Clarice (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 10 - Motherless Child - full transcript
Catherine Martin escapes to Carneys Point, N.J., to confront Buffalo Bill's mother, Lila Gumb. When Ruth recruits Krendler and ViCAP to track her down, Clarice volunteers to be the one to find Catherine before she commits a vile act and becomes a monster herself. Also, Julia continues to assist the ViCAP team's investigation despite the huge personal risk.
CLARKE: Previously on Clarice:
CLARICE: Angela Bird,
Tess Laughty, Sandra Bishop,
they were not random
victims of a serial killer.
Those women were whistleblowers,
and they died trying to tell a story.
A story that isn't over.
Starling, get this
accountant on our payroll.
Julia. You sure are here late.
- Yes. Lots to go through.
- I just wanted to say
you're doing great work, Gordon.
- What did you say?
- See you soon.
CATHERINE: I found
where his mother lives.
- CLARICE: Whose mother?
- CATHERINE: Buffalo Bill's.
I'm going to go see her.
Do you remember the
first thing you said to me?
I said... FBI! You're safe.
That was a lie.
I'll never be safe.
Neither will you.
- Can you sleep?
- [Gasps]
Or do moths wake you
up? There's no one for you.
- Just me.
- [Receiver slams]
[Balls thudding loudly]
♪ Tempted and tried ♪
♪ We're oft made to wonder ♪
B-14. B-14.
♪ Why it should be... ♪
A reminder that the
prize for this game
is a beautiful German chocolate
cake, courtesy of Laraine Narducci.
Thank you, Laraine. You went
out of your comfort zone for this one.
♪ While there are others ♪
♪ Living about us ♪
[Suspenseful music plays]
- ♪ Never molested... ♪
- N-12.
N-12.
CATHERINE: Excuse me.
Can we play on
more than one card?
Yep.
Sorry, I've never played before.
- Do I know you?
- No.
You sure look familiar.
- I've never been here.
- Oh, I know that.
No one here's pretty.
MAN: I-16. I-16.
You can play as many
as you can keep track of.
Thank you.
G-47. G-47.
You got one there.
JULIA: He found me in the file
room. He kind of cornered me.
Scared the hell out of me.
CLARICE: I'm so sorry, Julia.
[Electricity buzzes]
Oh, my God. This... Those
are all people I work with.
Julia, is this the man
who threatened you?
Yes. Joe Hudlin. He used my
name, my name from before.
He was telling me he
knew exactly who I was.
- How did he know that?
- I didn't tell anyone. Why would I?
Honestly, I find that people
feel pretty comfortable
sharing my story without
so much as a thought,
- much less a reason.
- Well, I promise,
I will never violate
your trust in that way.
Someone must have tipped
Hudlin that we're talking to you,
and he probably looked into
your background. I'm so sorry.
I don't know why
I'm helping you.
I could lose my job,
my... my life, Erin's life.
This is... This is crazy.
And this is what
you do for a living?
You just go chasing
after terrible, evil men.
- Yeah.
- Why?
- Can't dance.
- [Door opens]
- ESQUIVEL: Sorry.
- Uh, Julia,
you've met Special Agent Esquivel.
This is Special Agent Clarke.
Julia brought us
all the R&D reports
- from the Stage Three Reprisol Trial.
- ESQUIVEL: Thank you.
And the families of these
women would thank you, too.
Oh, my God.
Glad to help.
Julia? Uh, would
you like a cruller?
Uh, thank you, Julia,
and we will need your eye
- making sense of all this.
- JULIA: Sure.
Happy to answer any
questions you have.
And, uh, you're good
with her seeing all the...
Can we trust her? Ow!
Um, can I ask why we're
doing this in a basement?
This investigation
is highly sensitive.
- And not entirely sanctioned.
- [Scoffs] Great.
[Pager beeps]
That's Krendler. Julia, it's my
boss. I have to go. I'm so sorry.
I'll be right back. Um, hey...
Can you just make sure
Clarke doesn't spook her?
Clarke can only be himself.
- Ow!
- I mean it.
What's with the punching?
[Door opens]
[Telephones ringing,
indistinct conversations]
- [Beeps]
- Yes, sir?
I'm at Ruth Martin's apartment.
The AG is here with me.
- Catherine has... run off.
- [Door closes]
Apparently, she saw an
ex-boyfriend yesterday,
- and it upset her, and now...
- Clarice, Catherine talks to you.
- Did she mention anything?
- Um...
Ma'am, have you
been through her room?
For what?
She's been gathering
information about...
Buffalo Bill's mother.
- What the hell?
- What? Clarice, what is going on?
Catherine told me she had
located Jame Gumb's mother,
and she might have
gone to... confront her.
- When did she tell you this?
- When I came for dinner.
- And you didn't see fit to tell me?
- She told me in confidence, ma'am.
You don't keep Catherine's
confidences from me!
I didn't bring you
here to be her friend!
Starling, Starling,
what is she thinking?
I don't think Catherine knows,
really. She said she wanted
to make Lila Gumb... "see her."
- Lila Gumb?
- It's his mother's name.
She's changed it
since. That's all I know.
- Okay, we'll run the woman's social.
- Check it against Motor Vehicles.
I'll have someone at
IRS, they'll have a look.
- Starling? You've gone quiet.
- What else, Starling? Speak up!
If we're looking for Lila Gumb,
I'd look at the evidence
from Buffalo Bill's basement.
RUTH: Go to my office.
I'll have it there for you.
- [Receiver clicks]
- [Sighs]
Hey. Are you free to
come to Justice with me?
There's some evidence waiting
that could really use your eye.
Can it wait? I'm about
to file my complaint.
- It can't.
- Then can you find someone else?
It's Bill.
[Car door closes]
CLARICE: We're trying to
find Jame Gumb's mother.
The only place I
can think to look
is in the evidence from
the Buffalo Bill case.
We don't have a lot of time.
Catherine might be about to
do something very... foolish.
Ladies.
Let us know if
you need anything.
[Telephones ringing in distance]
You okay? To be here?
[Distorted knock on door]
- Hi.
- You were at bingo.
