Don't you watch me!
You think you're going to crawl
into my brain and see a show?
Is that what I am?
Is that what you think?
What I think, Mr. Ledbetter,
is the temperature's dropping.
Well, I got legions of angels
up here, like little moths,
and they're going to beat the
hell out of you with their wings.
Freaks.
I'm gonna crap you out,
Stuyvesant!
- Who-Who's Stuyvesant?
- You're Stuyvesant.
I'm not Stuyvesant.
- I'm with the department of social services.
- No, you're a zit...
on Stuyvesant's ass, but
you're Stuyvesant just the same.
You're all Stuyvesant.
Tell him...
don't send no more no-face errand boys
to catch me, 'cause I hear ya coming.
I hear your chains, clink, clink.
You sound like defeat.
You even smell like defeat.
You smell like,
like degradation.
Happy Valentine's Day,
Caveman.
Hey, yo, Caveman. Give
us a fucking tirade, yo.
Yo, what's that fucker
Stuyvesant up to, man?
Help you?
I don't know you.
No, no, no.
You on your own, son.
You got your troubles,
I got mine.
Do I look like
I can help you, huh?
Help you? I don't even
know who the fuck you are.
All right, Michael,
thank you.
Mr.? Mr.?
Got a pencil?
A pencil? What do you want a pencil for?
I wanna balance it
on the end of my nose.
You want to
write something?
I got a pen.
Hey, keep it.
What the hey, right?
Can I ask what
you're writing there?
You want your pen back?
No, no, no.
It's okay.
- You a musician or a...
- Mm-hmm.
- What do you play?
- My skull.
- I used to play piano.
- You had a piano, huh?
There were a great many
at the school I attended.
- What school did you go to?
- Julliard.
Julliard?
You went to Julliard, huh?
How the hell
did you wind up here?
I'm here because that bastard
wants me here.
What bastard?
Don't play stupid. The bastard
that lives in that tower.
He sits in his tower,
and he watches.
And what he sees,
he doesn't like.
I mean, it curls his stinking,
rancid blood what he sees.
And what he sees
is a free man!
That old Stuyvesant,
you know what he says to that?
He says, "We're gonna
crush that nigger.
Oh, yeah, send some Y-rays
that nigger's way. "
Don't back off, pinstripes,
you fucking coward.
Stuyvesant's gone and laced
your mind with Y-rays.
You're living like
a jackrabbit.
Oh, yeah, run, Stuyvesant.
But I see ya.
Stuyvesant!
You see me? Well, I see
you right fucking back!
What lies are you
telling us now?
- Yep?
- Lulu, listen to me.
- Romulus?
- Stuyvesant killed someone.
Where's he calling from?
- Tell her I'm home.
- He got a phone in that cave now?
Tell her, my home is not a
mansion, but it suits me fine.
He freezes to death, I'm
not paying for his funeral.
She says
- I heard her. Listen, Lulu,
this time
I've got the evidence.
You do, huh?
There's a body
outside my cave.
That's rough, Rom. Listen,
I just pulled a night shift.
I am sound asleep.
Please, child.
Please, just come on over.
I know what
you're thinking.
But this dead thing
he left outside my cave, it's real.
It's so shiny real,
it hurts the eyes.
...believed to be another
victim of the Arctic cold wave.
The dead man was identified
as Scott Gates, 20 years old,
unemployed and homeless.
Oh, that sucked.
Can I go again?
A young man has been found frozen
to death here in Inwood Park.
You saw this no-face prop the
body in the tree? That's right.
But you were in there
in your bed the whole time?
How'd you see all this?
I told you,
I saw it on my TV.
What kind of shows
you get on that TV?
All of them. The whole heady
broth of American culture, right?
- You get cable?
- Lieutenant.
Can I talk to you for
a moment? Yeah, sure.
Look, I know this guy.
I've seen him around.
He's completely delusional.
- Why don't we just...
- Get your hands off her!
Take it easy, pal, we're
just having a little chat.
Don't touch my daughter,
squashface. Ever!
Your daughter?
This man is your father?
Why didn't you
say something?
Maybe I don't meet her
momentous expectations.
But I'm still a witness. I know who
the murderer is. Now you write it!
Write what? The name of the
murderer, which you already know.
- Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant, now write it!
- Daddy!
Tell him to write it.
I can't tell him anything,
he's my boss.
Hey, what the hell, pal, that's
the way I like 'em, open and shut.
How do you spell Stuyvesant?
You know how to
spell it.
Aah!
Go ahead and kill me.
For Christ's sake, Rom.
- I'm dead already.
- Matthew?
- It's you who found him, wasn't it?
- Found who?
Scotty.
He knew they were
going to kill him.
Matthew, you're shivering.
I don't care.
You're too cold.
I loved him, Rom.
I wanna die too.
Okay. Okay.
Not right now, okay?
Come on.
They killed him, Rom. He was
just too beautiful for them.
Ah, God, Rom, wasn't...
wasn't he beautiful?
He was dead
when I saw him.
Yeah, but...
you met him.
The dead kid?
I don't think so.
Well, he knew you.
He said you weren't afraid
to speak the truth.
No shit, Rom.
He called you "The Voice. "
- He did?
- He was just a kid.
He was fucking innocent till that
bastard got his fucking hands on him.
Stuyvesant?
David Leppenraub.
- Who?
- David Leppenraub.
Don't you know, Rom?
The photographer?
I mean, he's fucking famous. He
does these pictures of angels,
and everyone's always going on about
how beautiful Leppenraub's angels are.
