"Turn around." "Turn the car around and get the hell out of here." "Right now." "Don`t go back." "Do not go back there." "Hey!" "Hey!" "What the hell1s going on here?" "You stole my story." "Well?" "l1m sorry." "Do l--?" "l don1t know you." "l know that." "That doesn1t matter. I know you, Mr. Rainey, that1s what matters." "You stole my story." "You1re mistaken." "I don1t read manuscripts." "You read this one already." "You stole it." "I can assure you that l-- l know you can. I know that." "I don1t want to be assured." "If you want to talk to someone about some grievance you feel you have..." "...call my literary agent in New York." "This is between you and me." "We don1t need outsiders, Mr. Rainey." "It is strictly between you and me." "All right, look, mister, whoever you are I don1t like being accused of plagiarism if that1s what you1re accusing me of." "Chico, inside." "I don1t blame you for not liking it, but you did it." "You stole my story." "Leave. I have nothing more to say." "Yeah, l1ll go." "We1ll talk more later." "l1m not taking that." "Won1t do you any good to play games with me, Mr. Rainey." "This has got to be settled." "So far as l1m concerned, it is." "11Sowing Season." "John Shooter.11" "Never heard of you, pal." "Never heard of your story." "Now where was I?" "l1m open to suggestions." "If you don1t go and bite her, l1ll kill her." ""Four days after George had confirmed to his satisfaction that his wife was cheating on him, he confront--"" "This is just bad writing." "Just bad writing." "So you know what to do." "Just do it." "No bad writing." "I think that solves it." "Oh, I found one of your stories in the trash, Mr. Rainey." "I thought you might want it, so I put it on the table." "Yeah, I see that, Mrs. Garvey." ""Todd Downey thought that a woman who would steal your love when your love was really all you had, was not much of a woman." "He, therefore, decided to kill her." "He would bury her in the deep corner formed where the house and the barn came together at an extreme angle." "He would bury her where his wife kept her garden." "The garden she loved more than she loved him. "" "Oh, shit." "Oh, sh" "Thank God." "From the sound of you, I didn1t know what to think." "Let me get this." "That1s my job." "l1m terribly sorry, Mrs. Garvey." "I really am." "l1ll take care of this." "Go on back to work." "l didn1t write this." "Oh, I thought you did." "No, it1s not mine." "Look, it says John Shooter right there. lt1s not me." "Oh, I thought it was one of those whatchamacallums, pseudo-names or 11-nyms.11" "No." "No, I never used one." "l1ve never used one." "Oh, I can1t imagine why you would." "I mean, hide behind a made-up name." "No." "Mrs. Garvey, what l1m trying to tell you is that someone else wrote this." "Oh." "Okey dokey, then." ""A woman who`d steal your love when your love was all you had wasn`t much of a woman." "That, at least, was Tommy Haverlock`s opinion." "He decided to kill her." "He even knew the place he would bury her." "The exact place." "The little patch of garden she kept in the extreme angle formed where the old and new parts of the house came together." "He`d bury her in the garden she loved more than she loved him. "" "Come to the flea market with me." "It`ll be fun." "We1ve got to get rid of some of this stuff." "Look at this, it1s awful." "No wonder they left it." "Oh, my God, look, there1s a window." "lt1s a secret window." "Oh, this is perfect." "l1m gonna put my garden right there." "lt1s a secret window, and it1ll look down on a secret garden." "Shit." "I didn1t steal it." "What?" "Mr. Rainey?" "l1m all done." "Really?" "So soon?" "Well..." "..." "l1ll see you next time." "Mr." "Rainey there1s something I want to say." "Some women don1t know a good thing when they got it." "They don1t know they got the whole world right in front of their nose." "There." "That1s it." "Not another word from me." "Mr. Rainey?" "Can I make you something to eat?" "No. I ate." "Well, earlier." "l1m going to eat later." "And l1ll make it myself." "You1re a good man, Mr. Rainey." "You too, Mrs. Garvey." "lt1s my personal business, Mrs. Garvey." "Thank you very much." "My pillows now." "Her sticky, weird fingers on my privacy." "I didn1t steal that story." "I don1t think." "Hello?" "Hello, Mort." "Are you all right?" "Yeah. l1m all right." "Why wouldn1t I be all right?" "I don`t know." "You1re up there alone." "Anything could happen and nobody would know." "I`d know." "Right." "How`s my little baby puppy?" "Did Chico get those cataracts removed?" "Why did you call, Amy?" "What do you want?" "I had one of those feelings I get." "I know you think they1re stupid and you