" Suicide?" " Maybe." "How'd he get up with his hands tied behind him?" " That's what I'm thinking." " That chair's too far away to kick out." "He's got bruising on the face, too." "So it's a murder." "Wow, a hanging murder." "A member of the Baltimore City Police Department Homicide Unit used the word "wow" on the crime scene?" "You got to admit, it's a little different." "We get shootings and cuttings, sometimes somebody's beaten to death with a baseball bat." " But who hangs people nowadays?" " Hey, Doctor." "Wow!" "I say it, it sounds stupid." "She says it, what?" "I'll explain somethin' to you." "She went to medical school, OK?" "She says somethin' stupid, she sounds way smarter than you do." "Thanks, Meldrick..." "I think." "So, who is our longneck in the spiffy $800 suit here?" "It's a Martin Ridenour, 33 years." "Cash, credit card, watch, wedding ring still on his person." "In his wallet is a business card." "He's a partner at Gable  Cress." " The advertising firm?" " Yeah." "So why on earth would a downtown advertising executive be hanging around these parts?" "He's fit to be tied." "I can't tell you too much right now, not until I get Mr Vertical horizontal, so whenever you two are ready." " Need some company?" " Yeah, help yourself." " Get you anything?" " Hey, Tara." "Er, yeah." "I want to get the er... you know, egg whites on a Kaiser roll." "And also some coffee." "So this is the Gerbes case?" "Yeah, I'm waiting to hear for Traffic to send me what they found." "Are we going to charge the old lady, Dorothy Nichols?" "Dorothy Nichols, the 84-year-old great-grandmother, who says the car's accelerator stuck." "Thanks." "Let me get some grapefruit juice, too." "Thanks." "Well, I'm famished." " Busy night?" " It was just dinner, Frank." " Good." " You and me, we've had dinner before." "You had dinner with a guy." " With a very interesting guy." " That redefines dinner for me." " Morning, Frank, Tim." " Morning." " How you doing, Laura?" " Hungry!" " There you go, hon." " Thanks." "Oh, that smells good." " Mmm, it's egg whites and home fries." " I'll have that and a cup of coffee." "So?" "Grapefruit juice, egg whites, it's very healthy." "Ever since I gave up the egg yokes, I feel like I have more energy." "Can I have a bite of your sandwich?" " Sure, here." " Thanks." "Mmm!" "Holy samoles, this is a good sandwich." "I could get addicted to this." "Yeah." "Well, I invented that sandwich." "You can have some of mine when it comes." "Thanks." " I'm out of here." " Oh, did I interrupt you guys?" "No." "Not to fret." "I just got a guy who was run over last night." "Oh, yeah, that." "Sad, huh?" "The old lady shouldn't have been driving that late." " At that age, your eyes are shot." " I'm hoping the car accelerator stuck." "Everything else's getting way too complicated." " See you, Frank." " See you." " Bye." " Bye." " Damn good." " Isn't it good?" " Oh, my egg salad." " Oh, yeah." "Oh, thanks." "I'll just take this here." " And you can have mine." " Thank you." " You say you were home all night?" " Yeah." "Next door been vacant for I don't know how long." "All kind of dogs and rats and everything else crawling' up in there." "All kind of noises pop up, but I don't pay that no mind." " What kind of noises did you hear?" " Shouts, tussling, yelling." "But that might not even have been real." "Might've been somebody's TV set on across the alley." " So you found the guy?" " Yes, Lord." "White boy was swinging with his mouth open like a lake trout on a fishin' line." "Ever see him around here?" "I'd have remembered him, all dressed up like that." "What time was it when you found him?" "I'll be damned." "Lost my Rolex." "Come on, man." "This is your corner." "That's your crew." "What drug dealer works without knowin' the corner?" " I don't sell drugs." " OK, I'm not a cop." " Hey..." " I'm not Narcotics." "I'm Homicide." "A little somethin' to play with." "Damn." "Look what happened to that man's neck." "Stretched him out." "It's the laws of gravity, homes." "Look at his face." "Recognise the guy?" " Is he a customer?" " Never seen him before." "He never copped from us." " Hey, Tim." "This the car?" " Yeah, this is it." "Look at that front end." "How fast was the old lady going?" "Fast enough to throw Gerbes about 100 feet." " Little old lady from Pasadena, huh?" " Uh-huh." "So, how's things with you and Julianna?" "I'm working here, Kellerman." "So, I