Jimmy Markum quotes from Mystic River (2003)

Jimmy Markum

The death part you do alone, but I could have helped her with the dying.

Jimmy Markum

As I was holding him under the water...I could feel God watching me, shaking his head. Not angry...but like if a puppy shit on a rug.

Jimmy Markum

We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.

Jimmy Markum

Did you ever think about how one little choice could change a whole life? I heard Hitler's mother wanted to abort him. At the last minute, she changed her mind. See what I mean?

Sean Devine

What do you mean, Jimmy?

Jimmy Markum

What if you or I had gotten into that car instead of Dave Boyle?

Sean Devine

What car? You're losing me here.

Jimmy Markum

If I'd gotten into that car that day, my life would have been a different thing. My first wife, Marita, Katie's mother...she was a beautiful woman. Regal. As a lot of Latin women are, and she knew it. You had to have balls to go near her, and I did. Eighteen years old, the two of us. She was carrying Katie. Now, here's the thing, Sean. If I'd gotten into that car, I'd be a basket case. I never would have had the juice to go near her. And Katie never would have been born. And she never would have been murdered. You know?

So how are you handling all this so far?

Jimmy Markum

It hasn't really sunk in, Theo.

Yeah? It's gonna hurt like hell when it does. When my Janey died, I was no good for six months...but my kids were all grown up. I had that luxury. You, you got domestic responsibilities.

Jimmy Markum

Domestic responsibilities?

Yeah, you gotta take care of my daughter and those girls. That's your first priority.

Jimmy Markum

Oh, you figured that might have slipped my mind?

It just needed to be said, that's all. You'll come through because you're a man. Like I said to Annabeth, your wedding day. I said, 'You got yourself a real old-school man there.'

Jimmy Markum

Like they put her in a bag.

What?

Jimmy Markum

That's what Katie looked like when I saw her in the morgue. Like they put her in a bag and then they beat the bag with pipes.

Well...

Jimmy Markum

Janey died in her sleep, all due respect. She went to sleep, she never woke up. Peaceful.

You don't need to talk about Janey.

Jimmy Markum

My daughter was murdered. They put a gun to her. As we stand here, she's on an autopsy slab...getting cut open by scalpels and chest spreaders...and you're talking to me about domestic **** responsibility? Good to see you, Theo.

Jimmy Markum

I just can't let anything get **** up in these next few days. Because it's all anybody will remember about her. One thing you could say about Katie, even when she was little...that girl was neat. When I got out of the joint...you know, after Marita died...I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter...than I ever was of being in prison. I loved her...most...because when we were sitting in that kitchen that night...it was like we were the last two people on Earth. You know, forgotten. Unwanted. And it's really starting to piss me off, Dave, because I can't cry for her. My own little daughter, and I can't even cry for her.

Dave Boyle

Jimmy...you're crying now.

Sean Devine

So, Jimmy...when was the last time you saw Dave?

Jimmy Markum

The last time I saw Dave.

Sean Devine

Yeah. Dave Boyle.

Jimmy Markum

Dave Boyle.

Sean Devine

Yeah, Jimmy. Dave Boyle.

Jimmy Markum

That was 25 years ago, going up this street in the back of that car.

Sean Devine

Jimmy, what did you do?

Jimmy Markum

Thanks for finding my daughter's killers, Sean. If only you'd been a little faster.

Sean Devine

Sometimes I think... I think all three of us got in that car. And all of this is just a dream, you know?

Jimmy Markum

A dream, sure.

Sean Devine

In reality, we're still eleven year-old boys locked in a cellar imagining what our lives woulda been like if we'd escaped.

Jimmy Markum

Maybe you're right. Who the **** knows?

Jimmy Markum

I killed Dave. I killed him and I threw him into Mystic. But I killed the wrong man. That's what I've done. And I can't undo it.

Shh, Jimmy. Shh. I wanna feel your heart. Last night, when I put the girls to bed, I told them how big your heart was. I told them how much you loved Katie.

Jimmy Markum

Annabeth.

Because you created her. And, sometimes your love for her was so big, it was like your heart felt like it was gonna explode.

Jimmy Markum

Please stop.

I told them their daddy loved them that much, too. That he had four hearts and they were all filled up and aching with a love that meant we would never have to worry. And that their daddy would do whatever he had to for those he loved. And that is never wrong. That can never be wrong, no matter what he had to do. And those girls fell asleep in peace.