Dead of Night Forever Knight, Season 3, Episode 14 Written by Michael Sadowski Transcribed by Marg Baskin Proofread by Nancy Warlocke Guest Cast: Alyssa.........................................Kari Matchett Spencer...........................................Jack Duffy Andrea King..................................Barbara Radecki Gefford Weintroff.............................Peter Keleghan Female Cop ....................Catherine Williams Davis Ogden.....................................Leon Pownall Shirelle..........................................Kim Bourne Nana Tash.....................................Corinne Conley Priest..........................................Adam Bramble Young Tracy...................................Courtney Greig Susan.............................................Maia Filar Jack Scalley...........................Richard Sali Jimmy Reese...........................Panou Mowling TEASER [Two men and a woman are exploring an old house, lighting their way by flashlight.] Spencer: Power's down. Had contractors in to re-wire the place, but they took off like a shot one day, right in the middle of the job. Ghost got to them, probably. Weintroff: [sarcastically] Well, I suppose you come with the place, Mr. Spencer. Spencer: I'm like part of the furniture. Weintroff: Yeah, well, we'll be redecorating. Now go get me some damned lights. [Spencer goes off to get the lights.] Ms. King: Mr. Weintroff, Carl Spencer's been working here for almost twenty years. Mr. Ogden, the owner of the property, specifically stipulates-- Weintroff: [nastily] Excuse me. I stipulate. Customer's always right. Where the hell is Ogden, anyway? Ms. King: I'm not sure he got my message. Weintroff: Yeah, well, call him again. Wake him up. Well? Ms. King: [sigh] I'll just try him again on my car phone. Weintroff: Oh, goody. [She goes outside. Weintroff goes up the stairs, looking around by flashlight. On the second floor, he hears an eerie voice calling his name from somewhere in the house, and follows the sound. A pair of French doors fly open in front of him, opening onto an upstairs balcony. Hearing a sound behind him, Weintroff whirls, then his eyes widen in horror.] Weintroff: What the hell...? [He screams as he is pushed backwards, over the railing of the balcony. He falls onto the wrought-iron fence below, and is impaled.] OPENING CREDITS [SCENE: Kessel House, later. The electricity is turned on now, and the house is filled with cops and forensics techs. Nick and Tracy are interviewing, Spencer, the caretaker.] Spencer: It's not the house that's supposed to be haunted, it's the people that go in it. That's the legend, anyway. Nick: I've heard stories about this house. Spencer: They say it's a spiritual channel of some kind. Tracy: A portal into the afterlife. Spencer: A porthole somewhere. Never seen anything like a ghost in there, but I got a clear conscience. No spook bugging me. I think, anyway. Nick: You're sure you three were the only ones in the house when Weintroff fell? Spencer: Oh, that's for sure. I went to get the juice going, you know, light the place up. Tracy: And you left him with Ms. King? Spencer: Right here. [points at a spot] Nick: Mr. Spencer, you understand we'll have to take you in for questioning. Tracy: With a lawyer, Mr. Spencer. Spencer: Oh, give me the lie detector if you want. [He wanders off. Tracy and Nick grin at each other.] Tracy: So, I'm guessing you're not much of a believer in ghosts? Nick: I'll take the fifth on that one. [They go over to where Ms. King, the real estate agent, is giving her statement to a uniformed officer. King is crying.] Ms. King: I was on my phone in the car, and I heard him scream. It was awful. And I looked up, and saw him on the... He fell out, onto the fence. Tracy: Did you see anyone with him? Ms. King: It was dark, but... I thought I saw someone. A silhouette in the window. I looked again. No one was there. Nick: Man or woman? Ms. King: It was so dark, I couldn't say. Oh, God, I should call Mr. Ogden. Nick: That's the property owner? We'll handle it. Tracy: Ms. King, we're going to have this officer take you down to the precinct for your statement. Ms. King: Why? Please, I just want to go home. I didn't do anything. Tracy: And you should call your lawyer. [King is led away. Nick glances up the stairs.] Nick: I want to have a look at that window. Tracy: All right. I'll check around down here. [wryly] And, hey, Nick--if I see anything weird, I'll scream. [She