"Sixteen." "You're practically a man now, Josh." "Where's my son?" "Where's my..." "Ah, there he is." " Happy birthday, Josh." " Hi, Dad." "Sorry I'm late." "Hey." "Hey, Jack." "Josh, would you come outside with me?" "I want to talk to you." "We'll be right back, folks." " You like it?" " It's cool." "I'm gonna take it out." " Uh, just be home by curfew." " Yeah." "Hey, it's okay." "I'm..." "I'm going home right now." "Josh?" "I don't know how late you were running around last night." "Josh?" "It's not my son!" "Oh, my God!" "That's not my son!" " May I help you?" " My name's Frank Black." " Sheriff Gerlach's expecting me." " It's all right, Martin." "I got it." "Park right over here, Mr. Black." "I took the call from Seattle P.D." "I'm happy to accommodate you, Mr. Black, but, uh..." "I can't honestly say I know exactly how you can help us." "I work with a group of ex-law enforcement people called the Millennium Group." "We bring our experience to difficult cases like this one." "And, uh, you've seen cases like this before?" "When I saw it on the news, I recognized a certain type of criminal pathology." "I think the Group's resources could prove valuable in solving this case quickly." "Boy, I've got to tell you." "This thing's got everybody here pretty rattled." "We got walls around all three square miles." "Twenty-four hour private security." "Everything you can do to keep your kids safe, these folks have done it." "The boy that went missing last night..." "You found no connection between him... and the dead boy returned in his place?" "Well, nothing out of the ordinary." "They, uh..." "They live three blocks apart." "It's all in the file right there." "That's Kirk Orlando... the deceased." "He disappeared three days ago walking home from a basketball game." " What's this?" " Eight dollars worth of confetti." "Kirk's father found it in the mailbox the morning after his son disappeared." "Did you alert the community after he was taken?" "The family asked me to keep it quiet." "It turns out I just made Josh Comstock a sitting duck for that son of a bitch." "Hey, John." "John Tasini from the county coroner's office." "This is Frank Black, John, the man I was telling you about." "Did you determine the cause of death?" "It's preliminary until I can run some tests, but I'd say the boy bled to death." "His hands were amputated crudely, probably by some household tool... garden shears or possibly a hedge trimmer." "I found another subcutaneous hematoma like this on his abdomen." "It's a cattle prod." "The kidnapper uses it to subdue his victims." " It could be." " He didn't kill the boy immediately." "I'd place the time of death within the last 24 hours." "That means he kept him alive for 48." "There's something else." "I found blood in the boy's mouth and in his stomach." "Approximately four ounces of it." "Human blood." "You think this kid was forced to drink his own blood?" "Not his own." "Someone else's." "I can't confirm that yet." "Can you send me a copy of the results when you get 'em?" "I'd like to have a colleague of mine take a look at them." "Sure thing." "I assume we're lookin' for someone with a rap sheet." "I'm running a background check on the support staff... private security, gardeners, delivery people, anyone who had access." "People are not gonna want to hear this." "They think they've created a safe haven... a community free of all the dangers of the outside world." "No one's gonna want to believe that a killer comes from within." "Uh, the people that live here mostly are professionals, Mr. Black." "The victims were taken brazenly, in public spaces." "The killer knows these neighborhoods." "He feels safe here." "What does this guy want?" "If it's money, why doesn't he ask for it?" "He sees his victim as ugly, decayed." "The mutilation suggests... that he wants us to see the boy in the same way." "He's trying to tell us something." " What?" " That he won't stop killing... until he makes us understand whatever it is he's trying to communicate." "Please, don't hurt me!" "Oh, God!" "Please don't hurt me!" "Oh, no!" "Don't hurt me, please!" "Don't!" "Oh, God!" "Please don't hurt me!" "Oh, God!" "Please!" "Please!" "We all feel for what Tom and Linda Comstock are going through... and our prayers are with them." "But we also have to be concerned for the safety of our own children." "I want to know what's being done." "As some of you already know, the board has voted to move curfew to sundown... and to increase security patrols." "The sheriff has assured me that everything that can be done is being done." " Better late than never!" " You got that right!" "One child is dead." "Another one is missing." "Some of us know all too well the pain... of losing a child." "I hope this tragedy can bring us all together... that it can strengthen the ties that bind us, rather than tear them apart." "With all due respect, Ed, we didn't come to listen to crap." "Wait your turn, Bob." "We moved our families here to be safe from the kind of tragedies you're talking about." "That's right!" "Now we find out the sheriff withheld the truth from us." "I'd like to know what he's doing to find this monster." "What exactly is it you want to