We are miners
Hard rock miners
To the shaft house
We must go
Pour your bottles
On our shoulders
We are marching to the slow
On the line, boys
Freedom of religious worship
and expression.
Drill your holes and stand in line
And his lack of political experience.
Soldiers ready...
His positions on crime,
immigration and gay marriage...
have earned him the endorsement of several
Christian and family values organizations.
Can't you feel the rock dust
In your lungs
It'll cut down a miner
When he is still young
Two years and the silicosis
Takes hold
Freedom from the cultural tyranny...
and the new-age demagogues.
- I do mean citizen.
- Yes, I feel like I'm dying
From mining for gold
What I'm talking about comes down to
that precious word "freedom."
Richard Pilager cares
about Colorado.
I always turn to nature...
when I need to sort things out
in my mind...
to make sense of the world.
But our environment is under siege...
Under siege?
Under fire? Under attack?
It's not under anything, Dickie.
It's endangered.
I always turn to nature when...
Okay. Okay. All right.
Look. No, no!
We'll buy 10 of the 20-second spots...
and you'll put a hold
on the next 12.
All right.
No, I'm here! I'm here!
I'm shooting
the bucolic fishing thing...
and the press is gonna be here
in about an hour...
and we're gonna have to give them
a photo op and position quotes.
So have the helicopter ready
on my signal.
If they get really pushy,
I'll whisk him away.
Can't you find something less garish?
Look at this!
- It looks like a French tickler.
- It's supposed to attract the big ones.
We're trying to attract voters, okay?
Not fish.
Folks. Let's set up for rehearsal.
Director guy, the trout
are gonna spit this thing out.
No, Dickie, we just want you to go
through the action, okay?
Nice and smooth, so we can
get the camera movement down.
- We'll deal with the props later.
- Let me get out of your way.
Okay. Let's start in nice and tight
on the hands, move up to his face...
and then go around to the front.
Okay, here we go!
We're rehearsing!
Roll sound.
Action!
You know, I've always
turned back to nature...
to sort things out in my mind,
to make sense of the world...
but our environment...
Damn it.
Our environment is endangered.
I'm hung up on something here.
- Here, let me get that for you.
- No, I can get it.
Think I hooked a Russian submarine!
Dang, it's a whopper,
whatever it is.
Oh, God.
Put that down.
Turn that off. Now!
Turn it off, now!
Donna, we're scrambling here.
- What is the backup location for this?
- Wilson's Creek.
Donna, we're gonna change
location to Wilson's Creek.
Notify the press people
and get the chopper in here immediately.
Dickie, you're on the chopper. Go!
- Somebody's screwing with us, Chuck.
- I'll deal with it.
Find out who it is
and cut him off at the knees!
I'm on top of it. Just go.
All right. People?
We're gonna relocate,
and I want you all to follow Leslie...
to Wilson's Creek, okay?
Hey.
Come here. Come here.
Come on.
Hold this. Hold it.
There you go.
Leslie, I don't want
any of these people to leave...
before I debrief them.
- Should I call the police?
- No. I'll do that.
- Sir?
- Yeah?
What do you want me to do with this?
You don't reel it in,
and you don't let it get away.
Boy's been through the wringer.
You understand how much we appreciate
a low profile here, Sheriff?
I've already spoken to Captain Fox
at the State Patrol.
You have, have you?
You do your job...
and I am certain that
you're very good at it...
and I'm just doing mine.
Sheriff, I found something!
I don't think that's what
killed him, Davis! Keep looking.
Enthusiastic kid. Just hired him.
Do you have any idea,
any guess as to what this might be?
Henry does all the guesswork
on the cold ones.
These people insist on floating
to the surface on my day off.
Henry.
Chuck Raven. We met at
the fund-raiser for Clark Hodges.
Right. You're Dickie...
We were just about to shoot
an environmental spot...
beautiful setting, beautiful day...
then this happens.
I'm surprised you caught anything
with this lure.
Kermit, my man!
What's shakin'?
You might want to run the Dustbuster
over him while you're at it, Lupe.
Boss wants to see you.
Just filling out my time sheet.
She told me to let her know
the minute you come in.
What'd I fuck up this time?
Danny boy!
My favorite snoop.
Mort, how's
the real estate moving?
Got a big one on the hook, Danny.
Just gotta land her.
Later, folks!
Mort the mogul. He's had a big one
on the hook since the day I met him.
Danny?
I have a client in my office...
who's brought a lot of business
to this firm over the years...
and I need you to be
on your best behavior.
Obviously, we at the campaign...
don't want to seem
too interested.
We don't want to be associated
in the public mind with...
Why don't you just walk away from it?
That's exactly what I intend to do.
These things tend to stick
in the public mind.
People get distracted
from the message.
Gerald Ford falling down
that flight of stairs.
And Carter whacking
that little rabbit with his paddle.
I don't want my candidate
remembered as...
As the guy who hooked a stiff
in Arapaho Lake.
Exactly.
There's also the remote possibility
that this is not a coincidence.
I don't think
I'm being paranoid...
when I consider the possibility...
that one of our opponents
had something to do with it.
You mean somebody put a dead body
in the lake as a prank?
I'm not accusing
the other side.
I'm saying that when you
play this game to win...
you're bound to step on a few toes.
There are a few loose cannons
on this deck...
people who hold grudges.
Who'd hold a grudge
against Dickie Pilager?
Unless it was some hazing incident
from his fraternity days.
I am the best at what I do
because I have the best intelligence.
Here are three names.
These are people
who I consider to be...
unstable enough
or vindictive enough...
And you want them investigated?
I want them confronted.
Let them know
they're being watched.
Don't be subtle.
A good, stiff warning.
Nothing actionable.
And, of course, the press is not to
hear a whisper of this.
Totally confidential.
I'll expect a progress report
by... next Thursday.
Happy hunting.
I ought to put a muzzle on you.
Sorry.
Okay, you're off jury prep.
You're on this.
Don't worry about overtime
or expenses.
I really appreciate
your confidence, Grace.
Don't.
Peters is still in Grand Rapids
chasing the trust fund kid...
and Kelly's stuck in court
for the next two weeks.
What I want to know is,
can I trust you?
I always pictured you in some smoky hole
in the wall, hunched over your computer...
spewing your bile at the military
industrial complex.
Yeah, well,
it is a hole in the wall...
but I'm surrounded by a bunch
of anti-tobacco fascists.
I think we call 'em
pro-oxygen these days.
A bunch of vegans
and computer nerds.
Half of'em don't know dick.
But they at least don't buy
the official story.
You're some kind of
investigator now, aren't you?
Yeah. Some kind.
Maybe you can do a little snooping
for me for the Web site.
- What's it pay?
- What do you think?
- Bupkes.
- Yeah.
I don't really do politics anymore.
Debbie always said it was bad
for my mental health.
Nothing I can do
about it anyway.
Listen.
I'd like to run some names by you.
Cliff Castleton.
Neo-fascist radio crackpot.
I've listened to Mr. Castleton.
Very big with the crowd that thinks
our form of capital punishment...
isn't painful enough.
Casey Lyle.
He was a big cheese in one of
the health and safety agencies...
couple of administrations back.
- Unstable personality?
- What, compared to you?
- Thanks.
- Speaking of unstable personalities...
Madeleine Pilager.
Nympho nutcase sister.
What is this you're working on?
Something that if one detail of it
ends up here on Kill-The-Rich. Com...
I get fired.
You're no fun anymore.
Your Web site... for you,
this is a natural progression.
You never wanted to be
a mainstream news guy.
- Neither did you.
- Of course I did.
If you hadn't talked me into pushing that
fucking kickback story on Jerry Skaggs...
We were set up.
You could have triple-checked
the information.
You're working for them now,
aren't you?
- Them?
- Them that run the whole deal.
Listen...
what do you know
about the Pilager family?
Jeremiah Pilager,
who comes here in 1870...
sells dry goods at cutthroat prices
to the pickers and panners.
He accepts a land deed as payment
from one poor sourdough...
which becomes
the Pilager Seam.
So the lone wolf prospector legend?
It's a crock. Boomtown money,
big mansions, extravagant lifestyles.
But when the silver bubble
bursts in 1893...
Pilager's already diversified,
and he comes out richer than ever.
These days, the family fortune
has switched from mines to...
cow pies.
More than you can possibly imagine.
If someone doesn't dispose of
this stuff from time to time...
the stock would be
up to its sirloin in shit.
- The family business.
- The flagship, so to speak.
