[tense music playing]
[hushed, indistinct speech]
[indistinct speech continues]
[rattling]
[music intensifies]
[indistinct speech]
- [phone clicks] - [sighs]
[plaintive music playing]
[breathes slowly]
[sighs]
[music continues]
[girl, in Spanish] I can do that, Mom.
[in Spanish] No, sit down. I want you to eat.
[kisses softly]
[music fades]
Who was that?
Who?
On the phone.
Nothing. It was nothing.
Are you okay?
Yes. Yes, of course.
Don't worry. How is it?
It's great. Thanks.
How is the book?
The book is excellent. I think I know who did it.
But I got the last one wrong. You should read it.
Those books scare me.
It's not scary!
Sweetheart.
I have to work late.
Sure. Am I going to Nanna's?
I'm sorry.
It's okay. Past dinner?
Is it anything fun?
State Dinner.
Is that fun?
It's the White House. It's always fun.
State Dinner for who?
Australia.
[girl] Australians are fun!
Is anyone famous going to be there?
I don't know.
Okay, Mom. Mom. Listen to me.
If Hugh Jackman is there, you have to say something.
No! Why would Hugh Jackman be there?
I don't know. He's famous.
I can't say anything.
Okay.
What would I say?
Something like…
I don't know.
Like, "Hi, Mr. Jackman."
Stop it! Never!
Eat.
[soft music playing]
I'll call you later. I love you.
I love you too, Mom.
I'm sorry about tonight.
It's okay. It's for the good of the country!
[music fades]
[phone ringing]
["Charade" by Henry Mancini playing]
[phone continues ringing]
[indistinct speech]
[announcement over PA system]
- [car horns beeping] - [passersby chattering]
- [announcement over PA system] - [brakes squealing]
[announcement over PA system]
[in English] Morning.
[music continues]
[man] Morning.
[indistinct chattering]
[woman] Morning.
[indistinct chattering]
[door opens]
[man] Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry.
No, no, it's my fault.
[man] How are you tonight?
Fine, thank you. Hi, Mr. Jackman.
[Hugh] Hi.
[music continues]
[indistinct speech]
[music continues]
[phone buzzing]
Hello?
[exhales deeply]
[music becomes discordant]
[music stops abruptly]
[rapid footsteps]
[breathes raggedly]
[ominous music playing]
[breathes shakily]
[curious music playing]
[Cupp] Yeah, I just landed.
No, I didn't see it. I was so close.
I did find the El Oro Parakeet. A little flock of them, actually.
And the Long-wattled Umbrellabird.
That was great. Yeah, both at Buenaventura.
Oh, and I got the Pale-headed Brushfinch, but I just missed the Antpitta.
No, I had to come back.
Some of these people I'm working with on this case… Ugh.
You know how it is. Yes!
Exactly. [laughs heartily]
All right.
Yeah, thanks, Kenn. Talk soon.
[Cupp laughs]
[phone bleeps]
Kenn Kaufman. Great birder.
He found the first Pale-footed Swallow for Venezuela!
What do you mean, "these people you're working with"?
Oh, not you, Chief. I meant him.
Why are you using that phone?
Only phone I have.
- You don't have a cell phone? - No.
You don't have a cell phone?
This is why I never let you ask any questions.
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to make a call on that satellite phone?
- No. - It's really expensive.
- The Bureau is going to kill me. - Okay. Sorry.
[light jazz music playing]
I talked on it for hours in the Quito airport.
Nice to see you, too.
So, what's the plan? When do we get to meet this Doumbe fellow?
Patrick Doumbe.
Are we going there now?
- What is that? - Mackerel.
- No. - Smoked.
- No. In here? - I didn't want to open it on the plane.
- It would bother people. - It would. It will.
I have some ideas about who he saw.
[dramatic music playing]
But we obviously need him to go through everybody.
Do we have that set up?
It feels like I'm talking a lot about Mr. Doumbe, and nobody's saying anything.
How was the flight?
- What? - Did you watch a movie?
- Doumbe won't talk. - What do you mean, "Doumbe won't talk"?
His lawyer said his immunity only extended to the hearings, which is true,
and the hearings are over, or suspended technically,
because Senator Bix blew them up.
- Let me tell you something. - Senator!
- He won't talk. - So why don't we give him immunity?
Who? You and me? Like, we give him an immunity idol or something?
No, the people who give immunity.
The Justice Department. Let's go to the Justice Department.
You're not going to the Justice Department.
[light jazz music playing]
- Any turbulence? - [Cupp sighs]
- No! - No!
[tin snaps open]
So we have no way of questioning the guy who saw someone dragging a dead body
out of the Yellow Oval Room of the White House?
[gags] When you put it that way…
So what are we investigating? How are we doing this? Why am I here?
You're here because I reopened the case.
The Metropolitan Police Department has reopened the case.
I say this with all the love in the world, Larry, but who gives a shit?
They don't care about that. That doesn't get us into the White House.
Oh, we're getting into the White House.
We've got support this time. On the inside.
From who?
I think what we wanna focus on is, hey, we're here!
From who?
Really missing Ecuador right now.
I need you to solve this case, Detective Cupp.
- What case? - This fucking case. Did you not tell her?
Oh. [laughs wryly] Okay.
Do you mean A.B. Wynter? That case is closed.
I read the report. He killed himself.
Okay, yeah, yeah. I get it. We're all a bunch of fucking idiots.
Okay. But you know what? I did think he killed himself.
Because he was here with slit wrists. And he had a suicide note.
And actually, I would like to see that suicide note.
What did it say, anyway?
- Because maybe he did kill himself! - [repeated banging]
Too loud!
