Previously on Burden of Truth.
- You're my lawyer? - You and all the other girls.
The firm can't take on an imaginary lawsuit
- just to indulge your whims. - It's not a whim.
This could be toxic exposure.
Foaming at the mouth, disoriented, tremors.
A bunch of cows at Southvale died the same way.
The field was a part of the farm.
- EVERYBODY OFF THE FIELD! - GET OFF THE FIELD!
A soil sample came back
positive for 16 chemical compounds.
Twitching girls, dead cows,
poison in the fields? You're not making any sense.
You said this case was unwinnable, that you'd have to
- be stupid or crazy to take it. - I was wrong.
Think about what you're throwing away and for what?
You need to leave.
Mom?
Have you seen my hoodie? I need it for school tomorrow.
Hey, Uncle Billy.
Hey, kiddo. I have Joanna here with me.
Oh, so this is a business call.
Molly, in order to file a class-action suit,
we need to pick one of you to be the named plaintiff.
Ask Taylor.
She was the first one who got this thing.
Taylor's family has money.
If we don't win, the Mathesons can still afford to pay
for her treatment.
You are a star athlete
from a single-income family.
You need someone with more to lose.
- Pretty much. - So you wanna make me a sob story?
- No, it's not that simple. - Actually, it kind of is.
We need a sympathetic face,
someone with a story the jury can understand.
I don't want people thinking that I'm sick
or that I can't play.
You don't have to decide right now.
But we need to know within the next 24 hours.
Molly, this is the best chance
that you and the girls have of winning this case.
Uncle Billy, what do you think I should do?
It has to be your decision.
But Joanna's right.
You're our best candidate.
God, I hate this town.
synced & corrected by PopcornAWH www.addic7ed.com
There we go.
That's not going anywhere.
Great.
I almost had a heart attack when she fell last night.
I just lost my balance. I'm fine.
You pulled the shower curtain down.
- You screamed. - No. You screamed.
She was louder than me.
Maybe just stick to baths from now on.
Aren't you worried I would drown?
If you need to shower, just call me
and I'll come in, OK?
- Ew! - Hey, you know,
for another cup of coffee,
I will put that railing
on the stairs before I go to work.
- She's overreacting. - Maybe.
Right now, the most important thing is to keep you safe.
Well, it makes me feel worse
when people treat me like I'm made of glass.
It makes her feel better to help.
- It makes her feel less helpless. - Trust me,
no one gets helpless more than me.
I know.
I wish I was doing more than putting in a safety railing.
Do you still think it's the field?
We're having a tough time proving it.
Hey!
It doesn't mean we're giving up.
Could I get a coffee?
- You're late. - Good morning.
I went out on reconnaissance this morning.
OK...
Steel mill.
Yeah, that's the tailings pond. It's lined, inspected.
I found a couple of storage containers
- at the tire factory. - Thank you.
One of them looked cracked but I couldn't tell if it
was leaking, I was on the other side of the security fence.
You took all of these this morning?
The steel mill, the screw cutting factory,
the tire factory and the old hospital here.
Well, they tore down the hospital years ago.
I think there's a recycling plant there now.
It could've left a legacy underground.
Each of these places would've used
a substantial amount of benzene,
and not just benzene:
Ammonia, chlorine, methyl, mercury,
ethylene trichloride, calcium hypochlorite.
They all have clean safety records.
We checked into them.
We are not wrong about the field.
Billy, if we're not onto something,
then why is someone following me?
- Someone's following you? - Yes.
A black truck-SUV thing.
I've seen it in multiple places.
Why don't you let me take the lead a couple of days?
Just... take some time, relax.
This is how I relax.
We have to show that the toxin
leaked into the groundwater at one of these places
and turned up at the school.
At CTS, we used to hire a hydrologist
to do the groundwater testing.
We don't have any money.
We're so busy on this case, I can't take on
any other work. We can't afford a hydrologist.
- Hello, Joanna. - Howard.
I'm so happy that you could make it.
Billy, this is Dr. Howard Davies,
he's our hydrologist.
Always available for CTS. I reviewed the material you sent.
- Great! Let's get started. - Yup.
