Sneaky Pete (2015) s01e04 Episode Script
The Fury
1 [vehicle approaching.]
[engine revving.]
[siren wails.]
[rock on radio.]
Do you know why I pulled you over tonight? [rock continues.]
You remember the night we stole his car? It was after junior prom? Do I do I remember? Yeah, do you remember? I still have a scar on my ass where my dad lost hold of his belt mid swing.
- Caught me with the buckle.
- Bullshit.
- Which part? - The scar.
I think I would have noticed that.
Well, maybe if, you know, we ever got to be naked with the lights on, or in a bed, even.
Hey, you think that your dad was pissed because you took the car or pissed because you took it to be with me? I think he thought I would die in this car.
That or or kill somebody else.
I don't know, man.
Maybe he just watched too many greaser films.
I wonder what he would say if he knew I got to drive this baby full time after my mom die in a in a Cutlass Sierra.
I believe they call that irony.
I gotta get home.
You gonna be okay? I'm always okay.
[rock.]
[vacuum whirring.]
God damn it, Shannon.
[phone ringing.]
Grandma, is everything okay? No, Taylor, it's it's me, Pete.
[chuckles.]
Christ.
Every time I see this number, I think something bad happened, you know, Grandpa had another stroke or something.
Taylor, look the reason why I'm calling is that I I feel bad about the way we left things this afternoon, and I was just wondering if buying you a beer would be, you know, an acceptable apology.
[whirring.]
Foreign or domestic? It's getting hotter out here I keep trying to just make my way It's no lying I'm only trying Just trust in me Trust in me Just trust in me Trust in me Just trust in me [buzzer sounding.]
[buzzer sounding.]
Ah, the ravishing Karolina.
Have I told you the palace I would build for us in Mumbai? [chuckles.]
I saw a show last week made it seem like Mumbai is all billionaires and trash pickers.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Well I take it you prefer the worker's paradise of your youth? All I remember of Warsaw is people standing in line.
Ah, Mr.
Mukherjee.
Nice of you to find the time to return to our tables.
You see, Wali, this country is not yet lost to the Kardashians.
There are still some here who know how to show some respect.
This way.
Where's my main man Eddie? Family emergency, I'm afraid.
Sorry to hear.
- Hope you'll give him my best.
- Of course I will.
Okay.
We'll get you sorted out with chips.
And of course Pappy Van Winkle.
A lovely gesture but I'm afraid my trainer has made me promise to abstain.
You see, if I let myself get fat, then the girls will only want me for my money.
Well, I'll leave you to your game then, huh? For the whiskey.
Don't tell me your margins are such that you can afford to buy liquor that never gets drunk.
So for the last couple of months, I've just been waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You know, like, "What's he gonna do when he finds out?" - Right? - Cut off your dick.
Yeah, and so when you put the the hood over my head and I couldn't breathe You thought your nightmare was coming true.
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't deserve it.
Oh, that's bullshit, man.
You didn't betray anybody.
She's the one who broke her promises, not you.
That's between her and her cuckold husband.
You don't owe him shit.
You don't owe him anything.
- Well - You ever even met the guy? Oh, no, no.
I'd feel even more like a shit heel.
Not to mention, what if he reads it on me, right? No, no.
Way harder to look inside someone else's head than you think.
Anyways, the point is is that without being aware of my situation, You couldn't have known how I would have reacted to being renditioned or whatever, you know? So I just wanted to apologize for the way I reacted, okay? All right.
[billiard balls clacking.]
I appreciate it, Pete.
I do.
Look But if anyone should be apologizing, it's me.
- What? - Yeah.
No, I Grandma always says I got this problem with impulse control.
Probably what's holding me back from making rank, even more than the test-taking stuff.
Got these got these strategies I'm supposed to use.
Like, stop and think, or, um, emotional regulation, like that.
It's way harder in the moment to do it.
- It's hard.
- You know? I gotta hit the head.
Never leave your shit in this bar.
- Oh! - Okay.
- Just a little taste of the ear? - I don't like that.
- Tongue in the ear? No? - No, I don't Fuck you.
[laughing.]
- You okay to drive? - A-okay.
Hold on just a second.
I gotta open your door.
Here.
- Hey, Taylor.
- Uh-huh? - You got a flat tire.
- [air hissing.]
- What? - You got a flat tire.
Yeah, looks like you ran over a nail or something.
Fuck.
Hey, give me the keys.
I'll go in the trunk and get the spare and the jack.
Wait, wait.
That's not a nail.
The hole's too long and flat.
- Fuckin' knife cut.
- Yeah, whatever.
- Give me the keys - Hey! - What are you doing? - Hey, assholes! Fuck you talking to, man? I'm talking to the only assholes I see.
We know you're a cop.
That badge you dying to pull out your back pocket right now - don't entitle you to talk which way.
- Give us one second, pal.
- Taylor.
- Get your fuckin' hand off me, Pete.
You wanna come take a look at something for me? Hmm? You wanna tell me how this got over here? You seriously threatening to bust us over weed - in 20-motherfucking-16? - You'll know when I'm threatening you.
Right now, I'm just asking how your roach came by my car and what you might know about how my tire came to be flat.
- Guys.
- Well, I'm stumped, Officer.
Tell you what.
If you Agatha Christie yourself to the bottom of this, you come back here and tell me who done it.
Meanwhile, why don't you take that roach and shove it up your ass? - Shove it up my ass? - Yeah.
Right up in there.
Just give me a sec to move my dick out the way.
How about instead I go talk to your foster mom, see how she feels about buying me a new set of whitewalls? Fuck makes you think I was in foster care? Just playing the odds.
Tell you what.
I can't help with the tire thing, but I'd be happy to help you solve the case of the busted headlight.
[glass shatters.]
No, no, no! Taylor! Taylor! No, no, no! Taylor! Stop it! Taylor! Taylor! Taylor! - [blows landing.]
- [grunting.]
Fuck you! You really expect me to believe you stuck it out with eight nine? Call me on the flop or the turn.
Bullshit.
I'm all in.
That is $19,000.
Sir? Call.
It's a straight, ten high.
Trip sevens.
Straight takes it.
First lesson of poker: Unless it's a bluff, never make a bet that can only be called by hands that beat you.
Second lesson: Call on every street-chasin' bullshit, suck out by hitting the nuts on the river.
If you want me to fold, my friend, you'll have to bet more.
Ain't your friend.
And yet you've given me so much money.
You keep him around so you can run your mouth, not have to worry about getting stomped? - Seems to work so far.
- Yeah.
Except we all have to check our straps at the door.
So what if something pops off in here? 'Cause hand-to-hand, I will put an old-fashioned country ass-whuppin' on any curry-stinkin' slumdog bitch-boy that ever lived.
Calm down.
Why don't you go for a walk, Hector.
Cool off.
Fuck that.
I'm fine.
Tweaked my back this morning at the gym.
My preference would be to walk you out, but I don't have to.
Mr.
Mukherjee, my apologies for his behavior.
I can promise you it won't happen again.
I'll talk to him.
Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the disruption.
[door closes.]
What I tell you about bringing that street shit in here? Motherfucker gets under my skin.
It doesn't give you the right to disrespect my place.
You're right man.
That's my bad.
[sighs.]
Okay, so it's squashed.
I got your word.
Squashed? Ain't shit squashed.
But I promise I'll handle it on the outside.
No.