wanders off. Nick is still standing at the base of the stairs, looking upwards. He hears a ghostly, echoing voice.] Alyssa: [very distantly] Nicholas... [Nick jumps as Natalie comes up behind him and lays her hand on his shoulder.] Natalie: Well, looks pretty cut and dried to me. Railing broke. In highly technical terms, he fell, he died. [She finally looks at him directly, and sees his expression.] Natalie: You know, if I didn't know better, I would say that this place frightens you. Nick: [tensely] Yeah... Just keep it between us, okay? [Nick goes up the stairs, passing a female uniformed cop, who is on her way down.] Female Cop: Dr. Lambert, I need you to sign the crime scene duty roster. Natalie: Sure. [Natalie gestures with her pen towards the cop's name badge, which reads "Natasha."] Natalie: Oh, that takes me back. Natasha. My grandmother used to call me Natasha. Female Cop: [puzzled] Excuse me, Doctor? Natalie: Your name... [Natalie takes another look at the name badge. It reads "Kate Nash."] Natalie: [uncomfortably] Uh, never mind. It's all right. Female Cop: Thanks. [SCENE: Elsewhere in the house. Tracy is looking around by flashlight, having moved beyond the bright lighting of the crime scene. The furniture is all in dust covers. She bends down to examine something, and when she straightens up again, a little girl is visible over her shoulder, standing in a corner of the room, lit by an eerie blue light. Tracy doesn't see her, and when she finally swings the flashlight around in that direction, the child is gone.] [SCENE: Upstairs. Nick, too, is exploring. This part of the house is lit by pole-mounted spotlights set up by forensics. While he's looking around, the lights all sputter and die. Nick approaches the balcony where Weintroff died, breaks the police tape, and goes out on it. Looking down on the cops and spectators milling around on the street, he sees a young woman wearing a white hooded cloak--definitely not modern styling--staring at the police light flashing on the Cadillac's dashboard. She looks up at him, and when Nick recognizes her, he rushes inside.] [A few seconds later, Nick runs out the front door of Kessel house. There is no woman beside his car.] Nick: [to a nearby cop] Officer--did you see a young woman standing by my car just now? Cop: No. [Tracy comes out of the house.] Tracy: Covered the downstairs. No trace of anyone. You? Nick: [pulling himself together] No luck. Let's go talk to the landlord. [Nick goes around the Cadillac and climbs into the driver's seat. Tracy is about to follow, but when she looks through he windshield of the car, she sees the same little girl who was watching her within the house. The child is sitting in the passenger seat of the Cadillac. Tracy runs around the car, but when she reaches the passenger door, the child has vanished.] Tracy: [leaning in the window] Nick--there was a little girl sitting right here. Didn't you see her? Nick: [glancing at the empty seat] No, no I didn't see anything. You okay? Tracy: Yeah... Forget it. [SCENE: the home of Mr. Ogden, who owns Kessel House. Ogden, a portly man, is having tea served to Nick and Tracy by Shirelle, a young blonde woman who works for him.] Ogden: Of course it's haunted. Shirelle can attest, can't you, sweetheart? She's had encounters there, in the dead of night. Tracy: With ghosts? [Shirelle hands a tea cup to Tracy. She offers one to Nick, but he shakes his head.] Ogden: Ghosts are merely people without bodies, Detective. Very much like us, they share our same need for answers to burning questions. Many seek justice where none was rendered in life. Kessel House is a reverse medium, if you will, through which the dead come to the living for closure. I've been an aficionado of the occult and the paranormal all my life, and I've never come across anything quite like it. Nick: How well did you know Gefford Weintroff? Ogden: Well enough not to like him, frankly. He and his partner were interested in the house, and the adjoining property. [fascinated] Are you insinuating a motive, Detective? Nick: No, we think his death was an accident... but now that you've brought it up... Ogden: But I was home all evening. Exercising. Shirelle has been helping me. Doubling as my personal trainer. [Nick and Tracy both glance at Shirelle, then back at Ogden, speculatively.] Ogden: One of the things about being a ghost I most look forward to is a less cumbersome package. And as for Gefford Weintroff. I