"You're going to enjoy cutting me." "I can just tell." "Difference is you're gonna wake up, Doc, unlike those women you cut." "Do you hate me?" " I'm just doing my job." " Then could you do me a favor?" "I've got an itch down past my lilac crest... and as my hands are cuffed..." "I think there are far too many people here with sharp objects who find me detestable." "You're in good hands, Doc." " Hi." "You need to get in there?" " Yes." "He's still supposed to be under a good two or three hours... but you should be careful nonetheless." "You know what he did to those nurses from Cedar Falls." "I'm not trying to scare you." "You're gonna be fine." "He's cuffed to the bed." "You just holler if you need me." "Nurse?" "Nurse?" "You okay?" "What did I tell ya, huh?" "It's like standing on the edge of the world." "Oh, yeah." "My dad used to take me to this same spot." "I come here once or twice a year." "It's the only thing in my life that never changes." "Just a little harder than it used to be." "Yeah." "Exercise." "Oh, yeah." "It feels like you're a million miles from nowhere." "Something important?" "Yes, it is." "Frank." "Come on in." "Everyone, this is Frank Black." "I'm sure all of you are familiar with his work with this unit... and with his profile of Dr. Ephraim Fabricant." " How did he escape?" " We're still putting the facts together." "You were aware that he was removed from prison to donate a kidney to his sister?" "Yes." "Was the kidney removed?" "He was five hours post-op." "His anesthetic should have lasted eight." "I've got four doctors who say there's no way he could've walked out of that hospital... let alone break a federal marshal's jaw and crush his skull." " Did the marshal survive?" " He's touch and go." " What do you think Fabricant wants?" " Wants?" "Freedom?" "To avoid re-incarceration?" "If you've read my profile, you'd know freedom to him is only the freedom to kill." "His operation would make him a much diminished man." "Apparently not." "After what he did to that marshal..." "Dr. Fabricant wouldn't have left him alive." "He had short minutes in which to execute his escape." "You saying he would stop to check?" "I know this man." "I know what drives him." "Dr. Fabricant told me as a boy he used to slit the stomachs of neighborhood cats... and turn 'em loose just to see how long they'd live." "After med school, as a resident... he would respond to no-code patients just to see how they died." "He said the medical profession had but one interest for him... the knowledge and the opportunity to rend death from life." "His appetite for death eventually became overwhelming... ending in the murder-torture of the five nurses in Cedar Falls." "It has been six years since he has touched... tasted or indulged his interests." "He would have not let so easy an opportunity get away." "Someone helped him to escape." "Someone who understood the disproportion of his needs... possibly someone who shared in it." "This man should never have been allowed one minute out of his cell... never been allowed human contact again." " That chance was passed up." " I'm not here to discuss what might have been." "I'm here to help catch him." "Just the way I helped catch him once before." "Frank." "Peter." "What are you doing here?" "I knew that you'd get the call on this." "And I anticipated what it would do to you." " I'm fine." " Yeah?" "They really gave it to you, didn't they, about Fabricant?" "How you made sure he wouldn't go to the chamber." "He would be dead, Peter, with no prospect of ever killing again." "You can't let them lay all this on you." "Your motives were right." "You wanted to study him, tap his mind." "We learned a lot from him." "He was an asset to behavioral science." "The judge agreed with you." "Was it worth one life, Peter?" "I don't want either one of us to have to answer that question." "That's why I'm here." " Thank you." " That's not necessary." "You've got me on hemodialysis." "Is there renal failure?" "You take good care of me, sweetness." "I've got a whole lot of life left in me." "Miss Fabricant?" "Miss Fabricant?" "How are you feeling?" "Sore." "V-Very sore." "Are you Frank Black?" "I'm here about your brother." "Is it true?" "That he escaped and put a man in a coma?" " Yes." " Dear God!" "And here I lie." "Did he ever talk to you about a plan?" "Did he ever intimate anything to you?" "Ephraim wanted me to live." "That's all he said, over and over." "He wanted me to have the transplant more than I did." "Fabricant had a pen friend in prison." "A woman." " They were tight?" " According to prison communications... they exchanged vows on the Internet a year ago." "You have an address?" "Lucy Butler?" "Yes." "My name is Peter Watts." "This is Frank Black." "We'd like to speak with you." "Are you the Frank