Original subtitles

They were pulling her out of the river when I got there.

There was more water than blood in her at that point.

- Was she able to speak? - No.

She stopped breathing.

OK, that should be enough.

Detective Aubray, despite some irregularities...

with regards to proper Police procedures,

We will not be proceeding any further with our inquiry.

Six weeks have elapsed...

since the last Uncle Eddie murder.

In and of itself, this suggests that the public interest has been served.

Congratulations on your promotion to Detective First Grade.

This afternoon Detective Stan Aubray,

lead investigator in the Uncle Eddie's case...

The death of primary suspect in the Uncle Eddie murders...

ended this morning.

...these horrible murders.

The exact circumstances surrounding the shooting...

remain as yet unclear.

Linked by their gruesome art...

while presenting the award... as a model Officer,

responsible for bringing one of the City's

most disturbing case...

Come on.

Wait, wait, wait.

- Wait, my hat. - Pick it up.

Hey, OK?

Don't be seduced.

Avoid psychological speculation

related to the killer's intent

We may never know why he did what he did.

He may never know.

Treat the boundaries of the crime scene like a frame,

and limit your analysis to what is presented within it.

Sit with it, don't rush things,

and above all, in your initial encounter with the crime scene,

trust your own eye.

Remember, all you really have is what the killer left behind

His work is aesthetic, if you will.

OK, we'll pick up there next week.

Ninety-three.

Yup.

Well you better get him out out of here. 'Cos north of the lamp post is ours.

Do us all a favor and walk away from this one?

Walk away and take him.

I wanna ask them a few questions.

We already got a preliminary statement.

Stan, didn't recognize you. How've you been?

Good, I'm good.

Action's in there.

Chew a little easier on the protocol, eh pal?

Brainard called me in.

He said, Brainard called him, eh?

Stan...

You comin' tomorrow night, right?

See, I'm getting promoted. You and I going to be peers.

No.

You know, I got to tell you I had a bad case of deja vu, and I didn't even work the caper.

- What caper? - What caper?

The caper. Uncle Eddie.

Isn't that why Brainard brought you in?

No, no, no, you're cold.

We held off tearing it down till you got here.

Yeah, that's the kind of smell that gets inside you, doesn't it?

Billy, be a dear.

I call that a conversation piece.

It's ahh... camera obscura.

A device used in the Renaissance...

to draw in perspective.

May I?

Hey, Hey! You want to hold off on that until I mark the aperture?

The pinhole focuses the light.

- May I have that flashlight? - Yah.

Take it down

I would love to get up there.

I do not know, man. I could smell it down the hallway.

Did you see they called Stan Aubray in?

Nope. Hey, he's on one of my classes.

I thought they retired him already.

God...

- Wanna buy you breakfast. - No, I'm going straight to bed.

I think I'm getting a cold.

OK.

What are you doing, Stan?

Worrying.

- About what? - "Worrying the fabric."

That's what my mom used to say.

is to touch things all the time wear them down.

That's why you're good at what you do.

You never mentioned your mother before.

She live in the City?

Staying sober?

Four years and three months.

You're gonna ask me that every time?

I guess this isn't the best place to get to know someone.

Or maybe that's the idea.

You probably keep a girl like me...

at every donation center.

It's so weird to think of my blood in someone else's body.

You know, if you'd run into me a couple of months later, then you did.

They wouldn't be accepting my blood right now.

Naw, you would of have straightened yourself out sooner or later.

- Can I pick who it goes to? - No.

It's my blood.

That is the trouble with transfusions.

You have to replace like with like.

It's not true.

If you are 'O' you can give to anybody.

You know Crystal was 'O.'

When I used to tease her that she had to be...

because she'd give it up for anybody.

She give it up for you?

Did she say something?

I don't know, between dates, yeah.

You have a lot of time to get to know someone.

I knew things about her that nobody else would.

Like, she had this birthmark...

under his left arm.

She always used to say that no matter how many guys she was with,

no man would ever find it.

Think about her, too.

Sorry.

Let's go to somewhere away from here.

Above ground, maybe...

Like hiking.

I'm going with some friends this weekend.

You could come.

I'd love to but uhh, I got to work.

