FATAL MISTAKE
*****
Stonetree: Calories, calories...yeah, what the hell.
Eddie Shore: Quicker than that.
Cashier: Okay, okay. Here's the cash.
William Sewell: I want all of it. I mean the whole thing out. Hey, don't forget the carton of smokes this time.
Eddie: Yeah, give us a carton of smokes, and a pack of cigars right there.
William: We're celebrating.
Stonetree: (gun out) Maybe not! Put the gun on the counter and back away.
(First one shoots at Stonetree, and the two run out)
William: Come on, let's go.
Stonetree: Police! Hold it right there!
(Stonetree is fired on, he fires back, one runs off, the other was hit, and Stonetree approaches)
Eddie: Not now.... Please.
Stonetree: It's okay. It's all right.
(The teen dies)
Stonetree: Oh man....
Nick: Got anything on the gun?
Schanke: Not a thing.
Nick: It doesn't look good for the captain.
Schanke: No, it doesn't. If there's a weapon around here, I can't find it.
Nick: Well, that's it, then. We can't write it down as a good shoot.
Schanke: We'll get forensics boys to stay here all night, see if they can find something that jibes with the captain's story, but I'm telling you, Nick, he's in for a rough ride.
Nick: Like the job's not tough enough already.
(They walk over toward Stonetree)
Detective: You take care, okay?
Stonetree: Thanks. Anything?
Schanke: Not yet.
Nick: You said there was a second perp.
Stonetree: There was in the store.
Schanke: Bystander, maybe?
Stonetree: No. Definitely an accomplice. I never saw him again after they bolted. Only him.
Nick: Well, we know they opened up on you in the store.
Stonetree: Well, here too. Well, I got a good look at the piece. It looked like a .357 or a .44. Stainless job with a target barrel, four to five inches. Couldn't miss it. Pfft. Seventeen-year-old kids with elephant guns, for chrissakes.
Schanke: You're lucky the kid wasn't a better shot.
Nick: Is there anything you can remember at all, Captain? Anything else?
Stonetree: I don't know. I must be getting too old or something, it's...it's all a blur. It was just instincts, you know? He turned, fired, and I returned.
Schanke: There's got to be some lead here. We'll check everything in the alley.
Nick: Tell forensics to check down the street too. (Schanke leaves) Slugs like that travel. Captain, I'm sorry. I know how you must feel.
Stonetree: Do you, Nick? Have you ever killed anyone in the line of duty?
Nick: No.
Stonetree: You must be lucky, I guess. I hope you never have to. Some cops go a whole career without ever discharging their weapons.
Schanke: I know it's hard, Captain, but it's part of the job.
Stonetree: The job?
Nick: It's a responsibility we all assume.
Stonetree: Maybe it's one I don't want anymore. (He turns and walks away)
Schanke: Man, oh, man. It is tough enough when you have to do it. I popped a guy once in '88, and he was a bad one. He burned his whole crew over five keys of powder. He ripped them to shreds. I mean, he just cut 'em all down with an AK-47. He must have put 20 rounds into his business partner alone.
Nick: How did you feel about it, after?
Schanke: I just felt weird. Myra tells the story about how I stayed up all night taking showers. Says I was obsessed or something.
Nick: Internal Affairs give you a tough time?
Schanke: Are you kidding? So much paperwork, you'd think I was buying a house. I must have given seven dispositions. Seven *different* dispositions. They barbequed me.
Nick: You got to be kidding. Sounds cut and dry to me.
Schanke: Well, I had to put him down, you know? There wasn't any choice. But somebody unarmed...I can't imagine it.
Nick: Can't be an easy thing to get out of your mind. Captain doesn't seem to be handling it too well. He looked a bit shell-shocked.
Schanke: Let's face it, Nick, he's out of the loop. He's been riding a desk too long. He's lost the edge...the edge that protects your hardness, you know? You've got to be hard for this job. Too many scumbags out here.
Nick: The dark side of humanity, and we've got to ride herd on all of them.
Schanke: Exactly. I mean, you can't get out of sorts when you plug a guy. It clouds your judgement. The next thing you know....
Nick: It's you that gets plugged.
Schanke: Yeah, snoozing with the tuna, dancing with Mr. D, retirement with extreme prejudice.
Nick: How does Myra cope with all of it, you know, that you might not come home?
Schanke: Myra's a brick. Well, actually, we never really talk about it. We...accept it. Yep, you've just got to let it roll off your back like water off a duck.
Nick: Even when it's questionable?
