"Who are you calling?" "Uh, nobody." "What's happening, Mom?" "It's just a power outage." "Have you seen my cellphone?" "Jake." "Lucy." "Upstairs right now." "Come on." "Go upstairs." "Don't forget Claire, sweetheart." "Everything's gonna be okay." "Hurry." "Aaaaah!" "...in the 7 o'clock hour we have a report from Latisha Stains live at the Luther County Courthouse, where the Darius Grady murder trial is about to commence." "Grady, a Luther High School football star, is accused of murdering his beauty-queen wife, Loren, and their two children 18 months ago." "Coming up after the break is the weather and traffic for Central Texas." "It looks like we're in for another hot one." "Oh!" "Ohh." "Dr. Hill?" "Julie Rice." "Assistant district attorney." "Are you okay?" "I'm just cooling off the..." "Ohh." "Oh." "The motel said you'd gone for a walk." "I just thought I'd save you having to find your way in a strange town." "It's time to meet the judge." "Oh, electric." "Nice." "Oh." "Only one in Texas." "Uh, it's a joke." "Okay." "How was your flight?" "Oh, the flight was, uh..." " Oh, stop!" " What?" "First, the judge." "Second, the police station." "Look at the interrogation tapes." "Third, tomorrow, interview Mr. Darius Grady." "I can't tell you how grateful we are you agreed to come and testify." "The defense is getting real traction with this PTSD stuff." "The Iraqi war is so unpopular now, people can blame it for anything - even killing two children - and folk will believe you." " Dr. Hill?" " Mm-hmm?" "The other problem is that Ray Decosio," "Darius's lawyer - not the brightest spark in the fire - is getting help from one of those legal-action organizations." "The Southern Justice League." "They're feeding him ammunition, especially on how to win the trial in the media." "Are they winning?" "He murdered his wife and babies, Dr. Hill." "Those facts will win." "I'll be honest." "I don't like shrinks." "Especially not in my courtroom." "They confuse people." "Me especially." "Plus there's the expense." "God knows what you're costing the taxpayer, Dr. Hill." "Fees." "Flights." "Accommodations." "Uh, Dr. Hill is staying at the Cottonmouth." "That fleapit?" "Move him at once." "It's what he asked for." "Did he?" "Did you?" "I wanted somewhere like Linda Hamilton stayed." " Linda Hamilton?" " Yes." "Linda Hamilton." "From "The Terminator. "" "Michael Biehn." "The night Jason Connor's conceived, just before " "Come!" "Mr. Decosio." "Ms. Addison." "We were just discussing Dr. Hill's motel." "I wouldn't worry about that." "He'll be back home in England by tonight." "Motion to strike Dr. Hill as an expert witness because of prior knowledge of my defendant, Darius Grady." "Of course he has prior knowledge." "That's what makes him an expert." "That's what makes him prejudiced." "What is your prior knowledge?" "Darius Grady was stationed at a U. S. Air Force base near Bradfield, England." "He was arrested by the police in a hotel room with a drugged and naked 15-year-old girl and a concealed camera." "Dr. Hill was asked to do a psychological assessment after the military claimed Darius had PTSD because of his time in Iraq and wasn't in control of his actions." "Dr. Hill found no evidence of PTSD." "But before the case could go to trial, the Army shipped Darius back home to Texas and discharged him." "Just in time for him to murder his wife and kids." "Which goes to prove my point." "Darius got away." "Dr. Hill is here on a revenge trip." "Are you, Dr. Hill?" "Statement - " I didn't know about the camera. "" "Statement - " I didn't know she was 15. "" "Statement - "I don't remember her name. "" " Remember what she looked like?" " Nope." "That I don't believe because, well... she is hot." "But I do believe you about the age thing because she is one well-developed young lady." "You're telling me." "She's never 15." "Remember how you met her, Darius?" "I n a bar." "I'm telling you, as soon as these chicks find out you're U. S. military, they are all over you like white on rice." "Dr. Hill?" "Dr. Hill?" "Dr. Hill." "Sorry." "I was miles away." "No." "Not revenge." "No." "Then why are you here?" "To appraise Darius and to see if his post-traumatic stress disorder is a fiction." "It wasn't last time I saw him." "I mean it didn't exist." "But that is the beauty of PTSD." "It's all in the eye of the beholder." "If you see what I mean." "Obviously you don't." "A diagnosis of PTSD depends on the subject reporting a certain, in fact a very wide range, of symptoms." "I nsomnia, irritability." "Numbed response, heightened response." "Flashbacks, flashbacks." "Flash-forwards, flash-forwards." "Hypervigilance, hallucinations." "Hair loss?" "No." "I joked about the last one." "Anyway..." "I need to examine Darius." "Well, it seems Dr. Hill's testimony is as much a liability for Ms. Rice as it is for you, Mr. Decosio." "I'm allowing it." "Thank you, Your Honor." "Your Honor." "Dr. Hill?" "Hmm?" "It's John Connor." "I'm sorry." "From the "Terminator" movies." "Dr. Hill, this is Sheriff Jon Phelps." "He's the man who arrested Darius Grady." " Hi." " Dr. Hill." "I've got the files and tapes you wanted." "I don't know nothing about it." "Loren's dead, Darius." " Ahl" " So are Jake and Lucy." "Their blood's all over your shirt." "I don't know how it happened." "I don't" " I don't know." "I don't know." "Well, maybe these will refresh your memory." "What the hell is going on, Sheriff?" "I'm questioning a suspect." "Without his lawyer?" " He didn't want one." " Well, he does now." "And I want that