Other Lives Script

EXT. STREET

Medics escort those that were injured during the shootout to ambulances, and check the dead bodies of those that were killed.

INT. CASPERE HOUSE

Moving boxes are piled in Frank’s new house. Frank watches TV.

REPORTER: It's been 66 days since the alleged murderers of Vinci city manager Ben Caspere engaged police in one of the deadliest shoot-outs in state history. The so-called Vinci Massacre was determined closed by Attorney General Geldof, who used the conference to announce his candidacy for governor.

Frank takes a sip of coffee.

GELDOF: Benjamin Caspere was a corrupt individual and he was killed by the dangerous psychopaths who engineered the tragedy in Vinci. In examining how to protect the state's most overlooked places, I can finally only come to one conclusion…

Frank gets dressed then walks into the bedroom. Jordan wakes up and he walks out of the room.

EXT. SEMYON HOUSE

Frank enters his car.

INT. CAR

Frank sits shotgun as Nails drives the car.

WOMAN ON RADIO: No comment yet from the governor. In other news, construction is expected to break ground next week on the state's central rail line.

INT. VPD OFFICE

Burris looks at Velcoro’s Vinci Gardens Casino security ID..

RAY: Help you with something?

Burris hands the ID to a clean-shaven Ray.

BURRIS: Security, hmm? Frank Semyon.

RAY: Stick with what you know.

BURRIS: You didn't have to quit. I told you that.

RAY: None of that went down right. State came in. Better to walk before they make you run.

BURRIS: We'd have helped you with that. Geldof closed the case. You're clear.

RAY: He's saying the Mexicans did Caspere?

BURRIS: Anybody come to you asking about that? Caspere, the Mexicans? You and Teague, he talk to you much when you were working together?

RAY: What did you come here for, Lieutenant?

BURRIS: Learned some things about Dixon. Wondered if you knew anything.

RAY: Anything about what things?

BURRIS: He had a lot of photographs, some other stuff. Might've been into some people.

Burris starts looking around Ray’s place. He looks to the driveway outside.

BURRIS: Bought another Charger.

RAY: Yeah. I appreciate a good rut.

Ray tucks a gun into his holster behind his back.

BURRIS: Well, I gotta tell you-- sorry about this-- but these row houses are reserved for municipal employees. And now that you're not one--

RAY: You fucking evicting me?

BURRIS: Hey, I got them to give you 60 days. And I wanted to come tell you myself. Come on, Ray, you don't want to live here anymore.

RAY: I gotta go to work.

BURRIS: Sure.

EXT. APARTMENT COMPLEX

Ray walks by a door and a woman hands him an envelope.

RAY: Gracias.

Ray knocks on another door. A woman walks by a table with beer bottles on it to answer the door. She hands him an envelope and he counts it.

RAY: This is short 200. I told you about this. What do I tell Mr. Frank? He can buy beer, he can pay the rent.

Ray inhales and hesitates.

RAY: Tell him to have it tomorrow or I'll put you on an ICE bus. Inmigración, entiende?

WOMAN: OK.

Ray walks outside and surveys the complex.

RAY: Jesus Christ.

INT. MEETING ROOM

COP 1: Sexual harassment's a political tool. You pay a compliment, a chick lawyers up.

COP 2: That shit's about looks, too. Difference between something like what I'm here for and flirting is how good-looking a dude is.cHow's that fucking fair?

LEADER: Now, this reflex to project blame upon the victim is going against the sorts of habits we want to encourage.

Camera cuts to Ani.

LEADER: Detective Bezzerides, how do you feel about your actions?

COP 1: Can I just ask, what the fuck are you doing here? Who wouldn't want her sexually harassing you? Am I right?

LEADER: See, that kind of thing there could be considered inappropriate.

COP 1: What? It was a compliment.

ANI: Oh, it's all right. It's all right. I understand. But I don't know. I mean, what can I say? I just really like big dicks. Yeah. It's not just length. Everybody's always talking length, but-- it's fine. I mean, girth, too. I really want to have trouble handcuffing the thing, like.

LEADER: Um, I'm not sure-- you know, that might be taken--

ANI: What? I thought you wanted me to share. This is a safe circle, right?

COPS: Hell, yes, it is. Hey, let her share, man. Yeah. Yeah.

INT. CHP UNION OFFICE

UNION REP: This man just received a commendation for bravery for one of the worst firefights in LA County history.

BROOKS (LAWYER): I don't think anyone would argue Mr. Woodrugh's facility for killing.

REP: All right, damn it--

GILLETT (LAWYER): We're amenable to putting this entire matter behind us.

