Anime 8
Day 22
The old Fishermen's Sardine Factory sits out on a point of land on the south end of Moonlight. Currently it is a hotbed of activity as fire trucks, ambulances and a portion of the town have turned out to see the Investigators and an explosives team blow open the door of the mysterious vault discovered by Shute the previous night while playing the Killer's game.
While preparations are being made, a pair of interested eyes watches from across the inlet with a concerned look. Paul Dixon stands in front of his house taking in the sight. Not far away, just down the road a camera clicks away, taking photographs of the events. Kelly Baker sits on a rock outside his boathouse, camera in hand, documenting all he sees. Across the inlet, Ash comments that it's strange that Baker isn't around, as he always seems to turn up at events like this.
An explosive expert hands Ash a small yellow detonator device and carefully explains the procedure for setting off the blast. Ash understands and when everybody is ready, he gives the pre-blast warning.
"Fire in the hole!" Ash yells. A moment later an explosion emanates from the vault as the lock mechanism is successfully blown away from the door.
Those gathered begin to move in towards the vault. Ford keeps the onlookers back at a safe distance as Conan puts on gloves and opens the eight-inch thick steel door, emblazoned with the OSL logo. He clicks on his flashlight and scans the roughly 8'X10" room. As the dust clears, the light settles on a disturbing object…a skeleton lying on the floor.
"Oh my God," a shocked Conan whispers.
Conan and Shute step into the room. Shute begins coughing and covers his mouth. Conan scans the room with his light and begins counting…
"One, two, three, four, five, six…" Ford and the mayor now step up to see what they've found. Ford repeats Conanl's words of shock. Ash is counting skeletons.
"…Seven…eight. Eight bodies." Said Conan counting.
In interviews, Ash, Shute and Conan each other offer up their leading suspects.
"I truly believe that Dixon maybe the Killer. I may be wrong because the mage is still out of focus, but of the five that are left, I believe that Dixon may have done it," said Conan.
"I'm stuck right now between Randy Silver and Kelly Baker," said Ash.
"It's Kelly Baker, without a doubt," said Shute.
Next, the group turns to their findings in the vault. Besides the skeletal, decomposed bodies of eight people, they also found the remains of a burnt newspaper article with a headline that reads, "Governor Orders Crack down on East Coast Smuggling amid War Fears!" Additionally, they found crates full of booze, tobacco and a white substance they believe is cocaine. All of the crates were labeled with the O.S.L. logo. All of the dead bodies were found handcuffed together. Andy asks the Investigators what that means?
"They were held against their will and all agree that it points to a murder," said Ash.
"We believe the skeletal remains of the bodies found in the vault maybe the Duchamps. The same family found in the photo recovered from the back to the painting from the motel room where the burnt man killed himself. By looking at the clothing on the skeletons, matches can be made with the people in the photo," said Conan then he continues on.
"The two skeletons are wearing matching dresses, like twin girls in the photo. The clothing on each body helps identify the sex. Matches can be made with eight of the nine members of the Duchamps. Flashing back to when the investigators are counting the bodies in the vault and keep coming up with eight bodies, rather than the nine that should identify the complete Duchamps family. You're not going to find all nine. You know why? Because the little boy survived." Said Conan.
In the briefing room, all three Investigators think hard about this fact. Conan suggests that somehow the little boy survived or was spared.
Andy asks, "Okay, who is he?" There is silence as they ponder this question.
Then, Conan responds… "I remember when I was eight years old…" We see the burnt man film again as he continues Angel's memory of his words… "My earliest memory was in 1941 when I was eight years old. I remember running through a dark hallway filled with smoke. There were flames at my back chasing me…."
Andy asks Conan, "So you're saying it's the burnt man."
Conan responds, "He witnessed the murder of his family." The flashback to parts of the burnt man film continues, "…The left side of my face had melted and my tongue had swollen. I couldn't do anything but run…."
