True Detective (2013) s01e06 Episode Script

1 from the dusty May sun her looming shadow grows hidden in the branches of the poison creosote she twines her spines up slowly towards the boiling sun and when I touched her skin my fingers ran with blood when the last light warms the rocks and the rattlesnakes unfold the mountain cats will come to drag away your bones and rise with me forever across the silent sand and the stars will be your eyes and the wind will be my hands True Detective - 1x06 "Haunted Houses" I'm gonna go make my rounds.
Only got in.
I'll check back with you in about 20 minutes.
I-- I didn't know Audrey's dad's a cop.
I, uh I didn't mean no disrespect.
Yes, sir, we didn't mean any disrespect.
Audrey's 16.
We got you on statch rape.
You know that, right? You know what happens to pretty boys like you who go up to the farm on statch charges? Look at that.
Door come open.
Y'all want to step out a bit, take some air? No, sir.
I think that you're a little angry right now.
You telling me how I feel? That's patronizing.
Two choices we do this here with an understanding that not you or any of your river rat boys comes within a hundred yards of my daughter, or file those charges.
Got a lot of brothers in Angola who love to owe me a favor.
Now come on out here.
Come on.
Come out here.
Man's game charges a man's price.
Take that away from this if nothing else.
Ohh! Aah! Please! Look, I'm sorry.
Please! Disciplinary reports say he was acting unstable even before.
What happened, you and him? Two formal reprimands, suspension.
Your major back then, Salter wrote "Manic state" right here.
No, he-- he, uh, started pulling lost time more, but OK.
And for whatever reason, he started working something that I didn't know about.
Old missing persons.
What you want, man? Nothing here for you.
I'm with the State Police Department.
If you're Terry Guidry, I'd like to talk to you about your boy.
Sheriff call for a search party? They had a marine unit out there.
Spotlight, everything, and nothing.
Four weeks later, wildlife fisheries find his pirogue all broke up.
Said it coulda been a gator.
Where'd Sonny go to school? Queen of Angels.
One of them Tuttle schools.
We didn't sleep them first 4 weeks Sonny was missing.
Drove his mama crazy.
Sh-she She thought she heard him under the water calling for her.
Hey, man, look.
Why don't you just get out of here, please? I don't want to get arrested.
Just-- just get before I do something to you.
If it's wrong, I want it right.
It's all I got.
We're not gonna talk to you, personal matters like this, without you-- you don't want to talk about something, it's OK, no problem.
You sure we can't get you any coffee, a No, thank you.
You worried about your ex? It's OK.
We are not looking at him, and nobody wants to.
Well, what are you looking for, from me? Well, perspective, I guess.
Something went down, 2002.
Your ex-husband's partner, Rustin Cohle.
In a former life, I used to exhaust myself navigating crude men who thought they were clever, so ask your questions or I'm leaving.
That's a cop's wife, all right.
Not anymore.
We're not trying to work you, ma'am.
Word of honor.
We need to know about Rustin Cohle in 2002.
Why he took off, what he'd done since.
Have you had any contact with Cohle, Mrs.
Sawyer, since 2002? - No, I haven't.
- But you knew him well enough.
I mean, he was your husband's partner.
Rust? Yeah, I knew him.
Not as well as other people.
Why, exactly, are you asking about him? Something bad happened.
Maybe Cohle's involved.
More we look at him, it don't look good.
Something went real wrong with him a long time ago.
I knew Rust to be a good man, so I can't imagine what I can offer.
I mean, Rust knew exactly who he was and there was no talking him out of it.
You know, Marty's single big problem was that he never really knew himself, so he never really knew what to want.
But I'm big enough to not stay angry at someone for that not after all this time.
Receipt in the bag? Great.
Thank you so much.
- Have a good day.
- Thank you.
Can I help you with anything, sir? Oh, yeah, uh, please.
I was thinking about this one.
Fuck.