warned him that the house was in a dangerous state. I insisted that he sign a waver before he inspected the property. Nick: And his partner? Ogden: Gerry Scalley? Also most unpleasant. Toured the property last week. Tracy: Did Gefford Weintroff believe that Kessel House was haunted? Ogden: Well, I know he didn't yesterday. [Tracy and Nick exchange uneasy glances.] [SCENE: the dimly lit cold storage area adjacent to the morgue lab. Natalie is standing beside Weintroff's sheet-covered body, dictating notes into a tape recorder.] Natalie: Subject: male, Caucasian, 43. Cause of death: massive internal trauma, result of impalement. Anomalous bruising noted on the upper thorax. [The camera pans around to show the view over Natalie's shoulder, where an elderly woman--Natalie's grandmother--is standing. She is more brightly lit than the room around her, with the same kind of eerie blow as the "apparitions" Nick and Tracy saw earlier.] Nana: This is such an awful place, Natasha. Natalie: Yeah. You're telling me. [Realization dawns on Natalie, and she whirls around in astonishment.] Nana: Natasha, why you don't come see me in hospital? Why you don't come say dosvidanya? [Natalie closes her eyes, and pinches the bridge of her nose. When she opens her eyes again, her grandmother is gone.] [SCENE: the 96th Precinct. Ms. King is giving her statement in the interview room. Reese, Nick and Tracy are in the adjacent observation room, watching through one-way glass.] Reese: I don't believe in ghosts, but I know foul play when I see it. Look, Nick, the guy went over the railing with sufficient force to pull it down. Nick: Yeah, that's right. Reese: Well, that tells me he was pushed. You're not focusing here, people. Tracy: I don't know how I missed that one. Reese: Real estate agent says she left Weintroff to use her car phone. Tracy: Easy enough to verify. Reese: And did you? [to Nick] What about you? [They each avoid looking at him.] Reese: Well, I did. The cellular company said no call was made from that car all night. No incoming, either. Adios, alibi. The caretaker says he left victim with the real estate lady, who says she left victim alone. Well, I say someone pushed the guy, and that's two prime suspects. They're going to walk because I don't have anything. [Natalie comes into the room.] Reese: [to Natalie] Please, tell me you found something? Natalie: [speaking very nervously and uncertainly, nothing like her usual self] Well, I did finish the prelim, and I'm going to say that... Actually, I think that I'm going to say that it was... uh-- Reese: [annoyed] Accidental? Nick: [with concern] You okay? Natalie: Yeah. Never been better. Maybe just a little over caffeinated. Reese: Something you people should know about me--I hate when people get away with murder on my watch. Now, we're going to take a fresh look at this thing with the idea firmly in mind that this was a homicide, okay? Sleep on it. [He walks out. The remains three exchange uncomfortable glances.] [SCENE: Kessel House. Nick has returned alone. As he walks through the darkened upstairs room, the woman in white--Alyssa--appears behind him.] Alyssa: Nicholas. [Nick whirls and stares at her.] Alyssa: You said we'd be together forever. Nick: Alyssa. Alyssa: Your wife. COMMERCIAL [SCENE: immediate continuation of the previous.] Alyssa: [sadly] Say you remember. Please. Say you remember how I loved you. [CUT to FLASHBACK: c. 1530; Linz, Austria A priest is preceding over the wedding of Nick and Alyssa von Linz. LaCroix is present, hovering in the background, holding a rose.] Priest: Do you, Alyssa von Linz, promise to love, cherish, honor and obey this man who would today be your husband? Alyssa: I do. Priest: In sickness and health, forever and without condition? Alyssa: Without condition. Priest: Do you, sir, also take this woman as your wife, in the eyes of God and Church, to cherish in life, forever and unconditionally. What say you, Nicholas de Brabant? Nick: I do. Priest: If any man object whatsoever to this union, let him come forward to speak, or forever hold his peace. With authority vested in me by God, I pronounce you man and wife. What he has put together, let no man put asunder. [Nick and Alyssa retreat down the aisle, hand in hand.] [CUT to the present. Alyssa extends her hand towards Nick, then fades away. He runs forward, straight through the spot where she stood a moment before, then quickly leaves the house. Outside, he spots a glimmer of metal