***
- Sir, this isn't a bank card.
- Ah, sorry.
It's my I.D. I'm a private investigator.
- Not a very private one, apparently.
- Yeah.
- You did that on purpose. - Come on, honey.
I just got this bad boy yesterday,
so what if I'm a little excited?
My study partner's gonna be here any second and I'd appreciate it
if you turn down the weird. - Most kids would be proud
to have a P.I. for a father. Think of me as a modern day Thomas Magnum.
Oceanfront estate, red Ferrari, epic moustache?
Nothing? Fine, Jim Rockford.
- That name just sounds made up. - My name sounds made up.
Phillip Marlowe. Sam Spade? : Veronica Mars.
- Oh, now I get it. - Well, well, well.
If it isn't Angie Everett, my partner. Partner.
It still sounds strange when I say it out loud.
- That's because you're my employee.
- Right. - Hi, Jules.
- Hi, Angie. Did you know my dad's a private investigator?
- No way. - Yeah.
- OK, don't say anything stupid.
Or you know what? Just don't say anything at all. Thanks.
- Hey, Jules. - Hey. Liam, Dad.
Dad, Liam. And Angie. She's my dad's boss.
- Woman's in charge. Right on.
Oh, I got your bag. - Thanks.
- No problem.
So how are you doing?
Isn't he a little slick for a 14
- I think he's cute! If I was 14.
Everett Investigations.
Yes, Mr. King. I know who you are.
Oh, my goodness.
Of course, we'll be right there. What's going on?
- That was Thomas King, the author. Frank Garrison's in the hospital.
- I'll do the talking.
- OK. - Yeah. Come on!
- Mm-hmm.
***
- You know, once, Frank tried to wrestle a bear.
It was in a bar in St. Petersburg.
Remember that? We were at a writer's conference.
I'm not gonna lie: there was vodka involved.
It's hard to see him like this.
He's one of the great writers of our generation.
- A true genius.
- When did he first reach out to you, Mr. King?
- Call me Tom. I haven't spoken to Frank in years.
I think he was pissed after I won
the Governor General's Award. He could be a mean-spirited son of a bitch.
Last week, this arrived in the mail.
- "In the event of my death, or that I have been rendered
incapacitated, please press the play button."
- I thought it was a joke at first. I mean,
Frank's a notorious technophobe, holed up in his
little shack on Ward's Island. And then this morning
I hear that his house had burned down.
- Hi, Tom. I guess if you're watching this
I'm either dead or I'm in a coma near death,
or you've just chosen to ignore my note,
in which case I should've gone with Michael Ondaatje.
- Son of a bitch. - All I want you to do here
is find the most impressive private investigators in the city
and then I want you to get them to look into what the heck
is happening here. There's two envelopes.
Open up the blue envelope.
Alright. That should be enough to pay their expenses.
OK. Open up the other envelope, the red one.
I found these on my windowsill last night.
There they were, lined up there,
like five little brass tombstones.
Somebody on this crazy little island's trying to kill me.
Tom, remember I said this. Trust no one.
- ** I see you and you see me
* Watch you blowin' the lines when you're making a scene *
* Oh boy, you've got to know
* What my head overlooks
* The senses will show to my heart *
* When it's watching for lies
* 'Cause you can't escape my
* Private Eyes
* They're watching you
* Private Eyes
* They're watching you, watching you, watching you *
* Watching you *
***
- Why are you so excited about this old hack writer anyhow?
- Frank Garrison is not a hack. This is the man who wrote
The Devil's Playground, one of the most important books
of the last hundred years. - I Googled him.
He wrote one book 25 years ago and gave up.
- Can you blame him, after the Lovegrove incident?
Didn't you take English Lit?
- The Devil's Playground was set in the 19th century,
but really it's an allegory for dirty political dealings
in the 1990s. The uncle character was based
on a Conservative senator named Christopher Lovegrove.
- Oh, I remember that guy. He killed himself, didn't he?
- Senator Lovegrove did everything he could to trample
gay rights, yet he was deep in the closet himself.
When the media found out who the uncle character was based on,
his secret was revealed.
Lovegrove killed himself a week after it was published,
the novel on his lap.
