"Yeah." "I'm gonna bring that pickup in for an overhaul." "Thanks." "Yeah." "Points, plugs, carburetor-- the whole deal." " It's been a while since I've had it in." " What can I get for you, hon?" "I'll have a beer and a sandwich-- tuna salad sandwich." " And that be it for you tonight, hon?" " Yeah." "There you be, hon." "Thanks." "I think we're about ready for a check." "Anything else for you?" "See ya." "Evenin'." "Evenin'." "Hi." "A package for Mrs. Annie Tisman." " Could you sign here?" " I haven't ordered anything." "Are you sure it's for me?" "It's the correct name and address?" "Oh, yeah." "Sure." "I've been Annie Tisman more years than I like to count." " You have a good day, ma'am." " Mm-hmm." " Are you feeling any better?" " A little." "I don't understand this." "Why would someone do this to me?" "I never hurt anyone." "Is there someplace we could sit down and talk?" "Are they gonna take that away soon?" "Sorry, sir." "It's a crime scene." "I can't let you in." "Oh, that's okay, Connelly." "It's Frank Black." "Please, uh, in the other room." "We can talk in there." "I'm sorry. wherever you'd be more comfortable." "Bletcher give you any details?" "Yeah." "Has anybody spoken to the, uh, delivery service?" "Package was left in a drop-off box... with a bogus billing code and a bogus return." " Have you seen what you need to see?" " Yeah." "Let's get this evidence bagged and tagged." "Frank." "Spare me a minute?" "I sent her to be with a friend." " You saw?" " Was she any help at all?" "Doesn't seem to be any reason why it was sent to this lady." "She's, uh, a bookkeeper for a florist." "No problems at work." "She's widowed almost 10 years ago." "No romantic involvements." "On good terms with the family-- the ones she keeps up with." "No one with any grievances she's aware of?" "Doesn't make any sense." "This isn't the first time that you've seen one of these, is it?" "Over the last four years, we've had, uh... human fingers, a partial hand... sent to three individuals locally." "No discernible reason why these people were chosen... and no connection between any of them we're able to find." "A finger's one thing." "A guy can live without a finger." " But a tongue." " The victim is dead, Bletch." "We need your expertise on this, Frank." "I guess that goes without sayin'" " Okay." "Have a good evening, ma'am." " Thank you." "'`The bear never told the rabbit, the badger or the crow..." ""that his honey was missing from the hollow tree... but he looked at 'em differently from then on."" "Why?" " We'll find out later." " Were you expecting a package, Frank?" "Yeah." "Files from Bletcher." "I'll look at it downstairs." "Won't take long." "Can you read the rest before bed, Daddy?" "Sure I will, honey." "That's the last of the photos." "Have you read the pathology reports yet?" "What strikes me about 'em right off... is the examiner's prior conclusion in each instance... the body parts were removed while the victims were alive." "It's very possible the victim or the killer weren't acquainted." "Which is why the perpetrator's been hard to catch." "But the owners of the body parts-- why haven't they turned up?" "Given the four years activity?" "We can infer the killer's been careful in disposing of the remains... selecting victims whose disappearance wouldn't draw unusual attention." "No obvious connection to the previous victims or body part recipients." "Frank?" "Dinner's on the table." "In a minute." "There's an unusual element of mindfulness associated with the violence." "I think the local M.E. could use an educated opinion." "I've got a call in to Cheryl Andrews." "Already ran it down with her." " Anything else?" " No." " Enjoy your dinner, Frank." " Thanks." "We're aware previous findings indicate the other body parts were all sundered... while the victims were alive, but I believe this tongue was removed after death." "Also, the instrument wasn't as sharp or as skillfully used as in previous excisions." "Would that point to, uh, rage, loss of control?" "Doubtful." "The cuts aren't unusually forceful, just imprecise." "A few false starts, repetitive blade strokes." " Frank?" " We do have a pattern change." "Unlikely to be intentional deviation from the established method." "So how do we account for it?" "The victim died prematurely, or the killer was interrupted." "The perpetrator may be getting lazy... becoming more casual as his activities lose their novelty." "So it really doesn't tell us much then." "Well, it tells us that he's less concerned about being discovered... but no less dangerous-- possibly more so." "There's nothing here to indicate that this is gonna stop." "I always wanted to be a stuntman in the movies." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "A wet, raw night." " What can I getcha?" " Rain without, rain within." "Glass of water." " Really?" " Be very careful with the tone you take with strangers... and bring Mr. Bardale another round now." "Come here, sweetheart." "eome on and sit down with me." " What are you at?" " You've been released from prison-- newborn in the world." "Off the bus just minutes." "You like it?" "Look, if you're some queer who thinks he got lucky" ""Queer"?" "Since the age of 15, Mr. Bardale, you have been released six times..." " but your total time outside prison is less than a year." " You a cop?" "You're out this time after having served eight years for robbery with violence." "Never been tried for most of what you've done." "Parole officer?" "I got 24 hours to report in." "Two murders-- the girl in Tacoma your last time out... and a man who picked you up hitchhiking." "You were 17." "He was homosexual." "Others you killed in prison." "I admire your capacity for action." "I wanna keep you in the world." "Your nature can serve a higher purpose." "You wanna keep me from goin' back to prison?" "Without me, you'll be in custody within days." "Sooner perhaps." "I will keep you in the world." "You're a lawyer, right?" "No, Mr. Bardale, I'm not." "I'm a judge." "Sentence carried out contrary tojust instructions of this court." "I had to be practical." "It's hard to cut a guy's tongue out when he's still alive." "I meant to get him unsuspecting." "Then he bled out in the parking lot, and... he croaked before I got the tongue." "You acted as agent of this court while impaired." "One beer is all" "Remember I am who I am." "How was the corpse of the condemned disposed of?" " Same way as usual." " You've forgotten." "You feel you can lie as freely to me as to yourself." "No." "They'll never find it." "Um, I had to hurry." "Carl Nearman, you've acted selfishly." "You've ignored both the requirements of justice and the procedures of this court." "I'm discharging you from the court's service." "Mr. Bardale." "Stand and receive sentence." "Achilles!" "Achilles, you come right here, girl." " Come on." " Achilles, you come here now." " Come on." " Achilles." "Oh, what in heaven's name have you got there, huh?" "Oh, God." "It's an appalling smell." "Achilles, come away from there." "eome on. eome on now. what you got?" "What you want with that foul, smelly old thing, huh?" "What you want with that" "Terry." "Terry." "Don't panic, but there's a person there." " What?" " There's a dead person." "Frank?" "Catherine." " How was work?" " Fine." "Um, Frank, that package that you got the other night" " What are you working on?" " Why?" "I had lunch with someone from the office." "She's been counseling a woman who had a human tongue delivered to her." "Annie Tisman." "Mm." "She couldn't give me her name." "Has anyone spoken to her that you know of-- about her history?" "The police did brief interviews." "They weren't productive." "Well, her husband was sent to jail for robbery about 12 years ago." "He was appealing post-conviction on the basis... that the testimony against him was perjured." " What was the outcome?" " The husband was murdered in prison... before the matter was resolved." "Thanks." "I just always feel like a trespasser down here." "Neither of us should feel at home with what I do." " Yeah." " Hey, Frank." "It's Bob Bletcher." "The corpse was barely concealed." "Some garden clippings tossed over it." "Tongue cut out." "It's lookin' like we caught a break here, Frank." "Body's on its way up." "Pathologist will be right with us." " Is this our guy?" " Everything's a match." "White male... early 50s, evident good health." "Blunt-object trauma to the skull... incurred probably prior to these stab wounds." "No defensive injuries." "Any or all of these wounds might have