319 Seven and One
[MLM–319 (3ABC19)]
Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Peter Markle
Edited by Lauren Schaffer
Air date: 30 April 1999
[Transcribed by Libby]
[polaroid fade up]
[Frank and Jordan's house. Day. Inside there's a party going on. 'Everybody' by The Backstreet Boys is playing and there are balloons everywhere. Jordan and a group of friends, in party wear, are dancing while Jordan's grandmother, Justine, is trying valiantly to keep some kind of order. She clears some of the debris and takes it into the kitchen where Frank and Tom, Jordan's grandfather, look on.]
FRANK: Justine, let me give you a hand.
JUSTINE: Oh, that's all right, Frank. You enjoy this. It doesn't last forever.
[Frank and Tom continue to happily watch.]
[A little later, Justine comes in, followed by Frank and Tom. Justine is carrying a birthday cake with eight candles. Everyone starts singing 'Happy Birthday' to Jordan. Justine puts the cake down on the table in front of Jordan. She blows out the candles, eventually, taking several goes to achieve that. Everyone cheers. Jordan picks up a knife to cut the cake.]
TOM: Why don't you let me help you with that big old knife, Jordan.
JORDAN: I can do it, grandpa.
TOM: I know you can, but it's your birthday and I want to do it with you.
[Frank laughs at this.]
JORDAN: OK.
[Just as Tom and Jordan are about the cut the cake, the candles light up again. All the children laugh, but Frank is puzzled by this.]
JORDAN: Hey! No fair!
TOM: Somebody's using trick candles.
[Jordan sets about blowing them out again. Just as the last one goes out Frank has a vision of a red rose that turns blue, a face in water, a demon. Frank then notices the pendulum clock on the wall, which shows about 8 minutes past 3. The doorbell rings and Justine answers it. She comes back from the front door with an envelope.]
FRANK: What is it, Justine?
JUSTINE: A package came for Jordan.
FRANK: From who?
JUSTINE: Well, it's just an address. Maybe it's a birthday present.
[Frank takes the envelope from Justine. The noise from the party is growing quite loud.]
FRANK: I think they could use some help in there.
JUSTINE: I think so, too.
[She goes off. Frank feels the package, and then opens it. Polaroid photographs.]
JORDAN: Daddy, smile!
[Frank turns and Jordan snaps him with her Polaroid 'Spice Cam'. Frank seems disorientated.]
FRANK: What did you get there?
JORDAN: Look, a real camera.
[She runs back to the party, past Justine.]
JUSTINE: What was it, Frank?
FRANK: Nothing. It was for me. [whispers] It was for me.
[fade to black]
[main titles]
[polaroid fade up]
[FBI briefing room. The polaroids are slid out from an envelope on to a table.]
HOLLIS: We ran the adhesive on the glue flap. Prints, hair, fiber. Whoever sent these is being very careful about contamination.
McCLAREN: The return address is a storefront postal service in Richmond. We had hoped the sender would have bought the express envelope there but there's no record, there's no receipt.
[There are several other agents present.]
McCLAREN: Frank, you got no idea who may have sent these to you?
[Frank shakes his head.]
McCLAREN: None at all.
FRANK: None.
[Another agent, standing near to Frank. He's Special Agent Boxer.]
BOXER: Are these the first such photos you've received, Mr Black?
[Frank looks at him.]
McCLAREN: I've asked Special Agent Boxer to sit on this. He's been working with white–collar threat assessment, specializing in the corporate workplace, where they are very familiar with such an act.
FRANK: I've had photos sent to me before.
BOXER: But you knew who sent those.
FRANK: Originally, they were the MO of a killer that we caught and is now dead.
[Hollis listens attentively.]
FRANK: I've had some sent to me again in the last three years, when I retired briefly. They were of my ... snapshots of my daughter and my wife. That man is deceased as well.
BOXER: And these are the first you've received since then?
FRANK: Since my wife died.
BOXER: These are different, aren't they?
[Boxer brings up on a screen one of the polaroid photographs. It's a man lying still in a bath full of water. The next slide is a close–up of the face.]
FRANK: They've never been of me.
HOLLIS: These aren't exactly of you.
BOXER: These pictures have been digitally altered by a computer and retaken with a camera. Pictures of pictures, if you will.
[Boxer pauses and picks up a jug of water and fills a glass. Frank watches.]
BOXER: Do these images mean anything special, Mr Black?
FRANK: They're all sent for the same reason. To scare me.
[Boxer calmly drinks from the glass. By now, Frank is not very happy with Boxer's attitude.]
FRANK: To terrorize my family. He'll only be successful if I allow that to happen.
McCLAREN: I wouldn't discount this latest threat, Frank. I mean, it's an old tactic, but a fresh effort.
FRANK: Then give him an A for effort, Andy. It's been my experience, little else can be done.
[Frank gets to his feet and slowly leaves the room.]
[Later. Frank is in a room filled with filing cabinets. He looks through a couple of drawers and finds a batch of files he's been searching for. He takes them over to a nearby desk where he has laid out other files. He focuses on one, showing a polaroid of Catherine and Jordan. The batch of files he's holding slips out of his hands onto the floor. He sits down and picks up one, which shows a polaroid of Bletcher in his office on the phone. Footsteps approach.]
