"Thanks for inviting me, patty." " I've been worried about you." " Worried?" "When daniel purcell flipped on the stand, he humiliated you in open court." "Daniel purcell is in the past." "Come on, patty." "Don't tell me you're not angry." "I ever tell you how i choose a case?" "No." "I used to not understand it." "You know, why some cases grabbed me and others didn't?" "Then I realized... it starts with a seed of anger." "I can feel it in my hands and my chest, and that seed has to be nurtured, cultivated until it grows into a full-blown rage." "Then I know that I can't turn back." "I have no choice but to take the case because the rage doesn't abate." "Until someone's punished." "Do you feel that, too?" "I've begun to recently." "Thank you." "Purcell may have betrayed me, but he's just a pawn." "This is all about ultima national resources." "We're going after them, and if daniel purcell is a casualty, so be it." "I'll do what I can, mr." "Purcell, but it's really not a seller's market right now." "I don't care about the price." "Just get rid of it." "Okay." "The sooner the better." "I understand." "I'm sorry about your wife." " You have to make a decision, daniel." " I know." "{6}5WEEKSEARLIER" "If that company is making people sick, you have to stop them." "Because I'm not going to blow the whistle." "What?" "I made a deal." "With unr?" "They're going to leave us alone now." "You gave in to them." "I had no choice." "If you don't stop them, I will." "My true motivation in aligning these two companies is the golden opportunity to merge corporate philosophies." "This goes way beyond tax incentives, way beyond the marketization of capital." "The synergy that..." "That's why kendrick was so desperate to cover up the aracite contamination." "A massive class action suit would have killed his merger." "So what can we do?" "Without daniel purcell as a witness, it's impossible to bring a lawsuit against unr." "And if this merger goes through, they'll have twice the resources to fight us." "Unless, of course, we can stop the merger." "That's what we're going to try to do." "Get me a complete legal and financial history of unr." "Right, yep, I'm on it." "Um, did you invite her?" "Invite me where?" "Uh, patty will tell you." "Tom's been with the firm ten years this week." "Oh, great." "I had no idea." "I'm hosting a small get-together at my place to celebrate." "I'd love to have you come." "I know you haven't been back to my apartment since... so if you don't feel comfortable joining us, I understand." "Thank you." "This isn't a work obligation." "It's just a friendly invitation." "Whatever you decide." "As representative of the energy commission, I have serious concerns about this merger." "You wouldn't be doing your job if you didn'T." "Specifically on the environmental front." "Well, we fully intend on easing your worries, mr." "Schiff." "That's why I've brought mr." "Purcell here today." "Daniel is vice president and head of research." "They do independent scientific analysis." "We were contracted to analyze risk and environmental sensitivity at all unr operating sites nationwide." "And what did your firm find?" "Our results are published in this report, but the upshot is that unr complies with every standard set forth in the international environmental management system-- iso 14001." "I look forward to reading that through." "In your opinion, mr." "Purcell, if our commission were to ratify the proposed merger, do you have any concerns with regards to the safety of future unr joint operations?" "None." "Environmental protection policies are built into unr's operations at every existing site, both onshore and off." "They pose absolutely no risk to the environment." "Sure you don't want anything?" "Yeah, we're good." "So, what's your feeling on this dinner party?" "I never want to go back to that apartment again." "If it's not now, you'll have to go some other time." "Yeah." "I get that." "But it's your decision." "If you're not ready, we understand." "If you do go, we want you to record it." "Mr. Schiff is ready." "Thank you." " Doug." " Come on in." " Good to see you." " You, too." "These are serious allegations." "It's an environmental nightmare." "I wouldn't waste your time, doug." "Who else knows?" "No one has this information but me." "And what do you aim to do?" "Kill the merger." "But the state supreme court will never take a stand against walter kendrick." "He has west virginia wrapped around his little finger." "Yeah, I see that." "Your commission may be the only thing that can stop him." "Nothing can happen without the approval of this office." "Patty, what I'm reading is speculative." "It may not be enough." "At least you could stall him." "Buy me time to find more." "My office needs to issue a ruling by the end of next week." "That's all the time I need." "Tremendous view." "So this federal regulator..." " Douglas schiff." " Yeah." "He's stalling." "It's pissing me off." "I've explored that situation." "And where are we?" "What