01x04 - Que Viene el Coco

[bunniefuu]

Tell me more. You tell me more about those eggs.

Let me show you. Let me show you right here. All the way.

And then... Watch, this is... This is the beauty of it, okay?

All right.

You're dipping it in... in... in... In the eggs.

What you think about them pancakes?

I just like extra syrup. Mm-hm.

I like all kinds of syrup, you know.

You have to have a perfect syrup to pancake consistency.

Yeah.

Morning. Check your emails.

I just sent you a few articles. There was a similar, uh, a child k*lling. Two sisters.

The suspect k*lled himself in prison and his name was Heath Hofstadter.

He worked at the Landon Senior Center where Terry Maitland's father lived.

In fact, the old man was one of his charges.

Um...

Maybe that was why the police wanted to speak to him.

Don't you think?

Yeah, could be.

I don't think I'm going to be getting back into that building after what happened yesterday, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Where are you going with all of this?

Wherever this takes me. Just...

Just look at what I sent you. Yeah, okay.

I'm doing that now. I'll call you back when I have more information.

I thought you were a man. I can't see.

Well, that's why they call it pepper spray.

Did you follow me from work?

I... I did. Uh... Uh... Please. Can... Can you help me?

What with? My eyes.

Is English not your native tongue?

I told you I'm not talking to reporters.

I'm not a reporter! I'm a private investigator.

Please. I think I'm going blind. Oh, my God.

Do you have any identification? Ah! Right side, back pocket.

Get your hands away from your face.

Rubbing just makes it worse.

You have a nice home.

It's called post-divorce piss-poor modern.

So, tell me what you want to know about Heath.

You were working with him?

For five years.

The papers say that he claimed to have been on vacation at the time of the murders.

Yeah, he had that week off.

Told me he was going up to his mom's place up in Regis, which he probably did for a little while, but that didn't stop him from coming back down to check on his peeps.

That's what he called his charges, his "peeps."

And, then I guess...

You all right?

No, I am not all right.

I know they supposedly found his DNA on the bodies and his fingerprints everywhere, but...

five years, 40 hours a week... that is a long time to work with someone and not sense something.

Not that this'll be of any comfort to you, but there's always been K*llers like that.

Leading double lives for years until, finally, they get caught.

And, when they do, their kids and their wives say, "We had no idea."

You're right. Right about?

It's not very comforting.

What was Heath like on the day he came into work?

Strange.

You know, number one, if I had a week off from that place, you wouldn't be able to find me with a heat-seeking drone.

Hey, what are you doing here?

Are you out of your mind?

And he said?

And that was strange part two, 'cause Heath is normally a chatty Cathy, but that day he gave me a polite smile, like I was some stranger.

What day was that? March 6th.

You sure?

I know, because I had a dentist appointment that morning and it made me late for work.

Did Mr. Maitland know Heath?

I mean, as much as that old man can know anybody.

Heath worked the odd-numbered suites on the B wing and Maitland's in B5.

Did Heath have any dealings with him that day?

He must have.

The reason I say this is because one of the janitors said he saw him come out of Peter's suite.

Why would the janitor go out of his way to mention that?

You wanna know something else that bugs me?

The cops say that they have witnesses who spotted Heath nosing around up in Trotwood, where the girls were found the day they were snatched, but other folks came forward and said that they saw him with his mom up in Regis on the exact same day.

I mean, I guess he could go from one place to the other and back, but... What does his mother say?

Ernestine?

Makes a mom proud, huh?

That poor woman said her son never left her side that whole week.

And, while I know that that's not true, because I saw him at work that day...

I heard that after Heath's arrest, the police were interested in talking to Mr. Maitland.

Do you know why?

You would have to ask them.

I appreciate you giving me your time.

Tolliver Academy in Baltimore?

I taught language arts and mathematics to fifth and sixth grade students for three years up there. But no references?

It's hard to get references from a place that went belly up after the dean and half of its trustees went to jail for embezzlement. I can imagine.

After I moved back to Georgia to take care of my mother, I realized that becoming a home-school tutor would be a lot more personally rewarding, instead of teaching 30 students at a clip.

I see you received those references.

Mm-hm. I did. I did. All these families.

They couldn't have been more satisfied with you.

I love kids and I love my work.

Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida.

I go where the work is.

But why are all three envelopes post-marked in Atlanta?

What?

Three years teaching math? And language arts.

And language arts. Mm-hm.

