10x16 - Master Lovecraft

[bunniefuu]

(theme music)

(door opening and creaking)

Oh I presume this is it.

Oh yes, we're coming under her now.

I got my floors all mixed up is all.

- When did you discover her?

- Uh, this morning.

She's been in here quite some time, Mr.

Grandy.

Do you know how many buildings I look in on, son?

You expect me to scour every floor every day?

I'll take it from here.

- If I need you, I'll come find you.

- Ah!

All these stairs (suspenseful music)

(strange, indescribable noise)

Who's there?

That is mine.

Detective William Murdoch, Toronto Constabulary.

- Identify yourself.

- Howard Philips Lovecraft.

What are you doing here?

Visiting her, of course.

Hello, my dear.

Do not touch I enjoy drawing.

I see that.

Reading as well.

Gothic stories especially.

Hm.

Did you know her?

Do you enjoy reading?

Yes.

- The girl, Mr.

Lovecraft - What do you enjoy reading?

Anything from science periodicals to Shakespeare.

Now young man, did you know the deceased?

Yes.

What is her name?

I don't know.

Then how is it that you know her?

From drawing her!

Once she was already dead?

You never met her prior to her death?

No.

We became close since.

And I believe that we will meet again.

How long have you been drawing her?

I couldn't say.

- Time is not of consequence.

- In this instance, I'm afraid it is.

A few weeks, I suppose.

And how did you come to find her?

A boy told me of her.

- What is his name?

- Clinton Hartley.

I can tell you where to find him if you'd like.

Yes, please.

May I continue to draw her?

Decomposition was helped along by rats, making identification impossible.

But I can say with some certainty that she was young, fifteen or sixteen perhaps.

And the cause of death?

Asphyxiation.

I believe she was smothered with the handkerchief you found at the scene.

I found matching particles in her lungs.

- So, no wounds then?

- No!

I can't explain the blood on the handkerchief or on her clothes.

Only to say that it wasn't hers.

It belonged to her assailant?

Also, the handkerchief was doused with chloroform.

She would have gone painlessly.

A compassionate k*lling.

So, she could have known her k*ller.

She didn't arrive with this pendant, did she?

No, only the clothes that remained.

And now the pendant's gone.

It could have been a figment of Mr.

Lovecraft's imagination.

Yet why include it in the early drawings and not on later ones?

Unless the k*ller returned to retrieve it.

- (inquisitive music)

- Mr.

Hartley, how do you know Mr.

Lovecraft?

He sought me out after discovering I'd borrowed his favourite book from the library.

Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.

Have you read it?

No.

And when was this?

Perhaps a month ago.

So, the two of you became friends.

Yes, we are rather like-minded.

Don't you think?

Although I admit I am not quite as drawn to death as Howard.

And yet you informed him of the body you found in the abandoned building.

When did you do that?

Shortly after we met.

Four weeks ago.

And how is it that you found this body?

I was scouring for valuables.

Yes.

Is this one of the valuables that you found?

No, I've never seen that before.

Describe for me what the body looked like when you found it.

I can't.

I only got close enough to make out that it was a girl at the dress.

The stench kept me at a distance.

Surely your parents taught you to inform the police when you found such a thing?

I don't speak with my parents.

(indistinct chatter)

What an odd-looking group of youths, George.

(indistinct voices)

(snoring)

(loud impact and grunting)

Margaret, what are you doing here?

Verna Jones is making me lead the discussion on this dreadful Dracula book for our reading club.

- So what?

- Thomas, this book is grotesque!

It is positively nightmare-inducing!

- Verna is just doing it to spite me.

- Who cares about Verna Jones?

- Pick a different book then!

- Wh And let Verna win?

What do you want me to do about it?

I would like you to escort me to the morgue to speak to Dr.

Ogden.

She's a learned woman after all, and deals in the macabre.

Talk to her yourself, Margaret.

I'm working.

Work?

You're just sitting there like a lump!

Yes, at work.

(irritated sigh)

(indistinct voices)

Why do you live with your aunt, Mr.

Lovecraft?

My father d*ed from mental exhaustion after years in an insane asylum.

I'm sorry to hear that.

And your mother?

She now resides in the same asylum in Providence.

Good lord.

And that's not to say that your destiny is determined.

Or perhaps it is.

