Messenger of Death (1988) - full transcript
Wifes and children of the Mormon Orville Beecham become victims of a massacre in his own house. The police believes the crime had a religious motive. Orville doesn't give any comment on the case, is taken into protective custody. Journalist Smith persuades him to help him in the investigation - and finds out about economic motives for the murder.
- Now what's happened?
- There are two men outside.
- What do they want?
- I don't know.
- What were they doing, honey?
- Mom, look! He's got a gun!
Come on, upstairs.
- Quick!
- Come on, we're gonna go up.
God in heaven!
May you be damned for eternity!
It's your choice.
Garr.
- How you doing, lion?
- Good to see you, Chief.
I'd like you to meet a friend of mine.
Garret Smith, Homer Foxx.
"- The Garret Smith?
- The Homer Foxx?"
- Well, yes. Nice to meet you.
- Thank you. Nice meeting you.
"- The Josephine Fabrizio.
- Jo. Of course."
Forgive me.
Miss Fabrizio works on the paper too.
- My pleasure.
- Won't you join us?
I have a minute. Why not?
- Sit down, Chief.
- Thank you.
Homer's been trying
to talk me into running for mayor.
- Mayor?
- Would you support that?
I would,
but it doesn't mean the paper would.
Would you and Miss Fabrizio come to
a small gathering to discuss the matter?
' A party?
' Why not?
This is all off the record.
I haven't decided yet.
Excuse me.
Doyle.
You're not supposed to call me
on that sort of thing.
How many?
Jesus.
Right. Right, I'm on my way.
I gotta run.
Jo, take care of the bill.
Nice to have met you, Mr Foxx.
Same here.
This way, Chief.
- What's it look like, Scully?
- Real bad.
- I don't think you'd better come in.
- He's OK.
You guys, in here.
We got one in the bedroom there.
This one down here.
Third one round the corner there.
Upstairs, well, you just won't believe it.
- What do you say, doc?
- 12-gauge shotgun, probably.
I gotta call in for technicians and all the
wagons the coroner can come up with.
One thing we don't need
is the media here.
He's a friend, Scully.
Of mine and the department.
- What's that?
- Beats me.
- Who blew the whistle?
- Some kid. Said he lives down the street.
Came over to play, didn't see anybody
outside so opened the door and came in.
There's Mr Beecham now.
Hey, what's going on here?
- Mr Beecham.
- What is it? What's wrong?
- I'm afraid there's...
- What is it?
- Mr Beecham, do you have enemies...
- What's happened?
No! Wait! Wait!
Piety! Oh, no! Let me go!
What are you doing?
Oh, the children! The children too!
Oh, no, not the children!
Oh, not the children!
Oh, God, no! Not the children!
You...
Oh, God, no!
Dear God. Sweet savior.
Dear God, you have my whole family now.
Be with them, God, please.
- Come on, Garr. Come to bed.
- In a minute.
You've done the piece.
Stop thinking about it.
- You didn't see that place.
- You made me see it.
You made all of Denver see it.
- Have a look at that.
- What is it?
An avenging angel.
It's Mormon. Old Mormon.
Got something I wanna show you.
It's a piece I wrote on the massacre.
I've seen it.
- Treating you all right here?
- Yes.
They tell me you refuse to talk to them.
Nothing to talk about.
- Don't you want them to catch the killers?
- The Lord God will deal with them.
Not the police.
- Do you know who killed them?
- It is not your business.
It is not the business of any Gentile.
By Gentile I guess you mean
anyone who isn't a Mormon.
You're gonna need help, Mr Beecham.
They're not gonna let you go
unless you talk to them.
At least tell them why you think
this happened and who you think did it.
The reason they're holding me,
what they told me,
is that I'm in danger myself.
I don't want their protection.
Can I get you a lawyer?
Jeez.
You're gonna need someone.
There must be someone you can trust.
HEY, guard!
Could I trust you?
Hi. Where can I find Willis Beecham?
- Turn around.
- What?
Hey!
Looks like we got a live one here.
"This guy's a newspaperman.
Denver Tribune."
- Big leagues, eh?
- You'll also find a gun permit in there.
Sure enough. But it's Denver.
Ain't worth cow dab this part of Colorado.
- You guys police?
- This is a private community.
Do you know what we're talking about?
We're the law here.
- I have to see Mr Beecham.
- Why do you want to see the prophet?
They have excommunicated us,
they say. They...
...proclaim it from their pulpits
in their gold-encrusted temples.
But hear me well.
Understand me well.
Know the Antichrist comes
in the guise of a friend.
In the guise of your own brother.
You must recognise him
and smite him!
Your own brother, smite him!
Annihilate him!
Obliterate him from the face of the earth,
and all his progeny.
Amen!
The Lord is in me.
Feel his arms around us.
Feel his strength.
The Lord is my shield and my sword.
The Lord is my shield and my sword.
"- Amen.
- Amen."
- Garret Smith.
- Oh, you know my name?
- You're a journalist. You are not welcome.
- So I've noticed.
We don't want journalistic attention
and you are not one of our faith.
I'm here, sir, because
I have a message from your son Orville.
If Orville wished to send a message,
he would not entrust it to a Gentile.
There's been a terrible tragedy,
Mr Beecham.
Orville's entire family...
You can read it here.
Oh, my God.
- Or... Orville...
- Orville's in jail.
- Jail...
- It's only for his own protection.
He told me to tell you he'd be here soon
and that you were not,
and he emphasized this,
you were not to take action until he's here.
Did he tell you the name of the Antichrist?
No, sir.
Zenas! Zenas Beecham! My own brother!
Put that in your newspaper, Mr Smith.
- Where can I find Zenas Beecham?
- It is not for you to find him.
It is for God to...
God will find him.
You'd better leave, sir.
Willis, sir...
- Anything?
- Beechams all over the place.
No Zenas.
Chief Doyle, please.
Property taxes.
See if you can patch into property taxes.
Right.
Yeah?
Barney. How are you?
Listen, I'm doing a follow-up.
I wanted to find out
if you had anything else.
Not a hell of a lot, Garr.
A lot of Orville's fingerprints,
which figures, since he lived there.
A lot of empty shells, 12-gauge.
We're analyzing them for fingerprints,
what batch they came from,
where they were bought.
- It's a long shot.
- How's Orville? He talking to you yet?
- No. We let him go.
- You let him go?
It was that or charge him.
I hope you have somebody
keeping an eye on him.
Well, we tried to, but we lost him.
Oh, Jesus, Barney.
Don't make us look like idiots.
"Don't make us look like idiots. "
- Bingo!
- What?
Zenas Beecham.
On the tax rolls of Grant County.
"Amtrak train number five
now arriving from Chicago..."
- Garret Smith?
- That's right.
Roy Yates. I'm the sheriff. I was asked
by the Denver PD to meet you.
- I appreciate it.
- Come this way.
Actually, they said
you were checking something unofficial.
- You a reporter?
- That's right.
Actually, they said they didn't even
know what it was you was checking.
I'm trying to find a man
named Zenas Beecham.
He owns property in this county.
You know him?
- What's he wanted for?
- He's not wanted.
But he might or might not know
about a Denver homicide.
I just wanna talk to him.
He's on the county tax rolls all right, but
his place, it's the ass end of the county.
- The benchlands.
- Benchlands?
Yeah, maybe 80 miles west of here.
