"Before the end of the season last year and then re-injured it in spring training on a terrific game-saving play." "You know, I was talking with..." " What time is this going on?" " 7:30 is the pre-game." " Who'd you say was pitching?" " Tiant's pitching." " Goddamn Cuban." "He can hurl it." " I'd hate to be facing him." " Who are they playing, Yankees?" " Yankees." "Imagine a 92-mile-an-hour fastball coming at you." " You don't have time to think." " Hey, guys!" "What kind of night you think Fisk will have?" "He's been hot lately." "He gets on base twice tonight, gets on base twice, I'll paint your porch." "Ah!" "Save." "The sewer." "Hold on, I'll get it." "Sorry, guys, I guess I don't know my own strength." "You know what, Dave?" "That must be it." "Hey you guys know what would be really cool?" " What?" " Driving a car." "You know, just around the block." "Yeah?" "Anyone on this street keep their keys in their car?" "I steal a car, my dad will kill me." "Just around the block." "Who said steal?" "Your dad kill you for writing your name too?" "See, now it'll be there forever." "Me too." "Forever." "Let me ask you something." "You brats think it's okay to destroy municipal property?" "Huh?" "Come here." "Get over here." "Well, do you?" " No, sir." " No, sir." " No." " No, what?" "Sir." "You're the hard case of the group, huh?" "A pack of punks, huh?" "You live around here?" "Right there." "You?" "Right over there." "How about you?" "Where do you live, son?" " Rester Street." " Is your mother home?" "We're gonna go have a talk with her." "Tell her what her punk kid's been up to." "Get in." "Get the fuck inside." "In." "You kids go tell your mothers what you've been up to." "And don't let me catch you shits ruining my sidewalks again." "What do you mean?" "Who put Dave in a car?" "The cop." "He had a gold badge." "How do you know it was a cop?" "See anything on the badge?" " No, no writing." " He had a uniform on?" "Like a regular police uniform?" " He was a cop." " He took Davey." " So, what were you guys doing?" " We wrote our names in the cement..." "You were writing in cement and playing hockey, but they took Dave?" " That doesn't make sense." "Come on." " Is there something wrong, Dad?" "Please." "No more." "Please." "No more, please." " Have you seen him?" " Looks like damaged goods to me." "Jesus." "You took some good swings today." "Dad, I struck out." "Good swings, though." "That's what counts." "I'll never be a good ballplayer." "Hey, you're my son." "Me, Dave Boyle." "Star shortstop, Trinity High School, 1978 to '82." "You're gonna be a great ballplayer." "Hey." " See that gutter drain over there?" " Yeah." "I used to play on this street when I was a kid." "That drain swallowed every ball we had." "Baseballs, street-hockey balls, Pinkys." "If we could get that manhole cover up could be 1000 balls down there." "Really?" "Let's try." "Get in." "Come on, Dad, come help me hunt for balls." "Maybe tomorrow." "Let's get home before Mom starts to worry." "Jimmy." "Jimmy." "Earth to Mr. Markum." " What do you want now, Pete?" " Like I'm Mr. Needy all of a sudden?" "We're out of the Marlboros and the Winstons are looking grim." " So?" " So that means less profit and more profit means I get a raise." "So why don't you order more." "All right, but if the Surgeon General calls, you're my alibi." " Hey, you." " Hey, there." "I'm going out tonight with Eve and Diane, at 7:30." "Don't stay out too late." "You got your sister's First Communion tomorrow." " Christ, I sound like..." " Someone's father?" "Yeah, somebody's." "Not mine." " Later, Daddy." " Later." "Have fun." " Later." " Later." "Brendan." " You scared the shit out of me." " Sorry, I didn't want your dad to see me." "He sees you sneaking into my car, he'll shoot you." "What will he do if he sees this?" "Shoot you and then kill you." "It's been six hours." "I had to see you." "I'm gonna be late for Eve and Diane." "Tomorrow?" "Like we planned?" "Tomorrow." "Drop me around the corner." " Take it easy." " He kept cutting me off!" "He kept cutting me off!" "He kept cutting me off!" "He followed me all the way from Lynnfield." "He was trying to kill me!" "That son of a bitch!" "Oh, can you believe this guy keeps confessing?" "I don't know." "Maybe we ought to grab a lawyer out of one of these BMWs up here." "Hey, Devine?" " What you looking at?" " The old neighborhood." " We're done, but I can stay." " No, I think we're good, thanks." "Um, a few of us are going to the Cantab after." "No, I don't think so, Jen." "Thanks." "Thanks anyway." "Yeah." " So the wife left you six months ago?" " So?" "So Jenny Coughlin there with the body, voice and the cuffs..." "This girl, she makes gay guys rethink their orientation." "So, what's your point?" "The girl just wants to bed you, not wed you." "You don't even blink?" "She wants to worship at the temple of Sean Devine." " I'm married, Whitey." " So was Bill Clinton, didn't stop him." "You haven't talked to Lauren in six months." "She calls all the time." "And says absolutely nothing." "Weirdest thing I ever heard of." "One of these days, the phone's gonna ring and she'll tell me why she left." "Yeah?" "Maybe she's waiting for you to say something." "Come on, come on, come on." "The pitch." "A swing and a line drive into right field." "A base hit." "I just don't feel like they're gonna win this one." "Could we please have three beers?" "Yeah, come on." "You believe those chicks?" " Come on." " Oh, yeah, baby." "Hey." "Ain't that Jimmy Markum's girl?" " We've got you right over here, boys." " Yeah." "Yeah." "I've known her since she was a kid." "A ball and two strikes." "Two on, two out." "Dave." "It's 3 in the morning." "Where have you been?" "Oh, my God." "I fucked up." "What happened?" "This guy tried to mug me, and I swung on him and he sliced me." "But look at your hand." "We gotta go to the hospital." "No, no, it's not that bad." "It's not that deep." " It bled like hell." "I can't go to the hospital." " Oh, my God, Dave." "Come on." "Come here." "So I'm walking to my car, and this guy comes up to me, he asks for a light." "I say I don't smoke." "He says neither does he." "My heart starts clocking a buck fifty because there's no one around." " Oh, God." " That's when I see the knife." "Says, "Your wallet or your life." "I'm leaving with one of them."" " That's what he said?" " Yeah." "So I try to brush past him." "That's when he slices me." " You said you swung on him first." " Celeste, can I tell the fucking story?" "I'm sorry, babe." "Shh." "I went fucking nuts on him, baby." "I..." "I went off." "I bashed his head on the parking lot." "There was blood everywhere." "I might have killed him." "Killed him?" "It makes you feel alone, you know, hurting somebody." "Yeah, but you had to, right?" "It makes you feel alien." "Okay." "Babe, you hop in the shower." "And I'll take care of your clothes." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "Here." "911, police services." "What's the nature of your emergency?" "There's, like, this car with blood in it, and the door's open." " What's the location of the car?" " Sydney Street." "It's in the Flats by Pen Park." "Me and my friend just found it." " Son, what's your name?" " He wants to know her name." "Your name, what's your name?" "We're so fucking out of here." "Good luck, man." "Dispatch, this is Unit 33." "We're gonna need a crime-scene tech, and you might want to notify Homicide." "Thirty-three, have you found a body yet?" "Over." "No, but by the looks of this car, we'll find one sooner or later." " Yeah?" " I'm in the weeds at the store and I need some help." "You and Katie can't handle 6, how you gonna handle the church crowd?" " That's the thing, Katie ain't here." " Hold on." "I'll be there in 10 minutes." "Just call Sal, make sure he can get there at 8 instead of 10." "No-shows at work, what if she no-shows at church?" "She'll be there." "You know, she's gonna screw up this day too." "Oh, what other day has she screwed up lately?" "You got two other daughters, don't forget." "I'll be at the church before anybody else, don't worry about that." "What the fuck's going on here?" " Pete, anybody show?" " No." "Katie didn't call?" "No." " Hello?" " Drew, Jimmy." "Sorry to wake you." "I'm looking for Katie." "Yeah, she's here, I