Original subtitles

Ben, I really have to go.

I know A .J. gets real agitated if his breakfast ain't on the table at six o

'clock. I don't want to hear about A .J.

You got to break free so we can be together.

I'll sell this place. We can move to California or wherever you want.

But you got to break free.

Ginny, if you don't tell him, I will.

I'll tell him.

I guess A .J.'s breakfast can wait.

It's a pretty small tree.

Yeah, you're right. It is small.

It's very symmetrical.

You don't know what that means, do you?

You're not here by yourself, are you?

None of your beeswax.

Yeah, well, Merry Christmas.

Whatever.

Okay, now you can't just walk away from me. Come on, hold my hand. You don't

have to.

You're not my mother.

But I'm responsible for you.

Come on, we'll be out of here in a minute and then we'll go put up the

Okay?

Bailey.

What are you doing in Atlanta?

Are the girls with you?

Francis is skiing in Vermont.

Ariana's with my mother.

So, what are you doing here?

I'm... Spending Christmas with a friend.

Mark, this is Mr. Malone.

We met.

So who is she? Do I know her?

I don't think so.

Maybe we could get together. I mean, all of us.

I'll get a bit of tree.

Sorry it took so long. They're overwhelmed.

You ready to go, hon?

Hi, I'm Daniel Weller. Can we just go? Bailey Malone. I'm sorry.

They never give you a break, do they? It's my busiest year. Come on, Bailey.

We've got to be...

Yeah. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

We'll wait for you.

Okay? Okay.

You look great, Janet.

Must be the fluorescence.

You know, in all the time we were married, you could never take a

Bailey, I gotta... Yeah?

Merry Christmas.

It's a record.

Four days before Christmas, and my shopping's done.

This year I got smart.

You know how it's always hard to find the right gift for those special women

your life. Believe me, I'm up nice.

A buddy of mine sells these really cool sports watches.

Gave me a deal because I bought six.

You got the same gift for six women?

They'll never know.

I wrote individual cards.

Well, there's a nice touch.

Now all I gotta do is figure out which one of the six I'm taking to Santa's

Christmas party.

Excuse me.

Seems like I always come down sick at the holidays.

I wonder if that means something.

Give us your assessment, Sheriff.

Well, the first murder happened two years ago. Then there were two more last

year. All within a week of Christmas and all killed with an axe.

Now, we believe they were taken out by a jealous boyfriend or husband.

By what?

Well, just a process of elimination. I mean, there was no robbery motive and

they weren't feuding with anybody.

And obviously old Ben here was engaged in some intimate activity right before

was killed.

Hello? Would you excuse me? Yeah.

No, I don't want that call.

Take a mess.

What? You what?

You didn't say a word the whole drive up here. You didn't look at the case file.

What is it? I haven't seen you this upset since your bartender took early

retirement.

I ran into Janet.

She's in town visiting a friend.

And his beamer and his Rolex and... Merry Christmas.

Fixed lividity, rigor resolving. I put the time of death between 5 and 6 a .m.

No forced entry here.

What about the others?

Ben here was the only one who was killed in his residence.

Thanks. So there I was with that little dwarf tree in my garden.

All I kept thinking was... I'd have to see you in that tree.

Yeah.

Yeah. At 3 .17 yesterday, Ben purchased a quaint little $4 entry bill from

Brophy's Liquor Store.

I'm on my way.

Yeah, I'm going to check on the bedroom.

Yeah.

Usually an ax wound is ragged. This one's clean like a scalpel.

All the victims had a piece of their clothing cut out.

Grace, can you tell what he used?

I'd say a small scissor, blade about three inches.

You know, he could have shot this guy at a distance.

So punishing his victims is more important than his own safety.

Well, some guys just have to make a statement.

Well, he's a planner.

He's able to compartmentalize his anger. He kills with gross acts of violence,

but brings along a pair of scissors he knows he'll need. Edges are chewed up.

Looks like he had a saw through it.

Acts were sharp, but the scissors aren't? Mm -hmm.

That's odd, isn't it?

It surprises me to think about people dying at Christmas.

It's a time of year to realize how blessed we are.

I certainly do.

My Christmas bonus.

Ask your chief to give us cash.