Yeah. Uh... I
need to talk to you.
Okay, hon.
What's wrong? What do you need?
About your son.
You with The Tattler?
- No, I just wanted...
- You little bitch.
Following me, at my church?
Get the hell off my property,
or I'm gonna call the police.
No, no, no. No. Wait. Aah!
- Ah, the hell. Now, see?
- [Groans]
That was your own fault.
I didn't mean to hurt you.
- Let me look.
- Don't touch me!
- Oh!
- [Thud]
BILL: [Distorted] How does
it feel to be so beautiful?
♪ There's power in the blood ♪
♪ In the precious
blood of the Lamb ♪
CATHERINE: Please
don't die. Please don't die.
[Squeaking]
He was wearing these when you...
He would starve them so
their skin would slacken.
And then he'd play
a game with them.
He'd turn out all the lights...
[Curtain scraping echoes]
and hunt them in the
basement before he killed them.
[Telephone ringing, distorted]
[Ringing stops]
This is the mother.
From these film reels.
He watched this so many times,
there's almost more Scotch
tape then celluloid here.
- He was a big fan.
- He barely knew her, actually.
She lost him when Jame was
two. He grew up in foster homes.
Huh.
- Sort of like me, yeah.
- He's nothing like you.
No. I was sent away,
he was taken away,
then returned to his
grandparents for a time.
He idolized her.
Fetishized his mother.
ARDELIA: He loved her. He
was trying to get back to her.
Well, we always
end up going home.
Home.
When Jame's grandparents,
Lila's parents, died,
the funeral was in...
Carney's Point, New Jersey.
- Look for "Lilas" and "Gumbs" in...
- Let's call the Newark Division.
[Thump echoes]
CATHERINE: Please
don't die. Please don't die.
No. Go on ahead.
I'll meet you there.
- Okay.
- [Receiver clicks]
- What is it?
- The residence of a Lila Kinney,
formerly owned by a Thomas Gumb.
Maybe a grandfather.
It's a family home.
She changed her name
and went there to hide.
- This is where Catherine went.
- So, where are we sending this?
- The Newark office?
- The last thing Catherine needs
is a SWAT team crashing
through the windows.
It'll go bad. It'll go so bad.
- I have to go.
- I can't go with you.
We're turning in our complaint
for the Coalition Lawsuit
to the EEOC tonight. And,
honestly, as your friend,
I'll tell you this girl
isn't your problem.
She has plenty of
resources available to her.
Ardelia, there is one
person alive in this world
who shares that
basement with Catherine.
You've been wearing
this too long. [Sighs]
You don't have to anymore.
- Ardelia...
- I know.
You hope we get it done today.
I know you hope for that.
We will.
- Be careful.
- You, too.
[Door opens]
- [Door closes]
- [Sighs]
CATHERINE: Please don't
die. I wasn't trying to hurt you.
I was just trying
to talk to you,
and you came at me,
and I got scared, okay?
Please. [Sighs]
RUTH: [On phone] Are you sure?
I don't know anything for sure,
ma'am, but that's where I'd go.
- Give me the address. I'll call it in.
- Actually, ma'am, I think I should go.
- Say more.
- [Sighs]
Okay, respectfully, ma'am,
a SWAT team has one job,
and we both know what that is.
If I go, I can get Catherine
out of there safely.
You can't afford to have
this blow up. Neither can she.
This is both of your lives.
KRENDLER:
Starling, it's yours, too.
Yes, sir. But I'm a
trained FBI agent.
Now, ma'am, I
need you to call it.
Clarice, bring her home.
- [Telephone beeps]
- [Sighs]
[Wheezing, groaning]
CATHERINE: Wake up!
LILA: Get the hell
out of my house.
Go! Why can't you
people leave me alone?
- I'm not a reporter.
- He's dead. It's over.
Wait. Those curls. Oh, Lord.
You're the Senator's girl.
- You're Catherine.
- You know my name?
I knew I recognized
you. You look different.
You weren't skinny.
- What do you want?
- I need to... ask you...
- I don't know anything.
- You have to.
Why? He went into foster
care when he was two.
I pushed him out of my brain
until I read about him in
the newspaper last year.
That's how I know your name.
Same way I know
the name "Buffalo Bill."
- Get out.
- Please don't lie.
He was like a wreck that
happened. A car crash.
- [Sniffles] Get out!
- Stop lying to me! You know him!
- I don't! Go!
- Go where? He's everywhere.
[Voice breaking] He's
everywhere except here,
and that doesn't make any sense.
Everybody thinks
it's cool or funny.
These monsters...
they leave human
beings behind, like...
like you.
And me.
If I could help you, I would.
Don't you think you
were entitled to a life?
Yeah.
But his father sure didn't when
he ran off, left me behind like...
Oh, they all do it, honey.
Some way or another, they
toss the girls to the wolves.
[Breathes sharply]
You're just a rich girl
who found that out late.
Go home to your mother.
Have her tell you
the facts of life.
- You don't know my mother.
- [Sighs]
I know she wants
you to be alright.
- You won.
- What?
- The bingo game.
- Oh. Yeah, I did.
Never won anything in my life.
I took it like it
could be a sign.
Look, girl... I can't help you.
- I told you, he's a stranger.
- His skin cream is in your bathroom.
- What?
- The smell.
[Sniffles] I've never smelled it
anywhere but the hole in the ground.
- I had to smell like that!
- [Screaming]
- Tell me what you did to make him...
- [Banging on door]
- CLARICE: Mrs. Kinney?
- [Whimpers]
[Whispering] Shut up.
- Lila Kinney? FBI.
- [Banging on door]
Catherine?
If you look, something's weird
about how we paid the CRO.
Here are payouts to
Lockyer Laboratories, Inc.
That's for the Phase
Three Reprisol trial.
Here are more
payouts a year later.
Lockyer Labs, LLC. They're
two different federal tax IDs.
- They're two different companies.
- It's a shell company.
Alastor set it up to scrub
the results before the sale.
At least they tried something before
murdering three whistleblowers.
