02x03 - The Flitcraft Parable

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "Chance"...

So, it sounds pretty fun.

Friday night?

I don't know if it's gonna work.

People have been talking.

Something they heard about that
happened at your old school?

You ever have one of those cases
that keep you awake at night?

This one's mine.

Ryan Winter.

f*cking Hynes is obsessed.

Whole timeline on his wall about m*rder

and where this Winter was when.

You broke in to his place?

I'm gonna need you to get into
Ryan Winter's head for me.

I have some pictures
that I'd like to show you.

Tell me what you see.

Josefa, how's it going?

He caught me wearing makeup.

My husband, Ronny.

I'm looking for Josefa Pefaur.

I'm her psychiatrist.

We had an appointment. She didn't show.

Is she inside? Is she okay?

I need you to go back downstairs, sir,

right now.

No, I thought it was two.

Her husband, Ronny.

Was it a robbery?

Hey. Hey. Are you Ronny?

Stay the f*ck away from me.

I'm trying to help you.

- What do you want?
- I'm Dr. Chance...

I don't know who the f*ck that is, okay?

Look. I'm Josefa's therapist

at the Victims of Violent Crimes Unit.

You know what that is?

Don't run!

Ronny, don't run.
They'll think you're guilty.

Just stay where you are.

I didn't do this, man!

I didn't do this, okay?!

I... She was my wife. I loved her!

II did stuff, okay?

I did stuff, but I ain't
no f*cking m*rder*r, man.

I know. I know. I know you
didn't do it, Ronny.

You just got to let me help you.
Where were you?

Where you in the building?

f*ck. I'm so f*cked, man.

Hey! Don't move.

You got to tell me quick.

We don't have a lot of time.
Tell me where you were.

I'm so f*cked. I'm so f*cked.

Put your hands up. You the husband?

- Yeah.
- We're just talking, Officer.

- Who are you?
- Josefa Pefaur's therapist.

Detectives need to speak to you,
Ronny. Come on, now. Let's go.

What, II'm under arrest?

It's up to you. YYou're being detained.

What? Hey!

What? II didn't do anything!

What?

Detectives gonna want
to speak to you, too.

Did Mrs. Pefaur ever tell you

that her husband
had threatened to k*ll her?

No.

"No, not in those words," or...

Just no. She... In no words, no.

Did she ever say she was worried

her husband might k*ll her?

Does Ronny Pefaur have an alibi?

Is that a "no"?

Plenty more where this came from.

Yeah, I know.
I know what Josefa went through.

And I know "addressing
the welfare of the patient"

means protecting
confidentiality in perpetuity,

but right now,

a lady who everybody's saying
was kind of an angel

is dead with her head almost cut off.

So here we are.

Ronny Pefaur's alibi is

he says he was playing cards

with some friends
at a chop shop in Bayview.

You don't believe him?

You know what, Doc? I really don't.

But how 'bout you tell me
why you seem to?

I...

I have another patient

who was in group therapy
with Mrs. Pefaur.

Now, recently, I gave him
a projective psychological test

involving interpreting images.

When I saw Josefa's body,
it was posed...

it was posed exactly
like one of the images.

I can get you a copy.

This patient...

if I run him, am I gonna find
any violent priors...

as*ault, r*pe, abuse?

No.

Okay.

Has he ever said he was going
to k*ll Mrs. Pefaur?

No.

Has he ever said he was gonna
k*ll a woman, k*ll anybody?

- No, I... No.
- Okay.

What we're left with, then,
is a feeling in your gut

that something kind of looks
like something else.

Put up against a guy
on probation for battery

with a history of b*ating his wife,

whose neighbors
called 911 on him for her

26 times in 3 years.

You've got your gut, Doc,
and I've got mine.

And here, mine's the one that matters.

The truth is the job won't let me take

this sick, murdering f*ck
down the aboveboard way,

so I'm doing what needs to be done.

I envy you.

At least you know who to be scared of.

- You must get tired.
- You need my trust.

Talking about this so much...

And I want to give it to you.

Nothing changes.

You don't know what you're doing.