Excuse me.
Can I get a dirty Martini, please? - Coming right up.
- Thanks.
Big weekend planned? Oh.
Yeah.
Uh, heh! Yeah.
Has all the makings of a good time.
You're a cop, aren't you? How'd you know? I, uh, I think I saw you before, years back.
You get in some trouble? No.
Uh you came around this place I was staying, asking about a girl.
Oh.
Marty.
Beth.
We're closed.
You always hit the bottle this early in the day, Reverend? Who are you? You don't remember me? Hmm? I came to see you at your revival tent, January of '95.
Looks like you gave that up.
Mid-eighties.
You were still with the Tuttle ministry then.
What do you know about a Tuttle organization that was set up to finance rural schools? It was called Wellspring.
It was an Evangelical initiative to provide religious education as an alternative to public school in the rural communities.
Yeah, part of the reason there was so many dropouts in the state, a lot of kids had to bus an hour or more.
You know about that school on Pelican Island? I don't know it specific, but there was one in 1988.
Accusations of children being interfered with.
I never found anything on that.
It was-- it was kept internal, I think.
Maybe it was nothing, maybe people was paid.
It's got nothing to do with me, mind you.
I was going to school in Baton Rouge.
Gossip around the seminary, but we didn't give credence to rumors.
Why'd you leave? Bureaucracy.
Politics.
Don't lie to me.
Why'd you leave? Part of our lay duties was custodial.
One night, cleaned the senior minister's library.
I knocked over a very old volume, "The Letters of Telios DeLorca.
" Twelfth-century Franciscan mystic, very obscure.
When I picked up the book, this little folder falls out.
Little folder of pictures.
Pictures of children.
Naked.
Looked like they was sleeping.
And what'd you do? I took it over to the morals officer, Deacon Farrar.
He was close to Tuttle, vice president of the college.
He didn't do nothin'? No, he seemed he got angry that I brought it to him.
He even intimated that maybe I was confessing to something.
I mean, I had to prove to him that I wasn't.
He promised to look into it I'd left by the time Wellspring shut down.
Why'd you quit the revival, hmm? Oh, our last two tents was vandalized.
I lost heart.
Little too much of this.
All my life, I wanted to be nearer to God.
But the only nearness silence.
Oh, it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Better than most.
Jan was a decent lady.
I heard she sold the ranch a while back.
I can't believe that was you.
Saved up money for a place, got a straight job.
I'd run off from a bad situation when we first met.
Well, it's just-- just so great how you turned everything around.
Look at you.
Well, you were a big hero in the papers.
Aw, they made a bigger deal of that than it was.
I ain't been too heroic of late.
Just You're a good man.
Anybody can see that.
I saw it the first time I met you.
God gave us these flaws, and something I learned-- He doesn't see them as flaws.
There is nothing wrong with the way He made us.
The universe forgives all.
You want some bourbon? Mmm.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
What happened in 2002? You-- you pulled our last case? Charmaine Boudreaux? It was in all the papers.
"Marshland Medea.
" You know who Medea was? - Yeah.
- We had a lot of static after that, me and him.
That was a bad one.
I always thought it contributed, Rust's state of mind when he walked.
SIDs.
What is that? It's a 4-letter word, S-I-D-S, but, I mean what is it? It's an old word, like a curse.
Not a language anyone speaks.
But it's what happened to Jessica, your first.
They said your second, Jody, was 23 days old.
The autopsy showed no signs of trauma, so SIDs.
I lost one myself, Charmaine.
I lost a marriage, too.
Now your third, and you had him last year.
Jesus, lady, you ever hear of a fuckin' condom? Birth control's a sin.
A child is a wonderful thing.
A child is wonderful.
You see, sometimes people mistake a child as an answer for something, you know, like a way to change their story.
Charmaine, have you ever heard of something called Munchausen by Proxy? No.