You say you were off yesterday.

Was that camera working?

I guess so.

So, where's the video equipment?

That's a great suit.

I got it for the holidays.

Now, can I please see the video equipment?

That's Ben Travers.

So, did you get all your shopping done?

I always wait to the last minute.

I'm compulsive that way.

I thought maybe the pieces cut from the victim's clothing might form a puzzle.

And if they do, it's still a puzzle.

It's a guy who shows great restraint.

I don't want to be around when he's pissed.

He's able to keep his anger with his wife in check all year.

Probably seems perfectly normal.

Any commonality between the victims?

Oh, yeah, we're chock full of it. A teacher, an army recruiter, a feed store

employee, and now a farmer.

They all lived in Tilden, went to the same high school and one of three

churches. I mean, there's so much commonality, it may cease to be an

I understand killers taking trophies, but pieces of cloth, I mean, that almost

seems like a woman.

Well, the axe weighed between 10 and 12 pounds.

Hard for a woman to handle.

Yeah, but the cloth itself, it's so colorful, so...

Maybe he doesn't want to hide them.

Maybe he wants to display them sewn together like some sort of...

A victory banner or a flag.

Maybe he's a tailor.

Tilden's an off -the -rack kind of talent, Georgie.

Now, if he was a tailor, he would have used shears instead of a small pair of

scissors, and they would have been sharp.

Well, one thing is for certain he knows how to use an axe.

Maybe he uses it in his line of work, firewood business, construction.

Start there.

Travis had a girl with him.

With a little luck, we might get an I .D.

All right, this is perfect. Thanks for your help.

We'll get this back to you as soon as we can.

Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Hey, Julie, this door's... Oh.

I want you to know that I support the government wholeheartedly.

And we in the government are here to service the needs of the people.

I think I'm gonna be. Julia, don't.

Oh, no, my food.

Violence at Christmas is about family.

He's killing the men that he sees as a threat.

Well, if we slept with four different guys, I'd say the problem lies a lot

closer to home.

Yeah, well, he probably can't see it that way.

The threat has to be external or it would destroy his image of the family

I'll be glad when this Christmas is over.

Tell you what.

Why don't you tell me what's going on?

Didn't you say you were trying to reach your dad, have him home for the

holidays?

Yeah, I left for a message of no response.

Typical.

You know, Paul is coming over to help me trim the tree. It's the first time that

he's going to meet Chloe.

Nervous?

Yeah.

Why don't you join us? You could help me break the ice.

The only ice I'll be breaking isn't a glass of Jameson's.

You'll be fine.

Goodwill to men.

Hell of a concept.

The latest victim is Michael Gagnon, a sales rep.

Arrived in town last Wednesday.

Wasn't reported missing until today.

That syncs up. The state of decom puts the time of death at about six days. The

cause of death is the same, identical trauma from the same exact act.

Another piece of clothing was cut away. This one from the pants.

Who found the body? A guy who can't remember his own name.

Hey, I'm Karen.

I got rid of that sports watch.

And I get... Those are clippers.

It's the thought that counts, baby.

On the security camera tape, I've isolated the frame with the strongest

Strongest being a relative term.

But I can't get a decent image of that woman, and it's only getting worse.

Keep it going.

We've got a routine on Gad. He comes into town twice a week on business.

Plenty of time to have enough...

An affair with the killer's wife?

If she's sleeping with this many people, you would think that someone would know

about it. Not necessarily.

The sexual encounters only have to be real in the killer's mind.

Well, they were real enough for Ben Travers.

Yeah, well, the killer knew about the affair with Ben Travers. It could be

the pain and paranoia of that affair caused him to go into a delusional state

where now anyone who even looks at his wife the wrong way is guilty of a

perceived infidelity.

Malone.

Where?

It'll be right there.

Keep it going. Uh -huh.

Scissors. Could they have been children's scissors?

They could have been.

But no kid did that.

No, no, but it could be that he's being driven by memories of his childhood.

I mean, Christmas may mean the reopening of old wounds, something that happened

to him as a child.

Murder started, what, two years ago, right?