But you felt OK enough to come to school today?
I didn't even fall. It was just...
one little tick and then I was fine for the rest of the night.
OK.
Miss Evans wanted me to go to this
group therapy thing this morning.
What thing?
She thinks that all the girls who are sick
need to get together and...
feel their feelings or... whatever.
- Well, that sounds OK. - Does it?
Because I don't want my whole life to be about this
and I definitely don't wanna go to meetings about it.
Maybe it'd be good for you to talk
about what you're going through.
I mean, babe, it's only your first day back.
You don't always have to pretend...
I'm not pretending anything!
Look, it'll be a good day, OK?
I'll go to class. I'll see my friends.
I'll hate algebra. Just... just a day like any other, OK?
OK.
Bye.
OK... I know some of you
have been dealing with this longer than others,
and that's why I thought it made sense
to bring you guys together.
You can talk freely about your experiences.
You can share coping strategies,
all in a safe and supportive space.
Georgia, did you get a new bracelet?
My dad got it for me.
It's actually like, um... a panic button.
It kind of looks like a Fitbit.
I almost fell coming down the stairs last week, so...
now my dad freaks out if I leave the house without it.
It's like one of those ankle monitors they use for prisoners.
Why do you say that, Taylor?
I don't know.
Isn't that what this whole thing is like, being trapped?
Trapped how?
Nobody can tell us what caused this.
Nobody knows how to make us better.
We're just freaks now.
I heard the vaccine lawyer
thinks it's some kind of pollution in the athletic field.
My mom says it's screen time.
She said it scrambled my brain.
Parents blame everything on screen time.
Maybe... We all have phones, right?
Five billion people have phones
and we're the only ones who are sick?
That makes sense.
My dad just keeps asking me if I'm on drugs.
- You didn't cause this. - No one knows what caused this.
Maybe we did do it to ourselves.
- I'm not on drugs. - That's what you tell your dad.
That's what you tell us.
I know that you're scared...
and upset...
and you can talk about it here all you want...
but you should remember something.
Despite everything that's going on,
you have each other,
and that is what's gonna get you through this.
Try not to forget that, OK?
You told him you're working for CTS?
- I do work for CTS. - Not on this case.
Minor technicality.
He is gonna bill us like we're them.
Billy, we have to win this.
In order to win this, we have to do it right!
And how do we pay him if we don't make a case?
I took out a loan on my condo.
So any one of these industries
is a potential source of the benzene.
Judging by geography alone, my gut tells me that
that is your polluter.
That's where the old hospital was.
- Why do you say that? - Because it's closest
to the field and groundwater moves very slowly.
And how can you be sure where the toxin is coming from?
You follow the "yellow sludge road."
Sorry?
That's a little hydrology joke.
Sorry. We dig a series of wells
from the suspected sites towards the field.
This helps us chart the direction the groundwater is flowing in.
If the toxin is present and the groundwater
is flowing in the right direction,
then we have our polluter.
- You're back? - Hi, Miss Evans.
Yeah, first day.
- Feeling better? - Yeah, totally.
Good as new.
Maybe you didn't hear. I've started a group...
I know... I... couldn't make it.
- Next time. - Yeah.
Maybe.
How many sports have you played at this school?
Um...
soccer, basketball,
hockey, tennis, volleyball.
- Pretty amazing. - Yeah. I even ran
the steeple chase one year when nobody else would sign up.
And, uh...
you were the captain of most of those teams.
Talking to the other girls today,
it struck me that they could use a little team spirit.
Maybe... someone who's a natural leader.
Have you been talking to Joanna?
No. Why?
She keeps asking me to be the leader of the lawsuit.
"The named plaintiff."
So you would stand in
for all the other girls, legally speaking.
Makes sense.
Joanna needs someone who likes to win as much as she does.
Hey, Ross!
- You playing or what? - I am.
Later, Miss Evans.
I'm really sorry. I don't have your permits.
You told me this would be no problem.
Normally. I had the permits all ready to go,
but... the mayor found out.
Why would the mayor have a problem
with us digging on municipal land?
You'd have to ask her.
OK. When can she meet us?
I'll check.