I agree!
- Nan and Tripp still up here? - Oh, they're like fucking phroggers.
Phroggers? People who sneak in your house,
live in your attic, eat your food and you can't get 'em out.
Isn't that what you're doing?
Anyway, you need me to solve this case. Or possibly you already solved this case?
It was confusing to me.
I need you to solve this case.
- Why? - Why?
Because we are in the shit, Detective Cupp.
This administration. We were in the shit before.
But this is a thousand times worse.
We are in, like, a well of shit.
Do you know when some kid falls down some 100-foot well?
We are in that, but it's a well of shit.
Between this and the smoked fish…
I've spent my entire life trying to get Perry Morgan into the White House,
and now it is all fucked up.
This is all anybody asks about. It's all anybody thinks about.
So we just need an answer.
From the only person that anybody trusts anymore. Who did it?
And I don't fucking care who did it.
- I just want a name. - What if that name's Harry Hollinger?
Then you're not as good as people say you are.
- I need all the access I had before. - You have it.
- Nothing off limits. - Nothing off limits.
- Including the second floor. - You can head down now.
- President Morgan's okay with that? - He doesn't live here anymore.
Did he not pay his rent?
The President and Mr. Morgan moved to Blair House.
- When? - About a week after the dinner.
- Why? - [Harry sighs]
They didn't feel comfortable here.
- 48 hours enough time? - What?
I phrased it like a question. It's not a question.
- You have 48 hours. - You never said--
They're going to get those hearings back together at some point,
and I need an answer before then. There is blood in the water.
Oh, and one last thing:
Can we not with all the birds this time?
Just, like, enough with the fucking birds.
Detective Cupp?
[light jazz music playing]
[sighs, mutters] Fucking birds.
- He never said 48 hours. - I can get this done.
You trust him? I don't trust him.
[Cupp chuckles] Him? Of course not.
You always have to be suspicious of the person who calls the meeting.
The Godfather? Was that a Godfather reference?
- Yeah, that's it. - Uh, uh, uh… Clemenza?
No, no, no. The other guy. Um, uh…
- Tessio. - Tessio. Right.
Tessio approaches Michael at the funeral and asks for a meeting with, um…
- Barzini. - Barzini! Oh my God! Yes!
[both laughing]
- [laughing stops awkwardly] - [music ends]
- Uh… - [Park clears throat]
[quiet, intriguing music playing]
I heard a loud thump.
[Cupp] The way his shoes were coming off. The way his pants gathered at his waist.
- I have always thought he was moved. - [Park] From where?
- Where is Jasmine Haney? - How would I know?
- I've been with you since you landed. - Can you find her?
I thought things would be different this time.
Really?
- [Vusi] Room 301, the northeast corner. - [Cupp] Why did I smell paint up there?
We definitely didn't do any work in here. And that is definitely paint.
This door was taped.
[music continues]
[yells]
- It's a door. A pop door. - [door clicks]
[Cupp] And on the other side of the hallway? Same thing?
This is different. A staircase.
[Cupp] A secret staircase.
[Haney] A staff staircase.
- [Cupp] To where? - To the third floor.
- [Cupp] Who has access to the 3rd floor? - [Haney] More people than you think.
Honestly, so many people in this house.
- [Sheila] I rode the elevator with him. - [Cupp] Where'd he get off?
[Sheila] The second floor.
[Haney] There are guest bedrooms on both floors.
[Sheila] Kylie Minogue was a guest.
[Haney] Her only ask was that she got the Lincoln Bedroom.
[Cupp] You want to go up to the Lincoln Bedroom now?
- [Kylie] Yes. - [Cupp] It's a crime scene.
[Kylie] The Lincoln Bedroom? I thought this guy died on the third floor.
[Kylie gasping]
Blood!
- [Park] Where? - [Kylie] In the Lincoln Bedroom.
[Cupp] And this room next to the Lincoln Bedroom?
[Haney] The Treaty Room.
[Bix] Harry Hollinger has a meeting in the Treaty Room
with the Director of the CIA and Walpole Bing…
- Get the fuck out. - [Bix] …the day before the State Dinner.
- [Doumbe] I saw someone. - [Filkins] On the 2nd floor?
[Doumbe] He walked over to me and said that I needed to get out of there.
[Filkins] Why did he say that?
What did you see in that hallway?
When I came out of the living room, I looked down the hallway,
and I saw him dragging a body out of the Yellow Oval Room.
[animated chattering]
- [Cupp] Why no Secret Service there? - [Trask] We were told to stay off.
Who told you to stay off?
- Mr. Morgan. - That's a lie.
- He called at 9:22 p.m. - I didn't call anyone.
- Where were you? - [Rausch] 2nd floor.
- And then you left? - I left.
- You didn't see or hear anything else? - Nothing. Except for the dog.
I went upstairs. Didn't see anything. Came back. The barking stopped.
- [Filkins] Recognize this person? - [Doumbe] No.
- [Harry] Who did it? I want a name. - [Cupp] What if that name--
[Haney] Detective Cupp?
I didn't know you were coming. Are you back investigating?
- Yes. - Okay.
Okay. That's good.
I never thought he killed himself.
Well. You were right.
[Haney] The last few months have been hard. Really, really hard.
After that night, we were all in shock.
We've just been trying to keep things going. Um…
Are we headed somewhere in particular or…?
Yes.
Then they pulled us into those hearings. I never trusted what they were doing.
Feels weird around here.
Well, the President and Mr. Morgan are gone.
Oh, that could be it. Or maybe it's that I've never been in the White House
when there wasn't a State Dinner. Or a dead body. Or a lot of Australians.