George, can we come up with a list of all the domestic tragedies that occurred

in Finland on or around Christmas? Now, that means homicide, suicide, home

invasion, things like that. Let's go start two years ago and go back as far

we can.

Got it.

Hope you don't mind my coming here like this.

Not at all.

You're here to tell me what you couldn't tell me the other day.

You got that look on your face.

The one you always had when something was bothering you, but it took you three

days to get it out.

Nothing's bothering me.

Want some coffee?

I'm marrying Daniel.

Back from the store the other day, the short guy.

He only seemed like, uh... That's great.

That's great.

Seriously, I think it's great. Just... It's great.

You just said great four times.

How do the girls feel about it?

I think it's terrific.

Great. Five.

So when's the big day?

Sometime during the spring, we really haven't decided yet.

Springtime. That's...

I

appreciate you telling me into my face.

I didn't want you to find out from the girls or hear it from someone else.

What? Don't do it.

Bailey! He's all wrong for you. You met him for three seconds. I read people.

I'm in the people business. You're making a big mistake. It's not my first.

Oh, thanks a lot. I didn't mean you, and I didn't come here for your permission.

What did you come here for? You are the father of my children. I thought you

deserved to know.

You thought I deserved to know. Now?

There must have been a better time to tell me.

You could have waited for Christmas Eve. You could have wrapped it up in a nice

big bow and put it under my nice little tree.

You know what? This is perfect. Or better yet, you could have told me at

Thanksgiving. He doesn't kill at any other time of the year, so it could be

some sort of...

Family trauma happened at Christmas, and whatever it was, that provided the

stressor.

Vintage you! And this argument, it is right out of your greatest hits.

What I was thinking, I might be... Can't we ever just forgive each other and

move on?

Who says we haven't? What we're doing right here says we haven't.

Bailey, you know, I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could salvage a little

bit of dignity out of this.

We have.

Very little.

Well, I just thought that you should know.

Fine. Good. Great.

Take care of yourself, Bailey.

This person is suffering from an arrested development.

Angry at the world, his family, wife, whatever.

So, where were we?

What? I knew at some point she'd get married.

I'm surprised it's taken this long.

She's a great woman.

Why shouldn't she be happy?

No reason.

None at all. I mean, she raised a girl essentially alone. She deserves to be

with someone who took care of her, you know? I mean, be there for her.

I don't know why the idea of it drives me.

Them holidays Bailey come and trim the tree with us, okay?

I know

I'm gonna keep trying

you know that don't you?

It's getting late.

How come I don't smell supper?

Sorry, H. I'm just running a little behind.

Well, I'll get you a little behind in there and get supper going.

Okay. Just let me fix this ditch.

Oh, all that Christmas card crap.

Better stop crying, Jenny.

Okay.

I know what was going on between you and Ben Travis.

Yeah.

I've known all along, sweet pea.

He was... trying to take you away from us.

As far as I'm concerned, you know, whoever killed him, doing us both a

And you know, if anybody comes around asking questions, you know, like cops or

anybody like that, you just, you're just butting up about you and him.

We had a passing acquaintance with Mr. Ben Travis.

Like I said, it's getting worse. The pixelation is totally degraded.

Oh, by the way, there are no suicides on record in Tilden during the month of

December for the past 40 years.

16 unattended deaths, one murder.

Guy killed his brother over a football game.

The brother is still in prison and the family moved to Michigan.

Maybe it didn't happen in Tilden.

Maybe the killer's not even in Tilden.

We're trying to check within 100 hours.

So, we're agreed that this is useless?

Seems to be.

Wait, wait, George, stop it right there.

There's someone behind that tree.

Is he watching them?

Look at the way he's wearing his baseball cap. He has it on backwards.

Younger guys do that, right?

All of the victims have been older men in their 40s or 50s. They could be

figures to him or his wife.

Source of emotional or financial support to his wife, which could make him

jealous.

Or they could represent his own father.

Father who abused him and caused him pain.

Maybe now he's thrust into the role of an adult and the responsibilities he

isn't ready to handle.

Will, honey.

You know A .J. don't want nothing Christmas in this house.

It's just a little tree.

I remember when you, me, and A .J., we was kids, and Mom and Daddy used to trim

a little tree up for the neighbors when they was poor.