don1t believe them but I believe them." "I was making a sandwich and I had a sensation that you might not be okay." "I held off as long as possible." "But then I couldn1t anymore, so here I am." "Well, I don1t know what to tell you except l1m fine." "Nothing weird happened or anything?" "Do you remember 11Secret Window11?" "What?" "My story." "You know, the one where the woman has the garden and then the guy has the shovel." "Not one of my favorites." "That1s good to know." "Well, it was kind of hostile, don1t you think?" "Gee, I miss your constructive criticism." "I really do." "What about the story, Mort?" "I was just wondering, do you think it1s possible that I might have been influenced by anybody or anything at that time?" "Other than Jack Daniel1s?" "I know that part, Amy, hence the question." "I don`t know." "You got weird on that one." "You`d write it mostly at night, I think." "What do you mean, 11influenced11?" "I don`t know." "Like, by another story?" "Look, forget it." "Mort, you swore the one time was the only time." "Forget it, please." "Please, just forget it." "Come on." "How1s Ted?" "He1s fine." "I was thinking that he and I should get together sometime, have a drink because we1ve been to a lot of the same places." "You know what?" "I gotta go." "So do I." "Okay." "ls he there?" "No." "We1re not together." "Wow, well l1d be lying if I said I wasn1t on the verge of doing Snoopy dances." "No, Mort." "What I meant was we1re not together at the moment." "He`s coming over later." "He hardly ever comes here." "I usually go to his house." "There1s a useful detail." "Thanks for that." "Don1t ask, then." "It was working just fine that way." "I think you should have him over to the house more." "Such a nice house. I like it." "I mean, I love it." "That1s why I bought it." "Goodbye, Mort." "Goodbye, Amy." "Shit." "Shit." "Shit." "Stupid." "Stupid." "Stupid." "You read it?" "l did." "I imagine it rang a bell, didn1t it?" "Oh, it certainly did." "When did you write it?" "I thought you1d ask that." "That1s the whole point." "Two writers have the same story, it1s all about who wrote the words first." "Wouldn1t you say that1s true?" "l suppose so." "I suppose that1s why I came all the way up here from Mississippi." "I wrote it seven years ago, 1 99 7." "How1d you get it?" "That1s what I really want to know." "How in the hell did a big money-scribbling asshole like you get down to a little shitsplat town in Mississippi and steal my goddamn story?" "Drop it." "Drop it?" "Drop it." "What in the hell do you mean, drop it?" "You said you wrote your story in 1 99 7." "I wrote mine in late 194." "It was published for the first time in June 1 995 in a magazine." "Nice try, Mr. Shooter, but I beat you by two years." "If anybody1s got a bitch about plagiarism, it1s me." "You lie!" "No, I don1t!" "Prove it!" "I don1t have to prove a thing to you." "Go look for yourself." "Ellery Queen`s Mystery Magazine, June 1 995." "And how am I supposed to find that?" "That1s not my problem." "Am I supposed to drive down to your house in Riverdale, New York and ask your wife, Amy, for it?" "I read it on your book jacket." "That1s not my house." "That1s hers." "What the hell does that mean?" "What do you think, you ignorant hick?" "l1m in the middle of a divorce." "D-l-V-O-R-C-E." "Divorce." "You strike me as the kind of guy who1s on the lookout for a head he can knock off with a shovel." "But what you don1t understand is, if we do start to fight it1s not going to end until one or the other of us is dead." "Hold your water, l1m just getting my smokes." "I don1t smoke." "l1ll give you three days." "Call your ex and get her to send you the magazine with your story in it if there is such a magazine and l1ll be back." "If I show you, will you go back where you came from and leave me alone?" "Three days." "Always a pleasure to meet a reader." "I don1t want to call her." "I want to go to sleep." "I want to take a nap." "Okay." "No nap." "I give her a call about the magazine I go write some crap for a couple of hours and then I get to take a nap." "Right?" "Chico?" "Chico" "Don`t be discouraged" "All right, go ahead and be discouraged, you blind bastard." "See if I care." "And returned to the couch in shame degradation and sloth." "Sloth." "Shooter!" "l1ll get you for this!" "You hear me?" "l1ll get you for this!" "Chico?" "He killed Chico?" "Yeah." "Last night around 9." "I was asleep." "Look, he left this." "11You have three days." "l1m not joking." "No police.11" "Anytime somebody sits down and writes 11No police11 that1s exactly the time that a fella should get himself over to the police." "Yeah, well, that1s what I