"How'd a water stain get there?" "It rained maybe twice this last year." "It's like everything's papier mache." "Stop thinking." "I don't like being on a ledge." "Nobody gets rich on their own money." "I never really knew what to do with it." "Money." "I see that about myself." "You always said you want lots of land." "Yes." "But you need children to leave it to." "It's never really yours." "You don't take it with you." "You don't take anything with you." "Just yourself, whatever that was." "I've worked my whole life, same as you." "And not being poor is better than the opposite." "My old man back in Chicago, when I was a kid..." "He used to lock me in the basement when he'd go on a bender." "Usually last the night." "Let me out the next day." "Thought he was keeping me safe, I guess." "This one time, I was six, he puts me down there, and I wake up, and it's locked." "It had happened before." "Anyways, uh, I guess he ended up arrested." "I guess." "God, baby." "Well..." "By the second morning" "I was out of food." "The third day, the, uh, lightbulb burned out." "Pitch black in there." "That's when the rats started coming out." "I dozed off and..." "I felt the thing, you know, nibbling my finger." "I woke up." "It was, you know, chewing my finger." "What did you do?" "I grabbed it in the dark with my hands and I started smashing it." "And I just kept smashing it till it was nothing but goo in my hands." "Two more days I was in there, in the dark," "till my dad comes home." "Sometimes I wonder how many things you have like that that I don't know about." "Ever since, I wonder, what if he never comes home?" "What if" "I'm still in that basement in the dark?" "What if I died there?" "That's what that reminds me of." "What?" "That water stain." "Something's trying to tell me that it's all papier mache." "Something's telling me to wake up." "Like..." "Like I'm not real." "Like I'm only dreaming." "TOD between 4:00 and 9:00 a.m., morning of the 26th." "Tox shows Xanax, alcohol, also had gonorrhea, for what it's worth." "Hydrochloric acid on his eyes." "Burn pattern tells us he was on his back." "Lack of spray around the orbital cavity indicates precision." "Some kind of glass eyedropper, maybe." "He's our body." "I don't see that changing, so why don't you all fill me in?" "Victim is a key figure in a state's investigation." "What state investigation?" "Newly formed." "We're looking into various allegations made against Vinci in the papers." "Vinci detectives have been on Caspere as a missing person for two days." "We have the man's house, which was burglarized." "You want to shut us out, we'll continue our investigation autonomously." "In Vinci, so everybody can keep their little corners to themselves, but, ladies and gentlemen, PD is solving this case." "I understand Ventura." "How does the state have any claim here?" "Our officer found the body." "This could get you out from under, Woodrugh." "That actress bullshit." "You'd be detailed as a state's investigator." "The Caspere homicide is your public investigation." "Looking into Vinci PD is your confidential mandate, gathering intel for a grand jury." "This probe is very important to the governor's office." "Say this goes your way." "How's it play for my boy here once the dust settles?" "Everything shakes out, you'll be offered a chance to remain investigator." "In line for a state detective shield." "We can wipe away all that admin hassle." "When this is over, can I just go back to being on the bike?" "You can see abrasions on his wrists and ankles, lividity on his torso." "He was bound upside down, or close to it." "Attorney general's office has concerns about obfuscation on the part of Vinci PD." "Detective Bezzerides, you'll be primary commander of the detail." "Secondary is gonna be a Vinci guy, Velcoro." "Your DB was into a lot of LA County money." "His house was broken into, so you're going to Vinci." "Vinci detective with you, word is he's bent." "Work him." "Leverage something to turn him." "We'll have a full state probe up inside a week." "Caspere's death is a window into everything." "And what is "everything" exactly?" "You know anything about the city of Vinci?" "It started out as a vice haven, early 1900s." "Went industrial in the '20s." "Pushed out residents from manufacturing zones." "Worst air polluter in the state." "Annually emits or processes 27 million pounds