HOLLIS: Frank?
[He gets up and Hollis goes over to help pick up the dropped files.]
HOLLIS: What are you looking for?
FRANK: Answers.
HOLLIS: You told Agent Boxer there's little to be done.
FRANK: I don't want that guy thinking he can get into my head, or has any right to.
HOLLIS: He's good at what he does.
FRANK: I don't care how good he is. I know what the prescription is. What he's going to tell me to do is run.
HOLLIS: Why not – if you're afraid? He wouldn't blame you.
FRANK: I'm not going to run, Emma. I'm going to find out who's doing this.
HOLLIS: How far will you go to do that?
FRANK: Why?
HOLLIS: What do you risk?
FRANK: Why?
HOLLIS: I think I know a place to start.
[They are looking at the polaroid of Frank in the bath, again.]
HOLLIS: It's been scanned and digitally enhanced. That's how I saw it.
[They are in Frank's bathroom comparing the polaroid with the bath.]
HOLLIS: We've lost detail in the photo but in the blow–up you can see that it's blue ceramic tile in the upper right–hand corner.
[Just as in Frank's bathroom.]
FRANK: This could be any bathroom.
HOLLIS: There's a chip in one of the tiles. This person is someone who knows you, Frank. Or someone you know. Someone with access to your life.
[The sitting room, the pendulum clock ticking, showing about 21 minutes past 5. Frank is sitting on the arm of the sofa, the blinds are mostly drawn to shade the sunlight.]
FRANK: I'd prefer that this didn't get out, Emma. Especially to Boxer.
HOLLIS: Agent Boxer gave me a general profile to work off. He said it would be someone close to you.
FRANK: Yeah.
HOLLIS: He also says that you know more than you're saying about the photos.
FRANK: Well, he's right.
HOLLIS: Why keep that a secret?
FRANK: Because that's what it is. A secret – my secret. Something no–one else would have any way of knowing. A childhood fear.
[He's got to his feet and walks over to gaze through the gap in the curtains. Hollis sits down quietly.]
FRANK: There was this pond.
[Frank describes the scene as it unfolds.]
FRANK: I was with my brothers.
[A full moon in the sky.]
FRANK: They used to go swimming in this swimming hole, at night, with their friends. And on this night, they let me go with them.
[A pool amidst the trees. Surrounded by rocks.]
FRANK: It was a deep pond fed by an underground spring. The water was cold and dark.
[A young boy surfaces, followed by others.]
FRANK: Couldn't even see your feet most of the time.
[Under the water, wriggling legs and muffled laughter.]
FRANK: Always gave me the creeps, even in the daytime.
[Young Frank treads water, not joining in the laughter.]
FRANK: The other big boys, they were diving down, seeing how long they could hold their breath. But I was afraid and some of my brother's friends, they started to tease me.
BOY: Come on! Go under.
[Young Frank hesitates. Two boys whisper to each other.]
FRANK: Then one of them decided to play a trick on me.
[One of them dived down, while another distracted Young Frank by splashing him. Suddenly Young Frank is dragged down beneath the surface. The other boys laugh, except for one who looks anxious. Young Frank is under the water, holding his breath, his eyes wide. Now trying hard not to breathe. Eventually he is let go and surfaces. The other boys laugh at him.]
BOY: Loser.
[Back in the present day.]
HOLLIS: You were afraid you were going to drown.
FRANK: Yeah. I was. But this night was different. One of my brothers didn't think it was very funny.
[The anxious–looking boy dives down, while Young Frank watches the other boys laugh.]
BOY: That was so good.
[Under water, Frank's brother reaches for a pair of legs. Above water, the boy who had pulled Young Frank down, now disappears under the surface.]
BOY: Where'd he go?
[Frank's brother surfaces, and looks around.]
FRANK'S BROTHER: I let go of him. I let go of him, but he won't come up.
BOY: He's just goofing around.
FRANK'S BROTHER: No. He's not. This is serious.
[He dives back down. The other boys follow. They search around under the water. Young Frank stays on the surface. The boys come up again.]
BOY: I can't find him.
[He shouts to Young Frank.]
BOY: Go get your dad!
[Again the boys dive down. He finds the missing boy, and pulls him up to the surface.]
FRANK'S BROTHER: I got him. Help me.
BOY: He's dead.
FRANK'S BROTHER: Help me!
BOY: He's not breathing.
FRANK'S BROTHER: Help me, dammit!
[They swim with the unconscious boy toward the side of the pool.]
BOY: Hurry!
[Young Frank watches. There's an eerie heartbeat sound.]
FRANK: I've never been so scared in my life.
[Frank's sitting room.]
FRANK: Then my dad came, and the fire department.
[A man, standing by the side of the pool.]
FRANK: And they threw a blanket over the body. I've never been able to get it out of my mind.
[Frank sits back down on the arm of the sofa.]
FRANK: It's haunted me.
HOLLIS: Whoever sent this, knows it.