figured." "So, what l1ve got is a detailed description of him and his car." "Type a little harder." "You have to get through the carbon." "I didn1t get the license plate number but l1m sure it had Mississippi tags, and I think that it started with an A." "That1s what I see in my mind." "Needlepoint." "Can you believe it?" "Doc says it1s good for the arthritis." "Anyway, anything you can find out about this guy, l1d appreciate it." "I must cut quite an intimidating law-enforcement figure, huh?" "l1d like to know what l1m dealing with." "Maybe he has a violent history." "Maybe you can find him, talk to him." "I think that would be better." "So you got yourself a member of the crazy folks tribe?" "Yeah. I mean, they pop up every once in a while." "I suppose it1s just the price of selling a few books." "Sorry." "Here1s the...." "Here1s that description." "Of course, killing an animal isn1t like killing a man." "l1m not even sure it1s a crime, come to think." "Come on, it1s gotta be." "What about animal cruelty?" "What about destruction of private property?" "What about--?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Maybe." "Okay." "First thing l1m going to need is a description." "Tell me the truth." "Did you steal it?" "What?" "No!" "Kind of an amazing coincidence, don1t you think?" "The stories being so much alike?" "Obviously he copied me." "Would you like to choose a side before we go on?" "l1m on your side." "But I still need to know the truth." "Which kind of situation is this?" "is he a regular wacko like you1ve had before, in which case I can help or something you should talk to your lawyer about?" "No, this guy is just simply out of his mind." "That1s all it is." "Fine." "Okay." "What do you want me to do?" "I want you to help me in the same way that-- ln the same way that you did before." "He wasn1t this crazy." "That guy was just an obsessed reader who couldn1t tell real life from the crap you make up for a living." "No offense." "Now, this Shooter guy, he threaten your life?" "He put a screwdriver through my dog." "Well, he did break a law but it doesn1t seem to be a very important law in Tashmore Lake." "The sheriff must be a cat person." "Yeah, well, I don1t exactly feel safe with a 70-year-old arthritic sheriff watching my back." "Are you gonna help me or not?" "Let1s see I got a corporate loyalty thing I got to be back for on Friday but I can give you a couple of days." "Okay." "My story came out a couple years before he says he wrote his." "l1ve got a copy of the original at Amy1s house." "I was just gonna stop by on my way upstate and pick it up." "Amy1s house?" "Yeah." "Amy and I split up six months ago." "l1m sorry." "Yeah, me too." "Amicable?" "Not remotely." "What happened?" "You finally nail one of your groupies at a book signing?" "The Omaha Barnes and Noble?" "That was a dick thing to say, you know?" "Rotten profession." "I apologize." "You were saying?" "l was saying that if it1s just proof that this guy wants, fine. I show him the magazine." "But I think maybe you should be with me when I do." "No shit, l1m gonna be with you." "You remember my rate?" "Yeah." "An obscene fortune, right?" "You1ll see a black Cadillac in the driveway tonight when you get home." "Don1t freak out, it1s me keeping an eye on things." "Okay." "Get a good night1s sleep." "You don1t look too hot." "This is not my beautiful house." "This is not my beautiful wife." "Anymore." "You scared the shit out of me." "Hey, l1m sorry about that." "This last week must have finally caught up with me." "That1s very reassuring." "Thanks." "Hey, relax, Hemingway." "I was only out 1 0 minutes, swear to God." "Already checked the place." "Everything is fine." "Just waiting for you to get back to let you know." "You think you1ll be sticking around tonight, or...?" "No." "Not unless you want me to." "No." "No." "No, l1m sure it1s fine in there." "Nope." "No monsters up here." "Did you check under my bed?" "Even in your toy chest." "l1ll be back in the morning." "Start asking around town." "What the hell you gonna do with that, sailor?" "Find out who else saw your nut-job." "Tom Greenleaf." "Tom Greenleaf passed by when I was talking to Shooter." "He waved at us, so he must have gotten a good look at him." "Tom Greenleaf." "How do I get ahold of him?" "Bowie1s store, breakfast every morning, 9 a.m." "Okay, I got it." "Don1t worry." "Once I find out where this Shooter1s staying l1ll stop in for a little freak-me-out chat." "Use the word 11we11 a lot." "11We know what you1re doing." "We want it to stop." "We1re watching you.11" "Trust me, he1ll hit the road so hard, it1ll hit back." "Hey." "You know what?" "Are you