LACEY LINDEL: I just want to forget that this terrible thing ever happened and get on with getting my life back.

PAUL: I did not do anything. And I am innocent.

GILLETT: Black Mountain. Pandhar village.

PAUL: I wasn't there. I wasn't at Pandhar.

GILLETT: How many men did you kill then? How many at Vinci? We want any violation involving this incident dropped. And we want Miss Lindel's earlier probation violation expunged.

DAVIS: That was your publicist, right? Got the tabloids to try smearing him? And now you feel okay about dropping the allegation?

LINDEL: I've learned a lot in therapy. I'm listening to my higher power.

PAUL: I saved lives in Vinci.

BROOKS: Oh, and did they fully account for whose bullets killed those civilians?

PAUL: Yeah, they did.

LINDEL: I just don't want what happened to me to happen to anybody else.

DAVIS: Detective Woodrugh works insurance fraud now. So you got him off the street. Congratulations.

BROOKS: Are we still talking? You're going for the deal, so take it.

PAUL: She is a fucking liar.

BROOKS: I think we're past all the name-calling. We could still pursue a civil case, Mr. Woodrugh.

PAUL: Detective Woodrugh.

INT. LUX INFINITUM

FRANK: Rate's changed. I need you to offer me an old-times'-sake price.

LLOYD: Frank, man, this economy?

FRANK: Start me a tab, Lloyd.

Two men enter the casino. One wearing sunglasses and a black cowboy hat. They walk over to Frank.

GONZALES: Frank Semyon?

FRANK: Who are you?

GONZALES: Our name is Gonzales. We work here.

FRANK: How's that, friend?

GONZALES: We had an arrangement with Santos.

FRANK: Nobody's seen him. Long time now.

GONZALES: We heard. So it is time to ratify our arrangement.

FRANK: We never had one. And I don't need partners. Door's in the same place, amigo.

The first man leaves. The second man with the cowboy hat stays.

FRANK: Can I help you, Cisco Kid?

The second man walks away.

INT. CHESSANI’S OFFICE

Frank wakes up Chessani, who is sleeping at his desk.

CHESSANI: The fuck? Frank, what the fuck are you doing in here?

FRANK: Ship seems a little loose today.

CHESSANI: Micro naps, Frank. Michelangelo took 'em.

FRANK: You remember Archeron Waste Management?

CHESSANI: You sold it off.

FRANK: After we sprinkled that corridor valley with heavy metals.

CHESSANI: So?

FRANK: So it's closed. The guy I sold it to, Ali Komunyakaa, who I never saw finish a beer, gets drunk and drives off a hillside in Ventura. All of a sudden.

CHESSANI: Not everyone has our physical fortitude, Frank.

FRANK: Like Caspere.

CHESSANI: Ben was king fuck of pad pulling. You deal with pimps, you get pimpish results, Frank.

FRANK: Couple months back, you said that there were outside interests looking at the poker room. Who?

CHESSANI: Foreign interests. Some fuck. I don't remember. I haven't been in touch since.

FRANK: Your boy hasn't moved to Oakland. I've noticed.

CHESSANI: No. But you moved to Glendale. Shame, that.

FRANK: Mm-hmm. And your kid Tony.

CHESSANI: My family ain't your concern, boychik. You've been running girls through the poker room. Not so much as a heads up to me. Penance is an extra five a month. Get out of my office, Frank. Next time, wait for an invitation.

FRANK: I'll let you get back to your process, then, Michelangelo.

Frank starts walking towards the door. Bodine gestures towards the door.

BODINE: Mr. Semyon.

FRANK: You don't direct me, Khe Sanh motherfucker.

BODINE: I'm Chinese.

FRANK: Then go stand in front of a fucking tank.

GENA’S ATTORNEY: Mr. Velcoro was a person of interest in a state investigation into corruption.

HARRIS (FRANK’S ATTORNEY): Which yielded nothing.

ATTORNEY: And after the firefight in Vinci, he resigned under scrutiny and pending a charge on substance abuse.

HARRIS: That's anecdotal hearsay. There's no record of my client being reprimanded for drug use.

JUDGE: Would you submit to a blood test, Mr. Velcoro?

RAY: Absolutely, Your Honor.

ATTORNEY: Finally, Your Honor, we are contesting Mr. Velcoro's paternity and wish to establish whether he even qualifies for father's rights.

HARRIS: Objection.

RAY: Fucking assholes.

JUDGE: You're not helping your case, Mr. Velcoro.

ATTORNEY: Mrs. Brune was the victim of an assault during the period of conception. She believes the rapist to be the biological father of her child.

