The Offering

---

In the name

of the whole universe,

by Him who has

the power to consign...

That's enough!

So you will kill

in the name of your God

just to save?

I adjure you!

No more, Father!

You're killing him!

I adjure you not by my weakness,

but by the Holy Spirit,

to depart

from this servant of God.

You've killed him.

Miss Waters, Dr. Hawkins

will see you now.

You're clear, Jamie.

The numbness in your arm

is from spending too much time

in front of the computer.

Just to be sure,

we'll do a blood test, huh?

Oh, give those homicides

a break, will you?

Get some Ashtanga.

Gotta make the rent, Doc.

Okay, we're done here.

Thanks.

See you next year, Jamie.

God willing, it will skip you.

God has nothing to do with it.

The diagnosis

is extreme overwork.

The doctor prescribed yoga,

but I'm guessing you want me

back at the coal mine tomorrow.

Yeah, how about right now?

Look, the front page is a mess,

the lead is a disgrace,

and that idiot

filling in for you

got every damn fact in the

East Garfield shooting wrong.

Give Jacob a break.

It's his first week on crime.

- See you tomorrow?

- I'm counting the minutes.

I'll see you later, Jamie.

Oh, and one more thing.

We need you over at north side

for a 10:
00 press conference

for the Lakewood murder.

- Dan.

- What?

You are coming back

tomorrow, period.

Listen, Dan, something's

happened to my sister.

I'm getting on the first flight

to Singapore.

Singa...

Jamie?

Hi, I'm Majorie from the bureau.

Just this way.

I've located the house

where your sister was found.

It belongs to her ex-husband.

He told the police

that he had loaned it to her

until she relocated back

to Chicago with their daughter.

- Where's Katie?

- At his place.

Um, the morgue's expecting you.

Anna.

The deceased was found with

a plastic bag over her head.

Five sets of prints

were recovered from the bag,

all belonging to her.

Cause of death is asphyxiation.

Judging by the level

of decomposition,

we believe that the deceased

committed suicide

three days ago.

That's not possible.

Anna had no reason

to kill herself.

The autopsy revealed

that your sister

was suffering

from Huntington's disease.

Her 12-year-old daughter

also has it.

Huntington's is a hereditary

neurodegenerative

genetic disease

with no known cure.

Sufferers have a 50% chance of

passing it on to their children.

It begins with the involuntary

jerking of the limbs

and ends in early death

caused by falls

due to lack of coordination,

malnutrition because

of the inability to swallow,

or suicide.

Anna's had Huntington's

since she was ten.

She's stronger than you think.

We recovered a video

from her computer.

She left her webcam on

accidentally,

and this is what it captured.

God forgive me.

In 3/4 of a mile,

be in either of

the two left lanes.

Then turn left...

Aunt Jamie!

Katie.

You've got to check out

the house, Aunt Jamie.

It's so old and cool.

Mom thinks a ship captain

used to live here.

I think it's a pirate.

There's even a telescope

in my room, Aunt Jamie. Come!

Um, I'll be there in a minute,

sweetie.

I need to have a word

with your dad.

Doctor says it's shock.

She found Anna and stayed

with the body for two days.

- Where the hell were you?

- Tokyo.

Anna called me the day she died,

but I was on a plane.

I called her when I got back,

but she didn't answer,

so I came here.

Found Katie

reading next to Anna's body

as if nothing had happened.

- She shouldn't be here.

- I didn't want her to,

but she found out

you were arriving

and insisted on coming back.

She's not listening to anything

I say right now.

Can you blame her?

You walked out

on your wife and daughter

because they were sick.

You'd better go.

Anna drew up a will

two years ago.

She wanted to be cremated.

The ceremony's tomorrow.

Katie?

Boo!

Isn't this cool?

You can see real far with it.

Try it, Aunt Jamie.

I saw a nest in one of the trees

the other day.

When Mommy comes back

you can sleep here with me.

What do you mean, Katie?

You want to tell me how

you found Mommy, sweetie?

I was supposed to be away

for a week at school camp,

but I got sick

on the second day.

So a teacher drove me back.

Did you call your dad?

Why not?

I knew he would call the police,

and he did,

and they came and took her away.

- They had to, sweetie.

- But she was coming back.

Mommy was coming back.

Shh. Shh.

When did this happen?

Last month.

I couldn't swallow,

and Mommy took me to the doctor.

When was the last time you fed?

This morning after we came back.

Hold still.

- Does it hurt?

- It's okay.

Mommy says Huntington's

a gift from God.

The pain reminds us

how precious life is.

Your granny said the same thing

to your mom

when she was your age.

Did Granny die of Huntington's?

Yeah, she did.

But you won't.

Mommy?

Does God really exist?

Is He a metaphor,

like the Tower of Babel,

which scholars believe

never actually existed.

We all know

the story in Genesis.

Man, speaking one tongue

and full of pride,

built a tower to reach

the heavens.

And in doing so, angered God,

who destroyed the tower,

scattered Man over

the face of the earth

and confused his language.

Like the invented tower

in that story

that explains how people living

in different lands

spoke different languages,

is God Himself

a fictitious character?

Some say the question

is profound and unanswerable,

but modern scientific tools

have unearthed what are possibly

King David's City

in Israel's Elah Valley,

the fallen cities

of Sodom and Gomorrah

north of the Dead Sea

and recently

a ziggurat in North Syria

that is possibly

the Tower of Babel.

With the aid of science,

humble rocks and stones

will bridge that mystical gap

we know as the leap of faith,

leading us closer to God,

who, I assure you,

ladies and gentlemen,

is very real.

Thank you.

Good night.

- Father De Silva?

- Hmm?

I'm Father Matthew Goh

from Saint Benedict Parish.

Ah. Society of Jesus?

- Your specialty?

- Uh, computers.

I manage the archdiocese's

presence on the Internet.

Google, Facebook, Twitter.

I can't get past a calculator.

It's Matthew, right?

So, um, it exists?

I'm sorry?

The tower.

You found it in Syria.

Oh, yes.

Uh, we found some stones,

and they carbon-date

back to the tenth century BC,

which was when Genesis

was written.

There you go, Father Matthew.

Good night.

It's rising, Father.

What did you say?

The Tower of Babel.

It's rising

Your cab's here, Father.

I have to go.

Thank you for coming.

Father.

Whoa.

It's okay.

It's just me.

I knocked, but nobody answered,

so I came in.

I had no idea

this was down here.

My parents bought the place

after the war.

We just lived here for a month

when I was a kid.

Otherwise it's been

pretty much unoccupied

till Anna and Katie moved in.

They needed a place before

they went back to Chicago.

Is Katie up?

We need to get going

or we're going to be late.

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