caused death." " Frank, that's an unrelated D.O.A." " Who is this man?" " Is that theJohn Doe from the tracks?" " Yeah." "Vagrant." "Railway cops found him early a.m." "Died from a massive loss of blood." "Probably tried to hop a freight while he had a bag on... and slipped and his leg swung under." "Happens three or four times a year." "Rail-yard bulls hate it." " Interrupts their running poker game." " You wanna take a look?" "I got an I.D. from the prints." "The man you're lookin' at is Jonathan Mellen." " He's a former Seattle police officer." " He was a cop?" "Retired seven years." "We're runnin' down any living relatives." "He was divorced." "Had a reputation for being argumentative." " These two are connected." " What?" "Mellen and the D.O.A. there?" "Frank." "One's a murder." "The other is death by misadventure." "Miles apart, Frank." "Days apart." "Who was this man, the man from the freight yard?" "Do we know that yet?" "You'll find the evidence that connects these two." "It's here." "Yeah, Frank?" " Penseyres?" "Can you hear me?" " Hello?" "A lot of links and patches between us right now." " I'm travelin'." "I may lose you." " I'm looking for older documentation-- court records that are likely archived only on hard copy." "If it can be found, it will be." "The records pertain to the husband of the woman who received the tongue." "Last name" " Tisman." ""T" as in Tom, I-S-M-A-N." "He was a state prisoner." "He would have filed a post-conviction appeal... or the appropriate motion, seeking to overturn between nine and 12 years ago." " Okay." " We I.D.'d the body from which the tongue was removed-- an ex-Seattle police officer." "He may figure in the record of the court proceedings." "He may not." " I'll check it." " I'll be in touch." "500 years ago, you would've been burned as a witch." " Nothing I do is magic, Bob." " Yeah." "A lot of people shouted just that from the middle of a bonfire." "You were right about the two bodies in the morgue, Frank." "Pathologist found traces of tissue under the fingernails of the rail-yard corpse." "Tissue blood types matched." "D.N.A. workup will confirm it." "They were killer and victim." "What do we know about the killer, Bob?" "Uh, ex-con named Carl Nearman." " What's his history?" " Done half a dozen sequential bits at state prisons." "Armed robbery, grand theft." "Released five years back." " No record since?" " No." "Clean by all accounts." "Never even missed a date with his parole officer." "Probably not your model citizen, but, uh" "You were right, Frank." "I wanted you to hear it from me." "Doesn't fit, Bob." "What are you talkin' about?" "I just gave you the rundown." "A violent repeat offender repeatedly caught, convicted and jailed." "Habitual criminal." "Not someone who's capable of acting... with this kind of deliberate purpose." "This one's in the books, Frank." "You made the connection." "It must have made some kind of sense to you." "There is a connection, but the easy thing to do here... is overlook the complexity." "There's an act of hubris at work here, a perverse calculus." " I know these men." "I've chased them." " Uh-huh." "There's someone else in this, Bletch." "Oh, boy." "Frank, you know... sometimes, if it quacks, it really is a duck." "Having found sufficient evidence the accused removed or caused to be removed... lighting from his apartment building's common stairwell... this action resulted... in a female client, aged 62... sustaining fatal injuries as a result of a fall." "It is now my duty to pronounce sentence." "You are to apprehend the condemned as instructed... and, having transported him to the place designated... to amputate his right leg below the knee." "I got it written down from earlier, Judge." "I like the foot." "I mean, it's like this son of a bitch... he kicked that old lady down the stairs practically." "The prisoner shall be conscious prior to the amputation." " You shall make him aware of the court's sentence." " I'll rub it in good." "The hood may seem superfluous to you, Mr. Bardale... but I pronounce formal sentence to honor what we do... and to set it apart from frying bacon or passing gas." "I respect that, Judge." "Only, the two of us here, it seems a little like law court, you know?" "Mine is not a court of