Mayor Shepherd! Allison.
- Can we talk to you? - Make an appointment.
I'm Joanna Hanley.
- Yes, I know who you are. - We requested
an expedited permit to drill exploratory wells.
Well, I'm afraid Kevin has overstepped his authority.
We need to determine the source
of the pollutants in the girls' field.
Permits will be processed in due time.
Why is your firm so interested in Millwood?
I'm here on my own.
Look, we just need to drill. It'll be quick and easy.
I'll put your requests at the top of the pile
and I'll have an answer for you in a few days.
You do know a criminal negligence charge could result
in a prison sentence of up to seven years?
Excuse me?
Beasley, Illinois mean anything to you?
Mayor charged with involuntary manslaughter.
That town had a contaminated water supply.
People died. City officials looked the other way.
You can't possibly be comparing...
Even when they knew there was a life-threatening problem,
they did nothing.
You may drill one well for each source of pollutants.
Four wells?
That's not nearly enough.
It'll do for now. Thank you.
Careful, Billy. You know word travels fast in this town.
Can't have people getting upset.
You get to act like that,
but I'm the one that has to live here.
- We need to drill. - She's just worried about her town.
These factories employ people. They pay taxes.
One of them shuts down, Millwood might not survive.
Hey, guys.
- Can I talk to you? - Why aren't you in school?
Free period.
That's the car. That's the one that's been following me.
Hey! HEY!
I told you. It's been following me all morning.
- This looks like an E. Or a 4. - Maybe a 7?
Why would someone be following you?
Well, it could be whoever's responsible for poisoning the field.
People must know that we're looking into it.
Howard's waiting for you,
whoever that is.
Meter's running. Gotta go.
I sent the photo to my phone.
I've got a guy I can talk to.
I'm sorry. You've "got a guy"?
That's what I just said.
Consider it my job application.
- Excuse me? - I need to be doing something
to help Molly. I get straight As. I am a hard worker,
and I know all the people you need to know in this town.
OK. We'll consider it a trial run.
All right...
but I'll need to get paid.
I've got expenses.
Fine.
Nice reflexes, Ross... now that we're off the court.
OK, like you could even keep up!
- Whoa! - I'm sorry, Erin.
It's OK. It's fine.
- Oh, she's spazzing! - OK, calm down.
Are you kidding? We could catch it!
It's not con... it's not contagious.
Says you.
They don't know that for sure though, do they?
Here.
- OK. - Screw-cutting factory
is a couple of clicks away,
but we're still on municipal land.
What kind of results are we gonna get, drilling four wells?
Uh, we have to get as close to the sites as possible,
but even then, it's not entirely conclusive. Maybe enough
to confirm my hypothesis about the hospital site.
- Can you plug that in please? - Yeah.
If it's the hospital, then we can go after the government.
I don't know about that.
It was a private institution.
I remember they got sued for cutting corners, had to shut down.
Well, in that case,
we need it not to be the hospital.
I thought what we needed was to get at the truth.
I'm just saying, if we don't get the results we want,
we can get permission to drill more wells.
The results we want?
Is that the kind of thing this guy does for your firm?
You know what I mean.
No, not sure I do.
We can't file suit against a defendant who's already bankrupt.
We would know the source,
and that would lead us closer to a cure.
I'd call that a win.
You installed a safety rail at Molly's today.
What'd that cost you? 20, 30 dollars?
What if next month it's physio or a wheelchair ramp?
What if these girls need round-the-clock nursing care?
- That all costs money. - OK, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
What if they never are able to work?
Who's gonna repay them for a lifetime of lost wages?
If someone took Molly's future and she gets nothing,
I don't call that a win.
- Uh, guys? Juice? - Yeah.
We need to give Ben Matheson a heads up
that we're gonna drill at the steel mill next.
- What are you doing? - I need a favour.
Come on, it's not like you're working.
Let me in.
OK.
I need to find out who's driving...
this truck.
What are you up to?
I'm trying to land a job...
with Billy Crawford and the city lawyer.
Your mom know?
How is she?
- Same old everyday hurricane. - Yeah.
I kind of miss that.
Sometimes.
