Forever Knight (1992) s03e19 Episode Script

Jane Doe

[.]
[GUN COCKS.]
[GUNSHOT.]
[GUNSHOT.]
[.]
NARRATOR: He was brought across in 1228.
Preyed on humans for their blood.
Now he wants to be mortal again to repay society for his sins to emerge from his world of darkness from his endless forever night.
[GROWLS.]
"I was transformed in the instant that I first killed.
"My history changed.
"My destiny steered down the darkest road.
I became, and will be forever in the eyes of all, a murderer.
" Words that begin in what is the most controversial book written in recent years, Killing Mind.
Called everything from brilliant to obscene, and written by our guest this evening, Jordan Manning, while he was incarcerated for manslaughter.
Mr.
Manning, welcome.
MANNING: Thank you.
HOST: The question on everyone's mind is how much of you is in this book? Well, every novelist, I would imagine, attempts to enrich his characters with their own life experiences.
HOST: You know, I read this book, and I'll be right up-front with you, okay? It's a fictional, first-person account of a serial murder spree told by a poetry-spouting psychopath.
Uh, it's degenerate, it's amoral.
Uh-- Who's your audience for this book anyway? I mean, did you write it for your buddies in cell block 11? [PHONE RINGS.]
I describe life the way I see it, admittedly from a disturbing point of view.
I'm on my way.
I tend to cast light into the darker corners of human nature.
It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.
Evil is not extraordinary.
It's banalcommonplace.
And it'll make an appearance in the least likely of places.
I believe dwelling within each and every one of us is God and Satan and if the right conditions are met, it's possible for the sanest person to commit the most heinous crime.
Speak for yourself.
LAMBERT: You guys might wanna cover up.
This isn't gonna be pleasant.
When is it ever? Jane Doe, number 355, some hunters found her in Orillia hanging in a tree.
The OPP brought her here.
We're the closest jurisdiction with the facilities to handle this job.
Given the state of decomposition and factoring in the weather, I'd say that she had been in the tree for-- [SIGHS.]
I don't know-- Three, four weeks.
It's a tough call.
But the only thing we know right now is the obvious.
Black, female, 20 to 30 years of age, approximately.
Forensics was unable to lift any usable prints.
She's too far gone, and we're certainly not gonna get an ID from her dental records.
KNIGHT: Shotgun blast to the head, point blank range.
She was deliberately disfigured to conceal her identity.
Captain, I'm gonna need a little bit of a break.
I don't know if the gunshot wound killed her, though.
Those are definitely ligature marks around her neck.
She could have been strangled before she was shot.
Talk about overkill.
REESE: It's not overkill.
It's desecration.
I know who did this.
[.]
KNIGHT: Jordan Manning.
VETTER: You mean the writer? He was a cold-blooded serial killer long before he became poet laureate of the penal system.
Hm.
I've read his book.
I skimmed it.
Just out of curiosity.
KNIGHT: To hear the critics tell it, he's the, uh, literary rookie of the year.
I know what he is.
He's the single most vile and racist individual I've ever come across in all my years as a cop.
I don't care how much you think you've been around.
Maybe you've seen some sick people.
But I'm telling you, you've never encountered evil like this guy.
[TRAIN CHUGGING.]
[MAN COUGHING.]
[SIGHS.]
Were these the best accommodations that you could find, Nicholas? These were the only accommodations I could find, given the circumstances.
Danke schà n.
Stinking gypsies.
Why they let them ride the same train with good soldiers is beyond me.
Well, it's my pleasure, corporal.
[.]
You two, you're obviously men of refinement, and intelligence, not gypsies, huh? No.
No, we're definitely not gypsies.
All unsolved going back 20 years from all across North America, all black women, chosen for their anonymity, murdered, all lynched in one way or another.
That's his trademark, his sick joke.
He hates black people.
And these are all Jane Does? Cases still open, victims still unidentified, except for this one.
REESE: This was his last.
Name's Donna Kingston.
Years ago, I worked vice.
Donna was one of the regular girls on my beat.
She told me a man fitting Manning's description had been coming around, harassing the girls.
I think he found out she was informing.
Caught up with her.
Poor kid.
She was only trying to protect herself and the other girls.
And he was never charged with any of these murders? Manning got seven years for manslaughter in Millhaven Penitentiary on an unrelated charge.
He killed a guy in a barroom brawl.
Anyway, Tracy, you're gonna work with Dr.
Lambert.
Y-yeah, but I was just collating the missing person's report.
Nick will cover that.
You'll assist Natalie.