Can you solve that for me?

You think you're the only person who's tried to come in here like this?

I don't understand. What are you?

Some kind of reporter for the tabs?

Blogger? A vee-logger? Glory Maitland, I just wanna spend a little bit of time... Vlogger. Gloggler.

With you and the kids to write a sympathetic... Whatever the hell they call it.

It's a very... Get out of my house!

I'm trying to help you and your family. Get...

Don't you want people to know the true story?

Because I'm ready to tell it for you.

Come here. f*ck!

That's Terry Maitland's wife.

Wow.

Screw them. You have every right to live your life.

Okay. I should go home.

No. You're not going anywhere.

Here, look, this'll help.

Gotta hand it to you, Mrs. Maitland.

You got some brass showin' your face in here.

Excuse me?

Where are your kids tonight?

I hope you didn't leave 'em home alone.

You f*ck off, Rayford.

'Cause you never know, someone might wanna even the score.

Are you threatening her?

Howard! Easy, old man.

You step back. Get the f*ck off me!

Okay. Pay your tab and don't you come back, okay?

You got a big mouth on you. You're gonna walk outta here.

You're gonna pay your tab and if you even glance back at her, I'll tear you apart.

Sir, you okay?

Yeah, I'm all right. Easy.

Yeah, just give me a second. Thank you, guys.

Jesus.

I'm so sorry. She could've blinded you.

I'm fine.

Did she at least give you anything worth the trouble?

She confirmed that Heath Hofstadter did work there and with Terry's father.

In fact, Hofstadter literally bumped into Terry the day that he visited Peter. The both of them slipped on a wet floor outside the old man's room and took each other down.

The facility was worried about a lawsuit, but Terry was fine.

Because, um, you know, Maitland's wife and daughter, they said the same thing. Terry bumped into some nurse and, um, the guy scratched him.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. So, anything else?

Just one thing. On the day that they had the spill at the hospital. Yeah?

Heath wasn't supposed to be there.

He went out of his way to come in on a day he had off.

And that would've been March 6th, the day after the Williams sisters were found dead.

Okay.

Talk later.

This time, I'd like to read from the Book of Samuel, chapter three.

Ralph. How's the homicide conference?

I'm too old for school, man.

Kept falling asleep in the lectures.

Listen, I was just talking to Holly Gibney.

And I, um... I need to take a look at the footage of Terry Maitland from the day of the m*rder.

It went to your office. Can you help?

You know the drill here, man. That's a tricky request.

I appreciate that, Yune, but I would never ask you if I didn't think that somewhere on one of those tapes there might be a real game changer.

No. We have another angle here, right?

Will you go to that, please?

Anything?

No. Now, go back to the strip club tape, please.

Who'd you say you were again?

Just do what he says, Wayne.

Okay, we can move to the next piece.

I have a staff meeting in five minutes.

Yeah, no problem. Thanks. Play it again.

You okay here, Wayne?

Hi, Peter.

Do you have something I could put these in?

My name is... I know who you are.

You don't have to tell me. Well, that's good.

I wanted to ask you a few questions about Heath Hofstadter.

Yeah, I remember you.

You were playing cards with my grandmother in St. Louis.

You had four jacks. She had four queens.

The look on your face.

The last time you saw Heath, do you remember...

I bet your husband gave you a sharp smack... that night, am I right?

Did Heath, uh, talk to you about what was happening to him...

I told my wife the bedroom was too cold.

So, what does she do? She set fire to the bed.

It wasn't him, you know?

Wasn't who?

You know.

He really did fool all of you, didn't he?

Turn the heat back on and then get it boiling.

Mm-hm. There we go. That's good, right?

Wow. That's looking good. Yummy, yummy.

Now, I take the eggs and I'm gonna go ahead and remove the yolks. Yeah, that's tricky.

I'm gonna take these egg whites...

Just play the strip club again one more time, but slow it down.

Show it to me from the other angle.

Frame by frame this time.

Okay. Can you blow that up?

More. You got any more there?

Okay. Freeze it.

Can you blow that up on the hands?

Does that look like he's being scratched to you?

Thank you. Next.

Thanks for seeing me.

You know, we've got to stop meeting like this.

Why do people have to tell jokes?

I've never understood that.

Is this about your car thief or your child k*ller?

Alleged child k*ller. And yours, Heath Hofstadter.

Hofstadter? That isn't mine. That would've been two years ago when I was still working homicide.

