emily?
status quo.
uh huh.
what's going on, em?
two months.
em, why don't we meet somewhere?
why not?
screwed up how?
slow down now, what?
brain.
back of school.
yeah, it's been awhile. you gave emily my locker number?
what?
no.
it has been awhile. who's she been eating with?
is it?
uh huh.
yeah well. i'm not looking for a patch up. em's life is her own. but she asked for my help.
i don't know. i don't even care, it's not my business. i just want to know she's ok, so i've got to find her. that's all this is.
laura dannon there with the rabbit?
he's a sap.
by sight.
kara.
you know her locker number?
em's.
thanks brain. keep your specs on, find me if she shows.
kara.
no, i didn't. lapdog, blow.
i'm all friendly. watch your head, kid - that thing bites.
about emily kostich.
still picking your teeth with freshmen?
way once, sister. you and em were tight for a bit. who's she eating with now?
eating with. lunch. who.
you gonna tell me?
where's emily?
god.
i know you do, so why don't you want me to find her?
well i appreciate that.
hello, ma'am, this is tom, i'm a friend from school. could i speak to.
i'm calling for details.
details about the party.
i don't think we've met.
i can imagine. you should really work on your invite management. that might be a personal 'room for improvement' area in your life. but discretion of your invite sending aside, i have procured a certain someone's invitation, and would like details. a beat of silence.
wait'll you get a load of my felt fedora and spats.
you don't know me - i'll save you some time.
folly of youth. ask whose invitation i've got.
emily kostich.
tom!
leaving.
uh huh. unless your anecdote's got a 2nd act.
that's what i was doing.
jameson.
that's a pretty sick thing to be attracted to.
uh huh.
uh huh.
a few months. could have helped himself out by turning me in, but he took the heat. he was a good guy. solid.
you knew him.
i'm looking for emily.
she had an invitation.
i saw her yesterday.
score 0 for finesse.
if you haven't got a finger in em's troubles, why'd her name get me into your rather exclusive party?
well i'll put that body to bed. i don't know a damn thing about whatever troubles, and that works for me. i just want to find her.
coffee and pie oh my?
sure.
yes.
where's dode?
dode?
kara told me you know where em's at.
she asked for my help.
it's not about that.
where is she?
you're on the bright side of dim, dode, but if i thought you had this half- handled i'd be eating lunch. where's she at?
throw one at me if you want, hash head. i've got all five senses and i slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you.
where's em?
tell emily i want to see her. tell her if she still wants my help or not that's her business, but i want to hear it straight from her.
today. she knows where i eat lunch.
who fed you that line, em?
the carrows rat?
so what am i?
you've got to come back to me, em.
you're in a spot, i can get you out of it. come back to me, and whatever heat follows you i'll deal with.
tell me about the trouble, the brick and the pin -
mm.
kara. it's their turf, i couldn't hear them without being seen, and that would only biff their play. best to know it's there, let it ride and see what comes of it. but anyway.
yeah.
but dode wouldn't know it?
call anything up?
yeah.
i couldn't sleep.
yeah. what, are you here for zero?
bad break.
she's gone.
no, i can't.
now. i don't know. i guess it's.  i don't know.
no.
yeah. i think i could.
kara tried to rope me. she came right out and asked. she was scared. tell me to walk from this, brain. tell me to drop it.
yes i am.
no, bulls would gum it. they'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. but they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this i want the whole story. no cops, not for a bit.
i don't know. your mom still have the cell?
borrow it for a few days, get me the number. wait for my word, and cover for me first period. i'm going to be a little late.
yeah it was personal. jerr spooked some decent gees and ran around some what was straight with him, but i'm nobody's bull runner. this wasn't a business sit. but yeah. i bulled him. got in tight, partnered up and sent him over.
keep it on vibrate.
better stop meeting me in the open too. i'm going to start getting visible, and i need you on the underneath. i'll call.
i bet. keep him off me - stonewall him, he won't bite, just keep him away from me.
make em's troubles mine. i'm going to throw a few words at you, tell me if they catch. brick.
or bad brick.
tug.
drink?
poor frisco.
pin.
the pin, yeah.
i've heard it.
jake1 runner, right?
you think the pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
a show of hands.
no.
try smoking like a chimney, i've heard that helps.
oh i do now.
alright.
i don't want to play games if you've got a headache. get me if you want to spill it, but i can't guarantee safe passage after tonight.
tell the pin that brad was my calling card, and i need words.
