Original subtitles

Seven dead, 14 wounded.

Some of those aren't gonna make it.

Incident Room, 10 minutes, everybody.

I need all the heads of all the Major Incident Response Teams

in my office, now.

Yeah.

They found six unused bullet casings,

painted black, on the station platform.

What is that?

Well, it could be...

Could be a calling card. Could be he got careless.

Happy Fourth of July.

City Hall. Office of the Mayor.

Is about train station killings

and what I need city to do.

This isn't hoax.

You finding six black shell casings on train station floor.

You finding envelope in front of building,

inside first newspaper vending machine.

Hello?

All right, listen up everyone.

Shooter was black,

white, Asian, tall,

short, fat, thin,

clean-shaven with a beard.

Basically, we've got nothing to go on

except these shell casings he left behind

and a call he made to City Hall about the killings.

The call to the mayor was a recorded voice

and it wasn't long enough to trace.

Excuse me.

This is what we found inside the vending machine at City Hall.

You the police liaison I asked the mayor for?

Yeah. Officer Len Hardy. Washington PD.

Look, anything you need from the city

or emergency services, I'll be on point.

Thanks.

All right, here it is. Listen up, everyone.

"The end is night. The Digger is loose

"and there is no way to stop him."

The Digger?

"He will kill again at 12:00 each day for the next two days.

"I am wanting $20 million in cash,

"which you will put into a bag and leave it two miles south of Route 66,

"on the west side of the beltway, in the middle of the field.

"Pay to me the money by 1200 hours tomorrow.

"Only I am knowing how to stop The Digger.

"If you apprehend me, he will keep killing.

"If you kill me, he will keep killing."

So now we're dealing with two guys.

And we got less than 24 hours to find them.

Robby, Shannon! Come on, eat.

Ugh!

Hey! Guys, can you stop leaving Marzipan in my study?

How many times I gotta tell you? All right.

Analysis of document purporting to be from Thomas Jefferson

admitting to paternity of child by Sally Hemmings.

Document examiner, Parker Kincaid.

Subject is a single half-sheet folio

with yellowing around the edges and with

copperplate handwriting.

Also with...

Marzipan's gone missing again, Daddy.

He seems to have moved himself and his cage into my study. Again.

Is that the one from the president?

- Yeah. - Is it worth a lot of money?

It will be if I can prove that it's really by him.

So you can't touch the paper, right?

Yeah, that's right.

Do you know why we can't touch the paper?

Because the oil on our skin can cause a

chemical reaction with the paper and damage it.

That's right.

What you're looking for is?

I'm looking for the truth, honey.

And no matter how clever people try to be,

there's always some little thing that gives them away.

My job is to find it.

He's there.

He's in the bushes outside, watching.

Okay. All right. Show me. Come on.

Now, what do we do when we think we see The Boatman?

We put on our helmet, our shield, and we pick up our sword.

That's right. Okay.

I got mine, too. Okay?

Now, where do you think you saw him?

I mean, I know he's dead and that.

I know what happened to him but...

Yeah. It's okay. Just tell me.

There. He was right over there.

Under that tree. I saw him from my window.

You know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna cut down that spooky old tree,

okay?

Yes, Mr. Director. The mayor and I are coordinating the money.

She's having it pulled from the city coffers

and we'll take over from there.

Hopefully the money will lead us to the killer.

So the field where he wants the drop off is wide open.

And you can see in every direction,

which means anybody coming to get the money is gonna see us.

There is no way we can get anywhere near the drop point.

Okay, looks like an ordinary canvas bag

but it's woven with strands of copper, making it an antenna.

Transmitter is in the handle.

So we can stay away from the drop off with our units

and regardless of what trick he has,

when he tries to pick up the money,

we'll always know where it is.

That's right. Now if he gets rid of the bag,

we've got another surprise for him.

The bottom of each one is a dummy bundle with its own transmitter.

There's no way he can hide this money.

We find the money, we find him.

No ID. But we found this recorder on him.

So everything is in place.

All roads are closed within a three-mile radius.

Great. We've got a hit and run downtown.

Male. No ID. They found this on him.

Is about train station killings and what I need city to do.

This isn't hoax.

You finding six black shell casings on train station floor.

You finding envelope in front of building,

inside first newspaper vending machine.

Now we're in even bigger trouble.

The guy who pulled the strings is dead.

What about the money?

Lock it up.

We have to assume that The Digger will

kill tomorrow again at noon as instructed.

But now there's nobody to give him his orders anymore.

All we have to work with is the taped voice of a dead man and this.

I know our guys are still working on it, but...

But what?

There's this guy...

Parker Kincaid.

All right, toss it over here.

He ran the Document Examination Department till two years ago.

Guy's a legend.

We used to call him The Puzzle Master.

Why did he resign?

Personal reasons. It's complicated.

We don't have time for complications. Find me somebody else.

This guy's the best. He's gonna give us the edge

to stop that son of a bitch from killing somebody tomorrow.

Okay, be nice to your brother. Be nice.

Okay. Pass it.

Hey, I gotta go to talk to these people, okay?

Whatever this is about, Cage...

I assume you saw the news today

about the shooting in the train station?

I'd like you to meet my boss, Margaret Lukas.

I can see your shoulder holster.

You know I can't have guns around my kids, especially my son.

I'm sorry.

I hardly ever watch the news.

Seven dead. A bunch more in the hospital.

The shooter's primed to kill again tomorrow.

The only person who can stop him is dead.

The only clue we have is this.

