Original subtitles

My name is Thomas Vail, or at least it was.

I'm a photographer. I did it all.

Wife, house, friends, career.

In one moment, it was all taken away.

All because of a single photograph.

I have it.

They want it. They will do anything to get to me.

A while later is proof that these events are real.

I know they are. They have to be.

Months have passed since I've heard a familiar voice speak my name.

Since I've seen recognition in someone's eyes.

I continue to hold out hope in spite of what I'm living through.

But whoever has done this to me might have overlooked something.

A small piece of my life that got tucked away in a distant corner.

I have secured a job working as a messenger for Jumeirah Photo Works.

Shamero is a large photo syndicator. Some years ago,

I sent a dozen photographs to them for sale to syndication.

I'm hoping that somewhere, buried deep within their archives,

I might find some trace of my past.

Hell, they could have been there and back by now.

Oh, he's not still dipping into that street, mind you, over in Charlestown.

At least you'll keep quiet about it.

Oh, hey, Mayor Rimmings, 47th and Tower, yesterday. Hey,

did you page me with this number? You get one

page on that puppy and one page only. 9-1-1.

That means it's me. That means get the lard out and get to a telephone.

Nobody else has your pager number.

Hey, Joey, I need something from the stacks.

Hey, Marco, you got to run.

All right, it's published. You're on the way. Pop them.

Where's the key on the counter where I left it?

No, I need the visible one.

Thank you.

What do you want?

I want to help you, Tom.

I'll bet.

Then you'd profit by that wager.

Well, why don't you start by telling me who you are?

Meet me tonight at the Museum of Science, fourth floor, 11 p.m.

I'll make sure it's worth your while.

You forgot the part about make sure you come alone.

Given the state of your mind, it hardly seems necessary.

Okay, that's the Museum of Science.

The Museum of Science will be closing in five minutes.

Oh, I'm so glad you decided to come.

I think this will turn out to be an educational experience for you.

It's something that you did.

What do you want?

I told you, I'm here to help you.

Why?

I'm going to help you because you're going to help me.

Not likely.

A question worth contemplating.

Should we pull the plug?

For the last ten years, I've been working for the

people that you've been trying so hard to find.

And just who might that be?

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that my employers

are a powerful, well-organized group.

They have little tolerance for people who come between them and their objectives.

Yeah.

And what are those objectives?

When I began my association with them,

I was under the impression that their objectives were the same as mine.

That no longer seems to be the case.

Oh, you don't get invited to the company retreats much anymore?

Once a member of the club, always a member.

I continue to do my job, but you might say that

I have something of an attitude problem.

I'm going to take them down, Mr. Bale.

Piece by piece, if I have to, but I am going to destroy them.

Well, great. Then why all this? Why not just walk away and turn them in? To whom?

To the authorities.

You still don't understand, do you? Beyond authority.

Why tell me?

The man I work for is Richard Grayson.

He is one of the highest-ranking members of the organization.

And you're just volunteering his name?

For a purpose.

I told you, Tom, I'm here to help you, if you help me.

What do you want?

I want you to kill Richard Graves.

The man you are looking at is Richard Grace. The face is probably not familiar,

though he should be of some importance to you.

Why is that? Go to the county video archives.

Give the card to the person behind the counter. You'll be handed a videotape.

I have no doubt you will find it interesting.

I'm sure you're all aware that I've called this

session to consider a matter of erasure.

You've all had a chance to review this case.

I have strongly recommended his erasure to the board,

and I expect that you will greenlight this project.

It is of personal interest to me.

Thank you for your support in this matter.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

What's your point?

What did you think that was going to accomplish?

I just thought you might be interested in putting a face

to the man who was responsible for your erasure.

A face isn't what I need.

I also thought that once you knew more about Richard Grace,

it would make your decision to kill him that much easier.

I haven't made that decision.

You will.

You know, on the other hand you may have just pointed me

towards a man who holds the answers to my questions.

A man who does me more good alive than dead. You presume quite a bit, Mr. Phil.

Richard Grace executes. He does not initiate.

You're telling me that the man who approved my erasure doesn't know the reasons why?

He's a man who thrives on power, on knowing that he can control or ruin others.

If given the opportunity to know why, he would not be interested.

Although in your case, he did have something personal at stake.

Maybe you should ask him.

How did you get these?