Schanke: Especially when it's questionable. You can't go carrying around coffins on this gig, Nick, no way.
(Watching tape)
Stonetree: Put the gun on the counter and back away.
Stonetree: They stay with you.
Nick: Captain?
Stonetree: They haunt you.
Nick: Only if you let them.
Stonetree: Cop I knew.... Shot an unarmed perp. This was years ago. Never found the gun. Never knew for sure. It haunted him. He used to say that not one day went by where he...didn't see the guy's face. It was the beginning of the end for him. Like a loose thread you pull on until the whole suit comes apart. Eventually forced him right out of police work.
Nick: You're not that cop, captain.
Stonetree: I don't want to be. I want to know for sure, but I'm seeing him already, Nick.
Nick: Are you sure?
Stonetree: I'm looking at you right now, and I'm seeing him. I close my eyes, and I'm seeing his face. It's getting to me.
Nick: Captain, we'll get the other kid, all right?
Stonetree: Justifiable homicide is only a little easier to live with. No, Nick, you can't kill somebody, watch 'em die, and not have it affect you.
LaCroix: (Setting his hat on an occupied table) We'll have your seats.
Tavern Customer: Not bloody likely.
LaCroix: *You were just leaving. Weren't you? All of you.*
(They get up and leave, one saying 'on my way' to Nick)
LaCroix: Even eternal life is too short to wait for a table.
Alexandra: What'll it be?
Nick: Wine, I think. Something hearty and robust.
LaCroix: The finest from your cellar. Save the swill for the rest of these hogs.
Alexandra: It'll cost you.
Nick: We can pay. (He kisses her hand)
(She leaves)
LaCroix: She is beautiful, isn't she?
Nick: Quite beautiful.
LaCroix: Yes, a far richer wine blushes her complexion than ever came from a bottle. You can have her, you know. A prize for the plucking, on such a cold and lonely night.
Nick: Maybe you should head home and get some rest.
Stonetree: Have some more nightmares?
Nick: Alexandra? (He goes after her, but she vanishes)
Alexandra: I envy you.
Nick: Why?
Alexandra: You are so well-traveled, seen so much of the world that I haven't.
Nick: That you haven't yet, you mean. The world's not as big as all that.
Alexandra: It is, it is, it's huge from where I stand! I've never been farther than the next county. Perhaps someday you'll take me.
Nick: I could take you someplace right now.
Alexandra: (Laughs) Oh? And where is that, pray tell?
Nick: Someplace that you've never been before.
Alexandra: But I haven't a thing to wear.
Nick: I was hoping you'd say that.
Natalie: (in the morgue, scalpel in hand) Okay...what'll it be?
Grace: A leg.
Natalie: A leg.
Grace: Not that much, just a thigh.
Natalie: Just a thigh.
Grace: And a wing, too.
Natalie: And a wing?
Grace: A wing.
Natalie: A wing. (Nick walks in.) Just in time for dinner.
Nick: Such a Romantic setting. Hi Grace.
Natalie: Hey, I got something interesting for you.
Nick: Coleslaw?
Natalie: Better than that. Test results. Eddie Shore, evidence of recent cocaine use, and I found gunpowder residue and lead particles.
Nick: Well, we know he pulled off three rounds in the store.
Natalie: Ah ha, but I didn't just find it on his hands. Found it on the elbow of his jacket from a small flash burn in the fabric.
Nick: Like he was standing really close to a gun when it was discharged.
Natalie: I'd say inches from the muzzle. Right about here. (Demonstrates using Grace) Left elbow, and he was standing with his back to the fence.
Nick: Well, that's consistent with his buddy shooting at the captain through a fence on the other side. Good work.
Natalie: Thank Grace. She found the burn in the fabric when she bagged his effects.
Grace: Um, I'm going to go out and eat. (She left with the piece of chicken)
Nick: Stonetree know about this?
Natalie: Not yet. The test results just came in. Well, you look like something from the back of the refrigerator. You sleep okay?
Nick: Not really. Stonetree's really got me spooked about this. He's bent out of shape, you know, he's guilty as hell. This thing's haunting him. I don't know, it might be just the power of suggestion....
Natalie: But what?
Nick: I could swear I saw a ghost or something last night.
Natalie: Someone from your past?
Nick: Yeah, someone I knew once, a long, long time ago.
Natalie: Well, that's a tough one. I don't know what to say. I mean, I don't really believe in ghosts, but....
Nick: You didn't believe in vampires, either.