I resigned. Sorry. You're gonna have to get somebody else.

Sorry, maybe I didn't make myself clear.

We need your expertise on the only physical clue we have

in order to stop another massacre.

Look, Parker, I'm sorry. I know you wanted to

make a clean break from law enforcement...

Look, I have to get back to my kids.

I can't do anything for you.

Mr. Kincaid, I'm sure you have your reasons...

I do. Really good ones.

I just can't be involved. That is a terrible thing that happened.

I hope you get a break. But it can't be through me.

Look, Parker, we go back a long way.

I wouldn't be here if we didn't really need you.

Can we work something out?

You know what happened, Cage.

You know I have my reasons.

Yeah, okay.

I just thought it was worth a shot.

Buddy.

No deal.

All right, we got 20 hours left.

Get me back to the office.

Look, I'm sorry. This was a waste of time.

We'll see.

Hey, when I told you to put your things into neat piles,

I didn't mean on the floor.

Are you mad at me?

There is nothing that you could ever do

that would make me mad at you.

Is everything okay?

Sure.

Will you make a million dollars if you prove

that Thomas Jefferson wrote that letter?

If anyone's gonna make a million dollars

off of it, it's not gonna be me.

Oops! Where you going?

I have to feed Marzipan. I need to get his food.

It's Mom!

Shannon!

Honey!

Mommy!

Oh, Robby! Baby, I missed you guys so much.

The place was so beautiful. Right on the water.

And you know what? I am going to take you there one day, I promise.

Hey, Parker. Hey, Joan. Come on in.

Oh, umm, no, actually, we're in a rush.

Did you guys like the presents?

The Barbie was great.

- Dad took back the shirt and got one the right size. - Don't worry about it.

Well, I wanted you to have something till I got back.

So, I will bring the rest of your presents tomorrow.

Why don't you come in? 'Cause Shannon made cookies.

I would love to, but Jerry's waiting for me in the car.

We have to go to the kennel and pick up the dogs.

Poor things have been caged up all week.

Come here, pumpkins. One more hug.

We're gonna see a lot more of each other soon, okay? Okay.

Parker, will you walk me to the car?

Oh, yeah. Come on guys, get inside. Eat.

You look good. Jerry's a lucky guy.

You're just saying that.

No, I mean it. I'm happy for you.

Well, I wish you hadn't said that

'cause it makes what I have to do that much more difficult.

I could have let the process server do this after the holiday.

Motion to Modify Child Custody Order? No, Joan. No.

This isn't about you, Parker.

I appreciate everything you've done for them,

but things have changed.

I'm sober now. I've got my life under control.

Jerry and I, we're getting married in the fall.

You wanna bring them back to court

and put them through all that? Again?

I'm hoping we can work it out between ourselves

but if we can't then...

We have an arrangement that works.

You have all the visitation that you want!

I don't want to be a part-time mother anymore.

You've had them for two years, Parker.

It's my turn now. I've got my life all sorted out.

I can offer them a real home.

This is their home.

A home with a mom and a dad.

I'm their dad.

But I'm their mother,

and I wanna be with my kids for real.

Not just for a couple of hours at a time.

And I think I'm entitled to ask for that.

Look, I want Joan to be a part of their lives,

but the court agreed that it's best for them to stay with me

and nothing's changed about that.

The timing couldn't be worse.

Robby's having nightmares about The Boatman again.

Calm down, Parker.

Joan's the one who walked out of here two years ago

and now she's getting married again

and she thinks she can just swoop in and demand custody?

I'm scared, Penny. I know that she means it.

And I think she's gonna do everything she can to get the kids back.

Look, I'm just on my way to court. Just send me the custody order

so I can take a look at it and we'll go from there. Okay?

Okay.

You finding envelope in front of building,

inside first newspaper vending machine.

Inside first newspaper vending machine.

Is about train station killings. This isn't hoax.

Did you brush your teeth?

Yeah.

Hmm? Up and down and side to side?

Mmm-hmm.

You feeling okay, champ?

Is there anything on your mind?

The Boatman.

I keep thinking about him. Like he gets inside my head.

You know, he can never hurt you again. Ever.

Not in a million billion trillion years.

Okay?

Go to sleep.

I'll sit right here.

No, Dino. No, no, no, Dino!

Will you cut it out? Down, boy. Down, boy!

Hey, what's this?

My dinner on the table and...

Thank you, Dave.

I'm here at Union Station with an eyewitness.

Can you describe what you saw?

People were screaming and falling and trying to run

but there was nowhere to run to and the shots just kept coming

and you couldn't tell where they were coming from.

And everyone was just falling and screaming and there was no...

You couldn't get away. Like, no one could get away.

And the shots just kept coming

and he just kept shooting and shooting and shooting.

Also, among the seven dead are the parents

of two children, ages six and nine.

Stay tuned for further details about

this horrendous and shocking event.

This is Sandra Weller, reporting for WNKW.

We are working round the clock with the FBI and the city police department

to apprehend this criminal.

We are aware of the next threat to the city

but we have no indication of what the location might be.

Madam Mayor... Madam Mayor, do you have any...

Two more victims just died.

Any sign of the materials and elementals lab report on the note yet?

No, nothing. But I'll get on it.

Hey, Security just called about some guy you were expecting?

Welcome back, Mr. Kincaid.

We're expecting a report from Materials and Elemental

and a psych profile at any moment.

You'll be working in the documents lab.

I heard you helped set it up?

Security had my ID tag already made out.

How did you know that I'd change my mind?

I saw how important your family was to you.