The real money comes from
their association with this gentleman.
You know the name Wes Benteen?
As in Benteen Ranch?
Benteen Realty,
Benteen Medical Associates...
Gold Mine Communications,
BENagra...
which produces the poo-poo
the Pilagers clean up...
Bentel Stadium.
So he's the Bentel Corporation.
- Founder and CEO.
- Big money guy.
- Mega.
- And a real piece of work.
During the Iran-Contra thing, he sent
Oliver North's boys a set of cargo planes.
He used blacks and Chicanos
to bust the unions in slaughterhouses...
and then he fired half of them
and brought in migrants without papers.
He's never once been hit on
by the Immigration Service.
And he and the senator?
When Richard, the son,
who is fondly referred to...
by his frat mates as "Dim Dickie"...
sinks his inheritance into Silver City,
a ghost town with an abandoned mine...
which turns out to be abandoned
for a good reason...
guess who bails him out by paying six
million dollars over its original value.
Wes Benteen.
A personal favor.
One contributor putting up
over half the money for a senate run.
- Looks kind of fishy.
- Unless it comes from within the family.
So, Dickie Pilager.
Not a public official yet.
Serves as a front to Benteen,
bankrolling his father's campaign.
Benteen is in real estate.
He's in cattle.
He's in publishing, media, mining...
utilities, waste disposal.
How much federal regulation
do you think that entails?
When Benteen wanted to end
health and safety inspections...
at his meat processing plant,
SenatorJud led the charge.
So he wants his own man in the governor's
mansion, someone corruptible.
There is not a corrupt bone in Dickie
Pilager's body. He's just... What?
He's user-friendly.
Wes Benteen, Chuck Raven just say whatever
they think will get them what they want.
Dickie Pilager is a true believer.
These are the guys
you're working for, pal.
I wasn't even born when most of this
happened, and it still pisses me off.
It's not like I'm helping them
get elected or anything.
You're just trying to pay
the rent like everybody else, right?
- Any dirt you can spare though.
- Come on, Mitch.
I've got... professional ethics.
Chickenshit.
Seen Nora lately?
Nora?
No. I see her byline.
I hear she's engaged
to some guy.
Terrific.
With the amount of federal money
coming to the state decreasing...
I'm not raising taxes.
What about the shortfall
in social programs?
I repeat, I'm not raising taxes.
We can't just keep throwing the taxpayer's
hard-earned money at these perceived...
some of them, I admit, are real...
so-called social problems.
We have to get
our priorities straight.
Education is a priority.
Health care is a priority.
Our economy is a priority.
The environmental...
The whole environmental,
uh, arena...
that's a priority, big priority.
Building new roads
and maintaining the present...
keeping the infrastructure in place,
where it belongs... that's a priority.
What isn't a priority, sir?
- What's not a priority?
- Yeah.
Is those matters
which are less of a...
not that they're not
important, but...
If you're gonna have
a front burner...
which is where you want
your priorities...
It's like cooking. There needs to be
something sitting on the back one.
That's where your
other organizations...
your church people
and your organizations...
formed to help these things...
will be happy to pitch in if only
government would get out of their way.
No, no. Press conference
is at 2:00, people.
It's no fair trying to kidnap the
candidate when we're late for a meeting.
One more question, sir.
- Where were you?
- Gridlock.
Don't ever let yourself get caught
out in the open like that again.
Who's that chick in the red?
She's on me again.
- The newswoman?
- Yeah, whatever.
That's Nora Allardyce.
She writes for the Defender.
She was on my DWI's.
All that stuff from 10 years ago.
Give it a rest.
She'll back off.
I got something in the works.
Debbie?
Debbie.
Rocky Mountains
that I love so much...
are part of our national heritage.
They're something we must keep safe
for future generations.
Debbie?
We have to stimulate the economy.
We have to encourage investment...
to get America working again.
Richard Pilager cares
about the elderly.
Our senior citizens are the ones...
There used to be a couch here.
"D-Day."
"Call movers."
She's been planning this
for fucking weeks.
"Sorry, but I had to do this.
Don't try to find me.
I'll call you
when you calm down."
Modern life challenges
the nuclear family.
I want to nurture that family...
to protect and promote
those traditional values...
which are the backbone
of our American...
I'm extremely calm.
Paid for by Citizens
for Responsible Government.
So, officially, you're not here.
- Yeah, the candidate...
- I got the message from his people.
This guy's seriously dead.
Smells of... What?
- Apricots.
- Yeah.
CBI sent a pathologist out,
took some tissue samples.
"Cause of death:
Deceased suffered multiple fractures
including trauma to the skull...
crushed rib cage and damage to
internal organs consistent with a fall."
- Fall from what?
- That's manner of death.
I left that blank so far.
Pathologist faxed me this.
- "A residue of cyanide...
- He was poisoned too?
Was present on hair and skin...
but none was present
in lungs, stomach or liver."
Like he'd been dipped
in the stuff. What else?
- "Chlorine in the lungs."
- Like from a swimming pool, chlorine?
Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just
a county coroner with a law degree.
Any idea who he is? Was.
Hispanic male,
late 20s, early 30s.
- He's dark, but how do you get Hispanic?
- Check out the dental work.
See, that kind of gold,
we're talking Mexico, maybe Guatemala.
Probably a manual laborer.
There's heavy callousing
on the hands.
Here's where the fish hook
snagged him.
Any I D on his clothes?
Bought his shoes at Wal-Mart.
Other than that,
he's just anotherJuan Doe.
This is his only
distinguishing feature.
Can I take a photograph of that?
Have one of mine.
You!
You're the one working
for the Pilagers.
I'm not here officially.
I'm supposed to keep you
in the loop on this.
Danny O'Brien.
You used to write
for the Mountain Monitor.
When it existed, yeah.
- And you are?
- Timberline County SheriffJoe Skaggs.
I used to know a Jerry Skaggs.
- My brother.
- How's he doing?
He died a year ago
of colon cancer.
- I'm sorry to hear that.
- No, you're not.
This should be totally routine...
so don't go making it complicated.
I wouldn't think of it.
You know who he is?
CBI has nothing on his fingerprints.
The falls we get...
it's usually one of our many
climbing enthusiasts up from Boulder.
They wander off the trail
to admire the view, you know.
Have you checked
the stomach for granola?
Sorry.
He's got that...
crossed-the-border-crammed-in-a-car-trunk
look to him.
We find a lot of those boys
out in the bush.
We never do get an I D.
If you do stumble on anything
that pertains to this case...
what's the first call
you're gonna make?
Timberline Sheriff' s Department.
If anything goes public
before I know about it...
I'm coming after your ass.
See you, Henry.
I don't think he likes you.
Russell, I can sense your frustration.
But what's your point?
Okay, we go run their dictators
out of the country...
and suddenly it's our responsibility
to pay for reconstruction?
If I have Terminix come over
to get rid of some vermin...
they hand me the bill,
not the other way around.
I'm with you
a hundred percent, my friend.
It's the price of democracy, and it's
only fair they're the ones to pay it.
Listen, we're out of time,
but I appreciate all your calls today...
especially that wing nut
from Boulder.
Eat some red meat, buddy. Your brain needs
the protein. This is Cliff Castleton.
You've been listening
to The Hot Seat on KQRY...
the free voice...
of the American Rockies.
- Mr. Castleton.
- Talk to me.
Danny O'Brien. I'm here sort of
on behalf of the Pilager campaign.
Dickie didn't send you over.
His little pit bull did.
- That would be?
- Chuck Raven.
You know Mr. Raven.
Chucky and I go back
to campus politics.
You know the American Students' League?
The information tables
at the airport?
Something about
nuking Jane Fonda.
God, we miss her.
So you and Mr. Raven
were college buddies?
I was in line to be national president
of the ASL.
The right wing answer
to Abbie Hoffman.
There was going to be
an orderly succession...
strict adherence to
parliamentary procedures...
when we start hearing about credential
challenges at the regional chapters.
- And behind this is?
- Chuck Raven.
Mr. If You Can't Win The Game,
Just Change The Rules.
We come to the convention, we've got two
sets of delegates fighting over the seats.
Bedlam. We have to kick it up
to the party for a ruling.
Totally humiliating. This is when
the Democrats were riding high.
So we become this embarrassment.
- And who's the man to make the decision?
- I have no...
- Judson Pilager.
- The senator.
Who Chuck Raven has been carefully
cultivating, knowing this would come up.
He wrote his damn thesis on the senator,
went to picnics with the family.
