Original subtitles

Previously on Charlie Jade.

My name is Charlie Jade. I'm a private investigator.

They told us parallel universes couldn't exist.

We were living a lie.

Things went wrong. An explosion.

I'm a parallel universe.

Who are you, Reed?

As that link becomes permanent, this universe just disappears.

No world, Carl. Not mine.

I just want to get back to mine.

I don't believe Charlie's dead.

I took a job with Zexco. For you.

I'm gonna be going home.

At some point. Sorry.

So just let it happen.

What have you been?

It's a little hard to explain.

What's wrong?

His back.

I thought you were dead.

I couldn't get home.

I've been counting all the times I've been away over the

last few days.

If I knew then what I know now,

would I have been the same man?

I don't know.

Are you watching over me now?

Do you need watching over you now?

You don't need to be brave with me.

I'm just a dream.

I try to tell everybody what's going to happen to your world.

Nobody cares.

Now I don't know what to do.

Is that what's keeping you up?

No.

I've always known how to fight.

So what's really bothering you?

It's different here.

It's different from what I remember.

Is it?

That's a good point.

Same apartment, same girlfriend.

Yes, you forgot to mention her.

No, I didn't forget to mention her. I just... I didn't know how to...

All right, yeah. Yeah, I guess I pretty much forgot to mention her.

You could go back to this, you know.

Open that link, you're going to die.

Would you be happier without us?

You could be the man you were.

The man I was?

No. No.

Why not?

It's kind of hard to explain.

I'm not busy.

I guess I could tell you a story.

I like a good story.

Yeah? Mm -hmm.

I could tell you a story about Tara Threnody.

Who's Tara Threnody?

Nobody special.

Nobody special at all.

It's really... A story about our values.

Mr. K.

It's all about the plan.

Well, isn't it?

About being in control.

Knowing what the hell you're doing before you do it.

Isn't that right?

It's funny.

You think you're so smart.

You got it all figured out.

And then the cat knocks the bowl of milk right across the floor.

And whammo.

You're screwed.

Life must go on.

If you're lucky enough to still be alive, that is.

Right, Dad?

He needs to find missing people for a living.

Funny job in a city where no one's supposed to go missing.

You wouldn't have a...

Don't

you want one?

I'm dying for one.

You're quitting?

Yeah, something like that.

I've thought of quitting.

My husband seems to think it's just a matter of deciding to.

Then again, he doesn't really see the point of smirking.

Mrs. Threnody, my time is very expensive.

Yes.

I haven't seen him in three days.

Threnody, right?

How do you spell that?

I hate that picture of him. Makes him look fat.

Well, I'm not sure Nanny traced your husband's chip on the act of escape.

Yes, but surely, I mean, if he were dead,

he'd still show up, wouldn't he?

That all depends on how much of him's left.

Is there any reason why your husband would want to disappear?

Take himself off the grid?

No one's supposed to be able to disappear.

They're watching you.

Always. Wherever you go.

You too?

Well, I was a freelancer.

I checked myself out of the system. I was invisible.

Well, almost.

There's a dozen ways to take yourself offline.

Most of them are pretty sketchy.

Even the ones I took were kind of risky.

I was wondering which one applied to Mr. Threnody.

Why would he want to disappear?

We love each other. We're trying for a child.

Yeah, but I don't hear you telling me that he wouldn't know how to disappear.

My husband is a brilliant engineer, Mr. Jade.

Every major corporation wanted him.

He chose Havocor, thankfully.

And that's where you two met.

Will you find my husband?

Yeah, I can find him.

It's what I do.

But just so we're clear, whether he's alive or dead, I get paid.

Burno, right?

How do you spell that?

When's the last time you got him, Mona? A few days ago. I went down to the river

bar, alone.

That's weird.

It's the kind of place the maintenance guys take their day.

I mean, so I hear.

But techies like your guys, not so much. Who do you meet with?

Don't know. The kind of place where their ecto skin is always real spotty.

they got a jammer?

Mm -hmm.

Hey, Charlie, sometimes... so useful.

How come you don't hire me full time?

I'm smart and good. I need a paycheck.

Yeah, but you can't tell me who you met with. I just told you they've got a

jammer. Well, it's all about the quality of the intel, Mona.

250.

200.

Fine.

It's a great thing about you, Charlie.

You're always big with the encouragement.

The river bar.

A total dive.

If I wasn't getting paid, I never would have gone in there.

