Neighbors heard them screaming at each other for 2 hours. Nothing new.
Then they heard the gun go off. Both barrels.
A crime of passion.
Yeah.
Just look at all the passion on that wall.
This is a done deal. All but the paperwork.
Did the kid see it?
What?
The kid?
What kind of question's that?
We'll be real glad when we get rid of you, Somerset. Always these questions.
"Did the kid see it?" Who gives a fuck?
He's dead. His wife killed him.
Anything else has nothing to do with us.
Detective Somerset?
I'm Detective Mills.
Just get in town 20 minutes ago, they dump me here.
Look...
Mills?
- Let's find a bar. Sit and talk... - I'd like to get to the precinct.
Not much time for this transition thing.
I had a question, when we spoke on the phone.
Yeah.
Why here?
I don't follow.
Well, all this effort to get transferred.
It's the first question that popped into my head.
Same reason as you. Or the reason you had before you decided to quit.
You just met me.
Maybe I don't understand the question.
It's very simple.
You actually fought to get reassigned here.
- I never saw it done that way. - Thought I'd do some good.
It'd be great if we didn't start out kicking each other in the balls.
- You're calling the shots. - Yes.
I want you to look and I want you to listen. Okay?
I wasn't guarding a Taco Bell. I've worked homicide 5 years.
- Not here. - I understand.
Well, over the next 7 days, Detective, do me the favor of remembering that.
SE7EN
MONDAY
Yeah.
Okay.
Say it again?
I thought we moved here to get away from tractor pulls.
Serpico's got to go.
Well, you might want to get rid of this little...
crusty, this eye, Serpico.
- Did you get it? - Got it.
Good.
Coffee?
Nothing's been touched. It's all like I found it.
What time was death established?
Like I said...
I didn't touch anything...
but he's had his face in spaghetti for 45 minutes.
Wait. No one bothers with vital signs?
Did I suffer? This guy ain't breathing unless he's breathing spaghetti sauce.
- That's how it's done here? - Excuse me, Detective.
He's sitting in his own piss and shit. If he wasn't dead he would've stood up
- Alright. - Thank you, Officer.
Thank you.
I wonder.
What was the point of the conversation you were about to get into?
Don't know. How many times Barney Five found dead bodies that weren't dead.
Drop it.
Somebody phone Guinness. I think we've got a record here.
Better Homes and Gardens.
Spaghetti Sauce
Who said this was murder?
No one.
Guy's heart must be the size...
of a canned ham.
If this isn't a coronary...
well...
I don't know.
Whoops.
How about that.
We had this case once...
guy dead on the ground...
knife in his back. Murder...
right?
Fuck!
Anyway, big insurance policy involved, yeah? So the guy...
took the tip of the blade...
stuck it in his own shoulder blades.
He must've screwed up 'cause there was...
- multiples back there. - Please be quiet.
Wait a minute.
What?
Got a bucket here.
What's in it?
Oh God!
Fucking vomit.
Any blood in it?
I didn't see any. Help yourself.
Are you thinking it's poison?
Oh, wonderful. Very moody.
Think it's poison, Somerset?
You girls have got forensics waiting outside.
We might not fit.
There's room. Light's the problem.
How are you?
Det. Mills, go help the officers...
question the neighbors.
What?
And send in forensics.
He's dead.
Thank you, Doctor.
You saw my files, the things I've done?
Nope.
I did door-to-doors and walked the beat. I did that shit...
a long time.
- And? - My badge says...
"detective". That's the same as yours.
Look, I made a decision.
I had to consider the integrity of the scene...
not whether you were getting enough time on the field.
Hey, man...
Just don't jerk me off. That's all I ask. Don't jerk me off.
He's been dead...
a long time, and not from poison.
Oh, man.
How can you let yourself go like that?
It took 4 orderlies just to get him on the table.
- How'd the fat fuck fit out his door? - Please. Obviously he was a shut-in.