do you mean, "no"?" "There has to be a way in." "Schiff has no extracurriculars." "He's clean?" "Spotless." "I could always get creative." "No." "Don'T." "This is a deputy director of a federal agency." "There's too much attention as it is." "Do you have more instructions?" "No, you can go." "But keep in touch." "We're here tonight to honor walter kendrick." "he was recently voted club president." "it's a night of grand tradition." "And I know it's just a ritual, but I gotta tell you-- walt, you wear a skirt better than any president we've had" " since your grandfather shep kendrick." " All right." "'Course, he turned out to be a fag." "You'd like a little of this wouldn't you, hank?" "As many of you know, walt, was born in the great state of west virginia." "His roots are there." "Oh, yeah, he loves the place." "He did, however, break with tradition by not marrying one of his cousins." "apparently, they all had too many teeth." "Seriously though, I always wondered why birds flew over the state of west virginia upside down." "And then I met this guy-- and i realized there is nothing there worth shitting on." "looking out over the crowd, i can see that, uh, walt's favorite attorney, claire maddox, is not in attendance." "Any of you folks know claire maddox?" "Yeah." "That lady gets around." "I'm not saying I don't want to throw a hump into her, but i have a feeling it'd be like tossing a hotdog down a hallway." " Great stuff in there." " Yeah?" "Well, I was warned to tone it down, but I figured, you know, it's tradition, right?" "It's nothing personal." "You gotta be able to swallow it." "You're a terrific sport, mr." "Kendrick." "I agree." "It wasn't funny." "I was told you have a little merger problem." "I think patty hewes leaked information to some asshole on the regulatory commission." "How can I help?" "Ellen." "Good to see you." " Come on in, make yourself at home." " Thank you." "You remember, deb." "Right?" " Nice to see you again." " You, too." "Oh, congratulations." "How far along are you?" "About four-and-a-half months." "That's great." "And congratulations to you-- ten years." "It's amazing that you survived." "It's only because of this one right here." "Oh, excuse me." "Tom!" "Ellen." "Patty asked me to organize the speeches." "Nothing fancy." "You'll say a few words after dinner." "I..." "I haven't, uh, prepared anything." "Just kidding, ellen." "You know the woman hates speeches." "Everything all right?" "Yeah." "Just fine." "Cheers." "Cheers." "How'd I do?" "I didn't hit him once?" "If nothing else, I'm sure you scared him." "How is that even possible?" "It takes time." "Besides, look at his face, he's terrified." "No way he didn't shit himself." "Shut up." "Send him back." "I'm not leaving until I cap this asshole." "Come on." "So why the interest in firearms?" "I never told you, but, uh, someone tried to kill me the night my fianc?" "was murdered." " Frobisher's people?" " No." " Who, then?" " I don't know." "But, uh, I won't ever feel that vulnerable again." "Yeah, of course." "So, thanks for the lesson." "Yeah." "Same time next week, then?" "Yeah." "I'm gonna put a hole in that thing if it kills me." "I'll see you, wes." "Suddenly she wants to learn how to use a gun." "I don't know if you're safe." "5 MONTHS LATER" "I told you, you can't be here today." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I just, um..." "What's wrong?" "I just had to see you." "Are you okay?" "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." "I think the rate of return against the yen is grossly undervalued." "Clearly, there's a window of opportunity about to open there." "Well, let's stay on top of it." "I don't want to miss out." "You got it." "I've only got a minute." "Well, dave." "How's life in the private sector?" "Excellent." "I've been down in bogota the past couple of months." "I didn't know you were heading that up." "Good for you." "Yeah, thanks." "But, phil, that's not why I'm here." "You didn't hear this from me." "I caught wind of something you should know." "Okay." "It's about your wife." "You're home late." "Yeah, I was researching ultima national's legal history." "We need to talk." "What?" "Is it michael?" "No, no." "Somebody came to me." "He's connected, and he's heard rumblings." "What rumblings?" "Apparently, there are forces in the business world that would love to put you out of business." "That's not news." "No, but it's an understatement to say that there are ceo's who don't like you, and they're using their influence in washington against you." "Are you saying I'm under investigation?" "I don't know." "But I doubt he'd talk to me if you weren'T." "I don't know what you've done." "I don't need to know." "But you have to be sure there's nothing out there that they can hang you with." "You have nothing to worry about." "Scrutiny won't be an issue." "How can you be sure?" "Because I don't leave loose ends." "I've never left you vulnerable." "From day one, you've been insulated." "I'm talking about loose