And, yeah, they're beautiful
because they're Scotty.
Scotty was
Leppenraub's model?
He was his fucking slave.
He was so ashamed of the pictures,
he wouldn't even show them to me.
That bastard took him up
to his farm, tortured him,
got him strung out on dope.
He-He even branded him, Rom.
He burned a heart
on Scotty's ass.
And then when he was done with him, he threw
him away, like a fucking piece of trash.
I found him on the street
like that, you know?
I didn't care.
He was still beautiful.
He was beautiful to me.
But he couldn't let it go, you know?
All the shit that happened to him.
He kept telling me that he
had this tape of the torture.
He was going to get a bunch of
money from Leppenraub for it.
That's what got him killed.
You tell the cops this,
Matthew?
Come on, Rom,
look at me.
Who do you think they're
going to believe, huh?
Me?
Or the great
David Leppenraub?
What sins have you committed?
Y- rays.
They're listening.
There's nothing you can do,
Matthew.
You and me, we're too small.
He knows that.
He likes that.
You know him?
You know Leppenraub?
I don't have to know him.
I know the man he works for.
You have any-any sins
to confess, my child?
Come on, Rom,
I feel ridiculous enough.
You can call me Daddy,
no one listening.
So what are we
doing here, Daddy?
Suppose I-I told you I knew
who killed Scotty Gates?
You did tell me
and my boss.
Just-Just hear me out.
Suppose I told you that Scotty Gates
was killed by a very famous artist?
And suppose I found a way to slip
you his name? David Leppenraub?
You-You know
about Leppenraub?
Apparently, everybody
knows about Leppenraub.
Scotty Gates was going all over town
crying how Leppenraub had abused him.
So what? I think the same
thing about my employer.
He told everyone
he was going to get revenge.
So, Lieutenant Cork made a call,
and Leppenraub said, yeah...
Gates had tried to blackmail him,
and he politely told Scotty
to go to hell.
Ya, and then he politely
murdered him.
- There's no evidence of that.
- Hell, there's a body in the tree.
Daddy, Gates was a nutcase.
No offense.
But he was running around in the
middle of winter with no shirt on.
Everyone thought he was
going to freeze to death.
We think it's reasonable for us to
assume that that's what happened.
Very, v-very reasonable,
except for one thing.
- What's that?
- He was murdered.
Daddy, you live in a cave.
You watch the news on a TV
that's plugged into nothing.
You think there's a guy on top of a tower
that's trying to take over the world.
You're not well. Why don't
you let me get you some help?
And just who would you get
to help me, Lulu?
Just-Just who you got
in mind for your old man?
Rom, I-I got to
get back to work.
That what you call it, Lulu?
You call that work?
Terrorizing innocent people while
murderers roam the streets like rats, huh?
And you ashamed of me.
I should be ashamed of you!
You tell your boss he can't snake this
one over on me.
Tell him he can't kill me,
'cause I'm reaching
for my wallet.
He can't torture me
with his anal broomsticks.
You tell Stuyvesant I'm going
to tear his tower down! You...
Bored? Depressed? Tired? Need
a lift? An added dimension?
Baby girl, baby girl, I got what
you need. Fuckin' taste, man.
I- I just need a front, man.
I got that smoke.
You know I'm fucking
good for it, man.
Please, man, please.
Don't make me fucking beg.
I got that smoke. I'll
take whatever you got, man.
- I'll lick your fucking cock.
- Come here.
Junkie, you offend me. People like
you, you're like fucking tumors,
and I just want to cut your ass out
- Shaker, Shaker,
undertaker, look what
your garden has grown.
Get the fuck away
from me, Caveman.
Yo, got that smoke.
Yo, yo, I'll give you two...
I'll give you two for one. Can I
offer you some? Sardine, be a sardine.
Get caught in the net. Get
squeezed in the cage. Caveman!
You want to disappear
from this world, huh? Huh?
You want to learn that trick?
'Cause I can teach you.
You stinkin' motherfucker.
Yo, yo, got that? Come here, I got the
smoke with me. Roll with me, roll with me.
Matthew, come on.
You-You said there
was a tape, right?
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Of the torture?
- And Leppenraub made it?
- Yeah, he made it.
So sick,
he liked watching it.
But the guy running the
camera, he wasn't into it.
Just doing what
he was told.
So he made a copy
of the tape for Scotty.
I guess he thought he was doing
him a favor. Protecting him.
So now Leppenraub
has the tape back?
- I don't know.
- But the cameraman,
he must have
the original, right?
So what's his name?
Where can we find him?
How am I
supposed to know?
Why don't you ask Leppenraub?
So, now you think
you're a detective?
I got eyes, Sheila, I can
see things other people can't.
Like me?
You still think I look like
this after all these years?
You're no smarter than
when I married you, are you?
I'm gonna find the evidence, Sheila.
I'm gonna nail this Leppenraub bastard.
Ah, baby, if your shit was a rocket
ship, you could go to the moon.
Now why you gotta stick
your nose in matters...
that do not pertain to you, and don't
give me some bullshit about love.
The dead boy knew me, Sheila.
He called me "The Voice. "
It's Lulu, isn't it?
You wanna prove yourself
to her?
You wanna win her respect? Try soap
and hot water. Try getting a job.
That's just what
Stuyvesant wants, isn't it?
Get a shave,
get a job, relax.
Well, not this time, Sheila,
because Stuyvesant left
that valentine outside my door.
