"Once upon a time, there lived a chicken named Henny Penny." ""One day, an acorn hit her on the head. "" ""'My goodness,' said Henny Penny, 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling. "'" ""So she ran to tell the king. "" ""On her way, she met Ducky Lucky and Goosey Loosey. "" ""'The sky is falling, the sky is falling." "We must tell the king. "'" ""On their way they met Turkey Lurkey. "" ""'Where are you going, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky and Goosey Loosey?" "' asked Turkey Lurkey. "" ""'The sky is falling, the sky is falling." "We must tell the king. "'" "On their way they met Foxy Loxy." "The sky is falling, the sky is falling." "We must tell the king." "Oh, my, said Foxy Loxy, I must show you the quickest way." "So Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Loosey Goosey and Turkey Lurkey followed Foxy Loxy to a dark hole." "But this was really the hole to Foxy Loxys den." "Follow me, said Foxy Loxy, and went into the hole, when all of a sudden Foxy Loxy turned around and ate up Turkey Lurkey in one big bite." "Then Foxy Loxy ate up Goosey Loosey." "Ducky Lucky said Run, Henny Penny, run for your life!" "Then Foxy Loxy ate up Ducky Lucky in one big bite." "And Henny Penny ran all the way home, and never told the king the sky was falling." "You'll fly into St Louis, take a connector flight to Little Rock." "It's about an hour and a half's drive to Probity, maybe 10,000 people." "It's a small town on the brink of a calamitous event." "The Millennium Group is sending you to consult for the DA, Gordon Roberts." "A caution:" "He's up for re-election in November." "So no-one's been arrested." "No-one's even been brought in for questioning." "It's all accusations." "What's the Group's interest?" "Why send me to a small town where something might happen?" "If this is more than rumours, it's a horrible crime." "I can't imagine what I'd do if it happened to Jordan." "But child abuse has always happened." "Unfortunately, probably always will." "How is this about the end of the world?" "Just go there, Frank." "Find the evil." "This is who we are." "The woman under suspicion is named Penelope Elizabeth Plott." "Opened a daycare with her husband, Raymond, in 1961." "He died of prostate cancer two years ago." "They had no children of their own." "She puts all the money she makes - its not very much - back into the daycare." "In 36 years not a single incident has ever been reported." "Dad, there's something I want to ask you." "Who does Princess Leia root for?" " Seahawks." "Give me those." " Hey!" "Excuse me." "Could you see if there's a size ten, please, in those?" " Dad, who does Darth Vader root for?" " Raiders." " Checked the rack?" " That's why I'm asking." " Dad!" " I got to get her home." "Size ten." "Thank you." "Jordan?" "Jordan!" " Oh, Jordan." " Dad." "Jordan, what did we talk about when we went into a store?" " You scared me." " Look, running shoes." " You already have a pair." " Those are high tops!" " I'll ask Mommy." " She already said I could have them." "Excuse me." "If she says you can have them, I'll buy them when I get back from Arkansas." " Dad, I don't want you to go!" " Got 'em in an eight and a half." " Why are you going?" " Want to try 'em?" "I asked for size ten because I wear a ten." "Those are eight and a half." " Look at all the purple." " Yes, I see." "Jordan!" "They won't fit..." "Jordan, chill out." "Chill!" "Bill Junior, did somebody bite you, son?" "I'm not mad at you." "I just want to know who did this." "If I tell you... she'll kill me." "Good girl." " Hello?" " Hi." "Is this Bill?" "This is Miss Penny." "I was just..." "Bill Junior didn't show up today and I just wanted to make sure he was OK." " Hi." "Are you Penny Plott?" " Ssh." "Nap time." "Oh." "Are you Penny Plott?" "My name is Chris Warren." "I've just been transferred over from Seattle, and I need daycare for my son." "Can you come back in half an hour?" "That would be kind of tough on me." "I got a moving van coming to the house." "I hate to leave my wife in the lurch." "We heard how great you are with kids." "Do you think I could just look around for a minute?" "Then I can report back to the missis." "Sure, of course." "Be quiet though, OK?" "The little ones need their rest." "I gotta use the potty." "The Oakland Raider defence is tough against the run." "I'd think you'd be back in Seattle preparing for your next game, Mr Warren." "Ssh!" "Here's my thing." "If you don't have a warrant, anything you're looking for is inadmissible." "Now, Miss Penny has a class to attend to and you have to report to the DA." "I'm sure we'll meet again, so until that time why don't you get the hell out of here?" "OK, everybody." "Nap time's over." "Come on, get your blankets." " Who wants to hear