on the ground near the fence were Weintroff was impaled, and picks it up. It's a military insignia of some sort.] [SCENE: Tracy's apartment. Tracy is sleeping, twisting uneasily in the bed. CUT to her dream: Tracy as a child, and her friend, Susan, are walking along a railroad track, dragging their sleds behind him. Susan is falling behind.] Child Tracy: [impatiently] Come on, let's go. [Susan tries to pull her sled off the tracks, and the sled running gets caught in the tracks.] Susan: My sled's stuck. Child Tracy: Come on. Hurry up! [Susan tries to pull the sled free with her hand, and only succeeds in getting her arm caught, too.] Susan: My sweater's stuck. Tracy, come help me. Child Tracy: Susan. Susan: Tracy... [Susan looks down the track, and sees a train approaching.] Susan: [screaming hysterically] Tracy! Help me! [CUT to the present, as Tracy jolts upright in bed. Even though she's now awake, she can still hear Susan's voice--this time coming through her open bedroom window. She jumps out of bed and goes to the window. Susan is standing on the street below, dressed as Tracy last saw her, holding her sled.] Susan: Tracy! Help me. Tracy, help me... Help me. [Tracy backs away from the window, in panic.] [SCENE: The offices belonging to Gefford Weintroff. Nick and Tracy are interviewing Weintroff's partner, Gerard Scalley.] Scalley: So, you're here about Weintroff. Tough break for him, huh? Nick: We're investigating his death as a homicide. We need to see his records. Scalley: Murder? Well, don't look at me. I was on the red-eye from Vancouver last night when it happened. [He wanders away, going about his business, and Nick and Tracy trail after him through the office.] Tracy: You'll pardon my saying so, Mr. Scalley, but you don't seem that affected about your partner's death. Scalley: Sure I am--it's double the work for me now he's gone. Nick: Did Weintroff have any enemies? Scalley: Better to ask if he had any friends. None of either, I'd say. Tracy: Tell us about Kessel House. Scalley: Place is a dump. Weintroff's idea. He had plans for it, so I took a look at it. Nick: What plans? Scalley: Never got around to telling me. We weren't exactly seeing eye to eye in the last few months. Tracy: Has anything strange happened to you since you visited Kessel House last weekend? Scalley: [sarcastically] Well, let's see... My partner was killed in a freak accident, does that count? Look, I know what you're getting at. Everyone goes to Kessel House looking for ghosts. But you don't see ghosts unless you believe in ghosts. And I don't, period. Nick: We're going to have to ask you to stay around for a little while--until this situation clears. [Nick hands him a business card.] Scalley: Sorry, tomorrow I'm in Calgary. Nick: Well, then, you'll have to change your plans, won't you? [SCENE: the squad room at the precinct. Reese is examining the badge Nick found, which is now in an evidence bag.] Reese: Military. I'm not sure which branch. Oh, and your hunch was right--that is Weintroff's blood on it. I'm going to run it past some military people I know. Try and trace it. [Reese walks off. Nick looks around, and sees Tracy filling her mug from the coffee machine. She looks exhausted. He joins her.] Tracy: For two guys who didn't see eye-to-eye Weintroff and Scalley sure go back a long way. How about you? Nick: Well, only that Weintroff has been sued by almost everyone in Ontario. [Tracy suppresses a yawn.] Tracy: Sorry... Man, I didn't sleep last night. Nick: What's up? Tracy: Nick... [uncertainly] What if I told you I saw a ghost at Kessel House? Nick: The little girl in the car. Tracy: I thought you'd laugh. [Nick shakes his head.] When I was little, a friend of mine was killed by a train. I was there. I saw it. I blamed myself. Last night, at Kessel House, that was her. And I saw her again, outside my window at home. It was her. It was Susan Feldman. [SCENE: the morgue. Natalie drops a tray of instruments she's carrying onto the floor, as she finds herself again facing her dead grandmother.] Nana: Natasha... Why? Natalie: Look, I know you're just a figment of my imagination, but please don't sneak up on me like that. Nana: I'm sorry, Tashka. Natalie: Nana, you've... you've been dead for years... How can you be here? Nana: [confused] I don't know. I saw you last night, so I followed. To ask why you don't come see me in the hospital. [Unseen, Nick and Tracy come into the morgue, behind Natalie. ] Nick: Who are