I'm not only screwed
in the election.
From that moment on,
I'm persona non grata with the party.
So you tell Chucky whatever he wants,
he can go fuck himself.
You're being watched.
What?
He wants you to know
you're being watched.
There's a perception that
you might have it in for the candidate.
There's more than a perception.
I let the little snot have it with
both barrels at least once a broadcast.
They think they can get me to
back down by investigating me?
He's wishy-washy on right to life.
He's got no plans for dealing with this
alien invasion we're in the midst of.
You go to Pueblo, English is
the second language, if not the third.
He's a draft dodger and a mama's boy
and a dimwit.
If he wasn't running against a known
communist, I'd run him out of the state.
What I'm saying is...
if you were to do anything
illegal to embarrass the candidate...
If I were to paste you one in the mouth
right now, would that be illegal?
I don't think that'll be necessary.
You come into my studio
with threats and intimidation.
- Thank you for your time.
- Tell Chuck Raven I'm not afraid of him!
I'll convey your sentiments.
Best luck with your show.
He wants a piece of me,
he knows where to find me!
Little prick wouldn't last
30 seconds on the air with me!
I want them dead in the water!
Listen to me.
Lf, when we are finished here...
if he can still show his face
in the state of Colorado...
we will have failed our mission!
Okay?
Okay?
Just do it.
Okay.
So how did it go with our friends
from Cherry Hills?
I think they get it. They can finance
the attack campaign...
Public information outreach.
As long as it's limited to phone calls
and print material...
financed directly through
the educational committee they set up.
And we provide them with...
Advise them.
Advise them on which agency to hire on
the content of the print material...
and the text
for the phone messages.
We give them voter lists,
home and work numbers...
Stephanie, getJim Wilkinson
at The Defender...
and when my call from Washington
comes through, get it to me right away.
When will these ads get here?
- Where the hell is he?
- He's in with his spiritual advisor.
Oh, Jesus Christ!
He may be in there too.
We're talking about murder.
The murder of innocents.
There's a limit to what
I can do on this, Billy.
It's the kind of issue that attracts
a lot of people to the polls...
who wouldn't ordinarily vote.
If you were to take
leadership on the issue...
throw the full force of
your office behind it...
If you can get it on a referendum.
I honestly don't think
it would pass...
not in the secular climate
we live in.
But when Moses found
the children of Israel...
prostrate before the golden calf,
did he call for a referendum?
No, he did not.
Excuse me, Reverend Tubbs.
- We need him.
- We're discussing the children of Israel.
We must obey
the 11 th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not keep
the press waiting."
With a planned community,
you know what you're getting.
People own their houses,
they own shares in the amenities...
but the corporation
calls the shots.
This whole section here
will be assisted living.
The lake is a nice attraction.
The lake is the key.
Half these people,
they don't fish, they don't boat...
they can't climb a flight of stairs,
much less a mountain...
but knowing it's there
just around the bend...
- Live in the Rockies.
- We're selling a dream.
Now, of course,
a few regulations need to be...
The Development Association
would be happy...
Which I pay into.
The association has to concentrate
on some general legislation right now.
Any individual cases would be...
- You talk to Chuck Raven.
- On a daily basis, yeah.
After all, he's the brains
behind our future governor.
You need examples,
specific instances...
for your general
legislation, right?
Silver City would be
a perfect model.
That wouldn't be fair to
the other members of the association.
Showing favoritism would
compromise my position.
But if you were to retain my services...
as a lobbyist on an individual case...
there's no reason I couldn't honestly
serve both clients equally...
during my talks with
the future governor and his staff.
Retaining.
So much of my cash is tied up with
the acquisition of the land.
I could probably work
on a commission basis.
You mean, like,
a piece of the action?
Mort, the regulatory legislation
that the governor is going to bat for?
I'm writing it.
What, do you think the association
pays me to suck up to these people?
We're only that far from qualifying for
an economic initiative subsidy.
Timberline County
is on the ropes.
And if the State was to relax
the soil standards just a fraction...
There's no reason we couldn't...
raise the river and lower the bridge
at the same time.
How big a piece of the action
would this be?
In the case of capital offenses...
I am absolutely in favor
of the death penalty.
You hear stories
about frontier justice.
You can bet that the wrongdoers...
the folks who couldn't
play by the rules...
they had some respect
for that.
And there was no...
Taxpayers didn't pay any...
If they had had
taxpayers back then...
Those were the good old days,
I suppose.
All you needed
was a good, strong rope...
and a tree to hang it from.
So you support mandatory sentencing?
My message to the criminals is this:
You straighten up or get out.
There's no place for you
in our state.
You do the crime and, by God...
you're gonna have to
face your lumps.
But the majority of those serving time
for drug possession are...
You want to change a behavior?
Stiffen the consequences.
There have been reports, Mr. Pilager...
that before you entered politics,
you had considerable experience...
Look, if you're up
in a helicopter, airplane...
you know,
something that flies...
you don't want your pilot
intoxicated with drugs, do you?
It's that way
with our schoolchildren.
Junior can't read
if he's high on crack.
Yeah, the air is
thin enough up here. Yes.
The question
you have to ask yourself is...
do you want your county to be
thought of as one big Superfund site?
We've got Carbonville.
Or one big migrant labor camp?
No offense intended.
Or do you want Silver City...
emerging like a shining phoenix
from the ashes?
The land.
Bentel Corporation
had no further use for it.
And, of course, it's been classified
as a degraded habitat.
Meaning?
Meaning the environmental folks
won't be breathing down our necks...
once we get
this project rolling.
But the soil is still full of
heavy metals. If you dig a well...
We're not digging any wells.
We've got some folks downstate...
I'm pretty sure will be happy
to sell us their water rights.
Why would they do that?
Let's say you grow your crop
out on an arid plain.
Gotta irrigate the hell
out of the land.
Gotta rely on federal price supports.
Now, you pull that price support
out of the equation...
well, there's a bunch of farmers who'd
be thrilled to cash in their chips...
for a healthy,
onetime water settlement.
- How do you know that's gonna happen?
- The price support is a line item...
pushed into the federal budget
every year by our senator, Jud Pilager.
He told you that...
Chuck. Hot on the campaign trail.
- How's it going?
- Good, good.
- You know our man here?
- Governor.
Don't jump the gun.
You're 15 up in the polls.
Hey, I'd like to introduce you...
to some of your supporters
out in the trenches.
This is the Timberline
County Commission.
Please, don't stand up.
This is Phil, Ellie,
Freddy Mondragn.
It's such a pleasure.
Hey, where's your electric train?
This is Silver City.
Really.
I owned a patch of land
out where that used to be.
Pretty near lost my sh...
Mort is spearheading
the development...
of some of the property
in that part of the state.
Nice to see private sector
taking a little initiative.
- Thank you.
- Right.
You folks in Timberline could use
a shot in the arm, and he...
Mort.
Mort is the fella
that could do it for you.
- Have a nice lunch.
- Thank you. You too.
Terrific guy, Dickie.
He'll make a hell of a governor.
Still writing in restaurants?
Hi. Sorry.
So this is where
all the politicians hang out.
And the humble reporters
who cover them.
How's... Debbie?
She moved out...
from where she was living, with me.
- Oh. Sorry.
- Took the furniture.
I should have been suspicious when
she bought all those boxes from Staples.
- So you were having problems.
- Apparently.
We weren't...
Maybe she wanted
somebody more predictable.
You're totally predictable, Danny.
You get involved in something positive,
then find a way to fuck it up.
And you're...
I'm... fine.
Fine. They have me assigned
to the governor's race, so...
- Listen, there's a work thing.
- Are you still a private eye?
- Investigator, yeah.
- Yeah.
Your friend who worked in health care
with the migrants?
- Rebecca Zeller.
- Zeller. Right.
- She still in town?
- In the phone book.
- Sorry I'm late.
- Hey.
Just greasing the rusty wheels
of government. Hi.
Chan, this is Danny, who I told you
about. Danny, Chandler Tyson.
- Danny... Ex-boyfriend from hell Danny?
- Yes!
Hi.
I know you.
Really? I don't think so.
Yeah, on TV.
That was a while ago.
The public statements I was making...
on behalf of the industry.
- You're a tobacco lobbyist.
- One of our clients, yes.
You said there was no scientific
evidence that smoking can cause cancer.
I see myself as sort of a champion
of the underdog.
Every point of view,
no matter how politically incorrect...
deserves an advocate
in the court of public opinion.