JULIA: And there's something
else. Joe Hudlin is getting
an absurdly high percentage
of the sale for a lawyer.
Like, 0.08%. It's $10 million.
So, Hudlin stood to gain
from faking the trial results?
Definitely.
Is there something I can
help you with, Agent Clarke?
- I don't think so. Uh...
- Yeah. I can see the buffet
of questions in your eyes. "Uh,
Julia, what bathroom do you use?
Uh, how could you ever
give up being a man?"
Ooh. "If I think you're hot,
does that make me gay?"
Okay, stop, stop, stop, stop. I
ge... I get it, but you don't know me,
and I don't... I don't
need to know all that.
Then what do you need to know?
Well... I was gonna ask
if, um... you dyed your hair.
My sister, on her 13th birthday,
our mother let her dye her
hair. Same color as yours.
She liked it so much, she
bought extra packets of the stuff.
Not that she ever
got to use them.
Um, did she pass away?
She disappeared. Uh,
someone took her, trafficked her.
- Oh.
- Yeah. Yeah, we're still looking.
I am.
- I'm sorry.
- Uh, thank you.
Anyway, a few years back,
they discontinued the shade.
So, I was thinking that maybe...
they brought it back again.
- It's... It's my natural color.
- Ah. Yes. Well...
It looks nice, anyway.
[Chuckles lightly]
Okay. Uh, let's get
back to work, huh?
Anybody want a coffee or...
[Door opens]
You okay?
Yeah, I just... [Clears throat]
I feel like you're asking
me to burn my house down
while I'm still standing in it.
The house was always on fire. It
was burning when you walked in.
KRENDLER: Let me
know if Starling checks in.
- [Clock ticking]
- My guys didn't even know she left,
- much less where she went.
- That was the point, Paul.
- She's my agent.
- Starling is my agent,
and I'll remind you, so are you.
[Sighs] We are not
gonna do this again, Ruth.
Really? We're gonna
talk about this now?
- When my daughter is...
- Yes.
Because last time Catherine went
missing, you did the same thing.
- Have you forgotten?
- Paul.
You made a backdoor
deal with a serial murderer
to get information
about who took her.
- You undermined the FBI.
- [Liquid pouring]
- You put lives in danger.
- And you were right there with me,
so I don't know
why now, suddenly...
And we sprung a
maniac from confinement,
where he escaped and
eviscerated two cops
and a paramedic and God
knows who else! We did that!
Have you ever thought about
those cops, Ruth? Have you?
You are about one
word from losing your job.
[Clock ticking]
The only thing either
of us wanted to do...
was make the choices
that kept people safe.
- And you're risking her life.
- I am trusting her.
Which is something
you've never done.
I don't trust her not
to get herself killed.
Did you always use that lotion?
- Did he want me to smell like you?
- I lost him when he was two.
- He couldn't have remembered...
- Lost him?
- What did you do?
- I drank.
I was a drinker. But the State
wasn't gonna let me have him,
so I asked my Momma
and Daddy to take him in.
- [Gun cocks]
- Tell me about the smell.
I'm telling you! My
mother's bathroom.
She didn't even like it.
My father did.
She said the smell
gave her a headache,
but she wore it for him.
That's where I found it.
And Jame did, too.
Your boy wanted my
skin soft and loose,
so it would peel off me.
He was...
He was disconnected.
My mother called him "hateful."
- What did they do to him?
- [Sighs]
Tell me!
- I can't.
- Tell me!
CLARICE: Catherine?
CLARICE: Hand me the gun, okay?
CATHERINE: Hello, Clarice.
Lila.
This is the bitch
who killed your son.
Catherine, put the gun
down. Let's go home.
- Did my mother send you here?
- Mrs. Kinney, go. Go now.
Don't. I don't buy her being
a parent all of a sudden.
Well, what if she did
send her? Your momma?
Someone's gotta take care of
you. You're thin as a stray dog.
CLARICE: This is on you,
Catherine. Not your mother.
I know you two are caught
up in some hard stuff,
but that doesn't mean she
isn't standing by you 100%.
Love doesn't always look like
we want it to. It's time to move on.
Move on? What about you?
I could draw his
house from memory,
and you can't remember half
your time in that basement.
Your mother probably
has a scrapbook
- filled with your articles in it!
- Get out! Get out!
Catherine, put the gun down!
Stop! Everyone. [Breathing
quickly] Catherine, you're right.
I think about him every
day. Every single day.
I'll tell you what
I can, alright?
RUTH: Of course I think
about them. Those officers.
I have dreams about
them. Horrible dreams.
- [Clock ticking]
- They don't have faces.
I had no idea that what I
was doing would lead to that.
I just wanted my
little girl back, Paul.
- I know.
- But...
she just needed
something different than me.
I was never the
right one for her.
I might've been a good mother
for someone else, but not her.
LILA: I met Jame's
father at a beauty pageant.
He took me to Los Angeles.
He said I could be an actress.
My first audition was for
a Van Johnson picture.
Oh, I was barely
showing, just a little bump,
but they took one look at
me and told me to go home.
Jame's daddy didn't
like that. He left.
- [Ticking continues]
- But Catherine came into the world
yelling and vibrant
and fussy and so...
loving, intensely loving.
At four, she would hug you
so tight, she'd leave a bruise.
And she'd laugh in her sleep.
I don't know where she came
from, but I loved her so much.
[Sniffles] I loved
her so much it hurt.
LILA: I believed
what people said.
I'd love him when I held him.
And I did. I tried.
You hurt him? Is that
why the state took him?
No. Never.
I had a job interview. Cleaning.
Jame had an earache.
He screamed on the bus,
all the way downtown. [Sighs]
The bus driver kicked us off.
I got some cough syrup,
and that quieted him.
And he fell asleep.
And then I... I drank the rest.
To calm myself.
By the time we got there,
they wouldn't even see me.
[Sighs]
And that's when I realized
Jame wasn't with me.
You'd left him. On the bus.
RUTH: All I ever wanted
to do was help her.
But every single thing I said and
did just made her hate me more.
Intentions count.
At least, I hope they do.
For all the damage we do.
Do you think if we'd
known this was coming...
