Original subtitles

DIANA: This is Mum's.

I went looking for the mountain murderer, did I find him?

Derry thought I knew something about your brother.

- What about him? - Derry killed him.

- (GUNSHOT) - ANITA: Bounce made him do it.

In an ideal world, Bounce would be gone.

Then you and I have a clean slate.

MERVIN: I'm sorry, OK!

GINGE: He's got cameras in all the bedrooms, showers.

You put your job over us every time!

- BRUCE: Your gun, the ESR tests are fine.

- So, I didn't kill the guy?

Your tribe and my tribe, we got history, eh?

RICHTER: I want us to be together!

I won't be just another distraction. You need to face this.

I've spoken with a friend. He's involved in a gene silencing therapy.

Diana.

So, Mervin's prints are on the gun that killed Derry.

Mervin, open up, it's the police!

It's a bloody museum.

DIANA: It's the history of the mountain murderer.

DIANA: Thank you all for coming today.

The New Zealand Police have a time-critical announcement

for the residents of the Mount Affinity area.

Pastors, come on. We haven't got all day!

DIANA: There has been an incident at Collinson Prison

which presents a danger to the community.

We are actively pursuing prison escapee Frank Pastors.

We are appealing to the town for any information or sightings of him

or local resident Mervin De Leon.

During his escape, Frank Pastors overpowered

and injured corrections officers.

Both men are dangerous and should be assumed armed.

(ON RADIO) 'If either man is sighted, do not approach

'and please contact police immediately.'

To Frank Pastors and Mervin De Leon - we know what you did.

We're coming for you.

17 years ago, did Mervin and Frank Pastors carry out the Goatman killings?

Or was he a newcomer, a fanboy who figures out what Frank did

then puts up his hand to help him while he's in jail?

How does this Swedish woman, Tanya, fit the picture?

The voice and images are on every device he owns.

- A bit out of his league? - Doesn't have a lot of time for clothes.

(BRUCE CHUCKLES)

We know Frank has an operative on the outside. Maybe Tanya's the operative.

DIANA: Another piece we haven't found yet.

Was there a third victim? My mother.

(BIRDSONG)

HANNAH: It's lovely here.

Yeah, it reminds me of the Massey Woods.

- You, me and your dad. - Or by the Guinness Lake.

Which you were convinced was made of Guinness!

(SINEAD LAUGHS)

It's lovely to see you smile.

Everything you said about me was true.

Er...

I've decided to leave the bench.

What?

No, you can't. You destroyed our lives for that job, Mum.

Don't you get it?

HANNAH: We need to talk about this.

- You can't change the past, Mum. - No.

But... we can discuss it.

I was aware of the threats, but I'd been threatened before.

'So, I didn't pay it any attention.

'But I should have.'

(ENGINE STARTS)

Stop!

(DISTANT SIREN)

HANNAH: 'All I could think...'

- Sinead! - '..was what this was doing to you.'

Need some help here!

I think it broke me, Mum.

But I know it broke you, too.

Can we go home?

GWENDA: So, Mervin's lover, Tanya.

- Turns out she's AI generated. - BRUCE: You're joking?

- RICHTER: Play it again? - TANYA: 'I want to be with you, Mervin.

'But I need you to prove you want to be part of the darkness as much as I.'

DIANA: The first communication from Tanya is an email four months ago.

"You might not remember me. I stayed at the Backpackers last summer.

"I heard you talking about the mountain murders. You seemed kind of obsessed.

- "That makes two of us." - Mervin responds within the hour.

"The Goatman was the reason I stayed in Mount Affinity after my folks died."

Tanya replies. "The Goatman is why I visited New Zealand.

"The darkness of the human mind, I could almost feel it in your town.

- "I want to come back." - They go back and forth.

She sends a photo. He sends one back.

Hers become suggestive. His become... explicit.

Then things ramp up two weeks ago.

TANYA: (RECORDING) 'You and I, we exist in the void of all things, Mervin.

'It's where we belong,

'but if we are to submit to the darkness together, there is a price to be paid.'

One minute later - "Tell me how, I'll do anything."

"There'll be another killing up in the valley at the hut.

"If you love me, you can't ask me how I know, but I know."