What you mean, "No"? I mean, you wanna shoot somebody, every time you take a bad beat, then you can go back to throwing bones in the alley with your corner boys.
I'm sorry, Vince.
I respect you.
I respect your place.
But you hold your stress in too long, it rots out your insides.
So I am gonna get my payback on that red dot motherfucker.
He can't stay in here forever.
What if you stayed in here forever? What if you never left this room? Get the fuck outta here.
Some fuckhead busts your headlight don't mean you get to bust his face.
Good news is the guy's an old scumbag.
Thing is, we don't know yet what kind of cell phone video we might be dealing with.
So I want you to listen to your good friend, Bo.
You sustained multiple blows to the head during the altercation.
Okay? Your PBA rep advises you not to make any statements till we can confirm your cognitive functions were operating normally.
I understand you suffered a blow to the head as well.
He tried to pull me off.
I caught him with the backswing.
It doesn't make a difference who hit him.
All that matters is he can't be interviewed until we're sure he's compos mentis.
No, look, I don't need a tow.
There is no way you're getting behind the wheel of that car.
Gives someone an excuse to give you breathalyzer.
I can change the tire, take the car home.
It's okay.
Not only is no one changing that tire, No one's wiping a smudge off the bumper of that precious automobile until all the damage has been fully documented.
Keys.
Time to go.
Come on.
Kids'll be up soon.
I don't want them to be confused.
I don't want them to be confused, either.
So you wouldn't want them to wake up and find you here when they know you don't live here anymore.
And what if I did? What if you did what? Live here still again.
Are you fucking kidding me? [stammering.]
I assume last night indicated a softening - about your feeling toward - Last night indicated you came over after I put the kids to bed and got me drunk.
Well, I got us both drunk.
One night, giving in to your debatable charm Hey.
He called me.
A decision of which I grow prouder - with each passing moment.
- [phone chimes.]
Hold that thought.
[siren in distance.]
What the fuck am I gonna tell Grandpa? Or Grandma? Fuck! Why do you have to tell them anything that they don't know, right? You don't think they're gonna find out? First question they're gonna ask when you walk through the door is, "Where the fuck you been all night?" Okay, okay, okay.
Listen.
We got shitfaced, right? We decided to crash at my place, and we wake up with these, like these Dean Martin hangovers.
They're expecting you at the office today, right? Uh, yeah.
It's Julia's day off.
Yeah.
You take a taxi.
There's a stand across the street.
You just tell them that I'm I don't know I'm sleeping it off.
Okay? Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no.
I know you said it was the last time.
I remember.
But look, there's money in it for you.
I don't know, at least ten grand.
Can I do the Hey.
Yeah.
[sizzling.]
Good morning.
- Hey.
- Mommy, guess what.
Daddy Lance missed us so much, he even made us pancakes on his way to work.
Isn't that nice of him? I said I came to see you.
The pancakes were Fenna's idea.
- Mmm.
- Want some, Mom? How can I say no? You can't.
You shouldn't.
- I helped with the bananas.
- You did? - [strains.]
- Also I helped with cracking the eggs.
Wow.
Jeez! Where's the fire? Oh, I'm sorry.
I got cab waiting for me.
Yeah, I saw.
Guess you had a hell of a night last night.
- Boys back together - I gotta go.
I'm sorry - Why did you ever leave this place? - I didn't leave.
- My mom took me away.
- Yeah, but why? Always seemed like all of you guys were so happy here, all of you together.
- I don't know.
She didn't tell me.
- You never asked? I just got the feeling that she didn't really wanna talk about it, okay? - I'm sorry, I - That thing that you did last night.
Picking my pocket.
Think you could teach me? I was teaching you not to fuck with my stuff.
Couldn't you just say it's a fake? When he asks why a grown man's carrying a fake I.
D.
, what do I say, I'm a secret agent? He's a police officer.
He's a psychopath.
Maybe you used one in your insurance work.
- That's actually not bad.
- Thank you.
But when he runs the name Marius Josepovich through the database Yeah, you're right.
You're fucked.
[sighs.]
But that's not your problem.
Your problem is that you didn't tell me that covering for you with Mr.
Success was putting my family in the crosshairs of some ex-cop gangster and some still-cop psycho looking to pay you back for taking his eye.
He didn't lose the eye.
They are gonna get to me sooner or later, okay? Now, you know, no matter how pissed off I am at you, and I fucking am, that I would never wanna see you get hurt Katie, no.
If they show up, you tell them everything you know about how to find me, you understand? Vince is a dangerous man, but he's not crazy.
As long as you don't get in his way, he's got no reason to hurt you or your family.
I hope you get in the safe.
You are guaranteeing me ten, even if it's like Al Capone's vault.
If it's empty, how am I gonna get you $10,000? The next safe.
I'm serious.
Guarantee me ten, or I am on my way back to White Plains.
Do you not find it odd that you're asking a convicted confidence man to give you his word of honor? No, your conviction was for bank robbery.
Promise me.
All right.
So I wait for Grandma to go out on her daily rounds.
I walk in.
I ask Grandpa for a bond for - For Preston James Collins III.
- And he is? The top name on yesterday's arrest blotter.
Okay.
I ask Grandpa for a bond for Preston.
My collateral is this bullshit, whose value you confirmed based on your insurance knowledge.
The thing is, this is a treasured family heirloom.
Lots of sentimental value.
If I'm gonna let it out of my sight, I need to actually see it get locked in the safe.
- Right.
- You think that'll, uh play better if I remove the tag that says it costs $15? Look, cut me some slack here, all right? - Jesus Christ.
- Okay.
Say he buys all that, opens the safe to put my precious in, how the fuck are we supposed to empty it with him standing right there? We don't need to empty it.
We just need to switch out the cash box.
But even if he doesn't see you take it, how is he not gonna see that it's gone? Because I'm gonna switch it out.
Look.
He won't notice the difference? - No.
He's gonna be too distracted.
- By? By the woman having a seizure on the floor.
Shit! This was always your bread and butter, all right? Frank Winslow, Manhattan North, Narcotics and Vice Enforcement.
How exactly can I help you? Marius Josepovich? You're gonna have to be more specific than that.
His name's come up in an investigation.
- Narcotics or vice? - Oh, don't worry, he's not a suspect.
He's just a former known associate of some of the key people.
Detective, if one of my parolees is connected to a crime, - procedure dictates - No, no, no.
I wouldn't say he's connected to it.
Then what would you say? I think you and I got off on the wrong foot here.
I am gonna go ahead and call my own number on that one.
I got sent to a department mandated shrink for a while, said I broadcast hostility.
I hear you were a Marine.
Nope.
Sorry? Oh, yeah.
No such thing as a former Marine.
Yeah.
Seems like half the guys in my squad are jarheads.
They join up as soon as they left active duty.
You ever consider going that route? Thought about it.
Even did a full semester towards an associate degree in criminal justice at Duchess Community.
Turns out social work was more my speed.
The important thing is we're on the same side.
Oh, yeah? And what side is that? Law enforcement? [laughing.]
No, that's where I'm gonna have to disagree with you.
How's that? I know not here to enforce, brother.
I'm here to empower.
You are gonna empower these shit-stain ex-cons to do what exactly? To be their best selves.
All I need is an address where he's staying.
I'll tell you what, Detective.
You have questions for Mr.
Josepovich? Write them down, I'll make sure he gets them.
Anything other than that, come back with a warrant.
You gotta be fucking kidding.