Ash states that he thinks that the burnt man was in the cannery when his family was killed. He suggests that maybe he got out of that vault somehow." The burnt man continues, "…I didn't see Moonlight again until I was a man."
Andy reads the forensic report. It says that the people in the vault died from asphyxiation and intense heat. Four of the bodies were adult male and one of those is missing two fingers. The four other bodies were female; two of who were twins. One of the older women was suffering from a genetic condition that causes hair loss.
"Whoever killed those people, whoever killed Robert Smith, is copying that murder," said Conan.
Shute says that so far, every person murdered in town has represented someone in the Duchamps photo. The group proceeds to go through the Moonlight murder victims and match them specifically with the Duchamps.
Robert Smith is the man missing two fingers. Janet and Sandra are the twins because they always acted so much alike. The woman with the hair loss condition matches Carmen Rose, whose hair was shaved off by the Killer. Johnson represents the man on the far left, while General McKay fills the male spot in the middle of the photo. Debbie doesn't fit, because she was an outsider. The Investigators feel she doesn't fit the Killer's plan, which is why her body was returned. Eric Rose body, which the Killer stole from the grave, is the final adult male in the photo.
All of these matches leave one remaining female, the one on the far left. Ash points out that someone else might be killed and Shute wonders who they need to be concerned about. Before they can figure it out, the doorbell rings and a winded Mayor comes upstairs.
He tells them the town is in a panic and getting out of control. He has called a town hall meeting for that afternoon and would like the investigators to come and speak to the townspeople, fill them in on the progress of their investigation and help calm their fears.
The three investigators arrive at town hall where a bunch of angry townspeople are not being allowed into being the building by the police. Inside, Conan reads from a written statement that he, Ash and Shute prepared.
"We believe that a town member may be involved in the murders in Sunrise. We've come to think that the person or persons involved may be a relative a family that once lived in Moonlight named the Duchamps. The Duchamps were a family of fisherman that worked independently for any one of the canneries, including Fishermen's Aquaculture. The murders that have recently occurred in Moonlight may be a copy of the Duchamps murder. At the beginning of our investigation we received a roll of film. On this film, the Killer identified himself or herself as one of 15 suspects. Please, we cannot disclose the identity of any of our suspects, so please don't ask." Said Conan.
As soon as he finishes the questions begin. Dr. Anderson wants to know what murders in the past have to do with the present. Baker answers her, very excitedly pointing out that it was mass murder of the Duchamps, just likes the mass murders taking place in town now. He gets even more heated saying the town of Moonlight was built on murder and that people are ignoring that.
Dixon asks Baker who knows that? More people jump in talking over each other and arguing. Finally, Rev. Bernie gets up and asks to say a few words. The room grows quiet.
"I think it's time for the people of the city Moonlight to face our past and repent, because this killing will not stop until you all face your past and repent for your sins." With that, Bernie leaves. Ford tells him he better stay in town.
Upon returning to HQ, the investigators find a small baby basket waiting for them at the front door. In it are a bunch of the little dolls that Carmen Rose used to make. Also in the basket are the red and black envelopes and a note that reads "For tonight."
Later that evening the group gathers for the red briefing, this time being held sooner than usual as it comes the day after they last played the Killer's game. Gary opens the red envelope and reads them the question that can allow them to clear another suspect.
"What year did my father die?" The Investigators talk it over. 1971 is the only year they can come up with. Conan says they believe that the burnt man is the killer's father, and they know he died in 1971. They are correct and the Killer clears the Reverend Bernie Knight.
"We haven't played Yahiko's latest last will and testament and he has to pick the two people, who is going out," said Andy then they fast forward it to where Yahiko picks the two and they played it on the plasma screen.
"So I must pick the two that will go out to play the killer's game. I will have to pick Conan and Ash so everyone knows what's it like to play the killer's game. I hope I see you later tonight or in heaven," said Yahiko on the plasma screen and that's the end of it. Then Andy hands them their maps
"I'm going to the Smith House," said Conan.