RAY: I raised that boy. Am raising him. It doesn't matter where he comes--

ATTORNEY: Our position is that it matters a great deal.

RAY (to Gena): I trusted you.

GENA: I trusted you!

RAY: What does that mean?

JUDGE: I'll instruct the parties to refrain from addressing one another. Period. Now, I'm going to order a paternity and toxicology test. I'm ordering supervised visitation until both the paternity and toxicology results are in.

RAY: Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. What, I gotta get a stranger to chaperone me and my son?

JUDGE: I've delivered my verdict. Don't push me, Mr. Velcoro. Any revision at this point would not be in your favor.

The judge, Gena, her husband, and her lawyer get up and leave the room. On her way out, Gena gives Ray a look.

RAY: She never looked at me like that before. Like she hated me.

HARRIS: You really gonna test clean?

RAY: Yeah. Yeah, 60 days now. I want to fight this however I can.

HARRIS: Then pull some more cash together. Tax-free or not, this is gonna get expensive.

INT. THE POKER ROOM

Camera tracks through the floor of the casino. Blake Churchman checks out a girl as she walks by.

FRANK (V.O.): You need more money? I need more money.

INT. THE POKER ROOM - OFFICE

FRANK: We're war rationing.

RAY: More work, then. I can, you know, do double shifts at the Lux.

FRANK: This is for your kid?

RAY: Mm-hmm.

FRANK: I might have a job for you. The guy who bought the waste company we used in the corridor died. Place has been cleaned out. I'm gonna start listening to the hot feeling I got in the back of my neck. I want you to tail Blake. I want to know what his life is outside of me.

RAY: I can do that. What's your feeling? Running girls?

FRANK: Am I in confession?

RAY: No. Just, um, never seemed like you.

FRANK: Maybe you're just not very perceptive. Ask you something? You think those Mexes really did Caspere?

RAY: I don't know. It was bullshit surveillance and the crash pad was a fucking meth factory.

FRANK: Caspere died with five million of my dollars cash.

Frank pours two drinks.

FRANK: Stan's killed. I'm squeezed out of the rail corridor. The enemy won't reveal itself, Raymond. Stymies my retribution. It's like, uh blue balls in your heart. I'll see about some shifts at the Lux. But follow Blake. He's gotten too smooth for my peace of mind.

INT. CYNTHIA WOODRUGH’S TRAILOR

CYNTHIA: Oh, Paulie. Oh, no.

PAUL: I'm getting married. I love her. Her name is Emily.

Cynthia pours herself a drink.

CYNTHIA: How pregnant is she?

PAUL: Almost four months.

CYNTHIA: Mother of God. Of all the stupid... You're a good-looking white man. And you want to get in shoot-outs and become somebody's husband. You could do anything you want.

PAUL: Okay.

CYNTHIA: If I was a man, I'd have had the world. Dumb bastard.

Paul goes to a closet and pulls out a backpack. He looks through it.

PAUL: No, no. No, no, no. No. Fuck.

Paul runs into the other room.

PAUL: You took it. How the fuck could you?

CYNTHIA: Took what, Paulie?

PAUL: You know what! The money! The money I brought back from Afghanistan. 20 fucking thousand dollars, Cynthia.

CYNTHIA: That bag? Oh, Paulie. You've been back four years. I thought that was something you left for me.

PAUL: Something I-- I hid for, what, you to find? That's my stake. I'm having a kid.

CYNTHIA: Well, how would I know that?

Paul lifts up his shirt to show his scars.

PAUL: I fucking bled for that money. What did you do with it, slots?

CYNTHIA: Now listen. You knew I was out of work. I had every reason to expect a little help.

PAUL: I'm making a family. I know that don't mean shit to somebody like you, but it fucking matters to me!

CYNTHIA: Don't you fucking tell me I don't care about family. I was a dancer, but I carried you. And I brought you up alone. You could have been a scrape job.

PAUL: You wouldn't even know whose it was.

CYNTHIA: You ruined my career, you ungrateful asshole. I carried you for nine months and I've been carrying you ever since with your weirdness. You're strange. All your good friends, the boys. Yeah, I know about you, Paulie. Yeah, I know.

PAUL: You shut your fucking mouth. You fucking poisoned cooze.

Paul runs outside and gets in his car.

CYNTHIA: Paul. Paulie? Wait...

INT. DELVAYO HOUSE

DANIELLE: The police never found anything. And you-- you said you'd look into it.

Danielle hands Ani an envelope.

ANI: She left this, what, at a PO box?

