The Possession - There Goes The Neighborhood Part 1

Content Warning: child death, gruesome murder

HENRY (Carver) – Husband, father

HOLT (George) – Male, lead Detective at scene

GREY – Female Detective at scene

HARDING – (Jill) Female Detective interrogating HENRY (also has speaking role in Hell Hounds)

WALTERS –27 yo male Police Officer (also main character in Hell Hounds)

FELIX / DEMON –Gravely male voice, slight British accent

Int: The Carver’s House

It’s seventy degrees and sunny, a perfect early summer afternoon in the southern Illinois town of Plank. The smell permeating the streets in this usually quiet (until recently) neighborhood isn’t hot dogs on a charcoal grill, but the reason HENRY and Jen Carver’s yard and home are filled with policemen holding their noses and CSI techs in full hazard gear. In the kitchen, in various conditions, are three dead bodies.

Detective George HOLT has set up a mobile workstation in the front yard of the two-story craftsman. Officers leave the house for air, some vomit in the overgrown bushes beside the front door. Neighbors have gathered on the periphery of the crime tape, a few women in flowing sun dresses loudly sob and hold each other.

Detective GREY arrives on scene and is met by Officer WALTERS on the front walk.  

Walters

Detective Grey.

Grey

Walters. You got here fast.

Walters

Yeah, I live here. (Hurries to correct himself) Not here, here. Two blocks east.

Grey

Oh, that’s right. (Pause) It looks like a nice place.

Walters

(Sighs) Yeah. It was…until recently. There was never any crime before the fires.

Grey

The fires? That’s right—I heard about the arson. How bad was it?

Walters

More than twenty small fires in a five-block radius in the last few months.

Grey

And wasn’t there something about cats?

Walters

(Pause) There was…honestly, it wasn’t investigated very thoroughly. I mean, it’s just cats.

Grey

What happened to them?

Walters

We don’t know. All the cats have been disappearing. More than twenty that I know of.  

Grey

Okay. Fires. Cats…now this.

Walters

This is a hell of a leap from cats and fires.

A commanding voice booms across the yard over the din.

Holt

(Hollers) Detective Grey, I need you front and center.

Grey

Catch up with you later, Walters.

Walters

You got it. Good luck.

WALTERS holds his nose and heads inside and GREY meets HOLT at his mobile command station.

Grey

Detective Holt. Is it as bad as they say?

Holt

Worse. Wait—don’t go in there. Trust me. You don’t want to see it. You won’t be able to get the smell out of your nose. We’ve got three bodies—a mother, a baby, and an unidentified male—and the father holding a smoking gun.

Grey

Jesus. So this is a pretty open-and-shut case?

Holt

Not even close.

Grey

Sir?

Holt

We know the husband, Henry Carver, pulled the trigger, but the only body with a gunshot wound is his wife, Jen. Before he went to the station, he said he’d been away on business for the past two days, then came home this morning and found his wife in the kitchen with…the other bodies, and he freaked out and shot her.

Grey

He just happened to have a gun on him, or…?

Holt

Doesn’t make sense, does it? And we can’t find his car.

Grey

It’s not the station wagon on the driveway?

Holt

No, he drove a Honda Accord. And the car in the driveway’s locked up tight but we think it belongs to the unidentified male in the kitchen. We’ll get it open, but it’s not the first priority, as you can imagine. Oh, and another thing.

Grey

Sir?

Holt

When he got home, Henry Carver was soaking wet—hair, clothes, everything. We have no idea why. He had no idea why. When we talked to his employer, they said Henry hasn’t been to work in over two weeks. He’s been on suspension for behavioral problems.

Grey

So he’s lying?

Holt

Looks like it.

Grey

What kind of behavioral problems?

Holt

Lashing out in meetings and a few of his coworkers had filed HR complaints against him. Then he stopped showing up for days at time.

Grey

Where is he now?

Holt

At the station already. Harding’s got ‘em.

Grey

Do you think Harding is up for this?

Holt

Are any of us? It’s all hands on-deck. She’s best suited for this anyway.

Grey

(Skeptically) Is she, sir?

Holt

She just finished her stint with the bizarre crime’s unit in Chicago, so yes. Compared to everyone else, Harding is the best we’ve got. I don’t expect much anyway. Mister Carver is pretty messed up. The neighbors found him with the gun in his hand.

Grey

They heard the gunshots and came over?

Holt

Actually it was the screaming. It woke the whole block. The woman…and the baby. 

Grey

Okay. (Deep breath) Where do you need me sir?

Holt

I have a special project for you, Grey. The wife kept a journal that she wrote in every day.

Grey

What am I looking for specifically?

Holt

Anything (sighs) anything that would explain what she did to the baby.

(Interrogation room) HENRY Carver sits hunched over a metal table in a sparse interrogation room. His wrists are handcuffed, his hands folded on the table in front of him. He’s gently rocking, his head bowed. There is dried blood on his hands, and he wears a clean, beige inmate jumpsuit. His cheeks are unshaven, his graying hair still damp and hanging in his eyes. Detective HARDING, late thirties, her dark hair pulled back in a bun, enters the room holding a file and a pen.

Harding

Mister Carver, I’m Detective Harding. We met at the scene.

Henry

My home. You mean, my home.

His voice is weak and dark, with a haunted quality befitting a man who has just been through hell.

Harding

Yes, I’m sorry. We met at your house. (Pauses, sits at table) Can I get you anything? Coffee? We might be here a while.

Henry

No. I don’t want coffee. But I’d take a smoke, if you got one.

Harding

I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, I’d like to talk to you about what happened today. Are you feeling up to it?

Henry

You were there. You saw it. Is she…are they…

Harding

I’m sorry Mister Carver. I know this is going to be difficult, and I want to help you. I do. There are a lot of unanswered questions. I really need to know—

Henry

Why I shot my wife? (Whispers) She left me no choice. (Louder) Did you see what she did? What she was doing?

Harding

Okay, Mister Carver—

Henry

H-Henry. You might as well call me Henry.

Harding

Henry. Can you…why don’t you start at the beginning?

Henry

The beginning? (Scoffs) You won’t understand. Hell, I don’t even understand.

Harding

There had to be a reason she—

Henry

Don’t say it.

Harding

There had to be signs.

Henry

Yeah. Yeah, there were signs.

Harding

Okay, let’s start with that.

Henry

Two months ago, we had a baby girl. Ella. She was perfect and healthy. This little bundle of pink skin. You’ve never seen anything so beautiful.

HENRY starts quietly sobbing.

Harding

Henry?

Henry

(Clears throat) It was…it was after the baby. I know having a kid changes you—especially the mothers. I know about post-mortem depression—

Harding

Partum.

Henry

What?