think." "Hang on a second, let me go check." "Have a nice day." "No, it was Diane Cestra who slept over." "No Katie." "Eve said she dropped her off at around 1:00." "Didn't say where she was going." "Don't worry, I'll track her down." " She seeing anybody maybe?" " 19-year-old girls, who can keep a tally?" " That's the cold truth, bud." " I'll talk to you later." "I'll take hookers over old ladies any day." " Mind if I go grab a smoke?" " You can smoke the whole pack." "Thanks." "Can I help you, Brendan?" "No, Mr. Markum, I'm looking for some of that tea that my ma likes." " That's Barry's." "Next aisle." " Thanks." " When's Sal getting here?" " Anytime now." " That it, Bren?" " A Globe." "I thought Katie worked on Sundays." "Are you sweet on my man's daughter, Bren?" "No, I just see her here sometimes." "Her little sister's making her First Communion today." "Oh." "Thanks." "Come on, Ray." "Can I ask you something, Jimmy?" "Shoot." "Why do you hate that kid so bad?" "It's not hate." "Doesn't that little mute fucker spook you out sometimes?" "No, not Silent Ray, Brendan." "He's nice." "Does sign language with his brother even though he doesn't have to." "He doesn't want him to feel alone." "But you look at Brendan like you're two steps away from slicing off his nose and feeding it to him." " No." "Really?" " Straight up." "Here's Sal." "About fucking time." " Hey, there, bad boy." " Sarge." "This should be the city's, but the park's state jurisdiction." "So if the body's in there, the case is ours." "How much evidence do you think they've destroyed?" "Let's go find out." "Parker Hill vic walks into the ER on his own steak knife sticking out of his collarbone." "He asks the nurse, "Hey, where they keep the Coke machine?"" " Did she tell him?" " What do we got on the car so far?" "We found the registration in the glove box." "Owner is Katherine Markum." " Oh, shit." " You know her?" "Maybe." "Might be the daughter of a guy I know." "We found a wallet and a license in a backpack." "She's 19." " Oh, fuck, that's her." " Is it a problem?" "You close with the guy?" "When we were kids." "Now it's just a "hello" around the neighborhood." "Nineteen." "Fuck, man." "He's in for a world of hurt." "Do not make her laugh." "Door was ajar when we found it, headlights on." "Blood on the driver's door, speaker, more blood on top of the steering wheel around this bullet hole." "Punched through the driver's seatback, shoulder level." "Okay, perp stood outside the car girl slams him with the door, perp gets a round off hits her in the shoulder, maybe the bicep." "She runs for it through the trampled weeds..." " What do you think?" " Yeah, I dig that." "Body of Christ." " Body of Christ." " Amen." "My God, Jimmy, our baby." "Body of Christ." "Body of Christ." "So I'm thinking she hid out here for a little bit." "The killer shows, she bolts." "She goes to the other side, she takes off running again." "Well, we better call in some divers while we're at it." "Body of Christ." "Body of Christ." "So you haven't seen him in a long time or what?" "No, I haven't seen him since we were kids." "Once in a while, I run into him." "Sure looked cute, though, didn't he?" " Daddy, Daddy!" " Hey, darling." "Good day, huh?" "This dress itches." "Yeah, I'm not even wearing it, and it's itching me." "We are so proud of you." " Morning, honey." " Dave." "There's nothing about it in the papers." "I checked three times." "It was late, real late." " Morning, Mikey." " Morning, Dad." " You up for hitting some Wiffle Balls?" " Yeah, come on, let's go." "Come on." "Put your coat on, Mike." "Thanks, Mom." " Hey, Jimmy." " What's up, Ed?" "They got Sydney blocked off, Crescent to Dunboy." "Boo Bear Durkin saw frogmen going into the Pen." "Why you all decked out?" " Nadine's First Communion." " What are you doing here?" "Just curious, I guess." "That's my daughter's car." "The dog's sniffing something by the old bear cage." " Want to take a walk over?" " Yeah." " Trooper Devine?" " Yeah, go ahead." "We got a guy on Sydney says he's the father." "Oh, shit." " Got a psychologist on the scene yet?" " En route." "Just keep him calm till the shrink gets here." "Asking for you." "Says he knows you." "Not taking no for an answer." "And he's got some guys with him." " What guys?" " Crazy-looking guys." " The Savage brothers." " Just a "hi" around the neighborhood?" "All right, I'm on my way." " Hey, guys." " That's our niece in there." " Let us in." " We're doing our job." " Let us in." " Fuck you!" "The doughnut shop's that way!" " Nick, Val, ease up." " Fucking dickhead." " Enough." " Nick." "Go to Drew Pigeon's house, talk to his daughter." "Katie was with them last night." " Kevin, let's go." " And, guys?" "These girls are friends, so don't be hard on them." " But get answers." " You got it." "Yeah, that's what I believe." "Yeah." "Hey, Jimmy." "Hey, man." " Is she in there?" " All we're doing is looking." " Quit blowing sunshine up his ass." " That's my daughter's car." " I understand." " And it's got blood in it." "You got fucking dogs all over." "Why do you got dogs looking for my daughter, Sean?" "Because we're looking, Jimmy, okay?" "Right now all she is is missing, okay?" " Trooper Devine?" " Yeah, say again." "Sergeant Powers says you need to get in here ASAP." " Your location?" " The old bear cage." "It's a fucking mess." "All right." "Make sure he doesn't get through." "You got those bolt cutters in your car?" "I'll get us right through that Sydney Street fence." "Go." "There's a massive search underway for a woman missing in Buckingham Flats." "All we know now is there are signs of foul play in a car found abandoned outside of Pen Park." "Now, police officers have moved in quickly and cordoned off the area but even as we speak, a crowd of spectators has gathered." "We don't know more than that, but we will stay on the story." "Until later, this is Jim Smith reporting for WB 56, 10:00 news." "Ready?" "Bat back." "All the way back." "I never saw anything like that before." "What do we got?" "Oh, Christ." "Is that her?" "Yeah." "We'll have the father do a positive ID at the morgue." "Blood's from a split in the crown of her head." "She was beaten with a stick, but that didn't kill her." "She was shot a second time." "Looks like a.38." "What the fuck am I gonna tell him?" ""Hey, Jimmy God said you owed another marker." "He came to collect."" " Hey." " Hold on!" " Grab him." "Stop that guy." " Hey, you!" " I'm fucking going in there!" " Take it easy!" " Get his arms." " Hold him." "Come on." " Let me in, you motherfuckers!" " Take it easy." " Let me in!" " Is she in there?" "!" " Sean, is my daughter in there?" "!" " Let me in!" "You motherfuckers!" "Is my daughter in there?" "!" "Is she in there?" "!" "Is she in there?" "!" "Hey, take it easy!" "That's the father." "Is my daughter in there?" "!" "Motherfuckers!" "Is that my daughter in there?" "!" "Look into my eyes!" "Is she in there?" "!" " Get off me!" " Sean, is that my daughter in there?" "!" "Is that my daughter in there?" "No!" "No!" "Oh, no!" "No, God!" "Oh, God, no!" "No one's said anything, right?" "What do you mean?" "You haven't seen her yet, right?" "It might not be her, right?" "Jimmy?" " Jimmy, please..." " Please what?" " Please..." " Please what, baby?" "Please what?" "Yeah, that's her." "That's Katie." "That's my daughter." "Fresh-brewed." "So we need to work a time line." "It's details, little things that make a case." "You know, things that you could forget about after a day or two." "Did you ever think about how one little choice could change a whole life?" "I heard Hitler's mother wanted to abort him." "At the last minute, she changed her mind." "See what I mean?" "What do you mean, Jimmy?" "What if you or I had gotten into that car instead of Dave Boyle?" " What car?" " You're losing me here." "If I'd gotten into that car that day my life would have been a different thing." "My first wife, Marita, Katie's mother she was a beautiful woman." "Regal." "As a lot of Latin women are, and she knew it." "You had to have balls to go near her, and I did." "Eighteen years old, the two of us." "She was carrying Katie." "Now, here's the thing, Sean." "If I'd gotten into that car, I'd be a basket case." "I never would have had the juice to go near her." "And Katie never