Yeah.

I remember that like it was yesterday.

I'm glad, sweetie.

I'm glad.

What's that tree doing here?

Oh, A .J., it didn't hurt nothing. I said no Christmas.

It's the tiniest tree I could find, A .J.

Having a dead tree in the house is a stupid thing.

Needles all over the place.

Fire hazard.

Is that what you two want? For this place to blow up in flames?

Then what?

I've been looking for a new place.

It'll be up to me to find it.

Pay for it.

Be up to me all over again.

Wish he wouldn't drink so much.

Wish he would have gone off and joined the army like he said he was gonna do.

Do you like the new ornaments?

Yeah.

Which one's your favorite?

They're all good.

You know, I bet you could be less enthusiastic if you put your mind to it.

He said Grandpa might be coming.

Oh, no, I heard from his office, Chloe. He's at some conference in New Zealand.

Doesn't he want to be with us? Yeah, he does. He's really busy.

I know that Angel is going to be with her family this year, but why can't we

trim the tree with someone we know, like Bailey or someone?

It's bothering you that Paul's coming over to trim the tree, isn't it?

No.

Don't worry.

I can go over to Stacy's and help her trim her tree so you can be alone.

Chloe.

Look, I really like Paul, and I think that you could too, but...

This holiday is about us, so, you know, I'm just going to tell him not to come,

all right?

You'd do that?

Yeah.

Don't.

We need somebody tall anyway.

Come on.

Honey, I've never seen stitching like this in my life.

Thank you, ma 'am.

I'm making a special one for Will for Christmas.

Surprise.

Talent like yours.

What I'm saying is there's money to be made.

In Chicago, this would get you $1 ,500.

Really? You set yourself up in business there, no telling how much you could

make. I know people who'd help you.

There's nothing for you in a place like this.

I got a friend who owns a store on Michigan Avenue.

After the holidays, why don't we drive on up and see her?

I'm awful sorry.

Think about it.

What did that big mouth want?

Oh, nothing. I've been sitting here for five minutes, Jenny.

saying something.

What was it?

What was it?

She said I could sell my quilts in Chicago for maybe $1 ,500 per.

She said that if I were to go up there and go into business, there is no

Jenny, you can't leave us.

I know I'm not the easiest.

I've done more than a few things that I regret.

But I've been...

Trying awful hard to keep things together since mama and daddy died. I've

trying. I know, H, I know.

But I can't do it without you.

Will is, uh... Well,

he's... He loves you more than anything.

And I love you.

We just won't work without you.

How the hell could they have all found out?

Six women, six nose hair clippers.

I could be wrong, but I think they're sending you a message, and it's got

nothing to do with your nose.

Look it, Bailey, no crimes within a hundred mile radius of Tilden that send

red flag.

Bailey, what if there is no wife?

I mean, what if this isn't about sexual jealousy at all, but about keeping a

family together at Christmas?

I mean, the pieces of cloth could represent the members of the family, and

sewing them together literally into some sort of blanket or quilt could

symbolize to the killer that his family is together.

There's no unfaithful wife to threaten that stability.

The church of the family could come from within the family itself, could be a

brother or a sister. And they'd be at just as much risk as me.

More. The emotions run higher.

And they would be easier to get to.

And when you prop the top, you gotta start chugging.

Oh, AJ, don't you be teaching him that.

What's the brother for?

Come on.

This is doing us a lot.

No, no, no. That is enough of that. If the boy was going to drown, there's

things he could drown.

You sound just like Daddy when you said that.

Meaning what, exactly?

Meaning nothing, AJ.

Well, you said I sounded just like Daddy when I said that, so you must have been

meaning something.

Honest, I didn't. How long have you been in the habit of saying things you don't

mean, Jenny?

I was just making an observation.

If I wanted observations, I'd go up to Lookout Point!

Come on, she didn't mean anything. Shut up. I was talking to her now. I got one

more on that's not a jug of beer and another one... Didn't say what you mean.

Come on now, say...

Now, y 'all know I don't... I don't sound anything like the daddy.

I mean, I'm nothing.

I'm nothing like the man.

But if you ever say that again, sweet pea, I... It'll be the last thing you

say.

Merry Christmas.

