Bull (2016) s03e06 Episode Script
Fool Me Twice
1 There is nothing more cruel than having the most beautiful woman in New York sitting at one of your tables, and not being able to sit down and eat with her.
Well, don't let me keep you.
Ha ha.
Dinner? Absurd, divine.
Did you ask Chef Johnny to do that? - Do what? - Make the agnolotti.
From our wedding.
It was so good, I got a little teary.
Took me right back to that night.
That perfect night.
Thank Chef for me? I got a better idea.
- I need three bluefins fired, now.
- Yes, Chef! Looking good; - where are we at on that sauce? - Working, Chef! - Danny, where are we at on that sauce? - Working, Chef.
All right.
Looking good, Tom.
Johnny.
You guys good? We got about 300 more on the books before 10:00.
We're rocking and rolling, jamming it out.
I just wanted to say thank you for such a beautiful dinner.
I don't know how you had the time to make that pasta with all this going on.
You kidding? I love making that dish.
I don't want to keep you.
I just wanted to say how appreciative I am.
My pleasure.
Ooh, that smells good! Let's keep going! You sure you don't want dessert? A nightcap, maybe.
If I consume anything else, I will quite literally explode.
I'm in desperate need of an elastic waistband and the couch.
See you at home.
How'd I get so lucky, huh? Must've done something right, hmm? I love you.
I love you, too.
Everything all right? Mmm.
Babe.
Hey, babe.
Happy Sunday.
It's after 11:00 in the morning; why didn't you wake me up and kiss me when you got home last night? I just couldn't.
I couldn't do it; you were too adorable.
All curled up around your pillow like a little koala.
Wait.
Do koalas drool? You have to wake me up and kiss me.
Drool or no drool, cute or not cute.
We had a deal.
Aye, aye, Captain Morgan.
I won't let it happen again.
Mea culpa.
Mea culpa.
Is that the door? Is this the Valerian residence? We're looking for a Mr.
Greg Valerian.
W-Would you mind telling me just what this is about? Does Mr.
Valerian live here? We need to speak with him.
Uh, Greg? Is everything all right? - What's going? - Greg Valerian? Yes, why? You're the owner of the Briarcrest Room restaurant? I am.
Is everything all right? We'd like you to come down to the station with us, sir.
There's been a fire.
A fire? When? Happy Sunday.
- Hi.
How did you? - Benny called me.
Told me about the fire, said it was turning into an all-day event.
What's the latest? I don't know.
It seems like Greg's been back there with the detectives for hours.
Last I heard, the fire was out, and the fire inspectors were going through the place.
Apparently, there's not much left.
It was Greg's first restaurant, his whole What? What-what is it? What's happened? They found a body.
The night janitor was in the restaurant when the fire broke out.
He's dead.
Oh, God.
- That's awful.
I have to see Greg - No, no, no.
You can't do that right now, Marissa.
What? Why not? Greg's been arrested.
He's being booked at the moment.
You'll be able to see him as soon as we post bail.
What's the charge? Involuntary manslaughter.
That's that's 15 years.
I don't know if you have a criminal attorney or not, but if you do, please let them know that TAC would like to offer our services.
And if you don't have an attorney, I stand ready to represent you, Greg.
No, I don't have a criminal attorney.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Tell us about the man who died.
He was a really nice man.
Didn't speak a lot of English.
Loved to show pictures of his grandkids.
Oh, his poor wife.
I have to, I have to talk to her.
Pay my respects.
As your attorney, I would strongly advise against that.
Even offering condolences can be spun by the prosecutor as an admission of guilt.
But that's-that's crazy.
- I have to do something.
- Hey Pay for the, uh, funeral, set up some kind of fund for the family.
- Something.
- I can do all of those things.
I can make arrangements through TAC.
All right, well, let's talk about the fire inspector's report for a second.
He's saying that a grease buildup in the exhaust ducts above the kitchen caught fire, creating an enormous heat in the duct system.
And when the flames grew powerful enough, apparently they burst through a loose vent and came in contact with improperly stored cleaning materials, which caused an explosion.
That sounds like bad luck.
An accident, not a crime.
Well, you're the only one who's gonna see it that way, I'm afraid.
The first thing they teach you when you go to work in a restaurant kitchen is that two out of three restaurant fires are caused by grease buildup.
There's even a law.
In New York, you have to have your exhaust systems professionally cleaned and inspected every three months, which I do.
Those ducts were clean, like, seven weeks ago.
The report indicates at least five months worth of buildup would have been required to start that fire.
Well, that's-that's impossible.
That must be some mistake.
Those ducts were cleaned and inspected.
We'll look into it, but, Greg, that's not your only problem.
See, the prosecution is going to say that you repeatedly disregarded city and state regulations.
They're gonna point to a lack of oversight and lax management.
What are they talking about? The Briarcrest Room was served with a fire code violation six months ago and an OSHA citation just 12 weeks ago.
Well, the fire code violation was nothing.
One of the managers added a few extra tables over a holiday weekend.
And the OSHA citation? Some of the guys got a little lazy with the cleaning supplies.
Not storing them properly.
As soon as I found out, I made the whole staff do safety training, and I beefed up the closing procedures.
It never happened again.
Till last night.
What's your tummy tell you? Not much.
Not yet.
Same here.
Not that it matters.
I mean, at the end of the day, we're in it for Marissa.
Whether he's guilty or not, the job's the same.
We need to convince a jury that this fire was not foreseeable, not his fault.
Good luck to us.
What if we're wrong? What if it's exactly what he says it is? A collision of unfortunate miscalculations.
A perfect storm.
Like some kind of gigantic systems failure? A fluke rather than a pattern of behavior.
So, what kind of jurors are we looking for? Fellow business owners who will sympathize? People who understand complex systems? Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc.
Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc? After this, therefore, because of this.
That's the prosecution's theory.
The fire and JC's subsequent death happened after a series of negligent behaviors on Greg's part: the fire code violation, the OSHA citation, the grease buildup.
I would argue the same thing.
But post hoc is actually a logical fallacy.
It basically means that correlation equals causation, which it doesn't.
Just because there's a relationship between two events doesn't mean one event caused the other.
