The following story is fictional and does
not depict any actual person or event.
- you got another headache?
- It's nothing.
{a }May ,
Got a new one for the overrated list.
Might even surpass kurt cobain.
- More overrated than the mona lisa?
- Definitely.
Frank lloyd wright?Why is he the architect who gets to be famous?
What the hell is this?I'm supposed to be on a plane to houston.I've got a car...
I came to you years ago for a job.
Know what you said?
I don't have time for this crap.
Sit down,harvey.
you said I was a state college punk.
Said you only took wharton,ivy league guys.
Basically called me a loser.
I'm a lot of things,but a loser I ain'T.
- Your point?
- Point is,I just got off the phone with your board.
They've agreed to a buyout offer I made last night.
What?I now own % of your company.
That means this state college loser is your boss.
Guess what?
You're fired,harv.
Now,as for the rest of you on harvey's team,don't worry.
I'm sure you can find a new home for your malaise and incompetence.
as for...
how the hell did a seagull get in here?
you okay?
excuse me.
- what are you doing here?
- You ever going to call home,jay?
Busy paying for your next trip to cabo,buttercup.
So you still haven't talked to dr.Lason about your tests?
No.
I did.
It's bad news,jay.
it's the worst.
everyone's talking about you and that ada.
- What's to talk about?
- How much you guys "hate" each other.
That's right,we do.
What?
- Morning,boss.
- Morning.What'd the me want?
Ever hear of larry kenick?
So-called angel of death nurse?
Jackson hospital.
Just fessed up to k*lling six dying patients in the last decade.
Yeah,took 'em out with heavy doses of morphine.
Now frannie's reviewing all the other deaths happened on his watch.
- She find something?
- Guy named jay dratton.
years old,brain tumor.
d*ed weeks before anticipated.
Frannie thinks his narcotic levels were on the high side.
And kenick was his nurse when he suddenly flat-lined.
So maybe he was the angel's seventh victim?
Or someone really had it in for this dratton.
Otherwise,why k*ll someone who's literally on his deathbed?
where are you going,mom?
Bars are closed.
Mom,the doctor said if you drink any more,you're going to die.
It's that simple.
Doctor has it backwards.
I die if I don'T.
- You're staying here.
- Don't bully me,lilly.
I'm your mother.
I'm not a m*rder suspect.
I always wondered who that drunk woman was driving me to school.
Well,maybe you should have asked your father for a ride.
If you hadn't sent him packing.
He left.
I stayed.
Do you remember you used to have those bad dreams?
I would read to you all night just to calm you down.
- I was there,lilly.
- And now you're just making stuff up.
My mother used to work so hard.
Eight hours a day at a department store,and then...
back home,make dinner for us.
I was always so proud of her.
I'll make some tea.
I'll stay with you a while.
I'm going to do what I want,lilly.
You can't push me around.
Fine.
You want to k*ll yourself?
There's nothing I can do to stop you.
Jay dratton.
Hedge fund manager,self-made millionaire.
Living the good life in bucks county.
- Beautiful wife,beautiful house.
- Then cancer hits.
Two months after the diagnosis,guy's on his deathbed.
And he couldn't take those beautiful millions with him.
- Anything hinky in the will?
- No.Wife and son got it all.
Nurse found an open notebook at jay's bedside.
- The name "louise" on it.
- Girlfriend on the side.
So far,no luck tracking down any louises connected to him.
Well,scotty and lil are out at chester prison,starting with the good nurse kenick.
Hope they don't cough around him.
you know,my granddad had als.
Was a boxer,couldn't hold up a spoon in the end.
Oh,yeah?
Yeah.
Suffered for weeks before he d*ed.
Still don't know the point of that.
Hmm.There's always hope,right?
Well,you know you can put down a dog if it's in pain?
Or a cat.
Yeah.
Why not us?
You like playing god,larry?
No,
but you know what I do like?
Dignity.
I've seen men scream when they lose it.
Seen women beg to die with it while they still can.
Well,two of the six people you k*lled were in a coma.
They weren't begging for anything.
Their brains were cabbage.
No chance of recovery.
That how you felt about jay dratton?
No.
Jay was something else.
If anyone was going to b*at cancer by sheer willpower,it was that guy.
But he was losing,in pain.
Patient records show you checked on him an hour before he d*ed.
probably.Then I left to make other rounds.
- While the morphine kicked in.
- No.
I helped people who had lost their will.
Jay had nothing but will.
