Copper s02e07 Episode Script

*** - *** - Welcome back to New York.
Let's just say you and I make great business *** Sarah, my darlin'.
What, exactly, happened to my boys? I carry another child? Yes.
Well, excuse me, sleeping beauty.
The precinct isn't a flophouse.
I know.
Detective, go home, to your wife.
I'll choose where I go.
And I'll choose when.
This vagrancy has to end.
So either you go home, go to a cathouse, or sleep on the street, like any normal five points denizen.
Can I help you, missus? You're in need, are ya? Thank you, mama.
You're welcome.
What are they on about now? Nothing to cause concern.
Ahem.
Oh! For the love of God! It's just streetsweepers.
I don't even know why they bother, with these mountains of filth.
I know it's strikingly different from life on the plantation, but, five points has its charms, too.
Yesterday, we saw a naked child jumping up and down on a pile of dead, bloated horses.
I don't even think my Sara noticed.
Doctor, my baby girl, hazel, is sick, real sick.
What's wrong with her? Can't hold anything in, same as all our neighbors.
Hot fever.
It's been a few days, now, and I don't know what to do.
How many people are sick? Seems like half the block.
The hospital turned us away, so they're puttin' all the stricken in a flat on the second floor of our building.
This could take some time.
What the hell are you doing in here? Downstairs neighbor complaining about a leak.
Go on, now, or I'll stick ya like the pig ya are.
Oh.
Ah.
All right, all right.
The board of aldermen vote should not be the problem.
Being underbid on the project that is the danger.
Miss Heissen.
Thank you for coming down so early.
Ah, woman with child first.
I need your assistance.
An especially vexing pest has been thwarting my business, but I currently lack the leverage I need to get rid of him.
You, my dear, are the perfect fraulein for the task.
Go on.
Fortuitously, this individual is due to be visiting your establishment, fancies girls that remind him of his Time in the tropics.
At any rate, I would like your help putting him in a more compliant position.
I can handle any position.
What's the angle? I'm trying to secure the contract to build the city's new aqueduct.
This man is my only viable competition still standing.
Hmm.
What's in it for me? Besides a lesson in politics? That's a lesson I could teach.
This gentleman is a rightminded individual, deeply concerned with establishing orphan asylums in his name after building his fortune on the backs of 10-year- old in his coal mines.
Orrin Lansing.
That son-of-a-bitch hypocrite who led the charge to close down my place uptown? One and the same.
Huh.
Mm-hmm.
Bloody cat keeps staring! Something's not right with this Bartlett case.
Waiting to pounce.
Come on, Corky, you've been stuck on this case for more than a week, now, and still haven't found anything.
A rich boy killed his daddy and himself end of story.
The girl's parents don't even give a shite where she is.
Why do you? Because Teresa Trembley knows what happened to Bartlett.
Mrs.
O'Dwyer! Fellas! Come take a look.
Ugh.
Now Mab O'Dwyer's vanished, too.
Empty as a woman's promises.
You guys ever going to stop? The newcastle rail spur's been abandoned, sir.
Contract will not be awarded.
We built a goddamn train track to nowhere.
All that worthless stock money, burned.
Darling, off so soon? "Worthless stock"? What's the trouble, Robert? No trouble, my sweet, other than the fact that my glass is empty.
Hell of a predicament to find oneself in this time of the day.
How much is lost? I'm not a fool, Robert.
I know what a man looks like in defeat.
I bet you do.
I can be of some assistance.
Forgive me, darling, but you don't have the best record, when it comes to assisting the men in your life.
Now, why don't you run along and find some poor, destitute negroes that actually need rescuing, and leave me the hell alone to figure out what, if anything, can be done here.
Are you feeling the kicks yet? As rough a pounding as I've ever been given.
He's a strong little mule.
You're a brave one, miss Eva.
I would've gone in for a cleaning, myself.
Crossed my mind.
What changed? Who can ever say what changes a person's mind? Sometimes life just takes charge.
So who's the lucky father-to-be? Not that you could ever tell, for certain.
