Ten years later...
The scene opens and we see a much older looking, fully matured Daniel Matthews sitting at a table. He is alternating between shuffling through papers on the table, eating a bowl of cereal, and watching a news segment on a small TV. He pauses on a piece of paper, the changing of the camera angle from his face to looking down over his shoulder reveals the picture to be a young adult male's mug shot. Daniel sighs and tosses the picture down before his eyes return to the TV. Something intrigues him enough to go searching for the remote somewhere underneath the mess of papers to turn up the TV's volume. He manages to find it and clicks the button vigorously until the TV is at an audible volume.
"Another victim of the Jigsaw killer has been discovered. Late last night, county police were called to a factory that had been abandoned many years ago and has been scheduled for demolition. Several teenagers, whose parents have requested remain unnamed, had been exploring the area when they discovered the body, mutilated beyond recognition. Forensics specialists will be using dental records to attempt to identify the victim, but for now, police say any other information is to remain out of the public eye."
"That's not one of ours..." Daniel muttered to himself, running a hand through his dusty colored curls.
"Hoffman!"
His older partner appeared with a toothbrush in his mouth and only a towel wrapped around the lower half of his body, still wet from a shower.
"What, kid? I've told you a thousand fucking times, call me Mark." He tried to say, muffled by a mouthful of toothpaste. He walked over to spit in the sink and turned back to his younger counterpart.
"And I've told you a thousand fucking times, call me Daniel, but you don't listen either." Daniel teased, then got serious, jabbing a thumb at the TV once Hoffman had looked back to him.
"Now be straight with me, you do some picking behind my back?" Daniel questioned. Hoffman glared and thrusted his toothbrush in the other's direction.
"Do you really I would go behind your back after everything?"
"Well... if it wasn't you, then that means he's back." Daniel dragged a hand down his face tiredly.
"Why would that jackass still be at it? I thought he was done after he avenged Jill by trying to lock me up with only his severed foot and those shit smelling corpses." Hoffman whined the "avenged Jill" part dramatically, setting his toothbrush down and replacing it with a mug to fill with coffee.
"That's disgusting dude." Daniel made a face at the toothbrush on the kitchen counter, then rolled his eyes. "Look, I get that you're still pissy, but John had a right to make sure Jill was protected, or at least avenged. And you kind of... killed her."
"Bitch tried to kill me!" Hoffman growled, causing Daniel to put up a hand.
"Anyway, if he trusted Lawrence, that's his own decision... but we need to figure out why Lawrence is continuing on."
"Unless there's someone else we don't know about." Hoffman offered after a swig of black coffee. Daniel rose an eyebrow.
"That can't be likely... can it?"
Hoffman shrugged, gargling some coffee and turning to spit it into the sink. Daniel flinched in disgust and shook his head.
"Who the hell knows anymore." Hoffman grunted.
"What I want to know is how the hell I have managed to live with you for this long... no wonder you don't have a girlfriend."
"Fuck off, I don't see you bringing anyone back here, kiddo." Hoffman held up a middle finger as he made his way back down the hallway without looking back.
"I think we should confront Dr. Gordon!" Daniel called after him.
"Why would we ever fucking do that?" Hoffman yelled back.
"Because if this isn't him, maybe he'd know who it is."
"What are we gonna do? Just go to his fucking office and ask him politely?"
"Yeah?"
"Hell fucking no, sorry kid. I am not doing that. Not in a million years. No." Hoffman came back out, pulling a shirt over his head.
"Then what do you suggest, oh wise one? We can't keep any of this up if someone else is out there trying to copycat!" Daniel flung his chair back, swirling around to face Hoffman with obvious body language of anger.
"Can I just interject here and ask again, why you want to be a part of continuing on John's work? He trapped you in a game with a bunch of horrible people just to try and teach your father a lesson, which by the way... he failed. That caused Amanda to-" Daniel cut him off.
"I don't need a recap, I know what the fuck he did!" Daniel hand flung out in a flash, swiping papers from the table angrily. Hoffman stepped back slightly and Daniel continued at this sign of submission. "I loved my father, but he was a pretty shitty cop near the end of it. You should be able to agree with me, you worked with him, man. And I get that I was a shitty kid and that my mom was a shitty wife and that their marriage was shitty and his life was shitty and everything was just shitty! But what John did made me realize all of this and that I needed to be grateful for my life anyway and change my ways. If I had continued on that path I was on, I was gonna end up just like my dad, hell, probably worse! A shitty life with an even shittier outlook than I have now! And if I can somehow make more people see through their stupid veils of thinking and rip of those god damned horse blinders that everyone in the world seems to be wearing, then maybe, just maybe I could give back and get them to give back! If my dad had just taken one minute to look anywhere else but straight ahead, maybe he would have survived! The stupid fucking asshole!" Suddenly, the cereal bowl was in pieces on the floor. Daniel realizes he had flung it in his rage and took a tight grip on his hair.
"Oh fuck..."
"Well. You've definitely got your father's temper..." Hoffman crept forward slightly with outstretched arms. Daniel collapsed to his knees, shaking his head.
"No, no, no... I can't. I can't be like him. I have to keep doing good."
"Daniel... it's all right. You just need to learn ways to control your anger. I understand having anger... and nothing you do will ever take it away. But like John taught me, to help those in need, it has to come from a place of apathy, not a place of resentment or contempt or vengeance." Hoffman put one of his large hands on the smaller man's back, causing Daniel looked up at him, tears in his tired, dark eyes.
"But I don't understand... wasn't John's first victim the man who killed his and Jill's son?"
"Yes... But- well..." Hoffman paused, "I'm not sure what caused John's change of heart, but he said during a game of his, something in him changed. He decided he had to remain apathetic. It was something he never went fully in depth in explaining to me..."
"Do- do you think he felt bad for putting someone in a game?" Daniel asked, causing another shrug from Hoffman.
"I don't know... John was always a man of few words, at least to me. Perhaps Amanda knew more, but that died with her when she failed her final test." Hoffman's eyes gained a distant look for a moment, but he shook his head slightly.
"She was weak. She let emotions get in the way of her judgement. John wanted her to succeed so much, but she had a secret he didn't know. I threatened to reveal it if she didn't do as I asked."
"Did... you kill Amanda?" Daniel asked weakly. Hoffman locked eyes with him and Daniel tried searching for any sign of emotion, but Hoffman had long practiced the art of keeping those hidden. Finally, Hoffman helped Daniel stand.
"No. We don't kill, remember? We give... a choice. They make their choice themselves. Remember that Daniel, you are not a murderer."
It was Daniel's turn for his eyes to gain the foggy, distant look of a memory.
"You're wrong... I am a murderer."