Harding

Partum. Post-partum. (Waves it away) Never mind. Please, continue.

Henry

(Sighs) I read the books. I’m not a reader but Jen made sure that I did. She said everything would change with the baby, but this…this was different.

Harding

Different how?

Henry

She got really quiet. She wasn’t sleeping. I know no one sleeps after a new baby. I get it. But, I mean, she wasn’t sleeping at all. She was staying up all night holding the baby, never putting Ella in her crib. I don’t know what she thought would happen. She read too many books, I think. She just wouldn’t put the baby down. And you can’t go on like that forever. I tried to help. I offered to take the baby. I even said I’d show her how to put her to sleep. I told you I read the books. If she would just give Ella to me…

HENRY trails off, grunts in frustration.

Harding

It’s okay. Take your time.

Henry

(Angrily) You want to know how many times I held my daughter? I can count ‘em on one hand. One hand. Right after the delivery, and a few times that first week. After that, Jen—she got downright possessive and barely let me touch my little girl. I don’t know what was going through her head that she thought she had to do it all herself.

Harding

She was very protective of Ella?

Henry

Protective. Hell, I couldn’t get anywhere near her.

Harding

Why do you think she became possessive of the baby?

Henry

I don’t know. And she never told me.

Harding

But what do you think? You had to have a theory. Your baby is two months old. That’s a long time not to hold her more than a few times.

Henry

Was.

Harding

What?

Henry

Ella was two months old.

Harding

(Quietly) Right. Of course. I’m sorry.

Henry

Yeah. And I didn’t think anything. I just hoped it was something silly a woman had to go through. Some psychedelic thing. That it would pass. (Mutters) It had to pass.

Harding

Do you mean psychological thing?

Henry

That’s what I said? Isn’t it?

Harding

You’re right that a lot of women have issues post-partum. Did she see a doctor?

Henry

Yeah. When Ella was about a month old, when it was pretty dang clear that something wasn’t right, Jen went in.

Harding

How did that go?

Henry

I wouldn’t know. Jen was hardly talking to me at all by then. I know that’s common too—for wives to reject their husbands after a baby, but when you’re going through it, it’s just…you feel like a failure as a man when your wife won’t talk to you.

Harding

Did the doctor put her on any medication?

Henry

If they did, I never saw any.

Harding

Okay, so she was avoidant, not sleeping, and wouldn’t let you hold your baby. Can you tell me what happened next?

Henry

(Sighs) Where are we on that cigarette?

(Carver residence) Det GREY approaches Det HOLT at his mobile command station.

Grey

Holt? You okay? You look like hell.

Holt

They just brought the mother out. It was the only body the coroner could easily transport.

Grey

Right. I heard.

Holt

This one. Christ. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder. They just found a pentagram under the marital bed in black paint. I checked it out. You might not even know it’s there if you weren’t looking. What was it doing there? And who in hell painted it?

Grey

A pentagram? Do you think it has anything to do with…the nature of the deaths?

Holt

I think we’re going to have a lot more questions before we get any answers. Have you found anything in the journal?

Grey

Well, so far just the usual you’d expect from a woman who just had a baby. She’s tired, anxious. She’s awake a lot at night and she said she heard a lot of strange noises from a neighbor’s house. The Louis’s. Shouting and foreign voices in the middle of the night.

Holt

Foreign voices?

Grey

That’s what she said. Sometimes she heard someone with an accent, and other times she couldn’t understand the language at all. It could just be audible distortion if she’s hearing through walls—

Officer WALTERS rushes over from the backyard with dirt on his hands and uniform pants.

Walters

Excuse me, Detective Holt?

Holt

What is it, Walters? Is that—are you covered in dirt?

Walters

Yessir, I’m part of the backyard unit and we found something and none of us know what to make of it.

Holt

Do your best.

Walters

There was new dirt in the raised gardens. And, well, we dug it up…

Grey

(Darkly) Bones?

Walters

In one of the raised beds we found the remains of a cat.

Grey

A cat? Maybe it’s time to take the missing cats seriously.

Holt

Missing cats?

Walters

All the cats in this neighborhood have gone missing sir. Even house cats that never went outside have disappeared.

Holt

Is it just one cat that you found? Maybe it’s just a coincidence.

Walters

Just one cat, sir.

Holt

Any idea how it died? It’s not uncommon for people to bury their family pets in the backyard when they pass.

Walters

This definitely wasn’t natural. It looked pretty mangled, sir. But that isn’t the weirdest thing.

Grey

There’s something weirder than a bloody, mangled cat in a flower bed?

Walters

In the other raised garden we found a whole mess of…

Holt

Spit it out.

Walters

Angels. Crosses. A broken set of rosary beads. A couple Bibles all tore up.

Holt

Religious effigies?

Walters

Yessir. We did a sweep inside and didn’t find a single one. If the ones in the garden belong to the Carvers, then they were removed from the house at some point.

Holt

Okay. Okay, bag it all. Anything weird, or…

Walters

Or what, sir?

Holt

Pay attention to anything satanic in nature.

Walters

(Surprised) Satanic, sir?

Holt

You heard right, Walters. It’s an angle that might help explain some of this.

Walters

Yessir. Will do.

WALTERS exits and HOLT turns to GREY.

Holt

Grey? Keep reading. I’m going to call Detective Harding and see what she’s learned about the father, and see what I can dig up about the neighborhood cats. We’ll reconvene in half an hour.

Grey

Buried religious effigies? You don’t really think…

Holt

I don’t think anything yet.  

Grey

Sir, do you believe in the Devil? (Pause; he doesn’t answer). Sir?

Holt

I didn’t…before today.

(Interrogation room) Det HARDING enters after a brief break and hands HENRY a cigarette.

Harding

Found you a smoke. I borrowed it from someone in the drunk tank. Hope you don’t mind. Most of the cops here don’t smoke anymore.

Henry

Thanks. (Pause, lights cigarette with the match provided) Drunks in the morning?

Harding

Drunks all the time. You should know. What has it been? Three weeks since your DWI?

Henry

(Pause) Yeah, so?

Harding

That was six o’clock in the morning.

Henry

Yeah.

Harding

You want to tell me about that?

Henry

My DWI? No—what does that got to do with anything?

Harding

Well, it’s odd, Henry. Your record was clean until a few weeks ago. Then two noise complaints—

Henry

That’s the neighbors not minding their own dang business.

Harding

One was just this week. Two nights ago.

Henry

The whole neighborhood has gone to shit.

Harding

Then the DWI.

Henry

I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and had a screwdriver or two. Is that a crime?

Harding

When you drive over the limit, yes it is, Henry.

Henry

(Huffs) I thought we were talking about Jen? Isn’t that why we’re here?

Harding

What about your cat?

Henry

(Pause) My cat? What about my cat?