a book?" " Yeah!" "You want me to read you something?" "We could have some food or a snack." " What about your blankets?" " I've got to fold mine." "Jason." "Jason?" " Why didn't he wake up?" " What's wrong?" "Oh, my!" "Everybody, let's go outside." "Jason, can you hear me?" "Everybody, let's go outside." "Come on, kids, follow me." " He's not breathing." " Follow me." "Everybody out." "Danielle." "Right there." "OK?" "We lost him." "Had there been any recent trauma?" "A fall from a bike or off the swings?" "She'd have told me, and I asked her about it the night she was brushing her teeth, but... she said that she couldn't remember." "She's been with me nearly the entire time since my husband and I separated." "Has Jordan spent time with your husband without you?" "Yes." "He has her on weekends." "This photo shows a tear in Jordan's lingual frenula." "There are many ways this could occur." "However, it is an injury most often resulting from blunt-force trauma." "My husband would never, never lay a hand on her." "He's never even raised his voice at her." "Has he shown any signs of stress?" "Nothing that could bring about something like this." "My husband is a very focused man." "What do you know of his work situation?" "It was these marks on Jason Wells that drew my suspicions." " The dashes are small lacerations." " We should bring her in." "This is the second account of a child at Miss Penny's with suspicious marks, including our deputy's son." "I read your DA's report on the plane." "There are some bite lacerations on the lower back of the deputy's son." "The arc creates a circumference too small for Penny Plott." " Could Plott have made these marks?" " More likely the boy struggling for air." "The cause of death was asphyxiation, probably an acute asthmatic attack." " He had a history of it." " Could she have brought it on?" "She had to have somehow been negligent." "Something is going on there." "Something." ""Something" may be Penny Plott, may be another parent." "May be nothing but circumstantial events." "You can't tell for sure." "If you go looking for something you want to find, you can find it." "You can find anything, but it may not be the truth." "And that is the something you're looking for, isn't it?" "All right." "Right now the only ones who know the truth are the children." "Yeah." "Lets get this out of here." "Got a half hour till the kids arrive." "A parent called Plott and told her what's going on." "I know what you're gonna do, no matter what you hear from the kids." "Let's dispense with all the court hearings about the legality of these interviews, by allowing me to participate." " You're Miss Plott's attorney?" " Lara Means." "Forensic psychologist." "We already have one of those." "Mr Black." " We've already met." " We didn't work so well together." "Well, Miss Means, with the proper court order, you can examine the tapes of these interviews." "No, let her participate." "Children are often very oblique in their responses." "We wouldn't want any misinterpretations." "Would we?" "You were such a good girl at the dentist, I'm going to take you to the park." "Jordan, what would you think if I straightened my hair?" "Maybe it's time for a change." " Sweetheart, put on your high tops." " I don't wanna wear them any more." " Why not?" " Daddy and I had a fight over them." "Jordan, is there anything you want to tell me?" "Did something happen?" "Do you know the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie?" "Can you tell me the difference?" "The truth is what happened." "A lie is something that never happened." " Can you tell me the name of your school?" " Miss Penny's." " How many kids are in your class?" " There's Tina, Taylor..." "Harrison, Max..." "Bill..." " Tell me what you like about your school." " Miss Penny." " Miss Penny." " She spanked me." " Did Miss Penny spank any other kids?" " No." "I remember one time." "I believe it was during snack time." "Jason said he had to go to the bathroom but Miss Penny wouldn't let him." "She said "After snack time. " But he couldn't hold it so he peed in his pants." "She got so mad and took him into the bathroom." "Now, I didn't see anything but I heard a sound like a smack." "And then Jason began to cry and he wheezed like he did." "And then I heard him scream "No!" "Don't touch me there!" "Don't touch me there!"" "A few days later, on the playground, she took him away from the others." "She had a doll and I heard her say If you ever tell..." "And then she twisted the arm and broke the head and threw it into the bushes." "Are you crazy?" "Has the world gone crazy?" "I would never, could never do these things you say I did." "Never!" "Did you spank Jason Wells?" "Danielle Barbakow?" "Yes, I spanked them." "When they're very bad, I spank