The Town That Dreaded Sundown Page #4

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In the movie, after the trombone killin',

there's a double homicide at the farmhouse.

Every damn house out here

is a farmhouse.

Texarkana looked normal

in the daylight hours

but everyone dreaded sundown.

Maybe I was wrong, Nick.

Maybe there is no connection to the past

and the Phantom is just the bogeyman.

Like my grandma says.

The first time I heard about the Phantom,

I was eight years old.

I was at a sleepover

at my friend Chrissie's house.

I called my parents to come pick me up.

And that was the night of the crash.

That night in the woods,

he was on top of me

and I thought, "This is it."

You know, it should have happened

when I was eight years old.

It's finally caught up to me now.

Death.

It's following me

and it's only a matter of time.

- I guess I'm a little messed up.

- I don't think you are.

- Yeah, that's just 'cause you are, too.

- Good.

- Nick, what are you doing?

- It's okay.

No, it's not okay!

- I thought that...

- I can't believe you just did that.

Look, I'm sorry,

I just thought that we had this...

I need you to get out

of the car right now.

Nick, I mean it! Get out of the car!

Are you serious?

Oh, that looks just fine.

That's very nice.

You got everything now, the scallops?

The potatoes and the ham?

Ranger. Hank.

Well, Merry Christmas.

- Merry Christmas, Reverend.

- Merry Christmas, Joe.

Well, what can I do for you gentlemen?

Is there a place the three of us

can go and talk, Joe?

I didn't send this e-mail.

Well, the FBI traced it

back to you, Joe, so...

Why'd you send it to the girl?

To muddy up the waters?

I don't know what to tell you.

Here's what I think,

I don't think you killed anybody.

But I do believe you sent this message.

See, I hear you at night, preachin'.

Nothin' much for me to do

in my hotel room, so...

I wonder, "Are you doing this

for publicity, or..."

He chose that girl to be his herald.

His messenger.

He is doing the Lord's work.

He's killin' our kids, Joe.

My church is more full

than it has been in years.

People are coming to me

asking for redemption, for salvation.

They're scared, Hank.

They want to walk

on the righteous path again.

Now, I want to call the Mayor.

And then I want to call my lawyer.

- Merry Christmas, ma'am.

- Merry Christmas.

I was wondering if Jami's around.

He's kidding, right?

I'm sorry about what I did.

No, I'm sorry. I can't believe

I made you walk home.

I took the bus.

Hey, I wanted to tell you.

I found out Charles Pierce, Jr.

is alive.

- He's the son of the director of The Town...

- The Town That Dreaded Sundown?

Look, I know it's a long shot, but...

I mean, the movie defined Texarkana

just as much as the murders did.

Anyway, he lives here, in Texarkana.

Near here, out by the dredge.

- You talked to him?

- No, I've been asking around about him.

He does odd jobs for the city,

doesn't even have a cell phone.

But worth a try. Right?

- If I can get in touch with him?

- Yeah, definitely.

- Thanks.

- All right.

This is for you.

Nick.

Thank you.

This one's for all the brave men and women

who are out there each and every night

patrolling the streets,

doing everything they can...

We do not, and I repeat, we do not believe

that Reverend Cartwright is the Phantom.

We have taken Reverend

Joseph Cartwright...

Get me started, Elmer.

Every Christmas, Ardele.

They don't have you working tonight?

Well, I just arrested one of Texarkana's

most prominent citizens

for sending an e-mail, so...

That's enough for tonight.

Hank. Hank!

Mark it.

Action, Bud.

My daddy was a genius visionary.

Could have been the next Orson Welles

if he'd gone to Hollywood,

but he wanted to stay in Texas

and tell our stories.

You know, Texas stories.

Not all that Hollywood bullshit.

Oh, that. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Yep. That's the original.

Go ahead and touch it if you want.

- No, thank you, sir.

- Go ahead.

- That's okay. I don't... I don't want to.

- Okay.

Mr. Pierce, I'm writing something

about the Phantom,

- about his legacy in our town and...

- Well, I can tell you who the killer is.

Would that be interesting to you?

- Sure, yeah.

- Well, all right.

Well, my father, when he was doing

his research, he talked to everyone.

Most people believe

that Benjamin Sewell was the Phantom.

No, he wasn't. No, no, no, no.

Sewell was not the killer.

No, they railroaded

that poor son of a b*tch.

No, the police just wanted

someone to be the killer.

- How do you know that for sure?

- How do I know? I don't know.

You can't know.

You know, I'll tell you a story

that my father...

- told me about Hank McCreedy.

- Hank McCreedy?

A few days after the last murder

at the Stark farm,

the police on the Arkansas side,

they found a body...

all in pieces.

It'd been run over by a train.

Now, this is the Arkansas police

who say, "Oh, it's the Phantom.

"He committed suicide." No more Phantom.

- Based on what?

- Nothin'. It was based on nothin'.

But Hank McCreedy's pregnant wife,

she demands an autopsy.

And then it come out.

He wasn't run over.

He was stabbed

more than two dozen times,

right next to the tracks.

My daddy, he had a theory about that.

He said that the Phantom

killed McCreedy,

you know, his last victim,

his final goodbye.

And then he hopped

a train to California.

Mr. Pierce, I've read everything

there is to read on this.

I've never even heard

of this Hank McCreedy.

It should have been front-page news.

But while the Arkansas police

were findin' McCreedy,

the Texas police,

they were arresting Sewell

and so you got two different camps

each saying they got the Phantom.

And what neither of them

is piecing together

is that Sewell was in custody

when McCreedy was killed,

proving that neither one

was the Phantom.

So Sewell was in jail,

and then, did anything

ever come from McCreedy?

Oh, he's dead.

Yep, and dead men don't complain much.

But his pregnant wife, Mary,

she's pissed as sh*t.

- Her name was Mary?

- My daddy tracked her down in 1974.

And, oh, she was still bitter.

She said that Texarkana had done

worse than killed her husband.

It had shat on his memory.

And in the process,

it was shitting on her life.

It was shitting on her son's life.

Who... you think is the Phantom?

No! No!

Sorry.

Hank McCreedy's dead.

His son is dead. His grandson...

is still alive.

That's your Phantom, right there.

- You're making this sh*t up.

- No! Boy, listen to me.

I am telling you what I know to be true.

That Mary McCreedy did pour poison

about Texarkana into Hank Jr.'s ear.

Hank did the same thing to his son!

They did, consciously or unconsciously,

they bred themselves a killer!

Mr. Pierce, do you have

any proof of this being true,

or is this just something

that your father told you?

My daddy asked me

to make a sequel to Town,

to finish the story he started and to set

the record straight about the McCreedys.

He was my best friend.

Now he's deceased.

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