Down there in the foothills.
You have any information on him?
- Does he have any sort of record?
- Nope.
Got a big family down there.
And a big farm. About all I know.
- Other Mormons out there?
- Mormons?
Is that what this is all about?
- All I'm asking is that you point the way.
- How do you plan to get out there?
- Rent a car, I guess.
- Not in this town.
Ain't any here to rent.
- Maybe I could use one of yours.
- Nope.
All the Denver PD asked me to do
was to meet you, which I done.
"- Pleasure meeting you, Mr Smith.
- Where's the Beacon?"
"- Uh... what?
- Your weekly paper, the Beacon."
Oh, it's up the street there.
- You can't be Garret Smith.
- I can't?
He wouldn't be caught dead
in a town like this.
I was born in a town like this.
What can I do for you, Mr Smith?
I thought! could rent a car up here,
but that was a mistake. I need a car.
- I'll drive you.
- You will?
Yes, and I won't even ask
what you're working on.
- How long have you had this newspaper?
- For years. My husband and I started it.
And then when he died
I just kept it going myself.
The one thing I can't do
is go to the police about Willis.
Not before I hear Zenas's side of it,
anyway.
- What makes you think he'll talk to you?
- He'll have to. It's in his own interests.
You're lucky. You wound up
with one of the few people he will talk to.
I'm not much of a Mormon,
but I happen to be a cousin of Zenas's.
You're kidding!
That's what happens
with multiple marriages.
Everybody's a cousin.
Cousin Zenas!
It's me, Jastra. Jastra Watson.
- Ezra's daughter.
- Right. The one with the newspaper.
- Who is this?
- My name is Garret Smith.
A Gentile?
Worse. I'm a reporter.
I can vouch for him, Zenas.
And he has some things to tell you.
- Some terrible things.
- About the murder of Orville's family.
- You heard.
- It was you who told me.
I told you?
In the Denver Tribune.
Oh. I didn't know
our paper was read down here.
We're just finishing our dinner.
Will you join us?
- That's very kind.
- Thanks. But I'd like to wash up first.
I'll show you where.
Mr Smith. Please.
Mr Smith, this is my wife Rebecca.
And Esther and Florinda and Ursula,
her sisters.
- Welcome to our home, Mr Smith.
- Thank you.
- Welcome.
- And you.
- Cousin Jastra.
- Thank you.
Thank you, Father.
Praise the Lord. Amen.
- Drink it.
- What is it?
Peach juice.
And have some bread and dunk.
- Have some what?
- A biscuit which you dip into the broncos.
It's red plum sauce.
The red plums grow wild here,
so they call them broncos.
You're wondering
if I'm married to all four of them.
No, the only thing I'm wondering about
is if you killed your nephew's family.
Only one person could accuse me of that.
You've seen my brother Willis?
Yes.
Has it occurred to you
that it was Willis who killed them?
His own grandchildren?
There are some, Mr Smith, who believe
that the only fortunate people are the ones
who have atoned for their sins in blood.
Are you saying that if Willis killed those
children, he was doing them a favour?
In his doctrine.
That angel back there.
What does that angel represent?
When my father broke with the
compromisers, the Salt Lake theocracy,
he chose the avenging angel
as his symbol.
OK, but on the question of killing,
doing people a favour, saving their souls,
killing them to save them...
Is that also your doctrine?
I think, Cousin Jastra,
you and your friend had better go now.
As you say, Zenas.
Thanks for your hospitality.
It's Cain and Abel, but which is which?
I keep kicking it around in my head.
Do you think Orville could have done it?
He'd have to be
the greatest actor in the world.
But it's crazy. It's crazy.
This idea of murdering people
to save them.
That's nothing new.
It's what the Inquisition was.
- Did you know their father?
- No, he was before my time.
But I did know Zenas and Willis
hated each other. I mean hated.
I'd think water would be the one thing
they wouldn't have to truck in.
It's serious. Take the shale people.
Do you know how much water they use
to make one barrel of oil?
- How much?
- Nearly six barrels of water.
"If you wrote that up,
I'd sell it to the Tribune for you."
- You'd do that?
- Sure. It's interesting.
That son of a bitch!
I have a feeling
I'll be exploiting you further.
Any time.
I meant it when I said
I'd help you sell your articles.
I know you did. And I appreciate it.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.
Ah! The media!
At last!
- Sorry we're late.
- No problem. No problem.
Let me introduce you around. Come.
Chief Doyle you know.
And this is Mrs Doyle.
We've never met,
but I do feel like I know you.
- Everyone does.
- Thank you.
This is Mr and Mrs Pike.
Miss Fabrizio and Mr Garret Smith.
- Mr Smith.
- A pleasure.
Don't let her looks fool you.
She is a barracuda.
Flattery will get you nowhere, Homer.
This is Miss Lucy Bigelow,
the most philanthropic woman in Denver.
- Miss Fabrizio...
- How do you do?
Shit. We're gonna have to wait
till you have a drink.
- Oh, no, please...
- Why don't we...
"5 table, tout le monde!
Vite, vite, mes enfants! Let's eat."
I know it's a low profit margin, Lucy,
but I think it's undervalued at 150.
- Anything new on the massacre, Chief?
- Not really, Garr.
- Hey, come on, Barney, what's the latest?
- We're working on it.
You don't expect us to back you
if you won't even tell us secrets, do you?
Well, Garr here's the one with the secrets.
Is that true, Mr Smith?
Go on. You've been running around the
country on it. What have you found out?
Do you really want me
to talk about this in public, Chief?
- You write about it in public.
- Yeah, I guess! do.
In the last couple of days I met...
talked to two very interesting men.
They're brothers.
One of them is Willis Beecham,
who's a fundamentalist Mormon preacher.
The other one is Zenas Beecham.
He owns a big farm.
According to Willis,
his brother Zenas did the killing.
According to Zenas, it was Willis.
Either one of them could have done it.
The one thing they have in common
is a very crazy doctrine.
Blood atonement.
- Oh, you know about it?
- I read a book about it once.
This massacre has brought
these two brothers to the point
where they really mean to kill each other.
- Sounds like the perfect solution.
- What?
What do you care
if two crazies kill each other?
Well, I care. And if you expect to be
elected mayor, you'd better care too.
She's right, Barney. If you don't solve
this case, you won't be dog-catcher.
Now, wait a minute.
I'm Denver. I got no authority out there.
Shall we all move into the living room?
- Can't you talk to the governor about it?
- I suppose I can.
Garr, give me a memo on this, will you?
Who they are, where they live.
We have a problem with time here.
Can't we call the governor now?
Look, we don't need the governor. If you
want the state police, I'll get 'em for you.
- Now, anyone care for brandy?
- I would, thank you.
Anybody here know of an outfit
called the Colorado Water Company?
- What do you want to know?
- Who owns it?
I do.
- You do?
- You gave it to me for Christmas, darling.
He's the most generous husband
I've ever had.
No! Surprise is of the essence.
If we're in too many vehicles,
we'll attract attention.
Your purpose, if you will.
Whatever it is that brings you back,
Mr Smith, this is a house of worship.
I didn't come here
to bring any trouble to you.
Gentile policemen with guns?
You seem to have a few yourself.
New way of worshiping?
How we worship is no concern of yours,
nor any concern of the law.
We are a temple of the Lord.