FRANK: You know, this might sound strange, but, I felt it in my head, before those photos were ever sent.
HOLLIS: We should get the PD in here, Frank. Let them dust for prints.
FRANK: It's a waste of time.
HOLLIS: You should call a locksmith, then.
[Later. A locksmith working on the front door.]
JORDAN: How come we got new locks, Daddy?
FRANK: Cos the old ones got old.
[Jordan is in her pajamas, and Frank ushers her up the stairs.]
JORDAN: They don't work any more?
FRANK: Not like they used to.
[He turns around and holds on to the banister and wall, so Jordan can climb on to his back.]
JORDAN: Do all locks have different keys?
FRANK: Uh–huh.
[Frank turns around again and walks up the stairs, Jordan gripping hold round his neck.]
JORDAN: That's a lot of keys.
FRANK: Yeah, you're right about that.
[In Jordan's bedroom.]
JORDAN: When I get a new house, I'm going to give you a key to it. OK?
FRANK: You'd better.
[Jordan settles into bed and Frank pulls the blankets over her and sits by her side.]
JORDAN: So you can come any time you want. And come to all my birthday parties.
FRANK: I might just surprise you.
JORDAN: Even when I get old, like you and grandpa.
[Frank picks up the polaroid that Jordan took of him at the party. At Jordan's remark, Frank looks at her.]
FRANK: Gee.
[Jordan giggles.]
FRANK: You're the boss.
JORDAN: Say you promise, Daddy.
FRANK: As long as I can blow out the candles. Lights out.
[He blows on the top of the table lamp, as he switches it off. They both laugh.]
FRANK: Good night, Supergirl.
JORDAN: Good night.
[Frank stands in the doorway and looks back at her, then quietly closes the door.]
[Later. An alarm clock shows 12:36. Frank is asleep in bed. A shadow passes by a downstairs window. A key is put in the lock. The door opens. A man enters, leaving the door slightly ajar. In the kitchen, a gloved hand takes one kitchen knife out of a wooden block of knives.]
JORDAN: Help, Daddy!
[Frank jerks awake.]
FRANK: Jordan.
[He runs out into the hallway. There are blood trails along the walls.]
FRANK: Jordan?
JORDAN: No! Daddy, help! Daddy, no!
[Frank runs in slow–motion, into Jordan's bedroom. Over to the bed. He grasps the blankets and pulls them back. The bed is empty. There's a large bloodstain on the sheets. Frank looks over to the side of the room. A man is standing there in the shadows. He looks like Mabius. The man slashes down with the knife.]
[Frank awakens with a start. He's in his bed. He sits up, gasping, holding his chest. He switches on the bedside lamp. He quickly goes to Jordan's bedroom and looks inside. Jordan is asleep. Frank closes the door. Just as he turns round – a flash of light, from a polaroid camera. He flinches back, closing his eyes against the light. When he opens his eyes, he sees a man walking away around the corner.]
FRANK: Hey!
[Still a little blinded, he runs after the man, but stumbles and falls down the stairs. As he lies on the floor, stunned, he sees an outside door close, and footsteps fading into the distance.]
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[Frank's sitting room. Boxer is holding an evidence bag containing the polaroid photo of Frank taken by the intruder. Frank and Jordan come down from upstairs into the hall where Justine and Tom are waiting. Jordan is dressed in outdoor clothes.]
FRANK: Bye–bye.
JORDAN: Bye.
[Tom, Justine and Jordan leave. Frank walks into the sitting room.]
FRANK: I appreciate everybody coming out. Everything's OK.
[Also there are McClaren and Hollis, plus police officers.]
FRANK: I had the paramedics look at me. I'm fine.
McCLAREN: Yeah. You're lucky, is what you are.
BOXER: They crossed the line, Frank. This is a new level of threat. He's got courage now.
FRANK: I sent my daughter to her grandparents for a couple of days.
BOXER: I think you should leave too, Frank.
FRANK: I won't be driven out of my house.
McCLAREN: Frank, nobody is trying to drive you ...
FRANK: I'm not going anywhere, Andy. That's what he wants. Isn't that what he's hoping for? To get to me?
HOLLIS: Did you get a look at him, Frank?
FRANK: No.
McCLAREN: Nothing? No description at all?
[Frank shakes his head.]
HOLLIS: He's been up all night. [to Frank] I'm sure you could use some sleep.
FRANK: Yeah. I'd like everybody to just get the hell out of my house.
[Frank walks off into the dining room.]
BOXER: Think they'll find anything up there, Frank? Prints? Anything?
[Frank just gives him a quizzical look and leaves.]
McCLAREN: Excuse me.
[McClaren goes after Frank.]
BOXER: Agent Hollis?
[He signals to her to follow him.]
[Hollis and Boxer go outside the house.]
BOXER: How well do you know him?
HOLLIS: Frank?
BOXER: Yeah.
HOLLIS: Pretty well, I think.
BOXER: You know, I've seen this before.
HOLLIS: I'm not sure what you mean.
BOXER: Agents too long on the job. A tendency to over–dramatize, even fabricate scenarios.
HOLLIS: You think he's making it up?
BOXER: Look, we're not going to find any evidence in the house. He can't ID the intruder and he won't leave the house. Like I said, I've seen it before.
HOLLIS: You think he sent those photos to himself?
[Boxer takes the polaroid of Frank taken by the intruder.]
BOXER: Well, he could have taken that. Altered it. He has access to the equipment.
HOLLIS: You're talking about a breakdown.
BOXER: I'm talking about the beginnings of a breakdown. It could very possibly get worse.
[Inside the house, McClaren talks with Frank.]
McCLAREN: There are no prints on the walls upstairs, on the banister, or the front door. There are no tracks outside in the garden. There's no indications of any point of entry.
FRANK: Anyone turn up a camera?
McCLAREN: Only the snapshot which Boxer's looking into.
FRANK: The only thing he's looking into is my credibility, isn't it?
McCLAREN: Come on, Frank. You know how its works. It's victimology.
FRANK: I'm not a suspect, Andy.
McCLAREN: Frank, we don't have a suspect. We don't have evidence. Which Boxer finds kind of strange.
FRANK: And so do you.
[McClaren sighs. Behind McClaren is the block of knives, with one missing.]
McCLAREN: Frank, what are you hiding?
[Frank thinks, then shakes his head.]
FRANK: Nothing.
[Frank walks away.]
McCLAREN: Frank.
[Frank goes into the hallway and picks up his jacket from the hall table.]
McCLAREN: Frank!
[McClaren watches as Frank puts on his jacket and goes to the front door.]
ST TIMOTHY'S PARISH
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
[A priest is walking through the church and stops when his name is called.]
FRANK: Father Yahger.
YAHGER: Yes.
FRANK: I was in your church a long time ago. I'm not a catholic, but my wife was. My name is Frank Black. Her name was Catherine.
YAHGER: She passed away last year.
FRANK: Yeah.
YAHGER: You came to see me?
FRANK: I had nowhere else to go.
YAHGER: Is this a spiritual matter?
FRANK: Yes. I mean... But it's unusual. I feel the presence of evil, but I don't know if it's real. Or if it's something, someone playing with my fears.
[Frank looks up at a large wooden crucifix, then back at the priest.]
YAHGER: Sit down, Mr Black.
FRANK: Thank you.
[They sit down in adjoining pews, the priest sitting in the pew in front of Frank.]
YAHGER: You believe the church can protect you? Is that it?
FRANK: I had nowhere else to turn.
YAHGER: Have you considered a psychiatrist?
FRANK: I've been there, Father. I work with the FBI. This is not about psychiatry.
[Frank reaches forward and holds the priest's arm.]
FRANK: I've been having visions. A man broke into my house last night. I saw his face. If I were to tell anyone who I thought it was, they'd think I'd lost my mind. It was a man I captured ten years ago. A man who's dead.
YAHGER: I don't know you, Mr Black. I don't know about your business or your life. I knew Catherine. I was very sad to hear about her.
FRANK: Thank you.
[Frank sits back.]
YAHGER: I know when we see visions of the deceased, we are moved. We can't but help feel it an omen. Often of mortality. Have you reconciled Catherine's death?
FRANK: I have grieved terribly. Terribly. But, yes, I have.
YAHGER: How about your own?
[Frank thinks. Then a vision: of himself under water in the pond. The intruder holding a bloody knife.]
[Later. A video of Frank.]
FBI PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION OFFICE
FRANK: [on video] What you don't understand is there are people out there that are responsible for what happened to Catherine.
[In the office, Hollis and the therapist are watching the video.]
THERAPIST: [on video] When your wife died, you said you felt you had betrayed her.
[Also in the room is Boxer.]
BOXER: This was only nine months ago?
THERAPIST: Yes.
FRANK: [on video] This was not a naturally occurring phenomenon. This was a murder.
[A man has come into the office and handed the therapist some files.]
FRANK: [on video] Not just my wife but of everyone who was killed in the outbreak.
THERAPIST: Frank's wife died in a viral outbreak and he believes it was a planned and executed mass murder.
[Boxer raises his eyebrows and turns and looks at Hollis.]
THERAPIST: [on video] You're here because you have people who need you to get well.
FRANK: [on video] I'm not so sure I want to this time.
[Boxer pauses the video.]
[Outside, an FBI employee delivering the internal mail puts an envelope in his mail cart. An envelope already in the cart is labeled: Mr Frank Black, FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit, Quantico, VA, 22135.]
BOXER: Who authorized his return to work, to come back to the FBI?
THERAPIST: Assistant Director McClaren.
BOXER: Hm–mm. And what was your recommendation?
THERAPIST: You know I can't share my notes or files on this.
BOXER: He shouldn't have come back, should he?
[Hollis looks sharply at him.]
BOXER: He was mentally incapacitated.
THERAPIST: He'd lost his wife.
BOXER: To a viral outbreak? Has it ever been proven or corroborated?
[He poses this question to Hollis.]
HOLLIS: It was proven there was a widespread release of a biotoxin in Seattle where Frank and his wife lived. But never conclusive evidence of who released it.
BOXER: And has Mr Black himself ever been investigated?
[Hollis is astounded.]
THERAPIST: For his wife's death?
HOLLIS: Now, wait a second.
BOXER: We're talking about a man who's made a career out of hunting down violent criminals, getting inside their heads. Who, to be successful, has to live with the knowledge of the most base and horrible acts and the unthinkable human impulses that drive them.
[The mail delivery man is wheeling his mailcart down a corridor, and delivering mail to various employees.]
BOXER: [voice over] So horrible as to become – unreal. But when reality itself becomes subjective, when the connection between who you are and what you know commingle and confuse to the point where the hunter so identifies with the hunted, he becomes him.
[Frank walks down some stairs into the office area. He walks over to his desk and sits down. The mail delivery man puts the envelope on his desk. Frank looks carefully at the envelope. The return address is 1910 Ezekiel Drive. He stands up, then drops the envelope on the floor. He walks forward then runs over to a wall and hits the fire alarm, which begins to ring.]
FRANK: Evacuate this room now! Get everybody out! Get out! We have a possible mass contagion. Everybody out! Now!
[The employees start streaming out of the area. Frank indicates to one person.]
FRANK: Hey! Not you!
[It's the mail delivery man.]
MAILMAN: Why do I have to stay here?
FRANK: Because you came into contact with the contaminated envelope. Get on the phone! Alert the CDC.
[The mailman does so. Frank stands and looks at the envelope.]
[Later. An area of the office is sealed off with plastic from floor to ceiling. McClaren is talking on his cell phone.]
McCLAREN: Are you certain? Are you absolutely certain?
[People in yellow hazmat gear can be seen through the plastic.]
McCLAREN: Fine.
[He ends the call and walks up to Hollis. Boxer is standing nearby.]
McCLAREN: [to Hollis] It's a false alarm.
HOLLIS: Are they sure?
[McClaren nods.]
McCLAREN: They opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of mail forwarded from Frank's old address.
BOXER: Did you talk to him?
McCLAREN: Frank? Yeah. I just had a long conversation with him. He's coming out.
[One of the hazmat team opens the plastic sheeting and exits, handing the envelope to McClaren. Frank follows. The rest of the employees are standing nearby. Hollis looks embarrassed for Frank. Frank walks off. Hollis goes to follow him but McClaren stops her.]
McCLAREN: Hollis. He's not coming back. Frank's leaving the FBI.
[Frank walks out of the area.]
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[Frank's mailbox outside his house. A blue car comes down the road and draws up in the driveway behind Frank's Jeep. Hollis gets out and goes to the front door and knocks.]
HOLLIS: Frank?
[She knocks again.]
HOLLIS: Frank, please. I know you're home. I just need to talk to you.
[Inside the house, Frank approaches the front door.]
HOLLIS: You just can't shut yourself off like this, Frank. You can't take your phone off the hook and make the whole world just go away.
[Frank stands in the hallway, listening.]
HOLLIS: Frank. I want to help you.
[Frank turns away and walks back towards the kitchen.]
[Outside, somewhere hidden, someone takes a photograph of Hollis standing in the porch. From inside a car, another photograph of her as she goes back to her car. Another photograph as she unlocks her car. As she opens the door, she sees something in the wing mirror – the man taking the photographs. She is angry. She gets in the car, starts the engine, reverses back out into the road as the man takes more photographs. She speeds up and reverses into the photographer's car. She quickly gets out, drawing her gun.]
HOLLIS: Out of the car! Out of the car! Down on the ground! Do it!
[The photographer almost falls out of the car, onto the ground.]
HOLLIS: Hands in the air! Drop the camera! Drop it!
[The man is on his knees. He holds the camera out to Hollis.]
PHOTOGRAPHER: Just take it!
HOLLIS: I said drop it.
PHOTOGRAPHER: I'm not going to drop it.
[Hollis lunges forward and kicks the camera out of his hands.]
PHOTOGRAPHER: Is there anything else you want to wreck?
HOLLIS: Who are you?
PHOTOGRAPHER: Identification's in my front pocket.
[Later. Hollis slams the identification down on Boxer's desk.]
HOLLIS: You've got no right. Absolutely no right.
[Boxer holds his hands out.]
BOXER: We're just keeping tabs on him. Didn't expect a demolition derby.
[He smirks a little.]
HOLLIS: You're spying on him.
BOXER: You know what he's been doing the last two days, Hollis?
[He throws a file over to her.]
BOXER: Been to see his priest.
HOLLIS: So? For what?
BOXER: For what? Hmm. Well, I wish we knew for what.
[Hollis looks through surveillance photographs of Frank and Father Yahger.]
BOXER: But based on his internet activity, I got a pretty good idea.
[He throws another document over to her – a typed list.]
BOXER: He spent the last two days logged on to websites dealing with possession, demonology, exorcism, millennial prophecy.
[His demeanor is mocking.]
HOLLIS: This is persecution.
[She throws the documents back.]
HOLLIS: You're invading his privacy.
BOXER: Listen. My concern is for the FBI.
[He stands. Now angry.]
BOXER: And what it's going to look like if he turns this delusional paranoia on somebody else.
HOLLIS: So you're building a case against him. What you should be trying to do is help him.
BOXER: I am trying to help him, Agent Hollis. By making sure I'm there when he snaps.
[Door bell rings. It's the home of the therapist. She opens the door and Frank comes in.]
FRANK: I think you know why I'm here.
[They walk into her home office.]
THERAPIST: You think I betrayed a trust. I showed them only one of our files, Frank. But it was one you'd authorized for me to show the FBI for your reinstatement.
FRANK: Someone has been in your files. Someone who knows my fears.
THERAPIST: My files are here, locked in my desk. I'm going to warn you, Frank.
FRANK: You don't have to warn me. I just want to know who it is.
THERAPIST: They think you're delusional.
FRANK: I don't know how to prove them wrong. I don't know how to prove I'm not.
[He sits down and she follows suit.]
THERAPIST: What is it then?
FRANK: I have a gift. I see what the killer sees. I imagine what he thinks. I put myself in his head.
[A vision: a drowning.]
FRANK: But not the victim's. I've never known what he feels as he sees death coming. The helplessness.
THERAPIST: But you feel it now.
[Frank nods.]
THERAPIST: Is someone trying to kill you?
FRANK: I don't know. I don't know, but I feel I can't stop it.
[Inside the church. Hollis walks down to where Father Yahger is standing.]
HOLLIS: Father. I'm Emma Hollis. I work with Frank Black.
YAHGER: I'm sorry. I'll have to tell you the same thing I told the others. I can't help.
[Father Yahger is lighting votive candles.]
HOLLIS: I'm here as a friend. I want to help him, Father. If you know any way, if you have any idea what's he going through, I need to know.
YAHGER: Then this is about you.
[Hollis is puzzled.]
YAHGER: How can we know if there is such a thing as evil? We take it on faith as we accept God. But if we fear it, do we not misplace our faith? Evil dwells where fear lives. In a heart without fear, evil can find no purchase.
HOLLIS: I don't think I understand.
YAHGER: God, love, goodness. Those things reside in our connections with other people. Those ties must be strong, or evil takes root. It is those who feel the strongest that evil wants most.
HOLLIS: You think it's real? You don't think it's in his head.
YAHGER: I told you before. I can't talk about Frank.
HOLLIS: Then nothing to be done, nothing I can do to reach him.
YAHGER: Let your strength equal his fear. When it comes for you.
[He walks away. Hollis' cell phone rings.]
HOLLIS: Emma Hollis.
FRANK: Emma, it's Frank. Where are you?
HOLLIS: I'm at St Timothy's Parish.
FRANK: Well, I'm on my way there. I need to speak with you.
[Hollis hangs up and looks up at the wooden crucifix.]
[The Therapist's home. She's working at her desk. She puts away some files, then gets up, switching off the desk lamp. As she goes to leave the room, a man speaks.]
MAN: Here was here – Frank.
THERAPIST: Who are you?
[She looks around as footsteps approach. The figure of a man appears behind some soft drapes.]
MAN: You think you can help him?
[He steps through into the room.]
MAN: You think you can know him?
[He approaches her.]
MAN: Know his fear? To explain it and make it go away?
[The man emerges from the shadows. It's Boxer.]
THERAPIST: I know you. What do you want?
BOXER: To show you Frank's fear – is real. And that all your science and understanding and psychiatry are powerless against it.
[Boxer's face morphs into Mabius. He brings up a knife and the therapist screams.]
[At St Michael's church, Hollis exits the church. It is dark and rainy. She puts her bag in the back of her car, and draws her jacket around her as she waits in the rain. She notices a figure in the churchyard.]
HOLLIS: Frank?
[The figure walks away.]
HOLLIS: Frank? Is that you?
[She goes in the direction the figure has gone, walking past headstones. When she gets to the end of the small area, she stops and pulls out a flashlight.]
HOLLIS: Frank?
[The flashlight illuminates an empty grave containing a coffin with its lid raised. A hand reaches out and pushes her into the coffin. She's stunned; she rolls over just as the coffin lid is slammed shut. She bangs on the coffin lid, shouting, terrified.]
HOLLIS: No! No! Please, please!
[Nails are being hammered into the coffin lid.]
HOLLIS: Somebody! Somebody!
[Earth is being thrown onto the coffin. Hollis scratches the inside of the coffin lid in despair.]
HOLLIS: Please! Please! Help me, anybody!
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[Frank drives up in his Jeep and screeches to a halt just behind Hollis' car. He gets out, leaving the door open, and looks around. Another car also draws up. The front door of the church opens and Father Yahger comes out.]
YAHGER: Frank?
FRANK: Father, Agent Hollis is with you?
YAHGER: No, but I heard screams outside.
[Frank has a vision of Hollis screaming, then Mabius. He looks around him and sees a mound of earth. He looks back at Yahger. He points to the second car.]
FRANK: There are two FBI agents in that car. Tell them to get paramedics here right away.
YAHGER: Tell them what?
FRANK: Tell them to get them up here.
[Frank runs up to the mound of earth, switching on his flashlight to illuminate the partially–filled grave.]
[Shovels are being frantically used to move the earth to uncover the coffin, then a crowbar is used to open the coffin.]
FRANK: Emma.
[Hollis is lying unconscious in the coffin. Frank pulls her up to a sitting position and the paramedics help to get her out. Frank gets out of the coffin, with the help of Boxer who is accompanied by McClaren.]
McCLAREN: How'd you know she was in there, Frank?
FRANK: I don't know.
[Boxer helps him out on the grass.]
FRANK: I just did.
[Frank walks off. Boxer and McClaren exchange a glance and Boxer follows him.]
BOXER: You slipped your surveillance this afternoon, Frank. We followed to a neighborhood. You parked your car. Disappeared. You were running.
FRANK: A woman almost died out there. Do you care about that? Do you?
BOXER: You and I need to take a drive, Frank.
[Frank was about to get into his Jeep, but he slams the door and goes up to Boxer.]
[The therapist's house. A sheet is pulled back, showing the therapist's body, blood stains on her blouse.]
BOXER: You came to see her. Why.
FRANK: It wasn't me.
BOXER: You just had a burning desire to visit your therapist, kitchen knife in your hand?
FRANK: Someone stole the knife from my house. Someone's doing this.
BOXER: Same person that put Agent Hollis in that coffin, right?
[Frank doesn't respond but stands looking at Boxer.]
BOXER: Look, I don't have the stomach to charge you. It would be a lot easier on you if you just told the truth.
FRANK: Charge me, or get out of my way.
[Frank walks away, out of the house. Boxer stands, watching him go.]
BOXER: [to himself] I got nothing but time, Frank.
[Frank's house. It's night, raining. Inside, Frank is stretched out on the sofa, looking at some papers. It's a list of websites: 'Religion Alcove', 'Bible Prophecy', 'Demon Possession', 'Millennial Views of Prophecy, ''Millennial Prophecies – Seven Years Plus One = 8 = 1999'. The floor and a table are strewn with paperwork. Frank is now sitting on the sofa, looking through yet more documents. He takes off his glasses and leans back. He looks around – on a table is a picture of him and Catherine and baby Jordan. Frank is now thinking. Then falls asleep. The score accompanying this scene is the same as in 304 Closure.]
[A vision: The therapist, lying on the floor, dying; Bletcher hanging in the basement; Catherine, looking sad; Frank, underwater.]
[Frank is lying asleep on the floor. He is awoken by the telephone. He gets up and goes over to the phone. On the wall is a painting of a young native american on a horse, with his hands open wide, palms up, and his head back, looking at the sky. Frank picks up the phone.]
FRANK: Hello?
[Hollis is in her car.]
HOLLIS: Frank. You're answering your phone. I wasn't expecting you.
FRANK: How are you feeling, Emma?
HOLLIS: I'm fine. I've been given medical leave, but I'm fine. They've asked me not to call you.
FRANK: You should listen to them, Emma.
HOLLIS: How did you find me, Frank? I need to know how you knew.
FRANK: I saw you. In my head.
[Hollis is stunned.]
FRANK: I saw you buried, saw your face.
HOLLIS: But how can that be?
FRANK: I don't know. I've been laying here for days.
HOLLIS: You saved my life, Frank. You say someone's in your head, so who was it saved me?
[Frank sees the page of URLs again: Millennial Prophecies – Seven Years Plus One = 8 = 1999, the Last Year Of Peace – www.majora.org/book/talk.millennial.htm.]
HOLLIS: Who was it? Frank, answer me, I need to know.
FRANK: What?
[Vision: Jordan blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. The figure 8 on the cake. Frank turns as if to look at the picture on the wall.]
HOLLIS: I need to know because someone's been in my head, too.
[Hollis looks worried.]
HOLLIS: Frank?
FRANK: There's someone in the house.
[He puts the phone down.]
HOLLIS: Frank? Frank! Dammit.
[Hollis drives on.]
[In the house, Frank starts searching. He goes into the kitchen. There's a tapping kind of sound. He goes over to the sink – it's water dripping from the tap onto a blood–stained knife. He hears a noise upstairs. He's in the upstairs hallway, and sees a figure disappearing into the bathroom. He goes into the bathroom and over to the far wall where the shower curtain is closed. He readies himself then pulls back the shower curtain – the shower stall is empty. The bathroom door is slammed shut.]
FRANK: Hey!
[He runs over to the door, but he can't open it. He slams against the door. Behind him, water gushes from a basin tap. He goes over to turn it off, but the taps don't work. The water is also gushes out from the basin outflow. He grabs a towel to staunch to the flow. Behind him, water fountains out of the bath, then out of the second basin. Water is now gushing everywhere.]
[Outside, Hollis has arrived and runs up the driveway. She bangs her hand on the door.]
HOLLIS: Frank!
[She tries the door handle but the door is locked.]
[Upstairs, Frank is frantically trying to stem the flow of water. He tries the bath taps, but they just come off in his hand. He tries staunching the flow in the basins again, then runs over to the door, hitting it repeatedly with his hands.]
[Outside, Hollis continues to knock on the door.]
HOLLIS: Frank!
