The reason I came to New York
was to teach a class in criminology.
We’ve had some problems on campus lately, muggings.
[Jessica] Tonight on Murder, She Wrote.
Give me everything that you have on these attacks.
I would be willing to wager that I can find this guy.
To make it a competition is completely inappropriate.
I have $30 riding on you in the office pool.
Could you find this guy?
Oh, well, I don’t know, possibly, but...
But then you’ll have to try, please.
[Jessica] Yes, Harold, I got the galleys
and I finished going over them last night.
No, overall, it looks fine, just a couple of typos
I’ll give to Katherine later.
Oh, yeah, I forgot, at the bottom of page 270,
there are three paragraphs
that are really interior monologue,
and they should be italicized.
Well, I’m looking forward very much
to seeing the book when it’s done.
Well, I’d love to have lunch, Harold, but I can’t.
Well, you see the reason I came to New York
was to teach a class in criminology,
and today happens to be my first day.
Welcome to Manhattan University, Mrs. Fletcher.
I can’t tell you how pleased we are
to have you in the department.
Well, thank you, doctor Auerbach.
Well, I think you’ll find this class
an interesting mix of students and working professionals.
You see, the NYPD encourages its officers
to take extra college credit towards advancement.
This course is quite popular.
Here are some of your fellow instructors.
This is Felice Ochola.
I’d like you to meet Jessica Fletcher.
Welcome. It’s so nice to have you here.
Thank you.
This is Mark Oroval.
Great pleasure.
And Wallace Evans, Jessica Fletcher.
Mr. Evans.
Hi, how are you?
We were just talking about you.
As a matter of fact, Mark here
has read every one of your books.
Of course, he’s always able to figure out
who the killer is before chapter two,
but I guess that’s why they call us "professionals."
Well, I...
anyhow, I’ve got to get back to class.
If you need anything, if I can help you in anyway,
I want you to feel free to ask me, all right?
Thank you.
This should be a fascinating experiment.
Pleasure.
"A fascinating experiment?"
We’ve never had a writer teach one of our courses before.
So there’s bound to be a little academic snobbery,
but don’t worry, they’ll come around.
As for Wallace, you see, he used to teach your class.
It’s sort of a plum course around here.
But given the subtleties of the course,
well, he’s not really suited to it.
It’s his attitude I suppose.
You see, he was on the NYPD for two years
and sometimes he acts as though he never left.
Why just two years?
Well, let’s just say he had a tendency
to put the hardware of the law above the law itself.
Also he’d hoped to be promoted chairman this term
but it didn’t quite work out.
Well, here you are.
Oh, one more thing.
We’ve... We’ve had some problems on campus lately,
muggings, bad business.
If you should happen to find yourself on campus after dark,
maybe you want to call for a student escort,
just to be on the safe side.
Oh, listen, I better be going.
Again, let me tell you how delighted we are to have you here
and good luck with the class, Mrs. Fletcher.
Thank you very much.
So despite what you see in the movies,
the average person has to do a lot of rationalizing
to justify anything as drastic as murder.
You have to convince yourself
that there’s no other alternative,
that it’s somehow cleaner than divorce
or being revealed as an embezzler or a thief.
The mind of a killer is one in which every door
but one has been closed.
A man on the razor’s edge of murder
will sometimes force himself to believe
that his crimes are in the service of a greater good.
Or that his fate is somehow predetermined by forces
that are far greater than himself.
"I do repent. But heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me.
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him and will answer well The death I gave him.
So, again, good night. I must be cruel only to be kind."
Hamlet, right after he killed Polonius.
Exactly.
It’s, Miss Aramendi, isn’t it?
Roslyn, yes.
Yeah.
Isn’t that where he begins to see himself
as an appointed instrument of revenge?
And of course starts off by killing the wrong man.
The source is literary, but the emotion is real.
Jack the Ripper, for instance,
saw his murders as a means of cleaning up the streets of London.
Hey, will you give it a rest?
I signed up to hear Ms. Fletcher, not you, OK?
Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Morelli?
Yeah, well, actually it’s Officer Morelli, NYPD.
And I guess that is the question, isn’t it?
I mean, Hamlet and Polonius,
this isn’t an English class here.
This is a criminology class.
You know, in the Criminology Department,
usually taught by a criminologist,
but you are a writer.
-No offence meant. -Oh, none taken.
Come on, man, let it go, huh?
No, that’s all right.
It’s a fair question.
Go on.
Look, all I’m trying to say here is...
you’re not a cop and you’re not a professional detective.
I am a cop, so I guess my question is,
what can I learn from you?
Well, perhaps as much as I’ve already learned from you...
that you had bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning,
then stopped by the precincts target range
to get in some practice.
You’ve recently given up smoking.
You were born in the Midwest
and you’ve been married only a few months.
How did you...
I happened to walk into the room after you
and smelled the cordite on your clothes from the firing range.
And a few moments ago,
I saw you pop a slice of nicotine-based chewing gum
which cuts down on cigarette withdrawal.
And you keep playing with that wedding ring on your left hand
as though you weren’t used to it being there.
What about all the other stuff?
All in good time.
If you’re prepared to come to class
with at least the expectation
that I just might have something to offer.
Mrs. Fletcher, you’ve got yourself a deal.
Mrs. Fletcher, hi, I’m Luke Phillips.
I’m in your class
and anyway, I just wanted to say
how excited I am to be in your class.
I’m a big fan, I’ve read all your books twice.
Oh, you make me feel like I’m slacking off.
I only had to write them once.
-Are you a Criminology major? -Oh, no.
I’m not really into all that stuff, you know,
it’s just mechanics, who cares.
Oh, then why are you taking the course?
To meet you, of course, that’s the main point.
How much is that?
It’s two dollars.
Mr. Phillips, please,
look, I don’t quite know how to say this,
but if your only reason for taking this class was to meet me,
then I think you should consider some other means
of getting your three units.
Why?
Because this is a class
in which people are going to be working very hard.
These are professionals.
They care about what they’re doing
immensely, and we can’t just have sightseers.
But I bought all your books, you owe me.
Mr. Phillips, that you’ve bought
and read all my books is very nice
but that is the sum total of our relationship.
As for the class,
well, I genuinely believe that...
your presence there could not serve
a purpose for the other students or yourself.
I’m sorry.
That’s how it goes, isn’t it?
You make some money, you become a big shot,
and all of a sudden, you forget who got you where you're at.
Well, here’s a flash for you, Mrs. Fletcher.
If it wasn’t for readers like me,
you’d be back in Cabot Cove baking brownies.
Here you go, ma’am.
Oh, thank you very much.
May I? Oh, please.
Caught the exchange back there.
I guess that’s the price of fame, huh?
That’s what they keep telling me, Mr. Bryce, isn’t it?
That’s right.
By the way, I wanted to congratulate you
on the way you handled Morelli back in class.
Thank you.
It’s a little something I picked up from Sherlock Holmes.
Well, it sure worked on Morelli.
I mean, the guy really burns my butt.
You don’t know what it’s like working with him.
Then I take it, you’re also with the New York police force.
Five years now, and loving every minute of it.
That’s all I ever wanted, to be a cop.
I mean, a really good cop.
I see.
So are you a second or a third generation police officer?
Let’s just say I recognize the sentiment.
Second generation.
My dad was a cop, it meant the whole world to him.
Worked like a demon, days and nights.
Got two commendations.
On Sundays, he used to let me polish his badge.
Got it so bright you could use it as a mirror.
That’s wonderful.
I take it he’s retired.
Yes, some time ago.
But he really wasn’t ready for it.
We never are.
What about you?
Oh, not much to say.
Right now, I’m trying to pass the sergeant’s test.
I failed it three times so far.
You know, I study until my eyeball is melting,
just don’t take tests well, freeze up.
You know, back in Cabot Cove,
I had several young students who had the same problem.
They were young and gifted but when it came to tests...
Look, I’m a pretty good coach.
If you like, I’d be willing to work with you
to see if we could get you to pass
that... That sergeant’s test.
You would?
That’s a... I mean, that’s great!
Jeez, you don’t know what this means.
I mean, how do I... How do I repay you?
I don’t know.
The only payment I want
is to see you with that sergeant’s badge,
properly polished, of course.
Of course.
What happened?
Another mugging.
That’s the third one this month.
What, in the daytime?
Yeah, he’s getting pretty brazen.
Oh, my Lord, Roslyn.
[Roslyn] I really appreciate you stopping by, Mrs. Fletcher.
So tell me, how are you feeling, really?
Better, but scared.
I mean, it all happened so fast.
I was just walking along and someone grabbed my pack
and I didn’t let go and then he started hitting me.
That’s all I remember.
And I tried to get a look at him,
I did but I couldn’t.
And now I’m afraid to go back to school.
Knowing he’s still out there, I can’t do it.
Yes, you can.
You just need a little time.
You know there are counselors at school
who can help you to get past this,
and if there’s anything that I can do...
There is.
I mean, could you find this guy?
Oh, well, I don’t know, possibly, but...
But then you’ll have to try, please.
Roslyn, I want you to understand
that the police are already handling this.
And with me being new at the university,
they might not appreciate me being involved at this point.
It might make things difficult for them.
You do understand that, don’t you?
Well, I shall let you get some rest.
Don’t worry about the class.
You just concentrate on getting well.
You know something?
The class will still be there when you get back.
I just don’t think I can come back.
Not as long as he’s still out there.
A good detective investigates
both the clues you can see
and the clues that you can’t see.
I mean clues of attitude and approach.
Does the crime scene suggest cool efficiency
or rage finely expressed?
If the former, the job may have been done by a professional,
uninvolved with the victim,
while the latter implies the possibility of a grudge,
meaning that either the victim knew his assailant
or the assailant knew him,
which provides the first connection.
The crime scene thus becomes more than just an inventory
of fibers and hair and samples of ballistics.
It tells a story of passion or jealousy, or anger.
Something, Mr. Evans?
Oh, no, no. I’m just listening.
I mean, I figured since I taught this class last term
that I’d hang around
and see if you need any of my help.
Oh, thank you.
I think we’ve got a handle on it.
You know, Mrs. Fletcher,
it’s just sometimes it helps to have
another perspective on these things.
I’ve found through real experience as a cop
that it tends to provide you
with a better understanding towards the criminal mind.
You take what’s happening here
right now on the campus.
The muggings,
the escalation in violence into a daytime mugging.
And this guy’s just running around scot-free.
Now, to me, that is a fine example
of a criminal mind in action.
Is there by any chance a point buried in here somewhere?
Well, apart from the unfortunate aspects,
what we have here is a wonderful workshop opportunity.
I mean a challenge right here in our own backyard.
Now, Mrs. Fletcher,
I must confess that I too have read all your books
and I find them very interesting,
but only up to a point.
You see, to me each case you seem to limit yourself.
You start off with a murder in a house with five people,
then soon after two people are killed,
and it doesn’t take much to figure out who did it, huh?
Well, I don’t think that that is...
You know, it’s the same with small town Cabot Cove.
I mean, what, population...
Three suspects, two dogs and a duck.
I mean, you barely have to break a sweat
to solve a murder there.
But here, right here is the challenge.
I mean a campus of 30,000 students,
hundreds of staff and faculty, in a city of 8 million...
and somewhere, somewhere out there is the mugger.
Now based on my prior experience,
I would be willing to wager that I could find this guy.
What about you, Mrs. Fletcher?
Mr. Evans, the very idea of a competition...
No, no, no.
Not competition, academic exercise.
And what you got to think about is
how this is gonna benefit your class.
I think that my students would most benefit
by our continuing our discussion in the hall.
Please excuse us for a moment.
Mr. Evans, you and I didn’t get off
to a very good start and that is regrettable.
But any problems that we have must end
at the classroom door.
So what you’re saying is
that you’re not up for the exercise, right?
How curious.
You know, for a moment, I could've sworn
that we were speaking the same language.
Perhaps I should be plainer.
People are being hurt on this campus, Mr. Evans.
Now perhaps you view that
as a foundation for a game, I don’t.
Now if you want to pursue this investigation on your own, fine.
For what it’s worth, I hope you succeed
but to make it a competition is completely inappropriate.
Well, I’m sorry.
I thought you would appreciate
the opportunity to prove yourself.
Well, I found that those who feel
they have something to prove never succeed in doing so.
My sleep is untroubled, Mr. Evans, I wish you the same.
Kevin!
I’ve been looking all over for you.
Look, I need a favor from you.
I need whatever you’ve got on the files on the muggings
so I can start building a profile on the suspect.
You’ve got to be kidding,
after the way you treated Mrs. Fletcher.
Listen, listen to me, listen to me.
No, no, you listen to me, listen to me.
Now if you really cared about the kids
that got attacked, that’s one thing,
but if all you want to do is show up Mrs. Fletcher,
you could forget it.
That’s not a very good idea, Mr. Bryce.
Now you still have to get through Forensic 201, right?
That’s my class, Kevin.
Well, then, I’ll take it at night
or I’ll get the credits somewhere else.
I’ll take a correspondence class if I have to,
but the answer is still no.
I thought you might want to see this, Mrs. Fletcher.
It’s an advance copy of tomorrow’s student newspaper.
You planted this. How could you?
Ah, publicity and a little harmless fun.
But it isn’t harmless
and I don’t care about publicity.
Well, you should.
I mean, after all, that’s the reason why you’re here, isn’t it?
What do you mean?
Well, last term, enrollment in the Criminology Department,
it was down about 15%.
Now fewer bodies means fewer dollars,
fewer resources, less priorities.
And that is when our fearless chairman
came up with a bright idea of how to generate publicity,
how to draw in a lot of cross-over students
from the English department.
Now that would mean you, Mrs. Fletcher.
I mean, after all, you’re a one-woman road show.
You are the biggest thing to hit here
since the Ringling brothers.
Don’t... Don’t you get it?
You were hired strictly for marquee value.
I don’t believe you.
You don’t?
Well, he burst the idea at a staff meeting months ago.
I mean, everybody in the department knows about this.
Look, he’s probably still in his office right now.
Why don’t you go over there and ask him yourself?
I don’t believe it.
How could you do this to me?
Mrs. Fletcher.
Jessica, you have to look at it from my perspective.
We had to find some way
to draw more students into the department.
What choice did I have?
Well, you could have told me the truth.
That would have been nice.
If I had, would you have taken the job?
Absolutely not.
Well, there you are.
Dr. Auerbach, when I took this post,
I believed that I was being hired
because of my ability, not because of my name.
But as that is not the case
I don’t know what possible gain
there could be in me staying on.
Now, out of an obligation to my students,
I will stay in the class
until a suitable replacement can be found, but after that...
Jessica, please.
Can’t we just discuss this?
I believe we just did.
[siren wailing]
Mrs. Fletcher, what are you doing here?
Well, I was working late. What happened?
Another attack.
Just one difference, it went too far this time.
Looks like he was killed by a single gunshot.
I recognized the victim from the basketball team.
I guess he put up a fight.
Kevin, can you give me everything
that you have on these attacks?
Coroner’s reports, forensics, eye witnesses.
A young woman asked me for a favor this morning,
and I said no.
I let her down, it was a mistake.
I’m going to do everything I can to correct it.
Does that mean you’re in?
I’m in.
[Jessica] So after arriving at a murder scene,
what seven items must be assembled
for the initial investigation pact?
Witness statements and IDs, first officer’s report,
the primary detective’s report,
the medical examiner’s report,
finger prints and body custody forms, and...
Evidence submission slips.
You’ve got to be able to track
who got what and when and in what condition.
I knew it last night.
Don’t worry, you’re doing fine
and you’ve still got two weeks before the sergeant’s test,
more than enough time to get this down to a fine art.
Does that mean we could take a break now?
Sure. Good.
Any news about the murder?
We’re going from the theoretical to the practical, huh?
Something like that.
Well, we still don’t have much to go on,
not even a single witness.
Well, what about the crime scene?
We found a knife, which matches
the description of a knife used in previous attacks.
We’re still waiting for forensics to finish
but there’s a preliminary lab report
which shows there are two types of blood found at the scene.
Two blood types, but only one victim?
And only one bullet.
Well, the detectives heading up the case
figure it went down like this.
The mugger jumps to victim, they struggle.
Remember the victim was on the basketball team,
so he’s a strong guy
who was able to get the knife away
and turn in on the attacker who then shot him.
So he was carrying a gun and a knife.
Mrs. Fletcher, we’ve picked up perps and gang members
carrying enough hardware
to take over a small Latin American country.
Guns, pipes, chains, knives, you name it.
Well, what about local hospitals?
If he was injured badly enough,
he might have had medical attention.
Yeah, we’re already looking into that.
We’ve got guys checking every clinic in the area
for anyone who came in with a knife wound.
So far nothing concrete.
There’s one weird thing though,
another student was hospitalized
across town with a gunshot wound.
Looks like a drive by shooting.
Could the shootings be connected?
I don’t know, but it’s a mess.
Look, if you’re tired,
we can finish the tutoring later, you know.
No, no. I’m fine.
Let’s keep going.
All right.
Let’s just see where we left off.
-Bryce? -Yeah, Captain.
How long have you been providing information
to Jessica Fletcher about these campus attacks?
How did you know about that?
How doesn’t matter,
and you still haven’t answered my question.
Just this last night, Captain.
I want you to stop, effective immediately.
That woman attracts publicity like a lightning rod,
and it’s just what we don’t need right now.
The campus is tense enough
without creating a media circus.
Now I’ve got five good detectives on the case,
we don’t need civilians getting in our way.
Not even if she can help us out?
That’s not the point.
Then what’s the point?
Either you’re part of this team or you’re not.
And if you’re not, well, it’s your career.
Wanna screw it up like your old man, it’s your business.
-Wait, Captain. -Is that what you want?
You want to end up like your old man?
Because that’s where you’re headed if you keep this up.
Now nobody here’s gonna back you up
if you are out there playing games.
Bryce, you’re a good cop.
You’ve got a bright future ahead of you.
I just don’t want to see you
throw it away on some troublemaker, OK?
All right, Captain.
All right, it’s over then.
"I am the sword of justice,
death sings me, alpha and omega."
Hey.
Oh, I don’t suppose you mind telling me
what you’re doing here
or why you’ve been following me around?
Hey, I got the right to use this library,
just same as anybody else.
Yes, that may be but...
No, no, no. There’s no buts here, OK.
I can’t believe I used to admire you.
"Perspectives on a criminal mind." Right.
Mrs. Fletcher, you don’t know the half of it.
The situation is getting out of control.
We’ll have a panic on our hands
unless we stop this guy.
Exactly.
You see, that’s what he wants.
He wants the fear, Captain.
It reinforces his senses of power.
I mean, all this stuff, the graffiti, the notes,
and now some of the students
are getting threatening phone calls from this guy,
all since last night.
I mean, he’s got half the campus scared spitless.
I thought this was supposed to be your basic mugger.
Obviously, he’s escalated.
You see, Captain, the way I look at it
this murder could have been a primal triggering device,
a sort of rite of passage
that awakened an even more dangerous personality,
do you understand?
Look, cutting out the psychobabble,
what are we looking at here?
All right, well, I’ve narrowed down the field
to two kinds of suspects.
Number one, it could be
somebody with a grudge against the university,
a former employee, ex-student.
Number two, an outsider.
A truly psychopathic individual.
Now my guess would have to be the latter
with all this "sword of justice."
You see, this is classic delusion of grandeur, Captain.
-Terrific. -No, no, no.
Listen, listen.
This guy could be a drifter just passing through.
And if we don’t see another murder in, say, the next 72 hours,
then we can assume that he’s gone elsewhere.
Yeah, well, let’s just hope you’re right.
Excuse me. Can I talk to you a minute?
Sure.
Couldn’t help overhearing.
Don’t you think it’s kind of premature
to make judgments on such little evidence?
No, I don’t think so.
Besides I think there’s more than enough
to put together a detailed profile on this killer right now.
A criminal mind in action, Mr. Bryce.
What, you don’t remember?
Or you’ve got a better idea?
Oh, no. I don’t.
Not yet anyway. I didn’t think so.
See, what you don’t understand
is I’m closing in on this guy.
I can feel it.
How can you be so sure?
I got this in the mail from the killer.
"I am the alpha, I am the omega,
the sword of justice.
Death sings to me, I am its song.
Last night was the first stanza
in the armageddon cadenza.
Catch me if you can."
Now obviously, he considers me a real threat, huh?
Mrs. Fletcher.
Oh, Kevin, good.
I wanted to show you something I received...
No, Mrs. Fletcher, please.
Mrs. Fletcher, I’ve been trying to figure out
all morning how to tell you this,
but I can’t help you anymore with the investigation.
Captain says that... Well, I just can’t, that’s all.
Oh, I see.
I’m really sorry, Mrs. Fletcher.
Look, it’s all right.
You’ve been very helpful
and if that’s the extent of it,
it’s more than I would've gotten otherwise.
I understand.
I wish I did.
I know that you’re getting ready to close,
but I wonder if you could help me.
I’m looking for a copy of...
The Psychopathic Psyche: A Qualitative Analysis by Lawrence.
All right, let me check the computer.
Oh, I’m afraid it’s been checked out.
Well, that’s rather what I suspected.
We do have some other texts in the area,
if you’re interested.
Uh, no, no, thank you.
You see, it was one of several texts
that I had examined for possible use in my class.
And this morning, I came across something unusual and familiar
and it has to do with that book.
I don’t suppose you could tell me who checked it out.
I’m sorry but that’s against our policy.
If you like, I can let you know
when the book comes back in, Miss...
Fletcher. Jessica Fletcher.
Oh, of course, I should've recognized you from your photo.
We have the devil’s own time
trying to keep your books in our shelves.
Well, that’s nice.
I heard about your competition with Prof. Evans.
Good for you. I never did like that man.
I have $30 riding on you in the office pool.
Like I said, it is against our policy
to tell you who checked the book out,
but it is on the screen,
and if I just happened to walk away from my desk
and you just happened to glance at the screen,
well, it’s hardly my fault now, is it?
Are you OK?
Oh, yeah. What’s that?
It’s Greek.
It’s the characters for the alpha and the omega.
And whoever shot at me put it there.
Yes?
Hello, I was looking for Kevin Bryce.
I was told that I might find him here.
Well, he should be home from his shift anytime now.
You can wait for him inside, if you like, miss.
Thank you. Mrs. Fletcher.
Jessica Fletcher.
So you’re his instructor from the university?
Yes. Oh, I see.
Is there a problem?
Well, I suppose that’s what I’m here to find out.
He’s a fine young man, your son.
But the last time I saw him he seemed so... So troubled.
Almost as if the weight of the world
was on his shoulders.
Oh, that’s Kevin.
When he was just a kid, we used to call him "Grandpa."
He was always so serious.
You must be very proud of him.
If Kevin doesn’t make it back before you have to leave,
is there a message I can give him?
Oh, just say that I came by to see how he was doing
and to tell him that my offer of tutoring still stands.
And that sergeant’s test
is still coming up in less than a week.
I don’t think that’s a good idea.
I appreciate your concern, but I really don’t think
that being a cop is the best thing for him.
Oh, but he has been working so hard.
I know, everyday, every night,
he’s either working or studying or reading or taking classes.
Hardly ever goes out any more.
Yes, he’s very dedicated.
That’s one word for it.
Mrs. Fletcher, I lost my husband to a badge,
I won’t lose my son too.
Sorry, I was led to believe that Kevin’s father retired,
not that he had been...
What you believe is not the point.
Look, I am sorry, Mrs. Fletcher but could you just please go?
Yes, of course.
This is Kevin’s father, isn’t it?
You know, he’s told me so much about him.
Kevin really loved his father, didn’t he?
Yes, he did.
That’s the problem.
I’m not sure I understand.
Dan was a good man, Mrs. Fletcher, and a good cop.
He worked for years to get that badge but he just...
He found out some of the other officers were on the take,
seemed like everybody was doing it except Dan.
He never took a dime but he never reported it either.
They told him "you got to go along to get along."
That tore him up inside, but he stayed silent.
And then the hammer fell.
The other officers got found out
and Dan got indicted right alongside.
Oh, we figured it would make a difference that he never took any of the money,
but the mayor was on a justice kick,
said they all had to go.
That it would send a message.
Yeah, it did that all right.
I’m so sorry.
It was like they took a crowbar
and shattered his heart into a thousand pieces.
He never could find them all again though...
to put them back together. It was like he died inside.
Only took five years for his body to catch up.
He was a good man, Mrs. Fletcher.
I knew it and Kevin knows it.
And I worry sometimes
that he’s trying to make up for his father’s mistakes.
Maybe trying too hard.
You know, I think...
I think that you should go, Mrs. Fletcher.
I know why you’re here and I can appreciate it,
but damn it, this is my problem
and I can handle it on my own.
I just wish everyone would leave me alone!
You’re quite right and I’m sorry for intruding.
Thank you for your time, Mrs. Bryce.
Mrs. Fletcher, you’d do yourself a favor
if you dropped this investigation of yours.
It’s just gonna get you into trouble.
I’m afraid I can’t do that, Kevin.
You see, last night, someone took a shot at me.
Three shots actually.
I tend to take that very personal.
Captain, I got to talk to you.
Just wanted you to know that I’ve changed my mind.
Don’t do it, Bryce.
Your father... messed up.
That’s right because he didn’t do
what he thought was right
and if I don’t do what I think is right,
I’ll be making the same mistake he made!
And I can’t let that happen, Captain.
I just can’t.
You’re all alone in this, Bryce.
You could end up cutting your own throat.
I know.
One more thing, departmental rules say
you don’t take anything out of here.
No reports, no paperwork, no nothing.
No originals, no copies, nothing leaves the station,
are we clear on that?
-But, Captain... -Are we clear?
Yes, Captain.
[Jessica] It’s really not as bad as you think, Kevin.
No?
Mrs. Fletcher, we’ve been over this stuff ten times
and we still keep coming up empty.
These things take time.
I mean, detective work, my God, is in the details.
Kevin, I didn’t really want to ask you this
but I know what the captain told you about...
not taking paperwork out of the station.
But here are all these files, forensics, autopsy reports.
I don’t want you getting into trouble on my account.
All I did was call the county coroner’s office
and tell ’em we needed extra file copies.
So they sent them over
and I picked them up at the door before they got inside.
So I couldn’t have taken it from the station
because it never got inside the station.
Like you said, it’s all in the details.
So you want to switch reports?
Oh, I couldn’t be happier.
I just wish I could shake this feeling
that we’re missing something.
We’re missing it because it isn’t here.
Say what?
Sometimes in a report like this,
what isn’t there is almost as important as what is there.
Now there were two types of blood found at the scene, right?
Well, yeah, but we already knew that.
We found one expended cartridge and one knife.
One guy got shot and one guy got cut.
Except... Wait a minute, look at this.
What am I supposed to be looking for?
Something that’s not there. Now take a closer look.
You see, "the knife had a serrated blade, lots of ridges,
but there was no skin tissue found on the blade, only blood."
That is weird.
How do you cut someone and get blood and no tissue?
And here, "there were no prints found on the knife handle."
All right, the mugger was wearing gloves.
Yeah, but the victim wasn’t.
So if he had used it, it would have had his prints, right?
You’re right, it doesn’t make sense.
But it does.
But you said it...
That it doesn’t make sense, yes,
which makes it make perfect sense.
But there’s one more thing that we have to do first.
Are you coming?
[Jessica] The Admissions Desk at the hospital told me
that we’d find you here.
They said that you checked out this morning.
I take it your arm is better.
It was a gunshot wound, I understand?
-You’re a student here, right? -Yeah.
I believe I saw you working in the cafeteria?
That’s right, I’m a busboy.
Costs a lot of money to go to college these days.
They cut off all the grants.
So yeah, I’m a busboy, you got a problem with that?
Oh, absolutely not, but I do have a problem
with some of your other means of making money.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
On the night of the murder,
you said that you were walking on 14th street clear across town
and that a car drove by and took a shot at you.
Yeah, that’s right.
But the police failed to recover a cartridge
and while they found blood in your car,
there was no blood at the place
where you were supposedly shot.
Look, I don’t have to talk to you, right?
So why don’t you just leave me alone, OK?
I could go, however, I think you might find yourself
on the receiving end of a murder charge.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, all right.
I checked with the doctors
and your blood type matches that found at the murder scene.
All right, look, I was there, all right,
but I didn’t kill anybody, all right?
You got to believe me.
Strange as it may seem, the fact is I do believe you.
However a jury may not, which means
that you have to help me if I’m gonna help you.
Well, well, well.
What have we got going on here?
Let me guess.
You couldn’t solve the murders on your own,
so now you’re going through my stuff
to find out what I came up with, right?
I’m very disappointed in you, Jessica.
Actually I just came here to borrow a book, this one,
The Psychopathic Psyche: A Qualitative Analysis.
I tried to find a copy at the library
but it had already been checked out... by you.
It’s basically a laundry list of aberrant criminal behavior.
Well, yeah, it lets you look at a series of typical clues
to determine what kind of personality's behind it.
Or you could use it the other way
to create a series of clues that would seem
to lead to a criminal personality
just like the things we’ve been seeing here lately, the notes,
the alpha and the omega signature...
They all came straight out of this book.
Well, that’s a very interesting theory,
but who would want to go to all that trouble?
Exactly what I was wondering.
Then it all made sense when I saw the forensics report,
the types of blood, one bullet and one knife
without skin tissue or fingerprints.
Let me tell you what I think happened.
You were determined to catch the mugger.
You assembled the clues, talked to students,
stayed late, prowled the campus
and you stumbled upon an assault in progress.
Since you have a permit to carry a gun,
you were armed, you saw your chance to make an arrest.
You got reckless, you fired when you shouldn’t have.
The bullet hit the suspect and went right through
without hitting the bone.
It happens all the time
except when it passed through the mugger,
it hit the young man standing behind him killing him instantly.
The mugger escaped in the confusion
and you were left with one dead body
and two different blood types on the ground.
So you kicked the knife into one of the pools of blood,
making it look like there had been a struggle
in which the suspect was cut...
except there was no tissue on it.
Impossible if it had been used in the attack.
Then you created an imaginary killer
and flooded the campus with strange clues,
even tried to scare me off the case
with three gunshots that were clearly intended to miss.
You were hoping to drown the police in so many clues
that the important one, the blood, would be overlooked.
Forget it, lady.
What you got here is purely circumstantial
and without an eyewitness, you’ve got nothing.
You’re quite right.
But you see, we have a witness.
Half an hour ago, he picked your picture
out of a photographic line up.
You’re bluffing.
Kevin!
You want to tell him what you seen?
Same thing I said at the station.
That’s the guy that shot me.
-This is ridiculous. -Is it?
You said yourself, Wallace,
a campus of 30,000 students in a city of 8 million,
but whether it’s Cabot Cove
with our three suspects, two dogs, and a duck
or here, you start with the best available facts.
Now once we knew what to look for,
a man with a bullet wound, not a knife wound,
inflicted on the night in question
we were able to find him.
And once we had him, we had you.
You should have seen his face, we had him and he knew it.
And Captain Lupinski’s reaction,
now that was the best part.
I’ve never had anyone congratulate me
through grit teeth before.
Don’t brag with your mouthful.
Now, your mother's right.
You’re saying you didn’t get a kick out of it
when the department chairman apologized?
Well, I wouldn’t say that.
So how about, after all this,
you think you’ll reconsider and come back next semester?
Well, let’s just say that I'm going
to give it great consideration.
But best of all, I heard this morning that Roslyn
is coming back to class starting on Tuesday.
Hey, that’s great.
[Mrs. Bryce] Dessert.
What, study now?
Oh, don’t talk to me.
It was her idea.
Now you two slug it out.
I’ll be in the kitchen where it’s safe.
Mrs. Fletcher, come on, this is a party.
Was.
Come on, move over.
Your sergeant’s test is only three days away
and we’ve got a great deal of ground to cover.
You’re a hard woman, Mrs. Fletcher.
You know something, Mr. Bryce, you’re right.
Good.
I was afraid for a moment there
that I was starting to slip.
Now, to work.