- "What do I do, Tanya?" - Then five days ago...

"Can you find a gun?"

"Go up the valley to the hut. Someone will emerge.

"They're a threat to everything we have, Mervin. They cannot be allowed to live."

Jesus Christ!

Then Mervin goes quiet, and a day later they've found a gun.

The next day, Derry and Aileen go up to the hut. Mervin's up there waiting.

Later that day, he emails telling her that everything went wrong.

"The guns started firing. The guys started firing back.

"I couldn't control it. They escaped.

"I threw it in the bushes and ran."

The last voice message from Tanya.

'You screwed up everything, Mervin. I'm coming to sort it out.'

Fake name, fake voice, fake images but the one thing that's 100% real,

the messages to Derry and Aileen came from Emma's phone.

That's who brought them to the hut. That's who sent Mervin there, too.

So, whoever created Tanya, whoever's catfishing Mervin,

are the mountain murderer.

WIKI: Great to feel the sun on your bones, eh?

Old nature restores us.

Then again, you knew that, eh?

I know you've been through a lot, girl,

but you're not really saying much of anything.

I wouldn't really know where to start.

Well, how about what actually happened up there.

Oh... OK.

Too soon, that's fine.

But I need to know, this Frank Pastors?

You're done looking into him.

Cos you had me worried sick. I thought I'd sent you to your death.

Wiki, I'm sorry.

I'm not looking for an apology, OK?

I just saw something in him at his son's funeral.

- Just this... - Darkness.

Yeah.

My job back home, I know what I'm dealing with but this was...

..different.

I know I stepped in something here.

They wanted me gone and now Derry is dead

and I don't know what's happening, but it feels bigger than the two of us.

Truth is, maybe I don't want to know.

Well...

I guess this makes you a pretty shitty investigative journalist, eh?

- Anything more from Emma's phone? - Digital forensics are on it.

- The report will be a couple of hours. - (PHONE RINGING)

- How are you, Doc? - I've got news.

'I've figured out a workaround with the Huntingdon's trial.

'I enrolled you myself, as a citizen.'

And it's been approved.

(LAUGHS) Jeez, you can do that?

Legally? No.

'But I get a credit on the trial, so it's a win-win.'

- I, um... I don't know what to say. - 'Now, listen...'

I'm going to be administering the protocols myself

and this will not be easy on you, Theo.

'So, if you're in, we can't waste any time.'

Oh, yeah, listen, whatever you say. Thanks a million, Doc.

I'll be in touch.

You look like you're about to pop!

- Oh, OK! (LAUGHS AWKWARDLY) - Just got some good news.

Not really a hugger.

- Bring it in, buddy. - (RICHTER LAUGHS)

(♪ Eileanór na Rún" by Séamus and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta)

♪ Eileanór na rún

♪ Is ortsa a bhím a'smaoineamh

♪ Tráth a mbím ar mo ar mo shuaimh ♪

OK.

♪ Mo ghrá den tsaol thú ó mo chéad searc... ♪

♪ Is tú is deise ná ban Éireann

(KNOCKS)

♪ 'S a bhruinnillín deas óg... ♪

- Hey. - Hey!

- Drink? - Yeah, sure.

- You seem more yourself. - Well, because I am.

Thank you.

Right. Cheers.

Sláinte.

What's going on?

- Well, it turns out I found myself today. - Oh, yeah?

- Yeah, when I was up a mountain. - (BOTH LAUGH)

- Is that where you were? - Yeah.

Yeah!

I want to help solve this case.

- OK. - And maybe there's a book in it.

(SHE LAUGHS)

Anyway...

Any more updates on the doctor?

Yeah, the MRI's clear, but there's something in the bloods.

Oh.

OK.

What are the options?

There's a trial. It's here.

But it's, um...

It's now or never.

And it's going to make me sick.

I have this case that I... I need to solve.

And, um...

I'm scared.

I was up that mountain today and I, er...

I thought of my grandfather.

He played music down at the pub with the lads.

And, er... we'd go along sometimes and have a listen and he...

There was this one song that he played and when he played it, the whole world just...

..stopped.

I was young, you know.

I didn't understand it, but I cried every time I heard it, you know?

One of the last conversations I had with him before he died, I asked him, you know,

what did it mean?

