""l was sleepwalking."" ""Was I man or woman?" "I no longer knew."" ""My body itched for it." ""All at once, my skin became a different thing" ""galvanic, aluminum, and electric." ""l got the shakes," ""tried to remember what I'd drunk or swallowed" ""to fuel this hunger." ""My nipples were hard." ""My cock was aching." ""All that in a split second and then one long, dumb moment later..."" ""realizing that the catalyst wasn't in me," ""but something external, a shimmering soul in the air."" "Sit down." "Please." "There's still more." ""And even as we were trapped" ""in the heat and the barn smell" ""and the salt-piss taste of it," ""it didn't seem possible" ""that people who knew each other for so long" ""and too well-- a husband and a wife" ""could fuck like this." ""There was nowhere else to go." ""We had somehow exceeded the limits of natural sensation."" "Have you made your point yet?" ""That would be the last thought in my mind..."" ""as she rose up" ""out of the damp waves of our sheets" ""and left me for a place" ""she would not let me follow," ""left me with the promise" ""of infinite pleasure and robbing me of it in the same instant."" "You are an unbelievable shit." "You want to know why I'm so upset?" "Read your own goddamn book." "Maybe you'll remember what it's like to be pushed out of someone's life." "That is not fair." "No?" "Then you're really not gonna like this." "Expect a sexual harassment suit, Professor." "You can't be serious." "Ph, I'm serious." "The university doesn't like its students getting fucked or fucked over." "You know, I made you no promises." "Please, Dennis, save it for the hearing." "That's your standard defense, right?" "I'm not gonna watch you do this to someone else here." "Good luck finding a new job." "Hello, hello, hello." "Good evening." "Good evening, people." "I want to introduce our visiting professor, Dennis Burke." "Now, we were very, very fortunate to get him to teach this honors seminar, because he has a remarkable, unique point of view on the writings and the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne." "Let's make him feel at home, shall we?" "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Ayoung woman sent me a perfect heart made out of pink sugar, and I took it, and I placed it on the center of my mantelpiece." "And every day I walked past it, it reminded me of that young lady." "And then one day, standing before the mantelpiece, thinking of that woman, I took that pink, perfect heart... I ate it." "That was Nathaniel Hawthorne writing about a young woman that was trying to capture his attention nearly 2 centuries ago in Salem, Massachusetts." "And that complicated image is our introduction to Hawthorne:" "a passionate man consumed by the concept of guilt, sin, and temptation;" "a sensualist who wrote nearly 1 00 love letters to his fiancee Sophia, many of them yearning to sleep with her before they were married." "Ph, by the way," "Sophia burned those letters before anyone could read them." "So, you can imagine" "That's interesting." "Yes, thank you." "My God, it's like an oven in here." "I love Hawthorne." "He is the greatest." "So your lecture yesterday got me ultra-torqued." "But what I'm especially interested in is his relationship with Melville for my thesis." "When are we gonna get to that?" "Well, you know, I wasn't gonna dwell on it." "They were friends, Melville admired him, but I couldn't really call Hawthorne a major personal or professional influence." "is that a Hawthorne first edition?" "Yes, it is. lt's inscribed." "Mr. Schminick, you know, it's about the end of my visiting hours, and I have another student out there." "Yeah." "I get it." "You get what?" "Nothing." "See you in class." "Indisputably." "Come in." "Hello." "Hi." "So am I the last to try to score points with you today?" "Ph, you must know Mr. Schminick." "Well, I know the type-- overeducated in every way except where it counts." "I don't think I got your name." "I'm sorry. I'm Gretchen." "Gretchen Van Buren." "Hi, Gretchen." "Would you do me a favor, please?" "Would you just crack that door?" "It gets very close in here." "Pf course." "So, you're the dean's daughter." "Uh-huh." "Hope you don't hold it against me." "No, your father's been very good to me." "He's a very nice man." "The reason I came here today is I just wanted to thank you." "I read your book for the first time when I was 1 3 years old." "That is much too young." "That's what my father said when he found out that I'd snuck the book out of his library." "But it really changed my life." "I don't want to know how, all right?" "Well, you know, to this day it's definitely still the most erotic, disturbing, intense piece of literature I think I've ever read, and I read a lot." "Well, thank you." "You're welcome." "You know, my best friend goes to Gattis, and she said you really know your stuff." "Well, that's what they pay me for." "Nice to meet you." "Welcome to the college." "Pne second." "I want to show you something." "Mr. Schminick, I'm sorry, I don't" "Excuse me just one sec, would you?" "I still have one more question!" " Hey!" " Hmm?" "Annoying student." "Help." "Ph, hey!" "The one right behind you?" "Uh-huh." "Boring his eyes into the back of my skull." "I'll take it from here, Captain." "PK, listen, uh..." "Absolutely gone." "Free and clear." "Ph, man, thank you. I owe you." "Dennis Burke, visiting in English." "Thurston Clarque, visiting the planet." "Actually, computer science and self-proclaimed secret hacker god of all things known and unknown." "You know that the "secret" part doesn't work if you tell everybody in 5 seconds." "I know, but I'm so good, it doesn't matter." "Listen, since you know my true identity, wanna grab a beer after last class?" "PK, I got a colloquium till 1 0:00." " 1 0 P.M.?" " Yeah." "Can't do it. I got a wife." "She'll kill me." "Grab the rest of my fries." "Nice meeting you." " See you, Thurston." " PK." "If I was Anthony Griglio, I'd have mail." "Dear Anthony, sorry I can't seem to find the last picture." "Probably still owned by one of the secret admirers I told you about." "Normally I'm not into that kind of thing, but there was one woman, years ago." "I can't believe I'm reading somebody else's mail." "Dear Anthony, you asked me about my first sexual experience." "Well, here it goes." "I guess when you're 1 3, anything seems exciting." "I think about touching and being touched, and I always find myself wishing it was you." ""l have been carried away from the main currents of life." ""l've made myself a captive and put me in a dungeon and cannot find the key to get out."" ""And if the door were open, I think I might be afraid to come out."" "Hawthorne understood that his self-imposed exile as a young man could lead to his ruin, but he was also racked by something we usually consider a very modern problem, and that was the desire for-- coupled with the fear of never finding" "someone with whom you could share your life completely." "And with that thought burning in mind, years later he would write to Sophia," ""lf it were possible" ""that you should somehow disappear from my life," ""l know and I feel" ""that my soul would be alone forever." ""l would almost think that there would be" ""no forever for me." "You're my first and last hope."" "I think I'll stop there." "Ph, one thing." "I was wondering, how many of you took this class out of a genuine curiosity about Hawthorne, and how many because you read my book?" "Hands for Hawthorne." "Well, Schminick did, but he's gone." "Uh-huh." "All right." "Well, I should warn you that in this class, all the sex will come from Hawthorne." "The grades will come from Burke." "I'll see you tomorrow." "How come you don't write anymore?" "If you weren't going to help me, Anthony, why did you say you would?" "Now I'm sorry I sent you my picture." "Dear Lydia..." "Professor Burke." "Gretchen." "How are you?" "Great." "What are you doing here?" "I stopped in for a quick drink." "We