Richard Grace had a home, a life, maybe even a wife who loved him.

What she knows and doesn't know about her husband's

job might make no difference at all.

If someone had told me a few months ago that I would be sitting here watching

men who took my life and debating whether or not I could take his life,

I wouldn't have believed it.

But now...

Watching the routine, normalcy.

Who knows?

The difficult truth is, despite my rage and my anger at killing Richard Grace,

it would not change my life in any way.

Something special you were looking for?

No, I'm looking for a man, actually, a friend of mine.

I thought I saw him going to that back room

just before I came in. He's got gray hair.

He's about 5'11", wearing a dark gray suit.

And you saw him come in here? Yeah, he talked to you for a second,

and then he went in the back.

I'm sorry, sir, you must be mistaken.

You should learn to follow orders, Mr. Vail.

Well, I'm a slow learner.

So I've been told.

Go to St. Mark's Church on 4th.

They say confession is good for the soul.

And if I don't come...

I'm beginning to understand why they consider your

reconditioning and elimination a priority.

You are, to coin a phrase, a pain in the ass.

Thank you.

You came extremely close to putting our arrangement in jeopardy.

We don't have an arrangement.

You do seem to possess an exaggerated sense of self-importance, Mr. Vale.

Well, let's just say I've had encouragement.

Touché.

Fortunately, you did not do enough damage to

prevent us from proceeding with our plans.

Sit down, Mr. Vale.

You'll leave when I want you to leave.

It's all so easy for you people, isn't it? What's that?

Just eliminating who or what stands in your way. Well, I'm not you. Not yet.

I would have thought the most recent photographs

would have been sufficient incentive.

What's his connection to my wife?

Your wife?

Allison.

How did you get those photographs? What are they doing together?

Richard Grace leaves town tomorrow morning.

He'll be gone for almost a month.

His wife left today ahead of him, so he will be alone for the next 24 hours.

It would be best for you to kill him tonight.

Sorry, I've made other plans.

I think about it, and yeah, it makes sense.

However, there is an alarm beam by the left side.

In order to disarm this beam, use the keypad on the outside of the French door.

The code is 47223.

I've marked the position of the alarm beams.

Mrs. Grace is visiting her sons at the private

military academy where they attend school.

Mr. Grace usually arrives home by 7.

He'll eat dinner and do paperwork until 9.30.

By 10, he'll be in his room sleeping.

If you do this right, the man can go to bed without a care in the world.

You can enter his bedroom.

It's heavily carpeted, and he can die contentedly in his sleep.

How easy is it to kill another human being?

In some strange way, killing Richard Grace

could be considered an act of self-defense.

Albeit after the fact.

After all, Richard Grace is the man who murdered me.

The man who, without care or concern, took my life.

As I walked towards this house,

I kept telling myself that I was more interested in

having my questions answered than I was in revenge.

I kept telling that to myself, though I'm not sure I believed.

Look, I know very little encouragement to use.

Just put it down.

There's no money in the house.

You got it, too.

You didn't make it this far, did you? How did you?

Look, if you're going to kill me,

I'd at least have time to be able to leave a note for my family.

I didn't give you the opportunity you never gave me. Go to hell.

Go to hell, Mr. Grace.

Besides, from what I can see,

you've been spending most of your free time with my family.

With your family?

Oh, you mean those. I mean those.

Sit down.

Looks as though the shoe is on the other foot.

Why?

Why what?

Why was my life erased?

Why did you steal my photograph?

Why is it so important for you to get the negative?

What'd you tell my wife?

Your wife?

How's it feel, Richard?

How's it feel to know someone else is in control?

To know someone else can make the decision as to whether you live or die?

It wasn't personal.

You're a cool bastard.

Think about it. Think, Richard. Why don't you think about your wife and your sons?

And I want you to think about my finger on this trigger.

This takes so little, doesn't it? Just the slightest amount of pressure.

You'll never see those boys grow up.

You'll never hear anybody say, I love you.

You'll never get to say it to anybody.

No past, no present, no future.

Melissa, shut up! You really hate me, don't you?

You created me, you son of a bitch.

The man standing here with his finger on the trigger is your creation.

And the rest of your life is up to me.

All I have to do, I just have to make one small, simple decision.

A man like you is probably wondering why I would even hesitate. I mean,

it's just a life, isn't it? There's so many others.