What if it was this Ronny?

Why is that so crazy?
The guy's a sh*t stain.

No, this was Winter, D.

If you'd seen the way
he's zeroed in on Josefa...

Not because he was commiserating
or sharing out of empathy.

Hardons aren't a gateway drug
for m*rder.

We know Winter's a sick piece of sh*t.

Does Ronny really have an alibi?

Yes, actually, he does.

You ever have one of those moments

where, suddenly, everything makes sense?

f*ck me.

You know what would be interesting

is if we were compare this sh*t

to the coroner's report on Blackstone.

Depth of cuts, nature of wounds

as in what caused them...

single blade, double blade,

serrated edge, curved versus straight.

Hell, I'd say you pretty much
have them all covered here.

And here, I thought I'd found a pal.

I saw a soul in distress.

You had my sympathies, and you still do.

Save it, Pops.

You know, I remember what was
bugging me at the bar now.

You're that natty, older gentleman

who crashed his car

into some Romanians out at the beach.

Manny, Moe, and Jack.

So, what's that make you?
A dirty, blackmailing cop.

Josefa Pefaur.

What the hell does that mean?

She was a patient of mine at the clinic.

She was m*rder*d in her apartment.

I was at the crime scene.

I got a glimpse of the body.

It was posed to mimic a drawing
that I had shown Winter.

He reacted to something in her story,

and then the drawing provoked

something he couldn't articulate.

So, what now?

How about now, Winter goes away?

Meaning what, exactly?

Meaning somebody stabs him
in the f*cking eye.

He goes away when I say he goes away,

in the court of law where I can see it.

Now, if you've got a problem
with that, say so right now.

He doesn't. Neither do I.

Well, fantastic. So, where do we start?

Well, first thing is that I have
to keep Winter out of the clinic.

Your problem is that the cops
decided to hang this

on Josefa's husband, Ronny.

He has an alibi, but no one seems

that inclined to believe it.

Well, did he tell you what it was?

I believe it.

Well, I have Legal Aid lawyer
who actually owes me a favor,

and he'll actually be jazzed

to have a client who didn't do it.

I'll call him tomorrow because tonight,

we're gonna go corroborate
the husband's alibi.

And if you're riding along,
big fella, know this...

You ever break into my apartment again,

I'll s*ab you in the f*cking eye.

Hey, Nicole! Nicole!

Hey. Didn't you hear me calling you?

Guess not.

I feel really bad about
what happened with Jason.

It's not about him.

Well, still, whatever.

He didn't have to be
such a d*ck about it.

My advice? Just move on.

Forget about it. Seriously.

Just like it never even happened.

How can I?

It followed me here,
and it's all over the Internet.

I can't believe I have to live
with this forever.

And, you know, what pisses me
off more than anything

is that all anyone cares about
is John's side of the story.

Nobody even asks me for mine.

I'm not a psycho.

Look. I get it.

We have all done
dumb sh*t over guys before.

So your sh*t just got
a little bit dumber.

- Who cares?
- Trust me.

In two days, everybody will be on

to somebody else's dumb sh*t, okay?

Okay.

Hey.

Let's go get some pizza.

Come on.

Okay.

What is this sh*t?

What?

What is this sh*t?!

It's his music.

The f*ck are you doing?

Look, I'm not gonna sit here and listen

to "The Best of Cries from Hell."

What the f*ck?

Look, Doc, I don't know
if you need Sitting Bull here

to tag along, but I don't.

Keep talking, assh*le.

You're about five seconds away

from the most humiliating moment
of your life.

Listen to me, you big f*ck.

I got no problem
pulling the car over right now

and putting a b*llet
in your f*cking head.

Fantastic.

There's a dump site a quarter
of a mile up on the right.

You can do it there.

That way I can bury your body after I...

Jesus Christ!

Get the f*ck out of this car.

Let's go. g*ns on the hood.

Will you two just f*cking knock it off?!

Listen. I'm here because you need me.

He's here because I need him.

Now, let's all just take
a deep f*cking breath

and go do what we came to do.