- nights like this...
- [Sniffles]
- Would we have had children at all?
- [Clock ticking]
LILA: They wouldn't even
let me say goodbye to him.
I went to jail for
three months...
for child neglect,
- and when I got back, I was...
- [Ticking continues]
I don't know what
happened to Jame.
You said your
parents took him in.
He killed them.
At 12 years old.
He killed them both.
He slashed them to
death with a box cutter.
Probably supposed to be me.
[Voice breaking] I prayed
that there was something
that would explain
why... he was so wrong.
A birth defect. Something.
But I just didn't
love him right.
- Get out! Get out!
- [Porcelain shatters]
[Gasps lightly] He
was in 11 foster homes.
- Some of them were...
- If I'd kept him with me...
- There's no telling.
- I'm not here to feel sorry for her!
It's somebody's fault!
He didn't just happen!
Yes, he did! He did!
He just happened!
He stole my life!
I can't eat!
I can't move! I can't love! I...
can't be who anyone
needs me to be!
Someone has to answer for him!
Catherine, don't
let him kill you twice!
You came back from that pit.
You were smarter.
You stayed alive.
But if you make me
shoot you now, he wins.
It wasn't you.
[Voice breaking] It
wasn't me. It was him.
You don't have to carry it anymore.
You don't have to carry him anymore.
You can learn to put him down.
I can, too.
[Clattering gun echoes]
[Thump echoes]
[Catherine sobbing]
CLARICE: My mother sent me away.
I grew up in an orphanage,
and I'm nothing like him.
Is that supposed to
make me feel better?
You take care, ma'am.
- [Laughter]
- He was literally stealing money
from my underwear drawer.
- I knew it. I knew it.
- Ew, no.
- Screw him.
- Actually, no.
- Never screw him again.
- Better plan. Better plan.
Why do I keep attracting
these losers? Am I stupid?
No. No, you're not stupid.
But... you do sometimes
attract unsavory men.
But it's because you're so
vulnerable and open-hearted
- and beautiful and kind and...
- And, ooh, a little stupid.
- A little stupid.
- A little stupid. It's fine.
- Cheers.
- Yeah. Cheers.
- [Laughter]
- [Telephone ringing]
Oh.
- Hello?
- CLARKE: Julia.
It's Special Agent Clarke.
Oh, uh, now... now's
not a good time.
Yeah, I know. You
have people over.
- You're...
- [Laughter in distance]
JULIA: You're watching me?
- Why?
- ESQUIVEL: We came to talk
to you, but we saw
you had company.
We didn't want to
mess up your evening.
Listen, the information you got
us, it almost gets us there, legally.
But we need to be able to prove
that Nils Hagen knew
exactly what he was doing
when he put that drug on the market.
Would you be willing to try again?
Search through the
records one more time?
I gave you what I could. Now
you want me to do... what?
Julia, hey, I know.
You have a nice house.
You have friends, you... people.
Uh, you have a lot at stake here,
and a young girl
was killed doing this.
If you can't do
any more, I get it.
- Just, um...
- [Dogs barking in distance]
thank you. Just
go back to your life.
[Laughter in distance]
Uh, I have to think.
Um, I'll be in touch.
Now, go away.
- [Receiver clicks]
- You think she'll do it?
Hard to say. I mean,
she's a strong... woman,
but hell of a choice.
[Keys jingle, engine starts]
- She'll do it.
- She has to.
We're running out of time.
What are we doing?
I'm calling your mom.
[Cellphone rings]
[Beeps]
- Starling?
- CLARICE: I have her. She's alright.
Oh, thank God. Thank you.
Was it what you thought?
She held Lila
Kinney at gunpoint.
- Is everyone safe?
- Yes, sir. We're in the car.
[Sighs] And, uh,
the woman? Is she...
She'll be fine, and I don't
expect we'll hear from her again.
[Sighs]
Ma'am... I'm gonna turn her in to
the Carney's Point New Jersey Police.
RUTH: But I thought...
CLARICE: There have to
be consequences, ma'am.
A terrible thing
happened to Catherine.
She can come through
it in a couple of ways,
but making this all just
go away is not one of them.
Clarice, bring my daughter home.
[Sighs] The charge will
be assault and trespassing,
and I'll push for a fast
arraignment and a psych eval.
If she were anyone else's daughter,
this wouldn't even be a question.
She needs to know
what she's done.
She needs to feel it.
And I have to go now, ma'am.
[Clock ticking]
Did you think
I'd do it different?
I don't know.
[Sniffles]
- LI: And no one got hurt?
- CLARICE: Well, everyone got hurt.
No one got shot.
[Clock ticking]
CLARICE: Well, I might have
grenaded my career, actually.
For Catherine, it felt kind of
inevitable, but Lila Gumb...
I can't even imagine.
But we all need to
keep moving through.
- I know that.
- And that's what you're doing?
You went in alone. Again.
- Yeah.
- You went in alone in Baltimore.
You went in alone with
Bill, with Marilyn Felker.
It's nearly killed
you every time.
What is it that
you want so badly?
I just want to be a good
agent. A good officer.
- A good officer works alone?
- My dad worked alone.
- You said that pretty fast.
- Well, he did.
And your mother?
Did she work alone?
She was a hotel maid
after your father died.
- She raised the kids all by herself.
- Not this kid.
I was sent away when I was nine.
She wanted me
gone, so... I was gone.
I guess she wanted
to just be alone.
- She wanted my father gone, too.
- She did?
Why?
- Get out! Get out!
- [Porcelain shatters]
Get out now!
She was so angry when
we did fun stuff together,
just he and I.
[Breathes sharply]
And this one night,
she just lost it.
Oof. She was raging at him.
- "Get out! Get out!"
- Get out! Get out!
Come on, Reesey.
You're coming with me.
And I just remember my
daddy swooped me up,
took me out of
there, past bedtime.
What were you doing that night?
We got Coke floats.
Did work stuff.
And I just remember I felt so...
I felt safe.
Best night of my life.
What?
[Indistinct conversation]
I just... I just...
I remember...
I remember men.