I heard that you were with somebody new,
but, hey, a champion of the underdog.
- Great.
- It was nice to see you, Danny.
- Yeah. Right.
- Rebecca Zeller.
Yes.
Keep up the good fight.
Thanks.
Of course, getting dentists to see
Medicaid patients was never any picnic.
And then the migrants...
they'd rather chew aspirin
for the rest of their lives...
than risk getting
the I NS involved.
- Who hires undocumented workers then?
- Who doesn't?
Nice, cheap labor who can't complain
to the authorities...
if they're ripped off or mistreated.
Just continue around straight,
Mr. Scarpa. That's it.
Do you have a list of employers?
Six months old.
A lot of these characters, these little
construction outfits and whatnot...
they move around.
It's a place for me to start.
You really blew it,
you know?
- With Nora.
- Tell me about it.
She was devastated after she left you.
She seems pretty happy
with this Chandler guy.
- Mercenary little prick.
- You've met him.
I'm working for... this is
strictly confidential, by the way...
a close friend
of your employer.
The Pilager family?
Look, I only want to know
if any of your workers are missing.
What, these guys? They're all missing.
They don't exist, right?
Illegal.
Undocumented.
Whatever.
Look, this is a prep crew.
The foundation, the frame and the roof.
I don't get into citizens
until the plumbing and wiring go in.
- This is standard practice?
- If you want to stay competitive, it is.
Look, I'm a subcontractor.
Bentel hires someone,
who hires me...
and I hire a guy to go out and find these
"trabajeros" on a job-to-job basis.
I ask him no questions.
If somebody doesn't
show up for work?
My labor contractor makes sure
there's somebody ready to take his place.
I don't know the language.
I don't even learn their names.
It's like, "Yo, amigo,"
and you show 'em what you want.
The Immigration?
You know, the funny thing,
working for Bentel...
we don't seem to have
too much trouble from them.
Right.
- Corona.
- It's conoce.
You don't say "sabe"when you're
asking about a person.
It's...
It's not "el mano"?
It's irregular.
Like a gringo coming to this bar
asking questions.
Irregular.
Right.
So what's his name,
this tipo you're looking for?
I don't know.
Tough to find somebody,
you don't know his name.
He has this on... la mano.
There's a reward
for this information?
- There could be.
- How much?
$100...
to whoever can put the name
to this tattoo.
Tony Guerra.
That's the name.
- Who's Tony Guerra?
- Speaking.
I'll take 20s if you got 'em.
What do you want with me?
I gotta warn you.
I'm a citizen.
I don't have to take no shit.
It's not you.
- How do you know that?
- You're still breathing.
Where'd you get
the tattoo?
Me and the lavaplatos
from my kitchen...
we went out one night,
I got a little borracho.
- You're a cook?
- I'm a chef, por favor.
Up in Vail, with the ski bunnies.
We're talking blue corn polenta
with mango-chipotle salsa...
free-range sage hens
stuffed with chestnuts.
The tattoos.
I saw it on a wall in this place
we went, liked the way it looked.
I asked the dude,
"Lay it on me."
I keep my own records,
you know, if you can call it that.
I have them sign
when they come in.
I check their I D
if they look underage.
Redeye Stinger.
"Tony Guerra."
- He was pretty drunk, that guy.
- No, not him.
Try earlier.
I only done
one other stinger this year.
Do you remember anything about him?
The other one.
Another Mexican. I think.
I get so many bean-eaters in here.
I was probably just glad
it wasn't her again.
I could do that tat
with my eyes closed.
So, is this like a cop thing?
I imagine they'll get
around to you pretty soon.
There he is. Lzaro Huerta.
And the caterer will be here
very, very early.
I get up with the sun.
How's my...
How's the candidate holding up?
Give it to me straight.
He doesn't have your head for policy.
I'd like to see him plowing his way
through the appropriations bill.
He's never been
much of a reader.
Well, we break it down and feed it
to him bite-sized.
He's impatient.
He's always been impatient.
He's knuckling down. You have
every reason to be proud of him.
Publicly...
He's a fucking disaster
when he's off the script.
I don't think we have to worry
so much about him straying that far.
I mean, as long as nothing
comes flying in from left field.
And what would that be?
In Carbonville...
right next to
Everything For A Buck store.
I've looked up 18 Huertas
in the phone book.
I've called them all.
Shit!
I seem to be missing
a microwave oven.
If anything else comes up, I'll make
sure to get back to you, Sheriff.
Okay.
She takes the broom,
leaves the dustpan.
Story of my life.
Hello?
- Yes, hi, it's...
- Danny?
Yeah. It was great
to see you the other day.
You looked really good, Danny.
Hey, if this is about me
and Chandler...
No, no.
This is business.
I'm doing a little background
on the Pilager family...
and since you're covering the...
I'm actually going to a function
at the senator's house tomorrow...
a thank-you
for their big fund-raisers.
If you promise to be
on your best behavior...
That would be great.
Chandler won't mind, will he?
It's a fund-raising thing.
Why would he mind?
Nora, I've been thinking
a lot about you lately.
Even before Debbie left, l...
Danny, stop.
It's too late, all right?
It's really sweet of you,
but we've both moved on, haven't we?
Yeah. Right.
We're yesterday's news.
Sorry to bother you at this hour.
Good night.
Good night, Danny.
Richard Pilager cares
about the family.
So, what did you see in him?
He was intense.
You know, he cared about things.
Oh, my God.
He used to...
He used to write on the walls.
- Like graffiti?
- In the house.
He'd be working on a story,
and he'd get so wrapped up in it...
that he'd, like,
get a Magic Marker...
and write all the names and important
facts all over the living room wall...
and then he'd try
to connect the dots.
So you had to live with it.
The landlord
wasn't thrilled about it...
but Danny always
painted over it.
You know, he thought...
This was when we were still at the
Monitor, when it was still political.
He thought that journalists
should change things...
you know, not just report.
He wanted to be the referee
and not just the scorekeeper.
I guess.
When I was a press liaison
for Fred Loomis...
we had a slogan
on the wall.
It said, "You don't tell us
how to stage the news...
and we won't tell you
how to report it."
Terrific.
Power is a locomotive, babe.
You either hop on board,
or it runs right over you.
Sounds like he laid down
on the tracks.
See ya.
- Dinner at La Fonda?
- Yeah.
He was the love of my life.
It rains like the dickens
in these mountains...
but you won't see any streams
running down them.
So where does the water go?
What you're looking at
is honeycombed with hundreds...
maybe thousands of mine shafts.
When you stop
pumping the water out...
over time those holes
fill up top to bottom...
till there's nowhere else
for it to go.
A huge pressure builds up
looking for an outlet.
In 1943...
four miners broke a pick hole...
in a wall to an adjacent area...
that hadn't been worked
in 20 years.
Water exploded
out of that wall...
drove those four fellas
and their equipment...
back through the shaft they'd dug,
out into the main tunnel...
that Newhouse had built
to service the mine...
blasted through an opening...
and blew the water clear across
the river to the other side.
For three days, water blasted out
of that mountain...
timber, tracks, loose rocks,
half-ton ore cars...
flying through the air
like they were toys.
You know, we think
we can wound this planet.
We think we can cut costs
and stick the money in our pockets...
and just walk away with it.
But someday the bill comes due.
This ore you're looking at...
assays out at about
an ounce and a half a ton...
which can be
worth your while...
depending on how much it costs you
to get it out of the ground.
You gotta knock it down
with dynamite...
throw it on one
of those carts up there...
and then upstairs,
run it through all the crushers...
and chemicals separate out
the valuable stuff from the tailings.
Yeah. Now, if you want to move up ahead
to under that stope...
and look off to the left...
you'll see what every miner
was hoping for...
a vein of almost pure
yellow stuff.
You can all fit in.
I'll join you in a minute.
So you were a miner?
Mining engineer...
until I went to work for the feds.
Got interested
in how to do the job...
better and safer.
That was under Carter.
He put some teeth in the rules.
What's your beef
with Dickie Pilager?
You're not here just for the tour,
are you?
I have to inform you
you're being watched.
Is that so?
There was an incident
on the campaign trail the other day...
and your name came up
as a potential...
- Perpetrator?
- Something like that.
It's the old man
whose guts I hate.
- The senator.
- Him and his pal Benteen.
Take a good look, Dickie.
What do you see?
Mountains?
I see a big sign that says,
"No Americans allowed."
You do?
You look at a map, they got
half the West under lock and key.
They?
