius
Balboni producing this film?
Producing?
I must've really fucked up
in my previous incarnation.
Maybe I sunk the Tltanlc
or assassinated
Archduke Ferdinand.
I am the only producer.
So Mr. Balboni's lying.
Mr. Balboni is investing
some of his money in a motion picture.
Is that illegal?
Congratulations.
You in business with the man
that hung Fulvio Raneri's cousin
up by his colon
on a meat hook.
Do you recognize
this girl,
Cherry LeBlanc?
How you are, Hogman?
Come on up
on the porch.
Grab a chair.
You knew that LeBlanc girl,
didn't you?
I don't like to have nothing
to do with white folks' business,
but it bothers me
what somebody do to that girl.
I spoke to her about two hours
before she left the juke.
She said, "Hogman,
in the next life, me and you
going to get married."
That's what she said.
I said, "Darling, don't let the
men misuse you for no chicken."
She said, "I'm going
to have myself a town house
on Lake Pontchartrain."
Was she mixed up with somebody
from New Orleans?
Probably some white-trash pimp
told her she special,
she pretty.
Instead,
she got herself killed.
You're mixed up with
that skeleton they found
in the Atchafalaya,
ain't you?
How do you know
about that?
When somebody find
a dead black man,
black people
knows about it.
I'm listening.
A blue jay don't sit
on a mockingbird's nest.
The mockingbird will whoop
the blue jay's ass every time.
What are we talking about here,
Sam?
I'm talking
about a black man.
And he was carrying on
with a white woman
who husband
he worked for.
I think them was his bones
you dug in that sandbar.
What was his name?
Who care what's his name?
I think he got
what he asked for.
I say, "Past is past,
and don't be
messing with it."
You warning me?
What was
that white woman's name?
I got to go
start my beans now.
Alafair,
you got to keep this raccoon
out of my fried pie.
Next time he come in here,
I'm gonna swat him with my broom.
Tripod's just an animal.
Why don't you try kicking the
smell of cigars out of the yard?
Alafair, you shouldn't
talk to Batist like that.
But he threatened Tripod
with menacing violence.
Tripod's a raccoon, baby.
Apologize to Batist.
Sorry for what I said.
And I'm saying it
'cause Dave made me.
That's a beautiful child,
Dave.
By the time
she's 18 years old,
your hair's going
to be solid white,
if there's
any of it left.
This is great!
I love it.
You run a bait shop too.
How you doing,
Mr. Robicheaux?
We want to have dinner
with y'all tonight.
Oh, thanks, but my wife's
already cooking supper.
I was just on my way
over there to take a shower.
Well, hurry up.
We got reservations
at Clementine's, everybody.
The family has plans
for this evening, Mr. Sykes.
This is embarrassing, El.
I have a reservation.
Hey, I don't want
to cause any problems.
We'll just pick up
our liquids at your store here
and hit the road, okay?
Mr. Sykes...
you've been
driving drunk,
and you come to a cop's house
to buy more booze.
Why don't you hand
those keys to Ms. Drummond
before you hit the road?
Where's that beer at?
Hey.
You're a good man.
Y'all need
to be real careful.
Elrod's a shitbird,
but I love him.
It's all right.
Bad timing.
Put it there.
Cool.
Next time.
Hey.
All right.
Um, shit.
We'll settle up.
We'll settle up later,
yeah?
All right.
Other side.
Come here.
Come on.
Come here.
Elrod.
What?
Check this out.
Will you stop?
El!
Check me out.
S'more?
Made 'em myself.
Oh, thank you.
Elrod Sykes
is wearing Dave's jersey.
Can you believe it?
Now go do your homework.
Something to drink?
How about a beer?
I think we're out.
I'm sure there's
one in there somewhere.
I'm going to go feed
Alafair's rabbits.
You care to join me?
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Get back there, Leroy.
Go on.
You ever seen lights
in the cypress trees at night?
That's swamp gas.
It'll ignite and roll out across
the waters like ball lightning.
No, sir,
that's not what it is.
See these guys out yonder
by the lake.
They have lanterns hanging
from some of their ambulances.
A lot of those soldiers
had maggots in their wounds.
That's the only reason
they lived.
It's 'cause the maggots
ate out the infection.
You've been drunk
a long time, Elrod.
Pretty soon all the trees and
alligators will be talking to you.
