The following story is fictional and does
not depict any actual person or event.
December ,
, , , , ,
, , , ,
OK, everyone!
The final score
for Lionstaff initial public offering,
opening price dollars a share,
closing price !
You're officially rich
so this is the last free pizza
you're getting on me.
Scott, , that's like million.
For the company,
how much is it to me personally?
I don't know Midas, enough.
Scott, Amy, you kids, we did it!
And the guys at the club
said that text stocks are over.
Well youth is the future,
and they're old.
- We're glad you're pleased.
- Pleased? I'm ready to party,
- you got something set up for after?
- Mr. Coleman,
the brokers are asking
for a picture with you. / Sure.
Not with us?
If you really want your picture
taken dressed like that.
Don't worry.
Lionstaff will help you.
It's not just a draw for money.
Thanks, but that's not it.
Then what?
It's all in paper,
it's not real yet.
To be worried at a time like this
takes a special kind of person.
- No, I'm happy.
- Yeah?
Yeah, I really am.
Lind, Amy Sudden Death
I think finally the public schools
are doing something right and then this.
Just a sec, it's loading.
And what is it your boy
found, exactly?
Death threats in a document
on the computer.
Donated to the school.
I found it on the hard drive.
I was recovering it for extra credit.
Sounds like you're good at this.
Nah. I just can't do PE.
It's up. You can look.
Entries are dated,
looks like a diary.
Or it could be just a prank.
That's what I thought.
But then I looked up the name.
Amy Lind's an actual person.
Who's like, actually dead.
Poison shuts her eyes,
poison stops her tongue,
poison stops her ghasty heart.
Ghasty? / Writer don't wanna
break the flow and run spellcheck.
Goodybe to hell Amy Lind.
Dies of a heart att*ck,
years old.
Poison stops her heart.
You can take it from here?
- Come on.
- They could need me.
It's good work,
we got any questions
we'll let you know.
Thanks.
's pretty young to have
a bad ticker.
Yeah, I guess it happens
but so does poison.
Well let's find this writer
who hated Amy so much.
See if he went from diarist to doer.
- Mace, 'ssup?
- Hey, Scotty.
- Mia Fernandez called me.
- I know.
I asked if I could catch
you out here.
OK. / We gave it some thought
before reaching out to you,
- didn't wanna stir things up.
- What happened?
Um, we had an incident
on the bridge this morning.
Guy threw a girl into the Schuylkill.
- She d*ed?
- In ICU. Busted up pretty bad.
Washed up
near the same spot as Elisa.
You're thinking
this is a serial thing with him?
- Don't know yet.
- But it was the same spot as her?
Figured you'd want your sh*t
at this guy when you came in. / Yeah.
Probably tommorrow sometime?
What's his name?
I'll read up.
Dante Catches.
I figured...this would be the way.
Sit tight, something about Elisa
would come out.
Yeah.
Yeah. Thanks.
Amy Lind d*ed days after
the last entry in the diary.
Did the computer unit
have any luck with it?
Can't ID a writer
but it came from an Internet company.
Lionstaff. / That the start
where Amy worked at?
Oh not just worked at, created
with fellow Wharton grad
Scott Sawyer, they were co-CEOs.
Nice timing they had.
Got their MBAs in ' ,
started their company in ' .
IPOed December ' ,
peak of the dot com boom.
Try bubble, Nick.
They're sure cop top of the world for
two months then quick slide in to nothing.
Amy dies in May,
just before they close their doors.
Now how does the coroner
explain heart failure at ?
Stress induced.
The company was losing
, dollars a day.
How about dr*gs?
Not in her system
but standard autopsy
doesn't test for poison.
Our diarist's method of choice.
All right, start with Scott, Amy's partner
he can tell you
who was on the computers.
Other angle is the poison.
Meaning exhume the body,
test again?
Need family's permission.
Um, there's a sister.
A Laura. Local.
Good.
You have my permission
to do whatever you need to do.
