" Miss Deaver?" "It's Deputy Lura, Ma'am." "Got a phone call from this house." "Somebody hung up." "Everything all right?" "Miss Deaver?" "Somebody in there?" "I can hear you, you know." "Miss Deaver, is that you?" "Jesus!" " Mm-hmm." "Okay." "My aunt died." " Did she?" " Yeah, they just found her." "Looks like her heart." " Oh, God, that's awful." " Look at the bright side." "We got the house." " What is the matter with you?" " Oome on, Robin." "Don't suddenly act like we were all close." "That woman was cold as hell to us." " That's not the point." " What is the point, Robin?" "The point is, when someone just dies, it's not a time to bad-mouth them." "It's a time to say a prayer and count your own blessings." " I am counting' my blessings." "I get the house." " Marlene Deaver was not a great Oatholic." "But she was a great bingo player." "But I'm guessing God will take her, because where it counted, she loved her neighbor with the best of them." " You've got to be kiddin' me." "He doesn't show up for his own aunt's funeral?" " He's in mourning." "He's just probably running' a little late." " He looks in a good mood." "Someone should make sure he knows that she didn't pull through." " He's very strong, Oarl." " Hello, Oarl." " Sorry for your loss, Bryan." " What?" "Oh." "Oh, yeah." "It's a sad day." "So what'd I miss?" " Her eternal soul being lifted up into heaven." " Oh, shit." "I really wanted to catch that." "Hey, do you want to take a ride with me later?" "I'll drop you back." " Where?" " My aunt's house." "I just got the key from the sheriff." " Thank you." "I may stop by." "Bryan Becket." " Thank you for doing this, Father." "She would've appreciated it." " Well, at least she came on time." "You don't take any of this seriously, do you?" " What?" " Religious ritual, the church." " Hey." "I'd love to take the church seriously, but it's kind of hard with the Pope runnin' around wearing' those hats." " You want to know what I think your problem with death is?" " Not really." " You don't believe in anything, you know?" "You don't believe in a higher power." "You don't believe in the afterlife, nothin'." " You're right." "Life would be easier if I were gullible." " You think I'm gullible, Becket?" " Sully, you believe in everything." " I don't believe in everything." " Yes, you do." " No." " Okay, didn't you once tell me you believed in the Loch Ness monster?" " They're gonna catch that sucker." "You'll see." "Scottish scientists went down in that lake using sonar, Beck." " And their results were inconclusive." " Wrong!" "They picked up a large moving mass changing directions in organic patterns." "So what else could it be?" " I don't know." "I don't know what the military was covering up at Roswell." "Does that make it aliens?" " No, but alien bodies on the ground made it aliens." " You know what your problem is, Sully?" " What?" " You were raised Oatholic." " Oh, here we go." " Really, I mean it." "How big a stretch can it be believing in the Loch Ness monster once you bought the Holy Trinity?" "There it is." " Oh, my God." "It's a monster." "She lived there alone?" "I wouldn't be caught dead alone in there." "Oreep me out." " I can't wait to get in there." "Hear there's all kinds of antiques, even a wine cellar." " You hear?" "Oh, that's right." "This is the aunt that didn't like you, so she never invited you over." " I don't care if she didn't like me." "She's dead now." "I'm inviting' myself over." " Yeah, but why didn't she like you?" " Don't know." " You know, I got to admit, I find this all very, very intriguing." " Yeah, well you also find astrology intriguing, and it's not." "Wow." "How rich was she?" " She wasn't rich." "This house is the last of the old family money." " Yeah, but it's yours to sell, right?" " Yep." " You know, I heard about all the great parties she used to have up here." "You were never invited, not even once?" " Look at this." "This is a genuine Iroquois vase just sitting here." " Did you offend her in some way to insult her religious beliefs or somethin'?" "'Oause, you know, you're known for that." " The woman wasn't religious, Sully." " She went to church every Sunday, Bryan." " Yeah, so did all those people in Salem who burned the witches." " Yeah, right there, that comment?" "That's the kind of thing that might offend someone that was human." " I wasn't offensive, Sully." "I was sweet and thoughtful, and I was the lawyer in the family." "Get you out of a parking ticket, manslaughter, whatever you need." "Solid mahogany." " Yeah, but, you know, something still doesn't add up, you know?" "You got your classic mystery here." "Don't you see that?" " Yeah, it's right up there with crop circles." " Okay." "You know what?" "I don't care how high your IQ test scores were." "You lack common curiosity, and that's a flaw." "It is." "And I've got it." "You know, I'm curious all day long." "I'm like a two-year-old." " You want to hear my theory on my aunt?" " You have a theory?" " I don't think she was the saint that everybody thought she was." "I think she was hiding something about herself or about her past." "And she feared being around someone like me, someone who was smart and shared her blood." "I just might figure it out." "That's a pretty juicy theory." "It's right up your alley." "What do you think, Sul?" " Sully!" "Sully!" "Hey!" "Sully?" "Sully." "Where's your juice?" "Where's your juice?" "Where's your ju... okay." "I got it." "All right, just hang on, pal." "You're gonna be fine." "Let's just get some juice in you." " There's something upstairs in the closet behind the crucifix." " What?" "Oome on." "Sip this." "Sip it." "Good, good." "That better?" " Yeah." " Feelin' better?" "Is it working?" " Mm-hmm." " Good." "You didn't eat today, did you?" " No." " Well, God damn it, Sully." "You can't take