This ain't over.

I mean, how the f*ck

you're not doing life
without parole is beyond me.

Come on. Let's go.

How do you lead this fucknut
to my place?

I know. I'm sorry.

You put it all in jeopardy,
everything we've done.

Just remember that when sh*t goes south.

Look, nobody's gonna get in trouble.

All's I need you to say

is that you were here two nights
ago with Ronny, that's all.

Let's just say he's gonna
be gone quite a while.

Aah!

Don't move. Don't move!

f*ck.

You know, you move good for a big guy.

Fast, actually.

Thanks.

Now, what is this?

I'm Oscar.

Ronny's my boy.

Plus, he owes me 1,200 bucks.

That fucker goes to jail,
I won't get my money,

so yeah, I'll help him.

What do you need me to do?

Is it me, or is this place

a little more...

somber today than usual?

One of our patients was m*rder*d
night before last.

We're all just, you know,
processing the news.

Who was it? Was it someone I've met?

Josefa Pefaur.

Josefa Pefaur...

The Brillopad woman?

I am so sorry to hear that.

She seemed nice.

As I recall, you two talked
quite extensively.

Yeah.

Misery loves company.

That's an interesting way
to sum up a life.

II wasn't trying to be glib.

You seem more relaxed
than when we last spoke.

Must be the massage I got last night.

In any case, group is canceled today

in light of Josefa's death.

You want to take a walk, you and me?

You... Did you say
group was canceled?

Okay.

Nobody mentioned anything about that.

Well, I'm mentioning it now.

Okay, sure.

Do you want to wait for me in the lobby?

I just got to make a quick call.

Yes. Take your time.

Yeah?

Winter is here in my office,

cool as a f*cking cucumber.

No sh*t. Why wouldn't he be,

he's the psycho you say?

But there's something I noticed...

change rattles him.

It's pretty common
in obsessivecompulsives,

but it might be something we can use...

some way of disrupting his routine,

getting under his skin.

Gaslight the fucker.

If I keep him here,
can you get into his house?

Already out the door, Doc.

When you were first
admitted to the hospital,

I ordered a PET scan.

Allows us to look at the glucose uptake

or metabolism in the different
areas of the brain.

You see that area there?

It's the cingulate gyrus,

part of the limbic system.

What about it?

Well, it's pretty interesting.

Hypermetabolism in the front
part of the cingulate

correlates with obsessional thinking.

Hypometabolism, low glucose uptake,

suggests a lack of empathy.

We're basically talking about the way

that ideas and emotions link up.

And this is related to decisionmaking?

Yeah. Impulse control.

Impulse control. Okay.

So, what does this show, exactly?

Well, it suggests, maybe,

a certain lack of empathy

combined with a need to take control.

An ability to take risks,
do dangerous things

while remaining emotionally detached.

Kind of sangfroid
with attention to detail.

And this is a result of my att*ck?

No. This is the brain
you were born with.

Hold on. It sounds like
you're describing a psychopath.

All this does is
it just shows a proclivity

for certain kinds of behavior.

It's just science.

All the events and experiences we have,

they also shape who and what we become.

It's not just nature.

You also need some...

destructive nurturing
to become a psychopath.

So... it's not my fault.

I mean, it's not my fault
if I was born this way.

What's not your fault?

My glibness.

I'd say that's possible.

Can I ask you something?

Um, I'm a open book, apparently.

Are there things you've done,

things... things
that you don't understand,

things that make you go, "Why?
Where did that come from?"

Bad things, you mean?

Not necessarily.

Our moral decisions are
essentially emotional decisions.

It's just rooted in our ability

to know what another person is feeling.

That part of your brain
is compromised...

Listen, II, um...

I'm not pulling the wings off of flies,

if that's what you're asking.

Of course not.

Dr. Chance got Josefa
to where she no longer n...

There he is.
Eldon Chance, this is...

Hi, Frank Lambert,
Assistant District Attorney.

This is Barry Gilyard.
He's our chief investigator.

I've been telling them about
the outstanding progress

you were making with Josefa.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's very sad.

