The Sound of Silence: The Making of 'The Lodger' Page #3

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And gets in at 3:00 a.m.?

You heard him.

That doesn't leave you

a lot of time together.

No.

Well, what time did you get in last night?

You must have been very quiet.

I'm sorry.

I know that's none of my business.

I'm afraid I have some work I need to do.

Thank you for the breakfast.

I'm glad you came over.

There's no damn way I'm handing this

over to the Feds. Or LAPD.

Look, it's too late, okay?

The Fed profiler is meeting with Sam now

- and they wanna see us at 3:00.

- Sh*t.

All right. We'll meet the profiler.

But when Smith comes,

you don't show him a f***ing thing.

You got me? Not a f***ing thing.

What are you doing?

I was trying to dry my trousers

and they caught fire.

You're welcome to use the dryer

in the house.

Well, these are lost now.

Think I might borrow one or two

of the things I saw in the closet?

Sure.

It seems your husband and I are a close fit.

So, he wants everything.

Who was killed, how many, when, how,

- police reports...

- From 1888?

Come on, you don't need me for this.

Everything on Jack the Ripper

is in the public record.

Why don't you just Google it?

Or go get the book

down at the Barnes & Noble?

Look, he wants it by 3:00, okay?

I mean, it beats me why you didn't

think it was the same guy all along.

- Going after whores, cutting them up...

- Find me the file number, would you?

All right, here it is.

Rolston, with an "O."

Well, two "O's." 1422, aisle 14, second shelf.

So you fried the wrong guy?

That's a bummer, huh, Detective?

F*** off.

- What the f*** are you doing?

- Why are you following me?

F*** you, man!

Just making sure you had the files.

Get the f*** out of here.

You know your man Manning

was here today.

- You know, the cop on TV.

- Manning's here?

Just went out the back door.

Sh*t.

- Did he take anything?

- Said he couldn't find

what he wanted. A**hole.

I go back there to make sure he found

the files, bastard pulls a gun on me.

A gun? What file name did he want?

Rolston, with an "O."

Well, two "O's."

What am I doing?

I forgot my bag.

Who were you expecting?

Sorry. Sorry I'm late.

Doctor's appointment.

So, Doc, what have we got?

How big, how old, Hispanic, White,

Asian, what?

Well, I can't give you specifics, Detective.

You know that.

Just a general profile.

And even there, we have to be careful

about making too many assumptions,

as your killer likely knows he's being

evaluated and will modify his behavior

to keep from giving away too much.

So what you're basically saying is

that he could be messing with us?

Yes, that's right.

Jesus Christ, could somebody

please tell me something we don't know?

Come on, Chandler.

Let's at least hear what she's got.

The precise replication

of the murders of Jack the Ripper

is clearly psychotic obsessive.

And we have to consider that

the comments made by Detective Manning

several years ago,

comparing Rodriguez to the Ripper,

- may well have triggered this obsession.

- Bullshit!

That was after

he'd cut two women to pieces.

What is this,

some kind of retroactive obsession?

She may be right, Chan.

Those first two murders

were all over the place.

They were cut up, but no real MO,

not like these ones.

Gee, thanks, Sam.

He's obviously extremely intelligent,

and from the way

the last victim was dissected,

it looks like he's had

some formal medical training.

What about motive?

Difficult. It could be a consequence

of any number of psychological factors,

psychosis, schizophrenia, bi-polar,

childhood trauma, sexual abuse.

A serial killer's motives, anger,

desire for revenge, whatever,

are almost always profoundly abstracted.

In this case, it's odd because,

while there's enormous sexual rage,

there isn't any actual sexual assault.

- Is that typical?

- Nothing's typical. It is unusual,

however, to find such a violent

manifestation of hyper-vigilant psychosis

directed at the opposing gender

without an autoerotic trigger.

It means he gets off on the killing.

And the chase, of course.

Not unlike the original Jack the Ripper.

What about the gap?

Why would he kill two women,

then disappear for seven years,

then start all over again?

Two, ten, twenty years,

sometimes they're able to stop altogether.

I imagine that, most of the time,

this guy appears normal,

like you and I. Has a job, goes to work,

maybe even has a family.

So, he just couldn't hold off anymore?

Possibly.

Or?

Or he wants to get back in the limelight

again, misses the cat and mouse.

But my guess is

he's fixated on you, Detective.

I think he wants to get closer, and is

leaving these Ripper clues on purpose.

That's where I would start.

Thought you might have

some scissors lying around.

Two-for-one tonight, hon.

- Piss off!

- You piss off, limp dick!

What about this guy?

He looks kind of cute.

Well?

Well, I think this is an exact re-creation

of the double Ripper murders

of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes

on September 30, 1888.

You've been doing your homework.

The letter with the red ink

that we received three days ago?

That is word for word the same

as the "Dear Boss" letter

that the Ripper sent three days before

Stride and Eddowes were murdered.

- Got something here, Detective.

- I know.

- Looks like about a 10.

- Yeah.

Will you get these people the hell back?

I want a photograph of that.

Excuse me.

"Batty"? What does that mean?

I don't know,

but it sure as hell means something.

Hey, shouldn't we have forensics do that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's been cut with scissors.

How did you know that was in there?

A piece of Catherine Eddowes' apron

was found on Goulston Street

the night of the double Ripper murders.

It had been used to scrawl

a message in blood, just like over there.

- And there was a witness.

- What?

The Eddowes murder.

There was a witness.

How tall was he?

Well, he was maybe about your height.

Was he White, Black, Hispanic?

I only saw him from behind.

It was just too dark.

But he was wearing a long, dark coat.

Oh, and he was carrying a small,

black

bag.

... over 100 years ago.

And speculation is growing

that this may in fact be

the same killer who murdered

two prostitutes on Sunset Boulevard

seven years ago.

Which would mean the L.A. County

Sheriff's Office and District Attorney

may have wrongly convicted

and executed Alonzo Rodriguez.

How many more innocent people

like Alonzo Rodriguez must die

before we realize that it's the death penalty

itself that's the mistake?

Right now, there are 600...

No, stay. Stay. It's a zoo out there.

... awaiting execution in California prisons,

140 of whom no longer even have

lawyers to represent them.

Now, do the math.

More innocent people will die

because of this archaic...

This guy is intentionally stoking up

the Latino community.

Things could get nasty for a while.

Yeah, but he's right. I missed something.

What?

Close the door.

What's this?

The Lusk letter?

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