A wild orchid
sang a song to me one time.
She had the prettiest voice.
Yeah, I wasn't drunk.
This guy, a general,
he's standing on a crutch
right by the water.
And he said to me,
"You and your friend
the law man must repel them."
I think you're delusional.
You might want to think about
going to an AA meeting
with me one time.
Maybe I was
a little drunk.
What happened
to this dude's nose?
Coon bit him.
Lou Girard
always called at night.
I had picked him
out of gutters
from New Orleans
to Lake Charles,
held him
when he had the shakes,
driven him to AA meetings more
times than I could remember.
And he had done
the same for me.
Thanks for the call, Lou.
Yeah, when I saw
that electrical tape
around her hands and her feet,
or what's left of them,
I thought about you and that
LeBlanc case you got going.
Where she at now?
She's right there,
still in that barrel.
She got about
Coroner says, we move her,
she's coming out in pieces.
We're going to have a rough time
getting an ID, maybe.
Maybe by her teeth.
That's the poor bastard
who found her.
When did you
first notice that barrel?
About four
or three weeks back.
See anyone else out there
on that levee?
Yeah, about a month ago
in the evening,
I seen a dark-colored car.
I remember thinking,
it was brand-new, you know?
Why would anybody
want to bring their new car
down on that dirt road
full of holes?
You remember
what kind of car it was?
No, sir.
I'm sorry.
I just wish I hadn't been the one
to find that poor woman.
And, hey, I'm never
going to look inside
another barrel again.
Not me, no.
That'll do.
Thank you.
Officer Guidry
going to take you home.
Thank you.
I need a tow truck
to haul off a limousine.
Where about?
Can't miss it.
Right in front
of Chez Narcisse.
- When?
- Right now.
- Copy that.
- Thank you, chere.
You could get
the Roman Army down here.
One dlvision of these guys
could've knocked off
these squlrrel hunters,
had the Civil War over
in one year.
You know what?
Maybe we'll do
a Bible movie next.
Yeah, but how do you fight
a war with sandals?
That's... stupid.
How did they win wars
with sandals, hm?
What's going on, Dave?
Had a long night
last night.
Found a girl in a barrel down
in south St. Martin Parish.
She covered up
in blue crabs.
You ought to run her again.
We'll have gumbo.
You here
for breakfast?
Sit down.
You're pissed off
about some little thing,
so you have my car towed.
You need to quit parking
in front of fireplugs.
Fireplugs; I'm getting this kind
of shit because of fireplugs?
No, Julie.
I want to know what you have
to do with a teenage hooker
named Cherry LeBlanc.
Who the fuck
is Cherry LeBlanc?
You know
who she is.
You and Cholo
were talking about her
before I got to the Holiday Inn,
and you lied to me about it.
Calling me a liar?
You're a motherfucking lying
piece of dog shit.
I think this
sweet little town's
starting to rub off
on you, David.
Gentlemen, could you please...
I mean,
just not use that language...
Get the fuck
away from my table!
It's all right,
Mr. Meaux.
I'll be gone
in a second.
Oh, sad to hear that.
I don't know
none of these girls.
I don't have nothing to do
with your business.
You said some
ugly things about me, Dave,
and I'm going
to let it slide.
I'll call
a couple of cabs,
I'll pay the fine
on my car,
I'll buy some new tires,
and I'll forget everything
you've been saying to me,
because I got
a business to run.
Everybody's been
pretty polite here.
Keep it simple,
stupid.
It's time for you to let
people alone, Mr. Robicheaux.
Ease off,
Lieutenant.
This ain't good
for nobody.
Come on.
Come on.
You're losing it, Dave.
You need to get yourself
some better tranqs.
No, sir, I wouldn't
exactly call it a dead end.
You have a seat,
I'll be right with you.
Thank you.
It's $100-million contract.
He must've pocketed
$60 million, $70 million.
False load slips,
bogus waybills.
Balboni Trucking hauled
just about enough debris
to fill a Dixie cup.
Yes, sir,
we are trying.
Thank you.
Can I help you
with something?
I hope so.
This is my office.
Oh, my God,
I'm s...
I'm sorry.
I was...
a call came in for me
on your extension,
and I just...
anyway,
I'm Special Agent Rosa Gomez.
Everyone calls me Rosie,
so call me Rosie.