- Well, that's why I didn't read the book. It's bad luck.
- It's also a masterpiece. I read it every couple of years.
- Andre Agassi's biography is a masterpiece and I only read that once.
- Did you manage to colour between the lines?
***
Frank's house is a 10-minute walk. Let's go.
This place gives me the creeps.
This place is fantastic! My Dad brought me here
when I was a kid. I wanted to pitch a tent and stay forever.
- Makes sense when you're eight. - This island has everything:
the best views of the city, a haunted lighthouse,
rumours of mobsters in hiding.
Did you know that Babe Ruth
hit his very first professional home run
into those waters right there? - I was standing next to you
when you were reading the historical plaques. - So we're finally reading
the same things!
Wow. That was some fire. - Yeah.
Let's get to work. You get some snaps of the house,
I'll go see if I can learn anything from the firemen.
You're going to go talk to the firemen?
Isn't that a bit of a cliché? Women and firemen?
Sounds like a real bodice ripper. A potboiler.
Who's the literary one now?
- OK. Looks like the fire happened between 1 and 2 a.m.
I'm gonna check if Mazhari can pull up the CCTV footage
of the harbour. Ferries don't run between 10 p.m. and dawn,
so if there are no personal watercraft leaving the island,
it's likely the arsonist lives here.
- Or there is no arsonist and that's the reason for the fire.
Lotta hard liquor for one man. - He's a writer. Sometimes
it comes with the territory. - It also makes a great
accelerant. I once made a Molotov cocktail
out of a cheap bottle of bourbon.
I didn't find that in the background check. - Time for you to up your game.
Come on, think about it. Garrison gets drunk,
decides to light up a smoke, and poof!
- We've been hired to find a would-be killer, not speculate
on accidents. Frank said this island is full of crazy,
and I believe him. - I'm starting to come around.
Don't look now: peeping Tom, 5 o'clock.
- Beginning to feel like we're in a Coen Brothers movie.
- You take the high road, I'll take the low.
- There's a lot of suspects, but we're honing in on one.
You're not gonna believe who the culprit is...
- She does drone on, doesn't she?
- Uh, I...
- Larry Fleishman.
This is not what it looks like.
- You mean you weren't recording my partner pretending to talk on the phone?
- OK, it is what it looks like. This is what I do for a living.
- I'm a composer.
I make ambient soundscapes for spas.
I was trying to catch a rare piping plover.
She makes the sweetest little cheeps.
- And this plover resides in the remains of Frank Garrison's house?
- I wanted to know what was going on.
- Where were you between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. this morning?
- At the south end of the island, atop the lighthouse.
All my sound logs are digitally timestamped. Um...
41.3163 north, 79.3853 west.
Here, see for yourself.
- So you record sounds.
Did you hear anything strange? - Actually, yeah.
At first I thought it was a black-crowned night heron,
but you know, it's too late in the season for that.
Here, you can listen.
- I can't make heads or tails of this. Got anything else?
- Oh, yes. Four hours of raw, unadulterated wind.
That's the sound of the island's soul.
- Larry, do you know anyone on this island who dislikes Frank?
- I'd check with the Schmidts. They know him as well as anyone,
and they do like to dish.
Oh, my goodness!
I'm such a big fan of your show!
- Is this a bad time to mention I don't have cable?
- These guys are the hosts of A Tale of Two Schmidty's,
one of the top design shows on The Accent Network.
- Number one in our time slot, three seasons and counting.
But who keeps track of that, right?
- Do you mind if we ask a few questions about your neighbour?
- He's gonna pull through.
- Oh, thank God. I just want to get back to the days
when the only thing I need to worry about is his wardrobe.
- Seriously, Hawaiian shirts and striped pants?
He makes Don Cherry look like Oscar De La Renta.
- Can you think of anyone
who has a beef with Frank? - Frank's harmless.
Most people here just pity him. I mean, come on.
The man's spent a quarter century procrastinating.
Someone he's friendly with?
- The last few months, this gorgeous woman started showing up.
Blonde, wavy hair, geek-chic glasses.
- Vintage cat-eyes. Very stylish.
- Every couple of weeks, like clockwork.
Frank said it was his daughter.
- The last time, it did not end well. They had quite the row.
