Leopard Skin (2022) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[INOCENCIA] Early on, every so often,
when Don Archibaldo
would walk into my room,
I'd pretend I was asleep.
[DOOR HINGES SQUEAK]
Then, on some nights,
I would walk into his room,
and he would pretend he was asleep.
[DOOR CLOSES]
I got pregnant.
At the time, I was seeing another boy.
A fisherman.
I didn't know who was the father.
But Don Archibaldo
showed me medical papers
proving he was sterile,
that it couldn't be him.
But you didn't know how to read?
No, but they looked real.
You know, he seemed sincere. Concerned.
He told me to think very carefully
about what I wanted to do with my life,
as this decision would change
everything, and I was still so young.
So I told him I would get an abortion.
But you didn't.
[INOCENCIA] I couldn't.
I gave birth in my village
and left the child with my mother.
She raised him there
and I would see him every other month
when I could visit.
Don Archibaldo hired me back
and I took care of the house
as he went through a series of women.
And the nighttime visits?
There was only one
more time before Alba
He had a girlfriend.
A television weather girl.
I heard her crying
one night and she left.
The house was so quiet.
A storm was coming.
I heard him in the kitchen.
I was watching my soap.
He stood by the door and said,
"I thought you would be asleep."
"No," I told him,
"Doña Leticia is going through
the most horrible ordeal
with her gardener".
It turns out he has been
sleeping with his own sister.
I kept watching the show.
And when I looked back,
he was standing very close to me.
He told me,
why don't I give him some manual relief
and then we can watch
the rest of the show together.
So I did.
He climaxed just as Doña
Leticia walked in on her gardener
with the sister!
It all happened at the same time.
It was like those movies in 3D.
[SIGHS] And that was the last time.
What about your baby?
My baby needed stuff
and my mother was often sick so
I took little things from here,
things I knew he wouldn't miss.
You didn't notice?
No.
You?
I did.
[INOCENCIA] I already felt so
terrible about abandoning him
that I thought at least
I could give him more chances
than I had when I was little.
The things I stole
paid for school and clothes
and eventually for a little
house my mother bought.
My son was raised with indoor plumbing,
not like me.
What's his name?
Raimundo.
Raimundo, yeah.
But I call him Secreto.
Because everything about him
has been a secret.
If I got caught, if I was sent in jail,
at least I knew in my conscience
I did everything for my family.
For the future.
But
because of my terrible guilt,
I started drinking.
Once Alba taught me how to read,
I studied the Bible every day,
realizing I'm part of a very long line
of desperate people looking for solace.
Only the desperate deserve God.
The ones ashamed enough,
frightened to death.
Hm. What do you know about that?
[APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS]
[SIERRA] You speak fluent Spanish, yes?
- Yes.
- [SIERRA] Let's go.
What are you going to do to her?
[SIERRA] You ask too many questions.
[FOOTSTEPS LEAVING]
[TENSE MUSIC]
[BATTY WHISPERS] Alba.
[REPORTER ON TV SPEAKING SPANISH]
[INOCENCIA] Authorities are surprised
with the diamond robbery.
The priceless historical gems
valued at 12 million dollars
They disappeared from
the Lagarto Museum's storage.
The diamonds traveled from Houston
for a diamond exhibition.
Ramiro Ruiz, the police chief,
didn't have any theories
of how the criminals pulled it off.
He can't explain it.
They can't believe it.
The building has 24-hour
security guards,
checking entrances and exits,
24-hour camera footage
that cover everything of the exhibit.
The cabinets
Uh movements
Ah, sorry, I didn't get that.
They're looking in the city,
but they don't think that the thieves
are still in the area.
The jewelry disappeared
Sunday night or Monday morning.
Because the museum is closed Mondays,
the theft was not found
for almost a day.
It's a big puzzle,
two suspects dressed as police
were found dead
near the scene of the heist.
Coming up next, very famous weather girl
Marisol Blanca Reyes
reveals her spicy lingerie
for pregnant women.
[KNIFE CLANGS]
- [ALBA] You okay?
- I almost cut a finger off.
[ALBA] Shh.
Scoot closer.
- [BATTY CHUCKLES]
- What's funny?
- [BATTY GIGGLING]
- Shh.
- [BATTY GIGGLING]
- Shh. She does this sometimes.
Look at me.
[BATTY GIGGLING]
Batty.
Look at me.
[GIGGLING]
You need to settle down.
[GIGGLING]
You do not have permission to giggle,
understand?
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
Okay. Go ahead and cut the rope.
[MALONE] Settles one thing:
Clover saved our lives.
[CLOVER] You're welcome.
[SIERRA] Settles something else:
this heat around here
isn't going to die for a while.
[CLOVER] What if we divvy it up?
A third apiece, split off
in separate directions,
- every man for himself.
- [SIERRA] I'm fine with that.
No. They'll find us.
It always starts with technology
and ends with tracker dogs.
