Perception s01e10 Episode Script

- My name is Wesley Sumter.
I've arranged for this video to be released only in the event of my demise.
So if you are watching this, then I have already been killed.
I was looking into the suspicious deaths of Senator Ted Paulson, software engineer Brian Willingham, and Chicago Star-Herald reporter David Alcott.
These men were all killed, as part of a conspiracy to influence the energy policy of The United States government.
Anytime I asked too many questions, I was stonewalled, threatened.
I went to the only person I knew who could help me A friend With close connections to the FBI And asked him to launch an official investigation.
If his experiences have been Anything like mine People have also dismissed his claims.
My death is proof Not only that my friend and I are telling the truth.
But that these conspirators will go to any extreme for this truth not to come out! So you're trying to tell me that this guy actually predicted his own murder? We haven't found a body.
So, as far as you know, this could all be one big hoax.
We have a witness who says that he saw Wesley killed, and the shaky camera work tells us that somebody shot the video, and it could be that same somebody who posted it online.
We want a C.
A.
R.
T.
Unit to trace the I.
P.
Address.
Moretti Why is this so important to you? Because our witness, the "friend" that Wesley mentions in the video, is my friend Daniel Pierce, and I owe it to him to prove to everyone that he's not as crazy as everybody thinks.
Hello? Hello? The food in this place is inedible.
If I'm still sea you, then the drugs are lousy, too.
There's not much I can do about the food, I'm afraid, but if the meds aren't working, I can see about tweaking your dosage.
Natalie, what's with the getup? It's not like you have to blend in.
No one else can see you.
Who's Natalie? I'm Caroline Newsome.
I'm a psychiatrist.
You're at Hubbard Memorial Center.
Wait.
- You're messing with me.
- No one's messing with you, Dr.
Pierce.
You checked yourself in two days ago, presenting with acute symptoms of paranoid Schizophrenia.
I know my damn diagnosis.
I've been living with it for 25 years.
I know this is difficult for you.
I'm just trying to help.
I know what you're doing.
You're pretending to be somebody else So that I'll realize that That none of this is real.
This whole thing's a delusion.
- Dr.
Pierce? - Shh! Dr.
Pierce! Lewicki.
- Lewicki! - Doc.
What are you doing? - Where are you going? - Tell me where I am.
Dr.
Pierce, come back to your room.
You're in the hospital, Doc, okay? I just brought you some puzzles.
- Are there other people here? - Yes, there's a bunch of people.
There's orderlies and nurses and the Doctor here.
- You can see her? - Yes, I can see her.
- Describe her to me.
- What? Tell me what she looks like! Okay, the Doctor here is blonde with blue eyes No, no, no.
No.
No.
If you can see her, then that means you're not real, either.
- No, no.
Doc - None of this is real! I'm sorry.
I had to do that.
But this is what you hired me for, remember, Doc? To keep you straight.
To tell you what is real and what isn't.
Now, I'm telling you, Doc, you're in the hospital, and you're having a rough time.
But the lady here is gonna make you better.
Okay? You are gonna be able to help him, aren't you? He should improve once the anti-psychotics kick in.
He thought that I was someone named Natalie.
Do you know who that is? Natalie is one of Doc's hallucinations.
He talks to her all the time about his His problems, his cases.
As weird as it sounds, she's his best friend.
Excuse me, Dr.
Newsome.
There's a woman here with the FBI.
She insists on seeing Dr.
Pierce.
He's resting now.
I'm hoping he'll be ready for visitors in a couple of days.
Nope.
I need to see him today.
I'm sure you're just trying to do your job, but my job is to take care of my patient.
Listen, I found out that the big delusion that landed Daniel in this place might not have been a delusion after all.
What do you mean? Daniel claimed to have witnessed a murder, but nobody believed him because there was no evidence of a crime, but now we have strong indications that what Daniel saw was real.
He needs to know that.
Witnessing such a violent act may be the reason he decompensated so quickly.
Reliving that incident right now wouldn't be good for him.
Due respect, you don't know Daniel I do.
Knowing that what he saw was real might help him get his dignity back.