These men under a streetlight.
I couldn't see their faces.
I couldn't see who they were.
So, more than just Coke floats.
Angry mother. A father taking
you away from the house.
Clarice, are you sure that this
story you've been telling yourself
is the whole story?
CLARICE: Angela Bird,
Tess Laughty, Sandra Bishop,
they were not random
victims of a serial killer.
Those women were whistleblowers,
and they died trying to tell a story.
A story that isn't over.
Starling, get this
accountant on our payroll.
Julia. You sure are here late.
- Yes. Lots to go through.
- I just wanted to say
you're doing great work, Gordon.
- What did you say?
- See you soon.
CATHERINE: I found
where his mother lives.
- CLARICE: Whose mother?
- CATHERINE: Buffalo Bill's.
I'm going to go see her.
Do you remember the
first thing you said to me?
I said... FBI! You're safe.
That was a lie.
I'll never be safe.
Neither will you.
- Can you sleep?
- [Gasps]
Or do moths wake you
up? There's no one for you.
- Just me.
- [Receiver slams]
[Balls thudding loudly]
♪ Tempted and tried ♪
♪ We're oft made to wonder ♪
B-14. B-14.
♪ Why it should be... ♪
A reminder that the
prize for this game
is a beautiful German chocolate
cake, courtesy of Laraine Narducci.
Thank you, Laraine. You went
out of your comfort zone for this one.
♪ While there are others ♪
♪ Living about us ♪
[Suspenseful music plays]
- ♪ Never molested... ♪
- N-12.
N-12.
CATHERINE: Excuse me.
Can we play on
more than one card?
Yep.
Sorry, I've never played before.
- Do I know you?
- No.
You sure look familiar.
- I've never been here.
- Oh, I know that.
No one here's pretty.
MAN: I-16. I-16.
You can play as many
as you can keep track of.
Thank you.
G-47. G-47.
You got one there.
JULIA: He found me in the file
room. He kind of cornered me.
Scared the hell out of me.
CLARICE: I'm so sorry, Julia.
[Electricity buzzes]
Oh, my God. This... Those
are all people I work with.
Julia, is this the man
who threatened you?
Yes. Joe Hudlin. He used my
name, my name from before.
He was telling me he
knew exactly who I was.
- How did he know that?
- I didn't tell anyone. Why would I?
Honestly, I find that people
feel pretty comfortable
sharing my story without
so much as a thought,
- much less a reason.
- Well, I promise,
I will never violate
your trust in that way.
Someone must have tipped
Hudlin that we're talking to you,
and he probably looked into
your background. I'm so sorry.
I don't know why
I'm helping you.
I could lose my job,
my... my life, Erin's life.
This is... This is crazy.
And this is what
you do for a living?
You just go chasing
after terrible, evil men.
- Yeah.
- Why?
- Can't dance.
- [Door opens]
- ESQUIVEL: Sorry.
- Uh, Julia,
you've met Special Agent Esquivel.
This is Special Agent Clarke.
Julia brought us
all the R&D reports
- from the Stage Three Reprisol Trial.
- ESQUIVEL: Thank you.
And the families of these
women would thank you, too.
Oh, my God.
Glad to help.
Julia? Uh, would
you like a cruller?
Uh, thank you, Julia,
and we will need your eye
- making sense of all this.
- JULIA: Sure.
Happy to answer any
questions you have.
And, uh, you're good
with her seeing all the...
Can we trust her? Ow!
Um, can I ask why we're
doing this in a basement?
This investigation
is highly sensitive.
- And not entirely sanctioned.
- [Scoffs] Great.
[Pager beeps]
That's Krendler. Julia, it's my
boss. I have to go. I'm so sorry.
I'll be right back. Um, hey...
Can you just make sure
Clarke doesn't spook her?
Clarke can only be himself.
- Ow!
- I mean it.
What's with the punching?
[Door opens]
[Telephones ringing,
indistinct conversations]
- [Beeps]
- Yes, sir?
I'm at Ruth Martin's apartment.
The AG is here with me.
- Catherine has... run off.
- [Door closes]
Apparently, she saw an
ex-boyfriend yesterday,
- and it upset her, and now...
- Clarice, Catherine talks to you.
- Did she mention anything?
- Um...
Ma'am, have you
been through her room?
For what?
She's been gathering
information about...
Buffalo Bill's mother.
- What the hell?
- What? Clarice, what is going on?
Catherine told me she had
located Jame Gumb's mother,
and she might have
gone to... confront her.
- When did she tell you this?
- When I came for dinner.
- And you didn't see fit to tell me?
- She told me in confidence, ma'am.
You don't keep Catherine's
confidences from me!
I didn't bring you
here to be her friend!
Starling, Starling,
what is she thinking?
I don't think Catherine knows,
really. She said she wanted
to make Lila Gumb... "see her."
- Lila Gumb?
- It's his mother's name.
She's changed it
since. That's all I know.
- Okay, we'll run the woman's social.
- Check it against Motor Vehicles.
I'll have someone at
IRS, they'll have a look.
- Starling? You've gone quiet.
- What else, Starling? Speak up!
If we're looking for Lila Gumb,
I'd look at the evidence
from Buffalo Bill's basement.
RUTH: Go to my office.
I'll have it there for you.
- [Receiver clicks]
- [Sighs]
Hey. Are you free to
come to Justice with me?
There's some evidence waiting
that could really use your eye.
Can it wait? I'm about
to file my complaint.
- It can't.
- Then can you find someone else?
It's Bill.
[Car door closes]
CLARICE: We're trying to
find Jame Gumb's mother.
The only place I
can think to look
is in the evidence from
the Buffalo Bill case.
We don't have a lot of time.
Catherine might be about to
do something very... foolish.
Ladies.
Let us know if
you need anything.
[Telephones ringing in distance]
You okay? To be here?
[Distorted knock on door]
- Hi.
- You were at bingo.
Yeah. Uh... I
need to talk to you.
Okay, hon.
What's wrong? What do you need?
About your son.
You with The Tattler?
- No, I just wanted...
- You little bitch.
Following me, at my church?