Look. See how big this stomach is?
And the strange thing is, it stretches.
Look at the size of the cardiac orifice, where the food...
I see that, but it means nothing to me.
Okay, he's got lines of distention...
across the duodenum.
The interior wall's ripped open.
This man ate till he burst?
He didn't really burst. Not all the way. He was hemorrhaging internally.
There was a hematoma in the rectus and...
- the transverse abdominous muscles. - He did die by eating?
Yes and no.
What about these bruises here?
I haven't figured that out yet.
Gun pressed against his head?
Pressed hard enough.
Fuck, yeah.
On the front, flush with the muzzle.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a homicide.
Killer put a bucket beneath him, kept on serving. Took his time too.
Coroner said it could have lasted more than 12 hours.
Victim's throat was swollen, probably from the effort...
and there was a point when he passed out.
That's when the killer kicked him...
- and he burst. - Sadistic fucker.
When you want somebody dead, you drive by and shoot.
You don't risk the time it takes to do this...
- unless the act itself has meaning. - Come on.
Somebody had a problem with a fat boy and tortured him. Simple as that.
In the grocery bags...
we found 2 receipts. So, the killer stopped and went back...
to the supermarket.
So?
Man, it's his thing. I've been out in the rain all day.
- This is beginning. - We've got...
one dead guy, not three.
No motive.
Don't start that big brain of yours...
cooking on this, alright?
I'd like to be reassigned.
Whoa.
What are you talking about?
This can't be my last duty.
It'll go on and on.
You're retiring in 6 days.
You've left unfinished business before.
Those cases were taken as close to conclusion as possible.
- And if I may speak freely? - We're friends here.
It's his first assignment.
I knew it. This is not my first assignment, you dick.
It's too soon.
I'm here. You can say that shit to my face. Captain?
It's too soon for you.
Captain...
Can we talk in private?
This is a personal thing--
Just shut up, Mills.
I don't have anyone else...
to put on this and you know it. This is Metro...
- you don't just get to swap. - Give it to me.
He wants out, fuck him. See you, have a nice time.
Give it to me.
I'll put you on something else.
Go on, Mills, just go on.
I'm sorry, old buddy, but it looks like you're stuck...
cleaning up the fat man.
TUESDAY
MURDER HAS A NEW UPTOWN ADDRESS!
ATTORNEY FOUND MURDERED
Quiet down.
Alright, calm down. Calm down.
Quiet down.
Here's how it'll work:
I'll answer questions for 10 minutes and 10 minutes only.
Ask those questions in a calm, sane, orderly fashion or I will leave.
Detective? Detective?
- Can I have a moment? - No.
I won't discuss the details of this investigation, so don't bother asking.
What you got for me?
Nothing yet, boss.
Why don't you guys go get a coffee, huh?
We have this breaking story. Let's go downtown where attorney...
Eli Gould was found murdered today.
District Attorney Martin Talbot is taking questions from reporters.
That's ridiculous and offensive.
There is no conflict, and any claim there could be is irresponsible.
Now hold on.
I just met with law enforcement officials and they...
assured me that they have their very best men on this.
This will be the very definition...
of swift justice.
GREED
Pardon me, George.
Somerset.
Come in.
You heard the news?
Nope, haven't heard.
Eli Gould was found murdered this morning.
Someone broke into his law firm and bled him to death.
Wrote the word "greed" on the floor.
- Greed? - Yeah, in blood.
Mills is heading the investigation.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Don't do that, please?
Good for him.
What will you do...
with yourself out there, Somerset?
Oh, I'll work, maybe on a farm. Fix my house.
Don't you feel it?
Don't you feel that feeling?
You're not going to be a cop anymore.
That's the whole idea.
I don't think you'll leave.
Hell, you can't leave all this.
Guy's out walking his dog.
Gets attacked.
His watch is taken, his wallet.
And while he's lying...
on the sidewalk helpless...
his attacker stabs him in both eyes.