DANIELLE: Attached to my old address. The bill took a while to find us here. When I paid it, they gave me the contents.

Ani starts flipping through the pictures in the envelope.

ANI:You settling in okay?

Ani and Danielle look around the place then back to the pictures.

DANIELLE: What's it mean?

ANI: Looks like a party. Did you follow up with Sheriff's?

DANIELLE: They got nothing. I hear nothing. I didn't want to hand this over. I thought-- when we talked, I thought I could trust you.

Ani flips through the pictures once more. She finds a photo of 4 blue diamonds.

INT. EVIDENCE ROOM

ANI: Shit.

Ani holds up a magnifying glass to one of the pictures. She sees Vera standing next to an older man. On her computer is a picture of Senator Fred Jenkins, who matches the man in the picture.

ANI: Fuck me.

ELVIS: Ain't you been warned about that kind of talk?

Ani looks up to see Elvis standing near the entrance to the evidence room. She walks over and hands him a clipboard.

ELVIS: Sorry you're down here. And I know you don't believe it, but I never put you under that bus. Sheriff already knew about you and me. I took full responsibility.

ANI: Yeah, sure. You're a real prince.

ELVIS: You'll be out of here in a few months. Look, somebody was trying to do you, girl. And if you had a few more friends, it might have been harder to get done.

Elvis starts to walk out.

ANI: Hey, hey.

Elvis turns around.

ANI: You remember that foreclosure we served a couple months back? The missing girl, Vera.

ELVIS: Yeah.

ANI: You said you had looked into her old roommate's phone records, found an address where Vera last called from?

ELVIS: Yeah, it was up north.

ANI: Could you get me that?

ELVIS: You're here now.

ANI: Help me out with this and I promise to do a fearless and searching moral inventory.

ELVIS: All right.

Ani sits back down and looks at a picture with a magnifying glass. Her hand shakes

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Ray speaks into a voice recorder.

RAY: Loyalty's important and usually painful. One day you might find cause to ask yourself what the limit is to some pain you're experiencing and you'll find out there is no limit at all. Pain is inexhaustible. It's only people that get exhausted.

EXT. CHESSANI MANSION - NIGHT

Ray follows Blake’s car to a mansion. Ray shuts his lights off and parks down the road. He hides behind the rocks to see Blake, Tony, and Pitlor meeting with 3 girls.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Ray follows the car. He looks through binoculars to see the 3 girls get dropped off with luggage in front of Osip’s club.

OSIP: Tony, how are you?

TONY: Osip.

They kiss each other on the cheek.

OSIP: Always a pleasure.

TONY: Approval is most essential.

Tony gestures to the girls.

OSIP: Let me see.

INT. LUX INFINITUM - DANCE FLOOR

Frank is overseeing the club. A drug deal takes place at a table. Frank sees Jordan walk towards him, but she takes a turn away into a side room. He follows her.

INT. LUX INFINITUM - SIDE ROOM

She pours them drinks.

INT. EMILY HOUSE

Paul pours a drink. Emly and her mother serve food.

INT. POKER ROOM - SIDE ROOM

Jordan exits the room. Frank holds back tears and pours himself a drink, then puts the drink down and follows her.

JORDAN: These books are bullshit. Whatever they were actually making here, I can't figure it out.

FRANK: That's expected. We can wipe that clear. How about you? How are you doing?

JORDAN: Where is this Santos character?

FRANK: Used to own the place. Wherever he is, he ain't coming back.

JORDAN: This is backslide city, Frank. I know what's going on out there in The Poker Room now. We're not just running some club.

FRANK: Come on. What's happening now is we are surviving. All right? We are rebuilding.

JORDAN: You were almost out of this kind of thing when we met. It was like you had a design.

FRANK: That design does not work once someone has stolen all of our money. The design does not work when I am knee-deep in dirt. You don't bring a kid into a situation like this.

JORDAN: To what? Where is this going?

FRANK: Excuse me? I thought this was a you and me thing, first off.

JORDAN: It is, but it has to be about something more than this. God, Frank, I helped, I know, but I don't want to be some fucking gangster's wife.

FRANK: You know that word bothers me. Because, me, I didn't ask for this world. I took it as-- "gangster"? I was born drafted on the wrong side of a class war. So fuck that gangster shit.

JORDAN: You're a pimp now, Frank. A dealer.

FRANK: I don't mix with those people. You know that. I'm trying to stay above water long enough so that we can-- those people, everything they do, they would do anyway. Crime exists contingent on human desire. These were the avenues left me.

JORDAN: And what's the expiration date for all this? Our child?