So you being his nurse that night--just coincidence?
Lady,I've confessed to helping six people pass on with dignity.I got nothing to hide.
He ever mention someone named louise?
Not to me.But...
he and I weren't exactly chatty.
First day I saw the guy,I knew to back off.
Well,jay,you have a grade glioblastoma multiforme...
in english,please.
Tell it like it is,doc.
You have a tennis ball-size tumor in the back of your head.
Okay.
- So we cut it out.
- It's in an inaccessible area.
- You wouldn't,uh...
- spit it out.
- I wouldn't survive the surgery?
- That's right.
Chemo.
Radiation.
Treatment isn't an option.
The cancer has spread to your spine.
At best,you have three months to live.
This is,uh,larry kenick,a nurse in our hospice program.
a nurse in our hospice program.
He'll be at your beck and call.
Uh,what can we expect to happen?
Short-term memory loss,confusion.
Maybe hallucinations.
- is this what they teach in medical school?
- I'm sorry?
Giving up like france?
- You said tell it like it is.
- I did...
and I will.
I'm going to b*at this.
It's a simple fact,like today's tuesday.
Like your golf tie is absurd and inappropriate.
I know guys who have survived cancer.
The key is attitude.
Defeat ain't an option.
It's nonnegotiable.
- I'm not saying give up hope.
- Then hope it is.
Put me through the most aggressive treatment possible.
Go crazy.
Write a paper about me.
I'm sorry I don't have better news.
Jay,why do this to yourself?
- Gee,honey,I was sort of hoping you'd want me to live.
- That's not what I'm saying.
- Bet you're shopping for black dresses in your head right now.
- Jay!
What looks better with crocodile tears: Armani or gucci?
Admit it: You're rooting for the cancer.
Cancer can't get you fast enough,jay.
I hope it hurts.
- Jay always that combative?
- Not to mention the wife.
Classic rich couple.
Had everything,still miserable.
Your alibi sucks,kenick.
We might be back to hear a little more about dignity.
Oh,I'll be here.
The loving wife inherited three million bucks,right?
Maybe the cancer didn't move fast enough for her.
sounds like you and your husband hated the sight of each other,caroline.
Wasn't how it always was,but it's how we ended up.
Then he gets cancer,vows to fight it.
Jay grew up poor in fishtown.
He liked to fight.
And maybe you liked the idea of being a merry widow.
- The sooner the better.
- So you helped the cancer along.
If I hated jay that much,I would've let him suffer,not end his pain.
Three million bucks says maybe not.
The name louise mean anything to you,caroline?
No.
I know jay wrote that down,but he wasn't lucid in the end.
And were you with him at the end?
I was at home with my son.
He was grounded.
Guy like jay,with his love of fighting,must have had his share of run-ins.
- It was a daily thing with him.
- Racked up a lot of enemies?
Right into his final days.
No,listen.
Listen to me.
Our offer's not changing.
We got to negotiate with strength.
What are you so afraid of,phil?
Hang on.
Other line.
phil?
Yeah,your B...
were on the other line.
They miss you.
Yo.
Mind keeping it down?
I'm trying to give my kid some medicine.
Call you back.
Rumor is,sick people need peace and quiet.
You're making my daughter feel worse.
And I'm on my second round of chemo,
and I'm walking off a puking spell.
So you have to do it here?
The hallway isn't public?
Oh,all right.
I'm asking you nice.
Ask me any way you like,chiquita,I'll walk where I want to.
sand.
sand?What are you talking about?
Headache,that's all.
By the way,lady,
your daughter cries all night.
Could you ask her to keep it down?
So that's why no one comes to see you.
- Excuse me?
- Your best friend is a phone,
and when your wife was here last time,she looked annoyed as hell that you were still alive.
Thanks for your observation.
No one's going to give a rat's ass when you're gone.Dying alone's got to be the worst kind of death.
No.The worst kind of death is dying poor in a target shirt.
You should be the one about to pass away.
Not my daughter.
Her daughter had cancer,too?
Brain tumor.
Like jay.
And she was helping with the girl's medication?
A lot of parents do that.
Less scary for the child.
So,amelia was handy with a needle.
If she could give morphine to her daughter,why not jay?
why not jay?
what's up?
It's just my mom didn't come home last night.
Did she go back to her place?
No,super would have called me.
I got some feelers out.
amelia flores?
- Yeah?
- Philly homicide.
Need to talk to you about jay dratton.
why do I wanna talk about that son of a bitch?