tail kara through lunch. she's got rehearsal but she'll blow early. she goes home, drop her, else wait for my call.
listening.
alright, you got me. i'm a scout for the gophers.
of all things, yeah. been watching your game for a month, but that story just now clenched it. you've got heart, kid. how soon can you move to minneapolis?
cold winters, but they've got a great public transit system.
yeah.
there's a thesaurus in the library. 'yeah's under 'y'. go ahead, i'll wait.
to the parking lot? well gee i kind of invited myself.
no, i'm having too good a time.
with you?
yeah.
uh huh.
home.
same reason i'm taking one now.
i'll get where i'm going just fine.
go away.
i can't trust you. brad was a sap, you weren't, you were with him and so you were playing him, so you're a player. with you behind me i'd have to tie one eye up watching both your hands, and i can't spare it.
no, i'm not.
sorry. kara went home though, didn't she?
get the numbers?
s'alright. are me and brad front page news?
yeah.
brad's a sap. i downed him on his field and his crew didn't bite. so now i know he's a sap and anyone who acts like he isn't is profiting by it. that's not why i roughed him, though.
economics. brad's the school's biggest jake buyer, so if this pin is behind all the selling, i just got his attention. anyway, now's just shaking things out. look, you know a kid around the burgh, lanky, short, shaved head, turns a black tang?
keep him off. and keep your specs on - i need to find that kid.
no sir, never seen him.
like i said, he asked for my lunch money first. good thing i brown bagged it.
no. i gave you jerr to see him eaten, not to see you fed.
accelerated english, mrs. kasprzyk.
tough but fair.
uh huh.
i was done here three months ago. i told you then i'd give you jerr and that was that, i'm not your inside line and i'm not your boy.
you know what i'm in if the wrong yeg saw me pulled in here?
no. and no more of these informal chats - if you've got a discipline issue with me write me up or suspend me and i'll see you at the parent conference.
maybe.
maybe. alright, i need you off my back completely for a few weeks. there might be some heat soon.
if i get caught like that it's curtains anyway - i couldn't have brass cutting me favors in public. i'm just saying now so you don't come kicking in my homeroom door once trouble starts.
sure i am. got one more favor to ask.
i'm 9 of 10 that kara's got him, but who knows where. i shook but she's not spilling.
and i know enough about kara to let that worry me. alright, keep your specs on for him. any other news?
she did, huh?
she's tapping kara, and kara knows you know me.
that's the spirit. ask around for dode, tail kara again at lunch. i got knives in my eyes, i'm going home sick. i'll call you tonight.
i want to see the pin.
you the pin?
maybe i'll just sit and bleed at you.
call ms. dannon in from the hall first; she oughta hear this.
i was going to make up some bit of information or set up some phony deal, anything so you'd let me walk. then i was going to go to the vice principal and spill him the street address of the biggest dope port in the burgh.
1250 vista blanca, the ink blotter at the desk in the den in the basement of the house with the tacky mailbox.
where are my glasses? hell with ya then. which wall's the door in?
water's fine, ma'am, thanks.
apple juice sounds terrific.
that's perfect.
i don't know. it starts out same as before, and this floor ain't carpeted.
yeah well, your muscle seemed plenty cool putting his fist in my head. i want him out.
the ape blows or i clam.
about a year ago i had a small time dealing partnership with jerr madison. know him?
yeah well. i didn't ask him to, but he was a straight player. i got out clean - almost. nothing on my official record, but the vps play it like i owe them one. when i made it clear i wasn't playing their hound dog, well they didn't like it. they keep calling me in, badgering me.
i don't like being told whose side i'm on. so now they think i'm on your trail, i'm in a nice spot to know their movements and feed them yours.
you haven't got me yet.
considering the benefits my services could yield, i don't think that's unreasonable.
whatever serves your interests.
just drop me at school. how long was i out?
thanks.
less than when i didn't trust you before. if you can tell me your angle in this, maybe i can.
so far.
you think em scraped the junk off the pin?
this all helps but it's not what i asked. what's your angle in all this?
now you are dangerous.
where's dode flopped? i know you two are cozed up, so you'll tell me or you won't.
it worked. you went to laura, didn't you? told her my tale.
turned out to be.
gol, i must seem a real cad. sometimes i just hate myself.
where's dode flopped?
i need to hear dode's tale about emily. it's important.