ends that could go all the way back to the old firm." "If I'm under investigation, god knows what they'll try to use to hurt me." "I've said it before-- the only thing that can hurt you is ellen parsons." "She brought in the infant mortality case, don't forget." "I haven'T." " You almost took that case." " I know." "Could have been a setup." "Ask yourself, after everything that happened to her, why did she come back to work?" "*******" "Something's been bothering me." "Yeah?" "That infant mortality case." "I've been thinking about the plaintiff that wanted to pay off." "What was her name?" " Monique bryant." " Bryant, right." "How did you find her?" "Um, someone in grief counseling referred her to me." "Who?" "They're adamant about privacy." "I..." "I can't give any names." "Right." "I'm sorry." "Of course." "I..." "I'm just concerned that someone was trying to set you up." "Why would anyone want to do that?" "I don't know." "I just... something about that case never felt right." "It was wonderful having you at dinner the other night." "I hope you had fun." "I had a lovely time." "Patty's getting nervous." "Yeah, it's about the girl." "We need to take action." "So nothing useful came out at the dinner party." " but patty's acting strange." " How so?" "She seems paranoid." "Let's take a walk." "Is that your wife?" "Sorry." "********" " You off to london?" " Yeah." "Just till friday." "I'll be back for the weekend." "Could you do me a favor?" "Sure." "What's that?" " Could you look this over?" " What is it?" "It's an unr financial report." "I'd really like your take on it." " All right, I'll do my best." " Thanks." " Brunch on saturday?" " Of course." " Bye, babe." " Bye." "We've got less than a week." "Our scope needs to be more comprehensive." "doug schiff is on our side, but we need to convince his commission that this merger should not go through." "Craig, ari, I want to know more about unr's environmental record." "Look into every state that they've where they've done business for the last 20 years." "OK." "Ellen, in my office." "Shut the door." "What do you think you're doing?" " About what?" " In there." "You see anyone else checking their phone while I'm talking?" " No." "I apologize." " Don'T." "Just tell me the truth." "What do you have in your life that's more important than work?" "Nothing." "I'm sorry, patty." "I'm not asking you to be sorry." "I'm asking you who called." " I was late for a meeting." " What meeting?" "Counseling." " I thought you stopped going." " To group." "I'm going one-on-one, twice a week, during lunch." "You're excused, then." "Leave." "Amazing." "What's amazing, babe?" "This ultima national merger." "You have a position in it?" "This is for patty?" "She's circling a case." " You want to run it by me?" " Do you mind?" "Not at all." "Look at these numbers." "Tell me if you see what I see." "Later." "We've only got one item in london." "I thought you were phil." "He went out of town, remember?" " Where?" " London." "London." "Again?" "Then he's meeting me in amherst to look at colleges." "How are your applications going?" "Did you show phil your essay?" "No." "Why not?" "It's about daniel purcell." "Why did you do that?" "It's supposed to be a personal essay." "He's my father." "What's more personal than that?" "I don't want you having anything to do with him anymore, michael." "For 17 years, you hide him from me." "Then one day, it's all reunions and smiles." "And now you don't want me to see him?" "He betrayed you, mom." "You're human." "Get over it." "I've looked into this thing, patty, and I'm ready to run and gun." "Consider the merger dead." "Well... well, you're welcome." "This is an opportunity to do some important work." "Hey, it's me." "Meet me at the hotel." "I got a joke for you." "Why do birds fly upside down over the state of west virginia?" "Do they?" "Well, now you ruined it." "What's this about, mr." "Pell?" "Your career." "I think I'm being followed." "How do you know?" "The other day, i noticed this guy when I met with you, and then I just saw him again today." "It can't be a coincidence." "You're sure it was the same guy?" "Positive." "We're going to want a written description." "What?" "Patty asked me about the infant mortality case again." "I'm afraid that she'S..." "on to me somehow." "Ellen, if you've been made, we can't continue." "Let me just work her a little more, okay?" "Find out for sure." "No." "Don't have any contact with her." " We have to take this to our supervisor." " Why?" "Because there's a very good chance this operation is over." "Your girl gets around." " What do you think?" " Could be lawyers." "Look like feds to me." "Why the hell did ferc authorize the merger?" "Believe me, I went went beyond due diligence here." " I climbed way out on a limb." " And?" "And even if we could prove that unr was dumping contaminants-- which we can't-- we still have no proof of any fraudulent activity." "Bullshit!" "There are impact studies from an independent consulting firm