1
They say
she's buried under a tree.
That her killer planted a sapling
to mark the place where he buried her
as a sign of his love and remorse.
But that's just a story
and no one really knows.
Hello Louis.
My name is Detective Cardenas.
This is my partner, Detective Oslo.
You know what this is about, Louis?
Not really.
Kaleem Roberts.
What about him?
He's dead.
No shit.
Where were you about
9:30 last night, Louis?
My house.
Watching porn.
Why don't you
just tell us what happened?
In the porno?
He's funny.
You a comedian?
Come on, Louis, this is serious.
If you say so.
Did Gabriella know Kaleem?
Who?
Your mother?
She's dead.
Oh.
What happened to her?
Car crash.
Is she buried in Guatemala
or here in the US?
Here.
Gabriella seems like a good woman.
Yo, why you doing that?
Doing what?
You know, just you're
talking like you know her.
Take a look at something here.
Kaleem.
It took five bullets to take him down.
He was really strong.
Gunpowder all over his skin.
Shooter got right next to Kaleem.
So close they coulda hugged.
Hey, how did you cut your knuckle?
Mailman on your block saw you and Kaleem
throwing punches yesterday.
You guys got in a fight.
No.
Then how did you cut your hand?
I was helping my tio.
Fixing the car.
What's your tio's name?
Oscar.
Oscar what?
Suarez.
Tell us about Donna.
I dumped her last year.
This is bullshit, Hank.
It's a waste of time.
Donna's on her way over.
Everybody knows.
She dumped you for Kaleem.
Fuck you.
I'm just saying, I mean,
10 people on the block
said so, it's not a secret.
Fuck that, man.
That must've really hurt.
Kaleem, your best friend.
Donna, your girlfriend.
Together.
Man, they played you.
Frank, come on.
We don't need him.
He deserves a chance.
To what?
To tell his story.
He deserves shit.
Frank.
Listen, Donna's gonna be
coming in a little while, mijo.
The DA's gonna take over
and you and me, we're done.
This is our time together.
There's not gonna be any other.
It's just you and me, here and now.
I know you're a good kid.
I can see that.
You were tight with Kaleem.
He lived on my block.
No, no, no, no, no,
he was over to your house all
the time when you were kids.
That was before.
Before what?
Before.
My mother died when I
was just about your age.
It changes everything.
Hey, you think I'm stupid?
My mother died when I was your age,
what do you think I am, man?
Her name was Lorita.
You wanna hear something crazy?
Sometimes, I feel her.
It's like she's watching me, like she's...
Are you thirsty?
You ever feel like that, huh?
Like Gabriella's around you?
Sometimes.
Maybe.
Do it for her, Louis.
Do what?
Tell the truth.
I am.
Do you feel her here?
No.
She knows that you
didn't mean to kill Kaleem.
I didn't kill him.
Look at me Louis.
Look at me!
Gabriella is here.
She's watching us.
You and me, right now.
She saw you.
You can lie to me but not to her.
You didn't mean to kill Kaleem.
He laughed.
He laughed when I pulled a gun.
And then what happened?
He said "Quit frontin'.
"You're not gonna pull the trigger."
And then you shot him.
No.
Yes.
- You shot him.
- No!
The gun shot itself, it wasn't me.
I didn't mean to, the gun shot itself.
Louis, where's the gun?
I'm sorry, Kaleem.
Fuck.
My god.
Where is it?
Where's the gun?
Laura Valdez
Maldonado disappeared
on July 23rd, 1979.
Her apartment was the
scene of apparent violence
and was strewn liberally with blood.
But her body was never found.
In death, she was given the
nickname, the Brown Dahlia,
in morbid tribute to the
greatest unsolved killing
in Los Angeles history.
The Black Dahlia, AKA Elizabeth Short.
Short was killed in 1947,
her body found cut in sections
with surgical precision
and completely drained of her blood.
Laura's killing inverted Elizabeth's.
All blood but no body.
Holy shit.
What?
74 murder confessions,
that ties the LAPD record, Henry.
You didn't know?
Yeah, I knew.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Come on, let's go get some drinks
for this Mexican bandito.
Amen, let's get a drink.
- Yeah.
- Oh, no can do, hermanos, no.
Oh, come on, Hank.
Appreciate it, guys.
Well, seriously, it was
very nicely done, Cardenas.
Well, Rollins, coming from
you, that don't mean shit.
Hey, hey, I'm a heart patient, alright?
When you do break that record,
we're all taking you out.
Deal?
James, you are on.
Alright.
Enjoy your hike.
Hey.
What's up?
Wow.
I mean, you really just
sliced and diced that kid,
didn't you?
He's just a kid, he's an open book.
Still.
Remember that reporter
I was telling you about,
the one who wants to do a story about you?
Yeah, and I told you that
I wanted to think about it.
Yes.
Well, it turns out that
she works at the bar
that we're all gonna go to.