uh huh. laura's working with me now, and i'll have the pin and tug in my corner soon. the sooner i get the truth from dode or the truth about dode from you, the safer you'll both be. no? pass it on to dode anyway. maybe he'll have the
now we wait for the pin's answer. unless his crew spotted vp truman's social call this morning, it'll be yes. i'd give us 70. 30. if we're in i get under his skin and see what's what. you stick to kara, keep your specs peeled for dode and stay away from laura.
i'll let you know when she is.
you the pin's?
kicks his shoes off and clambers to his feet. the lug's footsteps are impossibly loud.
on his socked feet running silently back towards the corner. the lug's footsteps crash like symbols as they both come around the same corner in opposite directions at full speed.
chuck burns, big lug with hair like a sheepdog.
the pin. if he's with the pin everything's kablooie and i gotta blow the burgh.
never mind. if i don't call by three call in the bulls.
so?
yeah.
south of t street, yeah.
so?
are you making an offer?
hire another hash head to blade me?
what do you want?
yeah.
yeah, i'm fine. keep digging on the burns lug, but the main thing is to find dode. he set up whatever emily walked into, it's getting more and more urgent we talk.
trueman and the vp?
asked for me?
that's not good. alright, keep me posted.
small fries.
oh yeah? what was it?
what was it?
almost, you said.
yeah?
muscle you can't control's no good at that.
alright.
what?
yeah.
oh yeah?
what?
agh.
probably. i got home late.
od?
huh. bad junk. bad brick.  could that form of heroin be called 'brick'?
i told you to stay clear of laura.
i gotta get voicemail.
this isn't good.
what the hell are you doing asking for me in class?
what?
i've been cut loose. i'm not safe here. we shouldn't have met in the open. alright, lay low, but ask on the underneath for dode. that's all that matters now, find dode, but do it on the underneath, got it?
i'd like to have played it safe, but there's no time. the pin's not letting
i don't know. just find dode.
don't be a sap. i can't even face up at school, the vp's so hot for me.
i'm looking to find this big game the pin's played, not to gum it, but just so when its tail jams in my back i'll know who to bill for the embalming.
i did. he didn't tell me.
huh.
didn't tell you.
what about the ninth brick?
yeah?
frisco.
i heard something fell with emily kostich.
kostich.
huh.
not to me.
sure. the screen door swings open -- enter the pin. if he's surprised he doesn't show it.
just shooting the shat.
a while back.
yeah, i heard that.
what has emily got to do with you?
that's my ride.
a payphone, anywhere.
what time is it?
what time-
what time is it?
shut up! shut up! shut up!
do it! will you do it? i need you to do this. i need you, here. please.
what are you doing, dode?
what do you think you're doing, dode?
what'd you see?
what'd you see me?
yeah, i did. that's all you saw? what about before?
did you see who killed her before i got there?
i found the body, dode.
who's 'we'?
i didn't kill her, dode.
dode, i know you're thinking of em, i know you tried to help her-
-so i'm telling you now you're in over your head, you don't want to put your hand in this-
why was she scared, dode? she came to me, who was she scared of? i think i know why, i just gotta know who!
dode.
what was yours?
what was yours?
what'd i miss?
oh yeah?
that so, dode?
uh huh. and he wants cash on the nail. he's a pot skulled reef worm with more hop in his head than blood. why pay for dirt you can't believe?
maybe you will.
maybe it's hot, but it's dode, you can't trust it.
i'm getting my shoes wet for this. let him milk you if you want.
so maybe you should.
tug, it's alright!
what's the stats?
tide?
war?
the hell i am.
hey.
yeah.
i was there.
where were you yesterday? i called.
alright, listen-
just listen. is my name in the papers with the story?
alright. is it just dode in the papers?
listen, i'm going to be calling you tonight, probably late. sleep with your phone on. could you get a car if you needed to?
be ready then. i'll call.
you scheming tramp. you set that poor kid up, you hid him, fed him your tale. you got info from laura and held dode like a card till you could play him. for money!
you'd bury me at the same time, but it was mostly for the money. you got dode thinking em had his kid, thinking i did it, and that was enough for him, but he stuck to the money cause you had your claws in him, cause he couldn't come away from the deal without it and make you happy.
showing your ace.
laura here?
so what are the stats?
tug got hot. he panicked.
no. he's been anxious cause he thought if you found out he killed emily you'd turn him over.
yeah, well.
alright. so he's a hot head. so you don't want him on your side, at least let's have a pow wow fore we start digging trenches. maybe we can all walk away amiable enemies. what would it take?
alright, but we can talk.
four o'clock.