off." "Dr. Hill?" "Coffee." "Thank you very much, Mister..." "It's Deputy." "Deputy Phelps." "Thank you." "Sheriff's, uh, my daddy." "I'm..." "I'm his son." "Oh." "So..." "You gonna analyze Darius?" "Yeah." "Something like that, yeah." "Why?" "You think he did it?" "You ever killed anyone, Deputy Phelps?" "Only in the line of duty." "You ready now, Darius?" "You bet." "Case files don't leave the building." "It's just forensic reports." "Oh, and witness statements." "Yes." "And crime-scene photographs." "And interview tapes." "You don't want me here all night, exhausting your manpower, costing you overtime." "Snooping through your drawers." "Thank you." "Oh." "Could I - Could I see the crime scene?" "No." "The house is up for sale." "Plus, the scene is, what, 18 months old." "Not gonna tell you jack." "What about the graves?" "Usually I know the victims." "Or have a sense of them." "Even if they are dead." "Which usually they are." "Unfortunately." "Well, they tell you anything?" "Children suffer much?" "Medical examiner said the girl took a long time dying." "Bled three pints of blood onto her daddy's clothes." "DA's not seeking the death penalty." "Why?" "Beats me." "But if he was up for death, would you have come over to testify?" "No." "Not even if Darius wanted it?" "Darius." "This is Sheriff Phelps." "Come on out, now." "How did you know to go out there?" "Darius called 911." "Said his wife and kids were dead." "When the patrol car showed up," "Darius took a shot at it." "That's why the cavalry arrived." "Was your son there?" "I n another part of the state." "Now, I kept this out of the media." "Said the camera was down." "You'll see why." "Dariusl Come outl" "We're coming in." "Throw the weapon down, son." "Put the gun down, Dariusl" "Don't be a fool, now." "Throw it down, Dariusl" "Get a medic over herel" "Boys couldn't shoot for shit." "A dozen shots." "Only three hits." "None serious." "Did Darius fire?" "Just the once." "So's we'd all come running." "You getting my meaning, Dr. Hill?" "Suicide by cop." "That's what he wanted." "Darius and your son - What's your son's name?" "Amare." "Amare and Darius were friends?" "Since first grade." "Teammates, every sport." "After his mom passed, Amare joined the Army with Darius." "And when the war started, they even fought together." "Your son was wounded." "Yep." "Amare got an early ticket home." "Looking back, I guess he was the lucky one." "She was gonna leave me." "She was gonna try to take my kids away from me." "I wasn't gonna let her do that." "What about the kids, Darius?" "What did they do?" "They ran." "Hid." "That bitch turned my own kids against me." "Oh, it's a small-town love story." "All-American boy weds all-American girl." "Prom queen." "Beauty queen." "Teen queen." "Every man's fantasy." "Teeth, tits, and pom-poms." "And when hubby's away, she still craves attention." "But Darius finds out." "And now he really is nobody." "Failed lover, failed killer." "So he murders her twice." "Once to prove he's a man." "And once to prove he can kill." "What are you doing down there, Dr. Hill?" "I was..." "I was investigating." "We already did." "Yes." "I just wanted to see where they died." "Loren and the children." "So I can understand how they died." "Little girl didn't die in here." "This way, Doc." "She got away." "He followed." "That's where we found her." "It took them a week to get the blood stains out." "Hi." "Would you like to come in?" "You know who I am?" "The Southern I njustice something " "Southern Justice League." "Assisting, but not officially part of, the Darius Grady defense, therefore able to talk to you." "I'm honored." "Don't be." "Do you know what Darius's nickname was in the Army?" "40 Watt." "Oh, not very bright?" "That's very good." "Meaning they could have got him to confess he murdered his own mother." "I've seen the confession." "It was not made under duress." "And it's got nothing to do with me." "I'm only here to say if Darius has PTSD." "Course he does." " And you know that how?" " He was in Iraq." "So were 400, 000 other Americans." "What Darius did proves it." "Oh, the crime proves he has PTSD?" "But PTSD excuses him from committing the crime." "That is a fantastic argument." "Cake and eat it." "Yum-yum." "Why are you here, Dr. Hill?" "You some kind of buddy of Luis Borgos?" " Who's he?" " The DA." " I've never met him." " Then why?" "Do you like being the doctor at the door of the execution chamber?" "This isn't a death penalty case." "There is no execution chamber." "Good night." "Fancies the pants off me." "Oh, uh, just out of interest, why aren't you going for the death penalty?" "Because I don't believe in it." "Not even for a child murderer?" "Settle for life without parole." "And you drive a Prius." "Shocked they allow you in the state." "The DA asked me to prosecute the case." "He gave me discretion to interpret the law." "I believe that, despite the severity of the crime," "Grady's confession, his remorse, make the lesser penalty appropriate punishment." "What if after this interview I discover Darius has got PTSD?" "What if the jury buys it?" "What'll happen to his sentence then?" "A secure psychiatric unit." "Maybe 15 to 20 years." "So he gets out when he's 45." "Does that seem fair to you?" "You remember me, Darius." "Tony Hill." "Remember Samantha Powers?" "Yeah." "She's prettier than you." "Remember raping her?" "I thought you were here to talk about my wife." "No, I'm here to talk about you." "How are you sleeping" "Pretty good." "Dreams?" "I don't remember dreams." "What about