This happened last night about 4 blocks from here.
I read about it.
I don't understand anymore.
It's the way it's always been.
- Maybe you're right. - This work is what you're made for.
I don't think you can deny that.
Maybe I'm wrong.
The coroner sent this down for you.
Found them in the fat boy's stomach...
mixed in with the food. Looks like little pieces of...
- plastic. - Set them on that desk.
They were...
fed to him.
Lord.
GLUTTONY
This was found behind the refrigerator in the obesity murder scene.
"Long is the way
And hard, that out of hell leads up to light."
It's from Milton.
"Paradise Lost."
Alright...
I'm confused.
It means that this is beginning.
GLUTTONY
This was behind the same refrigerator...
written in grease.
There are 7 deadly sins, Captain.
Gluttony...
greed...
sloth, wrath...
pride, lust...
and envy.
Seven.
Hold on.
This is not even my desk.
You can expect five more of these.
Wait a minute.
I can't get involved in this.
Somerset.
He wanted it.
Damn!
I'm all over it.
Where to?
Far away from here.
- Just a few things to look up. - Okay.
Sit where you'd like.
How's everybody?
Hiya, Smiley.
George, the cards are getting cold.
Duty calls.
Gentlemen? Gentlemen...
I'll never understand.
All these books...
a world of knowledge right here...
and what do you do?
You play poker all night.
Hey, we got culture.
Yeah, we got culture coming out of our asses.
How's this for culture?
CHAUCER CANTERBURY TALES
DANTE THE DIVINE COMEDY
VICTIM FORCED MUTILATE HIMSELF
You may want to check these books re: deadly sins.
Dante's Purgatory The Canterbury Tales
was crimson with his blood:
Even children slain!
You know, Smiley...
you'll really miss us.
I just might.
PLAN OF DANTE'S INFERNO
The Earthly Paradise
WEDNESDAY
Fucking Dante.
Goddamn poetry-writing fagot piece of shit.
Fucker.
Good work, Officer.
Thank you, Lord.
Oh, oh, sorry.
I'll move in a second.
- You want your chair? - You go ahead.
Yeah?
Phone.
Package deal. Comes with the office.
Mills.
Honey...
You okay? Something wrong?
You dingleberry, I told you not to call me here when I'm working.
Yeah. Why?
Why?
Okay.
It's my wife.
Sorry?
She'd like to speak to you.
This is Detective Somerset.
Well, yes, it's nice to talk to you too.
I appreciate the offer, but...
Well, in that case I'd be delighted.
Yes, thank you very much.
Bye.
Honey, what...?
Well?
Sorry?
I'm invited to late supper at your apartment. I accepted.
At my... How's that?
Tonight.
Hello, men.
- Hi, loser. - Hi, idiot.
That's Tracy. Tracy...
Hello.
Glad to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
Except your first name.
It's William.
Well, it's a good name...
William.
William, I'd like you to meet David.
- David, this is William. - Alright, I'll be right back.
- How are the kids? - Good. They're in the room. Come in.
Aw, good dogs.
How are all the good dogs? How are you, pretty?
Smells good.
Yeah, I mean, thank you.
Please have a seat, if you like.
- Would you like a drink? - No. Thanks. I'll wait.
Throw that anywhere. Excuse all this mess.
We're still unpacking.
I hear you were high school sweethearts.
Pretty hokey, huh?
You know something?
On our first date I knew he was...
- the guy I'd marry. - Really?
He was the funniest guy I ever met.
Really.
It's kind of rare nowadays.
I mean, that level of...
commitment.
Oh, don't worry.
I won't wear it to the dinner table.
No matter...
how often I see guns, I just can't...
get used to them.
Same here.
- Why aren't you married, William? - Tracy.
What the hell?
I was close once.
It just didn't happen.
It surprises me.
It really does.
Well...
Anyone who spends a significant amount of time with me finds me disagreeable.
Just ask your husband.
