" Take your time, Justin." " I'm fucking trying." "Fuck!" "If it pleases Your Honor, as Miss Bucknell's crime has been fueled by ongoing methamphetamine and alcohol abuse, the report does recommend ongoing treatment at Tiaki Wairua." "This..." "It's a new facility." "It offers courses in anger management, substance abuse, social disorders." "They also teach basic job skills and life skills like cooking, cleaning," " budgeting." " With respect, Mr. Hollis, your client has been through a number of these treatment programs in the past, and as the events of the last week probably would testify, the results have been less than spectacular." "Now, I agree with you that Miss Bucknell is in need of rehabilitation, but she is also in need of stability." "I therefore ordering an urgent report into the suitability of her mother's house at 57 Lynfield Road for a sentence of eight months home detention." "Thank you." "Stand down." "Do you want a few minutes before we come in?" "God." "I'm so sorry." "I'm so sorry." "I didn't even see you there." "I think that there's more damage to mine, though, than there is to yours." "Oh, yes, that just clips on like that, does it?" "Yep." "That's all good to go." "Now, in the event that there's an unauthorized absence, you'll get a call to the modem." "If you don't respond, an officer will be dispatched straightaway." "The bracelet has a fiber optic cable inside it." "So if you try to break it or if you damage it, a tamper signal will be sent out immediately." "Gosh, that's high-tech, isn't it?" "Aren't you lucky, Kylie?" "Having all that fancy technology on your foot." "Quite spoilt." "Keep coming." "Keep coming." "Keep coming." "Breach." "That's a flash phone, Kylie." "Is that one of those iPhones?" " No." " Flash, isn't it?" " Not really." " See that, Graeme?" " Kylie's got one of those iPhones." " It's not an iPhone." "That Leslie's a lovely wee girl, isn't she?" "I was just saying to Kylie, Graeme, the wee Maori girl who gave Kylie a ride home, she's very nice." "Very well-spoken." "She was very well-spoken, wasn't she, Kylie?" " She's a probation officer." " Oh." "Still, it's nice to meet an educated one." "God, you should see some of the ones outside the TAB." "10:00 in the morning, they're lining up to play the pokies, o shoes on their feet." "Half of them have got kids with them." "No shoes on their feet either." "Welcome to the prepaid top-up menu." "To..." "Yes." "Well, no." "Look, 'cause she just wouldn't." "No, you wouldn't read about it." "I need to use the phone." "Hang on a second, Jocelyn." "In a minute, Kylie." "I'm on the phone." "That's what I'm saying." "I need to use it." "Well, it'll have to wait." "This is a very important call." "Sorry, Jocelyn." "What were you saying?" "Well, I don't know." "I think it's been going on for years." "Because I ran into him at the Pak'nSave and I said to him" "I said, "How's things," and he said, "Oh, yeah, bit of a domestic."" "I know that's what he said." ""Bit of a domestic."" "Well, that's what he's like, isn't it?" "Yeah." "He is." "He's a right hard case." "...both locally and internationally and safe to clean any exterior surface around your home." "See what our customers say, or purchase." "Wetandforget.co.nz. That's wetandforget.co.nz." "Or phone 0800-30-3000." "And now, Andrew Dickens." "Call 0800-8010-80... on Newstalk ZB." "It's open line talk back with Andrew Dickens." "Good evening, Miriam." "How are ya?" "Yes, thanks, Andrew." "I was actually listening before, and you had a lady talking about ghosts and supernatural things." "Oh, right." "Yes, yes." "We weren't talking about cognitive bias, which is where the brain deviates from logical thought into fallacy." "It explains why people allow themselves to interpret everyday things as paranormal." "I just think she didn't know what she was talking about, because I've had things happen to me like that, and it has got nothing to do" " with a deviation in the brain." " Okay, what sort of things?" "Well, for as long as I've lived in this house, we've had all sorts of stuff going on." "We've heard noises in the middle of the night." "We've had things moving about by themselves." "We've had, fluctuations in the power bills." "Now, I'm not sure that qualifies as bulletproof evidence." "But, see, I think that's the thing." "I think that's part of it." "And they do that on purpose so that you don't know if you're imagining it or not." " Yeah, well." " Having said all that, there was one incident in particular that I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, took place in the real world and not in my imagination." "There was one this night, and I was in the basement getting a chicken out of the freezer." "I was just bending over and getting it out, and all of a sudden," "I got what I can only describe as an enormous sense of dread." "Like, every hair on my body was standing upright." "And I turned around, and I saw this thing disappear back into the darkness." " God, you must have been petrified." " Yes." "I was out of there like a shot." "It took me two months to work up the nerve to go back down there again." "So can you describe what it looked like?" "W..." "It happened very, very quickly." "But," "Oh, gosh, what was it like?" "It was sort of like a white sheet or something, but it was sort of..." "tattered and faded." "But look, I've never seen it since, and I hope I never do." "Touch wood." "But to this day, I don't know how to explain it." "Yes, well, I'm not sure I do either Miriam, but thank you so much for