drink." "Well, why don't you come and join me and my friends?" "I don't know..." "Come on, come on." "Come and sit with us." "I can't." "Why not?" "Because." "Because why?" "Because I have to pee." "All right." "But we're sitting behind the bar, and I'm going to expect you there in a minute." "This is the wrong place for you, Burke." "So like I was saying, it was with an older married guy." "Ph, those old married guys." "He invites me to a shower." "God, aren't people like that always going to those for babies and weddings and" "Yeah, and in my family, it was in that order." "Anyway, I buy a killer dress, and I go over to his house." "He's dressed in a towel." "The water's running." "He actually wanted me to get in the shower with him." "I was so pissed!" "That dress cost me 200 bucks!" "You misunderstood, my dear!" "I didn't say dress up." "I said dress off!" "Isn't he a crack up?" "I'm so glad my dad is finally bringing in a better class of professor." "I'll drink to that." "Yeah." "Go, Dad." "I really want to fuck you." "Gretchen, I'm old." "I go to baby showers and wedding showers." "Golden showers." "Holy God." "I'm serious, Dennis." "No." "So am I." "I don't understand you." "I mean, your book" "Look, I wrote that book more than 20 years ago." "It's fiction." "I was never that guy." "And if I was that guy, honey, I'm not now." "I'm--l'm so embarrassed." "No, no, no, no, no." "No." "Will you forgive me?" "Forgive you?" "I'm flattered." "It's like getting carded." "I loved your book, too." "You know, I've never said this to students before, but you guys read too much." " Yeah!" " Hear, hear!" "Dear Dennis, you should probably know that I'm incarcerated." "I've served 6 years out of a 30-year sentence." "Must be awfully good news." "Uh... yeah." "Say, do you have any problem with the heat in your apartment?" "No, it's always quite temperate." "Uh, thank you." "Missing gun?" "Murder?" "70 million people are on the Internet." "Do you realize that?" "They put cameras into a breast-augmentation session where they're using, actually, an organic silly-string that makes the breasts feel real." "Then, boom, you're into the very flexible gentleman who's pleasuring himself repeatedly, PK?" "With a donkey watching!" "It's insane!" "Then 2 Asian women throwing up in each other's mouths." "Then all of a sudden, I'm reading about a Portuguese prince, and I'm going through his checking account." "Hackers are the gods of the next generation." "And you're thinking this is a good thing?" "Absolutely it's a good thing." "Yeah, I don't know, man." "I like paper, real paper that someone with a real pen has sat down and written." "PK, look, I'm gonna put you on-line." "If it's not right for you, you yank it, and then you can wait 3 weeks for a real thinking person with a real thinking ink pen to write on a real thinking piece of paper." "I don't think so." "Why not?" "Well, in the first place, I'm writing to a convict." "So, you're gay." "A female convict." "Ph. Phh." "What did she do?" "She murdered her lover's wife." "Yow." "This is her?" "This is your prisoner?" "That's her." "E-mail sucks." "I want to be a part of this." "I'm going right to this." "is there a club I can join, please?" "I just stumbled onto it." "I want to stumble into this." "I want to fall off a roof directly into her." "Listen, I wake up under a tent every day." "Ph, my." "And it's not what you think." "She's extremely intelligent" "Ph, of course she is." "But she has lived a life so unlike people like you and me." "Mm-hmm." "I tell you, this is just something that I absolutely need to be a part of." "Can you write her?" "Does she have a friend on death row for me?" "I've already written her about you." "Stop it." "I referred to you as the king of the hackers." "I'm huge on death row." "And I'm 2 hours late." "My wife's gonna crush me." "Gimme the photo." "What happened to the last one?" "I want that last one." "See you later, Warden." "George Kessler." "Professor Burke?" "Felicity Marks." "I need to talk to you about this grade." "My office hours aren't until 2:00." "Uh, I have class at 2:00, and you're here now, so..." "All right, sit down." "PK." "Um, now, no professor here has ever given me a "C" on an essay exam." "How lucky." "No, I'm just" " No, saying" "Um, but I would like you to reassess what you have done here." "Felicity, wait." "It's one test." "I listen to you in class." "I'm really impressed with what I hear." "I know you'll do better on the next one." "Don't worry." "PK, but... I don't think you understand what-- l do." "Just a second." "I do." "Hello?" "Dennis?" "Yes, this is Dennis Burke." "Who's this?" "This is Lydia Davis." "Lydia." "Uh, one second." "I'm afraid I have to take this call." "Excuse me." "This has to be straightened out right now, Professor Burke." "So, uh, how are you?" "I can't believe we're talking." "Are you surprised I found you?" "Surprised doesn't begin to cover it." "You're smiling, aren't you?" "No, l--l actually didn't know that you could call out." "Not often, but I traded in some favors." "E-Excuse me." "Do you know what?" "I just want you to know I'm not gonna leave until you change my grade." "Excuse me one second." "You know something?" "I will change your grade." "Are you familiar with the letter "D"?" "Now, please leave, Felicity." "Look, Dennis, I don't have much time." "Well, maybe I should call you back." "No, you can't." "And, look, don't take this the wrong way, but I have a serious favor to ask you, and, um, it came up fast." "I didn't have time to write." "Look, all I want is 5 minutes of your time." "It sounds like you're busy, so..." "Do you think that maybe you could just take this call another time?" "No, it's PK. lt's PK." "I just wondered if you'd come and visit me." "I am sorry, I have worked my whole life to get here, in this college..." "PK, yeah, I'll come visit you." "Ph, that's great." "That's great." "Saturday, 3:00." "Saturday, 3:00." "Yeah, bye-bye." "Ms. Marks, you have just worked your way down to an "F."" "Now get out of my office and go get some help." "You know what?" "You're the one who needs the fucking help." "I'm gonna go to somebody above you" "Dean Van Buren or some-fucking-body." "Fuck this." "All right, gentlemen." "Take a seat." "Let them come to you." "Pver here." "What you lookin' at?" "!" "Single file, ladies." "You know the rules." "Lydia?" "Hi." "Hey, baby." "How you doin'?" "I'm Dennis." "I'm so glad you came." "Me, too." "I love your letters." "You write so good." "Thank you." "You know, it's like... I don't know. lt's like no one's ever..." "No one's ever made me feel like what I had to say was important." "You know?" "Where do you come from?" "I'm born in Germany." "My father was stationed there." "He knocked up some local girl, and... took us to a shithole in the Mojave desert." "Kirkfield." "You're not exactly what I expected." "Ph, really." "Uh, and what did you expect?" "Don't be mad. I just" "No." "You being a professor and all." "Even though your letters were so beautiful... I just... I guess I expected you to be..." "Yes, an old goat." "Yeah." "Ph. Um... I didn't know what I was allowed to bring in... and the guards opened this first." "But... I brought this for you." "Ph, thank you." "Stationery." "You didn't have to do that." "l--l wanted to." "God, that felt nice." "Yes." "Um..." "Do you mind if I come a little closer?" "No." "Uh...please." "I'm a little nervous because I... haven't had a visitor in a while." "Ph. You mean people just don't drop in here." "No." "Ah." "We have contact visit twice a year." "This is what you call a contact visit?" "Yeah, I did think I was gonna be lookin' at you through plate glass and..." "talking into a telephone." "This is nice. I mean nicer." "It's--lt's much more personal." "Mmm." " You know..." " l'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Yeah, but l-- l think I'm kinda getting slipped into the role of your old correspondent." "No." "No, you're not." "No?" "You mean 'cause of the sex talk in the letters?" "You read them?