Not tonight, okay?
She really wants to talk to you.
I think you should go.
Last chance.
- Next time, alright?
- Alright, Jesus.
911, what's your emergency?
There's someone in my house.
What's your name?
Olivia Renowitz.
What's your address, Olivia?
734 Montague Street.
Oh my god.
Okay.
What's he doing?
He's walking
around, he's talking,
what the fuck?
Do you know this person?
- Frank.
- Henry.
What's up, Frank?
Did you get a call about that stabbing?
Yeah, yeah, I heard something about it.
Bro, they find this guy two
blocks away, covered in blood.
He's all ours if we want.
I'm going on my hike.
Henry, think.
You got a guilty, young
punk covered in blood.
We rope him in an hour, and
bam, two confessions in one day.
And not only that, my friend,
you also break that record.
You're really an asshole, you know that?
So, that's a yes?
Okay, yeah.
Oh, there he is.
I'll introduce you.
Hey, hey.
Hey.
Henry, this is Regina Parker.
This is the reporter I
was telling you about.
Of course, hi.
Nice to meet you, Detective Cardenas.
Henry, please.
I asked her to come along,
let her see what we really do.
I really appreciate the opportunity.
Yeah, well, it's not like on TV.
Let's take a look.
Oh, congratulations by the way.
I told her you tied
the confession thing.
Yeah, well, he talks a lot.
Yeah, he doesn't talk enough.
Alright.
Olivia Renowitz, age 33,
was renting the house.
Junior professor at Occidental College,
expert on Sumerian
civilizations, whatever that is.
It's Mesopotamia before the Babylonians.
Mesopo-what?
Iraq.
Oh, my brother-in-law was
over there for two tours...
What happened?
We don't know yet.
Something bad?
Yeah.
Oh.
What's your name?
Tracy DeLeon.
Oh, my name is Henry Cardenas.
How do you do?
Very well, thank you.
You live around here, Tracy?
There, we just got home.
Oh.
Tell me, were your mom
and dad here earlier?
I don't have a dad but
my mom was at my concert;
I'm in the choir.
Oh really?
What song did you sing?
We sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Oh, I love that song.
Me too, wanna hear it?
You know, I don't have any
time right now but maybe later.
Okay, later.
Okay.
Hey, would you do me a favor?
Would you go back in the house
with your mom now, please?
Okay.
Thanks.
Come on, Tracy.
Bye.
If I was free
Would I be standing here today
Or would I just blow away
Nothing left to hold me down
If I was free
Would life lay heavy down on me
The way it does most every day
Such a sorry price to pay
I wanna run
Back to my old home when I was young
Some rope a plank, a tall oak tree
Bare feet, upside down, the breeze
If I was free
Free
A dreamer can lose
His grip and float away
And if I go too far
Will you call me back again
If I was free
I would rise up on the dawn
I could let bygones be gone
Walk through any open door
If I was free
I could face a world that frightens me
And I wouldn't look away
When my heart just had to break
A dreamer can lose
His grip and float away
And if I go too far
Will you call me back again
If I was free
You're pissed at me, huh?
You know I don't like reporters.
Oh, come on.
She's a glorified cocktail waitress.
Some artsy fartsy weekly.
Hey, you could have asked.
I'm asking now.
Reporters.
Hermano, when I say reporter,
you say cocktail waitress.
Come on, reporter.
Reporter.
Shut up, it's fine.
Ah, I'm sorry that took so long.
It's okay.
- You alright?
- Yeah.
Hey, can Regina ride with you,
you know, for the article?
Why not?
Thanks.
- We'll see you there.
- See you.
Good night.
Frank said you don't like reporters.
Well, some of them have
distorted things that I've said.
Well, I'll quote you a lot.
I like to let my subject
tell their own story.
That works.
I started off in uniform
patrol in Boyle Heights.
Did that for four years.
Before long, they moved me up to narcotics
and I was promoted into
Robbery-Homicide in 1993.
And you had a heart
attack two years ago?
Yeah, I had a double bypass.
How did that affect you?
Hurt like hell.
No, but no, I...
I take a dozen pills a day.
I finally quit smoking.
And I hike five times a week.
And your family?
If you know I had a heart attack,
then you know I had a divorce too.
Touche.
Don't be shy, just
treat this thing like a,
like an interrogation, okay?
Oh god.
Come on.
Okay.
What's the key to an interrogation?
Rule one,
keep 'em talking.
Keep 'em talking.
Oh yeah.
Just, just keep words
coming out of their mouth.
It doesn't matter if it's
babble, you know, the weather,
football, their favorite film,
doesn't matter, just keep 'em talking.
So, keep 'em talking.
Keep 'em talking.
What's rule number two?
Patience.
You see, 'cause keep 'em talking means
that you go off topic a
lot, so patience is key.
But it all pays off when you
get that feeling from them.
What feeling?
Remorse.