Harding

I just got off the phone with one of the investigators at your house. They said a cat was found buried in the raised garden in your backyard.

Henry

In my garden? No, it can’t be. My cat went missing just like every other cat in the whole dang neighborhood. It’s not buried. It’s just missing.

Harding

About how long ago did it disappear?

Henry

I don’t know. A few weeks, maybe. Why don’t you ask the kooks right behind us? They had a dozen cats cooped up in that house. Good riddance, if you ask me. I heard they lost every single one of ‘em. (Mutters) Probably ate ‘em, fucking kooks.

Harding

Your neighbors?

Henry

Yeah, the ones right behind us. The hermits. We share a fence. While you’re at it, why don’t you ask them what kind of garbage they’ve been filling my wife’s head with.

Harding

What do you mean?

Henry

Jen, she spent hours at the fence talking to them—the Looney Louis’s. Especially that Looney Lucy, the wife. They were thick as thieves, those two. Jen used to have normal friends. Nice looking women in the neighborhood. They used to wear matching dresses and bake things and take their kids to the park—all that wife shit. Those were the friends she needed, not the kind that hide inside with their stinky cats all day.

Harding

What can you tell me about the Louis’s?

Henry

(Scoffs) That they’re looney. Total crazies. One day Jen started walking circles around the yard with Ella. Circles. All dang day. Freaked me the hell out. I warned her about the Looney’s. I told her they were bad news, and that she should stick to her old friends, but every time I looked out the dang window she was either walking those circles or talking through the fence. Once I went out there to say hello—maybe give the old bat a chance—but she scurried away like a rat crawling back into her hole, like I was the looney one. They’ve got crosses everywhere, black curtains on all their windows, they’re white as ghosts never seeing the light of day—except to talk to my wife who wasn’t talking to me—and I’m the crazy one?

Harding

Take a breath, Henry.

Henry

Ask them. You ask them what they told my wife at the fence all those times. Ask them and maybe they can tell you…

Harding

Tell me what?

Henry

(Snarls, erupts angrily) Why that bitch killed my fucking baby.

(Carver residence) Det HOLT, at his mobile command center on the Carver’s front lawn, waits for Det HARDING to pick up her end of the line. The smell has finally started to dissipate…that, or he’s grown used to the stink of burning flesh.

Harding

(On the phone) Detective Holt?

Holt

Harding, tell me you’ve got something from him.

Harding

I’m still working on it, sir.

Holt

(Briskly) Work faster.

Harding

(Pause) George?

Holt

(Deep breath) I’m sorry, hon. I’m…I’m sorry. This one’s got me all fucked up in the head.  

Harding

Me too.

Holt

I don’t like the thought of you getting mixed up in it.

Harding

I’m just doing my job, babe. This is what I trained for.

Holt

No one trains for this. (Sighs) Is there anything new?

Harding

He didn’t know about the buried cat. He said his went missing when all the other cats in the neighborhood disappeared.

Holt

These damn cats…

Harding

And the lab just informed me about Mister Carver’s phone. It was water-logged, like the rest of him, but they were able to determine that the last call he received came in this morning at about seven a.m. from a Miles Morris. He lives about a block away from the Carver’s. The call was short, about ten seconds, and it came from a landline. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to check with him on what that was about. Less than an hour later, the call about the murders came in.

Holt

On it. (Sighs) Okay, so, we know Jen Carver was a new mom, sleep deprived…but do you think a person could be so sleep deprived that they’d put their baby in—

Harding

No. No I do not. This…a mother wouldn’t do this because she’s tired. It’s pretty clear she was suffering from some major post-partum depression, but I think there’s more going on here.

Holt

Maybe she was hallucinating.

Harding

That’s one hell of a hallucination.

Holt

I know this was touched on in your bizarre crime’s training, but we’re exploring a possible (Pause) satanic connection to the murders.

Harding

(Pause) Satanic? Because of the crosses and the pentagram? You think one of them was into Devil-worship?

Holt

It’s too early to tell, but we can’t ignore the possibility. Ask him about the pentagram, if you haven’t already. (Pause) By the way, how is he doing? He still talking?

Harding

He is, but his mood is changing. When we brought him in, he was quiet and withdrawn. The longer I question him, the angrier he gets.

Holt

Keep on him.

Harding

He did mention that his wife used to walk circles around the yard every day. Maybe you can figure out why, because Henry doesn’t know. If you can spare an officer, I’d start by asking the neighbors directly behind the Carver’s.  

Holt

We’ve taken statements from all the neighboring houses, and the people waiting behind the crime tape. What specifically are you looking for?

Harding

Mister Carver mentioned the Loon—the Louis’s in particular. He said his wife spent a lot of time talking to Missus Louis through the fence, and she might be able to tell us what was going on with Jen.

Holt

I’ll send Walters. In the meantime—

Det GREY sprints from the house and up to HOLT, hollering.

Grey

(Yelling) Detective! Detective, they’ve finally identified the third body.

Holt

(Into the phone) Harding, hold on. (To GREY) Who is it?

Grey

The man, the one that was dismembered, his name was Mason Giles. He was thirty-three and lived about six blocks away. It’s his station wagon in the driveway.

Holt

(Into the phone) Harding, the third victim is a man, thirty-three, named Mason Giles.

Grey

There’s more, sir. He belongs to the Catholic Dioses.

Holt

(Into the phone) Harding?

Harding

Yes sir?

Holt

When you talk to Henry again, ask him about the priest.

(Interrogation room) HENRY has finished his cigarette. HARDING enters the room with another for him, and one for herself, and sits down across from HENRY.

Henry

I thought you didn’t smoke.

Harding

I don’t. (Lights cigarette, takes a drag, coughs).

Henry

Clearly.

Harding

Mister Carver—

Henry

Henry.

Harding

(Sighs) One of the…one of the people in your kitchen was clergy.

HENRY grunts and takes a long drag of his cigarette.

Harding

His name was Mason Giles. Do you know anything about him?

Henry

You want to know about the man in my kitchen? (Scoffs) Why don’t you ask my wife about him?

Harding

I’m asking you.

Henry

(Shakily) I got nothing to say.

Harding

Mason Giles—

Henry

I don’t know his goddamn name. You—you think I care about his name?

Harding

He was a priest. What was a priest doing at your house?

Henry

He wasn’t there for me, I can tell you that. And he wasn’t there for Jesus. Someone should’ve called the cops on him, trolling around our neighborhood, waving that cross out his goddang window. Those Looney Louis’s got this fucking cross outside their backdoor now that’s so big you could crucify someone on the goddang thing. Who—who does that? Every time I go in the backyard, I gotta look at this cross staring at me, like I’m being judged every second of every day…it’s enough to make a man crazy. Gives me a bloody headache.