Looks like business is booming.

I'm trying to make a call. I can't get a signal.

Get a new unit. This one works fine everywhere else.

Ring any bells?

You a cop?

Nope. Just doing a favor for someone.

Maybe I'll do a favor for you too.

Maybe I don't report that jammer that's dashed behind your bar.

It's a nasty habit.

Maybe you ought to quit.

Have you seen my friend?

Where?

221B.

My God, you were nasty.

I don't think I would have liked you very much.

Well, in those days, that's how I got things done.

I didn't care how I found them. I just found them.

My guess is that Mrs. Threnody is now the widow of Threnody.

Did you call the police?

What for?

I took his ID so I could prove I'd done my job.

And I took his cigarette.

That's a little cold.

Yeah. Well, at the time...

I figured he wasn't going to need them.

Called Tara. I told her to credit my account.

Didn't it bother you that her husband was dead?

She hired me to find him.

I found him.

As far as I was concerned, my job was done.

That was my life.

I didn't need anybody. I didn't need anything.

It wasn't half bad.

Sure. That's what I look for in life.

Well, regardless, I wasn't done.

Still drinking your milk straight up?

Not happy to see me, darling.

My, how I missed you.

Nice to be missed.

What do you want?

I already came at the office.

To straighten you out, boy, to remind you. I don't have all day.

The sun sets in Alphaverse.

Yeah, absolutely you don't have all day.

This is the last moment.

Then you can squeal all you like.

This is happening.

I'm doing my part.

Absolutely you are.

Then why are you reaching out? The word is that you actually believe you can win

this.

She's beautiful.

Yeah, she is.

I keep having this.

Strange dream.

I'm in this valley and there's this tree.

It's dead.

It's dying.

And I run to this well.

I get a bucket. I fill it. And I'm running back.

And as I get to the tree, I trip over one of its roots. I fall.

The bucket goes flying.

And I hit my head.

Strange. Did you say you were running?

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe you shouldn't run.

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't run.

So we're through, Nody. I figured I was done, right? I mean, I found him. He's

dead. I got paid. No big deal, right?

Turns out it was a big deal to somebody.

We don't like interference in our business.

Leave Angus Trenody alone.

Why, what happened?

You break your heart?

I won't return your calls anymore.

You think you're clever?

You don't even know what this is about.

Why don't you tell me what this is about?

You haven't done your due diligence, my friend.

Lovely. Vex 'gor.

What the hell were two VexCorp security types doing rolling me?

I mean, I didn't know anything.

Right?

Lady, I don't know why you're here.

I found him.

You paid me.

We're done.

I want to know who killed him.

I want to know why.

I need to know why.

No, you don't. He's dead.

Happens all the time.

Move on.

I can pay.

Someone got to you, didn't they?

Nobody got to me.

Listen, I find people.

I don't get involved in why.

Especially when Y is something big corporations are interested in. Which

corporation?

The biggest.

I thought you were better than that, Mr. Jade.

Better.

Yeah. They said you were independent.

That you weren't scared of the system.

I say a lot of things.

If you let big corporations tell you what to do, Mr. Jade, you're working for

them. You're just not getting the benefit packages.

What did Jasmine have to do with Vexcor?

I don't know.

We only worked for Havocor.

He was developing something. He wouldn't tell me what it was.

But he was very proud.

He said it would change the way we lived.

Well, I've escorted him to kill him.

I don't even know he's dead yet.

The passkey I found on him.

Can it get me into his computer?

I'm not sure.

It's a different division.

So I find myself getting dragged into this lady's little drama.

And meanwhile...

the slow yet predictable wheels of the justice system were churning away.

And what I didn't know,

It's all of a sudden I go from a man under the radar to a man in the

The guy comes running down here all agitated.

I go up still.

Did you get a name?

And it's only you here?

That's right.

You know, the Actiskin has been down for 63 of the past 64 days.

This goddamn sector.

Nothing ever works right.

Oddly enough, it came back online just before you called us.

So, did you pick him up when the exoskeleton came back on? A ghost.

Untraceable identity chip.

I knew I didn't like the guy.

Something about his eyes.

Uh -huh.

So, why am I breaking into Threnody's office?

Why did I let her talk me into getting more involved?

I'm sure it was for the money.

Must have been it.

To make more money.

I mean, that is how I made my living in those days.

Hardly any ego involved, right?

Right.

Havocor headquarters.