Oh my god.
Olivia, where
are you in the house?
I'm in the
bedroom, I'm under the bed.
Alright, we're
sending a car over, stay calm.
Oh my god.
Please just, please help me.
- Hey.
- Hi.
Did you guys make some headway?
It's so interesting what you guys do.
Yeah, well, the ladies love Hank.
What do we got on our boy here?
Uh, no priors.
Fingerprints brought in
nothing in California.
We got three fake IDs
though in his wallet.
Here, have a seat.
He seems calm.
Yeah, well, they start out that way.
Until they meet the master.
So, you are a killer writer, seriously.
I mean, I'm very impressed.
Shall we?
Why don't you start out first, solo?
And I'll hang here, we
can kinda watch you.
Excuse me.
So, I really wanna hear
more about your process.
I'm Detective Cardenas.
How long will I be here?
Are you in a hurry?
Well, as a matter of
fact, I was on my way to...
Yes?
A meeting.
Well, we'll go as quickly as we can.
You've been read your rights, correct?
Yeah, seriously Detective,
I'm just curious why I'm here.
You were caught about four blocks away
from a stabbing murder
and you were drenched in blood.
Have we met?
And inside your wallet,
Kevin Polsworth, Marty McGuire,
- Vince Marins.
- Vincent Marins.
Vincent Marins,
is your real name?
Correct.
Seriously Detective, why am I here?
To tell you the truth,
angry young men covered with blood
are a real reason for concern.
You and I are here, so be it.
No two way mirror, eh?
In the movies, there's
always a two way mirror.
So, your real name is Vince Marins.
Vincent, from the Latin.
Vincere
To conquer.
I'll tell you what, Vincent.
We ran all of these IDs
and they all came up fake,
even Vince Marins.
Where'd you get your IDs?
I know a guy.
Did you know Olivia too?
Olivia?
Olivia Renowitz?
Were you at the Roman
Antiquities Show at The Getty?
Olivia Renowitz.
You knew her, didn't you?
No.
But I was hoping to meet her.
You think I killed her, right?
I know you did.
You speak Spanish.
The language of Cervantes is a favorite.
How many languages do you speak?
I don't remember.
You don't remember?
Well, some of them are dead languages
like, oh, Aramaic?
You speak Aramaic.
It's quite seductive, eh?
You're a Tower of Babel.
I know, I know, it sounds pretentious
but my entire life, I
just absorb a language.
Then I speak it and once I
do, I can never forget it.
Words stay in my skull like
some intricate beehive,
buzzing and buzzing
and sometimes they rise
up and swarm like locusts.
Once in Syria, I saw a swarm of locusts.
You feel them first.
Static on the hair of your forearms.
And then the sound,
strange buzz that grows and grows.
And you stare when you should run.
The daylight fades and in
two minutes, it's midnight.
And suddenly it hits you.
It stings.
And you're swimming in the locusts
and then drowning in them.
And after?
They're gone.
You've traveled to Syria.
Not recently, before.
Before what?
Before tonight.
Listen, Vince.
When the lab results come back
on the blood on your clothes,
the DA's gonna step in and
you and me, we're done.
This is our time together.
A moment in infinity.
I want them back, by the way.
- Want what back?
- My clothes.
And please, don't wash the blood off,
I want them as they are.
Why is that?
As souvenirs.
Usually keep souvenirs, Vince?
No, but Caesar did.
The daggers at the show
were inaccurate, FYI.
Daggers?
At the Roman Antiquities Show.
The ones they used to kill poor Julius,
those were actually carved
from elephant tusks.
Those pompous politicians loved ivory.
The ones at The Getty were
actually made of iron.
No,
I did not go to the Roman
Antiquities Show at The Getty.
But I did think about going.
It was excellent, Detective.
They did a solid job of recreating
Caesar's day to day life.
It looked fascinating.
It was a good time.
It's too bad you missed it.
You see how I answered
your question right now?
I'm asking you to reciprocate.
I'd like to, I would, but
it's just that things get so,
I don't know.
- Complicated?
- Complicated.
Life is more than complicated, Vince.
It's, it's confusing.
We can all feel lost, can't we?
And alone.
I do.
Vince,
let's try to,
to walk you back.
How?
By telling me,
how you ended up in that house tonight,
covered with some woman's blood.
Where do I start?
How about the beginning?
Can I call you Henry?
Of course.
Remember I told you I speak
a few languages earlier?
It's from lack of sleep.
You have insomnia?
God, yes, my mind churns
all the time, who could sleep?
We can get you some help for
that after this is all over.
Swear to you.
How much sleep do you get on average?
I have never slept.
You'd die if you never slept.
You'd die.
Not me.
You're immune to the laws of physics?
Physics, no.
Human biology.
How does that work?
You wouldn't believe me.
Try me.
I'm...
I'm not human.
Well, if you're not
human then, what are you?
A fallen angel.