William: It's payback time.
Stonetree: Did you ID the other kid?
Schanke: Yeah, Captain. One William Sewell, incorrigible J.D. dropout, crackhead. He and Eddie were hitting the pipe pretty good. Last known address, juvie hall. Hey, captain, maybe we should handle this.
Stonetree: Are you questioning my competence, detective?
Nick: It's not about your competence, captain, it's just....
Stonetree: Just what, Detective Knight?
Nick: It's dangerous, that's what, captain. Sewell might be out there thinking about revenge.
Stonetree: Well, for his sake, I hope that's the last thing on his mind right now, because if it is, you'd better find him before he finds me.
Schanke: Captain, maybe you're...maybe you're too close to this thing, too emotionally involved?
Stonetree: I am, and I don't want to be. That's why I'm going back out there to find out what was going on in that alley.
Nick: You're tired, and you've said it yourself in the past, tired cops get careless.
Stonetree: I'm driven, Knight. I was the one out there in that alley. Natalie confirmed it. I saw what happened, and I'm going to go back out there and get the evidence I need to put this thing to rest.
Schanke: Captain, I--I don't know.
Stonetree: Don't worry, Schanke. I do. (He leaves)
Schanke: So we find the other punk, get that Howitzer, and Stonetree walks in the sun again.
Nick: Oh yeah, simple, right? They should all be this easy.
(Nick sees Alexandra again, on a bus going the other way. He gets out, leaving the Caddy in traffic)
Schanke: Knight? What the hell? Knight! Hey Nick?! (Being honked at) All right, keep your pants on!
(Nick runs after the bus, manages to get on the back and climb up on top. Then he goes to the front and hangs down in front of the windshield. The driver puts his breaks on and Nick goes flying. Alexandra gets off the bus, but Nick doesn't see.)
Bus Driver: (coming out) What the hell do you think you're doing!
Nick: (Getting on the bus) Police officer!
Bus Driver: I don't care if you're Mother Teresa on a pizza run! I've got a bus load of people, here, and you almost turned them into road kill!
Schanke: Get back in the bus, this is police business. Back in the bus! This is police business, isn't it?
Bus Driver: What about my schedule?
Schanke: I will schedule you down to the precinct for an action-packed evening of paperwork! Back in! (They go back in) Now, *what* is the problem?
Nick: It's an old suspect. (He walks off)
(Stonetree back in the alley, remembering, along with Eddie's words, 'Not now...please.')
Stonetree: (thinking of what was on the street that night) Tow truck.
Mrs. Shore, Eddie's Mother: Eddie was a good boy. I guess all the parents say that, but he was, once. The drugs got him. He turned into a freak. He was my baby, but the boy you killed, he wasn't mine anymore.
Schanke: Mrs. Shore, we're very, very sorry for your loss.
Mrs. Shore: Well, why don't you do something about it, about the drugs? Why don't you stop it?
Nick: We're trying.
Mrs. Shore: You're failing.
Nick: Billy Sewell, he was with Eddie last night. Do you know where he is?
Mrs. Shore: Are you going to shoot him too?
Schanke: Mrs. Shore, Billy's the key to this thing. We find Billy, we can wrap this whole thing up.
Mrs. Shore: And go home and get a good night's sleep. My lawyer says I shouldn't even be talking to you. He says I should talk to the press. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want my boy back, the way he was before he was so screwed up.
Nick: Do you know where Billy and Eddie were hanging out? Who else they were running around with?
Mrs. Shore: You find out! Earn your pay! Why should I make it easy for you when you've made it so hard for me?
Nick: Help us, Mrs. Shore. Help us find Billy. That's one way to start solving the problem.
Mrs. Shore: Excuse me, I have a boy to bury in the morning.
LaCroix: Mourning the loss of your prize, Nicholas?
Nick: I killed her.
LaCroix: Feel no pity for her. She was in your thrall. She was aroused by your power. She was willing, she wanted to be taken to the edge.
Nick: I couldn't stop.
LaCroix: You're not supposed to. What's this feeling I sense in you?
Nick: Shame.
LaCroix: More. Fear. Fear in the fearless. Weakness in the omnipotent. It's a vestige of your former self. It is meaningless. She can have no vengeance from where she is now. She was a prize, wasn't she?
Schanke: If you change your mind....
Mrs. Shore: I won't. Good night.
Schanke: Night.