- I'm not one to spread rumours.
Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I am.
I heard "money," and then eventually
he was screaming at her to get out.
- Sounded like Daddy was gonna turn off the royalty tap.
- Mr. Powers, you're Frank's publisher. Did he mention any
meetings with his daughter?
- I'm more surprised to hear Eliza's back in his life
than that they're fighting. Again.
- She sued him
for financial support years ago.
Got accepted into some fancy arts school
and needed another slice of the Garrison pie.
- He only wrote one book. How big can the pie be?
- The Devil's Playground is on practically every university curriculum.
It sells almost 100 000 copies a year.
How is Frank, anyways?
- Touch and go. - What a tragedy.
Is it selfish of me to wish that he had left us one more book?
- So Frank never did write a follow-up to The Devil's Playground?
- He's been promising one for 20 years. Says he's deep into it,
that it's the next Animal Farm. I've stopped holding my breath.
- Think that has to do with Lovegrove?
- It's Lovegrove, it's bourbon,
it's fear of not living up to himself. I tell him,
it doesn't need to be good. I'd publish his grocery list
if he let me, it'd still sell a million five in the first week.
No, no! More red in the title,
those words need to pop.
- Could you at least wait until the body's cold?
- Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I do this
out of my love for his work. Sales of Playground
are down 20%. I'd be an idiot not to capitalize on this media.
- The publicity gets much bigger if Frank doesn't make it.
- I was nowhere near the island last night,
if that's what you're asking.
I love the man, and what we're doing here,
it makes me queasy.
But nothing sells like tragedy.
- Is that how you'd describe his relationship with his daughter?
- My correspondence with Eliza starts and ends
with the annual Christmas card I sign from Fosset-Powers.
- So I'm guessing you have her address?
- Closer. There you go.
Yeah, just like that. Perfect.
Great. Lift it?
That's it. Thank you.
Thank you.
- Eliza, nice studio.
We've heard so much about you. You mind if we ask you a few questions?
- Sure. You guys interested in nudes, or something
more traditional? I'd love to shoot you guys.
- Oh, you're one of those.
- A very special "one of those." I'm interested in learning about your visit with Frank yesterday.
- The one that ended in a screaming match? - There was no screaming match.
- Two witnesses say otherwise. - No, you don't understand.
I believe someone was screaming at him,
but that someone wasn't me. I haven't seen my father
in 10 years.
When Dad's book became a best-seller,
it was the happiest I'd ever seen him. Our family lived
in bliss for a week. And then everything changed.
- Senator Lovegrove killed himself.
- He was devastated.
Suddenly his shining diamond wasn't so shiny.
So he started to drink... and then he really started to drink.
- Then he moved to the island. - I was just a kid,
but even I could see he was trying to run away.
He's done it his whole life.
- My mother would take me there for Christmas, or my birthday.
But it became increasingly clear we weren't wanted.
So when my mother died, I stayed away.
I'm not even sure he knows what I do for a living.
- Must have been hard. - "There's iron
in the human soul." My Dad wrote that.
- It's one of my favourite lines.
- We talked to Elliot Powers. He said you guys fought over royalties?
- That was 10 years ago, the last time I saw my dad.
I was unemployed and trying to re-invent myself.
- Looks like you succeeded. - Look, if you're worried,
I can prove where I was last night. I did a session
with a corporate client that ran late. I'll get you their names.
- We're looking for a woman
who was hanging out with your father
for the last couple of months. Blonde hair, glasses.
Any idea who she is? - There's a Frank Garrison
fan club that's run by the university.
My dad maintains enough contact to ensure a steady stream
of nubile young writers at his doorstep.
I'd check there. - Thanks, Eliza.
You've been a big help. - Thanks.
- Cheers.
- My father passed away last year. Yours won't be around forever.
- I appreciate what you're saying.
But he's no father to me. - Toronto General, room 303,
if you change your mind.
*** : OK, thanks.
That was the hospital. Frank's regaining consciousness.
- Good news for "The Devil's Playpals." That's the "group
dedicated to celebrating the work of Frank Garrison."
- And by work, they mean one book.
- Consider it his perfect season.
Maybe it's all he had in him. - I wouldn't know anything
about that, because--
- I hate him!