I thought you were an ex-cop?

Ex-detective, thank you. Fifteen years in.

I'm trying to get to the specifics of a case they had against him.

Hofstadter? Why?

Because I'm starting to think there's a connection between the two men.

Well, good luck with that.

The DA's office won't let you off the elevator and the squad ain't gonna tell you jack.

Will they tell you?

I could talk to some people. That would be great.

But only if you go out to dinner with me.

I'm sorry, what?

You know, so that we can talk about whatever I find in a... in a... in a less... I mean, in a... in a more conducive setting to talk. Or we could talk here. Or...

Here's fine. Either way.

A restaurant's fine.

Holly. May I call you Holly?

There's only one thing that you need to know about me.

I have the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.

Here you are, sir. Thank you.

Thank you.

Insvekataj.

Insvekataj. Are you... Are you kidding me?

Where... Where are your... Your people from?

My father was from Trinidad.

Well, so, wait, how did he...

He wound up teaching high school in a coal patch in Pennsylvania.

Anthracite or Bituminous?

Anthracite, the blue coal burns hotter, burns cleaner.

All right, let me guess, uh... Carbon County?

Schuylkill. I had a bunch of friends who were Litzis and their parents would call me "the tamsus."

"The dark one"?

I didn't mind it.

So, how did you wind up in Chicago?

I needed to start over.

Why'd you need to start over? Uh... I'm sorry, that's not...

Because my mother d*ed.

And before that, I had... I had to stay.

You were taking care of her?

She was taking care of me.

So. So.

Uh... Peter Maitland?

So, okay. So, when the state investigators found out that Hofstadter had been back to work, uh, one of the days after the murders... they searched every suite that he might've visited.

Which one is Peter Maitland?

He is. A day later...

I need to talk to him.

They had a DNA match with one of the girls.

But that alone wasn't enough to seal a conviction.

Well, what did? Oh, he was all over the bodies.

Saliva, blood, skin cells, and then came the kicker.

Makes a mom proud, huh?

They thought at first it might've been.

Heath's younger brother, Aaron.

He had just got out of rehab a week before, but the DNA came back, wasn't a match.

So, where's Aaron now?

Nowhere.

He OD'ed.

You wouldn't believe the fallout of those two families.

I mean, first, was Hofstadter's mother...

then his brother...

those poor Williams sisters...

Their grandfather had a fatal stroke that same day.

Their mother tried to poison herself a few days after.

Uh... She was on life support for about a month.

They finally decided to pull the plug.

It was like a plague.

You know what we forgot to do?

What? Order.

Well, I'm not hungry.

How about another Coke?

No, uh, double Jack up with a water back.

I'll have the same. Yes, sir. Right away.

See that girl in the blue hair?

I went to high school with her dad.

Gerard Coover, played football, and man did that guy like to put a hurt on people.

Anything I can do for you, Detective?

How you been? You been okay?

Ralph... is this what the cops call "a friendly chat"?

'Cause I've had friendly chats before and they never seem to end as friendly as they start.

I'm not here to jam you up. Just relax.

All right, then. Well, give me a minute.

There, I'm so g*dd*mn relaxed right now, I might just pass out.

Hey, you remember that night, when... when Terry Maitland came in here all covered up in... in blood?

He scratched you on your wrist.

He did?

Why you asking?

I'm just following a few things up.

So, do you remember anything about that night since we talked? Anything else?

Yeah. I mean, he was only in here for a few minutes.

I already told you everything I know.

Okay. Have a good night. Good night.

That was pretty good.

Okay, all right, that one.

Six hundred and ten feet, give or take a foot or two.

And that one?

Five hundred and forty-five.

Give or take? Exact.

What about you? What about me?

How tall are you?

I have no idea.

Well, what about me? Six-foot-one... and a half.

You feel like grabbing a nightcap at the bar?

No. I can't. I have to work. Believe it or not.

No problem. Some other time.

Man comes here from Georgia, bumps into someone who's accused of k*lling two children... Okay.

Goes back to Georgia, and four weeks later is accused of a crime just like it.

These men, they knew each other beforehand?

I doubt it.

Maybe he caught something from the first guy.

Can't catch m*rder. It's not a virus.

No, it isn't, but, um... if it was a virus, you'd have to ask yourself, how did the first guy catch it?

You know, who gave it to him?

Because that's one hell of a bug.

Can I get a coffee to go?

It's called a telephone.