them." "And when they're good, I hug them." "I've done it for 36 years." "Why should I change?" "Who said this new way is better?" "Show me the proof the world is better because we can't discipline a child." "It's gotten worse!" "Bill Sherman is the deputy here." "Are you in there, Bill?" "Shame on you!" "I wiped your ass when you were five, and your brother's." "How can you do this?" "I would never bite a child." "I would never touch them like you say someone has said I did." "How dare you?" "This is all I have, all I ever had." "I love those kids." "I am good, I'm a good person." "Why would you do this to a good person?" "How in the name of God could you release her?" "I didn't release her." "Judge LaRouse set bail." "My investigation is ongoing." " Will you close her school?" " I can't until she's been proven guilty." " If you don't close it, we will." " Yeah!" "I've seen a mark on my own son." "He won't say who did it." "I want that person punished." "As a father, I need that." "I was there and I heard the children." "And I've tried, I've tried to believe that it could be her." "But I can't." "In all those years, did anyone see anything?" "All the doctors who've looked at our children, who've looked at us." "Nothing." "When I was 18 and my now boss threw me in jail drunk, Penny Plott came to my cell." "She led me to this uniform." "In my heart, I know she's a good person." " That she's not responsible." " Will you take your son back to her?" " I believe the children." " I believe the children!" "We believe the children!" "We believe the children!" "How can you do this, Bill?" "Come on, let the boy in." "Back up." "Let the boy in." "OK, buddy." "You have a good day." "Think about it, Bill!" "Think about what you're doing." "You two follow me." "We're going to the station." "We have a few questions for you to answer." "Here's my thing." "I sense that I can trust you with what I'm about to say." "OK." "I know that this is going to sound crazy, even here, but I think..." "What I think is going on here is that..." "It's the girl." "...it's the girl." "I checked the county census, 125 years on both sides of Danielle Barbakow's family." "We got war heroes, ministers, captains of industry." "No indications of mental illness or violent tendencies." " Thank you." " They're well off." "Medical records verify that Danielle is the daughter of Robert and Virginia Barbakow." "Here's my thing." "I don't know if we can base suspicions on a recheck of a coroner's report." " A finger painting is not an accurate..." " It's her." " Is that a gut feeling?" " I have good instincts." "Y'know, I'm the kind of shrink that, when it comes to my subjects and patients..." "But when it comes to my personal life, people I thought were total creeps when I met them turned out to be close friends." "People that I liked and hit it off with always broke my heart." "So..." "I rely on other sources." "My gut says how can anyone know about, yet alone commit, murder at five years old?" "It's happened, more and more." "Has our culture bred this possibility?" "Is it violence on TV?" "Is she Damien?" "Is this girl some evolutionary mutation?" "Are there more of these kids, these people, coming?" "Here's my thing, Lara." "Recently I've seen, I've experienced evil." "It feels like a force, like gravity, like the wind." "It has blown across Cambodia, been a cyclone in Nazi Germany, it gusts throughout Los Angeles." "Danielle Barbakow is a pre-storm, a breeze, of an approaching hurricane." "There's a group that I'm involved in that you may be interested in." "There are 799 days remaining." " Did you know about me?" " No." "Did you know about me?" "No." "You've been to the old man, that's why you feel what you feel about the girl." "I have no reason yet to doubt Millennium's beliefs." "But I'm suspicious about the way they go about it." "Are we being prepared or used?" "Why would they send us here on opposite sides without letting us know?" " It's a test." " To find the evil." "And we've passed." "We are collecting evidence based on Danielle Barbakow's testimony." "A further interview of her is not part of our investigation." "I was sent as a consultant to you by the Millennium Group." "We often reach conclusions most aren't willing to consider, let alone believe." "It is my counsel that this will not turn out the way you want it to happen." "So consider that Danielle should not be part of the investigation, but under investigation." "Is that why you pulled her dental records?" "Why the coroner saw you with her drawing?" " Exactly." " You expect me to believe a five-year-old girl killed, murdered, her own classmate?" "And then you expect me to spend our limited man-hours investigating her?" "No, I will." "All I asked you to do is set up an interview." "The only