It's nice to meet you,
Special Agent Rosie.
"Your detective's
investigative missteps
are going to hurt you
in November."
That's courtesy of that prick
Bubba Broussard
over at the city council.
So you called the FBI?
The FBI's been trying
to nall Balboni
for over a year now
on a FEMA scam.
And they still have
precisely nothing on him.
That's why I think
they're hoping there's more
to that Cherry LeBlanc case.
Now, Balboni
is throwing a birthday bash
for Mr. Michael Goldman
this evening.
I think you, too,
should attend.
There are 17 unsolved
homicides in Louisiana
that share some
similarities with this case.
And ten of them share
multiple common denominators.
All show marks
from being bound,
all young,
all working class.
One was a high school girl.
Two were waitresses.
Three had been runaways.
And four were prostitutes.
The FBI has an informational advantage
over Iberia Parish.
How do you like
that catfish court bouillon?
Uh, it's interesting.
If you found the remains
of a black man
and he had no belt,
no laces in his boot,
what speculation
would you make about him?
Obviously he'd been in jail,
a parish, or city holding tank,
some place where they were
afraid he'd do harm to himself.
That's what I think.
Mud bugs,
as advertised.
This one
has your name on it.
Get out of here.
Hey, Dave, you ought
to get yourself some food.
It's free.
Thanks.
I've already eaten.
See that man
bird-dogging the blonde?
Twinky Hebert LeMoyne.
That's the other half
of my security service business.
What's he doing here?
He's an investor
in the movie
and trying to get laid.
That's funny.
You like doing business
with Twinky LeMoyne?
It's good for me.
For him,
it's no big deal, really.
I mean, if there's a business
around here making money,
you can be sure
he's got a plece of it.
Take a picture?
What?
Picture?
Yeah.
I'm General John Bell Hood,
commander of the Texas brigade,
commander of the
the 5th Texas Cavalry,
and the 17th Texas Infantry.
Do you object
to shaking hands?
Am I dead?
You don't look
like it to me.
You were at Gettysburg.
The war's over.
It's never over.
I would think
you'd know that.
You were a lieutenant in the
United States Army, weren't you?
My head hurts.
My head...
sure does hurt.
Venal and evll people
are destroying the world
you were born in.
It's us against them,
my good friend.
Don't compromise your principles
or abandon your cause.
Do you know what's waiting
for me on down the road?
For one reason or another,
I find I have more insight
into the past than the future.
Try to keep
this in mind:
It's just like when
they load their cannon
with horseshoes
and log chain.
You'd think the barrage
would last forever.
Then all of a sudden,
there's a sllence
louder than the cannon flre.
Please don't be alarmed
by the severity of my comparison.
Have a good night, Lieutenant.
Paramedics who brought you in
said you were talking
about Confederate soldiers
out in the swamp.
It was an usual night.
What's the possibillity that one
of those Hollywood characters
laced your Dr. Pepper?
Do what?
The tox screen came back
positive for LSD.
I need to talk
to the sheriff.
The sheriff
was here this morning.
You talked to him
for half an hour.
What'd I say?
Nothing that made
any sense to me.
When you reel him in
through the water,
his little legs and tail
wiggle like he was swimming.
Makes the black bass hungry.
How would you define
the idea of understanding?
Well, it's knowing something
and knowing what it means.
I think there's two ways
of looking at
the idea of understanding.
One is, if you don't look,
you never will see.
And the other is,
if you look a little less,
you might see
a hell of a lot more.
You might not be over those drugs
they put in your drink.
I know General John Bell Hood
of the Texas Calvary
just like he was
my own grandfather.
Are you accusing me
of working with the mafia?
When you do business with a man
like Julle Balboni,
you create a certain amount
of curiosity about yourself.
I don't do business
with him.
I don't do anything
with him.
I'm a member
of a group of investors
that have put money
into a movie production
in New Iberia.
Investing in the local economy,
that's all.
Are your employees
union people?
No, they certainly are not.
You own half of a security
service with Murphy Doucet,
don't you?
That's right,
I certainly do.
And your partner
in your security service
is a Teamster steward
over in Lafayette.
I think you're involved in
some strange contradictions,
Mr. LeMoyne.
You'll have to excuse me,
Detective.
I've got
to lock up now.
I have a lot of people
I take care of, you know?