know, Mr. Birckenbuehl?" " Do you have any suspects yet?" " No." "Not yet." "Then what can you tell us?" "This is Frank Black." "Mr. Black's a criminal consultant." "He's driven down from Seattle to help us work on this case." "The killer is between 35 and 45 years old." "He drives a late model car, probably a minivan... or a sport utility vehicle." "I believe his parents were divorced when he was a child." "If he's married, his wife doesn't know anything about the crimes he's committing." "In all likelihood... the killer lives here in the community." "I don't believe it." "Your description fits half the guys in this room." "What does he want?" "Why is this man doing these terrible things?" "He doesn't want anything." "He's insane." " Do you want to talk about it?" " No." "I know you didn't want him to have that motorcycle." "It's not about the motorcycle." "It's about you running away from your family." "Linda." "Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" "Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" " Josh?" "Josh?" " Josh?" " Tom." "Yes?" "What?" "I just keep asking myself, why me?" "my family?" "why not the Van Horns across the street?" "Or the Trimbells?" "I know that sounds selfish of me, but I..." "I just can't make any sense out of it." "The killer knows you, Mr. Comstock." "He targeted your son for a reason." "The number, 331." "You know what it means?" "I met a woman two months ago." "She's a consultant for a firm that does design work for us." "You know..." "I started seeing her a couple times a week... at the Hartman Hotel, Room 331." "Have you told your wife?" "About three weeks ago, Josh saw me leaving the hotel with her." "we had a huge fight." "It was a wake-up call for me." "I realized I'd been a fool." "Does anyone else know about this?" "No, I" " I swore I'd never tell anyone, let alone Linda." " what would be the point?" " You have to tell her." "I know." "The last thing she needs to hear now." "Aah!" " Do you have a hearing disorder?" " Excuse me?" "I was just wondering." "Didn't you hear me tell you to turn off the TV set 20 minutes ago?" " Why?" "It's not that late." " It's almost midnight." "Don't make me come in here again." "Put the earthling back in the cage." "Mr. Black?" "There's someone outside." "Says she's here to see you." "Cheryl Andrews." "She's a pathologist with the Group." "I asked her to help us with the investigation." "Tell her to come in, Jerry." " Cheryl, thanks for coming out." " The security here is excellent, Frank." "I've been stopped twice since I entered the gates." "Victim number three?" "Charles Birckenbuehl, 17." "Kidnapper pulled him out of his own bedroom window." "Hair and fiber has turned up nothing yet." "You'll want to see this." "The blood in the stomach of the first victim... is that of a white male, type A-positive." "It's also the blood used to paint 331 on the bedclothes." "Frank?" "I spoke at a community meeting last night trying to draw the killer out with half-truths... saying he wanted nothing." "I wanted to provoke him into acting in haste... sending us another message that might help lead us to him." "Instead, he just took another victim." "This was planned, Frank." "You didn't prompt him to act." "You just didn't disrupt his pattern." "Why didn't he send another message?" "Maybe he did." "Here it is." "Cheryl?" "I'll have the water analyzed." "I don't get it." "The two boys" " Charles Birckenbuehl and Josh Comstock- did they know each other?" "They're both juniors at the high school." "They're enrolled in a couple of the same classes." "Nothing more specific?" "Clubs, uh, social groups that they were in together?" "Well, they were both on the swim team." "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Come on, Mike." "You've got to keep your chin tucked." "Coach Burke." "This is Frank Black." " Have you had any luck finding this guy?" " Not yet, sir." "We were hoping you might be able to help us." "Anything I can do." "Anything." "You can imagine how much this has upset all of us." "Charlie and Josh were outstanding kids." "For this to happen to two members of the team..." "Has there been anyone that's taken an unusual interest?" "Anyone without a child on the team that's regularly attended the meets?" "No, not that I can think of." "what about the two boys?" "Had they been acting strangely?" "Oh, no." "They were both good boys." "Josh had been having some difficulties at home and trouble with his father." " Other than that..." " Thank you, Mr. Burke." "Mr. Black." "Please... call me if there's anything else I can do." "I'm just" " I'm just very anxious to find these two boys safe and sound." "How well do you know him?" "Well enough." "He's lived here a couple of years." "The kids like him." "He's labile." "He's on some kind of prescription medication." "He's anxiolytic." " Well, he's had a rough go of it lately." " What do you mean?" "He got divorced last year." "Then his son died six months ago." " What happened?" " Hit-and-run driver just outside the gate." " Carl was only eight." " And you never found the man responsible?" "No." "Funeral services for the first victim are being held this afternoon." "I'd like to go." " What for?" " The kidnapper might