He thinks he got to me this time by leaving
that particularly nasty, fucking insult.
It pisses me off.
Sir? Sir?
You can't sleep in here.
It's like an oven in here.
What, are you trying to bake us?
- Are you making a pie?
- Sir, you're going to have to leave.
- Will you marry me?
- I'm calling the police.
Call the preacher, my love.
I love you more than life itself.
I'm dialing right now. I know
you're dialing the preacher, my love.
I hear your heart beating,
like a newborn...
butterfly.
Arnold?
Hello?
Who is this?
It's-It's Rom.
Romulus? Romulus Ledbetter?
I do not believe it.
I thought you'd...
My God, I heard you were living
in a cave or something.
A little rough, a little rough,
but things are good now.
Uh, living in Tahiti.
Tahiti?
W- Well, San Francisco.
- Was in Tahiti.
- Okay.
Rom? Rom?
Rom, are you there?
No, no, no.
- Everything's good.
- Great.
- How you doing, Arnold?
- Same old. BBC's doing an opera of mine.
You're not still...
composing, are you?
Um, just-just did a piece
for the, uh,
the New Pastorale Festival.
- Wow, that's great.
- A sonata, uh,
inspired by this guy
David Leppenraub?
- You know his pictures?
- This is incredible.
- David Leppenraub's a friend of mine.
- Oh, my god!
Is he?
Hey, hey. Listen, Romulus. This is...
Well, I mean, it's just a thought,
but we're having a fund-raiser
up at David's farm.
That piece of yours, do you
think you could perform it for us?
This Saturday.
Oh, hey, look,
it was just an idea.
- Be glad to.
- Great! Great.
This is gonna be
some surprise.
Hey, mister.
You got a suit and tie?
You want a suit and tie?
Got a gig upstate.
Old classmate got it for me.
Old classmate from Julliard?
Right. You remembered.
Let me ask you something.
You say you went
to Julliard.
What can you tell me about,
say, Scriabin?
Who?
The Russian composer,
Scriabin?
- What can you tell me about him?
- Nothing.
Ah,
of course you can't.
- Take care, my friend.
- Scriabin.
I can't see through to the least
flicker of that man's divinity.
Poeme Divin's okay.
That Promethean chord of his?
Nothing but a dominant ninth,
few hocus-pocus suspensions.
Play the F-sharp it's "G," the
"A" is B-flat. You see what I mean?
You can't impose
divinity on a chord.
A chord's divinity has to
come from the inside out.
You know?
Betty?
This is Romulus.
Hi, Romulus.
Romulus is a homeless man
who needs a suit of clothes.
Uh, not-not homeless.
I live in a cave.
He's the one
I told you about, remember?
- Remember?
- The music man, Bob?
That's it. Right.
Th-That's some view.
You'll grace us?
Nice detail, Bob.
Bosendorfer '36.
Very good.
Everything in here
is from the '30s.
Ohh, that's what it is.
Yeah, I'm
a bankruptcy lawyer.
The depression was something
of a golden era for my kind.
Please, play something,
anything.
I- I really couldn't.
- Why not?
- Honey, if he doesn't want to play.
I wanna know
if he can play, honey.
Please.
Fight it, baby.
Show Stuyvesant
you're not scared of him.
Play the damn thing.
One hand-me-down suit
coming up.
That was wonderful. Why
does it hurt you to play?
That was another life.
You like?
Oh.
Oh! Oh.
Romulus, what size shoe
are you?
- Uh, 12.
- Hmm.
Bob's a nine. Well, maybe
just keep 'em hidden.
There you go, Romulus.
We wouldn't want you
to freeze to death.
A toast.
Honey?
To the eternal cycles
of failure...
and reorganization, huh?
So, tell us, who is
Cornelius Gould Studebaker?
Stuyvesant.
Darling? Maybe we better not talk
about Mr. Stuyvesant right now.
Make you nervous, Bob? Something
you don't want her to know?
We wouldn't want you
to freeze to death,
I really love that one, Bob. Wouldn't
want to find you propped in a tree.
What is it?
It's a new weapon.
It's something
I've never seen before.
Z- rays.
I'm so sorry.
I- I really must be off.
If I've been impolite
or ungenerous in any way,
please, please, please,
forgive me.
I- I really must be off.
My undying gratitude
for the clothes.
Woo, what are my chances
of pulling this off?
About zero.
Rubbing bellies with zero,
unless you all simmer down!
Look at you!
You are a sight
for sore eyes.
Remember Stacy Kensinger?
Flautist, great lips.
Stacy. Stacy?
Uh, maybe she came
after you left.
Why'd you leave anyway? I mean,
nobody fucking ever leaves Julliard.
Oh, well...
got Sheila knocked up.
Really?
That was it?
Christ, you could have
found some way.
Well, the last time I saw you
was at Lincoln Center.
The snow out here
is a different color.
- You couldn't play that day.
- Blue,
like skim milk.
You know what I think?
I think you were afraid.
You know how they say some
people are afraid of success?
Well, this therapist
I've been seeing...
thinks it's because we don't
want to surpass our fathers.
Romulus?
Rom!
Great lips,
where does it all go?
Just didn't care much
for recitals.
Hmm. Yeah.
- Lao-tse, how you doing, girl?
- Lao-tse, get down!
- She looks scary, but she's a sweetheart.
- Hi, dog, hey.
Moira.
What a magnificent day.
Hey, dog. You think
I'm running a con, don't you?
You think I'm the shoes
and not the suit.