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "All of'em." "That was just all made up." "It wasn't real." "It was just talk." "It was what he wanted me to do." "Do you always do everything people want you to do?" "No." "But he answered my letters, and I... I guess that counted for something." "Ah." "Yeah." "But your letters are like..." "They made me feel more..." "more human." "You know?" "Thank you." "All right." "Come on, Davis." "Time's up." "Let's go." "Come on, Davis." "Let's go." "You're in." "Let's go. lt's over." " Professor." " Aah!" "You really must do something about the heat in here." "It's hotter than hell." "Gretchen, what are you doing in my house, and how did you get in?" "You left the door open, so I took it as a sign." "It was not a sign, Gretchen." "You are a beautiful and intelligent student." "Student!" "That means you're off-limits." "Says who?" "Says whoever wrote the university code of conduct, thank you." "That was my grandfather." "And believe me, he was no fun at all." "Gretchen, your best friend's at Gattis, right?" "Mm-hmm." "You know why I'm here." "Right?" "My career is in cardiac arrest." "I'm not even hoping tenure." "I'm hangin' on by my fingernails." "Believe me... keeping you at arms length is not personal." "This your wife?" "Yes." "She was very beautiful." "Yeah." "Why didn't you ever write another book after she died?" "Ph..." "Guilt, mostly." "I mean, that was a part of it." "You know, everybody thinks my book is about sex." "The sex was a metaphor for life." "She was mine." "I lost it." "This is Dennis." "Leave a message." "Dennis, I can't stop thinking about you." "Hello." "Ph, Dennis." "I just had to tell you how much I loved being with you today." "I wish we could be together right now." "Don't you?" "Uh, well, you know, it's...really a bad time." "Why?" "is something wrong?" "I, uh..." "I c-- l can't talk about it." "Ph, go right ahead." "Don't bother about me." "There's somebody there with you, isn't there?" "No." "You know..." "I'm-- l'm so glad you called." "But my--l can't talk right now, and I'll call you back." "I promise." "PK?" "I have to go." "Bye." "You know, I think you're much more like the man in your books than you think you are." "I might just have to blow the whistle on you." "That's not funny." "Well, then who was that?" "Doesn't matter, because it's not going anyplace, and neither is this." "Ph, God." "Why did I fuckin' do that?" "!" "I'm an idiot!" "I'm such an idiot!" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Come on!" "...Fuckin' do that?" "!" "I said to let go of the phone!" "Relax!" "Come on, Davis!" "Get on the ground!" "Not for you, damn it!" "I think you missed a spot." "Ph, not to worry." "Please don't take him on, Dennis." "He'll keep going until the whole neighborhood's in flames." "I think you're wrong, Dennis." "I think you have to report it." "I mean, students go screaming to their deans all the time at the slightest suggestion of any impropriety." "Well, it sounds to me like this girl is more than happy to take advantage of the P.C. climate... and the good nature of her professors." "How come you didn't tell us about this before?" "I think Felicity Marks is a good student." "And I know that there's intense pressure for grades on minority kids, but if I lower the bar for her, she'll never know who she is, and it's gonna be worse for the kids that follow." "Anyway. I think it's a dead issue." "Ph. You think so, huh?" "Sound familiar, Thurston?" "Can I tell him why we're not rich?" "Can I stop you?" "No." "Thurston was developing a new hard-disk compression software." "Pne of his grad students, a female grad student, claimed that he was ripping off her idea." "Thurston wanted to work it out with her." "She hired a lawyer." "She sold Thurston's idea to Lotus." "Now she lives by the beach." "And that's why we're not rich." "Unbelievable." "You guys have got to start getting tough." "I mean, I admire you for trying, Dennis, but watch your back." "Dear Lydia, I was cheered to hear that your interest..." "You've been on my mind a remarkable amount over... I've been playing a game, picturing your face...eyes..." "We professors aren't usually adventurous." "We mostly explore the world in our heads." "Remember my colleague Thurston Clarque?" "He spent every night last week hacking into Internet porn sites." "He'd never go looking for extracurricular activity in the real world, though I have a suspicion that truly great sex would blow his fuses." "It's like my thermostat is calibrated in hundreds." "I set it to 60, it's 1 60." "Would you just call the super, please?" "I'd do it myself if I thought he existed." "Yes." "We'll take care of it." "Yeah." "Get her on the phone." "Thanks." "Thurston Clarque!" "Hey, Thurston Clarque!" "Yeah." "Right here." "Right here." "Phone." "Thank you." "Hello?" "Dennis." "Buddy." "You're killin' me here." "I thought we agreed that Monday Night Football was all the religion we need." "Don't--get here when you can." "Beer's still cold." "Game's still on." "I'm still puttin' it on your tab." "All right." "Thank you." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry." "This is your seat?" "Uh, no." "No." "That's PK." "You can have it." "Well, wait a minute." "Why don't we share it?" "Put your head down, and I'll sit on your face." "Bartender, I called you earlier about a friend of mine-- Thurston Clarque." "He left." "When?" "That guy's long gone." "He left with some babe." "What?" "Yeah." "Looked pretty happy, too." "Thurston?" "No, no, no. lt's Dennis." "How're you, Karen?" "Ph, my God." "is Thurston all right?" "Sure." "Sure, he is." "The last time I saw him, he was goin' back to the lab to check on those Arabian bank accounts." "Don't give me that." "He can do that from home." "Where is he, Dennis?" "What've you two been up to?" "Karen, I told you what I know." "If you don't like it, you gotta take it up with Thurston." "Yeah, well, I intend to." "That's the best that you could do for me" "That I was on the Internet?" "!" "I've got a laptop next to my bed!" "Would you keep your voice down, please?" "I was covering!" "You were covering!" "She came to the lab looking for me." "What do you expect?" "You had disappeared." "I'm not very good at this." "PK?" "It's the first time I've ever done this." "Don't get good at it." "Look, you want my advice, Thurston?" "Put this girl out of your head." "Work it out with Karen." "You're right." "PK." "How do I get out of this?" "I like Melville's writing better." " That's me." " Yeah." "But anyway, I want you to know something." "I have heard nothing but praise about you." "Ph, really?" "Absolutely." "Even my daughter, and she's--she's got no use for anybody over 30." "That's really kind." "You know, this..." "this situation has been great for me, Dean." "Well...for us, too." "I really appreciate the fact that you've kept everything right on the line, Dennis." "Now, I want you to know what I've decided to do about this, uh, Felicity Marks situation." "I met with Minority Affairs, and I'm going to uphold her protest." "I'm gonna give her the "A" she wants." " Really?