Hey, do you remember when you
used to let me sound the siren?
Oh, I don't recall that I "let" you.
Yeah, well...
There can't be that many of these in Millwood.
I was hoping that you could
wave your magic police wand and get me some names.
It's important.
Please?
Ben, the mill is just one of four places
we've been permitted to drill.
At this point, it's a process of elimination.
How do you come here and say something like that to my face?
No one is accusing you of anything.
That's not what it feels like, Billy.
I have a spotless record.
I follow every safety regulation.
I know, so help us prove it.
You want me to trust the lawyer who conned my 18-year-old kid
into signing away her rights? Great.
You know, you were at Taylor's christening, remember that?
She made a mistake.
- She's working for us now. - "Us"?
Who's "us"? Me and Taylor?
Millwood? This mill was on life support.
The town was dead.
My family brought it back to life, Billy.
Me and my dad.
I know how much Millwood means to you, Ben.
Look, I get why you're insulted.
That's not why I'm insulted, Billy!
My daughter is sick.
- I know. - No, you do not know!
You don't know what it's like
to watch everyone you grew up with
starting families and you can't.
We tried everything.
Taylor was our miracle.
She's all we have.
That's why we need to find out what is making her sick...
and stop it.
Drill.
Repeat after me:
- This is not to become a pattern. - I promise.
- I promise! - OK.
You've got three SUV owners there.
Kay Hansen, mother of two, works at The Boot.
I know her, nice lady.
An elementary school teacher, Robert Jones,
and another gentleman I'm familiar with,
Pat Collins. Works at McMahon Rubber.
The tire factory?
What are you doing with this information exactly?
I already told you.
So you won't be approaching these people?
No.
Collins has a domestic assault charge on his record.
Bit of a hothead.
Don't go anywhere near him.
I promise you.
They're really gonna appreciate this.
I owe you one.
Yeah, you can buy me a beer when you're old enough.
You know...
I miss having you around.
It's hard to believe anyone ever thought
this was a good place for a hospital.
I can kind of see it.
It's isolated. It might have been peaceful.
Howard, how's the sample coming along?
Almost got it.
You know, there was a couple of months there,
last year of high school, back before
they tore down the old building,
it was a perfect place to come drinking.
You used to get drunk in an abandoned hospital?
Oh, yeah! It's Millwood!
We had some awesome wheelchair races.
On the drive here, I kept thinking
I've been out this way before.
You would've left before
the great wheelchair races commenced.
I think that I visited my mom in this hospital.
She had pneumonia.
She was only here for a month, I think.
Yeah, I remember. It was...
this beautiful old building, right?
I thought she was living in a castle.
How old were you?
I don't know, like 11?
What?
This was a psychiatric hospital.
OK! Got it!
Three down, one to go.
- You OK? - Yeah.
All right. You ready to hit the tire factory?
You go ahead. I'm gonna go take care of something first.
It doesn't get old, being super jock?
I wish I had the chance to find out.
I just wanted to have a normal day.
I don't think we get those anymore.
We're the freaks now.
The twitching girls of Millwood.
Come on.
- Hi, Owen. - Diane.
That... is a lot of pies.
- Six! - Staff meeting.
The teachers listen better when you bribe them with food.
Yeah. We do the same thing
when we're interrogating suspects.
I will remember that
if you ever have to arrest me.
Well, last week, you were going... 52 in a 40 zone.
Oh, you're serious.
- I'll let it slide. - Thank you.
I'm always running late.
Like... now.
Um...
It was nice to see you, Owen.
Right.
Uh... hey, can I ask you
about one of your kids at school?
Depends on what you want to know.
There are confidentiality issues.
Of course. It's Luna Spence.
- Is she in any trouble? - No, just... um...
How is she doing?
School-wise?
Smart, hardworking, self-motivated.
She's one of those kids where you run out of superlatives.
I, you know...
I used to... date her mom for a few years,
when Luna was a kid. Um...
And you just wanna make sure she's on the right track.
The drama between me and her mom
I don't miss, but...
the step-dad thing... I kind of do.
Well, as far as I can tell,
you don't have anything to worry about.
You should be proud.