- That's shocking. - Another time.

Probably.

Probably not.

I got to go.

Looks like an egg.

Sometimes a circle is just a circle, Chief.

Building management got back to us this morning.

The hanging man was identified as Martin Calderon.

Works as a day trader, never left his apartment.

I thought that you might want to take a look at the report Carl put together.

He was up all night.

He has a theory it was a ritual killing,

some kind of a copycat imitating Uncle Eddie.

No, this is different.

It's less spontaneous.

It don't seem so different to me.

Look, hard as the Uncle Eddie case was

you're still a Detective

I'd appreciate it if you'd give this one your full attention.

I will.

Thank you.

Based on decomposition of the body,

victim's been dead at least a week.

- Now, the cause of death. - Hanging by your fuckin' ankles.

But he was probably dead before he got that far... yeah?

Yeah. You see the sutured wound?

Intestines had been removed.

The killer went to the trouble of... removing them

and closing the incision before he strung him up.

I would have cleaned the body completely but I want to show you...

The blue is not just discoloration.

The body was painted before the dust was applied.

It's all over him.

I don't see it here.

Just the front of his body.

The side that faced the aperture.

Like a stage set, seen from one side.

What, the human slide show...

wasn't kinky enough?

He had to paint the body?

Maybe tried to pretty it up.

Excuse me...

Are you the owner?

Yeah.

You can't put a painting like that in the window.

Why?

It is irresponsible.

I don't have to look at that every time I leave my apartment.

So, buy it and burn it.

Don't get fresh with me. You take it down, right now.

- How much is this? - Fifty dollars.

Why not have more of those? Pictures of butterflies.

When was the last time you've seen a butterfly?

- Where did you get this? - I don't know, estate lot.

- I may need to call you. - You're a Cop?

You think it's stolen?

Hey listen, I just I found this out on the street,

right in front of my shop.

Thanks.

Nice painting. We analyzed the paints.

These aren't commercial pigments.

Pull samples from this Case Number,

and have the lab run a comparison.

There is something else.

We did an X-ray to look for underpaintings.

This is pretty wild.

Look like there was a bird in the chair in the original image.

I wonder why he painted over it.

Do you have anything to wrap this up?

I want to take it over there myself

You've been shopping, Stan?

"Mr. Aubray, Let's talk"

"Alex"

Stan, I wanted to pick your brain about the case.

What is this? Paperweight?

I still need to sit down over the pathology report.

No, no, no, I mean the Uncle Eddie case.

Yeah, given the copycat angle...

I though it was good idea to look at your file.

- You looked at my file? - Yeah.

You don't mind, do you?

Hey Stan, why don't you flip through the unsolved case files?

Look to see if those guys missed anything.

I know it is tedious right, but, who knows what you might see?

- What's today? - Tuesday.

- No, the date. - The Tenth. Why?

Ok, this is what I've got. Louis Comf..., 1745.

- Nice. - Yes.

Sixteenth century Ming

Rarity, Joseph Ubonn.

And an American Victorian

- I do not know this is your style but... - What is that?

Oh that's a girl to go with your chair.

See I stumbled upon this invaluable collection...

of Civil War porn.

I am not interested in pornography, I need something functional,

something I can touch.

Okay, I was ready to diversify.

But you hold on to those. Tell me which one you want to pursue.

Oye, oye, not her. She's mine.

Russ, another round.

Coming up.

Here's this painting I wanted you to see.

Sorry, Stan but, this is junk.

- And doesn't go with your chair. - No, you don't understand.

It's a picture of the crime scene...

I am working on.

It was in the window of the antique store near my place.

I think the killer painted it.

Wow.

That would be quite a coincidence I mean if you're right.

Oh, come on, I mean anybody could have done this.

It has been in the news for the last couple of days...

if you haven't noticed.

"Copycat Killer on The Loose"

All these years, Stan... I don't know how you can stand it.

You know, just sticking it out till I can collect my pension.

City of New York Police Detective

- Hey, not too shabby. - Yes.

The Department really spared no expense for your promotion.

- It's beautiful, fellas. - Yes.

You know my brother got a fuckin' watch, tho'.

- Beer? - No, thanks.