law, Mr. Bardale." "It is a court of justice." "we cannot address every case." "Our scope is not broad like the common law courts." "It is narrower, deeper, more pure." "Our judgment final." "I better get goin'." "And doin' the right thing like this, it feels good." "I'm real grateful, Judge." "Aw, damn it." "I could really use a hand, mister." "Come on." "Please." "[ man ] we get more mildew than you'd think, because there's no windows." "Still, what you see these days." "Well, I don't mind the no windows after a while." "I been here six years workin'security." "It's important." "You know you're contributing." "Foot!" "Turn it back." "Turn the belt back." "Go for a damn supervisor." "I ain't got it for this kind of crap." "I've been trained for bombs." "Well, going by the state of decomposition... assuming no refrigeration..." "I'd put the amputation within the last 36 to 100 hours." "It's gotta be the same guy" " Nearman-- we made for the others." " Who is the addressee?" " Guy's name is Fillman." "widower." "Due to retire this year." "What was the time stamp on the package?" "Parcel service guy said it could've sat in the drop box over the weekend." "As much as another five or six hours before getting sorted... time-and-date-stamped and shipped." "Plenty of time for Nearman to do it before his accident." "We're assuming this is the same perpetrator." "Nothing says different." "Nothing else makes sense." "By the evidence, the time frame works." "We're seeing the established pattern." "Amputation occurred while the victim was alive." "It's not the established pattern." "It's the return to the established pattern." "The guy who killed the cop-- mellen-- He didn't do this." " Then who did?" " Someone else." "These impressions on the calf-  was there a sock?" " Yeah." "Yeah, right here, Frank." "We've got our guy." "Every piece of evidence says he did it." "No." "This is the old pattern." "This limb belongs to someone who may still be alive." "We recess for a debate, that may change." "Yeah." " Did you receive my copy of the court records?" " I'm lookin' at them right now." "Cements the connection between the cop who was killed... and the lady who was sent the tongue." "The dead police officer-- Mellen-- was a prosecution witness in the Tisman trial." " The conviction turned on his testimony." " Possibly a false testimony." "So Annie Tisman was sent the tongue of the cop... who looks to have perjured himself against her husband." " Why?" " I think somebody's righting wrongs." " What, a New Age vigilante?" " This person's directing the killer... or killers." "And there's nothing new about that." "I've got something here." "Soil composition suggests a bog." "Absence ofherbicide and pesticide, along with presence of cranberry seeds... indicate it was once a working cranberry farm, out of production a couple of years." "Geibelhouse!" "I need you to listen to this." " Are either of you familiar with Chelan County, Lieutenant?" " Chelan County." "Yeah, sure." "If you get a topo map, we could probably narrow this down to a few specific sites." "Geibelhouse, you keep workin' this area." "You two, follow me." "The man we're lookin' for is in this area." "He could be covered, hidden in debris." "One of you get on the radio." "I want everybody moved down here." "Right away, sir." "Let's go!" "Everybody!" "Over this way!" "Where's those E.M.T.s?" "We have a positive." " Get 'em up here right now!" " Let's get that stretcher!" "Lieutenant." " Lieutenant." " We found our victim." "There's no rush." " How long has he been dead?" " Not long." "Two hours maybe, a little less." " Improvised tourniquet kept him alive." " Used his own belt." "Can you imagine?" "The pain." "Knowin' you're gonna die." "Those were most probably the orders of execution." " The killer's following a protocol." " Resuming the M.O." " Orders from whom?" " A controller-- someone calling the shots." "Out of caution or distaste, he's chosen to avoid direct action." " He's found a new surrogate." " Someone to carry on the killing." "Someone predisposed to an alternative theory of justice-- disillusioned, credulous, naive even." "You mean we're lookin' for two guys now?" "The killer's capable of a high level of violence... probably someone who's been in the justice