I'm... whoa!
Oh, jeez! Hey, let me get that for you.
Yeah.
Ahem.
See you.
Yeah. And, uh, hey, uh...
slow down out there.
OK.
I've only got a minute, sweetie. I'm on my way to court.
Remember that summer you sent me to camp?
You said Mom had pneumonia.
I hope you haven't been listening to malicious rumours.
- What rumours? - I'll tell you one thing,
your mother was often the target of that sort of thing
when we were in Millwood.
Why didn't you tell me Mom was in a psychiatric hospital?
Look... we'll talk about this when you get back. I gotta go.
McMahon Rubber owns all the land from here south to the Red River.
All of it is fenced in.
That's smart. Rubber's a toxic nightmare.
We can dig outside the fence, but we'll get better results
if we dig closer to the site.
I can't get anyone from the company to call me back.
Hey!
Can I help you with something?
Hey, Mr. McMahon!
Eh... William Crawford, Crawford and Associates.
I'm working on a civil case
representing a group of sick young girls.
Oh, yeah. I heard about that.
The twitchers.
We believe a toxin
has been leaking into their athletic field at school.
It's affecting their nervous systems.
Well, a girl that age would do anything for attention, right?
We'd like permission to drill on your property.
We wanna test the groundwater.
And railroad me into a lawsuit?
I don't think so.
We just wanna find out what's making them sick.
Gentlemen. Have a nice day now.
I guess we're digging outside the fence.
So...
my mother was committed when I was a child.
- Is that a question? - No.
What can you tell me about it?
Doctor-patient privilege. I know.
But I have a right to know
any increased genetic risk factors.
Your mother seemed to be in distress.
It was clear to me that she needed a rest.
What do you mean, "clear"?
She showed all the classic signs...
of a mental breakdown.
What would've brought that on?
Well, these episodes are... generally caused by stress.
It can be sleep deprivation, severe overwork.
The individual becomes overwhelmed.
We all have a survival instinct
that kicks in when things get hard,
and if we can't retreat physically, we retreat mentally.
My mom did both.
She disappeared from my life
10 some years ago.
Your mother didn't confide in me, Joanna.
Your father simply asked me to get her
the help she needed,
and I agreed.
It was my father's idea?
It seems to me you should ask him about that.
I will.
You've reached Joanna Hanley.
- Leave a message. - Hey, Joanna.
I did some digging, and I think
your stalker's a guy named Pat Collins.
Works at the tire factory. He drives a black SUV,
but he doesn't seem to be driving it today.
I'll get back to you, OK? Bye.
Oh, this is Luna, by the way.
Hey.
- You OK? - Yeah, fine.
How'd it go at the tire factory?
McMahon was a piece of work.
He wouldn't let us drill anywhere near the site.
You know, I got the feeling he knew we were coming.
- But you got a sample, right? - We did.
I am so ready for some good news.
Don't get your hopes up.
Four wells is not a lot to go on.
- But you have a gut feeling? - Yeah, I do.
And it's the same one I had from the start.
The hospital site is still my best guess.
Hey, we'll get permission to dig more wells, just like you said.
I put my job on the line for this.
I put my entire life on hold.
I know, and we're gonna keep digging 'til we know for sure.
You need to stay. We need a better answer.
I know you guys want a case you can win,
but you need a case worth winning and this is not it.
Howard, look at your results again.
Luna found the driver of the truck that was following me.
It's someone working for McMahon rubber.
So he did know we were coming.
McMahon's gotta be the polluter.
Dubious. The direction of the groundwater flow is not right.
- This isn't right. - What isn't right?
Well, this isn't typical contaminant-pollutant behaviour.
A pollutant typically starts at the source of contamination
and becomes more diluted as it moves through the groundwater.
But this... pollutant is just sitting there
in this single, concentrated mass.
If anything, it's going in the wrong direction.
It's becoming more diluted as it moves away from the field.
If that's right, then the contamination's not coming
from any of the four sites.
Then where is it coming from?
The field itself. It's just there.
The field is the source.
If "it's just there"...
Then someone put it there.
Deliberately.
You weren't at Miss Evans' group thing this morning.