of toxic waste." "Reds tried to stop my grandfather from industrial rezoning." "Same thing." "Geldof's been after us since we won the last EPA suit." "It's about money, Detective Velcoro." "Caspere was one of the architects of the community renewal initiative." "Passing legislature, our city gets to keep 75% of its county tax revenue for eight years." "And what's that worth?" "About $900 million." "Being kept from the county general fund." "Hell, Ernst, it's our money." "Vinci's a goddamn success story in a depressed economy." "State's gonna use the homicide to dig into whatever they can, Ray." "Wherever the Caspere case goes, we need you running point." "Control the sprawl." "Control the flow of information." "Dixon is secondary to you, staging out of Vinci." "You'll be working under a Ventura detective commanding the task force." "That clear to you, Detective?" "10-4, Lieutenant." "Just one question." "Am I supposed to solve this or not?" "Just no surprises, Detective Velcoro." "Ray accepts dualities must be effected to, uh, serve public interests." "I really do." "Bound?" "Vinyl fabric." "You can see the edge of the buckle's imprint on both wrists." "Tape residue." "Pelvic wounds are from a 12-gauge at point-blank range." "Some kind of Super X heavy load." "Came after the eye stuff." "Official COD is heart attack." "Trauma-induced." "A coup de grace." "Lividity indicates he was placed in an upright position after death." "Spent a few hours that way." "Nothing under his nails, no prints." "No trace at all?" "His eyes?" "What the fuck kind of modus operandi is that?" "Doc said it was hydrochloric acid." "And a shotgun blast happened." "Torture." "Somebody wanted to know something." "Yeah, his house was tossed." "Somebody's making a move." "What?" "What does that mean?" "You knew Caspere?" "There's deals being done upstate." "A lot of money moving around." "What deals?" "You pull my string?" "Is that how this works?" "Jesus, Frank." "The more I know, the better I can deal with this." "This is what you deal with." "Caspere was important to this thing I have going on." "I've got to clean it up now." "So, you beat the bushes until you figure it out." "You ain't no sheriff's brownie." "You're a detective." "Who's your best informant?" "Are you serious?" "Fucking hell, Raymond." "Yeah, yeah, that's right." "Fuck me." "So good to see you." "Why don't you visit me more?" "Just busy." "The job." "The job." "We haven't had dinner in ages." "That's why I brought you this, Ma." "Don't give me that "Ma" shit." "It's too late for us to start all that now." "Well, you ought to eat something." "Oh, I don't touch bread." "Peel that skin off for me, Paulie." "So strong." "I saw your old prom date the other day." "She got fat." "I remember her." "Couldn't wait to have somebody's baby." "She was nice." "She was nice to me." "All the girls are nice to you, Paulie." "You haven't figured that out by now?" "Want to stay tonight?" "We can watch a Clint movie." "You can have your old room." "I'm working on something." "Just came to see..." "Who is she, you scamp?" "You rake." "You got hound's blood just like your daddy." "I'm not gonna be around for a while." "I've got to work around LA and the coast." " Special detail." " Mmm." "Then stay." "We can play cards." "You can have your old room." "You been getting any more shifts at the restaurant lately?" "Not with my carpal tunnel." "I'd lose my state check, anyway." "I thought Bill was letting you work off the books." "Oh, Bill?" "Don't talk to me about that motherfucker." "Are you gonna give yourself up or do this the hard way?" "There ain't no easy with me." "You know that." "Damn." "I so hate making a mess." "A lot of paperwork, you know." "It messes with you." "Screw you." "I did my time in prison." "We're listing contents against insurance audits." "See what was stolen." "Well, somebody was looking for something." "Would explain the torture." "Maybe." "Guy really thought about fucking a lot." "Do you mind?" " Psychiatrist appointments." " He was seeing a shrink." "We need to call every appointment in that calendar." "Should check all those circled dates against his GPS." "Yeah." "You pull off that e-cig." "Not a lot of people do." "This place gets a day-to-day influx of 70,000 people, right?" "Where do they live?" "I tried one once." "It felt like it was smoking me." "A real cigarette wouldn't