Well it's likely with a new autopsy
we'll get new information.
You really think someone poisoned her?
Someone sure wrote about it.
Was there anyone at her office
she had a problem with?
I wouldn't know.
She was living here
but after she and Scott
got the venture capital money,
I almost never saw her.
Business took up all of her time?
She worked late every night,
went rowing every morning.
If I saw her,
she was asleep right there.
Couch surfing, she called it.
What about this Scott?
Were they involved at all?
I don't think Amy would have said no
but Scott liked them busty and adoring.
That wasn't Amy.
So strictly business?
She said they made the perfect team.
Scott had the flash, got the attention,
Amy knew how to close a deal.
Ever see the two of them in action?
I was here when they first got funded.
Their whole world changed in a day.
Well, interesting idea
but how are you gonna
make it work exactly?
Two Wharton graduates,
Suma Kum Ladi, we'll find a way.
Good packaging, I admit
but it's not really an answer.
It's AM,
your child's having a seizure,
you're speaking gibberish,
you need help. / Uh huh?
You go online.
What's happening with this boy?
- And there we are.
- Lionstaff.
Type in the symptoms,
get answers in a matter of seconds.
And instructions,
how to help him.
It's a lofty goal,
helping people.
And a sound business idea.
The users will be desperate.
Desperate people pay.
Well, I gotta tell you,
when I was your age,
the only thing I had going on
in my garage was band.
Whatd'ya think?
- I'm in.
- How much?
How's a million sound?
After that they rented the office
and she was pretty much gone.
- But she kept living here?
- Yes.
Eating ramen.
I told her 'Honey, you're a millionare,
if I were you I'd be setting up house
on the Main Line.'
Sounds like a tough lady.
Desperate people and all.
No.
You should understand
the reason Amy wanted this company.
We had a brother, Gage,
he d*ed just before he turned .
The pictures on the table.
When she talked about being online
in in the morning
she was talking about herself.
You saying
Amy didn't have a heart att*ck?
She did but someone
might have helped her along.
I guess anything's possible.
- Those days were crazy.
- How so?
You're , too young
to rent a car.
You can't imagine being a multimillionare.
Can't imagine your friends would die.
Yeah but you are and they do.
And you lose it all.
It was a wild ride.
And I was lucky.
Couldn't have taken it without her.
Meaning?
Amy had the ideas.
I did the dog and pony show,
she did the headwork.
Anyone around who felt different?
You mean did she have enemies?
Yeah. We called them employees.
Malvender has something
he'd like to discuss. / OK.
He came to me,
I told him he had to talk to both of us.
Go on, Mal.
I want to be made partner.
- Partner?
- I'm building your system.
Without me you have no business.
Well, your work has been really creative.
- It sure has.
- Thank you.
But Scott and I started the business.
It's ours.
- So I don't matter?
- You do.
That's why you pull a big salary.
Sorry.
Guess it's no can do.
Well can we revisit this later?
There are only two partners
of Lionstaff,
Scott and me.
I get the picture.
Ghasty, idiot woman.
I admit, I leaned on her
for the bad cops.
I don't enjoy saying no.
That word Malvender used.
Ghasty?
Hindi. For whore.
We learned a few variations.
Malvender sounds like an angry guy.
And he sounds like her diarist.
Poison stops here ghasty heart.
Recognize that?
- Key word there, ghasty.
- What is this?
It came off a computer
from Lionstaff. .
So because it's a Hindi word
I must have written it?
- Did you?
- No.
So how come it sounds like you?
Everyone in that office
picked up my swear words.
Yeah but you had
a real beef with Amy.
You wanted to be made partner.
She said no.
Hard on you?
Having a woman turn you down?
That whole time was hard for me.
New country, no friends,
trying to send money home.
My behaviour wasn't too graceful.
But not this.
So you didn't carry a grudge?
Not for her shutting you down?
I was lucky not to get caught
between her and Scott.
I thought they were friends.
Started that way.
When the big money came, w*r.
Is it true?