"I will be going to McKay's Compound," said Ash.
Andy then outlines the rest of the game. The time is drawing close when the two remaining investigators will have to make their choice for which the Killer is. In the event that they both choose the same person, the Last will & Testament of the person eliminated tonight will break the tie. Ash and Conan now enter the booth and record their final thoughts.
First is Ash. "So I finally going out to play the killer's game and I thought that I'm going to make it through but you can't get away with almost anything. And I so never thought that this might be my last day to live and so if this is my last day to live then I have two girls at home named Misty and May. If I'm dead then tell them that I love them and I'll miss them. That's all I have to say," said Ash then it's Conan's turn.
"Ok this will be a scary night on my entire life. I have to find a clue or find my own death. I hope I come back tonight but there's a 50/50 chance that I'm not going to make it tonight, then I have a few secrets. An organization attack me and struck me into an 8-year-old body and my real name is Jimmy Kudo but don't let that name get into the public or my friends are dead. Also I have a girl named Rachel Moore and tell her that I love her," said Conan.
Waiting to depart and Ash and Conan taking their shoes and socks off, Conan tells Shute that he's going to go with Dixon as his choice for the Killer. "You see, I'm going by the clue of the father, 1971. Dixon was born here in Moonlight and raised in Moonlight.". He points out that Dixon has never identified his father. Silver never said his father was dead, while Ryan told them her father drank himself to death. Kelly said he was adopted.
Conan rides to the Smith house with Neil Sanchez. Ash rides with Ralph. Conan walks up the driveway and enters the house through the basement. As he climbs up the stairs to the first floor. He enters the kitchen and looks around.
Meanwhile, Ash enters McKay's compound through the courtyard, which is ablaze with oil drums on fire. He repeats his earlier comment that he has never felt this way before. He walks down a long hallway full of doors.
Conan slowly heads up to the third floor of the Smith house and turns right towards Arnold Smith's former bedroom. At the same time, Ash walks up some stairs and ahead of him, sees an office with a desk in the middle of the room. A large OSL logo hangs behind the desk and in front of this seal is a giant Lupine "X". Back at the Smith House, Conan too, sees a giant "X" of Lupine flowers, this one, leaning against the headboard of C.R. Flint's bed. Conan moves towards it.
Ash, too, approaches the "X" and suddenly we see Ash from behind. The picture glows blue. As Ash looks at the items on the desk, the Killer strikes. Ash whips around. Flash. Bang. Ash Ketchum is dead.
Footsteps can be heard and Conan returns with the killer clue and the killer clue are a 16mm film.
Day 22
Morning Briefing. Andy begins by breaking the news to Conan and Shute that Arnold Smith died of a brain embolism the previous night. It appears to be natural causes.
Shute comments, "There goes any…questions we may have had about the OSL." Andy tells them that they may have some info on the OSL after all, and he plays back the wire recording the Jim and Ash found a few days ago at the OSL headquarters.
"Gentlemen, come to attention please. On this final meeting of the Order of the Scarlet Lupine, pray to remain silent for the last reading of the roll call of the high officers. Mitchell?" "Here." "Rose?" "Here." "Smith?" "Here." "Johnson?" "Here." "McKay?" "Present." "Powers?" "Here."
Andy asks the two investigators what this means. He writes down all the names read as Conan and Shute go through the list, matching each name read on the roll call with the corresponding names of their murdered relatives. But one matching name is missing.
"Who does that leave us?" Andy asks.
Conan answers, "Laura Powers." Andy then asks what that means? Conan knows, "She's going to be his next victim."
With that, Conan and Shute quickly head out across the street to bring Laura back to the safety of their Headquarters. But upon arriving they find a ransacked diner and a TV/VCR with a note that says to press play. They push the button and Laura Powers face comes up on the screen. She is bloodied and crying and reading from a note.