She was really starting
to take control of her life.

Well, I'm sorry that we can't be meeting

under better circumstances,
but the good news is

we just charged Ronaldo Pefaur
with the m*rder of his wife,

so I'll be prosecuting
that case personally.

And I promise you,
we'll pull out all the stops.

So, Ronny's alibi didn't check out?

They rarely do.

The reason that we...
we wanted to talk to you

was to see if you could
give us any information

about Josefa's relationship,

from a doctorpatient perspective.

Well, obviously, we know that
he was a serial abuser, so...

Ronny Pefaur had a history of as*ault.

He's got multiple arrests,
some prison time,

but Josefa never said
he used a w*apon against her.

Why would he suddenly
att*ck her with a Kn*fe?

Well, sometimes a perpetrator,

when they feel they're not
making enough of an impression,

they take it to the next level.

A footandfist guy
goes and gets a Kn*fe.

A Kn*fe guy might go and get a g*n.

We call it "conflict escalation."

So do we.

This happens all the time,

just like the accused
trying to finger somebody else.

But this guy's hitting
on all the dirtbag landmarks.

Yeah.

Ronny's tried to put this
on someone else? Who?

He's floating a story about
being on a bus

and seeing his wife walking
with some white guy,

but by the time he got off of the bus,

they were gone, of course.

So you don't believe him?

No, sure I do.

Also, Nicole Brown Simpson was m*rder*d

by Colombian drug dealers.

Okay.

Look, I just want to say.

II know you don't hear this
from City Hall enough,

but you guys here

are one of the few,
absolute goods in this world,

so, I know it's tough,

but keep on doing what you're doing.

That's kind of you to say.

And we should go.

Thank you for your time.

- Thank you.
- We'll be in touch.

Thank you.

My God, I am starving.

Dude, what did you order?

Just plain pizza, I swear.

I seriously think they forgot about us.

I know.

My God.

54!

Order 54!

So, you're still friends with him?

No, but, I mean,

I've known them since, like,
second grade, Nic.

You know, it'd be super weird
if I just randomly

acted like I didn't know them, you know?

No, I get it.

- Sorry. That was stupid.
- No.

57!

That's us.

Finally. Jesus.

58 and 59!

Order up!

Here we go.

What's up?

You got a text.

Sorry about that.

You never mentioned
you knew Jamie Stahl.

Yeah.

Why? Do you know her?

From Havenwood.

My old school.

Yeah, my cousin and her

do, like, aerial gymnastics
together or something.

I don't know. It's weird.

But I met her, like, one time,

then you know how it is...

All of a sudden, they want to be

best friends on social media

and all that bullshit.

You did it.

W... Did what?

You spread that sh*t around
about me and John.

Dude, what are you talking about?

You know what I'm talking about.

Why would you do that to me?

- Okay, Nicole, just...
- Why would you tell everybody?

Nicole, chill out.

And then just sit here,
acting like my friend?

Dude, chill out. You're making a...

You are not my friend!

You are an assh*le.

Whatever, stalker freak.

I already told the cops.

They didn't care.

That's 'cause you're an easy close.

You're a drug addict with
a history of domestic abuse.

How many f*cking times
do I have to say it?

I did not k*ll her.

- Well, they think you did.
- Yeah.

We got to change that line of thinking.

I'm gonna show you a photograph.

I want you to tell me

if this is the guy
you saw walking with Josefa,

but you got to be absolutely sure...

Show me the f*cking picture, man.

- That's him.
- You're positive?

f*ck yeah, I'm positive.

Because what's a m*therf*cker like that

doing in my neighborhood,
walking with my wife, with...

He's lucky I couldn't get off that bus.

If not, I'd be here wearing
the orange for the real deal.

Hey, hey, wait. Wait! WWhat now?

You're gonna tell the cops
about this fucker?

YYou gonna get me out of here or what?

As we speak,
a competent Legal Aid attorney

is trying to get you bail.

I might have to thank you
after all, Doc.

I'm not doing this for you.

I'm doing this for Josefa.

I did love her, you know.

Listen to me, Ronny.