you talking to, Nat? [Natalie nearly jumps out of her skin, and whirls around to face them. She then looks frantically back to the corner where her grandmother stood. It is, of course, empty.] Tracy: [concerned] Are you okay? COMMERCIAL [SCENE: continuation of above, a few minutes later. The normal, bright lighting is turned on now. Tracy is bringing Natalie some tablets, and a bottle of water to wash them down with.] Natalie: [desperately] Could be hysteria, hypnotic suggestion, maybe even an hallucinogenic agent. I haven't slept, going on two days. That could be it. Or, I could just losing my mind. [She pops the pills into her mouth and takes a drink.] Tracy: You're not crazy. It's happening to me, too. Nick: All right, all right. I saw someone, too. A woman in the house. Make you feel better? But I'm not prepared to think that a ghost killed Weintroff. Natalie: Okay. This conversation has officially gone over the deep end. Tracy: Natalie, when your grandmother came to see you--what did she want? Natalie: She wanted to know why I never went to see her when she was dying. Tracy: And did you tell her? Natalie: No, no, I didn't. Not the real reason. Tracy: She'll be back. [SCENE: LaCroix on the air as the Nightcrawler.] LaCroix: A ghost is an hallucination of some famous regret, no more. Ghosts are mistakes that we've made. They come not from beyond the pale, but rise up from our gravest doubts about ourselves. Each ill-considered thing that we have done is a ghost that haunts us. If we let it. [FLASHBACK: Nick and Alyssa's wedding night. They're starting to make love.] Alyssa: Are you happy, my lord Nicholas? Nick: As I've ever been. Alyssa: We'll be together forever, won't we? Nick: For eternity. [He kisses her feverishly.] Nick: Do you remember when I promised that we could be together forever? I can give you eternal life. [More kisses.] Nick: Alyssa... I am immortal. As you will be. My gift to you-- [Alyssa is looking at him uncertainly. Nick sits up suddenly, his eyes turning golden, and she looks frightened.] Nick: Alyssa... Do you trust me? Alyssa: [almost sure] Of course, my lord. With all my heart. Nick: Then close your eyes... and give yourself to me. [He bites her.] [SCENE: The present. Nick is in the Cadillac, listening on the radio as LaCroix continues his monologue.] LaCroix: Regret is for the foolish, the weak, the tormented. Kill it before it bleeds you dry... [Tracy reaches across and turns off the radio.] Tracy: Sorry, Nick, that guy gets under my skin. So what do you think she wants? Susan Feldman? What does she want? Nick: I don't know. Why don't you ask her? [Nick's cell phone rings] Nick: [into the phone] Knight? [CUT to Gerard Scalley, on the other end of the phone. He's alone in his office, looking very jumpy.] Scalley: Yeah, Detective Knight. Look, someone's tailing me. I think they've got it in for me like they had it in for Weintroff. Nick: [on the phone] Someone you know? Scalley: Yeah, someone I know. A dead someone. [Scalley hears a noise and hangs up. He picks up a pistol, turns around and screams, "No!" when he sees the figure behind him.] [SCENE: Scalley's office. Nick and Tracy arrive, and get out of the Cadillac.] Nick: Something's not right here. Look, you take the front, I'll go around back. If anyone comes, check their ID, okay? [He runs off, leaving her there. A few seconds later, he flies in through Scalley's window, shattering it.] [CUT to Tracy, still in front of the building. She turns around and sees Susan again, standing in the street, holding her sled. While Tracy's back is turned to the building, a silhouetted figure sneaks out the front door and disappears.] Tracy: Susan? Susan, is that you? Susan... Susan. [Tracy follows Susan blindly into the street, and is startled as a van drives between them.] [CUT to the inside of the building, where Nick has just found Scalley's body.] COMMERCIAL [SCENE: the precinct. Natalie is giving a preliminary report on Scalley to Reese, Nick and Tracy. Natalie looks tired and frazzled.] Reese: I don't buy it. Natalie: Well, my preliminary report is just going to add to the confusion. Heart attack. Massive, sudden and swift. Reese: He's too young for a massive coronary. Have you checked his medical records? Natalie: There's nothing there. There's no history of heart disease, murmur, cholesterol, tachycardia, you name it. You know, with what's been happening lately, if someone were to suggest me that he'd been scared to death, I