Harding

Is that how you feel? Crazy?

Henry

Don’t try to shrink me.

Harding

Shrink you?

Henry

Like a “head” doc. Don’t try to think you know what’s going on in my brain.

Harding

I certainly wouldn’t. (Clears throat) Henry, were there any other problems in the marriage?

Henry

Other problems? Our whole goddang marriage was a problem.

Harding

Problems that would require a priest.

Henry

I don’t have no problems that require a priest. Ever think the man wasn’t there for religion?

Harding

What about the pentagram?

Henry

Penta-what? The government building?

Harding

No, the satanic symbol painted underneath your bed.

Henry

I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing under my bed. What are you saying? What is this?

Harding

You don’t know about a pentagram under your bed, you don’t know about the cat in your garden, you don’t know why a priest was in your home—

Henry

I told you, ask my wife about the priest.

Harding

And what would she tell me?

Henry

Nothing, she’d probably just lie to you like she lied to me. A man knows when his wife is stepping out.

Harding

You think she was cheating on you?

Henry

(Yells) Are you fucking deaf? She wasn’t even talking to me, you think she’d want to have sex with me? Jesus, fuck. The woman never went to church a day in her life and suddenly a priest—a young priest—starts sniffing around, making house calls?

Harding

Did you ever see them together? Do you have proof of the affair?

Henry

Proof? I could smell him. I could smell him all over our goddang house. In our bedroom. She wouldn’t sleep in there with me, but she brings him into our bed? That’s all the proof I needed. If there’s something weird under my bed, maybe he put it there. (Mutters) Those no-good hermits, those lousy, looney fucks. They filled her head with bullshit, then sent him over. If it wasn’t for them, I might still have a wife. (Growls) I might still have a baby.

Harding

Try to stay calm and just tell me what happened.

Henry

(Screams, slams his hands on the table). I am calm. What are you? My fucking therapist? You think I’m stupid, like she thought I was stupid? She thought I wouldn’t find out.

Harding

Did you kill him?

Henry

What? You were there. You know what I did.

Harding

The more you talk, the more questions I have. What was the priest doing at your house this morning.

Henry

What the fuck do you think he was doing?

Harding

What did you do when you found them?

Henry

I didn’t find shit, you stupid bitch.

Harding

Henry, how did a priest end up in pieces in your kitchen?

Henry

(Snarls) Why don’t you ask my good-for-nothing cheating bitch wife?

(Carver residence) HOLT meets with GREY in the backyard, in the shade of the craftsman house with cups of cold coffee and Jen Carver’s journal.

Grey

I hope I never see anything like this ever again.

Holt

Trust me, you won’t. They’re never like this.

Grey

(Knowingly) How’s Harding?

HOLT eyes her with suspicion.

Grey(cont)

Come on sir. Everyone knows. No one cares. (Pause) Is she okay?

Holt

She’s…okay. She’s tough. What have you found in the journal?

Grey

I’m sorry it’s taking so long. She wrote a lot. Some of it is illegible. The farther I get into it, the more incoherent it becomes. She was afraid—paranoid even.

Holt

Afraid of what?

Grey

Of Henry. She says that he started changing when the baby came. He would stay up all night, roaming the halls, watching TV until four a.m., talking to himself. Weird stuff. She couldn’t sleep in the bedroom because he was up and down, in and out at all hours, so she started sleeping in the baby’s room. After a while it sounded like she was too afraid to sleep at all. Henry was becoming erratic, unpredictable. Then he started drinking really heavily and she didn’t want him around the baby at all.

Holt

He was picked up for a DWI a few weeks ago.

Grey

It wasn’t like him. According to Jen, she was devastated because it felt like she was losing her husband, or losing her mind, or both. She went to the doctor and got sleeping pills and started crushing them up in his food, hoping that he’d sleep. She said it only made it worse.

Holt

Worse, how?

Grey

She said he was hallucinating. Or she thought he was hallucinating. She couldn’t be sure, but sometimes it seemed like he was talking to someone, but no one was there.

Holt

Talking to himself. Okay, I’ll mention that to Harding, and do some digging into his medical records. Check for a history of mental illness.

Grey

Well, if he wasn’t mentally ill before today…Oh! And another thing. He left the house every day at six o’clock. He never said where he was going, and he was home after about a half an hour. I don’t know if it means anything, but it’s a pattern that Jen noticed and couldn’t explain.

Holt

Six o’clock? Thanks Grey, I’ll mention that to Harding too.

HOLT squints across the yard at the house on the other side of the fence. It looks dark and quiet compared to everything else in the neighborhood. He notices what looks like a white face peeking around the edge of a black curtain.

Holt(Cont)

That’s creepy, no?

Grey

The giant cross? Or that person watching us from behind the curtain?

Holt

Both.

Walters

(Hollers) Detective Holt!

WALTERS joins HOLT and GREY with a notepad in his hands.

Holt

Officer Walters, were you able to speak to neighbors?

Walters

Yessir. I went to see Miles Morris first, the one who called Mister Carver this morning.

Holt

And?

Walters

And he was…weird sir. Very, very weird. Old man, wouldn’t let me in his house. He says he lives alone, but I got a look at the living room through the front window and it’s trashed. Pizza boxes and cartons of takeout everywhere. Reminds me of a frat house, or something. And even weirder is the set-up in his backyard.

Holt

Set-up? What kind of set-up? And is any of this relevant to the Carver case?

Walters

I don’t know if it’s relevant, but…something’s not right there. He has a six-foot fence but I saw the tops of tarps set up and spotlights. I asked his neighbor and they said that Mister Morris has been digging a hole in his backyard for months, ever since his wife died.

Holt

(Draws out the words) Digging a hole?

Walters

Yessir, and when I showed up, he was sweaty and covered in dirt.

Holt

And this concerns you?

Walters

I live here, sir, just a few blocks away. This used to be a nice place to live, but something is happening. I don’t understand it—

Holt

Walters, listen, I can sympathize. I really can. But not today. Today we’re dealing with a triple homicide, the likes of which even Dateline won’t want to touch. I’m not worried about some lonely old man digging a hole in his backyard. He could reach hell or China for all it matters. All I care about is what he said about that phone call.  

Walters

Right. (Deep breath) Sorry sir. He uh, he said he didn’t mean to call Mister Carver. He said he was trying to reach someone else and misdialed, and hung up right away.

Holt

A misdial? Harding said the call lasted ten seconds. That’s not long, but not indicative of hanging up immediately. Besides that, the call came from a landline. It’s a little harder to misdial—and if you do, you’re probably not going to just happen to call your neighbor that way.

Walters

He was pretty firm in his denial. Want me to bring him to the station?