staying in town tonight?" "Yeah, some motel out by Route 9." "lrv1s Lakesider, I think it1s called." "You know the place?" "Yeah, I know the place." "Okay." "Good night." "Hello?" "Shit." "I know you1re in there, shithead!" "If you don1t come out by the time I count to five l1m gonna come in swinging." "One." "Two!" "I killed a mirror." "And my shower door." "I don1t care. l1m just gonna smoke." "l1m just gonna totally smoke." "l1ll finish these, go to the store... l1ll finish these, go to the store get a brand-new pack, smoke the shit out of that one." "Thought you didn1t smoke." "I took it up recently for my health." "How are you, Mr. Rainey?" "Oh, l1m just peachy, Mr. Shooter." "How are you?" "Well, it sounded like you pitched a fit or something in there." "I don1t think you1re really all that well." "Stealing from another man, that don1t seem to have ever bothered you none." "Being caught up on, though." "Or maybe it1s just that successful writers like you throw tantrums when things don1t go the way they expect." "Why didn1t you get that magazine?" "You were down there at her house today, weren1t you?" "If I get this story and I show it to you will you then kindly disappear?" "There isn1t any magazine with that story in it, Mr. Rainey." "You and me, we know that." "Okay, then." "What can we do to make you feel better?" "I want you to fix it." "What would you like me to fix?" "My ending." "The one you wrecked." "I can1t decide what1s worse stealing my story or ruining the ending." "Mine was perfect." "l don1t think I read your whole story." "Oh, I bet you did." "111l know I can do it,1 Todd Downey said helping himself to another ear of corn from the steaming bowl." "1l1m sure that in time her death will be a mystery even to me.111" "That1s how the story ends, pilgrim." "lt1s the only ending." "You1re going to write it for me and get it published." "And it1s gonna have my name on it." "l1d be more than happy to write your ending, Mr. Shooter." "Saw that wife of yours coming out of the house." "She1s purty." "My wife?" "Why don1t we just leave her out of this." "Would if I could but l1m starting to think you ain1t gonna leave me that option." "You want to wake up from one of your stupid naps and find Amy nailed to your garbage bin?" "Or turn on the radio some morning and hear she came off second-best in a match with the chain saw you keep out in the shed?" "Do you?" "You can1t get away with it." "I know what you did and I ain1t quitting until right gets put right." "ls that you, John Wayne?" "Mort?" "Are you there?" "Mort?" "Yes, Amy, l1m here." "Just lower your voice a little." "What is it?" "Where have you been?" "I`ve been trying to get ahold of you all night and this morning." "I was asleep." "Oh, great, so you unplugged the phone?" "How may I assist you, Amy?" "Oh, God, Mort." "What happened?" "What?" "Someone burned down our house." "That`s what happened, okay?" "What?" "Someone burned down our house!" "Bye, babe." "Pardon me, miss." "You left $ 1 00 on the dresser." "Shut up!" "Surely the escort service told you I was three." "Please." "Some guys are less, some guys are 1 00 if you like that kind of thing." "Some guys are less than that, but l1m three. I happen to be three." "There1s something on your mouth there." "Bye." "Mort!" "Hi." "Hi." "l1m really sorry about all this, Amy." "So am I." "Me too." "Thank you, Ted." "Mr. and Mrs. Rainey?" "Yes." "You the owners?" "Yes, we are." "We were the owners." "Were the owners?" "What do you mean?" "You don1t own it anymore?" "Were Mr. and Mrs. Rainey." "Are the owners." "l1m Steven Bradley, Riverdale P.D." "How do you do?" "Ted Milner." "This is Fire Chief Wickersham." "Chief." "We won1t keep you long." "The insurance investigator needs to see you at 3." "You1re victims of arson." "The fire was started by an incendiary device made with a champagne bottle and a couple of quarts of gasoline." "Oh, that really works, then, eh?" "So first question:" "Enemies." "You got any?" "No." "No one." "No, no." "Not a soul." "Bother you if I answer one or two of these, Ted?" "lt1s okay. lt1s cool." "Yeah." "I have an enemy." "Sorry I wasn1t there to meet you this morning." "I spent last night poking around the site with a flashlight and a Polaroid." "Oops." "Broke one of my own rules." "I don1t like to call it 11the site.11 lt wasn1t a site, it was a house." "Your house, and l1m sorry for your loss." "Thank you very much, Mrs. Evans." "It still says 11Mrs.11?" "Fran is fine." "These meetings are hard." "People in your situation are already upset and quite often they see an investigator as an accusation that they1ve torched their own property." "And in this