system once or twice, done time." "Ex-con-- moves in similar circles outside." "Limited number of places these people go." "Limited ways they socialize." "I think I know the kind of places you mean." "Thanks a lot." "Nothin'." "Muscle-head bartenders." "Know nothin', and they try to keep it a secret." "I don't know, Frank." "We've pretty much done the circuit." "Even if this controller exists, and he recruits his guys straight from thejoint... doesn't mean we're gonna find him." "This might not be the night." " Come on." " We'll check release and parole records and see" "Not now, Bletch." "The killer's inside." "Pale and pasty." "Hasn't been out-of-doors lately." "Relatively recent jailhouse "12" tattooed on his neck." "If he is just out, what makes him right?" " What says he's our guy?" " He recognized us." "I've been told I look like a cop." "Maybe you do too." "He made eye contact." "He didn't just know we were law enforcement." "He was expecting us." "He didn't panic." " Okay." "We'll detain him, see what his story is." " We want the guy who runs him." "He'll give that up sooner or later, if he's the killer." "And if he is, there's always physical evidence, Frank. we'll prove it." "Wait till he comes out, gets in his car." "My judicial privilege shelters you, Mr. Bardale." "Yeah." "Yeah, but what do I do?" "We cannot be called into account, you and I, by courts at perpetual odds... with the justice that they presume to assure their continued existence." "I got cops riding' circles around here, and you're on your justice horse." " I gotta move." " Shut up, Bardale." "Don't let your fear make you insolent." "You saw the cops in the bar, did you?" "Are they looking for you?" "You're an afterthought, Bardale." "They want me." "Why?" "Why would they, Judge?" "Because if you saw them, then they saw you." "If they wanted you, they'd take you, and they'd convict you." "Then they'd miss me." "If they left you... it's clear they have some idea that I exist." "I've been wanting to meet the man who could find me." "They'll come to me, and, as I promised, I will protect you." "Now do as I say." "Take my car." " Drive away." " Okay." "I can't wait for this guy any longer." "Go." "You've got the description." "Didn't go right, didn't go left." "Right down the middle." "That's gotta be it." "It's what the killer was driving." " That's the car that's gonna lead us to the man in charge." " It shouldn't." "That car should be hot, the plates stolen." "I have a feeling that the man we're after doesn't operate that way." "Detective Lieutenant Bletcher, Seattle P.D." "We'd like to ask you a few questions." "I've been expecting you." "Come in." "We'd like to ask you to come with us." "I reviewed journals removed from the suspect's home." "There's definitely material there linking him to the body part recipients... and the victims we've managed to identify." " I think he's in this." " You're the A.D.A. Do we charge him?" "I called my boss." "He said no." "We don't have enough from the scrapbooks." "There's over a thousand names, but nothing to satisfy motive or intent." "Did you get a statement from him that we can use?" " We're workin' on it." " That's a no?" "Once more." "Do you recognize this man?" "Once more, it could be Carl-- a hired man who cared for my hogs." "Drifter and an alcoholic." "I never asked his last name, as I said." " Where is he now?" " In the photo, he looks dead." "But since you won't say, I won't guess." "We have evidence that, uh, your hired man... committed at least one murder-- a man named Mellen." " Does that name sound familiar?" " No." "This man." "I said it looks something like Mike." "Another pig guy you barely know?" "Didn't I say so?" "If that is Mike." "You said you were a livestock auctioneer." "I got 15, goin' on 15-5. 15-5. 