- You think I'm crazy.
- No.
You think I'm playing crazy.
I hear your mind, Detective,
playing word association.
You hear fallen angel and you think what?
Satan, right?
Tell the truth.
Well, Satan was a fallen angel.
I knew it!
His name is Lucifer.
Meaning, bearer of light.
The Morning Star is
something he was also called.
Yes.
That's right.
He's my older brother.
Right.
They call me Lucifer's kid brother.
I'll be back in a minute.
I tried to warn you.
- Henry.
- Hm?
You've been in a swarm
of locusts, haven't you?
I have a good imagination.
Of course.
Can you get out of the house?
Oh god, oh my god,
oh my god, oh my god, he sees
me, he sees me, he's coming.
The car's
coming, stay calm Olivia,
- stay with me, okay?
- Hank, what was that guy,
remember like two months
ago, there was that guy
with the two shotguns and he was, I mean,
oh, did you just see that?
Did you just see the hair thing?
What a pretentious fuck.
Roman Antiquities at The Getty?
Did anyone else pick up the
ehs that he had in his speech?
The eh?
Yeah, when I was in
Toronto four years ago.
Hey, look at this.
It's filming him?
- Look at this.
- See that circle there?
- Mm-hmm.
- It's a lens.
I'm a techno doofus.
You are.
So, we got three different
IDs, three different states.
I mean, we don't know
where this guy's from.
Should I try the FBI?
Yeah, but don't hold your breath.
You might wanna give the RCMP a call,
see if any of the Mounties have insomnia.
Canadian, yeah.
Don't go anywhere.
Sure.
So what do you think of him?
Detective Oslo?
No, the suspect.
Vince.
He's vain.
Actually, he's posing.
He knows we're watching him.
So, why does a good
looking young man from Canada
travel all the way to Los Angeles?
He came to Hollywood.
This guy's an actor.
And you have a detective
lurking inside you.
Come on.
Outside the club saw
you standing in line
In 1979, Laura
was a young punk rocker
on the cusp of crossing over.
Her underground following was growing
and no longer staying underground.
Laura's star was rising.
She told people she signed a
contract with Capital Records
based on some new songs she'd written.
Laura was a talented
songwriter as well as performer
and people around her
sensed looming greatness.
The police classified
the killing as unsolved.
A cold case.
Standing in line
I need a favor.
I'm working that stabbing
murder out of Echo Park.
You'll have
it by end of day tomorrow.
Look, I've got
a live one here, Loretta.
You taking your pills?
Oh yeah, yeah, hell yeah, dozens of 'em.
It was so scary that day.
You know what, I don't remember.
No fucking shit,
asshole, you were dead.
I called 911.
Is that a yes?
I'll call you.
Thanks a lot, hon.
Does the water taste different in Canada?
You are Canadian, aren't you?
What gave it away?
I don't know, eh.
I still do that?
Tell me, is that an issue at auditions?
Because you are an actor, right?
Well done.
Thank you.
Well done.
Do you have an arrest record up north?
I'm getting it expunged.
You ever kill anybody up in Canada?
You got a nice voice.
Vince, come on now.
Round, warm, bit of bass underneath.
Some very practiced modulations.
It's a friend of yours in a
situation like this, I bet.
Did you know Charles Manson
wanted to be a rock star?
In the 60s,
he and Dennis Wilson of the
Beach Boys were friends.
Wilson let him stay in
his big, fancy house.
He encouraged Charlie to write songs
and even recorded one of them.
Wilson changed the lyrics
and Manson was furious.
You like Charles Manson?
Last week, I was up for an episode
of that New York police
show, Criminal Intentions.
I read for the role of
the Nice Guy Killer.
It was the title of the
episode, The Nice Guy Killer.
And in it, I was crazy
but calm and cool, you know?
Yeah, so how'd it go?
I fuckin' killed it!
I was crazy good.
Very De Niro, the guy said.
I scared them.
So what happened?
Fucking casting directors!
You didn't get the part
Again, fucking idiots.
And that really pissed you off.
Exquisitely.
Is that why you killed Olivia?
I'm sorry, Olivia, who's that?
Vince, really?
And scene.
Scene?
I was acting.
I didn't get any auditions last week.
You were lying?
Improvising.
I made it up.
There's no improvising in here.
We say improv and you're
doing one right now.
Oh really, how?
Where you pretend to be
the wise, calm detective,
I pretend to be the unstable
but possibly brilliant murder suspect,
and we run with it.
So, you're an actor and a fallen angel.
Well, these days you
have to do everything.
Act, sing, write your own material.
The skateboard tours help.
Skateboard tours?
My skateboard tours.
Hey, hey, hey.
You are in for a treat.
Charlie Manson's still the most popular
but I prefer some of the more niche tours
like the Black Dahlia.
The layers around her
death, beyond intriguing.
It's all on my website.
I just put up a new
skateboard tour on Monday.