case, you1ve given us a plausible suspect who we1ll investigate aggressively along with the police." "But in the meantime, that1s a list of your claimed insurable property." "Read it and sign an affidavit swearing that the items still belong to you and that they were inside when the fire occurred." "l1m told there was a separation of residence recently so that last bit will be important." "We1re going through a divorce." "lt1s not final yet." "Well, the settlement agreement1s all done." "Everything1s been negotiated we1re just waiting for it to be signed by both parties." "I moved out about six months ago and just hadn1t gotten around to hauling all the stuff out yet, so...." "Been down that road." "Sucks." "These things just have to follow their natural course." "Things will wrap up when everybody1s ready for that to happen." "That1s been my feeling." "In the meantime, do the best you can with the list." "Thanks." "Do you actually intend to rubberneck?" "I hardly think my concern could be construed as rubbernecking." "Amy, he1s rubbernecking." "l1m not gonna freak out about this, but, I mean, this is our stuff." "No." "All right." "He1s right." "This is our stuff." "He1s right." "He1s right, Ted." "He is right." "The law says you have no right to see the listed items at all." "We wink at things like this if nobody minds, but it seems Mr. Rainey does." "Yes." "Mr. Rainey minds a lot." "Would it help matters if I took a walk around the block?" "Yes, thanks." "Sure." "Oh, heck, Ted, live a little." "Make it two." "Rubbernecker." "Mort." "Wait. I need to ask you something." "What?" "This guy, Shooter." "His story. I mean, is this situation like the other time?" "l1m sorry. I wouldn1t bring it up, but it did happen once before." "Look, that is the only time l1ve ever done anything remotely like that." "I paid the guy everything he wanted." "Never happened before or since." "Okay." "Okay." "Okay." "Amy." "What?" "Only you, me and the lawyers know about that, right?" "Right." "Because you haven1t said anything to Ted." "Surely not." "No." "Have you said something to Ted?" "Come on!" "Well, do I have timing or what?" "Yes, you do." "Sorry you had to miss that." "I know how much you like my things." "Oh, Jesus." "You and me are gonna have a talk." "Be back in 1 0 minutes." "l1m in trouble." "l1ve had enough of your bullshit." "You1re a dick." "Do you feel better?" "Yes, I do." "Yeah, look, marriages end." "l1m sorry, but I didn1t end yours." "It was done by the time I got there." "Really?" "You must1ve thought her wedding ring was a little strange." "Oh, man." "Listen, I apologized to you months ago." "I know you don1t want me in your life." "I don1t want you in mine either." "But until this little divorce thing1s done, not much we can do about it." "But I will not let you upset Amy any more than you already have." "So why don1t we just wrap this thing up and get out of each other1s lives--?" "Are we getting the message l1m sending?" "Where are we from, Teddy?" "Tennessee Morty." "I was gonna say Mississippi." "No." "Long way from there." "Little place called Shooter1s Bay." "Come on, Karsch." "Five hundred dollars a day." "Where are you when I need you?" "What--?" "What fresh hell...?" "Yeah?" "Where you been all day?" "I might ask you the same question." "Relax, you`re fine." "I checked the cabin an hour ago." "Well, he showed up an hour after you left last night." "Oh, really?" "Then he had a busy night." "My office called me about your Riverdale house. l1m sorry." "The worst part is, I hadn`t had a chance to get the magazine out." "The one with the story he says I stole." "That`s gone up in smoke now." "Do you still want to go through with it?" "Meeting?" "Showing him the magazine?" "Hell, yes, man." "l1ve had a shitty year." "I want it settled now." "Everything." "Good." "I called your agent when I heard about the house." "I figured he1d have a copy of the magazine." "He sent the original by UPS overnight today." "You can pick it up tomorrow after 3." "I knew there was a reason I hired you." "There`s something else." "I caught up with your Tom Greenleaf today." "The guy who drove past you and Shooter on the lake road." "Well, he`s a weird one." "First he says he did go down to the Lake Drive on Tuesday and he saw you like you said." "But then he gets nervous and says:" "11No, come to think of it, I didn1t." "Didn1t see anybody." "Wasn1t even on Lake Drive on Tuesday.11" "Yeah, well, Tom1s old." "Maybe just slipped his mind." "Don1t be naive." "He was scared shitless." "Somebody got to him." "Come on, wait." "Why would Shooter care if Tom Greenleaf knows he1s here?" "Well, it depends." "On what?" "On