thing I'm going to set up is a plane ticket back to Seattle." "Then I will phone the Group, tell them you are no longer required." "Save the man-hours." "I'll contact the Group and let 'em know I'm gonna stay until the truth is found." "Wait in the house, theres a good boy." "Help me!" "Please, help me!" "Dani." "You remember Miss Means and Mr Black." "Mr Black would like to ask you about Miss Penny." "Do you feel OK about that?" "Danielle, what's your favourite room in the house?" " My room." " How about showing it to me?" "He just wants her to feel comfortable, and also I thought we could talk." "Wow, my daughter would like this room." "Danielle, it's nice." "Thanks." "Did any of the kids from Miss Penny's come here and play?" "Some." "Just the ones I like." "We understand the effects these adult situations can have on children." "Have you noticed any changes in Dani since this all started?" "No." "Some of the other parents have had trouble with their kids." "They love Miss Penny." "But Dani's taken it well." "She's always been an old soul." "Did you like Jason Wells?" "No!" "No!" "Get away from me!" "Get away from me!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Don't touch me!" "Get out!" "I'm sorry, Mrs Barbakow, she's very upset." "She doesn't want to talk." "We should go." "We'll call you later and check up on her." "Dani?" "What happened?" "Lara." "Do you see, feel images in your mind like I do?" "Dani?" "Oh, Dani." "Oh, God!" "Oh, God!" "Dani!" "Dani!" "Oh, my God!" "He should be a comfort, but his appearance always frightens me." "Not as a symptom of insanity, because I believe in him." "But when he appears it's always a portent of... evil." "In the New Testament they're almost absent." "They announce Christ's birth and later explain his death, but..." "In the Old Testament they're everywhere." "Angels are constant messengers." "They forewarn God's wrath, announce disaster, alert the faithful of oncoming persecution." "Their popularity with the Church rises and falls, usually increasing during times of war, persecution, natural disaster." "But even with the threat of nuclear war gone, cooperative global economy, major advances in every science, more people believe and see angels than at any other time in history." "Because something is happening, Frank." "And there are 797 days left." "Cuff him." "Mr Frank Black, you are being taken into custody for assaulting a minor and conspiracy to commit child abuse." "I wouldn't have believed you were capable of breaking Danielle Barbakow's jaw." "Until I checked with Seattle PD." "You're under investigation for an assault on your own daughter." " What?" " Get him outta here." "I feel like I'm meeting with the other woman." "I don't know exactly how I should take that." "But if you were another man, we'd be punching it out now." "In my mind, Frank had an affair." "He hid the truth." "He had a life other than his family." "And he was changed in ways that broke up that family." "What you're talking about is done out of selfishness." "What Frank did was from sacrifice to protect his family." "That is his life." "Then tell me." "Tell me about Millennium." "Tell me so I can understand how sacrifice means not living with your wife and daughter." "No." "I can't tell you that, and I never will." "You should know what can happen if you get too close to what we do." "Catherine, there are people in this world who have a gift." "And no matter how hard they try to ignore it, they know its true purpose, what that gift must be used for." "This is who we are." "Now, no matter what you've come to believe, no matter how much you've been hurt, you know that he could never do this." "Jordan's dentist was required by law to file a report to Social Services based on an unexplained injury." "I tried to call Frank at the hotel and at the police station to alert him." "Frank is in trouble." "He needs your help - more than just a call." "Frank needs my help?" "Or the Group?" "Did you hit Danielle the same way you hit your daughter?" "No." "How did you hit them differently?" " I didn't hit either one." " Is this why your wife left you?" "Dani's jaw is wired shut." "This is what she wrote when asked how you hit her. "Hand."" "Look at the alternative light imaging photograph of the girl." "See my hands?" "There's not a mark on 'em." " Why did you go to Danis house?" " You know why." "Why did you go after I dismissed you from the case?" "To prevent this from happening." "If I were you, I'd have already slammed the door." " But if I could have five minutes..." " Come in." "Thank you." "Mrs Barbakow, I..." "I'm not a mother." "I hope to be." "I'm not going to insult you by saying that I know how you feel." "But I am going to ask you to talk to someone who does know how you feel." "I'm