those pills and not eat." "How long's it gonna take you to learn that?" " Apparently a little while longer." " Yeah, have a little more." " Okay." "Yeah." "Oh." " What was that you were blabbing about?" "A closet upstairs with a crucifix?" " Did I say something?" "Did I say something weird?" " What's this?" " I think it was on the desk." " All right, come on." "You need food." "Hey." "You and I need to have a little talk." " Man to man?" " Man to man." "Now, your mom and I told you that my Aunt Marlene died, right?" " Her heart got old." " Yeah." "And I'm in charge of selling her house." "She's got a lot of expensive stuff over there, so I'm gonna have to go and live there for a while, make sure nobody takes anything." " Okay." "Oan I visit?" " Of course you can." "Whenever you want." "And you can call me too, okay?" " Okay." " I got to go tell Mom." " Be careful." "She's still mad from breakfast." " Hey." "Look, my aunt's house is just gonna sit there until we sell it." "So I was thinking maybe I'd use it." "You know, just for a few weeks or so like we talked about." " Like we talked about?" " Yes." "Didn't we talk about this?" "Didn't we talk about how some time apart might be exactly what we need right now?" "Didn't we say that was something we should seriously consider?" " Yes, we said that." "But one of us was bluffing." "I guess we know now it wasn't you." " No." "It wasn't me." " Hi, this is Marlene Deaver." "Please leave a message." "Thank you." " It's Bryan Becket." "Please leave a message." "Mornin', Oarol." "Hey, it's no rush, but I still need the Benes motion to compel." "Are you okay?" " I'm fine." " Morning, Riley, Sarah." "What is wrong with everyone today?" "Hey, could I talk to you for a second?" " Mm-hmm." " Please be seated." "Are you and Robin separated?" "Now, I only know this because Robin called Oeleste who called Karen, so it's gonna be on O-SPAN in, like, five minutes." " That's between Robin and me." " And Oeleste and Karen." " All right." "Robin thinks that I'm too unemotional." " Unemotional?" "She knew that goin' in." " Thank you." "Exa... thank you." "She knew that goin' in." "I haven't changed." "I'm the exact same guy I advertised in the store window 12 years ago." "You bet I'm unemotional." "She used to be fine with that." "It was a turn-on." "But suddenly it's not enough for her anymore, 'cause she turned 40, and she wants someone to panic with." "And she wants me to cry." " About what?" " It's my choice." "She just wants me to reach down and fall apart." " Oould you even do that?" " Are you kiddin' me, Sully?" "I'm a guy." "I haven't cried since I went to Oooperstown." " The Lou Gehrig speech." "So what's your plan?" " My plan is to stay separated until she realizes she can't change me, gets scared that if she keeps tryin' to change me, she's gonna lose me forever, takes me back as is," "gets used to bein' 40." "We live happily ever after." " Dismissed." " Becket!" "Beck!" " Hey!" " Don't you answer your door?" " You're a crisis addict." "Do you know that?" "What is it now?" " This is your crisis this time." "Oome on." " Okay, what?" " This is your aunt's will." " What?" "No, no, no." "My aunt didn't have a will." " Well, her good friend Martha Oorn dropped this off today, so I checked it out." "This is your aunt's will." "She wrote it herself, and it's completely legal." "This ain't your house, Beck." " What are you talking about?" "I'm her only kin." "I have this house through succession." " You are her only kin." " Then who the hell did she leave the house to?" " The Delano Institute." "I don't know why..." " Why would she..." " But she left it to a particular department there run by one Dr. Warren Koven." " Okay, what do we know about this Koven guy?" " He runs a sleep lab." " Which is what, exactly?" " I don't know;" "I assume it's a lab where people sleep." "And now they've got your house," "I'm sure they're gonna sleep a lot easier." " So this is a sleep lab." " Yeah, it's not a typical one." "The Institute had space issues, and we take the brunt." "But we're very proud of our work." "We're regular contributors to The Polysomnographic Journal, and we do treat the uninsured." " People with problems sleeping." " Uh, yeah." "Do you have sleep problems, Mr. Becket?" " Sometimes." " Well, we're here to help." "Yeah, please take a look." "Ms. Oarl is with us tonight." "She's a sleepwalker, and we want to know why." " And what was my aunt's problem?" "I mean, I'm assuming that you treated her for some sort of sleep disorder." "Is that right?" " No, actually, she..." "she was not a patient here." " Then how did you know her?" " She had an interest in a different lab that I run here at the Institute." " Another sleep lab?" " No, actually, it's a lab where we conduct special experiments on various topics of personal interest to me." " And would that be the lab that was mentioned in her will?" " Probably." "Yeah." " Then I believe that's the lab I'd like to see." " Three." " Welcome to the Koven Project." "Tonight's concept is a very simple one." "Oassie meditates as random single-digit numbers pop up on Dillon's screen." "A vibration signal is sent down into the studio through this one-way glass to the electronic ball in Oassie's left hand where she makes the determination whether the number is odd or even." " She makes a determination about what?" "It seems to me it's just a guess, right?" " Well, there we go." "That's the million-dollar question." "Is it a guess?" "See, what we're trying to do here, under the most stringent conditions ever applied, is to quantify one human being's psychic ability to read another." " Oh." "Psychic." " Well, ESP, to be more general." " Warren, she's gone below 50%." " All right." "Excuse me one second." "Derek?" "I need you to drop the room to 56 and heat the bed." " Are you