It's definitely quieter. Lilly has been making a lot of changes.
- Lilly Schumacher? The Social Secretary? - Yes.
What changes?
The look of the house mainly.
New uniforms for the butlers and the housekeepers.
She's renovating some rooms. She started in the Blue Room.
- What was wrong with the Blue Room? - Everything. Apparently.
When I interviewed Angie Huggins, she mentioned Mr. Wynter kept a journal.
His journals. He wrote everything down in them.
He did.
- Do you know where it is? - I don't.
I need to find it.
Goddamn, what am I… I don't know where to start with this shit.
I literally can't work like this.
Have you guys seen this board? Why is there an Irish fence? I don't…
I'm not doing this. I'm not cooking that shit.
What is that? I can't even tell what that is.
Is that the collarbone of a fucking moose or something?
Lilly said she also collected these pictures online.
- It's easier to see on Pinterest. - I'm not going on fucking Pinterest!
This is completely unacceptable!
These are not food items.
This is a stone.
This is a picture of a stone!
Go on Pinterest. It's easier to see.
I don't understand what word you are saying, but it bothers me.
[tense music playing]
- I will not do this! I can't do this! - There is an opening in a hotel in Zurich!
- None of this is food! - I have been on Zoom with them!
- How do you cook a forest? - And also FaceTime!
I guess some things haven't changed.
[Haney] Oh, they've changed too.
Lilly now sends Marvella and Didier mood boards and cooking vlogs.
There's a lot about different bone broths and the evils of sugar.
They aren't thrilled.
Uh, I'm sorry. Are you sure you know where you're going, Detective Cupp?
Yes. Of course. I'm going to your office.
[door opens]
[poignant music playing]
Hm.
This all pretty much look like you remember it?
[Cupp whistles]
[Haney] I…
I just couldn't bear to look at all his stuff.
As awful as it is, I have to continue to run the house.
- You have a job to do. - Yes.
You're the Chief Usher.
[music fades]
- You didn't find it here when you moved? - What?
- Wynter's journal. - No.
- Is it possible he locked it up? - I guess. I don't know where.
I have his keys. Is there something we could try?
- Those aren't his keys. - What?
Where'd you get those?
They were in Mr. Wynter's pocket.
They aren't his.
Mr. Wynter didn't carry keys, for one thing.
[hesitates] He had some, but he always kept them over here.
Goddamnit.
I don't like making mistakes.
- Luckily, you don't make a lot of them. - It's not luck.
Do you know whose keys these are?
[Haney] Uh…
Yes.
I think I do.
[shower running]
- [knocking on door] - [Haney] We need to talk to you.
- [man] Right now? - [Cupp] No, not right now.
We don't need to talk to him now. Aren't they living across the street?
The President and Mr. Morgan moved to Blair House.
- Maybe they come back here to shower? - This isn't a campground. We can wait.
- Right now! - [man] Jesus. Okay.
[Cupp clears throat]
[shower stops]
Shit.
Why "shit"?
What?
You said "shit." Why?
Why? 'Cause I'm figuring you're here to talk about Mr. Wynter.
[scoffs] We're trying to all move on here.
Move on from murder?
- I thought Mr. Wynter killed himself. - You did?
[Park mutters]
So you're not saying "shit" because you're worried?
- I'm just trying to understand the "shit." - Correct.
I did not say "shit" because I was worried.
- Okay, got it. Thank you. - [keys jingling]
[sighs] Shit.
Now I'll be honest. That felt worried. Right?
Absolutely. Uh…
- Where'd you get those? - You really don't wanna know.
Are they yours?
I want to ask you about the night of the State Dinner, Mr. Geller.
- You've already asked me about this. - [Cupp] Yes.
Y… you don't remember?
Oh, I remember.
And when I say "I remember,"
I don't mean it like most people do when they say, "I remember,"
like, "Oh, I generally remember the conversation."
Or, "I remember. We were in the China Room." No.
When I say, "I remember,"
I mean I remember literally every word you said
and the way you said them.
There is nothing you will ever say to me that I won't remember.
This isn't about what "I remember."
I wanna see if you remember
and if what you tell me this time is the same as what you told me last time.
I wasn't supposed to work that night,
but I got called in by Mr. Wynter because of some plumbing.
That shit is gnarly.
Problems on the third floor. In Tripp Morgan's room.
So I came in, went up. Fixed the problem.
When I came out of the bathroom, Tripp was gone.
I went downstairs. And you showed up.
How was your relationship with A.B. Wynter?
It was fine. I did my job. We both worked here a long time.
We got along fine. I told you this too.
I had no issues with A.B. Wynter. Ever.
Yes, but you lied.
How do you know I lied?
Because you just asked me that.
[Daryl] That's a lie.
Bruce… [scoffs]
I mean, I love the guy, but he did not get along with A.B. Wynter.
Bruce was close with the former Chief Usher Sam Needler,
and he and A.B. never hit it off.
- And then, when the Morgans came… - [George sighs]
Even on Moving Day, the day the new First Family moves in,
it was bad.
A lot of people have trouble that day, but they hide it. Put a good face on it.
Well, except for Sheila.
- [Sheila wails] - [man] The President and First Gentleman.
I don't apologize for that.
But it was Bruce, too.
- Why? - Listen. Moving Day?
That is the single busiest day of the year.
The single busiest day every four years.
It makes a State Dinner look like a kid's birthday party.
Moving Day is just overwhelming.
Mr. Needler, the former Chief Usher, he was a motivator. And a charmer.
He'd work with you. Get you through it, like you were all in it together.
