Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–2011): Season 3, Episode 16 - The Saint - full transcript

[Man Narrating] In New
York City's war on crime,

the worst criminal offenders are pursued
by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.

These are their stories.

Nana, when you were sick and
you prayed to Brother Jerome,

he visited you
in a dream, right?

That's right. Well, my doll Emily
prayed to Brother Jerome too.

About her arthritis?

But... I don't know if he can visit her
because I don't know if dolls dream.

I'm sure dolls dream. Maybe
more than we do. Thanks, Nana.

I'm happy to announce...

that with this last quarter's
acquisitions, we're now fully documented.



As Sean can attest, the
materials are spectacular.

Yes. Yes, they are.

We can now take the last step in
what's been a journey of 82 years.

If we hadn't been in
housewares when we started

fighting, I wouldn't
have tried to stab him.

That's the kind of
rationalization that keeps

you showing up to
detox talkin’ like a jerk.

Who's this from? I don't know.

Somebody left it
for me at the desk.

I know this isn't the
solution we anticipated.

I tried to explain on
the phone. You're sure?

It's not too late to change your mind.
It's the only thing we can do for now.

Thanks for being
so understanding.

[Girl] Is that for me? No, but I was
gonna let you open it after your bath.



It's getting cold,
Lulu. Come on.

Nana, it's bad luck to let other
people open your presents.

Okay.

Aaah!

[Hyperventilating]

- Aaah!
- Mom! Oh, my God!

Nana!

That's it then. It's finished.

I don't want to hear
any more about it.

Mrs. Politano's daughter said she
brought the box home from work.

The trick was inside... A
balloon loaded with lye.

The top of the box
was rigged with a pin.

[Eames] Where did she work?
A rehab center in the Village.

She was a counselor. With lots
of law-abiding clients, I'm sure.

And someone with a
science background.

How much science
does lye in a balloon take?

Um, enough.

This device, uh, resolves
a couple of problems.

The first one is, uh,

it would pass through any
bomb-screening machine.

And only the person who
opens the box is... is affected.

And only if she's standing
directly over the top of it.

Who put this here?

Uh, her daughter, while
they were waiting for E. M.S.

Hmm. A relic.

From a Brother Jerome.

To watch over her?

Why did Brother Jerome let Nana die
this time and save her the time before?

I'm sorry. Come on, Lulu.
You have to stay with Mommy.

We're gonna stay with friends,
uh, for a few days. [Clears Throat]

We're very sorry
about your mother.

Did she say anything
about the gift?

Who it was from? No.

Mom sometimes got presents
from her clients. [Sniffles]

Was she having problems with
anybody apart from her work?

Mom was pretty good
at hiding that stuff,

but I could tell when she
was having a bad time.

Marzipan... she'd
bring home a box.

The last time she did that?

A couple weeks ago.

What did your daughter mean
about your mother being saved?

[Sniffles]

My mother was diagnosed
with polio when she was 15,

and she prayed to Brother
Jerome, and she recovered.

People said it was a miracle.

I'm not praying to him anymore
and neither are my dolls.

The package was left at the front,
and nobody saw who delivered it.

We'll need a list of her clients
going back a couple years.

We're specifically interested in
anyone with a science background.

Doesn't ring any bells.

Two weeks ago, anything happen
to upset her? Nothing she mentioned.

[Phone Rings] If you
need me, I'll be at the front.

Just got a poem in the mail.

It's postmarked
upstate... Tannerville.

A little over two weeks ago.

"The Deceit of
Nature's Radiance."

It seems to be about the
consequences of lying.

It's unsigned. There's
no return address.

Never a good
sign. And our poet...

compares lying to the Drosera...

and the carnivorous plants who
disguise themselves to trap their prey.

This person knows botany.

Looks old. It was written
with a fountain pen.

And the ink is... Bleeds to
the other side of the paper.

This was probably
written 30, 40 years ago.

There was a receipt
in here for a church.

She had a mass said
for somebody last week.

Here. At St. Anne's.

A mass for the dead.

[Man] It was for
someone called Mack.

I don't know whether that
was a first name or a nickname.