nightmares?" "Hallucinations?" "No?" "What about imagination?" "I magining you're at home with Loren and the kids." "What, let's pretend?" "Yeah, let's pretend you're at home, and you're having dinner in the kitchen." " And where does Lucy sit?" " Screw you." "I think Lucy sits there." "Jake over there." "Loren where I am." "And you there." "This looks great." "Who wants more?" "Do you want some more meat, babe?" " I know you loved it." " No, actually..." "What are you eating?" "Burgers, maybe?" "Ah, chicken." "Loren, does she like cooking?" "And the kids, they're good eaters?" "I'll bet Jake is." "Lucy, though." "Why did you do that?" "Just a little twitch I have." "You're a liar." "Okay." "Startle reflex, huh?" "Oh!" "Well, you jumped." "Got PTSD?" "Well, actually, I probably have." "But this isn't about me." "How do you know about startle reflex?" "Are you sure about this guy?" "The English police rate him." "My lawyers..." " What as?" "...told me you were gonna come here and try and get in my head." "You in there yet?" "He'd better deliver." "I'm working my way, Darius." "For your sake." "You hear the voices?" "What voices?" "Ones telling me what to do." "Think you'll find that's schizophrenia, not PTSD." "What about blackouts?" "What, you suffer from blackouts?" "Nope." "Ah." "You're clever, Darius." "Yeah, I changed bulbs." "100 Watt." "That's me." "Don't you want to know if you're sick?" "I'm not sick." "Okay." "So you know what you did." "Yeah." "Killed your wife." "Your babies." "Jake and Lucy." "You stabbed, stabbed!" "Stabbed them." "And you don't care." "Yeah." "You know, I actually felt sorry for you when I heard." "When I read those reports, I thought..." ""What drove him to that?" "What unendurable pain?"" "That's my job." "The imagining of pain." "But you, you don't feel pain, Darius." "You're just a pretty boy trying to save his pretty little skin." "Fuck you!" "You don't know anything about me!" "Don't know a fucking thing about me!" "Get off me!" "Get off me!" "What the fuck is wrong with you?" "!" "Get off me!" "I'll kick your ass!" "Come on!" "You want inside my head?" "You want inside my head?" "!" "Is that what you want?" "!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come onl" "Dr. Hill." "Luis Borgos." "Luther district attorney." "Oh, yes." "I've heard of you." "Just wanted you to know how grateful we are for the work you're doing here." "You're welcome." "What's your take on Darius Grady?" "Oh, uh don't you already know?" "The room was bugged to monitor a meeting between a pedophile and his mom." "Last-minute attempt to find a missing 6-year-old boy." "So we, uh..." "Yeah, we forgot to remove the listening device." "Ah, you forgot." "Look, I apologize." "But I'm still curious." "What do you make of Darius?" "Wait for my report." "This is my rental." "Truth is I wish he'd said more." "Especially about his drug deals." "Darius was a drug dealer?" "Yeah." "Started young." "Kept on going." "I missed my chance to put him away." "If I had, Loren, Jake, Lucy might still be alive." "Loren was a good woman." "She didn't deserve to die." "Who does?" "That's one for the philosophers, Dr. Hill." "So, of course, I can't comment." "But I do look forward to reading your report." "Thank you." "This is Dl F ielding." "Bradfield Cl D." "Please leave a message after the beep." "It's me." "I n Texas." "It's very hot, Texas." "And it's very flat." "It's like Norfolk." "Lots of politics." "So, what should be an ordinary terrible, horrible domestic murder is now..." "Well, now it's a freak show, with me playing the bearded lady." "They even bugged my session with the murderer." "The alleged murderer." "Probably bugging me right now." "Place like this, you can see the need for alien abduction." "Anyway..." "The murder." "Did he do it?" "Oh, yeah." "But did he do it with full cognition, consciousness, intent, and will?" "Did he?" "Alex, there's someone at the door." "Don't go away." "Oh." "It's 3:00 in the morning." "Oh, you do fancy me." "What?" "Well, you have a telephone." "I have a telephone." ""Hello, Dr. Hill." "It's Anita Addison. "" "But here you are in the flesh." "I assure you on my mother's grave, my being here has nothing to do with attraction." "I'm sorry to hear about your mum - ah, mom." "You interviewed Darius today." "Yesterday, actually." "He just tried to kill himself." "Well, obviously he didn't succeed." "What did he do?" "Slash his wrists?" "His throat." "He's in intensive care." "Alex, I've got to go." "Something has..." "Oh, and that bit about her fancying me " "That was a joke." "And she didn't find it funny either." "Bye." "How did he manage to cut his throat?" "Somehow he got ahold of a pen, made it razor sharp on his cell wall." "Know what was on the pen?" "No." ""Welcome to Bradfield. "" "Any idea where that came from?" "What do you know about Darius and drugs?" "Who told you about that?" "The DA." "Mr. Borgos." "Thought you didn't know him." "Well, I do now." "So, what's his story with drugs?" "Same as most kids in Luther." "He ran into an evil prick called Winston Lee-Burrill who worked undercover with the sheriff's office." "Got 40 people arrested for dealing with no evidence at all, other than his own lying word." "So they were let go?" "Welcome to Texas." "They got jail time." "Up to 90 years." "Hoo." "But not Darius?" "Darius avoided jail by signing up to be shot at in Iraq." "While he was there, most of the sentences were overturned." "Lee-Burrill was fired." "Sheriff Phelps took over." "That is Darius's drug