Oh, hello.

- Hello, Mrs.

Brackenreid.

- Hello.

The Inspector's wife.

Lovely lady.

(horse whinnying)

We have a common interest.

Oh?

What's that?

Blood.

Salvation.

I really must be going, young man.

(sweet, tender music)

Your hands These fingers Mr.

Lovecraft, your aunt will be here very soon.

Thank you, Mrs.

Brackenreid.

Mrs.

Brackenreid No one but a woman can help a man when he is in trouble of the heart.

What was this Clinton Hartley lad doing in an abandoned building?

Scavenging for valuables, he claims.

I thought he was rich!

Rebelling against his father's wealth.

Rebelling against wealth.

What's the matter with Well I don't want the others to know I'm speaking with you.

Alright.

Have a seat.

How did you get in here, young lady?

I know the pendant, from the newspaper.

What was her name?

Ellen Woods.

How did she die?

- And your name?

- Sarah Glass.

Miss Glass, is this Ellen Woods?

Looks like Howard's drawings.

- You know Mr.

Lovecraft?

- He's the newest member in our group.

He draws such loving portraits.

Was Miss Woods a member of this group?

For a short while.

- But nobody cared for her.

- Why is that?

No reason exactly, just that everyone seemed to start fighting when Ian brought her in.

Ian?

Ian Blair.

Ellen was a cousin of his from Oshawa.

New to Toronto.

He felt obliged to welcome her, I suppose.

But she didn't fit in.

Our interests aren't shared by most.

- What interests are those?

- Death.

Making your parents proud, are you?

We don't care what our parents or anyone else thinks of us.

Surely you found it strange when Miss Woods suddenly disappeared?

We thought she went back to Oshawa, as she had often threatened whenever anyone was hard on her.

Clinton especially.

Thank you, Miss Glass.

If we have further questions we'll contact you.

(gloomy piano music)

If Miss Woods was a member of their group and Miss Glass recognized her from the pendants and drawings Surely Clinton Hartley did as well.

And he lied to us.

- Bring him back in.

- Yes, sir.

Hello?

- (unidentifiable noise)

- (gasping): Is anybody there?!

Hello?

Julia?

AH!!

(gasping): Margaret, what are you doing here?

Oh, I, uh I want to discuss something with you.

- What is it?

- Dracula.

The book!

For my reading club.

You're shaking like a leaf.

- Is that my scalpel?

- (panting)

I thought I heard something behind that door.

(chuckling): That's the cold storage.

Unless the dead have come back to life, I assure you there's no one back there.

Oh, I was certain I heard something.

Look.

You see?

AAH!!

What on earth are you doing in here!?

Get out!

- I wanted to see her again.

- Agh!

Stay put!

I'm calling the constables.

You're bleeding.

"Do you believe in destiny?

That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose?

That the luckiest man who walks this earth is the one who finds true love?" Young man, get get up!

- Get up!

- (He stammers. )

Out.

Keep moving!

Get OUT!

(soft music)

Lurking around the bloody morgue like a lunatic.

- What's wrong with him?

- He doesn't seem to see anything wrong with his behavior, no matter how misguided.

Someone needs to instill some principles.

A spell in the army would sort him out quickly enough.

Or perhaps, sirs, a more gentle form of guidance might benefit the young man.

- What do you know about children?

- Well I was one.

Still bloody are, half the time.

So what do we do with him?

We don't have enough to arrest him and I don't feel comfortable letting him go.

Well, we can't trust his aunt to keep him under lock and key.

- Keep him here?

- No, I've got a better idea.

Crabtree can take care of him.

He seems to know everything about child-rearing.

Sir, I'd be happy to.

I believe this young man and myself might have more in common than you think.

I have been through my own spells of melancholy.

Well, that's settled then.

No doubt Mr.

Lovecraft will leave a boy and return a man courtesy of George Crabtree, esquire.

And sir, I may be no miracle worker, but I believe I can help lift the dark cloud that hovers over him.

Well, very good!

Thank you, George.

And when that dark cloud lifts, sir, not only will the sun warm Mr.

Lovecraft, it may also shed some light on our case.

Or it'll rain buckets like a November Monday - in Yorkshire on both of you.

- The sun shines sir, even in Yorkshire.

Not on November Mondays, it doesn't.

