"Good girl." "Shh." "Come on, girl." "Jumping at your own shadow." "Good girl." "Good girl." "Hey." "Shh, shh." "Peter?" "It's okay." "It's okay." "Honey?" "Queenie." "Oh, my God!" "What happened?" " Hello." " Peter." "Mr. Black?" " I'm Sheriff Falkner." " Oh, it's good to finally meet you." "Sorry to flag you down on the road like this." "Must have just missed you at your motel." "You caught your flight before getting my fax?" "I read your fax." "Felt I should come anyway." " Oh, Mr. Black..." " Frank." "Frank, this really doesn't warrant this kind of concern from you and your group." " The woman's fine." " I think the woman that was assaulted..." "Mrs. Dumont..." "I think she's lucky to be alive." "Like I told you, she startled some freak." "He knocked her down." "He ran away." "Now granted, there have been a few other horse attacks in the area." "Twenty-one." "Twenty-one?" "Five in this county counting this one." "Sixteen in the surrounding counties in the last two and a half years." "I'd like to have a look at the crime scene." "Mr. Black, he killed an animal." "This time." "My work normally begins with dead bodies." "multiples of dead bodies." "I came here because I think we have a chance to stop this killing before it starts." "We're witnessing the birth of a psycho-sexual killer." "As soon as I got the call, I came running down." "This is where I found Sally." "She had a big bruise on her forehead where he hit her." "I thought she was dead." "It scared the hell out of me until she blinked her eyes." "She doesn't remember writing that." "Because she didn't write it." "What does she remember?" "She remembers seeing this bastard's boots in the next stall." " What kind of boots?" " Gum boots." "Did you check the blood?" " It's being done now." " What else did your wife tell you?" "Uh, she, uh, she let her horse in." "She..." "She put it in the stall." "She unsaddled it, and then she heard something, uh." "This is where she found Queenie." "The horse wasn't dead yet." "This is where she saw him." " You've taken samples here?" " We're waiting for results." " What kind of samples?" " Blood." "Semen." "What the hell does that mean?" "What are you saying?" "He killed the horse." "It aroused him." "Oh, my God!" "Take it easy, Pete." "We don't know if that's true." "The killer stood in here." "He watched Sally attend to her horse." "She saw him." "You have a very brave wife, Mr. Dumont." "She didn't panic." "She made herself walk from here to the phone." "Frank, so she's on the phone." "He..." "He's standing there." "He knows she's alone, helpless." "He knocks her down and runs away?" "I mean, if this is the guy you think he is, why didn't he do more?" "Maybe he was scared." "Was anything missing?" "Stolen?" "There's a bridle missing." "Uh, it was Phaeton's, Sally's horse." " He took it." " Why?" "What would he want with that?" "He fantasizes using it on her." "Now you listen to me, mister." "People may get up for that kind of thing in Los Angeles or San Francisco... or wherever you come from, but not around here." "Now I don't care who the hell you are..." "F.B.I. or whatever..." "I'm telling you right now you are not talking to my wife!" "We don't need to talk to her." "Come on, baby." "Come on." "Excuse me." " Can I help you?" " I didn't mean to startle him." "Uh, my name is Frank Black." "I'm Claudia Vaughn." "I, uh, I saw you before with the sheriff." "You're the veterinarian." "I'd like to ask you a few questions..." "about horses." "Well, it's a pity you can't talk to the horses themselves, huh?" "Maybe you can tell me about the other attacks." " You know about them?" " Mm-hmm." "Well, it's not barbed wire or some damn coyote... like everybody around here wants to think." "I know." "He always attacks mares." "No, not just attacks." "At least a dozen horses have been killed that I know of." "He kills here... on the jugular." "Yes." "Do you want to catch him, Mr. Black?" "I hope so." "But if Sally Dumont hadn't been attacked, you wouldn't be here right now, would you?" "The red dots represent reported attacks on horses over the past 29 months." "Five in this county alone." "We've tracked the attacks of the past two years." "The photos were taken for insurance purposes, not for forensics... but the M.O. is identical on the kill." " Shouldn't the A.S.P.C.A. be dealing with this?" " Stay with us, boys." "No offense, mister, I mean, but this is a hell of a fuss over a misdemeanor." "Would you prefer to