I knew you'd think about the families torn apart yesterday,

and ask yourself what the right thing to do would be.

It's almost 8:00. We've got four hours left.

My kids are not to know I came here to help. Nobody can know. Nobody.

That's a big change from everyone trying to grab the headlines.

No. I mean it. I had to lie to them about where I was going today.

Not even the babysitter knows the real reason.

I got divorced two years ago.

And one of the conditions for me having custody

instead of my ex-wife is that I work at home

and I don't do anything to endanger the kids.

I just found out that the custody case got reopened.

- Their mother cannot know about this. - All right, listen.

If you need to do this anonymously, that's fine by me.

All that matters is catching this guy.

Okay, without anyone to call him off,

I suspect he's going to carry out his orders to keep killing.

Triple espresso with a shot of half and half, right?

Thank you.

Now, analysis of the note suggests

that the writer was foreign born,

been in the country two or three years.

Poorly educated, at most, the equivalent of two years high school.

Probable IQ, 100, plus or minus 10 points.

Yeah. Textbook analysis. Very impressive.

Very thorough. And completely wrong.

This guy's not a foreigner.

He's been living here for years.

He's well-educated and his IQ is near genius level.

Let's take a look at the words on the page.

Let's see here. Umm...

One might misspeak and say, "The end is night," but you wouldn't write it.

Not unless you wanted to throw people off the scent.

The same thing with,

"I am knowing."

Sounds foreign.

Yeah. It sounds fake.

Sounds like he wants us to believe he's foreign.

Okay, if he's not from the US though,

why would he write "1200 hours"?

He did that once.

But then here he writes "twelve."

If he's so smart, what about the spelling errors?

You mean "their" instead of "there"?

Well, most people would make that mistake

if they were keyboarding at high speed.

But it's much rarer in handwriting

unless you wanted people to think you were dumb.

Does the letter give us anything?

It gives us The Devil's Teardrop.

The what?

The Devil's Teardrop.

Yeah, I remember that case.

He was a serial killer. He left notes on the victim's body.

He did what the writer here does,

places a dot above his lowercase I's

and makes a small tail upwards.

Could it be the same guy?

That guy was beaten to death in his cell years ago.

Okay, you've shot down every theory about who this guy was,

so do you have your own theory?

Not yet.

Come on, the letter's gotta give you something about him.

What his state of mind was, what he was likely to have planned next.

I'm a scientist, not a fortuneteller.

But you said he was smart.

Yeah, well, IQ is measurable.

It's a metric. I can tell you he's smart

but I can't tell you what he's gonna do next.

I can't tell you anything about his character.

The guy is a psychopath.

You can't tell anything from his handwriting?

Come on!

Anybody who says that they can analyze

personality from handwriting alone is lying.

It's like reading tarot cards and tea leaves.

I mean, it's bogus.

People make a living doing it.

Yeah, people make a living writing horoscopes.

It's got just as much to do with reality.

Chief?

I'm gonna have to use the document lab

if I'm gonna analyze this further.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Strange.

What?

There's no tremble.

Tremble?

Yeah, when people fake their handwriting,

try to write in a way that can't be traced back to them,

they're going against years of muscle memory,

forcing themselves to overturn, you know, the habits of a lifetime.

Usually that results in a shaky kind of lettering.

I'm not seeing this here.

Which means?

Well, either he had ice in his veins

or this is his actual handwriting.

He was so sure that we would never even get close to him,

he didn't even bother to disguise it.

Do we have anything?

Yeah, there's something here.

Under the surface. Take a look.

Indentations.

He wrote something on a sheet of paper

on the same pad,

before he wrote this.

Umm...

Here, first column, lowercase "a-i-n,"

then a space,

then uppercase "S,"

then a space, lowercase "n."

First crime scene?

Train Station?

Second word, three letters.

"T-e-l..."

Nothing more readable.

Telephone? Telephone company?

Television studio?

Mmm, it looks like the "t-e-l" comes at the end of a word.

Hotel! Motel?

I mean, this guy was going for maximum impact, right?

Big targets, lots of victims. That means someplace public.

Yeah. Like the lobby of a hotel.

Yeah. Somewhere packed for the July 4th holiday.

- Near the sights? - Downtown?

Look, this is the best I can give you.

There are more letters down here on the page

but nothing I can decipher.

They may refer to subsequent attacks.

- I'll just keep working on it. - It's 9:03.

We've got less than three hours left. Do you think you're right?

This is my best guess.

We can't empty every hotel in DC.

We won't have to.

Just cover the most likely targets, right?

The big hotels inside the city core.

Hope you're right, Kincaid. Yeah.

We'll put small teams into them. Tell them what to look for.

Make sure we don't start a panic.

Hardy, you get the city police on board with this.

We'll need them as backup.

I don't want any uniformed officer

scaring this guy off, though.

Just tell them it's based on the best information we've got.

No problem. I'll contact the hotels,

have them beef up their own security personnel as well.

Somebody gets trigger happy, we get a shootout in a crowded hotel,

a lot of innocent people could get hurt.

What's the alternative? We sit here and do nothing?

We gotta get out ahead of the curve with this guy, right?

I'm just saying that guns and crowds don't mix.

Look, I know the risks, all right?

It's a crime in a federal district.

It's my call. Do it.

You have no messages at this time.

We've got everything locked and loaded.

All the major hotels covered.

I almost feel bad for this guy, having you on his case.

Why did you quit?

Three years ago, I helped track down

a serial killer called The Boatman.

He used to dump bodies in the marina.

