The Truth about the Devlins

At home, TJ looks in his refrigerator. In terms of his recovery, this moment challenges him, as he would usually open a beer. He has no beer, of course, so he takes out a yogurt for dinner. As he eats, he glances out the window and sees an unfamiliar car parked on his street. Trying to act normal, he turns off the light and casually leaves the room. He sneaks to the window and takes photos of the car, a black Hyundai. After the car leaves, he downloads the pictures onto his laptop.

The next morning TJ goes to John’s house and parks down the street. He is driving another car, his Toyota RAV4. He knows John is going to go to Stan’s office early to tell him everything and follows John as he leaves in his car. He realizes the black Hyundai is behind him, following John too, and takes down the license plate number. When John pulls into Runstan’s parking lot, both TJ and the Hyundai follow. TJ is watching the Hyundai, hoping the driver will emerge, when someone pounds on his window.

Paul stands next to TJ’s car, holding a box of pastries. He asks why TJ is there, and TJ explains that he is meeting John. Paul is confused because Runstan is his client, not John’s—he is there to help Stan deal with the fallout from Neil’s death. He reminds TJ about when he used to bring him and John to Runstan when they were kids. He says that TJ used to call Stan “Stain,” but when TJ corrects him, Paul brushes the comment aside. Paul is annoyed that John didn’t coordinate the visit with him, but TJ defends John, saying he must’ve forgotten. Paul wonders whether John is trying to steal his client and confesses that he thinks John is trying to force him into retirement.

TJ wants to stay in the parking lot and watch the Hyundai, but he can’t explain that to Paul. His father pulls him inside the building before he can see who is in the car.

Stan and several employees are in the lobby, all shocked over Neil’s death. Although all the Devlins are polite to Stan, there is tension between Paul and John. It sounds to TJ like everyone assumes Neil died by suicide.

TJ sees Mike Dedham, a Runstan employee he remembers from when he was younger. As John and Paul talk with Stan, TJ goes to leave. Mike stops him, saying that some people don’t believe Neil died by suicide.

TJ goes back into Runstan’s offices and finds the bookkeeper, Lillian, who worked closely with Neil. She tells him that Neil was a good person, but also says that he did all the work for the company’s acquisition. To TJ, this fits the pattern of an embezzler trying to keep their crime a secret.

Lillian doesn’t believe that Neil died by suicide—he never would have left his cat Mango alone. TJ remembers the ginger cat, who Lillian says is diabetic, needing shots twice a day. She worries about the cat, and TJ offers to adopt it. They agree to meet at Neil’s house later. After she leaves, TJ investigates Neil’s office.

TJ leaves Runstan and calls his car connection, Patrick, who reminds him about his date that night with Maya. TJ gives him the Hyundai’s license plate number and asks Patrick to find out who owns it.

Back at Devlin & Devlin, Gabby gives TJ a list of plaintiffs for her Holmesburg case and asks him to meet with them. TJ gives John a thumb drive with Neil’s office files and tells him about the black Hyundai. John says he told Stan everything, and as he suspected, Stan wants to keep it quiet because of the acquisition. John also explains his role with Runstan, which is technically Paul’s client: Because he is handling the acquisition, he can charge “a premium tied to the sale price of the company” (103), instead of an hourly rate. He also admits that he set up the acquisition, and his fee will total $1 million. Paul wants half the fee, which John resents. TJ realizes that he doesn’t know anything about the firm’s billing and fee structure.

TJ goes to interview one of Gabby’s plaintiffs, Joe Ferguson. He is dying of cancer and relates the story of his skin patch testing while at Holmesburg, where he was held awaiting trial because he couldn’t afford bail. After his trial, in which he was acquitted, he left the state. Joe has only recently moved back to Pennsylvania and so hasn’t heard about the controversy over the testing. Joe says cynically that the trial won’t work because the rich never pay for their misdeeds.

Joe’s house is near the house that TJ grew up in, before the family firm became such a success. He visits it and thinks back on his childhood. Even then, he’d idolized John, although he and Gabby had somehow always known that they weren’t as important as their older brother. He recalls an incident he forgot, when John threw a firework at him, but was never punished. TJ still has the scar on his hand. As he thinks back, he remembers “fights, bloody noses, swollen eyes, and a broken tooth” that John had dealt him without ever facing consequences (112). Even now, he realizes, he continues to take John’s abuse. He decides that he will continue to investigate Neil’d death, even if it means ruining John’s Runstan deal.