Louise didn't tell me
anything about them.

Was it a recent death?

Louise didn't say, but my
guess, it was fairly recent.

Ms. Politano was still in
pain over it. You could tell.

She asked me if one person
could be held responsible...

for another's loss
of faith in God.

I said, "Sure... if that
one person is the devil."

The person that you
said the mass for,

maybe their death was a result
of a loss of faith, maybe a suicide?

That would fit the bill.
But Louise didn't say.

Thanks, Father.
All right. God bless.

The poem was about deceit.

Maybe the killer blames
Louise for some kind of betrayal...

that led to a suicide.

Maybe the killer's a poet.

We've been through her
address book, client files.

Nobody in there from
Tannerville or the immediate area.

No usable prints other
than... Louise's on the poem.

And the lab traced the
watermark on the paper

to a company that went
out of business in 1959,

and the ink contained a synthetic pigment
manufacturers started using in 1957.

So the poem was written...
when Louise was in her mid-20s.

Could be an old boyfriend.

Whoever it was...

used language with confidence.

[Goren] "Hiding her
decay under a mantle of ice,

Mother Nature comes with hands
pale and perfect forming the future."

Nice.

And this here.

"It is not lying to seem
one thing and be another.

We learn from the
deceit of nature."

[Goren] That wasn't their first
effort and maybe not their last.

[Typing]

[Goren] Keyword
poet, botany, suicide.

[Beeps] Mary Karen Carnahan,
poet and botany professor.

She took her own life...

two years ago at age 70.

A childhood friend. [Eames]
She's not in Louise's phone book.

Maybe you should check
Mary Carnahan's address book.

Uh, her papers are archived at
her alma mater, Dickerson College.

Mary Carnahan wrote
this poem in her late 20s...

when she really
found her poetic voice.

Did you ever come across a... a
reference to, um, Louise Politano?

I don't recognize the name. Maybe
it's in the personal correspondence.

So far, I've just been able
to sort it chronologically.

The early letters? Uh,
let's see. This bundle here.

Um...

Anything else from her youth?

Well, there are... some
high school essays,

and, uh, some yearbooks
in this box here...

and some short stories.

If you need me,
I'll be in the stacks.

Pardon me.

Bingo. Mary and Louise were on
the yearbook committee together.

Get a load of
those saddle shoes.

This is a note from, uh, Louise to
Mary when they were teenagers.

She refers to her as Mack.

"Mack, I really messed up
telling my mother I couldn't

walk just so Father Luke
would come to my house.

"What a little idiot I am. Then pretending
I had a dream about Brother Jerome?

God must be so angry with me."

She faked a miracle
because of a crush on a priest.

Yeah. Mary knew it and saw
how people would believe it.

Might be the reason for
her depression and suicide.

One fake miracle,
two real deaths.

Whoever sent the poem had to
know Louise faked her miraculous cure.

I had an aunt who used to pray to Brother
Jerome instead of getting a flu shot.

Someone could have been
offended by what Louise did.

Well, the stakes might
be higher than that.

Brother Jerome is
up for a sainthood.

He was a porter at Saint Joseph’s
in the Bronx in the late 1800s,

and then he developed
a following after he used

"oil from the church
lamps to heal a sick child."

It says he healed hundreds of
people before he died in 1920.

One miracle, more or less, is gonna
make a difference to his sainthood?

A-Aside from a documented
miracle during a saint's life,

you also need two
miracles after his death.

Like being healed after the
saint visits you in a dream.

If it comes out it was
a teenage prank...

Brother Jerome's
sainthood might hit the skids.

The Brother Jerome Foundation...

is running the
campaign for sainthood.

The Louise Politano case was
reviewed by the archdiocese.

Her cure was fully
documented. Mr. Sullivan,

Ms. Politano... She
might have been killed to...

keep her deception
from coming out...

and maybe by someone
known to your foundation.

I don't know anyone like that.

Anyway, this whole thing is predicated
on what I believe is a fabrication...

by this disturbed poet to...

discredit Louise.

Do you have any samples of Louise's
handwriting from when she was 15?

We have the essay
that she wrote.