I investigated the notes he sent boasting what he'd done

and how we'd never catch him.

I made connections that got him 10 life sentences.

On his way to jail, he killed his escort and escaped.

He came to my house in the night.

I found him in my son's bedroom.

He had a gun.

He was gonna kill him.

He was gonna do something to my daughter

and make me watch.

I shot him.

I know that case.

My God, that was you?

That was me.

And your son?

Umm...

He was okay, physically.

Emotionally, he's still working through it.

His memory flares up without warning.

He has flashbacks and his imagination

is working overtime.

I'm sorry to hear that.

You have kids?

All the units are in place.

Hope we got this right.

Nine dead, 15 wounded.

He hit the theater up the street from the hotel.

Maybe that was his plan, maybe he knew we were there.

Same black casings were found.

Now, two of the agents saw him, gave chase, but he got away.

This sketch was the best we could do. That's The Digger.

- What's this? - He's got a scar on his forehead.

Other than that, he just looks like anybody else.

Anybody else programed to kill on a dead man's command.

All right, copy it to everybody.

Can you talk to the mayor? She's trying to put a press release together.

Can you handle it for me? Tell her we've got a sketch of the suspect

- and we're having it distributed as soon as we can. - Sure.

And we've got the entire downtown area closed down.

We're searching block by block, building by building.

You won't find him. He's planned all his escape routes in advance.

This is still the only thing we have.

- Materials and elemental. - Finally.

The main trace embedded in the letter is brick dust.

Also traces of red clay, sulfur, granite particles.

- Carbon in the form of ash and soot. - This give you anything?

Well, not unless I can cross reference it

with building permits, environmental reports,

anything that the city might have that can tell us where this stuff comes from.

Well, we can help with that.

We've implemented new technologies

that help trace source materials throughout the district.

I have to take this.

Penny, what's happening?

The good news is

she's not claiming you're an unfit parent.

The bad news is she wants primary custody.

- What can I do to stop this? - Well, my suggestion would be

that you and Joan sit down, face to face.

Try to resolve this, maybe agree to some kind of mediation.

If this goes to court, they'll put the kids on the stand.

It's gonna be really hard for them to look across the courtroom

at their mom and say no to her.

It's gonna be even tougher for you to build a case against her.

The best thing we can do is change her mind before it comes to that.

I don't know if I can get her to do that but it's worth a try.

Good. I'll call her attorney and make the arrangements.

Okay, you arrange it. I have to go.

All right, well, we can overlay information

from the city and the suburbs from a variety of sources.

So where do you wanna go first?

Okay, I was thinking about the red clay and brick dust.

That could be from a demolition site.

All right. Contractors would have to pull permits for that

so it should be on file somewhere.

Pretty cool, huh? We've made some progress since you left.

- Next? - Okay, sulfur.

That's the byproduct of a lot of things,

including vehicle exhaust.

No problem. We got an EPA overlay,

which shows where it is in its greatest concentration.

Generally we use this program to model nerve gas and biological warfare attacks.

All right, lose the ones that don't connect with the clay and brick dust.

All right, particles of granite.

- That could be from construction. - Yeah, maybe.

I also had to go to a stonemason's yard last week.

All right, so check stonemasons' yards, cemeteries, graveyards.

Lose the ones that don't connect with the others.

Still too many choices.

Ashes and soot.

I worked this case where that was

embedded in the note of the kidnapper.

And the kidnapper was hiding out

in an old incineration plant.

It's not helping.

It's my daughter.

- Is everything okay, pumpkin? - You'll be home soon?

I don't know. I'll be home as soon as I can.

Is that why you called? Is Robby okay?

He's great.

You sure?

He was really scared when he thought

he saw him in the yard.

Yeah. You know what?

It's gonna take a long time for him

to deal with that on his own.

That's why you and I are there for him.

But there's something else, right?

I can tell in your voice.

Is there something going on with Mom?

You looked kind of worried when she left yesterday.

Your mom and I have some things that we have to work out.

Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine.

You're sure?

Yeah. Positive.

Give Robby a hug for me, okay? And help Janet out.

Okay.

You need a hug, too?

I guess so.

I got one waiting for you when I get home.

Just be a kid, okay? Stop worrying, that's my job.

I love you.

Hey, boss? So I was thinking about the soot and the ash.

Why is there so much carbon?

What about the emissions from a crematorium?

Let's try it.

Crematoriums.

One location.

Satellite view.

There it is.

That's where the demand note was written.

Name kind of fits. Gravesend.

We find something, it'd be helpful to have you there with us.

I think what she's telling you is

we need you for another couple of hours.

I'm sorry, guys.

So what are we gonna use on him?

Feminine wiles or brute force?

Neither. Leave it up to you.

I'll meet you there.

I know lives are at stake.

But this is why I didn't wanna get sucked back in again.

Having to choose between the job and my family.

I respect your decision.

And I know how complicated these things can be.

Well, good luck. You're very understanding. You must have kids.

I had a son.

He was just a couple of years younger than your son

when he died in a plane crash two years ago.

Oh.

His father was on the plane with him.

I was Special Agent in Charge in San Diego

and they were visiting my husband's family here.

It was a small commuter plane.

It went down in some woods in bad weather.

There were no survivors.

I'm so sorry.

I transferred here so that at least I'd be near.

I can't imagine.

It's like your son and The Boatman.

You know, you just keep pushing it away,

but it keeps coming back.

This is Lukas.

Great, I'll be right there.

Couple of uniforms knocking on doors have a lead.

