RIVER BANK: A Roaring Train.
The railroad bridge and highway span an almost-bone-dry creek bed. Gathered beneath the overpass are the police, coroner, criminalist, and a local FBI. A sedan travels down a service road and stops nearby. Three men exit, two are FBI, the other, a coroner. They move to the crime scene. Special Agent Gordon Ramsey is well-groomed, prides himself on professionalism, and follows the Bureau party line.
The other FBI agent walks over to the bridge railing. He peers over the edge at the crime scene. He focuses on the highway - imagining the killer's truck as it disappeared into the night. The FBI's local liaison - Agent Cole greets them. Supervising the examination of the woman is FBI Pathologist Dr. Theodore "Teddy Lee", a polite, dapper southern gentleman with a burly moustache.
TEDDY LEE: Thanks for waiting, Cole.
COLE: Teddy Lee, no problem.
TEDDY LEE: This is Special Agent Ramsey.
COLE (shaking Ramsey's hand): Cole.
RAMSEY: Good morning. . . . Who found her?
Cole nods at a visibly shaken workman seated in an ambulance.
COLE: Surveyor for the railroad... 'Bout six this morning. Skidmarks appear to match the tire track from Reno. It looks like he scraped the rail, lost some paint too. It's on its way to the lab already. . . Dumped the body over there.
At the bridge railing, Special Agent Peter Novak is rough around the edges, introspective, and intense. A loner who marches to the tune of a peculiar drummer, he's unconventionally handsome with probing eyes. He's observing the scene - the world, for that matter - from a unique perspective. Novak sees a female body wrapped in plastic and bound by wire. Cole, Teddy Lee, and Ramsey join him.
Moments later, they have made their way to the river bed. FLASH! Photos are taken. They snip wire and peel back thick clear plastic. Anne's face is revealed. As the photographer and Cole react to a strong smell, Teddy comments.
TEDDY LEE: Bleach.
Sadly, Novak recognizes the face. He looks into the dead white eyes of Anne, trying to imagine the horrors she beheld.
RAMSEY: Anne Marie Vicksey, 27.
COLE: Yeesh! Do they all look like dolls?
TEDDY LEE: Every unfortunate soul.
Novak oblivious to the people around him, smells the air, examines the road, river, bridge and sky. His eyes move from the drop site to the highway above. Anne's neck is revealed, we see a metal collar.
COLE: What's that?
RAMSEY: Some kind of collar, a part of his methodology.
COLE: That's why he puts it there?
RAMSEY: He makes it for them. It makes him feel they belong to him.
NOVAK: Is the water alway this low?
Novak finally speaks. He's at the bank of the creek and sees only a few inches of water. Cole turns to him.
COLE: Yea, this time of year.
NOVAK: Give me a coroner's report right away. Preliminary forensics too. I don't want anyone dragging their ass on this.
OFFICE PLAZA: A pretty, young woman, Julia Hickson, shares lunch with her fiancee, John Tracy. They talk, laugh and kiss, not a care in the world.
PICK-UP TRUCK - ACROSS THE STREET: As a talk radio plays, Carl Stargher watches them, specifically Julia, his eyes never off her for too long as his hands work on something banal but unseen.
Stargher looks down and we see what he's holding - a toy doll. Female. Stripped of its clothes, a red collar around its plastic neck.
We hear the talk radio host complaining about government subsidies for farmers...
The voice on the radio becomes DISTORTED as we hear it through Stargher's ears...
TALK RADIO HOST: ...but without subsidies, families will starve, and I'm nodd exagggeerrrrr....ayding. Iff id werrrr up tooooo meeeee.....
The host's voice fades into a guttural, monstrous groan.
TALK RADIO HOST: Meeeee gawwwwwdd Caaaarrrrlll. Mee god cum... (returning to normal) Meeeee....wwuuuuuddunnnnttttt... be spending billions on other countries when we've got problems right here.
Visibly upset, Carl reaches in the glove box and pulls out a bottle of Aspirin, popping a few in his mouth.
COFFEE SHOP: Novak checks his watch and the street. Clearly waiting for someone or something. Waiting on their food order, Ramsey is on a cell-phone talking to his wife. Chain-drinking coffee, Novak is oblivious, pouring over tire-related info. Novak scrutinizes photos of the tire tracks. Teddy Lee enters the shop holding documents.
RAMSEY: I have no idea, Jeannie. For god's sake. . . Yea, good luck with the Monster, okay (he calls Jeannie's mother "The Monster" because, well... she just is). . . I love you too. I gotta go. . . Allright. . . Bye-bye.
Novak notices Teddy Lee and waves him over to their table. Ramsey snaps shut the cell-phone and let's out a sigh. Teddy Lee joins them in the booth.
TEDDY LEE: Hot off the presses.
He gives them copies of the autopsy report and forensic analysis of Anne Marie Vicksey. Novak and Ramsey flip through the documents.
TEDDY LEE: Nothing new to report, gentlemen. A match on his semen. Water in her lungs. Shows high levels of chlorine and rust.
Teddy Lee puts on his glasses and pulls out a photo of something magnified by a microscope.
TEDDY LEE: What pray tell, is this? They say they found some dog hairs? From a canine unit?
This grabs Novak's full attention.
RAMSEY: No, there was no canine unit.
NOVAK: And, Anne Vicksey didn't own a dog, Teddy.
TEDDY LEE: I want to see this.
RAMSEY: What'ch you got, Teddy?
They get up to leave.
FORENSIC LABORATORY: A monitor shows a single hair under a video microscope. Teddy Lee plays with the dials and gets a spectral view. He gives a 'I found it' laugh.
TEDDY LEE: Ispo Melanosis.
RAMSEY: And that means?
TEDDY LEE: A complete absence of melanin. The dog is an albino.
Novak looks at Anne's body . . .
NOVAK: He'd love an animal like that.
TEDDY LEE: Gentlemen, I believe an albino dog is rare animal indeed.
PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT: Exiting an elevator, Julia heads for her little compact convertible. Smart girl that she is, her eyes scan the area and her fingers hold a can of mace. Julia climbs in and backs up. WHAM! Did she hit something?? She brakes, puts the car in park, and checks her sideview mirror. Reflected there is a wounded dog. A white German Shepherd. She can hear the poor thing whimpering.
JULIA: Oh my god...
Julia exits her car and kneels next to Valentine, who appears to be in terrible pain.
JULIA: God... I didn't see you. I'm so sorry.
Stargher's hands come at her from behind! He grabs her hair and covers her face with a chloroform-soaked towel. He presses so hard, she cannot scream. After a brief struggle, he holds her until she passes out.
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