Black that Ephraim speaks about?" "I would assume." "I wasn't expecting visitors." " Did we catch you working?" " No." "I saw the computer on." "I was in a chat room." "I spend a lot of time there." "You must have some idea why we're here." "Yes." "The police spoke with me earlier." "I told them the night Ephraim escaped I was at home." "You have no idea how much danger you're in." "Ephraim doesn't want to hurt anyone." "Whatever your relationship with Dr. Fabricant..." "Lucy, whatever you might believe him to be... he is single-minded, unrepentant about what he did... and what he is incapable of preventing himself from doing again." "You don't speak very well of him." "And he speaks so highly of you." "Lucy, it's important that..." "It's all right, Peter." "The man you call your husband... is alive because we believed an understanding of his pathology... would help us to catch other human predators... men who act without conscience on irresistible impulses." "I know what he did, Mr. Black." "And I know what he's capable of doing." "The soul expresses itself in so many amazing ways... especially when there's a comprehension of extremes." "Ephraim said you and he share that ability." "He should be in jail, Lucy." "He's given life to his sister." "That's an act of redemption, isn't it?" "An act of conscience." "He used it as an opportunity to escape." "And now a man's in the hospital in critical condition." "Did Ephraim do it?" "There might have been someone else." "What do you think he wants, Lucy?" "I think he wants the only other act of redemption he's capable of." "I would think that you... of all people, Mr. Black, would understand this." "He wants to have a child." "E- mail." "I think you should look at this." ""Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters." "She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. "" " It's from the Bible." " Mm-hmm." " Do you know what it means?" " Do you have a Bible?" "I need to use the phone." "Ezekiel." "Ezekiel, chapter 19, verse 10." "1910 Ezekiel." "Your home address." " Catherine?" " Frank, what's wrong?" " Are you all right?" " Yes, we're fine." "Where's Jordan?" "She's right here with me." "Frank, what happened?" "Nothing." "Nothing happened." "Frank, I know the sound of your voice." "Have you picked up the mail this morning?" "Yes." "Has anything come addressed to me in a plain envelope?" "Yes, actually." "Something did." "Uh, I've got it right here." " Do you want me to open it?" " Uh..." " Frank?" " Yes, but away from Jordan." " Mommy, what is it?" " Uh, it's a letter to Daddy." "From who?" "Catherine?" "What is it?" " Polaroids." " Of what?" "An Asian man in judge's robes." "Judge Park." "He's dead." " Do you know this man?" " Yes." "He was a judge." "A good and honest man who didn't deserve this." "The victim is an Asian male, age 56... weight 155, height five feet, 10 inches." "Occupation federal judge." "Medical records indicate good health." "Eyes are clear." "No pooling of blood in the cranium." "No signs of stroke or trauma to the body." "No clear cause of death in the preliminary exam." "Cause of death?" "Do you think it's Fabricant?" "You know it is, Peter." "This took planning, Frank, and perfect execution..." "Pardon the pun." " He's got to have help." " I went through most of his correspondence." "Unless some elaborate code is in use, I found no evidence of a plot." "His wife." "You think it's her?" "They wrote some of the most beautiful love letters you'll ever read." "They say genius is the ability to hold two contradictory thoughts... in your mind at the same time." "What do you call a man who holds two contradictory personalities?" "The devil." "What about the Polaroids?" "Do you think he knew the effect they would have on you?" "That you've been terrorized by someone sending them before?" "I don't know." "He might have." "I'm not gonna give it a chance." "You can't go home." "Fabricant's here." "He's not there." "You're the man who knows him." "You know how to catch him." " He's mocking me, Peter." " No, he respects you." "He's playing a game." "What if he wins?" "You're too good at this." "You picked it up right off." "It took me 45 minutes." "The body's been staged by the killer." "The arms have been placed at angles representing the hands on a clock." "At two and 17." "This is confirmed by the victim's watch and clock." "2:17." "A time which does not correspond with the estimated time of death." "Then what is 2:17?" "we think it's a biblical reference." "Judges, chapter two, verse 17." ""And yet they would not harken unto their judges... but they went a whoring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them. "" "What's he trying to say?" "It's about what we do in behavioral science." "The arrogance of trying to learn the nature of