by Robert Giles
Written by Scott Frost
Directed by Uli Edel
Doc Hayward removes the tape from across the mouth of the corpse in the desk chair of Harry’s office. Cooper removes a chess pawn from the victim’s mouth with tweezers, bags it and hands it to Andy. Harry comes into the office stating, no one saw anything, the blackout and fire drew everyone out of the building. Cooper describes the fatal wound, a stab wound an inch below the sternum, penetrating upwards, severing the aorta. Doc checks under the victim’s shirt and finds the would Cooper described. Harry presumes Cooper has seen this sort of thing before. Hawk enters and tells them about tracks coming to and from the station. Harry asks Cooper if he’s sure Windom Earle is behind this.
Cooper: A short time ago, a vagrant, our victim was befriended and offered a lift. He was driven to a location up beyond the ridge, the car will still be there. He was stabbed once, he managed to run a short distance before collapsing. Windom Earle engineered the explosion that caused the power outtage; he created the diversionary fire that drew everyone out of the station; he brought the body in through this window. Windom Earle has been in this room, I can still feel his presence. Harry, we’re not going to find any fingerprints in here, no mistakes, no slip-ups. Everything has its own rationale, percision, intelligence. Windom Earle is a genius and he’s taken his first pawn in a very sick game.
Bobby and Audrey sit in the lobby of the Great Northern, near the blazing fireplace and surronded by candles. Audrey tells Bobby if she learned anything from her father it was “a business relationship is like a scared pact, equaled only by the closest of personal relationships where nothing is held back.” Bobby seems a little slow on the uptake of this concept. Audrey then asks if Bobby wants to get rich and if he does they need to help get her father back to the real world. She uses an ice cube to illustrate, saying they need to do this before Ben melts away and leaves them with nothing.
Shelley is looking through her house, terrified and waiting for Leo to jump out at her. She steps out from around the fridge, checking her exits when a jar of jelly explodes by her head thrown from across the room. She runs to the front door, finding it locked from the outside. Leo’s wheelchair is positioned so when Shelley runs back across the room, it is pushed out in front of her path. Shelley collides with it and goes sliding across the kitchen floor. When she stands up, she can see Leo’s shadowy figure by the table, holding a sock with a bar of soap stuffed down in it, his weapon of choice. He throws the bar at her. Shelley gets up and tries to the kitchen door, finding it locked as well. She runs to the counters and grabs a knife out of a drawer and runs to the plastic covering the open wall on the other side of the kitchen, trying to slice through it and escape, screaming for help. He grabs her and throws at the kitchen table and she falls to the floor and the knife slides out of reach. He overturns the kitchen table and comes at her slowly, wielding an ax. Bobby arrives outside and is yelling at Shelley to let him in. As he passes the kitchen window, Leo’s arm breaks through the window and reaches for him. Bobby avoids this and runs into the house, going through the hole Shelley cut through the plastic. He grabs the upraised ax in Leo’s hands and a struggle ensues, but Leo gets the best of him and pins him up against the wall, holding Bobby up by the neck with the ax handle. Shelley looks around and finds the knife and stabs Leo in the calf. He screams, lets go of the ax and runs out of the house and into the woods.
The corpse is wheeled out of Harry’s office on a gurney. Harry brings Cooper a cup of coffee and says they found no fibers or prints. Harry asks if Cooper has heard from Denise. Cooper answers by saying the Bureau and DEA have cleared him of all charges, but the suspension still stands and he’s waiting to hear from Gorden. Harry reminds Cooper that he’s still his deputy and offers Cooper the Earle case if he wants it, which Cooper most certainly does. Hawk enters to tell them he found Earle’s car, abandoned with no prints. He adds that Hank didn’t make the buy at Dead Dog Farm because he was in the hospital, claiming to have been hit by a bus. Hawk booked him for parole violations. Also, Shelley called to tell them Leo came to, attacked her and then ran off into the woods.
Andy tells Lucy about his and Dick’s investigation into Nicky’s past to find out if he killed his foster parents. Lucy is shocked and angered at the suggestion. “If you two think for one second that I’ll believe a defenseless little orphan is capable of murder, the both of you aren’t fit to be fathers to a chimp…I’m going to get to the bottom of this right away.”