There's a reason my name is on the door, sweetheart.
When I lie down, it's because I want to lie down, or, because I want something from the man I lie down with.
Compared to you girls, I'm practically a virgin.
Who is looking for a good time? Watch it, you big animal.
There's our guest of honor.
Oh, Corcoran, you have a visitor.
Mrs.
McGrath.
Detective.
I'm afraid I need your assistance again.
What's the trouble? Since me husband's most welcome departure God bless him my landlord's been making advances.
I pay the rent, keep the place in order.
No reason he should be hornin' after me.
What's he been doing? The other day, he had me cornered in the hallway, when me boy Michael came upon us.
I'd be happy to sort him out for you.
Oh, I can handle meself all right.
Not the first baboon I've had giving chase.
It's Michael I'm worried about.
He's the man of the house now.
Bit too eager to play the part.
He's gone and got himself a gun.
I'll go see the boy.
We'll have a little chat.
Norbert.
I was hoping I'd find you here.
It's Robert.
Gone missing, has he? I'd check the usual disreputable haunts.
Your son is losing all your family fortune.
And that surprises you? Surely, you knew, when you married him, he was good for little beyond diversion.
This is the Morehouse legacy.
All you labored to build, all these years.
You would hate to wind up penniless, wouldn't you? Hmm.
Oh, it's a senseless point to argue, norbert.
Hmm.
But more than that, I'd hate for Robert to think himself a failure.
I have a meeting to keep.
I wish you both the best of luck.
Just thought you should know the boys and I stopped off at the Trembley apartment, only to find the neighbor Mab O'Dwyer disappeared.
Took off kind of a sudden.
That can't be a coincidence.
Most people can't wait to get the hell out of five points.
The woman lived there for 16 years, then she suddenly ups and leaves? Maybe she's sick of seeing your ugly mug.
What do you want? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Enough, detective, enough! Enough of this bullshit obsession wi the Bartlett case! Yes, sir.
Don't let me tell you that again.
Um, Donovan, another issue, if I may? Finally, a change of subject.
I have a problem with a certain landlord.
I can smack the sin out of him, but, I'm trying to fix this without raising a hand.
Admirable change of pace, but sometimes one should stick with the simplest method.
I want to set an example for a kid who's seen his fair share of violence.
Who's the landlord? Hannigan, over on Chatham.
Ah, William Hannigan.
He's a real cavan man, as mean as they come.
Best way to influence a man like that is to go straight at his wallet.
He'll be suing for peace in no time.
How's that? Well, I'll have my secretary send Patrick daley from the buildings department by.
He'll perform a full-on site inspection.
Amazing, the trouble those lads can cause "without raising a hand.
" Buy daley a few drinks and he'll put on a real show for ye.
Thank you.
Mm.
That's all right, my dear.
That's all right.
Get it all out.
Lean over, ma'am.
That's it.
Who are you? Dr.
Freeman.
No kiddin'.
The first negro doctor I've ever seen.
Well, welcome to five points, or should I say? Hell on earth.
Thanks for the welcome, but I live here.
Whew, that's awful.
I thought the mission sent you, too.
What is your diagnosis? Well, I'd say we've got a cholera outbreak on our hands.
Same symptoms of everyone I ask bloody diarrhea, vomiting, dazed by fevers.
I've not yet made it to the back room, but I surmise it's much of the same.
No.
No! No! Leave me.
I I can't.
What am I going to do with writing at my age, Sara? It's just it's pure idleness.
Your husband wasn't at his office, so I is he here? No, he's out visiting a patient.
He may be a while.
You're welcome to come in.
That way, you can meet my mother.
Hattie Lemaster.
Mama, Ellen Corcoran.
Ma'am.
My friend.
How are you finding five points? Loud and crowded, mainly.
We were just learning the alphabet.
Pardon me, but I would rather do something more productive.
With all the projects in a house, how often in your day do you stop to read, much less write? Reading old correspondence is my only comfort when the wrong memories take over, when I hate to be alone, but I don't know how to be around others.
As if I were unworthy of company.