As a law enforcement professional,

I'd like you to stay on the case.

But as my son's mother,

I'd say you'd be well within your rights to tell me to get lost.

Look who showed up. I signed them out for you just in case.

All right. I'll take the vest.

We find this guy, he's got nothing to lose.

Things could happen fast.

No gun.

These guys were going door to door

with the sketch of The Digger. Some guy down the street seems to think

he's seen him coming in and out of this warehouse.

Let's go.

Kincaid, why don't you hang back a little bit? Till we make sure it's safe.

It's clear.

Roger that.

I love what he's done with the colors in this place.

Get Forensics in here as soon as we can.

Not even a carton of milk to get DNA with.

He cleared everything out.

Well, that would fit with the psych profile.

Everything he does is orderly and precise.

TV's still warm.

He hasn't been gone too long.

Hey, this looks like the note paper

that the demand letter was written on.

It tell you anything?

I can't really make it out. Just looks like random drawings or doodles.

It's stuck.

This thing's stuck.

Get out now!

He's got the place wired! It's gonna blow!

- Go! Kincaid! - I don't wanna damage this.

- Kincaid! Now! - Almost got it.

- Almost got it. - Come on, let's go!

It's all we got.

Come on, it's gonna blow! Hurry up!

Move! Move! Move!

- Get up! - Hey!

You all right?

Let's go!

Let's go! Come on, Cage.

Get back!

It's gonna blow! Go!

Go!

We're on it, Captain.

Yeah, 10,000 copies of the sketch of the perp have gone out.

We're also asking newspapers and television stations

to run it as a lead item.

Somebody is bound to see this guy.

Hey, what happened out there?

Place was wired. Booby trapped.

He must have figured we'd find the place eventually.

Yeah. Whoever's behind all this

has been one step ahead of us all along.

But now we have this. And it might tell us where the next target is.

It's mainly doodles, but there seem to be letters underneath.

Can you write this down?

Yeah.

Okay, shoot.

Lowercase "a,"

"I,"

"I."

"a-l-l"?

Yup.

Lowercase "I,"

and uppercase "N."

"I," "N" for Norma?

Mmm-hmm.

And there appear to be some indentations on these other sheets.

Some are quite deep, others are very faint.

Another lowercase "I,"

with a line ruled under it and four uppercase S's.

Scratch that. They're dollar signs.

It appears that somebody was working something out here,

trying to put the final elements of a plan in place.

Why write it all down?

Maybe The Digger is not all that smart.

Maybe he needs it all spelled out for him.

That mark on his head could be from a head injury.

He needs it all written down, step by step,

and the dollar signs are there to remind him what's in it for him.

Does it get us any closer to him?

It might, if I can decipher the rest of the scribblings

and fill in the gaps between the letters.

I need to run this through a program

that would remove the scribblings

so I could see what was originally on the page.

It doesn't give us a lot to work with, huh?

It's like a crossword puzzle

where we're missing half the page as well as all the clues.

How's Cage?

Broke his leg.

Someone else is gonna have to pitch

in that softball league he's in,

but other than that, he'll be fine.

By the way,

next time I tell you to move,

move, or I'll leave you behind.

I need to run this through my lab at home.

You can't do it here?

I've been away from my kids too long.

If you don't mind, I'd like to come with you.

Right now that's the only piece of evidence

we have to our names.

Sure.

It's Margaret, by the way.

It's Robby. The Boatman.

You heard him?

Where did you hear him?

In the garage, moving around.

Okay. Take a deep breath.

Remember your sword and your shield.

I heard noises and it was just like the time when...

When he came. And...

All right. I'm gonna go down and take a look, all right?

Okay?

And Janet's gonna stay here with you while I do that.

And Margaret's gonna stay here with you.

Okay?

All right, everyone get acquainted. I'll be right back.

I'm Shannon.

Are you one of Dad's customers?

I'm one of his friends from work.

This is Robby.

Wanna say hi?

- Hi. - Hi.

Hey, don't worry. Everything's gonna be okay.

Hey, Robby, remember that time when we got sprayed by the skunk?

The door blew open and Mrs. Elroy's dog, Chester, got in again.

- Thanks, Daddy. - Mmm-hmm.

The Puzzle Master.

The name an over-imaginative journalist

gave me for helping solve a case.

But you like puzzles.

I like the challenge.

It bothers me to see something I can't explain.

Like why my son's possessions seem to have a life of their own.

This must be tough for you.

My son was as messy as your son seems to be.

Maybe all boys are like that.

Yeah.

What was the thing you said to Robby

about the sword and shield?

Something the psychologist suggested.

It's a way for him to feel like he has some power,

you know, like he's not completely defenseless.

He's getting better at it. It's a slow process.

The divorce didn't help.

Something like The Boatman can have a real strain on a marriage.

I mean, there were problems there, anyway...

Well, if there's anything else that this paper can tell us, I'll find it.

It might take some time, but I'll work through the night if I have to.

And I know that there's a deadline

so you can stay as late as you want.

Daddy?

I'm going to bed now.

Okay, I'll be right up to put you to bed.

- Good night. - Good night.

I'll see you again sometime?

Maybe. Yeah.

I'd like that. Dad works too hard.

He doesn't meet enough people.

She's terrific.

Yeah.

I'm pretty lucky.

From what I can see,

your kids are pretty lucky, too.

Why don't you put your daughter to bed?

This is gonna be an all-nighter for me, too.

Just let me know if you find something, okay?

Hey, I know we're under the gun,

but I need an hour tomorrow, first thing.