TJ meets Lillian at Neil’s house to adopt Mango, but also to get a look inside. As they search the house for Mango, TJ finds Neil’s home office and downloads his computer files onto a thumb drive. After they find Mango, Lillian instructs him on food and insulin. All the way home in the car, the cat screeches, and it is so distracting that it takes TJ several minutes to realize he’s being followed.

The black Hyundai is following TJ again—he stops at an intersection, gets out of his car, and walks back to the other car. However, when he reaches it, he realizes that the young woman inside is scared of him and can’t be the same person following him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees another black Hyundai pull away quickly. He jogs back to his car and realizes that the car is still running, his phone is inside, and Mango has accidentally locked the doors.

Finally, someone helps him break into his car, and he sees two missed calls from Maya on his phone. He has accidentally stood her up, and when he calls her back, she hangs up on him. Next, he calls Patrick, who is angry about Maya but still gives TJ the name and address of the Hyundai owner, Barry Rigel.

TJ goes home and lets Mango out of the cat carrier. Marie calls and asks him to come to the office—it has been burgled. When he arrives, the police are already there. They tell the Devlins that a similar burglary recently occurred in the office complex. Their computers have all been stolen, and all the offices have been vandalized. Marie is upset that her favorite pair of coral earrings were taken. In front of the police, Paul asks TJ if he knows anyone from prison who might have done this. After they leave, the Devlins split up to start putting their offices back together.

John comes to TJ’s office, saying that they should stop investigating Neil—he thinks the break-in is a warning. TJ wants to continue investigating, as he finally has some leads. He shows John the thumb drive with Neil’s files, but John doesn’t want it. TJ broaches the idea of telling the police, but John says no. He says that if TJ goes to the police, John will say he is lying. TJ is shocked by this, considering that John came to him for help.

Gabby comes in and TJ changes the subject, telling her about Joe Ferguson. She asks him to prioritize the case and visit the rest of the plaintiffs so that she can file the suit as soon as possible. TJ tells John and Gabby that he went to their childhood home, and John calls it a “dump,” but Gabby disagrees. They all leave TJ’s office, with him following behind, and he reflects that that is how it has always been.

TJ helps Marie clean her office. She is upset because her office is the only space in her life that is hers alone. She also tells TJ she has told Paul to apologize to him for exposing his past in front of the police and admits that she is tired of always “cleaning up” after her husband. However, she knows that Paul needs to be held accountable, even if it is something as small as an apology. TJ realizes she’s talking about justice.

TJ arranges Marie’s family photos and finds one of the two of them eating ice cream. She tells him that she purposely spent time with just him, feeling that he needed it. After TJ leaves the office, he is upset and longing for a beer. He calls Jake, his sponsor.

TJ meets Jake at a diner. He feels like his recovery is being threatened—he is making mistakes that trigger the same feelings that led him to misuse alcohol. He talks about John’s betrayal and missing the date with Maya. He feels bad about hurting her, then realizes that before, he would’ve only been thinking about himself. Jake tells him that is progress, and they discuss how TJ can continue to change. Jake points out the positives: He asked Maya out on a date, he adopted a cat, and although things at work are hard, he is facing them. When he was drinking, he was avoiding life, but now he is engaging with it, which is the whole point of his recovery.

The next morning, TJ gives Mango her insulin shot, then meets with the next Holmesburg plaintiff, Tony Bales. Tony tells his story, including the fact that he left Pennsylvania after he was released. TJ also finds out that the government was involved with Kligman as well, experimenting on incarcerated people with mind-altering drugs. After the interview, TJ calls Gabby, and she confirms Tony’s story. However, she warns him that the government has wide legal immunity, and it would be almost impossible to win a suit against them. TJ is angered by the injustice of this.

TJ meets with Gabby’s two other plaintiffs, then stops outside Holmesburg Prison, closed permanently now, on his way home. He realizes that the justice he is helping Gabby seek is the same justice he is trying to help John evade. He feels the urge to drink and finds an AA meeting nearby. However, in the parking lot, he realizes that his urge to drink is rooted in feeling powerless because he is still doing what John tells him to do. Instead of going to the meeting, he drives to Barry Rigel’s house.