tonight. let's clear it all before it boils up again.
yeah.
i don't know.
she was at the pin's.
uh huh. so here's the sit. you and the pin are going to pow wow, four o'clock tonight, his place. take all the muscle you want, you won't need it. he wants to talk straight, and you're going to work with him for whatever he needs, cause you don't want war.
the pin's sitting on the brick profits - hitting him now would be post. make peace and wait for your chance.
besides, he's got you on the dode thing. war'll mean you vs. him and every bull in the burgh.
yeah.
go away.
i've got to make sure it plays out smooth.
i've got to make sure.
cause if there's war, i'm in it too.
alright, stop.
tell your boys no knuckle business.
your folks left a car here?
take it and laura's. i'll go first in yours.
i'll take the scenic route to draw off any tailers. they'll think it's you, they might even radio back that you're alone. get it?
alright. got a cigarette?
i've seen you smoke.
give me fifteen minutes, then go.
alright, i warned you. can you get the car?
go to 2014 clancy, off pico west of la grange. park outside and wait. laura's inside. she hasn't got a car, but if she blows on foot or gets a pick, tail her. alright? alright?
i'll call you when it gets light. thanks, brain.
talk.
that's square. you did them after all. lay low it'll blow over. stick on this, one of you'll dish it to bury the other and you'll both get the rap. as to the six, did you borrow it?
then you owe it. shouldn't need a shake on that.
good. let's seal it up and blow for keeps.
it's yours.
why would it be?
did you, tug?
alright, so let's shake and blow.
what would be good enough?
i'll dose it.
if it'll shut you two apes up i'll take the dose, and if i don't die we're all right as rain, and if i do die you two have your war, so long as you keep it off my grave. deal?
johnny, go with him. they go.
no, that's not-
pin, think about it-
hey. where are you?
did she blow last night?
you didn't give her a ride, did you?
but she came straight to school from tug's?
she there now?
alright. tell her i wanna meet up on the basketball field in half an hour, then go home and get some sleep.
no. i took your advice and didn't go.
what happened?
yeah?
huh.
yeah.
probably.
yeah i did.
no.
no, it's not finished. tug pulled the trigger on em and he got the fall, but the bulls coulda found that out without me. laura pulls back more.
it was you. what, you want the whole tale? you want me to tell it to you?
alright, from the top. you had your fingers in brad bramish for appearances and to keep him buying from the pin, who you were hooked with. emily came to you and brad, you saw her for what she was, an insecure little girl trying to get in. she goes on the backburner. meanwhile maybe you're getting bored, maybe just greedy, so when the pin scores big with the bricks you take your shot. you hook one, take half, and cut it back to size, but you cut it bad. maybe accidentally, maybe to down the pin's operation, doesn't matter. you put it back, but poor frisco doses off it and lands in a coma. so now the pin's fuming, maybe he's jealous of brad, so he comes to brad's crowd looking for blood, or at least a scape. you know trouble. there's going to be a war over this. and there's emily. she trusts you. she wants in. it's duck soup.
you frame her for the bad brick, then you cut her loose. you turn on your heel and bite her in the throat. last week on the payphone, pico and alexander, she saw something she was scared of. tug's car driving by, the pin driving, but she wouldn't have seen the pin. no, she was across the street, angel. she saw the passenger side. she saw you. she saw you and ran like she saw some devil.
and she took the hit. dode hid her away, but the pin was on to her, tracked her down, told her to meet him, that they would make good. gave her a time, and a place. and sent tug. just to get the straight. but maybe you had talked tug up, or maybe he just blew a fuse, but em sprung it on him that she had her kid, and he did what anyone could count on tug doing - he hit her. she took the hit for you. you let her take it.
that's the tale.
you're going to tell me it's not?
look at me.
i hope it isn't. i want you to have been on my side all along, not just trying to get me under your thumb like brad and the pin and tug.
but i think you knew that meeting was going to blow up. i think that was your final play. but i hope i'm wrong. i hope everything i wrote in the note i dropped at gary trueman's office this morning is wrong. about your and brad's involvement in the pin's runnings. i hope you didn't steal the brick last night. in your purse.
that's good. that means you didn't let me walk into a slaughterhouse. you didn't lead tug and the pin and their crews to the slaughter. and when trueman reads the note, takes my cue and searches your locker, he won't find a damn thing.
it's done.
you get your straight?
s'alright.
fits. you did good, brain. go sleep.
she called me a dirty word.
As what-all.