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That's that.

I'm sorry.

I'd like to help any way I can.

Really.

You wouldn't like to start

with a cup of coffee, would you?

Right now I'm running on empty.

Okay. Sure.

Great.

Lloyd, I'm so glad you made it.

Hi, Estelle. This is Kathleen McCan'thy.

- Nice to meet you.

- This is Estelle and Dutch Peltz.

- Miss McCan'thy, a pleasure.

- That's Ms.

Oh, yeah. Ms.

- Still a pleasure.

- It's nice to meet you both.

- How you doing, kid?

- Just great.

- Why don't you get Ms. McCan'thy a...

- Kathleen.

Why don't you get Kathleen a drink?

You know where.

Okay, great.

Then maybe we should talk for a minute.

I'll be in the kitchen.

Great.

- Captain.

- Sergeant.

- Would you like a drink?

- Actually, I'd rather smoke a joint.

Well, the guest list makes me nervous.

I work with these people.

They make me nervous, too, okay?

So, where's the powder room?

By the front door. Let's go this way.

Kathleen, I don't make you nervous, do I?

No.

- Not yet.

- Good.

- You dog.

- Dog.

- Chop another one?

- Not yet.

Tonight the night?

No, we are gonna sit around

reading feminist poetry. What do you think?

I didn't know there was going to be

all these heavy hitters here.

Well, that was a surprise, kid.

I took the captain's exam and passed high.

That's great. It couldn't come

at a better time, 'cause...

- I'm going to need all the clout I can get.

- That's my boy.

Couldn't even say congratulations before...

you turn it into something

for your own benefit.

Come on, Dutch, that goes without saying.

Doesn't go without saying

when you want something, though, does it?

This means you heard

about my run-in with Gaffney?

F***ing A, I heard about it.

You think Gaffney's gonna let me forget

you are my boy?

He's wrong about this one, Dutch.

We've got ourselves a serial killer.

There is no way I'm gonna get him

without the help I need.

Five guys, that's all I ask.

I already used all my clout to save your ass.

Now you want me to put it back on the line?

I don't care where you put it,

as long as I get five men.

You better care, because that group in there

is gonna be running the department.

And damn near

half of them are born-agains...

which means they will be gunning

for guys like you.

Every c*nt hound, whoremonger,

troublemaker and kamikaze...

that doesn't go by the book

is on their sh*t list.

Give them a chance,

they'll bounce your ass right off the force.

So don't tell me you don't care

where I put it.

- Anything else I should know?

- Yeah.

I told Gaffney you'd apologize to him.

That's when I expected you to show up

with your wife...

instead of one of your girlfriends.

Shows you what a schmuck I am.

You had no play anyway, Dutch,

because my wife left me.

And I wouldn't apologize to that

sanctimonious cocksucker Gaffney...

if he offered to cop my joint...

in the commissioner's office at high noon.

How about that?

We were just chatting about you.

Did you see my date?

Are we going any place in particular?

It looks like we just passed through here.

We did.

- Are you lost?

- Maybe I am.

I'm sorry, I just like to come down here

sometimes and drive around.

It helps me to clear things out.

- Why here?

- It's where I grew up.

You're kidding.

You're not gonna believe this. So did I.

- No.

- I swear.

- In Silver Lake?

- Back there on Tracy and Micheltorena.

Griffith Park and St. Elmo.

Oh, God!

How about Daniel Webster, class of '66?

Don't remind me. I'm trying to forget

that cesspool ever existed.

You know,

I think it's just right at this corner.

What do you say we swing by

and do a memory lane number?

Don't! Please, don't. I'm sorry.

I don't want to ever see that place again.

- Jesus, it couldn't have been that bad.

- Believe me, it was.

Look, can we just get out of here?

Can we just please get out of here?

Sure.

- Are you okay?

- I'm fine.

The actual truth of the matter is that I

transferred from parochial school because...

the Mother Superior was always...

Thank you.

The Mother Superior was always

trying to get me to show her my breasts.

I talked about it in hygiene class

and attracted...

a following of lonely, bookish girls.

They became my court.

We were all poets, and we all wore

plaid skirts and cashmere sweaters.

We didn't date. There wasn't one boy won'thy

of us at Daniel Webster High.

We were saving it for Mr. Right.

We were convinced that...

he would appear on the scene when we

became published poets of renown.

In the meantime, we...

We sort of loved and cared for each other.

Pathetic, isn't it?

No.

So what happened to your court?

It's what happened to me.

About a week before graduation...

some roughneck, a real...

bad kid, and his flunky...

decided to teach me a lesson.

I was working late at the Clarion.

The school paper?

And they waited until I left my locker, and...

they grabbed me and...

forced me into the boys' bathroom.

I don't have to tell you what they did.

But nothing was ever the same for me again.

I never told this story to a man before.

But I guess it was...

in the way of an explanation or apology

for how strange I was in the car.

They say time heals anything.

I was too scared and ashamed

to tell the police.

And I was too stupid

not to keep it a secret from my court.

So, for one reason or another, they all left.

They all left.

I suppose they had other virtues.

Loyalty wasn't one of them.

The awful part of it was, it was the only time

I ever really needed them...

and they weren't there.

Thanks.

I died.

My heart felt like it was buried forever.

So...

I tried looking for cheap kicks and true love.

I even slept with a lot of women.

I was looking for a new entourage.

It didn't work.

So, I started screwing a lot of guys.

That got me the entourage, all right.

They were all creeps.

I thought the only thing won'thy of my

heart and soul was my writing.

That's all I did.

If it wasn't my poetry, it was my diary.

My poetry finally got published,

and I bought this bookshop.

Here I am.

So, all's well that ends well.

Well, actually, it's not the end of the story.

I left out the most bizarre part

because I was...

I was afraid that, being a man,

you wouldn't understand...

just how affected a woman can be

by this kind of thing.

I got through the rape okay.

I might as well go for the whole enchilada.

- Is that a joke?

- Yeah, it's a joke.

Are you kidding me?

See, this is what I'm talking about.

This is not funny to me.

You come in the store...

you have a degree of sensitivity, I think.

That's the only reason I went out...

with you in the first place...

because you're a perfect stranger,

and a police person on top of that.

- I must be crazy. Maybe...

- Maybe what?

Look, Kathleen, just because a person

uses a few lines to lighten a subject...

doesn't mean that subject is taken lightly,

does it?

Does it?

I guess not.

I mean, I guess so.

Okay. So now you were going to tell me

a story.

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