Recently, I've been Ellen, you can speak freely here.
My mother and I, we are no strangers to darkness.
I feel it coming on, the knocking and the crying in my head, like a storm about to break.
I can't.
Not again.
Not alone.
Can't what? Raise another child.
Have you told Kevin? I haven't spoken to my husband in almost a month.
He's forgotten about me, about everything we ever had.
He he is ashamed of me and maybe he should be.
I can't be the messenger bringing more bad news.
Allow me.
Miss Ellen, you, bringing him news tells him that you're still his wife.
He needs to hear that from you, real soon.
The diseased describe an abrupt onset, an indisputable characteristic of cholera.
Yet only the young and old seem to be afflicted here.
What are you suggesting? Cholera does not discriminate by age or strength.
It fells those in their prime as well.
Please, doctor, I was trained at the Columbia college of surgeons.
Is that so? Well, if this is cholera, then tell me, why are there no sick adults here? Afternoon.
I, uh, thought I'd swing by, see how you been lately.
Could be worse.
Take a walk with me.
I'm busy.
It wasn't a question.
Back after a piss.
So, Michael, your mother says you're having a problem with your landlord.
Codfish! Codfish here! Mrs.
Corcoran.
I'm looking for my for Kevin.
He's not here.
If I were you, I'd try back at night.
This is where he's been? This is where he works.
Should I tell your husband you stopped by? No, thank you.
Never mind that.
What did she want? Nothing from you.
Come sit with daddy, little monkey.
Oh, you remind me of this ripe little native I once knew in Guatemala.
Let's see if you're as malleable as she was.
Aren't you thirsty, boy? Here, let's have another.
Fine idea.
I do love my booze.
To you, king Lansing.
Ohh.
Ooh! Rrr, giddy up.
Daddy's going to ride you 'til your kidneys quiver.
Uah! Oh! We're going to get you feeling better, hazel.
How is she, doctor? It's a difficult case, I'm afraid.
Well, he don't know what's going on, and you's about as useless as he is, wit' your fancy talk.
You may as well be back on that plantation, bowing down to them crackers.
I am a free man, a doctor, practicing medicine in New York City.
Free? Why, you's nothing more than a white man's mule in a white man's war.
Come around here, trying to think and act like the white man, too.
Oh, you talk all you want, but progress and self-betterment are not the exclusive domain of the white man, Mr.
Turnow and, besides, I'm the only mule you got.
Go ahead, shoot.
With what? Come on.
Look at this poor bastard.
I see that every day.
So do I.
But it's not pig's brains that I see splattered.
What of it? It's hard to tell, sometimes, but there is a difference between a man and an animal and you'll know, sure enough, if you ever have the misfortune of actually killing someone.
If it was your mother, what would you do? At your age? I'd probably have shot the bastard and then hung for it.
Me mother I can't stand to see her bothered like that.
No woman should ever be.
How about I take care of that landlord, and then, if you want, I could teach you to box, so you can handle yourself.
Hmm.
Maybe that's an okay idea.
Nobody goes to prison in this city for smacking somebody that deserves it, but you shoot a man dead? You're sure to hang.
Well, if it isn't father.
What bedeviling twist of fate brings you to our door? Word on the street is that the Morehouse fortune is dwindling, hemorrhaging funds.
You need help.
We already have a full staff, father.
Perhaps try the neighbors? I believe their housekeeper recently took ill.
I want back into the business, Robert.
It's rather sad when one's elders begins exhibiting early signs of dementia, wouldn't you say? You need my expertise.
You'd be foolish to pretend otherwise.
Your return to the family business wasn't ever a part of the plan, father.
You were paid handsomely for your testimony and, now, your assistance is no longer required.
That big heart you pride yourself on is a worthless attribute in finance.
Let him help.
Why bother? The money's already gone.
The money's already gone.
I'll ask only once.
Robert, please.
Father, you will work for me.
Now, get the hell out of my chair.
Mother of God! Oh, no, the camera! Aah! Shit! What've you been eating, anything unusual? I don't know.