your call." "Open line..." "Finished with the phone?" "Psychic hotline's just opened." "Maybe you wanna give them a call." "White sheet." "That's original." "Would you mind putting that cigarette out, please?" "We don't smoke in the house." "You honestly think this house is haunted?" "I don't want to get into this with you, Kylie." "Obviously, you're just going to make fun of me." "There's nothing funny about having a mother with dementia." "You realize they put me on house arrest to get some stability." "Well, obviously, you've got a very selective memory." "What's that supposed to mean?" "I'm not the only one who thought there was a ghost in this house, Kylie." "In fact, you used to be so terrified you couldn't sleep." "Yeah, I also use to think the moon was made of cheese." "It's called childhood." "Kylie." "Kylie, it's half past 11:00." " Oh, no." "I'm gonna be late." " What for?" "Nothing." "Nice being back home?" "Least there's plenty of space to run around." "Big place like this." " How's things with your mum?" " Great." " She seems like a nice lady." " She's a fucking dick." "Well, I think that's a bit unfair." "I mean... letting you come back home couldn't have been an easy decision to make." "This isn't my home." "Okay, but considering you're going to be spending a lot of time together, don't you think you should be making more of an effort?" "No." " What's the situation with Graeme?" " He's a cabbage in a polar fleece." " What's he doing for work?" " I don't fuckin' know." "He's around here somewhere." "Why don't you go and ask him?" "What about your real father?" "Miriam says he runs a boat brokerage on the Gold Coast." "Done quite well for himself." "New life." "New family." "But... she says he doesn't stay in touch." " Have you ever considered..." " I'm giving you two more minutes and then I'm turning the TV back on." "This watch was handed down from my great-grandfather." "He was the owner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch back in 1914, when he received this watch, and it was handed down to my father and then he gave it to me." "It's a beautiful watch." "It's manufactured by the Patek-Phillipe company of Geneva, Switzerland." "This is a photocopy of the original warranty, depicting some of the complications of this watch." "You let the fire go out." "...the front of the watch has the hour and minute hand and the second hand." "Kylie, where's that meat loaf?" " I made that for tonight." " Well, I've eaten it." " A whole meat loaf?" " No." "The whole thing's gutted." "So I suppose I'll have to go back to the supermarket" " and get something else for tea then?" " Well, I can't go, can I?" "This watch, at auction, I suspect, would bring close to a quarter million dollars." " No." " Yes." "That was your watch, and to the police, that clue's a homing pigeon." "Comes right back to you." "I'll take care of Romo and find out who he's working for." "I'm the detective." "Kylie?" "Kylie," "Thursdays and Fridays are Coronation Street nights." "Now, it's only for an hour." "But it starts at 7:30." "And it's almost 7:30 now." "Your gonna write this to the Globe." "Now, listen." "Kylie, please." "What's important?" "Who are you?" "How did you get in here?" "Exactly at 9:30?" "You have no right to take him." "Oh, for God's sake." "I can't even hear it." "I mean, why should we be in here?" "It's our house." "You know, you could say something to her." "Tell you one thing, I'm not gonna spend the next eight months as a prisoner in my own home." "No way, buster." "She'll learn." "One way or another, she'll have to." " How long is the workout?" " Forty-five minutes a day, for 90 days." "No need to spend countless hours at the gym." " Tapout will even show you how to eat." " Oh, that's good, isn't it?" "And it's not a lot of time each day to get results." "So, Lou, come on." "What's your favorite move?" " Are you ready?" " Yeah." "Left jab." "Right jab." "Left hook." "Right upper." "Left, right, left." "Boom." "Boom." "Boom." "Boom." "Boom." "Finish it with a kick!" "Are you ready?" " Bang!" " Missed the last bit, but never mind." "If you're serious about losing weight, then this is for you." "If you want a Tapout body, you have to come and get it." "Come on." "Boom!" "Hello, Mortar." "Hello, Mortar." "Hello, Mortar." "Hello, Mortar." "Jesus." "Let me just explain a couple of things to you, Kylie." "Some of us have to go to work in the morning." "Now, I realize being here is an inconvenience for you, but that doesn't mean you have to be an inconvenience to everybody else." "There's someone down there." "We need to call the police." "You can do what you like." "I'm going back to sleep." " Where's Graeme?" " He's on the night shift." "He's on the night shift." "I can't stay like this for long, Kylie." "My knees." "That was a gift from your Uncle Melvin." "It's genuine Cameroon." "Good, then it won't break." "Is anyone here?" "Wait, wait, wait." "Wait, wait." "It's just me." " What are you doing here?" " I got a break signal." "Oh, what you just happened to be in the neighborhood." "No." "I live in the neighborhood." "Looks like he's taken off already." "What was he..." "What did he look like?" "I told you I didn't get a good look at him." " What was he wearing?" " I don't know." "Look, I came down to look for my phone." "My bracelet went off." "Somebody grabbed my leg, but I only saw his hand." " How come your bracelet went off?" " Why are you asking me?" "Why don't you tell him what you really saw?" " Why don't you shut up?" " I'm sorry, Amos." "It's