Very true.
Very, very true.
How long have you lived here?
Too long.
How do you like it?
You know...
takes time. Settle in...
it'll be good.
Well, you get numb after awhile
There are things to any city...
Subway.
It'll go away in a minute.
This real estate guy.
Fucking piece of... Sorry, honey.
He shows us the place a few times, I think he's good.
He's efficient. Tracy really likes him.
Then I start wondering why he'll only bring us here 5 minutes at a time.
We found out the first night.
The soothing, relaxing...
vibrating home, huh?
I'm sorry.
Yeah, alright, laugh it up.
I don't know why you're laughing.
Alright, already.
He had to get into the building...
before the office closed. Gould would have been working late?
I'm certain. He was the biggest defense lawyer in town.
- Infamous, really. - Body was found on Tuesday morning.
The office was closed on Monday. So he could have gotten in on Friday.
Laid low till the cleaning crew left, then had...
his way with Gould Saturday, Sunday, maybe Monday.
Look.
Gould was bound, right arm free.
He was handed a butcher's knife.
Check out the scale.
A pound of flesh.
"One pound of flesh"
"No more no less No cartilage...
No bone....
only flesh". "Merchant of Venice."
Didn't see it.
"This task done... And he would Go Free".
I tell you that chair was...
- soaked through with sweat. - Of course.
The killer wanted Gould to take his time...
deciding which cut....
to make first.
Imagine it.
There's a gun in your face.
Which part of your body is expendable?
The love handle.
Cut along the side of his own stomach.
Let's take a fresh look at these. The corpse is there, but...
Look through it. Edit out your initial shock.
The trick is to find one item, one detail and focus on it...
until it's an exhausted possibility.
I'll get another beer. Beer?
Wine, please.
He's preaching.
Punishing.
The sins were used in medieval sermons.
7 cardinal virtues, 7 deadly sins...
- used as teaching tools. - Yeah. Like in...
- "The Parson's Tale," and Dante. - You read them?
Yeah.
Parts. Remember in "Purgatory"...
Dante and his buddy climb up the hill and check out all the sinners?
- The Seven Terraces of Purgation. - Yeah, right.
But there pride comes first, not gluttony.
For now let's consider...
the books as the killer's inspiration.
The sermons were about atonement for sin.
These murders are like forced attrition.
Forced what?
Attrition's when you regret your sins, but not because...
- you love God. - Because there's a gun in your face.
No fingerprints.
Nope.
- Totally unrelated victims. - Yep.
And no witnesses of any kind.
Which I don't get...
because the fucker had to get back out.
In any major city, minding your own business is a science.
In rape prevention, the first thing they teach you is never cry for help.
Always yell, "Fire!".
Nobody answers help.
Holler "fire," they'll come.
That's fucked up.
He must have left another puzzle piece.
You know what? Thank you for talking this out, but I must sleep.
Walk the dogs.
This is just to satisfy my curiosity.
- I'm leaving at the end of the week. - Shit. No, wait.
Gould's wife. She was out of town at the time.
- So this means she saw something. - What if it's a threat?
I put her in a safe house. She wasn't too happy about it.
What if it isn't what she has seen...
but what she's supposed to see but hasn't had the chance?
Yeah, okay. What?
I don't know.
But that's the one thing.
I'll sign us in.
Must see Mrs. Gould.
Mrs. Gould?
Mrs. Gould, I'm sorry. I truly am.
I don't understand.
I need you to look at each photo...
very carefully.
Look and see if there's anything strange or...
out of place, anything at all.
I don't see anything.
Please, I can't do this right now.
Okay.
It's got to be now.
There may be something we missed.
Wait.
What?
Here.
This painting, it's upside down.
- Your men didn't move this? - No.
Those shots were taken before forensics.
Nothing.
There's got to be something.
- He moved the screws to rehang it. - Yep.
What the fuck is that?
Switchblade.
Goddamn it.