would have been born." "And she never would have been murdered." "You know?" " See?" " Yeah." " You ever see Dave around?" " He married my cousin Celeste." "What time did Katie get home from work yesterday?" "Around 7:30." "Anything unusual, out of the way about her?" "No." "She sat with us, with me and the girls, while we ate." "She was having dinner with her friends." " Eve Pigeon and Diane Cestra?" " Yeah." "She talked to Nadine about her Communion and then she was on the phone in her room for a bit." "And then around 8, she left." " Do you know who she talked to?" " No." "Do you mind if we have the phone company subpoenaed for records?" " No, go ahead." " Good." "You spent most of the day Saturday with your daughter in the store, correct?" "Yes and no." "I was mostly in back." "Anything odd?" "A confrontation with a customer, anything?" "No, she was herself, she was happy." "She..." "She what?" "It's nothing." "Listen, the littlest thing could be something right now." "It's just that when she was little, right after her mother died I had just gotten out of prison, she couldn't be by herself." "Whether she was crying or not, it didn't matter but she gave a look sometimes, like she was preparing to never see you again." "For a couple of seconds on Saturday, she looked at me that way." " Okay." " It was just a look." "It's information." "We collect it, put it together, see what fits." "Little things." "You were in prison?" " Oh, Jesus." " Here we go." " Whitey." " I'm just asking." "Sixteen years ago, I did a two-year bit for robbery at Deer Island." "Is that gonna find my daughter's killer?" "Just asking." "Let's forget about that." "Let's get back to the point." " Sorry." " It's all right." "It's all right." "Okay, Mr. Markum." " Okay." " Okay." "All right." "So, Jimmy outside of the look Katie gave you, was there anything else?" "There was this kid." "What am I talking about?" "That was this morning." "What?" "Remember, it's the little things." "This kid Brendan Harris come in the store, like he was expecting to see her." " Barely knew each other." " Could they have been dating?" " No." " What makes you so sure?" "Sean, are you gonna grill me?" "A father knows." "Mrs. Markum, was Katie seeing anyone?" "No one right now, as far as we know." " I mean, knew." " I'll give you whatever you need tomorrow." "We got girls at home wanting to know where their sister is." "All right, there will be a trooper downstairs to take you home." "And if you think of anything anything at all, give us a call." "He said you almost got into a car when you were kids?" "Shit." "Me, Jimmy and a kid named Boyle were playing in front of my house." "This car came up and took Dave away." " Abduction?" " Yeah, guys pretending to be cops." "Convinced Dave to get in the car, kept him for four days before he escaped." " They catch these guys?" " One died." "The other got busted, went the noose route in his cell." "Your pal Markum, the moment I laid eyes on him, I could tell he'd done time." "They never lose that tension, it settles in their shoulders." "He lost his daughter." "That's what's in his shoulders." "No, that's in his stomach." "The tension in his shoulders, that's prison." "the gunshot wound to the back of the head not the trauma from the beating." "What else?" "Her and her friends were barhopping." "We're interviewing anyone who might have seen them." "One other thing, the backpack in her car had pamphlets on Las Vegas and a list of Vegas hotels." "It doesn't sound like much." "What do you say, Devine?" "We'll get the guy, sir." "That's right." "All right, let's do it." " That's the best you can come up with?" " It made him happy, didn't it?" "This is Sean." " Hello?" " Is it Lauren?" "You're in Manhattan." "I can tell by the traffic sounds." "Is he with you?" "Is that the baby?" "Christ, Lauren, at least tell me her name." "Yeah, nice talking to you too." "Hey." "Would it surprise you?" "Wouldn't be the first time." "Did you see that girl?" "Did you see that...?" "Did you see her?" " I heard a car hit something." " Hit what?" "Another car?" " Oh, no, not loud like that." " Like hitting the curb?" "Yes, maybe." "Then it stalled, and someone said, "Hi."" " Someone said, "Hi"?" " "Hi."" "Then there was a loud crack." " Could it have been a gunshot?" " Yes, maybe." " Did you look out your window?" " Oh, no." "I was in my dressing gown by then." "I don't look out the window in my dressing gown." "The voice you heard, was that a male or a female?" "Female." "I think." " It sounds like the girl knew the shooter." " Yeah." "Sorry to trouble you." " Jimmy." " Theo." "How's my daughter?" "How's Annabeth holding up?" " She's trying." " Let's get these on ice." "You got a couple of coolers?" "Right here's fine." "So how are you handling all this so far?" " It hasn't really sunk in, Theo." " Yeah?" "It's gonna hurt like hell when it does." "When my Janey died, I was no good for six months but my kids were all grown up." "I had that luxury." "You, you got domestic responsibilities." "Domestic responsibilities?" "Yeah, you gotta take care of my daughter and those girls." "That's your first priority." "Oh, you figured that might have slipped my mind?" "It just needed to be said, that's all." "You'll come through because you're a man." "Like I said to Annabeth, your wedding day." "I said, "You got yourself a real old-school man there."" " Like they put her in a bag." " What?" "That's what Katie looked like when I saw her in the morgue." "Like they put her in a bag and then they beat the bag with pipes." " Well..." " Janey died in her sleep, all due respect." "She went to sleep, she never woke up." "Peaceful." " You don't need to talk about Janey." " My daughter was murdered." "They put a gun to her." "As we stand here, she's on an autopsy slab getting cut open by scalpels and chest spreaders and you're talking to me about domestic fucking responsibility?" "Good to see you, Theo." "Eve, just tell them what they want to know." " Who was she dating?" " We already told the Savages." " The Savage brothers?" " They were here yesterday." "Good, now try us out." "Who was she dating?" "No one special." "You guys were having a goodbye dinner, right?" " What?" " She was leaving town, wasn't she?" " Going to Las Vegas?" " How do you know?" "She closed her bank account, she had hotel phone numbers." "She wanted out of this dump." "She wanted to start a new life." "Well, a 19-year-old girl doesn't go to Las Vegas alone." "So who was she going with?" "Come on, girls." "Who was she going with?" "Brendan." "Excuse me?" " Brendan." " Brendan Harris?" "Brendan Harris, yeah." "You got an address?" "Hey, Dave." "Hey, Jimmy." "Sorry, I came out for a smoke." "Go ahead, sit down." "Sit down." "I haven't had a chance to talk to you all day." "How you doing?" "What happened to your hand?" "This?" "I was helping a buddy move a couch." "I slammed it in the doorjamb." "Ways you can manage to hurt yourself, right?" "It's good to see you." "Yeah?" "How are our girls holding up?" "They're doing okay, I guess." "That Celeste, she's a godsend." "You thank her for me, will you?" "It's nice, isn't it?" "Just to sit out here." "Yeah." "I couldn't stand looking through the fridge to find room for all that food we're gonna throw away in the next few days." " Lot of waste, huh?" " Yeah." "I just can't let anything get fucked up in these next few days." "Because it's all anybody will remember about her." "One thing you could say about Katie, even when she was little that girl was neat." "When I got out of the joint you know, after Marita died I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter than I ever was of being in prison." "I loved her most because when we were sitting in that kitchen that night it was like we were the last two people on Earth." "You know, forgotten." "Unwanted." "And it's really starting to piss me off, Dave, because I can't cry for her." "My own little daughter, and I can't even cry for her." "Jimmy." "You're crying now." "Yeah, damn." "I just want to hug her one more time." "She was 19 fucking years old." "Do you want me to leave you alone?" "No, just stay here for a minute, if that's cool." "Yeah, sure." "Jimmy, it's cool." "When was the last time you saw Katie Markum?" " You don't think I'd hurt her do you?" " She