Would you like
to have Julie Balboni
for a next door neighbor?
Would you like to have
your granddaughter
working for him?
Mr. Roblcheaux,
I can't express to you
how offensive you are.
Did you get
that blond-haired girl
to lick your leg
the other night?
There's my business card.
Thank you
for your time.
Here you go, Dave.
Still 1965,
July, September, November.
Thank you, chere.
You're welcome.
How's Alafair?
Blen bonne.
Great.
A nigger,
you say?
DeWitt Prejean.
Black man
name of DeWitt Prejean.
Yeah, I remember
that son of a bitch.
What about him?
Were you on duty the night
somebody broke him out of jail?
I was the jailer.
Jailers don't work nights.
They hire a man
for that.
Do you remember what
Mr. Prejean was charged with?
He wasn't charged
with nothing.
Never got to that.
They busted him
out of the tank.
Not according
to the newspaper.
Lot of people wipe
their asses with newspaper.
Newspaper said he broke
into a white woman's house
with a butcher knife.
Was DeWitt Prejean
a rapist?
He couldn't keep
his prick in his pants,
if that's what you mean.
Is it all right if I sit down
here, Mr. Hebert?
Sure.
You think her husband
broke him out of jail?
He might have
if he could've.
He was a crippled man.
Got shot up
in a war.
Where's he at now?
He's in the cemetery
out by the tracks,
east of town.
What about the woman?
She moved away,
up north somewhere.
What's your interest in this
I think I saw him killed.
Where's the man who was on duty
the night of the jailbreak?
He got drunk and got his self
run over by a train.
Wait a minute.
What'd you say?
You saw what?
What you think I saw,
Mr. Hebert?
Hello?
You're a hard man to catch.
Who's this?
Sugar, it's Amber.
Don't you remember me?
Don't hurt my feelings.
No, I'm sorry.
I don't remember who you are.
What can I do for you?
It's me that's going to do you
a big favor, darling.
I'm going to give you
the guy you want.
What guy we talking about?
The nasty old plmp that's been
leaving dead girls around.
Meet me at Club Leon
in an hour.
Thanks for coming out, Lou.
Yeah, who you supposed
to be meeting up with here?
Said her name was Amber.
There's a hooker,
calls herself Amber.
What are we doing tonight?
I'm going to drive around front
and have a look inside.
I'd like you to be out here
to cover my back.
I don't want to walk
into no setup.
What are you having?
Has Amber been in?
Amber Martinez?
Short, skinny,
little Puerto Rican girl,
maybe weigh 100 pounds
sopping wet?
- Yeah.
- No, she ain't been in.
What you drinking?
- Dr. Pepper.
- Dr. Pepper, yes, sir.
I could call somebody,
might know where she's at.
Why don't you do that?
Yes, sir.
Right away.
Hey, Mama 'Ti,
Amber there?
No word from Amber?
No, man,
not a word.
Get back in there!
Dave,
what the fuck's going on?
Shooter fired at me twice.
I put eight rounds
in that Buick.
I think
he's still in there.
Looks like she took one
right in the face.
What you mean, "she"?
You just popped
Amber Martinez.
There's no fucking gun.
There's no gun, man.
I got this throw-down.
Tell me to do it.
I opened up
on that Buick too soon.
You thought your life
was at rlsk, Lleutenant.
I hope you don't mind
my being here.
No.
You shouldn't have remorse.
A desire to live doesn't mean
you lack humanity.
Somebody's trying
to drive me crazy.
Can't believe what I see
or hear anymore.
They say I killed
an unarmed woman.
I think that would
probably bother me too.
I keep seeing that woman,
the back of her head,
her hair glued down
to the carpet with her own blood.
Think about
what you just said.
You're an intelligent man.
What does
your eye tell you?
I need help.
The wind's
out of the south.
There'll be thunder
by afternoon.
It'll sound
like Yankee cannon fire,
but it'll only be thunder.
General...
What time is it?
Why would Amber Martinez
be sitting in the passenger seat
of her own car?
What did
the homicide investigator
have to say last night?
He told me
I'm a hell of a shot.
Everybody thinks
I killed an unarmed woman.
There's not
any bullet holes anywhere.
There's no casings.
And there's no gun.
It was a setup, Dave.
What y'all doing out here?
Can't be messing around
a crime scene.