FRANK: Our child is part of the design. And being legitimate is part of the design. Right now it's on hold. You love me? Then you're with me. And maybe you love me if you're not with me. I understand. But say so so we don't have to be on these goddamn eggshells. Like I'm not me and you're not you.

JORDAN: I don't think I can have kids, Frank. I've been pretending that it might not be that way. I thought maybe-- but I went to the doctor alone. I had more than one. I had more than one operation, I mean. I had three.

FRANK: Three? The fuck are you--

JORDAN: In my 20s. We don't think I can have one, a child. I can't.

FRANK: You… You… But why now, huh? Maybe I'm less appealing in current circumstances. Why not tell me this when I'm on top of the world?

JORDAN: Well, now I'm me. And you're you. And here we both are out in the open. So who loves who?

INT. EMILY’S MOTHER’S HOUSE

Paul pours a drink as Emily and her mother serve food.

IRMA: This chicken looks good. Did you use that recipe or?

EMILY: I did, yeah.

IRMA: Carlotta's recipe?

EMILY: I did. I hope it comes out as well as she makes it.

IRMA: Very nice.

Paul sets down a glass for Emily and her mother.

IRMA: Oh. Thank you.

EMILY: Thank you. You know, we were just saying that it'd be a good idea for Mami to come stay with us a while after the baby comes.

IRMA: And the wedding? Speed up, I say. You're doing it, get on with it. And you're gonna want me here. You have no idea what you're in for. Long nights. No sleep.

PAUL: Might get kind of cramped.

IRMA: I'll take the sofa in the living room. I don't complain. An entire week on a boat, I'm four.
I don't complain. Down in the hull eight days.

EMILY: Mama...

IRMA: What? Is he gonna arrest me? Thank Jesus they got you off that motorcycle. Much better. And you wear a suit now.

EMILY: He's very handsome.

INT. LUX INFINITUM - SIDE ROOM

JORDAN: A couple of months back. When I talked about adoption.

FRANK: Jordan, I don't want--

JORDAN: I was thinking about you as a kid, what it would have meant if somebody had looked out for you. If somebody had taken care of you.

FRANK: There's no bandwidth for that right now.

JORDAN: I'm with you, Frank. I love you. But I don't want to see you lose who you've become. And I don't mean the money.

FRANK: And I want to thank you for seeing me like that. It fucking tears me up the way you're having to live now.

JORDAN: My problem is with you not coming to bed. With both of us being half in the bag each night.

FRANK: I will find a way out.

JORDAN: The adoption, you were so definite. I think you were saying no to the kid that you once were. You were saying he was somebody else's problem. I'm going home. You should make some time to join me.

Frank goes to pour himself a drink, but puts the drink down and follows after garden.

INT. RESTAURANT

SINGER: Waking up is harder than it seems...

Ani hands Ray the pictures.

ANI: Spent all day in state's evidence control. Then Vinci PD. Nobody had an answer. They just vanished.

RAY: Well, looks like them. But these would have to be taken before Caspere died. How you been?

ANI: Drinking more. My hands get fucked up. Shake, like. You?

RAY: Talking to myself a lot. Sticking to booze, though. That's new.

They pause and listen to the singer.

RAY: So the diamonds from Caspere's safe deposit went missing from evidence. It ain't exactly unheard of.

ANI: This girl's missing. Disappeared shortly before Caspere's body turned up. What did we keep hearing about escort parties? Powerful men. I couldn't make them all, but that's a state senator. Look at this one.

Ani shows Ray a photo of Caspere.

RAY: Caspere. This ain't the type of party allows cameras. What do you think? Some kind of blackmail?

ANI: You really think we cleared the Caspere case? Those Mexicans?

RAY: They had items from Caspere's house there. Fingerprints. What do you care? These people put you in a cage, Bezzerides.

ANI: This girl's gone missing. Nobody cares. The interior's poisoned and suddenly worth billions, nobody cares. Bunch of people got shot to shit, nobody fucking cares.

RAY: Well, I'm not a cop anymore. And you're not a detective last I heard.

ANI: Nope, you do security for some comeback mobster and I log evidence.

RAY: I do consultation. And you should get out. You're too good for 'em. You hear about the kid? I mean, fraud investigations? He was a fucking god warrior that day.

ANI: Yeah. I talked to him. He's miserable. Belongs in the field.

RAY: Then he should quit, too.

ANI: Why didn't Dixon make that place for a cookhouse, huh?

RAY: I don't know. 'Cause he's a wet brain alky. I have this new program, see. Because my powers of influence are so meager in this sublunar world of ours, I try to limit the people I can disappoint. And I make sure to know the difference between my obligations and somebody else's.