"Congratulations. You are seeing this because you have been successful in your investigation. That's because you have followed the leads I have left you. I am going to claim my last victim before the day ends. My work here will be finished and I will go back into the background. A wrong will have been righted and a terrible injustice revealed. Thank you. None of this would have been possible without you. I have enjoyed our game. I hope you have too."
Back at HQ, Ash asks for feedback.
Conan is assertive. "Feedback is we have to catch this man today, or this woman. We have to ID them before he kills someone."
Andy agrees, but reminds them they have one more piece of evidence to look at, the killer clue film that Conan brought back last night. They watch the film. It is another segment of the burnt man film. Similar to the others, he sits in his motel room. This time, he holds up the now familiar photo of the Duchamps family. His family.
"This was my family in 1940 on Thanksgiving Day before the fire. Here I am…" (he points to the little boy) "…This is my grandfather and my father, he would have been your grandfather…" (He points first to the older man on the little boy's left, then to the man standing directly behind the boy.) "In 1941 they were working for the Order of the Scarlet Lupine, running cigarettes and booze out of Canada using the Fishermen's Sardine Factory as cover. Then the government started to crack down on smuggling and the officers at the OSL panicked. On their orders, Eric Rose, Daniel McKay and Arnold Smith lit the match that covered up their crimes and burned our family alive, everyone, including a pregnant woman. I escaped the fire and came back to Moonlight after thirty years to take my revenge. Yesterday I started with Eric Smith. But it hasn't eased the pain. I've not only been scarred by the fire, I've become a monster and I'm ending my life tonight. You're to little to understand, but I've seen to it that this will be sent to you long after I'm gone so that you might learn who your family was and who killed them and that you might know that your father loved you. Goodbye my son." Said the burnt man.
Andy asks for impressions. Conan says, "we know the Killer is a boy or a man because he says "my son" at the end."
Andy asks whom that eliminates? "Conan says Tina Ryan. She is crossed off the board. Conan then states that Randy Silver is to young because he is 21 years old and wasn't yet born in 1971 when the burnt man recorded the film to his son. Randy is crossed off the suspect board. That leaves only two suspects. Kelly Baker and Paul Dixon.
Andy says, "We know the clock is ticking. The killer has Laura hostage and he said he's going to kill her and he's going to make his escape tonight. Up to now, both of you have been working as a team. But now it's time to work individually as Investigators and make your choice of which you think the Killer is. Now remember, you don't just rely on the evidence. That has a lot to do with it, but because our time is of the essence you're also going to have to rely a lot on your gut instinct and the training and experience you have up to this point. Are you guys clear?" Conan and Shute answer in unison, "Yes sir."
Conan and Shute spend the next hour reviewing the facts and clues preparing for their final choices.
Conan says, "Maybe Dixon is not the person, but every part of my body is telling me it is, it is, it is." Both investigators comb meticulously through the evidence, agreeing that the Killer is completing the revenge that his father, the burnt man, began back in 1971, by killing the descendents of the members of the OSL who were responsible for the murder of his own family.
Shute expresses his thoughts, "I'm sure Lambert could have done it, but I, for some reason I'm just not thinking William Lambert. I was dead set on Kelly Baker for the simple fact that the burnt man said that his son was a little boy. He would have been younger at the time than Paul Dixon. Dixon would have been about 16 or so at the time and Baker would have been about five."
The Killer's Final Game
Hands in pocket, Conan casually walks south down the dirt road towards Dixon's house. At the same time, Shute heads in the opposite direction towards Baker's boathouse. He walks down the steps towards the entrance, just off the water. Before entering, however, he bends over and picks up a long, thick piece of wood for protection.
Cautiously he opens the door and enters. The first room is full of junk. There is one doorway leading into another room. Shute calls out, "Laura!" As he crosses to that passage there is a loud crash across the room. Shute turns, startled, then looks down and sees a trip wire.
