"Previously on The Booth at the End." "You make things happen." "Like magic." "There's something you need? I want to hear God again." "I offer you a task." "You do the task." "You get what you want." "I think I want my son to live." "What do I have to do? You're going to have to rob a bank." "I want you to help someone." "Help a kid." "I'll bring it to Andy's this weekend." "You built the bomb? So where's the money? Detective, you didn't do it." "Do you make everyone who comes to you hurt someone? Only some." "You need some more water? No, thanks." "Are you a writer? No, not really." "It's just I see you in here every day." "Just " " Just working." "What do you do?" "You a reporter? Is that why you're always talking to people, taking notes? It's private, actually." "Then why do you do it in here?" " Is there a problem?" " Should I talk to the manager? I don't get it." "I did it." "I was holding him in a storage unit, tied up, like you said." "Did he know when you went back for him what you were going to do? He must have." "His eyes were wide, started struggling." "He saw me." "He started screaming through the gag." "What was he saying." "Could you tell? He was innocent." "You said he was charged with the murder of his girlfriend and her mother? Yeah." "But he was a suspect, not -- not convicted." "He killed his girlfriend and her mother." "But he wasn't convicted." "He was guilty... enough." "I drove him out of town, someplace out of the way." "What was that like? It was a drive." "A man tied up in your back seat as you drove him to his execution." "He was kicking against the back of my seat the whole way." "I found the spot, I dug a grave, I shot him, buried him." "So what's next? Answer your phone." "Yeah? Mm --mm." "They got a lead on the guy who robbed the bank." "He'll have the money you want, you know? How did you do that? I didn't." "You did." "If I do what you ask, I'll hear God again, yes? Yes." "So, what is it? What do I have to do to hear God again? Become pregnant." "I can't." "Technically, you can." "I can't." "You mean, you mustn't." "However, if you do, you will hear God again." "What do you mean, become pregnant? You must be with a man -- I'll be kicked out of my order." "That's not my concern." "It's a concern to me." "These are the terms." "And I'll hear God again? Just as you did in years past." "Yes." "Yes." "Are there any other conditions? Only that you tell me the details." "I found someone, a shut-in." "He hasn't been outside in 10 years." "How did you find him? I volunteered for this sort of Meals On Wheels thing." "They do deliveries to the elderly and people who can't go out, and people like Ron who don't want to go out." " What's he " " What's he like? He's kind of friendly." "He's got pictures on his walls, you know, photographs." "Of what? People." "Just people... out in the world." "He's got "agrow"... Agoraphobia." "That's it." "He's just not used to people." "It took me awhile, but I got him to start talking to me." "We got some money -- enough to keep the restaurant open this month." "That's good news." " His friend died " " Left us some money." "I mean, it's terrible that this happened, but it's good, you know? Did his friend die because of what I'm doing? Hmm? Because I've started -- I don't know." "You have to know." "I don't know." "Look, Melody, you can stop whenever you want." "Things might even get better on their own." "But this way it's sure, right? If I do this thing, then my dad gets all the money he needs? Yes." "Okay, I'll go back." "I'll get Ron to leave his apartment, like you asked." "How will you do that? You said that he has a clinical condition." "I don't know." "Do you think I can do it? I don't think I've ever given a task to anyone that they couldn't do." "I told them I was a gardener." "A gardener? Yeah, and I got some tools and went up and down the street introducing myself." "To be near the girl? Mmm." "To protect the girl." "And one of the families, they hired me to work, so I'll be working there in the mornings." "But not the girl's house." "Well, I can see her house from where I work, so I keep an eye on her." "And, uh, what about when she's at school? I applied for a job there, too, as a janitor." "You're really jumping into this." "I haven't had a job in a long time." "I never would have tried to be a janitor, but -- unless I was trying to get something that I wanted." "Protect the girl, get the centerfold." "Good to have a focus." "Mm --mm." "You can only get what you imagine you can get." "What do you mean, Willem? Just, in watching this family, the girl and her parents, the father, he seems to have this really strong vision of live, a good life." "You have a vision, huh? Some girl from a centerfold." "That isn't what you want? It's all I can imagine." "Do I need a weapon? A weapon." "You said to protect her, from somebody, I guess." "I didn't say anything like that." "You don't say anything." "This is how you get off, huh? You can stop any time you want, Willem." "Nah." "I wanted to show you something." "A gun." "For the robbery." "Where'd you get it? My stepbrother has a cousin." "Your first gun." "Yeah." "What's it feel like, holding it? Like leaving the neighborhood on a weekend night." "You don't know the rules." "Anything might happen." "Have you fired it yet?" " I took some classes." " It's scary, but good." "Will it be loaded when you do the robbery? Why? 