Really, Mr Beecham,
they're only here to keep the peace.
I didn't think you'd be so quick
to get your vengeance.
I did not speak of vengeance.
Come on, Orville,
your father spelled it out for me.
He blames Zenas,
and you're all on your way there now.
It is no affair of yours.
No affair of yours... Agh!
You've killed him.
"- The Lord is with him.
- The Lord is with him."
Please, Lord, take him unto you.
Please, Lord, take him unto you.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures.
It wasn't really your fault, I guess.
He did have a bad heart.
- When's the funeral?
- Tomorrow.
What time?
Nine in the morning,
but you will not be welcome.
I'd like to be there.
- No point in our staying now, is there?
- I guess not.
I'm gonna hang around.
I wanna go to the funeral tomorrow.
OK.
Oh, how great the goodness of our God,
who prepareth the way for our escape
from the grasp of that awful monster.
Yea, that monster, death and hell,
which I call the death of the body
and also the death of the spirit.
And because of the way of deliverance
of our God, the holy one of Israel,
this death of which I have spoken,
which is the temporal,
shall deliver up its dead,
which death is the grave.
"- Amen.
- Amen."
- And this death of which I have spoken...
- Where are all the men?
...shall deliver up its dead,
which spiritual death is hell.
Wherefore death and hell
must deliver up their dead
and hell must deliver up its captive spirits
and the grave must deliver up
its captive bodies
and the bodies and the spirits of men
will be res...
They got the jump on me.
They're on their way.
Ask your sheriff to watch out for them.
Head them off.
Well, I can try.
There's no way I can catch them by car,
so I've hired a pilot and a plane.
"I'll be there in an hour.
You think you can meet me?"
"- Sure thing.
- Thanks."
You sure do get around!
- Talk to the sheriff?
- Yeah, but I got nowhere.
He wasn't gonna send anybody out
looking for some crazies with no crime.
And only the word of a nosy reporter?
Oh, yeah,
a nosy reporter from the big city.
Maybe I should have borrowed your car
and driven myself.
- It could get ugly down there.
- You mean no place for a woman.
Except of course
Zenas's women and kids.
I appreciate your concern, but
we're going there to stop a fight, right?
If I can.
I tried to talk the state police
into meeting me there.
They said I was only guessing
what Willis Beecham might do.
Zenas!
Cousin Zenas!
I know you don't want us here,
but listen, please.
Willis is on his way. He means to kill you
and all of your family.
- Are you sure of that?
- Yes.
He left last night.
He should be here any time now.
You two cover the barn.
There's a good spot right over there, Jebb,
by the trees.
I'm grateful to you. For the warning.
- Zenas, you ought to get outta here.
- We can handle it.
Not without casualties, you can't.
Women and children
will stay together inside.
I want all the men outside,
and boys over 12.
Well, go!
Zenas, you should have taken the offer,
cleared out of here.
Willis would have found us
wherever we went.
Into the house and stay down!
Away from the window!
- Somebody offer to buy this place?
- For years.
- Who's trying to buy it?
- The water company.
Whatever they offered, I refused to sell.
This is sacred land.
My father's land.
The Colorado Water Company?
They want our water.
We are on a lake of artesian water.
Jonathan!
Over 12, Jonathan. Over 12.
- Give me that.
- Let me borrow this.
Hold your fire, Zenas.
I have an idea.
Hold your fire, men!
Willis!
Willis!
Willis!
It's that newspaperman from Denver.
Willis!
What do you want, Mr Smith?
I think we should talk.
I'm not here to talk.
Zenas agrees to a truce while we talk.
What have you got to lose, Willis?
- Let's hear him out.
- I'm coming down!
First let's set something straight.
Zenas, did you kill Orville's family?
I swear by everything I hold dear,
by our father's memory,
I did not order or commit such a crime.
- Did you kill them, Willis?
- Of course not.
You killed my father!
No! Don't shoot! Hold your fire!
There's someone coming.
Did you see those suckers
killing each other?
Looks like that newspaperman.
Let's get the hell outta here.
Listen, I think we've been recognised
by that newspaperman.
Why don't you take care of him?
He's a newspaperman.
We gotta make it look like an accident.
"- What's he driving?
- A green and white Blazer."
"- OK, we'll take care of it.
- Yeah."
Children, you are at prayer.
The police will move now.
Are you sure
those men up there were professionals?
Yeah. Paid assassins. Probably
the same men that did the massacre.
- Of Orville's family?
- Probably. Just look at it.
If you wanted to buy Zenas's land
and Zenas didn't want to sell
and you knew that Zenas and his brother
were having a blood feud,
you would provoke the brother.
I'm gonna get those bastards!
Those killers!
I'm gonna get the ones who make the
decisions, the ones who are responsible.
You'll be writing your own version
of the story, just as I will.
Let's not mention the gunmen
until I've talked to the police.
Right.
Move, you bastard! Move!
What is he doing? Oh, my...
Oh, my God! He's right on us!
Damn!
They're going to kill us.
Oh, my God!
"On 106. 7 KAZY, Denver's home
of rock 'n' roll, this is Andy Shone."
"We have lots of concerts coming to town.
Call the KAZY concert line on 759-8989."
Gotcha.
That was the lab.
The casing's from a 30-06.
But we don't have the bullet itself,
like you said.
Did you talk to the coroner?
What passes for a coroner down there.
The undertaker.
No bullet in Zenas's body, he says.
You were right.
Must have gone right through him.
- Any luck with the mug shots?
- Nope.
Yeah?
"- Foxx is here, Chief.
- Send him in."
- Mr Foxx.
- How are you, sir?
- Good to see you, Homer.
- Chief.
The reason I asked you down
is Garr here's got some questions.
- Questions? For me?
- Yeah.
About Trudy and Cyrus Pike.
Oh. What would you like to know?
The other night at dinner, I was asking
about the Colorado Water Company.
- And who owned it.
- She does.
He gave it to her as a Christmas present.
That's what she told me.
For the woman who has everything.
- Does she actually run that company?
- What do you mean?
Does she know that much about it?
Managers, operating officers?
I have no idea. Why don't you ask her?
He wanted to. I'm the one thought it might
be a good idea to get your opinion.
I'd like to talk to her.
I'd like to talk to both of them.
No problem. I invite you all to lunch.
- Sure they won't mind?
- I don't see why.
Well, I mind.
We are talking about a bunch of people
who own half the state of Colorado.
People who are backing me.
I'm not gonna embarrass them by asking
them a bunch of damn fool questions.
It's all right, Chief,
you don't have to come.
I can't tell you how very impressed we've
been with the way you handled that story.
- Thank you.
- That's what journalism's really about.
Not just reporting events
but digging into them.
Why don't we run him for mayor?
Better still, why don't we buy the paper?
He can be editor.
- Would you like that, Mr Smith?
- You would be publisher?
But I wouldn't interfere at all.
That's sort of what I wanted to talk about.
Just how much do you involve yourself in
the operation of running your companies?
- That depends on the company.
- Colorado Water Company, for instance?
- Why do you ask, Mr Smith?
- Well, he asked me, and I thought...
- Is that the purpose for this luncheon?
- I suggested it because...
Yes, sir. It is the purpose.
There are some things
I left out of that story.
Anyway, there's another element
that was in that fight down there,
and I haven't got it puzzled out yet.
I thought maybe you could help me.
