"My name is Ed Bigelow." "And what you are watching is the end of my life as I knew it." "For as long as I can remember, the underground paper I published, The Cacophony Gazette, was the most important thing in my life." "Actually, scratch that." "It was the second." "The first was the world I'd made for myself." "You've seen a bit of it." "The vintage suits, for example." "They're bloody now." "Not so crisp." "They say all the world's a stage." "And sucker that I was, I bought the line." "I made myself the star." "I built the stage." "I cast the actors." "I did everything right." "Trust me." "You'll see." "And you'll see how it all went to the devil." "And you'll wonder how it all came to this point." "And how in the hell I got to this place." "What the fuck, Ed?" "Don't bring this shit here." "Hey." "Hey." "Look, take your ass out into the street and lie down, all right?" "I'll call, okay?" "Look..." "I'll tell 'em there's a guy in the street." "I'll tell 'em Broadway." "Make sure it's Broadway." "It's the best I can do, man." "Ed, you can't be in here like this." "Chong." "I need Chong." "Ed?" "What are you doing, Chinese Mickey?" " I'm tossin' him out." " Nice." "It's okay." "It's okay." "Why are you here, Ed?" "Annie, I need to see Chong." "He wants to see Doc Chong?" "Take him to Dr. Chong." "Nobody's supposed to know Chong's here." "Okay?" "Come on." "Move." "Move!" "Did you handle it?" "Read all about it." "First things first." "Sit on the table, Scoop." "Mabel, sponge him down real good." "Finding places to thicken your blood." "Bang." "At least slow it down." "Just let the suckers do the rest." "Bang." "Leave us." "Wanna tell me what went down?" "I'd rather just lie here." "Let your needles and your guys do their work." "It's all in the Gazette." "We can hash this out later, when you're feeling up to it." "We will." "We definitely will." "Happy Halloween, Ed." "Happy Halloween." "Baby, why do we even bother coming to this thing every year?" "What is wrong with you?" "This one looks promising." "So what do you think?" "I think I'm gonna give her a spin." "I'll take heads." " Nice job." "Here's your ticket." " Thank you." "Ooh, it's a voucher for one of those concession skags." "You want anything?" "You think it's real?" "Cute." "I dig their sound." "You gonna write them up?" "Unless something horrific ties this circus together." "I mean probably, maybe." " Do you want to go upstairs?" " Just following you, baby." "Ed!" " Hi." " Hey." "This is my girlfriend Maggie." "We met at church." "Rexina." " Hi." " Hi." "Come to my show." "I wouldn't miss it." "Good to see you." "How do you forget a name like Rexina?" "All the dog-collared girls, they start to run together." " How'd you know?" " You introduced me first." "You're sharp." "Mud wrestling, that's new." "I like that one." "She's got spunk." "Church?" "Return to Neverland." "Nobody ever gets tired of Michael Jackson jokes." "Whoo-hoo!" "Yeah!" "You know what I do not love?" " Is the boredom of this place." " True." "But you do love that everybody here will do anything to make sure you're not bored." "Now it just seems like people are trying harder and harder to make it seem like they're having a good time, when in reality everyone here is just..." "All right." " A magic show?" " Yeah, it's worth a shot." "The address is right by." "Wow." "And wow." "Looks like you got your next issue." "What's up with that homeless guy?" "That's not the guy who met us out front." "Oh, shh, shh." "That's the one that gave us the card." "He's just a stringer." "He's got to be the opening act." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God, no." "No, no." "It's a rat." "It's a rat." "It's a live rat." "Where do you think you're going?" "Yes, you." "The slut in the back." "Sit down, bitch." "You die tonight." " That's Cayenne." " Who?" "So commands..." "Montag the Magnificent." "Oh, I love you people." "You people feel nothing." "You have no empathy." "Well, tonight you are going to feel something." "And right now, I am going to attempt to feel something, anything other than... disgust and contempt for you people, you people who make my day." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Honey, it's just a trick." "Is it?" "When a person goes through a glass windshield of a car and, months later, their skin begins to open to let the glass through in any way it can, is that a trick, too?" "Perhaps this... bringing to the surface of things, of sharp things, is a trick." "It may be that the biggest illusion, the only illusion, is that of... escape." "We haven't forgotten about you, bitch." "It's time for you to become an escape artist." "Just look at you." "Just look at her, folks." "In her armor, her shell," "Just look at yourselves." "Ridiculous." "To hide is useless, my little crabs." "It is an exercise in futility." "What you all are... is pulp, when the rind is split wide open." "Strip off your dress." "A lot of people pay money to see you take off your clothes." "Oh, my God." "I can't believe he's doing that." "But this... this is just more rind." "So, one of them eats bugs, and the other one does shadow plays." "Way to set the world on fire, guys." "This is great stuff." "When we escape, we escape fully." "Leaving nothing behind." "Not even... a shadow." " Oh, my God!" " Holy shit!" "Did you feel something?" "Anything?" "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "They ate it up." "They did indeed." "God, my feet are killing me." "You want a drink?" "Uh, need a drink's more like it." " You ate it up." " Because it was brilliant, Maggie." "It was brilliant." "Everything about it was misdirection." "Even his patter about escape was an illusion." "Control, that was the illusion." "And then the way that he turned it back on itself and made it seem like everything was out of control." "Did you see his face when he got caught in the act?" "Literally, caught in the act." "Brilliant." "That's a real fancy rationalization for some obvious misogyny you got for yourself there." "And that woman... oh, excuse me, the slut... that he dragged onstage." "How'd you know who she was?" "Cayenne strips at Jumbo's Clown Room." "So you're on a first-name basis with strippers?" "Sometimes I feel like I don't even know who you are." "Everyone knows Cayenne." "Mm." "Everyone." "Yes, everyone does, and that was actually Montag's one mistake." "When he pulled her up on stage and ripped her dress, he said people pay good money to see this." "He never would have known that had he not met Cayenne before." "That was his only mistake." "Everything else..." "Everything else was perfect." "It was choreographed like a dance." "Like a striptease?" "You're just floored because you like to see naked chicks, Ed, face it." "That's my girl, Cayenne." "Jumbo's." "Frank, it's Edmund Bigelow." "I know, it says so on the caller ID, stupid." "Look, is Cayenne in yet?" "No." "Well, I need to see her as soon as possible." "Look, you want a private arrangement with Cayenne, you don't call here, remember?" "Because I don't know what you're talking about." "Wait." "You don't know what I'm talking about?" "You want Cayenne?" "Look, make like a bunny and bounce, you hear me, Ed?" "Montag the Magnificent greets everyone at the door with hands so greasy it's a wonder his fingerprints can hang on." "The most disgusting part of the show." "Greetings, salutations." "Greetings and salutations." "Greetings and salutations." "Greetings and salutations." " Greetings!" " Mister..." "Mr. Montag, my name is Ed Bigelow." "Salutations." "I would love to speak with you after the show" " if that's at all possible..." " Salutations." "About a story that I'm working on." "It seems that we are speaking, and that the story has already begun." "Greetings and salutations." "Greetings." "No repeat customers." "Who'd think someone besides you, besides us, would, uh, return for a second helping?" "There's Cecelia." "Let me guess." "Everybody knows Cecelia." "No comment." "Every night, the geek sets up the act like bowling pins so the magician can throw a strike." "It's the same song and dance two nights in, right down to the shocked girl with the look of disgust plastered across her face." "She's got no idea what she signed up for." "Or does she?" "Two nights, two girls, same day job, stripping at Jumbo's Clown Room." "Does the audience realize this, or are they too busy getting played like a fiddle?" "What are you afraid of?" "Exposure." "We swim in a shark-infested cesspool, terrified that at any moment things will nip at us." "Oh." "Ha ha." "They will nip at us, and they are hungry." "They are those closest to us, our best friends." "Our girlfriends." "They are us." "I'm not going back." "That whole thing was disgusting." "Did you hear that?" "Our girlfriends." "Not our boyfriends and girlfriends, not our lovers, our girlfriends." "And he was looking at you the entire time." "That was just because we were there two nights in a row and because I tried to talk to him before the show." "Fine, write your little article." "Give the fucker more publicity." "Oh, that is awfully open-minded of you, artist girl." "What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" "So