history." "Look, he's a kid who experimented once or twice, got burned for life." "If you really are interested in his mind, look at what Iraq did to it." "And now he's tried to top himself again." "But it's not an attention-seeking scratch on the wrists." "It's a great gouging at his throat." "With my pen." "Which he must have nicked when he tried to plant the table in my head." "Oh, actually, it's not my pen." "It's your pen." "I stole it off you two months ago." ""Welcome to Bradfield. "" "Sorry." "If he dies, you're an accomplice." "Bye, Alex." "Uh!" "Ha ha ha ha ha." "Ha!" "Quit teasing the goddamn dog." "Mr. Lee-Burrill?" "Who the fuck are you?" "My daddy was a great admirer of your Mr. Churchill, hence Winston." "Admired Maggie Thatcher even more." "But lucky for me, I was already born." "Huh." "Otherwise, you'd be like that Johnny Cash song." ""He named me Sue. "" "Yeah." "What the fuck's that about?" "How adverse circumstances can sometimes force or, indeed, free an individual to become hyperadaptive to his or her own environment." "Or as Mr. Cash put it, " My fists got hard and my wits got keen. "" "You always talk like you've got a poker up your ass, Doc?" "Or them snakes just making you nervous?" "It's mainly the snakes." "I breed 'em for the snake handlers, faith healers, nut jobs or whatever." "So, what do you want?" "Darius Grady." "I n your opinion, did Darius do and/or sell drugs?" "Darius Grady did and he sold drugs." "Just like the other 40 you had arrested?" "Everybody I arrested was guilty, hoss." "Maybe not right then or right there, but they were 10 or 20 times over." "Courts thought different, though." "Oh, fuck the courts." "People of Luther were all right with it, I'd..." "I put some bad people away, boss." "Bad." "You know, I was the last person to see Darius that night." "The night he committed the murders?" "Well, kudos to you, Dr. Hill, for not saying the word "allegedly. "" "He had come by here to talk about that pretty little wife of his." "How she'd been doing since he was gone." "What she was doing." "Why ask you?" "I get around." "Private investigator since I resigned my official capacities." "And what had Loren been doing?" "I don't know." "She was always kind of careful, you know?" "Mysterious." "But, hell, she had to be." "There wasn't a man in Luther with a pulse didn't have the hots for her." "Can you describe his state of mind?" "Whiny." "Headaches." "Can't sleep." "All the munitions that he was exposed to in Iraq were making him crazy." "Et cetera, et cetera." "So you think he was making it up." "That's a goddamn joke." "Darius was part of a National Guard transpo unit." "Never even made it out of Kuwait." "It's funny how it's always them depot boys stuck guarding pussy bars 300 miles behind the lines that are always the ones getting sick, huh?" "But that is one hell of a song, Doc." ""Kickin' and a-gougin' in the mud and the blood and the beer. "" "That's Oedipus, isn't it?" "Man's got to kill his daddy in order to be a man?" "You believe all that shit?" "Your military service - You were in a transport unit." "Yes, sir." "14th Texas National Guard." "So you never got to Iraq." "You never left Kuwait." "What's the difference?" "It's all flies and sand." "How come you got wounded?" "Maybe I shot myself in the foot." "Amare, if you know something that can help Darius, you better tell me." "Marines had gotten themself into trouble on the push to Baghdad." " Me and some other guys " " Darius." "Of course, Darius." "We volunteered to drive fuel and ammo to..." "We took a wrong turn." "D's truck got hit first." "Oh, Godl" "Was burning." "So, what did he do?" "What did he do, Amare?" "He hid in his truck." "Get out herel" "Aahl" "We managed to make it out of there alive." "Sorry about your neck." "Heh." "Thanks for the pen." "And I'm sorry about what happened in Iraq." "Think I might have got it wrong." "What you went through that day." "I didn't go through shit." "That's not what Amare says." "Amare needs to shut his mouth." "Nothing happened in Iraq." "We just wasted a bunch of towelheads, that's all." " You fought." " Fuckin' A, we did." "We kicked ass." "And that's when Amare got wounded." " That's why he came home early." " Piss off." "But you stayed on, you got shipped back to England, and you raped Samantha Powers." " I said piss off." " Why did you do that, Darius?" "Just tell me why you did that." "Tell me, Darius." "Because Loren was a cheatin' whore." "That's why." "And you know that how?" "'Cause I..." "I called home one night." "She didn't want to talk." "And I heard a guy's voice in the background saying," ""Who is it, babe?"" "Then I hear Loren's voice." "She said, " It's nobody. "" "Nobody." "So that's why I did that Brit slut." "I didn't know anything about her age or a damn camera." "Not that I gave a damn, either." "Your friends used it to make a porn film." "40 Watt." "Too dim to know better." "So who was the man at the house?" "I don't know." "You didn't recognize the voice?" "No." "Yet that's the reason why you killed Loren." "Yeah." "You had a gun." "Why use the knife?" "'Cause I wanted to get close to them." "I wanted to stab them close." "But Lucy wouldn't die." "She just kept asking for air." "She wouldn't die." "Yeah, but Lucy didn't cheat on you." "Neither did Jake." "They were there!" "I killed them all!" "I killed them all." "Sodomized with what?" "Knife handle." "Now, I've seen it the other way around." "Thank heaven for small mercies." "The cause of death?" "Carotid artery severed." "Bled out." "The children?" "Killer