The one she wrote for her
parish priest describing her dream.

Dad, they're suggesting that
we have the note authenticated...

by comparing it
to Louise's essay.

Oh. Of course.

Let's do that.

But I don't want just anyone
handling our documents.

We have a man,
a first-rate expert.

Sean, give him James's number.

The pressure of the down stroke,
the way it cuts into the paper.

And the way she dots the "I"
just to the right as an afterthought.

They look identical to me.
That's because they are.

The internal rhythms of the writing,
the isochrone... it's an identical match.

Louise Politano
wrote both of these.

Well, that's not the answer
the Sullivans expected...

Especially Richard.

Ever since he took over the
foundation from his grandfather,

he's pushed very
hard for sainthood.

His son, Sean, hasn't?

He's more interested in
caring for sick children.

That's the real work
of the foundation.

Did Richard or Sean say how
they wanted to pay for this?

Oh, uh, how do they
normally pay you?

They pay me a finder's fee to
locate artifacts for their reliquary.

What kinds of artifacts?

Brother Jerome's clothes,
eating utensils, rosaries.

Once he gets canonized,
all this stuff is gonna

be not only very
valuable, but hard to find.

The sainthood documents...

Um, he didn't use you.

Is that why you're wondering,
uh, how you're gonna get paid?

I'll just call Sean.

Actually, the department will
take care of it. We just need a bill.

Just give me a minute.

Sullivan, Sr. sent us here
thinking the call would go his way.

Unless there's another reason he kept
us away from his regular authenticator.

I can't imagine why Richard
Sullivan sent you to James Bennett.

The archdiocese told us that
over the last 10 years you've been...

authenticating all the
foundation's documents.

That's right.

Well, what... what were they?

Um, old letters? Testimonials
dating back to Brother Jerome's time?

Uh, yes. Uh, most
were 19th century.

As for these, they were
written by the same person.

The... The dotting of the "I's"
and the speed of the pen stroke.

That's what Bennett told us. He also
said that the samples were identical.

You know, I really
do believe that, um,

there's a problem
between you and Sullivan.

Yeah, he told us he didn't trust anyone
but Bennett to handle the documents.

What'd you do, drop a
jelly doughnut on 'em?

I didn't do anything.

It... It's those two...
Richard and Sean Sullivan.

Two months ago I
authenticated this letter.

It's dated 1877...

from a Reverend... Jacob
Spencer to his daughter Gracelyn,

telling her about Brother
Jerome's healings.

"Jerome is Thomas
Ketcham's cousin, and he said

he was in the woods
along the Bronx River...

"and God told
him to use the oil.

"Now people are coming from all
over after hearing about the blessed oil.

I have seen it
with my own eyes."

Then, last month, Sean Sullivan came
to me with an envelope to authenticate.

It's also dated 1877.

But the envelope doesn't
belong to the letter? No.

The thing is, normally they ask
me to go to their offices to work.

Sean brought the envelope here.

He didn't want his father
to know what he was doing?

Um, this missing letter... Do
you have any idea what it was?

He wouldn't tell me.

It was authentic. I... I
couldn't very well lie.

I knew Louise Politano.

She was not a liar.

Dad, there's no
use blaming James.

I know how upsetting this must
be. It's the last thing you needed.

The city's only paying me the minimum fee,
so I have to charge you for the balance.

[Mouths Word]

[Door Opens]

So they steered the police to one
authenticator instead of another.

You're reading too much into it.

At the very least, Your Honor,
it appears they steered the

police away from a controversy
within their foundation.

This is a charity that
helps little sick kids.

A sainthood would enhance
the influence and the prestige...

of Richard
Sullivan's foundation.

He has a motive to get rid of
any impediment, Your Honor.

You have no right.

We haven't done anything
wrong. [Safe Opens]

Careful! Those documents
are irreplaceable!

We'll be careful. Now, if you don't
mind, sir, you'll have to wait outside.

[Eames] Here's
the file on Louise.

Here's her medical chart...

with the diagnosis of
paralytic poliomyelitis.

Statements from two doctors
attesting to her complete recovery.