might actually believe it. [Natalie leaves.] Reese: Did he know who was following him? Nick: It was a dead someone, he said. Reese: These guys have real flesh and blood enemies. Stop chasing ghosts, will you? [As Reese walks off, Nick leans close to Tracy and whispers.] Nick: I wish they'd stop chasing us. [Remembering something, Reese turns back to them, and indicates the military badge Nick found.] Reese: Oh, yeah, Nick? My friends in the service tell me it's a US Army issue service star. Of the type issued about twenty years ago. [Nick and Tracy go back to their desks.] Nick: My guess is that Weintroff grabbed it from his assailant in the struggle. Tracy: [flipping open a file] This is interesting. Who's Who from the Chamber of Commerce listings. Remember when I said Weintroff and Scalley go back a long way in business? They were fraternity brothers in college, too. Nick: The ghost had it in for both of them. Calling in an old debt, maybe. [SCENE: the morgue. Natalie is sitting at her desk, dictating notes.] Natalie: Subject Gerard Scalley. Tests confirm coronary thrombosis. Anomalous contusion over the sternum similar to that observed in subject G. Weintroff... [She looks around uneasily, and turns off the tape recorder.] Natalie: Grandma? Nana? You here? [She waits a moment, but gets no answer.] Natalie: Right. I am completely out of my mind. [flipping on the recorder again] ...G. Weintroff suggests comodio cortus, a fatal blow to the chest, though the instrument of death is unknown. [A ghostly hand reaches towards her shoulder. Natalie half turns around, but it's gone before she turns. She barely has time to relax, then the hand really does touch her. Natalie squeaks, jumps to her feet and leaps away from the desk.] Nana: Oh, this is such an awful place, Natasha. You spend so much time here. That nice boy, Nick. He likes you. I can tell. He seems like a very down-to-earth young fellow. Natalie: Nana, listen to me... I'm sorry I never came to the hospital, but I have to tell you the truth. I resented you. Do you remember, when I was a little girl and you used to take care of me? Nana: [sadly] Yes, I remember... I hit you. I hurt you. Now I know how wrong I was. I'm sorry, Natasha. Can you forgive me? Natalie: Yes, of course. I'm sorry, too. Nana: I'm happy now... I can rest. Natalie: Nana, wait... Please! You... you have to tell me--where are you? Nana: I'm sleeping, Natasha. I'm sleeping in a beautiful dream. [Nana backs up, and vanishes.] Natalie: Nana! [Nick come in.] Nick: Nat? What's wrong? Natalie: [nearly in tears] She was here. My grandmother was here again, and when I told her why I never went to visit her when she was dying, she apologized to me. I've been waiting my whole life for her to apologize. Nick: [gently] Maybe you should knock off for a while. Natalie: No, I'm okay. It's okay. I've almost finished my write- up. Nick: Nat... well, if you're sure, uh... [He pulls the evidence bag with the military pin from his pocket, and hands it over.] Nick: I found this outside of Kessel House. It's got Weintroff's blood on it. I was wondering if you could find a cut or a scratch to match with it. Natalie: I'll double check. Nick: Nat... You sure you're going to be okay if... you know, your grandmother comes back? Natalie: She won't be back. Don't ask me how I know, I just know. She's finished here. We made our peace. [FLASHBACK: Alyssa lies on the bed, oblivious. Nick bites his own wrist, collects his blood in a wine glass, then pours it into her mouth. He kisses her.] Nick: Sleep, my love. When you awake, we will be as one forever. [He settles down to wait. Time passes, but Alyssa shows no signs of waking up. Nick eventually returns to the bed and begins kissing her, trying to wake her up.] Nick: Alyssa. Alyssa? Alyssa, it's time to wake. [No response.] Nick: Alyssa? [LaCroix walks in.] LaCroix: Something wrong, Nicholas? Your love nest reeks of death. Nick: [frantically] I brought her across. LaCroix: Life is a fire, Nicholas. It can be rekindled from the tiniest ember, so long as it is not allowed to become too cold. [looks at Alyssa] This fire is dead. [casually] Oh, well, never mind. It's a subtle art. Practice will make perfect. It was your first attempt, after all. Nick: LaCroix... Help me, please. LaCroix: I cannot, Nicholas. I told you. Don't take too much. [LaCroix leaves.] [SCENE: Kessel House. Nick has returned there again, looking for Alyssa.] Nick: Alyssa, can you hear me? [He