I'm really just
an observer here, Doobie.
Who's she?
Speclal Agent Gomez.
This is part
of an FBI investigation.
Do you have
a problem with that?
Why piss people off,
Robicheaux?
St. Martin Parish ain't going
to indict you over this,
but if I were you,
I wouldn't hang around here.
You might piss me off.
Well, from the size of the wound
and the impact of the round,
I'd say a .45 killed her.
Look at her head.
I only use hollow-point
ammunition, Sollie.
It ain't no hollow point
passed through this girl's head.
Her hair was stuck to the carpet,
the blood already dry.
Did she die in that car,
you want to ask me?
Her blood lividity tells me
that she was dead before
she ever got into that car.
If I can vacuum the Buick,
what are we looking for?
I saw muzzle flashes
coming out that Buick.
I didn't see no bullet holes
in that beer joint wall.
See what you
can find out.
What we waiting on here,
me to smoke this?
Allons.
Thank you, Henry.
Anybody else
got something to share?
My name's Dave.
I'm an alcoholic.
Want some cappuccino mix?
You cops like coffee, right,
or a stereo?
You know anybody been recruiting
girls out the parishes?
Try the bus depot,
for starters.
But who's going to recruit?
Ever since Katrina,
there's cash on the hoof
all over this town.
Maybe this guy does more
than just pimp.
Maybe he likes
to hurt these girls.
Been two of them
killed already,
maybe more.
Talking about somebody
that operates way down
at the bottom
of the food chain, Dave.
You think Baby Feets Balboni
might have something to do
with something like this?
You're using the names
of local personalities now.
It stays with me,
Jimmie.
You looking for a guy
who likes to kill hookers?
Don't sound
like Baby Feet.
His outfit's running girls,
all right, but...
they're not worth nothing to him
if they're dead.
Try the bus station.
Try Adonis Brown.
You, uh,
ladies seem lost.
You're not from around here,
are you?
You'll be able
to find some peace,
I promlse you.
Don't sweat it.
I want you to make a public
service announcement for me,
chere.
I know what it's like
to run away.
Praise Jesus.
There's a call
for Mr. Adonls Brown at
the publlc restroom pay phone.
There's a call
for Mr. Adonls Brown
at the
publlc restroom pay phone.
This is Adonis.
What's up?
Hello?
What you want?
Don't do that, man.
I ain't no threat to you.
Look, I ain't got a gun.
I ain't no trouble.
I want to know
the name of the guy
you've been delivering
all these girls to.
This one's occupied,
by the way.
Nobody. I ain't
bringing nobody to nobody.
You know the guy
I'm talking about.
Don't do this
to me, man.
Tell me his name.
This guy
likes to hurt people.
You tell me his name,
this'll all be over with.
There's a...
baid-headed,
squirrel-faced white guy.
He carries a gun too.
Nobody fucks with him.
Is that the guy
you're talking about?
You tell me.
He's got juice.
That's all I know.
I don't know
his fucking name, man.
He connected?
With the cops
or the mob.
He's got to be
to stay in business.
That's all I know.
Why you doing this
to me, man?
God.
I shit my pants.
I can't
go back out there.
That's right, Adonis.
You ain't ever
gonna go back out there.
You're going
to treat that bus station
like it's downtown Baghdad.
Not a good place
for you to be.
Who the fuck are you, man?
You don't want to know
who I am.
What you want to do
is start acting right
and quit doing wrong.
I'll kill you, Adonis.
I'll blow
your Goddamn head off
if you don't find
an honest line of work.
You stay gone
most of the night.
You don't call.
I'm sorry.
I don't deserve to be afraid
you've been hurt.
No.
You don't.
But I'm not
going to nag you.
I really need your help, Dave.
I really need help.
Go ahead.
You go ahead
and drown yourself, man.
I don't care.
Dave,
I planned this all week.
The guy already charged me
for the boat, man
Elrod...
It's going
to rain like hell.
Now, why don't you wait until
after it quits raining,
and you can go fishing
for black bass and perch
and bream right out here
in the bayou.
When was the last time you
caught freshwater fish
after it rained?
Oh, hell,
suit yourself.
You want to leave
that beer cooler here with me?
It came with the boat,
dude.
Sure you don't
want to come?
Miss Drummond,
you need to get yourself
off of that boat right now.
Please,
it's Kelly.