spoke with Traffic Investigation." "They say it looks like this car's brakes and linkage are in excellent condition." "They checked the carburettor and it's clean." "The accelerator couldn't have been stuck." "Maybe the old lady mistook the accelerator for the brake." "I think we should talk to her and get this all figured out." " What did you and Ballard figure out?" " About what?" "You were putting the moves on her." "You got a thing for her?" " Ballard?" " Yeah." "She's beautiful, she smoulders, she's got wonderful skin." " Who knows?" " She smoulders?" "Yeah." "I'm attracted to her, Frank." "Who aren't you attracted to?" "For the past three weeks, you and our esteemed ME have been tripping the light fantastic." " Now you got a thing for Ballard?" " Wait a minute." " You remember the Frandina case?" " What Frandina case?" "Four years ago, the sex call-in girl." " Frandina?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "Strangled with the leather belt." "What I'm talking about is kinky sexual acts." "Dehumanising acts between two human beings, all right?" "Sex is love." "Period." "This I believe." "Oh, right, OK, Frandina." "Right." "So what?" "You're thinking Ballard and leather?" "Well, I'm just remembering..." "That's a thought, though." "Someone said once there's nothing wrong with a little experimenting?" " I'm this someone?" " Yeah." "You said that to close cases, I had to find out what made me tick, the good and the bad, the virtue and the vice." " The so-called shadow self." " What shadow self?" "The forbidden, Frank." "I'm saying that you, Tim Bayliss, you've got a darkness inside of you." "You got to know the darker, uglier sides of yourself." "You've got to recognise them so they're not sneaking up on you." "Love them, because they're part of you." "Along with your virtues, they make you who you are." "Virtue isn't virtue unless it slams up against vice." "So consequently, your virtue is not real virtue." "Until it's been tested." "Tempted." " Otherwise, it'll jump up and slam me." " I was probably making' conversation." "No, you were stone serious." "It was during one of your rants and raves." "This is my pre-stroke days?" "What, four years ago?" " Yeah, and it's always stuck with me." " So I'm responsible for your confusion?" "I'm not confused." " Take a pill." " No." "No, you see, I'm finding out." "Outstanding." "I'll call Dorothy Nichols and ask her to come in, see if she wasn't just panicking." " That'd be my guess." " Mine, too." "Casa dolce casa, for the yuppie advertising exec." "Look at this, and you wonder what he was doing by the Orchard St projects." "Same city, different worlds." " The guy's got some family, huh?" " You ain't just whistlin' Dixie." " It bothers you?" " Little bit." "I'm sorry for leaving you down here so long." "I had trouble getting the baby to go down for his nap." "I know this is a bad time, but we have questions." "Do you have any family?" "My mom's on the way from Washington." "She'll be here in an hour." "Good, good." "That's good." "So what, this is some kind of robbery?" "Someone killed Martin over his money?" "No, his wallet and watch were found on him." "We'll have his personal effects returned to you when we close this case." "Then, why?" "Mrs Ridenour, did your husband have problems with drugs or alcohol?" "Absolutely not." " Did he know people in West Baltimore?" " What are you suggesting?" "Could he have visited anyone on the west side?" " Near Orchard Street?" " No." "Did he have any African-American friends or associates?" "Not that I know." "Could he have made the acquaintance of a black person?" "The answer is yes." "My husband was open to all kinds of people, but right now, no one in particular comes to mind." "Hmm..." "It's quite a family." "The Ridenour family in Maryland can be traced all the way back to the 1790s." "It was a hobby for Martin." "Any arguments in the family, disputes at the office he told you about?" "Nothing like that." "Martin was doing really well." "He was diligent, and he put in the hours." "In fact, he'd managed to snatch away two national accounts from a Madison Avenue firm," "Sovereign Airlines and DRV Investments." "Who's the lady soldier on the horse?" "I think that's... yeah, that's Martin's great-great-great-grandmother." "She fought for the South?" "I guess not all Southern belles sat on the front porch sipping mint juleps." "'My