'Cause if it's loaded, someone might get shot." "And if it's not loaded, no one can get shot." "I think I will load it, to make it feel more real, right? If I'm going to do this thing." "Is that what you think? H-huh." "How'd it go? He got away Who? The guy who robbed the bank." "But you got the money." "You said you wanted the money I wanted the guy." "You said you wanted the money." "I wanted the money to find the guy who robbed the bank." "You weren't precise." "Where is he? I have no idea." "The hell you don't." "I don't." "You know things." " I - don't know this." "What happened? I told you, he got away." "Tell me the details, Detective." "My partner got a tip -- that call I got the other day." "He went in the front door, I took the back." "The kid -- the thief slipped out a window." "I gave a chase, he got away -- left the money from the heist." "The thief was a child? Nah." "You said he was a kid. 26, whatever." "Just -- Why are you lying to me? I'm not lying." "Who is he... to you? Nah." "No more games." "Just tell me." "Detective, I don't know." "Then how the hell did I end up with the money? I killed that guy, I got the money." "'Cause that's how it works." "Who is he to you? I already killed a guy for you." "You want more? Just make me a deal." "Tell me what to do." "Let us be clear about this, Detective." "You murdered a man for you." "He was a dirtbag! So you said, but you still killed him in exchange for what you wanted." "My kid is none of your business." "Well, then we've got nothing left to talk about." "I placed it." "You did? Finished it, and I put it in at Andy's, the coffee shop." "You're having second thoughts." "I saw those families, children playing." "I put the bomb on wheelies, you know? the wheelie thing -- cart? The hand cart? It's small, in a suitcase." "And, uh, mostly metal shards, heavy." "It'll do the most damage." "For a moment, I imagined I saw it -- the metal cutting through those people." "And then I thought, "Who am I to take the lives of these people just because I want my husband back?" Well, the choice is always yours to proceed or not." "And then I thought, "Who am I not to? How many people kill others one way or another for things they want?" So, I'll go back to Andy's this weekend when it's most crowded to be sure to kill the number of people you said I was supposed to kill." "I just want you to be ready." "I will have my husband back." "Simon, how are you? I'm fine." "Have you been reconsidering? I have an offer." "I am willing to give up my success as a painter -- That's not the offer that's on the table." "Just hear me out plea " " I don't have to sell my paintings anymore." "I just want to look at my work and know." "And that can happen, but the offer is the same as it was three months ago." "Become a father." "I told you three months ago, that's not what I do." "You don't have to be good at it." "I can't." "You can ignore the child if you wish, but in order to become the kind of painter you want to become, this is what you must do -- father a child." "There's someone watching the girl." "The girl I'm supposed to kill." "I'm sure." "There's a man." "I've seen him around the neighborhood." "He's the gardener." "Gardener? I know, it sounds crazy, but I'm supposed to kill a little girl to save my son's life." "I have spent so much time explaining to myself why it's better off she die." "And now, I think there's someone watching over her." "Can I choose another child? No." "Yes, I can." "No, you can't." "Another child." "What one begins, one must finish." "Those are the rules." "Someone is watching her! Just because a client finds a task difficult doesn't mean he gets to change the task." "What if he knows? Did you tell someone about me? I've told no-one about you." "I have spent so much time watching her, watching how her parents treat her." "How they tug her hand every time they want her to follow along, how they smack her cheek every time she says something they don't like." "They snap at her." "Do they do this often? They do it enough." "They do it enough, and I think to myself, "She'd be better off dead." James, right now, what are you feeling? Anger, because I can't get my way." "But you can." "It may be complicated, but you can." "How you doing today? Fine, thanks." "Do you want some more hot water? Yeah, please." "Is there something I can help you with? No." "Then I'm going to get back to work." "You're like a therapist or something, right? Am I? Well -- I've watched you." "You listen to people, the people that show up and talk to you." "I don't know, I guess I just wanted to say I think it's great, how you care so much what people say." "That's all." "You said I was supposed to come visit you and tell you how it's going? Yes, yes, please." "Well, I've got to say it's not going very well." "Which part? All of it." "Dating." "It's not something that I ever really thought about." "You're actually trying to date people? Because the task only required that you -- I get pregnant? Yeah." "Well, it can't just be anybody." "Well, it could." "No, no." "If I'm gonna do this, I want it to be with someone I could want to be with." "Where are you going to meet people? I tried bars." "It's like Mass with too much wine and everyone praying to get laid." "If you can really let me hear Him, just let me hear Him." " No." " I can't do anything." "You have to do it, what we agreed upon." "Don't make me." "I'm not." "I took a vow." "So keep it or break it and lie." "Get pregnant, have a child, give the child away, return to your former life." "No one has to know." "There are options." "But it would be my child." "I met her." "Who? The woman." "The woman? The woman, the one I'm doing this for from the magazine." "Her." "You met her? I was getting coffee, and she was on line right behind me." "I didn't recognize her at first, but then some guy started talking to her and I overheard her say she was in town at a club." "A club? A strip club." "She seemed really friendly." "It's just like you said." "If I started doing the thing, I'd see proof." "It's cause of this, isn't it? It's 'cause I'm doing the deal." "Most likely." "You don't know? It's not something I control." "What do you mean? I control less than you think." "So it just sort of happens? If you watch over and protect the little girl, you get the woman." "That's how it works." "So, wait, so, you're the middle man? The man in the middle? So who's on the other side of you?"