A.B.? It was just: Get that shit done. Now. No questions.
And the Morgans had a lot of things they wanted done.
It was a constant barrage of fix that, repair that, change that.
That day was insane.
- And Bruce and A.B. went at it. - [Bruce and A.B. arguing]
[Wynter] Well, you're the engineer. You tell me why…
[Duane] A.B. didn't ever raise his voice in public if he could avoid it.
- Let me ask a question-- - I do my job.
- [Duane] And he did try to avoid it. - Come on.
- [Duane] But they went at it. - You can't talk to me this way.
[Duane] We all heard it.
- [Wynter yells] I want the lights fixed! - [Bruce] I know you want--!
Hold up here, okay? Because this isn't it.
Yes, Moving Day was insane. It always is.
And that one especially. And Bruce and A.B. did go at it.
But the conflict between Bruce and A.B.? The real shit?
It was about the shower.
The shower?
The shower.
The President's shower. The water pressure. The heat.
Look, every President has their quirks and obsessions.
Ronald Reagan wanted jelly beans everywhere.
Calvin Coolidge had an electric horse in his bedroom and rode it 3 times a day.
Perry Morgan's obsession is his shower.
He wants the water hot. And when I say hot, I mean hot.
- Scalding hot. - Like fucking lava.
And he wants the pressure like a fire hose.
There isn't another person alive who can get in that shower and survive.
Even Mr. Morgan thinks he's nuts. I'd hear them sometimes.
- [shower running] - [Elliott] You are fucking insane!
But that's what President Morgan wanted
and A.B. was committed to giving it to him.
For months, all Bruce would do was work on that shower.
And all he would do was fail.
Weak. Weak! A dribble.
A mist. A rumor of a mist.
It's like an old man is pissing on me for my fucking shower!
- And it wasn't just the pressure. - Cold! Cold, cold, cold!
Cold! I'm freezing.
I have hypothermia. Medic!
You know what my dad would've said about this?
He would've said it's fine because your dad is not insane.
He would've said, "That shower is colder than a brass toilet seat
on the shady side of an iceberg!"
Bruce visited other hotels and houses
that President Morgan insisted could do it right.
And he would study their plumbing systems. At all hours.
He got the General Services Administration involved.
The National Park Service. The Army Corps of Engineers. NASA.
If this is what it's like to shower on Mars…
[yells] …nobody is going to fucking Mars!
The fact is, this is a very old house.
And what Bruce was being asked to do was impossible.
It was impossible.
And yet… he did it.
Somehow.
None of us ever understood how he figured it out. But he did.
And when it was over, President Morgan was incredibly grateful.
[shower running]
[laughs]
Come here, you. [laughs]
[Bruce laughs]
Oh yes!
[Haney] I'll give him credit for that.
But A.B. was just on to the next assignment.
[Morgan] Thanks again!
I need you to look at the heating in 321.
[Haney] That was A.B.
I know he appreciated Bruce.
It just wasn't his style to express that.
[Daryl] It broke Bruce.
I really believe that.
The work itself and the lack of any recognition for what he had done.
He was traumatized.
That shower has been fine for over a year, and he still checks it every day.
Every. Single. Day.
[Eddie] And here's what's important to know.
Bruce didn't blame President Morgan for anything that happened with the shower.
He really didn't.
He blamed A.B. For not protecting him.
So when he got called in on the night of the dinner,
it was like it was all happening again.
Except this time, it wasn't President Morgan.
It was Tripp Morgan.
Who is a drunk, by the way.
- He got completely fucked up. - My fucking toilet's clogged!
- And also steals stuff. - Grab a few of these.
- And pretends to know shit about salt. - I'm a semelier!
But he doesn't. And he's always going on about,
this is an Icelandic Smoked Birch Sea Salt.
- Salt. - Or this is a Prussian Blue Salt.
- Salt! - Bullshit! Have you seen this guy?
Would you trust anything he says about salt?
[Tripp grunting]
[inhales deeply]
[Eddie exhales slowly]
I've been trying this circular breathing thing.
Box breathing. Give me a second. Fucking Tripp Morgan!
[inhales]
[exhales slowly]
So yeah, Bruce was pissed.
Pissed at Tripp, but pissed at A.B., who made him come in.
[tense music playing]
We had some problems.
- [Cupp clears throat] - [Bruce] Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. I'll admit that. But I didn't kill him.
Were you on the second floor on the night of the State Dinner?
You're asking me this because of what that guy said in the hearings.
He was a big guy.
Yes. I mean, I'm generally interested, but. Yes.
- That wasn't me. - Yeah, I don't know.
- Feels like it might've been. - It wasn't.
Possibly.
[tense music playing]
If you wanna take a look at somebody, look at that fucking wacko engineer.
The dude wouldn't shut the fuck up about Wynter.
I'm just an engineer.
I was on the second floor that night. Yes.
- Were you in the Yellow Oval Room? - Yes.
Well, now that is interesting, isn't it?
Absolutely.
- [Cupp sighs] - Uh…
It's actually not that interesting. Tripp Morgan had messed up his plumbing.
In this house, that usually means something else gets messed up too.
Especially if it involves Tripp.
Lemme tell you, a few months ago that asshole poured, like,
four fucking gallons of salt down his sink,
right into the sink, clogged everything up.
Backed up Harry Hollinger's room, the bathroom, the music room,
and then down into the ceiling of the second floor.
He told A.B.: "Oh no, salt can't clog, it's from the sea, it's sea salt,
water passes right through it, dude."
Made no fucking sense.
We had a crew of like six guys
who spent two weeks digging sea salt out of the pipes.
