Original subtitles

DIARRA: Confession. I thought it could be the beginning

of this really great love story.

Gonna need something to help you through the divorce.

DIARRA: Maybe something happened to him and that's why

he hasn't called me.

Should I call the police?

And tell them you've been ghosted?

I did not get ghosted.

DIARRA: And there it was, my first clue.

I was convinced my missing Tinder date was

an actual missing person.

I found Deonte Brooks, the missing kid from 1995.

Have you seen him?

I've seen him every day for the past 27 years.

Welcome to CSI: Detroit.

DIARRA: Chris came back to solve his own kidnapping,

and he was looking for the Chief too.

CHRIS: I'm in Detroit. Who's the Chief?

Who's the fucking Chief?

Y'all, we need to help him.

Diarra booski friend, nigga, no.

You're sinking into some shit, Miss Brickland.

I'm offering you a lifeboat.

VELVET: I'm not the only one looking for that tape.

MAN: Velvet, Chief says the kid's gotta die.

DIARRA: There was one image I couldn't shake.

The Chief ordered a hit on a child.

Velvet took this from me. It's an exit strategy.

Danger. Don't die.

I didn't know that the Chief was even closer than I thought.

What if Chris was the happy ending...

Diarra!

DIARRA: ...that I desperately needed?

- Whoo! - So, where we headed?

[tense music]

[breathing heavily]

[loud thudding]

DIARRA: Confession. I was actually planning on having

a pretty chill summer.

But who the fuck was I kidding?

Follow the goat.

[gasp]

DIARRA: A gruff asshole in a cheap suit once told me

there's a clinical name for a person like me.

- [gunshots] - A shit magnet.

Fuck. Fuck!

But I never meant for my messes to get anyone killed.

Especially not him.

Shit, especially not me.

"Ezekiel saw the wheel, and the big wheel moved by faith."

I just wanted to do right by Chris.

And by the end I wanted...

Well, I wanted the fucking gold.

Wait, I should go back.

There's a hundred million dollars out there.

[gunshots]

A story of [indistinct].

And we're gonna find it.

When I think back, it all started with

that goddamn barbecue.

I was trying to be happy.

Live a normal life.

I had gone through a cluster of fucks

to bring home Deonte Brooks.

And then I was just his girl,

just supporting my man at a family barbecue.

Well, a welcome home from being kidnapped and missing

for almost 30 years, family barbecue.

You know, normal shit.

Normally your boyfriend can hip you

to his own family dynamics, help you avoid landmines.

But his ass was just as clueless as I was.

That's how we missed the devil inside.

["Papa Was a Rolling Stone"]

♪ Papa was a Rolling Stone ♪

♪ Wherever he laid his head was his home ♪

♪ And when he died ♪

♪ All he left us was alone ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

MAN: Hey.

What's up, nigga?

It's Mac.

DIARRA: The loudest of the cousins was Mac.

We used to play Ninja Turtles all the time.

Sorry, man, I don't remember.

This nigga don't remember shit, man.

Goddamn, that messed him up.

Listen, real talk...

DIARRA: In the span of an hour, Chris met 100 relatives,

play cousins, and old neighbors.

He couldn't remember a one.

And from the start, I had a feeling that

the perfect summer storm was brewing.

♪ Papa was a rolling stone ♪

And remember, don't let Sheila in the liquor cabinet.

Don't let Ron in the liquor cabinet.

Don't let me in the liquor cabinet,

except for a time or two.

Okay.

I was trying to focus on living a normal life.

[coughing] Oh, my God.

Why is this so sweet?

I like sweet.

DIARRA: But after my stint as a hard-boiled PI,

normal was hard to get used to.

On one hand, I was a boring public school teacher

dealing with normal Title One bullshit.

30% budget cut across the board.

All that fancy stuff we did last summer?

- Can't afford it. - You mean like me teaching?

Bingo.

DIARRA: And I was longing for danger,

for smoky bars and a big case.

And make sure Deonte has the banana pudding.

It's his favorite.

Chris.

Oh.

Right.

Chris.

DIARRA: Normal was hard for all of us,

but compared to the rest of the world,

normal was exactly what we were.

♪ I don't react, I just relax ♪

The bullet was so hot, it was like cold.