So, to answer your question, we need people who understand that.
We need people who see that correlation doesn't always equal causation.
And how do I go about that? Good morning.
So it says here on your jury questionnaire that you played semipro football.
Up until about a year ago.
You drink a lot of sports drinks? - Sure.
Got to stay hydrated.
- What if I told you that there is a direct correlation between the number of sports drinks a person consumes and the increased likelihood of that person getting a knee injury? I would say your logic is faulty, but your conclusion is sound.
- How so? - I mean, it makes sense.
People who drink a lot of sports drinks are more likely to be athletes.
Athletes are more likely to get injured.
But sports drinks don't cause knee injuries.
This juror is acceptable to the defense, Your Honor.
Mr.
Watson.
You are a high school history teacher.
- That's correct.
- So let me ask you a question.
Are you aware that in World War I, the British wore steel helmets for the first time? I'm vaguely aware of that.
So would it surprise you to hear that the rate of head injuries went up, not down? Do you have any explanation for that? I can offer an educated guess.
I mean, it makes sense, having all that metal clanking around on your head, it's bound to bang you up.
Interesting theory.
But wrong.
The steel helmets actually kept more men alive that otherwise would have died.
True, they had head injuries, but at least they were still breathing.
Taylor, give me a reason to keep this guy.
I don't think there is one.
We'd like to thank and excuse this juror, Your Honor.
Then the defense is out of challenges.
Is this panel acceptable to the prosecution? It is, Your Honor.
Then we have our jury.
I was hoping for a stronger start, Bull.
By my count, at least eight of these jurors are susceptible to logical fallacies.
That means a third aren't.
That's not bad.
We can work with a third.
- Got a sec? - Oh, sorry.
You scared me.
Um, you heading home? Yeah, in a minute.
While you were in court, Taylor and I went through all the paperwork for all of Greg's restaurants, and we found something I wanted you to see.
What exactly am I looking at? Did you know that Greg only had six weeks to pay his investors $2 million or he'd lose the controlling stake in his restaurant group? Mind if I join? I think my husband owes millions of dollars he's never told me about.
You know, debt's a funny word.
One man's debt is another man's working capital.
You know what I mean? I just know what I read.
Danny showed me some promissory notes.
Apparently, he is two weeks away from losing everything.
If he doesn't pay, which the promissory note wouldn't have shown you.
Are we having a conversation about Greg, or the last great love of your life, Kyle? I sure can pick them, can't I? Listen, I don't mean to crash your pity party, but I think you might be rushing to judgment here.
But why wouldn't he tell me? I have no idea.
Here's a crazy thought: ask him.
Taxi! He's not Kyle.
Based on our investigation, this fire and the subsequent explosion were the result of a grease buildup, a faulty vent and the haphazard storage of cleaning products and solvents.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Fire Marshal Anderson, but isn't all of that preventable? Yes.
The City of New York has rules and regulations to prevent incidents like this from happening.
So is it fair to say that JC Morales's death is a direct result of the defendant disregarding those regulations? You could say that, yes.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Good morning, Fire Marshal Anderson.
Really appreciate your testimony.
The thing is I've been through your report a dozen times, and there's something that's been bothering me.
I see no mention of what actually ignited the grease and started the fire in the first place.
Well, given the severity of the damage, that's impossible to determine.
Yes, but given your 35 years of experience, I imagine you have a theory.
Objection.
Calls for speculation.
A professional opinion is not the same as speculation, Ms.
Drake.
You may answer the question.
Uh, most likely, some kind of particulate matter got in through the vent and heated over time to the point of ignition.
That's interesting.
Now, when you say "particulate matter," you're basically saying anything that burns and is small enough to have gotten up into that vent, right? I mean, it could be a small piece of paper, an onion skin, the lint from somebody's pocket, a cigarette ash? It's certainly possible, though there's no evidence to suggest any of those items were involved.
What if I told you that the deceased Mr.
Morales had a history of smoking inside the restaurant after hours? Objection.
No foundation.
Your Honor, we'd like to enter into evidence a report from JC Morales's personnel file.
An opening manager had written him up after finding cigarette butts he had left when cleaning the night before.
So if Mr.
Morales had been smoking inside the night of the fire, wouldn't you say it would've been possible for him to have inadvertently started the fire? Yes.
If that was the case, it's certainly possible he may have started the ignition.
Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Good news for our team.
Starting to see a little burst of green.
We'd like to redirect, Your Honor.
Go ahead.
So, Fire Marshal Anderson, regardless if the fire was ignited by a cigarette or any number of other things that could have gotten through that faulty vent, were it not for the grease buildup and the improperly stored chemicals, wouldn't Mr.
Morales still be alive? No accelerant, no explosion.
So yes, I believe he would.
Thank you.
No further questions.
You Michael Davis? Cesar Caputo.
Who wants to know? My name is Danny James.
I'm working on Greg Valerian's defense team.
Investigating the Briarcrest Room fire? I have an inspection report here saying that the restaurant's exhaust vents were cleaned by this company two months ago.
I'm looking for the guy that signed it, Michael Davis.
Yeah, well if you find him, tell him I want my tools back.
- He's not here? - He's not here.
He's not anywhere.
Hey.
This is your company, right, Mr.
Caputo? Can you explain to me how there could have been five months of grease in those vents, if this guy Davis did what he said he did? Well, I think you just answered your own question, didn't you? Look, 80% of our guys have been here since they graduated high school.
They're grateful for the job, and they take the responsibility seriously.
But the other 20? It's like a revolving door.
Nobody dreams of crawling through greasy ducts for a living, spending all day breathing in solvents.
It doesn't matter how much you pay them.
'Cause sometimes they can make more for not doing the job.
All right? Guy owns a restaurant, he needs the kitchen that morning for a catering job, or simply can't be bothered having somebody that'll let us in.
Now, mind you, I have no idea what happened.
Davis is long gone, I can't find him.
For all I know, he did what he was supposed to do and that's why he signed the paper.
And by the way, you call me into court, that's what I'm gonna say.
He claims he doesn't know anything.
But he did strongly imply that if those ducts weren't clean, it's because Greg didn't want them cleaned.
Oh.