just that this house is prone to certain disturbances." " Mum." " What do you mean?" "Well, there may be one or two occupants who haven't quite left the premises." "No, I'm sorry." "I still don't get what you mean." "Well..." "Obviously, my daughter and I have a difference of opinion on the matter." "But based on personal experience, I have what I feel... is some reason to believe that the house... could, in fact, be, you know," "haunted." "Really?" "This is the record I.D. for the house of Kylie and Miriam Bucknell." "The date is the 18th of March, 2013." "The time, 2:30 a.m." "What are you doing?" "To the restless spirit that lives in this house, what is your business here?" "Did you leave this world not of your own free will?" "Is there anyone here today you want to communicate with?" "You honestly think somebody's gonna answer?" "Maybe they already have." "To the restless spirit that lives in this house, what is your business here?" "Did you leave this world not of your own free will?" "Is there anyone here today you want to communicate with?" "Do you honestly think somebody's gonna..." "I'll run that through a filter when I get home." " You mentioned some disturbances?" " Yes." "Banging on the walls, knocking on the pipes?" " Taps turning on and off, that kind of thing?" " Oh, day and night." "I mean the furnace could account for some of the banging if it actually went, but the thing's been busted for years." "It's colder in here." "You notice that?" "Yeah." "No, we tried to get it going again, but it's so old." "You just can't get parts for it." "I'd say it's dropped another four degrees, at least." "We were supposed to get one of those heat pumps." "But then they went and cut the blimmen, whatchamacallit." " How long have you lived here?" " Oh, about 20 years now." "What do you know about the previous owners?" "Not much I'm afraid." "It was my ex-husband who bought the place." "But the lady who was here before us lived here for quite some time." "We never dealt with her though." "She passed away." " How did she die?" " Pardon?" " How did she die?" " Oh, she was quite old, I think." "Yeah." "No, she used to run a BB." "Actually, I thought about doing that myself with the place at one time." "You were going to run a BB?" "I have wanted to do other things with my life besides put up with your nonsense." " Who would want a holiday in Bulford?" " We live on the Twin Coast Highway, Kylie." " Lots of tourists drive through here." " Yeah, at warp fucking speed." "So what I'd like to do now, Miriam, we'll kick this operation off into phase two." "We'll start with a daisy chain of EMF readers, microphones, data loggers, and then, if it's okay with you, we'll set up some closed-circuit surveillance, see if we can't figure out exactly what we're dealing with." "Oh." "Well, I appreciate you trying to help, Amos." "It's just..." "I don't think I can actually afford to pay for all that." "Please, Miriam, this is a pro bono gig." "It's the advancement of paranormal research that's reward enough." "Just be careful if you're putting nails in that wall, Amos, 'cause the last time Graeme tried to put a shelf up in here," " he actually hit a power cable." " Thanks for the concern, Miriam, but I always check the circuit's off before an installa..." "Oh." "Shit." "Are you all right?" "Did you hurt yourself?" "At some stage... you just might want to get your wiring checked." "What are you doing now?" "Just getting a baseline reading for the data loggers." " What are they supposed to log?" " Fluctuations in room temperature." "Ghosts have a lower body temperature than humans." "Do they?" "Yeah, they do." "You know, the closed mind is the worst defense against the paranormal, Kylie." "What are you gonna do against a hostile spirit?" " You just gonna crack jokes?" " No, I'm going to smash it in the face." "You cannot punch ectoplasm." "Nice." "You know, I can still see you." "I can hear you breathing." "The fuck did you just say?" "Stop tickling me." "I just want to be friends." "I could never do that to my friend." "Could you give that a shake, please, Miriam?" " What about the cameras?" " Checked the cameras remotely." " And?" " And what?" "Spend eight hours waiting for a teddy bear to crawl out of a fireplace." " It was pretty uneventful." " You think I'm making this up." "Honestly, I don't know." "But unless I have reason to think otherwise, I have to remain skeptical." "Skeptical?" "The other night you were practically creaming your pants." "And you thought it was all a big joke." "Interesting turn of events." "Hey." "I've got better things to do with my time than make up ghost stories." "Sure you do." "Our brains are made up of cells called neurons." "These cells have nerve endings called synapses." "Synapses release chemical and electrical stimuli which communicate with each other to form neuropath ways." " Now, if we..." " How long have you been a counselor?" "Oh." "Gosh... 15, 16 years." "A few years of study prior to that." "So you got, like, a diploma?" "A doctorate in clinical psychology." "My mum thinks this house is haunted." "And what do you think?" "Some things have happened since I've been here." "Things I can't explain." "When you put an overactive mind in an inactive environment, there's bound to be complications." "Particularly," " if chemical substances are involved." " I'm not on drugs." "Well, the easiest way to maintain a healthy mind is to make sure it has plenty of exercise." "Now, look, you can view the next eight months as a punishment, or you can