And shit hit my knee like a millimeter from my dick.

But since it didn't actually hit it,

it kind of made my dick stronger, you know what I mean?

You ever seen a bullet scar before?

You want to?

Excuse me. Excuse me.

Sorry.

[chuckling]

Hi. You doing okay?

I don't think I like these people.

Oh, they're family.

That's totally normal.

- Okay. Yeah. - Okay? Yeah.

Come here.

Don't y'all go together just like Frankie Beverly & Maze.

And may your first child be a masculine child.

Boy or girl?

You better get started soon.

How old is she anyway?

DIARRA: Everything was perfect.

Summer had come early.

The ribs smelled like heaven.

And all I could think was,

"I should have ghosted this nigga when I had the chance."

Wait, I should go back.

Y'all, I might have to ghost this nigga.

What the...

DIARRA: I should go back further.

[tires squealing]

- Oh! - Where we headed?

DIARRA: That first night was weird.

I brought him home to Vonda, but the truth was,

he knew me better.

He wanted to come to my house, and that night,

he cast a spell over my body so tender and beautiful.

He cried, my vagina cried, and then, he cried some more.

Problem was, he was still crying at breakfast the next morning.

- [crying] - DIARRA: And at lunch.

And when he was still crying at dinner three weeks later,

I realized either my cooking is even worse than I thought,

or I had bitten off more than I could fuck.

Y'all... he's, like, very traumatized.

Bruh, he was kidnapped twice.

Yes, but now it's like he's kidnapped me.

I'm his hostage.

He won't get a job, Aja.

He's not communicating.

And all the crying, it's like,

I don't know the scientific name for it.

Try me.

It's like-- it's like a pussy dryer-upper.

- Oh. - You know, I feel like

he's getting his tears directly from my vagina at this point.

See, the world says, be sensitive, Black man,

let out your feelings, but y'all really want us toxic.

No, no, no, I want him stable.

I can't handle this shit, I'm fucked up too.

Right, and then you're recently divorced,

your biological clock is ticking.

Not just ticking, Aja, barking at me like DM-fucking-X.

Just... [imitates barking]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, ma'am.

I hear you, my friend. It's just...

I don't think that you can say all of that to him

without sounding, just...

- Like a bitch. - [gasp]

Well, I was gonna say a bad person, but... yeah.

Y'all, I love this man so much that I risked my life

- and y'all's life to find him. - And I'm still mad about that.

So even if I dump him, shit,

I'm still the best girlfriend he's ever had.

- Not if you abandon him. - Mm-hmm.

Well, Aja got to break up with Keyshawn because he was poor.

No, no, no, because he made poor decisions.

- My God wants me equally yoked. - She ain't shit either.

We coulda had season tickets.

Whatever, okay, you know what?

You made your bed, you lay in them tear-stained sheets.

Oh, come on, Aja.

We didn't go through that much to find him.

Girl, Tea got shot.

Getting shot is the best thing that ever happened to Tea.

I mean, I am getting a lot of sympathy ass off

- that bullet wound. - Maybe Tea came up,

- but the rest of us suffered. - DIARRA: It was true.

I'd spent my divorce settlement relocating

Moni and Roman after Ro's shop mysteriously blew up.

And Danger... Shit, I couldn't even bear to think about it.

Hey, Chuck. The backhand's looking strong.

Thanks, Aja.

You didn't suffer, Aja.

You joined a yacht club.

Yeah, but my boat is on layaway.

Okay, now back to you.

Either you stay and be a good girlfriend,

or leave and be a bad person.

Mmm...

So like any good girlfriend, I stayed.

Hell, I planned the damn barbecue.

I learned the family.

You look just like big man, but taller.

DIARRA: Sheila was Vonda's sister,

and she was just as loud as her son, Mac.

SHEILA: I'm serious, though. Look at him.

- You are so tall, baby. - He ain't that goddamn tall.

Y'all about to have him applying for work at the State Fair

like he's some full-fledged goddamn giant or something.

DIARRA: Ron was Sheila's ex

who helped us out by renting us a place.

Did I say shit about a State Fair?

They've been divorced longer than they've been married,

so while he's still got to come to every function,

loud-talking is beyond me.

'Cause I know how to keep a party going.

You do know how to make a party go.