isn't hurt." "She's dead." " I didn't kill her." " Again, when's the last time you saw her?" "About 8..." "Saturday night, about 8:00." "About like 8, Brendan, or at 8?" "It was about 8." "Um..." "We had a couple slices at Hi-Fi, and she had to go meet Eve and Diane." "Yeah." "Why doesn't Jimmy Markum like you?" "I don't know." "But he told Katie he never wanted her to see me or any other Harris." "What?" "That thief thinks he's better than our family?" "He's not a thief." "He's a thief!" "A scumbag burglar." "Daughter probably had the same bad gene." "You count yourself lucky, Bren." "So Katie had some brochures for Vegas." "We heard she was going there with you." "We were gonna leave Sunday." "We were gonna get married when we got there." "Well, that was the plan, right?" "You were gonna leave me?" "Without a word?" " Ma, I was gonna tell you." " Just like your father, huh?" "That's my brother, Ray, and his friend John." " Hey, boys." " Hey." "He don't speak." "Father couldn't shut up, but his son's a mute." "Oh, yeah, life's fucking fair." "They're here about Katie." "Why don't you go watch TV or something." "So where were you between 12:30 and 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, Brendan?" "I was asleep." "Can you confirm that, Mrs. Harris?" "I can confirm that he closed his door at 10:00." "He came down for breakfast at 9." "I can't confirm that he didn't open his window and go down the fire escape." "Okay, we're gonna ask you to take a polygraph." "You think you're up for that?" "I loved her so much." "I'm never gonna feel that again." "It doesn't happen twice." "Doesn't happen once most times." "Celeste." " Sorry, Jimmy." "You surprised me." " What are you still doing here?" "Uh..." "I don't know." "I don't know, I just..." "Did Annabeth get to sleep?" "Yeah, I convinced her to take a pill." " Could I get one of those?" " Yeah." "One for the road and then home." "Jimmy, I can stay over if you want." "Sit up with Annabeth." "You've done enough." "To you and Dave for being here for this." "Okay, Jimmy." "I'll be back." "I'll be by first thing tomorrow." "See you first thing." "Good night." " Good night." " Yeah, good night." "Hello?" "Oh, Christ." "Lauren, say something." ""Okay." "Hey, Sean, how was your day?"" "Oh, me?" "I'm tired of wishing things made sense." "I'm tired of caring about some dead girl and there's just gonna be another one after her." "Sending killers to jail is sending them where they've been heading all their lives." "The dead are still dead." "Jesus, I can't do this tonight." "I just..." "I can't do it." "Bye, baby." "Because sometimes the man wasn't a man at all." "He was the boy." "The boy who escaped from wolves." "An animal of the dusk." "Invisible." "Silent." "Living in a world the others never saw." "World of fireflies." "Unseen except as a flare in the corner of your eye." "Vanished by the time you turn your head toward it." "I just gotta get my head right." "Catch a nice, long sleep." "And the boy will go back to his forest." "Back to his fireflies." "Is he asleep?" "How's Jimmy and everybody?" "Okay." "It's weird." "Took something like this for me and him to become friends again." "Dave?" "Dave." "There's still nothing in the paper." "About what?" "I don't know, honey." "Maybe I didn't hurt him as bad as I thought." "He's a mugger." "He's not going to the hospital." "Yeah." "Right." "Anyhow, it doesn't matter, does it?" "I mean, Katie Markum is dead." "That seems more important right now." "I know in my soul I contributed to your death." "But I don't know how." "Brendan Harris aced his polygraph." "Good." "I didn't like him for it, nor want him for it." "Yeah." "Poor fucking kid." "Ballistics will be back in a while." "Meantime, we got a list of bar patrons." "All people who, I'm certain, are dying to cooperate." "Considering the crime, maybe." "Dave Boyle?" "Hey, is that the guy you were friends with as a kid?" "The car guy?" "Could be." "He's a guy to talk to." "He knows you." "He won't treat us like cops." " Clam up for no reason, huh?" " We'll see." "Hey, Boyle!" " What's it been, seven, eight years?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "How you doing?" "This is my son, Michael." "Hey, Michael." "How you doing?" "My name's Sean." "I'm an old buddy of your dad's." " Hi." " Hi." " So you still with the staties?" " Homicide." "This is my partner." " Sergeant Powers." "How are you?" " So you got a minute?" " We'd love to ask some quick questions." " I was gonna walk Michael to school." " I can be back in a few minutes." " We'll walk with you, okay?" "Sure." "So you look good." " I hear rents are rising." " Yeah, the yuppies are coming." "They're cutting my dad's old house up into condos." "We walked by there the other day." "Must be something we could do to stop them." "A friend of mine says the other day, he says:" ""Neighborhood needs a fucking crime wave." "Get property values where they belong."" "Girls keep getting murdered up in Pen Park you might get your wish." "Dave." "Call me Dave." "You said the F-word, Dad." "Yeah, I know." "Walk on up ahead, Michael." "Us guys need to talk." "Go on." " So, what's up, Sean?" " Yeah, you heard about Katie Markum?" "Yeah, I was at Jimmy's yesterday." "Celeste is there now." " Who's Celeste?" " My wife." " How's Jimmy doing?" " It's hard to tell." "You know him." " Yeah, so the reason we came by..." " Listen, I saw her." "Katie." "I don't know if you know that." "At McGill's, the night she died." "That's what we wanted to talk about." "They were at a couple of bars that night." "Your name turned up for McGill's." "They put on quite a show dancing on the bar." " Pretty drunk, huh?" " But it was harmless." "They weren't stripping or nothing." "They were just 19." "What time did they leave?" "I left at 1." "They must've left 15 minutes before me." " So we'll say 12:45?" " Sounds about right." "You see anything unusual or anyone...?" "Michael." "Like what?" "I don't know." "A guy watching the girls?" "A guy with hate in his eyes?" "A woman-hater?" "No, if they hadn't danced on the bar, it would've been business as usual." "See you later, Dad." " You got your milk money?" " Uh-huh." "Fuck, I hated school." "What?" "Oh, uh..." "Yeah, me too, Sean." "Uh, just one more thing, Mr. Boyle." "Where did you go after you left McGill's?" " Home." " 15, would you say?" " Roughly." "Sure." " All right." "Yeah, well, thanks a lot, Dave." "We'll grab a beer sometime?" " Yeah, I'd like that, Sean." " All right." "What?" "What happened to him in that car?" "Can you believe this?" "Man, it's the same as Dunkin' Donuts." "It costs 15 times the price." "Yeah, well..." "You know, you take away love, money or hate as motives you're not left with a whole lot." "Well, if this Markum thing's random, I mean, shit." "Yeah, tell me about it." "But the old lady, Prior, she doesn't hear a scream." "Hears a gunshot, before that a "hi" which tells me the girl is either friendly or she knew him." "She turns to the curb, not too fast or she hops it." "Foot's off the clutch." "She stalls." " She says, "Hi." He shoots her." " She slams the door into him, takes off." "What makes her swerve without hitting the brakes?" " I don't know." "Something in the street." " Maybe." "This Markum girl couldn't have weighed more than what, 110?" " Hits hard enough to get a jump on him?" " Maybe he's knocked back on his heels." "Your pal Dave strikes me as a guy permanently back on his heels." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Wait a second, how did we get to Dave Boyle all of a sudden?" " We just got to him." " He's a guy who was in the bar." "The last place, Seany, the last place she was at." "The guy is wrong." "You saw his hand." "Yeah, I saw his hand." "You seriously want to take a look at Dave Boyle?" "Just a little one." "I'd recommend two sets of visiting hours, from 3 to 5, and 7 to 9." " Sure." " Good." " Have you thought about flowers?" " I'll call Knopfler's this afternoon." "Good." "And the notice?" "Notice?" "Yes, the obituary." "We can take care of it if you give us her basic information." "Or if you prefer donations in lieu of flowers?" "Where's my daughter?" "Downstairs, in the basement." "I wanna see her." "I'm gonna find him, Katie." "I'm gonna find him before the police do." "I'm gonna find the man, and I'm gonna kill him." "Did you say something, Mr. Markum?" "The notice." ""Katherine Markum beloved daughter of James and Marita, deceased stepdaughter of Annabeth, sister to..."" ""Sister to Sara and Nadine."" " You guys again?" " Yeah." "We're like two bad pennies." " You dropping in on Jimmy?" " Yeah." "Do you have some kind of, what, break in the case?" "No, just paying our respects." "Where you off to?" "Annabeth got a craving for cigarettes." "I'm gonna go get some." "See you in a minute." "By the way, Mr. Boyle, what happened to your hand there?" "Uh, garbage disposal." "It jammed, I stuck my hand in, it started again." " Stupid." " Yeah, painful." "Garbage disposal." "Bullshit." "Yeah." "Well, it doesn't mean he killed anybody either." "Come on." " Heard you could use one." " Thanks." " I quit 10 years ago, you believe this?" " Whatever you need right now." "Come on in, I'll get Jimmy." "I got a couple errands I gotta run." "I'll be back in an hour." "You don't have to come back, Celeste." "I'll be fine." " Sure?" " Celeste Boyle?" "Uh, yeah." "I'm Sean Devine, an old friend of Dave's." "This is Whitey Powers." " Mrs. Boyle." " Nice to meet you." "Look, I gotta go." " Oh, damn it." " What?" "I left my report pad in the cruiser." " You better go get it." " Yeah." "Come on." "Hey, Celeste, could I ask you a quick question?" " Me?" " What time did Dave get home Saturday?" " What?" " It's a little thing." "We're running a time line on everything involving Katie." "I'm sure Dave told you he saw her at McGill's." "You think Dave killed Katie?" "Oh, no." "God." "I didn't say that." "Why would I even think that?" " I don't know." " No." "It's just that we could figure out what time she was on the road if we knew what time Dave got home." "See, it's 5 minutes from your place to McGill's and Katie left 15 minutes before Dave did." "You see what I mean." " I was asleep." " Huh?" "Saturday night, when Dave came in, I was asleep." "Okay." "Well, thanks." "Bullshit." "No, he was dating Katie, Jim." "They were gonna elope to Vegas." "We found tickets under their names." "Brendan Harris confirmed it." "Remember what you said?" "How she looked at you on Saturday like she was preparing to never see you again?" " Did Brendan Harris kill my daughter?" " No." "You're 100 percent sure?" "Passed his poly with flying colors, plus it seemed to me like he really loved her." "Jimmy, I'm just curious, man." "Why are you so dead set against that kid?" "He said Katie told him you'd disown her if she ever dated a Harris." "I knew his father." "They called him "Just Ray" Harris." "Why is that?" "There were so many Rays in the neighborhood." "You had "Crazy Ray" Bucheck, "Psycho Ray" Dorian." "The cool names were taken, so he got stuck with "Just Ray."" "We never got along." "I flat out didn't like him." "And he cut out on his wife when she was pregnant with that little mute of hers." "I don't know." "I just figure the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." "I didn't want Brendan or any other Harris dating Katie or any daughter of mine." "I can't believe we're talking about Just Ray Harris." "How about this?" "We've interviewed witnesses canvassed people who were in the bar." "We've run into more than a few of them who were questioned before us by one or more of the Savage brothers." " So?" " So the Savages are not policemen, Jim." " Some people don't talk to policemen." " With all due respect and just so we're clear, this is our case." " How long?" " How long what?" "How long before you catch my daughter's killer?" "You bargaining with us?" "Bargaining?" "You giving us a deadline?" "We'll speak for Katie, Mr. Markum." "If that's okay with you." "Just find my daughter's killer, sergeant." "I'm not standing in your way." "The last thing we need is Markum and the Savages putting the fear of God into the neighborhood." " We grew up terrified of those brothers." "Eleven months apart, like their mother ran a loose-cannon factory." "Fucking knuckleheads." "Ballistics are in on the Markum murder." " Yeah, you got a match?" " Mm-hm." "You're gonna love it." "It's a perfect match." "Gun was a.38 Smith." "Part of a lot stolen from a gun dealer in New Hampshire in 1982." "The gun that killed Katherine Markum was used in a liquor-store holdup in 1984." " In Buckingham." " The Flats?" "Rome Basin." "Place called Looney Liquors." "I pulled the file." "It was a two-man job." "They fired a warning shot into a wall." " That's where the bullet got pulled." " Nice work." "Thought you'd like that." "It's okay, Ray." "Don't worry about it." "Ma said that?" "That I'm better off?" "I loved her!" "You know what that's like?" "Huh?" "I'm sorry." "No, you're wrong." "I won't ever feel that again." "Right there." "Went in through a bottle of Jack and stuck in the wall right there." " Scary, huh?" " Scarier than a glass of milk, right?" "So take me through it." "These two guys come in..." "In rubber masks." "They came in through here." " That's the storeroom." " Uh-huh." "There's a door back there that leads to a loading dock." "I always keep that door locked." "So they must have had a key." "A key?" "So, what you're saying is that it was an inside job?" "It had to be." "One of them, at least, worked for me at some point." "The only reason they fired that warning shot was they must have known I kept this under the counter." " And you told the police that at the time." " Yeah." "Sure, they went through my employment records." "Questioned everybody who used to work for me." " Never made an arrest." " Still have a copy of those records?" "Yeah, it's in a box in the office there." "But I know who did it." "Oh, yeah?" " This guy I fired a couple of weeks before." " Mm-hm." "Son of a bitch came in here a few days after the robbery." "He had this fucking goddamn grin on his face." "And I just knew." "Go tell a grin to a jury, right?" "You remember his name?" "Do I look senile to you?" " No, sir." " Name was Ray Harris." "We used to call him "Just Ray."" "You say they used the same gun for another crime?" " That's correct, sir." " Thanks for your help, Mr. Looney." "Where you been?" "Out." "What you watching?" "Some vampire movie." "Guy just got his head torn off." "Where'd you go, Celeste?" "I was sitting in my car down by the channel." "You know thinking about things." " What'd you think about?" " Oh, you know..." "No, actually, I don't know." "Things." "You know, the day." "About Katie being dead." "And poor Annabeth and Jimmy, you know those things." "Those things." "Know what I was thinking about, huh?" "Vampires." "What about them?" "They're undead but I think maybe there's something beautiful about it." "Maybe one day you wake up and you forget what it's like to be human." "Maybe then it's okay." "What the fuck you talking about, Dave?" "Vampires, sweetie." "Werewolves." "You're not making any sense." "You think I killed Katie?" " Celeste." " What...?" " That the sense we're making these days?" " Where'd you come up with that?" "You've barely looked at me since you found out Katie was dead." "In fact, you seem repulsed by me." " Dave!" " What?" "I don't think anything." "I'm confused, okay?" "Even your friend Sean asked about..." "He's not my friend, if you didn't know." "He asked me about you." "What time you came home." " What'd you tell him?" " I said I was asleep." " That's good thinking, baby." " Jesus Christ, Dave!" " Why not tell them about the mugger?" " The mugger?" "The mugger!" "I see how your mind's working." "I do." "I come home with blood on me the same night Katie's murdered." "I must have killed her, right?" "Fuck!" "Henry..." "What?" "Henry?" "Henry and George." "I never told anyone that before." "Those were their names." "Isn't that fucking hilarious?" "At least that's what they called themselves, but they were wolves, and Dave was the boy who escaped from wolves." "What are you talking about, Dave?" "I'm talking Henry and George." "They took me on a four-day ride." "They buried me in this ratty old cellar with a sleeping bag." "And, man, Celeste did they have their fun." "And no one came to help old Dave then." "Dave had to pretend to be somebody else." "You mean, all those years ago when you were a little boy?" "Dave..." "Dave's dead." "I don't know who came out of that