it's freedom of expression as long as Maggie agrees with it, right?" "You know what?" "You're just like everybody else, used to objectifying people like, uh," "Cayenne and Cecelia." " Oh, Jesus." " Don't "Oh, Jesus" me." "You've gone and seen them on stage before." "And then they get up there and do their little meat puppet routine with Montag." "It's nothing new for you." "He fondles them, paws all over 'em." "Shit, I bet you wish you could do the same thing." "What's with the, uh..." "It relaxes me." "Because you make me fucking tense." "Asshole." "God." "Yeah." "Ed, turn on the TV." "Channel 4." "It's not the best time right now." "Just do it." "Earlier today, authorities are cautioning everyone to stay out of the water." "Local Santa Monica residents were stunned this morning when the remains of this woman..." "It's your friend Cayenne from that show last night." "The Coast Guard is out in force searching for the great white shark believed..." "It wasn't a fucking shark attack." "Look, Maggie, I need to go." " I'll get back to you, okay?" " Ed, wait." "Ed..." " Yo." " Jinky." "Uh, yeah, Eddie." "It's not really a good time right now." "Listen, a girl got attacked by a shark last night, right?" "Yeah, no shit." "Between her and the one that came in yesterday... you know, that girl who got split open... my internship here has been, like, you know, on-the-job experience, let me tell you." "I can't be on the phone right now." "That girl got split open?" "She was, like, cracked open like a lobster." "Yeah, so whatever." "What do you want?" "Listen, Jinky, I think there may be a connection" " between those two." " What do you mean?" "Then I want you to double-check with that shark girl." "Are you sure it was a shark?" "What?" "No, no, no." "Not on the phone." "Listen, lunch break's in 45." "Fountain in MacArthur Park." "They got interns working cases now." "It's homework." "Not that you would know anything about that." "Some of us have to struggle to get where we want to be." "Okay, let me finish this." "I'm working a crime scene, but I'm working it wrong." "Say that again?" "We pick a spot, collect evidence of a crime, build a case against a theoretical suspect, point being the suspect is innocent, and all this shit is circumstantial." "Like, say... for example, you knowing shit you shouldn't." "Shark girl is all over the news as a shark attack." "But you... you ask me to make sure it was a shark that killed her." "Guess what." "It wasn't." "Sharks usually leave behind teeth in the deceased's muscle, but if they don't, they definitely have something that says," ""Congratulations, you've just been bit by a giant..."" "I get it, Jinky." "You're a busy man." "Gotta get back to, uh, cashing checks from that trust fund, playing with your newspaper." "Look, any time you want to call an armistice on this class war we got going on, I'm willing to talk." "Let's talk, then." "Tell me what you know about tetrodotoxin." " Tetro..." " Dotoxin?" "Comes from a pufferfish." "Small doses, it can be used as a hallucinogen." "In larger ones, it makes zombies." " Excuse me?" " Like in Haiti." "Some old Serpent and the Rainbow shit." "Tox reports came back on your two girls." "Showed massive doses in the both of them." "Yeah." "Yes." "Sorry." "Um..." "Yeah, I'll be there." "Bye." "Look, you got to meet me tonight, okay, Jinky?" "There's something I got to show you." "All right." "I don't know what it is you're huffing, but if you want the good shit, you come to your man Jinky." "Smile." "Retard." "Go away." "We're closed." "You're always closed." "Just..." "Just lock up tight behind you." "You know, with free advertising like this, you really ought to keep the doors open for business more often." "Lordy." "Stand back and let the guys do their work." "What kind of work are they doing?" "Mind ya." "Mind ya?" "Mind ya fucking business if you know what's good for ya." "Look, you got five minutes of time for me?" "What do you know about tetrodotoxin?" "Shit." "Tapped out." "It's a drug that comes from the pufferfish." "I know what it is, motherfucker." "When I was in the Southeast, when we were doing our little PSYOPS, there was a lot of talk about it." "It's a mind control drug, a gorilla of one." "Did a little RD and figured out it made subjects completely open to suggestion, could get them to do whatever we wanted." "This time I heard about," "I wasn't there, you understand?" "One of our guys was gonna talk to some writer working on a Kennedy book." "Before he could, some tetro found its way into the dude's food." "A few choice words later by the