Bureau of Land Management,
Forest Service...
national parks,
the State.
Right. Right.
It's like a treasure chest
waiting to be opened...
only there's a 500-pound bureaucrat
sitting on it.
I'm a small government man.
That's why we chose you, son.
Of course, the people...
The people gotta be grabbed by the horns
and dragged to what's good for 'em.
The people.
You remember the shale oil?
Over in Parachute.
The big oil companies say
they were gonna squeeze oil out of rock.
The people come flocking
like a damn herd of sheep.
Thought they were all
gonna get rich quick...
like with every other mineral strike
in the history of this state.
But who's left holding the shiny stuff
after all the dust clears?
Who?
- The folks that see the big picture.
- Right.
That's me and you, son.
We're looking at it right now,
all around us.
Right.
Couple of weeks,
I'm gonna have to call you Governor.
You know what the big picture is,
don't you, Dickie?
It's...
Privatization.
The land was meant
for the citizens...
not them damn pencil pushers
in Washington.
Like this Silver City deal?
Just a pile of mine debris
I'm trying to unload.
Son, we got resources here
you wouldn't believe.
Untapped resources.
You and your dad are the point men in
the fight to liberate those resources...
for the American people.
Aspen, Vail.
That ain't shit compared
to what I could build...
if they opened this up
to somebody with some ideas...
with some know-how.
I understand.
And the people won't get it done...
not by a long sight.
They get distracted worrying about
some postcard idea of the Rockies...
some black-footed ferret
or endangered tumbleweed.
But if a man of vision
were to come along...
I can see it.
How's that saddle feeling?
It's coming along.
We'll make a cowboy
out of you yet.
We'd done so well with that one...
I took on the second biggest
hazard in the state...
the Silver City
mining operation.
Owned by Dickie Pilager.
He owned the land, but Benteen was
leasing the mineral rights.
They go hand in glove,
you know...
the Benteens
and the Pilagers.
- They were still digging.
- They had acres and acres of tailings...
piled up from
the Silver City glory days.
Looked like a pile of trash rock...
but if you could process it
on a large enough scale...
I'm talking about bulldozers
the size of battleships...
you could make a fortune.
Providing jobs for
the economically depressed.
A few, sure.
But then we started getting
nasty pH readings...
from the watershed
all around them.
Started getting
fish die-off...
heavy metal residue.
The company said it was from the old mine
shafts in these mountains around them.
There was nothing
they could do about it.
Not true?
They were concentrating the gold
in these huge leach piles...
and then dumping
cyanide solution on them.
- They used cyanide?
- Sodium cyanide.
It's a lixiviate.
Basic chemistry.
Smells like apricots
for miles around.
I had an informant inside.
Or I thought I did.
Esparza... that was his name.
Vincent Esparza.
He told me they were pushing
all the contaminants to one side.
No treatment,
no containment.
Just leaving it out there
for the elements.
And that was what's getting
into our water system.
He even helped me plan
my surprise inspection.
But when I got there...
nothing but a bunch
of empty pits...
and a workforce
with their lips buttoned.
I felt like an idiot.
I'd brought the press,
photographers.
And your inside man, Esparza?
Gone with the wind. They said
he'd been fired months earlier.
You got sandbagged.
Benteen, he doesn't take any prisoners.
He had his friend,
Senator Pilager...
appoint a new man
at the top...
whose only mission was
to castrate the agency.
And who do you think
got fired first?
Then they started allegations
of misuse of funds.
There were even public hints
about a drinking problem.
And when I tried to go back to work
as a mining engineer...
I found out soon enough I was
all but unhireable in the industry.
Yeah.
And then I figured, well...
since they accused me of
having a drinking problem...
I just might as well develop one.
And even with all that,
you still wouldn't...
They don't have to worry about me,
the Pilagers.
I know when I'm licked.
If there's one thing I know
all of you good folks have in common...
it's that you know a good investment
when you see one.
A big part of our agenda
is up and rolling on a federal level...
but it's high time we had somebody
running this state...
who's a hundred percent
behind the program.
Hear! Hear!
This has required a great commitment
of time and finances...
from each and every
one of you.
And despite the attack
on our rights by Proposition 27...
you folks went out and you shook
the money tree like never before.
So I'm here to present
our next governor...
a young man who...
well, who's almost
as good-looking as his father.
Richard Pilager!
I know none of you came here
to listen to another speech.
But I'd just like to say
how much I appreciate...
your support in this... effort
we've got going...
to bring sober, responsive government
back to this great state.
And you might as well
pledge some money...
to my daddy's next campaign
while you're here.
Thank you.
So, Mr. Benteen.
How's it look for
the Prospectors this year?
- You a fan?
- Sure.
Why?
They're fun to watch.
More fun when they win
than when they lose.
- Sure.
- Nothing to be ashamed of.
It's basic human behavior.
You can always pull
for the underdog.
Americans don't have the patience
for underdogs they used to.
They don't?
A coach goes three seasons
without a ring, he's out on his ass...
as he should be.
Hendrickson has been off
for how long now?
Hendrickson isn't coming back.
People want to back a winner.
They need to feel a part
of something bigger than they are.
They used to advertise
the quality of a product...
tastes great,
whitens your teeth...
shaves close,
rides like a dream.
Now what do they push?
America's number one soft drink.
Best-selling mid-sized utility vehicle.
It isn't "buy the product."
It's "join the club."
You make people feel part of a winner,
they'll follow you anywhere.
You a winner, son?
I like to think so.
Good boy.
You know, Dickie is not really
a fine print kind of guy.
He's more intuitive.
My people have whittled the regs down
pretty much to where we want them to be.
It's fairly simple stuff.
"Environmental Heritage Initiative."
Yeah, we thought it sounded better than
"Developers' Bill Of Rights."
You breathe the word "deregulation,"
certain parties get a little uppity.
- What is he doing here?
- You know him?
His agency is looking into
something for us.
Really? Good luck.
What does that mean?
He used to be a reporter.
O'Brien.
Till he screwed the pooch
and bankrupted his paper.
Grace Seymour hired him
on the rebound.
And when was all this?
I'm surprised you could find me.
You must be some kind of detective.
So this Lzaro could have
worked in a kitchen?
They bus them up
from Carbonville every day.
Resort towns run
on frijole power, man.
The richer the Anglos are...
the more of mis hermanos del sur
they got working for 'em.
- Your restaurant caters too?
- I'm moonlighting, man.
They're doing a big renovation.
I got two weeks off starting tomorrow.
I figured I go up to Black Hawk...
hit the casinos before my ex-wife gets
ahold of my paycheck.
How would you like
to work for me?
You know who most
of the labor contractors are.
What's it pay?
Whatever you make a day
at the restaurant, plus 20.
- Private eye, huh?
- Looks good on the rsum.
I'm thinking
about the chicks, man.
In the movies, those cabrones
make out like crazy.
You speak the language.
You know how to get around.
So what happened to this Lzaro Huerta
that he's not breathing no more?
Multiple fractures, busted skull,
punctured lung.
Still want the job?
Thanks.
Why did she dump you?
- Debbie?
- Yeah.
Maybe she figured out I was always gonna
treat her like the consolation prize.
I mean, after you,
I kind of retired, emotionally.
We were... I don't know.
Incompatible?
We had our issues.
She seemed way too structured
for someone like you.
Why did you dump me?
You were so down on yourself...
so convinced
that you were a loser...
that I started
to agree with you.
- I was a loser.
- You lost a job.
You were moving up,
and I was moving down.
And I didn't quit the paper when
you were fired. That wasn't loyal.
- I deserved to be fired.
- You were set up.
And I was ambitious.
So, are you marrying this guy?
Seems like the mature thing
to do, yeah.
- That sounds exciting.
- Come on, Danny.
It's not earth-shaking
between us, but...
Romance is for kids.
We like to ski.
We like to travel.
He's a corporate mouthpiece.
And I'm a part of
the entertainment business.
What else do you think
is out there?
Look, I hope you're happy with it.
No, you don't.
Come on up. There's somebody here
I'd like you to meet.
- Stay in touch. Okay?
- Yeah.
I've never been so close before.
I know how much
this means to you.
The county commission
went off walking on air...
when Chuck Raven
brought Dickie Pilager to the table.
That was a nice thing for him to do.
Nice? I'm paying Chandler Tyson
a fortune for that kind of access.
- A fortune?
- A slice of the pie.
But they were starstruck, Gracie.
The zoning's in the bag.
These people
will bend over backwards.