expended his energy on Loren." "He only stabbed each of the kids once." "Here." "Boy died pretty quick." "Girl, unfortunately, did not." "Yeah, Darius said she was trying to talk." "Well, he stopped her from doing that too." "I found cotton fibers in her lungs." "Matched Darius's T-shirt." "He held her so close he suffocated her." "Mmh." "The loving father." "Thank you." "You said "sodomized. "" "Not "raped. "" "Well, the word may have different meanings in our respective criminal codes." "But in the United States," ""sodomy" means "penetration of any orifice by any object. "" "Darius, uh, evidently did not wish to spill any more of his seed." "...last testimony in the murder trial of Darius Grady," "English expert Dr. Tony Hill is due to take the stand this morning." "Defense attorney Ray Decosio had argued that Dr. Hill be ex cluded from the case due to his prior knowledge of the defendant." "Aah!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Any idea who might have done this?" "Well, Lee" " Burrill keeps rattlesnakes." "But he'd hardly be dumb enough to use them." "He's dumb enough." "His idea of evidence is to write notes on his leg." "Question is, why would anyone want to?" "It's either to scare me into saying Darius is crazy and he gets off, or to scare me into saying he's sane and he gets convicted." "Trouble is I don't know which way I'm supposed to be scared." "Wish they'd left a note." "Hmm." "Maybe you ask too many questions." "I ask what I need to know." "I n your examination of Darius Grady, did you see any evidence of post-traumatic stress from his service in Iraq?" "He had a bad experience." "But in my opinion, it didn't affect his behavior." "If it did affect his behavior, how would you know?" "Well, someone suffering from PTSD lives in fear of remembering the traumatizing incident." "Fear of its repetition." "That affects sleep, appetite, digestion, reflexes." "All bodily functions." "And after Iraq, Darius reported no such symptoms." "Your Honor, what does Dr. Hill think the bandage on my client's neck is - an ascot?" "You'll have your chance, Mr. Decosio." "What about Mr. Grady's suicide attempt?" "Caused by rage and self-hate." "Tragic, yes, but not recognized symptoms of PTSD." "What about other possible battlefield influences?" "Gulf war syndrome?" "Well, I've not seen any account of gulf war syndrome with the sort of neurocognitive defects that would make a man kill his own family." "By neurocognitive defects, you mean... blackouts?" " Hallucinations?" " Yes." "For a diminished-responsibility defense to be credible," "Darius would have to have a hallucinatory flashback in which he saw his entire family as Iraqis and then killed them all in self-defense." "Crime scene doesn't bear that out." "And nor does his own description." "He knew what he was doing." "Seems so." "Thank you." "You examined my client's medical records." "What about your own?" "What do you mean?" "Well, didn't you recently recover from a brain tumor?" "It's not that recent." "But your records show that because of this tumor, you suffer from blackouts." "Flashing lights." "Nausea." "Headaches." "I nsomnia." "Silence!" "Is there a question here?" "Yes, there is." "Dr. Hill..." "Do you hear voices?" "Well, we all hear voices." "Is this going anywhere, Mr. Decosio?" "I think the court has a right to know that Dr. Hill has medical problems of his own." "He also has a previous and hostile relationship with my client - so hostile that the first session here ended with my client trying to cut his own throat." "Your Honor, counsel is testifying." "Maybe he can get away with this in England." "That's hardly the standard of competence here." " If we're talking competence..." " No further questions." "...why haven't you offered any alternative theories for the killings?" "Thank you, Dr. Hill." "Why haven't you found out who was sleeping with Darius's wife?" " Stop him, Your Honor!" " Dr. Hill, that's enough." "He had a gun." "Why not use that rather than the knife?" "Bailiff, remove the witness." "You gave up on Darius the second you walked into that hospital room." "It's okay." "It's okay." "I'm going, I'm going." "The jury will disregard the witness's remarks." "Look, I mean, what can I say?" "He annoyed me." "So you decided to wreck my case?" "Well, hardly wrecked." "I mean, how can anyone lose against that guy?" "I've gotten you in trouble with your boss." "I'm very sorry." "Nothing we can't recover from." "This trial's far from over." "You have a safe flight home, Dr. Hill." "Julie." "Jesus Christ." "Amen." "How did you get in?" "Through the door." "Huh?" "Let's go for a ride." "Hmm?" "Caught your act in court, Doc." "There's been some fallout already." "The DA, Luis Borgos, has taken over the case." "He fired Julie Rice." "Right out of the barrel of a gun." "I heard about your rattler too." "Wasn't me, man." "Wouldn't waste one of my snakes." "Why are we here, Mr. Lee-Burrill?" "'Cause that snake got me thinking, Doc." "Why the hell try to run you off, huh?" "And then what you said in court today made me think some more." "What if somebody else did them killings?" "But you thought Darius did it." "Maybe still do." "But that "what if" possibility is pretty damn intriguing, isn't it?" "Cough and a spit that way - Mexico." "Main export - drugs." "Big money in selling that shit, right?" "But even bigger money in fighting it." "Lawyers get rich." "And judges." "And police departments." "Prison." "And here sits the little old town of Luther, right at the gates." "Why the hell