You're on it till you get an ID if it takes all year.
Starting right now, detective.
Cap-- I know what you're thinking.
I'm pushing her.
But if she wants to cut the mustard as a homicide cop, she's gonna have to get over her squeamishness, and the best way to do that is to just get used to it.
All right.
[SIGHS.]
Look, if nothing definitive was found, how can you be that, uh, Jordan Manning did these murders? Let's just say that I was until he told me he did it.
[.]
LAMBERT: Are you sure you wanna go through with this? You know if you wanna beg off, I'd understand.
I can't.
Captain's orders.
He wants me working with you.
He told me to put everything else on hold.
He's not gonna let either of us out of here until we get an ID.
Well, maybe a little internship here will broaden your horizons.
Here, take one of these.
They can keep the nausea down.
Uh, no, thanks.
The captain hasn't got me here for your benefit, Nat.
I'm here to deal with my own little problem, and if I'm gonna do that, I can't cheat.
Good for you.
Shall we start? Okay, we begin with a thorough external exam, noting any abrasions, contusions, scars, or tattoos.
Anything that can possibly help us establish an ID.
You start down there.
Here, use the magnifier.
Go very carefully.
We're looking for anything anomalous.
Record will indicate that subject's cranial structure is missing from mandible to parietal including nasal, maxilla, malar and frontal up to coronal suture.
No facial feature remains intact.
It's so awful.
It's sad.
I mean, to die like this.
No one even knows or seems to care that you're gone.
Tracewe know, we care and now we're going to do something about it.
Okay? Okay.
Cold-blooded killer and he's a celebrity because of it.
We're looking at the beginning of the end of Western civilization there, Nick.
KNIGHT: Captain, I don't get it.
If Manning confessed to you-- Never said he confessed.
I said he told me he did them.
REESE: Wrote some kind of racial slur.
What the hell is that? Spanish? It's Italian.
[SPEAKING IN ITALIAN.]
"This way to join the lost people.
" KNIGHT: Dante's "Inferno.
" It's part of the inscription of the entrance tale.
That's how he told me, Nick.
REESE: It's all there, if you read between the lines.
It's in the book.
[CHATTERING.]
Jordan Manning.
We're gonna talk.
Well, Lieutenant Joe Reese.
How are ya? I see they finally teamed you up with an Aryan.
You killed another woman, didn't you, you sick son of a bitch? It's okay, people.
He's a police officer.
He's allowed to do this to anybody he wants to.
Captain, come on.
Come on.
Take it easy.
Poor Joe, still suffering from a persecution complex.
And, hey, captain now.
Thank God for affirmative action, huh, Joe? That's enough outta you.
Pardon me, detective, for stepping out of line, but Joe and I go way back.
Our rapport is not easily understood by outsiders.
You'd like to kill me, right, Joe? You're coming downtown and answer some questions.
I don't think so, Joe.
I don't see a warrant, and I'm certainly not gonna volunteer seeing as you treated me so rudely.
You will excuse me.
Sorry, captain, but what the hell is the matter with you? LAMBERT: Holding up okay? Mm.
Oh, no, I think I found something.
I got something right here under her fingernail.
It looks like, uh, fibers matted in with dried blood and what looks like, uh, dirt or mud.
There's a whole bunch of them.
Great.
Bag 'em and tag 'em and I'll call the lab, but keep going, okay? LAMBERT: Oh, hold on.
Hold on.
It looks like I've got something too.
LAMBERT: Come on over here and take a look.
Right in here.
You see? What is it? Uh, I'm not sure.
It looks like punctures.
Needle marks? User, maybe? No, it's a little too neat for that.
Users are generally a little less precise about the way they inject.
They stab.
They poke.
They miss.
Veins collapse.
They get scarring.
Plus it's in a weird spot.
Insulin, maybe? Maybe diabetic.
Could be.
There's only one way to find out.
You ready? Uh, for what? We're going in.
REESE: Now you see what I'm up against.
What we're up against.
You tipped your hand, captain.
You should have stayed cool.
I don't know how many times I've heard you say that to your own detectives, myself included.
I can't help it, Nick.
That guy gets under my skin, and he makes it crawl.
You busted Manning after the bar fight, didn't you? I was there.
Captain, messenger just delivered these for you.
Oh, how sweet.
From Manning.
Manning's itinerary, going back six months.
Promotional book tour.
He's been all over the map capitalizing on his psychosis.
"Dear, Joe, I'm guessing this is what you're after.
" "Something for the wife.
"You'd have picked them yourself, but I know you don't have the time.
" Funny guy.