15-5 for this good steer right here." "Thank you, sir." "Can I have 15-50?" "Will you go to 15-50?" " Goin'to 15-50 for this steer." "Thank you." " Shut up!" "Damn." "Well, it's gonna take another 10 minutes." "But guess what-- we're gonna have to cut him loose." " Who's in there with him?" " No one." " I never took his belt or his laces either." " I'd like to talk to him." " You know that he asked for you last night?" " Talk to him." "He's goin' home soon anyway." "He called you "the outsider."" "Sit down." " What should I call you?" " "Judge" is fine." " Or the name on the report." "My name is Legion." " "Legion"?" "When Jesus of Nazareth expelled demons from a herd of enchanted hogs... story has it that the demons told him their name was Legion." "How would you like to work for me?" "Work?" "You mean killing." "Every man finds his own path to justice." "You needn't commit yourself now." "The offer's open." "A month, year." "Many benefits." "I know you're sometimes scared for your family, your wife." "There's a child now too." "Yes?" "When you spoke to Bardale... what did you say to him when he called you from the bar?" "Bardale." "Who can speak to Bardale?" "A slave of echoes." " I can talk to you." "We're after the same thing." " How's that?" "I can show you an absolute justice... an unconstrained justice." "You'd have freedom to act without fear." "Bardale and his kindred-- they fear me, they obey me." "Your family would be safe from such threats." " Uh-huh." " The police are about to release me." " Uh-huh." " The police are about to release me." "You and your group of associates have never been as close to me as I've allowed this time." "I wanted you to hear my offer... feel its truth, see my strength." "We're gonna find Bardale." "Oh, yes." "My congratulations in advance." "well, it's time to go." "And remember, the offer's open." "And if I'm hard to reach... well, don't make the conventional assumptions." " What'd he say?" " He offered me a job." "Something's bothering me, all I do is eat." "It's been goin' on for almost a week, Frank." "You wanna talk about it?" "The man I had Bletcher pick up... has filed a half a dozen lawsuits." "City attorney's ordered the police to stay away from him." " Want this?" " No." "Thanks." "There's nothing to be done to bring this man to justice?" "He flouts the system and gets away with it... as if his private justice was a higher, purer form." "Then he uses conventional law to protect himself." "When you believe in nothing, everything is acceptable." "It's a game to him." "He sits at home a free man." "He's taunting us." "What about the accomplice, the man you and Bob saw at the bar?" "Can't find him." "He may be dead." " He couldn't be hiding?" " He's spent most of his life in jail." "He's not good at hiding." "He'd be seeking his own comfort." "I shouldn't be here." "I shouldn't be this close to his place." "I think Bardale's in there." "I think that's why we can't find him." "I can't go near there, Frank." "I step on this man's property and Bardale's not there..." "I put the department and the city in real legal trouble." "Stay close by." "I can't advise you to go there yourself." "You a cop?" "No, I'm not a cop." "I'm a private citizen." "Like me." " You lookin' for someone?" " Where's the guy who lives here?" "Around." " You have nowhere to go." " Back to prison." "I was always goin' back to prison." "Where did you get those cuts?" "On business." "Man wasn't no judge." " What was he?" " Well, who cares now?" "He was no judge of me." "That's how it turned out." "He betrayed you?" "You know, in prison, you don't have it both ways." "You're either an inmate or a convict-- a man or a piece of worthless crap." "Judge said the system was worthless crap." "Then he gets in bed with the system." "He was a pig, like the rest." "He promised to take care of you on the outside." "Who gives a rat's ass?" "Wasn't what he said." "It's what he was that mattered." "He was bitch enough to let the cops take him... file lawsuits after he let 'em do it." "Bitch in the heart." "Wasn't any kind of judge." "Bitch was pure pig." "I want you to come outside with me." "You know what Gary Gilmore said right before they shot him?" "Well, then" ""Let's do it."" "Okay, Bardale, have it your way." "Get him outta here." "Shoo 'em over here." "He's not talkin' to me." "It's just convict to cop." "What did he say to you?" "He said the judge was a pig." "Bardale killed him and put him in there." "Probably hamstrung him, then dumped him in there." "Probably." " You don't know?" " I don't wanna know." "Frank, the bodies-- the ones we never found-- we'll find what there is to find of them in there?" "It's over." "I'm goin' home now." "Thanks a lot, guys." "I made this!"