- Liam. What kind of kid gets a Suzuki
Quadrunner for his 14th birthday?
We're working a case.
- I'm multi-tasking. Does he or does he not have
the kind of face you just want to punch?
- He's 14. - And surrounded by cute girls
in every single picture. - So you weren't surrounded
by cute girls back in the day? - Yeah, of course I was!
But I didn't post those pictures online.
- There was no online. And aren't you selling
Jules short, here? You're always talking about how great she is
and now you're surprised somebody likes her?
You need to relax. This Liam kid's a lot like you.
- Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.
- Look. 2016.
- Wavy blonde hair, geek-chic glasses. Ring any bells?
- "Sarah Marsonet."
Oh, social media, what did I do before you came into my life?
- This girl does like her selfies.
- She also likes dogs. Looks like she's a dog-walker.
- Maybe we can cruise by and check her out.
- If she's pretending to be Frank's daughter, she's not going to be easy to talk to.
- If she walks dogs, maybe she boards them too.
- I like where you're going with this.
***
- Hi. Thanks so much for seeing us last-minute,
but the airline tickets are non-refundable.
- That's what happens when you cheap out on business class.
- We wouldn't be here at all if the dog-sitter somebody booked
hadn't cancelled at the last minute.
- Oh, it's my fault that Bodhi got the stomach flu?
- It's OK. I think I have space.
: Where'd you get this thing?
- Paid some kid 20 bucks to rent him for an hour.
- I have taught you well. - Here is my rate card
and references if you need them. How long do you need your dog boarded?
- Two weeks. - Five days. I'm leaving early
for a business conference.
Miu Miu's a little stickler when it comes to feng shui.
- I understand totally.
- Honey.
- Oh. Hey, buddy.
Yes... OK.
- Hello, Miu Miu! - Here.
- We're going to get along just fine, aren't we?
- I take literature over at U of T.
Took a few years off, came back for my Master's.
It's harder than I remember.
- I'm sure you'll get through it. "There's iron in the human soul."
- Absolutely. Did you hear there was a fire at his house
the other night? - Oh.
How old is he? - Uh...
He's 10. - Well, it's a she.
Who are you?
- The bigger question is who are you?
I remember this photo. It ran in every newspaper
after the discovery of Christopher Lovegrove's body.
That is Christopher Lovegrove.
And that's his daughter, Sarah Lovegrove.
That's you.
- I know what it looks like, but it's not what you think.
After Dad died, we took on Mom's maiden name.
There was a time when I wanted Frank Garrison dead, I'll admit.
Then I went to university and his book was on the curriculum.
I loved it, which only made things worse.
So one day, I sought him out.
- I had to confront him. Then when I finally saw him,
he seemed so sad.
I realized he was hurting just as much as I was.
And when I told him I wanted to be a writer,
he offered to help me.
- The man responsible for your father's death is your mentor?
- Yes, he's a great teacher. Frank believes technology
kills the creative process. He refuses to go on the cloud,
he only writes on a vintage Olympia SM3,
and he keeps his backups in a shoebox.
Getting off the grid really helped me focus
and overcome my social media addiction.
- You're tweeting right now.
- Witnesses saw you fighting with Frank two days ago,
shortly before the house went up in flames.
- I just finished a book. Not a real book like Frank's,
just an exercise. Frank got upset that I didn't take the process seriously.
- And that's why he was yelling at you?
- He said some hurtful things and I got angry.
- Do you think it's possible that Frank lit the fire himself?
- No. This process was healing for us both.
It even inspired Frank to write again.
- Wait a sec. Frank's writing again?
- Yeah.
- The Schmidty's went out of their way
to point out that Frank wasn't writing. Don't you think
that's weird?
- I think they knew. And if so, everybody knew, which gives
everyone on the island motive. - Just because Frank's first
novel exposed deadly secrets doesn't mean his second will.
- Let's go see if he can tell us.
- Angie Everett. This is my colleague, Matt Shade.
We're the private investigators you hired.
We know you're writing again. We met with Sarah Lovegrove
and she told us everything. - She told us you were upset
that she was downplaying her talents. Is that why you guys were fighting?