The death of Dorothy Stratten,
Star 80, remember her?
Yeah, yeah, vaguely.
When they found her and
her ex-husband's bodies,
they were covered completely
in a pile of ants.
And I've got some previously
unseen police photos
of those bodies, exclusive.
You said you have a website?
Hollywoodskateboardtours.com.
Okay.
You ever done any acting, Detective?
No.
You've got presence.
Daytime, Hollywood Boulevard.
I never sleep so day or
night, this is where I come.
Hollywood!
Hollywood.
Here we are, folks, in the
world famous Hollywood,
right next to the star of Groucho Marx.
You know what Groucho
wanted on his tombstone?
Excuse me, but I can't stand up.
He loved a good joke.
You know, I'm Vince,
your host of Hollywood Skateboard Tours.
We're gonna explore some
amazing things today.
The star of Natalie Wood.
Follow me.
Because I told you, I'm working.
I'm working.
Okay, I said okay.
Goodbye.
What's up?
I got a situation at home.
You know the couple's
counseling thing that's been...
- You know?
- Mm-hmm.
I gotta go.
I'll deal with her.
Okay, thanks.
She's harmless.
Yeah, right.
- Small newspaper.
- Right.
Bunch of dipshit hipsters.
Right.
You needn't be concerned.
Oh, she needs a ride back to her car.
I mean, I've heard it all before.
Go on.
Satan.
The devil.
Evil.
Hitler.
You name it, I've got a thick, thick skin.
I call him by his name, Lucifer.
Bearer of light.
And what never gets told
nowadays about Lucifer
was that the most amazing thing about him
was his voice.
I mean, that boy could sing.
You cannot imagine a voice like his.
Your hearing cannot reach the range.
Subtlety, the power.
When Lucifer sang, the universe
would just stop expanding
and listen.
And sometimes God himself was
moved to tears by his singing.
I know you're all thinking,
what happened up there, right?
Right?
One day, Lucifer sang
and everything in creation
stopped as it did when he sang.
God beamed happily.
But somehow, Lucifer
outdid himself, I mean,
it was in fact, perfection.
And you know what?
A little creature was
created out of his singing.
A little wide-eyed creature,
like a kinda cosmic pet dog.
And it ran up to Lucifer
and it jumped on him.
You see, that's when the trouble started.
You see, creating things was
really God's line of work
up until then.
But, bam, there was this little fella
and he came out of my brother's singing.
It was a problem.
But God made the creature disappear.
I was shocked, to be honest.
My brother, who had been
very loyal up until then,
was furious.
Things got pretty fucking hot
up there, as you can imagine.
Friendships were tested
and the next part of the story, you know.
He got kicked out of heaven.
And it happened,
it happened fast, I...
I didn't even get a goodbye.
He was just over the edge and falling.
And he sang as he fell,
mocking God with that voice of his.
I stood there looking over.
I loved God.
He was everything.
But really almost everything,
I also loved my brother.
So, I jumped after him.
If you've ever skydived,
you'd get an inkling,
the tiniest of inklings
of that, that plummet.
That descent.
But I hit something hard, very hard.
It was here, this planet Earth,
while my brother fell further
and further into Hell
and I never saw him face to face again.
I've been here ever since
and it's been a fucking
slog, let me tell you.
You wanna eat Greek tonight?
I've been through Greek civilization.
Roman as mentioned.
Chinese, Assyrian,
all looking for my brother.
It wasn't until Babylon that
he finally got word to me.
I was in a pickle.
I wasn't good enough for heaven and I,
I wasn't evil enough for hell.
He said I'd have to take a test.
He set a date and named a place
and if I met him at that
exact time and place
and was able to murder
someone, I could join him.
And if I failed, I'd get another date,
another location, a few centuries later.
I failed on four continents.
My last test was in the late 1700s,
murdering this little
half-Sioux, half-white child
in what we now call North Dakota.
Such a cute child.
My next meeting is coming up very soon.
Tell people my brother isn't all bad.
And God isn't all good.
It's a bit more complicated
than that, okay?
I love my brother
and I'd follow him into Hell.
And folks, if you could
just hear him sing,
you'd understand.
Fucking actors.
Not your favorite group?
He reminds me of someone.
An ex.
Ah.
Detective Oslo.
Hm?
He's married, right?
Yeah.
Living up to the stereotype.
What's that?
Sleazy detective.
Oh, wow.
So, what's my stereotype?
Work junky,
Zen.
Zen Master homicide detective.
- Zen Master, huh?
- Yeah.
Fooled you.
No, you think before you act.
Everything's deliberate.
You don't like me asking questions.
You like to do the asking.
What's your stereotype?
Cheesy Midwestern
girl, stars in her eyes.
Fails as a singer in LA.
Falls back to the hobby
of millions, writing.
You know, I used to sing.
Really?
Like in a band?
I played electric guitar and everything.
What kind of stuff?