do you think I was so popular back then?" "I gave them boys what they needed." "I gave them bad guys." "And the courts put them away." "Are you saying those people weren't bad?" "I'm saying maybe I got a little overzealous at times." "And the cops and the lawyers knew this?" "Maybe the cops and the lawyers got overzealous themselves." "What's this got to do with Darius?" "Maybe he knew something." "He had more than his share of run-ins with the law." "Any evidence?" "Write anything on your leg?" "Yeah, all right." "Touché, Doc." "No, I don't have any goddamn evidence." "But then why does somebody put a snake in your car, huh?" "Who wants to make sure that Darius is put away for good?" "It's not for good." "Even if he got life without parole, he'd still be able to talk." "I told you, man, Borgos is taking over the case." "From that Prius pinko, Julie Rice." "So?" "Borgos is running for reelection." "And there ain't nothing that helps a reelection campaign in the state of Texas like an execution." "He'll go for the death penalty?" "Yeah." "No thank you." "Drugs." "Iraq." "Darius." "Who's screwing who?" "Loren, Amare friends?" "Phelps." "Law enforcement." "Outlaw enforcement." "Amare." "Is it you?" "Or does Iraq screw Darius?" "Lee-Burrill." "Cops and Lawyers." "Who's screwing Darius?" "Oh, it's a crime." "Criminal elements." "Or maybe it's lawyers." "Or the drugs." "Or the cops or the lawyers." "Or all of them." "Who?" "Aahl" "Nol" "Nol Oh, my Godl" "Nol" "What?" "Who is this?" "Wakey-wakey." "And news just in " "Police in Luther County are investigating the mysterious death of the former policeman and private investigator Winston Lee-Burrill after his body was discovered early this morning." "The sheriff's department reports the suspected killers are in fact Mr. Lee-Burrill's pet snakes, which escaped from their cages in the middle of the night." "Have they gotten them all?" "Yep." "You shouldn't be here." "I know this might be a silly question, but how did he actually die?" "Complete circulatory collapse due to snake venom." "How many bites?" "20 or so." "But most of them just fooling around with him." "See, about 30º/º of rattlesnake bites don't inject any venom." "The two that did the damage were here and here - were deep and deadly." "It's not a nice way to go." "Loren Grady's stab wounds." "How deep were they?" "Well, most weren't." "I nch." "Maybe half-inch." "More jabbing than stabbing." "Like the killer was hesitating." "Or having fun." "You know, fooling around." "Like the snakes." " You don't buy that." " I don't know what I buy." "Loren Grady fooling around." "Is that why she was gonna leave Darius?" " Who said that?" " He did." "Oh, do you know different?" " I thought you were leaving." " I was." " Have a good flight." " Thank you." "What do you want, Dr. Hill?" "Julie Rice out, Luis Borgos in." "Does that mean it's a death penalty case?" "It's always been a death penalty case, given the crimes." "It was at the prosecutor's discretion as to whether it would be sought." "And now it will be." " We'll find out in court." "I'd like to help you." "No thank you." "I've seen the way you help people." "I can show that Darius might not have committed the murders." "But he did." "I can introduce reasonable doubt." "There's no doubt, reasonable or unreasonable." " Do you think he didn't do it?" " I don't know." "I don't know what to think." "But I do think there's something else going on here." "I mean, why is Winston Lee-Burrill dead?" "Because he got drunk and fell on a dozen rattlesnakes." "Okay, I agree." "That explains it." "But - but - as Mr. Lee-Burrill himself said," "I mean, people want Darius put away." "I mean literally put away." "And I mean put down." "Well, I know it's Texas." "But what's the hurry?" "That's how you expect to convince a jury?" "All right." "It's not good." "I know." "But anomalies." "Normalities." "Anormalities." "There's lies." "Alibis." "Fruit flies." "Oh!" "Sod it." "Try this." "Darius didn't kill his wife and children because..." "Well, because he would have raped Loren." "An enraged husband typically acts out the act of sexual possession." "The killer - the alleged, alternative killer - he sodomized her." "He was careful." "Didn't want to leave any bodily fluids." "And Loren was stabbed 30 times but only died because her carotid artery was severed." "It was two blows." "It was slish, it was slash." "And it was very accurate." "So Darius, he tries to kill himself, he makes mincemeat of his throat but still misses the carotid artery?" "And second, 30 stab wounds, and most of them were not deep." "No, less than an inch, which implies the need to inflict pain and suffering." "It's not a frenzied attack - not, again, the typical response of an enraged husband." "And third, the children." "One stab wound each to the heart." "The killer looks them in the face and stabs them in the heart." "But why use a knife?" "He had a gun." "He fired it at the cops." "Why not use that?" "It's quicker, it's more merciful, it's less personal." "And fourth - or is it fifth?" " this suicide by cop." "He'd just murdered his wife and children." "Why doesn't he just blow his brains out?" "We've got four anomalies - or is it five?" " with only one answer." "Darius found the bodies." "Ergo, there is another killer." "But he confessed." "Oh, come on." "You've heard of coerced confessions." "A powerful interrogator." "A suggestible suspect." "I've coerced a confession." "Well, I thought I had." "Once." "Turned out I hadn't, but it was a close run for a while." "Darius