Rampart Page #3

to our mistakes

we both know how this

act is gonna end

After Boston and seattle

we thought maybe California

was the place

Thought I might hold out awhile

and we could start to move

from grass to grace.

You're wearing a courtroom suit

and you have litigator eyes.

You here for me?

No.

Dave.

Linda.

Gordy!

Isn't there a game on?

I can't find the clicker.

Yeah.

Tell me you're not a lawyer.

Okay, I'm not a lawyer.

Are you selling something? Art?

Insurance? Pharmaceuticals?

- What about real estate?

- Great.

That's good.

Yep. I'm in from Phoenix.

My 87-year-old husband

He's taking a six-hour nap,

I'm taking a five-hour walk.

How's that work for you?

- Perfect.

- Good.

- I am looking to refinance.

- That's good.

Gordy.

Anyway, thank you for

talking to me.

Yeah, well, I figure I'll be safe.

Everybody's watching

your every move.

Now they're watching you.

Maybe I like being watched.

Well, I'm watching you.

You are the most beautiful

woman I've ever seen...

in this bar.

What are you doing?

I gotta go.

Sneaking out on me?

- You don't have to go.

- I gotta go.

Come here. Give me that purse.

I gotta go.

- You don't have to go anywhere.

- I gotta go. I do.

Okay, I gotta go. I have to go.

You have to stay.

- What's the matter?

- Jesus! Hartshorn.

You too famous for me

all of a sudden?

It's all deliberate provocation.

They predicted your response,

and you fell for it.

And who are "they?"

"They?" They who don't like you.

And why me?

Because they don't like you.

Look, what do I know?

Maybe it's a coincidence

the camera was there.

Look, if this is the gang

fucks, I don't mind.

Or generic criminal scum, bogus

lawsuit settlement scum.

Press scum.

I can deal with scum.

But if this is Rampart, L.A.P.D.,

some f***ing girly politician

setting me up as a sh*t magnet

to take the heat off

the f***ing scandal,

I gotta go deep into this.

Look, what can I do?

I am just a law-abiding retiree

enjoying his golden years.

F*** you with the Mickey

Cohen routine, old man.

You've got your fingers

in more Department twat

han any active cop I know.

Now, milk your contacts.

I've got cash left from

the Harris job.

Thanks for that, by the way.

You could just stop

beating people up.

This isn't your father's

L.A.P.D., you know.

I know.

It's more fun than a

barrel of monkeys.

It is a barrel of monkeys.

I'll get through it. I always do.

You know, when you first

came in the Department,

I wasn't certain whether you

were the dumbest rookie ever

or the most bull-headed.

I'm still debating it.

That's what my old man

said about you,

you were the most bullheaded

man he ever met.

I should have filed

Murder One on you

for that date-rape shooting.

I would've booked him on

eleven counts of rape,

Sodomy One, penetration with

a foreign weapon, etc.

Gentlemen, can we talk about

the present circumstances?

Fourteen years, tops.

I'd say your punishment

breached legal status

as well as moral code.

"The law must acknowledge and

occasionally accommodate..."

"the extraordinary vicissitudes of

justice." Judge D.T. Eagleton, 1946.

I don't know that quote.

You went to Cal State.

At least I passed the bar.

Knock it off.

Barely, I'm told. Hence, politics.

Should I break out the

milk and cookies here?

Can we actually talk about

the possibility

of your holding a press

conference together,

addressing what's happened

with Mr. Parmallee,

issuing an apology, and moving on?

It would help if I'd done

something wrong.

You've done nothing wrong.

Someone planted a camera in my way.

Maybe it's you, maybe

it's someone smart...

definitely smarter than me,

because I don't stop to see

if there's a photographer nearby

when I do the people's dirty work.

So you can't see yourself taking

any responsibility that

moves us beyond this?

No, because the only thing

that's wrong here

is that a camera caught him

doing "police work."

Is this a f***ing joke to you?

You think it's funny?

What is funny and peculiar

to me is how this office

spends all its time going

after decent cops.

Did you do it?

Do what?

Without admitting guilt or

complicity, did you actually

kill that rapist?

Alleged rapist?

Did you do it?

I don't live in the past.

Is that a yes?

Let me rephrase. If you were to have

done it, could you tell me why?

So women would love me.

I don't think that could

be the reason.

I'm curious why you're so curious.

We can talk about it this weekend.

Give me a call.

Brown, I have your number.

I bet you do.

The stupidest trade in the

history of sports...

What did you do to the Captain?

Come on, let's get back

to homework, hon.

You have anything you

want to say to me?

As in what?

Why am I still collecting

a paycheck?

Shondell skipped town.

His nerves are shot. And that civil

lawsuit is still going forward.

Someone upstairs is pulling

strings for you.

Close the door.

Shoot.

Close the door with

you on the outside.

I'm L.A.P.D. And I want

to stay L.A.P.D.

That's the most important

thing for me.

Why?

Why what?

I'm just asking. What if we

negotiated a settlement?

Why is staying a cop the

most important thing?

Because I'm a hard-charging

dutiful motherf***er,

and I want to explicate the L.A.P.D.'s

somewhat hyperbolized misdeeds

with true panache, regardless

of my alleged transgressions.

Capiche?

In other words, I have nowhere

else to go, so...

if I get canned by the Department,

I swear to God,

I'll study for the bar this

time, and come back here

and work as your token fascist.

Well...

we'll need a retainer.

That's standard.

- You're so cute.

- No, you're cute.

- Have you seen my pick?

- No.

- Are you still mad at me?

- Yeah.

Why? What did I do?

Whatever.

You didn't even finish it.

I just quit.

Right.

Hey. You remember when we used

to make up songs together?

You know, like that one...

"I am you and you are me"

- "we were always meant to be"

- No.

"You are me and I am you"

- "And we were meant

to see it through."

- No.

You have to remember that.

I have no idea what you're

talking about.

Let's take a walk.

No, I'm busy.

How long you been standing there?

"You are me, I am you..."

Get out.

Get out, Dave.

Yeah?

Hey. Back in town?

Yeah, it was fun.

What do you mean, "the truth?"

So you were lying about everything?

Dave, we were playing with

each other. C'mon.

I liked the way you moved,

okay? That was it.

It's like a John wayne thing

or something. I don't know.

And I like to suck cock. So sue me.

It seemed like a fine idea

at the time, didn't it?

And you were asking for it, Dave.

"Tell me you're not

a lawyer." I did.

There's something you're

not telling me.

What, that I hate the scum that

I represent? Okay, I told you.

And when I was at the

D.A.'s office,

at least I got to see

these guys go down.

That's not it.

Dave, I help criminals go free

with County cash in their f***in'

pockets because L.A.P.D. Fucks up.

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