Ani drops a tip on the table. The scar-faced bartender watches from across the room.

SINGER: Breaking up is harder than it seems...

RAY: Don't do that. It was-- it was-- it was good seeing you. I didn't realize you had been on my mind.

SINGER: Pictures on the mantel speak your name softly like forgotten tunes just outside the sound of pain…

Ani walks out of the restaurant.

INT. SEMYON HOUSE

Frank sits down next to Jordan on the couch.

JORDAN: Some Lee Marvin movie on TCM.

FRANK: Maybe something light. I don't care what we watch.

Frank kisses Jordan on the head.

EXT. WAREHOUSE

The camera cuts around to major locations from the shootout.

RAY: What's it matter? Your boss moved off all this. Pretty cleanly, too.

DAVIS: That's my point. We closed the Vinci investigation and Geldof announces a governor's run with a suddenly massive war chest.

RAY: So he had his hand out. That what this is? You holding your hand out? Where's my cut?

DAVIS: A real attorney general could do a lot of good in this state.

RAY: Has she got to you with her missing girl?

Ray gestures to Ani.

RAY (to Paul): And you, what, are you just looking for trouble?

PAUL: I need to be in the field. I'm not happy either how things played.

DAVIS: Geldof's actions are the clearest indication of collusion between the Vinci power structure and the larger state institutions.

RAY: And it wouldn't hurt your job prospects having dirt on the future governor.

DAVIS: I'm putting together a confidential special investigation. Stated goal is to track down Irina Rulfo, the girl who pawned that shit, brought you all to this place. You know she was never brought in.

Davis shows Ray a mugshot of Rulfo on her tablet.

RAY: What's the real purpose?

DAVIS: Finding out who killed Caspere. Uncovering evidence of collusion between Vinci PD, mayor's office, AG, and any other state bodies.

RAY: You know I'm not a cop anymore.

DAVIS: You have your PI license. I checked. I could detail you as a state attorney's investigator into a missing person. I need people who aren't gonna ping on our radar. Word gets out what we're looking for, they could shut it down like last time.

RAY: I got a job. Thanks, but no.

DAVIS: That job gonna get you your kid back?

RAY: What do you know about him?

DAVIS: I know it's not looking good for you. State Attorney's office could intercede on your behalf with Family Services. Recommendations, testimony. I could make sure you keep your boy.

RAY: Well, they never found the camera and the hard drive. I don't think the person who shotgunned me was one of those maniacs at the shoot-out either. While we're talking...

ANI: I want to look at some of this land up north. Might have a line on those hooker parties, too. A lot of money there. If it's a place, deals go down, we need to look at it.

RAY: You can't be cleared for this.

DAVIS: She's taking vacation time. I'm placing her as a confidential investigator. Means I don't have to register her.

PAUL: I can follow up on the diamonds. Why Caspere had them. Why they're missing.

ANI: Why the girl had photographs of them.

RAY: I guess my million-dollar question is why me?

DAVIS: You're out of the system. You know Vinci PD. Properly motivated, you're a good bet to get the dirt.

ANI: Think it over, Velcoro. Never too late to start all over again.

Ani and Paul drive away.

RAY: You let me keep my kid, I'm in.

DAVIS: Get started. You're on the clock. I want daily reports.

RAY: Wasn't it you who thought I was the worst of these people?

DAVIS: Saw that rumor about you killing a guy was bullshit. Figured maybe the rest of it was, too.

RAY: How'd you decide it was just a rumor?

DAVIS: I thought you knew. They caught the guy. I assumed maybe your ex told you.

RAY: What do you mean caught the guy?

DAVIS: A few weeks back, guy got pulled in for sexual assault in Venice. DNA matched six unsolved rapes, including your ex-wife's kit. He'll get life, sounds like.

Ray looks shocked and goes silent.

DAVIS: Get results. I'll make sure you keep your kid.

INT. UNION STATION - OFFICE

Frank looks at a model of Vinci.

JACOB: Frank, thanks for coming.

FRANK: My position is you people owe me some land.

JACOB: I'd have a hard time convincing my board of that.

FRANK: Imagine word of how that corridor's gotten bought up over the past five years. How exactly it came to be so cheap.

JACOB: I can't see that being of any interest. A waste removal service poisons park and farmland along the central valleys. A major California landowner committed to real estate development steps in. You're reaching

FRANK:. Archeron Waste Management is dissolved. The guy I sold it to ran himself off the road. You know anything about that?