You bought a Ferrari?
Why not?
- In crab oil?
- Scott.
They way you're spending,
we can't afford any set backs.
I don't plan on any.
And I have a great new idea forming.
- What's that?
- Superbowl ad.
A million five for seconds.
A million five is more
than we started with.
And we've grown.
I have a good feeling about this.
- We're not doing it Scott.
- Too late.
It's done.
Beginning of the fireworks.
So he made a million dollar
decision without her?
And it was a flop.
No tickers from the ad?
We got lots of hits
but zero business.
Suddenly we're million
in the hole.
No wonder she was mythed.
That's when the business
started to slide.
Throw downs between Scott and Amy,
they escalate?
Into silence.
Like a shout.
Scott said he and Amy were friends.
Opposite was true a
ccording to this Malvender dude.
Let me guess,
they fell out over money.
Not that Scott told us that.
Sounds like a reinterview.
News from the ME.
Amy's body had times
the normal level of potassium chloride.
That a poison?
Not normally but a high enough
dose induces heart att*ck.
How was it ingested?
Dissolves in water.
Kicked in within half an hour.
So she probably drank
it that morning.
That points to someone close.
New questions for the sister.
New autopsy shows
your sister was poisoned, Laura.
With potassium chloride.
But you know what that is,
I bet, being a chemistry teacher and all.
Yes. / Know who
would've been with her?
- : that morning?
- No idea.
Well how about you?
So we disagreed on
how to spend money.
See, you say that like
it's no big deal.
In my line of work,
when people fight about money
it usually don't end too well.
I'm not some street corner thug.
So you got some more
refined way of gettin' what you want?
Hands off?
Poison maybe?
Why would I want my sister dead?
Hard living next to all that success,
none of it being yours.
I was proud of her.
Pride can turn to envy on a dime.
After Gage d*ed,
Amy was all I had.
Sisters have to stick together.
If not you Laura, then who?
It's : AM. / I don't know.
She row with anyone?
No. The river was her place.
She went there alone.
No boyfriend, anyone
who stayed over?
Amy was driven, focused,
wasn't attracted to a lot of guys.
She got a kitten
when she moved in.
Always joked it would be her,
her career and her beloved cats.
My true feeling,
Amy d*ed of a broken heart.
She never got over Gage.
Convenient theory for you.
We were partners,
I wouldn't profit from hurting her. / No?
And ultimately we had
the same wolf at our door.
- That wolf being?
- Coleman.
After the Superbowl fiasco,
he rained fire on both our heads.
I thought you were gonna sell that.
I'm not givin' up the car.
Makes an impression.
How are you keeping up payments?
Another loan?
Mom.
Lay off.
Scott! Amy!
- I buy that?
- Excuse me?
You've just been throwing around
my money like confetti, haven't you?
Is this about the ad, Cliff?
You think this is a game?
Monopoly?
Of course not.
I give you a million dollars
that I've earned sweating
and bleeding and you spend it
on cars, watches, sushi.
Appearences matter.
Then you get around
to an actual business decision
and you blow your wad
on one ad?
We thought the exposure
was worth the gamble.
No, no!
Who's stupid idea was this?
- It was a joint decision.
- It was a fiasco.
- We're sorry.
- Let another one get by you,
I'll do worse than this.
He had a right to be mad
but he was psycho mad.
Sounds like you ducked for cover
and let him lay on Amy.
Not exactly me at my best.
News.
We got some background
on Cliff Coleman.
Me too.
He's got a rage problem.
He also had a rich wife.
In ' she d*ed of a heart att*ck.
Like Amy.
Plus Coleman has
a medical condition, kidneys.
Which is managed by
potassium chloride
in a steady daily dose.
Dante, we got two witnesses
who say you grabbed
Angela Stimpson by the hair
and tossed her off the bridge.
Yeah. I know.
I was there.
Wanna say why?
I had to.
You had to?
Some people just gotta go off.
- at people?
- rls.
Long hair.