It goes straight to hell with all them hussies.

And that's why she divorced you.

DIARRA: But like a bad person, I had an ulterior motive.

See, Vonda Brooks had lied to me,

and I was pretty sure she was sitting on a big fucking secret.

I bet y'all been like this since...

- Northern? - Northern. Mm-hmm.

- Where Vonda was class of... - '73! Homecoming queen.

Don't be telling all my business.

- Everybody know it. - It ain't everybody's business

just because everybody know it and everybody know it,

you don't need to say it.

Excuse me. Thanks.

Don't get me wrong, I was off the case,

living a mostly normal life,

but I did have a side mission.

[beeping]

Okay.

- Intel from your station, go. - TEA: Okay, you were right.

Word got out there was gay dude was gonna man the grill,

and everybody here came to make sure I knew what I was doing.

Like I was finna make gay ribs.

Ooh, gay ribs sound lit.

Ah, ah, ah, did you get any numbers?

TEA: Yes. 1984.

Uh, Tigers won the World Series. Senior took Vonda.

- [beeping] - Shit.

AJA: 8724.

Address to Vonda's childhood home

and all the siblings play it in the four-digit.

- [beeping] - Fuck.

- VONDA: Diarra. - Yes...

Diarra. Diarra, will you please tell this boy

that he has to try this banana pudding?

I said I'm good.

No, thanks.

No, I remember a cookout when you were five.

Gobbled damn near the whole thing. Now, c'mon...

And when was that, Miss Vonda?

VONDA: Oh, I think that was around July 4th.

Deonte, hand me one of those.

Vonda! Can you just...

I told you, I don't like bananas.

My name is Chris, and I know what I like.

Excuse me, may I take that key?

- Now. - Yes. Okay.

CHRIS: Now can we get the fuck out of here?

DIARRA: I didn't want to tell him we couldn't leave,

not 'til I completed my mission.

- Why? Because I was a junkie. - Hey. You okay?

I couldn't stop even if I wanted to.

- I'm all right. - MAC: Oh, there he go.

The hide-and-go-seek champ of the West Side.

Listen, bro, please tell me you remember when Fat Jeff

almost blew his hand up setting off homemade fireworks?

No, man, I don't remember.

Are you ser-- [sighs] Come on, man. Come on.

I'ma tell you about it.

- Come on, man! - It's okay.

MAC: Goddamn. You see that nigga outside

making them gay-ass ribs?

Looks great though, lowkey.

DIARRA: I wanted to trust Vonda,

but the fact that she ran around with the criminals

who plotted to kidnap her son wasn't helping.

Fuck!

Months ago, I'd given Vonda the Mary J. tape

implicating the Chief.

She claimed to have lost it.

Mother bitches.

Every mother-in-law is tricky,

but this was the only locked room in her house,

and I was sure that something inside

would reveal the true identity of the Chief.

MAN: The kid's gotta die.

WOMAN: The Chief ordered a hit on a child.

Who's the fucking Chief?

You wanna know who the Chief is.

First, let me tell you a crazy story.

DIARRA: I forgot to mention looking for the Chief

had already gotten me in trouble.

About a sloppy teacher who left breadcrumbs,

also known as evidence, all over the goddamn city.

I laid out all her bullshit for my boss and the mayor,

how I could place her at three separate mob hits,

maybe even took out Velvet, because the last time I checked,

gangsters aren't whacked with crystal hippie daggers.

I didn't kill anybody, Holstein, I swear to God.

But then the mayor's phone rings.

And the next thing I know,

they're all happy as a clam

to chalk this whole thing up to a turf war.

That's who the Chief is.

A voice on the phone

who plays the city's most powerful people

like it's nothing.

And he wants all of this to go away, including you.

This is our official statement.

Only we'll know the real story.

Kind of a lot of people know the real story.

I'm not very good with secrets.

Chris Steele, in town sightseeing,

opens up his app and a batshit school teacher,

that's you, tells him he looks a lot like Deonte Brooks.

"Deonte was abducted by an exotic dancer

with mental health issues?

She raised him as her own before she died last year?"

Flora saved him.

You're not getting it.

None of this ever happened.

Be thankful.

It's a stay of execution.

So what--

what was the cuffs and all this shit?