James meets Mr. Marsh who has heard great things about his work from Evelyn and that it’s lucky they found him. James hints that he should be on the road soon. Evelyn says he can stay, she has plenty for him to do. James gets frustrated with the situation and goes to his room. Mr. Marsh drives off, taking the Jaguar on a test run. There is a close-up of Evelyn’s face and we hear sounds of a car crash and a man screaming, indicating that something terrible happened to Mr. Marsh.
Doc Hayward and Ed sit at a booth at the Double R discussing Nadine, because she wants to start seeing boys. Doc asks if she’s sexually active to which Ed replies, “Active? Doc I wake up every morning feeling like I’ve been hit with a timber truck.” Doc concludes that it’s the extra adrenalin. Ed says, “Well it’s downright dangerous and she’s liable to kill a young kid.” Doc suggests he be patient and tell her to be home by nine on school nights. Doc mentions Donna going to see James and asks if there’s anything he should be concerned about. Ed says James is out west trying to clear his head and Donna is taking him some money. Doc thanks Ed and leaves the table. Norma comes back and sits across from Ed, telling him that Hank’s in the hospital. Ed tells her the reason he’s there is because after she left yesterday Hank jumped him in his living room. Luckily, Nadine came home and saved the day, by firecely beating him up. Norma says it time to correct the mistakes she made, with Hank possibly returning to prison. Ed suggests they get a cabin together and doesn’t seem to mind if people find out about it.
Evelyn goes to James’ room. She says he was good with her husband and James replies by saying it didn’t feel very good. Evelyn makes a move on James, which he rejects, saying it’s wrong for them to be together. Evelyn begs James not to leave her alone with her husband. James looks at Evelyn trying to decide what to do next, then abruptly leaves, saying he’s going to check his bike.
Harry and Cooper in Harry’s office with a fresh cup of coffee.
Harry: So, how does chess figure in to all of this?
Cooper: Because Windom Earle and I played a game every day for three years. He felt that all of life could be found in the patterns and conflicts on the board. Because I never beat him…now it’s my turn.
Harry: Cooper, you’re gonna have to give me some more information here.
Cooper: Harry, I’ve brought some baggage to town I haven’t told you about. Windom Earle was my first partner, everything I know about the law and the Bureau I owe to him. Four years ago, we drew the assignment of protecting a material witness to a federal crime. She was a very beautiful, very gentle woman, her name was Caroline and she and I fell in love. One night, I failed in my vigilence, the attack was made, I wasn’t ready. I was wounded and I lost consciousness. When I came to, she was in my arms, she was dead, she’d been stabbed.
Harry: The wounds on the vagrant.
Cooper: Identical…The killer was never found; my wounds healed; Windom Earle went mad, institutionalized until his recent escape.
Harry: So, why is he after you.
Cooper: Harry, Caroline was Windom Earle’s wife.
Harry: So, he blames you for her death.
Cooper: It’s much worse than that. I think he killed her and I think he commited the crime she originally witnessed. Harry, Windom Earle’s mind is like a diamond. It’s cold, it’s hard and it’s brilliant. I think he feigned the insanity that sent him away, but at some point he lost the ability to distinguish between what’s right and what’s wrong…You don’t know what he’s capable of Harry, you don’t know.
Donna comes to Wallie’s with the money for James and looking for him. Evelyn is at the bar and overhears her talking about James. When Donna says she’s looking for someone named James. Evelyn asks, “James Hurley?”. Evelyn continues by saying that James had fixed her husband’s car, then James left yesterday, possibly heading for Mexico. She recommends that Donna go home, James will be back eventually.
Jerry arrives at Ben’s office, where Ben is in the throes of his Civil War delusions. Ben is watched over by Audrey and Dr. Jacoby. Ben thinks Jerry is Jeb Stuart and he explains that they are marching on Washington and that it will fall soon. “Only God can stop us now, and it is my firm belief, Jeb, that the Almighty is a Southerner.” Jerry goes over to Jacoby. Jacoby explains that what Ben is doing is quite healthy, that by reversing the South’s defetat in the Civil War, he will in time reverse his emotional setbacks.
Major Briggs comes to see Harry and Cooper. He wants to talk to them but has trouble breaking his code of honor by discussing classified material. When his superiors questioned him about his disappearence, they were paranoid and intolerant. Briggs now believes the USAF doesn’t have the best motives in their search for the White Lodge. Briggs believes he was taken there when he disappeared but can’t recall the details of his experience. However, he has a clear, intuitive sense there is much trouble ahead, but he’s not certain what form it will take.