- That's partially right. It had more to do with a phone call
that I received.
- From my publisher, Elliot Powers.
He turned her book down flat for publication.
I was really pissed 'cause it was a fine work
called Dancing in the Labyrinth.
Unfortunately, I took it out on Sarah.
- Yeah, one bourbon,
then another, then another, and then I blacked out.
The next thing I knew, I woke up and I was smelling smoke.
- Could be anyone.
But I'd put my money on the Schmidty's.
They sent me a cease and desist letter. They think
I'm writing about them. - So you are writing a second book?
- Yes. And it's all up in smoke, just like that.
- I don't trust computers. Don't like them.
- The fire inspector said the blaze started in your study.
Did you keep your work there?
That I did it myself? - No. But someone targeted you
or your book and we're trying to figure out which.
If there were secrets in your book that were worth killing for,
it would help to know them. - I don't really get what's going on here.
You're just like Elliot, like all the rest of them,
just coming in here, squeezing me like a lemon.
- Hey, hey. Hey, hey. You hired us. We're just here to help.
- If I wanted help, I'd ask the nurse to increase my morphine.
Look, I know exactly who you are.
You're a long-time- retired hockey player.
And this investigation is pathetic.
Even more pathetic than your last stint
with the Saskatoon Sasquatches! - Hey. I was rehabbing
a groin injury! And you of all people should know
not to judge a book by its cover, old man!
You know what?
You don't qualify as a magazine, either.
You're like a faded flyer, put in the bottom of a bird cage!
- You'd be cranky too if someone tried to burn your house down.
- You're too close to this to see the truth.
Heroes are human, Angie. They fall like the rest of us.
- It's our job to pick him up. - You still don't think
he did this? You said it yourself. People hire P.I.'s all the time to take
the stink off their own crimes. - Why would he burn down his own house?
Frustration at his unfinished novel
- It's Mazhari.
He checked the CCTV footage. No personal watercrafts
left the island before or after the fire.
- Which points directly to Frank.
- Frank did not light that fire. An artist doesn't destroy
his own work for money he doesn't need. Look.
You're either in or you're out. What'll it be?
- Hey, you know I got your back.
- Good. Dress warm tomorrow,
because we're going back to the island.
- I'm starting to not like the island.
***
Morning, honey. - Morning.
I got dibs on the last muffin.
- You already had one. Rock
- I'm blind. - Yeah, I need the edge.
Besides, there's nothing to eat on the island this time of year.
- There's been a break in the Garrison case,
so I may be a little late. You OK on your own?
- Yeah, I can get home solo. And I know how to microwave a burrito.
- I can always call Gramps for backup.
- No, it's his guys' week at the cabin; I can't do that to him.
Plus I'll just invite some friends over, catch a movie.
Maybe we'll start a meth lab. - Alright, look.
I'm sorry if I'm being a little over-protective.
I'm trying to get used to this Monday-to-Friday parenting.
- You're doing fine. - OK, now I'm really nervous.
- Don't be. It's true.
Knock 'em dead, Veronica Mars.
- He's cooler than he looks.
Not that I can verify that. - Well, I mean, how well do you really know him?
There's a lot of hair product going on.
And does he ever bring up his family? His dad was involved
in the whole hedge fund scandal.
- Have you been investigating Liam?
- Well, it is my job.
- Congratulations, Dad. You're officially a dick.
- You seem in a mood. Something wrong?
- I got into a fight with Jules.
- Ah, she found out you were stalking her boyfriend.
- He's not her boyfriend.
Anyway, I gently suggested
that maybe she doesn't know him as well as she thinks.
- And she gently suggested you take a flying leap.
- I'm so glad my sub-par parenting gives you joy.
- You're new to the job, so I'll let you in on a little secret:
not everybody likes P.I.'s, especially when
they're snooping around in people's lives.
- This information would've been helpful yesterday.
- There's a reason we're called "private" investigators.
- The Schmidty's production
office. They're confirming that Will's in a meeting
on the mainland. That means the coast is half-clear.
- I just can't believe that two guys who can turn
a vintage suitcase into an ottoman could actually
do something like this. - All I know
is they're the most famous duo on the island,
and if Frank was going to air their dirty laundry,
it could hit their careers pretty hard.
