Stacey Ehrmantraut quotes from Better Call Saul

Mike

You call the cops?

Stacey

What?

Mike

Philadelphia PD. Did you call them?

Stacey

Y-yeah, I did.

Mike

Why?

Stacey

I told them I heard about Hoffman and Fensky-

Mike

And what?

Stacey

You don't think it's strange? First Matt, then not six months later, his partner and his sergeant? Yeah, I called them to help catch Matty's killer. Mike, what if the same person-? If—what if the piece of shit who got Matty got them too?

Mike

And what exactly did you tell them?

Stacey

I told them-

Mike

You told them Matt was dirty? Is that what you told them?

Stacey

I-

Mike

How could you possibly think that? That's your husband, the father of your child–

Stacey

I didn't say that. I-I told them I found money. After Kaylee and I moved here, when I was unpacking—it was in the lining of an old suitcase. Matt must've tucked it away in there, because this was cash. Five, six thousand, from God knows where! I mean, we were basically living paycheck to paycheck. Where the hell did he get it?

Mike

Why didn't you ask me? Why didn't you come to me?

Stacey

I couldn't. I knew what it would do to you. First he's murdered, and then for you to think... I mean, it would burn you to the ground, there'd be nothing left. And you wouldn't talk to me! Every night, you were drinking yourself unconscious like you were the only one who lost him. Look, I don't care: he was dirty, he was clean, I don't care. All I want is for whoever killed Matty to rot in a cell for the rest of their life, and then I want whatever's left of them just dumped in the trash. That's what I want. I don't care where it leads, what it uncovers. I mean, what difference would it make if he was... anything? I'd still love him, I'd still miss him, he'd still be gone!

Mike

Matt wasn't dirty!

Stacey

Well, so be straight with me. Right now! This is it, Mike! What was that phone call before he died? Don't bullshit me!

Mike

That was between me and my son.

Stacey

So, you're admitting it was you!

Mike

He wasn't dirty! Goddamn you, you get that through your head! My son wasn't dirty!

Mike

You let some things slide and you look the other way. You bust a drug dealer that has more cash than you'll ever earn in a lifetime. Some of it doesn't make it back into evidence, so what? You took a taste. So did everyone else. That's how you knew you were safe. It's like killing Caesar. Everyone's guilty. Matt wasn't dirty. I was. Everyone was in that precinct. That's how it worked. You turn in your buddy, you're screwing yourself. You go along to get along.

Stacey

And you went along.

Mike

[chuckles; clicks tongue] I did. Yeah. I did.

Stacey

Okay. But you said Matt didn't.

Mike

No. Not Matt. Fensky got to Hoffman early, kickbacks from some gang or another. Protection, basically. And Hoffman went to Matty and offered to cut him in. Only fair, right? They were partners. And Matt did what you would think: He agonized. And then he came to me, wanted to go to the I.A., do the right thing, shut 'em down.

Stacey

Oh, my God. And you let him? That's why he got killed 'cause he was gonna turn on those guys?

Mike

No. No. I told him...[sighs] "You know what a cop fears most? More than getting shot, more than anything? Prison. Getting locked up with everybody you put away. You threaten a cop with that, you make him dangerous." And that's what I told him. I talked sense. No one was getting hurt. "But if you go to the I.A., if you even look like you're going...?" He had a wife, a kid, responsibilities. "Take the money. Do something good with it." [chuckles] Well, I tried. I tried. But he wouldn't listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. So I told him...I told him I did it, too, that I was like Hoffman, getting by, and that's what you heard that night: Me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy. He went to Hoffman, he took the money, but he hesitated. Even looking like you're doing the right thing to those two meant that he wasn't solid – that he couldn't be trusted. I got Matty to take the money. And they killed him two days later. He was the strongest person that I ever knew. He'd have never done it, not even to save himself. I was the only one, I was the only one that could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothing. I made him lesser. I made him like me. And the bastards killed him anyway.

Stacey

Hoffman and Fensky, if they killed Matty... who killed them? Pop... What happened?

Mike

You know what happened. The question is... Can you live with it?

I keep trying to get there, you know, to live in the here and now. I know that's what Judy would have wanted, but it's... hard. This guy at work, I've been avoiding him for the past two weeks, ever since he got back from his vacation to Australia. [pause] She always wanted to go to Sydney, but money was tight. Finally, we were gonna go, for our 25th... and that's when she got her test results.

Mike

Oh, God...

Mike? You have something you want to add?

Mike

You don't wanna hear what I have to say.

Well, we're ready if you are.

Mike

Yeah? This guy was never married.

...What are you talking about?

Mike, now, you know the rules-

Mike

Yeah, I know your rules. He's been coming in here for months, selling you a bill of goods, getting you all misty-eyed and loving every minute of it-

Stacey

[nudges Mike] Pop.

Mike

[to Stacey] Stop.

That's just not true.

Mike

Yeah? Okay, so I'll go to the public library, and I'll get the papers from 1997 and I'll run a search on Judy DeVore, beloved wife of Henry DeVore. Tell me I'll find her obituary. She wanted to go to Australia? Well, last month it was Cuba. Come on, Henry. Let's look at the papers, see if the math works–

Come on. Mike.

Mike

She's not there, is she? Go on...say it. You have no shame.

Mike

...Well. He came to the right place, didn't he? He knew you wouldn't notice, and you didn't. All wrapped up in your sad little stories, feeding off each other's misery. [beat] You wanted me to talk. I talked.