Crap.
Oh.
When was the last time you sang?
Oh, um.
At my cousin's wedding.
One too many Chardonnays.
And what was the song?
Danny Boy.
Her side's Irish.
Oh, Danny boy,
The pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and
down the mountain side
The summer's gone,
And all the flowers are dying
Tis you, tis you
Must go and I must bide
You got pipes.
Stay calm, are you hidden?
Are you safe?
Oh god, oh god, he sees
he sees me, he's coming.
Can you get to another room?
No, get out, please!
Please leave me alone.
Olivia, get out.
Get out of the house.
Oh my, oh my
god, he's got a knife.
Olivia,
fight if you can, fight.
No, no, please
no, please, please!
Car 76, you've
got an apparent stabbing
in progress at 746 Montague.
Hey, you got a cigarette?
Let me get one, please, please, please.
Thank you man.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
How do you
know so much about Hollywood?
I've been here since the
beginning, since the inception.
You
look very young though.
I know, but
I'm an old soul, man.
I'm an old soul, I've been around.
You know.
You were
born and raised here?
I was not born here
but yes, I was raised here.
I was born somewhere very far away, so.
But yes, I was raised here.
In Hollywood, in this land,
in the culture we live in.
What do you think about it?
How do you think it's going?
- Alright.
- It's alright, right?
There's a
lot of stuff about Hollywood
that people don't know yet.
People don't know that's why
I'm here to tell the truth,
you know?
It's a cold place.
It's a terrible, terrible,
frightening cold place
and it's a cold world we live in.
Sometimes I feel like I'm
getting a little frosty myself.
This website, if I could just...
You wanna use my laptop?
You don't mind?
Take it.
Well, that would help.
You've been gone a while, Detective.
I was looking at your site.
You watched my one man show.
I did.
You're very talented.
You're too kind.
Of course, it's just
ammo for the prosecution.
But the press is gonna love it.
I hadn't considered.
Damn fly.
You've got an opportunity here, Vince.
Did I hear singing earlier?
I thought I heard Danny Boy.
I could've sworn.
You ever listen to the words of Danny Boy,
I mean really listen?
Morbid.
For if you come when all
the leaves are fallen
and I am dead, for dead I well may be,
then you will come to the
place where I am lying
and you will kneel and
say an Ave there for me.
Imagine the singer stretched
out in his grave, dead,
talking to the living.
It's usually the other way
around, let me tell you.
Stop with the noise, Vince.
It's not me, it's that damn fly.
Knock it off!
Tell me what happened.
Tonight, with Olivia.
Stop the game.
Don't you see it?
Vince.
Corpses and flies are just fucking.
Shakespeare said that.
I told him it would make a great sonnet.
Gotcha.
Should I kill him?
Your hand is empty.
You heard the buzzing.
- You through your voice.
- You wanna make a bet?
You woulda won.
You just can't stop, can you?
Stop what?
Performing.
Improv-ing.
We don't improv here.
We.
You did it, Vince.
You were drenched in blood, admit it.
I knew her address.
Alright.
That's a start.
So, why did you know her address?
My meeting with my brother.
Your test.
Exactly.
He gave you her address?
A time and a date.
You were gonna go to her house tonight?
Let's do it as an improv, Henry.
No, no, Vince, we're
making progress now.
I'll tell you everything
but as an improv.
Please don't.
Where the fuck is
that car to Montague Street?
I have a victim being stabbed right now.
Stop, stop!
Oh my god, oh my
god, there's so much blood.
There's so much blood.
How in the hell did he hear us?
I don't know.
Tell me something.
Why do actors do improv?
I paid $500 for an improv workshop
with my ex's acting guru, Leland Saunders.
He was very intense about improvisation.
He said it was foundational
to his acting technique.
And?
And.
I was acting in this
improv with my ex, Adam,
in front of the class.
He told me something true
it just,
it just kinda came out.
He was sleeping with our neighbor.
Something I suspected.
Why did he do that?
Because he's an actor
and he fucking got caught in the moment.
You know, everyone tells
him he's the next De Niro,
that's what they teach them.
I guess he just ran out of shit to make up
and blurted out the truth.
Is it like musical improvisation?
In a sense, it taps inside.
Will you tell me about Olivia?
I need to hear everything.
That's what a confession is.
No holding back.
I understand.
Okay.
How do we begin?
Who am I?
You are a fallen angel.
Lucifer's kid brother.
Let's go somewhere, in our minds.
I mean a mental voyage.
Okay, where?
Relax.
Inhale.
Hold it for seven
and feel gravity pulling
you down into the chair.
Keep breathing, relaxing, okay?
Okay.
Remember when you were a kid?
Well...
Relax.
A boy with a vivid
imagination, right, Enrique?
Maybe.
You used to dream you could fly?
Sometimes.
That imagination is now
turned officially on.
Okay.
What if this were an elevator?
This what?