***
- ** Electric love
* Sonic sound
* Revvin' it up Now we're highway bound **
- This guy can really move. - As far as tails go,
this one's easy. Make sure Gil doesn't come back home so I can poke around.
- I gotta say, what you are doing does not seem legal.
- It's what WE are doing.
Besides, "I heard a noise and I got concerned."
It's a quick in, quick out.
[We're fine as long as you don't screw it up.]
- Who do you think you're talking to?
My first tail as a licensed P.I.
- You should take this seriously.
- I should seriously take a selfie? - Whoa.
I just found a box of bullets!
They look like the ones left on Frank's windowsill.
There's 15 left out of a box of 20.
[Weren't there five in that envelope Frank gave us
- Yeah, I am.
Problem is, Gil's not.
Are you following me?
- Improvise!
- Gil! Wow, you're looking fit these days. You work out?
[The lady at the store told me that]
plaid is the new neutral, but I'm really not sure.
What do you think?
- I doubt it...
since the Schmidty's aren't gay.
: If you guys want us to keep this quiet,
you're gonna have to tell us the truth.
- He's gay, I'm straight.
- We were roommates at design school.
A reality TV producer liked our chemistry,
and offered us a spot on a cable show.
- But he assumed we were lovers, just because I like gossiping
and waving my arms around. - And let's face it: because he's British.
- Yeah, talk about pandering to stereotypes.
- We didn't want to lie, but we were desperate back then.
And now we're an Accent Network institution
with an international fan base,
an eight figure net worth
and a reputation for honesty.
What would you do?
- I'd be freaking out if a novelist was about to expose me.
- How'd you find out about the book? - Everybody knew.
Whenever we'd ask Frank about it, he'd get so defensive
it could only mean one thing: he was writing about us.
- Frank once caught me making out with my girlfriend
in the morning before tai chi.
I couldn't let the world know I was straight.
- Which is ironic, considering 25 years ago
Frank was responsible for kicking a man out of the closet.
- So you guys put the bullets on Frank's windowsill.
- Yeah, but we didn't burn down his house.
That kitchen, all that natural light? We would never.
- We were in Kensington Market,
hanging with friends. - By friends, he means our real
lovers. It's complicated.
- So you guys have a pretty big secret.
Anybody else on the island that would be worried about
a tell
It's like Twin Peaks over here.
- Well, if you want your secret kept,
you're gonna need to do us a favour.
How fast can you spread a rumour?
- Do you really think this is gonna work?
- If the Schmidts are as good at gossip as they are at design,
everyone on this island thinks that Frank kept a backup
of his second novel in his shed. - So what, we sit here freezing
our asses off until somebody shows up?
- Didn't you basically live 90% of your life on ice?
- Yeah. Moving around.
Staying warm. Accomplishing something.
- That's the thing about stakeouts. They're 90% waiting,
10% results.
Less if you bring noisy snacks.
- Hey. These babies are full of magnesium.
Magnesium enhances mental acuity. You should try them.
- I would, but apparently it doesn't work.
- Oh!
Hey, honey.
Yeah, I got your message from earlier. I'm all set up.
Pizza's on its way and Ruby and Lynn are here.
- Good, honey. Listen, I'm glad you called.
I wanted to talk about earlier.
: I was wrong. - I... I was wrong.
Honey. I was wrong, and I want to apologize.
of a professional investigator. Will you forgive me?
- Exactly.
- Apology accepted.
So what movie did you guys decide on?
- Unfriended. The described video
is funnier than the dialogue.
Classic.
: [You guys don't want any of this popcorn, right
Is that a boy?
] - Uh, yeah, Liam's here too.
- Honey, wait--
Liam's there. I'm calling my Dad.
- Stop it. Your daughter did that to piss you off.
She's a good kid, with good judgment.
You just have to trust her. Besides, Unfriended is not a bad
little horror flick. - I thought it was a rom-com.
- Did you know 55% of all horror films are watched by women?
Apparently horror films have the same physiological effects
on young girls as sex. Cool, huh?
- That's not nice!
Hey.
Now I know why you love this book so much.
It's not so much about the book; it's about your dad.
- He bought that for me for my 14th birthday.