Wrong in the head.
So it wasn't just Angela
that had to go over, there were others?
A lot of girls.
How about her?
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Are we talking last winter?
You see her and decided
she had to go?
Well she ain't right in the mind?
- How'd'you know that?
- She talked to me.
Yeah? / Wanted to get
to her boyfriend's house.
He lived all the way across town.
But her car was broke
and he ain't pickin' up the phone
so she's walkin' when I meet her.
So why does that make you
throw her in the river?
She don't listen.
Why does she gotta love that guy?
He don't love her like I do.
Man, who you talking
about Dante? / Angela.
I wrote her letters with my heart.
Poured out on them,
I loved her so bad.
She know, Angela?
I told her every day,
I was her guardian angel.
And the other girls?
There were no other girls.
Elisa didn't drive,
she never had a car.
We lived blocks
from each other.
Angela should be arrested
'cause she took my heart.
You think she'll ever forgive me?
It ain't him.
Angela. Angie.
It'll just be a moment.
Coffee or tea, sir?
- Sir?
- Officers. Hello.
Nice digs you have here.
I have the privelege of being
a fortunate man.
Got some questions
about that fortune.
It came from your wife's family,
we understand.
Guilty.
Please.
- And, how'd she die?
- Heart failure.
The loss of my life.
You know Amy Lind d*ed
the same way.
- Coincedence, huh?
- Yes, both were tragedies.
- Why are you here?
- We're looking in to Amy's death.
We hear you bitched her and Scott
out pretty bad at one point?
Gotta breathe fire once in a while.
Make people jump.
- Gotta smash cars, too, huh?
- Oh, that.
The reason I was so mad
at Amy was she knew better.
And the golf club,
that was your way of saying it?
Oh, I told her more calmly again.
Right here.
I'm sorry about my outburst in
the parking lot.
It wasn't my car.
Good of you to give me
a second chance. / Sure.
Geraldine, thank you,
and hold all calls.
Again, I'm really sorry
about the ad.
It wasn't your idea, was it?
I believe that Lionstaff
can succeed, Amy.
But I don't think it
can succeed with Scott.
- Mr. Coleman.
- You're a rescuer. I see that.
First your brother and now Scott.
That's fine.
But when push comes to shove
you gotta save yourself.
- He's my partner.
- Amy,
your company is like
a hot air balloon.
It's rising, it's way up.
But it's coming to a mountain.
You cut a sandbag,
it could stay up in the sky.
You keep that sandbag and
it brings the whole thing crashing down.
Scott's not a sandbag.
He's dead weight.
He's showing off,
he's seduced by trappings,
he deserves to be cut out.
We're best friends
from business school,
we've been together since...
Honey, that's sentiment,
this is business.
Your next appointment is
here Mr. Coleman.
Go home.
Get out of here you're a child.
Excuse me?
Miss, don't get hysterical
and don't raise your voice to Mr. Coleman.
Moral of the story,
don't do business with kids.
They're emotional.
And the millions they cost you?
No feelings about that?
Venture capital is gambling
and I knew standing in that garage,
I was just laying a bet.
Excuse me.
Powder room.
Coffee?
Thank you.
You didn't like Amy, did you?
She wasn't interested in being liked.
- By you?
- By anyone.
That's what they teach girls these days,
to be hard, aggressive.
Mannish.
Coleman seemed to have
a high opinion.
He always looks for
the good in people.
And you?
I just try to look after him.
Anyway Amy was busy enough
carrying on with a married man.
Really?
Every time I went by that office
I saw that she had him
wrapped around her finger.
- Who are we talking about?
- That Indian.
But I suppose to every feminist
a man's just a toy on a string.
- So Amy and you.
- Just me.
It was the one way kind.
I thought you hated her Mal.
Not making you a partner.
That was before I worked with her.
- Spent time with her.
- And your wife?
My marriage was arranged.
They still doin' that?
My family's traditional.
So, you were pretty much strangers?
Home was an akward place.