You see, Zenas's property is smack-dab
on top of a large lake of artesian water.
The Colorado Water Company
has been trying to buy it for years.
But Zenas wouldn't sell.
And I have a question in my mind
about whether you two knew about this.
- I didn't. Did you, darling?
- No.
Didn't you say something to me
when we were discussing that shale deal?
Listen, Homer.
I do not appreciate you inviting us for
what was supposed to be a social lunch...
Excuse me, sir.
It's my fault. I asked.
But if you'd rather not talk
about that subject, we'll drop it.
"- I apologise.
- I don't understand."
Even if the company was trying to buy the
place, what's it got to do with the feud?
Nothing, probably. But there's
something else I left out of the story.
0h?
Some tanker trucks that belonged
to the Colorado Water Company
made a real effort to kill me.
You're not suggesting
we had anything to do with that?
Oh, no, of course not.
I thought you might tell me
which of your executives I could talk to.
I'll certainly look into this.
Thank you.
Mr Smith, there's a phone call for you.
- Shall I bring you the phone?
- No, I'll go there. Thanks.
Excuse me a moment.
Yes?
I have information for you.
The Beecham case.
You know how many calls I get like this?
Shall I tell you what you saw
on the wall up at Orville's place?
"- Yeah. What did I see?
- An avenging angel."
A sketch of an avenging angel.
- Who is this?
- Shall I tell you what you saw at Zenas's?
"- Up on the knoll.
- What?"
One gunman. One driver.
Who the hell is this?
Do we meet?
You said you wanted to talk.
Go ahead.
I'm not talking into that.
If this is a trap...
You picked the place. If there's anybody
lurking about, you brought them.
All right. Here's the deal.
I didn't kill anybody.
At Orville's place I was just a lookout.
At Zenas's place I was just a driver.
OK. So?
So I sell you the story.
For $50,000.
I give you the name of the guy
that did the killings.
You don't print it, you don't go
to the police until I'm out of the country.
That's the deal.
$50,000.
I'm gonna have to ask my editor
for the OK.
But I also have a price.
- Yeah?
- The name of the person that hired you.
- I told you. The killer hired me.
- Who hired the killer?
- I have no idea.
- No deal.
It was that bastard's contact.
He's the only one who can tell you.
OK. I'll call my editor.
- Now?
- Yeah, now.
How do I know
you're not gonna call the police?
You trust me or you don't.
Oh, I guess he'll go to Mexico
or someplace else.
OK, I'll tell him.
I want you to know, Orville,
I'm still working on that story.
I'm gonna find
the ones responsible for this.
Will that bring them back?
No, but the ones responsible
must be punished.
You're a good man, Mr Smith.
But I've been standing here talking with
the Lord. Do you know what he told me?
That it is not up to me
to question his wisdom.
It is not up to me to avenge myself
or for you to do it for me.
He has angels for that.
"Come on down.
I hope you brought some money."
- How are you? Good to see you.
- Nice to see you again, Homer.
Join us.
Lucy, I hope
you've brought your chequebook.
If you do as much for the Symphony
as you do for this policeman of yours...
- Let's get him elected!
- I can't drink on the job.
She won't let me drink at home.
This is the only chance I get!
Then we'll talk about it.
- Trudy, Cyrus, good to see you.
- Ah! Just the man I want to talk to.
Ah, Smith and Fabrizio!
Late again but very welcome.
Grab yourselves a drink.
We're just about to start.
Ah! It's themselves!
Hail to the Chief!
- Big night, isn't it?
- Yes, very exciting.
"I think we should have a drink
for this young lady here. Thank you."
I'm about to wrap up my story
on the massacre.
Do you have any news
from the state police?
You still on that kick
about the Colorado Water Company?
It's not a kick, Chief.
- You know who it is?
- I have my suspicions.
OK, Jimmy, here's your refill.
Give me a little maestro music, please.
That's great!
Folks! Folks! Let me have your attention
over here, please.
Nobody can claim they were invited here
under false pretences.
We need money.
We need a lot of money.
The reason we need it is we want to elect
a good guy to the office of mayor.
There he is. Mr Barney Doyle.
Come out here, Barney.
That's it, Barney. Let's hear it!
"- A fine mayor!
- All right!"
I'll try to be brief,
which is not easy for a politician.
Now, a question
I think all of you have a right to ask is:
Why would a guy with a good job,
and chief of police is a good job,
why would he want to be mayor?
Well...
A cop has to concentrate
on being against things.
Fighting crime, catching the bad guys.
Somebody's gotta do it, but it's dirty work.
Now, you take a mayor.
He gets to accent the positive.
He gets to build things.
He gets to build
a cleaner, healthier, wealthier,
wiser and happier city.
Hell, I like the idea.
Well, that's about it, folks. Thank you.
All right! Excuse me.
All right! All right, folks!
Now, I want you to do something for me.
I want you to visit the buffets,
stuff yourselves,
get drunk, covet your neighbours' wives.
Make some big deals
and have a hell of a good time!
Some of us are gonna pass among you
with outstretched hands,
and I want some big cheques
in those hands!
You're on your own, Barney. Thank you.
- Can you get away?
- I'll try. He's getting suspicious.
Smith, I've got some incredible news
for you, about Cyrus Pike.
Cyrus and I have made a deal.
I'll give as much to Doyle
as he gives to the Symphony.
Very good, Lucy.
Thank you so much. Wonderful.
- It's a pleasure to make this contribution.
- Thanks, Ed. This is most generous.
- Here's my contribution, Homer.
- Thank you very much.
We can't talk here. My study
is just upstairs. Can we meet there?
- Sure.
- All right.
Judge! Thank you, thank you.
You'll get a receipt, I promise.
Thank you.
- Ladies, how's it going?
- Fine.
Well done. I'm sure you're gonna win
a lot of votes from that one.
Thanks, Jo.
- You must be so proud of him.
- Oh, yes. He's a good man.
You got the best of me last time we met,
but not this time, huh?
What the hell are you doing?
Big-time reporter like you
and you don't know what I'm doing.
You don't know what I'm doing, huh?
You just caught a burglar red-handed.
What's a burglar to do?
Goodbye.
Bastard child- killer!
I'm gonna take you downstairs and you'll
name the son of a bitch that's paying you.
Listen. You understand?
You name the son of a bitch
or I'm gonna beat you to death.
- You're gonna give us the name, yes?
- No!
"- Let the chief deal with it.
- Ohh!"
I had enough. I had enough.
Oh, yes. I had enough.
Yes. Yes.
What the hell's going on, Garr?
This is the man who killed Orville's family.
He's gonna tell us who paid him to do it.
Sorry, Mr Foxx.
He's the one.
He paid me to kill that family.
That's ridiculous!
What are you saying?
He's lying. Why?
I don't...
I don't know anything about this. What...
What the hell
would I have to gain from this?
When I acquired his shale company,
I merged it with my water company.
- I gave him an option to buy it back.
- No.
The combined company.
For what it was worth at the time.
It would be worth millions.
Barney.
I haven't killed anyone.
No, you just pay someone like him
to do your killing for you.
That's the way I have to write it.
That is a lie and you are a liar.
You're a fucking liar!
Liars! That's all lies!
It's lies. It's all lies.
It's lies.
And you, my friend.
Oh... Oh, you're a liar.
You are a liar, my friend.