Rogue cops. Cartel thugs with machetes.
Malone, you're a smart person.
Thank you.
You already know
what you want out of this.
So why don't you just tell us?
I think we should renegotiate our fee.
- With the Mexicans?
- With Lasalle.
[SIERRA] How?
We get him or somebody he sends
to bring us 300 grand.
What's 300 grand have to do with it?
[MALONE] That's what we were
gonna get, a hundred apiece,
for looking the other way
over two dead partners.
Every man for himself. Am I wrong?
Look, it's not your fault.
And it's not mine.
We learn to live with it. That's all.
[CLOVER] I can't learn to live
with it without passports.
Let's not forget.
Look, if Lasalle is after us,
and if he has the Mexican
connections he says he does,
we have no reason
to think that he doesn't,
every two-bit immigration agent
is gonna have a list
with our names on it.
Those passports are burned.
Hold up. Why should we settle
for a hundred each
when the haul's worth 12 million?
The news always says
it's worth more than it is
for the insurance companies.
- So we subtract a third.
- [CLOVER] A quarter.
[MALONE] Okay, let's say it's nine mil.
But what's that worth
after you fence it?
Lasalle promised the Mexicans
he would get the diamonds.
Now they got nothing.
Which means they gotta find us,
get the diamonds, kill us.
Maybe we kill some of their guys
in the process.
There's a lot of heavy lifting
they got to do all of a sudden.
If I were them,
I'd renegotiate with Lasalle.
Maybe his cut gets a little smaller
on account of all this hassle.
Wouldn't you?
So now Lasalle's painted into a corner.
And here I go asking for only
three times what I was offered.
It's an annoyance to him,
but it won't break the bank.
He'll send a bunch
of cartel guys with machetes.
- We're sitting ducks here.
- Are we?
We got a pretty good view
of the beach and the road.
So we can see an army of killers
coming from all sides.
Unless we're not in the house.
Where do you suppose we'd be?
Up a fucking tree?
Out on a boat.
We leave the hostages here as bait.
They deliver the message.
A single man comes out
on the boat with our money,
we make the exchange.
And if they send everyone after us?
We'd have a head start.
Unless they come by boat.
They come by boat, we'll improvise.
We'll commandeer their boat
when it offloads the men.
Can I ask a question?
Where do we find a boat?
[KNIFE CUTTING THROUGH ROPES]
[MARU] Okay. Okay.
Hey.
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
You.
You don't got nothing else?
Most of his clothes
were incinerated in a fire.
- Accidental fire?
- Depends who you ask.
Well, what do you think?
[ALBA] You look like a thug on holiday.
Just the effect I'm going for.
Where's your cell phone?
[ALBA] Downstairs.
Do you wanna stay up here,
sitting on the bed?
I want to know how much longer
you're gonna be here.
- We're working on it.
- But longer.
It isn't what any of us had in mind,
but the town's a hornet's nest
and the hornets are still out.
So do you want to sit
in the tub with the others,
or do you want to rest your tush
on something nice and soft?
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
How did Lasalle end up owning you?
A guy I thought I could trust set me up.
You still harboring thoughts of revenge?
Not since he died, no. You?
Same meat, different gravy.
- Anything?
- Not yet.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
So you used to work here?
Yes. A long time.
[WINDOW OPENING]
[CLANGS]
In the news say
that you killed two policemen.
Two impostors. And I didn't kill anyone.
[WINDOW SQUEAKING]
[INOCENCIA CLEARS THROAT]
Thanks.
Sit.
- Your boss is a killer.
- No. He's not my boss.
- No?
- Nuh-uh.
He thinks he's my boss,
I let him think so.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
- You remember how to find it?
- I can find it,
but I can't jump-start it, can you?
[MARU] One problem at a time.
We get the ambulance, we get help,
we save Alba and Inocencia.
We shouldn't have left them
to begin with.
You're a funny bird, you know that?
That's a natural fact.
What? Do you see it?
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
I can't do this.
What are you doing?
Just keep walking straight and
you'll find it. You can't miss it.
[MARU] Where are you going? Hey!
[BATTY BREATHING DEEPLY]
[PANTING]
Shit.
[EERIE MUSIC]
[MAX] Fleeing a sordid affair
with a married man in Paris,
Batista had arrived in the attractive
resort town of Playa Perdida,
off the coast of Puerto Vallarta,
intent on becoming a scuba diver.
This fascination to explore
the stars and beyond is,
I don't know, whimsical to me,
whenever I stand in the ocean
and look down at my feet.
It seems like all
the secrets of the universe
are right here, underwater,
and all we need to explore them
is a mask and oxygen tank.
[SOFT MUSIC]
I want to learn all the secrets
of the universe.
[MAX] Her first few forays
underwater were marred
by an acute suffocating
feeling of claustrophobia,
a condition heretofore unknown to her.
[BATTY] What if I panic
and can't breathe underwater?