What you did was unforgivable.

As far as I'm concerned,
you deserve to be in here...

maybe not for k*lling her,
but everything else.

That was not love.

Yeah.

It's Ryan Winter.

I need to see you right away.

Are you okay? You sound upset.

I am f*cking upset!

All right. Are you at home?

I'm in Pacific Heights at the moment.

I can come to you.

I can't come to your office?

Why not?

I feel like you don't
want me there anymore.

I told you, I'm not at the hospital.

It's just easier if I come to you.

Fine.

I'm being f*cked with.

What do you mean, "f*cked with"?

Someone's broken into my house

and taken things, moved things.

- Did you call the police?
- No.

It's... It's... It's... It's...
It's not a police matter.

Well, it is if they stole something.

- You should call.
- No.

What they stole has no value
other than to me.

I'm sorry, Ryan,
II don't really understand.

They moved things...
belongings, possessions.

They were here, now they are here.

And before you say it,
it wasn't the housekeeper

or me forgetting where I put things.

I think it's him.

Who?

Ryan, if you got a name,
you should go to the police.

He is the police.

It's Detective Kevin Hynes.

He used to be SFPD,

but he was transferred
to the southeast suburbs.

And I bet you he's the one
that att*cked me, too.

Ryan, II don't mean
to dismiss what you're saying,

but I'm concerned
that this might be an extension

of your head trauma.

It's not. It's not. It's not.

I'm telling you, this Hynes guy,

he's like...

He's like a burr. He is stuck to me.

He's made it his mission in life
to hound me to my grave.

I hate this. I hate feeling weak.

I hate feeling f*cking scared.

I hate feeling like a victim.

I don't like it. I don't like it.

It's okay. It's all right.

Come on. Just...

It's okay, Ryan.

We're gonna work through this together.

You once told me I have your trust.

Is that still true?

When I was 8, I was standing
on a train platform

in Emeryville with my mother.

And not that far from us,
there was this little boy.

He was running in a circle
round and round the platform.

After a while,
we could hear the train coming.

And...

I remember the boy still circling,

you know, as it got closer.

And then...

everyone was screaming,
and he was gone.

This woman had come
out of the crowd, grabbed him,

and tossed him in front of the train.

It was hard. It was really hard.

But I figured it out.

I found a way

to calm myself, to cope.

We should talk about that.

Some other day.

Today, I think I'm done.

You're a f*cking lawyer?

I'm your lawyer.

Chuck Haden.

Dude, I... I can't pay you, man, so...

It's okay. I'm Legal Aid.

I'm replacing
your public defender on this.

All right, so, you...
yyou can prove I'm innocent?

We've got plenty to fight 'em on,

and Judge Salandrigas and I,
we surf together,

so that'll count for something.

Am... Am I getting out of here?

Yeah. Your mom posted your bail.

But the condition will be
that you stay at her place.

But the important thing is
you're gonna get released, okay?

But you got to be smart, though...

no dr*gs, no more incidents.

Well, hey, well...
You're asking me to lay low?

sh*t. I know how to do that.

Good. Sign there.

Hey. I didn't hear you come in.

You looking for the Doc?

Not here.

Figured.

I tried the office.
He's not there, either.

I don't know why people carry cellphones

if they're not gonna answer them.

I wouldn't do that.

There's no crying in here.

That would hurt.

That would be the idea.

You ever hit a person like that?

I have.

He still alive?

Some of them.

So where do I get one of those?

What is that, a nightstick?

Depends.

Why would you want one?

There's this assh*le at school

who's done some shitty stuff,

bullied me or whatever.

Great opportunity for a life lesson.

Anytime somebody bullies you,
you should thank them every day.

You're joking, right?

Right now, this bully is
the only person in your life

who's giving you an actual challenge.

Everybody else is anesthetizing you,

hugging the power out of you,
making you weak.

You think the struggle of living
in the world gets easier,

people stop giving you a hard time?

Learn to stand up for yourself now,

and give it right back to them.

Otherwise, shut the f*ck up.

This is a baton.