evil and stop it by studying it." "This is the second Bible verse we've seen on this case." "They're being sent as a taunt to Frank." " Like the Polaroids." " And the other biblical reference?" ""Thy mother is as a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters." "She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. "" "The killer is saying that evil begets itself." "Fabricant told the woman he married in prison that he wanted to have a child." "They removed the wrong organ." "The cause of death was cyanide poisoning." "The killer had to have access to the judge's chamber... because poison was in the tea... and to stage the body." "This couldn't have been done by Dr. Fabricant." "Then who's he working with?" "Lucy, you're gonna have to get dressed." "We have a warrant to search your house." " What are you searching for?" " Evidence." "Of what?" "Your connection in the murder of a federal judge... and the escape of Dr. Ephraim Fabricant." "You're gonna be placed under arrest, Lucy, to answer some questions." "Can't you ask them here?" "The man who was assaulted during Dr. Fabricant's escape... was hospitalized in a coma." "This morning he regained consciousness." "Has he given a description of who helped Ephraim?" "Yes." " Was it a woman?" " Why do you ask?" "The way you were looking at me." "Lucy, there's a lot of things you didn't tell us about your personal history." "You never asked me." "You worked for several years as a visiting nurse." "Was it a nurse that helped Ephraim escape?" " We think it was." " But you're not sure." "Something else about your past has come to light." "You had a child." "A son." "Yes." "He died four years ago." "You were tried for his murder." " I was found innocent." " He died of cyanide poisoning." "The same thing the federal judge that tried Dr. Fabricant died of." "Why won't you call him my husband?" " Legally, he's not your husband." " Legally, I'm not guilty." "You ask me to tell the truth." "But you won't tell it yourselves." " About what?" " The man you say was in a coma." "The marshal." "He hasn't given a description at all." " Isn't this against the law?" " Isn't what against the law?" "well, how did you get a warrant?" "If you lied to the judge, doesn't that constitute..." "Dr. Fabricant... your husband... was removed from post-op under very dangerous conditions." "Wouldn't you like to help us find him?" "Instead of suing you for entrapment and invasion of privacy?" "We thought we had some response to questions, some facial movement... but in fact, his brain activity has actually diminished." " Chance of recovery?" " Well, we can't ever predict these things." "One day he could just wake up, or he could just stop breathing." "You haven't been able to find him yet, have you?" "Dr. Fabricant." "No." "Without proper medical care, I think he could be dead." "Or near to it." "Hello?" "Frank Black?" "Yes." "It's for you." " Hello?" " Frank." " What's wrong?" " Uh, nothing." "You called me." " I called you?" " No." "A woman called... and said that you had been trying to reach me." " She told me that you were at the hospital." " A woman?" "She said that you found the man that you were looking for." "You'd better come see this!" "Something going on here." "Uh, can I call you back?" "Yeah." "Sure." "Dr. Fabricant!" "Get me a saline I.V. stat!" " Right away!" " Let's go!" "Get him up!" "Get him on!" " We're gonna need a dialysis setup." " What?" "Someone took out his other kidney." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Mommy!" " Jordan" " Mommy!" "Jordan!" "Who are you?" "Jordan?" "We've got an acute abdomen and a nicked bowel." "His potassium is critical and his creatinine is through the roof." "I want him on a full course of antibiotics and a morphine drip." "And that dialysis better be oiled and lubed... because right now it's the only kidneys he's got." "I'd say it couldn't happen to a nicer guy... but taking out anybody's remaining kidney without anesthetic is truly sadistic." " Without anesthetic?" " Yeah." "He was literally blind from the pain." "And it's not because this was done without skill." "The excision was done by someone who knew where to cut and how to stop the bleeding." " A doctor?" " Well, a second year med student could do it." "In fact, you could probably get the information on the Internet these days." " A nurse?" " If she's spent any time in an O.R., yeah." "It's someone who knows their way around a hospital." " What do you mean?" " well, there was a sick little joke." ""A. Nephric"." "Anephric is a term that means without kidneys." "It looks like our bracelet, but somebody's changed all the information." "TeleGrid long-distance operator." "Operator, I'd like to make a long-distance person-to-person collect call to Catherine Black." "It's 