Pistol Whipped Page #4

I want any of that.

Hey, Matt, a wound like that,

it's going to hurt

like hell, man.

Yeah, but you know what?

I like the pain.

It keeps me feeling awake

and alive, you know?

Something bothering you?

Why didn't you

kill our asset?

Well, I feel bad about that.

Hey, Matt, you live in

a new world, man.

Your world,

it's old, it's dead.

There's contradictions everywhere,

especially here with you and me.

You and me, we kill people.

Now I happen to believe that

they deserve it. Like Bruno.

Besides helping the North Koreans

flood the US with counterfeit money,

he was responsible for at

least 50 hits that I know of.

Now, do you feel bad

about what you did to him?

No.

No.

Yet what I hear is that you left a

little girl being about Becky's age,

who's crying herself to sleep

every night over losing her old man.

Now, Bruno was a scumbag

of a human being, you know,

but he was probably

a good dad.

Always there for his

daughter, like, every day.

How's that make you feel now?

That makes me feel terrible.

You're coming back, Matt.

You know that, right, Matt?

You're coming back, Matt.

MATT:
I guess some folks

would call me a dirty cop.

I mean, I wasn't, like, stealing anything,

but I was dirty in some people's minds.

Steve, you know, he was like, you know,

as clean as a Safeway chicken, man.

Like an altar boy.

He didn't take anything, but

everybody liked him anyway.

But he owed me because

I'd saved his life.

There was this drug money

piled in a warehouse.

And by this time I was gambling away

most of my daughter's college tuition,

my wife was about to leave me

or throw me out.

I had markers all over town.

This money, something

that if I was really dirty

could have been looked at

as my salvation.

And then the money disappears, along

with my partner at the time, Jim Mescow.

Jim's never found,

neither's the money.

Well, the department's looking

around for somebody to blame,

and they didn't have

to look very far.

Except I really didn't

take the money.

I was out at the track

playing a tip,

trying to get even,

when I lost every penny I had.

So I came back and got drunker

than I'd ever been,

passed out in this flop pad that I had

that I used to take girls to, you know.

I didn't really tell Steve what

happened, only that I didn't do it.

I begged him for help. He owed

me because I'd saved his life.

So he lied to the brass and said

I was with him on a stakeout.

As soon as he said that,

I was off the hook.

They couldn't put me in jail,

but they threw me off the force.

And I kind of crawled into the hole

that seems to be my life at the moment.

You had nothing. No money, no

job. You owed money all over town.

How'd you survive?

Well, a couple of

months went by,

and then one day my markers were kind

of mysteriously paid by unknown persons.

I had a few years after that,

then a bunch of bad ones.

Horses stopped coming in,

the cards went bad.

And here I am, in heavy debt,

and once again

somebody's holding my markers.

What are you going to do?

End this.

(LAUGHING)

(DOOR OPENS)

You know, I married Steve

to get away from all this,

and it followed me anyway.

How you doing, Liz?

I'm okay.

MATT:
Good.

I thought you quit drinking.

Yeah. Well,

I started up again.

I hope I didn't have

nothing to do with that.

What can I do for you, Matt?

Well, as you might expect,

I'm here to see Steve.

Right. Not me, of course.

It would never be me.

You used to always come here to see me,

and now I don't really exist anymore, do I?

That's not true.

But I am not married

to you now.

I know.

But you used to be.

And I am still the mother

of your daughter.

You never talk to me

about her.

You know, you talk to Steve

about all that stuff.

You say, "How's Becky doing?

How was that dance thing?

"Does she need braces?

How are her grades?"

I just wish that you would

talk to me about that stuff.

She's our daughter.

Yeah, so do I.

It's a funny thing, I never

was very good at marriage,

and somehow it seems like

I'm even worse at divorce.

(LAUGHING)

Hi.

Hi.

(SIGHS)

MATT:
Somebody wants you dead.

What's wrong with

your arm, Matt?

Are you listening to me?

Somebody wants you dead.

Your arm, it's stiff, you

can't move it, what happened?

(INAUDIBLE)

Someone is gonna kill you.

Is it gonna be you?

I don't think so.

I hope not.

Any more dead bodies turn up

and I'm coming after you.

Now I'm not asking you, I'm

telling you, get out of town.

I can't do that

'cause I owe you.

(INAUDIBLE)

Dad.

Matt! Matt, come back!

Matt!

Dad!

No, stop. Let go of me!

Just let go of me.

Steven, what's the

matter with you?

Father Maloney?

Yes?

My name is Steve Shacter.

I'm a friend of Matt's.

Oh, yes, the police

detective. He's spoken of you.

Wait. What's happening?

I'm out.

Lower your piece, Matt.

No, Blue, you lower yours.

You know what I sense in this?

A divine sense of fate.

You hold your fate

in your hands here, Matt.

You know,

you took your life back.

A week ago you were wandering

aimlessly, now look at you.

Yeah. Let me

ask you something.

It seems like you all want me

to kill one of my best friends.

See, that's why I got

a little bit upset.

Steve is a piss-ant cop

making $80,000 a year

who just made detective.

I look at him as an innocent

victim. I'm confused.

Hey, Matt, Steve was working

for both of the other targets.

Using his new division to support

them and feed them information.

It's all very nice,

very clean.

He kills somebody for them, then

he's appointed to solve the crime.

Now Bruno and Ling,

they were working with Steve.

He's not on the take,

he's one of them.

I find that hard to believe.

I really do.

Is there anything wrong?

Well, Matt might

be in trouble.

Do you have any idea where

he might be? Where he is?

The only places I can think of are

the usual ones you'd know yourself.

His home, the bars he frequents,

places he likes to gamble.

I have a few men checking

those places out,

but I don't think we're

going to have much luck.

He's dirty, Matt,

he's dirty to the core.

He's dirtier

than you ever were.

Who do you think took that

money out of the warehouse?

See, now you're reaching.

Why?

Because you know what?

It just doesn't make sense.

Steve got caught lying for me,

lost days with pay,

and the fact of the matter is,

if he hadn't done that,

he'd have made detective

four years ago.

He lied to you.

You saved his life, he lied for

you, that's it, nothing more.

Did he tell you anything

about it, us, him and me?

I'm afraid I can't tell you. The

privacy of the confessional and all.

I understand, Father,

but this isn't about putting Matt in

jail, this is about trying to help him.

If I knew where you

could find him, Detective,

I would tell you and gladly.

But that's one thing

I have no idea about.

What did he tell

you about us?

I told you, Detective,

whatever Matt said to me,

I can't speak of such things.

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