Sorry I'm late.
Didn't realize we were having a meeting.
Nothing important.
Just the usual postmortem.
You really don't need to be here.
In fact, aren't there other places, other people, it would make more sense for you to be spending time with? I think that's for me to decide.
Don't forget, I actually have two dogs in this fight.
My husband, and TAC.
I may lose one.
I am not gonna lose both.
Now why wouldn't Greg want those ducts cleaned? Nobody knows anything.
These are just theories.
Marissa I might know.
Greg's fire insurance policy.
It would have given him more than enough to cover his debts.
Marissa, we all know how hard this is for you.
How tempting it is to get ahead of it, assume the worst.
That way, the world won't let you down.
That way, the ones you love won't wound you because you've already wounded yourself, and there's no blood left to bleed.
But the simple truth is, there is absolutely no evidence that this fire was intentional.
Not even the prosecutor is claiming it was arson.
Okay.
You're right.
But there's something else.
Something else I haven't shared with any of you.
Okay.
Greg and I have this thing.
It's a ritual.
Sort of a promise we made to each other.
If I'm asleep when he gets home from work, he wakes me up and kisses me.
And if he's asleep when I get home you get the idea.
And you're mentioning it because? Because we've been doing it every night since we got back together.
Every night, one of us gets home later than the other.
Every night, except the night of the fire.
The night of the fire, he didn't wake me up.
It's the only time and I cannot help but wonder, is it because he wasn't at home when he should've been? And if he wasn't, where was he? Thanks, Benny.
Danny.
See you in court.
You know where to find me.
I apologize if I seem dramatic.
Just a man lost his life.
I'm hoping it's a terrible accident, but it's possible it wasn't.
And I need to know.
I need to know who I married.
Want to share a cab? Look, the fire science can be subjective.
There's always room for interpretation.
I know someone, an arson expert with top-of-the-line equipment.
Like me to give her a call? Might put your mind at ease.
I wouldn't mind having a second opinion.
I'm a terrible wife.
I should just trust, right? You're asking the Helen Keller of marriage whether or not he likes the color of your dress.
You are who you are.
You can only do what you can do.
You can only be who you can be.
Dr.
Bull, Chef Hansen.
Just finished a little witness prep and I believe he's good to go.
Thanks for doing this, Chef.
Happy to.
Greg's my boy.
Anything I can do to help.
Well, not much to it.
Just need you to testify to Greg's safety policies and character as a business owner.
No problem.
Do you think I have a little time before you guys need me? I'd love to go outside and maybe walk a mile or so.
Trying to get my steps in.
The girlfriend worries about my love affair with butter and sugar and cream.
Checks the count every night.
Yeah.
No girlfriend, but, uh, I count steps now, too.
Steps are gonna have to wait.
Benny says it's go time.
Let's do it.
Now the prosecution has been trying to paint Greg as a negligent boss.
A guy who doesn't like to follow the rules.
Now, you worked for him for eight years.
Now what's your impression of him? My impression? The Briarcrest Room is the best place I've ever worked.
Probably the best place I ever will work.
Why is that? A lot of restaurant owners in this city only care about status and their bottom line.
Greg is not that guy.
He understands the business.
He cares about his product and his customers.
He cares about his employees and their futures, their lives.
He made me business partner after six years of working together.
Told me I was such a valuable member of the team, he couldn't bear the thought of me not profiting from my hard work.
I mean, come on, that's pretty special.
It is indeed.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Just one question for you, Chef Hansen.
If Greg Valerian was such an amazing boss and you were so lucky to be there, then why were you looking for another job? Wait.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's not exactly true.
Oh, so you weren't interviewing with other investors and restaurants? No.
Is that your sworn testimony under oath? Okay, I had started to look around a little.
Sometimes you just got to change it up.
I'm sorry.
I don't understand.
A minute and a half ago, you were talking about what a special place the Briarcrest Room was and how grateful you were to your boss, and now you're saying you were looking to "change it up"? Greg had gotten busy.
Building a new place in Brooklyn.
It was getting harder to get his attention, to get the answers I needed to keep the kitchen what it needed to be.
It sounds worse than it was.
You take some meetings.
You do some interviews.
Doesn't mean anything.
Oh, I beg to differ.
Now go back to where you said it was "hard to get his attention.
" Would you say that Greg had been neglecting his duties - at the Briarcrest Room? - Objection! I'll withdraw.
No further questions.
We're starting to think that the only way forward is to put you on the stand, Greg.
Let you speak for yourself.
You guys go ahead.
I need a minute.
I just finished with the arson expert.
And? She said the fire inspector's methodology was sound, but she reran the chemical samples through a system using chromatography and spectrographic analysis, something the FDNY didn't have access to on this case.
That was quite a drumroll.
She found traces of gasoline.
Gasoline's not commonly found among restaurant cleaning products? No, it is not.
The fire was arson.
He moved out of state.
You talk to Marissa yet? No, and I'm not going to and neither are you.
Dr.
Bull, it was arson.
She has to know.
We have to tell her.
I mean, this is her life.
She was the one who had misgivings in the first place.
I know it's her life, which is why no one is going to say anything unless and until we have proof.
We have proof.
Proof the fire was arson, not that Greg did it.
If we tell Marissa that her husband is criminally responsible for the death of a man, her marriage is over.
That is a bell we cannot un-ring.
So before we go around broadcasting something we suspect, we need to find out if our suspicions are true, or, even better, if they're not.
Direct is the easy part.
That's when Benny will run you through a series of questions about how you run your business.
Every chance you get, stress why you love your restaurants, and if you're honest and open, the jury will feel that, and they'll be more inclined to believe what you say.
Simple as that? It's as simple as that.
Now, cross-examination is where we can run into trouble.
Pardon the interruption.
Greg.
You mind if I do the honors? You want to prep Greg yourself? Yeah, I just feel like keeping my hand in.
Don't want to get rusty, and Greg's kind of like family.
Whatever you say.
Thank you, Dr.
Bull.
Taking the time.
- Jason.
- Jason.
So why didn't you wake your wife with a kiss when you came home on the night of the fire? Hmm? I really need to know.
Was it because you were later than usual or? From what I understand, you normally get home between midnight and 1:00.