husband didn't live in the past.'" "His family's heritage, it was more a matter of curiosity than anything else." "Curiosity?" "Did your husband belong to any social clubs, like the Sons of the Confederacy, anything like that?" "I'm sorry if all the history in this room has made you uncomfortable, but history is all that it is." " What was up with you in there?" " What do you mean?" "I'm working a murder in the 20th century, and you ask about the Civil War?" "Excuse me." "I'm not used to going into a victim's home and seeing Dixie waving'." "They're family mementos." "They don't mean anything." "To you, maybe." "I go in there and I see flags and swords and Stonewall Jackson peerin' down at me from the mantelpiece." "I just don't truck with that." "Come on, you think Martin Ridenour is some kind of Grand Kleagle?" "Mild-mannered executive by day, but after dark, he's riding with a sheet on his head?" "All this "Gone With The Wind" crap, it's just getting under my skin." " You want off this case?" " Hey, I'm workin' this murder here!" "I'm a pro." "I do this for a living." " Mm-hm." " What you talkin' about?" "What was great-grandpa Falsone doing during the War Between The States?" "Stealing chickens in Palermo." "$20million, at least." "Actually, I'm being a little conservative." "The DRV account was worth $20million to us." " What would be Ridenour's cut?" " A point and a half on commission." "Over the next two years, he'd have pulled in 300,000." "Add another 150,000 for the Sovereign account." "So our guy was a real comer?" "Martin?" "He was the best junior exec in the firm." "I can't believe he's gone." "What a waste." " Anyone who disliked the guy?" " What do you mean?" "If he won a fight for two big accounts, there must've been losers." "The other bidders were Madison Avenue firms up in New York." "Within this firm, a couple of junior partners would have liked the accounts, but Martin's presentation was really top-flight." "Can you give us the names of some of these losers?" "Sure, but in the advertising business, clients jump ship all the time." "Sales of a tooth whitener drop by 1%, and the corporate monkeys jump all over blaming the ad campaign." "Sales go up 0.5%, they're throwin' bonus money at the same ad agency." " Sounds pretty cut-throat." " We cut throats every day, Detective." "But I've never heard of anyone doing any actual bleeding." " Hey, guys." "How's it going?" " No motive, no suspect." "No kiddin'." "Let's change up and rule this thing a suicide." "Why?" "I think we all pretty much know that Martin Ridenour didn't hang himself." "Yeah." "New rule." "If we have a suspect in custody, it's murder." "And if the suspect is unknown, it's the worst case of suicide I've ever seen." "That's my new rule." "It's gonna make us all very happy." "Let's keep it a homicide and I just give you more to go on." "What the hell?" " Whipped." " What?" "What's more, he was whipped ante mortem before he was hanged." "He had his shirt off, then after the lashing, he was allowed to redress." "Now, the angle of these marks, I'd say that he was on his knees and his assailant was standing behind and somewhat to the left." " Whipped?" " I've seen a lot, but this beats 'em all." "A downtown suit wanders into the 'hood and gets himself whipped and hanged." "If he were black and this were 1948, I'd call it a lynching." "Yeah, but he's white, so what the hell do we call it?" "A mess." ""Avenger by day, libidinous karate girl by night."" "Bayliss?" "These two people are here to see you." "Detective Bayliss?" "I'm Jenny Torgerson." " I'm representing Mrs Nichols here." " Hello, darling." " I want you to have these." " Er, sorry." "I can't take anything." "Someone as skinny as you could use some heft." "Please take 'em." "I baked them myself." "You wanted to talk to my client about the accident?" "I appreciate you comin' in." "You ain't gonna send me to jail?" "My driving record is spotless." "Up till yesterday, I didn't even have a parking ticket." " OK." "I'II..." "I'll take this interview." " Fine by me." " OK, this way." " Thank you." " All that decaf." " Wrong, hot water." " So from low octane to no octane." " Yeah, that's right." "I think that old lady panicked, got the gas pedal confused with the brakes." " Hmm?" " Your case." " Kind of like Bayliss, huh?" " What?" "I hear things, peculiar things." " Excuse me?" " Come on." " I have no idea what