- Two shots already, yeah? - Yes.

- Cheers, Cheers. - Cheers.

Great success.

Carl, you know you're buckin' for Commissioner one day.

Miss?

Miss, could I get some milk?

Sure are a lot of Cops here, aren't there, Mr. Aubray?

- How do you know my name? - Alex Fredericks.

You probably read some of my pieces...

on the Uncle Eddie investigation.

Well, when other reporters were taking you down... I defended you.

Turns out you and I were right.

We were?

Talk to me about the new case.

Is it a copycat killer?

You think he'll kill again?

Who do we call him? Oh, we always think of something snappy.

What do you want?

Why did you walk away after the Uncle Eddie murders?

It's sad... what happened to that girl.

- Excuse me. - No, wait, wait, don't.

Detective Aubray, it's Martin.

I got the results back from the Lab.

You were right, that's a popular pigment.

The samples taken from the hanging man painting...

match the ones from the old Uncle Eddie file.

I'll leave the report on your desk.

"Uncle Eddie Stumps NYPD"

"Serial Killing Spree"

"Another Murder in Series"

"Prostitute Stabbed by Docks"

Responding Officers, Unit 483...

now approaching crime scene...

to northeast side College Point Harbor.

You OK, Stan?

No?

You see here's the thing. You and I have been working...

in the same office... for what... five years now?

See, I don't even know if you're married.

I don't even know where you fucking live.

Look, if you want to slip out all mysteriously from my party,

well, I don't give a shit.

But you and I are gonna have to work together at some point.

Both got the same shield now, Stan, you understand me?

Jesus Christ...

You OK, Stan?

The human jigsaw.

We need an anthropologist to piece this guy back together.

Tissue works come back

It's all pieces of the same guy.

A Jeff Sarno.

Except the intestines.

They belong to Mr. Calderon.

We checked for evidence of sexual assault, none.

Hey, Stan, Nice you can make it.

- What did I miss? - Meet Jeff Sarno.

What else you got?

This might interest you if only to students of anatomy...

and human behavior.

Victim had extensive cosmetic surgery.

Apparently wasn't happy with the top half of his mouth...

so they split his upper palate...

and lengthened it to match the lower jaw.

Pretty ironic, huh?

All that work and you end up chopped up like this.

Why would he go through all the trouble?

Jeff Sarno was an actor. Not a successful one.

Didn't you read the case file?

He had an audition.

According to his agent, the director called, said the kid...

had the right look for the part.

We got an address or a phone number for the appointment?

No. We checked and came up with nothing.

And the agent?

He just got a call saying that they were ahh... going in a different direction.

Whatever the hell that means.

When Sarno didn't call back.

The agent figured the kid buried his head in the sand.

"We need a good scout!" Sandy

Session 2, November 17.

Detective Aubray, let's pick up where we left off last time.

We were talking about the moment you found the girl.

They were pulling her out of the River when I got there.

She was wearing a fur coat that had become big...

and heavy with the water.

- Was she able to speak? - No.

She had multiple stab wounds to the abdomen.

There was more water than blood in her at that point.

I tried to use my hands to stop the bleeding,

but she took a big gasp of air...

and looked right through me.

And then she stopped breathing.

You said you had met the victim before.

Did you ever intend to warn her that she was in danger that night?

It's one in the morning.

I'm sorry, I know it's late, but did you hear any noises upstairs earlier?

No, only you just now.

Someone broke into my apartment.

Ahh... Ohh. No, didn't hear anything.

So, what you think?

White male, age 43, lives alone.

One case of corrupting a minor...

Brought by the DA's Office five years ago,

then later dismissed.

Drives a Lincoln, similar to the one identified by witnesses...

At three of the last five murder scenes.

And we got prints and blood type...

based on saliva match.

I think this is our guy.

I can have a warrant ready in three hours.

Hey Stan!

Aubray and Luiz, you take the back, I'll go in the front.

Now wait on my signal.

Position.

Gun! Gun, gun! Stop, don't shoot!

We got the bastard.

It looked like a gun.

Did the right thing.

I was going to meet you upstairs.

I can't, I just got time for a cigarette break.