It might help him start to get better.
I appreciate your concern, but I'm his Doctor, and I'll decide when he's stable enough to talk about all of this.
Moretti.
Got the I.
P.
Address.
Video was posted from an Internet café in Evanston.
Well, so, anybody could've sent it.
I checked credit-card purchases at the café.
Someone named Alex Willingham bought a decaf mocha That's the same last name as the software engineer who committed suicide.
I ran a search.
Got a pretty good idea of where we can find him.
- Great.
- Thank you.
Alex? Alex Willingham? Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where you going in such a hurry, kid, huh? I'm Agent Moretti.
This is Agent Probert, FBI.
We just want to ask you a couple questions.
I didn't want to do it.
Didn't want to do what? I killed Wesley.
Me and my dad.
I mean, it was just us after my mom left last year.
That must've been tough.
Yeah.
Then he started having trouble at work.
What kind of trouble? He wouldn't tell me.
But he was nervous all the time.
Acting funny.
They said that he killed himself, but I knew that he would never do that.
You thought it was an accident? Somebody killed him.
Because of whatever was going on at his work.
Besides your dad's unusual behavior, do you have reason to believe that anyone at his work could've been involved in his death? Well, I started googling Verteron, and I found these blog posts from someone called "Truth Bomb.
" And he said that Verteron had messed with the software in the Senator's plane to make it crash And that my dad was killed because he found out.
Truth Bomb was Wesley.
Yeah.
I mean, he told me that my dad didn't kill himself, that he was a hero And he was gonna expose all these bad people.
We just needed to find evidence to prove it.
And did you? We got this reporter to help us.
But then he died in a car wreck, so Wesley got this idea to talk with some guy that worked with the FBI.
Daniel Pierce.
Wesley told me that if he was murdered, it would convince this Pierce guy that there really was some big conspiracy.
The FBI would have to investigate it.
I mean, I told him "no way.
" I couldn't kill anybody Especially not him.
This guy was my friend.
He said it was the only way to bring justice for my dad.
Listen, Alex, I understand.
Okay? I know that you did this for your dad.
Now it's time to tell me how you pulled it off.
Wesley got this guy to the spot we picked out.
My dad had this crossbow for deer hunting, and Wesley said the arrow wouldn't leave any blood.
So I shot him.
I shot again.
I scared the other guy away.
Then I got rid of the second arrow.
What about the body? Wesley got this idea To bury a tarp under the dirt So all I would have to do was roll up Wesley Drag the body away.
Please Please You have to find the truth about what really happened to my dad.
Otherwise I killed Wesley for nothing.
Good morning.
Hey.
Do you know who I am? You're not Natalie.
I get it, okay? Good.
What did you say your name was? Caroline Newsome.
Caroline Newsome.
And we never met at a conference or I'd have remembered.
I'm very familiar with your work.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you.
Now that your meds seem to be working, I'd like to start you on some individual counseling, as well as group.
Okay, let's get something straight, uh, I'm not here To get in touch with my feelings.
I'm here for the meds, and to get stable, and then I'm getting the hell out, which is exactly what you can do right now.
- I'll come back later.
- Don't come back.
You hear me? Don't come back! I don't want to talk to you! Mr.
Lewicki.
You wouldn't be trying to duck me, would you? No.
No, Sir.
Then why haven't you returned my phone calls? You wouldn't be attempting to cover up the reason Professor Pierce has canceled classes two days in a row, would you? You see, uh, Sir, Professor Pierce had to take a little trip.
Mr.
Lewicki, I admire your loyalty to my friend Daniel Pierce, but I have known him since you were wearing Huggies.
Now tell me where he is.
I'm afraid Doctor Pierce is refusing all visitors.
Stubborn bastard.
He's always been like this.
- How long have you known him? - We were college roommates.
He's been pretty resistant to therapy.
Would you mind answering some questions? Not at all.
Does he have a friend named Natalie? Yeah.
She was Daniel's girlfriend back in the day.
Mm.
What was she like? You know, funny enough, I never met her.
I don't understand.