I'm already sick of being sick.
I don't wanna talk about it.
Who was there?
Lisa, Georgia, Allie.
Everyone... except you.
What did you guys talk about?
Uh... our one thing in common.
See? Like, that's the thing.
I don't even know those guys, and now we're supposed
to sit in a room and bond over muffins?
Do you think that...
that lawyer and your uncle are right?
That there's some kind of...
poison in the field?
I don't know.
I mean, what else could it be?
I play sports. You're a cheerleader.
What about Jamie's party when that
weird purple drink was going around?
No.
I wasn't even there.
Right. You don't go to parties.
I party!
I did ecstasy once. Yeah.
At a tournament in Winnipeg.
Molly did some molly?
Isn't it weird?
You and I have known each other since kindergarten...
and this is the longest conversation we've ever had.
Yup.
Now look at us.
Isn't that your uncle?
Yeah.
Are you sure we don't need permission
to dig on school property?
We get a sample that proves this field
is ground zero for a deadly toxin,
I'm pretty sure they'll overlook a missing permit.
- You good? - Yeah!
What are they doing?
Not a clue.
Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Get back.
Get back! Get back! Get back, get back, get back, get back!
- Don't let that get on you! - Go!
What did you hit?
It was metal, like a drum
or a container or something. I don't know.
I can't believe it was under our feet the entire time.
Hey! What the hell is going on?!
We found some kind of container
of toxic waste in the field.
We were drilling for a groundwater sample and then...
Who gave you permission to drill on school property?
- That wasn't our agreement. - You're not listening.
Someone has buried toxic waste in this field.
What do... Who? Who would ever do that?
We have to get it out of there! Who...
why is everybody just standing around?!
'Cause as soon as we told them what it is,
they refused to go near it.
Hey! Uncle Billy!
- You guys shouldn't be here. - We saw what happened.
There's actually something in there?!
Right now, I just need you to stay away from it. OK?
Go on home. Go. Go!
You need to remove whatever's in the field as soon as possible.
That is what I'm trying to do.
The container's punctured now.
Well, they're telling me that if
we just yank it out of the ground,
that stuff will get everywhere.
Better you risk some spillage
than let the toxin contaminate your groundwater.
It gets in the aquifer, you can't get it out.
That's your town's drinking water.
- Allison! - Ben, thank God you're here.
"Secure and Collect," who is that?
- Who are these people?! - They're my disposal guys.
- Ben uses them at the mill. - We'll get this handled.
- I can't thank you enough. - OK.
You need to tell us where that container is going after it's been excavated.
- Haven't you done enough? - What are you talking about?!
If we hadn't done this, that container would've been sitting
underground for who knows how long, making more people sick.
I suggest the three of you just go to the hospital
and get yourselves checked out. We'll take it from here.
Thank you, Howard, for everything.
We still don't know who did it.
But now we know it was deliberate.
Never doubt your gut, Joanna.
You guys got a hell of a lawsuit on your hands.
Ben says his disposal guys
can contain the barrels 'til the government gets involved.
Yeah. I wanna see for myself where that storage facility is.
Why'd you just take off in the middle of everything today?
I just had some personal stuff I needed to take care of.
They always... told me it was pneumonia.
Well, maybe they were just trying to protect you.
That would be a first.
Apparently she had a breakdown.
I'm sorry.
I guess she just couldn't cope with her life.
- Hey, Luna. What's up? - Hey, Joanna.
I talked to Pat Collins and it turns out that I got it wrong.
He sold his truck a month ago.
- To who? - A scrapyard.
Huh.
Well, uh, good work.
- Thanks, Luna. - Does this mean I'm hired?
Yeah. Meet us at Billy's office,
- 9AM sharp tomorrow. - OK.
They're leaving.
Let's go.
We thought it was something that we did.
We thought it was our fault.
I guess this clears the tire factory. So...
McMahon isn't our guy.
We don't know that.
We don't know anything...
but now we have material evidence
when the time comes. That's huge.
What the hell is he doing?!
I don't know. Try and see who it is.
I can't make him out.
Hang on!
You OK?
Yeah... You?
Yeah.
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