206-555-1130." "It's an emergency, please." "It's got my phone number on it." " Come on." "Come on." " I'm sorry, sir." "That number..." "TeleGrid long-distance operator." "Jordan?" "Jordan?" "Jordan." "Jordan!" "Jordan?" "Catherine, it's okay." " Jordan?" " We've got her." "She's right outside." "Come on." " Yeah." " They're safe, Frank." " Mommy!" " Jordan!" "Are you okay?" " Yeah." " She's just scared is all." "They're here with us." "Everything seems okay." "There's someone in the house, Bob." "A man." "I saw him upstairs." "What did she say, Bob?" "Looks like somebody turned the power off to your house, Frank." "The rest of the neighborhood seems okay." "Did she say someone was in the house?" "Geibelhouse is with Catherine and Jordan." "I'm gonna have a look around." " Bob..." " Yeah, Frank." "Everythings under control here." "I've got your number there." "I'll call you right back." "He hung up." " What's happening there?" " Someone's in my house." "It's all right, sweetie." "It's gonna be okay." "All right!" "Come on down here!" "Here you go, sweetie." "This is Detective Geibelhouse requesting backup at 1910 Ezekiel." "we'll get a unit on the way." "Nature of the call?" "It's a break-in, possibly burglary." "He may have Frank's gun." "There's a possible armed suspect." "Ten-four." "Any units in the vicinity of 1910 Ezekiel... back up officers on the scene." "Hey, Bletch?" "Bob?" " What's happening, Mommy?" " Shhh." "Hello?" "Who is this?" "Who's on the line?" "Bob?" " Who's this?" "Frank?" " Geibelhouse, what's going on there?" " I don't know." " Where's Bletcher?" "Didn't he call you?" " Oh, my God!" " Geibelhouse." "Oh, my God." "Bob!" "Oh, my God." "Holy mother of God." "You've got a call coming through." "Thank you." " Frank." " How's Jordan?" "She's fine." "She's right here, sleeping." "Does she know anything?" "She's a sensitive kid." "She knows she didn't sleep in her bed last night." " But I haven't told her anything." " I'm coming home." "I'm gonna need some time, Frank." "I can't go back to the house just yet." "I understand." "I'll call you back." " I got you a flight." " Thank you." "He's asked to see you." "Hello, Frank." "You're mad at me." "I understand." "What do you understand?" "All your mercy and good intentions... have brought you no return." " You're dying now." " Yes." "But not of old age as I'd hoped." " Who is she?" " She?" "Lucy Butler." "You had me commuted so you might learn the nature of evil." "I can tell you now." "They think I'm evil, Frank." "They don't know what that is." "It's greater than we are." "You and me." "Who did this to you?" "The base sum of all evil." "The sleep of reason." "The devil's liege." " Who was in my house?" " It knows you, Frank." "It feeds off your passion." " Who killed my friend?" " Let's go, Frank." "Everything you hold sacred..." "Frank..." "Run." "Run." "We've got three sets of prints we can't I.D." "Here, here and here." "What about the murder weapon?" "The killer brought with him. we haven't been able to specify an exact style... but..." "from the wounds..." "From the wounds, we believe it was a hunting-style knife." "I gotta get out of here for a minute." "Oh, Frank..." "Lucy Butler, that the name?" "Yeah." "Why?" "We just arrested her on an outstanding traffic violation." "Where?" "Here?" "In Seattle?" "Yeah." "Hi." "You were in my house." "When was that?" "You think you're gonna get away with this, but you won't." "Do I fit the description of somebody you're looking for, Frank?" "Someone that was in your house." "We have your fingerprints." "I think that you're going to be disappointed, Frank." "I'm not the person you think I am." "Who are you?" "I'm the widow of Dr. Ephraim Fabricant." "Frank." "We got no match on the prints, Frank." "If she pays her traffic fines, we got nothing to hold her on." "Unless there's something else." "No." "There won't be." "What do you want me to tell her?" "There's nothing she doesn't already know." "What do we do, Frank?" "You're angry with me." "It's not anger." " I don't know what it is." " It's who I am." "We were kidding each other." "We were kidding ourselves thinking that we could come here and escape anything." " That's not true." " It is, Frank." "You can't talk it away." "You can't ask me to pretend or make believe." "You can't make what happened in this house just go away." "You know I love you more than anything in the world." "I don't know what to do." "I love you too." "But it's not about that." "It's about things that happen to us that don't happen to other people." "I know." " Daddy?" " Yeah?" " Are you tired?" " Yeah." " Do you need to rest?" " Yeah." "How come we came so far?" "Here." "I wanted you to see the view." "Look." "I like it." "It's the one thing in life that will never change." "Look." "Revision:" "Thor"