Sorry, sometimes my brain skips a step.

Um... I just wanted to ask, did Heath take any trips this last year?

Anything that would've taken him out of state?

I mean, I don't know, uh... first thing that comes to mind is New York City for a few days back in February.

When he got back, did he tell you about the trip?

Yeah, just about how expensive everything was.

Did he say where he stayed? A hotel, I imagine.

Uh... Did he mention where he went, what he saw?

I mean, if he did, I can't remember having never been there.

Um, you two are friends. Uh, did he bring you back a souvenir, a gift, a trinket?

He mailed me a postcard. Do you still have it?

There you are.

Are you gonna tell me what this is about?

I need to go to New York City.

Holly?

I need to go to New York City.

Why is that?

Uh... I found another quote, unquote, child k*ller who uh, crossed paths with Heath Hofstadter at the hotel he was staying at where she worked.

She? Maria Caneles.

She was covered by DNA evidence, eyewitness accounts, and I just need 36 hours.

What do you hope to find there?

Her. Hofstadter's dead, Maitland's dead, Maria is alive.

Do you have a location for her?

Rikers Island, awaiting trial.

Her lawyer arranged for me to visit.

I could be there talking with her by this afternoon.

Okay, I'm gonna call Howie; He covers expenses.

Okay.

Attention, everybody!

What I have in my hands here are invitations to my party at my house celebrating the christening of my son, Master Jerome Parrish Collins.

Dress code is semi-classy, so nothing you would wear to go bowling in or to k*ll an animal.

And gifts are welcome, as long as it's not clothes with cute words on them.

Are you mad at me or something?

What?

I was just standing there talking at the top of my lungs.

You didn't even look my way.

Oh, I'm sorry. This f*cking arrest report's got me.

Driving me up the wall.

It's not even filled out. I mean, I'm working on it.

You've been staring at that thing since I got here.

You all right? Yeah, I'm all right.

Jack. No, I'm just hungover.

If you don't make it to my baby party...

I'll be there.

I will be there. Guaranteed.

Nana Gracie.

It's gonna be okay.

Ma'am we're here. Just give me a minute.

I'm blocking the lane.

I understand. Just...

Miss, please, I can't get another ticket.

Hey, Ralph. It's Don.

We have a kid just walked in, says he needs to talk to you.

He won't give me his real name.

Okay, what you want me to do with him?

Give me Howie's address, I'll make sure he gets there.

Hey, you would think judge... The giant judge...

Hey. Hey.

When are you gonna take me out dancing?

Wait a minute. He can't dance.

No? I'm the brother with the moves.

Oh! You wanna go with me.

Brother, come one. Forget dancing.

How about I take you out for a nice lobster dinner and maybe afterwards we go shopping, huh?

Shopping for a wedding ring? Whoa.

Maybe. All right. Don't tease me.

I won't tease you.

I'm in love. You can't afford a ring.

Don't tell her that.

Keep it moving, ladies.

Report to the visitors' entrance...

You first.

My name's Holly Gibney.

I hear you're some kind of investigator from Michigan.

That I got.

Ohio, well, Chicago. Working on a m*rder in Ohio. Dayton.

My lawyer said you know something about me and that boy I never touched, never met, never saw a day in my life.

I might. You might?

Jesus Christ, I would set myself on fire before I hurt a child.

Is he... No.

Do you recognize him?

Maybe. He was staying at a hotel you were working at in February.

So were a dozen other people.

He said he met a girl.

Was it you? I worked the lounge.

You know how many guys hit on me a night?

Just look again.

Take your time.

I don't know. There was this one guy.

He looks kinda like him. He kept trying to get me to go out with him. You know, like the kinda guy that keeps going at it until you wanna beg for mercy.

So, I told him I would meet him for breakfast just to get him to stop asking. I'm not even into guys.

Next morning, I changed my mind, blew him off.

For all I know, he's still sitting there, waiting for me to show up.

Why, what about him? His name is Heath Hofstadter.

He was arrested for the t*rture and m*rder of two young girls... in Ohio, last month.

What's that got to do with me?

He didn't do it. He was innocent.

Everyone in this goddam place is innocent. Just ask.

No. He was innocent like you. They found his DNA on the bodies just like they found yours on the boy, and there were witnesses who put him with the girls just like they were witnesses who fingered you.

Then how is he innocent?

Because just like you, there were other witnesses who placed him in another town the day of the murders.