That's meant to be Ellen?

It's a rendering by Mr.

Lovecraft, yes.

Surely you recognized that pendant as being hers when I showed it to you the first time.

No, I don't pay attention to pendants and dresses.

Your friend Sarah did.

Well, I suppose girls notice things that boys do not.

Or, there's another explanation.

You lied to me.

Because you had something to do with her death.

I did not.

Could one of the other members of your group, then?

No.

You were the first one to discover her body by your own admission, and yet you never reported it to the police?

As I told you before, Howard said he would inform the police.

Did Mr.

Lovecraft and Ellen ever meet, to your knowledge?

I don't think so.

What was Mr.

Lovecraft's reaction when you first told him about the body?

Somehow he didn't seem surprised.

As if he knew about it already?

(soft music)

- (indistinct street chatter)

- I don't need to see it.

I already heard everything from Clinton.

Heh I understand you and Ellen Woods were cousins.

Yes, when she arrived from Oshawa I tried to include her.

But your friends didn't take to her?

Perhaps if they gave her a chance Where did you imagine she disappeared to?

Back to Oshawa.

When she failed to arrive, did your family not alert you?

I don't talk to my family.

Well, who do you live with then?

I live with the others.

At Logan's.

Is this Logan also a member of your group?

Yes, we all keep a room at his house.

Ian, come on!

I finally secured the Balloon Lung Tester!

May I go?

This Logan's surname and address, first.

Logan Smiley.

912 Wellington.

Come on, Ian.

(sigh)

Isn't this nice?

There's beauty all around us, Mr. Lovecraft.

One need only open their eyes to see it.

My eyes are wide open.

Then surely you can appreciate the, the changing colours of the autumn leaves.

As their veins choke off the nutrition they require to remain green.

Their last gasp as they desperately cling to their lifeline before their inevitable death and descent.

(indistinct voices around)

Eh Then the leaves are absorbed into the ground, which provides the soil with the nutrition it needs to feed the trees which fostered the leaves to begin with.

It's a, uh beautiful circle of life!

Decay begets more death and decay.

(sighing): Look, Mr. Lovecraft.

That squirrel.

Surely you can't deny his industry, his preparation for winter.

No sooner than I can deny the likelihood of its death.

The ground will freeze over, his own kind as likely to steal his cache as he is to rediscover it in his struggle to endure the winter.

(light, whimsical music)

(vocal sigh)

I understand the others spend quite a bit of their time here, Mr.

Smiley?

- Your father doesn't mind?

- He's dead.

And mother's glad I have friends to keep me occupied while she travels with her latest paramour.

Is it true that you and Ellen Woods did not get along?

None of us did.

Not even her cousin?

Ian got along with her fine.

What was the problem exactly?

She and Clinton fought frequently.

It created a sense of unease amongst the group.

I was happy when she left.

Is that so?

Well, I mean before I found out she was m*rder*d.

I assume she kept a room here as well?

Yes.

It's Howard's now.

Nothing of Ellen's remains.

Even so.

Do you really think that squirrel will die?

We all will.

The only question is when.

I suppose you're right, you know.

It's enough to make you wonder what the point of it all is.

I mean, we all spend our lives just as this squirrel clawing, scratching, trying to get by.

In the end we all end up in the same place anyway.

But surely there's beauty to be found in our daily struggles.

I think that's what gives life it's depth, Mr Lovecraft!?

These are all Mr. Lovecraft's belongings?

Yes, I threw out all of Ellen's things after she disappeared.

It's a love letter, sir.

"For never was there a story of more woe than ours.

" Quoting the Bard!

- Bloody pretentious.

- Indeed.

It's filled with youthful angst and the language is melodramatic and dense, but the sentiment is unmistakable.

It's signed by Miss Woods, but not directly addressed to anyone, nor is it dated.

No, sir.

I found it in Mr.

Lovecraft's room amongst his personal effects.

"To my Love," although generic, could have been Miss Woods' pet name for Mr.

Lovecraft.

Well, if you're right, this establishes a relationship between the two of them while Miss Woods was still alive.

And Mr.

Lovecraft's perverted fascination with death alone - could provide motive.

- He prefers the dead to the living, maybe that extended to his most intimate relationships.

- Julia.

- Doctor.