see it as..." "as an opportunity." " Jesus Christ!" "Graeme, what the fuck!" " Sorry." "I didn't mean to frighten you." "What do you want?" "I'm just wondering if you're not doing anything, maybe you wouldn't mind helping me with this." "Piss off." "I'm not your slave." "If you hold this piece, I can put this piece on top." "Just need to hold it in place until it sets." " How long does that take?" " Ten minutes." "Sorry I'm not much of a conversationalist." "What?" "Well, just, we don't really talk." "It's fine." "Neither am I." " If you wanted to..." " I don't though." "No." "It's just..." "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to think" "I've got anything against you or nothin'." "My old man was never really there, you know." "My mum, she wasn't much better." "I don't know." "I think maybe I was the only reason they stayed together probably." "And maybe they resented me for that or something." "I don't know." "The thing is, I never talked openly about things." "And you're the closest thing to a daughter that I've got." "You don't feel cramped in here?" "Look at the state of this fucking room." " No wonder you've got asthma." " Angina." "If you cleared some shit out of here, you could have a half decent work space." "Your mum's a bit funny about throwing things away." "Yeah 'cause you never know when you're gonna need a three-quarter scale Jesus." "Besides, if it means that much to her, why does she keep it in the basement?" "Most of this stuff was here when she bought the place." " Why didn't they just take it with them?" " Well, they left in a bit of a hurry." "And most of this stuff was probably donated." "Why would anyone donate to a bed and breakfast?" "Why would anyone donate to a bed and breakfast, Graeme?" "I think you better go and talk to your mum." "Look, it wasn't even my idea." "It was your father's." "He knew they'd want rid of the place as quickly as possible, so he made them a cash offer." "And he had some idea about moving the place off-site and restoring it somewhere else and then subdividing the section off to the neighbors or something." "Look, I don't remember the details exactly, but the way he explained it to me... we would've got twice what we paid for it." "You knew a girl was murdered in my room and you still let me live in it." "It wasn't an ideal situation, but as I said, it was only supposed to be short term." "Ideal?" "She was stabbed 67 times with a meat fork." "Listen, when you start working and you have to pay bills of your own, we'll see how quick you are to snub your nose at a bargain." "I can see why you never open your mouth, Graeme." "Don't blame him." "He thought you'd already told me." " Why didn't you?" " Because you were four years old." "And by the time you were old enough to know the truth, you never wanted to speak to me anyway." "Look, I'm sorry, Kylie." "Okay?" "I guess I just thought... what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you." ""In what was considered one of New Zealand's most brutal murders," "Elizabeth Chalmers, or Lizzy as she was more commonly known, had been beaten, bitten and stabbed over 60 times with a carving fork." "Police claimed to have multiple suspects, but to date, no arrests have been made." "After alleged reports of assault against staff and an increase in neighborhood crime, this was the last in a long line of unwanted controversies for the church-owned and operated halfway house which was forced to finally shut its doors on February 28, 1996."" "I may have been a bit hasty with my initial investigation." "If I had to make a bet, I'd say this place is crawling with NRE." " What?" " Negative residual energy." " It's what happens when a spirit..." " I don't need to know the lingo." " I just need you to get rid of it." " Well, it's not that simple." " Why did you say it was?" " I didn't." "All I said is I could help you figure out what we're dealing with." "And now we know." "A murdered girl who needs our help." "So what are you suggesting?" "A séance?" "You wanna light some candles, play pass the parcel with a fucking dead girl?" "I don't have time for that." "Kylie, as long as you live in this house, I'm not sure you have a choice." "The thing about the justice system, Kylie, is that they don't really like to make special allowances." "I'm not asking them to change the sentence." "I'm just asking for a transfer." "And in another three months, once you've shown some compliance," " maybe we can ask the judge to reconsider." " Three months?" "I could be dead by then." " What we need is some perspective." " Would you shut up, Dennis?" "I don't need a counseling session." "I just need to get out of this house." "Look, Kylie, unless we can prove that you're in danger to yourself or someone else, then you'll to have to remain here for the time being, okay?" "Now, I won't be offended if you don't eat any of these..." "Miriam, with respect," "I'm worried about how these superstitions might be affecting Kylie's..." "Oh, dear." "Oh, no." "They've been doing this all week." "Hold on." "I'll go and have a look at the switchboard." "It's these old houses, you see." "It doesn't take much to overload them." " Oh, God." "What have I done that for?" " Do you need a hand, Miriam?" "No, I've gotta try to turn the light switch on and off." "Forgot that's why I'm out here in the first place." "Hold on." "I'll have to do it by feel 'cause I can't see what I'm doing." "Right." " What does that one do?" " No." " Anything?" " No." "Oh." "That was it." " Was it?" " The one you did