You meditate? No.
That's a shame.
Otto: Your friend is charged with driving his car over his cousin.
Hope you don't mind me asking, but just out of curiosity, how'd you two meet, you and Mr.
Collins? I was working at a gentlemen's club down in Orlando as a waitress, thank you very much.
Anyway, Press was security, made sure nobody touched the girls, that kind of thing.
He was the only boy there I could ever talk to.
I'm sorry about this.
I just after the stroke, sometimes it just feels like my fingers belong to someone else.
- I won't take it.
My business - Give us a half hour.
This is ridiculous.
I I have I'll get you the ten grand.
I'm sorry about that.
There's really no way to get to the car? It's in the impound lot, Katie, the impound lot.
It's barbed wire.
There's security cameras.
- It's a houseful of cops.
- So you're running? You've got your bugout bag inside, yeah? Toss it in my trunk.
I will drive you to the train station right now.
What is there to think about? You said it yourself, you are blown here.
So so you can't go to the city.
So what? You head west, south.
You always land on your feet.
Where's that leave Eddie? No worse off than he is now.
You said this Vince guy likes him.
- Everybody likes him.
- Marius! Katie! How many times you figure you started over? I don't know.
Five.
Six, if you, uh, count the two weeks I ran away to Tunica when I was 17.
- I'm gonna get you the ten grand.
- Yeah.
- Couldn't get her back, huh? - Sorry.
- It's not your fault.
- We all forget things sometimes.
No, the combo is a mashup of the girls' birthdays.
I remember the day we chose it.
No way I'd forget that.
Well, maybe you just got the sequence I did not forget! Maybe it got reset by accident.
Grandpa, this is a three-wheel dial lock.
In order to reset it, you have to have a rep come out from the manufacturer with a change key.
You've seen these in your insurance work? All the time.
Yeah.
Any chance you could crack one? - Hello? A.
J.
- Marius? She told me it was too risky for us to talk directly.
No, I'm not calling about that.
I'm calling about your day job.
How soon can you be in Bridgeport? This time of day, hour and a quarter, little less if I push it.
Listen, I got a score lined up.
It turns into a pumpkin at 4:30 or 5:00.
The hardware's an Excelsior 500 series.
There's ten grand in it for you.
On top of whatever my cut from the Turk turns out to be? I told you, it has nothing to do with that.
All right, I'm in.
Just like that? Ten grand.
Why not? Well, honestly, after what happened with Charlie, I'm surprised that you'd be in on any of it with me, but Charlie's the reason I came in.
You know what I mean.
You know what I mean.
I hesitated, I'm not gonna lie.
Ended up deciding, if she doesn't blame you, hard to see how I can.
And I appreciate that, A.
J.
Thank you.
I'm at Bernhart Bail Bonds on Gold Street.
It's near the courthouse, all right? All right.
Anything I need to know? Yeah, my name's Pete Murphy.
I'm an insurance investigator.
And that's how we met.
I guess that plays.
Anything else? You ever have to fake a seizure? "Aunt Carly, naps are for babies.
" Thanks for getting her down.
Lance was here last night.
As in, like he stopped by? As in he slept over.
Jesus.
Julia, we talked about this.
Why don't we just skip the part where I get sex advice from my 16-year-old little sister? If you didn't want to talk about it, how come you told me? Ellen saw him leaving this morning, she might mention it.
- Did you fuck him? - Carly! - Did you make him wrap it up? - We are not talking about this.
I'm just trying to make sure that you're staying safe.
You know, they show us these scare photos in health ed Lance is fine! [sighs.]
Jesus.
I hope he's fine.
Is he still seeing that lying whore Trisha? I don't know.
Maybe.
He kept getting these texts, trying to hide them from me.
Pete and Taylor had quite the night last night.
Why? What'd you hear? Just that Pete didn't sleep at home.
Maybe he went home with a girl.
He's kind of cute.
He's our cousin! Did he turn out like you thought he would? [chuckles.]
When I imagined him as a grownup, I wasn't assuming he'd spend his teenage years on his own with our crazy Aunt Maggie.
Aunt Maggie was crazy? It's hard to tell what I actually remember from what I managed to piece together - Piece together how? - Huh? I've spent a lot of time trying to piece stuff together about Mom and Dad, but since nobody in this family ever actually talks about anything there's not much to work with.
Right after Mom and Dad I found these letters.
Actually, "found" is wrong.
I rescued them from the trash.
Audrey must have found them when she was going through Mom's things Julia! What were the letters? Turns out, after Aunt Maggie took off, she and Mom stayed in touch for a while, a few months.
I cannot believe you are just telling me about this now! They're really not that big a deal.
Obviously all I have is Maggie's letters to Mom, not the ones Mom sent.
Seems like mostly she's trying to get Maggie to come back and patch things up with Audrey.
It's pretty fucking sad, if you ask me.
Whatever.
I still wanna read.
[sighs.]
Just do us both a favor.
Make sure Audrey doesn't see them.
Yeah.
Done.
Hi, it's me again.
I need you to call me back.
Now, I completely understand the delay is not that it's due to circumstances beyond your beyond anyone's control, but there's just so long I can stay on this this hamster wheel robbing Peter to Pay Paul.
- So there's any way to - [beep.]
Female voice: Sorry.
The mailbox is now full.
[screams.]
[screaming continues.]
My grandson says this will be child's play for you.
He says you could crack this in your sleep.
Well, sir, although it's against my nature to toot my own horn - Otto: Bo Lockley? - Otto, it's been a while.
Yeah.
Everything all right? Everything's fine.
I just I need Pete to come with me.
I been around a lot of blocks, Bo.
If something's happened to Taylor, I want you to tell me right now.
No, no, I swear, though.
It's nothing like that.
Taylor's fine.
He just asked me to come down and grab Pete and run him back to the station house.
Bo, we're kind of in the middle of something here.
Yeah, why don't I run him by when we finish up? Yeah, you know, I don't think it can wait.
Okay.
Okay.
Fine Keri Russell, keep your secrets.
I don't even want to know.
Listen, remember that thing we talked about last night, your your situation? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I'm involved in my own.
And I would have mentioned it last night, but, you know, she has so much to lose, and I Anyway, her phone is in my fuckin' car, all right? And if anyone finds it And, look, they're fuckin' grilling me back there, right? And Bo said if I go anywhere near the impound lot, he will rip out my lungs and shit in the hole.
And I can't ask any of these guys to go get it, 'cause they know her and they know her fuckin' husband, and they'll recognize her phone because it looks like it belongs to fuckin' Liberace.
You want me to go down to your car and get your girlfriend's phone? You okay with that? Yeah.
"Last night I finally told Pete.
" [door opens.]
Hey.
How's it going? - We've hit some snags.
- Yeah? This old sucker's a lot more secure than you thought it was.
A.
J.
: Wait, wait.
Maybe - [lock clicks.]
- Yep! Look at at that.
Ready? - Otto: What the hell? - What? Oh, holy shit.
Holy fuckin' shit.
The man tells me to bring you, I bring you.
I'm just saying, man.
If I'm walking into something, it just wouldn't hurt to give me a heads up.
[buzzers sounding.]
Hey, man, hold the door.
- Taking the lady someplace? - No, the lady's staying here.
Vince wants me to bring the doc.
Somebody hurt? Got this neighbor lady does work for me from time to time.
Like when your ashes need hauling? Man, she's 75 years old.