waits, but there's no response.] Nick: [talking to the empty room] I want you to understand... I did love you very much. I wanted us to be together forever. I'm so sorry. [A fire suddenly kindles in the hearth, and when Nick turns around quickly, Alyssa is standing there.] Alyssa: Nicholas, I know that what you say is true. I love you still. But I must tell you, because I love you, that you should not have come here. You are in danger here. You will die here tonight. And because of what you have been, and done, you will not be with me... ever. COMMERCIAL [SCENE: the squad room. Tracy catches up with Reese as he's crossing the room.] Tracy: Hey, Captain, I think I've found something. Reese: Please don't say Weintroff and Scalley's ghost. Tracy: Yeah... I think so. Sorry. Weintroff and Scalley were both beta-kappa-sig twenty-two years ago at McClinton University in Ohio. And I found this. [She hands over a report.] Reese: List of unsolved homicides in Ohio? Tracy: Going back twenty-five years. This one jumped out at me. [While they talk, Tracy is gulping down a mug of coffee, drinking almost continually.] Reese: Lieutenant Jean St. Clair. Army nurse, stationed at Wayland Army Base near the university. Body found 1974. Tracy: Raped and murdered. No one was ever charged in her death. Canvas teams questioned students around the area of McClinton University. Reese: Detective, you're still telling me what I don't want to hear. A ghost, back from the dead for revenge. Tracy, there's no such thing as ghosts. [He walks away from her.] Tracy: [calling after him impatiently] Captain! [Tracy takes a few steps in pursuit of Reese, then comes to a sudden halt, and turns around slowly to look at the room behind her. That half of the squad room is now dark, lit eerily by red and green lights. Papers are flying everywhere and furniture is levitating and spinning. Susan, in her snowsuit, carrying her sled, walks out into the center of the chaos. Tracy drops her coffee mug to the floor.] [Reese, who is signing a report for another detective, hears it fall and looks over to see Tracy frozen in the middle of the room, staring at nothing. He goes over to her.] Reese: Detective? What's wrong? Tracy? Tracy: Captain... Over there. Tell me what you see. [Reese looks at the area of room she's staring at. To him, it is completely ordinary--normal lighting, cops going about their business.] Reese: Cops. [concerned] What do you see? Tracy: Oh, my God. [staring at Susan, whose expression is decidedly malevolent.] What does she want? [She clutches Reese's sleeve.] Captain, what am I gonna do? [SCENE: Kessel House, where Nick and Alyssa are talking.] Alyssa: You are in grave danger, Nicholas. Nick: Please forgive me for what I've done. Alyssa: I do. I forgive you. I needed to know that you remembered me, and what we had together. Nick: What we almost had. Alyssa: Seeing you again gives me great peace. [Nick hears sounds from somewhere in the house.] Alyssa: You must go now. Others are coming. Some among them bear you ill-will. Souls you dispatched from this world who cannot be appeased. Go now. Go quickly! Nick: Please. Come with me. Alyssa: I cannot. Nick: Be with me a while longer. Alyssa: I cannot. But I can help you. [She glances towards the fireplace.] Alyssa: I know what it is you seek. Why you came here. The answer is here, Nicholas. Come to me, and see. [She walks to the fireplace, then fades away. Nick bends down and searches the floor around the spot where she vanished. He locates a woman's pearl earring. [CUT to a flash of memory, from his interview with Ogden.] Ogden: Of course it's haunted. Shirelle can attest. She's had encounters there, in the dead of night. [As Shirelle offers him a cup of tea, Nick sees that she is wearing an identical earring.] [SCENE: the precinct, continuation of the previous scene there. Reese is watching Tracy with concern.] Reese: Tracy, I'm taking you to ER. I don't like this. Tracy: Susan, what do you want? [Susan turns and starts to leave.] Tracy: Wait... Where are you going? Susan: The house. They're closing it. I have to go back. [Susan vanishes.] Reese: Tracy, what the hell is going on? [Tracy runs to her desk, grabs her coat and heads for the door.] Reese: Detective--where are you going? Tracy: Kessel House. Tell Nick I'm there. [She runs off.] Cop: Captain, this just came in for Detective Vetter. [The cop hands Reese a report, which contains a photo of Lt. Jean St. Clair, the murdered