I'm, uh, Jerry Lundegaard.

You're Jerry Lundegaard?

Yah, Shep Proudfoot said--

Shep said you'd be here at 7:30. What gives, man?

Shep said 8:30.

We been sitting here an hour. He's peed three times already.

I'm terribly sorry. Shep told me 8:30. It was a mix-up, I guess.

You got the car?

Yeah, you bet. It's in the lot there. Brand-new burnt umber Ciera.

Yeah, okay. Well, sit down then. I'm Carl Showalter and this is my associate Gaear Grimsrud.

Yeah, how ya doin'? So, we all set on this thing, then?

Sure, Jerry, we're all set. Why wouldn't we be?

Yeah, no, I'm sure you are. Shep vouched for you and all. I got every confidence in you fellas. So I guess that's it, then. Here are the keys--

No, that's not it, Jerry.

Huh?

The new vehicle, plus forty thousand dollars.

Yeah, but the deal was, the car first, see, then the forty thousand, like as if it was the ransom. I thought Shep told ya--

Shep didn't tell us much, Jerry.

Well, okay--

Except that you were gonna be here at 7:30.

Yeah, well, that was a mix-up, then.

Yeah, you already said that.

Yeah. But it's not a whole pay-in-advance deal. I give you a brand-new vehicle in advance and--

I'm not gonna debate you, Jerry.

Okay.

I'm not gonna sit here and debate. I will say this though: what Shep told us didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Oh, no, it's real sound. It's all worked out.

You want your own wife kidnapped?

Yeah.

You--my point is, you pay the ransom what eighty thousand bucks? I mean, you give us half the ransom, forty thousand, you keep half. It's like robbing Peter to play Paul, it doesn't make any sense.

Okay, see, it's not me payin' the ransom. The thing is, my wife, she's wealthy. Her dad, he's real well off. Now, I'm in a bit of trouble--

What kind of trouble are you in, Jerry?

Well, that's, that's, I'm not go into, into--see, I just need money. Now, her dad's real wealthy--

So why don't you just ask him for the money?

Or your **** wife, you know.

Or your **** wife, Jerry.

Well, it's all just part of this--They don't know I need it, see. Okay, so there's that. And even if they did, I wouldn't get it. So there's that on top, then. See, these're personal matters.

Personal matters?

Yeah. Personal matters that needn't, uh--

Okay, Jerry. You're tasking us to perform this mission, but you, you won't, uh, you won't. Aw, **** it, let's take a look at that Ciera.