Nice family business.

The problem was finding where the late Mr. Threnody's computer was wired in.

I noticed the people who do the least have the most toys.

I searched his computer.

I threw anything to help me figure out what happened to him.

I wasn't surprised.

He'd been swept.

Not a thing of value on it.

Whoever killed him had been here before me.

Unless he had some kind of data hiding place that I wasn't seeing.

They're through notice during happier times.

Nice loving couple.

Why do they remind you of someone you know?

I should have been asking myself why those messages were still there.

Why they hadn't been erased along with everything else.

Change your mind and you want to hire me permanent, right?

Mona, Elgin and Stewart.

The divorce law is.

The really high -priced divorce law is.

Never mind.

I have some free information, buddy.

Surprise, surprise.

Lion -ass bitch.

So she was divorcing her husband, then he wound up dead.

How long did it take you to realize you've been fed up?

You're good.

Ever wonder about your name, my one? It's a binary code.

Off and on, on and off.

The fabric and the nature of what's behind this. It's a switch.

You're the switch, not the light.

Stop the car. Stop the car.

So, Tara Ternody hires me to be there when her husband dies, and then she

convinces me to break into his computer.

Hardly enough to convict you, is it?

I knew there'd be more.

Obviously, the mistake I was making was underestimating Mrs. Ternody.

It turns out she was very resourceful.

Mr. Jade, any news?

I got to his computer.

It looks like all his files were deleted.

Deleted? Oh, no.

I did find something.

He had invisible files.

A whole hidden subfolder. Really?

Well, that's wonderful news.

When can I see you?

Meet me at the waterfront in two hours.

You wanted her to think there was something she hadn't accounted for.

Yeah. I thought it might buy me some time so I could try and figure out what

was up to.

I decided to find her office and see what I could discover there.

You were catching on.

Catching on.

I was getting worried I had let myself get drawn into something.

Something that I never would have if I had been paying better attention to the

details.

You were concerned.

Okay, yeah. A little angry, too.

I went through her computer.

The hard copies of her files.

Found nothing.

And then I found a key to my apartment.

And at that point you went from being just a little concerned, I suspect,

To very concerned.

Detective.

Second date?

Going steady?

Who you looking for?

Nobody you know.

You're telling me you're on your own.

It's kind of hard for a guy like you to believe, right?

You got a job for life, steady paycheck.

All you gotta do is kiss your boss' ass and do whatever he tells you to do.

Nice life.

You look flat now.

You couldn't afford me.

Trinity's little invention.

We're interested.

I missed his appointment.

I wouldn't know anything about that.

A couple corporate jerk -offs told me to keep my distance. I do what I'm told.

Did you lose the package?

You lost the package.

You got 24 hours to track it down.

I don't have to notice stuff.

That's your problem.

Don't let it become my problem.

So, Tara's divorcing her husband.

Then she discovers he's got some miracle technology, the competition at Vexco

once.

But why would she kill him before she got it?

She already found his files.

She had them before she even called you. Yeah.

She knew his computer was already empty.

All she needed you for was someone to pin the murder on.

If only I'd known.

She takes the new technology and she claims it as her own.

And you go to jail.

Or whatever it is they do to murderers where you come from.

Involuntary organ donation.

Suddenly, I'm not thirsty.

Do you often find yourself being accused of murder?

And worse.

You kept the job interesting.

There was more.

So I found out when I got home that night.

The River Barman.

The very one.

Now that took some nerve.

Yeah, it did.

And now I had another problem.

starting to appreciate Mrs. Cernody's black widow skills.

But I had no time.

I needed to get that body out of there before... before what I expected

to happen, happened.

You're a difficult man to find.

It's about what's written on the wall.

No one may buy or sell without the mark.

This restores the balance.

This is not fair.

Did your mama not tell you?

No.

Confession?

Now I thought I'd have more time.

You really think if I was going to kill a guy, I'd do it in my own apartment?

How stupid do you think I am?

The police don't have many resources, Mr. Jade.

Generally, we depend on stupidity. Yeah, and generally, how does that work out

for you?

Pretty well. Although this time, we have a lot more.

Someone matching your description to cover the dead man in the river bar?

That doesn't prove that I killed anybody.

Allow me to be more precise.

Maybe I don't report that jammer stash behind your bar.

Once the Ectoskin came back online, Angus Trenody's vital signs indicated

he was still alive.