Why did you say
those bad things about me?
Why couldn't you
just keep your mouth shut? God!
Plead! Pray!
Beg!
Pray, you bastard!
God... have mercy!
- There are two men outside.
- What do they want?
- I don't know.
- What were they doing, honey?
- Mom, look! He's got a gun!
Come on, upstairs.
- Quick!
- Come on, we're gonna go up.
God in heaven!
May you be damned for eternity!
It's your choice.
Garr.
- How you doing, lion?
- Good to see you, Chief.
I'd like you to meet a friend of mine.
Garret Smith, Homer Foxx.
"- The Garret Smith?
- The Homer Foxx?"
- Well, yes. Nice to meet you.
- Thank you. Nice meeting you.
"- The Josephine Fabrizio.
- Jo. Of course."
Forgive me.
Miss Fabrizio works on the paper too.
- My pleasure.
- Won't you join us?
I have a minute. Why not?
- Sit down, Chief.
- Thank you.
Homer's been trying
to talk me into running for mayor.
- Mayor?
- Would you support that?
I would,
but it doesn't mean the paper would.
Would you and Miss Fabrizio come to
a small gathering to discuss the matter?
' A party?
' Why not?
This is all off the record.
I haven't decided yet.
Excuse me.
Doyle.
You're not supposed to call me
on that sort of thing.
How many?
Jesus.
Right. Right, I'm on my way.
I gotta run.
Jo, take care of the bill.
Nice to have met you, Mr Foxx.
Same here.
This way, Chief.
- What's it look like, Scully?
- Real bad.
- I don't think you'd better come in.
- He's OK.
You guys, in here.
We got one in the bedroom there.
This one down here.
Third one round the corner there.
Upstairs, well, you just won't believe it.
- What do you say, doc?
- 12-gauge shotgun, probably.
I gotta call in for technicians and all the
wagons the coroner can come up with.
One thing we don't need
is the media here.
He's a friend, Scully.
Of mine and the department.
- What's that?
- Beats me.
- Who blew the whistle?
- Some kid. Said he lives down the street.
Came over to play, didn't see anybody
outside so opened the door and came in.
There's Mr Beecham now.
Hey, what's going on here?
- Mr Beecham.
- What is it? What's wrong?
- I'm afraid there's...
- What is it?
- Mr Beecham, do you have enemies...
- What's happened?
No! Wait! Wait!
Piety! Oh, no! Let me go!
What are you doing?
Oh, the children! The children too!
Oh, no, not the children!
Oh, not the children!
Oh, God, no! Not the children!
You...
Oh, God, no!
Dear God. Sweet savior.
Dear God, you have my whole family now.
Be with them, God, please.
- Come on, Garr. Come to bed.
- In a minute.
You've done the piece.
Stop thinking about it.
- You didn't see that place.
- You made me see it.
You made all of Denver see it.
- Have a look at that.
- What is it?
An avenging angel.
It's Mormon. Old Mormon.
Got something I wanna show you.
It's a piece I wrote on the massacre.
I've seen it.
- Treating you all right here?
- Yes.
They tell me you refuse to talk to them.
Nothing to talk about.
- Don't you want them to catch the killers?
- The Lord God will deal with them.
Not the police.
- Do you know who killed them?
- It is not your business.
It is not the business of any Gentile.
By Gentile I guess you mean
anyone who isn't a Mormon.
You're gonna need help, Mr Beecham.
They're not gonna let you go
unless you talk to them.
At least tell them why you think
this happened and who you think did it.
The reason they're holding me,
what they told me,
is that I'm in danger myself.
I don't want their protection.
Can I get you a lawyer?
Jeez.
You're gonna need someone.
There must be someone you can trust.
HEY, guard!
Could I trust you?
Hi. Where can I find Willis Beecham?
- Turn around.
- What?
Hey!
Looks like we got a live one here.
"This guy's a newspaperman.
Denver Tribune."
- Big leagues, eh?
- You'll also find a gun permit in there.
Sure enough. But it's Denver.
Ain't worth cow dab this part of Colorado.
- You guys police?
- This is a private community.
Do you know what we're talking about?
We're the law here.
- I have to see Mr Beecham.
- Why do you want to see the prophet?
They have excommunicated us,
they say. They...
...proclaim it from their pulpits
in their gold-encrusted temples.
But hear me well.
Understand me well.
Know the Antichrist comes
in the guise of a friend.
In the guise of your own brother.
You must recognise him
and smite him!
Your own brother, smite him!
Annihilate him!
Obliterate him from the face of the earth,
and all his progeny.
Amen!
The Lord is in me.
Feel his arms around us.
Feel his strength.
The Lord is my shield and my sword.
The Lord is my shield and my sword.
"- Amen.
- Amen."
- Garret Smith.
- Oh, you know my name?
- You're a journalist. You are not welcome.
- So I've noticed.
We don't want journalistic attention
and you are not one of our faith.
I'm here, sir, because
I have a message from your son Orville.
If Orville wished to send a message,
he would not entrust it to a Gentile.
There's been a terrible tragedy,
Mr Beecham.
Orville's entire family...
You can read it here.
Oh, my God.
- Or... Orville...
- Orville's in jail.
- Jail...
- It's only for his own protection.
He told me to tell you he'd be here soon
and that you were not,
and he emphasized this,
you were not to take action until he's here.
Did he tell you the name of the Antichrist?
No, sir.
Zenas! Zenas Beecham! My own brother!
Put that in your newspaper, Mr Smith.
- Where can I find Zenas Beecham?
- It is not for you to find him.
It is for God to...
God will find him.
You'd better leave, sir.
Willis, sir...
- Anything?
- Beechams all over the place.
No Zenas.
Chief Doyle, please.
Property taxes.
See if you can patch into property taxes.
Right.
Yeah?
Barney. How are you?
Listen, I'm doing a follow-up.
I wanted to find out
if you had anything else.
Not a hell of a lot, Garr.
A lot of Orville's fingerprints,
which figures, since he lived there.
A lot of empty shells, 12-gauge.
We're analyzing them for fingerprints,
what batch they came from,
where they were bought.
- It's a long shot.
- How's Orville? He talking to you yet?
- No. We let him go.
- You let him go?
It was that or charge him.
I hope you have somebody
keeping an eye on him.
Well, we tried to, but we lost him.
Oh, Jesus, Barney.
Don't make us look like idiots.
"Don't make us look like idiots. "
- Bingo!
- What?
Zenas Beecham.
On the tax rolls of Grant County.
"Amtrak train number five
now arriving from Chicago..."
- Garret Smith?
- That's right.
Roy Yates. I'm the sheriff. I was asked
by the Denver PD to meet you.
- I appreciate it.
- Come this way.
Actually, they said
you were checking something unofficial.
- You a reporter?
- That's right.
Actually, they said they didn't even
know what it was you was checking.
I'm trying to find a man
named Zenas Beecham.
He owns property in this county.
You know him?
- What's he wanted for?
- He's not wanted.
But he might or might not know
about a Denver homicide.
I just wanna talk to him.
He's on the county tax rolls all right, but
his place, it's the ass end of the county.
- The benchlands.
- Benchlands?
Yeah, maybe 80 miles west of here.
Down there in the foothills.
You have any information on him?
- Does he have any sort of record?
- Nope.
Got a big family down there.
And a big farm. About all I know.