Lao-tse, stop bothering
our guests.
You're right.
No bother.
No bother.
This is your
brilliant friend.
Hi, I'm Moira Leppenraub. I'm
David's sister. Mr. Ledbetter?
Romulus. Rom.
Lucinda!
Baby, baby boy!
Arnold tells me
you're a genius.
- At what?
- Music.
Oh, is that all?
Why? Is there more?
I can put a match
in my mouth...
and when the lights are out, I
light up like a jack-o'- lantern.
The man does not
promote me right.
Tell her about the time you
burned a hole in your tongue.
Juvenile bullshit.
Sheila, what are you
doing here?
Watching you make
a fool of yourself.
What are you
doing here?
I have to prove
Leppenraub's guilty.
- Prove to who?
- To the world.
To Lulu.
Lulu needs a father,
not some psycho Sherlock Holmes.
You're gonna get yourself
in deep shit.
Look at her. Like a cat
itching to get scratched.
You better watch your back,
baby.
- Shall we go in?
- I-I'll do it.
Oh, thanks.
Um, just this way.
Man on a horse.
I was at this exhibit, and
it was basically penises...
...big, small, fat, skinny...
all in pastel.
No, thank you.
Don't you watch me!
Joey!
Could you be a little less
conspicuous, please?
Sorry. Please excuse him, Mr. Ledbetter.
He's a filmmaker. I can't
seem to get rid of him.
Apparently, some people find
my life terribly interesting.
I'm David Leppenraub.
I'm honored to have you here.
And-And I to be here.
I was very flattered to hear
that my work inspires you.
- Oh, well.
- Why?
- Excuse me?
- Why do you like my work?
- Well...
- This one.
What do you think?
What do I think?
That's what I asked.
It's empty.
Empty?
So empty,
it hurts the eyes.
You see, the angel is-is looking
heavenward, but he can't see...
because Stuyvesant has sucked
out his soul and just left a shell.
He's empty.
So empty it hurts.
Now that I like, amigo.
It hurts the eyes.
Watch your head.
Does it hurt,
Mr. Ledbetter?
It's supposed to.
All great art
is born of suffering.
Tell me what you feel.
In what dark, damaged
place does it infect you?
Deep, ancestral,
primordial pain.
Shame, fear... that's
what my work is all about.
Fear and transcending fear.
Guts versus fear.
It's really all there is.
I'm told I'm something
of an expert on fear.
Let me show you this.
My latest.
What's your verdict?
Guilty.
And your evidence?
Don't have any.
Not yet.
That's a different kid,
isn't it?
It's not the same model who's
in the other shots, right?
You are perceptive.
Most people can't tell.
That's Joey, the asshole
with the video camera.
My regular model had vertigo,
and I needed him up in a tree,
but heights
made him twitchy.
Is that right?
Who was your regular model?
He doesn't work for me anymore.
Joey took his place.
Really?
What happened to him?
What difference
does it make?
Right, what difference
does it make?
After all,
they're just bodies.
I mean, after the body's done,
just chuck it, hang it from a tree.
You playing some kind of
game with me, amigo?
This stuff could go out
of fashion real quick, right?
People find out the real story,
they don't want it in their house.
- Who the hell are you?
- Suddenly, it's not worth millions...
What do you want?
You want to blackmail me too?
Stuyvesant wouldn't
like that.
- What's this Stuyvesant shit?
- What's this murder shit?
I don't know who the hell you are,
but you listen, I loved Scotty Gates.
- Oh, I bet you did.
- Like a son.
- Why'd he run around telling people you
tortured him?- Because he went crazy.
- Why?
- How the hell should I know, I wasn't even here.
I had an opening in Cologne.
When I came back, he was gone.
His boyfriend broke up with him,
maybe that was it.
Love, it gets in your head.
Not yet! Not yet!
Love...
it-it will...
it will do that to you.
Look...
I owe you an apology.
I'm-I'm sorry.
I- I heard these rumors.
That's all right.
I suppose it's just
part of being who I am.
Wild envy surrounds me...
and rumors.
Too many goddamned rumors.
One of them actually had
the nerve to call my work...
"victim art. "
Trying to believe these stories
of oppression and cruelty.
Does it hurt?
I like you, Romulus. It's too
bad you can't be with us longer.
Excuse me?
Well, let me rephrase.
If the price of rapture...
is a mountain
of suffering,
shouldn't the fee
be paid?
So long as nobody gets hurt.
"So long as nobody gets hurt. "
I like that.
My brother likes
to hear himself talk.
You'll get used to it.
Excuse me.
He died of fright, didn't he?
Mr. Ledbetter,
is now a good time?
- For what?
- To shoot you.
I guess now is as good
a time as any.
Wow. You're really scared
of the camera, aren't you?
Camera?
I'm wanting to do a quick interview,
so you can talk about whatever you like.
Where?
I do a lot of taping
there in the coach house.
Is that where you made
the video of Scotty?
What?
Come on, Joey, you know
what I'm talking about.
Look, there's-there's no
tape, man. That's just a rumor.
But you know better, right?
Because you made it.
Shh. Please.
- You a cop?
- Mm-mm.
Well, how come you know
about the tape?
A friend of Scotty's told me about it.
You were a friend of Scotty's, weren't you?
- Scotty's dead, man.
- But he still needs justice, right, Joey?
Look, I don't want to talk
about Scotty now. Please.
You're scared.
You're scared of your boss.
Please! They'll hear us. You don't know.