Next time I see him remind me to stuff some roses down his throat, thorns and all.
They're cotton flowers, Nick.
LAMBERT: Internal organ structure intact and in relatively good condition.
Probably owing to the effects of freezing on the body.
No apparent evidence of deformity, disease or recent surgery.
Proceeding to cut a biopsy of the pancreas to test for evidence of diabetes.
I'm telling you, it's all in the book.
Go case by case through the unsolved killings.
Details only the killer could have known, Manning used 'em to tell his own story.
Well, if it's true, isn't Manning just hanging it out there for everyone to see? That's precisely it, Nick.
It's his game.
Of course, he's counted it all in fiction.
You call him on it, he'll dismiss it as a product of his own fertile imagination.
Well, these are all old cases that match his m.
o.
[SIGHS.]
Back then they didn't have the-- The sophistication that we have today: DNA testing, forensic techniques.
There's gotta be something that can connect Manning to our Jane Doe.
He wants us to try so he can laugh in our faces.
That's what this is for.
He's spoonfeeding us this crap 'cause I guarantee ya I don't even have to check.
You can bet your badge it's airtight.
Yeah, well, I'll check it anyway, huh? [SIGHS.]
I could have taken him out that night, Nick.
Manning put the guy he was brawling with through a window.
The guy broke his neck when he landed and died right there.
We pulled up as Manning was coming outside.
He had a .
38 in his hand.
I guess he was thinking about finishing the job.
I yelled at him to stop, but he hesitated.
If I had read that wrong I could have fired and taken him out.
But I held back and put the gun down.
You don't know what it's like, Nick, living with the idea that you could have changed history, but you didn't.
[WHISTLE BLOWS.]
[CHATTERING.]
You're a man after my tired heart, young corporal.
I can't remember when I met someone in passing with whom I've had so much seemingly in common.
We see eye to eye on many issues, yes? You share my concern for the future of this broken country.
I can see that.
Wait and see.
The foreigners will gorge on the spoils of this fruitless war.
Our fatherland itself divided and governed by some outside alliance.
They're circling like carrion birds, even as we crawl home in defeat.
There will be done and not ours, hey? It's a poor likeness, but you've afforded me the practice, and I thank you.
If you care as you seem to about this country join us.
Thank you, but I have my own affiliations of a distinctly apolitical nature.
I am, as it were-- How should I say? --above such concerns.
Then I must be honest with you, friend, and tell you that you exemplify what is so very wrong with this society.
Really? And how would you go about affecting solutions? Pray tell, young war hero.
You alone against the world.
Very simply.
The cause consumes me, and I shall make it my struggle.
[.]
KNIGHT: Headin' home? I don't know.
Maybe not quite.
I just want to get out for a bit and get some air and think.
You got something? Nothing and too much.
Well, a lot of possibles but, uh, it's all old news.
[SIGHS.]
There's nothing recent, at least not in this area.
As much as I see it, it's still strange.
So many people just disappear, and so many of them never even missed.
Maybe this is our Jane Doe.
Nobody's reported her because she's not missing to anybody yet.
I put out a bulletin with all the vitals we've got.
Interpol's got it.
How far away are we from a composite? No time soon.
It's tough when you've got so little to work with.
Nat's going to have to guess at a lot of the skeletal features.
The trouble is, well, you can't trust the results.
We'll find out who she is.
Every life leaves a mark on the world, captain.
Every soul touches another somewhere for better or worse.
You know, each time he kills one, Manning bets it's a woman who hasn't touched many people.
He assumes because they're black they're poor, or because they live on the street they're disposable and no one cares.
But he's wrong.
You're still sure it's him? I'm gonna get him, Nick.
We're gonna get him.
[.]
[SIGHS.]
MANNING: Last time I saw you you were in solitary for whackin' a trustee.
Hey, man, I'm reformed and rehabilitated just like you.
Just a couple of model prisoners, right? You gotta love those liberal parole boards, huh? Look, Jordan, are you sure about this? Oh, yeah.
[GROANING.]
[SPITS.]
Nice doing business with you, man.
[LAUGHING.]
[.]
I think you're making a mistake.
Captain, this is-- Miller.
What's Internal Affairs doing here? Captain.
This is a notice of pending investigation of charges of assault and battery on one Jordan Manning per a complaint his attorneys filed with the Crown an hour ago.
The matter goes before a review board in two days.
In the meantime, you're restrained from contacting or approaching the plaintiff, Jordan Manning, under penalty of law.
Sorry, Joe, but you better retain counsel.
VETTER: Sorry.