Holt

Not yet. Let’s wait to hear more from Harding. What about the other neighbors? The one’s back there—the Louis’s?

Walters

I just came from there.

Holt

And? Tell me you have something good.

Walters

Well, not good. But weird, sir.

Holt

More weird. (Sighs) Christ, lay it on me.

Walters

They were reluctant to give a statement until I told them what happened.

Holt

You told them what happened here? We haven’t released a statement to the press—

Walters

Sir, was the only way they would talk. They said we wouldn’t believe them.

Holt

What did they say?

Walters

Well, Frank, the husband, told me that a couple months ago, his wife Lucy started acting strange.

Holt

Strange how?

Walters

She stopped eating, stopped sleeping. They thought she was sick but none of the doctors they saw could find anything wrong with her and said it was all in her head. She started seeing things. Talking to herself. Then one day she tried to hurt Frank.

Holt

What did she do?

Walters

Went at him with a carving knife.

Holt

Shit. Was there a police report on this?

Walters

No sir. A neighbor came and stitched it up for them. You’ll never guess who. (Pause) Jen Carver. She was a nurse. They asked her not to tell anyone and she agreed. After that, they turned to alternative healing methods.

Holt

Alternative healing? Like what? Acupuncture?

Walters

No, nothing so mainstream, sir. More like faith healers, shamans…witches.

Grey

Witches? Like actual witches?

Walters

Yes.

Holt

Christ. What the woman actually needed was psychologist. Probably an undiagnosed schizophrenic, or something. (Sighs) All right, then what?

Walters

Eventually they turned to the clergy.

Holt

Clergy…

Walters

Yessir. This is where it gets really weird…

Holt

(Hollers) For Christsakes, spit it out, Walters!

Walters

Sorry sir. It’s just…I’m Catholic. And I’ve never heard of anything like this, but…a priest was helping the Louis’s because they believed that Lucy Louis was…possessed.

Holt

(Deadpans) Possessed.

Walters

They said we wouldn’t believe it.

Holt

Possessed by what? 

Walters

A demon. They wouldn’t say much more about it. They didn’t want to attract its attention again.

Holt

(Sighs) You’ve got to be kidding…(Shakes head) Let me guess…the priest who was helping them was Mason Giles?

Walters

It was. He lives in this neighborhood…He performed the exorcism himself.

Holt

Hold on, an exorcism? Like an actual exorcism? Like in the movies?

Walters

I guess it’s nothing as dramatic as that, but yes. An actual exorcism, sir. Then he showed them how to protect themselves from the demon coming back, with house rituals, the presence of crosses, things like that. And a shaman told them to put a ring of tobacco around their house to keep spirits out. All sorts of crazy stuff, sir. I made a list.

Holt

Okay, good, I’d like to see it. Wait—what did you say about tobacco?

Walters

They put a ring around their property. It’s supposed to keep bad things from getting in.

Grey

Is that significant, sir?

Holt

Maybe. Maybe not. I’m just thinking about something Harding said about Jen. Henry said his wife used to walk circles around the yard. Walters, check the perimeter of the Carver house for a ring of tobacco.

Walters

Why would they…(Pause) Yessir.

Holt

Did the Louis’s know why Mason Giles was here, at the Carver’s house?

Walters

They had an idea. But they said we wouldn’t believe that either.

Holt

We’re neck-deep in crazy already. Give it to me.

Walters

Mister Giles was concerned that the demon didn’t go far. That it would try to find another host nearby. They were afraid it would take Jen Carver. She was newly with child and in a prime state for possession—their words, not mine. (Pause) Sir…do you think it’s possible? If she was possessed, it would explain what she did to the baby.

Holt

Stop—not another word. We are officers of the law. We deal in facts, not wild fiction. It’s more likely Lucy Louis had a mental illness, or something. Possessed. That’s just—

Grey

(Mutters) Crazy.

Walters

You wanted to know about anything weird or satanic. This certainly qualifies.

Holt

How did they seem, the Louis’s?

Walters

They were afraid, sir. They were very, very afraid. They said that after the exorcism and house cleansing, things have gone back to normal. Lucy is sleeping and eating again. She’s all right in the head. But they’re afraid of it happening again.

Holt

Mental illnesses don’t just go away. Holing up in your house, giant crosses outside, black window shades…that doesn’t seem normal to me.

Walters

Normal, considering the circumstances, I guess. They’re thinking about moving. They said the whole neighborhood is going to hell…like I said.

Holt

Grey, you’re awfully quiet. That’s not like you.

Grey

I was just thinking about the diary. What they said about Lucy Louis, and what she was going through, sounds a lot like what was happening to Henry, according to Jen’s journal.

Holt

And…a lot like what Henry is telling Harding about his wife. He said that she’s the one who hasn’t been sleeping, and she’s the one who’s withdrawn from the marriage.

Walters

And the Carver’s house was stripped of anything religious, and there’s a dead priest in about twenty pieces in the kitchen.

Grey

So which one of them was possessed? Henry or Jen?

Holt

Neither. Neither were possessed. Come on. Fact, not fiction.

Grey

Okay, then which one of them was lying? Or were they both going crazy?

Holt

I don’t know. Keep reading. I’m going to check in with Harding again and let her know what the neighbors said.

(Phone call) HARDING sits in her office, smoking, talking quietly with HOLT on the phone.

Harding

He denied receiving a call from Miles Morris too. Why would either of them lie? Then, maybe Miles did dial Henry by accident, and maybe Henry never got it because he was…somewhere swimming with his clothes on and phone in his pocket…(Pause) George, he needs a psyche eval. Pronto.

Holt

The call’s already been made, but I need you to keep chipping away at him. Do you think you can do that?

Harding

(Blows smoke) I’ll try. He really blew up this last time. I mean, I laid into him pretty good and he…just exploded.

Holt

Are you smoking?

Harding

It’s not important.

Holt

(Sighs) Hon, don’t kill yourself over this guy. If you can’t go back in—

Harding

No, I’m going. I’m going back in. I want to get to the bottom of this. I think it’s time to talk to him about possession.

Holt

(Pause, deadpans) I don’t think you should mention that. At all.

Harding

A possessed person wouldn’t necessarily know they’re possessed.

Holt

Don’t talk say that like it’s a real thing. Possession.

Harding

Some people believe it is. It sure sounds like the Louis’s believed it. And Jen Carver believed it, if Mason Giles was coming around.

Holt

And now she’s got a hole in her head. 

Harding

Was there anything in the journal to indicate an affair?

Holt

No. Not that Grey found.

Harding

That doesn’t rule it out. If she was afraid of Henry, she might not have written about it in case he found the journal. But…

Holt

But what?

Harding

I don’t know. Having an affair with the priest doesn’t make any sense. She just had a baby. Even under the best of circumstances, it takes time for a woman to recover. She wouldn’t just jump into an affair.