Of course, the fire was at 3:00.
I'm sorry, could you speak up? I'm having trouble hearing you.
This is like practice, right? You're pretending to be the woman from the district attorney's office? Right? They're just questions.
The answers shouldn't change no matter who's doing the asking.
Did Marissa say something to you? New subject, just curious.
How much do you stand to gain from the fire insurance policy on the restaurant? What do you mean, gain? The restaurant's gone.
JC is dead.
No one gains anything.
Except for insurance money.
How much is it? How much do you get? A lot.
But none of it's mine.
None of it's liquid.
All that money is committed to rebuilding the restaurant.
Really? You weren't planning on using it to repay investors so you could keep control of the company? That's not how the contract is written.
I have to use the money to rebuild the restaurant.
The insurance company won't give it to me otherwise.
Happy to show you the policy.
Excellent answer.
Now, what if someone said, "Turns out it was actually arson"? What was actually arson? And who is "someone"? I'm saying it.
I hired the best expert there is, and she says it's arson.
So what I need to know from you is: were you in on it? Are you the one that set the fire, or did you just pay to make it happen? Do you believe in redemption? I would need to know about your transgressions first.
I am the reason my marriage didn't work the first time.
My wife Marissa was away a lot, and I felt that gave me permission to feel sorry for myself.
And feeling sorry for yourself is no fun alone.
Getting her back a second time is as close to a miracle as I am ever likely to experience.
The night you're asking about, I got home at the regular time, but I was exhausted.
Like, sleep-in-your-clothes exhausted.
And she looked so content.
So beautiful lying there, asleep.
So I thought, okay.
We've gotten there.
I'm not gonna wake her up.
I don't have to.
She doesn't need me to do that.
She knows I love her.
I can see it on her face.
Guess I was wrong.
Okay.
But did you set the fire? My other transgressions, my lifetime of transgressions ceased to matter the day I broke ground on that restaurant.
I was determined, despite all the bad choices I might have made in my past, despite having always been told that I would never amount to anything To build a beautiful thing, an enchanted place where people could have magical experiences.
Where I would employ people and train people, serve fabulous food and intoxicating drinks.
But the best part was after all the people had left, after all the chairs were on the table.
I would sit there alone, thinking look at what I did.
Look what I built.
None of this would exist if it wasn't for me.
I would no more put a match to that place than I would betray my wife.
They are my redemption.
They are my salvation.
Well, for what it's worth, I think you'll make an excellent witness.
Now we just have to figure out who did set that fire.
Preferably within the next 18 hours.
I checked out the insurance policy, and Greg was telling the truth.
He has no access to the payout.
It has to be spent to rebuild the restaurant.
And if for some reason they elect not to rebuild, the only people who get any money at all are the original investors, and they only get enough to be made whole.
So, no one stood to profit from the fire? Well, one person did.
Six years after the restaurant was opened, Chef Hansen was made a partner.
Not because he invested any capital, but as an inducement to keep him from ever leaving.
So, as it happens, he would be the only one to walk away from this with fresh cash.
And he needs cash.
Hansen wasn't looking for a new job.
He was looking for partners for his own restaurant.
He made an offer for a place in the Bowery.
He just needed money for the down payment.
Sounds like Hansen might be our arsonist.
Yeah.
And if we're gonna introduce arson in court, we need something solid real proof that it wasn't our client.
And we have to do it in the next You all right, boss? Taylor, you have your laptop with you? Great.
We have work to do.
Chef Hansen thank you for agreeing to take the stand one more time.
Happy to do it.
Just for the record, what time did you close the restaurant on the night of the fire? I think I locked up around 1:00 a.
m.
And then what did you do? Grabbed a drink with Kim, my sous chef.
At the Rosemead Pub, is that right? Yes.
That's right.
And when did you leave the pub, would you say? Objection! Your Honor, relevance? As riveting as the minutia of Mr.
Hansen's evening is, I don't see what it has to do with the case.
Your Honor, I guarantee you will see the relevance if you'll allow me to continue.
Get to the point, Mr.
Colón.
Quickly.
So what time did you leave the pub? I hopped a cab home around 2:30, I think.
And you went straight home? You didn't stop anywhere first? No.
I was tired.
I just went home.
Ah.
Your Honor, we'd like to enter into evidence the GPS data from Chef Hansen's smartwatch - on the night of the fire.
- Objection! The smartwatch app is open-source.
The A.
D.
A.
had the same access to this information as we did.
I'll allow it.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Chef Hansen, were you wearing your smartwatch on the night of the fire? It certainly looks like you were.
It-it corroborates your testimony.
You-you left the restaurant at 1:00 a.
m.
, then on to the Rosemead.
The only thing is it doesn't have you going straight home after you left the bar.
Your smartwatch app has you going back to the Briarcrest Room.
As a matter of fact, the GPS data has you in the restaurant from 2:52 to 3:07 a.
m.
Actually I forgot my knife roll.
Keep my knives in it.
I've had it for 20 years.
I had to go back and get it.
So, what, you just forgot about that when I asked you? I mean it wasn't a big deal.
But on this night, there was a fire.
Right around the time your watch says you went back to the restaurant.
You sure you didn't start a fire so that you could use your cut of the insurance money to put a down payment on your own place? Never mind.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Man We the jury find the defendant, Greg Valerian, not guilty.
Oh, my Thank you.
You're welcome.
I am really, really happy.
Aren't you really, really happy? Honestly, I'm kind of confused.
You told your boss about our kiss thing? You made an issue out of not getting a kiss that night? Because you thought it meant I must have been out late setting a fire.
No.
Of course not.
I just You just.
I know.
You just can't help yourself.
You are the sum of your experiences, as you love to remind me.
And so many of your experiences have been not great.
Your first experience with me not great.
So I get it.
But I don't know if I can accept it.
I wanted you beside me.
Behind me.
Believing in me.
Never really felt you were there.
Um I don't disagree with anything you said.
I'm not proud of it.
I wanted to be there for you.
But I am who I am.
I can only do what I can do.
And I can only be who I can be.
Please give me time.
Please give me a chance to learn.
What was that? I just wanted to let you know I was home.