I thought See Daniel and I take this road trip, okay, our junior year to the University of Michigan.
Their spring fling? A real rager.
Sunday afternoon, I wake up on the floor of some sorority And Daniel is there, he's all excited.
He has met the girl of his dreams at some other party, but, you know, we had finals coming up, so we had to get back.
But he started a relationship with this Natalie? Mm-hmm.
A real long-distance thing.
He talked to her for hours on the phone.
He'd visit her on the weekends.
But then he, uh He started showing symptoms.
Then ended up in the hospital.
Thank you.
You've been very helpful.
I thought I told you not to come back.
You might want to hear what I have to say.
Oh, I doubt that very much.
I am Natalie.
What the hell is this? First you insist you're not Natalie, now you claim you are? If this is some sort of therapeutic technique, you don't know very much about treating schizophrenics.
I spoke to your friend Paul Haley.
I don't want you talking to my friends.
He told me about a road trip the two of you took to the University of Michigan.
So? I went to Michigan.
I think you must've seen me.
Yes.
Yes.
I got separated from Paul, and I ended up at this fraternity with this bunch of idiots.
They were They were playing quarters and acting like assholes so I went outside And I saw you.
You were standing there all by yourself and nursing a beer in a plastic cup.
You brushed this loose strand of hair behind your ear, and I thought "That's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.
" And I almost walked away, but then This voice in my head kept telling me, "Daniel, don't be an idiot.
" "You'll never see this girl again, and you'll regret it for the rest of your pathetic life.
" So So I walked I walked over there, and And And I could barely get my name out, and you laughed and made some joke about English being my second language, and And we We ended up out on the green.
Just Just talking a-and laughing and holding hands, talking about Rilke and the Smiths.
Remember? Till Till the sun came up.
I was at that party.
But I never met you.
How could you forget? I didn't forget.
I was too scared to talk to you.
So that voice in my head was the beginning.
I was losing my mind earlier than I thought.
I'm sorry.
I'd like to be alone now.
Okay.
Thanks.
Henderson, from the white-collar task force.
Turns out there was an investigation of illegal activity at Verteron.
So maybe the kid was right about his father.
Why do you look like somebody just killed your cat? Because Alex's father didn't stumble onto some conspiracy to rig an election He was the target of an investigation.
Turns out he was selling software code to Verteron's competitors, and on the day he died, he was fired and told that he was gonna be prosecuted.
Which explains why he offed himself.
Do you have the accident report? Yeah.
They found a dent and paint transfer on the rear bumper of the reporter's car.
So maybe somebody was trying to run him off the road.
Keep reading.
The guy's girlfriend told the cops that she backed it up into a stanchion at the supermarket the week before.
Did you corroborate that? Kate, we're FBI agents.
We are not traffic cops.
Look, I know you care about Pierce, but I care about you, and I'm starting to worry that he's not the only one that needs a mental-health day.
Maybe I am a little obsessed.
So, you know, let's knock off.
Get a couple of beers and some burgers.
You go ahead.
I'll, uh, I'll catch up.
You're gonna call the guy's girlfriend the second I leave, right? Oh, yeah.
Miss Crane, we're very sorry for your loss.
Do you know what David was working on before he died? He was paranoid to talk about it.
Paranoid in what way? He thought people were after him.
What people? I don't know.
Miss Crane, the police have ruled your boyfriend's death an accident, but if you have reason to believe otherwise and you don't tell us, you can be charged with obstruction and accessory after the fact.
I'm not saying it's true, okay? But if I did something bad, to help David And that something bad got him killed Can you, you know Protect me? Miss Crane, if you have knowledge of a crime that puts you in danger, we will keep you safe.
I work For the phone company.
And David wanted the access code to some guy's voice mail so he could listen to his messages.
David said that this was the story that could make his career, so I gave him the code, and whatever he heard Got him driven off the road.
Why did you tell the police that you were the one that dented the car? Because whoever is out there that killed David, if they find out what I did, they might kill me, too.
Laura Whose voice mail did David listen to? A man named Leo Attinger.
Leo Attinger is the new Senator's Chief of Staff.