- We can go get a coffee. - No, this is good.

I really need a cigarette. Mind if I smoke in here?

No, hop in.

How you doin', man?

- Thanks for returning my call. - Not a problem.

We are buddies.

I heard that you are working on a new case.

Yeah, I didn't expect to be on something so soon after that last one.

Last one? Talking about five years ago.

- You got promoted didn't you? - Yeah.

They got me up there nice cushy desk job.

It's all good.

- Tough thing was that girl. - The girl?

Could have been twenty more girls like her dead, Stan.

It panned out in the end.

How's your family?

Everybody's good. Boys are 8 and 10 now.

Big kids, man.

Look, It's great to see you, man.

You, too.

You have something you want to get off your chest?

No!

I mean I'm on this thing and... I've been thinkin'.

You know, I think I know what is going on here.

My advice to you is, if it's in the past, let it stay there.

Things change.

You never set foot in the same river twice.

- Thanks. - Sure.

I think you're gonna catch this guy.

That one.

- This is the one you want? - Yes.

What's wrong with the one you've got, Stan?

Ahh, you're not actually having company over there?

I just want another chair.

What's wrong with having two matching chairs?

Nothing wrong, Stan. Nothing wrong.

If I can get you a Federal coffee table or a Heppelwhite for the same price.

- No, no, no, that's what I want. - OK.

What?

You just have to have it, don't you?

That's your problem, Stan.

Me, I love the feel of an object changing hands, to let it go.

You can't let go of anything, can you?

Like that girl, the memory of the girl.

Might not be your fault.

Might just be the past that isn't through with you yet.

Keeps pulling you back all the time.

Now all of a sudden it's a copycat killer.

We do not know if it is a copycat.

I'm not so sure either, Stan.

I took a look at some photos from the Uncle Eddie killings,

and I kept thinking about your painting... and

You said it was a piece of junk.

There was something there though.

The presentation of the body, the pigments and gestalt.

There was something about it, you know what I mean?

No, I don't know what you mean.

Looking at the work in a sequence,

it was like watching a retrospective.

I think you should stick to garage sales...

and vintage porn.

Don't get your horns all twisted.

We killed Uncle Eddie.

You're dealing with the same guy.

- I'm tired of your bullshit. - Stan, sit down, Stan.

- No, I'm leaving. - Come on, sit down, Stan.

I'm leaving.

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

Stan.

Thanks.

Eggs Florentine.

Is it true that there is a connection with the murders of Uncle Eddie?

What about connections to Uncle Eddie? Is it a copycat?

- Come on, give us something. - When I say stop, you stop.

There is no copycat, got nothing to do with Uncle Eddie.

Leave it alone.

I heard the victim worked the Uncle Eddie cases with you.

You got to give me something.

- I can't always have information... - Get her out of here!

Hold on here, Miss.

Who leaked this to the press?

Hard to keep a lid on a story like this.

You know that, Stan.

This guy really a buddy of yours?

Work colleague.

You're making me lie for you, Stan.

He used your friend like an inkwell.

So, what's this one about, Picasso? What's the connection?

Guy is writing a love letter, Stan.

Stan...

Just take a minute.

I wasn't sure whether I should come down here...

so I talked it over with my wife.

She works a hotline as a crisis counselor.

She told me the only way to avoid a crisis is to anticipate one.

Have you seen this morning's paper?

Your past is starting to give me nightmares.

"Camera Killer Leaves a Mess"

Which version of my past do you mean?

Your old partner, George, is dead.

- Now why is that? - I don't know.

Good answer.

But I don't think there is much to this copycat angle.

Hey, but fuck the copycat.

I got Carl, of all people,

asking whether the correlation between these cases...

is more than circumstantial.

And he's not the only one.

You are not the kind of Cop who'd kill an innocent man.

- And I told Carl, this much. - Thanks for your confidence.

Don't mention it.

Hey, look. There is one version of the past,

yours, mine and the Department's.

That's one version.

This next photo is from Gauthier Grisomme,

the French master photographer.

He spent his entire life chasing the decisive moment,

that instant when composition, form and content...

conspire to reveal some fundamental truth.

Too esoteric? Hold that thought.

What do you see?