Oh,

I forgot to wrap this.

Yeah. I'm sorry.

I mean, I'm sorry.

By the way, I'm sorry I didn't, you know, I didn't realize it was a dressy

thing. No, no, I just... Just threw that on? Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm glad.

You look great.

Oh.

I'm sorry, is it, uh... It's not a problem, me being here. I mean, you

Chloe. No, no, no, not at all, boy.

What, she's been about an hour and I hadn't seen her in, what, out of town or

something? No, no, she's, uh, she's upstairs.

She's going to the tree -trimming party across the street, so I'm gonna wrap

with it.

You got her diary, huh?

I thought kids just used computers these days.

Oh, well, you know, when I was a kid, I used to love crawling under the covers

with my flashlight.

And my dad, I think, though.

I don't know. Maybe it's just the lawyer in me, but I would never want to leave

potentially incriminating evidence like that just lying around.

Well, that's why they come with luck.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas, boys.

Merry Christmas, Sheriff.

What do we know?

One X wound in the back.

Almost came clear through.

Same as the others.

There's one significantly different detail, however.

This victim's a female.

Sorry, Sheriff. Thought you'd been told.

No.

No, I had not.

Admit that.

Look, Sam, this is... There's only so much tension I can take, so...

Sorry.

Look, I swear, it's not going to hurt if you just... Okay.

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm sorry.

I can't believe I did this. What?

Barbara Somerset, widowed eight years ago.

Is she involved with anyone?

Someone who would have been jealous enough to kill her?

Lived quietly as far as we can tell. She didn't have so much as a date since her

husband died.

Does she have children?

No.

This doesn't make any sense.

Why would he target her?

It's okay, Frank. Thanks.

The girls kept forgetting to take them to the post office.

Well, I can see that they get them. You don't have to.

Bailey, I... I'm sorry about the other day.

You were always a couple of heavyweights when it came to arguing.

Yeah, well, we were no slouches when it came to making up either, huh?

Well, um...

Maybe we could, you know, talk one of these days.

I'll call you right after.

I love Will, but I can't stay here forever.

So many people tell me I have to move on, try to make something of my life.

It'll be so hard to leave, but I have to.

Mrs. Somerset was old enough to be his mother, so maybe that's what she

represents to him.

An abusive mother.

Granted, mothers are capable of a lot, but to damage him so he would kill like

this?

Well, what is the worst thing that a mother could do to a child?

Abandon him.

Leave him when he needed her the most.

Die. Here it is. Tilden property tax records.

Why was I looking for them?

Because the family may have moved to Tilden from someplace else.

Okay. The Potters, the Murphys, and the Tibbets all moved to Tilden in the last

three years.

Merry Christmas, honey.

I hope you like it.

Like it?

Whoa. Michael Tibbett of Minneapolis killed his wife, Kathleen, and then

himself. Date is eight years ago today.

They left behind three children.

AJ, Virginia, and Will.

Yep.

This could be a good day.

This could be a very good day.

Maybe it could be like the old days.

Ginny! Ginny!

Will, are you okay?

I killed them.

And AJ, too.

But he was gonna kill Jenny. I couldn't let him kill Jenny.

It's Christmas morning.

Come on, son, let's go.

Jenny's diary.

Every victim's in there. Travis was her lover. The rest were friends encouraging

her to leave her brothers.

Move out on her own?

Turn it over to Landry.

He didn't kill his brother.

He confessed to all the others.

He couldn't kill AJ.

He was trying to keep his family together. He was killing to keep it that

So what did we do?

She was defending Will.

That's not really an answer, Bill.

It's Christmas.

That's enough.

Ho, ho, ho, and a Merry Christmas to you.

Wait a minute.

I know you.

Aren't you the guy who had his pick of six dates?

Don't tell me.

They all lost track of time.

Ho, ho, ho.

How the hell did they find out?

Billy.

I got you a Christmas gift.

You didn't have to do that.

Oh, no.

I wanted to.

I didn't get you one.

Why not?

Let's put the star on the tree, okay? Everybody, come on. It's time.

Come on, George.

Oh, we're going to need a ladder. What ladder?

Yep. Be careful. You forgot I had two girls?