Sequestered

Why didn’t we have another child?

We always wanted a boy and a girl.

Why didn’t we try for another?

We are very busy people.

He never finished it.

We bought him all of this stuff,

but we couldn’t buy him the time to finish his alien invasion.

We just kept buying him more and more and more stuff

to keep him busy so that we could...

do our oh-so-important work.

Did you ever wonder if we didn’t have all of this,

maybe Malcolm wouldn’t have kidnapped him to get it?

I don’t know.

We needed this shit.

Not Nicholas. He would’ve been happy

with a box of colored markers.

It was our ambition that got him killed.

Helen, please don’t. It’s true.

It is not true. What got him killed

was the greed of another man.

It is not our fault that he died.

Please be seated. That’s not necessary.

But will the foreman please remain standing?

Do you have an update for the court on this fine Saturday?

Yes, Your Honor, I’m afraid we still haven’t reached a verdict.

And will you? Or are you hopelessly deadlocked?

I wouldn’t call it hopeless, no.

When a jury has been deliberating for several days,

the American Bar Association presents us

with a standard admonition.

I’m going to risk deviating from this,

if only to stress the importance of your verdict.

I know you’ve been deliberating for five days.

I know you’re all at odds with each other.

You all have other responsibilities.

Well, like it or not, you 12 have been chosen.

And that means you have another responsibility

to an eight-year-old boy

who was snatched from his bed in the dead of night

and discarded, lifeless.

The man who was accused is waiting

in a prison cell for your verdict.

This is not about you.

This is about them.

So the next time any of you feel

that a consensus just cannot be reached,

I want you to ask yourself this question:

Why am I really here?

Hey, Dad. Uh, it’s me.

I’m just checking in to see how things are going.

I am stuck going to a work thing, um,

but I need to show you something,

so, uh, I’ll give you a try as soon as I’m done.

Okay.

Hope you’re feeling lucky today.

I’m gonna take your gag out so you can eat.

Don’t you dare scream.

I don’t want to hear even the tiniest peep out of you.

You got me?

Not unwholesome rec room.

You acquire us a couple of libations.

Sure. And I’ll see you presently.

Okay.

Uh, hi.

Two Macallans neat, please. Thank you.

So you friends with that prick?

Uh, my boss.

Let me tell you something.

He may look like the Emperor Strikes Back,

but that guy gets more vag than a gyno.

I’m sorry, do I know you?

No. But I know your boss...

better than I’d like to.

Oh. He’s your lawyer.

Nice to meet you. Likewise.

So I guess that makes you my lawyer too then, huh?

It does.

If you, uh, dislike him so much, why do you retain our counsel?

Because he slaughtered my lawyers in that billion-dollar

patent infringement case. That he did.

I don’t gotta like him.

I just care that he wins.

Makes sense. Yeah.

Breed and multiply, my little green friends.

Hey. Here he is.

My friend and protégé Danny, the rising star of our firm.

Take a good look at this handsome face.

You’ll be seeing a lot more of it. George, Arthur, Niles.

You may know Arthur. Oh, yeah, Your Honor.

You’ve presided over four of my trials.

Cut the Your Honor crap. Here I’m just Artie.

A-And you’re--

California State Bar Ethics Investigator.

Been taking money from your boss here for years.

Haven’t busted him for an infraction yet though.

Niles Baxter. Prince of Darkness. It’s his game.

Hey. Hi, Niles. Danny Firmin. Pleasure to--

You know, he doesn’t look like he has any money.

I thought you were gonna vouch for him.

Hush, my darling. Ahem. Well, I think, uh,

looks can be deceiving, Niles.

There is a kids’ table. It’s over there.

It’s a joke. Just a joke.

Don’t be a dick, Niles. Niles can be a dick.

That is all I have. That’s gonna be plenty.

The game is Texas hold ’em. No limit.

Small blind’s 150. Big blind’s 300.

The thing that I am still finding it hard to reconcile

is Malcolm’s DNA in the boy’s fingernails.

Exactly. But more than that,

why wasn’t there any scratch marks on Malcolm’s body?

That’s something I hadn’t thought about.

Who’s to say that the scratches didn’t heal

before he was arrested?

It was 10 days after the kidnapping.

True, but for the fact that it would take typically two weeks

for an ordinary scratch to heal.

But in this circumstance, well, it would take much longer.

So, doc, in your expert opinion,

by the time they arrested Malcolm,

he should still have marks on him if he had been scratched?

Yes. But he didn’t.

This is getting awfully kumbaya.

Yeah, it’s all well and good,

only I don’t think that we should be

considering each other’s testimony,

no matter how expert it may or may not be.

The trial happened already.

Beautiful. I’ll have another one of these, please.

Give the boy one. Make it a double.

What was the name of the last guy you brought in here?

Funny little Puerto Rican fellow? What was his name?

Alberto.

Alberto. My CPA.

The chump left here, pockets loaded,

and, um, he got mugged three blocks from here.

Mugged. Beaten to a pulp.

So you see, getting lucky isn’t always good luck around here.

I’m all in.

I will call.

That is like a kick in the nuts.

That is so harsh. Don’t be so glum.

Because when you’re walking out of here with empty pockets,

think of Alberto.

Okay, Danny, that’s enough.

Another night. I’m not done.

Why don’t you play me without your jacket on?

Without my jacket on?

What? Jacket? I like my jacket.

Well, I would, but you have no money.

It’s your game. You can change that.

Is he good for it? Yeah, sure.

Okay. Well, then let’s give him another hundred grand.

His first hundred grand.

And someone put this jacket on a hook.

I think it’s time for another vote.

But before that I want to go over a few more points--

Oh, hell no. It’s been a long damn day,

and we’re calling it quits for the night.

All those for not guilty?

Whatever’s going to get us out of here the fastest.

What she said.

Nine. All those--