You have worked so hard.
If we were
a little bit more liquid...
I'd sink every dime we have
into this thing.
Like you did that time
with the stock market?
Hell, it's more than the money.
I'm building a city, Grace.
A city.
We run something on the Web site...
information we've got...
we connect the dots...
and the guilty party,
they pretend to ignore it.
If they sue us, certain documents
could be entered in a court of law...
where if you deny things
it's perjury.
You gotta have the documents.
It's amazing what things are blowing
under my door and end up on my desk.
So, you plant the seed.
And the mainstream guys,
the print journalists...
they bring it to their editors
and their editors say...
"Cool your jets. This is too far out.
We don't have the resources.
We don't have the balls
to go after this kind of thing.
But track the story...
and if it ever breaks..."
You gotta have the balls.
So we keep accumulating the facts...
till the story is screaming out
so loud it's impossible to ignore.
And they run a little test item
on page six...
saying allegations
have been made.
Allegations?
It's beneath their dignity
to quote some cellar-dweller Web site...
in their hallowed journal.
But the bastards in power have to
publicly deny those allegations...
and then they're fair game.
First it's the columnists
taking potshots.
Then when they've got
the politicians on the run...
they use our legwork, our ideas to write
outraged exposs and win Pulitzers.
Then they gang up
like a pack of jackals.
But somebody has to plant the seed.
The seed of doubt.
He seems a lot more gubernatorial
with the sound off.
For a day is coming, my friends...
a great day and a terrible day...
a day when the skies shall open
and the waters shall part...
and the dead shall rise up
and walk upon the Earth.
And the wicked and the righteous
shall bejudged alike.
But that day cannot come...
unless the children of Israel
are within the holy land...
for so it has been prophesied
in the great Book of Revelations.
So let us look at
a map of the Middle East.
Let us look at
the headlines of today...
and see what conclusions
we can draw from the evidence.
Many are the portents
and the signs.
But we need
to discern a pattern.
We need to connect
one event with the other...
and it will be clear
that there are no accidents...
that there is
a greater force at work...
and it holds the plan
for Armageddon.
Richard Pilager cares
about the American worker.
You work with the same bunch
all the time?
Yeah, more or less. As far as I know,
they're all citizens.
I wasn't asking that.
Mojados are a bit cheaper,
but they're not worth the hassle.
Need some hard huevos
to keep 'em in line.
Not that I got
anything against 'em.
I wouldn't go that far.
But you should check into
the packing houses across town.
They got a lot of'em
in there making chorizo.
Any of your own guys been missing
the last few days?
You're looking for
this Lzaro, right?
Cops were here this morning
asking the same thing.
- I'm not a cop.
- No shit.
But it's like I told him.
I got no Lzaros here.
Who brings 'em up...
here in Timberline County?
- You heard of Vince Esparza?
- Yeah, I've heard the name.
He's the Saddam-fucking-Hussein
of labor contractors.
They pay the coyote half up front
to get them across the border...
and when they're delivered here
they owe Esparza the rest.
- So they start in the hole.
- And they stay in it.
He keeps them
moving around the country...
keeps them isolated,
keeps them scared.
Where can I find him?
You do not want to fuck with
Vicente Esparza, my friend.
I hired a few of his boys
without knowing it once.
They'd run off or try to
make their way back home.
Next thing I know,
I got a shotgun stuck in my face.
What's up?
Daniel O'Brien.
I called earlier.
She's back in the rink.
- Just keep heading straight through.
- Thanks.
I wanna play that last one back.
Nice shot.
It bit.
Training for the Olympics?
Actually, I am.
The only sport
I'm not already too old for.
No, thanks.
Helps me with the Zen aspect
of the thing.
Eventually the arrow should become one
with the bull's-eye and release itself.
Then I'll just be like a channel.
- So, you from Home and Garden or what?
- I'm working for Chuck Raven.
Go on.
You're, like, really accurate
with that, right?
It depends on
how much dope I've smoked.
- How much have you smoked?
- I've lost track.
There was an incident
on the campaign trail...
that was potentially embarrassing
to your brother.
What, he made a speech
without a teleprompter?
There was a dead body involved.
Anyone I know?
Lzaro Huerta?
Can't place him.
Maybe just another skeleton
out of Daddy's closet.
You sure you don't want a hit?
- You look a little tense.
- No. It makes me paranoid.
Like someone's got you
in their crosshairs?
Yeah. Something like that.
How about a drink then?
A bottle of tequila by your left leg.
You're not gonna, like, shoot it
out of my hand or anything?
Relax.
So you're some kind of
a campaign lackey?
- Investigator.
- Am I being investigated?
Mr. Raven thinks you may be
harboring a grudge.
My whole life is a fucking grudge.
Investigator.
You go to some kind
of school for that?
No, I was working as a reporter.
- I hate reporters.
- Well, I'm not one anymore.
Fifteen years old, I'm pregnant...
the fucking Mountain Monitor
outs me.
"Senator's Daughter
In College Sex Scandal."
It was before my time.
The whole thing was set up.
Fly to Nevada, nice, quiet operation,
back to school within a week.
- You could still have had a...
- Public abortion?
With the Christian crusaders
block-voting for my father?
So he advised you not to.
- I was a hopeful.
- A hopeful?
Yeah. Olympic hopeful.
Figure skating.
Nine months
carrying DeweyJunior...
another four to recover.
My body wasn't the same.
Your center of gravity changes...
and you can't do the jumps.
That's what happened
to Tonya Harding, you know.
It wasn't Nancy Kerrigan.
It was her center of gravity.
You mature,
your perception changes...
and you never get it back.
What's your name?
You're cute.
Thanks.
If I'm being investigated,
I could do worse.
Excuse me.
And who wants to know?
You gotta be him.
How you figure on that?
It's the shoes, ese. Braceros don't be
wearing their party boots on the job.
Vince Esparza.
Man, you a legend.
People say you got crews
working all over the county.
People say a lot of shit
that isn't necessarily true.
I'm looking for a guy
named Lzaro Huerta.
I don't keep track
of their names.
I'm not runnin'
a summer camp here.
Would you mind if I was to ask your
jornaleros a few questions?
Yeah, I would mind.
They're here to work.
They wanna blow their nose, scratch their
balls, talk about their girlfriends...
they can do it
on their own time.
This is a job here.
This is private property.
And if someone who is not authorized
to be here was to get hurt...
it'd be my responsibility.
They're hiding something.
My first husband
was a downhill racer.
Won the bronze at Innsbruck.
Wow.
He ditched me in, what, '85.
My girlfriend just moved out.
You poor baby.
Took my couch.
You can have this one
if you want.
She picked it out.
It was both of ours.
She paid for half of it.
Rodney?
They called him Hot Rod.
Won the bronze?
He runs a lodge in Aspen
he got as a settlement.
He sued you for alimony?
Daddy paid him off so he wouldn't
file adultery charges.
Anything to avoid
another public scandal.
You were adultering?
Yeah. But so was he.
But he was the one who hired some
fucking investigator to take pictures.
We don't do much of that
these days... divorce stuff.
- Transom peeping?
- Nobody has transoms anymore.
But you still peep.
Well, mostly it's on,
you know, computer records.
We have ways to access.
We share information, buy lists...
your credit balance, where you travel,
what videos you rent.
Wow.
That's invasion of privacy.
So the skier ditched you.
Then I tried living
in California for a while...
but there was nobody there
to embarrass but myself.
- So you are trying to embarrass him.
- It's pointless.
What could I do they haven't seen worse
on some reality show?
You're a senator's daughter...
sister to the future governor.
They catch one president
getting a BJ in the Oval Office.
The next rigs the election,
gets away with it.
People have lost the ability
to be scandalized.
So now your ambition is?
Make sure my son
gets out of his 20s in one piece.
Represent my country in 2004.
You're that good at it, huh?
You know...
the Amazon women
amputated one of their breasts.
It got in the way
of the bow string.
Give me three
of those lottery tickets.
I'm feeling kinda lucky
all of the sudden.
Somebody's fucking with me.
These were bad guys.
They owned a whole bunch
of low-rent housing downtown.
The building boom had started,
and they had a big offer to sell...
but they couldn't
legally evict their tenants.
So they were doing
strong-arm stuff, intimidating.
- There was even some arson involved.
- The march of progress.
The housing inspector who should have
been on top of this... Skaggs...
was taking payoffs.
I had these two informants...
very Deep Throat.
Meetings in parking garages,
the whole deal.