(Nick and Schanke leave)
Owner: Uh, uh, let's see. I towed in a vehicle from there the other night. I think it was a van. Yeah, yeah, here it is. Uh, abandoned vehicle, city contract. (His pager beeps) Yeah, I'd better get that. You're welcome to have a look around. The stuff we just brought in is way at the back, so you've got to go out the door, take a left, head down in the direction of the water, okay? Here's the, um, ID number. (Writes it down and gives it to Stonetree)
Stonetree: Thanks a lot.
Owner: (Handing Stonetree a flashlight) There you go.
Stonetree: I, uh...might be a while.
Owner: Well, it's no problem, captain. You can take all night.
Schanke: I'm telling you Nick, it is your diet, or lack thereof. It's a scientific fact that people hallucinate when they don't have enough fat or sugar.
Nick: Will you lay off! I told you I thought it was a suspect with an outstanding warrant. The woman from that Dennison case last year.
Schanke: Let's just hope that Metro Transit doesn't make an issue out of this. Sixteen cases of whiplash! City could go bankrupt. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling a little soft tissue damage myself. Right here, right here, feel it. (As Nick knocks on Stonetree's office) You do have insurance, don't you, Knight?
Nick: (Using the intercom) Is the Captain still out?
Desk Sergeant(?): Yes, he is.
Schanke: You know, Stonetree can get really hell-bent about things, can't he?
Nick: Yeah, he did seem in a bit of hurry, didn't he? (Sees the phone flashing) Hey, Schank, what's your voicemail password?
Schanke: Same as every cop's, my badge number, why?
Nick: Yeah, me, too.
Schanke: You know if I don't get home before midnight one of these nights, Myra's gonna nail the door shut. She's gonna leave my pajamas neatly folded on the veranda. She'll do that, she will. She'll make me to sleep with the raccoons.
(Nick, having found Stonetree's badge number, enters it)
Voicemail: Hi, Captain Stonefeet. It's me, Eddie Shore. I'm having a wonderful time and I can't wait for you to join me. If you want the gun, though, you've got to get it from Billy. Now, don't bother trying to find him. He's already looking for you.
Schanke: What the hell?
Nick: Damn it, captain, if you knew, why didn't you tell someone?
(Nick picks the phone up and dials dispatch)
Nick: Dispatch, Detective Knight. Any idea where Stonetree's location is?
Dispatch: I don't have a current location on him, Detective Knight.
Nick: Okay, try to raise him on the radio. I'll be in my car.
Schanke: I'm coming with you.
Nick: No, you stay here, put out an APB.
Owner: (on the phone) Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll hold.
Police scanner: All units, still requesting location on unit one, Captain Stonetree, priority.
Owner: Priority? (Hangs up phone, dials number) Yeah, police?
Police radio: Eighty-one-Kilo? We have location on unit one, Captain Stonetree.
Nick: Eighty-one-kilo, go ahead.
Dispatch: Confirm location on Captain Stonetree. Reported at Harris Scrap and Junkyard, 96 and Progress.
Nick: Eighty-one-kilo, copy. I'm on my way.
LaCroix: There's life in you yet.
Owner: (on phone) Yeah, you're welcome. (Sees Billy, gets hit with the gun)
Stonetree: (Finding bullets in the van) Son of a gun. (He pries one out with a knife) I got you.
William Sewell: Uh-huh.
Alexandra: Nicholas....
Nick: So the apparition speaks.
Alexandra: You took advantage of me. You raped me, and you left me for dead. LaCroix came, and he gave me this...a new life after death. Eternal damnation.
Nick: If you are what I am, then you understand the hunger that compelled me to feed on you. Can you control it? Can you? How many times since that night have you...killed? How many innocents have you exploited to feed your monstrous hunger.
Alexandra: So many.... I never counted.
William: Drop the knife. (Stonetree does so) Give me your gun.
Stonetree: That's the gun, right? You're the one that fired on me.
William: I'm just sorry I missed, pal.
Stonetree: You're the reason why Eddie Shore is dead.
William: Save the speech, cop. I ain't listening. You murdered him in cold blood. Come on, move.
Stonetree: You're wrong. Eddie Shore's dead because of you, not me. it's your fatal mistake.
William: Whatever. It's payback time now. Now, move.
(At first, Stonetree makes to comply, then he shoves William to the ground and runs, at which William shoots.)
(Nick, hearing the shots, goes to move, but Alexandra stops him, shoving him against a bus.)
Alexandra: I'm much stronger than you, now. And you should know what it's like to be drained of life....
William: (catching up, gun trained on Stonetree) Try that again, cop.... You trade quick and easy for slow and painful.