Well,there's some confusion,amelia.
- 'Cause your daughter passed away june , .
- Think I don't know that?
Yet,june th,you're back at the hospital.
Same day that "son of a bitch" jay d*ed from a morphine od.
What gives?
You missing the food?
If someone put that jerk out of his misery,it's news to me.
- Why were you at the hospital,amelia?
- I was back to talk about my bill.
I had no insurance,owed grand.
Had to set up a payment plan.
And did you visit jay while you were there?
Last person I wanted to see was that guy.
But if someone took him out,I say he deserved it.
- Bad blood between you two,huh?
- Seemed like that was his way with everyone.
You ever hear him talk about someone named louise?
Yeah.
The day he went home.
so you're coming home for good,dad?
Hopefully.I'm all done with the chemo treatments.
Now I wait for it to kick in.
'Cause I was gonna have some friends over saturday.
Maybe some other time,okay?
Yeah.
What is...
is that a tattoo?
Yeah,I've had it for like three months.
You lose a bet?
Funny,dad.
You look tired.
Get any sleep last night?
- Not really.
- You out with your buddies?
You know,you got cancer and now you're all interested in my life?
See if you can get a little more lame,dad.
I've always been interested.
Yeah?
Okay.
I drove into kensington,scored some blow,
then I hit an after-hours club.
Mom thought I was at the library.
- Tell me you're kidding.
- It's the truth.
Thought you liked that,dad.
Tell it like it is.
Fine,tommy.
I'm cutting you off.
Allowance,trust.Everything.
Good luck buying coke with no job.
Whatever.
And that beamer you want for graduation?
Kiss it good-bye.
I...
there was a woman.
Louise.
Great.Louise?
Does mom know about her?
sounds like jay was having hallucinations.
Dying people need to shake things out from their past.
They hang on until they make peace with it.
Seems like tommy's another guy who wanted dad to keel over sooner than later.
It means "the good death," you know.
What does?
Euthanasia.
it's greek for "good death."
A guy like that angel of death nurse?
Larry kenick.
After seeing how my daughter suffered--they should give him a medal.
Thanks.
Bye.
She turned up.
There's the girl scout of the year.
Where'd you sleep last night,mom?
My mother always worked so hard for us kids.
I know.
Eight hours at the department store,right?
You were...
you were proud of her.
I was.
I'm sorry you can't be proud of me,lil.
Mom,you gotta hang on.
You can't fix me this time.
Every day you get a new chance to start over.
I'm out of chances.
No.
It's not too late.
It is,lilly.
It really is.
It's the end.
Hey.
Then I want you to stay with me.
No matter what.
Keep it coming.
Hey.
You'll stay with me,right?
Yeah,I will.
Tommy dratton?
Tom.
Detectives miller and jeffries.
- It's about your father.
- What about him?
It turns out someone k*lled him before the cancer did.
- sh*t him full of morphine.
- No kidding.
You didn't get along with him,did you?
Not particularly.
In fact two days after his death,you bought a $ , car.
Guilty.
Kinda like those beverly hills brothers,
took their dad out to get his money.
Except they hadn't been cut out by him.
Not like you were,tom.
Look,I was at home with my mom on the night he d*ed.
And I didn't have to k*ll him.
He was already dead in my mind.
So,what happened to the fancy wheels?
After I spent a few years getting wasted and being pissed at the world,
I finally saw what I was doing.
Repeating history.
One night I looked into my rearview mirror
and saw my dad staring back.
And changed your ways?
- Lost the tat.
- Yeah.
Look,I have a kid now.
I didn't want to be that kind of father.
What do you know about this woman louise?
No idea who she was.
Neither did he.The tumor was doing crazy things to his mind...
Hello?
Hello?
Jay, you ready?
Morning,sunshine.
Dude,
dig the cane,huh!
I'm loving this thing.
When the cancer's gone,I'm gonna keep using it.
- My new trademark.
- What's the latest?
So far,so good.
Out of the hospital a week now.
Feeling better.
Maybe you should take the day off.
The day you slow down is the day they b*at you.
But you already won,man.
That's what my father said...
before he was laid off.
Why do you...
why do you have a motel key?
- What are you talking about?
- I saw the motel key.
She kept it?
She?
What are you saying?
- Nothing.
- It's caroline.Isn't it?
- like you care.
- You son of a bitch.
What kind of companies do we like to buy?
Undervalued,underappreciated.
That sound like a woman we know?
- She's my wife.
- It's your fault!