make you feel like that." "Maybe it was just a little too close to, uh, sucking a robot's dick." "I don't know." "Caspere was my bank on this thing." "My disposal company set this up." "Chemical runoff." "We took the risk." "And that risk afforded you the chance to buy into the corridor." "But I'm telling you, that buy was never made." "Caspere had me down for 12 parcels below Monterey." "Frank, I can only account for what purchases Caspere completed." "Are you saying that I..." "Mr. McCandless," "Mr. Caspere had effectively sold Mr. Semyon the land while acting as a short-term holding company." "All we're trying to do is ensure the deal for our parcel goes through despite Caspere's tragedy." "If you got this transaction legally documented, it shouldn't be hard." "You know we have issues." "If we had a fucking paper trail, we'd be doing this through banks." "Well, otherwise I'd say you're in the unenviable position of being owed money by a dead man." "That's $5 million of my money." "Hold it, we were given to understand that our partnership was with Catalast." "Had Mr. Caspere made payment, it would have been." "And your name would have been added to the corporate charter for the development." "But he didn't." "How do I know that?" "We're not gangsters, Frank." "This is unacceptable." "Since Caspere's remaining interests have been voided," "I can provide you the same parcel, same price." "$7 million." "The same?" "We were quoted 10." "Not by me." "Motherfuck." "Motherfuck me." "We sold off our Vinci assets to put in with Caspere and..." "I went liquid for this deal." "What can I tell you, Frank?" "It sounds like Mr. Caspere was playing fast and loose with your capital." "I can offer you the buy-in again, but it sounds like you're short." "I can get it back." "Find another stake, it'd be worth your while." "Excuse me." "Shit." "Seven, he says?" "Seven's the same as ten to me at this point." "Can't round off zero." "Am I diminished?" "Is that my message to the goddamn..." "My business partner takes my money, gets tortured and murdered," "and what?" "I'm waiting on this Velcoro burnout to make like Rockford?" "Get everybody." "Stan, Ivar, his cousins, our Glendale people." "Fucking Blake, wherever the fuck he's been." "Frank, we can look at your remaining assets." "I don't have any fucking assets." "The house and the poker room were double mortgaged." "This was fucking everything." "That's what you meant." "Frank, why did you..." "Leave it." "I'll get it back." "Every dime." "That was maybe a month ago." "September." "Celebrated breaking ground on the Red Line extension, and the imminent production of a major Hollywood movie." "Big news for the city." "And Ben had a hand..." "Could you tell us anything about" "Mr. Caspere's demeanor at the party?" "Was he with someone?" "A date?" "A woman he had been seeing." "I think." "Can't quite recall her name." "Ernst?" "A Miss Tascha, I believe, sir." "He see a lot of girls?" "Enough you wouldn't know her name?" "I believe Ben maintained an active social life." "We didn't often cross paths that way." "We only met over business." "You wouldn't have any pictures from the party, sir, by any chance?" "Something to help us identify the girl." "Mr. Caspere was dedicated to his community." "A community of 95 residents." "He did not seem distressed by anything last you saw him?" "No, just the usual headaches." "County can't forgive our independence." "And you didn't talk to him much outside of business get-togethers?" "And cabinet meetings, occasionally." "Well, thank you, Your Honor." "That'll do us." "Do you recall what time Mr. Caspere left your house, night of the party?" "I believe around 11:00, maybe 12:00." "Around the time things broke up." "With Miss Tascha?" "Thank you, Your Honor." "Thank you, Detective." "I'd like to see this solved as soon as possible." "Got his bank records, phone calls." "Don't know if he had any of the lines, though." "I'm starting to think he must have kept other accounts." "Hey, kid, just save it for the debrief." "Why are you here?" "You're not even an investigator, right?" "Special detail." "State owns the case." "Found his lawyer, too." "Had to hump all over LA for this shit." "Oh, and this one fag at the bank tried, like, hitting on me." "Almost clocked the guy." "Yeah?" "Why would you do that?" "Hey, no trouble here, stud." "Just leave me out of it, all