Well, why you so scared?
Because I've seen
what he can do.
You can't imagine.
- Wh-Where's the tape?
- Romulus?
It's safe.
I've been looking everywhere
for you. It's time.
- Time for what?
- Piano time.
I haven't started yet.
Just play, baby.
Just get from this side
of the piece to the other.
What? What is it?
What am I smelling
in this place?
There's some foulness here.
The smell of mendacity
and evil.
What is this stench?
Is it the rotting boy
delivered outside my cave?
Is that what I'm smelling?
The sweet valentine
you delivered?
What is this reek?
Is it the smell
of torture?
The brand burning his flesh?
Is that what I smell?
It's all of you,
isn't it?
It's the smell of your heartless
art and your bone-dry theories,
like last week's vomit.
And the heart has vamoosed
from this culture long ago.
And anybody gets wind of that...
You tortured him,
killed him and you make a
videotape of it and call it art.
I won't have this. You hang the body
from a tree to teach the Caveman a lesson.
And you burn the Caveman's eyes out with
blue skies and green ducks! Green ducks!
Get your hands off me!
I haven't found the clue yet!
You lied to me. You're still
in that cave, aren't you?
And you won't get me out of that
cave, either. You can't matchbox me!
Stuyvesant! We're going to
bring your tower down!
Stuyvesant!
Get out of here.
Lao-tse, what is it?
What is it, you dumb dog?
What? Lao-tse!
Romulus?
Lao-tse, come here.
You scared the shit
outta me.
- You here alone?
- Yes.
Why'd you leave the party?
I hate those parties. What
the hell happened to you?
Your-Your brother's hit man
tried to run me over.
Photographers do not
have hit men, Romulus.
Yeah, well you tell that
to the no-face with the gun.
You're psychotic,
aren't you?
I- I have brain typhoons.
Brain typhoons?
Swarms of moth-seraphs
howl in my skull.
Lies vex them.
Then you'll understand
if I don't invite you in.
Mm-hmm.
- Your brother tortured Scotty.
- That is a vicious rumor.
And when Scotty started to spread the
word around, your brother had him killed.
- David loved Scotty.
- Not what Scotty says.
Scotty had a nervous breakdown.
He was a dope fiend.
Who made him a dope fiend?
Go on, girl, go on out.
Come in here.
Scotty was a junkie
when we met him.
David likes damaged souls. He
says they make better subjects.
If it were true, if David
hurt Scotty in any way,
believe me, I would have
known all about it.
Scotty and I were friends. I was
devoted to him. What are you doing?
Looking for clues.
What kind of clues?
Well, this is the place that they did
the shows, right? The torture shows?
Oh, God.
Don't be scared.
It's not real.
It's all fake, Rom.
It's an illusion.
He uses prosthetics,
clay, wax, all these props.
None of it's real. David says
he wants to "provoke the viewers,
set off tremors in the
subconscious," I don't fucking know.
- S- See, what's that?
- What?
That-That looks like
real blood.
It is.
It's yours.
See, Stuyvesant uses Y-rays
to terrify and-and destroy.
See, Y-rays are crude.
Y-rays are tax collectors and
police brutality and drug wars...
and backed-up toilets.
- But this new weapon...
- Z-rays.
Mm-hmm, Z-rays. Z- rays
are green and soft...
like moonlight and seductive
and... much more vicious.
Z- rays smell like
a rich man's bank account.
They smell like success.
Rom, this is a great story.
I love the no-faces
and that guy in the tower,
but, um, you know
it's bullshit, right?
- It's not reality.
- No, of course not.
Okay.
Stuyvesant's much truer
than reality.
Stuyvesant invented reality.
You're hopeless,
aren't you?
I'm hopeless.
Turn around.
What?
Do you have a match?
Yeah.
Were you scared?
No.
Are you?
Yes.
Some white girls will fuck
any kind of black man.
Crazy, homeless.
Leave me alone, Sheila.
So, uh, what do you
call yourself doing?
- Digging for evidence?
- I'm getting close.
Something happened here,
I can feel it.
I bet you can.
I got Leppenraub on the run.
He knows I'm going to get him.
I'm going to nail that bastard.
I think you're being misled.
Misled by whom?
By you, as usual.
I think you got it all wrong
about these people.
You better open your eyes,
take a look around.
Leave me alone, woman.
How'd you get in here, anyway?
I rode in on your dreams.
Well, ride on out.
You better wake up, baby, before
you get murdered in your sleep.
You hear me?
You better wake up.
Don't mind a little dark.
Daughter?
Jesus, Rom,
what are you doing here?
I didn't... I didn't get you
anything for Valentine's Day.
B-But I found these, and they're
still in pretty good shape.
Don't worry.
I- I don't wanna come in.
I- I just need a ride home.
So, where you been?
What happened to you?
I guess I cut myself shaving.
You don't wanna tell me, fine.
I haven't seen you shaved
since I was a girl.
You look good.
I- I needed a change.
There's a shelter
in my precinct.
There's a waiting list,
but, um, I could get you in.
See that building over there.
That used to be
Sisters of Mercy Hospital.
Uncle Augustus...
that's your great-uncle Augustus...
he used to lecture there.
He was a surgeon.
Did I ever tell you
about him?
Look, Ward's Island.
D- Do you remember
that little playground?
Yeah, you said pirates
lived there once,
and there was
buried treasure.
You used to call me "Captain. "
You used to dig
in that sandbox for gold.
- Look it, Daddy.