Burning the midnight oil?

I was taking a final look at Miss Wood's body when I discovered something rather disturbing.

- What is it?

- Her left ring finger has been severed.

It happened since she arrived.

Mr. Lovecraft.

- Crabtree!

- Sir.

- Bring me Lovecraft.

- I can't, sir.

I lost him.

- You lost him?

- Sir, I've looked all over Toronto.

"Do you believe in destiny?

"That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose?

- (Lovecraft's voice joins in. )

- "That the luckiest man who walks this earth is the one who finds True Love?" Oh dear.

(blowing some air)

Stop talking to him, Mina, you foolish woman.

Walk away.

(knocking at the door and gasping)

Hello?

John, is that you?

Thomas?

Hello?

(sigh)

(something like sudden wind)

Do you like it, Mrs.

Brackenreid?

(musical punch and loud scream)

Margaret didn't get a wink of sleep last night, - which means I didn't either!

- Sir, he's just a boy.

No older than your son, John.

John doesn't go around spooking housewives - with severed body parts!

- I understand your frustration, but should you do anything rash, it could compromise our investigation.

- Get a confession and be done with him.

- Sir.

(little grunts)

I do not like this room!

(Murdoch answers, irritated.)

No one does.

Please have a seat, Mr.

Lovecraft.

(big sigh)

Miss Woods is now missing a finger and Mrs.

Brackenreid has an extra.

Yes, I gave it to her.

After trespassing into the city morgue and severing it.

Do you not see how completely inappropriate that is?

No.

I found this in your room at Mr.

Smiley's.

- What is it?

- It's a correspondence, from Miss Woods to you.

Despite the fact that you said you didn't know her.

- I never said that.

- Correction, that you knew her only in death.

This proves otherwise.

It was found in your room, Mr.

Lovecraft.

May I keep it then?

No you may not keep it, it's evidence.

Evidence that, along with other factors, strongly suggests that you k*lled Miss Woods.

You.

To me she is not dead, but eternal.

- Did you k*ll her?

- No!

Did you know her prior to her death?

No!

Did you sever her finger postmortem?

Yes.

- But you didn't k*ll her to begin with?

- No, but I surely wish I was there when she passed from this dimension to the next.

"Denn die todten reiten schnell.

" I do not speak German.

"For the dead travel fast.

" I know all of Dracula.

There is someone else I'd like you to speak with.

In a setting that you may find more agreeable.

Do you know the difference between right and wrong, Mr.

Lovecraft?

That cannot be answered without context.

Is it wrong to mutilate a dead body?

I could ask you the same question.

I conduct post-mortems as a means to an end.

You severed a finger from a corpse for no apparent reason.

She did not mind.

Do you believe it's wrong to k*ll someone?

Many killings are justified.

You should know.

Would you have been justified in k*lling Miss Woods?

If it pleased her.

Why would it please her?

May I speak with Mrs.

Brackenreid instead?

I'm afraid you will have to make do with me.

You were in a relationship with Miss Woods.

- You knew her, did you not?

- I've always known her, through eternity.

- Your diagnosis, Julia?

- (sighing)

It would be premature to make one, William.

He's certainly disturbed, but I don't believe him to be insane.

All I'm prepared to say is that he has trouble delineating between reality and imagination.

But is he capable of m*rder?

It wouldn't surprise me.

But why?

The love letter was one of devotion.

Trying to apply logic to the circumstances may not be helpful in this instance, William.

Frankly, I don't know what to do with him.

He seems to be more at ease expressing himself creatively.

If you continue to hold him, perhaps you should provide him with a new notebook.

Do you believe he's a m*rder*r?

I don't yet know.

(shaky): It has been a difficult time since he arrived.

- Since he arrived?

- Yes!

Since Howard joined us from Providence five weeks ago.

Mr. Lovecraft has only been in Toronto five weeks?

Mr. Lovecraft, I have your supper.

Though you hardly deserve it after abandoning me in the park.

Can you not see that I am preoccupied?

What are you writing?

An account of recent events.

You know, I myself am a writer, an experienced one at that.

And I can personally attest that one should never try to write on an empty stomach.

You're worse than my aunt.

Well, you're worse than most of the guests we have in this place.

And that's saying something.

(sigh)

(soft piano music)

I am sorry about the park, Constable.