right people, this poor fuck thinks the inside of his mouth is growing hair." "Next morning, he takes a razor blade to his tongue." "End of story." "Now, the thing about tetro and the reason we had a hard-on for it is it could kill your memory." "Like, say, you were on it right now." "I could make you forget what I wanted you to and remember what I told you to." "Jesus." "What the hell were you guys doing over there?" "Didn't I tell you that the writer was working on a Kennedy book?" "Your five minutes is so up." "Now, say a person wanted to get some hands on the tetro." "Where would they go about doing that?" "We got it from holy men in the mountains." "Magician types." "You don't know any magicians, now do you?" "Jinky thinks he's seen it all, but he hasn't seen anything yet." "He's going to see a girl die on stage tonight." "But he's not going to see her die afterwards in a dream." "Not like I will, at least." ""Sit down, bitch." "You die tonight."" "What you are, what you all are, is meat." "Cattle... that will never escape from the herd." "My dear, if you please." "Back to the cocoon." "You may awake... now." "Where am I?" " The Greeks used this..." " Let me out of here." "The brazen bull, for torture, yes, but also for transformation." " You..." " Help me!" "Have returned to the cocoon, my dear, to metamorphosize." "Surely, you cannot remain the pathetic piece of meat that you have always been." "No!" "I will not let you out until you are done!" "Ha ha ha ha!" "Do you understand me?" "Until you are done!" "Ah." "Good." " Oh, God, it's really..." " What the fuck?" "You're nowhere near done." "Thank you." "She was up and around." "Okay, see, this is the thing with tetrodotoxin." "I don't think it just takes you on a magical mystery ride." "I mean, the way that I heard it is... is it makes you see things that people want you to see." "Like a girl getting cooked alive." "Seeing wasn't the half of it." "It's the smelling." "You know, you open up a body bag from a three-alarm and the stink rushes out at you, like..." "And you know, burnt flesh..." "yeah, you expect that and burning hair, maybe, if you got a vivid imagination, but, you know, boiled blood, you don't know the smell of that until you've personally gotten a nose full." "What is up with you, Ed, huh?" "Yeah, yeah." "Listen, can you get back in the Coroner's Office?" "Spend some time in the lab, see if you can get the chemical makeup of tetrodotoxin." "I don't think we're on drugs." "The nose knows." "And even if you're right, we still got a problem." "Yeah." "Yeah, real dead bodies." "I'm on it." "Just don't be too on it." "Yeah." "Hey." "Hey, wait up." "Well, hello there, sugar." "It was my father's." "Hold this?" "There." "Better." "Need a drink?" "Better." "That's your poison." "Right." "So, was tonight the first time you met Montag, or was the whole thing scripted?" "First time I met who?" "You met Montag, the magician." "Magician?" "Like, "bunny in a hat" magician?" "You went to a magic show tonight." "No, I didn't." "Yes, you did." "A magic show." "And you're naked." "Comes with the territory." "You're drinking that bourbon like it's water." "I have to, don't I... when dealing with a freak like you..." "Ed?" "How do you know my name?" "How do you know my name?" "Look, stop fucking around." "Quit fucking around." "Better tell me what's going on." " Now!" " Tell me what you know n..." "Hey!" " Hey!" " Give it back." "Give it back." " Huh?" " Ah!" "You don't remember the trick, huh?" "Huh?" "You don't remember the show?" "You remember now?" "Ed, why didn't you call me last night?" "I'm sorry." "Just things have been a little bit weird." "Can we not fight anymore?" "I just..." "I just feel like neither of us is feeling right." "We have to feel safe with each other." "Yeah." "That sounds good to me." "I thought we quit." "Me, too." "Jenkins." "Get away from me." "No, no, no." "Please, man." "I need your help." "That girl that got burned up in the show," "I saw her not 10 minutes ago on a slab." "Something tells me you saw her before that, so get the fuck away from me, Ed, please." "Look, I did see her last night." "I followed her home." "There was a fire." "Look, I may have started it, okay?" "So, uh, I don't know what's gotten into me." "What was in the forensics report?" "Not much." "There was no scene." "She was dumped downtown." "There's no evidence of the fire you said you started." "All right, uh, let me handle this." "Can we come in?" "I'm with the Coroner's Office." "You can." "Your buddy can't." "All right, uh..." "Here." "Thank you." "Hey." "Nothing." "No