- Once I found a balloon there.
You-You thought
you found a balloon.
- No! No!
- You cried...
Yeah, you cried
when I wouldn't blow it up.
You did blow it up
for me.
No, no, I-I bought a real
balloon. I blew that up for you.
Daddy, thank you
for my flowers.
- Little late.
- Still, it's the only valentine I got.
I didn't get you anything.
Oh, you-you still could
if you wanted to.
There is something I kind of
got my heart set on.
What?
It's something I want more
than chocolates or a car or...
What do you want, Daddy?
The autopsy report on Scotty Gates.
I wish I could shake you.
Just shake all that
crazy shit out of you.
Goddamn!
Just a second.
Just for a fucking second,
it was like we were...
talking.
Like I was actually
talking to my father.
You break my heart.
Get out.
Get out!
Get the hell out!
Matthew?
Rom.
I changed my mind.
I don't wanna die.
Who did this to you?
A couple of guys
with stockings on their heads.
Like those fuckers you're always
talking about.
Shut the fuck up.
They wanna scare you, Rom.
They wanna shut you up.
You gotta stay nasty
on them, Rom.
Stay nasty
on those motherfuckers.
Lao-tse. Come on, girl!
Whoo!
You break my heart.
"The victim is the killer. "
Does it hurt?
Please. It's supposed to.
Your pain moves me.
Tell me what you feel.
- Shame?
- Please.
- Fear?
- You're brilliant, okay?
- You're a brilliant artist.
- You're soft.
- Please!
- Soft as a pillow.
Please!
How long...
Why don't...
Why don't you let me die?
Faker.
You haven't experienced
real pain.
...don't you let me die?
How long...
- Why don't you let me die?
- Faker.
You haven't experienced
real pain.
...don't you let me die.
You don't wanna watch that.
Joey.
Give you nightmares.
So, you found my hiding place.
But you're not a detective...
and you're not a cop,
so who are you?
I- I'm the one
that found the body.
- The homeless guy?
- Not homeless.
I live in a cave. So what
the fuck you doing here?
What if he saw you here?
Scotty asked me to help him
before he was killed.
He asked me to help,
and-and I didn't.
So what, you feel guilty?
You feel like it's your fault?
Your fault. Jesus Christ.
J- Joey. Joey.
What d-did he do to Scotty?
Listen.
I came here...
because I thought
David Leppenraub...
was the greatest artist of the
human psyche who had ever lived.
That he knew
all about suffering.
What attracts us to it,
you know?
Why we seem
to reach out to it.
I wanted to be
one of his disciples.
Carry his cameras, film him,
do whatever he wanted.
Whatever he asked, I did.
So did Scotty.
Except once.
Up in that tree.
See, Scotty was scared
of heights.
David wanted to tie him
to that branch,
but no amount of dope would make him do it.
- Give me your hand.
- I can't.
- Let go of the tree. Give me your hand.
It'll be fine. I can't. I can't let go.
- Would you just trust me, please?
- David, please, I'm scared.
I want you to be scared.
Come on, we're losing the light.
- I can't!
- Scotty, if you damage that fucking cage,
I swear I will throw you
out of this tree!
- But, David,
- He's terrified.
Get down, you pussy.
Get out of the fucking tree!
Joey, take off your clothes.
You'll pose this one.
- Scotty, get down.
- I'm going, and I'm not coming back either.
Where are you going to go,
Scotty?
You're never going to touch me again. I'm
gonna tell everyone what you did to me.
Are you?
So, he came down...
and I went up.
And I was
the crucified angel.
Greatest moment of my life.
I got to be inside
Leppenraub's vision.
You have no idea
what that meant to me.
And-and Scotty?
I never saw him again.
Wanna know what I think?
I think
he brought him here.
I think he had Scotty
in the freezer.
I think
he froze him to death.
- Give me the tape.
- Why?
- So we can fight him.
- We can't fight him.
We can go to the cops.
- There's no evidence.
- The tape!
Against David's lawyers?
They'd rip it to shreds.
You don't understand. You can't
fight him. You can't run from him.
You can't just give up.
- Why not?
- Don't you see?
You're next.
You're the next angel.
I know.
Joey?
- Duck! Hide!
- Joey?
Saw you with someone. Who was it?
Who?
You were talking to someone.
Who was it?
Romulus!
What can I do for you?
I need a place to stay.
The cave's not safe.
Uh, I don't think
you can stay here, but
I can call a shelter for you.
Come on in.
Come on in.
Have a lime rickey.
Hey, everyone,
this is Romulus.
Hi, Romulus.
This is a Bob
and Betty festival.
- May I propose a toast?
- Sure.
To the eternal
and-and everlasting cycle...
of failure
and resuscitation.
Hear! Hear!
To the fact the cycle...
seems to be stuck.
And-And the Bobs and Bettys
are always on top.
Let's drink...
to those on top,
stay on top.
And let's drink to those
poor slobs down below.
'Cause they'll always
be "shitslogging. "
Am I right?
They'll believe all of
the lies we tell them!
You're losing it, baby.
Don't bother yourself, Betty.
No need to call the cops.
You're safe up here.
Nothing can touch you.
I need you to believe me.
I need you to believe me.
Leppenraub Foundation,
can I help you?
I have a message
for David Leppenraub.
Tell him this. Tell him the
Caveman made a copy of the tape.
Right? Joey Peasley has the
original, but I made a copy.
And if he wants it,
I'll sell it to him.
Tell him that.
