The Sinner

I met Frankie on July 3rd.

But I didn't know him as Frankie. He told me his name was J.D.

Hey, remember this guy from back then, J.D.?

You think you can, uh, just hook me up with him?

I can't come see you anymore.

That last time was a mistake.

You've said that before.

The Court orders an examination pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law 730.

What does that mean?

They need to evaluate you to see if you're fit to stand trial.

How do you know Frankie?

Stop it! Stop it!

I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you! Where she hit me?

Same exact places on Frankie Belmont.

She's repeating what she did on that beach.

She doesn't even know it.

Mommy?

Mommy?

Mommy?

Oh, look, you can see Raymond's Gulch from here.

You're like a gazelle.

I think it's the zumba.

Oh.

Okay, come on. Let's go.

Okay.

Have you ever been diagnosed with any mental health issues?

No. Never.

Are you taking any medication for any mental disorders?

No, 'cause I don't have any mental disorders.

Can you define what it means to be "found guilty"?

Have you ever tried to harm yourself?

Sometimes I used to imagine what it would be like as a kid.

When you picture yourself as a kid, how old are you?

I don't know...

Thirteen, fourteen.

And what would you say to your 13-year-old self right now,

if you had the chance?

You're killing her!

You'll be right down the hall!

William, be careful!

Jesus!

Run.

Look, Harry, it's real farm to table food.

Pork chop, two-inches thick,

perfectly cooked in this cider jus.

Man, Faye would love it. It's worth the drive. You should try it.

Didn't you drive an hour once to try an artisanal donut?

Man. Wasn't that you?

I'm not talking about donuts. I'm talking about...

Hey, 730 results on Cora Tannetti.

She passed because technically she should pass.

She's lucid. She's aware of her circumstances.

Her judgment isn't compromised.

What would you say if I told you that I think there was a song

that was playing on the beach and it drove her to kill Belmont?

And the same song drove her to attack me?

In the interview, the song was playing,

and she attacked me in exactly the same way that she attacked Belmont.

Same movements. You know, same number of hits.

Like she was repeating everything.

It sounds like P.T.S.D. psychosis.

We see it in combat veterans a lot.

Something associated with Cora's trauma

triggers her memory of the trauma.

The memory replays like a hallucination.

To Cora, it's real. It's like it's happening all over again.

It can be terrifying.

So she's somewhere else, and she's stabbing someone else?

Possibly.

Thank you very much.

Hello?

Mason?

Hi. You okay?

Yeah.

Are you okay?

Mmm-hmm.

You working?

Not today.

You know, the press has been following me around,

so I decided to stay home.

Listen, I know you're upset, and you have every right to be.

But I need you to do something for me, and I just hope you say yes.

Please bring Laine to see me.

It's all hitting me, and I just need to see him.

I promise I won't upset him. I just...

All right. I will.

Really?

Yeah, yeah, I'll take him, of course.

Thank you.

Mr. Lacey?

Hello.

Come in. Please.

We haven't been in contact with her for several years.

The whole business...

It's a shock.

Yeah.

Can I ask why you haven't been in contact with her?

Because when we interrogated her,

she said that both her parents were dead.

Cora chose the path that she did.

From the beginning, there was something wrong with her.

There was nothing we could do.

When was the last time you had contact with her?

She ran away five years ago.

Right around the Fourth of July, 2012.

That weekend. It was her sister Phoebe's birthday.

So she was 23 then.

That's a bit old to "run away".

Cora was selfish.

Phoebe was on death's door, and she just left.

She just disappeared. She was only thinking about herself.

Elizabeth.

Cora's sister Phoebe was sick since birth.

She died about a month after Cora left of lymphoma.

When Cora left, where did she go?

Did you ever file a missing persons report...

Cora died when she left this house.

Give her another hit.

It'll loosen her up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Calm down!

Calm down!

No. No. Please. No, please don't.

Please. Please. Not my arms.

Please not my arms!

Easy. Calm down.

The medics moved her in here last night.

She's stable now.

I'll move her to an interview room. You can talk with her there.

I was off base last time we spoke, and I'm sorry.

I heard about last night.

Would you show me?

All right.

Is it the same on the other arm? Can you show me?

Heroin, right?

When did it start?

Five years ago.

Before I met Mason.

Was that after you ran away?

Your parents told me.

You saw them?

You shouldn't believe anything they say.

They told me that you left on Fourth of July weekend.

That was the same night as your story about Frankie.

Where'd you go?

Dorchester, uh, and Kingston.

And I was high the whole time.

Yeah, who were you with?

Cora, nobody gets into this kind of stuff alone.

I barely remember.

I would sleep with guys for fixes.

So it didn't really matter who.

Hmm.

Please don't tell my family.

Mason thinks that this is, um,

from a hospital infection

that I got when I was young.

His parents don't know.

They will tell my son.

I can't promise that.

That's my job. Please.

I can't.

I have told you everything else.

This is the only thing.

I hate you.

I should've noticed them.

No, no, no, they're covered in blood. We all missed it.

Mason Tannetti?

Did he get her into this?

No. I mean, honestly, he was kind of a dick in high school,

but he was never a junkie.

Yeah, I gotta take this.

Detective Ambrose.

(OVER PHONE) Hey, Harry. It's Walt over at County.

You wanted to know when Cora Tannetti had any visitors.

Well, she had a new one this afternoon.

Good afternoon, Miss Lacey. You have a visitor.

Margaret Lacey?

I was hoping we could talk for a minute about your niece, Cora Tannetti.

Are you sure I can't offer you anything?

No, I'm fine.

I understand you visited Cora today?

Yes.

What, was I not supposed to?

No, no. It's fine.

Our Town. I know that one.

Look, um, I'm trying to help your niece.

Just trying to understand what happened to her and, uh...

I'm not out to get anybody.

I'm sorry.

It's just this whole thing. Very upsetting.

So you were close with Cora?

I tried to be, over the years, but Elizabeth, her mother,

she disapproved.