Watch the bend
in the channel.
It's about
three miles south.
The water's been low
and gill nets
are on the left
floating on
Clorox bottles.
I got it.
Hello?
How far
down the bayou?
Well, that's that bend
Batist warned you about.
What you asking me, Elrod?
Can you come
give us a hand?
Yeah,
I'll come help you out.
But I am also going
to bill you for my time.
I got it.
How'd you hit
the gill net?
Dldn't you see
the bottles?
Oh, man...
I'm an idiot,
right?
You want me to get down
in the water?
Yeah.
Get down by the bow
and be ready to push
when I put the motors
in reverse.
Hey, are there
any alligators around here?
Oh, hell yeah.
They're not hungry, though.
All right.
Put on a life jacket, El.
Okay, honey.
I swam
the Trinity River once.
Watch out
for water moccasins.
What?
Don't worry about him.
That water's
not very deep.
I've got to give him
a life jacket.
He'd drown
in a bathroom sink.
Here you go.
It's nothing personal,
Miss Kelly.
But I think you're a very fine,
beautiful young woman.
I'm already soaked.
I was burdened greatly
by the deaths of those
around me, Lieutenant.
But incorporating
their suffering
into our own lives does not
change the way of the world.
An act of kindness,
one as simple
as giving a girl my raincoat,
had resulted
in her death.
The shooter
had left nothing behind,
no ejected brass,
no recoverable prints.
We had no suspects.
But one heart-sinking
and unalterable
conclusion remained.
Kelly Drummond was dead.
And she was dead because
she had been mistaken for me.
The tragic death
of Kelly Drummond,
the longtime companion
of Elrod Sykes
and star of the popular
television series
River Valley,
now appears certain
to have been a case
of mistaken identity.
Sources within
the sheriff's department
conflrmed that
they now belleve the fatal shot
may have been intended
for someone else.
I'm going to miss her, Dave.
You want him
to stay here?
Guy's in bad shape.
This is our home.
Mr. Sykes just did
the rainbow yawn again.
Go to bed.
The guy needs an AA friend,
or he's not going to make it.
So what?
I don't care.
Tell you what,
I'm going to make you a deal.
First time he takes a drink,
he gets 86ed
right straight back
to his movie star
trailer house.
He pays for his share
of the food.
He does not
tie up the bathroom.
He does not come in late.
Okay, but only
for a few days.
Do you like
being a movie star?
It's just a job, honey.
Really?
Yeah.
It's like Dave.
You think he enjoys
enforcing the law,
catching the bad guys,
making the good people
feel better?
Yeah.
Yeah, well...
I like my job.
I'm sorry
about Kelly.
Me too, honey.
I've got 50 movie posters here
from Tears and Diamonds.
I hate that picture.
Well, 50 movie posters
signed by Elrod Sykes
will fetch $25,000.
That's four roofs,
eight with volunteer labor.
Here's your felt-tip pen.
The worst thing
a cop can do to himself
is eat his own gun.
Lou Girard
always called at night.
Tonight someone else
had to make the call for him.
There's a half empty bottle
of Bourbon here on the dresser,
spilled bottle of Diazepam
here on the coffee table.
Y'all writing that off
as a suicide?
Well, that's the way
it looks to me.
He was in bad shape.
Mattress is covered
in piss stains.
The sink is full
of raw garbage.
Where's the gun at?
By the bedside.
If Lou Girard wanted
to kill his self,
how come he didn't use
that .357?
'Cause he was drunk
on his ass.
Not an unusual condition
for him.
He was helping me
on a case, Doobie.
And?
Maybe he found out something
somebody did not
want him to know.
He was trembling,
eating pills every morning,
in front of everybody.
There's no big mystery
to what happened here tonight.
He was a good cop.
He was a sorry-ass drunk.
Now, if you want to look
at anything else, hurry up.
I'm going
to seal the place.
I appreciate you waiting outside
just for a moment.
Matter of fact, I appreciate you
staying as far away from me
as you can possibly get.
What had Lou found out
that had cost him his life?
Hogman Patin knew a lot
and seldom said anything.
Now I got word
he wanted to talk to me.
I started to think about
when I was in the pen.
And your daddy,
he brought my mother food
and paid for her medicine
up at the store
when she was sick.
You got something
to say to me, Sam?