you're on about." " You don't know?" "Station house whispers about your partner?" " Whispers about Bayliss?" " You've heard." "Indulge me." "Well, I hear that Bayliss..." "is a switch hitter." "Is that so?" "That he's ridin' both sides of the hobby horse." " Both sides, huh?" " Is that a kick in the head, or what?" "I hear he's interested in Ballard." "I saw them eating breakfast together." "What do you make of that?" "Gets you thinking." " They had breakfast?" " Ask your partner." "I was there and I saw it, Ballard with Bayliss." "If Bayliss is swingin' from both sides of the plate, where's your partner?" " Not my partner." " You standing for a reason?" " What you saying about Ballard?" " You're sayin' things about Bayliss." " I see him with your partner..." " Think nothin' of it." " No?" " Not a thing!" "You look kinda pissed." "Don't let this table come between us." "Not my partner." "Come whisper that to me." "I love the sugar cookies, don't you?" "The holiday spirit, it lingers on." "Oh." "You weren't reading' that, were you?" "It's yours." " So where you at?" " Right now?" "Nowhere." " Your victim was hanged and whipped?" " Not necessarily in that order." "A white businessman was found tortured and executed in antique fashion in a part of Baltimore where white businessmen are not often found frequenting." " Interesting." " Colour's fascinating." "My first thought is drugs." "But we got no history of drug use from the family, no drug tracks or dirty urine from the morgue, Gee." "Go back to the beginning." " The beginning?" " Go back to the scene and canvas." "Go back to square one and take a fresh look at the terrain for the first time." "We've been up and down that block." "It's Nowheresville." "Then canvas the next block, or the next two." "Everything about this murder was planned." "This is not random." "Your victim is hanging in a row house for a reason." "You just don't know what the reason is." "My man." " Oh, you think we be friends now." " My mainest man." "So remember, kids." "Don't just say no to drugs." "Say, "No, thank you."" " We already talked." " Know Mickey Denning, Drug Squad?" "Denning?" "Yeah, he be storming' out here." "That man like to lock everyone up." "You know, Mickey broke me in." "Knows me like a brother." "If I got a problem, his squad will be right here." " Oh, man." " I kid you not." "Every knocker in the Western District will be there, toasting marshmallows and singing campfire songs." "Hey, you ain't even funny." "We're goin' up the block." "When I'm back, I wanna learn somethin' I don't know yet." "Hold up, man." "This has gone past being fair." "I talk nice to you one day, you come back and persecute me the next?" "Hard enough being a black man in America before you got to messin' with me." "Don't get paranoid on me." "Just cos I'm bugging, don't mean you all ain't out to get me." "Kid's got flex, huh?" "I like him." "I'll take the right side of the street, you take the left." "Well, thank you anyway, sir." "There's my card." "Don't hesitate to call me at that number if you think of anything." " That's it for both sides of the street." " Yeah." "Row houses, anyway." "Hey, it's just a church, man." "Not even a church." " It's like a museum or something." " Sure is." "Orchard Street Church was part of the underground railroad." "I wanna check it out." "After soaking' up that Johnny Rebel stuff, I need to balance out my energies." "You're standing on sacred ground." "Orchard Street was one of many stops on the highway to freedom." "'This church, built in 1837 by enslaved and free blacks, 'was operating a year before Frederick Douglass made his famous escape 'from the President Street Station.'" "The main sanctuary is symbolic of a slave ship." "The beams were brought in from the shipyards here in Baltimore." "'I like to think that this is where the spirits are.'" "Maryland was deeply divided over slavery." "Baltimore had strong secessionist leanings, and runaway slaves were hunted on bounties everywhere below the Mason-Dixon line." "An escape tunnel." "This was probably made to look like part of a pantry or cupboard, but the tunnel actually travels 75 yards towards what is now known as Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard." "'So runaway slaves crawled through here?" "'" "Yes." " Interesting." " It didn't do much for the case file." " But I just felt the need." " No problem." "Yo!" "Yeah?" " A