Same as I always do, I s'pose.
Potatoes, odd scrap of meat.
And you? I'm sorry.
Where do you get your water from? A well, out back.
Does hazel drink from the well out back? Yes.
Yes, she does.
Can you take me? Sure.
They just dug it, not too long ago.
Excuse me, Mr.
Morehouse.
Hello, father.
Back already? Robert, I want you to meet Mr.
Maillard.
This is my son, Robert.
Mr.
Maillard.
I want to talk to you about something.
You have my full attention.
Ahem.
We've decided to water the stock in both the Northern and Richmond, as well as the Central, Milford, and Raritan Railroads.
"We"? Mr.
Maillard, here, is going to help us issue the necessary bonds.
With my connections in the Western states, we're able to spread rumors about which railroads will be stitched together with the union pacific.
Surely, you must be joking.
I never joke about money, Robert.
Well, I won't be part of it.
My son, a bastion of nobility.
Modicums of deceit are one thing, father, but I will not be part of blatant corruption.
It's no different from that pathetic little spur in Pennsylvania into which you dumped our fortune, except, this time, we'll be on the other side, the victorious side.
The answer is no.
If you would like a "yes", go buy it from somebody else.
We might have underestimated just how much tincture is necessary to knock the pig out.
Again, I'm very sorry.
Hmm.
Have I ever told you about the time I pissed in that pimp's hat? No.
Hmm.
It was quite an offloading.
I nearly filled it right up to the brim.
I was a young patrolman.
I thought humiliating that pimp would go far towards keeping my beat in line.
It was an arrogant miscalculation.
Before the day was through, nine men lay dead.
A nasty bit of business.
Speaking of nasty bits of business, with all the conspiring we're doing, I fear I've been neglecting you.
Neglect sometimes feeds anticipation.
That's it, Miss Heissen, just like old times.
I can't believe those rebel curs are going to make the negroes fight their war for them now.
It boggles the mind.
As with everything, the war boils down to money.
Speaking of, I saw your n&r is soaring.
Pardon? Mm.
I only wish I'd known to invest.
You must be Patrick daley.
Ah, one and the same.
Kevin Corcoran.
Ah.
So, you could use my expertise with a particularly vexing landlord.
Hello.
Aye.
A drink? Certainly.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Ah.
Ahem.
Another.
What do you see in front of you, detective? Besides a level, a tape measure, and a plumb Bob? The handsomest, most liberal tap jockey in the whole union.
The more I pour, the handsomer I get.
Right.
Now, they certainly appear innocent enough, but, in the right hands, these are less tools of construction, than destruction.
Mr.
Donovan, I told him you were busy, but he threatened to throttle me, sir.
It's all right, lad.
If I find out you had anything to do with that perfidy at Eva's paradise, you will wish you'd never left that rancid potato bog you call home.
Good day to you, Mr.
Lansing.
I was just going over my proposal for the new aqueduct.
If you think you'll intimidate me into dropping my bid, well, you're as stupid as you are duplicitous.
I'm a goddamn honest businessman and I will not sink to your level.
What you call honesty, others might refer to as thievery and extortion.
Men like me built this country with our own hands, and you, foreign scum, are trying to subvert everything we have done.
I believe you mean you exploited the hands of the red man and the black man to build it for ye.
Well, Neat trick, by the way.
You laugh now, paddy, but you know this my associates and I will purge that tammany nest of vipers on Nassau street and sweep you back into the sea, once and for all.
Let me tell you something! I'm an American.
I am an American and I will build that aqueduct, whether ye wish it or not.
And, if you'll excuse me, I believe my next appointment is here.
Sisters, please come in.
Thank you.
Have a seat, please.
I can violate any structure in the city into oblivion.
Well, God bless ya.
Ah, don't bless me, detective.
Bless the organization.
Tammany takes care of its own.
Well, let's see if you can work your magic over on Chatham.
Right.
Steady as a methodist minister.
I have a few buildings ahead of you to start.
Shall we say 5:00? Aye.
You met my friend? I did.
You're looking good.