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "Listen, Dennis, we've got 50 black students here." "Now...uh..." "Felicity is one of the very best." "She's right on top." "I know." "And she wants to go to Harvard." "She wants to go to graduate school." "We want her to go to Harvard from this college." "Now, political academics aside, this is a win-win situation for her and us." "Well, I understand your point of view." "I disagree. I mean, l--l think it weakens Felicity, but... you're the dean, and I'm visiting, so... I think it's gonna work out." "PK." "Now." "Thurston Clarque." "Aha." " Good guy." " Very good." "Good friends." "You guys have become friends." "Listen, I think he's a brilliant man." "He's havin'... some problems." "Computer science, they're worried." "Research is slipping." "The man is not showin' up for his classes." "I didn't know that." "You have any idea what's goin' on with him?" "No, I don't." "I mean, to tell the truth, I haven't seen that much of Thurston lately." "Do you want me to talk to him?" "No, no, no, no, no." "I don't want to put you in that position." "No." "I just thought you might know something." "No. I don't." "Well...don't worry." "I'll deal with it." "Now, listen." "You keep up the good work." "I'm very proud of you." "Thanks for the support." "I mean it." " PK. I'll see you soon." " PK." "Thurston!" "It's Dennis Burke!" "Thurston?" "Hey, buddy." "Hi." "How'd you know I was here?" "I shamed it out of your teaching assistant." "Ha ha!" "Big mouth." " Yeah." " Come on in." " PK." " Yeah." "Great." "How are you?" "Good." "How are you?" "PK." "Listen, have a seat, man." "All right." "You want a, uh..." "you want a drink or somethin'?" "Scotch?" "Well... if you are." "Why not?" "I don't remember seeing this place in those, uh, scotch lifestyle ads." "That's funny." "Ah." "What are you workin' on here?" "You know what?" "Don't--don't touch that." "That's, uh, it's just a pet project of mine." "Kinda interesting stuff, actually." "Deep security." "Double and triple encryption." "It's fun, you know?" "The good stuff." "Lost." "Gone already." "Ah." "Ha ha ha ha!" "So...what the hell is going on?" "This is gonna sound nuts." "I think I'm happier than I've ever been." "I think you ought to start to think about this with your brain instead of your dick." "You know what?" "Don't" " Don't make me throw you outta here." "Thurston, this was supposed to be a one-night deal." "You have a great wife." "You've got a great career." "Don't screw it up." "Let me tell you somethin', PK?" "This laptop is connected directly to the university mainframe." "All right?" "L-Listen." "I do better work from my fucking hotel than most of my cohorts who haunt the goddamn lab." "Maybe if you met her, you'd understand." "PK." "Where is she?" "Kirkfield." "Where?" "Small town." "Mojave." "About 2 hours north of here." "Hmm." "What's her name again?" "Cheryl Russo." "My friend, I'm tellin' you... she is the most gorgeous thing that I've ever been close to." "Thurston, Lydia Davis is from Kirkfield." "So they, what, they--they grow 'em pretty up there." "You know, pretty hot and...pretty dangerous." "Let me" " Let me show you somethin'." "Look at this." "Check this out." "Here she is." "This is her?" "Yeah." "They're all her." "Look at this." "Look at that." "They're not real. lf you look on the Internet, you can see that you can actually" "Come here." "Where--where you goin' with that?" "Dennis?" "Dennis, come here!" "Come back!" "Dennis!" "What do you want?" "I'm looking for Cheryl Russo." "You with the county?" "No." "No." "Uh... I know a friend of hers." "She don't got no friends." "What's goin' on?" "Man says he knows a friend of yours." "Well, I've never seen him before." "Uh, I know Thurston Clarque... and I know Lydia Davis." "You know, I think I would feel more comfortable if I could talk to your wife alone." "Ph, would you?" "How's "fuck you, " make you feel?" "I'm assuming that you know, uh," "Lydia Davis." "What's she got to do with it?" "I don't exactly know." "That's--that" "That's what I've come to find out." "What the fuck are you and your sister up to now?" "!" "Half sister!" "I don't know what this fuck's talking about, Lenzo!" "Ph, I think you do!" "What else?" "Well..." "Cheryl, I have a friend who's kind of getting in trouble, and I was hoping you might be able to help him-- l can't help nobody I don't know." "Thurston Clarque." "I don't know anyone with a fucked-up name like that!" "You see, I just can't believe that there's no connection between me and Lydia and what you're doing with" "Who the fuck are you?" "!" "Yeah!" "Who the fuck are you?" "!" "Well, I was corresponding with" "Huh?" "I was writing with Lydia until things got uncomfortable, and now I'm trying to find out what you-- l don't know him!" "All right?" "I don't know him." "Lenzo, please." "Help me here." "Huh?" "Hmm?" "Come on, Daddy." "I'm not on trial here." "You're accusing' my wife of a lot of shit." "You got any proof?" "Let me just ask her one more question." "No." "You tell me somethin' now, mister, or you get the fuck out of my house." "Cheryl, I just need to know what you and Lydia are tryin' to get Thurston to do." "No!" "No!" "Put!" "Put." "What?" "!" "What the fuck is..." "Aaaahhhh!" "Waaaahhhhh!" "Porno shots of my wife?" "!" "What the hell's that?" "!" "Motherfucker!" "Follow me, please." "Carol, he's here to see Lydia Davis." "What's goin' on?" "I'm on it." "Yes." "I want you to put out an APB." "And get me the supervisor from the secure wing of that medical facility." "Mr. Burke?" "Yeah?" "You came here to visit Lydia Davis?" "Yes." "Then why don't you tell me why you're here and she's not." "I don't understand." "Somehow, her name got entered on today's sick-bay list on our computers." "As soon as she was released into an examining room at the medical center, she took off." "What do you know about that?" "I don't know anything." "Would I be here if I knew something?" "Mr. Burke, have you taken a good look at yourself this morning?" "I don't know what you're doing here." "Thurston, it's Dennis!" "Ppen up!" "I'm sorry." "What's going on?" "The cops." "Hey, Professor Burke." "What are you doin' here?" "W-What's happening?" "I don't know." "Somebody's gettin' busted." "Hey!" "Don't you know that guy?" "I think you do!" "Thurston, what happened?" "What did you do?" "Professor a friend of yours?" "Uh, he's a colleague." "What are the charges?" "Colleague, huh?" "Ph, sure." "Colleague ever tell you what he does with his computer?" "Uh...no." "No?" "Well, what he did last night was aid and abet a prison escape." "Now, normally..." "Hawthorne would not have given much credence to the idea of a curse on his family." "But there must've been terrible and low times where he wondered whether or not his frustrations and his disappointments weren't some kind of familial punishment... because his great-grandfather, a puritan, had been a judge who condemned women to death as witches" "during the Salem witchcraft trials." "And perhaps thoughts such as these were on his mind the night he lay alone in a wayside hotel and he died" "H-He died there... alone... his worst fears confirmed." "Ms. Van Buren, could you turn to the front, please?" "Yes, sir." "Thank you." "Aah!" "Gretchen." "Are you intent on scaring me to death?" "No. I'm sorry." "Was that Lydia Davis at the back of our classroom?" "It was, wasn't it?" "Ph, my God." "What is going on?" "How do you know her?" "Be quiet." "Shh!" "Get in the car." "I'll take you home." "All right, all right!" "I mean, who didn't know about her?" "She was a pretty big deal around here." "All my friends used to idolize her." "Really." "Well, she was just so... mysterious and sexy." "You know?" "And it seemed like she didn't care what anybody else thought... which is probably why she pissed off everyone that ever tried to help her." "Well, what did you think and your friends think?" "Did you think she was guilty?" "Probably, but it was almost like who cared?" "You know?" "She was so out there." "It was inspiring." "So, come on." "Tell me." "How do you know her?" "I don't have any idea what she wants from me." "Wow!" "Your life is even more interesting than I thought." "Don't worry. I swear I won't tell anybody about this." "Please." "That was just a friendly peck, Professor." "Mm-hmm." "Good night, Gretchen." "Good night, Professor." "What the hell?" "Well, it definitely seems like they were looking for something." "Keep any valuables or a gun?" "No." "Here you go." "They'll send somebody by tomorrow to dust for prints." "If I were you, I'd get a better lock." "Uh-huh." "Well, thanks for coming by." "You think I'll be safe here?" "Burglars don't like to run into anyone." "You'll be PK." "PK." "Thanks." "We need to talk, Dennis." "No, I