And, er...

..he believed that, hidden in the song

was an ancestral voice just reminding us that...

..we're never alone.

I felt him up there today, just reminding me of that, and Richter...

..you are not alone in this.

I'm here and...

..as fucked-up as you are...

..I want to be with you, I want...

..us.

That's some song!

(BOTH LAUGH)

Yeah.

REPORTER: 'Police are withholding the identity of the victim

'until next of kin overseas have been informed.

'Unconfirmed sources have told 1 News that the victim died of a single gunshot

'in the vicinity of a remote hut in the Kaikākāriki Valley.

'Police are remaining evasive about a possible link

'with the unsolved historical deaths of Emma Wilson and Gabriel Peterson.

'But speculation is mounting that we may be seeing a return

'of Mount Affinity's infamous mountain murderer.

'This is Joy Webb-Jones, 1 News.'

AILEEN: I'm thinking about Frank.

Why did he choose to speak to me?

Why did he tell me that he was the Goatman?

Cos he's arrogant.

Probably pissed him off, someone else stealing his thunder.

He hardly thought you'd take him seriously, track him down.

Didn't know he was messing with Aileen fucking Ryan!

No!

Yeah, but he wasn't pissed off, though.

No, he was... excited.

You sure this is a good idea?

That you're able for it, writing about this stuff?

What do you think?

- Right, how are we feeling? - Never better, Doc.

Good, good. You'll likely experience some mild symptoms - fatigue, nausea.

If you have a reaction or the symptoms intensify, call me.

- Straight away, OK? We'll need to talk. - About what?

Well, we'll have to review how suitable you are for the protocol.

Yeah, well, this isn't a fight I'm planning to lose.

OK. That's good.

(ROARS)

Shit!

BRUCE: Mervin still hasn't turned on his phone.

He will. Keep reaching out. He's scared, he might just reach back.

Digital forensics have come back with a full archive on Emma's phone.

- RICHTER: Anything useful? - Messages from home.

Telling her family about her adventures.

Lots of smiling selfies. Travel pics.

Then all outgoing messages stop.

Last message is from the day before she disappeared?

Yeah, after, only in-coming messages.

Parents, siblings, friends - worried,

begging her to make contact.

Then, 17 years later,

messages to Aileen and Derry, sending them up the valley.

RICHTER: Maybe Aileen was getting too close,

and the murderer was counting on Derry to silence her.

DIANA: Anything else?

Can you zoom in on that?

Jesus, that's Frank Pastor's bike!

- Pastors knew Emma? - Pastors killed Emma?

DIANA: He was still married back then.

Get a forensics search team to Linda Pastors' house. We'll meet them there.

DIANA: Sorry about the chaos.

As soon as we've completed our search you can move back in.

Reckon you can give the place a fresh coat of paint when it's done?

Brand new floors - you won't know the place!

(PHONE RINGING)

- Gwenda. - 'Val Armstrong's bracelet is pinging.

'I've rung Mrs Armstrong.

- 'Val's taken her car.' - They're tracking her?

- Can you patch me in? - 'Sending it through.'

(PING)

I know where she's headed. She's not running.

I'll handle this.

Can you...?

I just wanted to say thank you.

Oh, yeah. Well, needed to happen, eh?

I hope this doesn't get in the way of us being good neighbours.

Oh, no. It won't.

- I'll just be a tick. - Yeah.

WIKI: Hey.

BRUCE: Vaughan, he's still your vet, eh?

- Ay. - Why, has something happened?

OK, you didn't seen this, but...

This is a room in a Mount Affinity resident's house.

- That stuff, is it even allowed? - No, I ran checks.

This individual has committed no crime.

- You asshole! - Know somebody for years.

Fuck's sake!

He never came. He always made an excuse.

- Now we know why. - I want you two to promise me something.

Get yourself another vet and leave the rest to me.

It just keeps getting darker.

(STEADY BEEPING)

(BEEP-BEEP)

I checked the trunk, in case we left some of our stash.

We didn't.

Or some high-school little asshole nicked it.

- I have to take you back.

- Or you could take me straight to prison.

Just get it over with.

Can I have five minutes?

I knew where you were going.