And they give me the big lead.
Now, this is criminal activity
that they're exposing.
So I write the story. My editor, Mitch,
he trusts me enough to run with it.
And they're willing
to testify in court?
They said yeah, if it came to it.
But I didn't have 'em on tape.
The landlord and the inspector
sue the paper...
one of my sources blows town
and the other flat denies it.
Big retraction,
settlement out of court...
and I'm seriously fired.
Worse, I'm the guy
who fabricates.
From that day on...
the Monitor concentrated on who bakes
the best chocolate chip cookie in Denver.
And I couldn't get a job
delivering a newspaper.
- The editor should've...
- He got fired too.
He runs a... What do you call it?
A Web site.
At least you did something.
You know? I've just been taking up space
and emptying out my trust fund.
Hey, you took all these pictures.
That's a hobby.
You raised a kid.
Isn't he gorgeous?
His father...
His biological father...
Bugged out
of the whole deal.
I can't blame him, with the publicity
and what a little tramp I was then.
But DeweyJunior is a...
He's a nice guy, you know.
Despite having me for a mother.
You raised a nice kid.
Maybe that's
what you're good at.
One of the things
I'm good at.
This is a nation
based on Christian principles.
What I promise
to work for...
is a government
that respects those principles.
A government that supports
traditional family values...
that respects the sanctity
of human life.
A government strong enough,
brave enough...
to maintain
the cultural equilibrium.
What's "cultural equilibrium" mean?
No handouts for homos.
Hey.
- What's up, sugar?
- Can some of the guys stay over tonight?
They don't have homes?
They don't have satellite.
There's stuff we want to watch.
You'll have to sort out
where everybody sleeps.
- I can handle that.
- You sounded really good today.
You should find a club to play in.
- We don't have any of our own material.
- So write some.
Write about what a mess
your mother is, like Eminem does.
Yeah.
- See ya.
- See ya.
Closing time at the zoo.
Get your clothes on.
I haven't slept this well in days.
Yeah, I don't sleep much
unless I pass out.
One nation under God...
with liberty and justice...
Who is this?
Chuck.
It's Maddy Pilager calling.
- How'd you get my number?
- Never mind, you little creep.
I just fucked your messenger boy.
Danny...
What's your last name again?
- Oh, shit.
- Danny O'Shit.
Tell him I'm firing him.
You send anybody else after me, I swear
I'll put an arrow through his neck.
You need help, Maddy.
You're a sick person.
I love you too.
He says you should check in
with your office more often.
You were fired this morning.
Hey.
- You get the boot?
- I guess so.
Don't take it personally.
She's kinda moody.
Right.
So, you're a detective.
Investigator.
- You look for missing people?
- That can be part of the job.
You usually find them?
Depends on how long
they've been missing.
Twenty-three years.
My father.
Dewey Hamilton.
- Right.
- So, how would I start?
You know, like if he's
moved out of the state?
Sometimes people can...
Sometimes people
don't want to be found.
And if you do,
it can be pretty disappointing.
If things are messy,
you gotta face them sooner or later.
- Are you on the Web?
- Wired to the eyeballs.
There are a couple of things
you can try.
- Glad you could make it.
- You're conscious.
Painkillers, man.
I'm flying.
They said you had an accident?
It wasn't no accident.
It was him.
I saw the boots.
You know.
The one who sticks
his head in the sand.
Ostrich?
Ostrich-skin boots.
Puts his head into the sand 'cause they
don't wanna see when they cut his throat.
It was vehicular homicide, man.
Dude tried to kill me
with my own car.
Paper on the table.
"Fito and Rafi. Carbonville."
They knew our dead man.
They're pretty spooked.
But you could try them.
They got maybe three words
of English.
Spooked by?
The same hijo de la chingada
pushed the car on me.
Vince Esparza.
- Vince.
- Vicente.
Esparza.
I'll give you odds
he had something to do with...
this Lzaro kicking the bucket.
O'Brien.
I been tryin' to track you down.
Sheriff Skaggs,
my friend Tony Guerra.
Shaving accident?
You'll make me laugh
and break my ribs again.
I haven't heard a peep out of you,
Danny. That wasn't our agreement.
- I'm off the case.
- Step on your own dick again?
Used to be this guy
was a reporter...
till his mouth
got way ahead of his brains.
There's a lot more to this than
some illegal alien floating in a lake.
- The people who hired me...
- The people who hired you fired you...
which means you're
out of the conversation.
- They hired me to pretend...
- That means make yourself scarce, son.
I need to talk
to your amigo here, alone.
Later, Tony.
You sleep with a client's sister?
That is so unprofessional!
That's not why Raven wanted me
off the case, is it?
No, but he didn't like it!
He wanted me off'cause I'm getting too
close to something they wanna hush up!
That's the whole point
of the job, Danny...
and he doesn't
trust you to do it!
- I don't have all the pieces, but Lzaro...
- You don't have any pieces!
He knew something, saw something,
and they set him up!
Had him killed.
Chuck Raven had you fired because
he found out you used to be a reporter.
Okay?
That doesn't change anything.
He called yesterday morning.
If you would check your cell phone
once in a while, you'd know that.
That sheriff,
he's been right on my tail.
I cannot deal with your paranoia.
Take the rest of the week off,
come in on Monday...
and we will sit down and discuss
what's left of your so-called career.
My expenses so far.
Fill out a voucher.
Hilary will take care of you.
Look, Danny, I'm sure
you were doing a very good job...
aside from
banging Maddy Pilager.
- Hey. She got me stoned.
- Out!
220, 240, 260.
Sign here.
And next time
I want all the receipts.
Right.
Lupe!
Here, let me help you
with this.
- Thank you.
- How would you like to make $200?
They said these two men,
Rafi and Fito...
have gone to the church.
It's not Sunday.
The day of the dead.
Tell 'em I came instead ofTony.
They don't trust you.
Tell them I have their names and that
if they want to stay in this country...
You wouldn't do that
to them, would you?
They don't know that, do they?
We can go somewhere else to talk.
They say you have to come with them
to the ruins, to Silver City.
So, when do we get to this joint?
This is it.
They buried the city years ago.
What now?
This is where Lzaro died?
He says Lzaro died where
they take the meat from the bones.
The slaughterhouse.
- BENagra.
- The BENagra slaughterhouse.
Lzaro was a newly arrived.
He was a very shy person.
Very afraid of everything in the north.
But especially afraid of the boss.
- And the jefe was?
- Vicente Esparza.
Vincent Esparza carries a gun?
We were the cleaning crew.
After midnight,
when they stop the line...
they come in to clean the metal with
scalding hot water mixed with clorina.
There is always so much noise...
and you can't see from the steam.
They have told Don Vicente
that thejob up above...
cleaning the machine that takes
the skin off the cows is not safe...
that there has to be more scaffolding
or something to hold onto.
But he says that only little babies
are crying for their mamas...
and he sends whoever
he doesn't like to do it.
This day he sends Lzaro Huerta.
They told Lzaro he shouldn't
shoot the steam full pressure...
when he's turning it on.
There was nobody else in
that part of the factory...
but these two men
and Vicente, their boss.
He asked them to put the body
in a garbage barrel...
and to clean his blood
with the blood of the animals.
At the end of work, they carried the body
out to his truck and he drove them here.
He told them he knew this place
from years ago...
when he was hired
to hide some kind of garbage.
They felt bad treating a man
they knew... a human being...
like he was garbage too.
They left the body
at the back of the tunnel...
and Vicente told them
that now they are part of a crime...
and if the police finds out
they are going to jail.
If he doesn't kill them first.
So you left the body up here?
They came back three days later
to bury him as a Christian, but...
He wasn't here?
He was gone.
Maybe it was a miracle.
They left him where there was
water on the floor.
So when they came back
the water was this high.
Show me.
Come on.
All right.
Wait for me here.
Help!
Help!
Help, up there!
Mr. O'Brien!
Are you there?
Mr. O'Brien!
Mr. O'Brien, you got all wet!
Look at you!
- Where are the guys?
- They took them away.
Took them?
La Migra come, chase those men
and take them away.
How come they didn't take you?
Because I carry
my citizen papers always.
Guess I'll have to leave you here, Lupe.
It's okay.
How come you didn't
take the day off?
I belong to the Iglesia Evanglica.
This? This is the devil's work.
I'll keep that in mind.
Thanks for everything.
Be careful, Mr. O'Brien.
Hey.
You again.
Hey.
I'm sorry about last night.