Holt

But if Henry thought that she was having an affair, we have motive.

Harding

Motive that he killed the priest? He admitted to killing his wife, and that’s enough to put him away forever. Why wouldn’t he admit to killing Mason Giles if he did it?

Holt

Why would a woman kill a man who was helping her? You think she was capable of killing a man with an ax?

Harding

I think anyone is capable of killing anyone with an ax.

Holt

He was in very small pieces, Jill.

Harding

Yeah, I remember. (Takes another drag of the cigarette) It doesn’t track. Henry coming home after a business trip—

Holt

He wasn’t on business, remember? Wherever he was, it wasn’t at work.

Harding

Okay, so, he comes home from somewhere—soaking wet, with a gun—and kills his wife for killing their daughter…that sort of tracks—assuming his wife murdered two people. Jen Carver chopping up a grown man and killing her own baby? I can’t wrap my brain around that. What’s the motive for Mason Giles? Women sometimes do hurt their children. Postpartum psychosis is real. But…I’ve never heard of a woman killing her child in this way, unless she really was possessed.

Holt

I’m not entertaining possession as a motive.

Harding

Not a motive. A reason. And we have to entertain every avenue.

Holt

I agree, it’s just…

Harding

You never thought you’d actually work a case where possession was involved?

Holt

(Deep sigh) Yes.

Harding

It’s not unheard of. It hasn’t happened here, but it does happen. Usually it’s just some kind of mental illness. Multiple personalities can present as possession. And like an actual possession—

Holt

There are no actual possessions.

Harding

(Hardens her voice) Like an actual possession, the person may not be aware of the alternate presence inside their own mind or body. Actually, someone with multiple personalities might even have a personality that believes they’re possessed, and that personality singly can display the markers of possession in the moments it believes a demon is in control.

Holt

Okay, now you’ve lost me.

Harding

(Blows out more smoke) Doesn’t matter. I’m running circles in my own brain, trying to figure it out. It’s unlikely that both Henry and his wife had a mental illness. One of them is lying.

Holt

Who is your money on? We only have one person to ask.

Harding

That’s not true. Journals don’t lie.

Holt

So you think Henry is lying?

Someone hollers on HOLT’s end of the phone.

Holt(Cont)

Jill, hold on. (To someone behind him) You did? (Pause) Really? (Pause) Okay. Yes, good work. (Into the phone) Jill? They found Henry Carver’s car. It was at the bottom of a pond in a park a few blocks from his house.

Harding

Jesus. Okay. Well, that explains why he was wet.

Holt

But literally nothing else. He hadn’t mentioned anything about his car?

Harding

No, nothing. I’ll ask him. I might play with the possession angle too. Not ask him outright, but…

Holt

But what?

Harding

Does Walters still have that crucifix in his desk drawer? 

(Interrogation room) HENRY is calm once again. He takes slow, deep, deliberate breaths that raise his shoulders to his ears as he draws in, and leaves moisture on the metal table as he exhales. HARDING tucks the crucifix from WALTER’S desk into the back of her pants to pull out at the proper moment, and joins HENRY again at the table.

Henry

Back for more?

Harding

I want you to know our time here is about to end. Once we’re through, you’ll be locked in a cell for the foreseeable future. I came here to help you. I know what you did to your wife was in an effort to save your baby—

Henry

(Quietly) Do you?

Harding

I’m here to help you, Henry. I really am. But you’ve also got to help yourself. You killed your wife, and we understand why. What we don’t understand is what happened to the priest, and why did your wife kill your daughter?

Henry

That wasn’t my wife. I don’t know who she was.

Harding

Do you think she was mentally ill?

Henry

She’d have to be, wouldn’t she? To do what she did?

Harding

I agree. (Pause) Why did your neighbors call in a noise complaint a few weeks ago?

Henry

(Grumbles) We’ve been over this.

Harding

I looked at the report. It said you were having a very loud argument on your front lawn with what sounded like a foreigner.

Henry

I don’t know any foreigners.

Harding

It was late at night. The neighbors said they couldn’t see you, but they could hear you shouting. They said the other man might’ve been British.

Henry

I just told you, I don’t know any foreign people. I definitely don’t know nobody British. And if the neighbors couldn’t see anyone, how did they know it was me?

Harding

It was coming from your front lawn.

Henry

How many times have I gotta tell you?

Harding

What about two nights ago? They said they heard a woman screaming. Was it your wife? Why would she be screaming?

Henry

I don’t remember her screaming.

Harding

The call came in at eleven fifteen p.m. on Tuesday night. Do you remember what you were doing that night?

Henry

I don’t know. I was probably sleeping. I travel for work on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I gotta sleep.

Harding

Only you didn’t travel this week.

Henry

Yes I did. I left Wednesday morning, and came back this morning, just like I always do.

Harding

Not according to your employer. He says you haven’t worked in weeks.

Henry

(Stammers) What? No. That’s not—that’s not possible. I work. Every damn day, I work.

Harding

Tuesday night, what did you do? Before you went to bed?

Henry

I work at home Mondays and Fridays. Tuesdays I’m at the office. I got home and it was the same as every other night. Baby crying, Jen ignoring me, that funky smell in the house from that shit my wife’s been burning…Sage, I think. 

Harding

Your wife burns sage?

Henry

Sometimes. She just started doing it. I think those Looney Louis neighbors gave it to her. I see them passing her things over the fence sometimes, but she never shows me what it is.

Harding

Where did you go at six o’clock?

Henry

What? I didn’t go anywhere. I was home. I don’t go anywhere.

Harding

Your wife said that you leave for a half an hour every day at six o’clock. Where do you go?

Henry

My wife—how could she tell you anything? And I just told you, I don’t go anywhere. Every day is the same. I work. I go home. Jen takes the baby into Ella’s room and locks the door—

Harding

I was at your house this morning. The baby’s bedroom door had been kicked open at some point.

Henry

I don’t know anything about that.

Harding

Someone very strong must’ve done that.

Henry

Maybe it was that fucking priest. Maybe he was the one that made her kill Ella, so they could run away together, or something.

Harding

Did you break down your daughter’s door? Is that why Jen was screaming Tuesday night?

Henry

I told you, I didn’t break down any dang door!

Harding

Why was your car in the pond?

Henry

Are you out of your damn mind, lady? My car ain’t in no dang pond.

Harding

They just fished it out of the pond at the park a few blocks from your house. When we found you, you were soaking wet. Why did you drive your car into a pond?

Henry

(Yells) I didn’t. I came home this morning. My car’s in the driveway.

Harding

No, Mason Gile’s station wagon is in your driveway. Your car’s at the bottom of a pond. You don’t remember anything about that?