This room.
It's an elevator.
It's a little big for
an elevator, isn't it?
Not really, just relax.
But imagine it, there's a
strong, steel cable overhead
and the room we're in is attached to it.
Feel the weight.
Feel the steel cable holding that weight.
I don't know.
Relax.
Now, imagine it goes down.
That's it.
Easy.
Gravity pulling us down.
Feel it descending.
I kinda feel it.
You're doing good.
Damn, I can feel it.
Two floors.
Three floors.
Four.
Down to where?
Five.
Six floors.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Down to where?
Eyes closed, senor, we're
going to that confession.
Confession, okay.
A bit faster now, feel it?
10 floors.
We've gone down a half a mile.
Okay, yeah, I get it.
Isn't that enough?
23, relax.
Henry, the cable has us.
Okay, okay enough.
One mile.
Stop.
Easy, buddy.
Okay, okay, that's it.
Two miles.
I, really, stop.
Three.
Seriously, seriously, I can't!
Stop.
Stop!
Stop!
Okay.
Very funny.
Okay.
Vince, sit.
Shh.
Sit down.
Sit.
It's me!
Sit down, Vince.
I need you to be quiet.
You can't.
You can't.
Come here.
- No.
- Come open this door.
Open it yourself.
I can't.
Why not?
Stop playing dumb.
Where are we?
Hell.
Answer the phone, Henry.
Loretta?
Enrique.
I got some weird news.
What's that?
The blood on his clothes,
it's not from your victim.
Not even close.
What?
The blood
on the shirt you gave me
is placental blood.
It's from a human birth.
Placental.
I told you.
Listen to the 911 call.
I did.
Which 911 call?
911, what's your emergency?
Please,
it's happening early.
I was just doing my laundry.
And my water broke.
I can't understand you.
Please speak slowly.
I said I'm pregnant!
What's your name, please?
Stephanie.
Galliard.
Okay, hang on, Stephanie.
What's your address?
Hey, are you okay?
I'm just trying to help.
Hello?
Who's this?
My name it
Vince, I was riding past
I heard a women screaming.
This woman is going into labor.
Do you have someone coming
because I've got a
meeting and I can't stay.
Okay,
Vince, nice to meet you.
Stay right where you are.
We have an ambulance on the way.
Goddammit!
It's alright, I, what's your name?
- Stephanie.
- Stephanie,
- just breathe, okay?
- Okay.
That's it.
Okay.
Excellent,
you guys are doing great.
Breathe.
Okay, yeah.
That's good, good, just keep breathing.
Look at me!
Look at me.
Open the door.
Push it open!
Do it!
Open the door!
You tricked me.
You've always been just tricking me.
Your rendezvous?
Every fucking couple of centuries.
I jumped after you.
I love you so much.
Hey.
Make it stop.
I...
I wanna go back up.
The elevator's too heavy.
We'd need to lighten the load.
How do we do that?
How do we do that?
Was it under a tree like they say?
What?
It was rumored, Laura
was buried under a tree.
Sit.
Please.
Everyone is listening.
I don't understand.
We came here for a confession.
Yours.
You motherfucking little
piece of shit, who the fuck...
Sit down!
Sit down.
Talk to me about Laura.
I can wait here forever, Henry.
What about her?
Where'd you meet?
A party.
She didn't look like anybody else.
She was older than you.
I was 16.
She said she was 22 but
no one knew for sure.
What happened after that night?
You formed a band, right?
You, a couple of guys.
Laura was the singer, no?
Yeah.
Tell me about the band.
It was wild.
She was wild.
The band wasn't very good.
No.
But Laura was.
Can we go now?
Laura was good, right?
The crowd, they liked her.
- Yeah.
- But not you.
Not you.
Not me.
She kept you on a string, didn't she?
I'm tired.
Didn't she, because she knew
that you had one unique talent.
Not on stage, not with
her, but writing songs.
She'd go out and sing
with other bands, right?
Suddenly, bam, Laura got a record contract
for a pop song, a pretty,
sugary pop song about love.
And what's the kicker, kid?
The kicker is, you wrote that song.
You wrote that song, that sweet,
sappy teenaged romantic love song.
You fucking wrote it, not her, right?
- Yes.
- For her?
- You wrote it for her?
- Yes.
Because you were in love with her?
Who wasn't?
And Laura just took it.
Then one night, she told
you to get lost, didn't she?
Get the fuck lost, right?
Yeah.
The night Laura died, she went to a club
in West Hollywood.
You followed her there, right?
Yeah.
Punk club?
No.
College kids.
White kids.
And she sang the song?
The song you wrote for her?
You followed her after the show?
They went to his car.
They had sex.
You must have felt jealous, betrayed.
I felt like I was outside myself.
Like I...
Like I was watching myself,
like I was somebody else.
Then?
Then I followed her home to East LA.
I...
I broke in, I...
You what?
You found a knife.