What was the name of that nigger
you dug up out the sandbar?
DeWitt Prejean.
He was fucking
a white man's wife.
Start asking what
he's doing for a living,
and you'll find the people been
causing you all this grief.
Who's the man
I'm looking for?
I said
all I can say.
This still
the state of Louisiana.
Why you keep
bothering me?
I need to know what kind of work
DeWitt Prejean did.
Done nigger work.
You know, he cut lawns,
cleaned out grease traps,
got the dead rats out
from under people's houses.
What the fuck
you think he did?
Don't sound right to me.
I think he did
some other kind of work too.
You leave me alone.
You're a pretty good
judge of character, Mr. Hebert.
Do I look like somebody
that's going to go away?
Hm?
It was better
back then.
You know it was.
What kind of work he do,
Ben?
Drove a truck.
Who for?
It was over
in Jeanerette.
I brung her out here
'cause she works for me,
'cause I can't get in and out
of the car good by myself.
He worked seasonal
for a white man,
owned some big sugar mill.
I don't know
nothing about him
except he was a brother
of that crippled fellow.
That's all I know
and nothing more.
You saying I do,
then you're a Goddamn liar.
Something else
you want to say?
You got a fish
on your line.
Batist.
How many sugar mills they got
over there in Jeanerette?
Just one.
Hey.
Come on in.
Stopped by
to say good-bye,
give you
a going-away present.
Where you headed,
Cholo?
Thought I might
go to Florida,
maybe open a business
like you got here.
What you doing with
all that lawn furniture
in the back end
of your pickup?
Guy at the Holiday Inn wanted me
to take it when I checked out.
Said I'd kind of be doing
him a favor, you know?
Giving him a write-off.
You had some trouble
with Baby Feet.
Yeah.
I told him he was a douche bag
and I wouldn't work for him again
even if he begged me.
That Cherry LeBlanc girl
was right
when she
called him a needle-dick.
That's when the son of a bitch
comes across my mouth
with this big...
Now, wait, wait, wait.
What's this
about Cherry LeBlanc?
If he tells you
he never knew her,
ask him about this.
Julie forgot he told me
to take some souvenir pictures
when we drove over
to Biloxi last year.
Is that her or not?
Did Baby Feets
kill this girl?
Come on, Lieutenant.
You know how it works.
A guy like Julie
don't do hits.
He says something
to somebody,
then he forgets it.
If it's a speclal kind of job,
maybe somebody calls up a geek.
Did Baby Feets
make that call?
Start a photo album,
Lieutenant.
Make up
your own mind.
What's Murphy Doucet
doing in this picture?
What's wrong, Dave?
Got a loose ignition wire.
You got a knife
I could use?
Yeah, I ought
to have something.
This should do.
Some Mexican pulled this on me
in Lake Charles.
I didn't know
you were a cop in Lake Charles.
I wasn't.
I was working highway
for the state police.
That's where
I retlred from last year.
Is that when you got into
business with Twinky LeMoyne?
No, we go back
a ways further.
Thanks for the knife.
What's the deal?
Lou Girard was
looking at her file last week.
Lou arrested her
on a prostitution charge.
It wouldn't be
one officer.
It was a state police raid
on a bar...
State police?
Who sent that arrest report?
Oh, Sgt. Murphy Doucet.
Murphy Doucet.
I'd missed it.
Lou Girard had dug up
Cherry LeBlanc's arrest record,
and it had
cost him his life.
But this was going to be the end
of the line for Murphy Doucet.
I wasn't planting evidence,
I kept telling myself.
I was just removing it
before a guilty man
could destroy it.
Why the hell
are y'all here?
We're here because of you,
Mr. Doucet.
We've been checking
all the unsolved murders
of females in areas
surrounding highways
during the time you were working
for the state police.
Rosie, I think
we just found the knife
that he used
on Cherry LeBlanc.
That knife
wasn't there.
I say it was,
and I say your fingerprints
are all over it.
I see.
You and this Mexican bitch
are in on it together, huh?
No, Murphy.
I'm fucking you
all by myself.
Get your hands up now.
Get your hands up,
up against that...
up against that wall.
Y'all are setting me up,
and I don't even know why.
Think about it.
Think hard.
Think all the way back
to 1965,
just before
that hurricane hlt.