Grady's confession wasn't coerced" " I was there." "Yes, of course." "Okay, let's just say we go with your idea of a phantom killer." "Any ideas?" "No." "But... no." "Look, I appreciate your effort." "Some of this will be very useful in my summation." "But to be honest, and as has been the case all along, the best I can hope for Darius is clemency." "Right." "What if I talk to the press?" "Why would you do that?" "Public pressure." "Fight the case through the media." "I think it would be counterproductive." " What's there to lose?" " Plenty!" "Now, I have a meeting." "So, Anita, why don't you buy Dr. Hill a drink?" "He could use one." "Come on, then." "You really work with the English police?" "Why shouldn't I?" "You seem, well rather out of place." "She manages me." "I mean they manage me." "We work well together." "Normally." "And normally I'm not so... so out of place." "Why the police?" "Why crime?" "I mean, I can see you in a college or doing psychotherapy, but not at some horrible crime scene, deep in blood and guts." "It's a long story." "We got all night." "Hmm?" "Not in that sense." "Tell me your story." "Okay." "Me and cops?" "A long time ago I was invited to a conference in New York, and someone - it was another shrink - told me a story." "Social worker is walking by a river when she sees a body being carried down." "So she rushes into the water, she drags it out, and starts giving it mouth-to-mouth and CPR and everything." "Then another body comes floating by, so she drags that one out and tries to save that one as well." "Then a third body is carried down the river." "And as she's dragging that one out, she sees a cop, so she yells, "Help me!"" "But the cop just walks away." "So she shouts, "Hey, where are you going?"" "And the cop says," "" I'm gonna get the son of a bitch who's throwing bodies in the river. "" "I like it." "But doesn't that mean you should want to be a cop?" "No." "I want to tell the cop why the son of a bitch is throwing bodies in the river." "And even who the son of a bitch is." "But in this case, obviously not." "You don't think Darius did it." "Oh, he confessed." "Oh, well." "Thanks for listening." "Funny..." "I've never slept with an Englishman before." "That makes two of us." "Oh, great." "I've had one." "A couple." "Can't remember." "What do you mean, "driving erratically"?" "It's how I always drive." "You have got to be joking." "I've spoken to the DA." "I n the interest of the abiding friendship between our two great nations, we're releasing you without charge." "You know I was set up." "Someone doesn't like what I'm doing." "With the strong advice that you pack up and go home before you do yourself any more harm." "Understood, Sheriff." "This is totally absurd." "I've never taken illicit substances in my life." " Not for the last 20 years." " Stop." " Not if you don't include " " Stop." "Christ." "Don't say anything." "To me, the cops, the press." "Anybody, all right?" "Christ, you talk about incompetence." "Freakin' liability." "No one's gonna believe another word that comes out of your mouth." "Get in the car." "Darius Grady is a patriot." "He served his country honorably and well." "But he went to a dangerous place." "And he was damaged there." "Desperate to prove otherwise, the prosecutors scoured the globe to find a psychologist-for-hire that would agree that Darius's time in Iraq did not damage him." "Do you believe this dubious source or your own common sense?" "Windyl" " Whoal" " Hi, honl" "Hi, Dadl Hi, Daddyl" "Gang's all here." " We even have little Claire." " Happy birthday, Daddy." "Blow on that one." "Whoal Windyl" "We wish you were here." "All get over here and sing "Happy Birthday. "" "Okay." "Okay." "Hold on." "That's Darius's family before he came home." "This is them after." "This is who Darius wiped out." "Then he calmly called 911 to tell the police." "He calmly confessed to what he had done." "He insisted to the psychologist that he knew what he was doing." "He even tried to kill himself - not once, but twice - because he felt so guilty." "The best that you can do is to agree with him." "Give him what he wants and what his poor family deserves." "A guilty verdict." "Where's Anita Addison?" "She probably saw which way the wind was blowing and headed back to Austin." "I thought she was on your side." "I didn't ask her to be." "Jury's back." "I n less than two hours." "Guess what that means." "On all counts of the indictment, how do you find?" "We find the defendant guilty." "Yes." "Mr. Borgos." "Will the people seek the death penalty?" "I believe, and the people of Luther believe, that these crimes deserve it." "Sentencing is set for September 14th." "Court is adjourned." "I don't know nothing about it." "Loren's dead, Darius." " Ahl" " So are Jake and Lucy." "Their blood's all over your shirt." "Yes" " Austin, Texas." "The Southern Justice League." "Maybe these will refresh your memory." "Connect me." "Yes, I'd like to speak to Anita Addison." "What the hell is going on, Sheriff?" " Yes" " Addison." "I'm questioning a suspect." "Without his lawyer?" " He didn't want one." " Well, he does now." "And I want that off." "This is the Southern Justice League, yes?" "Okay, okay." "I'm sorry." "Ready now, Darius?" "Bye." "You bet." "Dr. Hill." "Dr. Hill, I just want you to know it wasn't planned." "Getting you over here, getting your evidence, then stepping aside so Luis Borgos could play Lord High Executioner..." "It wasn't planned." "Not by you." "By Borgos maybe." "No." "Anyway..." "I'm sorry." "Did you