army nurse. She's a dead-ringer for Shirelle.] [SCENE: Kessel House. Nick is still kneeling by the fireplace, examining the earring he found. Suddenly, the fire flares high, flames leaping at him. He jerks back out of the way, and falls to the floor. A ghostly blue light flares suddenly on the other side of the room, and silhouetted figures begin entering through it. Nick snarls at them, turns, and discovers more behind him. He forces past them, and runs into the hallway, but more ghosts are coming out of the walls at him. He fights his way through a gamut of vengeful spirits and finally reaches a room downstairs where they don't follow him. He shuts the door, turns around, and find himself facing the corpse of Mr. Ogden, who is propped up in a chair. As he examines the body, Shirelle walks out of the shadows. She's wearing a uniform and wig which make her look like Jean St. Clair. Shirelle stabs Nick, and as he jerks backwards, she pulls off her wig and looks at Ogden's corpse.] Shirelle: They killed my mother, Scalley and Weintroff. [looking around] She came to me here. She told me they have to pay. Nick: Why kill Ogden? Shirelle: He lied to me. He told me he'd protect the house. But then I found out, he wanted to tear it down, too. This is the only place I'll ever see my mother again. I couldn't let that happen. [She pulls out a gun and shoots Nick. He falls and lays still.] [SCENE: Outside Kessel House. Tracy is standing on the steps, staring at the place, when she hears Susan behind her.] Susan: Tracy... Come play with me. Tracy, come with me. [Susan starts to back up, and Tracy, seemingly mesmerized, moves after her.] [CUT to the interior of the house. Having healed the bullet wounds, Nick wakes up, only to find himself surrounded by vengeful ghosts from his past.] [CUT to the exterior of the house, where Tracy is still following Susan.] Susan: Tracy... come with me. [CUT to Nick, crashing through a window to escape. He lands on the porch, regains his feet, and sees Tracy, walking zombie-like towards the street. He cannot see Susan.] Susan: I miss you, Tracy. [Tracy is in the middle of the street, completely oblivious to a car approaching at high speed. Nick flies to her, grabs her, and drags her out of the way. The movement startles her out of her trance.] [Shirelle comes out of the house, and takes aim towards Nick and Tracy, but Reese has just arrived.] Reese: [shouting at Shirelle] Police! Freeze! [Shirelle turns and fires at Reese, who shoots her. He approaches her body, then hears/senses movement at the front door of the house. As he whirls to cover the movement with his weapon, a young, black man in army fatigues comes out onto the porch.] Reese: Halt! Drop your weapon now! [Grinning at him, Jordan Reese holds up his hands in surrender.] Jordan: Wow, watch where you're pointing that thing. Hey, Little Joe. Reese: What the hell...? Jordan? [Jordan grins, salutes him, then turns to go back into the house. As he turns around, multiple bullet holes, still leaking blood, are visible on his back. He vanishes just as Nick and Tracy reach Reese's side.] Nick: Captain? See something? Reese: No. Nothing. COMMERCIAL [SCENE: The loft. Natalie is stoking up the fire.] Natalie: So, is your case closed now? Nick: [coming up behind her unexpectedly] Boo. [Natalie squeaks and jumps.] Nick: You mean my ghost? [He sits down on the couch in front of the fireplace, and Natalie joins him.] Natalie: You know, you never actually told me who it was. Nick: It was someone I loved, and lost a long, long time ago. Someone who needed to be remembered. Natalie: So what happens to the house now? Nick: The city will probably tear it down, and put up an apartment complex, like Weintroff and his partner had originally intended. Tell me, Nat, what do you make of all this--what we saw? Natalie: You mean what we think we saw? I don't know. You know what bothers me about this is that each of our ghosts told us the same thing. Things that we subconsciously wanted to hear. Nick: Projections of our own desires? Our needs for closure. Natalie: Well, I'm not going to go on record saying that I saw a ghost. But if someone were to ask me if I'd had some kind of religious experience... I think I'd have to take the fifth on that one. [SCENE: Reese in his office, staring at a photo of Jordan, in dress uniform.] [SCENE: the stretch of railroad tracks where Susan Feldman died. Tracy lays a red rose on the track, then walks on.] END CREDITS