before." "What was that?" "Jesus Christ!" "So from what I understand, you showed some aggressive behavior towards Mr. McRandle in the moments leading up to the incident," " is that correct?" " No." "Okay, so you didn't say, "Shut the fuck up, Dennis." "I don't need a counseling session." "I need to get out of this house."" "To which Mr. Hollis replied," ""Unless we can prove that you're a danger to yourself or someone else, you will have to remain in this house."" "Now, this was in regards to a request that you made for a transfer." "Listen, I didn't have anything to do with this." "I wasn't even in the room at the time." " Can you just stand over there, please?" " What?" "Can you just stand over there while we talk to your mum?" "Anything you want to tell us, Miriam?" "I..." "I don't think there's anything else to add." "It's all been a bit much, to be honest." "So are you happy to proceed with the story that Mr. McRandle was attacked by a vengeful ghost?" " Yes." " Righto." "Look, I'm not overly familiar with things of the supernatural nature, so I don't give any advice on that." "You realize I had to call the probation office?" " Good." " Get in the car." " No." " I'm not gonna ask again." "Oh, fuck off." "What can you do?" "When are you gonna stop acting like a baby and start thinking" " about someone other than yourself?" " What?" "If you were stabbed to death and no one gave a shit, how do you think you'd feel?" "Fucked off." "Why do you think it's you she chose to communicate with?" "I don't fuckin' know." "Well, let me give you a hint." "You both feel like the world owes you something." "You're both permanently pissed off." "And you're both stuck up in that house." "Except her sentence doesn't last eight months." "It lasts forever." "Unless someone's willing to help her out." "It's not gonna change anything." "Maybe she doesn't expect it to." "Maybe she just wants you to listen." "You know what, Lizzy?" "If you've got something to say to me, could you just fucking say it?" "Hello, Mortar." "So you think this was Elizabeth's?" "How many 15-year-old girls do you know with dentures?" "I've got a theory if you wanna hear it." "I reckon she was a thief." "I reckon she was ripping off the neighbors, and one of them got wise to it." " How?" " It doesn't matter how." "The point is he decides to take matters into his own hands." "He sneaks into her room, waits for her to come back." "When she opens the vent to hide her stash, his suspicion pays off." "How's this come into it?" "The newspaper article said she was bitten." "But I don't think that was part of his plan." "I think he just got caught up in the frenzy of it, and he never would have thought to take out his dental plate first." "So he bites into her neck like a fuckin' maniac." "His teeth fall down the vent." "But there's nothing he could have done about it." "All he can do is make sure nobody else ever finds it." " Why are you making that face?" " I don't know." "It seems thin." "What about it seems thin?" "For starters, who kills someone over a brooch?" "It's not a brooch, you fuckwit." "It's a Vacheron Constantin." "It's over a hundred years old, and it still works, which means it's worth a lot of money." "Whoever it belonged to took it's disappearance pretty personally." "So why did he leave it behind?" "I'm sorry, Amos." "Did you have some ideas?" "Am I hogging the floor here?" "Is there something you'd like to bring to the table?" "Don't get shitty." "I'm just being devil's advocate." "No, you're undermining me, and it's starting to piss me off." "Obviously, he meant to take it with him." "But after he'd just spent a fortnight stabbing her, he probably had to make a quick exit." "His name's Mads Kraglund." "He's been in that house since before we got here." "Mum's had to call the council a bunch of times because of this rancid smell that wafts over the fence." "Well, he's skinning possums." "That'll be the smell." "You know what else causes a rancid smell?" "Dead people." "Mum reckons that when one of the other neighbors confronted him about it," "Kraglund pulled a gun on him." "Then when the cops tried to sort it out, she said they found a fridge full of aborted fetuses." "Well, you know, your mum's got a penchant for gossip." "Maybe, but one thing she doesn't have is an imagination." "She couldn't make up something like that." "All right, look, I'll set up a camera on the borderline." "If he gets up to anything out of the ordinary, we'll know all about it." "Fuck that noise." "I say we break in there tonight." "Kylie, I'm not losing my job over this." "Not unless I've got a reason to believe that this guy's a killer." "If that dental plate matches, this could all be over tomorrow." " I can't just break into the guy's house." " Then let me do it." "No." "You know that's not possible." "You know, you've got some nerve." "Two days ago I was gonna walk." "You were the one who made me give a shit." "Do you remember that speech?" "Look, even if I could convince them that there was a fault with the modem, the best I could get you would be half an hour." "I know this guy's routine." "He doesn't get out of bed before 2:00." "All I need to do is go in and get it while he's asleep." "It'll take me three minutes." "Fuck." " What are you doing?" " Just in case we need to break a window." "What?" "You never said anything about breaking windows." "Well, I don't suppose he's gonna leave a key under the mat for us, is he?" "Hey, you should see this guy's house." " Did you get the dental plate?" " I think he's got