Sudden But Inevitable

Jack is at the evidence board. Not the case board. A different board — one he's put up himself, slightly too close to the coffee machine, on a piece of corkboard he definitely stole from the precinct. Leo is eating cereal directly from the box and not asking questions because he has learned to read the room.

On the board: three photographs. Three locations. One name written in marker at the top, underlined twice. The name is Margot Thorne.

Leo

(not looking up)

What are you doing.

Jack

Pattern recognition.

Leo

You've written her name in red.

Jack

It was the only marker I had.

Leo

You underlined it twice.

Jack

For emphasis.

Beat.

Leo

(getting up, looking at the board)

Okay. Walk me through it.

Jack

The Veritas Center. She wasn't a guest. She wasn't staff. She was just — there. Two days before we were called in.

Leo

She consults for people. That's her job.

Jack

The cruise. She arrived by helicopter. Didn't sign the manifest. Knew things about the case she shouldn't have known yet.

Leo

She's very well-connected—

Jack

The Mnemosyne campus. I checked the visitor logs. She was there three weeks before the murder. Consulting. Ethics and authenticity, she said.

Leo stops chewing.

Leo

That's... three.

Jack

In four months.

Silence.

Leo

(carefully)

Jack. She's a psychologist who consults for institutions with money and ethical problems. Those institutions sometimes have—

Jack

Bodies.

Leo

I was going to say liability issues, but sure, bodies, in the extreme cases, yes—

Jack

Three crime scenes, Leo.

Leo

Three crime scenes that we were also at. Should I make a board about us?

Jack looks at him.

Jack

We get called in after. She's already there.

That lands. Leo looks at the board again. Then back at Jack.

Leo

(quietly)

You're not wrong that it's a pattern.

Jack

Thank you.

Leo

I'm also not saying you're right about what it means.

Int. Jack's kitchen — twenty minutes later

Margot is at the kitchen table. Jack did not invite her. She materialized, as she does, with coffee she made herself because she found the good beans and Jack was apparently not using them correctly. She is looking at the board. Jack is looking at her looking at the board. Leo has left the room on the grounds that he values his continued existence.

Long silence.

Margot

(pleasantly)

You spelled Mnemosyne wrong.

Jack

I'm aware.

Margot

The silent M is counterintuitive. Most people—

Jack

Margot.

Margot

(turning to look at him, entirely calm)

Yes?

Jack

Three crime scenes.

Margot

Mm.

Jack

You were at all three. Before the bodies were found.

Margot

Before you were called, yes. That's slightly different.

Jack

Is it.

Margot

(considering, genuinely)

Technically I was at Mnemosyne when the body was found. I was in the east wing. So if you want to be precise, that one's concurrent rather than prior.

Beat.

Jack

That doesn't help your case.

Margot

(small smile)

I know. I'm just committed to accuracy.

She takes a sip of her coffee. Studies the board with the mild interest of someone reviewing a colleague's work.

Margot

You're missing the Alderton Gallery. November. Pre-dates your involvement with me, so perhaps you didn't have the context. A watercolor restorer was found in the archive room. Attributed to a heart attack, officially.

Jack stares at her.

Jack

You're — you're adding to the board.

Margot

If you're keeping records, they should be complete.

Jack

Were you there?

Margot

I was consulting for the estate. Yes.

Silence. Jack sits down. This was not the reaction he planned for.

Jack

How many—

Margot

(before he finishes)

Fourteen. But three of those were before I arrived on site, so I think that warrants a separate column. The methodology matters if you want the board to mean anything.

A very long silence.

Jack

Fourteen.

Margot

Over eleven years. It's not a high annual rate when you frame it that way.

Jack

I'm not — that's not — that's not a comforting frame—

Margot

(gently)

I know. I'm not trying to comfort you. I'm trying to be accurate.

She looks at him. There's something in it — not guilt, not amusement exactly. Something more complicated. Something that has been sitting with this for a long time and made a kind of peace with it that Jack doesn't yet have language for.

Margot

I noticed it myself. Around year three. A client died — cardiac event at a retreat I'd consulted for. I thought it was coincidence. Then another. Then I started keeping my own records.

Jack

(quietly)

And?

Margot

And I'm very good at my job. I work with institutions that are hiding things. Institutions that are hiding things tend to have... pressure that needs somewhere to go.

Beat.

Margot

I'm not the cause, Jack. I'm the canary.

Silence. From the hallway, Leo's voice, muffled through the wall:

Leo

(O.S.)

I'm framing that. That's going on the wall next to the board.

Jack

(not taking his eyes off Margot)

Leo, I will actually taser you.

Margot

(standing, collecting her coffee)

You should keep the board. Update it properly. Separate column for pre-arrival, concurrent, and post. I'll send you the Alderton file.

Jack

You have a file.

Margot

I have several. You have one too, as it happens.

She leaves. The door closes. Jack sits. Looks at the board. Looks at the name underlined twice in red. From the hallway, the sound of Leo apparently moving the corkboard.

Jack

(to the empty room)

Put it back.

Leo

(O.S.)

It looks better by the window.

End scene. The board stays. Margot sends the Alderton file that evening. Jack adds the fourth pin before he goes to bed. He does not sleep well.