I get disgusted with myself,
and I take it out on other people.
Don't worry about it.
You been swimming?
Cave diving.
I'm sorry if I got you in trouble.
The thing I'm investigating,
I got a little in over my head.
- You got fired?
- Probation.
Sorry.
Do you think you might
call me sometime?
Listen, Maddy...
You're scared of me, aren't you?
No. I'm scared of your family.
Would you say
those are ostrich skin?
The guy's boots?
Yeah. Tony Lamas.
Excuse me.
You got a problem, my friend?
You're Vicente Esparza.
Come on.
We gotta talk, you and me.
You're the one who's been
stirrin' up all this shit, huh?
Askin' about tattoos,
botherin' my workers.
Now I hear the police
are lookin' for me.
I've got nothing against you.
It's the people above you...
the ones that had you dump
those barrels into the mine.
- They knew what happened to Lzaro...
- What the fuck is it to you?
You don't come down here where I live
asking me fuckin' questions!
- I'm not after you. It's them!
- That's right.
You don't care about me,
and I don't care about you.
I don't care
if you live or you die.
You see this?
You see what this is, cabrn?
You ask me
one more fuckin' question...
Don't move!
Just freeze right there!
Put it down, Dave.
One's deader than a doornail,
and the other's unarmed.
- Put it down.
- He had his gun out.
Put it in the holster!
And then go keep that crowd
from coming back here! Go!
Jesus!
- You said it.
- He wasn't gonna shoot your deputy.
Boy's a little overtrained.
- This is Esparza?
- Yeah.
He's got that
wanted-for-questioning...
killed-while-resisting-arrest
look about him.
They didn't clean up
the cyanide waste.
They just dumped it
into an old mine.
Esparza was working
for Bentel then.
He told my guys that he'd dumped
something there before.
Only it's flooded now,
and it's flooding more every day.
Somehow Huerta's body
got swept away by it...
and pushed through the mountain into
one of the streams that feeds the lake.
This is sounding crazy, isn't it?
Throw a dead body into a cave...
and three days later it comes back out
into the world all on its own?
Sure, a lot of people'll buy that.
It's the water pressure.
The names of these two Mexicans
you say you talked to...
Come on!
You had Immigration follow us
and pick them up.
- Did I?
- Half this town is illegal.
Immigration is gonna bother to
drive into the middle of nowhere...
and just run into my witnesses?
Mr. Quiones and Mr. Lpez
have been debriefed by the I NS.
According to them, they were working
at BENagra Packing...
along with a certain Lzaro Huerta,
also an undocumented alien...
until one day he chose...
not to show up for work.
That's the last they saw of him.
- Of course they're gonna say that.
- They're back on a plane in 24 hours...
courtesy of
the United States government.
Unless, of course...
you choose to include that
crock of shit that you just told me...
in your official statement...
in which case, they'd be accessories
to wrongful death, at least.
Possibly murder.
They'd be fucked.
Bien jodido is the phrase,
I believe, yeah.
Slaughterhouse?
The slaughterhouse operates
within guidelines set by the law.
All we've got is a failure
to report an accident...
and illegal burial...
which begins and ends
with Vince Esparza.
Doesn't it?
I'll give you a few minutes
to think about it.
You called his name.
When you were looking for him,
you called his name.
Your buddy in the hospital
put us on the lookout.
Vehicular homicide?
- It's the same speech every time.
- I don't have time now, Nora.
If I spent a few hours
reviewing his statistics...
Later.
Instead of just listening to him go on
and on and on... Come on, Leo!
Come on!
- What's the deal?
- Where have you been?
Out reporting the news. I know
it's easier to watch it on cable, but...
Staff meeting
in 15 minutes, people!
That means everybody!
- Then it's true.
- What?
They'll say,
"Nobody'll be let go."
But when they bought the Sentinel,
they cut 30 jobs the first month.
They who?
What are you talking about?
We've been sold to Gold Mine Publishing,
that Bentel owns.
These Rocky Mountains
that I love so much...
are part of
our national heritage...
something we must keep safe
for future generations.
Don't even think about it.
Whatever pathetic publicity stunt
you're hatching...
in that drug-addled brain of yours.
- I don't work for you anymore.
- I know.
You were dismissed...
when we discovered an incident
of substance abuse on the job.
- Anything you say...
- Don't threaten me.
You are the boy
that cried wolf, O'Brien.
- It was in all the papers.
- A murder was committed.
What?
Murder by deregulation? That kind of
thinking went out in the last century.
That's not the point.
The point is
that without a smoking gun...
all you've got
is another opportunity...
to fuck up your sorry excuse
for a life even more than now.
People like you think you've got
everything covered.
You think nobody cares enough
to fight back.
But someday your shit's gonna
catch up with you, and when it does...
You're a loser.
That's already been established
beyond doubt.
So just try and be a good one.
Okay?
Don't you think you ought to
change your shirt?
- How'd you find me?
- I'm a detective.
You said we were investigators.
I'm a detective.
You're an investigator.
And the first rule is, don't go
finding more than you're looking for.
Look, if it weren't for Mort...
All of his plans,
every scheme he's ever had...
has had a jinx on it.
His wife has to support him.
He thinks he's a failure.
If this Silver City thing
were to fall through...
And he's in with the Pilagers?
Up to his neck.
Hush money?
Severance pay.
And don't go
making trouble, Danny.
Won't do any good.
So why'd you ever hire
a basket case like me?
Look who I married.
Travel expenses.
Richard Pilager cares about you.
It's like he's a bad actor that doesn't
believe himself in the part. You know?
You read these polls...
I swear, the questions must be:
Would you rather
have Dickie Pilager as governor...
or have your pancreas pulled out through
your nose with a rusty coat hanger?
But still,
33% prefer the coat hanger.
What's this?
Weird.
"Silver City."
Someone left us a treasure map.
I hear you've been bought.
- I mean, not you personally.
- Part of the happy Bentel family.
There's a man named Lzaro Huerta
in that box... what's left of him.
So, this is your case.
- Mr. O'Brien, yes?
- Yes.
- Seora.
- Hello.
Ramn Contreras
from the Mexican consulate.
On behalf
of the aggrieved family...
I offer my sincere gratitude
for your generosity.
I'd like to wire some money...
on top of the casket
and the shipping costs.
They won't...
Anything you could send
would be appreciated.
There are several children.
If you'll excuse me...
The paperwork.
Nice to meet you.
You haven't been sleeping.
No, not really.
I split up with Chandler.
Really?
I was... grousing about
communications monopolies...
and he gave me his usual line...
and we got into a fight,
one thing led to another and...
Conflict of interests.
Many a promising merger has failed
due to a conflict of interest.
Right.
How do you feel...
about us splitting up?
Euphoric.
That's how I felt.
I should have been suicidal.
My paper's been co-opted...
I have all these people to call
and tell them they're not invited...
to the wedding in Aspen, and...
Were you gonna do
one of those ski-lift ceremonies?
It would have been a very tasteful,
very Caucasian affair.
If you change your mind,
I know of a very good caterer.
Maybe we could
see each other sometime.
That'd be great.
So, you quit your job.
Grace fired me.
So, what do you do now?
First I need to
repaint my living room.
I promise to respect and support
our American traditions...
I'm waiting.
Our right to bear arms...
I'm still waiting.
Our right to the freedoms
of religious worship and expression...
so fundamental to our liberty.
I promise to support a smaller,
more efficient government.
No longer must the Big Brother
of the social welfare system...
dictate our daily lives...
intruding, impeding, regulating...
the very air that we breathe.
What I'm talking about,
my fellow citizens...
comes down to
that precious word "freedom."
A freedom enjoyed
by those bold individuals...
who came to a wild frontier and built
the West that we love so dearly...
those steadfast
men and women...
whose spirit
of daring and conquest...
inspires us to this day.
The freedom from fear
of those who envy our good fortune...
who scorn
our democratic institutions.
Freedom from
the cultural tyranny...
of the special interest groups
and the new-age demagogues...
who would seek to deny us...
the harvest
of our God-given bounty...
under the false banner
of environmental correctness.
The freedom to seek health,
happiness...
and, yes, fortune...
in this glorious
mountain state of ours.
This is the freedom I promise you,
my fellow citizens.
But let not a man be judged
by the promises he makes...
but by the works
he leaves behind.
America
May God bless you all.
May God thy glory find
Till all success
Be nobleness
And every gain
Divine
O beautiful
For spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America
America
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good
With brotherhood
From sea
To
Shining
Sea