wait until he's killed someone?" "The man we're looking for... is in his early 20's to mid-30's." "His working the area makes him able to travel unnoticed." "Well, you had a couple things right." ""Help" was written in human blood." "And there was a fingerprint." "No matches, but it definitely wasn't Sally Dumont's." "And they found semen... in the stall next to where the horse was killed." "For a few brief moments, he had something he's never had before... not a horse but a woman in his power." "The possibility excited and terrified him." "That's why he wrote the word "help", meaning "help me"." "We've learned from past experience that an event like this, a close call... expands his sexual fantasy." "His only source of feeling alive is his urge for sexual pleasure." "His paraphilia has now defined it." "It intoxicates and terrifies him." "He's standing at an abyss... and he's hesitating." "There will be another attack sooner than they think." "He's vulnerable now." "He's unstable and in tremendous pain." "He hasn't felt the joys yet of what he's done." "God help us when he does." "There's only one thing to do." "I have to talk to him." "Reach him on a personal level." "It's risky." "It could validate him and give him a sense of empowerment." "He's empowering himself as we speak." "We can't sit back and wait for the escalation." "we've gotta make contact with him now." "It's the precise moment." "He's tormented." "He feels revulsion toward himself and his acts." "But the revulsion he's now feeling will diminish." "The cooling-off stage will end." "The killer will be thinking, rationalizing." "He'll be learning to accept himself and his need." "His anger and resentment will be building up again... until he has no choice but to act out his fantasy." "But, by then, he will be much harder to catch... because he will have had time to refine not just how he kills... but also how he escapes detection." "Did you read about that horse freak?" "Says here the guy's feeling disgust and remorse." "Even got an 800 number for him." "Yeah, 1-800-PONYRIDE." "Man says he knows what he's going through." "I know what he's going through-sheep, cows, horses." "Sounds like this guy's got a lot of your qualities, Little Fats." "Hey, some days you're just lonely." "That's his problem." "Hey, Willi, what do you reckon this guy's problem is?" "Well, he's a perv, ain't he?" "I guess you'd know, Willi." "Williston Sheriff s office." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hey!" "What the hell are you doing?" "The driver of the hog hauler's beaten to death." "A couple of cowboys dragged him off into the woods over there... kicked the life out of him, and then took a knife to him." "Hell, that's nothing new..." "Friday night at Little Fats." "Three or four times a year, this parking lot turns into a killing field." "They're not satisfied with just killing the driver." "They attack the hogs too." "You say they used a knife?" "Yeah, they cut a bit of flesh out of him." "That's the only thing that doesn't figure." "They got a knife, but they beat the poor bastard to death?" "These tracks move back and forward between here... the truck and the woods where the driver was dragged." "We got three sets... a pair of work boots that match the ones the driver was wearing... pair of cowboy boots and a pair of something with a flatter sole." " The tread all worn down." " Sally Dumont said her attacker wore boots." " Gum boots." " You think this is him?" "Well, the tracks say we got two killers here." "He could have incapacitated the driver and gone back to his truck to change." "No." "With no disrespect here, gentlemen... it was a man that was killed, not a woman." "These are hogs, not horses." "I think it's the same man." "He didn't plan this attack." "He killed the driver out of rage, not sexual gratification." "He's finally gone over the edge." "He had a helpless human lying there." "He didn't cut his throat." "He kicked him to death." "Why?" "The driver wasn't a woman." "He was the wrong gender." "And something else is missing..." "no horses." "It's part of the ritual." "He just didn't know it until now." "He's learned how to kill." "He's still working on how to enjoy his kill." "He's gonna keep on trying." "But this guy, he's some kind of freak from the highway." "He ain't a regular." "What am I supposed to do, huh?" " You get a lot of people on the highway." " Sure we do." "Truckers, hunters, tourists." "One drink, they're