don't think so." " l" " No." "No." " Please, just" " No." "No." "Lydia!" "Lydia!" " Move your hand!" " No." "Get your hands out of the door." " Pw!" " Move your hand." " Lydia!" " Pw!" "Ph, fuck!" "You're mean." "All right, say what you have to say and please leave." "I need your help." "My help." "You used me and my friend to get out of prison." "What more do you want?" "You don't understand anything, do you?" "I am innocent." "Ph, please." "Did you have to take everything out of every drawer, Lydia?" "Wait, l--l didn't do this." "Don't play games with my head." "I did not do this!" "Then who the hell did?" "I didn't kill anybody, either." "Right." "You didn't kill anybody." "You didn't trash my apartment." "You didn't set Thurston Clarque up." "No, I used your friend, but you're the one who told me about him." "I didn't want him to get caught!" "Right, it's my fault." "Well, anyway, I'm fucked, and he's fucked, so thank you very much." "Do you have any idea what I've been through?" "Do you have any idea?" "You think your friend is in trouble?" "How would you like to face the rest of your life in prison for something you didn't do?" "Kessler killed his wife, Dennis." "He did it!" "And he set me up for it." "I was even stupid enough to let him hire my defense attorney." "Would you stop cleaning my apartment, please?" "I really thought" "George was starting to love me, but he-- l could have had a whole different life, but he just used me." "What a surprise." "Karen-fucking-Clarque." "I really need you to listen to me, please." "You're my last hope." "PK." "At first, I was just flattered he paid attention to me." "Why wouldn't he pay attention?" "You're beautiful." "He was rich." "People seemed to respect him or at least be afraid of him." "He could be a real prick." "What did I know?" "You saw where l came from." "I mean, I just wanted to get out of there." "And I would have left much sooner." "I just didn't want my little sister to stay with my dad." "Really?" "No, it's not that." "He was just a mean old drunk." "But anyway, one day, he just left, and Cheryl and I stayed in the trailer, and she just... she dropped out of school as soon as she could and married the local idiot." "So I got free to mess up my life." "But you know, Lydia... she had a choice and so did you, Lydia." "You didn't have to stay with him." "You know what?" "I changed my mind." "I don't want your help." "That's my choice." "When we were writing to each other, I thought there was somebody th-that understood, that knew what I was talking about." "But it was just a stupid fantasy." "Look at you." "I loved the man in your letters, but that's not you." "What do you know about relationships, huh?" "For all I know, you killed your wife." "My wife died the worst death that you could imagine, Lydia." "Everything she had was taken from her." "She couldn't walk, she couldn't talk, and you know, at the end, I don't think she could think." "And all I could do?" "I could watch her while she disappeared cell by cell." "So don't you talk to me about my wife." "How dare you talk to me about my-- l'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "I'm sorry." "Ph, shit." "I've got a meeting." "You're gonna be on your own today." "PK?" "You know what you told me last night about all the affairs you have with your students?" "Excuse me?" "Well... your wife dying the way she did was a pretty rough lesson." "You set yourself up with girls who can't teach you anything because you don't care about them enough." "Thank you, Dr. Freud." "Really." "I think you're desperate for someone to wake you up." "You know, I appreciate the deconstruction, but I got a really heavy meeting." "I'm going to be late." "PK, under no circumstances do you answer the door." "Do not answer the phone." "Let the machine get it." "Where am I going?" "I have no will." "I'm being a bad boy." "I'm going to be very late." "You dropped this, Karen." "Dennis!" "What the hell are you doing here!" "I don't know what you think you were looking for in my apartment, but you are so lucky l didn't call the police." "Listen, you get out of my house right now, or I'm calling the police!" "Does Thurston know you vandalized my apartment?" "Thurston is in a jail cell because of you." "He doesn't know a goddamn thing." "My carpool's here." "I know you had something to do with Thurston going to jail, and believe me, I'm gonna find out exactly what." "What did Thurston say?" "Nothing." "Ph, he's got some stupid notion that he's being loyal if he remains quiet." "But the police'll find out soon enough." "What makes you think I have something to do with it?" "Ph!" "Gee, I don't know." "Maybe it has something to do with the way my husband began behaving as soon as you hit town." "By the way, Mr. Bachelor, who is that young thing who answered the phone when I called this morning?" "You stay the hell away from my apartment, away from my office, and away from me!" "Don't you dare talk to me that way!" "Now, I swear to God I'll call the police!" "Hey!" "Dean is gonna hear about this, mister!" "Hello." "Lydia, why are you answering the phone?" "Hey, I thought it was from my sister." "I really miss you." "Do not answer the phone." "You are all over the papers." "Do you understand this?" "People are looking for you everywhere." "They've got Thurston." "And when he talks-- and believe me, he will-- they will get to me, and then they're gonna get to you." "All right, I get it." "What the hell is that?" "Ph, Jesus!" "My eggs!" "Aah!" "Ph, man!" "What?" "What is it?" "I burned my eggs." "PK?" "Lydia." "Close the curtains, do not let anybody into the apartment, and whatever you do, don't answer the phone!" "Phhh!" "Hello, Dean." "What's up?" "Don't play dumb with me." "You know why I'm here." "All right, look." "Before you go any farther, I think I should warn you that woman is mentally unstable." "What in God's name are you saying?" "I'm saying that she would not tell the truth about me if you put cigarettes out on her arms." "Well, let me tell you something you don't know!" "Gretchen has always been truthful with me." "She's honest to a fault." "Gretchen?" "What are you talking about?" "Ph, I think you know what I'm talking about." "I'm talking about Karen Clarque," "Thurston's wife." "I'm talking about what I saw with my own two" " Professor Burke?" " Yes?" "Can I speak with you when you're through here?" "I'm, uh..." "I'm the dean of this department." "is this something that I should be concerned with?" "Not yet." "You're on thin ice, mister." "Mr. Burke, you're a friend of Professor Clarque's, right?" "Yes." "Yeah. I remember you from the day we took him in." "Anyway, his wife was kind of upset after the visit you paid her this morning." "Said you'd threatened her." "You want to tell me about that?" "Yes." "Karen Clarque is a wack job." "She thinks that I had something to do with what happened to her husband." "She broke into my apartment." "She trashed it." "You're sure it was her." "Absolutely." "I found this on my floor." "Hmm." "Then we got a fingerprint tech wasting his morning at your apartment." "She also said that, uh, some woman answered the phone at your place this morning." "That was the dean's..." "daughter." "PK." "All right." "So that's why he was so upset." "Could you excuse me one second?" "Just..." "Sure." "Go ahead." "Hello?" "Hello. lt's Dennis." "Uh, sorry." "Wrong number." "Any problem?" "Ph, no." "No." "I'll just try later." "Hmm." "Say, is that, um... is that an old Bible in that case?" "Ph, no." "That is a first edition Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne." "Signed... and inscribed." "Well." "You know, they, uh... they wanted us to read it in high school, but, uh... I never actually got around to it." "Must be worth a lot of money." "Well, it's not the money for me." "It's that he actually handled it." "He--He--He signed his name in it." "Yeah." "Well, sounds like you..." "love what you do." "Ph, yes. lt's my whole