What if my regulator
falls out of my mouth?
What if my instructor refuses
to let me return to the surface
and holds my hand in hopes
that I will soon be distracted
by the tropical little fish
darting around us,
and the amazing colorful reef,
but instead I start sweating,
suffer muscle tension and pain,
heavy rapid breathing,
dizziness, faintness,
indigestion, and diarrhea?
All of this happened.
[MAX] Batista's future as an
underwater explorer was thus doomed.
[PUNK ROCK SONG PLAYING]
Chapter closed,
she next embarked on a modeling career.
[PUNK SONG PLAYING]
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]
[PUNK SONG CONTINUES TO PLAY]
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]
[PUNK SONG PLAYING]
But in the peaceful resort
of Playa Perdida,
this amounted to scattered swimwear
catalog work for local companies,
and a stint as a mannequin model
for a temperamental local designer.
Stay still! Stop fucking around!
How many times do I have
to tell you to stay still?
They decided to repurpose
the plexiglass factory
to compete with the American market
and figured all local stores
would buy cheaper mannequins
if they could.
But they went bankrupt after casting
their first mannequin.
[MAX] When Archibaldo met her,
Batista was working as a hostess
at Maya's Seafood Kitchen,
an upscale restaurant
catering to tourists.
The owner said
I was a natural as a hostess
because I can do
a very quick mental count
upon laying eyes on the party.
Table for three?
Table for five?
Table for six?
But it wasn't very challenging.
I caught myself
staring at the way people ate.
It was pretty disturbing.
You can tell a lot about people,
not only by what they eat,
but by the way they eat it.
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES]
[BATTY] Life with Archibaldo
was fun at first.
All chunky gold watches
and private airplane rides.
I read somewhere
that it's dangerous to swim
around phosphorescent fish
because sharks are attracted
by the light,
and this really stayed with me.
Seems like my whole life,
I've been swimming
around phosphorescent fish.
I became paranoid
of coconuts falling on my head.
[COCONUT THUDS]
Reading poetry became
my only reason for living.
I hungered for noise and excitement.
[MEXICAN DRAMA OVER TV]
[INOCENCIA] No.
[BATTY] I became a spy.
I spied on Inocencia.
I envied her.
I spied on myself.
The gentle surf whispered day and night.
The palm trees rustled.
I started getting sick a lot.
I developed narcolepsy.
It can be defined as an intrusion
by dreaming sleep into the waking state.
It happens to one in 2,000 people.
No matter how much sleep I got,
I had an irresistible urge to sleep.
I would be in the middle
of doing something
and suddenly I'd wake up
and not remember what I'd been doing.
[THUDS]
I became prone to accidents.
[SOFT MUSIC]
"Strange to see all
that was once in place,
floating so loosely in space.
And it's hard being dead,
and full of retrieval
before one gradually feels
a little eternity.
Though the living all make the error
of drawing too sharp a distinction.
Angels, they say, would often not know
whether they moved among living or dead.
The eternal current
sweeps all the ages within it,
through both the spheres, forever,
"and resounds above them in both."
One day I spied Alba leaving my house
and it all came crashing down for me.
Are you telling me what I can
and cannot do with my own staff?
- No.
- You are fired. Leave.
[BATTY] With Inocencia gone,
I was truly alone in the house.
Archie was never home.
I would lie out in the sun,
trying to soak in nature,
but I was fading fast.
I lost track of time.
I lost track of everything.
I felt like I was melting.
[INTENSE MUSIC]
[CHAOTIC MUSIC]
[ELECTRICITY CRACKLES]
[ELECTRICITY CRACKLES]
- [SIERRA] Is it ringing?
- It's ringing.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[LASALLE] You have reached
Judge Ray Lasalle.
I'm not available to take your call.
If this is an emergency,
please hang up and call my office
Hi, Ray.
I think we can both agree this is
an emergency best dealt with by you.
I'll call you back
in exactly a half hour.
This is Malone.
Now what?
Let's go get rid of the ambulance.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
[CLATTERING]
[MARU] Dear Mom,
once again I find myself
questioning your parenting choices.
Why would you ever put me
through piano lessons
when clearly hot-wiring ambulances
would be a hell
of a fucking lot more useful?
Oh, shit. Shit. Shit.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES]
[SIERRA] Here they are.
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
[CAR ENGINE STARTS]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES]
[GROANS]
[THUD]
[CROWD SCREAMING]
[MARU] In my recurring dream,
I speak perfect Spanish.
I make this look easy,
but it's not fucking easy.
I always seem to find myself
in the lion's den.
My passion cannot be beaten.
Check out my juicy ass.
Caresses and sweetness for everyone!
[SCREAMS]
[CHORAL MUSIC]
I never get to the end of the wire.
I always fall.
I wake up right before I hit the ground.
I always wake up soaking wet.
[CHORAL MUSIC CONTINUES]