Wasn't much of a reader, but that book spoke to him.
- Spoke to you too, apparently.
- There was this diner by our house.
My dad used to take me there.
We'd talk about The Devil's Playground for hours.
I miss that.
- So that's why you're re-reading it.
You're trying to keep your father alive.
- Thanks, Sigmund. Maybe I just like to read.
The same book, the same time, year after year?
Maybe it's time to let go of some of those memories,
make some new ones.
Maybe you'd learn something.
- Maybe you could learn something if you'd put down
the sports biographies. - The Agassi bio will teach you
more about perseverance than 100 therapists.
It's soulful and funny and it taught me
I wasn't the only great athlete to fall on hard times.
- I had no idea... that you were a great athlete.
- And I had no idea
that you talked in your sleep. - Shut up.
- Oh, the things that you talked about...
- Shut up. - Oh, you have no idea.
- It's Larry,
the guy with the mic! - Who just rocketed
to number one on our suspect list.
- I was stretching my legs.
- This is how this is gonna go down. You're going to tell us
what you're doing here or we're going to go the cops with everything we know.
- Let's try this again. What's the real reason you're here?
(man and woman grunting and moaning)
- I think I've heard enough.
- But they're just getting started.
- Hey. - I already told you,
I'm a legit composer.
The sounds I record capture the soul of the island.
- Not the word I would have used.
- Do I sometimes hear something that I shouldn't? Sure.
Do I record it for my own pleasure? Absolutely.
Does that make me a criminal? - Yes.
: Oh.
- We had drinks together,
and one time, ONE TIME I played him one of my 'scapes,
with Shelley, that cute waitress from Ellen's Cafe
going at it with my neighbour Bob... Why didn't I keep it
to myself, right? I had to know if Frank would spill.
If the island found out, I'd be a pariah. But I swear
I didn't set the fire. I was on the other side of the island.
Those digital logs are 100% legit.
- This is some fancy equipment. What does it do?
- I can do anything with these sounds. Stretch 'em, compress,
add reverb. - Can you filter out
the background noise?
- I want to have another listen to that sound you recorded
the night of the fire. - Oh, yeah.
Uh, here we are. 1:11 a.m.
- Yeah, I'll try to compress it.
Should be better.
- What direction did that come from?
- My guess is Algonquin Beach. - That makes no sense.
I checked the CCTV cameras and there was no record
of any boat activity. - That was no boat.
I'm telling you, it's a scuba tank.
The sound of air being released through a regulator.
I used to scuba dive in St. Lucia during the off-season.
- OK. So someone scuba-ed to Ward's Island
underwater to avoid detection. - Which puts our perp
off-island. We've been looking in the wrong place.
- Maybe it's not about the secrets in the book.
Maybe it's about Frank. He's hiding something.
- Let's go find out what.
- This might not have been about your book at all, Frank.
Of course it's about my book!
I spent years crafting every word.
Obviously, somebody out there is jealous!
- Here's what we don't get. There are a lot of people
who gain from the publication of the book,
but almost no one who loses.
Why destroy a book that's going to make everyone a fortune?
- Because there was no book to destroy.
That's why you get defensive when we talk about it.
That's why you change the subject.
There was no second book, was there?
- OK, it's writer's block.
It's a very painful disease, Miss Everett.
It's debilitating.
It's constipation of the soul.
And I've had it for 25 years.
- Because I'm Frank Garrison,
because I am one of the world's greatest living writers.
Do you know what it's like to try
to live up to your former self? - I'm pretty familiar with it.
- If a man can't admit it to himself he's a failure,
how's he going to admit it to his daughter?
What's he going to tell her? And I've let Eliza just drift away.
You know, she's one of the top photographers in this city.
- So you do know what she does for a living.
- Course I do. I've been collecting photos of hers over the years.
They are the most precious things that I lost in that fire,
I promise you that. - And working with Sarah,
it helped you heal. - Sarah's another one
of my failures. I really thought that I could help her become
a very successful writer.
I really thought that she had something that was fresh.
Her book was like a new Animal Farm.
- That's what Elliot said about Frank's new novel.
Remember that framed picture on the wall of his office?
- His brag wall. There was a photo of him scuba diving.