Get the hell off my property,
or I'm gonna call the police.
No, no, no. No. Wait. Aah!
- Ah, the hell. Now, see?
- [Groans]
That was your own fault.
I didn't mean to hurt you.
- Let me look.
- Don't touch me!
- Oh!
- [Thud]
BILL: [Distorted] How does
it feel to be so beautiful?
♪ There's power in the blood ♪
♪ In the precious
blood of the Lamb ♪
CATHERINE: Please
don't die. Please don't die.
[Squeaking]
He was wearing these when you...
He would starve them so
their skin would slacken.
And then he'd play
a game with them.
He'd turn out all the lights...
[Curtain scraping echoes]
and hunt them in the
basement before he killed them.
[Telephone ringing, distorted]
[Ringing stops]
This is the mother.
From these film reels.
He watched this so many times,
there's almost more Scotch
tape then celluloid here.
- He was a big fan.
- He barely knew her, actually.
She lost him when Jame was
two. He grew up in foster homes.
Huh.
- Sort of like me, yeah.
- He's nothing like you.
No. I was sent away,
he was taken away,
then returned to his
grandparents for a time.
He idolized her.
Fetishized his mother.
ARDELIA: He loved her. He
was trying to get back to her.
Well, we always
end up going home.
Home.
When Jame's grandparents,
Lila's parents, died,
the funeral was in...
Carney's Point, New Jersey.
- Look for "Lilas" and "Gumbs" in...
- Let's call the Newark Division.
[Thump echoes]
CATHERINE: Please
don't die. Please don't die.
No. Go on ahead.
I'll meet you there.
- Okay.
- [Receiver clicks]
- What is it?
- The residence of a Lila Kinney,
formerly owned by a Thomas Gumb.
Maybe a grandfather.
It's a family home.
She changed her name
and went there to hide.
- This is where Catherine went.
- So, where are we sending this?
- The Newark office?
- The last thing Catherine needs
is a SWAT team crashing
through the windows.
It'll go bad. It'll go so bad.
- I have to go.
- I can't go with you.
We're turning in our complaint
for the Coalition Lawsuit
to the EEOC tonight. And,
honestly, as your friend,
I'll tell you this girl
isn't your problem.
She has plenty of
resources available to her.
Ardelia, there is one
person alive in this world
who shares that
basement with Catherine.
You've been wearing
this too long. [Sighs]
You don't have to anymore.
- Ardelia...
- I know.
You hope we get it done today.
I know you hope for that.
We will.
- Be careful.
- You, too.
[Door opens]
- [Door closes]
- [Sighs]
CATHERINE: Please don't
die. I wasn't trying to hurt you.
I was just trying
to talk to you,
and you came at me,
and I got scared, okay?
Please. [Sighs]
RUTH: [On phone] Are you sure?
I don't know anything for sure,
ma'am, but that's where I'd go.
- Give me the address. I'll call it in.
- Actually, ma'am, I think I should go.
- Say more.
- [Sighs]
Okay, respectfully, ma'am,
a SWAT team has one job,
and we both know what that is.
If I go, I can get Catherine
out of there safely.
You can't afford to have
this blow up. Neither can she.
This is both of your lives.
KRENDLER:
Starling, it's yours, too.
Yes, sir. But I'm a
trained FBI agent.
Now, ma'am, I
need you to call it.
Clarice, bring her home.
- [Telephone beeps]
- [Sighs]
[Wheezing, groaning]
CATHERINE: Wake up!
LILA: Get the hell
out of my house.
Go! Why can't you
people leave me alone?
- I'm not a reporter.
- He's dead. It's over.
Wait. Those curls. Oh, Lord.
You're the Senator's girl.
- You're Catherine.
- You know my name?
I knew I recognized
you. You look different.
You weren't skinny.
- What do you want?
- I need to... ask you...
- I don't know anything.
- You have to.
Why? He went into foster
care when he was two.
I pushed him out of my brain
until I read about him in
the newspaper last year.
That's how I know your name.
Same way I know
the name "Buffalo Bill."
- Get out.
- Please don't lie.
He was like a wreck that
happened. A car crash.
- [Sniffles] Get out!
- Stop lying to me! You know him!
- I don't! Go!
- Go where? He's everywhere.
[Voice breaking] He's
everywhere except here,
and that doesn't make any sense.
Everybody thinks
it's cool or funny.
These monsters...
they leave human
beings behind, like...
like you.
And me.
If I could help you, I would.
Don't you think you
were entitled to a life?
Yeah.
But his father sure didn't when
he ran off, left me behind like...
Oh, they all do it, honey.
Some way or another, they
toss the girls to the wolves.
[Breathes sharply]
You're just a rich girl
who found that out late.
Go home to your mother.
Have her tell you
the facts of life.
- You don't know my mother.
- [Sighs]
I know she wants
you to be alright.
- You won.
- What?
- The bingo game.
- Oh. Yeah, I did.
Never won anything in my life.
I took it like it
could be a sign.
Look, girl... I can't help you.
- I told you, he's a stranger.
- His skin cream is in your bathroom.
- What?
- The smell.
[Sniffles] I've never smelled it
anywhere but the hole in the ground.
- I had to smell like that!
- [Screaming]
- Tell me what you did to make him...
- [Banging on door]
- CLARICE: Mrs. Kinney?
- [Whimpers]
[Whispering] Shut up.
- Lila Kinney? FBI.
- [Banging on door]
Catherine?
If you look, something's weird
about how we paid the CRO.
Here are payouts to
Lockyer Laboratories, Inc.
That's for the Phase
Three Reprisol trial.
Here are more
payouts a year later.
Lockyer Labs, LLC. They're
two different federal tax IDs.
- They're two different companies.
- It's a shell company.
Alastor set it up to scrub
the results before the sale.
At least they tried something before
murdering three whistleblowers.
JULIA: And there's something
else. Joe Hudlin is getting
an absurdly high percentage
of the sale for a lawyer.
Like, 0.08%. It's $10 million.
So, Hudlin stood to gain
from faking the trial results?
Definitely.
Is there something I can
help you with, Agent Clarke?