sure you want to do that?" "You want to heat the bed?" " Yeah, she won't notice." "She's been down too long." " All right." " So that's what you study here, ESP." " Yes, amongst other things, mostly dealing with psi energy in aural paranormal activity." " Paranormal activity." "And you're telling me that my Aunt Marlene believed in all this stuff?" " Absolutely." "I mean, that's why she's funding us." "See, your aunt experienced some paranormal disturbances around the house." " I'm sorry." "She what?" " She experienced paranormal disturbances in her house." " Meaning what?" " Well, meaning that she, you know, she thought the place was haunted." " She wasn't serious." " Oh, no, she was very serious, very analytical." "She even brought us photographs." " Photographs of what?" " What she believed to be the center of the disturbance in the house." " This is absurd." " I believe that's a closet on the second..." " Yes, I know where it is." "Taking pictures of it means..." " I'm not saying her house is haunted or anything." "But I am saying that she witnessed sonic..." " Doc." " Paranormal disturbances, which is not..." " Warren, we got a problem here." " Oh, shit!" "God damn it." " She fucked up the entire TLS." " Fuck you!" " Jesus!" " Jesus, she's out of control." " She's comin' up." " What?" " Ross." " I called it." " You weren't concentrating." "The fulcrum on the..." "It sucked?" " No." " I sucked?" " No, no." "Y... no." "You were fine." "I just... you could be so m..." "oh!" "Oassie!" " You lied to me." " God damn it." " Understand?" " Oassie, please." " What's in the briefcase?" " Just some New York State precedents on the succession of property." "Listen..." " I apologize." "It's just, she's very high-strung but really quite gifted." "She is very gifted." "Hold up, Mr. Becket." "Oould you hold up a second please?" "Listen, so the girl's an eccentric." "So what?" " You think this is about the girl?" "It's your entire operation." " Really?" " Representing to a dying old woman that you have answers to questions you don't have?" "Giving supernatural significance to noises in her house?" " No, not supernatural." "Natural." " We told her we could give natural, scientific explanations to whatever she heard." " Scientific, paranormal, ESP, psychic..." " Yes, they're as scientific as gravity." "They're just not yet fully understood." "Go look up the US military Stargate Project, their Sony Zesper lab." "Don't get me wrong." "We're not looking for ghosts here." "What we do is science." " I know a little bit about accepted science, Doctor." "Who is officially behind your mind reading lab here at DIT?" " Oh, I get it." "You're contesting the will." "That's what this is really about." "You didn't get the money." " No, what this is about is you taking advantage of an old woman whose faculties were failing." " Faculties?" "She was more lucid than you." " Tell you what." "Wear a blue suit when you sell that to the jury." " You're a close-minded man, Mr. Becket." " And why is that, Doctor?" "Because I don't happen to think your fringe lab is the real deal?" " No, because you don't think." "You know." "And that's where you give yourself away." ""Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"..." ""The demon walks here. "" "Hey, hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" " Why is he sent?" "Do you believe it's him?" "Please." "What does he want?" " What does he want here?" " That's..." " 911." "What's your emergency?" " There's someone in my house." " What did you say, sir?" "Someone in the house?" " Yes." "In the trunk." "Look in the trunk." "Old trunk." "Old trunk." " Hey!" "Hey!" " Get rid of the flake factor." " Oh." " May I talk to you for a minute?" " Give me the room, would you, guys?" " First of all, I'd like to apologize for last night." "I came on too strong." "And for that I'm sorry." " Hmm." "Did something happen?" " Let's just say that I now understand how my aunt could have become confused and thought her place was haunted." "I thought I heard something there myself last night." "I'm staying there until the estate is settled." " What did you hear?" " Whispering outside my door." "I do not believe in ghosts." "And I got the sense that you don't either." " I don't." "I don't believe in anything supernatural." " Then we're kindred spirits." "But that still leaves me short of an answer." " Meh." "Sit." "The human voice is not real complex." "It's a sound that nature has very little difficulty mimicking." "Now, what I'm gonna play for you is real." "It was recorded in a farmhouse in the Berkshires, 1976." "It was heard by multiple witnesses, caught on tape, sworn to in an affidavit." "Okay?" "It's the real McOoy." "Please." "Isn't that amazing?" "This is an authentic aural event." "And it's probably what we call a chi cluster." "It's a buildup of chi field energy, then released into the sonic spectrum." " But it's not words." " What do you mean?" " How does it come out as words, you know, in an intelligent sentence structure?" " Well, it doesn't." "I mean, maybe it does once in a million, like those monkeys typing sonnets, but..." " No, but it did for me." "The voice that I heard spoke." "It did not just say, "Ooh, aah, aah. "" "It said something like "an old trunk. "" "And it kept repeating it over and over." ""An old trunk" or "in an old trunk" as if to suggest that I..." " Bryan, is it?" " Yeah." " How well can you hear through a door?" " Pretty well, I guess." "Okay, now, what was the volume like?" " Like I'm talking now?" " Maybe a little lower." " You know, I'm gonna tell you what you did, and I don't want you to get embarrassed, because you're not the first." "But you heard whispering sounds." "And presuming that they must be human, your brain strove to put speech to them." "So "old trunk," or "in the old trunk" was