JACOB: There might still be something for you. Why I called. Let me ask, have you ever heard of Caspere possessing a collection of films? Home movies. A hard drive full of them. If you're interested in doing something for us it could put you back in the corridor.

FRANK: Somebody's got that hard drive.

JACOB: I know the police never found it in either of his houses.

FRANK: What about the Mexicans? Did Caspere?

JACOB: I'm no detective, but it might be a good place to start. If you believe they're the ones that did it.

FRANK: Five parcels, gifted, I find that hard drive.

Jacob nods.

INT. PITLOR HOME - OFFICE

Ray enters the house then walks to Pitlor’s desk.

PITLOR: Oh, yes, I remember you. Correct? How can I help you?

RAY: I'm here to help you, Doc. I'm here to help you keep all that cosmetic work intact.

PITLOR: I can't imagine we have anything to talk about, sir. I fully cooperated with you last we spoke.

RAY: Well, maybe that's on me not asking the right questions.

Ray clears off Pitlor’s desk then slams his gun off the desk it.

RAY: You and Chessani, girls, human trafficking. You do their implants, nose jobs.

PITLOR: I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm a psychiatrist. With a secondary concentration in reconstructive surgery.

RAY: You, Chessani, Caspere, you went back farther than you made out.

Ray puts the picture of Chessani, Pitlor, and Caspere by the lake on Pitlor’s desk.

RAY: The girls, spill.

PITLOR: Your compensatory projection of menace is a guarantor of its lack. And it says something about the depths of your misperceptions.

Ray punches Pitlor in the face. Pitlor goes for the phone, but Ray stops him and then throws him around the room.

RAY: Kind of day I've had, seeing you pop a few stitches might start to make up for it. Pin-eyed motherfucker. Hooker parties. What you'd call affluent men. Caspere attended. Go.

PITLOR: I just-- I just do work on girls. Make eights into 10s. Make sure they have the proper prescriptions, that's it.

Ray pistol whips Pitlor then holds him up by the throat.

PITLOR: The parties are a safe place, a conclave for men of influence.

RAY: Talk motivations or I'll dig into that face-lift and yank.

PITLOR: Caspere concocted the idea of the parties with Tony Chessani. Tony's a pimp with political ambition. His father doesn't participate in the gatherings. Tony's service makes him friends with those men of affluence you mentioned. Lays the groundwork for deals that Caspere facilitated.

RAY: What else?

PITLOR: I th-- I think both men used the occasions to compile potential blackmail material on their guests. Rumored Ben had footage of various important people. McCandless.

RAY: Who?

PITLOR: He's the president of Santa Clara Railroad Company. It's smaller now. Called Catalast.

RAY: You go back with the Chessanis. You put his first wife in a mental hospital.

Pitlor spits his teeth into his hand.

PITLOR: Yeah, I did every-- I did everything-- I did everything I could for Helene. Certain traditions of the Chessani patriarchs she had a difficult time with. They are you might say, a highly inventive family.

Ray starts walking towards Pitlor and the camera cuts to black.

EXT. SHORE

ATHENA: Might be tough to get back into that scene.

ANI: But not impossible, right?

Athena studies a piece of driftwood.

ATHENA: Look for the pieces that are solid, that haven't been hollowed out yet with, like, a smooth surface.

Athena tosses the driftwood.

ANI: Say you lost your job, whatever. Just some story. You need to work the next party.

ATHENA: I don't-- I don't know if I can get in touch with those girls. They weren't exactly stable.

Athena holds up another piece of driftwood.

ATHENA: I'm getting really good at this. Not like hers.

ANI: If you can get a line on an invite, I need to look into it. This girl's missing.
There's other stuff.

ATHENA: Something else? After that shooting? You haven't talked about it. Dad asks and says that you won't call him back.

ANI: I'm busy. Work.

ATHENA: I wondered why you were so hot to hit the beach today. I tried weighing if it was worth the price of a lecture.

ANI: I'm not in a spot to give those.

ATHENA: Did I tell you I got into CalArts?

ANI: You-- that's great. Awesome.

ATHENA: Thank you.

ANI: Congratulations. Jeez.

ATHENA: Thanks.

ANI: I should, uh-- I should buy you dinner.

ATHENA: Maybe I can reach out to a couple of the girls that I knew before.

ANI: For the straight up purpose of getting me into that party, okay?

ATHENA: Aren't you supposed to be behind a desk?

ANI: I just started my vacation.

ATHENA: Going anywhere special?

ANI: Yep. Guerneville.

ATHENA: You homesick? For a place you hate, you never really got that far away.