scorch marks, no signs of struggle, not a damn thing." "But the cops are in there just to get her address book, check her phone caller I.D., swipe her hard drive, shit like that." "Isn't all that circumstantial?" "I got to work with what I got." "Waiting for the magic show to start feels like the dream." "It's what happens later that feels like it's real." "I've been shopping for it all day." "And it can't get dosed with that d-d-detrox..." "Who told you about that stuff?" "Tetrodotoxin?" "I did." "Hey, Jinky." ""Hey, Jinky"?" "Jinky tracked me down earlier." "Montag's got some horrible hands, huh?" "The meet-and-greet's the nastiest part of the show as far as I'm concerned." "Now cue the offended patron." "Oh, man." "It's in his hands, Eddie." "It's in..." "It's in Montag's hands." "Some people talk too much." "Talking." "It can really ruin... the magic." "Let me demonstrate for you how talking absolutely kills the mood among other things." "Who is he talking to?" "You." "Dear sir." "Join me onstage." "Do something." "Strip." "Ladies and gentlemen, when you come to my house, you are stripped." "This show is about what's on the inside, what is inside you." "Sit." "Is it beautiful?" "Uhh!" "Or is it... ugly?" "Where were you?" "I was just about to ask you the same thing." "Are you all right?" "I'm fine." "You are not." "Where's Maggie?" "Interesting you bring her up." "I mean, you guys left together and then..." "Left where together?" "The show." " The magic show?" " Yes." "Wasn't no show." "I went down there, and it was locked up." "You weren't there, either." "Hence where were you?" "No, no, no, no, no, Jinky." "There was a show tonight." "You were there with Maggie." "We were all there." "You died tonight." "He did the trick on you." "He pulled you up on stage, and he gave you a speech about how you talk too much." "Look, come here, come here, come here, come here." "You figured it out." "You figured out how he transfers the tetro to people." "His hands." "He had to shut you up." "Good theory." "Not mine." "What is that?" "Security footage from an outfit name of March Hare Escort." "Ever hear of it?" "No." "Don't lie to me, Eddie." "I'm not lying to you." "I'm going to have to walk you through this, huh?" "You're gonna have to walk me through what?" "Tell me about Maggie." "She's my girlfriend." "And you met her how?" "Are you afraid to tell me?" "No." "Embarrassed?" "No, I'm not embarrassed." "It's just..." "I just..." "I just don't remember right now." "Maybe you should have, uh, written it down." "Maybe you should fuck off." "I'm only going to tell you this once, so keep your pencil ready." "March Hare is a super-exclusive escort service specializing in bondage." "But the girls in its stable aren't doms." "They're submissives." "Guys pay to hurt them." "Each one of Montag's volunteers was a March Hare employee." "He uses the place like it's Central Casting." "Actresses needed." "Must love to be humiliated." "Nudity required." "And you know this how?" "Burned girl's apartment, it turns out, was a gold mine of information." "Looks like she was going to write her memoirs." "Unfortunately, there was nothing in them about who owns or runs March Hare or where it's at." "She ripped a bunch of these, though, from the place's security cams." "As we speak, LAPD is going through them and identifying clients..." "Why are you bringing this to me?" "I mean it's got nothing to do with me." "Maggie worked for March Hare." "No, she didn't." "Yes." "Just one of the many things you're in denial about." "I am not in denial about anything." "Maybe..." "Maybe the fucking tetro..." "You knew those girls were plants." "You knew Cayenne..." "I know Cayenne from Jumbo's Clown Room." "You're telling me stuff I already know." "A picture is worth a thousand words, Eddie." "Watch this and tell me I'm wrong." "You know I can't play that in this house." "Do yourself a favor." "Chip off enough of that trust fund, you know, and enter the 21st Century." "Get yourself something to play it on." "After you do, don't call me." "You'll see why." "Just tell me what is on the video." "Just tell me what's on the video." "Maggie for one thing, you for another." "Stop being so vague." "That's the last thing you want me to do because I'm this far from dropping a dime on you," " best friend or not..." " Don't keep secrets from me." "I think you could do it." "I think you might be a bad man, Ed Bigelow." "A very, very bad man." "So it turns out I do know a magician." "Rat fuck of a magician, I bet." "And in case you have any doubts, yes, you got a dose, a big one." "You