be there... to see the effect of his work firsthand." "How are you gonna know that?" "I won't." "I just want to let him know I'm paying attention." "When a child dies, we seek meaning from God." "'why must the innocent suffer?" we ask." "And when that death is a violent death... the pain is compounded by images of horror." "Images that threaten to blot out the memory of the innocence that once was." "And yet, God offers us no meaning, not in the personal sense." "So we are tempted to struggle with death... angrily blaming ourselves or an unjust universe for the taking of a life... for which there seems no possible reason." "We can never know why Kirk was taken from us." "We can only cherish the innocence that once was... keeping it alive by remembering it." "And pray for the preservation of innocence in the face of evil." " Frank?" " I just got a strange feeling..." " like somebody had followed me home." " You think someone did?" "No." " You want to come to bed?" " In a minute." "Something else is bothering you." "What is it?" "I was thinking about this case, an old one I had." "It felt a lot like the one I'm working on now." "What happened?" "The kidnapper picked up kids at the bus stops... took 'em to his cabin in the woods, tortured them for seven or eight days." "Then he'd return them to the bus stops as if nothing ever happened." "How'd you catch him?" "One day he just stopped." "We never did." " Oh, I hope I'm not disturbing." "I..." " That's all right, Jack." "I saw you were up, but I just didn't want to run the risk... of waking the little one up by ringing the bell, so..." " Do you need something?" " Uh, oh, I just wanted to drop this off." "Uh, somebody knocked on my door a few minutes ago and probably got the wrong house by mistake." " Did you see the man who left it?" " Uh, no." "No, he just took off." "But I figured it must be important though." "Thanks, Jack." "Oh." "Good" " Oh, good night." " Good night." " Good night." "The coach's light's still on." "You know, some of the boys said they saw the police question him." "So what?" "The man lost his own son, for God's sakes." "You never know what people are capable of, you know?" "Even the ones you think you know best." " You guys all right?" " Yeah." "You seen anything?" "No." "Nothing yet." "I'm heading on over to the east wall." " Got my cell phone if you need anything." " We're fine." "You know, if we do catch this guy, I don't know what'll happen." "What do you mean?" "I, uh, I brought this." "Just in case." "You gonna shoot this guy, Tom?" "I don't know." "I've had that thing in my bedside drawer for six years... unloaded, just in case." "Tonight it's loaded." "Tom, take a look." "Son of a bitch!" "My God." "It's..." "It's just a kid." "His name's Richard Draper." "Had a little rendezvous planned with his girlfriend." "Apparently he didn't want to get caught violating the curfew." " What's his condition?" " He's got a concussion, a few cuts and bruises." "Paramedics think he's gonna be all right." "What about the men?" "They were on neighborhood patrol." "Birckenbuehl's gone home already." "Mr. Comstock's right over there." "He's pretty shaky." " I told him I'd give him a ride home." " I'll take him." "It's like a nightmare I can't wake up from." "I'm going home, but I don't know why." "I can't sleep." "The house is empty." "You told your wife about the affair." "She left me this morning." "Kidnapper sent me something earlier this evening... a paint swatch." " Does that mean anything to you?" " No." "Should it?" "In all likelihood it was a message he intended for me to understand." "But you don't." "Not yet." "Mr. Comstock, did you give your keys to anyone?" "A neighbor or friend?" " No." "Why?" " I just saw someone inside." "Josh!" "Oh, God, Josh." "No signs of forced entry." "The guy probably used Josh's keys to get in the house." " How's Mr. Comstock?" " He's in the bedroom on the phone with his wife." "She's gonna meet 'em at the hospital." "I'd say he's greatly relieved." " What's his condition?" " He's in shock." "Lowered body temperature, dilated pupils." "He has burn marks on his chest similar to the cattle prods on the first victim." "He was made to ingest blood like the other boy." "That would appear to be the case." "Paramedics are going to take him to the hospital now." " Can we talk to him first?" " He won't be able to give us a description." "Why not?" "The kidnapper wouldn't have returned him if he could." "Look, making these kids drink blood doesn't make a lot of sense either." "The kidnapper sees himself as a holy figure, a purifier." "He makes the impure ingest his blood, so that they can be cleansed." "What about Charlie Birckenbuehl?" "Is he gonna purify him too?" "There's a reason the first boy was killed and Josh wasn't... some connection we haven't seen yet." "Yeah." "Oh, somebody help me!" "Somebody get me out of here, please!" "Oh, help." "Please." "God did not make death." "He doesn't rejoice in the destruction of the living." "Oh, God!" "But his justice is undying." "Oh, God!" "Oh, God, please!" " Yeah?" " Frank." "Am I interrupting dinner?" " No, I was just lookin' over your e-mail." " Does it mean anything to you?" "It might." "We've got