Sitting here smoking weed in our ugly school uniforms,

planning how we were gonna change the world.

How we were gonna see the world.

(AMERICAN ACCENT) "This here is a town full a' losers, and we're bustin' out!"

Where I'm going wasn't quite in the plans.

You really thought our weed was still gonna be there?

- We haven't been here in years.

- No, you haven't been here in years.

I really thought it was us, Di, busting out together, but you left.

You're really picking now to have this conversation?

When else?

Before your own family.

You've been treating me like shit, then when you're in pain

and you need me, you turn up.

I don't get it.

(SIGHS) When this case goes to trial, you'll testify against me,

you've got no choice.

After that, I don't know if we'll see each other again.

I just wanted one last moment,

to remember when things were simple and good.

Before I ruined everything for us.

Come on.

(PHONE VIBRATING)

Hello?

Be careful with unknown numbers.

Anita.

How did you get my number?

'Every criminal in Dublin has it.'

What do you want?

I need to know our conversation yesterday will go no further.

It won't.

'Richter?'

I wouldn't put him in that position, Anita.

Things are changing.

- So, where are you gonna go? - 'Home.'

You've earned yourself a pass.

'Good luck, Aileen.'

DIANA: We turned this place inside out, there's nothing here.

- You good? - Yeah.

Something I ate.

- Frank's good at woodwork, right? - A handyman, yeah.

- Why? - Could he have made that?

Yeah. Worth a look.

Diana.

What you got?

You know all the pictures we got from Frank's cell?

They all have this symbol - two vertical lines,

one line cutting across diagonally.

(HOLLOW KNOCK)

Give us that saw, will you?

Emma Wilson.

The first victim.

Oh, my God.

RICHTER: We got him.

Pastors, come on. We haven't got all day.

- OK. - Keys, now.

Faster.

DIANA: What? When?

Well, how the hell did that happen?

Fuck!

Frank Pastors escaped custody 20 minutes ago.

- Jesus Christ. - They don't know where he's headed.

Mervin and Pastors both on the outside.

Richter, that last message from Tanya.

"You screwed everything up, Mervin.

"I'm coming to sort it out." Then a day or two later, Pastors escapes.

- Pastors is Tanya. - Somehow he's contacting Mervin.

Setting him up to do the murder that he couldn't.

Yeah, it fits.

We've got a visual from Collinson near the hospital.

Ten minutes after he puts a scalpel to a guy's throat.

Then this, 30 minutes later,

the same car sets off a speed trap camera.

It's from Tiraki.

- Between Collinson and Mount Affinity.

- He's coming here.

DIANA: Then we'd better be ready for him.

Got your text. What's up?

I wanted to say sorry.

And thanks.

I'm leaving.

I was hoping you'd hang around. I was starting to get used to you.

Well... you started to piss me off a whole lot less!

I'll be back for the trial.

We could keep in touch, if you want.

Ah, we'll see.

I might be a bit busy.

- You really helped me. - You already said thanks.

Will you let me help you?

It's OK.

(LAMB BLEATS)

Vaughan.

Ah, I wasn't expecting a visitor.

You got anything you want to tell me?

Anything been... festering, Vaughan?

Look, I'd invite you in but...

I wouldn't step one foot in your door.

OK, then, I guess I know what this is about.

We sold a couple of cows to get the money that we owe you.

- Jeez, Buster, you don't have to do that.

- Yeah. Yeah, we do.

(PACKET DROPS)

Your services will no longer be required.

(PHONE CHIMES)

(CONVERSATION INAUDIBLE)

They're ready.

The New Zealand Police are actively pursuing prison escapee Frank Pastors

and local resident Mervin De Leon.

To the community - during his escape,

Frank Pastors overpowered and injured corrections officers.

Both men are dangerous and should be assumed armed.

'If either men are sighted, do not approach and contact police immediately.

'To Frank Pastors and Mervin De Leon -

'we know what you did, we're coming for you.'

Fuck, Jesus!

Hi, Diana.

Mrs Armstrong, I know that I'm not welcome here, but if I...

That was truly awful of me.

I have been... pretty good at awful lately.

But if my daughter is happy to see you...

..I'm happy that you're here.

It's good to see you again, Diana.

I don't have long. Everything's unravelling.