stink of it." "I can hear it in every move you make." "We killed the tetro program when they figured out the body could only take so much." "Bad for the bones." "Can't have a hit man that sounds like a cheap wind-up toy." "And wiped-out memory or no, you can't have one that's dying in some prison curled up in a fetal position because his ribs collapse and crush his heart." "It's too many questions." "Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" "Because I got a bad dose myself." "The last time you saw me, I wasn't thinking clearly." "I had gaps in my memory." "But I was cleansing." "The leeches bled it..." "Settle down." "I'm out of leeches, and I am not going through that again." "You want to get rid of it, you got to bleed it out." "So you're not going to help me at all." "Did I say that?" "Did I say that?" "You seem to have forgotten or were made to forget that I have a lot of business dealings, have my fingers in a lot of nasty pies." "You want something, you know where to look, you can find it." "Our magician friend came to me, asking me for tetro." "I don't ask questions when I'm moving quantity." "He meets my price." "I'm feeling generous, so I offer him one of my girls, and you should have seen his eyes light up and said he needed girls." "Some show he was planning." "I have... had... a stable of girls" "I offer him for the week." "We shake on it, and the next thing I know, my dumb ass is dosed." "And the next thing I know, my girls are gone." "And the next thing I know, they start showing up dead." "Now here is where you come in." "I had a girl... one that left me a week before, a real thoroughbred of a girl, had it in for one of my best clients." "This guy put so much money on her it was like he had her on layaway already so I cut her loose with my blessing." "And her name is Maggie, right?" "Merry Christmas, Scoop." "From here on, find your own way." "Where have you been?" "I snuck out." "Geek character followed me, but I got to my car first." "And it took you this long to get home?" "He kept following me in his car." "I mean, you wouldn't think someone like that could drive, let alone someone gives that creepy bugger a license." "So there was a show." "Obviously." "After I lost him," "I had to go and download the video from the show and burn a DVD so we could watch it." "These things take time." "Is Jinky here?" "It'll be up in a second." "We can watch it." "Why would Jinky be here?" "I just figured he'd be here." "Just chill out, okay?" "Maggie, do you think I'm a bad man?" "I think..." "A slightly weird man, yeah." "And a sweaty man, definitely." "A bad man, uh..." "No, I don't think you're a bad man." "Let me ask you this." "Do you think you're a whore?" "What?" "Do you think you're a whore?" "A prostitute?" "A slut, Maggie?" "Because I don't know who you are." "And I don't know what you do for a living." "And I don't even know how we met, Maggie." "We met, uh..." "We met, uh..." "We met at church." "Yeah." "That was a joke that I made up on the spot, remember?" "It's like our lives started that night." "And before that, you were just a whore, and I was a bad man." "And our lives now are just an illusion." "You shouldn't say that." "You sound like him." "We have to go back and stop him." "It's on now." "It's about what's inside." "What is inside you." "Sit." "I am using this to push the towel down young sir's throat." "You can hear me... grunt as I push it... deeper... deeper..." "Is it beautiful?" "Young sir is feeling as though he is suffocating." "Or is it ugly?" "This changes everything." "It's not the trick." "It's the rhythm of his voice is different." "And it's not what he's saying." "It's just..." "It's written all over his face." "While he's trying to tell us what to see, it's like he's struggling to remember what to say." "Greetings." "Just remember that whatever happens up there is not real, okay?" "And then, after the show, we got to stick together." "We got to watch each other's back." "I can't go through with it." "What's in that thing?" "We can go through with this." "Oh, my God!" "It's going to have to be another way." "Um, I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I'm not." "Sit." "Sit down, bitch." "You die tonight." "I'd like to say I'm sorry, too, but it's better this way." "Eyes front." "You cannot move." "You cannot even know if you are really here." "If you will." " Ooh!" " Whoa!" "One of magic's many beauties is that the illusion can begin long before the audience even knows it is going to be tricked." "Trick." "A word with so many meanings." "You fake your