At exactly 4:49 AM, the sleep apnea monitor that was hooked up to your child was unplugged for 36 minutes.
Then it was plugged back in, and by that time, the child's vitals had flat-lined.
Charmaine, I need you to talk to me about some things.
OK? OK.
How's it going? He's getting it.
You should sign that.
The newspapers are gonna be tough on you and prison is very very hard on people who hurt kids.
If you get the opportunity, you should kill yourself.
What? What? Please.
Oh, just-- wait.
Jesus.
This evil bitch.
I called Pennsylvania, tried to get homicides on the first two kids, but looks like we may only have the one.
- Well, it's still life.
- Yeah.
Good job.
Listen, Marty, type that up for me, will ya? Excuse me? You got somewhere to be? This confession is, like, 40 pages.
What, and you got somewhere to be? Come on, man.
You want me to tie your shoes for you, too? Hey.
Hey.
I think we actually need your signature on the third page, if you have it.
The fuck's with the attitude, huh? Like my time's less than yours? Oh, you got things to do, Marty? Need to go home to the family, play with the kids? Don't get up my ass - just 'cause you ain't gettin' any.
- Oh.
You should have held on to your woman.
Gettin' laid was good for you.
Goddamn.
You moron.
Goddamn.
You, these people, this place.
It's like you eat your fuckin' young and that's all just fine as long as you got something to salute, huh? What's going on with you, man? I mean, Salter asked about it.
Iberia called.
You been going around bothering people, trying to open up old cases.
I am working.
I have things to do.
So type the report, man.
That's how we do.
I get people to talk, you write the stats.
It's worked out well for you so far.
I'm the only one ever took up for you.
Ever.
You know what it's like being your partner, huh? Fuck you.
No, buddy, without me there is no you.
So type the fuckin' report, man.
We've had behaviorists in with her.
It's regressive catatonia.
Seven years now.
If she shows any distress, responds in any way negatively, - we're gonna have to ask you to leave.
- Of course.
- OK.
- I was actually one of the men who found Kelly at that place 7 years back.
She's right here.
Kelly.
Now, you may not remember, but you and I met a long time ago.
I want to ask you a question about those men that hurt you way back then.
Do you remember if there were more than two? Was there anyone else? The man with the scars was the worst.
My Lord.
What scars? The giant.
He made me watch what he did to Billy.
The scars on the giant, were they-- were they on his face? His face.
His face.
His face.
All right, Rose, I need-- I need Haldol.
Stat, please What are you doing, Cohle? Riling up people, opening old cases.
Iberia Sheriff's talking jurisdictional complaint.
Something's going on, Major, along the coast.
Women children disappearing.
Nobody hears about it, nobody puts them together.
First I'm hearing about it, Boss.
Puts what together, Cohle? Someone, maybe more than one, is killing people, Major, and they've been doing it for a long time.
Yeah, you got any bodies? You got something actually applies to your job as a homicide detective? Know what he did? Know what he did? Goes and visits Kelly Reider, sent her into a screaming fit.
Look, either we don't find them or they don't get connected.
I don't know which, and I can't decide if it's a cover-up or the garden-variety incompetence here.
I mean, it has to do with those boys we got in '95, the Dora Lange killing.
We didn't get them all.
You're building something in your head.
Women, then children.
Now they're getting no press, the way things in the bayou get no press.
And it's happening in the same area where that Voudon shit goes down, and it's happening in the same area where those schools were set up.
What the fuck schools you talking about? Tuition reimbursement programs for rural and Christian schools founded by Billy Lee Tuttle.
Yeah.
Think about it.
Back in '95, why was he so fired up to get his ass down here? He comes barging in with his task force.
Fuck, before we even got started on the case, he took it over.
Why? 'Cause he recognized something in it.
We're in a muddy swamp here, man.
The alligators are swimming around us, and we don't even know whether they're there.
You know why? 'Cause we don't see 'em.
I caught zero logic in all that.