it with him." "Oh!" "Well, come on." "Let's go." " I might take a look around." " What?" "Well, I'm not gonna leave here empty-handed." "There's got to be something else" " we can pin on him." " Kylie." " Just wait there." "I'll be two seconds." " Kylie." " What's your problem?" " My leg!" " I think I should go back in there." " What?" "I thought he sprung me, but he's completely whacked off his nut." "I saw the dental plate." "It's in a pile of newspapers..." "Do you know what this is?" "This is what happens when a shitty idea blows up in your face." "Except it doesn't blow up in your face, Kylie." "It blows up in mine." "Now, please stop pissing around and help me." "Go." "I need a number for Bucknell, Bulford." "Yes." "Yeah." "Lynfield Road." "Fifty fuckin' cents?" "Kylie, it's Amos." "He's coming." "He's got a gun." " Shit." "What do we do?" " I don't know." "Get out the house." "Hide." "No." "Just browsing, are ya?" "Give me your home address." "Maybe I'll sniff around your shit, see how you like it." " I know what you did." " In relation to what?" "The girl next door, the one you murdered." "How did you come by that estimation?" "From a few old newspapers?" "And this." "That hole in the door was a nifty trick." "Can't say the same about your powers of deduction." "Before you go around accusing people of shit, you ought to get a handle on some of the facts." "Would that be something you'd agree with?" "More or less." "Come." "I'll show you something." "The brooch belonged to my son Eugene." "When I say he was my son, he wasn't my son by blood or any other legitimate means." "But I knew his mother, Joanie." "And when I say I knew her, we had a certain professional arrangement." "You know?" "Anyway, she showed up at my place one day with this young'un." "Skinny as a rake." "Huge black eyes." "Shivering half to death." "I didn't know what they were running from, but I knew that it couldn't be good." "I told them they could stay at my place as long as they needed." "She didn't even last the night." "Now, I'm no Joe Doakes myself, but this kid was really fucking strange." "He never said more than three words, never looked you in the eye and never ate off a plate." "But he had a gift." "He loved mechanical stuff." "Didn't matter whether it was a motor or a circuit board." "He'd figure out a way to make it go." "And me being a bloke that had a lot of stuff that needed fixing," "I thought, shit, maybe this could work out." "Didn't matter whether it was a car engine or a toastie oven, he'd pull it apart and reassemble it again bit by bit, sometimes adding his own twist. "Eugenized."" "That's what I used to call it." "I thought it was pretty funny, until one day I caught him tearing the limbs off a moggy to see if he could put 'em on backwards." "I tried to set him straight, but it wouldn't stick." "The next time he strayed, I did the only thing I felt equipped to do." "Unfortunately, I was coming off the back of a three-day bender and I probably shouldn't have used a tire chain." "I actually thought I killed the little bastard." "Next morning I come back to face up to my sins and he was gone." "That was the last I ever seen him." "How long ago was this?" "About a year before that young lady was killed." "A year's a long time." "How do you know he didn't leave town?" "There's something else you should know about Eugene." "And this makes his disappearance a little hard to explain." "He wasn't a fan of open spaces." "What do you mean?" "Ten years he never went outside." "Barely left the house." "Can I take a look at his room?" "Go for your life." "Well, hello there." "You can record a message by pressing the green button on my fanny pack." "I can still see you." "I tried to tell my mum about you." "I said, "Mum, there's a man who lives in the walls."" "I would never do that to my friend." "Not if you tell me your name." "Not if you tell me your name." "Eugene." "Jesus!" "Je..." "Kylie!" "Hello?" "Hello!" "Officer!" " I thought you were on house arrest." " Officer, you need to help me, please." " Why?" "What's going on?" " We have to go back to my house." "You just left the house, and now you wanna go back?" "No, you don't understand." "My mum might be back by now." "All right, all right." "First thing we need to do is make a statement." "Now, what exactly is this in relation to?" "I was vacuuming the house, and then I put the vacuum back in the cupboard, and I saw that there was this recess and it led to a secret room, and there was this guy in the walls, and he's pale." "He's got black lips and a bung eye, and he's fucking crazy." "I swear to God, he tried to kill me and that's why I took off." " Hold on, hold on." " And then I couldn't..." "You're going too fast here." "Okay." ""Put vacuum cleaner... back in cupboard."" "And the rest is a blur." "What did you say?" "Kylie!" "Don't tell me to calm down!" "Just listen to what I'm telling you!" "There is a man living in the walls of my house, and unless you do something, he's gonna kill my mum!" "Just call my house, please!" "Please." "Yeah." "Hi." "Can you put me through to Probation Services?" "God." " Amos." " Are you okay?" " This is gonna sound insane." " I know." "There's a guy in the walls." "She's telling the truth." "We have to get back to her place." "This is bullshit." "Look." "You see that?" "That hole leads to a passageway inside the walls." "This explanis everything." "There was never any ghost or the noises." "The power bills, the stolen food... it was him." "Not that I'm trying to pick holes, but in