Legal stuff. Gotta sit down with my lawyer

and my ex-wife's.

I'm sorry.

Do what you have to do.

Thanks.

Kincaid's made some progress

but he needs to do more work. Right now,

we're gonna have to proceed under the assumption that he won't

be able to tell us what today's target might be.

And that means we continue doing as we have been

and keep everyone on high alert.

Yeah, Metro will be doing the same.

We're bringing all live bodies from neighboring forces,

covering shopping malls, places of entertainment,

anywhere that large numbers of the public will congregate.

Hopefully, these headlines will keep everyone at home.

But if they don't, we need to be out there protecting them.

Something else.

It appears as though this guy was ordered to kill three times

and then disappear for good.

And we missed him at the train station,

we missed him at the theater.

If we don't catch him in the act this time,

we may never find him.

This is our last chance.

I'm not attacking you, Parker.

This is about what's changed in my life, not yours.

I'm sure we all agree you've done a fine job

with Robby and Shannon, Mr. Kincaid,

but now Joan feels she's ready to get back

- into their lives as a full-time mother. - We understand that,

but there's a reason why the court gave Parker full custody.

That was over two years ago.

I had a drinking problem. It's in the file.

But I was in treatment and I'm sober now

and I'm in a stable relationship with somebody

who wants to have the kids be with us all the time.

Yeah, but you went on your vacation without them.

That was the only time Jerry and I

could get away and you know that, Parker.

And I would have taken them with me

but I'm not allowed to leave the country with them.

That's something you insisted on.

It's actually something the court stipulated.

I gave up my career in order to be with them.

Yes, and that career endangered the lives of your family.

I learned to be a full-time stay-at-home dad

and I'm good at it.

No one's saying you're not, Mr. Kincaid.

We're just saying that it's fair.

And it's in the best interests of the children

for Joan to have primary custody right now.

We have a child who is still traumatized

by a violent incident that happened at the house.

I have a letter from his psychologist

saying how important stability is to his complete recovery.

We referred this to a child psychologist as well.

She said the best thing for Robby is to be

out of the house where it happened.

The presence of his father is a continual reminder of the event.

We also have letters from Joan's physicians and treatment specialists

saying that she is entirely fit to assume full responsibility.

What about the kids?

What about what's best for them?

Shannon already asked me if something's wrong.

She senses what's going on and it's upsetting her.

Is that where you want them?

Back in court with us fighting over them?

I've changed, Parker.

I want a second chance.

And I deserve the opportunity

to make my case before a judge.

- Now what? - We get a court date, we argue your case.

In the meantime, you don't do anything

to give them any kind of ammunition.

Like what? Developing a sudden crack habit?

It would be smart not to do that.

I thought this wasn't about me not being a good dad.

It's isn't. But the playing field isn't level.

Everything being equal, most judges would give the mother custody.

You know I can't let that happen.

I'm gonna fight this all the way for you.

I think we've got a really good shot, but if this goes to court,

you know as well as I do, it's a roll of the dice.

Tension in the street mounts as day three begins.

The mayor's plea for people to keep

off the streets and not gather in large groups

has been greeted with resistance

from those who are determined to celebrate

July 4th in traditional fashion.

Anything less, they say, is a surrender

to the violence of the past two days.

What are you doing here?

Lukas needs to know what you've got.

We've got two hours left. We're running out of time, man.

I know how much time we have. I'm going as fast as I can.

Can I help you out?

Yeah. Pull your car around back. And no guns in the house.

All right.

Nanotechnology, all right?

I have a program that slices one sheet of paper

into hundreds and hundreds of nanosheets.

It's like slicing a gene

so you can see inside.

Okay.

I printed these up last night.

We gotta comb through all of these

and see if there's anything here.

Okay, gotta be honest with you,

I'm not really sure what I'm looking at here.

It's a bunch of squiggly lines.

Most of it's gonna look like gibberish,

just let me know if anything jumps out at you,

any letters or words or phrases,

anything that could be a clue.

Okay.

Yeah, keep moving. This way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's Lukas.

Nothing? From any of the units?

Ours? Metro? Transit Police?

Okay, great. Thanks.

Yeah?

Really? Nowhere?

Thanks.

Nothing.

Maybe he got cold feet when he saw

how many guys we had out there.

Could be.

You don't think so.

I'm interested in fact, not speculation.

You got anything yet?

No.

Just random letters.

Daddy, can I have something to eat?

Be right back.

Hey. How about some fruit salad?

Yeah. Can I ask you something, Dad?

Sure, pumpkin. Have you lost Marzipan again?

No. I just wondered if I could stay up for the midnight fireworks.

Midnight? You think you can stay awake that long?

I'd just really love to see them.

It's so beautiful and everyone cheers and waves their flags.

I've stayed up past 12:00 before.

Yeah. That's a great idea.

Why don't you, me and Robby stay up and watch the fireworks? Okay?

I'm gonna go back to work now.

So do you think we still need to go through this stuff?

The guy didn't show, right?

Hey. I don't think we should drop our guard just yet.

The three days are up.

Shannon just asked me if she could stay up till midnight.

12:00 midnight.

The demand note didn't say anything about noon.

It said he was gonna kill at 12:00.

You really think he'd give us an extra 12 hours to stop him?

It's also another 12 hours for him to set up something really big.

We're not done with The Digger yet.

Listen, you gotta give me something solid

to go on this time, Kincaid, if I'm gonna ask the mayor

to keep the whole city on lockdown for Fourth of July.