own... reality." "You... the things that you believe about yourself." "Delusions." "The things that you tell yourself." "Lies." "Are you ready... for... the truth?" "Jinky's body has disappeared, and in magic, vanishing is just the old bait and switch." "Dell's body burned in an apartment without any fire damage." "She was dumped downtown." "What I'm doing I can't be doing where I think I'm doing it." ""You got a dose." "A big one."" "It's just like the show." "Montag tells the audience what to see, but he's not doing anything." ""I'm forcing the towel down young sir's throat."" "If there's no magic, what's the purpose of the magician?" "If there's no crime scene, where are the crimes taking place?" "Maggie, where will you die tonight?" "Why will you die tonight?" "One of magic's many beauties is that the illusion can begin long before the audience even knows it is going to be tricked." "Trick, a word with so many meanings." "Are you ready... for the truth?" "You're my baby girl." "It's all right, right?" "Ed." "Ed." "Careful." "What the hell?" "I remember." "Maggie, I remember everything." "Do you?" "Look... come here." "Don't hurt me." "What is that?" "All right." "It's Montag's crest and other stupid things..." "But what is it a picture of?" "It's a bunny." "No, it's not a bunny." "What is it?" "What is it?" "It's a bunny rabbit... a rabbit." "No." "It's a hare." "Hare?" "It's a hare." "March Hare Escort." "What does that mean to you?" "March Hare Escorts." "You're rambling." "You're hurting me." "You never hurt me before." "I just thought we were going to be able to do this together, but I guess I was wrong." "Please." "What's in that thing?" "You already asked me fucking once at the show, and I told you it's none of your business." "We didn't go." "We were trying to figure out what to do, and then you started working on this and zoned out." "It was hours ago." "I remember." "Maggie, I remember." "I'm a bad man." "You're psycho, that's what you are." "You haven't gone anywhere tonight except for in this thing." "Maggie, give me back my bag." "No, I..." "There's something wrong with you." "It's like you've got holes in your brain." "And they clear up when I hit that bag, so give it fucking back to me." "Nothing clears up." "You don't know where you've been or where you haven't" " or what you've seen or what..." " Give it to me!" "Give me back my bag." "Holy shit." "God." "Please." "No." "Come here." "Get away from me!" "Ohh!" "Chong cut Maggie loose from March Hare Escorts, and I cut her loose from life." "The old doc says I have to find my own way, and I will." "I'll sit here outside Jumbo's all day long if I have to." "Frank can easily arrange things, playing middle man from the good doctor from his spot behind the bar." "He knows where March Hare Escorts is, and he'll tell me, even if he doesn't want to." "I have nothing left except questions." "Who is the magician if Montag doesn't perform magic?" "What is the trick?" "Where have the bodies gone?" "When did I become the murderer?" "Why does Dr. Chong seem to have all the answers except the ones I need?" "The magician will try to distract me, to trap me unless I find him first." "But I'll be powerless." "If I get him before he can tell me what to believe." "To trap me... until I find him first." "This I know to be true." "I'm a bad man who tricked himself into believing I wasn't." "I've always had the murderer inside me." "It all comes back to March Hare Escorts." "It all started there, and that's where it will end." "Come back in an hour." "We're closed." "Ed?" "Man, you look terrible." "You want, like, a glass of water or something?" "Make like a bunny and bounce." "Hey, don't be talking that smack in here, especially lately, people are fucking..." "Get your fucking sweaty hands off me!" "Shut up." "Shut up." "Now, most people, they go their whole lives with the destiny that's on the horizon that they just never touch." "And mine's at a place called March Hare Escorts." "Yeah." "Just give me the fucking address." "Okay." "Hello." "Hello." "The Bunny Trail Motel." "I've been here before." "I've been here many times before." "When we escape, we escape fully." "And they are... ugly." ""They are those that are closest to us us..."" ""They're our best friends." "They're our..."" ""The third trap is in the air now,"" ""and it will not hold firm when it lands."" ""You see it bite into the little darling's leg."" ""Take it off."" ""Hit the floor."" "Hit the floor." "Until you are donel." "What is inside you?" ""Ling Chi:" "Death by a thousand cuts."" "Death by a thousand cuts." "You want to