And that last bit? Pure gibberish.
How about we track all the missing persons within 10 miles of every Walmart, huh? Right along the I-10.
Why don't we go after Sam Walmart? I'm fixing to pull you for mental exhaustion, man.
You want to stay on? Do not ever, ever say that to anyone in State again.
Sure.
That's some fuckin' nerve you got, buddy.
You need to take a few steps back, Rust, right now.
All right.
Hey.
No more visiting victims' families.
You will stop trying to turn missing persons into homicides, as you do not have any bodies.
That's a direct fuckin' order, you hear me? You do anything else, I'll have you on insubordination, and I will suspend you.
Please, take some time.
Go on one of them fishing tours or something.
All right? Get yourself together.
And a little less than two years ago, Tuttle overdosed.
Accidentally, supposed.
You mentioned that already.
Couple weeks before he died, Tuttle's house in Shreveport was broken into.
Found out his Baton Rouge one was, too.
Wasn't reported.
So? So your man gets a hard-on for Tuttle.
Man's house gets broken into right after Cohle turns back up in the state.
What's he been doing since, here? Drinking, bartending? Dude with a mind like that, you think that's all he get up to? Marty, he'd never went anywhere.
He never left.
He's been right here doing bad things a long time.
Hey, hey, hey.
Hold up now.
Been in this room a long time, gentlemen.
Whatever Rust is or was or became don't call me again.
I won't help you.
We're trying to help him, Marty.
Hey, did you have a good day? Mm-hmm.
Well, why don't you get that bathroom cleaned finally, huh, get all the toothpaste up? Thanks.
Marty, I didn't know you were home.
Oh, yeah, I'm just cleaning up.
Be out in a sec.
I'll heat up something.
Hey, those flowers came in nice.
You were right.
They really brighten up the yard.
Hey, I was thinking we're due for a date night, don't you think, you and me? I want to dress up and go for a nice dinner, the movies.
Yeah? Does that sound good? Honey? Sure.
Ah.
Oh.
Thanks, hon.
Nice.
So, is my eldest still offended by my presence? Huh? Yeah, I don't mind.
I'm happy just to sit here with 3 beautiful women watching What is this? "Dumb Blondes in Cracker Country"? Hey, hon? Do me a favor, find the game? Here you go.
I have to study.
Good girl.
Rolls right onto victory lane into Daytona USA.
Davis with the steal.
Pops it in to Hudson.
Hudson trying to move the ball down the court, and a foul on Flowers.
What? Nothing.
Now, this pasta is great.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
I love you.
Thank you.
You turn it down some, please? Sure, hon.
Ahem.
How's that? We were talking once about growing up parents.
I said something about forgiveness, and he said that there was no such thing as forgiveness that people just have short memories.
You think Cohle was wrong about that? Forgiveness? Less and less.
Hi.
Get you a drink, Miss? Thank you.
Uh, sure.
A vodka Martini, extra dirty.
Margaret.
Bruce.
Hi.
Hi.
So you, uh, waiting for someone? No.
You and, uh, Marty split prior, right? In '95? Are either of you married? - Got an ex.
- Mmm.
Still on the first.
It's difficult to admit defeat.
Marty quit drinking, found religion for a while.
I didn't love that.
To be honest, I preferred him before; he had a sense of humor then.
But we stayed together 7 more years, some of it pretty good.
2002? Cohle's bad year, too.
Rust was an intense man, but he had integrity.
He was responsible.
Not a lot of responsible people in the world.
Reverend, thanks for taking the time to see me on such short notice.
Of course, Detective, please.
It's a very interesting building.
This was the first.
Built it in 1980.
The rest of the campus grew around it.
Now, I remembered you, of course.
People of this state owe you a great deal.
Not as much as they owe you.
Charitable organizations, education initiatives.
Thank you.
We're very proud of our ministries.