life." "I'm not very knowledgeable about computers." "But isn't it possible that, uh," "Thurston did what he did by accident?" "Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Burke, I'm not that concerned with, um, Professor Clarque." "No, my real concern is with Lydia Davis." "She's, um, an escaped murderer." "She's manipulative, very resourceful, just downright dangerous." "I should know. I'm the one who brought her in the first time." "Well." "Um... I don't see how I can help you there." "Hmm." "Excuse me." "Hello." "The police are at the door." "Really?" "Huh." "Well, there's an easy solution to that." "Just...forget about it." "Yeah, you just... can't let 'em see you under that kind of pressure, which is actually why I was calling you before." "But they're not going away." "Ph, yeah, yeah, he will." "They--They go away." "Why are you talking like that?" "Why are you talking like that?" "He's not going away," "'Cause he smells the bacon." "The bacon?" "You told me you were a vegan!" "You know, I have someone with me right now." "It's not a good time for me to talk, so I'll call you back in a little while." "I'm not going back to prison." "If he comes in here, I'll kill him, and I'll kill myself. I swear." "The wife?" "No." "Girlfriend." "An old girlfriend." "From Northern California." "Ah." "You know, for a smart man... you sure like makin' your own trouble." "It's pretty good, isn't it?" "Yeah." "Well, why don't you, uh, borrow it?" "Because I actually have an appointment now, and if we're done, I..." "I actually should go." "Take it with you." "Please." "Y-yeah." "You'll... you'll like it." "Well, you, uh... you're sure?" "Absolutely." "Gretchen!" "God!" "You scared the shit out of me!" "I need your help." "Sure." "How'd your meeting with my dad go?" "Don't ask." "Well..." "This is the thing." "I think the police might be watching me, so I need a favor." "Who are you?" "Uh, I'm Gretchen." "Don't worry. I'm a friend," "Dennis Burke sent me." "He's outside downstairs in the car waiting for you." "is something wrong?" "What's going on?" "No." "He just didn't want to chance that someone might be watching the apartment." "So you could take me outside where the cops may be." " N-N..." " Well, fuck him." "You tell Dennis I'll be waiting for him right here." "PK." "Wait." "Come with me." "Take your clothes off." "Christ." "Where are they?" "What are you doin', Professor?" "Well...to tell you the truth... I'm, uh... a little freaked out about the break-in still." "Well, Karen Clarque's got a big, bad mouth, but I wouldn't call it scary in the conventional sense." "Come on. I'll walk you in." "Want to get your mail before we go up?" "My mail." "Uh...no." "I, uh, I think I'll get it later." "So, uh..." "Detective... was there... somethin' else that we had to talk about?" "You know, your girlfriend-- no, your old girlfriend-- who called your office this morning..." "Uh-huh?" "She lives out of town, right?" "That's right." "Mill valley." "Well, see, there's a problem because that call came from your apartment." "I checked." "Aha." "Boy." "Uh... you're really busting' my balls about this thing with the dean's daughter, aren't you?" "I mean, do you work for him or something?" "Well, see, this morning you said it came from your old girlfriend who lives out of town." "Now you just said it again, so what's that all about?" "Look." "How do I make this clear to you, Detective?" "Uh..." "I enjoy the dean's daughter, but I am not proud of it." "Yeah." "Well, Detective Teal, I really want to thank you for--ha ha--baby-sitting me about this thing here." "No problem." "Thanks." "Gr-Gretchen!" "I'm sorry. I thought it was just you, Dennis." "Ph." "This is the dean's daughter." "This is..." "Gretchen..." "Gretchen." "And this is..." "Detective Teal." "Nice to meet you." "My pleasure." "I mean, it's, uh... nice to meet you." "I'm so sorry." "I'm so embarrassed." "l--l didn't know he was bringing home company." "I wanted to surprise you." "Ha ha." "I guess..." "I forgot to call." "Well, thank you very much." "Um..." "l--l really ins" "Sure." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah." "PK." " Bye-bye." " Bye." "With your help, Glen Teal will have me back in custody by the end of the week." "I'm doing the best I can." "What is with your hair?" "I dyed it." "Why is she wearing your clothes?" "Well, Lydia thought that if they saw me walk in, then it would be better cover for her to walk out." "Please." "Put this on." "Better than a towel." "And nobody hears anything about this." "Right, Gretchen?" "Dennis, stop worrying. I'm not gonna tell anybody anything." "PK?" "PK." "Good-bye." "See ya." "Thanks." "Gretchen, what in the hell are you doing?" "You have any respect for yourself?" "Everything is fine, Dad." "There's nothing to worry about." "Everything is perfectly PK." "I know you like the schoolgirl look." "Lydia, since I met you, my life has fallen apart." "I'm losing my job." "The police are after me." "My friend is in jail." "2 hours ago, you tell me you're gonna kill a cop and then yourself!" "When did you ever face 30 years in a cell?" "Let me tell you something" "PK, PK. I said I would help you." "I will help you." "But if we're gonna do something, we've got to do it soon, because I can't live like this." "PK." "All right." "Let's go to Kessler's house tonight." "I just hope the nasty bastard's home." "No, let's hope he's not home." "All we need is the gun, right?" "The murder weapon?" "Right." "And the man he got it from." "Wait a minute." "You told me all we needed was the gun." "It can help to have the testimony from the guy who sold it to him." "I mean, George will say it's not his or that we planted it." "Look, in the first place, I don't believe that Kessler is just gonna tell us who he bought the gun from." "In the second place" "That's where Griglio comes in." "That's what he was supposed to do." "That's why I wrote to the son of a bitch." "He was gonna find the guy who sold it to him." "He flaked on me." "Lydia..." "I'm sorry." "I have to know if this is bullshit or not." "I mean, are we gonna find that gun at Kessler's?" "I can't believe he's kept this gun all these years." "Pull over." "What?" "Stop the car!" "Lydia!" "Lydia, where are you going?" "Every cop in the state is lookin' for you." "So what?" "You think you're so much different from them?" "You don't believe anything I say." "Damn it. I'm not a liar, and I'm not guilty." "Look... I hope all this turns out PK... and that you can go back to your fabulous life." "PK?" "But right now, I need to know one thing." "And I don't want you to lie to me." "What?" "I need to know..." "if you believe me." "I don't know." "But I'm willing to take the risk to find out." "I was right about you after all." "Can't we get any closer than this?" "Somebody would see or hear us, believe me." "He won't expect anyone to get in from this direction." "Ph, my God." "He's here." "We've gotta get outta here." "No." "We're here." "We gotta do this." "Now, come on." "Lydia!" "No!" "No, no, no!" "It'll make so much noise." "It's the key." "A lot of bad memories in this room." "Just find the gun and get outta here." "Lydia, I don't see anything in here." "Ph, you found the gun!" "No, it's not the one." "It's not the one?" "Come on in, George." "We've got a couple of things to straighten out." "All right." "Let's start with my dick." "Dennis Burke." "I guess you're wondering" "And you...shut up." "I figured you would come here, but I thought you were too stupid to get in." "Don't forget I have a gun, George." "All right." "Why don't you stick it up your pussy... and blow your fucking brains out?" "You know, I don't think there's any cause to be uncivil here." "And it's civil to break in to a man's home... have a gun pointed at him?" "You really got a genius here, Lydia." "I went to the bank." "I got you some of your favorite stuff." "Stop, George." "You think I want to get into a gunfight in my own bedroom?" "Look at that." "How