Up the road at Smith's house, Conan follows the driveway and enters through the garage. He opens a door from the garage and walks into a dark, empty living room. The only objects are two lit candles on a fireplace mantel and photos of each of the investigators tacked to the wall.
Back at the boathouse, Shute makes a shocking discovery. The main room of the boathouse has been turned into a museum of artifacts, all pertaining to the murder mystery. At the far end of the room hang two large bulletin boards covered in photos of both the murder victims and the investigators. All those who have died have a red X across their face. A large Lupine X, identical to the ones found on the Killer clues hangs in the middle. On the floor sits a scale model of downtown Moonlight, each building, carefully constructed in proper design and location out of wood. Newspaper clippings are everywhere.
At Dixon's house, Conan's attention turns, not towards the investigator photos, but rather, to a giant partition separating the living room from another part of the house. Light seeps through the cracks in the partition. "Hello, Laura?" Conan calls. Nobody answers.
"What are you doing here?" an exasperated Kelly Baker cries out.
"What are you doing here? Don't you know where you should be?" ask Kelly.
Shute spins around, startled and comes face to face with Baker.
"What is all this?" Shute demands to know, pointing to the myriad of artifacts.
"It's my work." Responds Baker,
"It's what I've been trying to tell you guys since the very beginning, I'm trying to figure it out just like you. Don't you get what he's doing?"
Conan answers, "I know exactly what he's doing." Kelly gets more frantic,
"Don't you know who he has?" Shute does, "Yea, he's got Laura."
Kelly now starts to break down, "He has Laura. He has my Laura."
Shute stays calm, "Laura's here."
"She's not here," Kelly shouts,
"She's with him at his place, and we need to get there now, so come on." But Shute won't move, "I think Laura is here, I want to go through here," said Shute.
Conan continues to examine the partition that blocks his path.
"Hello, Laura?" he repeats.
And suddenly there is a sound, a barely audible response from the other side of the partition. Conan finally pushes open one end of the partition and gain entry into the kitchen area. Still in the dark, he scans the countertop with his flashlight and finds a bizarre and frightening sight.
The kitchen area is a mess. Cooking pans, utensils and serving plates as well as a gruesome collection of medical paraphernalia are strewn everywhere, and all of it is covered in blood. Bottles of liquid, syringes, meat cleavers, and pans containing unidentifiable bloodied masses are everywhere.
A moaning sound now becomes clear. It sounds like a woman's voice.
"Laura?" Conan calls out again.
He pushes through another part of the partition, which is sectioning off another part of the room. Now there is a loud and distinct scream followed by a cry, "
"Help me…help me!"
A large curtain is all that now stands between Conan and this cry for help. He quickly tears the curtain aside to reveal the final horror.
Behind the curtain is a dining room set for a Thanksgiving meal. The recognizable image is clear immediately. It is an exact replica of the Duchamps 1940 Thanksgiving Day photo left by the Killer, complete, not only with food and settings, but with bodies arranged to create, or recreate, a gruesome tableau.
Conan acts quickly. Laura is tied and blindfolded in the position on the far left.
"Please…" she cries.
Conan removes her blindfold and begins untying her arms. A loud sound whips Conan's head around. It is Chief Ford, rushing in the front door and rounding the corner to the dining room where the horror is revealed to him.
"Oh my God!" Ford gasps.
He is stunned as he quickly scans the bodies. Johnson; Robert Smith with two fingers missing; Daniel McKay; Carmen Rose, her head shaved Sandra Smith and Janet dressed identically; a decomposed skeleton that was Eric Rose; all tied to posts in a standing position, arranged in spots that correspond exactly to the Duchamps photograph. Then Conan checks the basement and it's the bodies of the other investigator being hung to the ceiling
Now there is another noise and Ford reels around to see Paul Dixon descending the stairs.
