"Harley, hurry up." "Whatever are you doing with that thing." "So slow..." "Dear." "Harley, get over here and help me." "Ugh!" "Uh, just like his father." "Harley, aren't you done yet?" "What's the matter with you?" "Get that stuff in the shredder and get over here." "Sure you chopped all that garbage?" "Probably not." "This is very odd." "I found a letter addressed to Louis Vendredi which he's never opened." "Why not?" "It's postmarked the day after he died." "That pretty much explains it." "Yeah." "What's the big deal?" "Well, I took the liberty of opening it myself, and voila!" "A crisp $100 bill." "Ooh!" "Looks like we got, uh, two choices..." "Lunch at Saint Tropez, dinner at Mocambo." "Either way, about a hundred bucks for two." "I don't think we should spend it just yet." "Listen to this." ""Thank you, Mr. Vendredi." ""I now realize we both find pleasure" ""in using the keen edge, the cutting edge," ""as it were, of the knowledge" ""we obtain from below." "Enclosed is a small token of my appreciation."" "Who from?" "It's not signed, and there's no return address," "But it's postmarked Temple Heights." "Looks like we should see if Lewis sold anything to anybody in Temple Heights." "My thoughts exactly, lad." "The manifest." "Ah, bingo!" "Number two-seven-six-six-eight." "Sold to Harley O'Conner." "It even has his phone number." "A 50-year-old portable mulcher?" "Something tells me we would have been better off if you hadn't opened that letter." "Better find out if he's still living there." "Say you're taking a census or something." "You just have to be patient." "You think I enjoy living in this antique store?" "She's talking to him." "I know it's been two months, darling." "You just have to trust me." "I have unfinished business." "Of course I still want to marry you." "I don't know." "Maybe a..." "Another month." "No, I'm not having an affair!" "Oh." "Smell the burning leaves, Charles." "Mm, takes me back to my childhood, jumping in the leaves that my father raked." "Indeed." "Well, we lived in town." "How did the meeting go, Amanda?" "Quite well." "The planning commission says that we can open our doors to the public tomorrow." "Oh, William would be proud, God rest his soul." "He always wanted to do something for this city." "This park would have made him very proud." "I'm thrilled, Amanda." "Let's have some lunch and then go over the new landscaping plans." "How is the north garden coming along?" "Fine." "Oh, some young people..." "delinquents or whatever..." "Have been coming on the grounds after hours." "As long as they're not hurting anybody, leave them be." "You're doin' a fine job on those bulbs, son." "Just thought you should know." "I'd be doing a lot finer if I was raking in her money instead of her leaves." "Mr. Pearson wants you to start on the east garden." "Come on, I'll show you." "Well, I guess that explains why the phone was disconnected." "It's obvious no one lives here any longer, Jack." "Let's go." "Oh, we're here." "We may as well check it out, hmm?" "What's the point?" "Any fool can see he's left." "We'll never find him." "One less curse to recover." "Oh, Micki, you don't mean that." "Micki?" "Look, it's just that I'm getting so sick of this job I've been stuck with." "We've been stuck with." "Jack, I have a whole other life that's..." "I never wanted any of this." "Oh, none of us did." "I mean, Ryan's trapped, too." "So am I." "What can I say?" "We've got a responsibility?" "This place gives me the creeps." "Yeah." "God only knows what sort of a curse that mulcher has on it." "I finished the bulbs." "Now what?" "Time to give the hedges a haircut." "But easy on the brylcreem." "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "Never seen one of these before." "Oh." "Probably never will again, neither." "Sure saves on trips to the dump, though." "Yeah, I'd imagine so." "So, you want to get started on those hedges?" "Right." "I'll get right on it." "Well, I think the Devil has something to do with that, too." "Listen to us." "We sound like a couple of lunatics." "I'll never be able to explain all of this to Lloyd." "So, what is it we're looking for?" "I'm really not sure." "What sort of things would a shredder leave behind?" "Terrific." "Oh." "Are you all right?" "Yeah." "Sometimes I feel really klutzy." "No, you're not." "It's brand new." "Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing here?" "!" "Uh, we're-we're looking for Harley O'Conner." "What for?" "You friends of his?" "No, no." "We, uh..." "We buy and sell antiques, and we, uh..." "We sold something to Mr. O'Conner, and we'd like to get it back." "Step outside." "Slowly." ""Curious Goods."" "Well, actually, we don't sell so much anymore." "We buy antiques." "Yeah, well, that's your business." "I look after this place." "Just live over there." "Oh." "It doesn't look as though anyone's lived here in a few months." "That's about right." "Harley was an accountant or something." "Always talking about financial planning." "How come the house is empty?" "Something happen to him?" "He's in a mental hospital." "Cops caught him with a bag full of money, and his mother