white van." " Excuse me?" " Here's somethin' you don't know, right?" " That's the deal." "A white van was in front of that boarded-up house night before last." "What kind of van?" "Make, model, plates?" "Wasn't noticing." "But it had some writing' on the side, nothin' I remember." " Some of those flags and dots." " Flags and dots?" " Uh-huh." " Show me." "What is this, "Name That Tune"?" " These the only two vans you got?" " I'm just startin' out." "I ain't U-Haul." " Were they in use the night before last?" " I had 'em on a job in Annapolis." "Drove 'em back here and locked 'em after we finished up." " Who had the other one?" " Dennis." "He had a gig on Thursday, but he didn't drop it off till today." "I almost fired his ass for that." " Dennis?" " Dennis Rigby." "He looked responsible, like a professor with reading' glasses and library books." "Thought the man was steady rolling." " But he's gone, man." "He's out there." " What do you mean?" "I don't really want to get all into it." "Dennis is always talkin' some craziness." " Where is he now?" " I guess over at his parent's house." " What's the matter?" " We're lookin' for Dennis Rigby." " Why?" " We need to talk to him." "He's not here." "Can we come in, sir?" "Thank you." " Has there been some trouble?" " We just need to talk with your son." " Sort some things." " My son is not about trouble." "Graduated with honours from Charles University." "Dennis is 25 years old and no police has ever walked through my door on his account." "No, ma'am." "He's never been arrested, never caused us to lose a minute's sleep." "We know that, ma'am, but if you could have him give us a call," "I'd really appreciate it." "Here's my number." " You have a bathroom I could use?" " Down the hall to the right." " Thank you." " It says "Homicide"." "Got lost." "Sorry." "It's like turning a knob on a door that doesn't exist." "The guy's a college type." "Back to advertising, find the guy who thought he'd get paid and didn't." "No, uh-huh." "This is the guy." "Who, Rigby?" "Why?" "How would he even know the victim?" "I don't know." "It just connects somehow." "Ballard, where you coming from?" " I was on some errands." "We get a call?" " No." "I was just looking for you." " Yeah, what?" " We gotta talk." "Step into my office." " What did you have to buy?" " Some stuff for my apartment." " Decorating?" " It's women's items, OK?" "Yeah." "Sure." " You OK?" " Never better." "Gharty?" "You had breakfast with Bayliss the other day." " Yeah?" "Tim's a good guy." " Yes, he is." "I never knew he was so funny." "He's got a wicked sense of humour." " He's a little strange." " Strange like odd?" " Queer?" " But he's thoughtful, you know." "He thinks a lot, about a lot of things." "You had breakfast with Bayliss, I want to know where this is going." "Between me and Tim?" "You can't get involved with another detective." "Involved?" "What?" "We had breakfast!" " People talk." " We had breakfast, that's all." "People are talking." "Once things get said, they can get nasty, part of the permanent record." "Oh, I can't have breakfast with a fellow detective?" " We do it all the time, you and me." " That's different." "We work together." "It's no different than with me and Bayliss, Stu." " So that's what it was?" "Professional?" " You betcha." "Good." "Great." " We should go to work." " Yeah." " You got schmutz on your collar." " Schmutz?" "Looks like marinara sauce." " I just had spaghetti, you can tell?" " Yeah." "For any detective, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but for Lewis, he has to take us back into the last century." "Giggle all you want, but I'm telling you, Gee, there's somethin' to this." "Money, drugs, sex." "That's the unholy trinity." "You want a motive, look in your victim's life, not history books." "I got a victim who was whupped and then hung, or should I say whipped and lynched, not half a block from the church that was used to shelter runaway slaves." "Now, the victim has got Confederate connections in his family tree." " I go visit the home of the suspect..." " A potential suspect." "At this point, all you have is a work van near the crime scene." "A potential suspect." "Except this cat's house is like a museum the other way." "On his walls, he's got righteous black folks all around." "This adds up to somethin'?" "We haven't done enough with the money this guy's making from ad