- I don't think so. Uh...
- Yeah. I can see the buffet
of questions in your eyes. "Uh,
Julia, what bathroom do you use?
Uh, how could you ever
give up being a man?"
Ooh. "If I think you're hot,
does that make me gay?"
Okay, stop, stop, stop, stop. I
ge... I get it, but you don't know me,
and I don't... I don't
need to know all that.
Then what do you need to know?
Well... I was gonna ask
if, um... you dyed your hair.
My sister, on her 13th birthday,
our mother let her dye her
hair. Same color as yours.
She liked it so much, she
bought extra packets of the stuff.
Not that she ever
got to use them.
Um, did she pass away?
She disappeared. Uh,
someone took her, trafficked her.
- Oh.
- Yeah. Yeah, we're still looking.
I am.
- I'm sorry.
- Uh, thank you.
Anyway, a few years back,
they discontinued the shade.
So, I was thinking that maybe...
they brought it back again.
- It's... It's my natural color.
- Ah. Yes. Well...
It looks nice, anyway.
[Chuckles lightly]
Okay. Uh, let's get
back to work, huh?
Anybody want a coffee or...
[Door opens]
You okay?
Yeah, I just... [Clears throat]
I feel like you're asking
me to burn my house down
while I'm still standing in it.
The house was always on fire. It
was burning when you walked in.
KRENDLER: Let me
know if Starling checks in.
- [Clock ticking]
- My guys didn't even know she left,
- much less where she went.
- That was the point, Paul.
- She's my agent.
- Starling is my agent,
and I'll remind you, so are you.
[Sighs] We are not
gonna do this again, Ruth.
Really? We're gonna
talk about this now?
- When my daughter is...
- Yes.
Because last time Catherine went
missing, you did the same thing.
- Have you forgotten?
- Paul.
You made a backdoor
deal with a serial murderer
to get information
about who took her.
- You undermined the FBI.
- [Liquid pouring]
- You put lives in danger.
- And you were right there with me,
so I don't know
why now, suddenly...
And we sprung a
maniac from confinement,
where he escaped and
eviscerated two cops
and a paramedic and God
knows who else! We did that!
Have you ever thought about
those cops, Ruth? Have you?
You are about one
word from losing your job.
[Clock ticking]
The only thing either
of us wanted to do...
was make the choices
that kept people safe.
- And you're risking her life.
- I am trusting her.
Which is something
you've never done.
I don't trust her not
to get herself killed.
Did you always use that lotion?
- Did he want me to smell like you?
- I lost him when he was two.
- He couldn't have remembered...
- Lost him?
- What did you do?
- I drank.
I was a drinker. But the State
wasn't gonna let me have him,
so I asked my Momma
and Daddy to take him in.
- [Gun cocks]
- Tell me about the smell.
I'm telling you! My
mother's bathroom.
She didn't even like it.
My father did.
She said the smell
gave her a headache,
but she wore it for him.
That's where I found it.
And Jame did, too.
Your boy wanted my
skin soft and loose,
so it would peel off me.
He was...
He was disconnected.
My mother called him "hateful."
- What did they do to him?
- [Sighs]
Tell me!
- I can't.
- Tell me!
CLARICE: Catherine?
CLARICE: Hand me the gun, okay?
CATHERINE: Hello, Clarice.
Lila.
This is the bitch
who killed your son.
Catherine, put the gun
down. Let's go home.
- Did my mother send you here?
- Mrs. Kinney, go. Go now.
Don't. I don't buy her being
a parent all of a sudden.
Well, what if she did
send her? Your momma?
Someone's gotta take care of
you. You're thin as a stray dog.
CLARICE: This is on you,
Catherine. Not your mother.
I know you two are caught
up in some hard stuff,
but that doesn't mean she
isn't standing by you 100%.
Love doesn't always look like
we want it to. It's time to move on.
Move on? What about you?
I could draw his
house from memory,
and you can't remember half
your time in that basement.
Your mother probably
has a scrapbook
- filled with your articles in it!
- Get out! Get out!
Catherine, put the gun down!
Stop! Everyone. [Breathing
quickly] Catherine, you're right.
I think about him every
day. Every single day.
I'll tell you what
I can, alright?
RUTH: Of course I think
about them. Those officers.
I have dreams about
them. Horrible dreams.
- [Clock ticking]
- They don't have faces.
I had no idea that what I
was doing would lead to that.
I just wanted my
little girl back, Paul.
- I know.
- But...
she just needed
something different than me.
I was never the
right one for her.
I might've been a good mother
for someone else, but not her.
LILA: I met Jame's
father at a beauty pageant.
He took me to Los Angeles.
He said I could be an actress.
My first audition was for
a Van Johnson picture.
Oh, I was barely
showing, just a little bump,
but they took one look at
me and told me to go home.
Jame's daddy didn't
like that. He left.
- [Ticking continues]
- But Catherine came into the world
yelling and vibrant
and fussy and so...
loving, intensely loving.
At four, she would hug you
so tight, she'd leave a bruise.
And she'd laugh in her sleep.
I don't know where she came
from, but I loved her so much.
[Sniffles] I loved
her so much it hurt.
LILA: I believed
what people said.
I'd love him when I held him.
And I did. I tried.
You hurt him? Is that
why the state took him?
No. Never.
I had a job interview. Cleaning.
Jame had an earache.
He screamed on the bus,
all the way downtown. [Sighs]
The bus driver kicked us off.
I got some cough syrup,
and that quieted him.
And he fell asleep.
And then I... I drank the rest.
To calm myself.
By the time we got there,
they wouldn't even see me.
[Sighs]
And that's when I realized
Jame wasn't with me.
You'd left him. On the bus.
RUTH: All I ever wanted
to do was help her.
But every single thing I said and
did just made her hate me more.
Intentions count.
At least, I hope they do.
For all the damage we do.
Do you think if we'd
known this was coming...
- nights like this...
- [Sniffles]
- Would we have had children at all?
- [Clock ticking]
LILA: They wouldn't even
let me say goodbye to him.
I went to jail for
three months...
for child neglect,
- and when I got back, I was...