- Other Mormons out there?
- Mormons?
Is that what this is all about?
- All I'm asking is that you point the way.
- How do you plan to get out there?
- Rent a car, I guess.
- Not in this town.
Ain't any here to rent.
- Maybe I could use one of yours.
- Nope.
All the Denver PD asked me to do
was to meet you, which I done.
"- Pleasure meeting you, Mr Smith.
- Where's the Beacon?"
"- Uh... what?
- Your weekly paper, the Beacon."
Oh, it's up the street there.
- You can't be Garret Smith.
- I can't?
He wouldn't be caught dead
in a town like this.
I was born in a town like this.
What can I do for you, Mr Smith?
I thought! could rent a car up here,
but that was a mistake. I need a car.
- I'll drive you.
- You will?
Yes, and I won't even ask
what you're working on.
- How long have you had this newspaper?
- For years. My husband and I started it.
And then when he died
I just kept it going myself.
The one thing I can't do
is go to the police about Willis.
Not before I hear Zenas's side of it,
anyway.
- What makes you think he'll talk to you?
- He'll have to. It's in his own interests.
You're lucky. You wound up
with one of the few people he will talk to.
I'm not much of a Mormon,
but I happen to be a cousin of Zenas's.
You're kidding!
That's what happens
with multiple marriages.
Everybody's a cousin.
Cousin Zenas!
It's me, Jastra. Jastra Watson.
- Ezra's daughter.
- Right. The one with the newspaper.
- Who is this?
- My name is Garret Smith.
A Gentile?
Worse. I'm a reporter.
I can vouch for him, Zenas.
And he has some things to tell you.
- Some terrible things.
- About the murder of Orville's family.
- You heard.
- It was you who told me.
I told you?
In the Denver Tribune.
Oh. I didn't know
our paper was read down here.
We're just finishing our dinner.
Will you join us?
- That's very kind.
- Thanks. But I'd like to wash up first.
I'll show you where.
Mr Smith. Please.
Mr Smith, this is my wife Rebecca.
And Esther and Florinda and Ursula,
her sisters.
- Welcome to our home, Mr Smith.
- Thank you.
- Welcome.
- And you.
- Cousin Jastra.
- Thank you.
Thank you, Father.
Praise the Lord. Amen.
- Drink it.
- What is it?
Peach juice.
And have some bread and dunk.
- Have some what?
- A biscuit which you dip into the broncos.
It's red plum sauce.
The red plums grow wild here,
so they call them broncos.
You're wondering
if I'm married to all four of them.
No, the only thing I'm wondering about
is if you killed your nephew's family.
Only one person could accuse me of that.
You've seen my brother Willis?
Yes.
Has it occurred to you
that it was Willis who killed them?
His own grandchildren?
There are some, Mr Smith, who believe
that the only fortunate people are the ones
who have atoned for their sins in blood.
Are you saying that if Willis killed those
children, he was doing them a favour?
In his doctrine.
That angel back there.
What does that angel represent?
When my father broke with the
compromisers, the Salt Lake theocracy,
he chose the avenging angel
as his symbol.
OK, but on the question of killing,
doing people a favour, saving their souls,
killing them to save them...
Is that also your doctrine?
I think, Cousin Jastra,
you and your friend had better go now.
As you say, Zenas.
Thanks for your hospitality.
It's Cain and Abel, but which is which?
I keep kicking it around in my head.
Do you think Orville could have done it?
He'd have to be
the greatest actor in the world.
But it's crazy. It's crazy.
This idea of murdering people
to save them.
That's nothing new.
It's what the Inquisition was.
- Did you know their father?
- No, he was before my time.
But I did know Zenas and Willis
hated each other. I mean hated.
I'd think water would be the one thing
they wouldn't have to truck in.
It's serious. Take the shale people.
Do you know how much water they use
to make one barrel of oil?
- How much?
- Nearly six barrels of water.
"If you wrote that up,
I'd sell it to the Tribune for you."
- You'd do that?
- Sure. It's interesting.
That son of a bitch!
I have a feeling
I'll be exploiting you further.
Any time.
I meant it when I said
I'd help you sell your articles.
I know you did. And I appreciate it.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.
Ah! The media!
At last!
- Sorry we're late.
- No problem. No problem.
Let me introduce you around. Come.
Chief Doyle you know.
And this is Mrs Doyle.
We've never met,
but I do feel like I know you.
- Everyone does.
- Thank you.
This is Mr and Mrs Pike.
Miss Fabrizio and Mr Garret Smith.
- Mr Smith.
- A pleasure.
Don't let her looks fool you.
She is a barracuda.
Flattery will get you nowhere, Homer.
This is Miss Lucy Bigelow,
the most philanthropic woman in Denver.
- Miss Fabrizio...
- How do you do?
Shit. We're gonna have to wait
till you have a drink.
- Oh, no, please...
- Why don't we...
"5 table, tout le monde!
Vite, vite, mes enfants! Let's eat."
I know it's a low profit margin, Lucy,
but I think it's undervalued at 150.
- Anything new on the massacre, Chief?
- Not really, Garr.
- Hey, come on, Barney, what's the latest?
- We're working on it.
You don't expect us to back you
if you won't even tell us secrets, do you?
Well, Garr here's the one with the secrets.
Is that true, Mr Smith?
Go on. You've been running around the
country on it. What have you found out?
Do you really want me
to talk about this in public, Chief?
- You write about it in public.
- Yeah, I guess! do.
In the last couple of days I met...
talked to two very interesting men.
They're brothers.
One of them is Willis Beecham,
who's a fundamentalist Mormon preacher.
The other one is Zenas Beecham.
He owns a big farm.
According to Willis,
his brother Zenas did the killing.
According to Zenas, it was Willis.
Either one of them could have done it.
The one thing they have in common
is a very crazy doctrine.
Blood atonement.
- Oh, you know about it?
- I read a book about it once.
This massacre has brought
these two brothers to the point
where they really mean to kill each other.
- Sounds like the perfect solution.
- What?
What do you care
if two crazies kill each other?
Well, I care. And if you expect to be
elected mayor, you'd better care too.
She's right, Barney. If you don't solve
this case, you won't be dog-catcher.
Now, wait a minute.
I'm Denver. I got no authority out there.
Shall we all move into the living room?
- Can't you talk to the governor about it?
- I suppose I can.
Garr, give me a memo on this, will you?
Who they are, where they live.
We have a problem with time here.
Can't we call the governor now?
Look, we don't need the governor. If you
want the state police, I'll get 'em for you.
- Now, anyone care for brandy?
- I would, thank you.
Anybody here know of an outfit
called the Colorado Water Company?
- What do you want to know?
- Who owns it?
I do.
- You do?
- You gave it to me for Christmas, darling.
He's the most generous husband
I've ever had.
No! Surprise is of the essence.
If we're in too many vehicles,
we'll attract attention.
Your purpose, if you will.
Whatever it is that brings you back,
Mr Smith, this is a house of worship.
I didn't come here
to bring any trouble to you.
Gentile policemen with guns?
You seem to have a few yourself.
New way of worshiping?
How we worship is no concern of yours,
nor any concern of the law.
We are a temple of the Lord.
Really, Mr Beecham,
they're only here to keep the peace.
I didn't think you'd be so quick
to get your vengeance.
I did not speak of vengeance.
Come on, Orville,
your father spelled it out for me.