I don't see anything here contradicting
the claim of a miraculous cure.

Oh, this is the envelope
that Sean had authenticated.

This is the letter they
don't want anyone to see.

It's from Thomas Ketcham,
Brother Jerome's cousin.

"I heard Jerome has a magic oil.

"He was in the woods along the
Bronx River when he came upon...

"a goat.

"The goat rose up and walked
on two legs like a man does walk.

"Jerome said the goat
had much conversation...

and told him of a magic remedy
from the oil in the lamps at the church."

A talking goat?

A goat who walks like a man.

Brother Jerome told his cousin
his best ideas came from... the devil.

A secret worth protecting.

This becomes known, the foundation
might as well hang up its donation plate.

I don't know what
the goat letter means,

but at the very least, we
should have told the archdiocese.

What does your
father think it means?

He thinks the letter
was sent to test our faith.

But he's afraid that his...

life's work's been in
the name of a charlatan.

I keep telling him our life's work
is in the name of those we help...

The cancer kids,
the AIDS babies.

But he's turned the
foundation into a kind of...

cult of personality.

If Louise Politano, uh,

admitted her prank,
it would all unravel.

He didn't know she lied.

How could he? Look
at the doctors' reports.

You haven't
answered the question.

My father wouldn't hurt anyone.

He's not that kind of man.

And if he was, he would have
destroyed the goat letter. He hasn't.

That's a... [Clears
Throat] good point.

Um, are you familiar
with Louise's file?

Yes, I prepared it.

The doctor made a notation here during an
examination a month after her recovery...

about a fractured left scaphoid.

She broke her wrist. Yes.

She went skating too
soon after her cure,

and her legs weren't
strong enough.

She fell down.

Louise's note to Mary Carnahan
admitting the prank was dated...

four weeks after her... cure.

She's left-handed. She wrote
a note with a broken wrist.

Another miracle.
The note is a forgery.

Which somehow made its
way into the Carnahan archive.

I'm betting that
wasn't a miracle.

This is everyone who accessed the
Carnahan archives in the last year.

Eight names.
Doctoral students and

professors... all with
proper accreditation.

Uh, do you know who, uh, moved the humidity
recorder here by the Carnahan archives?

A technician came by last month.

The service log
hasn't been signed.

How long was he here?
I think about half an hour.

Your desk is right
around the corner?

I... I didn't think I had to keep an eye on
him. He was just calibrating the machine.

By putting it underneath
the heating vent.

The company that leases
the machine says they

haven't sent a technician
out in two months.

So this bogus repairman may
have planted the bogus note?

If the note was a fake,
then we're saying what?

Louise's cure
was the real thing?

I guess that is
what we're saying.

There is no other
evidence it wasn't.

We were led to the note
by Mary Carnahan's... poem,

which we thought was
inspired by Louise's prank.

But if there is no prank,

then maybe the
poem is a fake too.

A lot of trouble just to
keep Brother Jerome from

becoming a saint. Maybe
not so much trouble...

if the target is the
foundation itself,

and the trail led
us to the goat letter,

Brother Jerome's
fall from grace.

I knew it! I knew Louise
could not make that up.

Well, you still have a bigger
problem... The goat letter.

That's only a problem for
those whose faith is weak.

- [Eames] Like your son?
- Maybe he thought that the foundation
was losing touch with its mission.

He thought that exposing the
goat letter would force a change.

That's ridiculous.

When Brother Jerome is canonized
later this year, my job will be done.

I'm retiring. Sean can
run the foundation...

from a shoe box in the Bronx
if that's what he thinks is right.

The goat letter...
How did you acquire it?

From a collector
in North Carolina.

The authenticator that you
sent us to... James Bennett...

He have anything
to do with the letter?

He brokered the purchase.

You actually met
the collector? No.

James handled all that.

He's helped us acquire over a
dozen documents in the last few years.

Funny he didn't mention
that. [Goren] James Bennett...

He is someone that you trust?

He's a friend of the foundation?

I've known him for years. His
mother is a longtime supporter.

I don't know why you want to
come here. It's not our church.

Closer to where I work.

What happened to your watch?

Mother.