She looks in on Hushpuppy when I gotta be out late.
Anyway, she told me about your little rooftop phone call you made yesterday after you Houdini'd out of my zip ties.
She told you, you told Vince.
Great.
Of all the people I thought I could count on not to snitch.
What the fuck are you talking about, stupid? The man pays my bills.
All you do is eat my food, shit up my bathroom.
Come on.
Come on, man.
I told you I wasn't bringing Hushpuppy.
You know how long it's been since she's had a accident in here? But lay down the wee-wee pad, she's liable to think you want her to mark them.
Vince, look, I was just telling Richard Save it.
You know, straight out of the Academy, I was assigned to this neighborhood stabilization unit out in Brownsville.
These are during the Fort Apache days.
You remember that? Nah.
None of you do.
You're too young.
Anyway, murder rate in the city then was about four times what it is now.
[chuckles.]
So one night I'm out on patrol with my FTO, this tough black and blue named Lonnie Churchill.
Lonnie was like, he could have been Marvin Hagler's big brother.
[chuckles.]
Right? So one night we're out there, we get a call on the radio that there's a robbery in a Bodega.
So we go screaming up just as the perp comes jamming out of the store.
Right? Before we can even roll to a stop Boom! He fires off a shot at us.
What the fuck? You know? Just one.
I mean, it didn't come anywhere near us.
I don't think he intended to, but still.
Anyway, he takes one look at Lonnie and practically shits himself.
I mean, he tosses away the gun like it was on fire.
Turns out this perp was just a kid.
And we caught him a couple times being the lookout on a crack corner.
And we'd slap him around, and we'd let him go with a warning.
"Don't you ever fuckin' let us catch you on this block again.
" You know, that kind of shit.
[chuckles.]
This was different.
Now, this kid Terrence was his name.
Couldn't be more than 17 years old.
The kind of kid who would smile when he got nervous, you know? Even when you're smacking him around, he'd smile.
It's the damndest thing.
And he'd look up at you with these big, brown Bambi eyes.
Oh, boy.
Anyway, instead of going to the house and booking the kid, Lonnie has me drive to one of those Grandmaster Flash ghost town streets, you know, with the busted-out windows with the cardboard all over it, newspapers blowing around like tumbleweeds, the stench of piss and pot.
So Lonnie grabs the kid out of the back of the car, puts him down on the ground face-up, pulls out his arm, right, between two cinder blocks, and he tells me, "Jump on it.
"Both feet, hard as you can.
Aim for the back of the elbow.
" Bam! Right? Now, you break an elbow like that, and it's just never gonna heal right.
You could even rupture the artery, right, and the kid would lose his arm.
Now, Terrence knows this, and he's scared, smilin' and lookin' at me with those big, sad eyes.
And I know this, right? So I pull Lonnie aside, and I whisper in his ear, "Lonnie, he's a kid, okay? "He made a mistake, all right? "I think he's scared enough.
" And so on and so forth.
Lonnie turns to me and whispers back, "You want to teach this kid a lesson? "You want to do him a favor? Give him something to remember us by.
" Well, I I you know Quickly, Lonnie learns that I I just I'm not gonna do this.
He can't talk me into it.
Without a word, picks up the kid, puts him back in the back of the car, off we go to the house for the booking, end of story, right? Seven, eight years later, I hear about this detective who gets blasted at a drug rip in one of the Brownsville projects, right? Shooter's in the wind.
Now, any time a cop gets killed, it's gonna move the needle.
But we were losing guys every few weeks back then, so I didn't really pay much mind to it until I heard the shooter's name.
The next morning, I answer my door.
Who's there? Lonnie.
And so I'm thinking, "Okay, okay.
"I know, I know.
We're going over to Queens.
"We're going to the dead cop's wake, "pay our respects.
" He's right.
It's the least I can do.
Okay.
I get it.
Instead of going over to Queens, though Jersey.
He gets on the turnpike and gets off in Secaucus.
Now, at first I'm relieved, because, you know, I didn't really wanna face this grieving widow and all the weepy kids with their snot on their ties and all that shit, so But then Lonnie turns off the road, and he starts heading towards the Meadowlands.
Now I'm not I'm not scared exactly, not yet.
But I know how many bodies are buried out there.
But I'm thinking, "I mean, come on, "there's no way that Lonnie is gonna clip me, "no matter how pissed he is, "just because I gave a little kid some compassion.
"No way.
" But he turns off the road, gets out, and he leads me into some weeds, all right? Now, these weeds are taller than the both of us in some spots, right? So we're working our way through the weeds, and out of nowhere, it opens up, and there we are in this little clearing.
And that's when I see them.
There's, like, 12 guys.
Now, there's no uniforms, but you could tell, they're all on the job, and they all got shovels and quicklime, and they're standing around a big rectangle hole that they just finished digging.
I'm freaking out a little bit.
And then I I crane my neck and I see.
Right at the edge of the hole is a man kneeling.
I don't know how long they were beating on him, but his head was so swollen, it hurt to look at.
And I could still see him looking up at me with his sad eyes.
Only now, it's just through a little slit, 'cause it's so swollen.
And he still had that nervous smile.
Only now, I couldn't see any of his teeth on account of all the blood.
And I could feel those cops looking at me boring a hole into my head.
I don't know what the fuck Lonnie told them, but Lonnie squeezes a burner into my hand.
And I look at this thing, and there's no tape on the grip.
Why? 'Cause as soon as it's over, this is gonna go in the hole with that motherfucker.
And the quicklime will wipe out any of the prints.
So anyway, he puts that gun in my hand.
He takes a look at Terrence on his knees, shaking with fear, swollen face looking up at us, hoping he's not gonna be killed.
And Lonnie comes up to me, and he just whispers in my ear, "Okay, motherfucker.
"You broke it.
"You bought it.
" Vince, look - No, listen - Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.
It's best for you not to say anything right now.
[line ringing.]
Marius: Hello? Okay, by my math, to keep on track to our deadline, you should be sitting on about sixty-thou at this moment.
What are you doing? Are you calling to fuck with me? You wanna twirl your mustache a little bit? No, I'm calling you because Eddie needs to hear his brother's voice right now.
Get the bolt cutters.
No, no, no! Wait, Vince! Wait, wait, Vince! Wait, wait, wait! No, no, no! [screaming.]
No, no, no! No, no, no, Vince! Vince, I told you I'd take care of this.
Marius can you still hear me? Vince? Vince, you listen to me.
You've spent years building a reputation as a man of your word.
If it gets around that you started chopping Eddie's fingers before the fuckin' week is up, all that's out the window! You hear me? Vince? Vince, I'm begging you! Well, I appreciate that, Marius, but this is between Eddie and me.
- Just take a second.
- Hey, hey.
Vince? Vince, you want me? Here I am! It's too late for that, Marius.
If you want to help your brother, help him focus on something far away.
Marius! Make him stop! [sobbing.]
Please, Marius.
- Please, no! - You broke it.
- Please make him stop! - You bought it.
Marius, please! Please! [sobbing.]
Please, Marius! Please tell them! Please make them stop! Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, listen to me.
You remember on your ninth birthday, I took you to ride the Cyclone at Coney Island, and we had to sneak past the ticket taker, because you were too small? And when we were clicking up the first rise, do you remember what you said to me? Eddie, what did you say to me? I said I was scared.
And what did I tell you? Put my head on your chest.
Close my eyes.
That you would be scared for the both of us.