There must be something.
He didn't paint the fucking thing.
No, he's fucking with us, that's what he's doing.
See this, this is us.
Just wait a minute.
- Somerset's climbing on the furniture. - Wait a minute.
You're kidding me.
Call the print lab.
Oh, man.
Honestly...
have you ever seen anything like this?
HELP ME
The swell pattern tells me that they're not...
the victim's fingerprints.
I don't know, man.
I say he's whacked enough.
It doesn't fit.
He doesn't want to stop.
Who knows.
Freaks out there doing their evil deeds they don't want to do.
"The voices made me do it".
"Jodie Foster made me do it".
It can take...
3 days to make a match, so maybe you guys want to cross...
your fingers somewhere else.
You meant what you said to Mrs. Gould, didn't you?
About catching this guy.
Wish I still thought the way you did.
Tell me what the hell it is you think we're doing?
Picking up the pieces.
We're collecting all the evidence, taking all the pictures and samples...
writing everything down...
noting the time things happened.
That's all?
That's all.
Putting everything into neat piles and filing it away...
on the off chance it'll be needed in the courtroom.
Picking up diamonds on a deserted island...
saving them in case we get rescued.
Bullshit.
Even the most promising clues usually only lead to others.
So many corpses roll away unrevenged.
Don't try to tell me you didn't get that rush tonight.
I saw you.
We're getting somewhere.
THURSDAY
Wake up, Glimmer Twins.
We got a winner.
He uses the name Victor. His real name is Theodore Allen.
Homicide found his prints at the scene.
He's got a long history of serious mental illnesses.
He got a very strict Southern Baptist upbringing.
Somewhere along the line they fell short.
Victor dabbled in drugs, armed robbery and assault, spent time...
in prison for the attempted rape of a minor.
His lawyer made sure that didn't last long. By the way...
the lawyer was Eli Gould, the "greed" victim.
We'll stop this today, ladies and germs.
Victor's been out of circulation for awhile, but we've a residence for him.
- You're not buying this? - Doesn't seem...
Like our guy, does it?
You tell me.
Our killer seems to have more purpose.
You ever take a bullet?
Never in my thirty-four years, knock on wood.
I've only taken my gun out...
3 times wanting to use it.
Never pulled the trigger.
Not once.
You?
Yeah. No, I never took a bullet, but...
I pulled my gun once. Shot it once.
- Really? - It was my first one of these.
We were a secondary unit.
I was pretty shaky going in. I was a rookie.
We bust open the door looking for this junkie, the fucker opened fire on us.
One cop got hit in the arm.
Christ, what was his name?
It spun him like a top... no, Well, more, you know, more like slow motion.
I remember...
riding in that ambulance...
and, well...
he died right there.
Right there.
Christ, what was his fucking name?
SWAT goes before dicks.
They love this.
Police!
Clear!
Good morning, sweetheart.
Get up now, motherfucker. Now!
Get up, you sack of shit.
Oh, fuck me.
Dicks!
You'll want to come take a look at this.
Dicks!
Jesus.
Victor?
- What the hell? - It's just Victor.
- Call an ambulance. - What the fuck?
Hearse, I'd say.
Call for forensics.
Get your people out.
No one touches anything.
It's like a frigging wax sculpture.
Sloth.
Aw, man.
Goddamn.
Those pictures were dated 3 days ago.
This must be the first.
Look.
It's dated exactly one year ago today.
I got a hair sample. I got a...
stool sample. I got piss. I got...
fingernails.
He's laughing at us.
You got what you deserved.
He's alive! Cocksucker's alive!
Guns down!
Emergency on that ambulance!
- He's playing games. - Aw, no shit.
We must forget our emotion.
- We must focus on the details - I feed off my emotions. How's that?
Are you listening to me?
Yes, I can hear you.
- Excuse me. - What are you doing?
- Closed crime scene. Leave. - I got a right to be here.
I'm a U.P.I. photographer.