So, what can I do for you? Are you familiar with a Star-Herald reporter named David Alcott He died recently in a car accident? Yeah, I heard about that.
We're investigating allegations that he was hacking cellphones, and we believe that you may have been a victim.
That explains it.
Explains what? After the plane crash, there was speculation That the Governor would appoint Helen Paulson, the Senator's widow, to serve out his term.
But she called a press conference, and announced that she wouldn't accept the appointment.
And endorsed Ryland, right? Well, the night before Mrs.
Paulson made that announcement, she left me a very strange voice mail message.
Saying what? She said she'd gotten the filthy package I'd sent, and she was gonna withdraw her name from consideration.
Did you send her a package? I had no idea what she was talking about, but Her husband was Ryland's mentor, so I asked Ryland and the rest of the campaign staff If anybody knew anything about it, and nobody did.
And you think David Alcott heard this voice mail message? He came to me, insinuating that I had blackmailed Mrs.
Paulson Into dropping out so that I could get Senator Ryland elected.
I didn't know where the hell he was getting that from.
Now I do.
Yeah, well, you got to admit, things turned out pretty well for you and your candidate.
Well I'm not gonna lie to you, Agent Moretti.
In the world of bare-knuckled Illinois politics, strong-arming a widow out of accepting her husband's seat so that I can get my guy the job? That'd be quite a coup.
But I had nothing to do with it.
Want a jellybean? How are you doing? Just peachy, thanks.
I have to admit, I'm curious.
I would've thought, after you got out of the hospital, you would've gone looking for Natalie and found out she wasn't real.
I knew my prognosis.
No cure, inevitable relapses, terrible side effects from primitive soul-sucking meds.
The Natalie I knew would've tried to take care of me.
I couldn't stand the thought of that, so I decided it was better to have no contact at all.
But you did see her again.
I'm a classic case.
I got my degrees.
I was teaching and writing.
I thought, "hey, I've beaten this thing.
" So you weaned yourself off the meds.
Then one day, there's a knock on the door And it's Natalie.
And she said, "hey, you.
" "Guess who just got a teaching job at CLMU.
" And I was over the moon.
But at some point, you realized that she wasn't really there.
We were at the field museum.
And I was laughing my ass off at something funny she said about the pachyderm diorama, and this little kid taps me.
He says, "hey, Mister.
" "Why are you talking to yourself?" And I looked around, and I Realized that everybody was staring at me instead of the elephants.
That must've been painful.
I liked having her around.
Even if it meant getting stared at once in a while.
When things got really bad, I tried the latest drug, and Natalie and the other less-pleasant visitors would go away.
Or at least they wouldn't come around as often.
And I'd think, "okay, this time This time I've got it licked.
" And then the cycle would start again.
But I always believed There was this one Beautiful summer Before I became a complete wacko.
Where I had what normal people have Someone to love.
Something real.
And now I look at you.
The most familiar stranger I've ever met And I know I never had it at all.
I'm sorry That I'm not the person you thought I was.
Truly.
Tell me, Doctor, in your professional opinion.
What's more serious, hallucinating a lifelong friendship that never existed Or witnessing a brutal but completely imaginary murder? Your friend from the FBI came by a couple of days ago.
It turns out that the crime you witnessed actually did happen.
You knew this, and you didn't tell me? I didn't want to set you back.
Well, you blew that goal.
What are you doing, Dr.
Pierce? I'm getting the hell out of here.
If you leave, the cycle will start again.
You'll be back, maybe in a couple of days, maybe in six months.
Are you threatening to have me legally committed? Because otherwise, I'm calling a cab.
- Daniel, what are you doing here? - I want back in on this case.
Shouldn't you be in the hospital? No, I'm doing better.
The meds are working, but I know myself.
The best treatment for me right now is to help you solve this thing.
- I don't know if that's such a - Please, Kate.
I need you to let me do this.
Okay.
Come on in.
I'll make you a cup of tea.
Mrs.
Paulson, Leo Attinger says that you left him an angry voice mail implying that he'd sent you some sort of a package that caused you to turn down your husband's Senate seat? Leo Attinger is a reprehensible human being who would step on his own Mother to advance his career.