was missing." "Nobody's seen her for months." "Some folks say he murdered her." "What's he doing in a hospital if he's been arrested for murder?" "Who said he was arrested?" "Way I heard it was, the cops started questioning him, and he went nuts." "He started screaming about the teeth of hell or something, mouth of hell." "Something like that." "Then he attacked the cops." "I tell you, I still love my job even if my body can't keep up like it used to." "When you're my age, young man, you'll find that your best friend will be a hot bathtub every night." "Tell you what, old timer." "Uh, I'll finish up here, and let you go home to that tub." "Nah, that's very kind, but I still got to mulch all this." "No, no, I can do that, too." "Come on." "You sure?" "Sure." "It's my first week on the job." "I want to make a good impression." "Don't you worry about a thing." "It'll all be done when you come in tomorrow." "Lord knows I could stand a good soak." "Thank you kindly, son." "Mm." "d" "Adrian." "Well, lookit here." "Adrian's got himself a job." "I was wonderin' where you disappeared to." "There's a lot of interest in you on the streets, boy." "What are you talking about?" "Word's out on you." "You owe too much to the wrong people." "You should have paid off your paper." "Look, I'm good for it." "Hey, don't tell me." "Tell the leg breakers that're gonna come and see you." "You don't have to say anything." "I got a little money." "And you want to pay me to keep quiet?" "Yeah." "Okay." "You come up with, say, a hundred..." "No, no, make it 500..." "A week, and you buy my quiet." "I can't." "I don't have that kind of money!" "You open your mouth, and I'll kill you." "You?" "You're a pretty boy." "A kissy-faced pimp." "I've seen your kind come and go, man..." "All full of tough-guy talk." "You ain't got the meat!" "Don't talk to me like that!" "The mulcher was sold at a police auction almost three months ago." "Oh yeah?" "Who to?" "Some guy called Robert Smith." "He has a small gardening company." "Haven't tracked him down yet, but I've got a few leads." "God, I love this stuff." "I'm starting to feel like "Ryan Dallion, P.I."." "I'm a little worried about Micki, though." "She's all torqued up over this "Lloyd the litigator"." "That's unbelievable." "Isn't it though?" "He's such a dork." "No, I'm talking about the money." "This five dollar bill that we picked up at O'Conner's place is brand new and yet it's dated 1937." "And so is the hundred dollar bill that he sent to Lewis through the mail." "Boy, I'd love to talk to that Harley O'Conner." "Well, we know he's in a mental ward." "He refuses to talk to anybody." "By the tone of his letter, he might be willing to talk to your uncle Lewis." "Are we talking about a séance?" "Not exactly." "I'll let you know what happens." "Oh, and, Ryan, about Micki, she's gonna have to work this out all by herself." "d" "My music, ow!" "Oh!" "Ryan." "Ryan!" "No..." "What?" "What?" "There's a person outside my window looking in." "Can you blame him?" "Be serious!" "There's a burglar out there!" "What are you doing?" "It's '67 Stratocaster." "No burglar is worth that." "What?" "Get off me!" "Stop!" "Lloyd!" "Oh, oh, baby, are you all right?" "You okay?" "So, we finally get to meet face-to-face." "Hi." "Ryan Dallion." "Hey, don't look at me." "Most people ring doorbells." "You could have been a burglar." "How many burglars do you know wear Brooks Brothers virgin wool?" "Lloyd, what were you doing outside my window?" "Would you excuse us?" "I can't believe that you flew out here just to check up on me." "I flew out here to take some depositions." "Coming over tonight was purely unpremeditated." "Well, that's no excuse for spying on me." "You're right." "It's not." "But I felt I didn't have a choice." "I had to know for sure if there was another man in your life, and, uh," "I'm still not convinced there isn't." "You can't be serious!" "Ryan?" "He's my cousin." "Only by marriage." "I had him checked out." "Besides, stranger things have been known to happen." "Nothing could be stranger than being involved with Ryan." "What's going on here?" "You should've sold this shop and been home a long time ago." "Now I think you owe me an explanation." "The truth." "Lloyd, you don't know how badly I want to come home, but the store's been turning my life inside out." "What is it?" "Contractual problems?" "Pending litigation?" "Let me help you." "No, you can't." "You..." "It's, uh, uh..." "Misplaced inventory and various other odds and ends." "I'll be home as soon as I can." "I have no choice." "Well, I don't think I do, either." "It's tough to marry someone who's not a hundred percent honest with you." "The grounds are beautiful, Mrs. Harrington." "My late husband deserves all the credit for these grounds and the park." "My husband was a man who loved beauty." "Just being with him was always my greatest joy." "Now what can I do for you?" "Did you want to join the community volunteer program?" "We give all the proceeds to charity and then put up a nice little plaque with your name on it." "That'd be terrific, but actually" "I'm involved with an antique store