the best it could come up with." "It's called psychoacoustics." "Excuse me." " Really." "I respect the concept." "I really do." "But I don't know." " What I heard was so..." " What'd I say?" " What?" " Oh, did you catch that?" " Yeah." "You said, "What'd I say?"" " No, I didn't." "I said, "Rud lie stay. "" "Rud lie stay." "You made it into "what'd I say. "" " Huh." "Shit." " Your aunt did the same thing." "She took a garden variety acoustical sub-event and made it into a haunting." "I'll be damned." " You're surprised, huh?" "You thought I'd accept your hearing voices as an everyday thing, didn't you?" " No, I thought it was an everyday thing for you people." "Don't they have nuns for that kind of work?" "Oareful." "You'll get me in trouble." " I'm late for our meeting, Father." "My apologies." " You know, some people would say being late for a meeting with a priest shows a subconscious hostility towards the church." " You think it's subconscious?" "What'd you want to see me about?" " Your aunt's place." "I drove by there last night, and I saw some lights on, and I was very curious about who you were letting stay there." " I'm stayin' there." " You are?" " Yeah." "Robin and I are taking a little breather." "Why, is somethin' wrong?" " Oh, you're gonna think I'm silly for even saying this." " Oh, I think half what you say is silly anyway." "It's part of your charm." "So what is it?" " Be careful in that house." " What does that mean?" " It means there's something not quite right there." " Are you tryin' to tell me you think the house is haunted?" " You don't believe in haunted houses, do you?" " No, I do not." " Do you believe in evil?" " No, I do not." " Your aunt believed that the place was haunted." " Would you like to know how I see this whole haunted house business?" " Yes, I would." " My aunt in her younger, stronger days would never have fallen prey to superstition." "But at 81, in failing health, living all alone in a great big house with lots of memories, some regrets, no doubt, when she heard something, whatever it was, she was ripe to run with it." "Now, you mix that in with hardening of the arteries, you have yourself a ghost story." " You're a good lawyer, Becket." " I'm a doubting Thomas, Father." "No offense." "It's just in my nature." " None taken." " Still, it's always good to see you." " And you, my friend." "Just remember one thing, Becket." "Thomas was wrong." " Ah!" " Jeez." "You are such a dick." " You shouldn't leave the front door unlocked." "You scared the shit out of me." " Ah." "Where were you this morning?" " Huh?" "Oh, God!" "Damn it." "God damn it!" "I missed the conference with Judge Akagi." "Oh, shit." "Aw, I'm sorry." " Screw sorry." "What's goin' on with you?" " Nothin's goin' on with me, Sully." "I missed a meeting." "I can't miss one meeting?" " No, you cannot miss one meeting." "And do you know why?" "'Oause you're a control freak who doesn't miss anything." "You missing' one meeting is like a regular guy missin' his own frickin' wedding." "And now I'm good and worried." "Yeah, 'cause I think you're havin' some kind of breakdown." " Oh, get out of here." "I'm not havin' a breakdown." " Oh, how would you know?" "See, people that are havin' a breakdown don't know that they're havin' a breakdown." "They just think the water tastes funny." "You left your wife." "You left your son, both of who I know you adore." "You move into this creepy old house." "And then you miss a meeting." " Okay, I will never miss another meeting." "That's an oath." " Becks, you have amazed me for 111/2 years straight." "So if you need a break, you raise your hand." "You don't have to be the good dog that runs until his heart explodes." "Look, I'm sorry I had to bust your balls." "Need a hug?" "Not from you." " Well, check your inventory, pal." "I'm all you got left." " Hm." "Old trunk." "Well, my dear Watson, what do you suppose is in the old trunk?" "The remains of someone murdered in this house perhaps?" "Bryan." " Who's in here?" "Who's in my house?" " I want your lab work Friday, okay?" "Oh, yeah, and I need the correlation between night terrors and serotonin level." "We already spoke about that." " I saw something this time." "A woman at the bottom of the stairs." "She was just sitting there." "There's no woman in my house, Doctor." "It's empty except for me." "So what did I see?" " I have no idea." " Are you telling me that no one has ever reported seeing something?" " Yeah." "Not that held up." " Held up?" " I know this is difficult, but is there any history of mental illness in your family?" " Are you serious?" "You're serious." "You're tryin' to pin this on me?" " I'm not trying to pin anything on anyone." "But as rational people, we need to look at every possibility." " I am not a possibility." " So your answer's no." "There's no history." " That's right." " All right, so just..." "there's no schizophrenia?" " No." " Hallucinations?" " No." " Manic depression?" " Any bipolar disorders, Bryan?" " One uncle, maybe." "So what?" " Well, I'm just going off a list." "But if there's any familial history at all, and you've had this episode, I think you should see someone." "You think I should see someone." " I do, I do." "And I know a very good man..." " How dare you try to pin this on me?" "I happen to be, Doctor, one of the most boringly sane people that you have ever fucking met!" "Tell him it's Bryan Becket." "I just don't get the way we dress kids for Halloween." "Murder victims, Lizzie Borden." "And then we stand back and snap pictures of it all as though it's something we should cherish right up there with our first communion." " What's troubling you, my friend?" " Oh, just my usual." "Insomnia." " Ah, well, we can fix that." " Hey, Doc, when you have persistent insomnia, can it lead to other symptoms?" " Sure." "What kind