Come on.
Let's go to bed.
Captioned by Media Access
Well, don't let me keep you.
Ha ha.
Dinner? Absurd, divine.
Did you ask Chef Johnny to do that? - Do what? - Make the agnolotti.
From our wedding.
It was so good, I got a little teary.
Took me right back to that night.
That perfect night.
Thank Chef for me? I got a better idea.
- I need three bluefins fired, now.
- Yes, Chef! Looking good; - where are we at on that sauce? - Working, Chef! - Danny, where are we at on that sauce? - Working, Chef.
All right.
Looking good, Tom.
Johnny.
You guys good? We got about 300 more on the books before 10:00.
We're rocking and rolling, jamming it out.
I just wanted to say thank you for such a beautiful dinner.
I don't know how you had the time to make that pasta with all this going on.
You kidding? I love making that dish.
I don't want to keep you.
I just wanted to say how appreciative I am.
My pleasure.
Ooh, that smells good! Let's keep going! You sure you don't want dessert? A nightcap, maybe.
If I consume anything else, I will quite literally explode.
I'm in desperate need of an elastic waistband and the couch.
See you at home.
How'd I get so lucky, huh? Must've done something right, hmm? I love you.
I love you, too.
Everything all right? Mmm.
Babe.
Hey, babe.
Happy Sunday.
It's after 11:00 in the morning; why didn't you wake me up and kiss me when you got home last night? I just couldn't.
I couldn't do it; you were too adorable.
All curled up around your pillow like a little koala.
Wait.
Do koalas drool? You have to wake me up and kiss me.
Drool or no drool, cute or not cute.
We had a deal.
Aye, aye, Captain Morgan.
I won't let it happen again.
Mea culpa.
Mea culpa.
Is that the door? Is this the Valerian residence? We're looking for a Mr.
Greg Valerian.
W-Would you mind telling me just what this is about? Does Mr.
Valerian live here? We need to speak with him.
Uh, Greg? Is everything all right? - What's going? - Greg Valerian? Yes, why? You're the owner of the Briarcrest Room restaurant? I am.
Is everything all right? We'd like you to come down to the station with us, sir.
There's been a fire.
A fire? When? Happy Sunday.
- Hi.
How did you? - Benny called me.
Told me about the fire, said it was turning into an all-day event.
What's the latest? I don't know.
It seems like Greg's been back there with the detectives for hours.
Last I heard, the fire was out, and the fire inspectors were going through the place.
Apparently, there's not much left.
It was Greg's first restaurant, his whole What? What-what is it? What's happened? They found a body.
The night janitor was in the restaurant when the fire broke out.
He's dead.
Oh, God.
- That's awful.
I have to see Greg - No, no, no.
You can't do that right now, Marissa.
What? Why not? Greg's been arrested.
He's being booked at the moment.
You'll be able to see him as soon as we post bail.
What's the charge? Involuntary manslaughter.
That's that's 15 years.
I don't know if you have a criminal attorney or not, but if you do, please let them know that TAC would like to offer our services.
And if you don't have an attorney, I stand ready to represent you, Greg.
No, I don't have a criminal attorney.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Tell us about the man who died.
He was a really nice man.
Didn't speak a lot of English.
Loved to show pictures of his grandkids.
Oh, his poor wife.
I have to, I have to talk to her.
Pay my respects.
As your attorney, I would strongly advise against that.
Even offering condolences can be spun by the prosecutor as an admission of guilt.
But that's-that's crazy.
- I have to do something.
- Hey Pay for the, uh, funeral, set up some kind of fund for the family.
- Something.
- I can do all of those things.
I can make arrangements through TAC.
All right, well, let's talk about the fire inspector's report for a second.
He's saying that a grease buildup in the exhaust ducts above the kitchen caught fire, creating an enormous heat in the duct system.
And when the flames grew powerful enough, apparently they burst through a loose vent and came in contact with improperly stored cleaning materials, which caused an explosion.
That sounds like bad luck.
An accident, not a crime.
Well, you're the only one who's gonna see it that way, I'm afraid.
The first thing they teach you when you go to work in a restaurant kitchen is that two out of three restaurant fires are caused by grease buildup.
There's even a law.
In New York, you have to have your exhaust systems professionally cleaned and inspected every three months, which I do.
Those ducts were clean, like, seven weeks ago.
The report indicates at least five months worth of buildup would have been required to start that fire.
Well, that's-that's impossible.
That must be some mistake.
Those ducts were cleaned and inspected.
We'll look into it, but, Greg, that's not your only problem.
See, the prosecution is going to say that you repeatedly disregarded city and state regulations.
They're gonna point to a lack of oversight and lax management.
What are they talking about? The Briarcrest Room was served with a fire code violation six months ago and an OSHA citation just 12 weeks ago.
Well, the fire code violation was nothing.
One of the managers added a few extra tables over a holiday weekend.
And the OSHA citation? Some of the guys got a little lazy with the cleaning supplies.
Not storing them properly.
As soon as I found out, I made the whole staff do safety training, and I beefed up the closing procedures.
It never happened again.
Till last night.
What's your tummy tell you? Not much.
Not yet.
Same here.
Not that it matters.
I mean, at the end of the day, we're in it for Marissa.
Whether he's guilty or not, the job's the same.
We need to convince a jury that this fire was not foreseeable, not his fault.
Good luck to us.
What if we're wrong? What if it's exactly what he says it is? A collision of unfortunate miscalculations.
A perfect storm.
Like some kind of gigantic systems failure? A fluke rather than a pattern of behavior.
So, what kind of jurors are we looking for? Fellow business owners who will sympathize? People who understand complex systems? Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc.
Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc? After this, therefore, because of this.
That's the prosecution's theory.
The fire and JC's subsequent death happened after a series of negligent behaviors on Greg's part: the fire code violation, the OSHA citation, the grease buildup.
I would argue the same thing.
But post hoc is actually a logical fallacy.
It basically means that correlation equals causation, which it doesn't.
Just because there's a relationship between two events doesn't mean one event caused the other.
So, to answer your question, we need people who understand that.
We need people who see that correlation doesn't always equal causation.
And how do I go about that? Good morning.