and we were just looking to buy something from one of your gardeners, a Robert Smith." "Smith?" "Oh, you must mean Smitty." "I think you'll find him down in the park somewhere." "We've got a couple of options here." "We can play it low key just in case this guy doesn't know anything about the curse." "Or..." "We can tell him we know all about it, see how he reacts, you know, see if he's a psycho killer." "What do you think?" "Huh?" "You all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "You know, if you ask me," "I think things worked out for the best." "I didn't ask you." "Uh, Robert Smith?" "Well, that'd be me." "My friends call me Smitty." "Well, I understand you own a portable shredder," "Smitty." "I sure do." "A mulcher, vintage 1937." "1937." "You're sure about that?" "We're interested in buying it." "Well, it's really not for sale." "I couldn't replace it for what you'd pay me for it." "Well, what if we were to give you enough money to buy yourself a new one, say, uh, $2,500." "$2,500 dollars?" "!" "Well, young man, you got yourself a deal." "It's on the grounds." "Just give me a chance to load it up and I'll bring it up to ya." "Ryan, $2,500?" "Where are we gonna get $2,500?" "A drop in the bucket." "A drop in the bucket?" "It's more like a whole damn lake." "Next time, we discuss it." "Well, I can't say I'm sorry to see you go." "Smitty, can you come in here and give me a hand for a sec?" "Sure." "No problem." "Where the heck are ya?" "d" "Harley." "I believe we have a common interest." "My, my friend Lewis Vendredi asked me to stop by and say hello." "Look." "Look." "I don't know you." "Get out." "Get out of here." "I said get out." "I won't talk to you." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Listen to me!" "Lewis is dead!" "Lewis is dead?" "Yes." "We were partners." "We ran the store together." "He wanted to go back on his pact with Satan, and he died for it." "It's okay." "Everything's perfectly all right." "Thank you." "Listen, Harley," "Lewis sold you an old shredder, a garden mulcher." "I want to get it back." "I want to use it like you did." "Yeah, it's no use to you in here, is it?" "But I can use it out there, and I'll share the money with you." "How do I know you'll choose your investments wisely?" "You'll probably stick with the bums and runaways, they're safe." "You won't get caught." "But the yield is too low." "No." "No." "If I agree, you must promise to choose a riskier stock:" "doctors, bankers." "I recommend a mixed portfolio for the long term." "The yield is greater." "There's more money in it." "Jack, we found him!" "He went to get the mulcher." "He never came back." "And we checked in his house, throughout the gardens, wherever we could think of, but there was no sign of him." "Oh, before you say any more..." "I think he fooled us with that nice guy act and, uh, took off with it." "I bet you anything he knows the mulcher's cursed and he's been making coleslaw out of people." "Something wrong?" "Lloyd came by to see you." "You came back?" "!" "What the hell is going on here?" "Now, Lloyd, please try and keep an open mind." "I didn't believe it myself at first." "Believe what?" "We keep them in here." "What did you find out?" "As near as I can figure it, the mulcher is somehow producing currency for every person killed in it." "And it seems to be exponential." "Meaning?" "Meaning, in this case, the wealthier the victim, the higher the denomination." "What I can't figure out is why it's all minted 1937." "Guess when the mulcher was built?" "Oh, of course." "Do you think that he's going to believe her?" "Well, sure." "Right along with the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman." "Every one of these is cursed by the devil and uncle Lewis." "I know that's difficult for you to believe, Lloyd, but you just have to trust me." "You're telling me the three of you believe there's a supernatural power working here?" "It's not a delusion." "You're acting like this is some kind of a fantasy." "This caused people to go blind." "And this is responsible for several homes burning down." "I suppose this little doll tears people's throats out?" "Put that down." "I can't believe this." "You have to get out of here!" "Yes, I believe I do." "Ryan, give her some time." "Ryan, I checked with the gate guards." "Nobody's seen Smitty leaving the gardens with or without the mulcher." "You think he's still here?" "Must be." "I don't think it's by choice." "I think it's very possible Smitty's already become a victim." "Not unless he's the one, the bad guy." "From all we've learned, he doesn't seem the type." "Well, what are we supposed to do?" "Just keep poking around here until we find it?" "Here, Smitty's..." "wherever else we can think of." "I don't want to lose you." "And we'll have tiger lilies surrounding the memorial stone." "Yes, sir." "By the way, have you seen Smitty anywhere?" "He went off early yesterday and hasn't shown up at all today." "Just not like him." "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I have." "I just left him." "He's over by the shed." "Oh, fine." "I can take you over there." "I can find