True Detective

How'd a water stain get there?

It rained maybe twice this last year.

It's like everything's papier maché.

Stop thinking.

I don't like being on a ledge.

Nobody gets rich on their own money.

I never really knew what to do with it.

Money.

I see that about myself.

You always said you want lots of land.

Yes.

But you need children to leave it to.

It's never really yours.

You don't take it with you.

You don't take anything with you.

Just yourself, whatever that was.

I've worked my whole life, same as you.

And not being poor is better than the opposite.

My old man back in Chicago,

when I was a kid... (CHUCKLES)

...he used to lock me in the basement when he'd go on a bender.

Usually last the night. Let me out the next day.

Thought he was keeping me safe, I guess.

This one time, I was six,

he puts me down there,

and I wake up,

and it's locked.

It had happened before.

Anyways, I guess he ended up arrested. I guess.

God, baby.

Well...

By the second morning

I was out of food.

The third day, the, uh, lightbulb burned out.

Pitch black in there.

That's when the rats started coming out.

I dozed off and...

I felt the thing, you know, nibbling my finger.

I woke up.

It was, you know, chewing my finger.

What did you do?

I grabbed it in the dark with my hands and I started smashing it.

And I just kept smashing it

till it was nothing but goo in my hands.

Two more days I was in there,

in the dark,

till my dad comes home.

Sometimes I wonder how many things you have like that

that I don't know about.

Ever since, I wonder,

what if he never comes home?

What if

I'm still in that basement

in the dark?

What if I died there?

That's what that reminds me of.

What?

That water stain.

Something's trying to tell me that

it's all papier maché.

Something's telling me to wake up.

Like...

Like I'm not real.

Like I'm only dreaming.

TOD between 4:00 and 9:00 a.m., morning of the 26th.

Tox shows Xanax, alcohol,

also had gonorrhea, for what it's worth.

Hydrochloric acid on his eyes. Burn pattern tells us he was on his back.

Lack of spray around the orbital cavity indicates precision.

Some kind of glass eyedropper, maybe.

He's our body.

I don't see that changing, so why don't you all fill me in?

Victim is a key figure in a state's investigation.

- What state investigation? Newly formed.

We're looking into various allegations made against Vinci in the papers.

Vinci detectives have been on Caspere as a missing person for two days.

We have the man's house, which was burglarized.

You want to shut us out,

we'll continue our investigation autonomously.

In Vinci, so everybody can keep their little corners to themselves,

but, ladies and gentlemen, PD is solving this case.

I understand Ventura. How does the state have any claim here?

Our officer found the body.

This could get you out from under, Woodrugh.

That actress bullshit. You'd be detailed as a state's investigator.

The Caspere homicide is your public investigation.

Looking into Vinci PD is your confidential mandate,

gathering intel for a grand jury.

This probe is very important to the governor's office.

Say this goes your way.

How's it play for my boy here once the dust settles?

Everything shakes out,

you'll be offered a chance to remain investigator.

In line for a state detective shield.

We can wipe away all that admin hassle.

When this is over,

can I just go back to being on the bike?

You can see abrasions on his wrists and ankles,

lividity on his torso.

He was bound upside down, or close to it.

Attorney general's office has concerns about obfuscation on the part of Vinci PD.

Detective Bezzerides, you'll be primary commander of the detail.

Secondary is gonna be a Vinci guy, Velcoro.

Your DB was into a lot of LA County money.

His house was broken into, So you're going to Vinci.

Vinci detective with you, word is he's bent.

Work him. Leverage something to turn him.

We'll have a full state probe up inside a week.

Caspere's death is a window into everything.

And what is "everything" exactly?

You know anything about the city of Vinci?

It started out as a vice haven, early 1900s.

Went industrial in the '20s.

Pushed out residents from manufacturing zones.

Worst air polluter in the state.

Annually emits or processes 27 million pounds of toxic waste.

Reds tried to stop my grandfather from industrial rezoning.

Same thing.

Geldof's been after us since we won the last EPA suit.

It's about money, Detective Velcoro.

Caspere was one of the architects of the community renewal initiative.

Passing legislature, our city gets to keep 75% of its county tax revenue for eight years.

- And what's that worth? About $900 million.

Being kept from the county general fund.

Hell, Ernst, it's our money.

Vinci's a goddamn success story in a depressed economy.

State's gonna use the homicide to dig into whatever they can, Ray.

Wherever the Caspere case goes, we need you running point.

Control the sprawl. Control the flow of information.

Dixon is secondary to you, staging out of Vinci.

You'll be working under a Ventura detective commanding the task force.

That clear to you, Detective?

10-4, Lieutenant. Just one question.

Am I supposed to solve this or not?

Just no surprises, Detective Velcoro.

Ray accepts dualities must be effected to, uh, serve public interests.

I really do.

Bound? Vinyl fabric.

You can see the edge of the buckle's imprint on both wrists.

Tape residue.

Pelvic wounds are from a 12-gauge at point-blank range.

Some kind of Super X heavy load.

Came after the eye stuff. Official COD is heart attack.

- Trauma-induced. - A coup de grace.

Lividity indicates he was placed in an upright position after death.

Spent a few hours that way. Nothing under his nails, no prints.

No trace at all?

His eyes? What the fuck kind of modus operandi is that?

Doc said it was hydrochloric acid.

And a shotgun blast happened.

Torture. Somebody wanted to know something.

Yeah, his house was tossed.

Somebody's making a move.

What? What does that mean?

- You knew Caspere? - There's deals being done upstate.

- A lot of money moving around. What deals?

You pull my string? Is that how this works?

Jesus, Frank. The more I know, the better I can deal with this.

This is what you deal with.

Caspere was important to this thing I have going on.

I've got to clean it up now.

So, you beat the bushes until you figure it out.

You ain't no sheriff's brownie. You're a detective.

- Who's your best informant? -(SCOFFS)

Are you serious?

Fucking hell, Raymond.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Fuck me.

So good to see you.

- Why don't you visit me more? - Just busy. The job.

The job. We haven't had dinner in ages.

- That's why I brought you this, Ma. -(SMACKS)

Don't give me that "Ma" shit.

It's too late for us to start all that now.

Well, you ought to eat something.

Oh, I don't touch bread.

Peel that skin off for me, Paulie.

So strong.

I saw your old prom date the other day.

She got fat.

I remember her. Couldn't wait to have somebody's baby.

- She was nice. She was nice to me. -(CHUCKLES)

All the girls are nice to you, Paulie.

You haven't figured that out by now?

Want to stay tonight? We can watch a Clint movie.

You can have your old room.

I'm working on something.

- Just came to see... - Who is she, you scamp?

You rake.

You got hound's blood just like your daddy.

I'm not gonna be around for a while. I've got to work around LA and the coast.

- Special detail. - Mmm.

Then stay. We can play cards.

You can have your old room.

You been getting any more shifts at the restaurant lately?

Not with my carpal tunnel. I'd lose my state check, anyway.

I thought Bill was letting you work off the books.

Oh, Bill? Don't talk to me about that motherfucker.

(ON TV) Are you gonna give yourself up or do this the hard way?

There ain't no easy with me. You know that.

Damn. I so hate making a mess.