- And you're my best friend.
- You stopped caring about her years ago.
Get out!
Oh,yeah,since I'm the general partner,I'm buying you out.
Say hi to harv on the unemployment line.
- Did your dad buy him out?
- He was in the works.
Papers were supposed to be signed in july.
But jay d*ed first.
Look,I really gotta go pick up my son.
Okay.
Thanks,tom.
Phil plays his cards right,he gets the money and the girl.
And caroline gets a new husband.
One who appreciates her.
But the clock's ticking on phil to lose millions.
Suddenly,k*lling a dying man,makes a hell of a lot of sense.
So,phil,
you're giving it to jay's wife on the sly,
he finds out,retaliates by cutting you out of your company.
The company I now run?
That one?
You run it because you k*lled him for it.
Hey,sherlock.
- Jay was days away from croaking.
- But first he was gonna fire you.
And a guy like you has no problem k*lling a dying man.
You don't know jack about guys like me.
Lot of money at stake for you and your new boyfriend,caroline.
- Boyfriend?
- Phil.Your husband's partner.
- Risky move.
- That was one night of revenge.
I was trying to get jay's attention.
- Did you?
- Yeah.
He threatened to divorce me.
But by then his heart wasn't in it anymore.
jay.
I've been looking all over for you.
You see the doctor?
Said the tumor's not responding to treatment.
Apparently,the cancer's not interested in my winning attitude.
You gonna do more chemo?
No.It's pointless.
I can barely remember those days.
What days?
When tommy was a baby.
Our one-bedroom apartment in fishtown.
Jay...about phil,
t was one time and it was pathetic.
- I'm sorry.
- Don't be.
We don't need to pretend that we have something.
Maybe we never did.
And you...
don't have to play the role of faithful wife anymore.
- I mean it.I can die alone.
- Jay...
I have no right to put you through this.
Are they giving you enough medication for your pain?
I'm all right.
It comes and goes.
I mean,I...
I keep having these weird flashes.
- With the headaches?
- Yeah.
I'm on a beach.
The wind's blowing.
- Sounds peaceful.
- No,it's not.
I think I did something terrible.
First time I'd ever seen jay give up.
He tell you this terrible thing he did?
No.
And I didn't even ask.
We were long past sharing secrets.
Was that your last conversation with him?
Yeah.
Two days later he was gone.
He'd given up on winning and I'd given up on him.
We had it out over caroline.
He made his thr*at.
That was that.
You weren't worried he would follow through?
He didn't have the energy to buy me out.
The last thing he did was take grand from his slush fund.
He say why?
Just that it was for a woman.
Maybe cancer boy was the one cheating.
Was her name louise?
No.
I don't think so.
How about amelia?
That's it.
Jay dratton was suffering,just like your daughter did.
And didn't you say guys like larry kenick should get a medal?
- Doesn't mean i did what he did.
- You had access to morphine.
You knew how to administer it.
And jay had the grand you needed to pay your hospital bills.
You make a deal,amelia?
To help him die?
I told you I didn't see him that day.
But you did see him again?
I couldn't help my daughter,but I could help him.
but I could help him.
I had six vials of morphine left over.
- That's enough to k*ll a man.
- I said i wouldn't do it.
But you gave him the vials.
Yeah,the day he d*ed.
I couldn't tell you before.
I knew how it would look.
Yeah.
Like crap.
Even that jerk didn't deserve such pain.
And when was this,amelia?
When he came to see me.
you.
I heard about your daughter.
I'm sorry.
And...
I'm ashamed...
at my behavior.
I want to help cover any expenses you might have.
no,thanks.
I'm going to leave this check here.
I've been very fortunate in my life.
Please...
let me share it with you.
What's that?
Open it.
I saw your daughter in the hallway one night.
- Keeping you awake again?
- No.
We both couldn't sleep.
She told me...
she saw butterflies in her room.
Hallucinations.
And I told her about mine.
Just talking to her,
she somehow put me at ease.
I didn't deserve it.
thank you.
you want to sit down?
what was it like for her?
Was she lucid?
Was she...
in pain?
She was peaceful near the end,just looking at the butterflies.
Good.
I think they were angels waiting to take her to the other side,to heaven.
I might be headed to a different neighborhood.
hell is only for people who've forgotten how to love.
You can't love anymore?
I don't know.
I don't know anything anymore.
- I keep seeing things.
- The beach?
Yes...
and A...
a woman named louise.
What are you doing there?