Okay, wait a sec.

It's the Fourth of July.

Yeah.

How do people celebrate?

And where in DC do they go to do it?

You found it. You call it.

We think he's gonna hit the Fourth of July crowd

at the National Mall at midnight.

Now, I'm just guessing. I'm not the expert here,

but the word "fire" kept jumping out at us.

At first we thought maybe it was open fire,

or maybe he was gonna light a fire to cover his tracks.

I don't know. But when Parker suggested

that the attack was gonna take place at 12:00 midnight, I thought,

"Fireworks." The kind of fireworks

that they're gonna set off at the National Mall on the Fourth of July at midnight.

Now, the noise will give him enough cover to get off a bunch of shots

before anybody raises the alarm.

In the ensuing panic, he makes his escape.

It fits the MO. The train station, the theater.

Those are places where a large number of victims

are herded into one area.

And there's something else. It's a headline act.

Murder in the nation's capital at the stroke of midnight.

The writer of that note would have wanted to go out on a bang.

300 acres of trees, jogging paths, public entrances,

buildings to take cover behind, and targets everywhere.

We'll set up checkpoints on all the main access points. Here, here, here and here.

Lock everything down, flood the area with everything we got.

What if he's already inside any perimeter you establish?

Let's assume you're right. He thinks he's a step ahead of us.

Except this time, we're one step ahead of him.

We know what he looks like, we know his agenda,

and we're the ones setting the trap.

You make it sound so easy. But if we guess wrong,

we leave the rest of the city naked.

You're right. It's a hell of a risk.

It's one we're gonna have to take.

Hardy, why don't you go back to headquarters,

let 'em know what's going on.

I'll contact the mayor and director

and I'll hook up with you later.

You got it.

Really putting your career on the line, aren't you?

Probably. It's all your fault.

Well, that's what you get when you hire

the best document examiner in town.

Well, you were Cage's big idea, not mine.

Sorry you agreed?

Ask me at one minute past midnight.

We're staying up for the fireworks on TV.

Can't you stay? I'm making a cake.

I would love to, Shannon.

I'm so sorry, I have to go to work though.

Will you save me a piece?

Okay.

Ironic, isn't it? I lost my family and got a career.

You gave up your career but get to be with your kids.

Don't get sucked back into this, Kincaid.

Not at their expense.

No job is worth it, take it from me.

Be careful out there tonight, Margaret.

Hello?

Listen, Parker.

In anticipation of the custody hearing,

the court has mandated home visits for both you and Joan.

Home visits?

A social worker from the Family Services Department

is gonna come by to check on the house,

observe the kids, that sort of thing.

- It's fairly routine. - When is she coming?

The visits are supposed to be unannounced

but a friend in social services tipped me

that she's likely to come by tomorrow.

Tomorrow? It's a holiday.

Joan's attorney is pushing the court hard to move things forward.

You're planning on being home, aren't you?

Of course.

Penny, are you going anywhere tonight?

If I can ever get out of here. I'm gonna go have dinner with friends,

and then watch the fireworks at the Mall. Why, you need a date?

No. Just stay home. Just tell your friends

to come over and have a party there.

What are you saying?

Look, you're just gonna have a better time if you stay at home.

That's all I can tell you. Okay? I gotta go.

We're trying to encourage people to stay home,

but obviously, it's a big holiday.

And we've assigned law enforcement

to every access corridor in and out of the Mall.

And we know what time the attack's gonna happen,

we know what the likely MO is gonna be,

and we know what the shooter looks like.

Maybe this time we're in the driver's seat.

Way to go!

- I win! - Yeah, you do, buddy.

What do you wanna play next, Daddy?

Let's play that really awesome game, cleaning up the house.

No, Daddy.

No, it's a tradition.

Anybody who wants to stay up till midnight

has to help clean up the house.

I know how you feel, buddy.

No.

Oh, my God.

- Hi. - Where are you?

- I'm at a checkpoint near the West Mall. - Is Hardy with you?

No, he's working a Metro detail somewhere.

When was the last time you saw him?

I don't know, 50 minutes, an hour ago?

So you don't know for sure where he is?

No. No, what's going on?

When he took dictation from me in the document lab,

he was disguising his handwriting.

There's evidence of tremble in several of his letters,

which means that he was faking it.

But he made a devil's teardrop

on his lowercase I,

the same thing that is in the demand note.

It's him. It's Hardy.

Hardy's the one who's behind all this.

He's the one giving The Digger his orders.

Hey. I need to be on the other side of that door, fellas.

You'll need clearance.

Yeah.

Got that right here.

Up. Move.

It sounds crazy, but look at the facts.

It was Hardy who led us into the ambush at Gravesend.

It was Hardy who planted the clue about the National Mall

and made sure that I didn't miss it,

meaning that you have got everybody over there

and virtually nobody anywhere else.

I'll bet The Digger isn't anywhere near the Mall.

Why would Hardy?

Where's the $20 million from the city right now?

It's in the evidence locker back at headquarters.

Are you seriously suggesting...

Wait a minute. What about the guy who made the demand?

The one with the tape recorder?

A patsy. Hardy probably told him

that he would cut him in and then he killed him,

so that we spend our time running in circles,

looking for the killer, not the real, live guy

who's still pulling the strings.

I'm on my way there.

Be careful, Margaret.

You said you'd see Shannon again.

I want you to keep that promise.

Yeah.

Agent Martin.

I need backup at headquarters now!

Copy.

Hardy?

Hardy!

Give it up, Hardy!