I was just caked in salt - and I have high blood pressure, okay?
So I went down to the Treaty Room that night,
which is directly below Tripp's room,
to see if he'd messed up the ceiling again.
I looked around, didn't see anything.
And then I went next door to the Yellow Oval Room,
which shares a wall with the Treaty Room.
And I looked all around there too,
on the walls, on the ceiling, just to make sure.
Because I did not want to go through that shit again.
If he screwed this house up, I wanted to catch it early this time.
That's why I was there.
I mean, honestly, I did find that kind of interesting. You?
- Yes! - Uh, yes, very interesting.
- Did you see anyone? - Where?
In the Yellow Oval Room. And wait. Sorry.
Before you answer, when I say "anyone,"
I mean anyone at all, dead or alive.
So, for example, if there was a dead body on the ground
in the Yellow Oval Room when you were there,
you can answer, "Yes, I saw someone."
Got it.
Yes, I saw someone.
Dead or alive?
Alive.
[suspenseful music playing]
And who was that?
Detective Cupp?
What a surprise!
So is this. What's happening in here?
These rooms have been like this for 100 years.
I just wanted to try something with more… style.
Ah. Well, looks like the lobby of a hotel I don't want to stay at.
Exactly! Thank you!
So what's going on? I heard you wanted to talk to me.
Did something else happen?
No, just here on the original unsolved murder.
Oh, good.
I mean, not good. Obviously.
Obviously.
We wanted to ask about the night of State Dinner.
Of course.
Were you ever on the second floor that night?
I was on every floor.
- Including the second floor? - Yes, absolutely.
- Why? - Because I was looking for A.B.
Because I hadn't seen him in an hour, and I was trying to run this dinner,
and there was so much going on, and I needed him.
And then I started getting worried. I was looking for him everywhere.
That's true. She asked me about him at least four times.
Including when I was showing you around.
I still haven't found A.B. You haven't seen him?
I saw her in the basement.
Twice. Asking about A.B.
And Lilly Schumacher doesn't come down to the basement.
- She seemed worried. - Concerned.
Not panicky, just genuinely worried.
She told me it was weird. That she thought something was wrong.
A.B. doesn't disappear like that.
Never heard of her.
Uh, so, uh, what are you… what are you doing here?
Investigating A.B.'s murder.
- You're not here about the painting? - What painting?
Nothing. Why do you keep asking about a painting?
[objects crashing]
And did you see anyone when you were on the second floor?
Yeah, actually, I did. One of the guys from downstairs.
I think he's a plumber or an engineer or something.
I don't know his name.
- I'm sorry. - Bruce?
- Bruce. - Bruce, thank you.
Bruce! Yeah. He was standing in the Yellow Oval Room.
He told me he was there to make sure nothing had leaked from the third floor.
- Why is this important? - I don't know if it is.
Is he a suspect?
Because of those hearings?
[Lilly sighs]
Okay, first of all, those hearings? That was some crazy shit. I was there.
Lilly Schumacher. That lady was out of her fucking mind.
Bullshit!
Listen, I'm all for having a congress, okay? That's fine, I guess. I guess.
But these things, they just get so out of control… [fades]
- [intriguing music playing] - [indistinct speech]
[inaudible]
What do we know about Lilly Schumacher?
I know she's the Social Secretary.
- Really? - Yeah, I think so. Right?
Oh. Oh, I see.
You're saying "really" like that's nothing.
Okay. Uh, okay.
Well, listen, that's all I know. That's all we know. What else do we know?
Yeah, well, don't look at me.
All I know is she's the daughter of Lillian and Wallace Schumacher--
Pops Schumacher, the casino magnate.
She grew up shuttling between Vegas and Macau
and the family estate in Jupiter, Florida.
She was raised in these massive houses,
all new construction, and by some markers, antiseptic.
She has gravitated more
towards the new luxury of Six Senses and Aman.
Her parents, historically supporters of the other party,
were major donors to the Morgans.
And their support was instrumental, some think,
in Perry Morgan's thin victory.
Which accounts for her appointment as Social Secretary.
A job she campaigned for.
She has made no secret of her desire
to reinvent the White House as a "concept."
She is a rising celebrity, socialite, influencer.
She has an inflated sense of self-importance.
She doesn't just wanna be Letitia Baldrige. She wants to be Jackie.
[Park scoffs]
Schumacher arrived at the White House with grand ambitions and big questions.
"Oh, the staff is permanent, huh?"
"Can they be fired?"
"Do there have to be tours?"
She uses the word "do" a lot.
"Can we do a Zen garden where all of those roses are?"
"Can we do a wellness center like at the Amanruya in Turkey?"
Everything is up for reconsideration.
Every tradition. Every element of design.
"Red Room! Blue Room! Yellow Room!"
"Ah, so many primary colors!"
Early on in her tenure, she proposed all-new uniforms for the staff
and presented a "lookbook" of models
from her favorite hotels from around the world.
"Don't you just love Nicholas Oakwell's vintage look at the Rosewood in London--?"
- Come on! - What the fuck?
Hey. Y'all out there running around. I'm doing my research.
Actually, it's all in this Vanity Fair.
They seem to be all over the house, in every room.
I don't understand. Doesn't seem very flattering.
- She's always given me a bad vibe. - Should we arrest her?
I'm just saying I don't trust her.
You keep using that word. Trust. You shouldn't trust anybody.
Why would you trust anybody?
The only person I trust in the world is Larry Dokes, and he just played me.
But do I think Lilly had something to do with this? I don't know.
Everyone says she really tried to find A.B. I saw it myself.