cellar, but it sure as shit wasn't Dave!" "You see, honey..." "Fuck!" "It's like vampires." "Once it's in you it stays." "What stays?" "Did you know there were child prostitutes in Rome Basin?" "What?" "Fuck!" "I can't trust my mind anymore, Celeste." "I'm warning you I can't trust my mind." "I gotta go out, try to get my head around it." "Okay." " The gun sends us in a different direction." " I don't see it that way." "What does Just Ray's gun have to do with Dave?" "These things get passed around." "Just Ray may have blown town, but his gun never did." "I say we talk with Brendan Harris in the morning." "And I say Dave Boyle." "The hand story." "The wife, she's definitely scared." "They're hiding something, but Boyle's as much a killer as Brendan Harris." "Boyle fits the profile, a fucking T. Mid-30s, white, marginally employed sexually abused as a kid." "On paper, this guy should be in jail already." "Katie Markum was not sexually abused, see?" "In that equation, sexual emission is part of the deal." "You were friends when you were kids." "This makes you a fucking liability." "Hey, he's not my friend." "Turns out you're right, I'll have my cuffs off my hip faster than yours." "Hey, Jimmy." "You're out late." "Yeah, you too." "It's cold, huh?" "Yeah, I guess." "You know, I..." "I been sitting out here over the last few years waiting on Katie to get back from someplace." "About midnight, I'd say to Annabeth, "I'm gonna sit on the porch for a while."" "Weird thing is it seemed to bring her back." "I saw her, you know." "Saw who?" "Katie." "I was at McGill's Saturday night." " You saw Katie Saturday night?" " Never got around to telling you." "Did you talk to her?" "Just nodded hello at one point." "Next time I looked up, she was gone." "But, uh Jimmy she looked, um happy." "Uh, I got more walking to do." "Good night." " You stole his car." " His car was officially towed." " From the front of his house." " No!" "It was abandoned in Rome Basin adjacent to the parkway." "Lucky for us, the parkway's state jurisdiction." "Some kids jacked the car they took it for a joy ride..." " What?" "Why'd you do it?" "After I left last night, I decided to talk to Boyle myself, put some fear into him." "I get to his house, I decide to look in his car, see what he's got." "I find blood." " Blood?" " Front seat of Dave's car." "B-negative." " How much?" " A bit." "Found more in the trunk." "A lot." "Type O, same type as Katie Markum." "Wait, Katie Markum never got in anybody's trunk." "She was chased through the park where she died." " It's enough to ask questions." " Your search is gonna get tossed out." "No, found and abandoned in state jurisdiction, for insurance purposes." " In the best interest of the owner." " Get a physical search, file the report." "Bingo." "So, you wanna talk to him, or should I send him home?" " Dave's here?" " I've had him in the box for an hour." "Sent two of my biggest, ugliest troopers to pick him up." "Come on, Mr. Boyle!" "We know you didn't get that swollen hand sticking it in the garbage disposal." " Oh, yeah?" "How do you know that?" " Why's your wife afraid of you?" "She know what really happened to your hand?" "How about a Sprite or something?" "How about you tell us what really happened Saturday night, Mr. Boyle?" "You lied." "That's your opinion, which you're entitled to." " Hey, you think this is funny?" " No, I don't." "I'm tired, I'm hung-over." "Not only was my car stolen last night, but now you won't release it to me." "Okay." "All right." "Tell us, Mr. Boyle, how did you get the blood in your car?" " What blood?" " Let's start with the front seat." "What are you looking at him for?" "Hey, you think I could get that Sprite, Sean?" "Sure." "Oh, I get it." "You're the good cop." "How about a meatball sub while you're at it?" "I ain't your bitch, Dave." "Looks like you'll have to wait." "Yeah, but you're someone's bitch, aren't you, Sean?" "The blood on your front seat, Dave." "Answer the sergeant." "We got a chainlink fence in our back yard." "Me and my kid play Wiffle Ball every afternoon after school." "He's getting good, so most of the balls are on the other side of the fence." "So I climb it." "Except I slip slice myself where the links curl in, right here." "Bled like hell." "Ten minutes later, I gotta pick up Michael at school." "Probably was still bleeding when I got in the front seat." "What blood type are you?" "B-negative." "Yeah?" "That's the match we got." " Well, there you go." " Not quite." "Blood in the trunk of the car wasn't B-negative." "I don't know anything about any blood in the trunk." "No idea how half a pint of blood got in the trunk?" " None." " This is not the way you wanna go." "How will that look in court?" "You not knowing how someone else's blood got in the trunk of your car?" "Gonna look fine, I suppose." "You filed the report." "What report?" "The stolen-car report." "The car wasn't in my possession last night." "So whatever the thieves used it for, you should find out because it sounds like they were up to no good." "Things looking any better on the Sprite, Sean?" "Well, you just got too fucking smart." "The car is inadmissible." "Anything there, his lawyers say was put by thieves." " I can break him." " He just kicked our asses!" "You still think Dave wouldn't hurt a fly..." " Is that the point?" "No." " What is the point?" "We can break this open on the gun." "It's the gun." "Okay." "Maybe." "So, what do we do with Dave?" "Fuck it." "Kick him loose." "Maybe a Celtic cross." "That's always a popular choice." "Or this lovely red marble here." "Or a figural." "That one." "Very good." "Nice and simple." "Hey, Jimmy!" "Annabeth said you were here." "We been asking around, like you said to." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "Jimmy, this ain't about the two-year bit you did for me." "And it ain't about me missing your brains running things." "I know." "Katie was my niece." "Not by birth, but she was part of our family, we loved her." "I don't question you, Val." "What's up?" "Cops are all over this." "Doing their job for once." "Bars, street trade, everything." "Every hooker we talked to, bartender, already been questioned." " The fucking law has descended, Jimmy." " What about Just Ray's kid?" "Quiet as a mouse." "Kid's no trouble to anyone." "I talked to Diane and Eve." "They said he loved her." "Jimmy, they said that she loved him." " Want us to take a run at him?" " No." "Hold off for now." "Anything else?" "What?" "Val, you wanna spit something, spit it." "Tell him." "Sean Devine and his partner went by and saw Dave Boyle." "Dave was at McGill's." "Probably questioning him like everybody else." "I heard something else this morning too." " Two staties came by in uniform." " Maybe forgot to ask him something." "No." "When they left, they took him with them." "They put him in the back seat, if you know what I mean." ""Raymond Matthew Harris, born 9-6, 1957." "First child, Brendan Seamus, born 1983."" "Same year that Just Ray is indicted in a scam to embezzle subway tokens." "Charges are dropped, and he's fired." "Does odd jobs after that, including clerking at Looney Liquors." "Questioned in that robbery." "Questioned in another, same year, Blanchard Liquors released on lack of evidence again." " Beginning to become known, though." " He's getting popular." "Ooh. "A known associate, one Edmund Reese, fingers Raymond in the 1985 heist of a rare comic-book collection."" "Comic books?" "You go, Ray." "Hey, hey, hey, excuse me, $150,000 worth of comic books." "Oh, excuse me." ""Raymond returned said literature unharmed." Does a year solid inside." "Ooh." "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk." "Comes out with a chemical-dependency problem." "Gets honest work to support the habit, though?" "Mm, evidently not." "Picked up in a joint MCU-FBI sting operation trafficking stolen goods across state lines." "Stole a truckload of cigarettes." " The boy's got style." " Got a boatload of grief too." "Stole the truck in Rhode Island, drove it into Massachusetts." " Hence, the federal interstate rap." " Hence, they got him by the balls, but he does no time." " He rolled on someone." " Looks that way." "After that, he's clean." " August 1989, poof, he disappears." " One, dead, two, in Witness Protection." "Three, he