So it says here on your jury questionnaire that you played semipro football.
Up until about a year ago.
You drink a lot of sports drinks? - Sure.
Got to stay hydrated.
- What if I told you that there is a direct correlation between the number of sports drinks a person consumes and the increased likelihood of that person getting a knee injury? I would say your logic is faulty, but your conclusion is sound.
- How so? - I mean, it makes sense.
People who drink a lot of sports drinks are more likely to be athletes.
Athletes are more likely to get injured.
But sports drinks don't cause knee injuries.
This juror is acceptable to the defense, Your Honor.
Mr.
Watson.
You are a high school history teacher.
- That's correct.
- So let me ask you a question.
Are you aware that in World War I, the British wore steel helmets for the first time? I'm vaguely aware of that.
So would it surprise you to hear that the rate of head injuries went up, not down? Do you have any explanation for that? I can offer an educated guess.
I mean, it makes sense, having all that metal clanking around on your head, it's bound to bang you up.
Interesting theory.
But wrong.
The steel helmets actually kept more men alive that otherwise would have died.
True, they had head injuries, but at least they were still breathing.
Taylor, give me a reason to keep this guy.
I don't think there is one.
We'd like to thank and excuse this juror, Your Honor.
Then the defense is out of challenges.
Is this panel acceptable to the prosecution? It is, Your Honor.
Then we have our jury.
I was hoping for a stronger start, Bull.
By my count, at least eight of these jurors are susceptible to logical fallacies.
That means a third aren't.
That's not bad.
We can work with a third.
- Got a sec? - Oh, sorry.
You scared me.
Um, you heading home? Yeah, in a minute.
While you were in court, Taylor and I went through all the paperwork for all of Greg's restaurants, and we found something I wanted you to see.
What exactly am I looking at? Did you know that Greg only had six weeks to pay his investors $2 million or he'd lose the controlling stake in his restaurant group? Mind if I join? I think my husband owes millions of dollars he's never told me about.
You know, debt's a funny word.
One man's debt is another man's working capital.
You know what I mean? I just know what I read.
Danny showed me some promissory notes.
Apparently, he is two weeks away from losing everything.
If he doesn't pay, which the promissory note wouldn't have shown you.
Are we having a conversation about Greg, or the last great love of your life, Kyle? I sure can pick them, can't I? Listen, I don't mean to crash your pity party, but I think you might be rushing to judgment here.
But why wouldn't he tell me? I have no idea.
Here's a crazy thought: ask him.
Taxi! He's not Kyle.
Based on our investigation, this fire and the subsequent explosion were the result of a grease buildup, a faulty vent and the haphazard storage of cleaning products and solvents.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Fire Marshal Anderson, but isn't all of that preventable? Yes.
The City of New York has rules and regulations to prevent incidents like this from happening.
So is it fair to say that JC Morales's death is a direct result of the defendant disregarding those regulations? You could say that, yes.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Good morning, Fire Marshal Anderson.
Really appreciate your testimony.
The thing is I've been through your report a dozen times, and there's something that's been bothering me.
I see no mention of what actually ignited the grease and started the fire in the first place.
Well, given the severity of the damage, that's impossible to determine.
Yes, but given your 35 years of experience, I imagine you have a theory.
Objection.
Calls for speculation.
A professional opinion is not the same as speculation, Ms.
Drake.
You may answer the question.
Uh, most likely, some kind of particulate matter got in through the vent and heated over time to the point of ignition.
That's interesting.
Now, when you say "particulate matter," you're basically saying anything that burns and is small enough to have gotten up into that vent, right? I mean, it could be a small piece of paper, an onion skin, the lint from somebody's pocket, a cigarette ash? It's certainly possible, though there's no evidence to suggest any of those items were involved.
What if I told you that the deceased Mr.
Morales had a history of smoking inside the restaurant after hours? Objection.
No foundation.
Your Honor, we'd like to enter into evidence a report from JC Morales's personnel file.
An opening manager had written him up after finding cigarette butts he had left when cleaning the night before.
So if Mr.
Morales had been smoking inside the night of the fire, wouldn't you say it would've been possible for him to have inadvertently started the fire? Yes.
If that was the case, it's certainly possible he may have started the ignition.
Thank you.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Good news for our team.
Starting to see a little burst of green.
We'd like to redirect, Your Honor.
Go ahead.
So, Fire Marshal Anderson, regardless if the fire was ignited by a cigarette or any number of other things that could have gotten through that faulty vent, were it not for the grease buildup and the improperly stored chemicals, wouldn't Mr.
Morales still be alive? No accelerant, no explosion.
So yes, I believe he would.
Thank you.
No further questions.
You Michael Davis? Cesar Caputo.
Who wants to know? My name is Danny James.
I'm working on Greg Valerian's defense team.
Investigating the Briarcrest Room fire? I have an inspection report here saying that the restaurant's exhaust vents were cleaned by this company two months ago.
I'm looking for the guy that signed it, Michael Davis.
Yeah, well if you find him, tell him I want my tools back.
- He's not here? - He's not here.
He's not anywhere.
Hey.
This is your company, right, Mr.
Caputo? Can you explain to me how there could have been five months of grease in those vents, if this guy Davis did what he said he did? Well, I think you just answered your own question, didn't you? Look, 80% of our guys have been here since they graduated high school.
They're grateful for the job, and they take the responsibility seriously.
But the other 20? It's like a revolving door.
Nobody dreams of crawling through greasy ducts for a living, spending all day breathing in solvents.
It doesn't matter how much you pay them.
'Cause sometimes they can make more for not doing the job.
All right? Guy owns a restaurant, he needs the kitchen that morning for a catering job, or simply can't be bothered having somebody that'll let us in.
Now, mind you, I have no idea what happened.
Davis is long gone, I can't find him.
For all I know, he did what he was supposed to do and that's why he signed the paper.
And by the way, you call me into court, that's what I'm gonna say.
He claims he doesn't know anything.
But he did strongly imply that if those ducts weren't clean, it's because Greg didn't want them cleaned.
Oh.
Sorry I'm late.
Didn't realize we were having a meeting.
Nothing important.
Just the usual postmortem.