Either she is a world-class actress,
and Lilly Schumacher does not seem like a world-class actress,
or that alone rules her out.
There is something bothering me though.
- Why the Yellow Oval Room? - What do you mean?
I mean, why were you looking for Mr. Wynter in the Yellow Oval Room?
I wasn't looking in the Yellow Oval Room.
I was looking everywhere. In every room.
But did you have any reason to believe he'd be there?
No. But I didn't know where he was.
I don't really… understand what you're asking.
I mean, couldn't you ask this about any other room?
[quiet, tense music playing]
I don't really wanna do this.
Do what?
- I thought A.B. killed himself. - He didn't.
I went to look for him twice in the Yellow Oval Room.
The first time, I was looking everywhere in the house.
And the second time?
The second time is because of what I saw the first time.
I did find A.B. that first time.
I was in the hall, and I saw him arguing with someone in the Yellow Oval Room
and it was heated and I didn't feel like I could interrupt.
So I left,
but when I didn't see him downstairs later, I went back up.
That's when I ran into Bruce.
So when you said you hadn't seen him in an hour, that wasn't true?
- That wasn't true. - Why did you lie?
Who was he arguing with?
I don't want to drag anyone else into this.
It's best to avoid the word "drag" in this situation.
- What do you want, Detective Cupp? - To know who you saw Wynter arguing with.
Well, I don't want to tell you. So.
- I think I need to call my dad. - Go right ahead. You can use my phone.
[Park sighs]
- What the… - Could you not use that phone? Please.
- You don't have a cell phone? - No.
Why are you so focused on this person?
What about the Australians? What about Harry Hollinger?
Did you see Mr. Wynter arguing with an Australian or Harry Hollinger?
[Lilly sighs]
She's a good person.
Then she shouldn't have anything to worry about.
[tense music playing]
[camera clicks]
I don't know why she would say that.
- It's not true? - It's not true.
- You weren't on the second floor? - No.
- Never? - Not that night. No.
- Did you two have any trouble before? - Me and Mr. Wynter? No. Not at all.
[Haney] Elsyie and A.B.?
Zero issues.
Elsyie doesn't have any issues with anybody.
Here's the thing to understand about Elsyie Chayle.
She is the single loveliest person in the White House.
She is literally the only person Nan Cox will talk to.
True.
Everybody has something with somebody around here. Everybody.
Except for Elsyie. She tolerates everyone. She annoys no one.
Wynter actually used Elsyie as a way to evaluate other people.
If he heard you had said something bad about Elsyie,
he knew you weren't right to be here.
What's her fucking problem? Right?
[Conor laughs]
Oh. That's why he was fired!
But here's the other thing about Elsyie Chayle:
She's also tough as nails. If you knew what she'd been through in her life--
I know some of it, not all--
you wouldn't get out of bed for a week.
She cannot be broken.
It's what makes her all the more remarkable.
Wynter loved her.
I wouldn't say he loved her. He respected her.
She was unusual. A.B. wanted everyone to take the job as seriously as he did.
And she actually did.
And she's an incredibly nice person. To everyone.
Yeah, okay, he loved her.
I don't know what to say.
I don't understand this.
Maybe she confused me with someone else?
There's this bird, the chickadee. Do you know it?
No.
There's a handful of different chickadees.
But the mountain chickadee is the interesting one.
It's a small little bird. About half an ounce. Unassuming.
And yet, it's possessed with one of the most remarkable powers
of any animal on Earth.
Mountain chickadees have the ability
to survive incredibly harsh winter conditions
because of their memories.
Astounding memories.
A mountain chickadee can hide 60, 70, sometimes 80,000 seeds in the fall.
And when the dark winter comes, they find them.
All of them.
80,000 seeds. Spread out over a vast landscape.
With near-perfect recall.
What makes this interesting in my profession
is how many people think they have the ability of the mountain chickadee.
A totally, outrageously preposterous and unearned arrogance
about their ability to remember
where they hid the things that are important to them.
I don't mean just physical things-- although that's interesting, too.
Lost wallet, keys. Socks.
I mean the things we think that we have hidden, inside,
that others cannot see,
that we assume we can go back to, call on, call up.
And then they are gone.
And we forgot that we ever even buried them.
The night of the State Dinner,
I asked if you'd been on the third floor that night. Do you remember what you said?
No. I don't think you do.
I didn't see anything on the second floor, no.
The second floor.
You said the second floor. I knew that answer was peculiar.
I didn't ask about the second floor. And now I know why.
It was a mistake that hid a lie.
If you remembered that, then you might have avoided this.
But now I know you didn't want to talk about the second floor that night.
You don't want to talk about the second floor right now.
Because something bad happened on the second floor.
Something wicked. Isn't that right, Elsyie?
[quiet, tense music playing]
[sighs softly]
At some point during the evening--
I don't know the exact time--
my supervisor, Ms. Vail,
asked me to clean the Lincoln Bedroom for a special guest. Ms. Minogue.
So I went upstairs, and I was getting it ready
when Agent Rausch came in and told me to leave.
- Secret Service Agent Rausch? - Yes. Right.
She said nobody could be on the second floor. So I left.
I went back up to the third floor.
A few minutes later, I got a call from Mr. Wynter
telling me to come to the Yellow Oval Room.
From the moment I walked into the room,
it was different.
I've never seen him like that. He could be difficult.
He could be really… difficult.
But he was always fair with me.
But that night…
He told me to close the door and asked me about the Lincoln Bedroom.
He wanted to know why it wasn't ready.
I tried to tell him what Agent Rausch had said,
but he was just yelling at me.
He said I was lying.
Again.
Again? What do you mean "again"?