That was you just being super fucking dramatic?

Number one, that's fucked up, Holstein.

I have very dainty wrists.

And two...

you guys are all dirty.

Got it.

I'm not dirty. I'm outnumbered.

That hippie dagger?

It supposedly walked out of the evidence room

all by itself.

I don't even know the Chief's real name.

First rule of war: be able to identify your enemy.

[dramatic music]

What if I told you there's a picture of him?

And I think Vonda Brooks has it.

So, I spent the next few months combing every inch of her place.

But there was one spot left I couldn't access.

And then came the requests.

ORA: Diarra, I heard on the news

that you the one who found Deonte.

DIARRA: Okay.

My checkout lady at Kroger's

think you went through way more than you sayin'.

Well, if the checkout lady at Kroger's is saying it,

it must be true.

Ora was Vonda's drinking buddy and Spades partner.

I hear tracking down missing lovers is kinda your hobby.

That was sort of a one-off kind of thing.

- Okay? I am one and done. - I'd pay you.

My man ran off.

Now, I don't wanna kill him.

I just wanna shoot him in the head or his dick.

My nephew said he'll do it if you can find him. Please!

Ma'am, I'm not about to track down some dude

so your nephew can shoot him in the dick.

I don't do that.

Do you do pets or just people?

[Diarra sighs]

Hello?

And my nephew stole my armoire.

A beautiful antique, been in our family for 100 years.

I'll knock something off the rent if you find it.

RAHSAN: Yo, can you stop the music for a minute?

Excuse me, everybody. I'd like to recite something for Deonte.

[Rahsan clears throat]

I don't know you at all, but welcome home.

Do you know you at all?

But welcome home.

Back like you never left, but you did leave.

Snatched like edges, disconnected.

Like slaves stolen from villages,

you were stolen from the mall.

Why niggas always gotta go to slavery, dawg?

- No correlation. - Shackled into a new identity.

Screwed over and under

and over and over and over by fate!

Oh, Lord. Vonda, did they touch him? V!

They had to touch him, for sure.

He wasn't touched, everybody. He is just fine.

Why would you kidnap a nigga and not touch him?

- Can you be quiet, please? Hey! - Would you kidnap a nigga and--

Pain and horror everywhere,

everywhere, everywhere!

Nigga! Wrap it up, please.

[all laughing]

You are family and foreigner.

You changed hands like a streetwalker.

- Oh! A streetwalker? - Called that nigga a hoe!

- [Mac laughs] - Your old mother, a deceiver.

Your actual mother, a stranger.

- MALAIKA: I told you she did it. - Oh, hot damn! Ancestors!

Bless his therapist...

- and welcome home. - MAC: Nigga, what?

- Come on, man. Come on. Boo! - Look at me.

- Bravo! Bravo! - [Mac booing]

If I knew they was making poems about kidnapped niggas, I--

- RAHSAN: Shut up, Mac. - Get your lame ass out of here.

They'd have kidnapped me a long time ago.

Mac, stop or I'll put your ass in the headlock.

No, that's cool.

That's cool. You funny, man.

- [indistinct] - Yeah.

- [Mac laughing] - Go home with your funny ass.

- Don't get kidnapped, man. - That's right.

[quietly] I am about sick of this motherfucker.

I'm about to beat his ass.

You know how many street fights I got into growing up?

Just for fun?

Baby, yikes, okay?

I need you to breathe.

All right, I gotta take a piss.

Your face so long, your barber need a halftime

- 'cause of your face. - [laughing]

DIARRA: This is when I figured them out.

It was truly the Blackest shit I had ever seen, actually.

Roasting was their love language.

I knew about this life.

My father once roasted a man literally to death

and then got up at the funeral and opened with,

"Man, this nigga never could take a joke."

Hey. Flora raised you in secret.

- Just the two of you, right? - Right.

Okay, so you have a family now.

Families are cults.

There's rules.

Yours is a family of roasters.

You see that little Kevin Hart motherfucker?

He wants you to fire back at him.

- Okay. - Okay!

So put something in the chamber.

- Okay. - Let me see you.

MAC: Hey, man, don't go get kidnapped now.

[all laughing]

[phone chimes]

[tense music]

DIARRA: You got it?

