The Truth about the Devlins

The police take TJ, John, and Paul to an interview room. While Paul is determined to keep things casual and friendly, making conversation with the officers, John immediately takes an adversarial position that Paul doesn’t understand. John points out that the driver was interviewed at home and asks why TJ was brought to the station. The police bring up TJ’s incarceration, and John asks if that’s why he hasn’t been read his rights or given the same courtesy as the driver. John continues to press the police, saying that they’re “fishing for a parole violation” (164). The police tell them that Barry died en route to the hospital, and John ends the interview. Paul is angry with both TJ and John. They go to Paul and Marie’s house, where Marie is waiting for news. TJ is relieved that at last they will have to tell the truth.

At the house, TJ starts at the beginning, telling Paul, Marie, Gabby, and Martin about John’s discovery of Neil’s embezzlement. John says he doesn’t know what TJ is talking about and claims that TJ is misusing alcohol again. TJ punches John. Gabby suggests they call Stan to find out who is telling the truth. Paul calls Stan, who says he doesn’t know anything about embezzlement. TJ says that he’s lying, but Paul hangs up the phone. He pushes TJ out the door and slams it behind him, after firing him from his job with the firm.

TJ drives home. When he goes inside, Mango is hiding under the couch. TJ shines his phone flashlight under the couch to retrieve her and sees a black wire dangling. He follows it to a small microphone and realizes that his house is bugged. He finds another microphone in his bedroom and goes outside to find a GPS tracker in his car. He leaves them in place, planning to investigate later. He goes back inside to give Mango her shot.

Early the next morning, Gabby texts him, wanting to know what is really going on. John is blaming everything, including the office break-in, on TJ. Gabby doesn’t know who to believe but does think that TJ is drinking again. She tells him that Joe Ferguson has died, and she is going to file the suit quickly. When he reminds her that he’s been fired, she hires him as a consultant. They arrange to meet later that day, when Gabby will meet with the opposing lawyers for the first time. After they hang up, TJ rolls over to get out of bed and realizes that Mango slept on his bed the night before.

As he leaves the house for the day, he asks his neighbors to ask if they have a doorbell camera on their back door. They have a camera in their backyard to film birds, and he asks them to send copies of the video to him.

TJ watches his neighbor’s video and sees Barry breaking into his house. He wonders again whether Barry killed Neil, which leads his thoughts back to the maroon Volvo, and the white Mercedes that Neil was found in. He realizes he only has John’s word that there was a maroon Volvo involved.

TJ finds a newspaper article about Barry’s death and finds no mention of himself or the firm. He realizes that his father has killed the story. He remembers that he never looked at the contents of Neil’s home computer on his thumb drive. He plugs the drive into his laptop and opens Neil’s email first. He finds messages from Neil’s boyfriend, Daniel Rocha, and decides to call him.

TJ drives to Malvern, the small town that Daniel lives in. They meet for lunch, and Daniel tells him that his relationship with Neil had been on and off, but they had been talking about getting back together just before Neil died. He reveals that Neil had depression and seems to believe that Neil died by suicide. TJ casts doubt on that theory and tells Daniel the whole story, from the night of Paul’s birthday to finding the microphones in his house.

Daniel says that although he can’t rule out Neil being involved in embezzlement, he thinks TJ should be looking into Stan. The man has close relationships with many higher-ups in the Philadelphia unions and has an extravagant lifestyle. Daniel thinks Stan is capable of hiring Barry to kill TJ to stop him from asking questions. He also tells TJ that he owns a maroon Volvo.

After showing TJ the car, Daniel explains that he lent it to Neil that night because Neil’s car was in the shop. When Neil picked up the Volvo, he had a bandage on his forehead and told Daniel he had a meeting that night.

When TJ gets home, he sees a black Range Rover in his driveway but doesn’t know which of his family members is visiting.

Marie gets out of the car, and he can tell she’s been crying. She refuses to talk to him until she can smell his breath. He tells her that he is in recovery, and has been, but she doesn’t believe him. She confronts him about hitting John, but when he brings up the violence John subjected him to when they were younger, she cuts him off.

TJ tells Marie the whole story, just as he told Daniel. At the end, she says she believes him—his story makes sense, and she admits that she has noticed a difference in John’s behavior. However, when TJ suggests they go to the police, she says no. She points out that even if John can make a deal, it will destroy the family firm. In addition, if she confronts John, Paul will side with him, and the family will be split. TJ counsels her to “sleep on it” before deciding (191).