accounts." "Exactly." "That money is real." "You can die for it, kill for it." "And the murder takes place in the here and now." "I agree." "And I tell you, Martin Ridenour wasn't strung up over no advertising' dollars." " Ridenour?" " Yeah." " What?" " Your victim's name is Ridenour?" " Martin Ridenour." " What is it, Frank?" ""Hush your mouth, go to sleep." ""Old Patty Ridenour..." "take you back deep." ""'Hogtie a man over 6'4", kill little children for too much noise." ""'So hush your mouth, go to sleep." ""'old Patty Ridenour take you back deep."'" " Patty Ridenour?" " What kind of poem is that?" "This is somethin' that my grandmother taught me." "In her house, Patty Ridenour was one of the great bogeymen of childhood." "Er... she was this lady bounty hunter, chasing' down runaway slaves." "Shooting 'em, beating 'em, selling 'em back into slavery." " Was she real?" " She was real enough for an 8-year-old." "You didn't eat your peas, Ridenour be comin' for you." "Didn't brush your teeth, she be ridin' up to take another little bad boy away." "Now, Grandma was..." "she was quite a sadist." "All the verses end with some fresh act of cruelty." ""'Got a gang of seven, takin' slave and freed." ""'Ridin' day and night on her coal black steed."'" "Coal black steed?" "I'll be damned." "♪ Oh, Sinnerman, where you gonna run to" "♪ Sinnerman, where you gonna run to" "♪ Where you gonna run to, All on that day" "♪ Well, I run to the rock" "♪ Please hide me, I run to the rock" "♪ Please hide me, I run to the rock" "♪ Please hide me, Lord, All on that day" "♪ But the rock cried out" "♪ I can't hide you, the rock cried out" "♪ I can't hide you, the rock cried out" "♪ I ain't gonna hide you, God, All on that day" "♪ I said rock" "♪ What's a matter with you, rock" "♪ Don't you see I need you, rock" "♪ Oh, Lord, All on that day" "♪ So I run to the river" "♪ It was bleedin', I run to the sea" "♪ It was bleedin', I run to the sea" "♪ It was bleedin', All on that day" "♪ So I run to the river, it was boilin'" "♪ I run to the sea, it was boilin'" "♪ I run to the sea, it was boilin', All on that day" "♪ So I run to the Lord" "♪ Please help me, Lord" "♪ Don't you see me prayin'" "♪ Don't you see me down here praying' ♪" "Licence and registration, please!" " Nothin'?" " No, no one in or out." "You owe me big for tonight, Lewis." "I know." "Man's got no money, no transportation, no other known addresses." "I don't get it." "I do." "Y'all good people, I know that, and I'm sorry to trouble your home so late at night, but our job is to find Dennis." " Well, he's not here." " I do believe he is." "I could get a search warrant, come back and tear your house up, but you and I don't have the heart for that, do we?" "What the hell do you think is down here anyway?" "The past." "Mr Rigby?" "The black man's been chained for 400 years." "My man, you ain't got to worry about but 30 or 40." "I liked the false wall in the basement." "Do that yourself?" " You know him?" " You haven't been to jail before?" " I'm the other 50%." " 50%?" "Of black men never subjected to the criminal justice system." " Yeah, well, you're here now." " But it's different." "Isn't it?" "I'm not here for dope or coke or any of that gangster pretend." " Well, it's all the same to him." " No." "No, it wasn't." "Yeah." "Yeah, it was." "To him, you're just another crazed nigger with a bad plan." "You're just the usual white boy nightmare." "Don't call me that." "He knew what it was about." "Cos you told him." "You made sure to tell him." "I'd like a lawyer." "Why would you want a lawyer, huh?" "You ain't just some corner boy." "This was righteous." "This was political." "This was history, jumping up and biting Martin Ridenour in the ass." "You wanted to send a message, didn't you?" "The Orchard Street Church, the bullwhip, the lynching'." "It was message time on Orchard Street." "So why hold back now?" "Just tell the truth." "You love history, don't you, Dennis?" "Sankofa." "Sanka who?" "Sankofa." "West African. "You must study the past to move forward."" "So tell us about Patty Ridenour." "'Queen of the kidnappers." "'A murderous matriarch of a vicious clan." "'And what was worse was that she not only tracked runaways, 'she hunted freed slaves.'" "You understand that, Detective?" "She kidnapped freed blacks and sold them back into slavery, stealing their property and land." "That's a cold-hearted bitch." "And my