I gave it for a charity
auction. It was a nice watch.

I still had the box.

It was a special gift for you.

Just for you.

I told you I don't
want anything. Shh.

Good.

Be right back.

Bless me, Father,
for I have sinned.

But that's not why I'm here.

I know you speak with the
archdiocese. What's on your mind?

It's about the Brother
Jerome Foundation.

I know they have certain
documents in their possession...

Documents that suggest that Brother Jerome
was not unfamiliar with satanic magic.

Bennett has a
juvenile arrest record.

We're working to get it unsealed, but
we tracked down the cop who busted him.

Bennett used home-brewed thermite
to melt the glass in a store window.

Home-brewed. Boy chemist.

Yeah, someone who might
have had the bright idea to

use a balloon filled with
lye as a murder weapon.

What do we know
about this goat letter?

It was authenticated by
the expert at Bartleby's.

We tried to track down
the collector, but the

trail dead-ended at a
P.O. box in Fayetteville.

If Bennett wanted the world
to know about this goat letter...

and embarrass the foundation,
why not just call the papers?

That would call
attention to himself.

This goat letter probably
came from Bennett's pen.

And... And this other letter...

Uh, the one about God telling
Jerome to use the lamp oil.

Hmm. Now, Bennett sold the foundation
16 documents... probably all fake...

All building up to this goat letter,
the disgracing of Brother Jerome.

To make these forgeries, he'd have to
use materials from different centuries,

to write in the
style of the period.

And immerse himself in the
mind of a 19th-century minister...

writing to his daughter,

of a... a 15-year-old girl
worried about telling a lie and...

a... a 30-year-old poet.

And compose an original
poem true to her style.

He'd have to be good.

Yeah, not just good.

Extraordinary.

And for paper, your guy Bennett
probably used blank pages...

ripped from 19th-century books.

And by burning old paper and
mixing the ashes with the ink,

he was able to trick
the carbon dating.

- Impressive.
- More impressive
is what he did with the writing.

I mean, forgers usually
write in short bursts...

with pauses to look at the
handwriting they're imitating.

- But not Bennett.
- No.

Once he starts to
write, he never pauses.

There's no disfluency. The
writing is natural, relaxed.

[Goren] It's like
he's in a trance.

He became Thomas
Ketcham, Mary Carnahan.

I did find one inconsistency.

Several pen strokes
have this smudge.

From a left-handed writer.

Which your guy is.

Now, true writing samples
from Mary Carnahan

and Thomas Ketcham
show right-handed smudges,

but it's not enough for me
to declare these forgeries.

Any evidence Bennett's forged anything
besides the Brother Jerome documents?

If he did, he's been giving them away.
We found two bank accounts in his name...

with balances
totaling $ 132,000.

Small money considering
what you can get for a...

Abe Lincoln letter.

Bennett can't be all bad. He
put his mom as a signatory

on his accounts in case
something happens to him.

Nothing will happen to him if we can't
even make a case against him for fraud.

High school transcripts...

have him excelling at
history, chemistry, art.

Useful skills for a
forger. His grades...

Straight "A's" at midterm.

A few months
later... "C's," "D's."

His attendance
record is erratic.

Maybe he had a
chronic medical problem.

A social worker made
a visit to his home.

The furnishings were missing.

TV.

Stereo was gone.

Chaotic home life.

You know, his juvie file...

It shows that he was arrested at
13 for breaking into a thrift store.

Look whose store it was.

James was caught stealing
an electroplating kit...

his mother Betty had donated.

He said it was his,

and his mom gave
it away by mistake.

His mother do that a
lot... Uh, donate things?

Mmm, yes.

Every few months she'd bring
in, uh, clothing, toys, furnishings.

[Goren] Did she say where she
got them? Well, we assumed...

she got them from
her neighborhood.

She was tireless. I bet she got
special recognition for her tireless work.

From Mr. Sullivan himself.

And what did James
think of all this, uh, giving?

Well, after his little incident,

I think he was moved by
the spirit of Brother Jerome.

He started bringing
in rare coins he found.

One of our volunteers
said they were valuable...