Henry

(Stammers) No. No, you’re lying. Just like she lied. She always lied.

Harding

Your wife? Did you hurt her? Her body will be checked for defensive wounds. We’ll know if you hurt her. 

Henry

I killed her, isn’t that enough? I loved my wife. She was the one who was cheating on me. She was the one who was crazy. I had to do it. (Screams) She killed our daughter!

Harding

Did she?

Henry

Yes, you saw it. You fucking smelled it, didn’t you?

Harding

What about the priest? How did he end up in pieces?

Henry

Because my wife was fucking crazy and she chopped him up. That’s why.

Harding

Your wife is, what? 5 and a half feet tall? A hundred and thirty pounds? She’s going to take down a six-foot-tall man?

Henry

The ax gives her the advantage, don’t you think?

Harding

But why would she kill her lover?

Henry

(Pause) Don’t say that word.

Harding

If they were having an affair, then Mason Giles was her lover, Henry.

Henry

(Snarls) I said, don’t say that word.

Harding

Did she chop her lover into tiny pieces before or after she put her new baby—the one that she slept with every single night and wouldn’t even let you touch—into the oven?

Henry

(Snarls) Stop it! Stop it, you bitch!

Harding

You want to know what I think, Henry?

Henry

I don’t give a fuck what you think!

Harding

I think you couldn’t handle the attention your wife was giving your new baby—that happens to fathers sometimes. It’s probably in one of your books—and your wife could sense it and was afraid that you would hurt Ella so she started shutting you out. Then—since she wasn’t giving it to you—you assumed she was cheating on you and created this whole fantasy about the priest that patrolled the neighborhood without ever bothering to ask the man why.

Henry

No.

Harding

Do you know what the priest was doing at your house, with your wife?

Henry

Fucking her—

Harding

She was worried about you. She thought a priest could help. She thought something had taken over you.

Henry

Taken over me? You’re out of your mind!

Harding

Because something has, Henry.

HARDING pulls a crucifix from her pocket and slaps it on the table in front of Henry.

Henry

What the hell is that?

Harding

Most of the officers here don’t smoke, but a few are devout Catholics and crucifixes are easier to come by than cigarettes.

Henry

Why are you—

Harding

Touch it, Henry.

Henry

(Yells, pulls at his handcuffs) Get away from me, you fucking psycho.

Harding

If it’s really you, then touch the crucifix!

Henry

You’re crazy. Stop—Someone get this crazy bitch away from me!

HARDING pushes the crucifix into his forehead, and he screams as his skin sears and burns. HARDING holds it there until the shape of a cross is scorched into his forehead before she lifts it. When he stops screaming, his voice has changed to something otherworldly with a faintly British accent. He laughs and HARDING backs across the room. The look in his eyes is devilishly playful.

Henry(Demon)

(Stops laughing, still smiling) Ouch.

Harding

(Breathless) Holy shit. Holy shit.

Henry(Demon)

Hello love.

Harding

Your, your head. Your voice.

Henry(Demon)

Don’t look so surprised. You knew what you were doing.

Harding

(Mutters) I don’t believe it.

Henry(Demon)

Believe it, love. I’ve been dying to talk to you.

Harding

Henry, you’re ill. You’re very seriously ill.

Henry(Demon)

(Laughs, a deep, chesty guffaw) Oh my, my, you don’t know the half of it. But Henry’s going to sleep for a little while. You can talk to me.

Harding

(Shakily) We’re going to get you help, Henry. Real, professional help.  

Henry(Demon)

Come now, let’s not be daft. Sit down, we’ll have a chat.

Harding

No. This is above my paygrade, Mister Carver. Multiple personalities—

Henry(Demon)

Mmm, try multiple residences. (Pause) Sit down.

Harding

No, we’re through here.

Henry(Demon)

Oh, love, we’re just getting started. Don’t you want to know what happened today? You were never going to get that from poor Henry. He wasn’t even there—not until the very end. (Pause, grins) But I was…for every bloody second of it.

Harding

(Pause) You’ll tell me everything, Henry?

Henry(Demon)

I’m going to tell you more than you ever wanted to know. But only if you stop calling me by that simpleton’s horrible, simpleton name.

Harding

(Swallows hard) Okay, what do you want me to call you?

Henry(Demon)

Felix will do nicely. It’s not my true name, but with true names comes power, and I’m not willing to give you any.

Harding

Okay, Felix. (Deep breath) Did you shoot Jen Carver?

Felix

Oh, no, that actually was Henry. He came-to at just the right time and did the only thing he could when he found his baby girl cooked like a Thanksgiving turkey.

Harding

(Furls) You’re a sick son-of-a-bitch.

Felix

She had her chance of course, dear Jen Carver. She was my first choice. I tried to enlighten the woman, but she wouldn’t let me in. Poor Henry on the other hand…(laughs) you were right about him. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Didn’t take to fatherhood very well. Wife was too busy for him, always with the baby. It was all too easy to jump in.

Harding

Jump in? (Mutters) Right, that must’ve been where the cognitive dissociation started—after Ella.

Felix

Cognitive dissociation? Oh if only it were that simple. (Shakes head) Dreadfully boring, that Henry. Not quite as bad as the Lucy woman, whatever the hell her name was. Prude if there ever was one. Another easy mark—she’s a shut in. Depressed. It was almost too easy, if you know what I mean. Wouldn’t be like living inside your skin, would it, Jill?

Harding

How did you—I never told you my first name.

Felix

I know a lot more than just your name, love. (Loudly sniffs air) You smell like that detective, what’s his name? Holt? Little Georgie Porgie. Yeah, you positively reek of that man.

Harding

(Forcibly) Did you kill the priest?

Felix

Now that was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Did it look like I enjoyed it? Because I did. There’s something so satisfying about sinking an ax—

Harding

Why did you kill him?

Felix

Well I should think that was obvious, love. I mean, he did kick me out of my first house, but it was so awful in there he really did me a favor. Perhaps I should’ve thanked him instead. Yep, kicked me out on my arse then locked that house up tight—Lucy Louis and the actual house. No getting back in there, not that I’d want to. Just tried bringing a little excitement to their lives. So unappreciative (tsks)… Henry calls them the Looney Louis’s and he’s right. Loons, the pair of them.

Harding

The priest!

Felix

Yes, yes. Of course. You didn’t really think the little wifey could do that much work, even with an ax, did you? He was trying to eject me from another house, and…well…I just couldn’t let that happen. Henry’s not great, but he’s home. Course, I tried to have as much fun with the family as I could, in case that pesky Mason Giles was successful. I’ve been playing with the mother and daughter for days.

Harding

(Deep breath) What about…

Felix

Hm? You want to ask about the baby?

Harding

Yes.