He blames Zenas,
and you're all on your way there now.
It is no affair of yours.
No affair of yours... Agh!
You've killed him.
"- The Lord is with him.
- The Lord is with him."
Please, Lord, take him unto you.
Please, Lord, take him unto you.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures.
It wasn't really your fault, I guess.
He did have a bad heart.
- When's the funeral?
- Tomorrow.
What time?
Nine in the morning,
but you will not be welcome.
I'd like to be there.
- No point in our staying now, is there?
- I guess not.
I'm gonna hang around.
I wanna go to the funeral tomorrow.
OK.
Oh, how great the goodness of our God,
who prepareth the way for our escape
from the grasp of that awful monster.
Yea, that monster, death and hell,
which I call the death of the body
and also the death of the spirit.
And because of the way of deliverance
of our God, the holy one of Israel,
this death of which I have spoken,
which is the temporal,
shall deliver up its dead,
which death is the grave.
"- Amen.
- Amen."
- And this death of which I have spoken...
- Where are all the men?
...shall deliver up its dead,
which spiritual death is hell.
Wherefore death and hell
must deliver up their dead
and hell must deliver up its captive spirits
and the grave must deliver up
its captive bodies
and the bodies and the spirits of men
will be res...
They got the jump on me.
They're on their way.
Ask your sheriff to watch out for them.
Head them off.
Well, I can try.
There's no way I can catch them by car,
so I've hired a pilot and a plane.
"I'll be there in an hour.
You think you can meet me?"
"- Sure thing.
- Thanks."
You sure do get around!
- Talk to the sheriff?
- Yeah, but I got nowhere.
He wasn't gonna send anybody out
looking for some crazies with no crime.
And only the word of a nosy reporter?
Oh, yeah,
a nosy reporter from the big city.
Maybe I should have borrowed your car
and driven myself.
- It could get ugly down there.
- You mean no place for a woman.
Except of course
Zenas's women and kids.
I appreciate your concern, but
we're going there to stop a fight, right?
If I can.
I tried to talk the state police
into meeting me there.
They said I was only guessing
what Willis Beecham might do.
Zenas!
Cousin Zenas!
I know you don't want us here,
but listen, please.
Willis is on his way. He means to kill you
and all of your family.
- Are you sure of that?
- Yes.
He left last night.
He should be here any time now.
You two cover the barn.
There's a good spot right over there, Jebb,
by the trees.
I'm grateful to you. For the warning.
- Zenas, you ought to get outta here.
- We can handle it.
Not without casualties, you can't.
Women and children
will stay together inside.
I want all the men outside,
and boys over 12.
Well, go!
Zenas, you should have taken the offer,
cleared out of here.
Willis would have found us
wherever we went.
Into the house and stay down!
Away from the window!
- Somebody offer to buy this place?
- For years.
- Who's trying to buy it?
- The water company.
Whatever they offered, I refused to sell.
This is sacred land.
My father's land.
The Colorado Water Company?
They want our water.
We are on a lake of artesian water.
Jonathan!
Over 12, Jonathan. Over 12.
- Give me that.
- Let me borrow this.
Hold your fire, Zenas.
I have an idea.
Hold your fire, men!
Willis!
Willis!
Willis!
It's that newspaperman from Denver.
Willis!
What do you want, Mr Smith?
I think we should talk.
I'm not here to talk.
Zenas agrees to a truce while we talk.
What have you got to lose, Willis?
- Let's hear him out.
- I'm coming down!
First let's set something straight.
Zenas, did you kill Orville's family?
I swear by everything I hold dear,
by our father's memory,
I did not order or commit such a crime.
- Did you kill them, Willis?
- Of course not.
You killed my father!
No! Don't shoot! Hold your fire!
There's someone coming.
Did you see those suckers
killing each other?
Looks like that newspaperman.
Let's get the hell outta here.
Listen, I think we've been recognised
by that newspaperman.
Why don't you take care of him?
He's a newspaperman.
We gotta make it look like an accident.
"- What's he driving?
- A green and white Blazer."
"- OK, we'll take care of it.
- Yeah."
Children, you are at prayer.
The police will move now.
Are you sure
those men up there were professionals?
Yeah. Paid assassins. Probably
the same men that did the massacre.
- Of Orville's family?
- Probably. Just look at it.
If you wanted to buy Zenas's land
and Zenas didn't want to sell
and you knew that Zenas and his brother
were having a blood feud,
you would provoke the brother.
I'm gonna get those bastards!
Those killers!
I'm gonna get the ones who make the
decisions, the ones who are responsible.
You'll be writing your own version
of the story, just as I will.
Let's not mention the gunmen
until I've talked to the police.
Right.
Move, you bastard! Move!
What is he doing? Oh, my...
Oh, my God! He's right on us!
Damn!
They're going to kill us.
Oh, my God!
"On 106. 7 KAZY, Denver's home
of rock 'n' roll, this is Andy Shone."
"We have lots of concerts coming to town.
Call the KAZY concert line on 759-8989."
Gotcha.
That was the lab.
The casing's from a 30-06.
But we don't have the bullet itself,
like you said.
Did you talk to the coroner?
What passes for a coroner down there.
The undertaker.
No bullet in Zenas's body, he says.
You were right.
Must have gone right through him.
- Any luck with the mug shots?
- Nope.
Yeah?
"- Foxx is here, Chief.
- Send him in."
- Mr Foxx.
- How are you, sir?
- Good to see you, Homer.
- Chief.
The reason I asked you down
is Garr here's got some questions.
- Questions? For me?
- Yeah.
About Trudy and Cyrus Pike.
Oh. What would you like to know?
The other night at dinner, I was asking
about the Colorado Water Company.
- And who owned it.
- She does.
He gave it to her as a Christmas present.
That's what she told me.
For the woman who has everything.
- Does she actually run that company?
- What do you mean?
Does she know that much about it?
Managers, operating officers?
I have no idea. Why don't you ask her?
He wanted to. I'm the one thought it might
be a good idea to get your opinion.
I'd like to talk to her.
I'd like to talk to both of them.
No problem. I invite you all to lunch.
- Sure they won't mind?
- I don't see why.
Well, I mind.
We are talking about a bunch of people
who own half the state of Colorado.
People who are backing me.
I'm not gonna embarrass them by asking
them a bunch of damn fool questions.
It's all right, Chief,
you don't have to come.
I can't tell you how very impressed we've
been with the way you handled that story.
- Thank you.
- That's what journalism's really about.
Not just reporting events
but digging into them.
Why don't we run him for mayor?
Better still, why don't we buy the paper?
He can be editor.
- Would you like that, Mr Smith?
- You would be publisher?
But I wouldn't interfere at all.
That's sort of what I wanted to talk about.
Just how much do you involve yourself in
the operation of running your companies?
- That depends on the company.
- Colorado Water Company, for instance?
- Why do you ask, Mr Smith?
- Well, he asked me, and I thought...
- Is that the purpose for this luncheon?
- I suggested it because...
Yes, sir. It is the purpose.
There are some things
I left out of that story.
Anyway, there's another element
that was in that fight down there,
and I haven't got it puzzled out yet.
I thought maybe you could help me.
You see, Zenas's property is smack-dab
on top of a large lake of artesian water.
The Colorado Water Company
has been trying to buy it for years.
But Zenas wouldn't sell.