goes deep underground, then pops back up to murder his son's 19-year-old girlfriend?" "We got nothing." "A prime suspect in a robbery 18 years ago, during which the weapon was used." "The guy's son dated the victim." "I say we got a lot." "Anything about Just Ray's known associates?" "Let's take a look." ""Known criminal associates:" "Reginald 'Dukie' Neil, Kevin 'Whackjob' Sirraci, Nicholas Savage Anthony Waxman."" "Ah..." "And one James Markum." "And the hits just keep on coming." " You looking for me?" " I'm Sean Devine." "This is Whitey Powers." "I already gotta get back." "So you worked a task force with Major Crimes in the '80s?" " Bunch of them." " You took down a smalltimer, Ray Harris." "He stole a truckload of cigarettes from a rest stop in Cranston, Rhode Island." "Trucker went to take a piss, Harris guy jacks the truck." "I think we pulled him over in New Bedford." "But Harris walked." "He didn't walk, he rolled." "Boston Police Anti-Gang Unit stepped in for info on another case." "He rolled." "On who?" "What the fuck was the name?" "Him and three other guys knocked over the MBTA counting room, 60 grand." "Jimmy Markum." "Kid was 19, 20." "Slick as hell, man." "Ran a crew, never got arrested." "So did Harris ever testify in open court?" "Never went." "Markum dummied up on the guys he was working with DA was afraid he wouldn't be able to convict." "So he cut a deal." "Two years inside, couple more suspended." "So Jimmy Markum never knew that Ray Harris ratted him out?" "Ray Harris disappeared about two months after Markum rotated back into the free world." "What's that tell you?" "Hey, Jimmy." "Hey, Val." " Hey, coz, how you doing?" " I'm good." "Okay." "Hey." " Hey, Celeste." " Hey, Jimmy." "Hey." " Can I talk to you for a sec?" " I'll catch up with you in a minute." "Step into my office." "Beautiful day, huh?" "Whatever it is, Celeste, it's okay." "I took Michael last night and I went to a motel." "Okay." "I don't know, Jim." "I might have left Dave for good." "You left Dave?" "Yeah." "Well he's been acting kind of nuts lately." "I'm almost afraid of him." "Do you know something?" "I know he was taken in by the cops this morning." "He saw Katie the night she was murdered." "Didn't tell me about it till after the cops questioned him." "I know he's got a hand that looks like it's been punching a fucking wall." "Is there anything else I should know?" "Come here." "Okay." "At 3 in the morning on Sunday, Dave came back to the apartment covered in someone's blood." "What did he say happened?" "That he was mugged." "That he..." "He bashed the mugger's head in the street." "That..." "That he might have killed him." "But there was nothing in the paper." " Celeste?" " Yeah?" "Celeste?" "Do you think Dave killed my Katie?" "Okay." "All right." "Okay." "Oh, God." "Okay." "Oh, my God." " Tell me about your father." " What?" "Your father, Ray Sr. You remember him." " I was 6 when he left us." " So you don't remember the guy?" "I remember little things." "He smelled like Schlitz and Dentyne." "He..." "He what?" "He carried a lot of change in his pocket." "It jingled when he walked." "You could always hear him coming home." "And if I guessed how much he had, even if I was close, he'd give it to me." "You remember your father having a gun?" "No." "Well, you seem awfully sure for somebody who was 6 when he left." "What's up?" " What's that?" " This is what you asked for." "CSS reports, ballistics, fingerprint analysis, the 911 tape." "Bunch of stuff." " All right, thanks." " Yeah." "We were talking about your father's gun." " I told you, my father didn't have a gun." " Oh, well, I guess we were misinformed." " So when was the last time you talked?" " Never." "Never?" "He went out for a drink and never came back." "But your mother never filed a missing person's report." "Why not?" "Because he's not missing." " He sends money every month." " Sends money?" "Five hundred bucks every month." "Like clockwork." " From where?" " Postmark says Brooklyn." " How do you know it's him?" " Who else would it be?" "Who else would send it?" "My ma says that's the way he was." "Do something shitty, then he'd try to make up for it." "Why do you keep asking me if my father had a gun?" "You know why, kid." "No, I don't." "The gun that killed your girlfriend was the same gun your father used in a robbery 18 years ago." "So you wanna tell me about it?" "My father didn't have a gun." "You are fucking lying!" "Can I go now?" "Or are you gonna charge me with Katie's murder?" "Hey!" "Dandy Dave Boyle, how's it hanging?" "Hey, Val." "Nick." "How you guys holding up?" " All right." " It's fucked up." "Katie." "A fucking tragedy." "Yeah." "We're gonna get a couple of beers and a bite to eat." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "What do you say, man?" "Hm?" "How about a boys' night out in the middle of the day?" " I gotta get home after a while." " Don't we all?" "Hop in." " Come on, get in." " All right." "Well, the first round's on me." "Now you're talking." "I think the kid is lying about the gun." "Absolutely." "I told you three times already." " What about the father?" " I don't know." "Maybe Just Ray is alive." "Eighty grand." "I mean who else is gonna send that kind of money if not the father?" "Listen, go home, have a drink." " Let it go for a while." " Yeah." "Yeah." "Hey, anything good on the 911?" " I thought you listened to it." " I thought you listened to it." "911, police services." "What's the nature of your emergency?" "There's, like, this car with blood in it, and the door's open." " What's the location of the car?" " Sydney Street." "It's in the Flats by Pen Park." "Me and my friend, we just found it." " Son, what's your name?" " He wants to know her name." " Your name, what's your name?" " We're so fucking out of here." "Good luck, man." "That about cracks the case, don't it?" "Let's get a burger or something." "Her." " What?" " The kid on the tape." " Son, what's your name?" " He wants to know her name." " He said, "Her name."" " She's a dead girl, refer to her as a she." "How does the kid know?" "Girl's dead in the park." "How does he know the blood in the car came from a woman?" "Play it again." "This one time, we're going to take down this stamp collector." " Tie him up, rob him, we're out." " Here." "It was me, Nicky and this kid Carson Leverett." "Mm, fucking Carson." "I swear, this kid couldn't tie his own fucking shoe if you didn't show him." "We all wear suits because we want to fit in." "We're in the elevator, it stops, this old lady gets on." "She starts screaming!" "Now Val turns to me, but I'm looking at Carson." "I'm thinking, "What the fuck?"" "Because that fucking bonehead's still got his Ronald Reagan mask on!" "Fucking smiley mask!" "Idiot!" "And you guys didn't notice till then?" "Shit like that happened all the time on jobs." "That's why Jimmy was so missed." "He saw shit happen before it even went down." "Why do you think he went straight?" "One word, pure and simple." "Katie." "What about you guys?" "What?" "Us?" "Going straight?" "That's pretty fucking funny!" "We're like bats, we like night too much." "Days are just good for sleeping through." "Want another shot?" "You know, I should slow down till we eat." "Come on, don't go fucking pussy on us!" "Come on, get up." "Live a little, huh?" "Slide over, Dave." " Dave." " All right, Val!" "Now you're talking." " How you doing?" " I'm a little drunk." "To our children." " I always liked this bar." " Yeah." "Yeah, nobody bothers you." "The way it should be, nobody to bother you in this life." "No one fucking with you or your loved ones." "Right, Dave?" " Absolutely." " Absolutely." "This guy's a hoot." "He can really get you going." "Yeah." "Oh, yeah, my man Dave." "Kevin, will you bring us a bottle?" " Drink up, Dave." " Come on." "Thanks, Kevin." "Remember we took Ray Harris here that time?" "Everybody called this guy "Just Ray," but Val here called him "Ray Jingles."" "This guy walked around with 10 bucks in change in case he had to make a call to Iraq or something." "Are you all right, Dave?" "Dave?" " You all right?" " Shit." "I'm gonna be sick." "Come on." "Come on, now." "Dave, use the back door." "Huey don't like cleaning it off the toilet rims." "Hey, Ray." "You guys come to make sure I didn't fall