my way, thank you." "I believe you now." "What I mean to say is," "I believe you believe in this curse business." "One Christmas, when I was a kid, my older sister pointed up to the sky and said, "do you see it?" ""there's the sled and the reindeer." "There's Santa"." "I looked up and I did see it." "Because I believed in her," "I believed that it was there." "See, the imagination is a very powerful thing." "d" "I want you to come home with me tomorrow." "I want things back the way they were and I think you do, too." "If you stay here," "I can only assume you want to call off the wedding." "It's your choice." "Smitty?" "Smitty?" "I'm coming home." "Now, this, senator, is the memorial to my late husband." "He loved mums." "What's your name, young man?" "Adrian, Mrs. Harrington." "Well, you're doing a fine job, Adrian." "Thank you, ma'am." "I think the gardens will be a great success." "In fact, I've been invited to London to talk..." "Didn't hear you come in." "Sorry about the dinner meeting, sweetheart, but I have to go back to the hotel to pack anyway." "I'll pick you up tomorrow at noon, all right?" "Plane leaves at 2:00." "Ryan, I..." "I don't know what to say." "You're going back with him, hmm?" "I've been pulling weeds all day, trying to find a murderer, you've been..." "I don't believe this." "What about the pact we all made?" "Hey, I never made a pact with you." "Yeah, well what about all those people out there who still have cursed antiques, some of which you and I sold them, hmm?" "What about that?" "Listen, you can't blame that on me." "We had no idea about it." "So what?" "We still have a responsibility." "Cut the crap, Ryan." "The only reason you're living here is because you like it." "Look, there are many problems in this world that I'm never going to be able to solve." "That's the plain, simple truth." "Where is it written that I have to sacrifice my life and happiness for this place, huh?" "Sacrifice?" "What do you..." "What do you have to sacrifice?" "Except for maybe Mr. Snotnose Ivy league..." "Micki..." "We need you to make this whole thing work out." "I need you." "I'm sorry." "Well, that about finishes that." "I've talked to most of the gardeners." "No sign of Smith anywhere." "Been out to his house... nothing." "Nothing in that little shed of his around the back." "Hey, Ryan, I'm going to miss her, too." "Nothing we can do about it if her heart isn't in it." "Yeah, I know." "I'm just tired of this digging." "We've gotta do something." "Yeah, you're right." "Why don't you check around the grounds, and I'll check around the house." "We'll meet back there in an hour, huh?" "We've only got five minutes to spare, darling." "Jack." "I just couldn't leave without saying good-bye." "Micki." "Have a safe journey." "Where's Ryan?" "Don't you see?" "He's obviously doing this just to keep you from leaving." "He didn't even know we were coming, Lloyd." "He's in trouble." "Oh, uh, uh, pardon me." "Have you seen, uh, a young man with, uh, dark brown hair, short, kind of curly?" "He's one of the volunteers." "No, I haven't." "Help!" "Let me outta here!" "Help!" "Let me outta here!" "Help me!" "Jack?" "Yes, Ryan." "Lord in heaven." "It was one of the..." "One of the gardeners, like you thought." "It was a young balding guy..." "I just saw him going up toward the mansion." "What, the mansion?" "Come on, come on!" "What?" "Last piece of the puzzle." "Amanda's the richest person around here, the greatest return." "Charles, is that you?" "Where have you been all morning?" "Oh, hello, young man." "Adrian, is it?" "What can I do for you?" "You have no idea what you can do for me." "You can set me up for life." "Shut up!" "I told you not to make a sound." "Oh!" "Oh, my god!" "Get back!" "Get back or I'll kill her!" "Quick, Lloyd, do something." "What?" "You distract him." "Hey!" "Hey!" "We know all about the mulcher." "Let her go!" "It's over!" "Is it?" "!" "So what?" "I'm still a rich man!" "Not anymore!" "No!" "No." "No!" "Ryan, are you all right?" "It's just my head." "No serious damage then." "Nothing but blood." "I guess he wasn't even worth a dollar." "Micki..." "All this magic business, don't you see what's happening?" "We saw a tragedy this afternoon and those two clowns..." "Don't call them names!" "All right." "Your friends." "They've got you involved in some very dangerous things." "And that madman this afternoon..." "Don't you see?" "That's what I do." "I told you." "I have a responsibility to get back all the things we sold." "And if you can't see that, I'm sorry." "Well," "I think you're fooling yourself." "You and that..." "Commercial art dropout!" "If you really cared about me, you would try to understand." "Ryan may not be Harvard material, but he's honest and he cares." "He cares that people might get hurt if we walk away from what we have to do!" "Micki..." "Hey, Micki..." "Leave me alone." "I thought..." "That's just your problem." "You try to do things you're not ready for!" "Micki, is there anything I can do?" "Leave me alone!" "Well, if you want me, I'll be in my room." "Ryan..." "I'm sorry." "Yeah, well, I just thought..." "Well, thanks."