- [Ticking continues]
I don't know what
happened to Jame.
You said your
parents took him in.
He killed them.
At 12 years old.
He killed them both.
He slashed them to
death with a box cutter.
Probably supposed to be me.
[Voice breaking] I prayed
that there was something
that would explain
why... he was so wrong.
A birth defect. Something.
But I just didn't
love him right.
- Get out! Get out!
- [Porcelain shatters]
[Gasps lightly] He
was in 11 foster homes.
- Some of them were...
- If I'd kept him with me...
- There's no telling.
- I'm not here to feel sorry for her!
It's somebody's fault!
He didn't just happen!
Yes, he did! He did!
He just happened!
He stole my life!
I can't eat!
I can't move! I can't love! I...
can't be who anyone
needs me to be!
Someone has to answer for him!
Catherine, don't
let him kill you twice!
You came back from that pit.
You were smarter.
You stayed alive.
But if you make me
shoot you now, he wins.
It wasn't you.
[Voice breaking] It
wasn't me. It was him.
You don't have to carry it anymore.
You don't have to carry him anymore.
You can learn to put him down.
I can, too.
[Clattering gun echoes]
[Thump echoes]
[Catherine sobbing]
CLARICE: My mother sent me away.
I grew up in an orphanage,
and I'm nothing like him.
Is that supposed to
make me feel better?
You take care, ma'am.
- [Laughter]
- He was literally stealing money
from my underwear drawer.
- I knew it. I knew it.
- Ew, no.
- Screw him.
- Actually, no.
- Never screw him again.
- Better plan. Better plan.
Why do I keep attracting
these losers? Am I stupid?
No. No, you're not stupid.
But... you do sometimes
attract unsavory men.
But it's because you're so
vulnerable and open-hearted
- and beautiful and kind and...
- And, ooh, a little stupid.
- A little stupid.
- A little stupid. It's fine.
- Cheers.
- Yeah. Cheers.
- [Laughter]
- [Telephone ringing]
Oh.
- Hello?
- CLARKE: Julia.
It's Special Agent Clarke.
Oh, uh, now... now's
not a good time.
Yeah, I know. You
have people over.
- You're...
- [Laughter in distance]
JULIA: You're watching me?
- Why?
- ESQUIVEL: We came to talk
to you, but we saw
you had company.
We didn't want to
mess up your evening.
Listen, the information you got
us, it almost gets us there, legally.
But we need to be able to prove
that Nils Hagen knew
exactly what he was doing
when he put that drug on the market.
Would you be willing to try again?
Search through the
records one more time?
I gave you what I could. Now
you want me to do... what?
Julia, hey, I know.
You have a nice house.
You have friends, you... people.
Uh, you have a lot at stake here,
and a young girl
was killed doing this.
If you can't do
any more, I get it.
- Just, um...
- [Dogs barking in distance]
thank you. Just
go back to your life.
[Laughter in distance]
Uh, I have to think.
Um, I'll be in touch.
Now, go away.
- [Receiver clicks]
- You think she'll do it?
Hard to say. I mean,
she's a strong... woman,
but hell of a choice.
[Keys jingle, engine starts]
- She'll do it.
- She has to.
We're running out of time.
What are we doing?
I'm calling your mom.
[Cellphone rings]
[Beeps]
- Starling?
- CLARICE: I have her. She's alright.
Oh, thank God. Thank you.
Was it what you thought?
She held Lila
Kinney at gunpoint.
- Is everyone safe?
- Yes, sir. We're in the car.
[Sighs] And, uh,
the woman? Is she...
She'll be fine, and I don't
expect we'll hear from her again.
[Sighs]
Ma'am... I'm gonna turn her in to
the Carney's Point New Jersey Police.
RUTH: But I thought...
CLARICE: There have to
be consequences, ma'am.
A terrible thing
happened to Catherine.
She can come through
it in a couple of ways,
but making this all just
go away is not one of them.
Clarice, bring my daughter home.
[Sighs] The charge will
be assault and trespassing,
and I'll push for a fast
arraignment and a psych eval.
If she were anyone else's daughter,
this wouldn't even be a question.
She needs to know
what she's done.
She needs to feel it.
And I have to go now, ma'am.
[Clock ticking]
Did you think
I'd do it different?
I don't know.
[Sniffles]
- LI: And no one got hurt?
- CLARICE: Well, everyone got hurt.
No one got shot.
[Clock ticking]
CLARICE: Well, I might have
grenaded my career, actually.
For Catherine, it felt kind of
inevitable, but Lila Gumb...
I can't even imagine.
But we all need to
keep moving through.
- I know that.
- And that's what you're doing?
You went in alone. Again.
- Yeah.
- You went in alone in Baltimore.
You went in alone with
Bill, with Marilyn Felker.
It's nearly killed
you every time.
What is it that
you want so badly?
I just want to be a good
agent. A good officer.
- A good officer works alone?
- My dad worked alone.
- You said that pretty fast.
- Well, he did.
And your mother?
Did she work alone?
She was a hotel maid
after your father died.
- She raised the kids all by herself.
- Not this kid.
I was sent away when I was nine.
She wanted me
gone, so... I was gone.
I guess she wanted
to just be alone.
- She wanted my father gone, too.
- She did?
Why?
- Get out! Get out!
- [Porcelain shatters]
Get out now!
She was so angry when
we did fun stuff together,
just he and I.
[Breathes sharply]
And this one night,
she just lost it.
Oof. She was raging at him.
- "Get out! Get out!"
- Get out! Get out!
Come on, Reesey.
You're coming with me.
And I just remember my
daddy swooped me up,
took me out of
there, past bedtime.
What were you doing that night?
We got Coke floats.
Did work stuff.
And I just remember I felt so...
I felt safe.
Best night of my life.
What?
[Indistinct conversation]
I just... I just...
I remember...
I remember men.
These men under a streetlight.
I couldn't see their faces.
I couldn't see who they were.
So, more than just Coke floats.
Angry mother. A father taking
you away from the house.
Clarice, are you sure that this
story you've been telling yourself
is the whole story?