And I have a question in my mind
about whether you two knew about this.
- I didn't. Did you, darling?
- No.
Didn't you say something to me
when we were discussing that shale deal?
Listen, Homer.
I do not appreciate you inviting us for
what was supposed to be a social lunch...
Excuse me, sir.
It's my fault. I asked.
But if you'd rather not talk
about that subject, we'll drop it.
"- I apologise.
- I don't understand."
Even if the company was trying to buy the
place, what's it got to do with the feud?
Nothing, probably. But there's
something else I left out of the story.
0h?
Some tanker trucks that belonged
to the Colorado Water Company
made a real effort to kill me.
You're not suggesting
we had anything to do with that?
Oh, no, of course not.
I thought you might tell me
which of your executives I could talk to.
I'll certainly look into this.
Thank you.
Mr Smith, there's a phone call for you.
- Shall I bring you the phone?
- No, I'll go there. Thanks.
Excuse me a moment.
Yes?
I have information for you.
The Beecham case.
You know how many calls I get like this?
Shall I tell you what you saw
on the wall up at Orville's place?
"- Yeah. What did I see?
- An avenging angel."
A sketch of an avenging angel.
- Who is this?
- Shall I tell you what you saw at Zenas's?
"- Up on the knoll.
- What?"
One gunman. One driver.
Who the hell is this?
Do we meet?
You said you wanted to talk.
Go ahead.
I'm not talking into that.
If this is a trap...
You picked the place. If there's anybody
lurking about, you brought them.
All right. Here's the deal.
I didn't kill anybody.
At Orville's place I was just a lookout.
At Zenas's place I was just a driver.
OK. So?
So I sell you the story.
For $50,000.
I give you the name of the guy
that did the killings.
You don't print it, you don't go
to the police until I'm out of the country.
That's the deal.
$50,000.
I'm gonna have to ask my editor
for the OK.
But I also have a price.
- Yeah?
- The name of the person that hired you.
- I told you. The killer hired me.
- Who hired the killer?
- I have no idea.
- No deal.
It was that bastard's contact.
He's the only one who can tell you.
OK. I'll call my editor.
- Now?
- Yeah, now.
How do I know
you're not gonna call the police?
You trust me or you don't.
Oh, I guess he'll go to Mexico
or someplace else.
OK, I'll tell him.
I want you to know, Orville,
I'm still working on that story.
I'm gonna find
the ones responsible for this.
Will that bring them back?
No, but the ones responsible
must be punished.
You're a good man, Mr Smith.
But I've been standing here talking with
the Lord. Do you know what he told me?
That it is not up to me
to question his wisdom.
It is not up to me to avenge myself
or for you to do it for me.
He has angels for that.
"Come on down.
I hope you brought some money."
- How are you? Good to see you.
- Nice to see you again, Homer.
Join us.
Lucy, I hope
you've brought your chequebook.
If you do as much for the Symphony
as you do for this policeman of yours...
- Let's get him elected!
- I can't drink on the job.
She won't let me drink at home.
This is the only chance I get!
Then we'll talk about it.
- Trudy, Cyrus, good to see you.
- Ah! Just the man I want to talk to.
Ah, Smith and Fabrizio!
Late again but very welcome.
Grab yourselves a drink.
We're just about to start.
Ah! It's themselves!
Hail to the Chief!
- Big night, isn't it?
- Yes, very exciting.
"I think we should have a drink
for this young lady here. Thank you."
I'm about to wrap up my story
on the massacre.
Do you have any news
from the state police?
You still on that kick
about the Colorado Water Company?
It's not a kick, Chief.
- You know who it is?
- I have my suspicions.
OK, Jimmy, here's your refill.
Give me a little maestro music, please.
That's great!
Folks! Folks! Let me have your attention
over here, please.
Nobody can claim they were invited here
under false pretences.
We need money.
We need a lot of money.
The reason we need it is we want to elect
a good guy to the office of mayor.
There he is. Mr Barney Doyle.
Come out here, Barney.
That's it, Barney. Let's hear it!
"- A fine mayor!
- All right!"
I'll try to be brief,
which is not easy for a politician.
Now, a question
I think all of you have a right to ask is:
Why would a guy with a good job,
and chief of police is a good job,
why would he want to be mayor?
Well...
A cop has to concentrate
on being against things.
Fighting crime, catching the bad guys.
Somebody's gotta do it, but it's dirty work.
Now, you take a mayor.
He gets to accent the positive.
He gets to build things.
He gets to build
a cleaner, healthier, wealthier,
wiser and happier city.
Hell, I like the idea.
Well, that's about it, folks. Thank you.
All right! Excuse me.
All right! All right, folks!
Now, I want you to do something for me.
I want you to visit the buffets,
stuff yourselves,
get drunk, covet your neighbours' wives.
Make some big deals
and have a hell of a good time!
Some of us are gonna pass among you
with outstretched hands,
and I want some big cheques
in those hands!
You're on your own, Barney. Thank you.
- Can you get away?
- I'll try. He's getting suspicious.
Smith, I've got some incredible news
for you, about Cyrus Pike.
Cyrus and I have made a deal.
I'll give as much to Doyle
as he gives to the Symphony.
Very good, Lucy.
Thank you so much. Wonderful.
- It's a pleasure to make this contribution.
- Thanks, Ed. This is most generous.
- Here's my contribution, Homer.
- Thank you very much.
We can't talk here. My study
is just upstairs. Can we meet there?
- Sure.
- All right.
Judge! Thank you, thank you.
You'll get a receipt, I promise.
Thank you.
- Ladies, how's it going?
- Fine.
Well done. I'm sure you're gonna win
a lot of votes from that one.
Thanks, Jo.
- You must be so proud of him.
- Oh, yes. He's a good man.
You got the best of me last time we met,
but not this time, huh?
What the hell are you doing?
Big-time reporter like you
and you don't know what I'm doing.
You don't know what I'm doing, huh?
You just caught a burglar red-handed.
What's a burglar to do?
Goodbye.
Bastard child- killer!
I'm gonna take you downstairs and you'll
name the son of a bitch that's paying you.
Listen. You understand?
You name the son of a bitch
or I'm gonna beat you to death.
- You're gonna give us the name, yes?
- No!
"- Let the chief deal with it.
- Ohh!"
I had enough. I had enough.
Oh, yes. I had enough.
Yes. Yes.
What the hell's going on, Garr?
This is the man who killed Orville's family.
He's gonna tell us who paid him to do it.
Sorry, Mr Foxx.
He's the one.
He paid me to kill that family.
That's ridiculous!
What are you saying?
He's lying. Why?
I don't...
I don't know anything about this. What...
What the hell
would I have to gain from this?
When I acquired his shale company,
I merged it with my water company.
- I gave him an option to buy it back.
- No.
The combined company.
For what it was worth at the time.
It would be worth millions.
Barney.
I haven't killed anyone.
No, you just pay someone like him
to do your killing for you.
That's the way I have to write it.
That is a lie and you are a liar.
You're a fucking liar!
Liars! That's all lies!
It's lies. It's all lies.
It's lies.
And you, my friend.
Oh... Oh, you're a liar.
You are a liar, my friend.
Why did you say
those bad things about me?
Why couldn't you
just keep your mouth shut? God!
Plead! Pray!
Beg!
Pray, you bastard!
God... have mercy!