You think I'd drive all the way out here if I didn't?

DIARRA: Well, get your ass out the car then.

HOLSTEIN: This should help you get through that door.

A sledgehammer?

Don't you have something a little more subtle,

like maybe one of those electronic decoder things?

You know, I work for the Detroit Police Department, not Batman.

Here, take some prints.

Just don't lose it. I had to sign that out.

Please. Don't worry about me. I know just what I'm doing.

I'm the one who's doing all the goddamn work around here.

Where are we with that mountain of evidence

that I turned over to you?

You turned over a little more than jack shit.

Bullshit. Jack shit my asshole, Steve.

On that tape, Flora mentioned that the Chief

was "sitting up on high,"

and one of the Chief's shell companies

traces back to High Street.

The High Street Apartments.

Oh!

Frank Donald sold it to Vision LLC in 1990.

Killed himself three days later.

Well, that's suspicious.

You're correct, Herlock Holmes. It's very suspicious.

Well, my dear Fatson, why does it feel like

I'm working this case by myself?

You don't have a case!

You promised me a lead on the Chief.

If Vonda doesn't lead us to him, we're done.

When she leads us to him, you're gonna be kissing my Black ass.

Not likely.

You know, moms have a lot of sway with their sons.

You go spying and you're wrong,

you're not getting invited to the next cookout.

[scoffs] Don't talk to me about getting invited to a cookout.

Shit, I'm always invited.

You ain't invited.

HOLSTEIN: Just remember, you got no backup.

If the Chief and Vonda really are working together...

I can't help you.

- Hey. - Hey.

- Where's Diarra? - Uh, she went to get ice.

I think.

Oh, okay. I get it. She-- she needed air.

- Okay. - Yeah...

Look, I do know how she deserves to be loved.

Okay?

Also, I know that I'm not there yet.

But I'm gonna get there.

As her girl, I just thought you should know that.

Just need a little time.

MAC: Hey, cuzzo!

Come on, y'all. Gather around.

Check this out, man. Now, listen.

Out of everybody who went famously missing in the D,

you got Hoffa, you got Rahsan's dad-- which I don't blame him--

and then you got Deonte Brooks. Right?

None of them cats made it home, but Deonte did.

That's hard, bro.

So, the whole family chipped in.

- Welcome home, Deonte. - [overlapping chatter]

WOMAN: Yeah, boy. Gotta keep that thang on you.

Wow. Um...

I don't know what to say. I'm-- I'm shocked.

MAC: Check it out, man.

Ain't no way we let you get kidnapped again, bruh.

Anybody offer you candy to get in they van,

you shoot they ass.

DIARRA: I had a sinking suspicion

that most of those smudgy prints were mine.

Fuck.

At that moment, I was regretting

not grabbing the sledgehammer.

[groans]

It was feeling like I'd never get through that door,

never get out of the party,

and I'd never stop getting random requests.

I bought Sincere some things.

A summer suit, a couple of bespoke silk short sets

with matching Gucci slides.

Some Beats for his music.

I mean, that man put his mouth on me

every which way...

up and down,

- backwards and forwards-- - Ma'am!

I don't think this is entirely appropriate.

Do you think maybe I could have a little privacy?

Anyway, Sincere disappeared.

Hmph. Now I'm hearing that

he might've had a double life and a fiancée.

Ha. Larosa, some raggedy bullshit.

You know? But that's a clue on how to find him, huh?

- Huh? - Ma'am, I have no idea.

MAC: So I lost my custom Buffs.

Cognac tinted. It say "pimp" going down one side,

"daddy" going down the other side, all diamonds.

Nigga got 'em right off my face downtown.

Come on, can you help a brother out?

["Suffer In Silence" by Tee Grizzley playing]

♪ I'm in the trenches, know I'm a king and my boys on go ♪

♪ Don't even put on a move ♪

♪ I ain't just talkin', I showed these niggas ♪

♪ Did it by myself, I don't owe these niggas shit ♪

Hey. Hey, hey, hey, everybody.

All right, listen up, come on.

I really wanna thank everybody for coming.

- [cheering] - Mm-hmm. And thank y'all

for being here, because, uh, some of y'all ain't set foot

in my backyard for many years now.