of symptoms?" " Hallucinations." " You've been having hallucinations, Bryan?" " Just one." "Maybe I was sleepwalking, and I saw something sort of ghostlike, I guess." "I flicked on the light, and it disappeared." " Yeah, yeah." "Sleep deprivations can cause hallucinations, definitely." "But if it occurs again, you'll let me know?" "All right?" " All right." " Why aren't you sleeping?" " Work." "It's brutal right now." "Tons of big cases." "And on top of that, Robin and I are separated." " Oh?" " Yeah, I think with Robin and me, it's a game of marital chicken, you know?" "Just give each other a good scare and move on." "I think we'll be all right." " Yes, I think it'll work out." "You're a good couple." " But in the meantime, I moved into my aunt's house." "And I got to tell you, I haven't been alone in..." " I'm sorry." "You moved where?" " To my aunt's house for now." " Oh." "And is that where you had this hallucination?" " Yep." " And this ghostlike image, was it male or female?" " It was a woman." " Oh." "Was there anything about this woman that was interesting or odd?" "Anything about her face or her eyes?" " I couldn't say." "I just saw it from the back." " It?" " Her." "Her." "Excuse me." "I was just struck with the memory of the first time your father brought you here." "It was just after your mother passed." "I was new to my profession, unsure of myself." "And you were this precocious little guy who looked at my diploma wall and asked why I hadn't been to one of the top med schools." " Oh, Jesus." "Did I?" " Yeah, we did good work though." "We were making progress." "And then... well, I always thought your father pulled you out too soon." " My dad hated shrinks." "I think he feared that if you poked around in my head, you might discover some deep family secret." " Hmm." "Well, whatever the reason, I think you came out of it too soon." " Hence my insomnia." " And your issues with death." "What I think you need..." " Is to spend more time on your couch." "Yeah, I know." "You suggest that every year." " Well, what do you think of it this year?" " I think you drive a fancy enough car." "You don't need another patient." " Ooh." "You're getting better." " Thanks, Doc." "Appreciate it." "It's funny though." "You mentioned my mother." "It's sad." "I can barely remember her." "Except for tidbits, there's nothing." " She's in there, Bryan." "She's in there." " Ver Staaten." "Dr. Shepard." "Okay, I'll be right there." "Hi." "Hey, you." "I can't do this right now." "I have a meeting." "This is for him." "He thinks you left us for another family." "Oome on." " You a werewolf?" "Whoa." "Scary werewolf." "No." "Not scary." " Oh, okay, not scary." "There's nobody here but me, pal." "Do you want to look for yourself?" "You want to explore?" "Okay." "Hurry up." "Dad's got a meeting." " What are you doing here?" " We need some time apart, Robin." " I want us in therapy." " Therapy." " Yeah." " I have my doubts about therapy." " Oh, you have your doubts about everything." "All you do all day is have doubts about what everyone else thinks." " Well, uh, what would you rather, Robin," "I was one a those fanatics who was certain?" " You are every bit as certain as any fanatic I've ever seen." " Okay, that's absurd." "That is an absurd thing to say." "I am not certain about anything, and if you can't see that, we're even farther apart than I thought we were." " So what do you call it then when you are so positive the rest of us are wrong, flawed in our thinking?" "I call that certain, arrogant." "And I don't think it's 'cause you're smarter than anyone else." "I think it's 'cause you're lost." " Well, guess what, Robin." "I hardly care what you think, 'cause I got trial in the morning, I lost my expert, and I got a 200 page deposition..." " Is it your mother?" " What?" " I said, is it your mother?" "Is that why you're messed up, 'cause of what happened to her, 'cause of what you saw that day?" " My mother died when I was five." "I barely remember her." " I don't believe it." " Oh, you think I'm lying?" " I think that you've buried stuff." "I think that you saw more that day in Boston than they told you." " All right, you know what we're not gonna do?" "We are not going to play psychobabble with my head." " Listen..." " My mother is not the problem with our marriage." "So for you to try to pin it on a woman who's been dead for 38 years..." " Do you know you talk about her in your sleep?" " I what?" " And I've never told you before, because I thought it would make things worse." "When you talk about her, you talk about her face." "All right, God damn it, that's enough." "Let this alone!" " This is the shit that is ruining our marriage!" " No, you're doing it, because you won't stop." " You sit up in bed like a child terrified, staring across the room." "You know what you're looking at?" "You're looking at her!" "You see her!" " Stop this!" " Mama!" " Michael!" " Michael?" " Where is he?" " Michael!" "Michael!" " Baby?" " Someone's in the closet." " What?" " They said my name." " Oh, no, sweetheart." "There's nobody here but Daddy." " Maybe it's a ghost." " Oh, no, baby." "Remember what Daddy and I told you about ghosts?" "So what did Daddy and I tell you about ghosts?" "Daddy?" "What did we tell Michael about ghosts?" " They're not real." " They're not real." "Okay?" "It's just your imagination again, sweet pie." " Oome here, pal." "They sure do seem real sometimes though, don't they?" " Hmm." "Sully." "Oh, come on." "Oh, Jesus Ohrist!" "It's you." " So this is the big, bad, house, huh?" "I might be too nervous to come in." " Nobody asked you in." "What, are you plannin' on spending the night?" " Uh-huh." "I heard you saw something here." "And I'm intrigued." " What I saw was not real." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "You can't just walk in here." "Hey!" "What do you think you're doing?" "This is my house." " There's something here." " Okay." "What?" "What do you think I saw?" " A ghost." " I don't believe in ghosts." " Well, that's ironic, since you're the one that saw it." " What I saw was a hallucination caused by sleep deprivation." " Yeah." "My shrink would say that too." "Look, it's not as out there as it seems, you know, the whole ghost thing." "In fact, 46% of the people in this country believe in ghosts." "46% of the people in this country can't find Europe on a map." " Oh, wow." "You know something?" "You're very arrogant." " I'm sorry." " Don't be." "I like that." " You still can't stay." " You're a lawyer, right?" " Yes." " That means you get off on logic, proof." " I don't know if I get off on them, but..." " Even Koven, the fool, believes I'm psychic." " I don't believe in ESP." " No, no, no." "You're missing my point." "You saw something here." "So just suppose for a moment you let me stay and I see something too." "And since you haven't described what you saw except as a woman at the bottom of some stairs, then if I see her too, and I could describe her, well," "I mean, that would be proof of something, wouldn't it?" "Good proof." " You can have this bedroom right over here." "It's got its own bath." "I'll be up on the third floor if you need s..." "Oh, no." "No, no." "I'm sorry." "This was my aunt's room, the one that died." " Oh." "So it's vacant." " Yeah." "Right." "Whatever." "Hey, let me ask you something." "How does a girl your age get a brand-new Porsche?" " I come from money." " And your folks?" " My mother ran away when I was six, and my father passed away this summer." " Hmm." "I'm sorry then about your father." " No, don't be." " What, you two weren't close?" " Not in a good way." " Do you have siblings?" " Yeah, I have a brother." "He's in a mental institution." "He's been there since he was 13." "And you probably figured I was the black sheep." "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm gonna..." " Go do what you do." " Thanks." " Jesus Ohrist!" " Someone died in here." "A man." "Oh." "His head." "Severe pain." " My aunt's husband, my Uncle Ohet, died in this house 25 years ago of a cerebral hemorrhage." "I don't know where in the house exactly." " It was here." " How do you know that?" "There are a lot of people who could have told you that." " Nobody told me anything." "That's fine." "Thank you." " I'm glad you didn't sit in that chair." "It's funny." "The other night I walked past that mirror down there, and I could've sworn I saw someone in that chair." "You know, for someone who scorns the paranormal, you sure do report a lot of incidents." " What the fuck was that?" " The house is waking up." "I got to get some things." "Oh, wow." " Leave it." "Leave it." "I'll get it." " Are you gonna help me?" "I can use your help." " Uh..." "You know what?" "Why don't you think about it?" "I'll be downstairs soon." " You know, I have a trial in the morning." "This is not usually the way I prepare." " Agh." " Oassie, Oassie!" "Oassie!" " What?" " Did you hear that?" " All I heard was you yelling." " You didn't hear someone falling down the stairs?" " Oh, God, no." " You didn't hear that?" " Oh, that's weird." "The house talks but only to you." " Or I'm talking to myself." " Don't do that." "You're not imagining things, Bryan." "Why would you all of a sudden imagine someone falling down a flight of stairs?" " My mother died falling down a flight of stairs." " Wait." " What is it?" " Something's moving in the house." "Do you feel it?" " Me?" "Upstairs to the right." "Oassie, are you all right?" " I'm fine." " What the hell was that?" " That was a warning." "Whatever is in this house wants me to mind my business." " Well, are you gonna?" " We're done with this." "Leave that light on." "This house needs all the light that it can get." " Yeah, good." "Don't know why you wanted 'em off in the first place." "What?" "What is it?" " The stairs where you saw the woman." "They're the ones back there, aren't they?" " Yeah." "Oassie, this is where I step off, okay?" "I just have too much work to do, all right?" "Oassie?" "Are you all right with that?" "Oassie?" "Oassie?" "Why are you lookin' at me like that?" " You don't know, do you?" " What?" " Who she was, the woman you saw." "Bryan, it was your mother." " What?" "Helen, I think, or..." " Helena." " Helena." "Yeah." "Helena Margaret." "Something about her frightens you, something about her face." "Your mother died falling down stairs, you said." "Where?" " At our house outside Boston." " Where in Boston?" "Where in Boston exactly?" " Near Braintree." "We moved just after." " That's interesting." "You should come with me." "Please." "I don't know why you've been told what you have, Bryan, but your mother fell here, down these stairs." " What?" "No." "That doesn't make any sense." "They told me that it..." " They told you what?" " She fell in our..." "in our house in Boston." "Why in God's name would they keep something like that from me?" " Maybe it wasn't in God's name they kept it." "There's a very bad secret in this house." "I know that much." "And if you want me to help you find it, I will." "But it might get worse before it get..." " I want to know." " All right." "Then you got to help me." "You got to tell me what you remember about your mother." " Not much." "I've never had much memory of her." "She used to fight with my aunt a lot." " About what?" " I don't know." " Do you remember the day she died?" " Pieces." " Did you see her fall?" " No." "But I..." " What?" "Tell me." " I heard it." "I heard her fall." "It's a horrible sound, somebody falling' down a flight of stairs." " Do you remember what you were doing when you heard it?" " I was playing." "Where?" " In my room over there." "Oh, my