Marius I'm scared.
[Eddie screaming.]
[engine revving.]
[siren wails.]
[rock on radio.]
Do you know why I pulled you over tonight? [rock continues.]
You remember the night we stole his car? It was after junior prom? Do I do I remember? Yeah, do you remember? I still have a scar on my ass where my dad lost hold of his belt mid swing.
- Caught me with the buckle.
- Bullshit.
- Which part? - The scar.
I think I would have noticed that.
Well, maybe if, you know, we ever got to be naked with the lights on, or in a bed, even.
Hey, you think that your dad was pissed because you took the car or pissed because you took it to be with me? I think he thought I would die in this car.
That or or kill somebody else.
I don't know, man.
Maybe he just watched too many greaser films.
I wonder what he would say if he knew I got to drive this baby full time after my mom die in a in a Cutlass Sierra.
I believe they call that irony.
I gotta get home.
You gonna be okay? I'm always okay.
[rock.]
[vacuum whirring.]
God damn it, Shannon.
[phone ringing.]
Grandma, is everything okay? No, Taylor, it's it's me, Pete.
[chuckles.]
Christ.
Every time I see this number, I think something bad happened, you know, Grandpa had another stroke or something.
Taylor, look the reason why I'm calling is that I I feel bad about the way we left things this afternoon, and I was just wondering if buying you a beer would be, you know, an acceptable apology.
[whirring.]
Foreign or domestic? It's getting hotter out here I keep trying to just make my way It's no lying I'm only trying Just trust in me Trust in me Just trust in me Trust in me Just trust in me [buzzer sounding.]
[buzzer sounding.]
Ah, the ravishing Karolina.
Have I told you the palace I would build for us in Mumbai? [chuckles.]
I saw a show last week made it seem like Mumbai is all billionaires and trash pickers.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Well I take it you prefer the worker's paradise of your youth? All I remember of Warsaw is people standing in line.
Ah, Mr.
Mukherjee.
Nice of you to find the time to return to our tables.
You see, Wali, this country is not yet lost to the Kardashians.
There are still some here who know how to show some respect.
This way.
Where's my main man Eddie? Family emergency, I'm afraid.
Sorry to hear.
- Hope you'll give him my best.
- Of course I will.
Okay.
We'll get you sorted out with chips.
And of course Pappy Van Winkle.
A lovely gesture but I'm afraid my trainer has made me promise to abstain.
You see, if I let myself get fat, then the girls will only want me for my money.
Well, I'll leave you to your game then, huh? For the whiskey.
Don't tell me your margins are such that you can afford to buy liquor that never gets drunk.
So for the last couple of months, I've just been waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You know, like, "What's he gonna do when he finds out?" - Right? - Cut off your dick.
Yeah, and so when you put the the hood over my head and I couldn't breathe You thought your nightmare was coming true.
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't deserve it.
Oh, that's bullshit, man.
You didn't betray anybody.
She's the one who broke her promises, not you.
That's between her and her cuckold husband.
You don't owe him shit.
You don't owe him anything.
- Well - You ever even met the guy? Oh, no, no.
I'd feel even more like a shit heel.
Not to mention, what if he reads it on me, right? No, no.
Way harder to look inside someone else's head than you think.
Anyways, the point is is that without being aware of my situation, You couldn't have known how I would have reacted to being renditioned or whatever, you know? So I just wanted to apologize for the way I reacted, okay? All right.
[billiard balls clacking.]
I appreciate it, Pete.
I do.
Look But if anyone should be apologizing, it's me.
- What? - Yeah.
No, I Grandma always says I got this problem with impulse control.
Probably what's holding me back from making rank, even more than the test-taking stuff.
Got these got these strategies I'm supposed to use.
Like, stop and think, or, um, emotional regulation, like that.
It's way harder in the moment to do it.
- It's hard.
- You know? I gotta hit the head.
Never leave your shit in this bar.
- Oh! - Okay.
- Just a little taste of the ear? - I don't like that.
- Tongue in the ear? No? - No, I don't Fuck you.
[laughing.]
- You okay to drive? - A-okay.
Hold on just a second.
I gotta open your door.
Here.
- Hey, Taylor.
- Uh-huh? - You got a flat tire.
- [air hissing.]
- What? - You got a flat tire.
Yeah, looks like you ran over a nail or something.
Fuck.
Hey, give me the keys.
I'll go in the trunk and get the spare and the jack.
Wait, wait.
That's not a nail.
The hole's too long and flat.
- Fuckin' knife cut.
- Yeah, whatever.
- Give me the keys - Hey! - What are you doing? - Hey, assholes! Fuck you talking to, man? I'm talking to the only assholes I see.
We know you're a cop.
That badge you dying to pull out your back pocket right now - don't entitle you to talk which way.
- Give us one second, pal.
- Taylor.
- Get your fuckin' hand off me, Pete.
You wanna come take a look at something for me? Hmm? You wanna tell me how this got over here? You seriously threatening to bust us over weed - in 20-motherfucking-16? - You'll know when I'm threatening you.
Right now, I'm just asking how your roach came by my car and what you might know about how my tire came to be flat.
- Guys.
- Well, I'm stumped, Officer.
Tell you what.
If you Agatha Christie yourself to the bottom of this, you come back here and tell me who done it.
Meanwhile, why don't you take that roach and shove it up your ass? - Shove it up my ass? - Yeah.
Right up in there.
Just give me a sec to move my dick out the way.
How about instead I go talk to your foster mom, see how she feels about buying me a new set of whitewalls? Fuck makes you think I was in foster care? Just playing the odds.
Tell you what.
I can't help with the tire thing, but I'd be happy to help you solve the case of the busted headlight.
[glass shatters.]
No, no, no! Taylor! Taylor! No, no, no! Taylor! Stop it! Taylor! Taylor! Taylor! - [blows landing.]
- [grunting.]
Fuck you! You really expect me to believe you stuck it out with eight nine? Call me on the flop or the turn.
Bullshit.
I'm all in.
That is $19,000.
Sir? Call.
It's a straight, ten high.
Trip sevens.
Straight takes it.
First lesson of poker: Unless it's a bluff, never make a bet that can only be called by hands that beat you.
Second lesson: Call on every street-chasin' bullshit, suck out by hitting the nuts on the river.
If you want me to fold, my friend, you'll have to bet more.
Ain't your friend.
And yet you've given me so much money.
You keep him around so you can run your mouth, not have to worry about getting stomped? - Seems to work so far.
- Yeah.
Except we all have to check our straps at the door.
So what if something pops off in here? 'Cause hand-to-hand, I will put an old-fashioned country ass-whuppin' on any curry-stinkin' slumdog bitch-boy that ever lived.
Calm down.
Why don't you go for a walk, Hector.
Cool off.
Fuck that.
I'm fine.
Tweaked my back this morning at the gym.
My preference would be to walk you out, but I don't have to.
Mr.
Mukherjee, my apologies for his behavior.
I can promise you it won't happen again.
I'll talk to him.
Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the disruption.
[door closes.]
What I tell you about bringing that street shit in here? Motherfucker gets under my skin.
It doesn't give you the right to disrespect my place.
You're right man.
That's my bad.
[sighs.]
Okay, so it's squashed.
I got your word.
Squashed? Ain't shit squashed.
But I promise I'll handle it on the outside.
No.
What you mean, "No"? I mean, you wanna shoot somebody, every time you take a bad beat, then you can go back to throwing bones in the alley with your corner boys.