And for those of you who have insinuated

that I know something about something,

I just want to share with you

my favorite biblical verse,

from Revelations 21:8.

"And the Lord sayeth...

- "'How you like me now?'" - [laughter, exclaiming]

How you like me now?

My beautiful boy is home.

Yes. I know Senior's up in heaven

flashing that gap-toothed grin. [chuckles]

And I love you...

Chris.

And don't you get mad at me,

'cause I do have one request.

Would you please try my Milky Way cake?

There are no bananas in it.

- Come on! Come on. - [applause]

All right, all right, all right!

WOMAN: Come on. Come on, Chris. Come on, baby.

MAN: Eat the cake, boy!

[overlapping chatter]

Pretty damn good.

- [Vonda laughs] - [applause]

I had a love affair with this cake for 50 years.

[laughs] Thank you, son.

All right, they want me to sing, but I ain't sung in so long,

I don't know what the hell might come out.

So let me think, let me think.

♪ A good man is hard to find ♪

♪ You always get the other kind ♪

♪ Just when you think that he's your pal ♪

♪ You look around... ♪

- Aht! - Ooh!

No numbers, so don't ask.

These alcoholics have emptied the damn liquor cabinet.

We about to head to the yacht club for drinks.

And abandon the mission?

- Hell yes! - Yes. Absolutely.

Harley gave me his humidor key.

Plus Rico Suave over here wants him a Cuban.

Yeah, but friend, do I got to sit around and listen to you

tell us about the time that Harley shared a cigar

with Berry Gordy's daddy?

- Did I tell y'all that story? - Yes!

- It wasn't even Berry Gordy. - It wasn't even Berry Gordy.

Listen, you have told us every detail about this man's life.

- This is your intervention. - Oh, no, actually,

- this is your intervention. - Mine?

AJA: Yes! Friend, you are making things way too complicated.

No, you're afraid that if you stop "investigating..."

Don't put air quotes on that.

...you may actually be happy with this man.

Look, he's over six foot. The sex is great.

- TEA: Tell her. - AJA: He frickin' loves you.

Sometimes it's simple.

Leave the door shut.

[Vonda singing continues]

♪ You... ♪

♪ You even crave to... ♪

DIARRA: That's when I realized Aja was right.

I was making things too complicated.

I kept thinking it would take numbers

that were important to Vonda to unlock her secret room.

But in fact, Vonda was a Boomer

who could barely remember lyrics,

let alone a bunch of damn passwords.

And just maybe they were held in the same place

where Vonda kept her sweetest memories.

[tense music]

Fuck yes.

♪

Sometimes things are just that simple.

[solemn music]

♪

[Diarra scoffs]

Liar.

[music turns ominous]

♪

In a blink, it all came together.

On that tape, Flora mentioned that the Chief

was "sitting up on high," and one of the Chief's

shell companies traces back to High Street.

HOLSTEIN: The High Street Apartments.

AJA: 8724, address to Vonda's childhood home.

All the siblings played in the four digit.

DIARRA: I almost could have missed him,

but Aja had been repeating the same story all winter.

HARLEY: At 15, my family was evicted.

My mother couldn't even look us in the eye.

When I was 26, I bought that building

from the slumlord who ran us out at 30.

I put that little shit out of business.

Frank Donald sold it to Vision LLC

and killed himself three days later.

- Vision LLC. - What's the vision?

What's your vision on that?

TEA: You have told us every single detail

- about this man's life. - Harley gave me his humidor key.

[sizzling]

DIARRA: Walt Harley, my best friend's mentor,

titan of Detroit business, and a two-faced piece of shit,

had been calling all the shots.

[tense music]

I knew all too well that his company had put up

the reward money.

[door creaks]

VONDA: You're a busybody, ain't you?

[tense music]

What is it you think you know?

Walt Harley is the Chief.

And you've known the whole time.

♪

[door slams]

[door slams]

[ominous music]

Walter and I grew up together.

He was so skinny.

Honestly, I didn't pay his ass much mind then.

A boy shining shoes outside the Cadillac Hotel.

He was 15 when he told me he loved me.

I was 20, told him he was dreaming.

[chuckles]

Walter is a dreamer.

A dreamer to a fault.

Thinks he can have anything.

[sighs] We lost contact...

and then I married Senior.