I got a fucking right to be here.
- Get out! Jesus. - Fucking jerk.
I got your picture, man.
- I got your picture. - Yeah, yeah.
Detective Mills. M-I-L-L-S. Fuck off.
- You can spell! - Fuck you!
How they get here so fucking quick?
They pay police for the information. And they pay well.
Hey man, I'm sorry.
They piss me off.
It's okay.
It's impressive to see a man feeding off his emotions.
1 year of immobility's right, judging by the muscle and spine deterioration.
Blood tests show a smorgasbord of drugs in his system.
Even an antibiotic, probably to keep the bedsores from infecting.
Now, has he tried to speak or communicate in any way?
Even if his brain were not mush, which it is...
he chewed off his tongue long ago.
Doc.
Is there absolutely no chance that he might survive?
He'd die of shock right now if you shone a flashlight in his eyes.
He's had as much pain and suffering as anyone I've encountered, give or take
and he still has hell to look forward to.
Good night.
Hello, William.
It's Tracy.
Tracy?
Everything okay?
Yeah. Yes, everything's fine.
Where's David?
He's in the other room. He's in the shower.
I'm sorry to call you like this.
Oh, it's all right.
What can I do for you?
I need someone to talk...
to. Do you think you could meet me...
somewhere, maybe tomorrow morning?
I don't understand.
I feel stupid calling, but...
you're the only person that I know here.
There's no one else.
If you can...
just give me a call, okay?
I have to go now.
Good night.
FRIDAY
I mean...
you know this city so well.
You've been here...
so long.
It can be a hard place.
I don't know why I asked you to come.
Why don't you talk to him about it?
Tell him how you feel.
I can't. You know, I can't be a burden.
Especially now.
I'll get used to things...
you know?
I wanted to talk to someone...
who's lived here for a long time.
I mean, upstate, it's a completely different environment.
Did David tell you that I teach fifth grade? Well, I did.
Yeah, he mentioned it.
I've been going around, looking at schools...
but the conditions here are...
horrible.
What about private schools?
I don't know.
Tell me what's really bothering you.
David and I are going to have a baby.
Oh, Tracy. I...
I don't think I'm the one...
to talk to...
- about this. - I hate this city.
I had a relationship once...
it was very much like a marriage.
We got pregnant.
This was a long time ago.
I remember getting up one morning and going to work.
Just a day like any other, except it was the first day after I knew...
about the pregnancy.
And I felt this fear...
the first time ever.
I remember thinking...
how can I bring a child into a world like this?
How can a person grow up with all this around them?
I told her I didn't want to have it.
And over the next few weeks...
I wore her down.
I want to have children.
I can tell you now that...
I know... I mean...
I'm positive that...
I made the right decision.
But not a day passes that I don't wish...
that I had made a different choice.
If you don't...
keep...
the baby, I mean, if that's your decision...
don't ever tell him you were pregnant.
but if you choose to have the baby...
then spoil that kid...
every chance you get.
That's...
about...
all the advice I can give you, Tracy.
I got to go.
William.
Thank you.
Victor's landlord said there was cash in the mail box...
the first of every month.
Quote:
"I never heard a single complaint from the tenant...
in apartment 306, and nobody ever complained about him.
The best tenant I've ever had."
- End quote. - A landlord's dream.
A paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
Who pays the rent on time.
I'm sick of this waiting.
This is the job.
Why aren't we out there?
Why must we sit here rotting, waiting till the lunatic...
does it again?-
"Lunatic" is dismissive. Don't make that mistake.
Come on, he's insane. Look.
Right now he's probably dancing around in his grandma's panties.
Yeah, rubbing himself in peanut butter.
How's that?
I don't think so.
His luck'll run out.
He's not depending on luck.
We walked in there exactly 1 year after he tied Victor to the bed.
One year to the day.
- He wanted us to. - Don't know that for sure.
Oh, yes, we do.
This note he left...