You went behind my back and issued those bonds.
You can thank me later.
Father Somebody had to do something, Robert.
After all, you have a wife to keep happy now.
The same way you made mother happy? The only thing that made your mother happy was gin.
Maybe she drank to escape life with you.
I couldn't take a drink out of that woman's hand without her other one reaching for the bottle.
"That woman" was my mother.
And none too pleased about it, truth be told.
Pull it.
Robert! Stop it! James! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Enough! Stop it! Enough! What is wrong with you? Go on, go.
Get out of here.
You would've killed me.
I'm not the one who drew a pistol.
I'll not forget this day.
Can't thank you enough, detective, for talking sense into Michael.
Your boy'll be just fine.
He's at a rough age, for any lad.
Well, it helps a world, being around a man such as yourself.
Is that a touch of Kildare I hear in your voice? I'm from Newbridge.
Really? My mother was born in Kilcullen.
I know it well.
My father favored a butcher's there.
Are you glad you came here? Who wouldn't want to come to America? Oh, no, no no no no no, sir.
This will most definitely not do.
Why, inspector, please! All the other steps are up to code.
Um, possibly, you could, you could find it in your heart, just this once, to to make an exception.
I'll do anything.
Anything.
What are you suggesting, Mr.
Hannigan? This step here, in addition to the vertical-support issue in the entry, complicated by oh, my, my my my, Ah, surely, you must know my cousin Kentigerna McGrath? Lansing's out of control.
He must be contained.
I'm going to need more from ye.
Aye.
Sir.
I want you on him like a hemorrhoid.
Anybody he sees, everything he does, you bring to me.
No detail's too trifling.
The man is an avowed enemy of the Irish race, who stands against everything we hold dear.
Is this official police business, sir, or? What this is, Mr.
Maguire, is you showing appreciation for being saved from the gallows.
For, let's not forget, evidence of a murder once lost can always be found.
O'Hearn.
Ah, this water is rife with it.
Swarms of these oblong rods.
I haven't seen anything like it before.
That poor girl.
Can you do anything for her? I don't know.
But I'm convinced that this unknown contagion is what's to blame for all the illness in that building.
I know it gets to you, seeing all that suffering.
Sick and the lame I can handle, it's my profession.
What got to me today was running into a black man as bigoted as any white man.
That's a sickness I can't cure.
I had half a mind to smack his face good.
What'd that have accomplished? I would've settled for satisfaction.
Matthew, after all you've achieved, to lower yourself in such a way.
It's done.
Let's move on.
Fine.
Ellen Corcoran stopped by today, asking to speak with you.
I told her you were attending to patients.
She seemed troubled.
Well, sadly for her, that's not unusual.
Matthew, she's with child.
I know.
Well, then, you must also know that she's not doing well.
In her head, I mean.
She hasn't told Kevin, and I think Sara, no.
I'm just wondering if we might Help, in some way.
It is not our place to interfere.
You can't heal a marriage like a disease.
Sara.
The sergeant told me you were here.
Everything all right with Matthew? Oh, yes, he's fine.
I came for another reason.
Ellen stopped by today, looking for my husband.
Well, is she unwell? She needs you, at home with her, instead I appreciate your concern, but, at times, there are matters between a husband and wife that Kevin, she's pregnant.
Get up! Get up! You slept with my wife again, you son of a bitch! You're wrong, Corky! I did not touch Ellen! Then, whose child is my wife carrying?! I've no idea.
Take a breath.
Take a breath! You're a goddamn lying bastard! I trusted you, once.
Never again! That's fair play, but I swear, on the friendship we once had.
Francis.
The child is not mine, Kevin.
It's not.
You realize that, St.
Patrick's day, we celebrate the day he died.
I may have inadvertently given her the impression that you were the father.
This police force is not going to mix races in the name of magic! - Leave us be, damn it! - Matthew.
I told them my name was Annie Corcoran.
What makes you so certain he won't come around to your position? I can adjust my negotiation style, if required.
You're not supposed to be up there.
Imagine if you were found out.