what he plans to do to you." "l1m revising my opinion, Mort." "I don1t think Shooter1s just some nut." "We need to consider the possibility that he was hired to do this." "Somebody with a grudge against you hires a tough guy to rattle you scare you to death." "But he hires the wrong guy." "Things get out of control." "They go further than they1re supposed to." "Dead dogs burnt-down houses." "Now he can1t call him off." "Ted." "Who?" "Ted." "Amy1s Ted." "The Ted that Amy left me for." "That1s why he calls himself Shooter." "Ted wants me to know it1s him." "He1s trying to intimidate me, trying to send me a message." "Why?" "What does he want?" "I don`t know." "Did you piss him off?" "l might have." "Okay, here`s what we do." "What proof do you have that Shooter was there?" "Other than the manuscript." "Physical evidence, I`m talking about." "Bruises. I got bruises on my arms from where he grabbed me." "All right." "You and me are going to go see Greenleaf together." "All right." "Bring the manuscript." "Bring your bruises." "l1m gonna push the guy hard, make it impossible for him to lie." "If he1ll tell the police he was threatened too, we1ve got something." "Bowie1s store, breakfast?" "9 a.m. sharp." "I`ll see you there." "And bring your six-gun, pilgrim." "It is a good ending." "Oh, shit." "Shit." "Pall Mall." "Cracker bastard." "Sorry." "Ken?" "Tom?" "Would you like a pack?" "I don1t smoke." "Did a guy come in here looking for me around 9:00?" "No." "Big guy, kind of a New York-cop type." "No." "No, that doesn1t ring a bell." "I overslept." "Well, maybe he did too, because he wasn1t here." "Yeah." "What are you doing here?" "Matter of fact, I was just on my way over to your place." "Where1s your buddy?" "Came alone." "Sure you did." "I know what you1re up to." "Look, Mort...." "A lot of what1s going on right now is my fault." "Most of it, in fact." "What do you want?" "I want you out of our life." "Gotta sign your papers, Mort." "My divorce papers?" "Tell her to send them to my lawyer." "She did." "He said that you won1t return his calls for weeks." "This is about the settlement?" "Just calm down." "Money?" "lt1s not about money." "This is about getting this thing done." "Because l1m afraid if we don1t, who knows where it might go." "I think you know what I mean." "Well, Teddy, I think I do, but here1s the problem:" "I don1t respond well to intimidation." "Makes me feel icky." "You know?" "You know, l1m attempting to have a normal conversation here." "I buried my dog, mister." "This whole thing is out of your control now." "You know it, I know it." "You started this shit, l1m gonna finish it." "Now, do me a favor, go back and tell that to your filthy little friend." "God!" "Bummer, Ted." "Yeah?" "Go to where we met the other day." "Walk down the path a little way." "Why?" "I`ll catch up with you this afternoon." "Anybody you call between now and then is your responsibility." "Tom?" "Greenleaf?" "Quarter past 2." "You been out about three hours." "Your leg1s sleeping." "You laid on the damn thing." "Now, I would have moved you, but I didn1t want to wake you." "Got tired of waiting." "Almost pinned a note on you." "Decided not to." "You scare too easy." "I wouldn1t go too far if I were you." "I hooked you to those two men in more ways than you know." "You1re insane." "l1m going to the police." "Whose screwdriver you think is in that fella1s head?" "If you leave them here and I disappear you1ll find yourself standing with your head in the noose and your feet in Crisco." "What do you want from me?" "Why, I told you that already, Mr. Rainey." "I want you to fix my story." "The one you stole." "Or ain1t you ready to admit it yet?" "I did not steal your story." "I expect you1ll let yourself go to Greenhaven for murder before you1ll admit it." "I have the magazine, you lunatic!" "I have the magazine!" "I have the goddamn magazine!" "You have this so-called magazine right now?" "On me, no." "I was gonna go pick it up at 3:00." "There can1t be any magazine." "Not with that story in it." "That story is mine." "What do you want?" "To kill me?" "Why don1t you just do it?" "Just kill me." "No, sir." "These others here were gonna get in the way of our business." "I couldn1t have that." "You bring me that story if it exists." "Your house in two hours." "You got some heavy lifting here first." "l1d get to it if I were you." "By the way if you talk to that sheriff of yours again or if you don1t show up at 4:00 I will burn your life and every person in it like a cane field in a high wind." "When I show you the magazine that has my name on the contents page with my story inside..." "...then what?" "Then I