INT. PAWN SHOPS

Paul holds up pictures of the blue diamonds to various pawn shops. He is told no by all of them until he reaches an older pawn shop owner.

INT. PAWN SHOP

The owner looks over the picture of the blue diamonds.

PAWN SHOP OWNER: An excess of boron produces the color. Now, most of your colored diamonds are of low quality, but something like these with such a rich hue, it's just very rare. And the cut, octahedron, these must almost certainly be stolen. I told the other policeman the same.

PAUL: What other policeman?

PAWN SHOP OWNER: Oh, a few months back, a detective came by with pictures of identical diamonds. Wanted to know if anybody had come around maybe trying to sell them. I told him I read the pawn sheets regular and I haven't seen them listed. He tells me they don't want the stolens on any sheets. So he gives me his card, says to let him know if I hear anything.

PAUL: You still have that card?

OWNER: Yeah.

The owner goes to get the card.

OWNER: He was a portly man. Smelled like bourbon. Flatulent, too.

The owner puts a card down on the table. It’s Teague Dixon’s.

INT. CAR

PAUL: The thing is, when Dixon came around about the diamonds, it would have been before we found the safety deposit box.

ANI: So he knew about the diamonds before we found them.

PAUL: And in which case, why not put them on the hot sheets?

ANI: My ex-partner got this address where the missing girl last called from. Spot was on Caspere's GPS, too.

PAUL: Mmm. Seems like a happening place.

ANI: Used to be this commune here on the River Valley

They drive by a man carrying a cross.

EXT. PARKING LOT

Ray and Gena stand on top of a hill overlooking the city.

GENA: Why did you say-- so that man that you tracked down, that was a lie?

RAY: No, I--

GENA: I don't understand. They caught him weeks ago. Called me in. Richard came with me. He's a serial rapist. DNA matched the kit that they took on me back then. Did you just make it up? What you said?

RAY: I...

GENA: Why? Why would you do that? So-- so, what? So you can make me think that you were protecting me or something?

RAY: It's-- it's not-- it's not what I--

GENA: That ruined everything, Ray. That ruined you. That's why I have to have the paternity test. I have to know. I have to know so I can put it all where it's supposed to be. I don't want to live this fantasy about Chad with you anymore. He should have the truth when he's ready. This-- (sighs) this fake story where we made a family has to end.

Gena starts walking away.

RAY: He set me up. Frank.

GENA: I don't know what that means, Ray.

Gena walks to her car.

INT. SEMYON HOUSE

Jordan curls up next to Frank in bed.

JORDAN: You serious? About the adoption?

FRANK: It meant something to me, what you said. I want to thank you for telling me that.

JORDAN: We both could have used different parents.

They start kissing and start to have sex.

FRANK: Don't worry about kids now. This is between you and me.

EXT. HOUSE

Ani and Paul walk up to a stone house. They look through the windows and see the furniture is covered.

PAUL: Seems like nobody's been home. Want to call local? Get us in here?

Ani looks up to see a pack of crows circling over something. She walks towards them.

PAUL: Now we're following birds.

ANI: Carrion birds.

They walk towards a cabin in the woods with their guns out. The crows are perched on top of the cabin.

ANI: You smell that?

PAUL: What, bird shit?

INT. CABIN

They see a chair covered in blood with duct tape on the arms. Blood is smeared on the walls.

ANI: It's arterial spray.

PAUL: Jesus.

INT. SEMYON HOUSE

Frank looks up at the ceiling.

FRANK: The ceiling's clean. No water stains.

JORDAN: I like it here. Really. We didn't need all that room.

FRANK: Don't talk like that. Come on. There's a guy, McCandless, Catalast--

JORDAN: Leave business. We should sell the clubs.

FRANK: Buy a farm. Grow organic produce.

JORDAN (laughs): I could see us as farmers. Mmm.

FRANK: You would run for a plane the first time you smelled shit. Trust me.

em>Frank kisses Jordan.

FRANK: I worked as a picker. I was 14. You don't want to grow anything.

JORDAN: What about this guy?

FRANK: There's something I might be able to do for him. If I can, we can get it all back.

JORDAN: Do you trust him?

FRANK: I trust self-interest.

There’s a knock on the door.

FRANK: Stay here.

Frank gets up and walks towards the door. The knocking continues.

FRANK: I’m fucking coming! Shut the fuck up!

Frank takes a gun out of a drawer and walks to the door. Frank opens the door to see Ray.

FRANK: Got a fucking problem?

RAY: You alone?

FRANK: Yeah. Why?

RAY: You and me need to talk.

END EPISODE