Where is the decisive moment? What truth is revealed?

Is this the truth? Or this?

Or this?

Or is it just another angle?

You're all familiar with the Uncle Eddie case.

Now everybody's talking about a copycat.

If Uncle Eddie is the original,

then the copycat is the one always trailing behind,

compelled to reconstruct again and again...

the decisive moment that has already happened.

And maybe there is no copycat.

Only a killer that has become impatient with chance.

No longer content to kill his victims where they stand,

he forces the decisive moment.

The killer painted half of this with a pantograph,

and I finished the rest.

It's weird but it makes sense, Stan.

Because he's implicating you more and more into his crime.

I mean, you're already his patron.

Remember you bought that painting?

Without a patron there is no painting.

So maybe you are his Pope Innocent.

Maybe you're his crazy object of obsession, Stan.

OK, I got Velazquez portrait of of the Pope Innocent X.

Quite an ambivalent study of absolute power.

And here comes Francis Bacon.

Despite never seeing this painting in person,

Bacon became so obsessed with it...

that he compulsively repainted it over and over again,

but each version more horrific than the previous.

Did I tell you that the latest victim worked with me...

on the Uncle Eddie murders?

I think you've been part of this bizarre thing all along.

It's not until an artist finds his obsession...

that he can create his most inspired work.

Where he gets his obsession from, it does't really matter.

It can be the myth of Prometheus,

It can be another man's painting of the Pope,

it can be even the story of Stan Aubray.

It can be anything.

So drink up. I'm gonna show you something.

Looks familiar right?

The artist has a real underground cult following

Already some shows in the more hip galleries downtown.

You wouldn't believe what this stuff is selling for.

- What's his name? - No name.

No official representation.

- Where do we find him? - Stan, that's the whole thing.

This guy doesn't exist, that's the whole gimmick.

The only thing you have is his work.

What about the gallery owner?

Loren Rayes is in the back room, I guess.

That's my chair.

Yeah, I told you I would help you to find...

- No, it's my chair. - What?

FATE Wood and Fabric

It was stolen.

We're taking it. I'll swing the car around.

No, you can't do that, Stan.

All right, just tell them it's evidence.

Oh good, you're back.

Any chance of returning our "Fate"?

- What? - The chair that you absconded with.

- I am afraid I can't do that. - Evidence.

I suppose you'll beat me with rubber hoses...

If I choose to respect the artist's anonymity.

No, we're not gonna do that but you got to tell us what you know.

- All I have is a name. - Okay.

- Gerri Harden. - Sounds like a pornstar.

- You got a bio, any photos? - Not even an address.

You never asked where she lived?

She never talked about boyfriends, girlfriends, nothing like that?

Detecting is your pastime, mine is selling paintings.

- And she sold quite a few. - You weren't curious?

Well, we're gonna have to ask you downtown

to give us a full description anyway.

OK.

Not a single trace of fiber in any of the crime scenes...

but this clay is full of prints.

We didn't even need to dust.

I'm gonna need a few hours.

You get a match?

A match, a name and a last known address.

- It's an anagram, for a red herring. - Come again?

I don't think there is a Gerri Harden.

Take a look.

- Who is that, Stan? - It's Crystal.

Looks like someone else thinks he got the wrong man.

You're different from when I first met you.

It's funny.

Crystal said the same thing to me.

It's going to be five years this week.

I know.

She was my best friend.

There's nothing you could have done, Stan.

She was half dead when you found her.

I'm sure she forgives you.

No, she woudn't.

That night we knew Uncle Eddie...

had shifted his killings to the docks.

I should have warned her, but I didn't.

I tried to keep an eye on her but she must have seen me and slipped away.

By the time I got there...

Well...

They were pulling her out of the water.

Nothing I could do.

Shul Grantz. You told her everything was going to be OK.

What do you think?

Good for you.

I was out there that night, too.

I didn't know.

I'm sorry.

Aubray.

The poison heart.

What?

The poison harms. Certainly does.

Now you should know that. 'Cos you've been poisoning yourself for years.

Now that you've seen my work I want some feedback.

You and I both like the color blue,

a pigment that was once quite precious.

It is also the color of Narcissism.