turn myself in." "But l1d take care of myself before a trial, Mr. Rainey." "Because if things turn out that way then I suppose I am crazy." "And that kind of crazy man has no reason or excuse to live." "Listen, you got my hat." "I want it, one way or the other." "Hello?" "Mort?" "Yeah, hi." "l1ve been so worried about you." "Are you okay?" "l1m okay. l1m okay, Amy." "Are you sure?" "When I saw you yesterday, you seemed so strained. I mean...." "What?" "Do you... ?" "Do you think things would1ve been different if we hadn1t lost the baby?" "Jesus Christ, I don1t-- Amy, I don1t know." "Let me call you later. I gotta go." "I gotta be somewhere." "What?" "What is it, Amy?" "Breathe." "Breathe." "Take a breath." "Where are you?" "You at Ted1s?" "Yeah." "How we feeling about old Ted these days?" "I don1t know." "I love him, I guess." "That1s good." "I didn`t go with other men, you know." "I always wanted to tell you that I didn`t go with other men." "Only Ted, and only the last few months after you and me were already over." "If we were over while we were still together, you might1ve mentioned it because it was news to me." "That1s because you weren1t there anymore." "You were gone all the time." "I worked at home, Amy!" "That1s not what I mean." "Even when you were with me, you were gone, up in your head." "I don`t think that I looked in your eyes and saw you looking back at me I mean, really with me, for the last two years." "You know what, you1re right." "You1re absolutely right. lt1s all my fault." "No. I was a chickenshit." "Ted wanted us to tell you together." "He kept asking, I kept putting it off." "I`ll never forget that look on your face." "Get out!" "Get out!" "l gotta go." "Mort, wait." "Can`t we just--?" "No!" "l1ve gotta go." "Will you call me if you need me?" "I doubt it." "Can I come up there?" "Why on earth would you do that?" "You still haven1t signed the papers yet, Mort." "I know you don`t want to deal with it." "Me neither." "But everything`s been negotiated." "We don`t disagree on a thing." "I don`t understand why you won`t sign." "Don`t you want to get it over with?" "Unbelievable." "You were worried about me, and I believed you." "What an idiot." "I am worried." "You sound like you did six months ago, and I think it1s my fault." "lt1s my fault, and I wish I could take it back, but I can1t." "I guess you shouldn1t have fucked him, then!" "You1re not going up there?" "I am not going to dance around this anymore." "Once he signs, it1ll be over." "We won1t have these horrible conversations." "All right, well, l1m going with you." "I just...." "I really think I should go alone, Ted." "Well, that makes no sense." "Just the sight of you is gonna send him." "I was married to the guy for 1 0 years, I know how to talk to him." "All I want is for this to be over." "Excuse me." "l1ll be back around 7." "Hey, Mr. Rainey!" "l1d like to" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Hey." "Mr. Rainey." "Mr. Rainey, are you all right?" "l1m sorry, my throat just double-clutched on me for a second." "You1re very pale." "Yeah, thank you." "Did the UPS guy drop anything off for me?" "Just the one thing." "Pardon me?" "Just the one thing, I said." "Oh." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Welcome." "Post office would have a cow if they knew we handled the UPS guy1s stuff." "I know that, and I certainly appreciate it." "You won1t tell them, will you?" "No way." "Good." "Because I saw what you did." "l1m sorry?" "l said, they1d shoot me if you did." "You ought to go home and lie down, Mr. Rainey." "You don1t look well at all." "Yeah, that1s...." "That1s a good idea." "Cute." "Got a minute?" "Well, no. I really don1t right now." "But l1ll give you a call later." "Okay." "Sure." "l1m gonna call you on the phone, okay?" "Okay." "Nineteen ninety-five." "Contents." "Eighty-three." "Eighty-three." "Eighty-one." "Eighty-two." "Ninety-nine." "Ninety-nine." "You cut it out." "You son of a bitch." "You cut it out of the magazine." "Wait a minute." "How would he do that?" "I don1t know but he did it." "Think about it." "How?" "I don1t know." "Why`d you put it on?" "I don1t know." "Maybe he wanted you to." "Why would he want me to put his hat on?" "Maybe he wants you to...." "Maybe he wants me to what?" "To get confused." "Oh, l1m already confused, pilgrim." "Plenty confused." "So don1t talk to me about confusion." "Wait a minute." "Back up just a sec." "What about that?" "What about what?" "Well, 11pilgrim.11 11Shooter1s Bay.11" "And the half a dozen other details you1ve chosen to ignore." "You know what?" "You1re nuts. I don1t need to listen to this shit from you." "Are all these things