My dearest Lulu,
"By the time
you read this letter,
"they will have killed me.
"And you'll know that everything
I've been saying is true.
"Get Matthew to tell you
the whole story.
"Go to Leppenraub's farm.
Make Joey give you the tape,
"then take all the truth
you've gathered...
"and drive Leppenraub
through the gates of hell.
"I'll meet him there just inside
and deal with him.
"At this very moment, Lulu,
in some other court of time,
"I live not in a cave,
but in a tree house.
'A tree house by the sea.
Please, don't!
"You and I are down on the sand
making a castle.
'And your mother is wading
through the shallows,
'gathering enough sand dollars
to make us all filthy rich.
I love you. Daddy. "
I said don't fuck with us.
Where is it?
If-If you're gonna kill me, you'd better
do it quick. They patrol around here.
- Oh!
- You're gonna talk.
You have to kill me and torture
me, but hurry. Get to the killing.
No, no, no,
we're not gonna kill you.
We're not gonna torture you. See,
that's too easy. That's too cruel.
We're gonna torture your daughter,
little Lulu. 135 Cole Street.
We're going there right now,
Caveman. Wanna come?
No! Aah!
Aah!
See, Caveman,
you're gonna go with us.
We're gonna party with that girl
all night long.
Phone call. Phone call. What?
Hell no.
- I'll get your tape for you.
- Where?
Hey, hey, Captain.
You know the guy that owns
that little videotape?
Well, he wants it back, and
he wants it back real bad.
No explanations.
Tell her where to make the drop.
I'd really appreciate it if you
would bury that treasure for me.
Rom, what are you
talking about?
Did I- Did I hear
somebody with you?
Yeah, yeah,
you heard right, Captain.
Look, I-I know it's late
for this pirate thing, but...
these guys really need you
to do that tonight.
- Do what?
- Look, bury the treasure...
at the place we talked about,
where you found the balloon,
- and-and then clear out.
- Hang up.
- Rom, who is that?
- Look, Captain.
I won't ever ask you for
anything again. I promise.
I know you think I'm crazy,
but I always keep my promises.
All right? Bye-bye.
Baby, what are you doing?
If Lulu knew what I was talking about,
I could call to her and warn her.
- He will kill you.
- But she'll get away.
What if she just turned over
and went back to sleep?
Then, we'll lose her. But she's
gotta be in that playground.
- There's no other choice.
- Come on, asshole. Move!
- Let's go!
- What's your hurry?
Move your ass!
Look it, Daddy.
Is this it? Get in there!
What the fuck is this? You
want me to kill you, don't you?
Police, don't move!
Drop the gun!
I got a gun pointed
to your father's head, bitch!
- So don't spook me. Put your gun down.
- Do it, Lulu!
Wanna see his brains, bitch?
I said drop the fucking gun!
- Shoot him! He'll kill us both!
- Hell no!
You think I'm gonna kill a cop?
Put the gun down and I'll run.
Moth-seraphs of divinity
of vengeance, I need you.
- Put it down, girl!
- Lulu, kill him!
Let him shoot me! Do as
I say, I'm your father!
Do you want me to kill
your father? Put it down, girl!
Now.
Don't! Don't!
Don't move!
- You fucker!
- Lulu, over there!
He's over there!
Daddy. Daddy.
Daddy, it's all right.
It's all right. He's gone.
Are you shot? Am I?
- It's all right.
- We're all right?
We're not shot?
You're alive. I'm
alive. How can that be?
He wasn't aiming at us.
He was trying to finish off
his partner here.
Operator, this is Officer Ledbetter,
New York City Police Department.
I'm at Ward's Island Playground.
I need a bus forth with.
I have a perp shot and the other
perp fled over the footbridge.
He's armed with a gun.
Send backup forth with.
Shaker.
- You know him?
- Mm-hmm. Shaker.
It's Matthew's dealer.
We're looking for the one
that got away.
We figured they must have overheard
you and Matthew on a street,
talking about this valuable tape and
decided they wanted some of the action.
How's he connected
to Leppenraub?
Caveman, come here.
You see that pack of vermin
down there?
If Leppenraub's name comes into
this, no more quiet investigation,
no more slowly
building a case,
just fuckin' weasels
everywhere you step.
Listen, Caveman,
this is detective business.
All due respect,
maybe it's not for you.
Maybe you need what's called
a "rational mind. "
Yeah, m-maybe...
maybe you're right.
I should leave
the police work to you.
Meanwhile, I'll give
my first press conference.
Oh, fuck! Caveman, what
do you want from me?
The autopsy report
on Scotty Gates.
Your daughter dropped it
off this morning.
Knock yourself out.
It says,
"The-The 'periorbital' spaces...
are-are free of extravasated
blood and edema. "
It says,
"The-The 'sclerae'...
"are an-
'anicteric. "'
What it doesn't say
is anything about a brand.
Matthew says Scotty
was-was branded.
"Blood-red valentine
on his butt. "
Why didn't the autopsy
mention that?
It's just gone? Vamoosed?
How'd it do that?
What the hell's
Stuyvesant up to now?
Did you fuck Scotty Gates?
Did you come all the way
up here to ask me that?
- Mm-hmm.
- Why?
I have to know.
If you fucked him,
then you saw his butt, right?
- Right?
- I guess so.
Then, you could tell me if-if
there's a heart brand on his butt.
A heart?
I guess I could.
If I saw his butt.
But...
I didn't see his butt.
'Cause I didn't fuck him,
'cause he's gay
among other things.