gone." "Never see them again." " I appreciate your time." " Not a problem." "The bar is used by both locals and long haulers on the highway." "He was here." "I think he was about to call or he did call." "I'll have the phones checked for prints and calls made." " Excuse me." " Mm-hmm." "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" "Thanks." "I read that interview you did." "Sounds like you felt sorry for him." "I feel sorry for Sally Dumont and the man who died here tonight." "I'm just working to find out why he does it." "Why he kills horses." "Normally I would say that they were used as a proxy... for someone he hates... a mother, a father, an abusive, controlling figure." "Normally, huh?" "I just don't think that that's the case here." "I think the horses are an end to themselves." "Why do you think he does it?" "Well, for a lot of girls, their first love was a horse." "You're saying he's jealous?" "That the horses cut him off from women?" "From sexual intimacy?" "Were any of the dead horses drugged?" "No." "Why?" "They just stand there and let him do this to them." "They could really damage him." "They could kill him with a single kick." "But they just stand there." "It's because they're reared to trust in man." "I've seen horses trapped in the killing box at the slaughterhouse." "They can smell the blood and the death of the animal that was in that box before them." "But despite that, they trust in man." "Their executioner is standing above them with a bolt gun... and they look to him for help... and he fires a steel bolt straight into their heads." "I know why they stand still for him." "That slice of flesh he cut from the driver..." " what was it like?" " Doc said it was a deep cut." " Real precise." " He's using a stun gun." "That's how he incapacitates the horses he's gonna kill." "It's how he knocked out Sally and the driver." "That's why he cut the slice out." "He knew the stun would leave subcutaneous bruising." "He's covering his tracks." "He knows where the jugular vein is." "He knows how to cut it." "He works in a slaughterhouse." "That's where we'll find him." "Yeah, good girl." "Huh?" "Good girl." "Okay." "Had a good run, huh?" "Huh?" "There you go." "Come on." "You scared me." "I'm sorry." "I was just dropping off some stuff." "Mr. Burke around?" "I haven't seen him." "There you are." "I was watching you ride." "You looked happy." "I'm always happy when I'm riding my girl." "Aren't I, girl?" "Yeah." "You kissed it." "You kissed the horse." "She's a great horse, isn't she?" "How you doing, Willi?" "I'm holding on." " I gotta go." " You take care." "Bet you're hungry, aren't you?" "A man can't fight what he is." "Three, four, five slaughterhouses in the state... not counting the unlicensed backyard places." "We're checking them out now." "I called in help from Minot and Dickinson." " Jack." " Yeah?" "we did a check on the bar phone." "There was a call from the bar to the 800 number we put out." "Caller hung up." "There's something else." "We got 16 other calls." "Fifteen of them loonies, and this one." "Williston County Hotline." "Sheriff s Department." "I wanna talk to Frank Black." "Mr. Black's not in right now." "would you like to leave a message?" "You tell me to call, and there's no one home?" "Is that my fault?" "If you're as smart as you say you are, if you know my mind... then tell me, Frank, where to?" "what next?" "He did it." "He killed again." "Her name is Mary Ann Wright." "She had an arrangement with a farmer to keep her horse here." "He called it in an hour ago." "we found this on her body." "We'll get it tested." "Frank." "How was this horse killed?" "Just like the others..." "bled to death." " No mutilation." " He had her for that." "Before he killed her, before he bled her, he strung her up." "He wanted it to be like a slaughterhouse." "He did to this woman what he does at work." "Then there's this." "There's splashes of blood all around here." "We found pieces of Mary Ann's clothing thrown about." "He got it right this time." "He was celebrating." "Mr. Black?" "Call for you." "I'll patch it through from the office." "Hello?" "Do you know how good I feel?" "Who is this?" "What next, Frank?" "Tell me, does it get any better than this?" "I know you feel rotten right now." "You wish you could wake up and find this never happened." "Whatever humanity kept you from doing this before... whatever good, you better listen to it now." "All gone, Frank." "All gone." "You