I don't do as much preaching as I used to, but the legacy program is more my focus now, the things like the State Policemen's Charity-- but what did you want to talk about, son? The Wellspring program, mid-eighties through the early nineties.
You remember that? Well, of course I remember, yeah.
I'm trying to locate old personnel, faculty, but I'm having a little bit of trouble acquiring names.
Well, the program was shut down officially, you know, maybe 10 years ago.
I never had much ground contact with it, but it involved a number of private schools-- enterprises, you understand-- that would adopt our standard of curriculum and, in return, receive tuition reimbursement for underprivileged students.
You got any files, any list of faculty? Well, that's what I'm getting at, is that these were private institutions, so you'd have to track down their administrators, I believe.
That's the thing.
See, all the schools dissolved with the program, and I'm trying to find some tax info, but there were religious exemptions.
Well, there's our archives, of course.
Now, we did lose a lot of files, had some flooding of one of the sub-floors.
But, you know, I think I should put you together with one of our clerical workers and see if they can't help you find something.
Thank you.
Listen, before you do that former deacon of yours, Austin Farrar.
That was very, very unfortunate.
Yet he was dismissed.
Evidence had accrued.
It became apparent that Austin had implemented certain funds.
Well, "Embezzling" is the word.
We elected to handle it internally, rather than pursuing formal charges.
And then he had his accident.
I'd heard he had taken it hard, drinking.
I've seen more souls lost down a bottle than any pit.
At the same time, it's hard to trust a man who can't trust himself with a beer, don't you think? Hmm.
But what's this all about now? Um Wellspring program, Austin Farrar? Dead women and children.
Terrible.
That's terrible.
How is that what you're working on? Oh, I can't say anything about it at this point, Reverend.
I'd like to set you up with a clerk.
You can look at, uh, whatever information we still have from Wellspring.
Why'd the Wellspring program shut down, Reverend? It couldn't sustain its costs.
The whole idea was to provide an alternative to the kind of secular, globalized education that our public schools were promoting.
When we get the school voucher program instituted, we'll reintroduce the idea.
People should have a choice in education, like anything else.
Hmm.
Steve, would you show the detective to our old archives for outside ministries? - Yes, sir.
- I'll call ahead.
I'm gonna come back for that.
Reverend, thank you for your time today.
Godspeed, Detective.
You'll be in my thoughts.
Oh, just the one more time.
I just need it-- I just need it one more time.
Beth, if you knew the day I just had-- Oh, then tell me about it.
I want to hear about it.
Oh no, you do not.
I really wanted to see you.
I've been thinking about something all week.
Don't.
Ever since last time.
Don't, OK? I just-- Haven't been able to think of anything else, tell you the truth.
Ohh like what? I've been thinking.
I think I want you to fuck me in my ass.
Uh, Beth.
I've never done that before, but I think I want you to do it to me.
I want you to feel better.
You out of your goddamn mind, hmm? What'd I tell you? You're fuckin' unbelievable, boy.
You know about this? Uh, I'm not sure what we're talking about here.
Your partner here, he braced Billy Lee Tuttle.
Oh, "Braced"? Are you fucking kidding me? It was a friendly conversation.
Hey, dipshit, you don't get to decide what kind of conversation it was.
Why'd you talk to Billy Lee Tut-- And you, look at-- you look like you haven't seen your own bed in a couple days, huh? Yeah? The fuck is wrong with you two? Ahem.
Well, I-- I can't speak for Rust, but I got the flu.
I didn't know that was going around.
Look, this is exactly what I'm talking about.
If he was pissed off after the conversation we had, then I am on to fucking something.
Shut the fuck up.
I told you.
I fuckin' told you! And human tampon here heard me.
Badge and gun, Cohle.
You're suspended.
One month without pay.
Repeated rank insubordination, misallocation departmental resources.
- Come on.
- Leroy.
Come on, that's over the top.
Don't you fuckin' Leroy me! I told you both! Cut the shit! It's done.