asking you to go down and talk to Frank Black." "Why would she do that?" " Because I think you'd find the truth." " I already know it." "Sir, I don't think you do." "Dani indicated that Mr. Black used his hand." "The infrared photograph shows that pattern, the shape, the lines..." "The shape is the wing's tip, the lines, the feathers." "Are you implying my daughter did this to herself?" "If I run fingerprints, it'll more than imply that Mr Black didn't do it." " He could have used a blanket to hold it." " There'd be blood on a blanket." "I don't want your lies." "This is all for lawyers and ajudge and jury to decide." "You know, maybe at one time that was true." "Maybe." "But after what this town has gone through, after what this country goes through every day, don't hide behind all that." "Don't you want some control?" "Don't you want to make certain that you know the truth?" "Even if it's not what you want to know?" "I convinced myself to come here today, so that I could understand what kind of a monster could do this to my little child." " You see what?" " Have you looked at yourself?" "You're seeing what you want to see." "What you can see." "I've seen monsters." "They exist." "It's like when you look in a mirror - there are monsters behind it." "But even more destructive is the everyday men, the functionaries, that act without questioning." "You're trying to call me a monster?" "That's just sick!" "If you walk out on this conversation, it may be the biggest mistake you ever made." "It's up to you." "When my daughter was born, it was the most important day in my life." "I had a child late in life." "She came out and she looked like..." "Her head was like a football." "Looked like she'd travelled a thousand light years." "Her hands were as wrinkled as a 90-year-old man's." "And everybody in that room got zapped by God." "They were all jaded - nurses and doctors - and we were all stoned from the joy of this experience." "You remember?" "And I realised I'd forgotten that I was born." "Thought I'd manufactured myself." "And the gift she gave me was that from that day on, I could look at every man... and see the child in them." "If you think that I would desecrate that, or any other man or woman's," "then when you look into your child's eyes, you don't see it." "When you go into Dani's room to put her to bed and you look in her eyes and you say good night and you walk out of the room, when you leave, do you feel a terrible loneliness?" "You're the only one that can answer that." "That is why Im appealing to you, because there is a witch-hunt in progress over here." "And they're not going to understand." "You can take my money and you can take my yellow house." "You can take my life." "But do not attempt to take my daughter from me." "Especially on a lie." "That's..." "God!" "I always believed that that's what I would see, when I looked in my daughter's eyes." "And I've tried." "And I've lied to myself that I do, but..." "I never have." "I only see something that..." "I don't understand." "I know you didn't hit Dani." "I've known it from that day, because... because I heard her do it to herself." "I don't know how it works, but I don't think Mr Black should be here any more." "Daddy!" "Hi." "Frank, the dentist had to report the injury." " Did you get that biting Holyfield's ear off?" " No." "We came to help you, but I guess you didn't need us." "I'll always need you." "I understand." "Thank you for your help." "Mr and Mrs Barbakow..." "You'll need to sign these, just at the bottom." "Once upon a time, there lived three little pigs." "The first little pig built a house of straw." "Then, along came a big bad wolf." "Let me in, or ill huff and ill puff and ill blow your house down." "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin." "So, the wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down, and ate up the little pig." "The second little pig had built a house of sticks." "Then along came the big bad wolf." "Let me in, or ill huff and ill puff and ill blow your house down." "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, said the pig." "So the wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down, and ate up the little pig." "The third little pig had built a house of brick." "Then along came the big bad wolf." "Let me in, or ill huff and ill puff and ill blow your house in." "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, said the pig." "So the wolf huffed and puffed but couldnt blow the house down." "So, he climbed to the chimney and said" "Let me in or ill climb down the chimney and eat you all up." "But the little pig had a pot of boiling water, and the wolf fell right into the pot." "And the little pig ate the wolf all up, and lived happily and safely ever after." "I made this!"