God." "That was my room." "Oh, God!" "Oh, God!" "I don't remember." "I just feel it." " It's all right, Bryan." "It's all right." " I just know it happened in there and that it happened to me." "Do you know?" " No, I don't." " Do you know what it was?" " No." "They say that the unknown is more frightening than any reality." " Yes." " Therefore, I should be less scared once we open this than I am now." " That's the theory." " Huh." "Huh." " Does anything here mean anything to you?" " No." "I assume it's stuff that belonged to my aunt or my mother." "But none of it means anything to me." " Maybe it's the wrong trunk." "Oh." "Bryan, look at h..." "What is it?" " Get it away." " You mean..." " Get it away!" "Get it away!" " All right." " Get it away!" "Right." " Get it away!" " Bryan, it's away." "What is it?" " I don't know." "It moves, I think." "It floats through the house." "It does horrible things." " What, the doll?" " It's not a doll." "I'm sorry." "I don't mean to laugh." "It's just, did you see the look on her face when we found her hiding spot?" "Oh, God." "The look on her face was priceless." "It was absolutely priceless." " Good morning." "Eggs, coffee?" " Ooffee would be great." " How'd you sleep?" " Oh, I slept like a baby, a baby that's fearing crib death, that is." "I'm not crazy." " I agree." " What happened last night, I think, is that I've been so sleep deprived from months of insomnia that when I mixed in the alcohol and the sedatives," "I made myself unstable." "You know, my doctor's already confirmed that insomnia alone can cause transitory psychotic symptoms, so..." " My God." "You are one diehard rationalist." " Well, what the hell's the alternative?" "Dolls come to life?" " No, they can be possessed." " Oh, stop it." " Bryan, you're not crazy." "You're not the type." "Something supernatural is happening to you." "And your episode last night," "I think it was some kind of vision spell." " Don't scoff at what you don't know, and you don't know anything." "You witnessed something in this house a long time ago." "And whatever is here, maybe your mother is tryin' to tell you about it." "Give me one last chance to dig it out, okay?" "I can be back here tomorrow." "And if you need me, you can just call me." " Tomorrow?" " Yeah." " You expect me to spend another night here alone?" "I'm shaking at breakfast." "Bryan, if whatever is in this house wanted to hurt you, it would have already." " You're sure, huh?" " Oh, yeah." "Yeah." " Mornin', Father." "Need a lift?" " No, no." "I have a question." " Okay." " Who's the woman at the house?" " You've been spying' on me?" " Yes, I have." " She's a psychic." "She's been helping me remember things about the place." " You want to remember that place?" "Oome on in to the rectory." "What are you remembering?" " We lived there for a time." "My mother died there." " Where did you find the psychic?" " It's more like she found me." "She heard that I saw something in the..." " Hmm?" " I hallucinated something in the house." "I saw my mother." "Shepard assures me it's just sleep deprivation." " You've been sleep deprived before." "Ever see anything?" " No." " Well, that's interesting, because I remember the first time you saw her." " Pardon?" " Eight days after she was buried." " Is that true?" " That time frightened you so badly it led to a breakdown and to them having to get you away from the house permanently." "Your father sold it to your aunt and uncle and then bought the one up in Farmbrook for the two of you." " That's what happened." " Of course, everyone dismissed what you saw until something happened to your uncle." "I don't know exactly what happened, but he became thoroughly convinced that there was a presence in the house." " The shrine in the closet." " That was his." " Your aunt thought he was a fool." "She was a skeptic like you." "But interestingly enough, she couldn't bring herself to tear it down even after he died." "And then, in the last year of her life, she began to believe it herself, said she felt it for the first time, felt that it was angry at her for not leaving the house to you." " This has a history?" " This has a history." " What else do you know?" "In the church, you warned me about the house." "You spoke of this evil presence." " What did you mean?" " Have you ever wondered why you can't remember your mother, Bryan?" " Because she died when I was five." " Five-year-olds have memories, unless they don't want to have memories, unless they're bad memories, unless they're memories of being locked in a closet when they were terrified of darkness, of being hit so hard with a curtain rod that the welts bled," "of being half starved to death because they forgot to say grace at the table." " You're wrong, Father." "My mother was a good person." " You've made her a good person in your own mind, son." "She was a monstrous person." "I knew her." "And some monstrous part of her is still in that house." "I would've told you earlier, but everybody was so afraid of telling you things that you didn't remember." " Tell me something, Father." "These alleged abuses you talk of, did you witness them firsthand for yourself?" " No, they were relayed to me by your Aunt Marlene." " Then it's hearsay, testimony of conduct not directly observed." "It's hearsay." " No, you know what's rude?" "A child having a liver lacerated by a doctor who's hopped up on pain pills." "That's what's rude." " That's not fair." " Kid comes under your care." "You know this guy's history." "Have a conversation about how he appeared that morning." " No, Jennifer Burkhardt had a conversation with Dr. March, not me." " I don't care who it was." "You were aware that he..." "No, no!" "No, no!" " You gonna object to any of this?" " That's courthouse gossip." " It's not." " Hey, partner." "How you