I'm sorry, Vince.
I respect you.
I respect your place.
But you hold your stress in too long, it rots out your insides.
So I am gonna get my payback on that red dot motherfucker.
He can't stay in here forever.
What if you stayed in here forever? What if you never left this room? Get the fuck outta here.
Some fuckhead busts your headlight don't mean you get to bust his face.
Good news is the guy's an old scumbag.
Thing is, we don't know yet what kind of cell phone video we might be dealing with.
So I want you to listen to your good friend, Bo.
You sustained multiple blows to the head during the altercation.
Okay? Your PBA rep advises you not to make any statements till we can confirm your cognitive functions were operating normally.
I understand you suffered a blow to the head as well.
He tried to pull me off.
I caught him with the backswing.
It doesn't make a difference who hit him.
All that matters is he can't be interviewed until we're sure he's compos mentis.
No, look, I don't need a tow.
There is no way you're getting behind the wheel of that car.
Gives someone an excuse to give you breathalyzer.
I can change the tire, take the car home.
It's okay.
Not only is no one changing that tire, No one's wiping a smudge off the bumper of that precious automobile until all the damage has been fully documented.
Keys.
Time to go.
Come on.
Kids'll be up soon.
I don't want them to be confused.
I don't want them to be confused, either.
So you wouldn't want them to wake up and find you here when they know you don't live here anymore.
And what if I did? What if you did what? Live here still again.
Are you fucking kidding me? [stammering.]
I assume last night indicated a softening - about your feeling toward - Last night indicated you came over after I put the kids to bed and got me drunk.
Well, I got us both drunk.
One night, giving in to your debatable charm Hey.
He called me.
A decision of which I grow prouder - with each passing moment.
- [phone chimes.]
Hold that thought.
[siren in distance.]
What the fuck am I gonna tell Grandpa? Or Grandma? Fuck! Why do you have to tell them anything that they don't know, right? You don't think they're gonna find out? First question they're gonna ask when you walk through the door is, "Where the fuck you been all night?" Okay, okay, okay.
Listen.
We got shitfaced, right? We decided to crash at my place, and we wake up with these, like these Dean Martin hangovers.
They're expecting you at the office today, right? Uh, yeah.
It's Julia's day off.
Yeah.
You take a taxi.
There's a stand across the street.
You just tell them that I'm I don't know I'm sleeping it off.
Okay? Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no.
I know you said it was the last time.
I remember.
But look, there's money in it for you.
I don't know, at least ten grand.
Can I do the Hey.
Yeah.
[sizzling.]
Good morning.
- Hey.
- Mommy, guess what.
Daddy Lance missed us so much, he even made us pancakes on his way to work.
Isn't that nice of him? I said I came to see you.
The pancakes were Fenna's idea.
- Mmm.
- Want some, Mom? How can I say no? You can't.
You shouldn't.
- I helped with the bananas.
- You did? - [strains.]
- Also I helped with cracking the eggs.
Wow.
Jeez! Where's the fire? Oh, I'm sorry.
I got cab waiting for me.
Yeah, I saw.
Guess you had a hell of a night last night.
- Boys back together - I gotta go.
I'm sorry - Why did you ever leave this place? - I didn't leave.
- My mom took me away.
- Yeah, but why? Always seemed like all of you guys were so happy here, all of you together.
- I don't know.
She didn't tell me.
- You never asked? I just got the feeling that she didn't really wanna talk about it, okay? - I'm sorry, I - That thing that you did last night.
Picking my pocket.
Think you could teach me? I was teaching you not to fuck with my stuff.
Couldn't you just say it's a fake? When he asks why a grown man's carrying a fake I.
D.
, what do I say, I'm a secret agent? He's a police officer.
He's a psychopath.
Maybe you used one in your insurance work.
- That's actually not bad.
- Thank you.
But when he runs the name Marius Josepovich through the database Yeah, you're right.
You're fucked.
[sighs.]
But that's not your problem.
Your problem is that you didn't tell me that covering for you with Mr.
Success was putting my family in the crosshairs of some ex-cop gangster and some still-cop psycho looking to pay you back for taking his eye.
He didn't lose the eye.
They are gonna get to me sooner or later, okay? Now, you know, no matter how pissed off I am at you, and I fucking am, that I would never wanna see you get hurt Katie, no.
If they show up, you tell them everything you know about how to find me, you understand? Vince is a dangerous man, but he's not crazy.
As long as you don't get in his way, he's got no reason to hurt you or your family.
I hope you get in the safe.
You are guaranteeing me ten, even if it's like Al Capone's vault.
If it's empty, how am I gonna get you $10,000? The next safe.
I'm serious.
Guarantee me ten, or I am on my way back to White Plains.
Do you not find it odd that you're asking a convicted confidence man to give you his word of honor? No, your conviction was for bank robbery.
Promise me.
All right.
So I wait for Grandma to go out on her daily rounds.
I walk in.
I ask Grandpa for a bond for - For Preston James Collins III.
- And he is? The top name on yesterday's arrest blotter.
Okay.
I ask Grandpa for a bond for Preston.
My collateral is this bullshit, whose value you confirmed based on your insurance knowledge.
The thing is, this is a treasured family heirloom.
Lots of sentimental value.
If I'm gonna let it out of my sight, I need to actually see it get locked in the safe.
- Right.
- You think that'll, uh play better if I remove the tag that says it costs $15? Look, cut me some slack here, all right? - Jesus Christ.
- Okay.
Say he buys all that, opens the safe to put my precious in, how the fuck are we supposed to empty it with him standing right there? We don't need to empty it.
We just need to switch out the cash box.
But even if he doesn't see you take it, how is he not gonna see that it's gone? Because I'm gonna switch it out.
Look.
He won't notice the difference? - No.
He's gonna be too distracted.
- By? By the woman having a seizure on the floor.
Shit! This was always your bread and butter, all right? Frank Winslow, Manhattan North, Narcotics and Vice Enforcement.
How exactly can I help you? Marius Josepovich? You're gonna have to be more specific than that.
His name's come up in an investigation.
- Narcotics or vice? - Oh, don't worry, he's not a suspect.
He's just a former known associate of some of the key people.
Detective, if one of my parolees is connected to a crime, - procedure dictates - No, no, no.
I wouldn't say he's connected to it.
Then what would you say? I think you and I got off on the wrong foot here.
I am gonna go ahead and call my own number on that one.
I got sent to a department mandated shrink for a while, said I broadcast hostility.
I hear you were a Marine.
Nope.
Sorry? Oh, yeah.
No such thing as a former Marine.
Yeah.
Seems like half the guys in my squad are jarheads.
They join up as soon as they left active duty.
You ever consider going that route? Thought about it.
Even did a full semester towards an associate degree in criminal justice at Duchess Community.
Turns out social work was more my speed.
The important thing is we're on the same side.
Oh, yeah? And what side is that? Law enforcement? [laughing.]
No, that's where I'm gonna have to disagree with you.
How's that? I know not here to enforce, brother.
I'm here to empower.
You are gonna empower these shit-stain ex-cons to do what exactly? To be their best selves.
All I need is an address where he's staying.
I'll tell you what, Detective.
You have questions for Mr.
Josepovich? Write them down, I'll make sure he gets them.
Anything other than that, come back with a warrant.
You gotta be fucking kidding.
You meditate? No.
That's a shame.