in?" "Come here a second." "Sit down." "Let me tell you about Ray Harris." "He was a buddy of mine." "He used to visit me in prison." "He checked in on Marita and Katie, my mother, if they needed anything." "He's also the one who put me in." "He ratted me out." " Shit, that's terrible." " My wife had cancer at the time." " Yeah, I remember." " Ray robbed me of being with her when she was dying." "The death part you do alone, but I could have helped her with the dying." "Why are you telling me this?" "I knelt Ray down over there and I shot him twice, in his throat and chest." " We were both crying when I did it." " Jimmy..." "He was begging." "You know, pregnant wife, little Brendan." "He said he knew me." "He said I was a good man." "What do you think, Dave?" "You think I'm a good man?" "Who do you hate?" "Come on, who?" "No one." " What is it you think I did?" " As I was holding him under the water I could feel God watching me, shaking his head." "Not angry but like if a puppy shit on a rug." "Who do you love?" "You love me." "What about Ma?" "You love me so much, I wanna hear you say it." " You think I killed Katie, don't you?" " Don't talk, Dave." "Don't talk." "No, I killed someone, but I didn't kill Katie." "This is the mugger story." "He wasn't a mugger, he was a child molester." "He was having sex with this kid in his car." "He was a fucking wolf!" "He was a vampire!" "Get out of here." "Run!" "Dave, run!" " You killed a child molester." " Yeah." "Well, me and the boy." " The molested boy helped you." " Oh, no." "No..." " You just said you and the boy!" " No, forget that!" " My head gets fucked up sometimes." " Your wife thinks you killed my daughter." "You'd rather have her think that than you killed a child molester?" "People don't care if a child molester dies." "Why not tell the truth?" "I don't know." "Maybe I thought I was turning into him." "I didn't kill Katie." "I don't remember hearing anything about any guy's body being found." " I put him in the trunk of my car." " Letting this piece of shit explain?" " Fuck him." "Fuck him!" "Do him!" " I didn't kill her!" "Shut up!" "Shut the fuck up!" "Everybody shut up!" "This is my daughter I'm talking about!" "Shut up!" " Fuck!" " Shut up!" "Nineteen years old." " I didn't kill Katie!" " Nineteen years old!" " Look at me, Jimmy!" " I'm looking at you, Dave." "I'm looking at you." "Why'd you do it?" "Me and my son." "Me and Celeste." "There's so many things we gotta make right." "Make it right now." "Start now." "Admit what you did." "No more lies, no more secrets." "I wanna go home to Celeste." "I wanna feel Celeste." "Right after you do your time." "I did mine, you do yours." "Admit what you did." " The boy..." " One more time about the boy and I will open you the fuck up." "I thought I was finished with all this." "I mean, killing people and dumping them in the river." "You admit what you did, Dave, and I'm gonna let you live." "Just say it out loud, and I'll let you breathe." "Admit what you did, and I will give you your life." "Admit what you did, Dave." "Admit what you did." "Admit what you did." "Admit what you did." "I know you can speak." "So say it." "Say you love me." "Don't look at him, look at me." "Now, you say it." "You say you love me." " He never does anything without you!" " No, let me go!" "Stop!" "I'm coming back!" "You love me so much, you gotta kill my fucking girlfriend, huh?" "Speak, you fucking freak, or I will fucking kill you!" "Say her name." "Say it." "Say it!" "Katie!" "Say it or you die!" "Kid, you want to point that toward the floor, okay?" "That's a Sig, right?" "Don't you want to draw it on me?" "No, I don't want to hurt a kid." "Plus, it looks like somebody else beat me to it." "Brendan, man, he fucking punched me." " He broke my nose." " We'll arrest him." " Haul his ass to jail if you like." " I don't want him arrested." "I want him fucking dead!" "Motherfucker." "Admit what you did, Dave and I'll let you live." "Just say it out loud, and I'll let you breathe." "You'll go to prison but I'll give you your life." "Admit it, Dave." "Admit what you did." "Admit it." "Yeah." "Yeah, I did it." "Why?" "That night in McGill's she reminded me of a dream I had." "What dream?" "A dream of youth." "I don't remember having one." "So it was the dream?" "The dream, yeah." "You'd know what I mean if you'd got in that car instead of me." "But I didn't get in that car, Dave." "Hang on." "Come here." "You did." "We bury our sins here, Dave." "We wash them clean." " His fucking lips are still moving." " I got eyes, Val." "I wasn't ready." "It's like I said, Dave." "This part, you do alone." "Tough night?" "Yeah, me too." "Saw a bullet with my name on it." "We got them, Jim." "Got who?" "Katie's killers." "Got them cold." "Killers, plural." "Yeah, kids, actually." "Ray Harris' son Ray Jr. and another kid, John O'Shea." "They just confessed a couple hours ago." "No doubt?" "None." "Why?" "They don't know." "They were playing with a gun, saw a car coming one of the kids lies down in the street, car swerves, clutch kicks out." "Katie." "O'Shea says they just meant to scare her and the gun went off." "But she hit him with her door, ran and they chased her so she wouldn't tell anyone." "And the beating they gave her?" "Ray Jr. had a hockey stick." "All right." "Go easy." "Take a breath." "Look at me." "Look at me, Jimmy." "I got a call from Celeste Boyle." "She was hysterical." "Says Dave's missing, says you might know where he is." "We need to talk to him." "Boston P.D. found the body of a guy in the woods behind McGill's." "A body?" "The body of a guy?" "Yeah, a pedophile with three priors." "They want to talk to Dave about it." "So, Jimmy when was the last time you saw Dave?" "The last time I saw Dave." "Yeah." "Dave Boyle." " Dave Boyle." " Yeah, Jimmy." "Dave Boyle." "That was 25 years ago, going up this street in the back of that car." "Jimmy, what did you do?" "Thanks for finding my daughter's killers, Sean." "If only you'd been a little faster." "Are you gonna send Celeste Boyle 500 a month too?" "Sometimes I think..." "I think all three of us got in that car." "And all of this is just a dream, you know?" "A dream, sure." "In reality we're still 11 -year-old boys locked in a cellar imagining what our lives would have been if we'd escaped." "Maybe you're right." "Who the fuck knows?" "Yeah, this is Sean." "I'm sorry." "I need you to know that." "I pushed you away." "I'm sorry too." "Things have been so messed up." "Loving you, hating you." "Come home?" "You change the locks or anything?" "No." "No, everything is just the way you left it." " Nora." " What's that?" "Nora." "That's our daughter's name, Sean." "Nora, huh?" "Well, I like that." "Nora." "I killed Dave." "I killed him, and I threw him in the Mystic." "But I killed the wrong man." "That's what I've done." " And I can't undo it." " Shh." "Jimmy." "Shh." "I wanna feel your heart." "Last night when I put the girls to bed, I told them how big your heart was." " I told them how much you loved Katie..." " Annabeth." "...because you created her." "And sometimes, your love for her was so big it felt like your heart would explode..." " Please stop." "I told them their daddy loved them that much too." "That he had four hearts, and they were all filled up and aching with a love that meant we would never have to worry." "And that their daddy would do whatever he had to for those he loved." "And that is never wrong." "That can never be wrong, no matter what their daddy had to do." "And those girls fell asleep at peace." "You said, "Last night." You knew?" "Celeste called, looking for you." "She was worried something might happen." "She told me about Dave." "Told me what she told you." "What kind of wife says that about her husband?" "And why'd she run to you?" " Why didn't you call?" " Because it's like I told the girls." "Their daddy's a king." "And a king knows what to do and does it." "Even when it's hard." "And their daddy will do whatever he has to for those he loves." "And that's all that matters." "Because everyone is weak, Jimmy." "Everyone but us." "We will never be weak." "And you..." "You could rule this town." "And after, Jimmy let's take the girls down to the parade." "Katie would have liked that." "Michael!" "Michael!" "Michael!" "Michael!"