For your purposes,
it's probably not ideal.

People will identify it
as a w*apon right away.

That can be a problem down the road.

Your best offense... look around.

That doorstop, straight to the temple.

Base of that lamp, sh*t to the kidneys.

This drawer pull over here,
great for a jab to the eye.

Anything can be a w*apon.

We get lucky and Ronny's alibi holds up

and Lambert can put Winter at the scene,

it's only a matter of time

before the sh*t heel is behind bars.

Which is good.

What's the matter with you?

I don't know. I'm...

I'm just starting to wonder if that's...

where Winter ought to be.

I mean, he is...

you know, he's a monster,

but he's also a deeply disturbed man.

Aren't we all?

Locking up the mentally ill

goes against my professional principles.

Well, having him committed
goes against mine.

Don't get excited, but the waitress

described the wing sauce
as "mischievous."

Hey, D, what did you take?
Winter said...

Winter said you took
something important.

A rock.

You took a ro...
That's what you took? A rock?

What kind of rock?

You tell me.

Why did you take this?

It was prominently displayed.

By the way, he thinks
you're the one who broke in.

Bury the lead, why don't you?

- He mentioned me by name?
- Yep.

He also thinks you're the one
who choked him out.

Get ready for the fallout.

What's one step down from Fremont PD?

Mall cop?

Did he, happen to say anything else?

Yeah, he told me a story.

When he was a kid,
he was on a railway platform.

He saw a woman...

He saw a woman throw a young boy

onto the tracks
in front of an oncoming train.

You think that's real...
the train story?

I don't know. He cried on my shoulder.

Jesus Christ.

He said it happened in Emeryville.

Got to be more than one of those.

How many of them have train stations?

If it'll make you happy,
I can look into it.

If that woman was arrested,
there'll be records of that.

They ain't got d*ck, man.

They had to let me walk.

No, I'm staying at my mom's place.

Yeah.

Social Services is coming tomorrow
to check on the kids.

Yeah, they...

Yeah, um...

As long as I get to see them,
dude, that's...

Um... hold on, man.

No, no, no, no, no.

I'm gonna call you back.

Yeah, I'm gonna call you back, man.

What are you talking about?

It was the middle of the day.

- There are no witnesses?
- None.

That's why it's easy for them
to call it a su1c1de.

One thing for sure is SFPD is gonna say.

Josefa's case is now open, but solved.

Solved? That is f*cking bullshit.

It means they have a guy,

and they don't need to waste
any more tax dollars looking.

And Winter is off the hook again.

Welcome to my f*cking world.

It really freaked him out, what you did.

I talked him down.

He couldn't explain why all of a sudden

I was moving all of his sh*t around.

Can you?

Look, I don't give a sh*t,

but I can't lose this job.

I'm the only one that's gonna be around

to take care of this kid.

Just don't do it again.

In case you get hungry.

Hope you like mustard.

Hey.

Why didn't you scream
when you saw me in the house?

'Cause you're not scary.

Memorial for Josefa
will be held tomorrow.

I know not all of you knew her,

but it would send
a strong message of support

if you could get as many staff
members as possible

to the services.

Also, it would be nice

if we could set up a fund
for Josefa's children.

And finally, I just spoke with SFPD,

and the rumors are true...

Apparently, her husband
committed su1c1de today.

Though it might sound like justice...

What's going on?

It's simply more v*olence.

Maybe read a memo once in a while.

You could've had cake.

For what?

Ryan Winter just donated
$1 million to the unit...

in Josefa's name.

Jesus.

We're all too familiar
with v*olence here.

Josefa struggled with it daily.

The fact that she was making
such great progress

only to fall victim once again

makes it all the more devastating.

To lose Josefa, especially in this way,

is traumatic for us all.

Here, we try to find safety
in each other

as a first step
in finding safety in the world.

Hey, take a bow.

Your good work made this happen.

Luckily, there are people out there,

like Mr. Winter,
who make it all possible

for us to heal those in need

through their generosity.

I know this is a time for grief,

but on behalf of Josefa,
I'd like to thank you.

Thank you.