Frank mentored her. Her book would have his fingerprints all over it.
- That's what this whole thing was about: Elliot trying to scam
his way into a new Frank Garrison book.
- Because nothing sells like tragedy.
- Elliot is a bastard. He's a total...
: ...bastard!
NURSE!
- Ladies and gentlemen...
I've just been told
Frank Garrison has gone into a coma and is unlikely to recover.
I wish I was sharing better news.
But when the time comes, Fosset-Powers will be there
to celebrate Frank Garrison's genius in a positive manner.
Not only will we be re-issuing The Devil's Playground,
but Frank has left us one final gift...
...a new novel!
I'll take your questions one at a time. Yeah?
- Is this new novel about the ultimate betrayal
of an old friend? - No, it's a...
It's an allegory, set in a forest.
A modern day Animal Farm.
- Hey, I'd like to pitch you
a killer idea that we've been kicking around.
Feel free to fill in the gaps,
it is based on a true story. - You're gonna love the villain.
He's got big cojones and a bow tie fetish.
- Not really an appropriate time for--
- So he hatches a plan to kill one of the greatest writers
of our time by burning him alive in his house.
- I haven't been to the island in months.
That fire happened hours after--
Clever idea, making it look like someone on the island did it.
Except for one small detail. - That cave dive
you did in Belize, Elliot? Very impressive.
- Your Divelogger watch.
It uploads your data to the cloud automatically:
biometrics, GPS...
- Places you within a foot of your location
and time stamps it. Like the night of the fire, for instance.
- You were wearing your dive watch when you scuba-ed
across the harbour to Algonquin Beach.
- I don't have to listen to any of this.
- No, but they're gonna want to to the very end, because it's got everything:
murder, greed and a twist ending you never saw coming.
- Ladies and gentlemen...
My name is Frank Garrison
and I am not in a coma,
nor did I write this book,
Dancing in the Labyrinth. So allow me to introduce you
to the real writer of this magnificent novel.
She's the daughter of a man whose death I was responsible
for years ago. This is...
Sarah Lovegrove.
Lovegrove? - Yes, sir.
!
- She's a Lovegrove, Elliot.
- Wait, what-- - Everybody stay back, please.
- Imagine if Elliot had known Sarah's real identity.
He could've saved himself an attempted murder charge.
Talk about sales.
That's what you call... dramatic irony.
- There we go.
The remaining balance.
Worth every penny. Thank you.
- My daughter's offered a bed.
I'm going to take her up on it. We got a lot of catching up to do.
- You think when this is all done,
you'll get back to a typewriter? - Ooh, now. Baby steps here.
I don't know.
What I'm actually thinking of doing
is something completely different.
Being a father.
We'll see. Come to think of it, Mr. Shade,
you know, you've managed to
get yourself a pretty good second act.
Maybe I can too.
***
- ** You remind me of everything I love *
* Yeah, you remind me of everything I love *
* The straw underneath this blanket *
* And the stars that catch your eyes *
* And the moment when you are closer by my side *
* You remind me of everything I love *
: I got you something.
- Here.
- The Devil's Playground. - I haven't read it myself,
so I'm gonna give the non-Braille version a shot,
and when we're finished, we can debrief over a cup of coffee.
- Deal. - OK.
- That's pretty cool, sir.
- Thank you, Liam.
: Text from Ruby.
- She's hosting the next movie night
and this is only her 10th text. Here.
Keep an eye on him. I'm gonna make a quick call.
Hey, Ruby, it's Jules. Yeah, I'm on the ferry
with my dad and Liam. I know, crazy, right?
- I'm glad you could join us today, Liam.
I figured maybe you'd be off dirt-biking with your buddies.
- Little late in the year for that, sir.
- Right. - I don't know. I just, um...
I like hanging out with Jules.
- She's cool.
You know? Interesting. Funny.
Surprising.
And she's the only girl I know
that really doesn't just care about my looks.
You know?
- Do you ever read any sports biographies, Liam?
- * You remind me of everything I love *
* Yeah, you remind me of everything I love *
* A smile that's so much bigger *
* Than the smiles that I have seen *
* And it makes me realize
* That there is so much more than what I've seen **
***