You really don't need to be here.
In fact, aren't there other places, other people, it would make more sense for you to be spending time with? I think that's for me to decide.
Don't forget, I actually have two dogs in this fight.
My husband, and TAC.
I may lose one.
I am not gonna lose both.
Now why wouldn't Greg want those ducts cleaned? Nobody knows anything.
These are just theories.
Marissa I might know.
Greg's fire insurance policy.
It would have given him more than enough to cover his debts.
Marissa, we all know how hard this is for you.
How tempting it is to get ahead of it, assume the worst.
That way, the world won't let you down.
That way, the ones you love won't wound you because you've already wounded yourself, and there's no blood left to bleed.
But the simple truth is, there is absolutely no evidence that this fire was intentional.
Not even the prosecutor is claiming it was arson.
Okay.
You're right.
But there's something else.
Something else I haven't shared with any of you.
Okay.
Greg and I have this thing.
It's a ritual.
Sort of a promise we made to each other.
If I'm asleep when he gets home from work, he wakes me up and kisses me.
And if he's asleep when I get home you get the idea.
And you're mentioning it because? Because we've been doing it every night since we got back together.
Every night, one of us gets home later than the other.
Every night, except the night of the fire.
The night of the fire, he didn't wake me up.
It's the only time and I cannot help but wonder, is it because he wasn't at home when he should've been? And if he wasn't, where was he? Thanks, Benny.
Danny.
See you in court.
You know where to find me.
I apologize if I seem dramatic.
Just a man lost his life.
I'm hoping it's a terrible accident, but it's possible it wasn't.
And I need to know.
I need to know who I married.
Want to share a cab? Look, the fire science can be subjective.
There's always room for interpretation.
I know someone, an arson expert with top-of-the-line equipment.
Like me to give her a call? Might put your mind at ease.
I wouldn't mind having a second opinion.
I'm a terrible wife.
I should just trust, right? You're asking the Helen Keller of marriage whether or not he likes the color of your dress.
You are who you are.
You can only do what you can do.
You can only be who you can be.
Dr.
Bull, Chef Hansen.
Just finished a little witness prep and I believe he's good to go.
Thanks for doing this, Chef.
Happy to.
Greg's my boy.
Anything I can do to help.
Well, not much to it.
Just need you to testify to Greg's safety policies and character as a business owner.
No problem.
Do you think I have a little time before you guys need me? I'd love to go outside and maybe walk a mile or so.
Trying to get my steps in.
The girlfriend worries about my love affair with butter and sugar and cream.
Checks the count every night.
Yeah.
No girlfriend, but, uh, I count steps now, too.
Steps are gonna have to wait.
Benny says it's go time.
Let's do it.
Now the prosecution has been trying to paint Greg as a negligent boss.
A guy who doesn't like to follow the rules.
Now, you worked for him for eight years.
Now what's your impression of him? My impression? The Briarcrest Room is the best place I've ever worked.
Probably the best place I ever will work.
Why is that? A lot of restaurant owners in this city only care about status and their bottom line.
Greg is not that guy.
He understands the business.
He cares about his product and his customers.
He cares about his employees and their futures, their lives.
He made me business partner after six years of working together.
Told me I was such a valuable member of the team, he couldn't bear the thought of me not profiting from my hard work.
I mean, come on, that's pretty special.
It is indeed.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Just one question for you, Chef Hansen.
If Greg Valerian was such an amazing boss and you were so lucky to be there, then why were you looking for another job? Wait.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's not exactly true.
Oh, so you weren't interviewing with other investors and restaurants? No.
Is that your sworn testimony under oath? Okay, I had started to look around a little.
Sometimes you just got to change it up.
I'm sorry.
I don't understand.
A minute and a half ago, you were talking about what a special place the Briarcrest Room was and how grateful you were to your boss, and now you're saying you were looking to "change it up"? Greg had gotten busy.
Building a new place in Brooklyn.
It was getting harder to get his attention, to get the answers I needed to keep the kitchen what it needed to be.
It sounds worse than it was.
You take some meetings.
You do some interviews.
Doesn't mean anything.
Oh, I beg to differ.
Now go back to where you said it was "hard to get his attention.
" Would you say that Greg had been neglecting his duties - at the Briarcrest Room? - Objection! I'll withdraw.
No further questions.
We're starting to think that the only way forward is to put you on the stand, Greg.
Let you speak for yourself.
You guys go ahead.
I need a minute.
I just finished with the arson expert.
And? She said the fire inspector's methodology was sound, but she reran the chemical samples through a system using chromatography and spectrographic analysis, something the FDNY didn't have access to on this case.
That was quite a drumroll.
She found traces of gasoline.
Gasoline's not commonly found among restaurant cleaning products? No, it is not.
The fire was arson.
He moved out of state.
You talk to Marissa yet? No, and I'm not going to and neither are you.
Dr.
Bull, it was arson.
She has to know.
We have to tell her.
I mean, this is her life.
She was the one who had misgivings in the first place.
I know it's her life, which is why no one is going to say anything unless and until we have proof.
We have proof.
Proof the fire was arson, not that Greg did it.
If we tell Marissa that her husband is criminally responsible for the death of a man, her marriage is over.
That is a bell we cannot un-ring.
So before we go around broadcasting something we suspect, we need to find out if our suspicions are true, or, even better, if they're not.
Direct is the easy part.
That's when Benny will run you through a series of questions about how you run your business.
Every chance you get, stress why you love your restaurants, and if you're honest and open, the jury will feel that, and they'll be more inclined to believe what you say.
Simple as that? It's as simple as that.
Now, cross-examination is where we can run into trouble.
Pardon the interruption.
Greg.
You mind if I do the honors? You want to prep Greg yourself? Yeah, I just feel like keeping my hand in.
Don't want to get rusty, and Greg's kind of like family.
Whatever you say.
Thank you, Dr.
Bull.
Taking the time.
- Jason.
- Jason.
So why didn't you wake your wife with a kiss when you came home on the night of the fire? Hmm? I really need to know.
Was it because you were later than usual or? From what I understand, you normally get home between midnight and 1:00.
Of course, the fire was at 3:00.