right?" "His insurance had these forms." "Items likely stolen from Caspere's place, we can put out pawn sheets on them." "What'd you guys get?" "Oh, the young man here, he got a dynamite anecdote." "Last withdrawal was five days ago." "Nothing jumps except this." "Once a month, $4,000 cash withdrawal." "Let me see this." "The withdrawals seem to come around the time of these blank days in his calendar." "Did you get his GPS?" "Yeah." "Here." "There's nothing on those dates." "Car didn't go anywhere." "Says his Mercedes was a lease." "Well, that makes sense." "Not city." "Catalast Group." "Why'd Catalast lease him a car?" "Maybe somebody should call them." "You tight with him?" "I'm not tight with anybody." "Can I, uh, pick up here tomorrow?" "Sure." "I gotta go." "What?" "These coordinates." "They're up north." "Monterey County, Fresno, Gilroy." "A lot of them on weekends." "Hey." "Where's Chad?" "He's not coming." "What?" "Why?" "You're gonna ask me why?" "Really?" "You fucking prick." "What, that thing at the school?" "I apologized to Chad, and it's between me and him." "That's not the end of the story" " and you know it." " How's that?" "The police said that someone beat up Wit Conroy." "Said it had something to do with a schoolyard altercation." "Well, I don't know anything about that, but sometimes, uh, a good beating provokes personal growth." "It's not like you know any other way, right?" "God damn it." "Chad gets anxious when he has to be around you." "Do you get that?" "Do you even see it?" " That's bullshit." " We talk, we build models, we write letters, I got him this recorder." "And how many times has he written you back?" "He needs me, all right, even if he doesn't know it." "And if he gets anxious, it's probably because he knows he's gonna have to listen to his mom talk shit about his dad." "You..." "You're bad, Ray." "You're a bad person." "And you're bad for my son." "Don't say that." "You know me." "We had something and..." "What I done for you, things started to slip away from me..." "No, you didn't do that for me, Ray." "Don't you dare say that you did that for me." "I had a right by any natural law." "I had a right." "I came to tell you this in person." "Richard didn't want me to." "I'm getting an emergency writ for supervised visits." "What?" "No." "We're petitioning for sole custody." "What?" "No, why?" "Because this can't go on." "It can't." "I mean, look at yourself." "You will not..." "No." "Please, please, don't." "You used to have something, a decency." "You were good at being decent until something happened." "You were fine as long as everything else was fine." "But then something happened and you weren't strong enough to stay decent." "And now..." "You won't get away with it." "I will burn this entire fucking city to the ground first." "I'll petition for a paternity test, too, Ray." "If you make me." "Don't." "Please." "Please, don't." "Don't do that, please." "God damn it, look, he's all I..." "All right, I'm a piece of shit, but that boy is all I have in my entire shitty life." "No, babe." "Then don't you know he deserves better?" "Oh, fuck." "Son of a bitch." " Some asshole just rear-ended my car." " Look, you mother..." "Fuck." "Fuck!" "Son of..." "Oh, fuck." "Next time, we put you in trunk." "Fuck!" "Jesus, buddy." "What was that about?" "Oh, God, thank you." "Fuckin'..." "Why would somebody come after you like that, guy?" "I mean, that was crazy, right?" "I don't know." "They just..." "What did you do to piss somebody off?" "Can you think of anything?" "What does that mean?" "I don't know what that means." "I'm asking you." "What you might have did to get guys like that after you." "Wait, do I know you?" "I've never seen you before, but I saw the whole thing." "And I wish we could figure out what you did." "Like some kind of behavior that guys like that would have issue with." "Like mouthed off, or made a gesture, or you run a book in Vinci sweatshops." "What?" "Is that what this is?" "Is what what what is?" "Is that what you think this is?" "It just seems to me like you pissed off some serious people." "Maybe you ought to, uh, take more care." "Just a thought, pal." "Velcoro and Bezzerides to see Dr. Pitlor." "We called ahead." "You do surgeries here?" "Only cosmetic." "The clinic employs a small group of medical professionals who cover a variety of services." "This is quite a