know Anita Addison before all this?" "No." "Ray Decosio brought her in." "Not according to him." "Southern Justice League never heard of her." "And she was the last person with me before I got stopped with planted drugs in my car." " You think she set you up?" " I don't know." "But now she's disappeared." "Second question " "Did Ray Decosio know Darius before all this happened?" "He represented a lot of the kids arrested for drug offenses during Lee-Burrill's time." "I believe he got Darius off." "Hmm?" "Anita Addison said he got off because he joined the military." "What are you saying?" "I don't know." "I really don't know." "And the last question - and it's more of a favor, really - can you get me in to talk to Darius?" "Why?" "I want to make him confess." "Whew, I mean, the death penalty wasn't on the cards." "Who cares?" "You kill, you get killed." "Guess so." "'Cause you killed her." "You're damn straight." "Sliced her up, and you cut her deep." "What was it, 30 times?" "It was deep, deep, deep!" " And then you raped her." " Yeah." " Slut!" " She deserved it." "You wanted to show her who was boss." "On the table, on the floor." "It was everywhere." "Yeah." "What did you do it with?" " With?" " What did you rape her with?" "What?" "What do you remember?" "Nothing, nothing." "Except..." "When I was holding Lucy she kept saying air." ""Want air. "" "But that wasn't it." "It wasn't right." "You were holding her, not crushing." "You weren't suffocating..." "I saw it on the video in the court." "It was Lucy with her doll." "Hi, Dadl Hi, Daddyl" "Gang's all here." "It was Lucy and Claire." " We even have little Claire." " Happy birthday, Daddy." "She was saying, " I want Claire." "I want Claire. "" "Just want to talk to you, Mr. Decosio." "You are talking to me." "Where's the stuff from Darius Grady's house kept?" "I'm sorry?" "I want to look at Darius's stuff." "Why?" "I don't know." "That's why I want to look at it." "That's not possible." "Darius gave me his permission." "What is this about?" "Has it ever occurred to you that Darius might be innocent?" "Oh, not again." "Look, forensics, crime scenes, confession." "Just let it go, Dr. Hill." "What if he did have PTSD?" "What if that's the reason for his confession?" " You said he didn't have PTSD." " Not from Iraq." "I was right about that." "I was wrong about the rest." "It was the right question, but it was the wrong trauma." "Darius comes home and finds his family butchered." "That's the trauma that causes PTSD." "It doesn't explain the confession." "Explains the suicide attempts." "That is not uncommon amongst PTSD sufferers." "I say again" " Why confess?" "Well..." "Well, because you helped him to." " See, you believed he'd done it." " What are you talking about?" "Your belief convinced him." "That's the only way he could make sense of the black hole in his head." "Before you talked to him, he's in shock." "And after it, he's a killer." "That's not possible." "Maybe." "I don't know what is or isn't anymore." "Darius said Lucy was trying to tell him something." "That's the reason why I want to look at his stuff." "Just to give Darius some peace of mind." "It's in a police storage outside of Luther." "Sheriff Phelps has the key." "I could meet you there." "Thank you." "That's what you're looking for?" "I said is that it?" "Nursery rhymes?" "Let's have a look." "Stop right there." "Give the cassette to me." " You doing Borgos' dirty work?" " What?" "I rang the Southern I njustice League." "They'd never heard of you." "Just give me the cassette." "Three people were killed for this." "Exactly why I want it." "Don't be an idiot." "Hand it over!" "No." "Of course, his lawyer." "I really am an idiot." "Yeah, why coerce a confession when you can implant one?" "You and Borgos work on this together?" "Just give me the tape." "What's on it?" "You and Loren." "You're the mystery man." "Put them down now, Mr. Decosio." "Put it down!" "Put it down." "Put it down!" " Step back from the weapon!" " Drop the other thing too!" " Step back!" " Drop it!" "Step back!" "Move!" "Step back!" "Seriously, you've got to stop coming around and hitting on me." "Oh, come on, baby." "You know you like it." "No, I don't." "It's really upsetting the kids." "It's upsetting me too." "You know how I feel about you." "I can come over right now and, you know, we could work it out." "I'll call the police." "You go near the cops, and I'll take it out on Darius." "You understand me?" "I understand you." "Am I on speakerphone?" "Pick up the phone!" "Loren." "Loren?" "Are you trying to be clever?" "He guessed she was taping him, and he came looking for the cassette." "Why didn't she just give it to him?" "She was protecting you." "Oh, uh..." "Julie Rice is acting DA." "She'll, uh..." "She'll sign the order for your release." "I n Kevlar we trust." "Cops get anything out of Decosio?" "No." "CSU techs are reexamining the crime-scene evidence." "They'll get him." "What was this really about, Tony?" "Lust." "Decosio wanted Loren." "She burned a hole in his brain." "Why did the fbi send you in?" "Best way to study a system is to join it." "Luther was a mess." "Drug users got 90 years, dealers walked free." "Lawyers got rich, defense and prosecution, in one big trade-off." "Why did you give me such a hard time, then?" "Thought you were part of it " "Borgos dug you up to deliver the verdict he wanted." "Rent-a-shrink." "What do you think now?" "Think you should take some time off." "Let me show you the real Texas." "Think I better go home." "My roots need water."