great-great-great-grandfather was born freed and educated in Providence." "'He spent $400 in sailor's wages to buy his own farm, 600 acres.'" "'Patty Ridenour.'" "I read." "I saw the article in the paper." ""Martin Ridenour, $20million..."" "I saw his face, I saw his name, I did my research." "And his success, it made you mad, huh?" "To think what it was built on?" "Yes, I was angry." "So you stalked him." "And the beauty of this is, it wasn't enough to just shoot him or cut him up." "You had to make it special." "And I'm with you on that." "If I was gonna do it," "I would need for Martin Ridenour to leave this world in a way that would keep the circle unbroken." "That's what I'm talking about." "And you did that." " You brought it all around." " I did." "I did." "How?" "How did you get him up in that vacant house?" "I waited for him in his office garage." "I had a gun." "He thought it was a robbery." "He offered his watch, his wallet." "And after I ordered him into the back of the van, he began begging, promising to take me to an ATM to get me more cash." "'I tied him up and blindfolded him in the back of the van." "'When I pulled him out of the van, he didn't know where he was." "'He didn't know what was going on.'" "But when we got in that house..." "When we got in that house," "I made sure he knew everything." "And you bullwhipped that white boy on his knees, and you made him get up on that chair." "When the noose got 'round his neck, he started crying." "I pulled the blindfold off." "I made sure he saw me saw me at that very last moment." "You are a sick son of a bitch." "I thought you'd understand." "Understand?" "Look, you killed a man, an innocent man, over somethin' his long dead ancestor did to your long dead ancestor?" "You're Italian, surely you know what a vendetta is." "Why don't you tell us?" "Sankofa!" "Now, my great-great-great-grandfather," "Zephus Rigby, died in slave quarters near Mechanicsburg, Virginia, a year before the Civil War." "He hanged himself." "And the life of Martin Ridenour..." "Does that atone for you?" "Does that atone for me?" "Vendetta is settled." "He had a son, an infant son." "And that boy is gonna grow up never havin' known his father, never havin' known what came before his father." "But he's gonna know your name, Dennis." "That much he's gonna know." "And by the vendetta, he has all the right to come after you." "Or maybe your son." "I don't have a son." "And you never will." "Because the Rigby line..." "... it ends here." "In blood." "It's wild, very wild." "It's contemporary primitive." " What do you think that is?" " That?" "Oh, er, I don't know, a sofa?" "Well, what does he mean?" "Everybody needs a nap?" "Naps are good." "So, er... you won't charge the old lady with vehicular manslaughter?" "The Gerbes case?" "No, that'll be written off as accident." "You can't put an 84-year-old lady in jail." "We're gonna get the State to revoke her licence." " So what do you make of this one?" " Oh, er, I don't know." "Let's see..." "That nothing is as it seems to be any more." "Something like that." "The colour sort of fades into the eyes." "Mm-hm." "Like seeing everything in black and white?" "Uh-huh." "Yeah." "And no matter how... much the eyes look at you, they don't see what they're lookin' at." "This place is a morgue." "I'm looking at the faces of the dead." "Yeah, can't even get away from work." "Well... you know, we could try." " So where's Billie Lou?" " Night off." " I can't get past it." " Yeah, she'll be back tomorrow." "No, a murder with a motive more than a century old." "How twisted is that?" "How screwed up is this country when it comes to racial stuff?" "You kiddin' me?" "I mean, we can't even..." "People can't even apologise for slavery." "You cough on somebody in a crowded elevator, you got sense to apologise." "We had slavery for 400 years, and can't nobody think of nothin' to say." "Black or white, as long as we got a memory of it, we ain't never gonna get past it." "Well, what do you want me to say, I'm sorry?" "Yeah, well, I wasn't thinkin' about you." "I have never gone against anyone cos of colour." "That's what I'm saying." "You don't get it." "Personally, I have never owned slaves, and I have never messed with anyone." "I've been a stand-up guy about that." "You don't understand." "What I'm sayin' is I'll get the next round, how's that?" "Just leave it the hell alone, Falsone."