"Hey…freeze…police!" Ford shouts as he pulls his service revolver. Dixon turns and runs back up the stairs. Ford gives chase.
Conan, undeterred, finishes untying the now hysterical Laura who holds him tightly around his neck.
"It's me, it's me, Conan," he says to comfort her at the best he can.
Dixon, now upstairs, runs down a hall and turns right, through a doorway. Ford is close behind and when he reaches the room, where Dixon is now trapped in front of a window, he yells again "Freeze!"
But Dixon doesn't freeze and makes a move back towards Ford. Bang! Bang! Ford fires off two rounds catching Dixon square in the chest. The first shot forces him backwards. The second shot propels him backwards through the window.
From the outside of the house, Dixon comes crashing through the window, three stories above the driveway. His landing is abrupt as he hits a stone wall before falling the final few feet to the drive. Ford walks slowly to the window and peers out. Dixon is lying dead; face down in the middle of the driveway.
Back downstairs, Ford comes downstairs and now picks Laura up in his arms as she sobs into his shoulder.
Ford joins them and says "Let's get her out of here." Before leaving, Conan turns around for one last look at the unbelievable scene.
Meanwhile, back at Kelly's boathouse, Shute is calling out for Laura, who he believes is really there. Kelly is pleading with him that she's not.
"Go upstairs if you want Shute but we've got to go toDixon's." Shute ignores him and continues to call out Laura's name and look around.
Shute keeps trying, "I don't know what you want from me, I don't know how I can convince you that she's not here. I love her and I would never hurt her. You've got to believe me."
"Because why?" Shute asks Kelly. Kelly's answer is soft and emotional,
"Because she's carrying my child, Shute. I would never hurt her." Shute is still unconvinced,
"Who else knows that?" he asks, then adds "I just want to go through here for a few minutes."
Kelly now gives up trying to get Shute to come with him.
"Take all the time you want, I'm going." Shute tries to deter him, but Baker is now heading out the door.
"I'm going, I'll see you Shute." Shute calls out Sam's name again, but there is still no answer.
Up the road, Ford has now carried Laura outside. He walks down the stone steps to the driveway. Conan suggests that Ford put Laura down.
"Not here," he answers as he walks past Dixon's body, "Not here. Not near him". Ford continues to carry Laura down the driveway and away from the scene.
Meanwhile, Baker has apparently convinced Shute to join him and the two drives down the road together in Kelly's car towards Dixon's house.
In voice over, Shute reflects back on that night. "I was dead set that Kelly was the killer. I thought since I had picked his lair he wasn't going to be able to kill me, but he was going to take me somewhere and show me something. And boy did he ever."
Shute and Kelly arrive at the house and join Conan and Ford. Ford hands Conan a black envelope he has taken off of Dixon's body. On the outside are of the envelope are written the words "In honor of my father". Conan removes the hand written letter inside and begins to read it. As he does, his voice is replaced with that of Dixon's.
"I was a child when you went away so in your eyes I never grew up. When my mother died I found your film and I knew what I had to do to become a man. Now I've completed your life work. Your loving son, Paul."
Ford throws a blanket over Dixon's face, then turns to Conan.
"You did it man," cries Ford as he hugs Conan, "you beat the killer at his game."
Conan's response is a stunned "Unbelievable, unbelievable." He smiles at Ford's embrace. Baker has now joined Laura and he hugs her tightly.
The next day, Mayor Anderson honors Conan at Town Hall. "Congratulation Conan, you solved this murder and apprehended the Killer. In appreciation, the town of Moonlight would like to present you with this check for 750,000. dollars," said Mayor Anderson.
Conan responds with a big smile and a simple and heartfelt, "Thank you very much."
Then the two survivor's goes to the dead investigators' love ones and they are all devastated that their love ones are dead. Even the girlfriend cried the most and they couldn't have the person they care the most.
One Year Later
The town of Moonlight is celebrating Christmas and honors the investigators who died for the city.