Y'all made DeWitt Prejean
run with that chain
locked around his chest,
shot his leg out
from underneath him.
You didn't notice the boy
that was watching you
from across the swamp,
though, did you?
I don't know how you did it,
but you planted that knife.
Time is always on
the bad guy's side, Rosie.
We wait for warrants while
they deep-six the evidence.
I didn't hear
what you said.
Jesus wienie, Dave.
Y'all done
tore this place to pieces.
You want to stay behind
and clean it up?
I don't want to be
nowhere around here
when that guy
gets home.
You heard he's out on bond?
Screw that.
He'll be here
any minute.
We got nothing.
Alfie.
You know where
your little girl's at?
She's right here
on my knee.
You sound speechless.
Turn her loose,
Doucet.
You don't want
to do this.
I'll make it simple
for both of us.
You take that knlfe
out of the evldence locker,
you put it in a Ziploc bag.
At 8:00 tomorrow morning,
you leave the bag
In a trash can
on the corner of Royal
and St. Anne in New Orleans.
You listen to me,
Doucet.
Think about this.
You're a cop.
You can skate on this.
We've been jacking you around
the whole time.
You lying
son of a bitch.
You won't rest till you
fuck me up every way you can.
You said
only one thing right today:
I'm going to skate.
And you're
going to help me.
Finally
lost your mind, Dave?
Young lady, you need
to stay away from this man.
Okay, let's go.
Get out of here.
Come on, let's go.
Nothing good
on TV tonight, Dave?
Murphy Doucet
has my daughter.
Did you hear
what I said?
That's too bad.
I don't like
to hear stuff like that.
It upsets me.
Hey, maybe you can get her face
on one of them milk cartons.
Where's my daughter, Julie?
Where's Alafair at?
I cut Doucet loose.
I got nothing to do
with what he does.
You get off
my fucking back
or I swear to God,
I'll square this.
Cop or not,
I'll put out on open contract.
I'll cowboy
your whole fucking family.
Your window of opportunity's
closing down.
Where's my baby girl?
I'm telling you
the truth.
I got nothing to do
with what he does.
He's a geek.
I don't hire geeks.
I run them off.
Last by God chance.
He's got a camp
out by Bayou Vista,
almost at Atchafalaya Basin.
The deed's
not in his name.
Nobody knows about it.
It's at the end
of the dirt road,
by the salt marsh.
Alafair there?
I hope to God
she's not.
Alfie!
Come here.
Did he hurt you, baby?
I told him
he better not.
I told him
what you do.
I just shot a man
armed with a rolled-up magazine.
No, no.
He had a gun on him.
You just don't
remember it yet.
You okay?
Should I call my lawyer?
Mr. LeMoyne,
I saw you
and Murphy Doucet
kill DeWitt Prejean
out on the Atchafalaya.
I watched it
from across the swamp.
Your crippled brother
couldn't kill DeWitt,
so you did it for him.
Am I under arrest?
I think Murphy Doucet's
been blackmailing you with it
all these years.
A lot of bad things happened
back in that era
between the races.
But we're not
the same people
we were then,
are we?
I think we are.
You seem unable
to let the past rest.
It's been my experience
that you let go of the past
by addressing it.
Please, leave.
It won't make
any difference if I leave.
You're going to drag this one
around with you all day long
every day,
like a log chain,
for the rest of your life.
Have you no mercy, sir?
No, sir.
No, sir, I don't.
Julie Balboni
finally went down,
but in a way
nobody expected,
in a beef
with the IRS.
They shipped Baby Feet
up to a maximum security unit
at Leavenworth, Kansas,
a place that,
in wintertime,
makes you believe
that sub-zero winds blow from
four directions simultaneously.
Elrod Sykes
never took another drink.
He brought Alafair to the set
and gave her a little part
in the movie.
Months later,
when the picture was finished,
he called us from California
to say that Alafair
had been his salvation.
I thought in the morning mists
that curled around the bayou
I might again see
General John Bell Hood,
just a glimpse,
perhaps,
a doff of his hat,
the kindness
of his smile,
the beleaguered affection
that always seemed
to linger in his face.
Then as the days passed
and I began to let go of all the
violent events of that summer,
I came to accept that the
General, as Bootsie had said,
was only a figment
of my imagination,
there to remind me
out of the distant past
that the contest
is never quite over,
the field never quite ours.
Dave?