- [Wynter] I got a call today, Elsyie. - A call?
Telling me that you lied to me when you applied for this job.
What? What are you talking about? I don't--
When you applied, you were specifically asked
whether you had ever been arrested or charged with any crime.
No. No, no, no.
A material lie
which could have serious consequences for you and this House.
Mr. Wynter, no. I can't believe this. Why is this happening? No. I…
- That was… That was so long ago. - Mm. Mm-hmm. Is it true?
[angrily] Is it true?
I want you to go finish that work in the Lincoln Bedroom.
And then I want you to go home.
And come and see me in the morning.
No. Mr. Wynter, please. Please, I am… I am begging you.
Or you can go home now. And not come and see me in the morning.
[Elsyie cries, sniffles]
What was he talking about?
- What'd you lie about on your application? - It doesn't matter. It's not relevant.
Seems kinda relevant.
This is not something I will talk about.
What happened when you left the Yellow Oval Room?
I walked down the hall to the linen closet by the Lincoln Bedroom.
I tried to calm myself down…
[Cupp] Yes?
[Elsyie] And then he came up behind me.
[Cupp] Who? Mr. Wynter?
No.
Elsyie?
That is true.
I did run into Elsyie Chayle. In the hall.
I'd just come down from Tripp's room. She was standing outside the closet.
She told me about the fight with Wynter. She was very upset.
[indistinct speech]
She just kept shaking her head
and looking down the hall and saying "I'm…"
- "I'm gonna kill him." - I am going to kill him.
"I'm gonna kill him."
That is true. I did say that. But I wasn't talking about Mr. Wynter.
I was talking about my husband. My ex-husband.
I was going to kill him!
She didn't say that.
For calling Mr. Wynter earlier in the day.
I got a call today, Elsyie.
He's the one who did that. I knew he did it the minute I heard it.
He wanted me to lose my job. Wanted to destroy my life.
I did want to kill him!
But I didn't do that either.
Bruce must have misunderstood.
I left her there after she said that.
I didn't know what to do. She told me to leave.
- Just leave me alone, okay? - Okay.
So I went down to the west end of the hall,
by the elevator, and, you know,
realized what she said was really fucked up and weird.
[Bruce sighs]
So I went back.
And when I turned out onto the hallway,
I saw Elsyie running out of the Yellow Oval Room
with a candlestick in her hand.
And when I looked into the Yellow Oval Room…
…Wynter was dead.
Bruce left when I was still standing in front of the closet.
I was there for, I don't know, a couple of minutes,
trying to figure out what to do.
I was so angry and upset.
I got my supplies, and I was going to go into the Lincoln Bedroom,
but I realized that I had to try to talk to Mr. Wynter again.
So I went back to the Yellow Oval Room
and that's when I saw him.
[Elsyie gasps]
Mr. Wynter was dead.
Who do I think killed A.B. Wynter?
Elsyie Chayle.
Bruce Geller.
He told me he did.
He came up to me later and said, "I took care of it."
I haven't spoken to him since.
[music intensifies]
[music fades]
Harry wants you off the lawn.
He also doesn't understand why there are so many birds.
I took care of it.
You talked to Harry? Or you got rid of some birds?
I took care of it. That's what Elsyie said Bruce said.
Oh. If you say so.
It's weird. That sounds like he killed Wynter for her.
Maybe he did.
- Why would he? - I don't know.
- Do they even know each other? - I don't know.
But I do know Lilly Schumacher went to the Met Gala in Valentino this year.
I don't know anything about them. I know he has a son.
I know she's married. Or was.
- What am I looking for? - Birds.
[brisk jazz music playing]
[inaudible]
Oh God!
[camera bleeping]
No. Chief, how did I not see this?
How long have you been in love with her?
[Bruce sighs]
[tense music playing]
A year. More.
516 days.
500… 515 days.
Sorry, no. 516.
I didn't really know her before that.
We both worked here for years,
but it's a big house and we both had stuff going on in our lives.
- [Haney speaking indistinctly] - [elevator bell dings]
[laughing]
And then it was just one of those things. I came into the break room.
I had had a… difficult morning at home.
And I unwrapped a sandwich, and it fell all over the floor.
And I just picked it up and tossed it in the trash.
I didn't even know he was in the room.
Maybe about a half-hour later, I'm in the laundry room,
and this guy I've barely ever seen before walks up with a plate.
Hm. He had gone upstairs and had Marvella make it.
He told me this later, that they were close.
And that was it.
He just handed it to me and walked away.
Mm. [chuckles] Nothing really changed after that.
Work just… felt different.
We'd chat. We'd sometimes eat together if our schedules worked out.
We talked a lot about our kids.
If I knew there was something on a floor he was working on,
I'd make a point of getting that assignment.
[Elsyie and Bruce chattering indistinctly]
We both did that.
He would steal macaroons from the Pastry Kitchen…
and leave them for me all over the house.
Nobody knew.
We knew.
Some of us knew.
Hard not to know.
But listen, she was married. I knew that.
And there wasn't a policy or anything about this…
- That is true. - …but I knew A.B. didn't like it.
That is true.
We didn't talk about it. We talked around it, you know?
Closest we ever got to talking about it was… March 4th.
March 4th?
Everybody remembers the scenes from March 4th.
All of Washington being evacuated.
The President being rushed out in Marine One to an undisclosed location.
The terror of it all. The absolute chaos.
[Wynter] Remain calm!
- [man] Which way do we go? - That way. Please go that way.
Yes. Easy, easy. Don't panic.
What a lot of people don't know is that some of us were left behind.