I highly doubt that.

Something isn't quite lining up here, Julia.

Neither are these buttons, I'm afraid.

As best you could tell, Ellen Woods was k*lled approximately six weeks ago.

And I've just learned from Mr.

Lovecraft's aunt that he only arrived in Toronto five weeks ago.

So, if you are right, which you usually are, and Mr.

Lovecraft's aunt is telling the truth, then it's impossible that the two ever even met.

Indeed!

One thing is certain: Ellen Woods did write this letter.

But perhaps it was intended for someone else.

And planted in Mr.

Lovecraft's room?

Yes.

And if that's the case, then perhaps someone else was in a relationship with Ellen Woods, and they could very likely be the k*ller.

There.

That should hold.

Thank you, Julia!

(inquisitive music)

(giggles from Julia)

(George): Hello!

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe one of you was romantically involved with the deceased.

Now who was it?

If any of you know anything, you should speak up.

The letter from Miss Woods that I found in Mr.

Lovecraft's room, it was intended for someone else.

I believe that person deliberately placed the letter in Mr.

Lovecraft's room to incriminate him.

Now who was it?

Let's go, George.

(wind and snoring)

- Thomas.

- Hm I believe I will come in to work with you tomorrow.

- (sighing): Why?

- I can't stay home alone.

He's everywhere.

(little grunt)

(sound of engine)

Ah, Murdoch.

Where are we at?

Well sir, I Oh!

Mrs.

Brackenreid!

Margaret insisted on coming in with me today, despite Mr.

Lovecraft no longer posing any thr*at to her.

Murdoch, I can't stress how vital it is that you wrap this case up.

- Yes, sir.

In fact, I - (phone ringing)

Excuse me.

Inspector Thomas Brackenreid (rumour of a voice)

Could you speak up?

I can't hear you.

[Is the detective there?.] - Detective Murdoch.

- [It's Sarah Glass. .] [I think I know something important. .] [That letter you were asking about .] - Yes, Miss Glass?

- (gasping on the line)

[You are back already!

No!

Wait!.] Miss Glass, are you there?

(laboured breathing and coughing)

Miss Glass, are you alright?

Hello?

HELLO?!

- (coughing)

- Who is there?

(The line goes dead.)

W What just happened?

- Explain yourselves.

- We just got home.

- We found her like this.

I swear it.

- We were buying tobacco.

Where is Logan Smiley?

I don't know, he was still here with her when we left.

She was trying to tell us something over the telephone.

What was it?

I don't know, sir.

Honest.

What happened?

Sarah Where have you been, Mr.

Smiley?

- I w I was at the cemetery.

- Doing what?

Worshipping the dead.

Can anyone corroborate this?

- And don't say the bloody dead.

- Perhaps the gravedigger.

- Are you trying to be funny?

- No.

What happened to her?

One of you lot k*lled her.

Sir, Logan Smiley was indeed wandering the cemetery grounds at the time of Miss Glass' m*rder.

And Mr.

Lovecraft was here in our cells.

What of the other two?

Well, that's where it gets interesting, sir.

The shopkeeper confirmed that Ian Blair did indeed buy tobacco off him.

He even noted the time as he was about to close for lunch.

But he said Mr.

Hartley wasn't with him.

So, the two of them left Mr.

Smiley's together, leaving Miss Glass behind, but then Mr.

Hartley turned back to prevent her from speaking with us.

Right, then.

I'll pick up Clinton Hartley.

Thank you, George.

Tell me again: Where were you at twelve-forty PM, Mr.

Hartley?

That's around when Ian and I went for tobacco.

You were never with Mr.

Blair at the tobacco shop as you initially claimed.

I was.

(sigh)

I can even show you the purchase receipt.

Surely given to you by your best friend.

You see, the shopkeep confirmed that Mr.

Blair did indeed come in and purchase tobacco from him.

But not you.

(sighing): I waited outside.

The shopkeep also said that this was the last transaction before closing for lunch.

He stepped outside, locked the door and saw Mr.

Blair walking away alone.

No.

You returned to the house shortly after leaving and found Miss Glass on the telephone.

There was something Miss Glass needed to say to me.

Very likely that it was you she saw planting the love letter in Mr. Lovecraft's room.

I didn't.