Yeah, I was in Newark with my cousin, she took video and everything. They didn't care.

He had no criminal record. No psychiatric history.

Until he was arrested, not one of them had a clue that he could do such a thing.

You ask anyone in the PJs about me, I never missed a day of work or a day of school.

I went to St. Raymonds with my grandma every week right up until the day I was arrested.

I didn't k*ll that poor boy. I didn't k*ll anybody.

I am in this place because, for some reason, God wants me here. It's not for me or anybody else to know his will, but as long as I keep him close...

You said "was." What happened to him? He dead?

He k*lled himself in prison.

My grandma thought something like that was gonna happen to me too. When I first got here, these women around here tried to get at me.

But I grew up with five brothers, three uncles, and one father, and none of them was angels, so... these b*tches learned real quick to leave me be.

You know about what happened to my uncle and my father?

You're family with Maria Caneles?

She's my daughter. My niece.

I'm the grandfather of the little boy she k*lled.

They wouldn't even let me go to the funeral.

I know.

I'm innocent, just like they were.

I know that, too.

Look, I can't tell you anything else about this guy

'cause I never saw him again, but... if what happened to me happened to him, then you are right, he didn't do it. Do you have any idea who did?

Let's go. Let's wrap it up.

You know, don't you?

If I say his name, they will send me right from here to a mental hospital.

Maria, please let me help you.

You can't help me. No one can.

Because what he does can never be undone.

I came here because I lied to you the last time we talked, and it's been bothering me ever since. Okay. You lied to us about...

I knew that parking lot because I left the van there.

Okay.

And I didn't tell you about the man who took it.

Okay.

I was too scared to tell you. Scared of being in trouble?

No, I was scared of him.

He caught me looking at him and I was afraid he'd do something to me.

Did he say anything to you? Run after you?

He didn't have to.

Hey, Merlin, can you describe what he looked like, or...

Um... You could, um... could try to draw him.

How's that? Care to try that? Okay. Good man.

You should listen to her.

Maria Caneles?

Whatever her name is. You can't help her.

You don't even know her.

Doesn't matter. I heard what she was trying to tell you and I thought maybe you needed some help to understand it.

What I do know is that Maria is innocent. Why?

Because there are two others...

Holly! Do you believe in God? Of course.

He's the explanation. Explanation for what?

For, uh, everything in this world that ever happened to me that I don't understand, that I never will.

And the devil? What about him?

Do you believe he exists?

Well, if I believe in God, I guess I do.

Well, no, I definitely do.

One devil or many? Many.

Right. How do I know you're not one of them?

A devil? Um... Uh...

Do you need to see my driver's license?

When you were a child, who were you told would come for you if you misbehaved, if you didn't go to sleep?

Uh... Jumbee. My great grandmother was from...

The old country. For me, in Cuba, I was told El Cuco would come. My grandmother, when she was a child, was told the same.

Her grandmother, before they left Spain, was told the same.

Back, and back, and back it goes.

El Cuco?

Uh... Sleep child, sleep now...

El Cuco, Jumbee, met an old Russian woman once who called hers Baba Yaga.

Uh... The Boogeyman. If you like.

All the old cultures, we had the bad habit of turning truth into fairy tales.

When we tell our children about El Cuco, we say, "If you misbehave, it'll take you away and eat you."

What we should tell them is, "It doesn't matter either way; It takes what it wants."

You... You keep saying "it."

It can look like a person if it needs to be, but it's not.

It's not?

This day and age, we find it so difficult to believe in anything that we can't explain.

Not me. Not you?

The woman you visited...

I heard her say that her father and uncle were k*lled.

Was this before or after the child was m*rder*d?

A few weeks after she was arrested.

And the little boy, who else in his family has d*ed since they found him? His mother.

Why?

Because it is also known as El Glotón Para Dolor.

The Grief Eater. It takes the child itself.

But after, it likes to linger, because it craves the pain of the ones left behind.

If the child is its meal, the suffering of the family is its dessert.

I'm not a good drawer, but here you go.

What?

What?!

What is happening to me?!

Heath Hofstadter never laid a hand on those girls.

And... And Terry Maitland didn't go near that boy.

If you give me a chance to come on board, I'll show you what an asset I could be.

What can you tell me about the barn that night?

Okay, so tell me what I'm looking at.

Looking for. For.

Looking for. What am I looking for?

Hiding places. For who?

Could be a who. More likely, a what.

I think you should drop the investigation.