wouldn't be calling me if it were." "You got the power to stop this." "I know I've got the power!" "It felt good what I did!" " We get anything?" " First three digits." "Damn it." "How do you live like this?" "You have a wife, don't you?" "Or do you just wear that ring to make yourself seem normal?" "I have a family." "Well, how do you explain to them what you do and what you see?" "I don't." "Where are they headed?" "Slaughterhouse." " Foals?" " Yeah, they're from the P.M.U. farms." "We're the only state that still has them." " P.M.U.?" " Pregnant Mares Urine." "It's rich in estrogen... which is the main element in hormone replacement therapy." "It's also the most prescribed pharmaceutical in the United States." "In North America, up to 80,000 mares are kept pregnant... and their urine collected so that women can stay healthier longer." "But each time a mare gets pregnant, she has a foal." "The quickest way to make money off of 80,000 foals is to kill them... and sell the meat to Japan and Europe." "The horses that were attacked..." "they were usually mares." "How many of these farms are in this state?" "As far as anybody can tell, we've got about 15 farms in the west end of the state." "Many of them have shut down." "There were four in our area." "Haverly, July '94." "Redner, October '95." "Borgsen, December '94 and Sandberg, January '95." "Forensics, on the apron, showed human sweat and horse urine." "The urine was rich in estrogen." "The guy could've worked on any one of these farms." "I think he lived on one of these farms." "Part of the ritual is wearing clothes that bring him back to that time." "If he grew up on a P.M.U. farm, his earliest memories would've been of horses held captive... foals slaughtered." "He learned that's how food was put on his table, clothes on his back." "Farm closes, he loses his livelihood." "He loses the means to gratify his impulses." "Frank, a lot of people work on these farms." "They're decent, ordinary people." "I'm not talking about decent, ordinary people." "I'm talking about one man with a twisted mind." "First horse attack was in February '95." "which one closed nearest that?" "Borgsen, December '94." "Sandberg would have been the nearest..." "January '95, a month before the first attack." "The phone call to you, Frank, came from prefix 774." "That's this area." "Borgsen." "Clear!" "Frank." "Pregnant." "Looks like she could drop a foal any day now." "Careful." "Get Claudia Vaughn over here." "what was the name of Sally Dumont's horse?" "Phaeton." "Here's the bridle." "He's just started collecting trophies." "Yes?" "It's for you, Frank." "Hello." "Looks like I'm going to be needing a new mare, don't it, Frank?" " What do you want?" " Well, I went through all that trouble... and it wasn't good enough." "I mean, don't get me wrong." "She was better than the horses." "But it wasn't enough." "Where to now?" "What's next?" "What's next is it's gonna get worse." "I" " I didn't say it was bad." "It was damn good." "It just wasn't enough." "Maybe I need to see a doctor." " Claudia Vaughn." " Her line's busy." "We'll keep trying." "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "Clear!" "Clear!" "Nothing." "Frank?" "'A horse misused upon the road calls to heaven for human blood. "" "Blake's "Auguries of Innocence"." "That's where he's taken her..." "his heaven, her hell." " Any results on the slaughterhouses?" " No, we're still checking." "Where do they slaughter horses?" "It's from in there." "Hey." "Are you all right?" "Frank!" "Call an ambulance." "Frank!" "This is Deputy Maxwell to Base." "We got a man down in the slaughterhouse." "Request ambulance." "Come on." "Ever see a bolt gun work, Frank?" "That'll make your eyes water, won't it?" "You're wrong about me, Frank." "You think I'm a loner, a loser." "I'm not." "I've got friends." "Ask anybody around here." "I'm a great guy." "They'll all tell you." "what's one more horse?" "what's one more human being on the face of the earth?" "It's all just meat!" "Some meat's useful." "Some meat ain't." "Once you figure that out, that's when you leave your mark on this world." "You're not gonna make any marks on this earth." "You don't even rate a footnote." "You're gonna be a joke for a couple weeks at Little Fats." "Well, you ain't gonna know 'cause you're gonna be hanging from a hook." "You leaving?" " Another monster I suppose, huh?" " Mmm." " You ride?" " Yeah." "I thought so." "Come on." "Revision:" "Thor"