Schanke: (Stuck behind a garbage truck that's not going very fast) Damn it. Damn it! (He honks, then waits a bit, then puts his siren on the dash, turns it on, and goes around.)
William: Okay, all right. That's far enough. This will do nicely. A nice strong undercurrent here. It should suck you right down, huh?
Stonetree: You're going to kill me now, huh?
William: No, I ain't going to kill you. You're going to do it.
Schanke: Dispatch, this is Schanke. I need units to 96 and Progress, a scrap yard. Code 2 Edna, code 2 Edna. Possible hostage situation involving Captain Stonetree.
Dispatch: 10-4.
Stonetree: Throw my life away, you might as well throw your own life away. You won't be able to cover. You won't be able to run.
William: You didn't think twice when it was Eddie in the gunsight, did you?
Stonetree: I shot in self-defense. I shot to stop, not to kill. I returned fire. Your gunfire.
William: Too bad. It's payback time now, cop. Gotta happen. For Eddie. For me. For Mrs. Shore.
Stonetree: They'll find you.
William: I don't think so. They'll find you...in a couple days...flowing downriver, nice bullet in your head from your own gun. Was it suicide? The old guy, I guess he couldn't live with himself, huh? After what he did?
Stonetree: I did what I had to do.
William: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know this speech, and you'd do it all over again if you had to, right?
Stonetree: Yes. I will.
Alexandra: You've been my life's work, Nicholas. After I was resurrected, I swore that I would get my revenge on the man who gave me death, and return the gift. I've been searching for you for a long time.
Nick: Killing me won't change what you are, and I didn't make you that way.
Alexandra: No. It won't change anything, but it'll be easier to sleep days with your head on my mantle.
(She prepares to kill him, Nick grabs a piece of scrap and stabs her in the abdomen with it, and she falls unconscious.)
William: Get up here. Adios, man. See you in my dreams.
Stonetree: In your nightmares.
William: Down on your knees. Now. (cocks gun as Stonetree does as told)
(Then Nick comes, flies and pushes William out of the way, and William's hanging on the rail over the water, at which Stonetree pulls him up and cuffs him.)
Stonetree: (guiding William into the back of his car) Get in there, hot shot. (Schanke pulls up) Come on, get out here.
Schanke: What happened?
Nick: Don't ask.
Stonetree: Billy's got a story to tell. Read him his rights.
(Schanke leads the boy off, Stonetree turns to Nick)
Stonetree: What happened to you? Looks like you had a rough...rough night?
Nick: More like an old enemy. Nothing that I couldn't handle.
Stonetree: I guess we've both had some night, huh?
Nick: Chasing our ghosts.
Nick: Schanke told me you were here.
Stonetree: Yeah. Thought I'd take a little practice. I don't want to get too rusty. A few days ago, I never thought I'd ever pick this thing up again. You forget, you know? You...you forget the damage you can do, until you have to use it then you...you know for sure.
Nick: You did what you had to do, Captain.
Stonetree: Strange. That doesn't seem to make it any easier.
Nick: We've got Billy Sewell's deposition. he confessed to the murder, and forensics matched the slug you found in the van to Billy's weapon.
Stonetree: Well, I guess that's it, then. I'll never forget that kid's face, Nick.
Nick: We all live with some kind of ghost, Captain.
Stonetree: Or we become a ghost ourselves. I guess. I'll never forget this night. The power this thing has. The power it has over life and death.
Nick: You know, there's something else we should never forget, Captain, that even when we go chasing our ghosts, we should do it by the rules, huh? Without letting guilt affect our judgement.
Stonetree: That's a good one. Difficult, though.
Nick: Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know.
(Nick hits the side of the Caddy, where Schanke's resting inside it)
Schanke: Ah! Oh, my heart! Oh, you want to give me a coronary, Knight? Would that make you happy?
Nick: No. You want me to take you home?
Schanke: Yeah, I guess so. On second thought, it's such a mighty pretty night outside, just a few raindrops in the sky, why don't you and me go out for some BBQ and...maybe yipee-ay-oh-tay-yay down to our local bus corral. Yeah! We could do a one-on-one competition with some of them newfangled German diesels, yeah! Now, how fast do you reckon they go? Maybe zero to sixty in a millennia. Old cowpoke like you could wrassle one of them down to the ground might quick.
Nick: You're never gonna let me live this down, are you?
Schanke: (Chuckles) Not if I don't let you, partner. Not if I don't let you.