that back up their claim." "Doug, this is me you're talking to." "You know that report is a lie!" "There's no evidence, patty." "I feel terrible about this, but truly, my hands are tied." "Well, I have good news." "The merger's going through." "Congratulations." "Congratulations to you, too." "I invited you here, dan, because loyalty goes a long way with me." "I see big things in your future." "My future doesn't particularly concern me, but... my daughter's does." "Look at me." "Look at me." "Your concerns are my concerns." "You have my word." "You're going to clean up the mess down in west virginia?" "Everything I heard about you is true." "You guaranteed me, you'd stop using aracite, and you'd clean it up." "It's already happening." "I want you to come and work for us, dan." "I'd like to make you head of research." "Oversee unr's move to alternative energy." "The merger's through... that's what you wanted." "Now I'm done." "I know how you feel, dan, but whatever happened that night in your house, with your wife, it's over, it's done with." "You played ball; this is a partnership now." "I checked into monique bryant, the client for the infant mortality case." "What did you find?" "48 years of age, daughter died in childbirth, lost the baby, too." "So, ellen's in the clear." "Well, the hospital records check out, but the plaintiff came in here was african american." "And this is the real monique bryant." "Ellen's a liability, patty." "I've said it all along." "Yeah?" "So, what's so important?" "I know you don't trust me, and you have a very good reason not to." "What reason would that be?" "I was approached by the fbi last night." "This isn't the plan." "What the hell is she doing?" "What did they want?" "They want to use me as an informant against you." "What's their leverage?" "They have pictures of me leaving the office the night of fiske's suicide." "We never told the police that i was there." "I told them to go screw themselves." "That was ballsy." "Well, it was clear nothing they had on me was going to stick." "I think you were right about the infant mortality case." "It was a setup." "They're trying to catch you paying off a client." "We have to be very careful." "The problem is, the feds can approach anyone." "Who else in the office is vulnerable?" "Good question." "Patty, we're in this together." "They take you down, I go down, too." "She just sold us out." "I decided to tell patty that I was approached by the feds." "Okay, that was unbelievably stupid!" "It was the only way to win her confidence." "You heard me." "I protected my cover." "I told her I refused to cooperate with you guys." "Did she believe you?" " I think so." " You think so?" "That's great." "Hey, hey, relax." "Ellen..." "Look, she doesn't trust anyone right now except for me, so if you still want to get to her, I'm your only chance." "So, how's your mother?" "Oh, I haven't seen her all month." "You need some help with this?" "Oh, no, pete." "I got it." "Thanks." "Listen, patrick..." "I gotta cut through the bullshit." "You have to take a vacation." "The heat is on my boss." "It's because of that girl we went after?" "My boss could never know about this." "So take this." "But you gotta leave tonight." "Should be enough for seven, eight months there." "I made a deal." "They're gonna leave us alone now." "If you don't stop them, I will." "No, you won'T." "I'll call the police." "I can't let you do that." "In fact, I'm gonna call the epa." "We're in trouble." " Do you want my help?" " Yes." "Which one of these is yours?" "Is your daughter expected home tonight?" "No, she's upstate with her grandparents." "Give me the keys." "okay, go park your car." "20 minutes, this will all be over." "I looked into the unr merger." "It makes no sense financially." "In what way?" "It seems to me that kendrick is grossly overpaying, and he's too smart not to realize it." "What's his motive?" "To consolidate power." "But if you ask me, that's just his first move." "There must be something else he's getting out of it." "Such as..." "Well, that's what you've got to figure out." "Your friend was right, you know?" "I'm under investigation." "The feds are looking into me." "Then you have to forget about this whole thing." "Patty, kendrick is too well-connected I want you to promise me that you will leave unr alone." "Detective messer, are you still down there?" "You got my cheeseburger?" " I said extra ketchup." " It's in there." "Call csu and get the M.E. Down here." "Well, it's worse than you thought." "She's been meeting with someone." "Looks like law enforcement." "I think it's fbi." "Fbi?" "What do you want me to do?" "5 MONTHS LATER" "I think it's flight number 84 out of newark." "Right." "Can you cancel the reservation for me?" "No, that's it." "Thank you." "Ellen." "Wes, what's going on?" "They're doing some work at my building." "It'S... do you mind if I crash here tonight?" " Sure." " Or two?" "Maybe three." "Let's just see how the first night goes." "I can live with that."