So, you m*rder*d her with the nearest implement at hand.

The telephone.

(choked up): My father's going to k*ll me.

(melancholy music)

It was you that was in a relationship with Miss Woods.

And you m*rder*d Miss Glass to conceal the fact that you had m*rder*d your own sweetheart.

Why?

Why k*ll your own sweetheart?

I don't know.

You loved her, but I am told that you fought frequently?

Yes.

I know you smothered her but, uh where did the blood come from that covered her dress and the handkerchief that was found at the scene?

Because it wasn't her blood.

I can't recall.

Not something one would easily forget.

(shakily breathing in): While I was smothering her, she threw her head back, and it struck my nose.

I used the same handkerchief to stop the bleeding.

(sobbing)

A confession isn't good enough for you?

The one for Miss Glass's m*rder is.

What about Miss Woods?

Clinton Hartley claims that he used the handkerchief that was found at the scene to stop his bleeding nose.

- So?

- That handkerchief was doused in chloroform.

It would have knocked him out as surely as it did Miss Woods.

He couldn't possibly have held it to his nose.

Only the k*ller would know it.

Therefore, her sweetheart could not have been Clinton Hartley.

William, I found something interesting.

I checked in on Mr.

Lovecraft, and he shared his new notebook with me.

More bloody drawings?

No, Inspector, he wrote a detailed account of his experience of late.

Quite a fine writer it turns out.

Does it have any bearing on our case?

Well, the letter you found in his room?

What we perceived simply as a love letter, he perceived as something much more.

Mr.

Lovecraft believes it was written to Ian.

Yes, they were in love.

But they also planned to meet on the other side.

The other side?

The other side of life.

- Death.

- Yes.

"Together we shall go.

" "For never was there a story of more woe than ours.

" You recognize the passage?

Yes.

I love when you read Shakespeare to me.

It's Romeo and Juliet!

And what did Romeo and Juliet do?

They both committed su1c1de in the name of love.

Precisely.

Not only is this a veiled su1c1de note, but it's a su1c1de pact between two star-crossed lovers.

How I envy them.

Yet only one body was found at the scene.

But what of all that blood?

(loud wind-like sound)

(gentle moaning)

(whimpering)

I will be with you soon, my love.

(big breath)

(breath out)

Ian!

Ian!

No!

Please!

Don't leave me.

(panting)

You're under arrest for the m*rder of Miss Ellen Woods.

- I miss her so.

- Don't say anything, Ian!

I cannot stand to be without her.

The pendant.

May I take it with me to the gallows so that I may give it to her again once we are reunited on the other side?

I suppose being a youth isn't as simple as it used to be.

Was it ever simple, William?

Think about our friends Romeo and Juliet.

Indeed.

Hm.

It's really about salvation.

Ha!

Take that, Verna Jones!

(snoring)

(vocal sigh)

(wood creaking)

"How blessed are some, whose lives have no fears, no dreads.

To whom sleep comes nightly and brings nothing but sweet dreams.

" What do you want?

(hushed): You look beautiful, my dear.

(whistling wind-like sound)

(wind-like sound amplifying)

(three musical punches)

(subdued scream)

(full out scream)

- SHUSH, SHUSH!

BLOODY HELL!

- I had a horrible nightmare, Thomas.

I had blood coming down my eyes!

- I had tentacles in my hair!

- Shh!

It's that bloody book you're reading before bedtime!

- Stop reading it!

- It wasn't the book, - it was Mr. Lovecraft.

- Don't you worry about Mr. Lovecraft.

- He's going back to Providence tomorrow.

- Even so, he's in my mind.

He's in my soul!

He's not in your mind, and he's not in your soul.

Just go back to sleep, yeah?

Go on.

(panting from her and heavy sigh from him)

Best of luck in Providence, Mr.

Lovecraft!

You are missing a button.

Keep your nose clean, son.

I plan to concentrate on my writing upon my return.

Mr. Crabtree offered some useful encouragement.

I do wonder what it would be like to look at the world through his eyes instead of mine.

- But I fear that will never be.

- Well, don't let that discourage you.

You keep at it.

Take care, Mr. Lovecraft.

(bittersweet music)

Would you give this to her?

Everything alright, sir?

Margaret can never know of this.

(ominous music)

(music reaching its peak)