How will you spend your final moments? Stuck on your throne?

Staring at your face reflected in a pool of water?

Maybe it won't be your face in the water but the body of a girl.

Water, limpid and clear.

Clear as crystal.

I have a theory.

Uncle Eddie got scared and stopped killing

because he knew he would get caught.

He knew.

An artist never stops working.

He always gathering material, preparing a new study.

I'm having another show. 637 Spruce.

You should thank me, Stan. We make quite a team.

If it weren't for me you'd be stuck at home

riddling out your existence.

Detective Aubray.

We dealt with it like you asked.

Covered her up... when you want to talk to the press.

Eggs Florentine.

No eggs today. Cholesterol.

I told your friend that is what you always order.

He paid for it already.

Uhh...no thanks. Just tea.

Surprised I found ya.

Coffee cup in the trash by your desk.

It was from here.

You went through my trash?

You're hell of a good Detective, Carl.

Place is great. I love it.

Gina, I got to tell you old boy...

She's got a real mouth on her.

You know Stan, there are reams of paper on the Uncle Eddie case.

Enquiry transcripts, supervisors commendation,

case logs.

But you know what? No real information.

There's none.

Till you're caught...

I mean killed...

Sure he was the one?

He had to be. Killings stopped, right?

You know back in the warehouse, when we looking at that dead Cop's body

You said you worked with him.

You didn't mention you met with him

the day he was murdered.

You investigating me or the copycat?

If I were investigating you, believe me, you wouldn't know about it.

Nothing you want to tell me about the old case?

I'm all ears.

- I'll call you if I think of anything. - You do that.

And while you're thinking, I'm gonna keep on doing what I'm doing.

You just better hope that it doesn't lead back to Uncle Eddie.

A Red Herring A Poison Harms Ana

Anamorphosis

Anamorphosis is a Renaissance painting technique...

which uses the principles of forced perspective...

to construct an alternate image within the frontal composition.

Take this image, for example, "The whale in pursuit of Jonah."

If you stand at an extreme oblique angle to the picture plane,

A second image, often contradicting the first will appear.

In this case, a peasant copping a squat.

Holbein, this is 1536.

Now this painting magnifies the worldliness of two young men in...

pursuit of life.

But take a closer look, view it from above and from the side...

and a secret message is revealed.

You're being confronted with a skull.

Your memento mori.

It's interesting but, what does this have to do with the case?

All the devices at the crime scene...

they are like a tutorial on the mastery of perspective.

But anamorphosis subverts the visual plane...

canceling out all that you've learned about fixed perspective.

There is always another angle, another meaning.

The truth depends where you stand.

Yeah.

You got to go back look at things from a different angle.

Hey, get back here! Come on!

Look at us...come on!

Stan...

Stan...

Alright, fine.

Hi

I promised myself that I was gonna wait for you to call me

but then I realized that I would probably be waiting forever.

So uh... I want to see you again.

Call me or a...

I have a meeting tonight. You can pick me up after that.

Hey, it's Sandy. Leave a message.

Sandy?

No, it's Carl. Who is Sandy?

What do you want?

Stan, I gotta talk to you.

I can't talk right now.

Stan, I need to talk to you... I'll come to you.

I'll call you back

Can I help you?

Yes, I am looking for a Sandy Strickler.

Oh, we do not use last names here.

She left just soon as she got here.

- It was obvious that she wasn't sober. - Are you sure?

Her sponsor was kind enough to take her home.

Have you ever seen this man, the man standing behind her?

- That's Michael C. - Michael C?

That's her sponsor.

What's his last name?

- Alcoholics Anonymous. It's Anony... - Anonymous, I know.

Stan...

Michael left this for you.

- What was that? - I do not know what it is,

he just gave me the package.

I think I probably, should have just gone with the rose on my ankle.

God, I can't believe that I let you talk me into this.

You sure you're not too high to do this right now?

I'm fine.

Why is it you never seem high?

Would never put that poison in my veins.

- Hey, hey. - I'm sorry.

- Can I see it? - No.

- Why won't you let me see it? - Just...

- Wait, let me look at it. - Let me work.

Oh God, you know what. I need a break.

Death