the 15 years a deranged killer spends hiding in the attic, you'd think he'd want to do something a little more heinous" " than steal food from the pantry." " Maybe it was just a bad dream." "It wasn't a dream." "Why can't you just fucking look?" "Kylie, we've searched the entire house." "We haven't found anything." "Well, that's not entirely true." "Kylie, it's the drugs you haven't taken that concern me the most." "What are you talking about?" "A year ago you were diagnosed as bipolar." "Yeah, to get on the sickness benefit." "Everyone does it." "Going off your medication can be very dangerous." "Dennis, I think you'll find my mental state is pretty sound compared to the maniac that's living in our fucking walls!" " Now, just listen for a moment..." " No, you listen." "I'm not crazy." "But I will be if you keep trying to rationalize this." "All you need to do is tear down that wall and you'll see what I'm talking about." " Well, we're not going to do that." " Okay, if you won't then I will." "Kylie, sit down." "Sit down." "I realize how difficult this is for you." "But if you can just imagine for a moment that the danger you think you're in may not be as real as it seems." "Are you familiar with the term "dissociative identity disorder?"" " Oh, get fucked." " Just hear him out, Kylie." " Do you ever lose track of time?" " No, I don't." " Do you sometimes hear voices?" " This is ridiculous." " What about your menstruating patterns?" " I beg your pardon?" "A hallmark of the disorder in women is that each personality has its own menstrual cycle." "This would mean that your periods" " are more frequent than usual." " Well, that explains a lot." "When an incident occurs that we don't feel equipped to deal with, the mind has the ability to generate additional personalities." "Yeah, I understand the mechanics of it, shithead." "I just don't understand how this is any less retarded than what I'm suggesting." "These hauntings, the blackouts, the voice on the tape," " it's all just a coping device." " To cope with what?" "This." "Being back in this house." "The thought of spending the next seven months in the one place you've spent your whole life trying to escape." "You've staged an elaborate hoax to give credence to a delusion which is starting to fall apart." "If it's a delusion, how come I'm not the only one that saw him?" "Tell him." "It was years ago, Kylie." "I don't know what I saw." "Get off me!" "Can I make a suggestion?" "I think perhaps it's time we transferred Kylie to the clinic." "She'd be under 24-hour supervision." "We'd have a much better chance of knowing if she stops taking her medication." "Perhaps that would be for the best." "We have to try and present this in a way that she... feels like it's her decision." "All right, I'll leave Grayson here with you... in case she relapses." "Lovely." "Well, if there's anything to be learned from the situation, Kylie, you need to be around people your own age." "Oh!" "Oh!" "Oh, excuse me." "And don't forget, within a few months, we can look at applying for approved absences." "You won't feel quite so shut out from the outside world." "Of course friends and family can come and visit any time as well." "The facilities themselves, they really are top-notch." "The place is fully equipped with a rumpus room, badminton court." "There's even a Flying Fox." "It's dreadfully good fun." "But the whole purpose of Tiaki Wairua..." "is to promote a sense of independence." "So, what do you think?" "Would it be okay?" " Yeah, I think it sounds great." " Wonderful." "Mum, can I talk to you in private for a sec?" "What about?" "Women's stuff." "The only person Eugene ever tried to harm was Dennis." "Why do you think that is?" " I beg your pardon?" " Mum, he has a dental plate." "Well, lots of people have dental plates." "What if he was a counselor at Sunshine Grove?" "If Eugene was hiding in the walls when Lizzy was killed, he would've seen him do it." "Do you see what this means?" "He wasn't trying to scare us." "He was trying to warn us." "Kylie, we've been through this before." " It's all in your head." " That's what he wants us to think." "So you're basing all this on the fact that he's got one of his teeth missing?" "I can prove it." "I just need you to keep him in that room within eyeshot of the cop until I get back." " How am I supposed to do that?" " Just do what you do best." " Miriam, do you mind if I..." " So you live out at Shepherd Heights," " do you, Dennis?" " Yes, yes, that's right." "Well, it's nice up there." "Graeme and I sometimes go to Sammy's on a Wednesday night for the all-you-can-eat buffet." "It's good value, isn't it?" " You must go there all the time, do you?" " No, not... not really." "No, no." "No, you wouldn't." "That's the thing about buffets." "It's all the young kids." "Sure, it's a great place to throw birthday parties, but I wouldn't want your six-year-old's fist in my crème brûlée, thanks very much." "I said, "Go-Ann, how many sick days have you got left?"" "She said, "I don't know." "What is sick day?" This is what she said." "She's a wee Chinese girl." "You know what they're like." "I said, "Your husband's lost the use of both his legs." "You're entitled to a bloody sick day." "Oh, I'm not sure."" " Poor thing." "She didn't understand." " Miriam, look, I'm sorry." "I..." "Maybe it's a cultural thing." "I don't know." "But they're good wee workers." "Miriam!" "I need to use the bathroom, please." " What are you doing?" "Where is he?" " He said he had to go to the toilet." "I told you not