TJ goes to Gabby’s meeting with the Holmesburg lawsuit opposing counsel. The lawyers represent several corporations, the City of Philadelphia, and Fournette Laboratories, among others. TJ distributes the complaints and Gabby explains their case. It hinges on the fact that, although the statute of limitations has expired, that expiration doesn’t apply if the plaintiffs couldn’t reasonably be aware of the crime—in this case, the plaintiffs all moved out of the state after their releases and weren’t aware of the media coverage of the revealed controversy. Gabby is hoping that the defendants will want to settle out of court, especially when they realize she is willing to involve the media. While she is explaining all this, TJ sees Maya, who works in the same corporate center, in the parking lot. When Gabby no longer needs him at the meeting, he leaves.

Maya is getting ready to leave work with a few friends when TJ catches up. He explains why he missed their date, and she seems willing to give him another chance. However, when he mentions that he went to Penn State like her, but never graduated, she and her friends leave. TJ goes back to the conference room, but the meeting is over. The defendants didn’t offer to settle, which means they are going to trial. Gabby is discouraged, and he reminds her of a Churchill quote that Paul taught them.

That night, TJ is discouraged by everything that has gone wrong lately. He has been fired from the family firm and is further discouraged to find, upon a quick job search, that without a college degree, he isn’t qualified for many jobs. He even investigates going back to Penn State but realizes he can’t afford it. He decides to go to an AA meeting.

At the meeting, everyone is supportive about TJ’s job loss. He is about to get into the details when an unfamiliar man enters. TJ wonders if, like Barry, the man has come to the meeting to watch him. He confronts the man and tells him to leave. Instead, Jake asks him to leave, explaining that he’s being disruptive.

TJ sits in his car outside one of his former regular bars. His life is at a low point, and he fights the impulse to go inside. In the end, he remembers Emily and drives home.

The next morning, TJ takes his Rolex to a local pawn shop. Because he has only worn it once and has all the paperwork, the man offers him a good price. While they are negotiating, a girl comes out of the back room with a box—their office has flooded. TJ sees jewelry in the box and catches a glimpse of Marie’s coral earrings. He wants to buy them, but the owner says they have to hold them until it is determined that they’re not stolen. TJ knows that pawn shops scan the identification of all sellers and asks to see the identification of the person who brought the earrings in. He and the owner make a deal: If TJ doesn’t haggle about the Rolex price and comes back to buy the earrings, the man will show him the ID.

TJ doesn’t recognize the man, Elliott Thompson, and can tell that the ID is probably fake. He drives to the address anyway, but the resident doesn’t match the photo. He sends the picture to Lillian from Runstan, asking if she recognizes the man. She doesn’t, but says Mike Dedham might, and that he’ll be at Neil’s wake that afternoon.

TJ parks at the funeral home and waits for Mike to arrive. When he does, TJ shows him the picture. Mike thinks the man looks familiar but can’t place him. However, he has photos at his house from the early days of the company and invites TJ to look at them after the wake.

While they are talking, John arrives. He sees TJ and shoves him, telling him to leave. Stan arrives soon after, calling TJ a “drunk,” and Paul is close behind. Stan attacks him, and then another man arrives, asking what’s happening. TJ decides to leave, and he and Mike arrange to meet later. As he’s leaving, he hears John introduce the other man to Paul—he is the lawyer for the company that is acquiring Runstan.

At Mike’s house, TJ and Mike discuss the confrontation. Mike says it was not good for Runstan that the other man, Asit, saw it, because it might plant doubt about the acquisition in Asit’s mind. TJ realizes that while he thought John and Paul were protecting him from Stan when they stopped the fight, it was more likely they were protecting the firm and the acquisition. TJ asks if Mike would be surprised to find out about financial impropriety at Runstan, and Mike says no.

TJ and Mike look through the old pictures and find a man who might be the person on the fake driver’s license. The face is blurry, but Mike identifies him as an old friend of Stan’s, Ryan Martell. When TJ gets home that night, he finds the police waiting for him.

Inside, the police ask him about his parole, and he tells them that he’s been fired from his job. They also ask him about the break-in at the firm, and about Barry’s death. Then they ask him about the confrontation with Stan at Neil’s wake, and whether he’s reported any of the incidents to his parole officer. They ask about his relationship with Neil and his adoption of Mango. Lillian has told them that he was in Neil’s house with her. They are reopening the investigation into Neil’s death and remind him that if he doesn’t tell them something they find out later, he will be in violation of his parole and will return to prison.

While they are talking, TJ’s phone keeps ringing with calls from Marie, but he silences it. The police believe that TJ is the common thread between both Neil and Barry’s deaths, as well as the break-in. When he says it is circumstantial, they tell him that John and Paul have both given statements. When TJ hears that, he ends the interview, and the detectives leave.