Oh, hey, don't sweat it.
I've seen 20-year veterans of the force drop in their tracks in the middle of postmorts.
The very first cadaver I ever cut into in med school, I was sick for three days.
I don't know how you do this day in and day out.
It's what I was trained to do, Trace.
I like to think that this is where the real detective work gets done.
Yeah well, obviously I'm not cut out for this kind of assignment.
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Actually, you've done better than you know.
Lab came back.
Those fibers you pulled off Jane Doe are human hair, and very distinctly unlike the victim's hair.
I called the captain and Nick and told them what we found.
Hm.
What about the needle marks? What were they? Well, according to this preliminary toxicology report there is no evidence suggesting illicit drug usage or a reliance on insulin to control diabetes.
But the position of the puncture marks suggests self-administration.
See? You're sounding like a pro already.
[LAUGHING.]
What about vaccinations? Interesting.
Here, have another hit.
I think it's helping.
Yeah, like, if you were traveling abroad you'd need inoculations against certain diseases, right? Right.
Yeah, but who vaccinates themselves, though.
A doctor.
REESE: He wants me out of the picture 'cause he knows I'm on his case.
He wants to neutralize me.
It wouldn't surprise me if he was planning another killing.
I'm tellin' you, he maps these things out in his head.
He premeditates very carefully.
Captain, I still don't get it.
Why didn't you bring your suspicions about Manning to your superiors? I did.
Oh, believe me, I did.
I laid it all out for my captain and anybody who would listen.
And they didn't do anything about it? Look at me, Nick.
We're talkin' one black cop, a vice detective, at that, selling this crazy scenario about a genocidal racist.
I couldn't give that story away around here.
Times have changed.
You think so? [SIGHS.]
I wish I thought so too.
Do me a favor.
Watch him, 'cause I can't.
He's gonna move, or he's gonna run to where we can't get him.
You gotta stop him.
Don't let him hurt anyone else.
Nick, if I did it there wouldn't be pieces of him left large enough to photograph.
Believe that.
LACROIX: Pour the cappuccinos, friends, smoke them if you have them.
It's poetry time again.
Some thoughts for you to dream on.
Tonight's likeness, excerpted from Killing Mind, by that fellow who got rich writing greeting cards for the devil.
"Life's ending evolution.
"Every death is growth "She should please me now, this dead one, "with whatever warmth remains, with that rattle in her throat.
" He's a natural, isn't he? I know that you sense something about him, as I do.
There's something special about him.
I didn't notice anything.
Oh, Nicholas.
You know how closely I'm attuned to your sensibilities and you to mine.
You're going to take him, aren't you? I had pondered the logistics of bringing him across, making him one of the entourage, as it were.
[CHUCKLES.]
And now, you're asking yourself questions: "What is it about him? What do I feel in him?" But you already know the answers.
There is tremendous anger within him.
Resentment.
Darkness.
It's called hatred, Nicholas, and his blood fairly boils with it.
He is evil in his heart beyond his own comprehension.
That kind of energy might be good for both of us.
It would be interesting.
That kind of energy, I do not need.
Do what you will, but don't amplify him.
Don't make him one of us.
Kill him.
Have done with it.
"And with slackening breath "should whisper, 'I love you for what you've done.
"You've let my spirit out, and I never saw you coming nor dreamed what you were about.
'" [.]
I knew you'd come.
I wanna see some hands.
Come on, Joe.
If I wanted to kill you you'd have been dead a long time ago.
And hanging from a tree, I suppose? MANNING: Could be arranged.
Why'd you call me here? I want you to understand what I'm all about.
I know what you're all about.
You only think you know.
You think you know the "how" and the "what.
" You don't know the whole story.
You don't know the "why.
" Why you kill? Why you hate? I see you beating your head against the wall and it gets to me, Joe, it really does.
I'm becoming very fond of you even though you are a lower life form.
See, Joe I'm on a mission you can't stop.
So I'm gonna be honest with you and I'm gonna tell you something I have never told anybody.
I'm the beginning of the end, Joe.
I'm here to sow the seeds of the apocalypse.
You're insane.
That's what you are.
You read your Bible, Joe? Book of Revelations, end times, wars coming, me and mine against you and yours? You're tryin' to start a race war.
You killed those women, didn't ya? I thought you had more respect for my intelligence.
I'm not gonna cop to anything with you standing here probably wearing a wire.
But if some of your people are sacrificed, they will have served a purpose you will never understand.
You sick son of a bitch! Do it.
Do your bit for the cause.
Make me a martyr.