I was...
at a motel.
I...
Dad!
tommy was there.
He saw everything.
- Should I call an ambulance?
- No.No,I'm better.
I'll call someone.
What did tommy see on the beach?
I don't know.
But who did jay call to pick him up?
his son.
He took him back to jackson.
So tommy was on hand in his dad's final hours.
along with six vials of morphine.
yeah,okay,I drove my dad to the hospital.
Different story than you gave before.
- It was years ago.I forgot.
- Oh.
You forget he had six vials of morphine with him,too?
I don't know anything about that.
Something's hinky here,tom.
You didn't forget taking your dad back to the place he d*ed.
You left that out on purpose.
Why?
If I told you,I'd have to remember how I was with him.
How you were when?
The last time we were together.
Like always,I was blind with hate.
That's just being a teenage kid.
The man was dying in front of my eyes
and I was hard as nails.
Can I go now?
I haven'T...
I haven't been much of a father,have I?
I'm sorry I haven't been around.
Yeah,right.
I know...
you're always pissed off
and I know where you get it,
but you got to let it go.
It's poison.
Isn't the water beautiful,tommy?
Take my hand,tommy.
dad!
- Where'd you go,daddy?
- I had a work phone call.
- You know what I told them?
- What?
I said I'm staying the week out here with my family.
- Work can wait.
- Yeah...!
- Isn't the water beautiful,tommy?
- Yeah.
It wasn't a nightmare.
Remember the week I took off work?
We stayed at the shore
in that crappy motel?
I don't know.
Sure you do.
We were a real family once,tommy.
Promise me you remember.
Do you?
I don't remember a thing.
I know you do.
I-I know you remember.
I should have told him I remembered.
'Cause you did.
So your dad was reaching out in the end.
- You tell your mom that?
- Yeah.
And she was so happy.
I mean,she still hated the guy and everything.
Which is it,tom?
Happy or not?
If your mom was happy,
- maybe she went back to make peace with him.
- No way.
- That's what I'd do.
- She didn'T.I told you I was with her that night.
Doesn't make it so.
She went to him.
Didn't she?
Jay sounds like he was a real piece of work.
he was.
Well,some people are like that.
Impossible.
You try to stop caring,you try to write 'em off,but...
it's always there.
That attachment,that...love.
- Not for me and jay.
- No?
No,I didn't love him by the end.
I told you that.
Not even when you heard he'd been talking about that week at the shore?
- The shore?
- Yeah,the three of you.
At motel louise.
- He was probably just hallucinating.
- No,it was real.
And it's just that kind of memory that won't leave you alone.
Makes you keep loving.
So maybe I did still care.
What's it matter?
I think when you heard jay was talking about that week,
you remembered,too.
Remembered those days when he was a better man.
You heard that and you couldn't stay away.
- Of course you went to him.
- You don't know what I was going through.
I do,actually.
There's someone I...love.
Someone I wish I didn't,but...
I can't stop...
and...
she's dying.
I fought and I scrapped with her for years.
Just when I think I'm done with her,
I remember things.
Like when I was little,
I'd get these nightmares,and she'd...
read the velveteen rabbit to me.
I felt so safe.
It matters where the heart begins.
You know?
I know.
And when it's the end,
maybe the most we can do for that person is...
help them along.
To get peace.
A peaceful death.
A good death.
I understand if you helped jay die.
But is that ever the right thing?
To help someone who's in pain?
Who you love?
I don't know how that can be wrong.
Do you?
You don't have to be here.
I want to.
Got some new ones.
For my list.
Oh...
the overrated list.
No.
Underrated list.
Underrated?
Yeah,
there's ice water,
and the tv remote.
Those things are magic.
And the sound...
the sound of you laughing.
Very underrated.
I miss it.
tommy told me about the beach.
Louise.
Yes.
I remember,too.
You do?
Yeah,I think somehow along the way,we both forgot.
Promise me...
promise me you'll remember the guy in this picture.
I promise.
And no matter how much time there is,
I'm here now.
I've run out of ways to not...
think about the pain.
Oh...
- jay,no...
- I have no right to ask you.
You're sure?
It's nonnegotiable.
I love you,you know.
I love you.
hey...
you know what I remember most about that motel?
I remember us laying in bed together at night,
and I could...
hear the ocean waves.
Feel a cool breeze move over us.
And I felt...
you next to me.
We were both so in debt.
struggling with our jobs,and..
all I could think was...
"babe,we'D...
we'd already made it.''