"D" series or
something like that.

Anyway. But James traded
them for a radio or a bicycle.

The coins were worth a
lot more than that. Oh, yes.

We sold them for
hundreds of dollars.

It was a great gift
from such a young man.

Great gift. Thanks to
the electroplating kit.

James is at work right now. I
don't know when he'll be back.

I like the way you
keep your home.

You know, it's so,
um, clean and efficient.

There's no clutter.

I don't like keeping
a lot of things.

What about James?
Does he hate clutter too?

Him? He is a clutter bug.

Inez at the thrift shop said over the
years you've donated a lot of things.

Things we didn't need.

Even James's toys?

He couldn't have been
very happy about that.

We all had to give
up things we love.

You gave it all to the
Brother Jerome Foundation?

Yes. Everything. [Chuckles]

It is such a good feeling.

It's like a dark cloud
being lifted, isn't it?

Yes.

'Cause, uh, weeks before,

you're very sad 'cause
you're thinking about all the...

The sick kids...

and how you could help them.

You would be surprised
how many there are.

You have lovely hands.

They're beautiful, aren't they?
They're so pale and perfect.

Those are exactly the
words that James used.

He wrote me a little card for
Mother's Day when he was a teenager.

Do you still have it?

I... I don't have
time to look for it.

I have errands to run.

You know, I'm...

I'm surprised, uh, with all
the money that he has that...

That James didn't, um, donate
more money to the foundation.

What money? We barely
get by on what James makes.

[Eames] Well, actually,
he has quite a lot put aside.

Well, he has over
130,000 in his accounts.

My Lord.

Um, that's, uh, your
money too. Mmm.

- You're a signatory on those accounts.
- I am?

Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.
It's been nice meeting you.

[Door Closes]

What do you mean it's out of your hands?
Richard Sullivan told me to talk to you.

I'm sure he explained to
you the foundation's under

investigation for fraud, and
their accounts have been frozen.

But not before they deposited
the check my mother wrote them!

$ 130,000! That's all
the money we have!

I'm sorry, but until
we finish our audit...

This is how charity is rewarded?

Thank you very
much for your help.

It still astounds me
she gutted his accounts.

It's a manic-depressive
behavior that she can't resist.

Well, let's hope Mr. Bennett
performs to your expectations.

We had so much money,
and they needed it.

I don't want to talk
right now. I'm very angry.

You'll get over
it. You always do.

[Door Closes]

Not only does Brother Jerome accept
Ketcham's apology for spreading that rumor,

he even forgives him.

And it's from the same
collector in North Carolina?

Yes. I know that seems fortuitous,
but that's how it is sometimes.

All right. I'll send it to
Devlin for authentication.

I've already verified it. If I were
you, I wouldn't wait too long.

If Devlin is satisfied, I'll have a
check for you by the afternoon.

Tomorrow afternoon then.

[Knocking On Door]

Hi. Oh, we're not
interrupting dinner, are we?

- Hi, Mrs. Bennett. How are you?
- I'm all right, Detective. Come in.

You know these people? We
stopped by a couple days ago.

- Why didn't you tell me?
- You were already so upset
about the money.

[Goren] Scrabble.
I love Scrabble.

[Door Closes] Who's winning?

James. He's a very good player.

What... What do you people want?
Oh, we need your help with a document.

You mind if we set up
here? What document?

An old letter. Mr. Sullivan
sent it this morning...

to Blaine Devlin at
Bartleby's for authentication.

Mr. Devlin had problems
with it, so he called us.

He called you?

Yeah, we have
friends everywhere.

Um,

do you think you could find that
Mother's Day card you told us about?

If it's anywhere, it's in a
big box I keep in my closet.

- Let me help you.
- What are you looking for?

This letter written
by Brother Jerome...

Mr. Devlin says
he thinks it's a fake.

He what? He thinks it's a fake.

Mr. Sullivan told him
he got the letter from you.

Actually, a collector put this up for
sale. I'm just brokering the transaction.

[Mrs. Bennett] You can
just put it on the table.

And I thought that
James was the clutter bug.

[Eames] Maybe we
should talk to the collector.