…wind up having to stay here…
We either didn't get out in time or we were told we had to stay.
There were maybe a dozen of us. Um…
Me. Rollie. Didier. Jasmine. A.B., of course.
Agent Trask.
Rosalind Chace. The curator.
She wanted to stay. Insisted on staying.
Angie. And me and Bruce.
At first, when we heard the attacks were over,
and we thought we were all just waiting to be let out,
the whole thing had kind of a doomsday Breakfast Club vibe.
In a good way.
That's when Angie and A.B. took up backgammon.
[quiet chattering]
I saw people talk to each other, work together,
who I've never seen work together before or since.
[quiet chattering]
Late in the evening, though, we heard that another strike was coming.
People were scared out of their minds.
We literally thought we were gonna die.
- [distant explosion] - [gasping]
[distant sirens]
I went up to the third floor, and
I just laid down in the hallway.
I… I don't know. It was such a weird night.
You kind of felt like doing something you'd never do again.
You didn't know if there'd be another day.
It was that scary, you know.
It really was.
[exhales slowly]
[poignant music playing]
Elsyie came down from the Solarium--
I had no idea she was in there--
She saw me, and without saying anything,
she just… laid there next to me.
We were both thinking about our kids.
There was no cell service. We couldn't reach them.
She took my hand.
I always wanted to go to Italy.
Rome.
I was always hoping to make it there once.
I had this old calendar on the wall
next to my bed when I was a kid,
with pictures of Rome.
I kept it for years because of the pictures.
[sighs]
I would sometimes flip through before turning off my light.
Piazza Navona.
Piazza del Popolo.
Castel Sant'Angelo.
I loved even saying the words.
My dad said he was going to take us.
It was so silly 'cause we didn't have any money.
We had never even been on an airplane.
And he was sick.
But I kept thinking we were really going to go.
I was sure of it.
Every time he opened the door,
I thought that's what he was going to tell me.
You know what's sad?
I had a little bag packed under my bed,
because I wanted to be ready.
I really don't want to die before going to Rome.
[Bruce exhales heavily]
I really don't.
The Pantheon!
[sighs] That was the other one.
That was my favorite.
That was July.
[sighs]
I loved that picture.
[music fades]
He didn't try to reassure me.
He didn't tell me I'd get there.
He didn't lie to me.
He didn't talk.
He didn't do all of the annoying things that men do
because they don't want you to just feel something.
He just kinda…
held my hand and rubbed my arm.
Mm.
It was the loveliest
anybody has ever been to me in my life.
[sighs]
[door opens]
Can you get me some vodka?
Thank you.
[door closes]
[both laughing]
We all survived, of course,
and then, about two weeks later, I found a little package in my locker--
[poignant music playing]
[cries softly]
It was the ceiling of the Pantheon.
[chuckles tearfully]
I wore it every day.
Only at work.
Until that day.
The State Dinner.
And when did you give him his?
That day.
What are you doing here? You're not working tonight.
I am working tonight.
- Oh no. What happened? - He called me in. Something upstairs.
- Tripp? - Tripp.
I'm sorry.
It's nice to see you.
Nice to see you too.
I got something for you.
Stop.
I did.
[both giggling]
[quietly] So, um,
it's not the same…
[whispers] …but… it's something.
[whispers] Elsyie…
Close your eyes.
[kisses softly]
Okay.
I thought maybe we could go sometime. Together.
Now that I'm a single lady and all.
[soft, suspenseful music playing]
[keys jingling]
- [Haney] Where did you get those? - [Cupp] In Mr. Wynter's pocket.
- Do you know whose keys these are? - Shit.
Oh God!
How did I not see this?
How long have you been in love with her?
[clipped falcon calls]
Option one. Elsyie is lying. When she said she wanted to kill him…
I am going to kill him.
…she did mean Wynter because she didn't wanna lose her job.
And that's what she did. She went back into the room,
hit him over the head with a candlestick, and left. That's what Bruce saw.
Option two. Bruce is lying.
When she said she wanted to kill him, he thought she meant Wynter.
Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. But he was mad at Wynter himself already anyway,
and he wanted to protect the person he loved,
so he goes into the room while she's still in the closet,
kills Wynter, leaves
and then comes back later to clean it up.
And that's what he meant when he said, "I took care of it."
Option three. They're both lying.
- How does that work? - I don't know, but it is an option.
And option four is they're both telling the truth.
That's even more confusing.
I agree. But those are the options.
But you think it happened here in this room?
I am now convinced of it.
And you have ruled everyone else out?
Keep your fucking mouth shut.
He won't fire me if he isn't here anymore.
I am going to kill you!
[Didier] It is going to be served my way!
[Tripp yells]
Absolutely not.
[quiet, curious music playing]
[music intensifies]
- [music ends] - Do you want some time here alone?
[hesitates] I'm just going to, uh, head out, uh,
this way. Here.
[music resumes]
I'll be out in the hall.
Uh, goodbye.
Goodnight. Goodnight? Do you think… all night?
Okay.
Well, uh, either way,
I'm going to…
leave…
[music continues]
- [Cupp] Were you in the Yellow Oval Room? - [Bruce] I went to see if there was water.
[Lilly] He was in the Yellow Oval Room. Told me he was there…
- [Cupp] Why the Yellow Oval Room? - [Elsyie] I got a call from Mr. Wynter…
[Cupp] Something bad happened. Something wicked.
- [Elsyie] …back to the Yellow Oval Room. - [Bruce] …out of the Yellow Oval Room.
- [Elsyie] Mr. Wynter was dead. - [Bruce] Wynter was dead.
[music fades]
[solemn instrumental music playing]