Otto: Your friend is charged with driving his car over his cousin.
Hope you don't mind me asking, but just out of curiosity, how'd you two meet, you and Mr.
Collins? I was working at a gentlemen's club down in Orlando as a waitress, thank you very much.
Anyway, Press was security, made sure nobody touched the girls, that kind of thing.
He was the only boy there I could ever talk to.
I'm sorry about this.
I just after the stroke, sometimes it just feels like my fingers belong to someone else.
- I won't take it.
My business - Give us a half hour.
This is ridiculous.
I I have I'll get you the ten grand.
I'm sorry about that.
There's really no way to get to the car? It's in the impound lot, Katie, the impound lot.
It's barbed wire.
There's security cameras.
- It's a houseful of cops.
- So you're running? You've got your bugout bag inside, yeah? Toss it in my trunk.
I will drive you to the train station right now.
What is there to think about? You said it yourself, you are blown here.
So so you can't go to the city.
So what? You head west, south.
You always land on your feet.
Where's that leave Eddie? No worse off than he is now.
You said this Vince guy likes him.
- Everybody likes him.
- Marius! Katie! How many times you figure you started over? I don't know.
Five.
Six, if you, uh, count the two weeks I ran away to Tunica when I was 17.
- I'm gonna get you the ten grand.
- Yeah.
- Couldn't get her back, huh? - Sorry.
- It's not your fault.
- We all forget things sometimes.
No, the combo is a mashup of the girls' birthdays.
I remember the day we chose it.
No way I'd forget that.
Well, maybe you just got the sequence I did not forget! Maybe it got reset by accident.
Grandpa, this is a three-wheel dial lock.
In order to reset it, you have to have a rep come out from the manufacturer with a change key.
You've seen these in your insurance work? All the time.
Yeah.
Any chance you could crack one? - Hello? A.
J.
- Marius? She told me it was too risky for us to talk directly.
No, I'm not calling about that.
I'm calling about your day job.
How soon can you be in Bridgeport? This time of day, hour and a quarter, little less if I push it.
Listen, I got a score lined up.
It turns into a pumpkin at 4:30 or 5:00.
The hardware's an Excelsior 500 series.
There's ten grand in it for you.
On top of whatever my cut from the Turk turns out to be? I told you, it has nothing to do with that.
All right, I'm in.
Just like that? Ten grand.
Why not? Well, honestly, after what happened with Charlie, I'm surprised that you'd be in on any of it with me, but Charlie's the reason I came in.
You know what I mean.
You know what I mean.
I hesitated, I'm not gonna lie.
Ended up deciding, if she doesn't blame you, hard to see how I can.
And I appreciate that, A.
J.
Thank you.
I'm at Bernhart Bail Bonds on Gold Street.
It's near the courthouse, all right? All right.
Anything I need to know? Yeah, my name's Pete Murphy.
I'm an insurance investigator.
And that's how we met.
I guess that plays.
Anything else? You ever have to fake a seizure? "Aunt Carly, naps are for babies.
" Thanks for getting her down.
Lance was here last night.
As in, like he stopped by? As in he slept over.
Jesus.
Julia, we talked about this.
Why don't we just skip the part where I get sex advice from my 16-year-old little sister? If you didn't want to talk about it, how come you told me? Ellen saw him leaving this morning, she might mention it.
- Did you fuck him? - Carly! - Did you make him wrap it up? - We are not talking about this.
I'm just trying to make sure that you're staying safe.
You know, they show us these scare photos in health ed Lance is fine! [sighs.]
Jesus.
I hope he's fine.
Is he still seeing that lying whore Trisha? I don't know.
Maybe.
He kept getting these texts, trying to hide them from me.
Pete and Taylor had quite the night last night.
Why? What'd you hear? Just that Pete didn't sleep at home.
Maybe he went home with a girl.
He's kind of cute.
He's our cousin! Did he turn out like you thought he would? [chuckles.]
When I imagined him as a grownup, I wasn't assuming he'd spend his teenage years on his own with our crazy Aunt Maggie.
Aunt Maggie was crazy? It's hard to tell what I actually remember from what I managed to piece together - Piece together how? - Huh? I've spent a lot of time trying to piece stuff together about Mom and Dad, but since nobody in this family ever actually talks about anything there's not much to work with.
Right after Mom and Dad I found these letters.
Actually, "found" is wrong.
I rescued them from the trash.
Audrey must have found them when she was going through Mom's things Julia! What were the letters? Turns out, after Aunt Maggie took off, she and Mom stayed in touch for a while, a few months.
I cannot believe you are just telling me about this now! They're really not that big a deal.
Obviously all I have is Maggie's letters to Mom, not the ones Mom sent.
Seems like mostly she's trying to get Maggie to come back and patch things up with Audrey.
It's pretty fucking sad, if you ask me.
Whatever.
I still wanna read.
[sighs.]
Just do us both a favor.
Make sure Audrey doesn't see them.
Yeah.
Done.
Hi, it's me again.
I need you to call me back.
Now, I completely understand the delay is not that it's due to circumstances beyond your beyond anyone's control, but there's just so long I can stay on this this hamster wheel robbing Peter to Pay Paul.
- So there's any way to - [beep.]
Female voice: Sorry.
The mailbox is now full.
[screams.]
[screaming continues.]
My grandson says this will be child's play for you.
He says you could crack this in your sleep.
Well, sir, although it's against my nature to toot my own horn - Otto: Bo Lockley? - Otto, it's been a while.
Yeah.
Everything all right? Everything's fine.
I just I need Pete to come with me.
I been around a lot of blocks, Bo.
If something's happened to Taylor, I want you to tell me right now.
No, no, I swear, though.
It's nothing like that.
Taylor's fine.
He just asked me to come down and grab Pete and run him back to the station house.
Bo, we're kind of in the middle of something here.
Yeah, why don't I run him by when we finish up? Yeah, you know, I don't think it can wait.
Okay.
Okay.
Fine Keri Russell, keep your secrets.
I don't even want to know.
Listen, remember that thing we talked about last night, your your situation? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I'm involved in my own.
And I would have mentioned it last night, but, you know, she has so much to lose, and I Anyway, her phone is in my fuckin' car, all right? And if anyone finds it And, look, they're fuckin' grilling me back there, right? And Bo said if I go anywhere near the impound lot, he will rip out my lungs and shit in the hole.
And I can't ask any of these guys to go get it, 'cause they know her and they know her fuckin' husband, and they'll recognize her phone because it looks like it belongs to fuckin' Liberace.
You want me to go down to your car and get your girlfriend's phone? You okay with that? Yeah.
"Last night I finally told Pete.
" [door opens.]
Hey.
How's it going? - We've hit some snags.
- Yeah? This old sucker's a lot more secure than you thought it was.
A.
J.
: Wait, wait.
Maybe - [lock clicks.]
- Yep! Look at at that.
Ready? - Otto: What the hell? - What? Oh, holy shit.
Holy fuckin' shit.
The man tells me to bring you, I bring you.
I'm just saying, man.
If I'm walking into something, it just wouldn't hurt to give me a heads up.
[buzzers sounding.]
Hey, man, hold the door.
- Taking the lady someplace? - No, the lady's staying here.
Vince wants me to bring the doc.
Somebody hurt? Got this neighbor lady does work for me from time to time.
Like when your ashes need hauling? Man, she's 75 years old.
She looks in on Hushpuppy when I gotta be out late.