My tio had a farm up in
the north, up near Ukiah.
He used to raise pigs there.
Sometimes he would slaughter one for food
and he showed me how.
And then afterwards,
it was my job to,
to bury the guts.
Deep, so that the wild
animals wouldn't get 'em.
You cut her up.
I, uh,
I took a shower.
And I,
I knelt down there in
the blood and the water.
I wanted to be forgiven.
And so I, right there, I talked to God.
I told him that I wanted
to make a deal with him.
God makes deals like that?
There was this,
I could hear this cop
show playing on the TV
like down the alley through a window.
It was cops and they were,
they were chasing the
bad guys with sirens.
And I had an idea and
I said to God, I said,
if you just let me, let me get away, I,
I'll become a cop and
I'll get justice
for all those people that
were killed and I will never,
never kill anybody again.
And I offered that up to God.
To atone?
To atone.
God took your deal.
I've solved so many murders.
So many.
So, you stepped out of the shower?
I put Laura into a,
some black plastic bags.
I took her out and I buried her.
Deep.
Was that so hard?
Solve Olivia's murder.
Close this case, you can do that.
How?
He'll help you.
Go to her house, there are clues.
But if I can't...
Do this and you're done.
- Done?
- Clean.
Atoned.
Really?
But quickly, it has to be now.
Before the sun rises.
Then, take us up.
They're holding us down.
- Why?
- They like you.
We need help.
You remember that song you
sang when you were a kid?
By the waters
The waters of Babylon
By the waters
The waters of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
By the waters
The waters of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
By the waters
Of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion
We remember, we remember
We remember thee Zion
Stop.
You fell down.
- How long?
- Just a second ago.
- Sit down.
- Are you okay?
Sit down!
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm alright.
Yeah, Loretta?
Henry, I have
some news about the blood.
Yeah, it's placental.
Yeah.
How did you...
I'll call you back, Loretta.
So, am I under arrest, Detective?
In light of new evidence, no.
I just have to process a few things.
I understand.
What time is it?
It's, uh, just after three.
Sun comes up in a few hours.
Wonderful meeting you, Detective.
Vince.
The camera went out.
It does that sometimes.
What happened?
We got some new information.
Vince is innocent.
Really?
Are you okay?
Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
I just, I've got some things I gotta do.
It was a real pleasure meeting you.
Detective.
Can you give me a ride to my car?
Yeah.
Up there, just pull over.
So, I have a few more questions for you...
Look, here's all my contact info.
I was wondering if I could...
I really need to get going, goodnight.
Okay.
Who's there?
- Freeze.
- Please don't kill me.
You shouldn't be in here, honey.
How does he look?
Who?
My brother Vincent.
You?
You were expecting Joseph Stalin?
He's such a sweet guy, isn't he?
I just can't do it to him, bring him here.
I love him too much.
Life over here, it's hard, isn't it?
He told me that if I...
If you what?
Solved Olivia's murder.
Yes, yes, that you'd be done, atoned.
Let me show you.
And I will smile to
hear your voice above me
And then my grave will
gentler, warmer be
For you will bend and
tell me that you love me
And I will sleep in peace
until you come to me
Olivia killed herself?
With a little friendly persuasion.
Why?
She asked for me, so I came.
I truly enjoyed your confession.
I've been following the Brown
Dahlia case for three years
and tonight, your intrepid
reporter, Regina Parker,
has a huge breakthrough.
LAPD Detective Henry Cardenas
confessed to the murder
of Laura Maldonado, AKA the Brown Dahlia.
I put Laura in,
in a few black plastic bags.
Then I took her and
buried her.
Deep.
Her laptop.
Hey.
Henry?
What the fuck?
I just got a call from the captain
and I got another call, it
was from the fucking LA Times.
I'm looking at a video.
It's you.
It's you and you're
confessing to a murder.
What the fuck, Hank?
Henry, what did you do?
What the fuck is going on?
Henry?
Henry, what the fuck?
This is a little song
I just wrote called Lost.
I sit alone just for a while
Hand in your hair, lost in your smile
I don't know how, I don't
know where, I don't know why
What brought me here,
this moment with you
This moment in time
I get lost in your eyes, eyes
Get lost in your smile
Get lost in your love
Oh, oh, I'll be lost for a while
I'll be lost for a while
Standing here, it's only a dream
When you draw near, face reality
I call your name, hear
my voice, you know mine
I can't explain it,
what brought me here
This moment in time
I get lost in your eyes, eyes
Get lost in your smile
I get lost in your love
Oh, I'll be lost for a while
I'll be lost for a while
I get lost in your eyes, eyes
Get lost in your smile
I get lost in your love
Oh, oh, I'll be lost for a while
I'll be lost for a while
I'm dreaming.
But you're awake.
You took my song!
You took my life.
I just...
You just, you just.
You just!
I love you.
Can you at least mark my grave somehow?
Yes.