shock." "Anything he might have told you that indicated trouble, enemies?" "The reputation of this clinic rests on its discretion, Officers." "Confidentiality." "Your patient was murdered." "He's got no living family." "Somebody burned out his eyes with acid, Doc." "Well, of course I am willing to help." "I would hope I can, at least." "What were you treating him for?" "A number of things." "Neuroses, anxiety, a painful past, like many." "Guilt." "Guilt over what?" "Ben had a weakness for young women." "Paying for them, more specifically." "He frequented escorts, although it ignited in him tremendous shame and self-loathing, which resulted in further damaging tendencies." "Old cycles." "How long had he been seeing you?" "About three years." "Was he making any progress, his therapy?" "I like to think so." "His relapses were less frequent, and he didn't compound them with further damaging behavior." "His habit, did he ever mention any girls by name?" "Favorite service?" "Favorite girl?" "No, not that I recall, but I'd be willing to go back over my notes." "What about the name Tascha?" "He, uh, ever mention her?" "Did he ever mention violence?" "Trouble with a girl, a pimp?" "He was sexually obsessed, but he was not aggressive." "More passive." "That's about as detailed as I'll get airing Ben's personal issues." "This was helpful." "Thank you." "Your ID said Antigone Bezzerides." "Are you related to Eliot Bezzerides by any chance?" "You know him?" "I used to, a bit, a long time ago." "I did some social theory with the Good People." "He had a daughter, I remember." "Good Lord, was that you?" "I left all that behind." "It was a fucked-up place." "Well, all kinds of secrets in the world." "All kinds of truth." "Five kids living there when I was growing up." "Two are in jail now, two committed suicide." "How's that for social theory?" "And the fifth?" "She became a detective." "To curb public speculation in this homicide, it's become necessary to announce that our offices are conducting a criminal probe into the incorporated city of Vinci in LA County." "This investigation is long overdue." "And we ask all state and city officials to cooperate..." "Attorney General just announced a shakedown." "You're not supposed to bring that here." "It's short 10." "When you took over from Gene Slattery, we established terms." "Short wasn't part of it, Frank." "I'm pulling some stuff together." "Adding revenue streams." "I just need a couple of weeks." "I sold the rent farms and waste disposal business to pull together corridor money." "You know that." "You still owe the poker room kickback." "Sell some of that land if you need to." "Caspere died with my money in his pocket." "I've had outside the poker room." "Think they can turn a higher gross." "Higher vig." "What outside interest?" "Just so you know, it's a seller's market." "You seriously gonna bust my balls over 10 G's?" "I kept this place tight as a drum six years." "Who squashed the undocumented workers alliance?" "That hit and run?" "Your son's face was so coke-dusted he looked like a clown." "Tony, yeah." "My son, I fear, is losing his fucking mind." "Like his departed mother." "Some people can't handle the deep trip." "I fear he is a destroyer." "In my day, you understand, it was about consciousness expansion, tracing the unseen web." "Children are a disappointment." "Remain unfettered, Frank." "They closer on who killed Caspere?" "Catalyst is taking over his action." "Everything's happening." "My farkakte offspring I will set up with a club in Oakland." "Let him be a boy prince elsewhere." "Whoever killed Caspere, they have my money." "How's that?" "The holding company is empty." "The land was never purchased, and I'm fucked out of my life's work." "Now I need a direction to turn, Austin." "Or I may just start pulling down walls." "That doesn't sound like a smart play, gever." "Innuendo is nobody's friend." "You're not worried whoever did Caspere might be part of something bigger?" "Muscling in on the corridor, secret handshakes and whatnot." "Ben had his own charity, and what punched his ticket could have come from some personal pocket." "Nobody muscles me, Frank." "State attorney will get his piece, Caspere will get closed, the world will turn, uncaring of our struggles." "They close Caspere," "I want a tip." "I want time alone with the guy that did it." "You are industrious, Frank." "I