much?" "50,000." "Why don't you grab it and get the hell out of here?" "I'll take the money." "You owe me at least that much." "But we need to talk." "PK?" "Wait." "We don't want the money." "Women always want the money." "And women always want to talk." "Let's talk... but without him." "We want the murder weapon." "What the hell is he talking about?" "We want the weapon that you used to kill your wife." "Jesus." "Do you have to chew his food for him?" "Dennis, I need to get into his face." "Please wait for me outside." "Thanks." "PK." "Putside." "So, you're fucking him now." "You must be desperate, Lydia, really desperate." "I am." "Ph, my God." "Lydia!" "Lydia!" "Ph, shit." "Ph, God." "Hey!" "Stop right there!" "Lydia?" "Hello. I know where Lydia Davis is." "And we have a very bad situation here." "Apparently sometime earlier this morning, police were tipped that fugitive Lydia Davis was inside the Claremont residence you can see here behind me." "Now, just moments ago, police did lead the convicted murderer out of the house in handcuffs." "No shots were fired, but right now, the search is continuing for her accomplice-- Professor Dennis Burke." "Now, we don't know at this point whether Burke was inside the house with Davis or whether he took off down the street, jumped in his car, and left." "Jesus." "Where've you been?" "What's goin' on?" "is your wife home?" "Ph, come on." "That would be a good trick." "She bailed me out." "Then she bailed out for good." "You're in a lot of trouble, my friend." "What's happening?" "is Gretchen all right?" "Yeah, she's all right." "Everyone's all right, except for Lydia and probably you." "You look like shit." "It's a nightmare." "I need to use a telephone." "Um...right there." "Right there." "Thanks." "Hello." "Who was that?" "Dean Van Buren." "I'm fucked!" "I'm so fucked!" "Thurston, I have to turn myself in." "I am out of my depth!" "PK, uh, a word of advice that I wish someone had given me, PK?" "Cigarettes." "Bring a lot of'em." "You can use them to trade almost anything." "All right?" "Ptherwise, you know, rape!" "Hold on." "Hello." "Yeah." "He--yeah." "He's--just a minute." "Hello?" " Hey, it's me." " Gretchen!" "I tried to call you!" "I know." "You got my dad, so I star-69ed you back." "I've gotta see you." "Not a good idea." "Ph, yeah?" "Well, if Lydia rats me out the way she thinks I ratted her out, I'm dead." "My dad said they could get me on harboring." "Ph, my God." "You called the police?" "Gretchen, she shot a man." "I thought she was gonna hurt you." "Well, she shot them in self-defense." "They were shooting at her." "She had no choice." "is that what she told you?" "Well, I was there." "He didn't have a gun." "Well, I believe her." "And we had a long time to talk while we were sitting there waiting for you, and she told me everything." "She's very much in love with you, Dennis." "Gretchen, you believe that?" "Yes, I do believe it." "And I think that's why she's trying so hard to clear herself now." "Shh!" "Hold on." "Kessler." "Kessler's dead." "He looks amazingly well for a dead guy." "Pffered this gruesome account of the shooting of his bodyguard." "For as long as I live, I'll never forget the way that coldhearted bastard held my friend down so she could shoot him like a dog." "That's bullshit!" "That is not the way it happened!" "How'd you do it, then?" "I didn't do it!" "But Kessler has made things very easy for me." "How's that?" "Why would he tell those lies with no reason?" "He wants Lydia to get the death penalty." "Well, if she gets the death penalty, you'll get the death penalty." "Yeah. I'm innocent." "Well, so is she." "Right!" "She's innocent." "If he would lie like that, he's capable of anything." "She is innocent!" "She's been tellin' us that all along." "Thurston, we have to help her." "If she's innocent, we're innocent." "All right, I'm with you." "Here we go." "Lookit." "The world at our fingertips." "So, can you just go in there and find the trial transcripts, everything?" "Absolutely." "Why not?" "Well, Kessler has made some mistake." "I want to go through all the trial transcripts." "We're gonna find some new DNA evidence, something." "All right." "You're like some avenger." "I love that stuff." "It's you and I against him, and I guaran-fuckin'-tee you we're smarter." "Hello." "Excuse me." "No, no, no." "No." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Please." "We don't want any trouble." "No, no, no." "Ph, what a sweet dog." "Hello." "Hello." "You know, I'm looking for the man that used to live in my apartment." "Anthony Griglio, his name is." "Ph, well, we, uh, had nothin' to do with him." "He kicked my dog once." "Ph, how terrible." "Such a nice dog." "Uh, our neighbor wants to find Mr. Griglio." "I mean...do you think you can get the super to ask if he has a phone number or a forwarding address?" "You should give my wife her dog now before one of them snaps at you." "Aha." "It's the, uh, address you needed." "Ph, thank you!" "Uh, Mitzi really likes you." "Your wife." "No, our dog." "I'm afraid my wife doesn't care for you." "Hmm." "Hey, Professor." "What are you up to?" "I...uh...uh... how about you and me, uh, take a walk?" "Way I hear the story, you put the man on the floor, and Lydia popped 2 caps in his chest." "Ph, yes, I watch television, too." "I mean, do you really believe that?" "Doesn't matter what I believe." "George Kessler's the eyewitness." "George Kessler?" "George Kessler paid for Lydia's defense attorney." "Now, why would the victim's husband pay for the defense attorney unless he wanted to make sure that she doesn't get off?" "That's a little weak, Professor." "You're gonna need a hell of a lot more than that to beat a murder charge." "Well, I have more." "Listen." "There was a guy named Anthony Griglio." "He was supposed to help Lydia find the murder weapon, but he disappeared." "But I know where he is." "I know how to find him." "Sorry, case closed." "My job is to bring you in." "I can find this guy." "Now, you know I'm not a criminal." "I'm a college professor." "I don't know how to hide out or get lost or whatever the hell it is I'm supposed to do." "Just give me a couple of days." "I can make this make sense to you." "I didn't see you this morning, Mr. Burke." "But... I will see you the morning after next... in my office when you turn yourself in." "And god help you if you're not there." "Ptherwise..." "I keep your Hawthorne... which, by the way, isn't half-bad." "Thank you." "Who's this guy again?" "Anthony Griglio." "He used to live at my place." "He was the one writing to Lydia." "Well, he's certainly come up a hell of a lot in the world." "What do you want, little--hmm." "Yeah?" "Anthony Griglio?" "Sorry." "Are you sure?" "You got the wrong house." "Sorry." "The old man was wrong." "Feel the heat comin' out of that joint?" "It's like a steel plant in there." "Maybe we should just go around and ring the bell." "We tried that, Thurston." "Up and over." "What're you lookin' at, kid?" "You." "Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't." "Make me." "That's a complete non sequitur, you little punk." "Why don't you go get lost?" "All right?" "Now, what do we do with this situation?" "That's real." "What the hell you doin' in my house?" "You are Anthony Griglio, and I'm here to talk to you about Lydia Davis." "I'm callin' the cops." "No, you're not!" "Now, my name is Dennis Burke, and this is my partner Thurston Clarque." "Why is it so hot in here, man?" "The snakes like it that way." "Listen, I had nothin' to do with it, man." "I didn't help her get out." "I swear to God." "I haven't had any contact with Lydia Davis since March." "Lydia asked you to do something for her." "Did you do it?" "What do you mean?" "The murder weapon that killed George Kessler's wife was bought from a private party." "Lydia asked you to find out who that was." "Did you?" "What are you askin' me about that for?" "All right, look, I want to see some l.D." "No." "What you want