I can see it now, Joe.
"Out-of-control black cop "kills innocent white man in cold blood.
Flagrant display of excessive force".
It'll look great in the 11:00 news.
I'm not gonna kill you.
I'm gonna make your worst nightmare come true.
See, I'm throwin' you in with some of the biggest, baddest, meanest brothers in the pen.
And then I'm gonna tell them what you're all about.
Then you better do it while you got a chance.
But you can't, can ya? There's not gonna be any justice, Joe.
Not here, not anywhere.
No justice, no peace, Joe.
[.]
KNIGHT: Captain.
Captain, I saw what happened in there.
Y-you heard everything he had to say? I heard everything but I don't know what to make of it.
Well, now you know what I've been talkin' about, don't you? Hold this.
Got me a few samples from Mr.
Manning.
Gonna get 'em back to the lab right away.
And look, Nick, I want you to stay on him and don't lose him, whatever you do.
Oh, that was taken about a month ago.
We had a little party for Miriam.
Dr.
Nyanda.
She just finished her residence.
She was going back home.
To Kenya.
She was going to open a clinic.
She left a lot of friends here.
Uh, is Miriam in some kind of trouble? Just doing some background work.
Do you mind if I keep this? No.
I have copies.
Has anyone heard from her since she left? I don't know.
I mean, nobody expected to hear from her very soon.
She was going to a very remote area.
What about her family? Has anyone reported her missing? As far as I know, her family's in Kenya.
What are you trying to say? What's wrong? VETTER: "Dr.
Miriam Nyanda, 27, "completed her residence at the Toronto University "General Hospital six weeks ago.
"Two years ago during her internship "she participated in an experimental drug study "that was conducted on volunteer prisoners at Millhaven.
Among the subjects who participated in the study" Jordan Manning.
"Jordan Manning.
"the study was conducted over a period of a year.
"Dr.
Nyanda's coworkers at the hospital "described her as extremely bright, "the kind of person who would talk to anyone, who shared her life with everyone.
" Including her test patients in the drug study.
Manning had designs on her for a long time.
He targeted her.
Dr.
Nyanda was booked on a flight to Paris a month ago with a connecting flight to Nairobi.
I checked.
The ticket was never redeemed.
I just don't understand any of this.
There is no understanding the kind of evil this man represents.
[KNOCKING.]
The hair samples that you got off Manning match the ones that we found on the victim.
You've got him, captain.
[SIGHS.]
Detective Vetter, will you please call your partner.
Tell him to detain Mr.
Manning and we'll be there shortly with a warrant.
[SIRENS WAIL.]
[SIRENS WAILING.]
Wait.
Let's just worry about containment.
[GRUNTS.]
[CRASH.]
[SIREN WAILS.]
[CHATTERING.]
[GLASS CLATTERING.]
It's all over, Manning.
We know you killed the doctor.
We can prove it.
We know how, and we know why.
How's that make you feel, Joe? Hm? Knowing you had your chance.
[CHUCKLING.]
You knew she was a doctor, didn't ya? You knew she was a good person, was gonna make a difference, make a better world for a whole lot of people.
It was an act of terrorism on them, Manning.
An act of terrorism in yoursick war.
You're under arrest for the murder of Dr.
Miriam Nyanda.
I only wish I could be there when you meet your maker.
No, you don't.
You don't wanna meet the one who made me, Joe.
Ever.
Jordan Manning will be charged with the murder of Dr.
Miriam Nyanda.
Based on evidence recovered from Mr.
Manning's personal effects, authorities will reopen a number of unsolved cases where it's now believed Mr.
Manning was involved.
I would like to add, Jordan Manning's arrest on these charges is the end of a very long and personal nightmare.
And we'll all rest easier knowing this man's in custody.
[BANGING.]
You never really told me why you backed off that night.
It's not a very long story at that, Nicholas.
If you must know, I had intended to bring him across.
I was very close.
A feeling came over me.
Just cleaning up.
We'll be in Strasbourg soon.
That's where I get off.
I'm sorry.
Did you want to use the compartment? I'll be finished soon.
No.
No.
No, I'm sorry.
I, uh I realized the sketch is incomplete.
You didn't sign it.
LACROIX: It was as you said.
He had a power we didn't need to amplify.
The feeling that overcame me at that moment of decision put me off my plan.
Thank you, corporal.
It's been a pleasure traveling with you.
I hesitate to say this, but in truth, it intimidated me.
It wasn't fear.
It was something to do without.
Somethingvile.
I've often wondered how the world would be different if I'd done what I intended.
[.]

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