want to see you make it through this." "Who wants to move on the poker room?" "Kickback's an extra 15 next week, Frank." "22.50 the week after." "You don't come through then," "I have to entertain other interests." "It's business." "Sure." "Now this is making some sense, right?" "It explains his home decor." "Nine to one, the cash withdrawal every month was a hooker blowout." "Guy's regularly in touch with criminal elements." "Pimps, they break in, tortured him somewhere." "Probably trying to get access to assets." "I think it's more twisted than that." "What was done to him, that shit in his house." "He's into a lot of stuff we're just scratching." "Well, we can have Woodrugh work prosts, escort services." "He'd be smooth for that." "Sure." "You know that expression about flies and honey?" "Mmm." "The fuck do I want with a bunch of flies?" "Well, you don't have flies, you can't fly-fish." "What is this fucking place?" "Yeah." "Suburban flight, heavy manufacturing moves inland or overseas, plants close." "Except here, a bunch of good capitalists ran in for cheap leases, tax incentives, immigrant labor, sweatshop economics." "You don't have a problem with that?" "No, my strong suspicion is we get the world we deserve." "Why are you here?" "This place?" "I did time in the LA Sheriff's." "I just needed better pay." "Regular hours." "I had a son." "They told you about me, I'm sure." "Yeah, bosses said you're a solid investigator." "I know you wouldn't think it, but I don't bullshit." "What would you say if you did?" "Can I tell you what you may or may not have heard, but almost definitely will hear about my busted marriage?" "Rumors have me killing this piece of filth who hurt my wife." "Same rumors put me in hock to a Southland mob." "And if you know who to ask, you might hear I like to get wet now and then from a number of bad habits." " Any of that true?" " Oh, yeah." "Which parts?" "Bad habits." "Never lost one yet." "You?" "Oh, I don't distinguish between good and bad habits." "What's with all the knives?" "Could you do this job if everyone you encountered could physically overpower you?" "I mean, forget police work." "No man could walk around like that without going nuts." "So, they're equalizers." "Makes sense." "No, I'd still wear them even if I wasn't on the job." "Fundamental difference between the sexes is that one of them can kill the other with their bare hands." "Man of any size lays hands on me, he's gonna bleed out in under a minute." "Well, just so you know, I support feminism." "Mostly by having body image issues." "What's that thing Pitlor mentioned?" "Your dad, the Good People?" "It was this, like, commune around Guerneville in the late '70s, '80s." "Hippie shit." "You had to look out for yourself, huh?" "That's you." "Look, I'm, uh, trying to effect transparency between us." "The reason being..." "I don't know if you know this, but us, the investigation," "I don't think it's supposed to work." "Why is that?" "State attorney's investigation." "They must have tapped you." "You know, the kid, too." "Why wouldn't they have a team of state grand jury investigators working Vinci instead of just you and the kid?" "Why wouldn't the SA do a full-court press on this?" "You want honest?" "Tell me, how compromised are you?" "Anyways, good night." "What is that?" "Why didn't you tell me?" " What the fuck?" " Hmm?" "'Cause that right there is a bunch of unbridled horseshit." "You've read about the girl." "Goes to jail for one more fuckup, tries to say I did something wrong." "That's it." "Then why didn't you tell me?" "'Cause I don't want to think about it." "Are you gonna lose your job?" "No." "I got a new assignment through the state attorney." "I'm gonna be a detective after." "Listen, this paper talks about you being in this Black Mountain Security thing." "I told you, I don't talk about the desert." "But this Black Mountain Security, they did things, bad..." "So that's it?" "You're just..." "You're just taking off?" "Come on, I just told you." "I gotta go to LA to work for a while." "Special detail." "Special investigator." "That's it." "God, you smell like a bar rag." "They say vodka don't smell, but that's bullshit." "You smell just like my uncle." "I'm just going down south a while." " Mmm-hmm." " That's it." "And your apartment?" "Still there, Em." "What are you doing?" "I can't do this anymore." "I tried." "It's