is not to make me angry, because I am so bug-fucking-nuts right now!" "PK!" "Cool your jets." "Cool your jets." "So it's Kessler that sent you, right?" "So you did find the guy, didn't you?" "W-what's this big fucker right here?" "is that, like, a--like, a python or somethin'?" "Look, I think we'd better call Kessler." "I think you better sit right there until I hear what I want!" "No can do." "Sorry." "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "PK." "Are these things poisonous?" "That one is!" "This one?" "Yeah." "All right, I am running out of time with you." "You are gonna tell me what I want to know, or you're gonna kiss this snake." "You're outta your mind." "Yeah, he can taste you in the air." "You see that tongue?" "You're outta your mind!" "PK, PK!" "I tracked the guy down." "I traced him through an ad in the Freedom Trader, and Kessler bought the gun from him." "Why didn't you tell Lydia?" "'Cause I knew the information would be valuable, so I gave it to Kessler instead." "He paid me off big time." "Look, all I had to do was just keep my mouth shut." "And you left Lydia hanging there." "All right, pal. I want the name of the guy Kessler bought the gun from." "I don't remember." "You don't remember?" "Aaahhh!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "PK!" "PK!" "I put-- l put it on my computer!" "It's on the disk drive." "Can you get it?" "Yeah, I can get it." "What's the file name?" "Hognose." "Hognose. I'll go take care of it." "Just put the snake down!" "You come here." "You are comin' with me, all right?" "So you finally caught the bastard." "Well, we'd like you to identify him as the man who broke into your home with Lydia Davis." "And shot my bodyguard." "And I still don't know if he's going to make it." "Yes." "Bring them in." "Turn and face front." "Mr. Kessler, can you identify any of these men?" "Sure." "That's the cocksucker." "Number 4." "Cut 'em all loose except number 4." "Well, thank you very much, Detective." "Mr. Kessler, could you hold on just for one moment?" "We'd like you to identify a couple of other men." "Who?" "And what the hell is he doing here?" "This isn't proper procedure." "I'm gonna file a complaint." "Yes, well, there'll be plenty of time for that." "Now, Mr. Kessler, sit down." "Thank you." "Bring them in." "Mr. Kessler... do you recognize either of these men?" "No." "My client refuses to answer." "Mr. Parks... do you recognize anyone in the adjoining room?" "Yeah." " Who?" " That guy... sitting in the armchair." "He's the one who bought the .45 from me." "That's a fucking lie!" "Get me out of here." "George Kessler's gonna own this city before we're through." "Right." "Mr. Griglio..." "is this the same man who paid you to suppress the evidence?" "It is." "Detective, where did you dig up these assholes?" "This is a fucking joke." "Mr. Kessler, would you please stand up?" "George Kessler, I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of your wife Marguerite Kessler." "Pfficer, read him his rights... twice." "All right, Mr. Kessler, let's go." "What are you smiling at, jerk-off?" "You did this." "Well, fuck you, anyway." "I'll be out of here in less than an hour." "Ha!" "You did good, Professor." "Well, I didn't do as good as you did." "You let me go after Griglio because if I didn't catch him, you had me, and if I did catch him, you broke a big case." "Well, I'm just a cop." "Yeah, you're just a cop." "But what happens to Lydia?" "Well, it's all up to the judge, but, um, in my opinion, he's gonna cut Lydia free." "She claims she shot Kessler's bodyguard in self-defense, and I think the evidence is gonna support that." " Great." " Ph." "This, um..." "This is yours." "Did you get into it?" "Well, you know, with all the excitement, I didn't get a chance to finish it." "Keep it. lt gets better." "Thanks." "Thank you." "I'm sure that you can understand from the university's point of view that your actions over the last few months have been, uh, disruptive." "is that fair to say?" "Ah, yes." "Pbviously, my responsibility is to the students and to my daughter." "So I really had no choice, you know." "I mean, l--l, uh, I had to dismiss you." "Now we see very clearly that your actions and your remarkable persistence has resulted in justice being served, and that is a quality that we try to instill in the students here:" "persistence." "So, after quite sensible deliberation, the board has recommended that we offer you a professorship with full tenure." "That's a very generous offer, but one that I respectfully have to decline." "I'm sorry." "Why?" "I'm gonna quote Hawthorne for what may be the last time." "He once said, "l've put me in a dungeon," ""and I cannot find the key," ""and if the door were open, I should almost be afraid to walk out."" "Well..." "I don't know." "The time has just come for me to walk out that door." "But there is one thing that you could do for me." "Ah." "Give it to them?" " Huh?" " Kind of." "Ph, no, no, no." "You didn't let them buy you off, did you?" "You let them give you the tenure, and the big cottage you wanted across the street, and the saucy little coed, didn't you?" " No, you know what I did?" " What?" "I did a favor for a friend." "They're not expecting you, Thurston, but go in there and re-introduce yourself to those people." "You're gonna be around here a long time." "You got me my job back." "Well, it's there if you want it." "I've been waiting to do that for a while." "Thank you." "Go get 'em." "All right." "Well, you know, she wasn't supposed to get out 2 hours ago." "She was supposed to get out now." "I suppose you have no idea where she is." "Eloquent." "I don't know why I do this to myself." "I build it up in my head that life is going to turn out one way, but it never does." "I was thinking that you might be there when I got out." "I played a game. lf you were there, it was meant to be." "If you weren't, well, then, screw it." "By the time you read this, I'll be long gone, but I want you to know that everything I wrote you was true." "I really did love you, even though how we met and what happened was kind of messed up." "We could have been good together, but what are you gonna do?" "So, have a good life." "I can't stick around and hope we could ever be together, because I just couldn't take it if things didn't work out." "Love and sex, Lydia." "What the hell?" "Who are you?" "Where did you come from, you little thing?" "Do you like her?" "Lydia." "What about the letter?" "I changed my mind." "Do you like her?" "I sprung her from the pound." "I love her." "Good." "Now, I didn't want her to grow up without a mom and a dad." "That can really mess you up, you know." "So I've heard." "If I wouldn't've found her, she might have stayed there forever." "You know something?" "I might need some saving myself." "We all do." "That's why I'm here." "Everything is so different now" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Do you remember comin' home to me?" "Do you remember sleeping' next to me?" "Did you forget the taste of serendipity?" "Do you remember me?" "Ph, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh l found a voice inside that's screaming, and" "You've discovered lost boyhood dreams I freeze and watch you through dark window screens" "Do you remember me?" "What will it take to make you stay" "And change your mind?" "What can I do to make you love like I do" "Not follow there behind?" "What will you need to make you want to open wide?" "Hold my candle now" "See it burning down" "Burning here inside" "For you" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Say I'm wrong, say I am dreaming" "Tell me no oceans come between us" "But your night's aren't spent alone" "And I'm awfully envious I lie and wait in darkness for you to call" "Your busy excuses seem so rational" "Could it be you don't care after all?" "Do you remember me?" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh" "Ph, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh"