My father used to say our limitations define us.
He couldn't work real magic so he had to settle
for card tricks and well trained rabbits.
I can't use hi-tech gizmos
so I make do with a rotary phone and a gas stove.
And Bob is... Well, Bob.
Are you Harry dresden?
Mr. Dresden is not in.
Perhaps I could be of service?
I'm his associate, Bob.
I really need to talk to Mr. Dresden.
I can assure you I know as much about the unexplained
as Mr. Dresden does.
- I've got to go. - No wait,
- I could help! - No. No you can't.
Miss?
Miss, you all right?
Miss?
Oh my god!
There's been an accident!
Someone call the police!
Help! Help!
The dresden files - season 01 episode 07 - "walls"
transcript - == -
sync: Yossarian, pilø re-sync for DVD: Kitn.
Did you see the driver?
No, not clearly.
Dresden?
What? It all happened fast Murphy.
She was walking down there and she stepped off and...
And you've never met her before?
Never.
What's that? Her date book.
She didn't have an appointment with you?
No.
What's her name?
Raychelle banton, 20 years old.
Junior at the university of Chicago,
originally from Oakland, California.
A long way from home.
What about this guy, Caleb?
Nothing.
Unbelieveable.
This case is going to be a problem for me, isn't it?
What do you mean?
Because this girl was a client, or wanted to be one.
I don't even know what she was coming to me about Murphy, so...
But you're going to find out aren't you
while I work this case,
then we both know what comes after that -
craziness and lies.
And closed cases.
Depends on your point of view.
Found the car just a couple of blocks away.
Okay.
Hey Murphy.
Promise you, no craziness, no lies.
Come on.
Car's stolen from a rental agency.
Inside smells like alcohol.
Looks like they were joy riding and a hit and run.
Prints?
Wheel's been wiped;
Same with the door inside and out,
but we might get lucky.
May I?
Don's touch anything. Lieutenant?
Don't start with me.
Murphy, your guys say what this is?
Not yet. Can I just say I'm sick and tired
of this guy sticking his nose...
Smells like tallow.
- Tallow? - It's a rendered animal fat,
used for old fashioned candles.
Of course.
You want me to check for animal fat?
Sure, I'll check for animal fat.
So we got a drunk driver driving along
with tallow candle burning in the cup holder.
Not your average hit and run joyride is it?
Especially when victim has my yellow pages add on her.
I can't get you paid on this one. If I put in another request...
Don't, this one's on me.
If you find anything tell me.
Oh yeah, and same goes for you.
No, it doesn't.
I should have kept her here.
I should have persuaded her to stay,
but I am a trapped, dead,
useless insubstantial
puff of air. I might as well be
a painting on the wall.
You know Bob...
If you were useless I would have tossed your skull
in the trash years ago.
I don't want your...
that's actually very reassuring, thank you.
So...
Did you get a good look at the driver?
Or drivers?
Yeah, for a second there it looked like there were two people
in the driver's seat Bob.
I don't know, maybe it was a masking spell,
maybe a haunting, a possession...
Or a joyride?
Stolen car, stolen body.
You know, two enties
occupying the same space?
Would you please not do that,
that gives me the heebie jeebies and you know it.
That's something anyway.
Listen,
the tallow, wax,
does that point to anything?
I...
Red light.
- What? - Red light on your...
Phone contraption there, it's blinking.
Is that thing working? Yes, apparently so.
You did receive a call while you were, uh, out.
- Cross your fingers. - Good luck.
Hi, my name is raychelle banton,
I need help. I have seen some things.
I really hope you're not a fake.
I'm going to come over.
I've got to see you in person.
But she never did.
Okay...
There was a fraternity pin chained around her neck.
We've got to her friends and see if they know anything.
Where are you going?
To college... Finally.
I never went to college;
No money, no connections.
Those Ivy covered walls always seemed like barriers.
People like me need not apply,
so I never got a chance to study "subjects",
to be part of the "student body" and things.
Hey, can I help you?
Yeah, I'm a consultant with the Chicago police dept.
And I'm just looking for somebody,
so if you wouldn't mind...
Caleb...
I'll be fine, thank you, thank you.
Hey Caleb!
Caleb?
My name's Dante.
I'm investigating the death of raychelle banton.
You knew her right? Were you close?
Hey, bud?
Mr. Police consultant,
not to seem unfriendly,
but unless you got an invitation...
He's here about raychelle.
It was a hit and run, right?
That's what I'm investigating, yeah.
Fine, come upstairs.
I don't really feel like partying anyway.
So was raychelle your girlfriend?
Yeah.
We've been dating for a while.
Were you aware that she was killed on her way
to see a private investigator?
Why would she do that?
I don't know,
but she had your picture on her,
a name written on a piece of paper.
It wasn't yours.
This Caleb guy you're looking for?
Yeah.
That name mean anything to you?
No, I don't know anybody by that name.
I didn't think she did either.
Look,
can I ask you, Dante,
where were you when raychelle was killed?
At the hospital, with my mom.
She had a stroke.
She's been there for a few months.
Sorry to hear that.
She can't walk.
They're trying to teach her how to eat and talk again and...
My family's running out of money to pay for the bills,
so are we done here?
Dante,
there's a chance raychelle was killed
to stop her reaching this private investigator.
If that's the case it's not a hit and run, it's a murder.
Do you know anyone that might know anything about that?
No, raychelle was a great girl.
Everybody liked her.
There's no way anybody would have any reason to kill her.
There's no way.
Locked doors and dead ends,
that's where half my investigations lead.
With the right kind of persuasion
almost any lock can be convinced to...
Open.
It's the dead ends that are the problem,
and raychelle banton was very dead.
I was counting on the things she'd left behind
to tell me what I need to know;
Who she was and who wanted her dead.
Scholarship pay for this?
That's pretty impressive!
Mrs. Shankar?
So you're the man who robbed my store?
Actually I'm the man who found your stolen property.
Well, I hope you don't think you're getting a reward.
No, all I'd like is some information.
Okay, thousands of dollars of jewelry taken in the middle of the night,
with no alarms triggered and no forced entry from a locked safe.
According to my cop friends
this has been happening all over town.
Clothing, electronics, and no one has a clue of what's going on.
Nothing.
Making things disappear, that was your father's stock and trade, wasn't it?
Along with vanishing people from cabinets and crates?
This isn't stage magic Morgan.
And that thing I saw behind the wheel was not my imagination.
You just saw a woman get killed.
You don't suppose you were shaken up?
I saw what I saw.
There's dark magic there, okay.
There's dark magic everywhere.
The world is drowning in it.
The high council wages war against it every second of every day.
Yeah, I get...
I'm not your personal pit-bull that you can point at a problem
to make it go away.
I'll make it go away, okay, but I need your help.
Now I'm either looking for a killer who was has got power,
has found power, or he's being used by a power,
but anyway you cut it there is going to be a warp in the fabric of reality
and I just need to know if you have any clue of what is going on.
Can I ask you a question?
Why do you care so much?
- Are you serious? - Completely.
Where were you when my father was murdered?
Were you off waging war somewhere more important?
We can't be everywhere.
Well, we could at least be somewhere, occasionally.
I can tell you this.
If there's dark magic involved, it's hidden.
It's either buried in the souls of those that it's corrupted or
not fully realized.
Other than that,
I have no idea what you're up against,
other than your own desire to martyr yourself for
those who don't know you,
don't like you
and don't understand you.
You trying to save everyone, or just yourself?
Carson Harris and Brady Whitfield.
Do you know them?
Uh, I don't know them.
You crashed a party at their fraternity house and claimed you were working for the police.
Well, I was looking for somebody else.
Dante aureus, raychelle's boyfriend.
Yeah, and I found him,
and there's something sketchy about him.
Yeah well, so did we. We talked to him, he has an alibi.
And as for his friends,
Brady Whitfield, as in Whitfield shopping mall Whitfield,
and Carson Harris is the son of the lieutenant governor.
So, powerful people.
Might not be a good idea for you to try to tie a hit and run to these kids.
And...
What if they were involved?
Then I'll make that connection, not you.
Is there anything on Caleb?
- Not yet. - What about the stolen car?
No, the rental company can't figure out how the keys were stolen.
There's no sign of forced entry. It's looking like an inside job.
- But you're checking the employees... - Yeah.
- Yeah, well you're wasting your time. - Fine,
then don't make me waste any more time telling you to leave these boys alone.
But Murphy hadn't watched that girl die.
I had.
The look in her eyes meant that I couldn't leave it alone.
So it was time to do a little surveillance
bugging, even.
No, I don't have access to any kind of high tech spy stuff,
but I get by.
Are you all right?
I'm fine. How do I look?
Whatever, just don't spew on it, all right.
I need to sell that thing.
Hey screw that.
You want money, you take it.
Back off man.
What's your problem?
My girlfriend's dead, that's my problem.
Look...
I get it.
And I'm sorry, but it was just a freak accident.
Now, it's time to take your mind off things,
step things up.
Push things a little further.
Tell me, is that you talking or Caleb?
Caleb!
Caleb's done right by us.
He's doin' okay for your mother too, isn't he?
She feeling a little better these days,
what with not getting kicked of the hospital and all?
Now there's a lesson for you.
Life's short.
Grab it before it gets squished.
Let's do a bank.
I want to see how this thing works on a few feet of solid steel bro.
Now you're talking.
Hey look, we might get enough
your family'd be free and clear.
No more bills.
Yeah, one more, but that's it.
Come on, let's go! Come on!
Carson!
Just forget it, we've got to get the hell out of here man!
What just happened?
Carson?
Ripped in half?
Where's the rest of you?
- So? - So yeah.
Carson Harris, the lieutenant governor's kid,
well half of him anyway.
The other half is coming down right now.
Well, third, there's still part of him missing.
Anyhoo,
our Vic was pulverized,
pounded to death,
maybe by a
sledge hammer or a Jack hammer,
or maybe a maul.
It's a medieval weapon,
like a mace, only bigger.
Let's right it up as large, unknown,
- blunt implement. - Okay.
Uh, Murphy?
What?
I...
Butters, is there something else?
Yeah, yeah there is.
The kid.
The kid didn't have long to live.
What do you mean?
Tell me again?
Found him in the alley.
That's it.
- So what were you doing there? - Just following him.
I told you to drop this.
So you didn't see who killed Carson?
No, I got there too late.
Did you do an autopsy?
Yeah, on what's left of him. They found the other half.
What, inside a locked bank vault?
Who told you that?
Lucky guess.
Was he sick, did he have some kind of disease?
Where do you get this stuff?
Murphy, what did the autopsy show?
Decomposition, inside.
His internal organs were rotten.
How is that possible?
Corruption of youth.
A severed human hand
covered in tallow, rendered in animal fat.
Are you sure?
You got something?
Well if I'm right those boys are in the grip of something terrible
and I do mean grim.
Check your uncle's book.
Okay. Page? Page?
115.
La main de gloire.
Your accent is atrocious.
- The hand of glory. - Thank you.
Candle,
made from the severed hand of a dead thief.
- You can walk through walls with this? - With enough power.
The hand contains the bound spirit of the original owner.
You think of that as the wick and then the fuel...
- Is the boys. - Yes.
- Their energy. - Yes.
And the spirit of the hand exploits pain,
anger and loss.
- Dante's mother is dying. - Yes, and I suspect
the other two boys have issues of their own;
Fears of inadequacy, isolation.
That is the fuel for your candle.
But wait, wait, wait. The spirit of the hand...
The boys said someone named Caleb helped them steal it.
That thing I saw in the car, the two drivers...
Yes, that was the spirit growing stronger,
feeding off the boys's energies, and...
Influencing them.
Wow.
So they didn't kill raychelle, this thing did. Caleb did.
Yes, and the more they use the hand
- the stronger he becomes until... - Carson was rotting from the inside.
Yes and are Brady and Dante, I'm sure.
This dark magic is very addictive,
as you well know.
Which means they won't stop...
Until it's too late.
They say the rich are different;
They have nicer cars and people to pick up their dirty clothes
behind the walls of their gold-plated castles.
But money can't buy you the perfect child,
or the perfect parent.
Rich or poor, teenagers are still teenagers.
They lie, cheat, steal and act out to get attention.
So whose attention was Brady Whitfield trying to get?
What can I do for you?
Mrs. Whitfield?
Hi, my name is Harry dresden,
I'm looking for your son Brady.
I haven't heard from him in a couple of days.
He turned his cell phone off.
- You know about his friend Carson Harris? - Yes.
Such an awful thing.
Are you with the police?
Well actually, I'm investigating another death,
raychelle banton.
I don't know who that is.
You know Dante aureus, right?
Dante, yeah.
Well he and Brady are close friends.
Yeah.
So Brady's friend died,
his friend's girlfriend died. Are you sure he's not home
and there's nothing you can tell me at all... maybe?
You need to go now.
Okay.
Well look, maybe just in case
you do think of something or
Brady wants to get in touch, please, feel free.
By the way, I got to say,
this is quite a collection you got here.
A lot of interesting artifacts.
I wouldn't know. They were my husbands.
I'm just curious,
in his collection anywhere,
has he got something that's kind of likesobig;
It looks a severed human hand?
Get out now
or I'll call the police.
We're raised with our parents' limitations.
They can stumble and fall and take us down with them,
but if we're lucky, we also get their love -
enough love that the limitations don't matter.
Dante had been one of the lucky ones,
but his luck was in critical condition.
I may not have known where to find Brady
but I sure knew where I could find Dante.
Mom, I've got to go, okay. It's getting late.
I'm going to get you the best of care, okay.
We've got money now, lots of it, and I can get more.
Whatever we need.
You've helped me through so much.
I'm going to get you through this, I promise.
Visiting hours are over. But I don't suppose that matters
when you can walk through walls.
That's what you're doing isn't it? Hm?
With a dead thief's hand...
Only Carson he wasn't quick enough was he?
Let go of me. Did you know Carson was dying?
And you're dying too!
Can't you feel it?
You're crazy.
Raychelle knew it,
and she loved you.
She couldn't stand to see what was happening to you
and then he came and killed her didn't he?
You stay away from me, you understand?
Bob, we got to get a lead on Caleb, he's...
Whoa, whoa...
Oh dear!
Brady!
Your wasting your time.
They're mine now.
Leave them alone, or die.
Caleb, I presume?
Is that what killed raychelle, that thing?
She was going to ruin everything.
Caleb's already done that for you.
Come on, where's the hand?
I won't let you take it!
Brady listen to me,
Caleb is using you.
Every time you walk through something
you're getting weaker and he's getting stronger, okay.
And he is not going to stop until you are dead.
No!
What's wrong with you?
- Stop fighting me! - Never!
Gone.
I don't know how long its been missing.
Well, however long, your son has it and it's making him very...
Sick.
Okay, so,
tell me about the hand.
Well I thought it was a fake,
and disgusting,
but my husband had to have it.
He was obsessed with it.
Sometimes I'd find him up late in his office just...
Staring at it.
Can I speak with him at all?
My husband died three years ago.
I'm sorry.
He died holding that...
Thing.
I wanted to throw it out.
I should have,
but it was as if it wouldn't let me,
so I just hid it away.
Brady found it
and then one day he brought a new friend over...
Dante.
Such a nice.
I thought he would be a good influence on Brady.
My son was always a little...
Wild.
Um... what happened with Dante?
Brady showed him the hand
and when Dante touched it, something strange happened.
- I saw it out of the corner of my eye. - What?
It seemed to glow.
How much did we get?
- Nothing. - What?
Like two hundred bucks.
I need a rest.
Let's hit another place.
I can't do this anymore.
Maybe that guy dresden was right.
Maybe doing this stuff is not good.
Hey, Carson was weak and he was slow.
Yeah, and now he's dead.
And raychelle's dead
and dresden says Caleb is killing us too.
- I'm hungry. - Brady...
There's a supermarket down the street;
We'll break in, we'll pig out.
We'll take a shortcut.
Brady!
This thing is killing you man!
Let go of it!
Damn it Brady, let go!
Fine,
if that's how you want it.
You got Dante with a sick mother;
Brady abandoned by his parents;
Carson, the ignored son of a politician.
This Caleb, he saw his chance to exploit these 3 kids
and he took it.
- Stealing their lives. - Mhm.
And this was not the same wispy spirit I saw
when raychelle was killed. Obviously not.
He's getting stronger, he's getting more powerful,
he's getting more and more alive.
And soon he'll be free.
Jealous?
Oh, I've made my peace with my situation.
Since when?
I will never escape.
Only your uncle held that key,
and he's gone.
Ain't that a shame.
He had his moments.
How do I stop Caleb?
How would you destroy me if you had to?
- Well Bob, I'd smash your skull. - Well,
find the bastard's hand and smash the knuckles to bits.
But let me ask you this:
Those boys chose to use the hand.
They could have ignored Caleb's call.
They've stolen, they've murdered,
they've sacrificed one of their own
are they really worth saving?
Raychelle thought so.
Hello?
Was he alone?
Okay, thanks Murphy.
Listen, if I run into Dante I'll let you know.
Brady's dead.
I have to find Dante.
How you doing Dante?
Is that for your mother?
Stay back.
You keep listening to Caleb you're going to die
just like Carson and just like Brady.
Doesn't matter anymore.
Caleb was a murder.
He was a murderer and he was a thief,
and even in death he is still killing
and he's still taking
and he's using you to come back.
Raychelle, your girl, she died trying to stop him.
You going to let her death be in vain?
You got to help stop him Dante, you're the only one that can do it.
Give me the hand.
Just give me the hand.
Dante?
Okay, it's simple, do you want to live
or do you want to die?
You have to fight this thing.
I know what it's like to fight the darkness.
You'll be tempted but you've got to resist it.
I can't.
He's too strong.
He's not that strong, or else you'd be dead by now.
You've got to force him out.
You got to let it go.
Dante
give me the hand.
Give me the hand.
Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.
Give it...
Come on Dante, that's it.
Come on, give it to me.
There you go.
Well then, looks like I'm out.
If you want the boy to live, walk away.
And then what, you just start stealing and killing again?
Old habits.
Well then we got a problem, don't we?
I don't like problems.
You're made of wax.
What I'm about to take from you...
You will never get back!
This will make a nice keepsake.
Is it me or is it getting hot in here.
Dante, you're going to be all right.
You're going to be all right.
Did Dante deserve to be saved?
Well, Dante didn't steal for money or attention,
he stole to help his mother. That was something.
Plus unlike his friends, he tried to resist the hand.
Bottom line, saving Dante was what raychelle hired me to do.
She paid with her life
and I was going to honor that.
Hey, rest up.
Take it easy. You're lucky to be alive.
Caleb? Where is he?
He's gone, forever.
You're the only one that made it.
- My mom? - She's fine. She asked after you.
- She's talking? - Yeah.
Okay look, Dante, here's the deal.
The police, they think that
Carson and Brady figured out a way to hack into security systems
so they could break into places.
They also have evidence that suggests
that Brady killed Carson and raychelle before he o'd'd.
None of that's true.
You're right, none of thatistrue, but it is what people will believe.
Now, here's what's going to happen.
My friend, lieutenant Murphy,
she is going to come and see you and she is gonna ask you a whole load of questions
and you are going to cooperate
and you're going to confess to everything they charge you with.
And then what, prison?
They'll send me away forever.
Yeah, but my other friend, Morgan,
he's going to come and get you he's going to take you away
and he's offer you an exciting new career opportunity.
Your touch activated the hand.
You resisted it longer than the others.
You ultimately rejected its pull.
You spurned the black magic.
That indicates you have talents, talents that we can use.
Who is we?
Questions later.
Do you accept the offer before you?
I... yeah.
Good.
We'll be in touch.
Great to see you Morgan.
Well that was different.
He used a door...
You'll see.
So you set this all up for me?
Yeah.
- Why? - For raychelle,
because she loved you.
Besides, we all make mistakes.
What we do next is what matters.
Thank you.
Don't thank me.
Make it right.
Walls, they're everywhere.
They define us, limit us,
we can try to go around them,
break through them
or give up and let them close us in.
But every once in a while,< if we're lucky,
someone opens a door,
and then it's up to us, to have the courage,
to walk through.