OK.

What you said today, that I left you behind.

I went to police college so that maybe I could figure out what happened to Mum,

and then everything went pear-shaped with Buster,

and I felt sick thinking about this town.

Everything I felt about you got wrapped up in everything I hated about this town,

and I closed the door and I didn't look back and I walked away.

Everything you felt about me?

I started this text to you a million times.

"Come and see me." "Come to the city."

And I had this great plan.

We'd hire kayaks and paddle out to Rangitoto.

A bottle of cheap sav, but really good cheese.

(CHUCKLES)

We'd climb to the crater

- it's beautiful, you can see the whole harbour from there.

And I just thought that would be the perfect place.

To kiss you.

You're on kidnapping and accessory to murder charges, Val.

Saying any of this, it would have ruined my career.

If I had sent that text...

..maybe Ken would have still killed Ronan,

but would you have done what you did?

I hate you.

(VOICE BREAKING) And I love you.

And I just don't know where we can go from here.

And Val, I don't...

I can't... I need to go.

(VEHICLE PULLS UP)

- So, did you see Vaughan? - Yeah.

- We'll never have to see that man again. - Good. Well, I'll put a cuppa on.

- Hey, Wiki...? - Yeah.

I just faced down a racist, called him out for what he was.

Yeah, and I'm glad of it.

Which is why I have to speak my mind now.

Well, come on, are you going to speak or just talk about talking?

You and Gwenda...

Took the first steps to healing the past,

and you still haven't offered her the keys to the house.

Two centuries of pain don't just disappear.

Your elders embraced her elders.

You can't embrace her?

- Give the woman the keys. - Agh!

You're telling me what to do, eh? How to feel?

Huh. Where do you get off?

We've got enough people ready to stand against us.

BUSTER: We should be standing together.

(AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENTS)

SINEAD: (ON PHONE) 'Hey, Ro.

'It's me.

'I just wanted to say... goodbye.

'I didn't want to leave you here alone, but...

you're gone.

'I miss you.

'I want you to know I'm going to be fine.'

- (PHONE CHIMES) - SINEAD: 'One day.'

Come on, let's go.

(PHONE BUZZING)

It's Mervin.

Mervin, this is Diana Huia.

MERVIN: 'I heard what you said. On telly?

'You got it wrong. You got it all wrong.'

GWENDA: I need an urgent trace on a live call...

MERVIN: 'Yeah, I did some dodgy shit at Backpackers,

- 'but I never killed that Irish guy!'

- DIANA: We know you've got a gun, Mervin.

We know you went up to the hut.

You went up there because Tanya told you to, yeah?

How do you know about Tanya?

'We heard the messages, Mervin, we know what she got you to do.'

Yeah, I went up the Kaikāk valley. Yeah, I got a gun but...

I never fired something like that before and it just went off.

'And I couldn't stop it.

'Then this guy starts firing back at me so I got the hell out of there.'

Why did you put the gun on the island, Mervin?

What fucking island?

I threw the gun in the bushes and I ran.

'Jesus!

'Look, I don't understand what you're talking about. None of this makes sense.

'That's why I'm calling.

'You're smart, you and that Irish cop.'

Well, you're not being smart this time.

You've got it all bloody wrong!

Making it out like I'm some criminal genius.

I never killed no one - no one!

'I saw all those pigs with their guns, wanting to blow my brains out.

'Me and Tanya. Just tell them to back off!'

You and Tanya?

Mervin, are you gonna meet up with Tanya?

I'm hanging up now.

Look, Mervin, listen to me, OK? Tanya isn't real. She doesn't exist.

Frank Pastors is Tanya and he's been playing you.

You're in far graver danger from him than you are from us.

'Come into us, Mervin.'

Or tell us where you are, we can protect you, OK?

No, you're talking shit, again.

Tanya's gonna fix everything.

- Shit! - He's way out in the forest.

- By the sinkhole. - Well, let's go.

- You look pale. - I'm Irish.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(BIRDSONG, CREATURES CALLING)

Tanya!

Tanya!

(BIRD SCREECHING)

Tanya, I'm here!

(FLUTTERING)

Just a bird, just a bird.

Come on, baby.

(GROUND CRUNCHING)