You were in the room with him when he died. You took his path key, stole his

files and deleted them. Then you ransacked our Trenody's office.

I told you she hired me to find him.

That's not what she said.

That's him.

He was following my husband.

He was trying to force Angus to sell him his new technology.

Then why'd she come to my apartment before any of this happened? I'll tell

why. She came to hire me to find her husband.

Unfortunately, we cannot confirm whether she did or not.

Your office is close to a large generator.

Almost no Ectoskin coverage there.

I mean, you would know that, wouldn't you?

The Ectoskin protects us, Mr. Jade.

If we allow it to.

You operate outside of the system, we cannot trace your movements. We cannot

prove your innocence.

That's why she hired me.

No thanks, I quit.

What if I could prove to you that her husband had discovered a new advanced

technology?

Well, if you could prove that she was even divorcing her husband, you might

something.

Take me back to his office.

Give me a shot.

I'm a busy man.

Don't you want to know which one of us is telling the truth?

He was a rare cop.

He wanted to know the truth when all they really needed was a conviction.

He just let you walk back into Trenody's office?

What was I going to do, run away?

They're always watching.

Son of a bitch.

Anyway, Sosa was an unusual cop.

When he sniffed the possibility of unregistered technology and the

of Vexcor,

His curiosity got the better of him.

I'm sorry, Mr. J, but I really haven't any more time for this.

You've got nothing.

It was right here.

The slate was right here, and now it's gone. She took it.

She beat me here.

He doesn't have an ashtray.

So what?

My husband seems to think it's a matter of deciding to.

And again, he doesn't really see the point of smirking.

This is what Vexco was after.

What the hell is that?

I have no idea.

It's not technology I've ever seen.

Whatever it is, it's worth killing for.

It's a rapper that angers through nobody's cigarettes.

Guy doesn't smoke.

He had his design in the wrapper.

So I should kill them?

No, I still had the, uh, dead barman in my apartment to explain.

I just needed to prove to So -So that I had an alibi.

It says the two of you were having a conversation last night. He vouches for

you. Yeah, we had a conversation.

Yeah, we were conversing about some merchandise Vexcor was interested in

acquiring. We were attempting to come to terms.

You never did know what this was about, did you?

It's between us and Havocor.

I hope you get the guy who did that.

Don't worry, I will.

You can go, yeah?

wouldn't tell me either.

Assholes like that, they give assholes a bad name.

Yeah, well, the world's full of them.

And it'd be a better place without them.

So we're done, right?

Well, there won't be a prosecution if that's what you mean.

Of course, Tara Threnody won't be prosecuted either.

What do you mean?

Well, whatever was on that foil, she's going to get a promotion in the corner

office, so I hear.

Because if either one of us goes on trial for murder,

the design becomes evidence.

And all evidence belongs in the public domain.

If there's no trial, they get to keep their invention secret.

Nice.

So I wouldn't want to be a cop.

I get to do my job.

You only get to do your job when it doesn't matter to anybody.

Well, I can always try.

Oh, just one more thing.

That illegal identity chip you're using, I envy you.

It will be our secret, but I'm keeping this for my files.

So that's it?

She got away with it.

Yep.

She's run her own division, last I heard.

That's a horrible story.

I know it's an awful world you live in.

It's true, but... That's not why I told you the story.

It's not?

No, it's nothing special.

I could tell you a dozen more just like it.

Then, why?

Because it didn't bother me.

Not at all.

You know, it was just another day at the office.

Hell of an office.

You're a cop.

You get a hundred homicide cases on your desk every week. And they outrage me.

I do my best to bring their murders to justice.

That's not how I went.

Didn't bother me.

How about now?

What bothers me, what bothers me is that it never bothered me before.

Darth really got away with murder.

And I was just glad they weren't gonna carve me up in a spare part.

I forgot what I was like back here.

But you're not that man anymore.

If you were... I wouldn't be here.

I don't know what to do.

About what?

About saving you.

Maybe he would have... You know what he'd be doing right now?

What?

He'd be sleeping like a baby.

With her.

Yeah, you're right.

I'm often right. You should listen to me.

Really? Yes.

I still don't know what to do, though.

I thought it was important.

To know what to do.

Charlie?

You're up already.

Morning.

Are you alright?

Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay.

Come back to bed.

For a moment I thought I smelled cigarettes.

It's gone now.

Is that what's important?

To know what to do?

Bob, your rat leg is very special.