No. I've done business
with him for years. There's

no doubt this is Brother
Jerome's handwriting.

The paper is right... and the ink.
Did you try carbon-dating the ink?

That wasn't Devlin's
problem. What are these?

Those are thank-you
letters from the foundation.

This was Devlin's
problem here...

These microscopic
left-to-right smudges.

He says it's from a
left-handed writer.

Brother Jerome was right-handed,
wasn't he? [James] Yes, he was.

These smudges don't prove
anything. [Mrs. Bennett] This is it.

It is such a beautiful poem.

"Mother with hands... pale
and perfect forming the future."

It is so beautiful.

So beautiful that, uh,

he used it in another poem.

"Hands pale and perfect."

No, no. That... That's
not James's handwriting.

We're supposed to think it
was written by somebody else,

except it has the same
left-to-right smudges.

And the 16 documents that
you sold the foundation...

Every one of them with
the same smudge pattern.

All fakes.

Brilliant fakes.

What are they accusing you of?
That you tried to cheat the foundation?

I don't know what they're talking
about. What he's been doing...

almost as long as you've been
devastating his home with your generosity.

He used his electroplating set to
change the mintmarks on coins...

to make them seem
rare and valuable.

[Goren] He brought
them to the thrift store.

Yeah, he bought
back his bicycle...

and his radio.

Everything that you...
gave away of his.

Is this true, James?

I don't remember.
[Goren] Oh, come on.

Even now you can't tell her how
much you hated what she did?

She took away your
stability and safety.

Everything that made a home.

It's ancient history.

Your, uh, report cards.

Uh, attendance.

"A chronic underachiever."

He was a lazy boy.

It is normal for
boys to be lazy.

Hey, is...

Is this why you can't
bring yourself to blame her?

Is this why instead you go after the ones
who encouraged her, who enabled her?

Is that why you spent 20 years
entangling them in a web of forgery,

priming them for the kill?

Every single one of those
documents is authentic.

Even this one?

This is from Brother
Jerome's cousin.

"Jerome said the goat...

"had much conversation and
told him of a magic remedy...

from the oil in the
lamps at the church."

A goat?

"The goat rose up and walked
on two legs like a man does walk."

What do you suppose that means?

It's obvious, isn't
it? That's the devil.

Where did you get
such an evil letter?

It doesn't matter.

No.

It matters what Richard
Sullivan did with it.

[Chuckling]

Come on. I mean,

you didn't really think
he would make it public?

That hypocrite!

It would have been
the ethical thing to do.

You were counting on Sean.

[Goren] And he couldn't
prevail on his father.

Louise Politano...

became a martyr to your needs.

I didn't have anything
to do with that!

No. You left it to, um,
"divine providence."

Maybe the lye would kill
her, maybe it would injure her.

Or maybe it would
just startle her.

Either way, the trail would lead
back to the poem and Brother Jerome.

And that's where you
showed your hand.

"The Deceit of Nature."

You used a poem that you
wrote about your mother.

In your heart,

you know, turned your
young life into chaos.

Tell me this isn't true, James.

The devil didn't talk to
Brother Jerome, did he?

I made it up, Mom.

All the letters.

Brother Jerome is just what
you always thought he was.

Why?

They took advantage of you!

You are nothing but
a common criminal.

[Goren] No, there's nothing...

common about your son.

Or his crime.

No, you fooled experts.

That's right.

Because I'm
brilliant at what I do.

Hey.

Show her.

Mom, watch.

Brother Jerome.

Thomas Jefferson.

Mickey Mantle.

Edgar Allan Poe.

Elizabeth Bennett.

You, Mom.

The first signature I learned.

My goodness, that
is my signature.

It's perfect.

They're all perfect.

She took everything
away from you.

Everything that you loved.

But she gave you this.

She gave you the...

The drive to develop this skill.

Yes.

And the venom to use it.

Use it to cheat.

And to kill.

She gave you that.

Yes, Mother.

That's what you gave me.

We're putting you
under arrest, James.

If anybody needed a miracle...

She worshipped a
saint and raised a sinner.

The sinner raised himself.

[Howling]