Felix

Which one?

Harding

There’s only one baby.

Felix

But there isn’t. (Sniffs loudly and long) Yeah, you’ve got Holt’s stink on you…and in you. Does he know you’re carrying his bastard?

Harding

(Shocked breath) What—

Felix

Did you know you were carrying his bastard? Oh my my my. I let the cat out of the bag. (Laughs) Speaking of cats…did you ever find them?

Harding

(Confused) The cats?

Felix

The ones that keep disappearing. Come on, keep up, love. What good is a college education if you’re three steps behind?

Harding

What do cats have to do with anything?

Felix

Well the cats are the beginning, love. Just the beginning. Now I’m here. And there’s plenty more coming.

Harding

What do you mean?

Felix

You’ll see. Find the cats, if you can. They don’t have much time left. Find them before Firebug finishes his work, unless you enjoy feline barbeques.

Harding

You’re not making any sense.

Felix

I’m making perfect sense. You just don’t have all the pieces of this diabolical puzzle. I’m not just going to give them to you, but I enjoy planting little seeds and seeing what you make of them. It’s fun for me. Not as fun as chopping up a priest…

Harding

Firebug? What did you say about a—a firebug?

Felix

Not a Firebug, luscious. The Firebug. It’s a person. Well…sort of a person. He thinks it’s hilarious no one has put two and two together—the cats and fires. He’s getting ready to roast himself some brilliant kitty cabobs—

Harding

(Hollers) Enough. I’m not here to talk about cats or fires. I’m here to talk about Henry Carver and what the hell happened today.

Felix

You want to know what happened today? You really want to know? I buried an ax in a priest’s chest because he’s the only one at the church who gives a flying fuck about what’s happening in this neighborhood, and with him out of the way we can continue our work unimpeded. I kept chopping long after he was dead for the pure fucking fun of it.

Harding

Our work? Whose work? I don’t understand.

Felix

Nor will you. Not yet. Maybe not ever. You’re smart, Jilly, but not that smart. With your special schooling you might’ve known enough to stick a crucifix to poor Henry’s head, but it’ll take a lot more than that to shut us down.

Harding

Shut what down? What the hell are you talking about?

Felix

Though Henry, now, he was getting wise. He didn’t know it. Knew something was wrong, knew his wife was pulling away. Knew his life was falling apart. She wasn’t cheating, dear Jen, but I sure had fun planting those seeds. Only I went a little too far, didn’t I? (Sighs) This morning poor Henry had had enough and tried to take the easy way out. His…resolve pushed me out of the way long enough that he almost succeeded. Tried drowning himself first, but that almost never works—not even if I would’ve allowed it. Which, of course, I wouldn’t. He seemed to sense that too, which is why he brought the gun. Thankfully the call came in just in the nick of time…

Harding

The…call?

Felix

The call that let the poor bloke know that the priest’s car was in Henry’s driveway. It was enough to put his plans on hold. Enough to get him back to his house so the fun could begin.

Harding

He—he didn’t tell me any of that. He said he couldn’t remember anything about the car.

Felix

He wouldn’t love. Let’s just say, I’m blocking his view.

Harding

But…why? How?

Felix

I should think that’s obvious. Can’t let the sorry fellow think he has the power to end things. He’ll point that gun only where I allow. Which brings me to dear Jen. She was getting in the way. Women are so damn protective of their babies—which you’ll know soon enough. Can’t wait to meet the little bastard—

Harding

Stop it. I’m not pregnant and it’s none of your goddamn business if I was.

Felix

See what I mean? (Tsks) So protective…

Harding

Why did you…(chokes off).

Felix

Can’t even say it, can you? You want to know about little baby Ella. That’s where the plot thickens.

Harding

(Whispers) Just tell me.

Felix

Jill? Can I call you Jill? Fuck it, I’m going to call you Jill. And I’m going to tell you this because there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it anyway. There are things—otherworldly things—coming into this neighborhood. We’ll call them friends of mine. First was Firebug—I’ve already mentioned him. He’s a playful little fart. We like to let him work out some of his energy before the rest of us arrive and have to deal with him. Sort of like the hyper child of the family, if you will. Bloody pain the arse, but he’s our pain in the arse, so we deal. (Pause) I came next.

Harding

Are these…are these other dissociations? Other personalities? Is Henry Firebug? Did Henry take the cats?

Felix

(Angrily) Jill, baby, you aren’t listening. Stop trying to fit what I’m saying into your neat little box, your safe little mental terms that let you tie this story with a perfect little bow. That isn’t what’s happening here.

Harding

(Mutters) Maybe you wouldn’t even know. They could all be like separate entities—

Felix

Does Georgie Porgie know?

Harding

I already told you, I’m not pregnant.

Felix

(Pause) Room two seventeen.

Harding

(Pause, whispers) What?

Felix

Room two seventeen, love. Not your room, was it?

Harding

(Whispers angrily) You son of a bitch.

Felix

Mmm, the dutiful girlfriend, always calling Georgie Porgie to say goodnight, before you spent the night in another man’s room. It was his idea to send you for the bizarre crime’s training, wasn’t it? Georgie Porgie’s? If he only knew…

Harding

Stop it. (Tears in her voice) He’s a good man.

Felix

But not good enough, if you know what I mean? Not as good as what happened in room two seventeen—

Harding

(Furls) Shut up. Just shut up. You don’t know anything. You fucking monster.

Felix

(Shrugs) I’ve been called so much worse. And I could do so much better. (Pause) Do I have your attention now, love?

Harding

(Stammers) Who…who are you? Who are you really?

Felix

I think a better question is, what am I?

Harding

A—a demon? A real demon?

Felix

Sure. You can call me that. But don’t pretend to know me. You haven’t got enough years left in your miserable life to know who and what I am. Unless, of course, you want a front row seat. Little hard to do when you’re already hauling cargo. Could get a little crowded in there. Not that I’m not willing to try. Just say the word…

Harding

Enough. Enough. (Angrily) Why are you here?

Felix

The fun of it, darling. The pure fucking fun.

Harding

Tell me about the baby. You killed a baby.

Felix

(Shrugs) People kill babies all the time. What’s one more?

Harding

You bastard. Why did you do it?

Felix

Delicious Ella was a gift for my love, Ulga.

Harding

(Chokes) Ulga?

Felix

Ulga. She’s a saucy devil, if there ever was one. She’s arriving soon—but she can’t come soon enough, if you know what I mean. (Laughs)

Harding

Who is she?

Felix

She’s simply the next ghoul on the docket, dear Jill. Ulga (deep, satisfied breath) I’ve been chasing her through the eons, and she always seems to slip away, but I’ll get her this time. I know the way to her heart. See, Ulga loves children. (Smiles) She says they taste like chicken.