Badge and gun, Cohle.
Oh, and, uh, before your official reinstatement, you have 30 hours mandated departmental counseling.
You fuckin' serious? This guy, right? I got to kick you in the fuckin' head.
I'm the person least in need of counseling in this entire fuckin' state.
You ain't acting right, you don't sound right.
You're up my ass, and you were warned.
What? He's doing it again.
He's been doing it.
I can't live with it.
I can't live with it.
I can't deal with it, not again.
Did you know? Did you know? No.
What are you doing in here? What happened? I'm off the job.
That's not what I mean.
You can't live like this.
You know, people that give me advice, I reckon they're talking to themselves.
What are you doing? Some people, no matter where they look, they see themselves.
Be honest with me now.
What the fuck are you doing here? Huh? I'm sorry.
You know it wasn't you.
Really.
I I wasn't even sure I could do it, - 'cause seventeen years is a long time.
- Huh? You know I almost went with a with a stranger, a bar.
I'm sorry, Rust.
He'll have to go, you see, because this he won't live with.
Get the fuck out of here.
This You get the fuck-- This will hurt him.
Get the fuck out of here right now.
I'm sorry, but thank you.
You get the fuck out of here.
- I'm-- - Get the fuck out of here! Do you know what was going on with Cohle around that time? No.
I knew that he got suspended and that he quit after he and Marty had his they had their thing.
That's it.
So your split with Marty that had nothing to do with Cohle? No.
Hey, hon.
Hi, Marty.
How you doing? Sit down.
OK.
I have to tell you something.
I saw the pictures on your phone.
"B"? - Now, honey-- - Nice ass, Marty.
- No, I-- - I was maybe always a little - too skinny for you.
- No.
I cannot help it if some crazy bitch sent-- I slept with someone.
And you know him.
You're close.
Who? It was Rust.
I fucked your partner Rust.
Oh.
Now, what-- what are you saying? What-- what are you-- what the fuck are you saying to me? I already told you.
You fucking whore.
You don't know the half of it.
To tell you the truth, I haven't been fucked like that since before the girls.
Do it.
Do it! At least I'll have something to explain to your daughters.
Get your fucking hands off me.
Coward.
Cohle's outside.
Does he know he's suspended? I was coming for my files, Marty.
Hey, hey, hey! Whoa! Come on, guys, stop this shit.
Come on, Marty.
Come on, swing, Marty! You're gettin' your ass kicked! Oh, my God.
Get Salter.
Get Salter! Hurry up! Stop them! Hey! Stop! Oh! Stay down, Marty.
Come on now.
Don't do it! Hop up! Get up, get up! Work it out.
- Calm down, Marty.
- All right, that's enough now.
Hey! All right, back off! - Come on! Come on! Get him out of here! - Come on, Hart! Get him the fuck out of here! Fuck you! - Calm down, Marty! - Cohle! You better calm your shit right now! Get inside! You standing around watching this shit?! Get the fuck inside! I'm gonna kill you, motherfucker! Get him inside.
We ain't done here! - Get him inside.
- We ain't done here! Stop this shit.
I'm gonna need some fuckin' detail here, you two.
It's a personal matter between us, Boss.
Is there anybody pressin' charges? Not me.
You want to say anything, Cohle? No.
This man right here is the only pal you had, you understand that? Fuck him.
I ain't his pal.
I quit.
You serious? I'll send you a letter.
Yeah, fuck this.
Fuck this world, man.
Nice hook, Marty.
You're not gonna go into this, huh? Really? You two fucked each other up pretty good.
No shit.
What about when he quit? Any idea why? Maybe it was old stuff between them the way they always rubbed wrong.
I never learned what it was about.
Marty.
Rust.
Long time.
Long time.
Change your hair? Thought maybe we should talk.
Yeah? Buy you a beer? Sure.
I'll follow you.
Actually, why don't you buy me a beer?