to let him out of your sight." "Well, if a man's got to go, he's got to go, doesn't he?" "There's not anything I can do about it, is there?" "Where's the cop?" "I guess he had to go as well." "Officer Grayson?" "Now, hang on a minute, Kylie." "Shouldn't we discuss this first?" "You can't accuse somebody of murder over a cup of tea and a biscuit, Mum." "It doesn't work like that." "But do you really think waving a knife around is gonna do us any favors?" "I don't know." "Let's see how it plays out." " Looking for something?" " I was just using the bathroom." "What's wrong with the one downstairs?" "I was hoping to be discreet." "How did you know we had a bathroom up here?" "What's all this about?" "We were just wondering if maybe you worked here." " Could you let me ask the questions?" " Well, you're taking long enough." "A year before Elizabeth Chalmers was killed you came here on work experience." "First day on the job you get the shit kicked out of you by a 15-year-old girl." "That can't have been fun." "Worst part is you didn't even get paid for it." "Miriam, I think your daughter's a little confused." "No." "No." "I'm the one that's confused." "But I'm starting to get my head around it." "Jesus, Kylie, he's got a bloody corkscrew in his neck." "What are you doing?" "Unless you can find anything else we can use to defend ourselves," "I'm afraid this is all we've got." "Now, would you please come give me a hand?" " Have you got any scissors?" " What for?" "If I can break the strap, it'll send out a tamper signal." "Well..." "Oh, yeah, okay." "Go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Move your fat ass!" "I can't help it, Kylie." "I'm bottom heavy, all right?" "Amos." "Thank God." "I got a tamper signal." "What happened to your face?" "It seems I've made a terrible mistake." "She was telling the truth." "It was Eugene." "He's killed Officer Grayson and he's taken Kylie and Miriam, and I-I can't find them anywhere." "Oh, God, I'm such a fool." " What's that?" " It'll pick up Kylie's signal." "Here, you call the police." "Amos!" "Amos, it's Dennis!" "Did you hear that?" "I need something to wedge this open with." "Nah, it's too thin." "Give me something heavy." "Fuck." "What do you say?" " What?" " Be nice to the man." "Say thank you." " Whose do you think this is?" " I only take the little things." "But I always give 'em back." "You're okay, sweetheart?" " Do you need some help?" " I'm fine." "You're as pale as a sheet." "You should drink some water." " What?" "What is it?" " I don't know, but it's not fucking water." "Is this funny, is it, mate?" "You seem to find this whole situation quite amusing." "Kylie, don't." "Two people are dead." "My leg's been split open like a fucking bagel, and this bottom-feeding little pissant thinks it's hysterical." "He saw what happened to Elizabeth." "You never tried to stop it." "You never called for help." " You just sat there and watched." " He doesn't mean us any harm." "That doesn't change the fact that he's a gutless maggot." " Kylie!" " What?" "You're always antagonizing people." "Just stop it." "I'm antagonizing?" "We wouldn't even be in this shit if it wasn't for him." " You can't blame him." " Why not?" "'Cause he's not right in the head obviously." "It's not gonna do us any good to upset him." "Oh, am I upsetting you, Eugene?" "I'm sorry." "I didn't realize..." "This me?" " It's good." " I've got other ones." "That's you in the bathtub." "Is there gonna be more of these pictures?" "No." "That's you on the first day of school." "That's you when you got expelled." "That's you stealing Amarula from the liquor cabinet." "That's you being sick from drinking too much Amarula." "That's you punching your mum in the face after she told you off." "That's you not feeling very good about it." "That's you the day you went away." "And that's us waiting for you to come back." "Who's this one?" "Is this Lizzy?" "Why didn't you tell somebody?" "I thought they'd take me away." "I thought they'd think I did it." "I was only small, Kylie." "I was only a kid." "You have to help us, Eugene." "Please." "I know a place we can hide." "Eugene..." "Now, see, this is a perfect example of what happens when we don't discuss our problems openly." "Is this how you work through your problems, Dennis?" "I don't need you to tell me what I did was wrong." "And I'm not trying to make excuses." "But anyone who says there's no such thing as a bad egg... obviously hasn't worked in social services." "All I ever wanted to do was help people." "But you've got no idea what it's like to try and help someone... when all they want to do is throw it back in your face." "Fuckin' hell." "What shall I say?" "There's been a murder?" "Attempted murder?" " Look, do you want to talk to them?" " Why don't you just say..." "Just say something's come up and you'll have to phone them back." "All right, there she is, looking very excited." "And here's Amos with the special..." "Oh." "Is that all you do?" "You just cut it off with a pair of scissors?" " Yep." " Oh." "And then what do you do with it?" "Just chuck it in the rubbish." "Or we can keep it as a souvenir." " Did you hear that, Graeme?" " Eh?" "Amos was just saying to Kylie..." "Oh, don't worry." " Okay, here we go." " Oh, hold on." "Why has it done that?" " What?" " It's just turned itself off." "It can't just turn off by itself." "You must've press something." " No, I didn't." "I didn't press anything." " Is the battery flat?" "Well, it shouldn't be." "It's been on the charger all night." "Eugene!"