I was more comfortable with Amy.
She know how you feel?
Love, it's hard to keep to yourself.
Is this seat taken?
Someone's shorting our stock,
betting against us.
I have something
I must tell you.
I'm gonna find out who.
If it's anyone inside,
my next call's to the SEC.
There is a book.
It is called 'Out of Africa'.
Thanks, Malvender.
It is about a young woman
obliged to marry and move
far from home.
There's a movie, right?
She is lonely, but she is very brave
and she works very hard.
She reminds me of you.
Malvender. Thank you.
I am also from far away
and I am also alone.
Didn't you just get married?
Well, you see it's that...
I love you.
- I've been there.
- Thanks.
Did your wife know?
It's why she wrote the diary.
Back up,
your wife wrote that diary?
She was new to the country, all alone.
She could see I was thinking
about someone else.
How'd she know it was Amy?
I suppose I talked about her a lot.
She wrote that on the computer
I took to and from work.
There's some serious things
said in that diary.
I know but Mobli was
no thr*at to Amy.
The morning Amy d*ed
my wife and I were in Bangelo, India.
We'll need to see your passports.
It must've been quite a scene
when you found out what she wrote.
She talked, and I listened.
After months of marriage
we finally met.
You heading home Scottie?
No, no just, taking a sec.
Those SEC finances
gives you cross eyes.
You looking for who was
shortin' Amy's stock?
No, looking for one guy
in particular. Coleman.
Figured he lost a pile
bettin' on Amy and Scott
maybe he tried to make
it back playin' dirty.
How'd it go over at West?
It was OK.
Interviewed a guy Mace brought in.
Thought maybe there was
a connect to Elisa there.
Just didn't pan out.
Oh, Scottie you're not gonna know.
Not next year, not the year after.
And so lay it to rest?
Saving grace heals the pains.
- I'm gonna go back up.
- Sure.
Good night.
Can't we call some forensic accountants
to read this stuff?
This is worse than
those poems last year.
I think I found something.
- Serious?
- H.G. Friday.
Holding company with . mil.
We got Coleman's name
attached to that? / Looking.
- That's gotta be illegal.
- Sure.
He knew the company was tanking,
he bets against it. Insider trading.
So maybe Amy finds out,
calls him on it.
And unless he's willing to go to jail
he has to shut her up.
Good theory but we're talking
about the wrong millionare.
Name attached to H.G. Friday
is Geraldine Wright.
Coleman's secretary?
H.G. Friday.
- I don't know what that is.
- Who that is.
His Girl Friday?
I certain secretary
with a . million nest egg.
I've never seen these before.
You know what I think?
I think Geraldine pretends she doesn't
know anything about business.
Hmm. Math is for men.
I think she understands perfectly.
I think she got filthy rich
playin' dumb.
I, I have , dollars in the bank.
- Also an IRA.
- Come on Geraldine, you hated Amy.
Like you hate all women
who are driven.
- Headstrong.
- Mannish.
The least you could do was make
some money off the little chippy.
So you shorted stock
on her company.
And when Amy caught on to it
you slipped her some of
Coleman's potassium chloride.
Probably in that fine coffee of yours.
I don't understand.
You can talk to my accountant.
Steven Franklin.
That's Coleman's accountant.
He handles everything for me, too.
Then I think you know
how your name got on this paper.
Your'e loyal, Geraldine.
It doesn't mean he is.
I looked after Mr. Coleman.
I took care of his needs.
For years.
I was his constant companion.
I guess this is your reward.
years ago he set you up
for security spotting.
Now he sets you up for m*rder.
That girl thought she could play
with the big boys.
She thought they'd play fair.
- But?
- They didn't.
And the knives came out.
Mr. Sawyer!
Amy found out.
Found out what?
About you shorting stock.
You mean she found out about us.
I don't think she knows that,
that it's me, too.
- What's she doing?
- Calling the SEC.
- That's prison.
- I know.
- That's bankruptcy, then prison.