[She goes over to the window where the blind is drawn down. She checks the window latch, takes out her gun, carefully turns her back, then hits the butt of the gun against the window, smashing it. She reaches in and undoes the latch.]
[Upstairs, the water level in the bathroom is now over the level of the basins and bath. It's almost reaching the level of the lightswitch, and the lights go out. Frank has now braced himself against the basin and is using his feet to hammer at the door.]
[Downstairs, Hollis is carefully going through the sitting room, gun ready. As she passes through into the hall, she is suddenly aware of a figure emerging from the far corner of the room. She turns and aims her gun. Suddenly, she is puzzled – the figure she is looking at is herself!]
[In the bathroom, the water level is now only a foot or so below the ceiling. Frank surfaces, trying to keep above the water.]
[In the sitting room, the two Hollises aim their guns at each other. The Hollis in the sitting room looks grim and determined, the Hollis in the doorway looks perplexed and frightened.]
[Upstairs, Frank takes in a deep breath and dives down to try and open the window. He surfaces again and there's a view of the moon in a starlit sky. He falls back down under the water, but slowly, drifting down.]
[The grim Hollis lowers her gun and the puzzled Hollis follows suit. Then the grim Hollis quickly raises her gun and puts it to her head. The puzzled Hollis cries out.]
HOLLIS: No!
[A gunshot and the grim Hollis falls to the floor. The puzzled Hollis walks slowly over to the body and kneels next to it.]
[Frank is now close to drowning. He sees the yellow house, Catherine on the porch and Jordan running up to her while he runs up the steps. A rose blossoms. Catherine laughing. Jordan and Benny. Candles. A laughing Catherine throws her arms around him and they kiss. Jordan blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.]
[Suddenly, there's a roaring sound and the bathroom door bursts open and the water floods out, taking Frank along with it. The water pours down the stairs and along the hallway. Frank lies on the floor, his eyes closed.]
[Frank's eyes open. He is still lying on the carpet, but now his hair is dry, and his clothes. He looks around – the bathroom door is open and everything is normal. He gets up and goes into the bathroom, looking around him. He hits the basin tap and water comes out as it usually does. He slaps the basin surround and stands watching the water flow. Then he put his hands under the water and then turns off the tap. He puts his wet hands to his face.]
[The grim Hollis lies on the sitting room floor. The puzzled Hollis is still kneeling there, upset. Frank enters the sitting room.]
FRANK: Emma?
[She doesn't hear him and he walks closer to her.]
FRANK: Emma?
[She hears him and turns to look at him.]
FRANK: Hi.
[Hollis turns back to look down, but there's nothing there, just the floorboards and the rug. She is shocked. She holds out her hand to Frank. He grasps her hand and helps her to her feet. He pulls her to him and puts his arms around her.]
FRANK: It's OK.
[Frank speaks as voice over as he comforts Hollis.]
FRANK: I've been given the gift of insight. Of seeing in the dark and seeing into the darkness of men's hearts and minds. I know what evil is. I've seen it. Felt it. Tasted it. Inhaled the demon breath of its ancient powers.
[The list of URLs as before: Millennial Prophecies.]
FRANK: The same powers that have been prophesied through history and which are now marshalling. Who is witness to this? Have we stopped listening to the prophets, the seers and the sayers?
[In a church, a votive candle is being lit.]
FRANK: I have misjudged my gift. If I see in the darkness it's because there is light. And it is the light which guides me now.
[The crucifix in St Thomas church.]
FRANK: The light that will not go out, that will lead us out of the dark night.
[The moon seen through water.]
FRANK: If we let ourselves feel this, too. It will protect me, as it protects those around me. Even as the ancient forces try to steal out breaths.
[Frank and Hollis, still with their arms around each other.]
FRANK: Seven years of trials and tribulations. Seven plus one, the prophets tell us. Is this the end? The last year of this peace? Or the beginning?
[fade to black]
[end titles]
Starring:
Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Klea Scott (Emma Hollis)
Also Starring:
Brittany Tiplady (Jordan Black)
Guest Starring:
Dean Norris (Del Boxer)
Stephen E Miller (Andy McClaren)
Ken Pogue (Tom Miller)
Maxine Miller (Justine Miller)
Co–starring:
Bob Wilde (Mabius)
Norman Armour (Father Yahger)
Judith McDowell (Therapist)
Brad Loree (Suited Man)
Featuring:
Andrew Frances (Frank's Brother)
A.J. Adamson (Young Frank)
Mike Dopud (Clerk)
Conor Topley (Older Kid)
Music by Mark Snow
Editor: Lauren Schaffer
Production Designer: Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Executive Story Editors: Kay Reindl and Erin Maher
Production Manager: Kathy Gilroy–Sereda
Co–Producer: Patrick Harbinson
Co–Producer: Kathy Gilroy–Sereda
Co–Producer: Paul Rabwin
Producer: Michael R Perry
Producer: Thomas J Wright
Supervising Producer: Marjorie David
Co–Executive Producer: Frank Spotnitz
Co–Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co–Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Peter Markle
Executive Producer: Chip Johannessen
Executive Producer: Chris Carter
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