I mean, why should a person hesitate about taking one here and there?

At the end of the day, it's kind of like turning off a light switch.

It's something I could never live with.

I'd like you to answer some questions.

Thanks for watching.

Richard Grace, a successful security industry analyst,

was perhaps best known for his yearly fundraising

efforts on behalf of the End Hunger Now campaign.

Though there are no eyewitnesses to the shooting,

Police Detective Roger Coleman told us earlier...

It's usually pretty quiet neighborhoods,

so there was no one on the streets at the time of the shooting.

We have recovered the murder weapon, however,

and there's a good deal of trace evidence at the scene.

That trace evidence, Detective Coleman told me, is in the form of hair, blood,

fingerprint, and fiber traces left behind at the scene by the murderer.

We'll have updates as they happen. Reporting live from Salem.

Have you seen anyone come in the last three or four hours?

People come in and out of here all the time at the hotel.

Either you do better than that, or we're going to

have to do it room to room. You got a warrant?

Come on, man. Okay, guys, room to room. You just let

him start on the top floor, work your way down.

Police, open up.

What's going on? It's 3 o'clock in the morning.

We're looking for somebody.

Well, I'm the only one here.

What's your name?

Tom.

Tom Vale. Do you mind if I take a look around, Mr. Vale?

Do you want any of the chimneys?

No.

Come on in.

You going somewhere?

Oh, come on, man. Sue me. I don't use hotel dressers.

Never know who's been there before you.

So, can you tell me what this is all about?

We're looking for somebody.

Oh, that's it. You're just looking for somebody.

That's all you need to know.

You in your room all night?

Oh, yeah, since I was about nine, I got an early appointment.

Yeah, right.

Get up, please.

Excuse me? I said get up.

Who was your appointment with, the dry cleaner? I can explain. Yeah, you will.

Hanson, yeah, I got him. 322.

I think about it, and yeah, it makes sense.

I think about it, and yeah, it makes sense.

Wait a minute.

I hope you weren't expecting a movie.

I tried to get a print of the fugitive, but on such short notice.

What do you want? I've already got the negatives.

At the risk of repeating myself, Mr. Vail, I want to help you.

Really?

Oh, that's why you had me framed for murder. To help me.

I wonder if Mr. Grace is dead.

He's dead.

If I'm happy, Mr. Gale, you'll be happy. Well, gee, it's a thrill a minute.

Don't you see?

We're both free and clear now.

Richard Grace is dead.

And once they've run your fingerprints and blood type,

no one in the organization will suspect me.

Well, how nice for you.

You may have forgotten one thing, however.

How is this supposed to help me?

Grace is a casualty of war.

It happens.

You struck first.

They know what a loose cannon you are.

Think about it.

Can they want you any more than they already do?

Listen, the stakes are different now!

It's not just about them and me anymore. It's about murder and the police.

You still don't understand, do you?

Oh, I understand.

Now I have your organization and the police to deal with. But I killed Mr. Grace.

The organization doesn't know that.

And they would never let you fall into the hands of the police or the legal system.

Well, gee, I hope somebody tells that to the police.

They already have.

Come up to the line.

Coming only six hours after the murder of Richard Grace,

the police have arrested Mr. Grace's 32-year-old gardener, Manuel Lopez.

Police detective Roger Coleman told reporters that

they had found personal items stashed in Mr. Lopez's basement.

Do you know, Mr. Graham, how simple it all is?

They can rewrite any story any time and make the ending come out any way they want.

Not so my blood.

My fingerprints on the gun.

My people know that, Mr. Vail.

The police and the public will believe otherwise.

So you see, we have indeed killed one bird with two stones.

Richard Grace is dead.

I still hold my position with the organization,

and you're cleared of any murder charges.

Call it a show of good faith, Tom.

I had them, and I returned them.

Why?

Take the tag.

You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Flip-flop, crisscross,

a helping hand deserves another.

Why? Why give it to me?

What's in it for you?

Isn't that clear by now? I want them taken down as much as you do.

Oh, I see. You want partners.

In a way.

What you learn from your final engagement will help

you work your way to the top of the organization.

Why don't you just draw me a straight line right through the front door? Oh,

it gives me too much pleasure to think of the

damage you can do to them on your way there.

Makes you think I'll even use it.

Walk away, and never look back.