Anyway, she told me about your little rooftop phone call you made yesterday after you Houdini'd out of my zip ties.
She told you, you told Vince.
Great.
Of all the people I thought I could count on not to snitch.
What the fuck are you talking about, stupid? The man pays my bills.
All you do is eat my food, shit up my bathroom.
Come on.
Come on, man.
I told you I wasn't bringing Hushpuppy.
You know how long it's been since she's had a accident in here? But lay down the wee-wee pad, she's liable to think you want her to mark them.
Vince, look, I was just telling Richard Save it.
You know, straight out of the Academy, I was assigned to this neighborhood stabilization unit out in Brownsville.
These are during the Fort Apache days.
You remember that? Nah.
None of you do.
You're too young.
Anyway, murder rate in the city then was about four times what it is now.
[chuckles.]
So one night I'm out on patrol with my FTO, this tough black and blue named Lonnie Churchill.
Lonnie was like, he could have been Marvin Hagler's big brother.
[chuckles.]
Right? So one night we're out there, we get a call on the radio that there's a robbery in a Bodega.
So we go screaming up just as the perp comes jamming out of the store.
Right? Before we can even roll to a stop Boom! He fires off a shot at us.
What the fuck? You know? Just one.
I mean, it didn't come anywhere near us.
I don't think he intended to, but still.
Anyway, he takes one look at Lonnie and practically shits himself.
I mean, he tosses away the gun like it was on fire.
Turns out this perp was just a kid.
And we caught him a couple times being the lookout on a crack corner.
And we'd slap him around, and we'd let him go with a warning.
"Don't you ever fuckin' let us catch you on this block again.
" You know, that kind of shit.
[chuckles.]
This was different.
Now, this kid Terrence was his name.
Couldn't be more than 17 years old.
The kind of kid who would smile when he got nervous, you know? Even when you're smacking him around, he'd smile.
It's the damndest thing.
And he'd look up at you with these big, brown Bambi eyes.
Oh, boy.
Anyway, instead of going to the house and booking the kid, Lonnie has me drive to one of those Grandmaster Flash ghost town streets, you know, with the busted-out windows with the cardboard all over it, newspapers blowing around like tumbleweeds, the stench of piss and pot.
So Lonnie grabs the kid out of the back of the car, puts him down on the ground face-up, pulls out his arm, right, between two cinder blocks, and he tells me, "Jump on it.
"Both feet, hard as you can.
Aim for the back of the elbow.
" Bam! Right? Now, you break an elbow like that, and it's just never gonna heal right.
You could even rupture the artery, right, and the kid would lose his arm.
Now, Terrence knows this, and he's scared, smilin' and lookin' at me with those big, sad eyes.
And I know this, right? So I pull Lonnie aside, and I whisper in his ear, "Lonnie, he's a kid, okay? "He made a mistake, all right? "I think he's scared enough.
" And so on and so forth.
Lonnie turns to me and whispers back, "You want to teach this kid a lesson? "You want to do him a favor? Give him something to remember us by.
" Well, I I you know Quickly, Lonnie learns that I I just I'm not gonna do this.
He can't talk me into it.
Without a word, picks up the kid, puts him back in the back of the car, off we go to the house for the booking, end of story, right? Seven, eight years later, I hear about this detective who gets blasted at a drug rip in one of the Brownsville projects, right? Shooter's in the wind.
Now, any time a cop gets killed, it's gonna move the needle.
But we were losing guys every few weeks back then, so I didn't really pay much mind to it until I heard the shooter's name.
The next morning, I answer my door.
Who's there? Lonnie.
And so I'm thinking, "Okay, okay.
"I know, I know.
We're going over to Queens.
"We're going to the dead cop's wake, "pay our respects.
" He's right.
It's the least I can do.
Okay.
I get it.
Instead of going over to Queens, though Jersey.
He gets on the turnpike and gets off in Secaucus.
Now, at first I'm relieved, because, you know, I didn't really wanna face this grieving widow and all the weepy kids with their snot on their ties and all that shit, so But then Lonnie turns off the road, and he starts heading towards the Meadowlands.
Now I'm not I'm not scared exactly, not yet.
But I know how many bodies are buried out there.
But I'm thinking, "I mean, come on, "there's no way that Lonnie is gonna clip me, "no matter how pissed he is, "just because I gave a little kid some compassion.
"No way.
" But he turns off the road, gets out, and he leads me into some weeds, all right? Now, these weeds are taller than the both of us in some spots, right? So we're working our way through the weeds, and out of nowhere, it opens up, and there we are in this little clearing.
And that's when I see them.
There's, like, 12 guys.
Now, there's no uniforms, but you could tell, they're all on the job, and they all got shovels and quicklime, and they're standing around a big rectangle hole that they just finished digging.
I'm freaking out a little bit.
And then I I crane my neck and I see.
Right at the edge of the hole is a man kneeling.
I don't know how long they were beating on him, but his head was so swollen, it hurt to look at.
And I could still see him looking up at me with his sad eyes.
Only now, it's just through a little slit, 'cause it's so swollen.
And he still had that nervous smile.
Only now, I couldn't see any of his teeth on account of all the blood.
And I could feel those cops looking at me boring a hole into my head.
I don't know what the fuck Lonnie told them, but Lonnie squeezes a burner into my hand.
And I look at this thing, and there's no tape on the grip.
Why? 'Cause as soon as it's over, this is gonna go in the hole with that motherfucker.
And the quicklime will wipe out any of the prints.
So anyway, he puts that gun in my hand.
He takes a look at Terrence on his knees, shaking with fear, swollen face looking up at us, hoping he's not gonna be killed.
And Lonnie comes up to me, and he just whispers in my ear, "Okay, motherfucker.
"You broke it.
"You bought it.
" Vince, look - No, listen - Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.
It's best for you not to say anything right now.
[line ringing.]
Marius: Hello? Okay, by my math, to keep on track to our deadline, you should be sitting on about sixty-thou at this moment.
What are you doing? Are you calling to fuck with me? You wanna twirl your mustache a little bit? No, I'm calling you because Eddie needs to hear his brother's voice right now.
Get the bolt cutters.
No, no, no! Wait, Vince! Wait, wait, Vince! Wait, wait, wait! No, no, no! [screaming.]
No, no, no! No, no, no, Vince! Vince, I told you I'd take care of this.
Marius can you still hear me? Vince? Vince, you listen to me.
You've spent years building a reputation as a man of your word.
If it gets around that you started chopping Eddie's fingers before the fuckin' week is up, all that's out the window! You hear me? Vince? Vince, I'm begging you! Well, I appreciate that, Marius, but this is between Eddie and me.
- Just take a second.
- Hey, hey.
Vince? Vince, you want me? Here I am! It's too late for that, Marius.
If you want to help your brother, help him focus on something far away.
Marius! Make him stop! [sobbing.]
Please, Marius.
- Please, no! - You broke it.
- Please make him stop! - You bought it.
Marius, please! Please! [sobbing.]
Please, Marius! Please tell them! Please make them stop! Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, listen to me.
You remember on your ninth birthday, I took you to ride the Cyclone at Coney Island, and we had to sneak past the ticket taker, because you were too small? And when we were clicking up the first rise, do you remember what you said to me? Eddie, what did you say to me? I said I was scared.
And what did I tell you? Put my head on your chest.
Close my eyes.
That you would be scared for the both of us.
Marius I'm scared.
[Eddie screaming.]