He didn't have a pot to piss in, but he made me laugh.

It wasn't until I applied to the plant that I saw Walter again.

He tried to fade into the background,

but I took one look at him, and knew he was running things.

He had filled out his shoulders, his arms.

Yuck.

I'm sorry, that was my bad.

Please continue.

[sighs] He hired me, then Senior.

I ended up working a lot of late nights.

- [scoffs] - Senior never said it out loud,

but I think he knew.

That damn strike was his way of hurting Walter back.

So Walter kidnapped your kid, and you protected him?

See, you don't know what you're talking about.

No, you don't know what you're talking about! So the Chief--

You don't know what you're talking about, he put up

the reward money himself.

Harley gave the order to Zervas.

Zervas farmed it out to the Woodward boys.

Flora and Velvet, they said it on the tape!

I don't need to listen to no damn tape.

I asked him straight up, did you have anything to do with this?

He swore on his mother's life

he would never do anything like that to me.

What on earth would make you believe that?

♪

[sighs]

Vonda, no.

Is he Chris' real father?

Does Harley know?

Does Harley know?

I pray you learn this lesson before I did.

Choosing who you have a child with

is the single most important decision of your life.

Please let me tell Chris in my time.

[scoffs]

I wouldn't survive losing him again.

[sighs]

Okay, but I need you to do something for me.

I need you to listen to this tape.

Walt Harley tried to kill your son.

[knocking on door]

Oh, y'all might wanna come down.

Deonte finna shoot somebody.

- What? - What?

CHRIS: Everybody, shut the fuck up!

WOMAN: Are you serious right now?

CHRIS: Everybody's so fucking funny.

Take off the fucking shirt.

DIARRA: I told him to put something in the chamber.

Hurry up, nigga!

Come on, man, it's a medium. God damn!

DIARRA: I never imagined he'd take it so literal.

Take off the shirts!

Off, shirts off!

- [all grumbling] - My name is Chris.

Who the fuck is Deonte?

Y'all think all this kidnapping shit is a fucking game,

but every time y'all use the word "kidnap,"

you shit on my mother's name.

The woman who raised me, her name is Flora Steele.

- You, say her name. - MAC: Flora Steele.

- You say her fucking name! - Flora Steele.

- Say her fucking name! - Flora Steele, man, shit, okay!

[tense music]

Oh, y'all think I'm crazy.

Well, guess what, nigga? I am crazy.

You know what else? I don't give a fuck.

I don't give a fuck about you.

I don't give a fuck about Steele.

I don't give a fuck about Raheem, either.

Who the fuck is Raheem?

I don't give a fuck about myself.

I ain't shit, nigga, and you less of a man than me.

So once I figure you ain't gonna be shit...

Pow!

So be it.

Remember that, motherfucker.

♪

'Cause I'm the one you need to be worried about, partner!

[Mac exclaiming]

MAC: Hey, man, yeah!

Hey, man, this nigga doing Juice, man.

Hey, man, he being Tupac, man.

Ah, this nigga funny as hell.

Listen, Juice was our favorite movie back in the day.

Ron showed it to us on VHS. You remember that?

Man, I know you still remember some shit.

Man, I can't believe you still remember that.

Man, I thought you-- I thought you was--

I told you he was family.

[Ron] All right, come on out here, everybody.

Man, you know that shit...

Fools up in here.

[overlapping chatter]

What the fuck?

You needed a distraction, didn't you?

- What? - Come on.

Babe, I know when somebody's got an angle.

Vonda's still a suspect, right?

And you found something in that locked room upstairs.

Something about the Chief, right?

Baby, I get you.

You're crazy as fuck,

and I'm riding at dawn every fucking time.

I'm sorry, I'm crazy?

Did you just see yourself?

Look, I've been drawing spiders for a long time.

It's like a tic, it's uncontrollable.

You wanna know what I drew this morning?

- A therapist? - Look.

DIARRA: That's when I knew, with him,

there was no need for a double life.

He could handle all of me.

Okay, look.

I was doing a very standard investigation

of my boyfriend's mother.

All girls do that.

Was she involved?

No.

No.

I mean, she's a little mixed up, but...

she loves you so much.

Come here.

But laying everything bare had consequences for everyone.