work." "It's a good thing, Em." "No." "You barely talk." "I don't know your family." "You don't want to know mine." " Who are you?" " Oh, fuck off." "Who the fuck am I supposed to be?" "I don't know who you're supposed to be." "Jesus Christ." "Yeah, fuck off." "Go." "God, whatever happened to you, I can't fix it." "There's nothing wrong with me." "I'll call you this weekend." "Don't." "I don't want to hear from you, Paul." "You can't give me more than this." "You're not..." "You're not right." "Sometimes I'm with you and I can tell that..." "Fuck it." "I gotta go." "Don't come back." "It's on you, not me." "I can't see you again, Paul." "You hurt me seeing you." "You're doing this." "This isn't me doing this." "This isn't me." "Frank." "Surprised you're visiting this pit you stuck me with." "It's hard work up in here." "I gotta say, being back in here, I don't miss it." "Seems like a headache looking back." "Fucking right, it's a headache." "Vendors, purchase orders, licenses." "Every one of these bitches think that she's Pretty Woman." "I need to know if any of your girls knew a guy, liked young trim." "Maybe, like, a few months ago." "He booked a date at his place." "In Vinci?" "The big house?" "No, this place small." "In Hollywood." "Took-over home." "You remember where it was?" "Go ahead, girl, speak." "I write them down." "Danny says you pay attention to streets, always know where you are." "This guy, he do anything scary?" "Anything might have pissed somebody off?" "No." "He kind of weak, you say?" "Just, uh, want to watch." "Write it down where you met him." "I hope this goodwill does not go unnoticed on your end, Frank." "Everybody needs friends, see?" "This is Hollywood Division Vice Squad." "Please leave your message after the beep and we'll get back to you." "This is Detective Bezzerides with state police detail 93009." "I was hoping to speak with a vice detective..." "If you are satisfied with your message, press one." "Yeah." "Yo, you remember that missing girl?" "I talked to her old roommate." "Said Vera last called her a couple months ago." "Asked if anybody had come around looking for her." "I checked her phone records and a call came from a Guerneville address." "How's it going down there?" "It's a pain in the ass, you know?" "Not much so far." "It's, um..." "Might be a hooker job, some pimp." "Let me let you go." "Catch up tomorrow?" "Sure." "Bye." "Wait for me!" "How's that for detecting?" "Caspere had another house." "Place he brought girls." "You check it out?" "No, I don't want to go near it." "And my people ain't exactly proficient in evidence handling." "Figured you'd go in as police, see what you can, see what I might need to know." "Grab anything that pushed towards Caspere's dealing with land purchases." "Yeah, what's going on with that?" "Money." "Place is about to be worth a whole lot more." "This is Hollywood." "So?" "Listen, I've been wanting to ask you, things shake out like I expect, this time next year, you might be Chief of PD, Vinci." "How'd that be?" "Chief?" "I don't want that, Frank." "Did I ask you if you want that?" "What's up with you, huh?" "I'm lining stuff up for you here." "That job pays 300K a year." "You could hire a hell of a family lawyer for that." "That right there." "You, uh..." "You remember how we got together?" "I remember you dumping a body." "The reasons for all this, all that, might not exist for me anymore." "You see?" "I got no reason to keep at this." "Meaning you'd consider life in prison, what, a positive?" "No, I ain't saying that either." "What, you have other options here I'm not privy to?" "Everybody's got the one option, you want it bad enough." "You used to be a hard man." "I'm tired." "Then get some sleep." "After you check the place out." "Get back to me." "And, Ray?" "I don't want to hear you talk like that again." "You want another beer, Ray?" "No, uh, I gotta take off, I guess." "He's keeping you busy." "Yes, ma'am." "You ought to take some time." "A vacation." "Have you ever been to San Miguel de Allende?" " No." " That's where I'm from." "Mountains, waterfalls, this plaza." "Well, that sounds really nice." "Maybe I could show it to you sometime." "I think the only way I get a vacation is if I croak." "You should get another job, then." "It's too late for that, darlin'." "That and about a million other things." "Your money." "That's not mine."