- Oh, God, I can't.
We both know there's no talking to her
she's so damned stubborn.
So what do we do?
Stop her.
You know what happens
if we don't.
That Ferarri gets repoed,
condos emptied out.
You move into the state pent.
I can't. Not to her.
Scott.
You remember us standing here a week
ago talking about your future? / Yeah.
- What's your future like?
- A hot air balloon.
And what did you say you would do
if anything got in your way?
If any sandbag started
dragging you down?
- I said...
- Go on.
I said whatever it is
I'll chop that mother off.
I guess I wanted to see her
get knocked down a peg.
But she didn't get knocked
down a peg, Geraldine.
- She got k*lled.
- I know.
She was k*lled with Coleman's
medication. You know that, too?
Yes.
I keep track of his persrciptions.
I refilled that one
just before that meeting.
And?
In the afternoon it was gone.
Packing up, Scott?
That never looks good.
I'm just going for the weekend.
We know about you and Coleman.
Know? / That you were shorting stock
together behind Amy's back.
H.G. Friday ring any bells?
Then Amy found out
and was gonna report you.
Always one step behind,
aren't you, Scott?
Well now's your chance
to get ahead.
Cause we're talking to you first
before Coleman.
I don't have anything to say.
Really? Cause I'm guessing
Coleman's fancy lawyers
are gonna be saying
you stole his meds. / No.
Oh, he'll sell you out as easy as
you two sold out Amy.
He went to her first, Scott.
D'you know that?
Tried to cut you out
but she said no. She was loyal.
You don't have to tell me
how much better than me Amy was.
That's something I knew all about.
Is that why you did it?
Sick of always coming up
a little short next to her? / No.
I was trapped.
I couldn't face jail.
And I couldn't face her finding out.
Coleman said it would be fast.
That he knew it would work.
Yeah, because he did it to his wife.
He told me I'd be a natural.
Said all I had to do was talk.
Still do this every morning
by yourself?
Why? Did you think
about joining me? / No.
I get enough of workouts just looking at you.
I came to say the Superbowl ad was
dumb./ We didn't know it wouldn't work.
I went about it wrond,
I should've worked with you.
Thanks.
Peace?
I know you don't like
to buy them for yourself.
- Lionstaff was a good idea.
- It was?
We struck out on this one.
We got stuck with a bad guy.
But it's OK.
Yeah?
We just have to choose
our partners better next time.
- I mean if you want to.
- Sure.
It'll be back to the garage.
You and me that's
how we work best anyway.
You know, when I first started
coming here it was for Gage.
To think about him.
But lately I started letting myself
notice everything that's alive, here, now.
And there's so much.
I still love him but I think maybe
now I'm ready to
start having
my own life, you know?
- That's good.
- Yeah.
So, thanks for stickin' with me.
- Amy.
- Yeah?
See you in the office.
See you.
♪ Aimee Mann 'Save Me' ♪
♪ You look like ♪
♪ a perfect fit ♪
♪ For a girl in need ♪
♪ of a tourniquet ♪
♪ But can you save me ♪
♪ Come on and save me ♪
♪ If you could save me ♪
♪ From the ranks of the freaks ♪
♪ Who suspect ♪
♪ they could never love anyone ♪
♪ 'Cause I can tell ♪
♪ You know what it's like ♪
♪ The long farewell ♪
♪ of the hunger strike ♪
♪ But can you save me ♪
♪ Come on and save me ♪
♪ If you could save me ♪
♪ From the ranks of the freaks ♪
♪ Who suspect ♪
♪ they could never love anyone ♪
♪ You struck me dumb ♪
♪ like radium ♪
♪ Like Peter Pan or Superman ♪
♪ You will come ♪
♪ to save me ♪
♪ Come on and save me ♪
♪ If you could save me ♪
♪ From the ranks of the freaks ♪
♪ Who suspect ♪
♪ they could never love anyone ♪
♪ 'Cept the freaks ♪
♪ Who suspect ♪