coincidences?" "l1m wearing his bruises, aren1t I?" "Aren1t I?" "Are you?" "Well...." "This doesn1t make any sense." "Would you like to hear something that does make sense?" "Call the police." "Call Dave Newsome, tell him to come here this second and lock you up before you can do any more damage." "l1m gonna get a knife and cut you out of me." "Before you kill anyone else." "I didn1t kill anybody." "You had a gun." "Wasn`t loaded." "Really?" "No." "You almost killed them." "You wanted to." "The gun was not loaded!" "You still want to." "Shut up!" "Listen to me." "Because this is how it happens." "This is how it happens to people." "Shut up!" "There is no John Shooter." "There never has been." "You invented him." "Listen to me, not to him, before it1s too late." "Leave me alone!" "You are alone." "You`re not handling this." "What you`re doing is wrong." "You have no idea what you`re doing." "You`ve been eating potato chips this way for 30 years." "For 30 years." "Sister found out about the broken window." "The school had to be withdrawn from the competition." "Sister found out about the broken windows." "Then she got up from the table." "We didn`t talk for the rest of the night." "Todd Downey thought a woman who`d steal your love" "What does Todd have to do with it?" "Everything." "I`m starting to believe Todd was right." "Everything that you`re doing is wrong." "What is happening to me?" "Oh, I think you know." "I think you have a real good idea." "You don1t exist." "Me?" "I exist, Mr. Rainey." "I exist because you made me." "Check it out." "You thought me up." "l1m a dairy farmer from Mississippi." "Gave me my name." "Told me everything you wanted me to do." "I did them things so you wouldn1t have to." "Right up there, Tom." "We were standing right there." "Yeah, I know, Mort. I saw you." "I didn1t want to say it in front of him, but you were alone." "I know, Tom." "Look, just pull over for a second. I want to show you something." "Didn1t have the stomach to do it yourself, but you knew I did." "Are we done yet?" "We got things all cleaned up around here?" "What1s the real reason I come for?" "Fix the story." "That1s right." "Fix the ending." "Got to fix the ending." "And how exactly do you suppose we ought to do that?" "Mort?" "Mort?" "Are you there?" "I saw your car outside." "Hello?" "Mort?" "Chico?" "That explains a lot." "What the hell?" "Hi." "Jesus, Mort." "Where1d you get that old thing?" "The attic?" "lt1s mine." "Wasn1t ever anybody else1s." "Mort, what1s wrong?" "You got you a wrong number, missus." "Ain1t no Mort here." "Mort1s dead." "He did a lot of squirming around but in the end he couldn1t lie to himself anymore, let alone to me." "Now, I never put a hand on him, missus. I swear." "He took the coward1s way out." "Why are you talking this way?" "That1s just the way I talk." "You1re scaring me." "It don1t matter." "You won1t be scared long." "Oh, God." "Oh, God." "Help!" "l1m about done fussing with you." "I am so sorry, missus but right is right and fair is fair and something has got to be done." "By the way, I want you to know that none of this was my idea." "It was Mr. Rainey all along." "You are Mort Rainey." "I got a place for you." "You are Mort Rainey." "I got it all picked out." "You are Mort Rainey." "Mort...." "Amy?" "Amy?" "Ted." "Amy?" "Ted!" "No!" "No!" "111l know I can do it,1 Todd Downey said helping himself to another ear of corn from the steaming bowl." "1l1m sure that in time her death will be a mystery even to me.111" "Hi." "Hi." "l1m kind of late." "Hi." "Hi." "Braces." "Yeah." "Getting a few things straightened out." "I was kind of wondering if sometime you might possibly be interested in-- l don1t need a bag." "Mr. Rainey?" "Your front door1s open." "l1m coming in." "Mr. Rainey?" "Mort Rainey?" "Oh, hi, Dave." "I didn1t hear you." "Come on up." "Glad you1re here." "I could use the break." "Working lunch. l1m on a roll." "Yeah." "Both you and I know what you did." "Maybe we don1t have enough to put you away now, but eventually we1ll find those bodies." "We1ll tie you to them and you1re going away." "In the meantime, l1d appreciate it if you didn1t come into town anymore." "Makes people uncomfortable." "You can do your shopping in New London." "Did you hear what I said?" "Sure." "No problem." "You know the only thing that matters is the ending." "lt1s the most important part of the story, the ending." "And this one is very good." "This one1s perfect." ""`I know I can do it, ` Todd Downey said helping himself to another ear of corn from the steaming bowl." "`I`m sure that in time every bit of her will be gone." "And her death will be a mystery even to me. "`"