Andy comes in after the Major leaves and requests that Cooper and Harry come with him. Dr. Jacoby and Lana are in the conference room. Jacoby explains to them that he has spent the last day with Lana and he has no bruises or broken bones. The Mayor’s claims that she’s cursed or responsible for his brother’s death are nonsense. What Lana does possess is a “heightened sexual drive and a working knowledge of technique, anatomy and touch that few men have ever had the pleasure of experiencing or the skills to match.” She and Jacoby leaves to go bowling, out in the hall Lana screams. When they open the door, The Mayor is there holding a shotgun, saying “If anybody moves, I’ll blast her into kingdom come, the hippy too.” Cooper convinces the Mayor to discuss the matter with Lana alone. They wait outside the conference room for a few minutes. When they go back in, guns drawn, The Mayor has been sufficienty charmed by Lana and his faced is covered with lipstick marks. Lana says she feels like her husband has been brought back to life and the two leave together.
At the Blue Pine Lodge, Pete is extremly upset because he forgot to add hot dogs to the shopping list and Josie had already left for the store. Catherine tells Pete there is something she’d like to show him. “Have you ever asked yourself, how I really survived after the fire, how I was able to marshall the resources necessary to defeat Benjamin Horne and win back the mill?”, she asks. Pete says he had. To explain, Catherine shows Pete that her brother Andrew is really alive. Andrew apologizes for not telling Pete until now. Pete is shocked and is having trouble forming words to speak. Andrew and Catherine go on to explain that Thomas Eckhart, a former business partner of Andrew’s, planned six years to kill Andrew and once they found out, they carried out their own plan to make it looked like he died in the boating accident. Andrew says he got the better of Eckhart in a piece of business and he tried to stab Andrew in the back. Pete asks if Josie’s knows if he’s alive. Catherine tells Pete that Josie used to work for Thomas Eckhart. They will find out if she still does when Eckhart arrives. Andrew asserts, “I’ve never known Josie’s seductive powers to fail, he’ll come for her like a rat for cheese.”
At the Great Northern, Thomas Eckhart and his assistant check in.
Doc Hayward arrives with Dick in tow and asks Andy to join them and Lucy in Harry’s office. While Doc does this, Harry and Cooper are standing in Lucy’s cubbyhole.
Harry: Cooper, I need to ask a favor.
Cooper: Harry, let’s get one thing straight. I work for you now. You say drink coffee, I’ll drink coffee.
Harry: This just came over the wire from Seattle (it’s a report of an Asian man being killed at Seattle Airport. It’s Jonathon, Eckhart’s employee that was taking Josie back to Eckhart) Josie told me she got away from him.
Cooper: You think Josie has something to do with this?
Harry: I don’t know. That’s what I need you to find out.
Meanwhile, in Harry’s office. Doc Hayward tells them the heartwrenching tale of Little Nicky. His mother was an immigrant chambermaid at the Great Northern who only told Doc Hayward of her pregnancy, which was the result of a sexual assault. She died when Nicky was born and he was shuffled through various state homes until he was adopted by a young, childless couple. Things were great for a while until, the foster parents died in a car crash with 6 year Nicky dragging their bodies from the flaming wreckage. Now, he’s alone again. Dick and Andy break down and start bawling from the sorry circumstances of Nicky’s life and guilt for thinking he was a murderer.
James is packing to leave. Evelyn tries to stop him, claiming that she loves him. James upholds that it is wrong because she is married. Sirens are heard outside as police cruisers approach the house. Evelyn says that her husband was killed in an accident. James realizes he’s been set up and that Evelyn killed her husband. Evelyn admits that Macolm is not her brother and that it was his idea.
James flees the house, avoiding the cops approaching Evelyn near the house’s main entrance. He finds Donna among the trees and they run off away from the house.
Leo wanders through the woods looking for a place to take refuge for the night. He hears the sound of a wooden flute coming to him through the trees. He comes upon a cabin where the song of the flute is coming from. He enters and sees a shadowy figure setting down the flute and picking up a gun. Leo starts to leave, but the man tells him to come in, he’s a friend and he will help him, having surmised that Leo is injured. He asks Leo his name and then responds by sitting down in front of a chess board, where Leo can see he’s wearing a black suit and tie, an FBI ensemble, “Well, Leo, you can call me, Windom, Windom Earle.”