get rid of it?" "You've got to bleed it out." "Hoorah!" "Ling Chi:" "Death by a thousand cuts." "I will cut you piece by piece." "I will open you up, then you can see I am not the magician." "I am the trick." "Like you, I am a prop to be used for this final trick." "I will let out what the magician added to you, and once you are truly opened up, you can put the pieces together." "In this world, there are two kinds of people:" "Fools and visionaries." "The fool sees the solution the magician intends him to see." "Which one are you?" "The fool... or the visionary?" "The visionary." "Escaped visionary." "Go ahead." "Cut me more, because the more you cut, the more I bleed, and the more I bleed, the more you lose your hold on me." "That..." "That was just a means to an end." "But you and what you have accomplished..." "That you have always had within you." "The only reason that you haven't seen it is because magic is all about misdirection..." "But you... don't have direction." "I think now I do." "Hey, there he is!" "Don't just stand there." "Come here." "Give me a hand with this shit." "God..." "You can't put the whammy on me." "The poison's bled out." "Hey, Ed, I'm the magician, and the poison ain't the trick." "You are." "At least you will be now that you've taken care of Montag for me." "Don't bet on it." "Just get your ass over here and help me with this shit." "It's all yours now." "Oh, hey!" "What do you think, huh, about the redecorating of the Bunny Trail?" "I figured a cat like you, with your eye for detail, would dig that." "Bloody wing tips in one room, filthy DNA-smeared sheets in another." "Complete sets of fingerprints in all of 'em." "And, oh, yeah." "The bodies." "But I can make it all just disappear." "Pfoo." "And I will provide you with everything that you could ever, ever, ever need." "Yeah, like filling me up with enough tetro so I can dose audiences?" "Till I can barely move?" "Until my skull gets cracked open by the next replacement?" "Let's just stop fucking around here." "You got a taste for only two things right now:" "Tetrodotoxin and hurting people!" "And only one of them is new!" "Now, that's funny because I was thinking of the exact same thing." " Aah!" " Why don't I take the tainted blood on this knife and mainline a nice dose of tetro into you and I find the replacement magician next time, huh?" "Don't worry." "You're not going to die." "You won't exactly live, either." "You can ice three strangers to frame a man, but when you get that man to murder his own, you better know what you're doing because by forcing him to cut everything from his world, the stage he built for himself," "the suit he wore, the actors he cast in his own little story, you might just find that man reborn." "Very interesting." "Do you want to get my clothes?" "So what did you think of the story?" "It needs a little editing, especially the parts that mention my name and things I may or may not do or have done that fall beyond acceptable norms." "You got the top copy." "That's the special edition." "That's just for Chong." "You might want to check out some of the others." "They're a little less... explicit." "You see, Chong," "I didn't exactly have enough... ink... if you get what I'm saying." "Now sit down." "And shut up." "And take that special edition." "And eat it." "But tear it into little pieces first so you don't choke." "You could have taken the tetro out of me whenever you wanted to, but you didn't." "You used me, Chong, because you didn't want to get your hands dirty." "Better that I deal with the rat fuck magician who's stealing your stable." "I left the body there." "A magician by the name of Montag." "You're a pretty smart guy, Chong." "Why don't you pin the murders on him?" "If you're lucky, you'll get off with a pandering charge." "And, Chong, I'm also going to need a line on your tetro supplier." "But we'll hash that out later, when you're feeling up to it." "Which brings us to that end I was talking about:" "The final curtain for that life and that Ed Bigelow." "I took that coward who was afraid to size himself up for what he really was and put him out of his misery." "Now I live backstage." "From my spot here, I can make people dance to whatever tune I want them to." "When they come to my house," "I hold their lives in my hands." "They don't have to see me, and I don't have to parade myself in front of them." "I know what's inside me, and whenever I want," "I can see everything that's inside of them, if you catch my drift." "You wonder how in the hell I got to this place." "You should be asking what took me so long."