doin', buddy?" "Listen, um, I was wonderin' if we can have a moment alone." "Hey." "Riley said you're actin' all funky in court." "What the hell is goin' on with you, huh?" "Huh?" "And don't say "nothin'."" "And don't say, "It's personal,"" ""We don't go there," 'cause today we're gonna go there." " You want to go there today, Sully?" "Want me to open up?" "Tell you everything?" " Yes, I do." " I've been havin' a little trouble concentrating since I started having these unsolicited flashbacks of being severely abused as a child, locked in a closet, beaten with a curtain rod till I bled." " What?" " And all this on no sleep." "Shepard gave me some pills for it, but they've proved to be totally worthless." "Except when you mix 'em with scotch, they tend to, you know, sort of enhance the scotch." "But no." "I can't concentrate on getting dressed, much less a court case." "And about the only thing keepin' me goin' these days is a morbid curiosity of where exactly it'll be that I totally fuckin' lose it." "So how do you like our new relationship so far, the opening up thing?" " I like it better." " Well, bless your heart, partner." "I think it rots." " Hey." " Hey, Sully." "What's happenin'?" " Where is he?" " He's in the back, man, and he looks like shit." " Thank you." " Want a beer?" " Yes." " I have an idea." "Why don't we go back to my office for a nightcap?" " I have a better idea." "Why don't you sit down and spill all the shit you've been keeping from me all these years, and I won't sue you for medical malpractice." " All right." "What have I been keeping?" " That I lived there and she abused me there." " True." " And you let me go back when I didn't know." " You knew, Bryan." "Some part of you knew." "That's why you went back, tried to heal yourself." " And you're certain of this problem that needed healing, right?" " How do you mean?" " That I lost touch with reality when she died, that I was so young and traumatized that I couldn't grasp that she was really dead." "So I blocked memories, hallucinated her." " Yes." "Something like that." " And what if I told you that you are so blind with psychiatry that you have totally missed the boat on this one?" " Which is?" " That I am truly being haunted." " You don't really believe that." "I am seeing things in that house, Doctor, and hearing things all the time." "You think I'm that crazy all by myself?" " Yes, I think you're quite ill." " You are wrong." "There's something supernatural going on in there." "And I have all kinds of corroboration." " Well, let's have it, Oounselor." "Let's try this thing." " My Uncle Ohester, to start with..." " Your Uncle Ohester was a fool." "He was superstitious, gullible." "Did you know he reported so many UFO sightings in the '50s, the police wouldn't take his calls any more." " No, I didn't." "But my aunt was no fool." "And in the last year of her life..." " The last year of her life, she was suffering from progressive dementia due to advanced cerebral atherosclerosis." "I have people who will swear that she was lucid..." " She was lucid part of the time." "That's how it works." "Father Wymond at Saint..." " You're gonna quote me a priest?" "They think they're dealing with the supernatural 9:00 to 5:00." "You want to stake your sanity on that?" " Do all kids who are abused crack up so bad that they see things?" "Or am I just weak?" " I don't think you're weak, Bryan." "I think you're carrying more." " More." " What is the last memory you have of your mother, not including her death?" " My last memory." "Hmm." "She was cooking, I think, in the kitchen." " What was she cooking for?" " A picnic." "We were going on a picnic." " Yes." "And what happened with the picnic?" " Well, I don't remember." "We wound up not going for one reason or another." " What was the reason?" " I don't know." "Maybe it rained." " No, it didn't rain, Bryan." "It was a beautiful, sunny day." " Then why didn't we go?" "Because that morning, when you cleaned your room, you left a sock on the floor." "So instead of going on a picnic, you were locked in the closet for the remainder of the day and half the next." " A red sock." " Yes." " I remember." "Hmm." "God, how sad is that?" " Sad?" "It's infuriating, don't you think, to be locked in the closet for a sock?" "And you were angry, Bryan, very angry." "You wanted to lash back." "So you left some toys you were playing with on the stairs near the top." " What?" " Some toys." "A toy truck and an antique doll of your mother's." "You were five years old." "She had abused you for five years." "No one knew about it, no one." " Mom, no!" " Press up against my hand." " What did I do?" " Press up." " What did I do?" " Easy." " What did I do?" " Any dizziness still?" " No." "I had to make a judgment call in there, Bryan." "You were in a form of crisis." " I'm glad you told me." " What are you gonna do right now?" " I'm gonna go check into the Gloucester, get my stuff and get out of the house." " That's exactly what you should do." "I'll call you later on." "We'll set something up for tomorrow." "All right?" " That's what was wrong with her face." " What's that?" " That's what was wrong with my mother's face." "She was looking at me." "This is Bryan Becket." "Please leave a message." "Oassie, it's Bryan." "Pick up." "What the hell are you still doing in there?" "Didn't you tell me you had to leave?" "Oassie, pick up." "Oassie." "Oassie." "Oassie?" "Oassie!" "Oassie?" " Hello?" " Oassie?" " Bryan?" " Oassie, where are you?" "Why'd you leave your car here?" " I didn't." " What are you talking about?" "It's right out in the driveway." " Bryan?" "Bryan." " Very good, Mother." "You got me back in." "Why?" "Do you want to punish me again?" "Is that it?" "I'm not five anymore!" "Oome on!" "Oome on!" "You know what you can do, Mother?" "You can go straight to hell."