RON: Hey, hey, Chick Tracy.

Are you gonna help me find my armoire, or what? Hmm?

I'm gonna go help Vonda clean up, okay?

Mm-hmm.

- I'm counting on you. - Mm-hmm.

- Excuse me. Hey, hey, hey. - What?

I need to get the hell out of this ghetto-ass barbeque.

- No, no, no, wait-- - Hey, hey, hey, I got her.

I'll call you later.

DIARRA: I just had one stop to make.

[mysterious music]

DIARRA: I'll never know what kept me from picking up

the real check earlier.

Maybe I felt like once I claimed it,

the chase would all be over.

I lied to Holstein,

told him I'd scoured Vonda's locked room and found nothing.

All to give her time to tell Chris in her own way.

♪

DIARRA: I lied to myself, too.

Told myself I was there for the check.

But high on Kool-Aid and hubris,

I wanted him to know that someone was onto him.

♪

I was starting to think you didn't want this money,

Miss Brickland.

DIARRA: Well, Aja said you worked late.

So...

At the last minute, I tried to hide my disgust,

but it was airborne.

[tense music]

I see.

You want a drink?

Let's have a drink.

Heard this story about a Black truck driver during Prohibition.

Made a living bringing loads of whiskey down from Canada.

When the river froze,

bootleggers could drive from Windsor right across the ice.

But one night, that ice cracked.

Whole truck was swallowed.

Last year, I paid for a team of divers to go down there,

and see if the legend was true.

And, uh, it was.

You do know they sell Jim Beam down at the corner store, right?

I did it because no one else gave a shit.

Yeah.

It wasn't worth their time to fish his body out of the river.

I think you did it for the whiskey.

The artifacts from that driver's life

are now immortalized in the museum.

He'll be remembered.

How will you be remembered, Miss Brickland?

♪

This is my legacy.

Revitalizing Detroit.

And I influence every artery, every corner of it.

I got, uh, real estate, parks, schools.

I put new metal detectors in this one,

so that good teachers don't get shot,

so long as they don't malfunction.

DIARRA: Let the record show he pointed to my school,

Douglas Middle.

I'm lifting up young entrepreneurs,

so that they don't go bankrupt.

DIARRA: Aja's spot, the Detroit Experience.

Investing in justice for our city

by becoming a silent partner in our...

biggest Black-owned law firm.

DIARRA: Swa's firm.

He knew every string to pull that might unravel me.

Months ago, my lawyer failed to recover a certain tape.

I, uh...

I found a way to safeguard from any threats

by investing in you, too.

DIARRA: One thing was abundantly clear.

My boyfriend's parents fucking sucked.

I'd sure hate to see Roman and Monifa's summer vacation ruined.

They seem happy in that Idlewild cabin.

So long as I stay happy, we can keep them that way.

♪

You found out who I really am.

HOLSTEIN: That hippie dagger?

It supposedly walked out of the evidence room all by itself.

HARLEY: Congratulations.

Now it's time to forget.

Because if you ever speak of me or cross me...

or so much as darken my door ever again,

I will set your life on fire, Miss Brickland.

Shut off your water...

and watch you burn.

[tense music]

♪

♪

[music building]

♪

[Chris sighs]

You found something.

DIARRA: I thought about telling him everything,

but I got him as well as he got me.

And I knew he wouldn't stop until...

The Chief is dead.

Velvet told me that before she died,

but I kept on pressing.

He was a boogeyman.

Somebody she just made up to scare other crews.

[somber music]

We just have to accept the fact that it's over,

and move on.

♪

And that's how the case of the missing Tinder date ended.

From then on, we'd have to be two people

who met on an app in a nice,

normal relationship.

♪

But we did both need summer jobs.

You wanna chase down Ron's armoire?

Could be fun.

You wanna have some fun?

[both laughing]

MAN: Okay, please!

Please! Aah! Oh, no! No! [screaming]

[electricity buzzing]

[man screaming]

Okay! [screaming] Please!

[man whimpering]

- Okay! - [screws creaking]

Aah! Aah!

I still don't got it!

[gasping]

But I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get it.

I got somebody working on it. She's real good.

She'll find the armoire.

No problem. No, no, no, no, no!

DIARRA: Just like he said, shit magnet.

[theme music]