Do you think that I fuck
everybody, Rom?
You-You said
you were devoted to him.
A different kind
of devotion.
Hello, Romulus.
It's nice to see you again.
Hi, Moira.
You know, it's, um,
it's interesting that you
mention this heart thing.
I have a little confession
to make.
You got what I want?
Got a little atonement
for me, master?
Does it hurt?
It's supposed to.
It's not over yet.
'Course not,Joey.
'Cause it's not his money
you're after, is it?
What are you doing here?
You want the glory...
a little recognition, and he denied you.
- Did you tell him that?
- I did treat you somewhat shabbily.
That time you took Scotty's
place up in the tree,
I know I wasn't
appreciative enough.
He didn't even acknowledge
it was you.
He passed you off
as Scotty.
- I scoffed at your ambitions.
- He didn't see your genius.
And that twisted your brain
around in its socket, right, Joey?
'Cause you're a great artist.
You're a genius.
The master of suffering.
And yet, he called you a faker.
Soft. Soft as a pillow.
Never experienced real pain.
You don't know what pain is.
Why the fuck
did you talk to him?
So, one day, you decided you
were going to show Leppenraub...
who the real master was.
So, you took Scotty in the big freezer...
and you made your own art.
You froze him to death.
Are you saying I killed Scotty Gates?
Masterpiece of suffering.
You're schizo.
Scotty was nuts.
He was homeless, that's why he
froze to death. Everybody saw him.
Everybody saw you!
That wasn't Scotty Gates running
around the village, that was you.
You're so beautiful.
You figured if Leppenraub
could pass you off as Scotty,
then-then you could too.
You played the victim,
but the victim was the killer.
It's brilliant, Joey. You're
radiant. You radiate Z-rays.
- This is bullshit!
- Then you took the tapes you've made,
and you-you put Leppenraub's
voice on them from your interviews.
All that stuff he's been
spouting, you put it all in.
Does it hurt? It's supposed to.
But they were just words
strung together.
You twisted them so you
could blackmail Leppenraub.
- I told you to keep your mouth shut!
- Meanwhile,
you were watching me.
You set me up.
And when you were ready,
you-you left your valentine
outside my cave.
'Cause you knew I'd go around ranting
about the evil David Leppenraub.
The cops?
They wouldn't believe me.
The rumors would scare the hell out of
Leppenraub,
so you became my nightmare.
You played me.
You knew all my chords.
You thought the no-faces
could control me,
but I'm a free man!
You're insane!
You're a lunatic!
And you're a fucking genius!
Tell him. Tell him.
Tell him about the little moths
that live inside your head.
They're not moths!
They're moth-seraphs.
The moth-seraphs
of divinity and vengeance!
And they're sick and tired
of your lies and your deceit!
And they're gonna fly you
straight to hell!
Look at him!
He's a lunatic!
Do you really think he was
going to help you, you asshole?
If this is what you got,
you got nothing!
Scotty?
Scotty!
You set me up,
you fuckhead?
You're supposed to be dead.
Scotty, they said
you were dead.
Get your hands off me,
you stupid faggot!
You're gonna die now, Caveman.
- Joey!
- Drop the gun, police!
Police!
Get down!
Matthew!
Matthew!
You never knew Scotty Gates.
How did you do it?
How the hell did you know?
So, how did you know?
His heart.
Matthew said that Scotty had
a heart branded on his butt.
But it wasn't in the angel pictures,
and it wasn't in the autopsy report.
So, I asked Moira.
'Cause I thought maybe
she had sex with Scotty.
So, I asked her about the heart, and
she said of course she remembered.
But not on Scotty,
on Joey.
Moira had sex with Joey.
Yep. With me too.
These are good.
Can I have another?
Maybe you should slow down.
Why did you let Joey
have so much power over you?
You could have
called his bluff.
I mean, the police would have
known the tape was a fake.
He wouldn't have taken it
to the authorities.
He would have circulated it
at parties.
Success is fragile,
Mr. Ledbetter.
Do you know what it is
to have a muse?
I think I do.
Joey was nothing like him.
But sometimes,
if the light was just right,
I could almost believe.
I guess I'll have to
find another one.
Look at you.
Drunk as a skunk.
Oh, but I put a nick
in Stuyvesant's armor.
Stuyvesant?
Haven't you
figured it out yet, baby?
Don't you know
what killed Scotty Gates?
Not Stuyvesant, not
Stuyvesant's no-face slaves,
just craziness.
That's what makes
all these victims.
None of your fancy demons,
just plain ol',
run-of-the-mill craziness.
That's the only beast
you have to tame.
Rom.
I liked what you played,
up at the party.
Little raw, little rusty,
but it was good to hear.
You have a beautiful face.
In a strange turn of events,
police were aided by a homeless man,
Romulus Ledbetter, who resides in
a rocky enclosure in Inwood Park.
Ledbetter, known to locals
as "The Caveman, "
was instrumental in the capture
and arrest of Joseph Peasley,
who is suspected of murdering
Scott Gates.
Gates' body was found in the
same park on Valentine's Day.
A police spokesperson stated that
"The Caveman" is a local hero.
Daddy.
I wanted to warn you.
You know, you could
come home for awhile.
I mean, if you wanted to.
I don't think Mama would mind.
You know, just...
just for awhile.
Y- You know, Lulu,
I don't think so.
Maybe some other time.
Thanks just the same.
Daddy, I want you to know...
I am really...
I'm proud.
I'm proud of you.