I'm sorry, could you speak up? I'm having trouble hearing you.
This is like practice, right? You're pretending to be the woman from the district attorney's office? Right? They're just questions.
The answers shouldn't change no matter who's doing the asking.
Did Marissa say something to you? New subject, just curious.
How much do you stand to gain from the fire insurance policy on the restaurant? What do you mean, gain? The restaurant's gone.
JC is dead.
No one gains anything.
Except for insurance money.
How much is it? How much do you get? A lot.
But none of it's mine.
None of it's liquid.
All that money is committed to rebuilding the restaurant.
Really? You weren't planning on using it to repay investors so you could keep control of the company? That's not how the contract is written.
I have to use the money to rebuild the restaurant.
The insurance company won't give it to me otherwise.
Happy to show you the policy.
Excellent answer.
Now, what if someone said, "Turns out it was actually arson"? What was actually arson? And who is "someone"? I'm saying it.
I hired the best expert there is, and she says it's arson.
So what I need to know from you is: were you in on it? Are you the one that set the fire, or did you just pay to make it happen? Do you believe in redemption? I would need to know about your transgressions first.
I am the reason my marriage didn't work the first time.
My wife Marissa was away a lot, and I felt that gave me permission to feel sorry for myself.
And feeling sorry for yourself is no fun alone.
Getting her back a second time is as close to a miracle as I am ever likely to experience.
The night you're asking about, I got home at the regular time, but I was exhausted.
Like, sleep-in-your-clothes exhausted.
And she looked so content.
So beautiful lying there, asleep.
So I thought, okay.
We've gotten there.
I'm not gonna wake her up.
I don't have to.
She doesn't need me to do that.
She knows I love her.
I can see it on her face.
Guess I was wrong.
Okay.
But did you set the fire? My other transgressions, my lifetime of transgressions ceased to matter the day I broke ground on that restaurant.
I was determined, despite all the bad choices I might have made in my past, despite having always been told that I would never amount to anything To build a beautiful thing, an enchanted place where people could have magical experiences.
Where I would employ people and train people, serve fabulous food and intoxicating drinks.
But the best part was after all the people had left, after all the chairs were on the table.
I would sit there alone, thinking look at what I did.
Look what I built.
None of this would exist if it wasn't for me.
I would no more put a match to that place than I would betray my wife.
They are my redemption.
They are my salvation.
Well, for what it's worth, I think you'll make an excellent witness.
Now we just have to figure out who did set that fire.
Preferably within the next 18 hours.
I checked out the insurance policy, and Greg was telling the truth.
He has no access to the payout.
It has to be spent to rebuild the restaurant.
And if for some reason they elect not to rebuild, the only people who get any money at all are the original investors, and they only get enough to be made whole.
So, no one stood to profit from the fire? Well, one person did.
Six years after the restaurant was opened, Chef Hansen was made a partner.
Not because he invested any capital, but as an inducement to keep him from ever leaving.
So, as it happens, he would be the only one to walk away from this with fresh cash.
And he needs cash.
Hansen wasn't looking for a new job.
He was looking for partners for his own restaurant.
He made an offer for a place in the Bowery.
He just needed money for the down payment.
Sounds like Hansen might be our arsonist.
Yeah.
And if we're gonna introduce arson in court, we need something solid real proof that it wasn't our client.
And we have to do it in the next You all right, boss? Taylor, you have your laptop with you? Great.
We have work to do.
Chef Hansen thank you for agreeing to take the stand one more time.
Happy to do it.
Just for the record, what time did you close the restaurant on the night of the fire? I think I locked up around 1:00 a.
m.
And then what did you do? Grabbed a drink with Kim, my sous chef.
At the Rosemead Pub, is that right? Yes.
That's right.
And when did you leave the pub, would you say? Objection! Your Honor, relevance? As riveting as the minutia of Mr.
Hansen's evening is, I don't see what it has to do with the case.
Your Honor, I guarantee you will see the relevance if you'll allow me to continue.
Get to the point, Mr.
Colón.
Quickly.
So what time did you leave the pub? I hopped a cab home around 2:30, I think.
And you went straight home? You didn't stop anywhere first? No.
I was tired.
I just went home.
Ah.
Your Honor, we'd like to enter into evidence the GPS data from Chef Hansen's smartwatch - on the night of the fire.
- Objection! The smartwatch app is open-source.
The A.
D.
A.
had the same access to this information as we did.
I'll allow it.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Chef Hansen, were you wearing your smartwatch on the night of the fire? It certainly looks like you were.
It-it corroborates your testimony.
You-you left the restaurant at 1:00 a.
m.
, then on to the Rosemead.
The only thing is it doesn't have you going straight home after you left the bar.
Your smartwatch app has you going back to the Briarcrest Room.
As a matter of fact, the GPS data has you in the restaurant from 2:52 to 3:07 a.
m.
Actually I forgot my knife roll.
Keep my knives in it.
I've had it for 20 years.
I had to go back and get it.
So, what, you just forgot about that when I asked you? I mean it wasn't a big deal.
But on this night, there was a fire.
Right around the time your watch says you went back to the restaurant.
You sure you didn't start a fire so that you could use your cut of the insurance money to put a down payment on your own place? Never mind.
No further questions, Your Honor.
Man We the jury find the defendant, Greg Valerian, not guilty.
Oh, my Thank you.
You're welcome.
I am really, really happy.
Aren't you really, really happy? Honestly, I'm kind of confused.
You told your boss about our kiss thing? You made an issue out of not getting a kiss that night? Because you thought it meant I must have been out late setting a fire.
No.
Of course not.
I just You just.
I know.
You just can't help yourself.
You are the sum of your experiences, as you love to remind me.
And so many of your experiences have been not great.
Your first experience with me not great.
So I get it.
But I don't know if I can accept it.
I wanted you beside me.
Behind me.
Believing in me.
Never really felt you were there.
Um I don't disagree with anything you said.
I'm not proud of it.
I wanted to be there for you.
But I am who I am.
I can only do what I can do.
And I can only be who I can be.
Please give me time.
Please give me a chance to learn.
What was that? I just wanted to let you know I was home.
Come on.
Let's go to bed.
Captioned by Media Access