Pretty cool plan, huh?

One of the greatest heists of all time.

And maybe even the greatest.

The Digger. Where is he?

Is he at the Mall?

The Digger?

My old Marine buddy, The Digger,

never met an order he wouldn't follow.

After that head wound,

the perfect killer.

Where is he?

He's exactly where he should be,

doing exactly what I told him to do.

Damn dog.

Shannon!

Robby!

Good morning. Ella Whitaker, Child Protective Services.

- I'm here to interview your children. - Uh-huh.

Mind if I come in, Mr. Kincaid?

No.

Hey.

I won by two goals, Daddy.

Hello, children.

Hi, I'm Margaret Lukas, friend of the family.

If you don't mind, Mr. Kincaid,

I'd like to speak to the children.

Yeah. Of course.

Hey, kids, can you show me your rooms?

It's okay. She just wants to ask you some questions.

Come on! My room's over there.

- What? - Hardy said he'd sent The Digger on one last mission.

I guessed he was after that sheet of paper you took from him.

It's the only thing that physically tied him to the crime.

I brought a SWAT team here but we were too late.

You'd already taken care of it.

We found The Digger up there on the stairs.

You were out cold.

For a moment, I thought...

Parker?

Hi, Joan.

Hello. Hello.

Hi.

Joan, this is Margaret Lukas. She's a...

Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm a friend of Parker's.

- Through his work. - Nice to meet you.

If you'll excuse me...

She spend the night?

No.

You sure about that?

Quite sure.

God, Parker, it smells like you've been

cleaning up a storm around here.

Yeah, well...

Where are the kids?

Upstairs with the social worker.

I'm gonna go bring them their presents.

What did you do?

This place was a mess. I mean, there was blood everywhere.

After we did forensics and bagged the body, I called in a cleanup crew.

They weren't thrilled about working on the holiday,

but I figured we owed it to you.

They did a pretty good job, don't you think?

- Yeah. - I mean, aside from the missing hallway table,

and there's some blood behind the painting up there on the stairs.

This is my hamster, Marzipan,

but it's Evil Monster Marzipan

because it's attacking this little guy.

These are my other friends and we're in our rocket ship.

We're blasting off.

Yeah. But it's the morning because the sky is blue.

And this is me,

practicing my fighting skills. You see?

That's my sword and that's my shield.

I think something's going on with Mom

and we might have to move.

I don't wanna move either. I know Robby doesn't,

but sometimes we have to do what the grownups tell us,

even if we don't like it.

I think Mom's better now but don't worry.

I'll take care of you and Robby

if she gets the way she was before.

Just like Daddy takes care of all of us.

You've got some great kids there, Mr. Kincaid.

You've done a great job with them.

Thank you.

Joan? Are you okay?

I'm fine.

Um... Parker,

you know that I love Robby and Shannon so much, right?

And that I would do anything for them?

Well, maybe now is not the time to make a change.

And I'm really sorry. I'm sorry that I put us both through this.

No. Don't be sorry. I mean, you're their mom.

And that's never gonna change.

No. It won't.

Can you tell them that I left the presents upstairs?

Mmm-hmm.

Can you tell them that I love them?

Okay.

Where'd the table go?

And the painting...

you moved it.

- It doesn't look good up there. It looks... - No, no.

Wait. Um...

Hello, darling. Yes, it took a little bit longer than I thought.

Okay, I'm on my way.

Um... I gotta go.

I... got a hungry man on my hands.

Thank you.

Everything okay?

Better than okay.

Good.

I guess I should let you and your kids be then.

Why don't you spend the day with us?

I don't know, I should probably...

The kids would love it.

Just the kids?

And their dad.

Sure. I'd like that.

Thank you.

There's something I wanna clear up with you, if that's all right?

In the lab, the first time we met,

I upset you somehow.

Offended you in some way, personally.

Why do you say that?

'Cause I'm the Puzzle Master, remember?

Whatever I said

bothered you so much you had to leave the room.

And when you came back, you were very angry.

I just wanna know what I said or did

because I wanna see you again.

Before my son got on the plane,

he wrote me a postcard

to tell me how much he loved me.

He must have slipped it in the box without a stamp,

not realizing, 'cause he was only six.

It showed up in the mailbox

a week after his funeral. Postage due.

I have it. I carry it with me everywhere.

I brought it to a handwriting analyst.

And she said the shape of these letters

and how they're spaced shows that whoever wrote this

is very creative and charming.

And brilliant. No patience for deception.

I know it by heart.

She also said that he has a great capacity to love.

And that I was very lucky to have a son like this.

If I didn't have that to cling to,

I would have lost my mind.

And then you...

You say that it's all nonsense,

that it doesn't mean anything.

But it does.

But you said...

Yeah, but it's what your son wrote that counts,

not the shape of the letters.

The teardrop "I" doesn't prove

that Hardy was a psychopath.

We can draw that conclusion from his actions.

Just as what your son wrote

tells us what kind of human being he was,

how much he loved you,

and what kind of a person he was gonna grow up to be.

Paper is amazing stuff.

It seems fragile but it lasts longer than almost anything.

The essence of your son is on here.

There's a link between you and him that can never break.

It makes him immortal.

Or as close to that as any of us are gonna get.

Thank you.

So Shannon tells me you have a letter written by Thomas Jefferson.

A letter that somebody claims is by Thomas Jefferson.

That's what pays the rent now,

trying to figure out what's fake and what isn't.

What the real thing is.

Yeah. I guess that's what we're all looking for...

the real thing.