one dead boy... one returned alive, and one Charlie Birckenbuehl still missing." "I think the unsolved death of the swim coach's son may be related." "I just got the results back from the lab." "I thought you'd want to hear them right away." " Go ahead." " We isolated the foreign substance... that killed the goldfish in Charlie Birckenbuehl's bedroom." "It was scotch..." "single malt I'd say." "You weren't able to pull any prints off the paint swatch?" "No." "It's called Forest Green... code number 528." "It's a three-step enamel used in late model ML 750 minivans." "That was the car he was driving." " Who?" " The drunk driver that killed Coach Burke's son." "You think the accident somehow triggered the kidnapper's break?" "I think the kidnapper was deeply affected by this." "It changed the way he saw people around him." "He became outraged, disillusioned." "He wants to root out sin, expose hypocrisy." "I'll call Sheriff Gerlach." "We should meet at Birckenbuehl's house." " What's there?" " Something we overlooked." "I don't understand what you're looking for." "Of the three fathers, Mr. Birckenbuehl... you're the only one that hasn't received a communication from the kidnapper." "But what about the dead fish?" "I don't think that was directed at you." "It was meant for me." "I think we're overlooking something here." "Something that might save your son's life." "Then you know what he wants, the kidnapper?" "He wants you to confess, Mr. Birckenbuehl." "Confess to what?" "I haven't done anything wrong." "He believes you have, that the sins of the father are visited on the son." "After Mr. Comstock confessed his sin... his son was released alive." "The first boy was killed because his father didn't confess his sin, one involving money." "He's warning you to confess what you've done in order to save your son." "Frank." "This is not your son's ball, Mr. Birckenbuehl." " But it has his initials on it." " This ball belongs to Coach Burke's son..." "Carl, the boy that was killed by a hit-and-run driver." "You have an evidence bag, Cheryl?" "Will you hold it right under here?" "Sheriff, my client insists he's absolutely innocent... of any charges relating to the death of Carl Burke." "I don't care if your client insists he's the king of Prussia." " I'm bringing him in." " Under these rather unique circumstances... he has agreed to be taken in publicly for questioning... but he expects that his cooperation will be taken into consideration." "Is that absolutely necessary?" "We don't want to have any doubts about what's happening here." "You think this is gonna work, Frank?" "If it doesn't, I don't know what will." " What's going on?" " It's Bob Birckenbuehl." "He's being arrested." " Watch your head." " For what?" "Killing Coach Burke's son." "They're taking him down to give a statement." "Bob?" "I know." "I can't believe it." "Go on ahead then." "You have a plan "B"?" "You don't believe he's taken the bait." "He's pushing it." "The other boys were returned in under 72 hours." "It's almost that now." "Sheriff, we got a man approaching the house... from the front walk." "A man's just come up the walk." "He's approaching the house." "Coach." "What are you doing here?" "I found this in my mailbox when I got back from work." "It's addressed to him." "Dad?" "Dad, I'm scared." "I'm sick, Dad." "I'm really sick." "I want you to get me out of here, please." "He wants me to tell you." "He says what you've done isn't enough." "He says he's merciful, but he says he's just." "He says for my sake, you have to pay for what you've done... that if you've taken a life... then your life must be taken in return." "Play it again, please." "wait." "I can't listen to that again." " Mr. Birckenbuehl." " Yeah?" "We'll find your son." "The echo suggests a large, low-ceilinged room." "An abandoned building?" "Possibly a basement?" "Dad?" "Dad, I'm scared." "I'm sick, Dad." " I'm really sick." " Stop it there." " Did you hear that?" " Yes." "There's a sound, something in the distant background." "Rewind it a few seconds until after he says, "I'm sick"." "Sick, Dad." "I'm really sick." "What is that?" "I know." " Is there a viewing area under the pool?" " I think so." "There has to be an access to it." "I'll get the keys!" " We're working in the dark here." " Charlie!" "He may have moved to another location." "Let's split up." "Move quietly." " Frank?" " Over here!" "I think I've found something here." "Follow the sound of my voice." " Cheryl?" " Frank!" "I've got him!" "He's okay!" "It's all right, Charlie." "You're gonna be just fine." "Aah!" "Cheryl!" "Hey." "It's over." "I'm their only hope." "The fathers of these boys were all liars." " They tried to hide their sins." " You're done here." "You've seen what these men look like." "You see what they'll do to their children." "They'll make them just the way they are... sick and corrupt." "Drop it, Ed!" "I tried to help them." "I cared about these boys." "Why am I the only one?" "Drop the weapon." "We need an ambulance here, Paul." "I'm all right." "I'm all right, Frank." "I saved him." "I made his father pay the price for what he did." "Where's Birckenbuehl?" "In his bedroom." "How could this happen here?" "Revision:" "Thor"