I assume that whatever was in this package was incriminating or embarrassing.
Otherwise, you would've alerted the authorities? I'm sorry, Agent Moretti.
I can't continue this conversation.
Ma'am, it's possible that David Alcott, a reporter for The Star-Herald, was murdered for pursuing a story about this.
Now, please tell me what you know.
I got an envelope in the mail.
It had a flash-drive thing and a note.
"It would be better for the people of Illinois and your late husband "if you turned down the appointment And you endorsed Scott Ryland.
" What was on the flash drive? A video.
Of Ted in his office With a woman.
Do you know who the woman was? Victoria Ryland.
The wife of the new Senator? - Let go of me! - Wait a minute.
- Let go of me! - All right.
I thought you wanted to.
You thought wrong.
Okay.
Okay.
All right, but nobody else has to know about this, right? Where did you get this? Helen Paulson.
Somebody sent it to her to blackmail her into turning down her husband's Senate seat so that yo husband could run in his place.
Are you implying that I had something to do with that? The man tried to rape me.
But you never reported it.
He was Senator And my husband's hero.
And then he died in a plane crash.
What would've been the point of ruining his reputation? What were you doing in his office that late at night? I had been trying to get a meeting with him for weeks to discuss funding for a literacy program.
When I finally got in to see him, I started to talk to him about the program.
He came over, sat next to me on the couch, and just Pounced on me.
I got out as fast as I could.
Did anybody see you leave? Uh Leo Attinger.
Your husband's Chief of Staff? What was he doing there? Um, before Leo worked for Scott, he was an aide to Senator Paulson.
When did your husband hire him? Right after Senator Paulson died.
Everyone thought that the Governor was going to appoint Mrs.
Paulson, but Leo came to Scott, said he could get him elected.
Uh-huh.
Mr.
Attinger! We were just hoping to ask you a few more questions, if you don't mind.
I'm a little busy.
We want to know whether or not you had access to any of the security tapes recorded at Senator Paulson's office from when you worked there.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Leo? Hi, thanks so much for coming.
I need my speech.
Senator, tell me.
Were you complicit in stealing your congressional seat, or are you just a puppet for the real power brokers? - I beg your pardon? - We're gonna take a walk.
I'm sorry about that, Senator.
Listen, um Send somebody out to get me a burger.
You know, they're serving salmon.
You know I can't eat salmon.
Stay on supposed to have topped these things.
Daniel? Senator, are you all right? No, he's not all right.
He's having a stroke.
What? No.
Senator! Call an ambulance.
Ryland didn't make it.
Let's give the family some privacy.
Wait, wait, wait.
- Excuse me.
- Can I help you? I'm Dr.
Daniel Pierce.
I was the one who first noticed the Senator stroking out.
- You were his personal physician? - Mm-hmm.
Did he have any history of stroke or clotting? No.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
Order an autopsy.
Tell them to test for clotting agents that could've caused a stroke.
- Why? You don't think somebody - That's exactly what I'm thinking.
There are too many bodies dropping for this to be a coincidence.
- Daniel, there's no evidence.
- That's why we need a Tox screen, Kate.
I'm telling you, somebody killed him! What!? What are you talking about?! Just please stay calm.
Get your crackpot friend out of here, Agent Moretti.
Of course you want me out of here, Attinger.
- Daniel, let's go.
- Of course you do! You can't hide the truth forever! I'm onto you, Attinger! Doc, let me make you a cup of tea.
I don't want tea, Lewicki.
I want answers! Well, I got some for you.
Tox screen came back negative for clotting agents.
- The Senator died of natural causes.
- They need to check again.
This morning, you were accusing Ryland and his aides of some homicidal conspiracy to put him in office.
Now, if that was true, why would someone turn around and try to kill him? I don't know.
Just Something's not right.
Doc Maybe you need to go back to the hospital.
You're right, Max.
That's exactly what I need to do.
Dr.
Newsome.
I'm glad you decided to come back.
Yeah.
I'm not checking in.
I need you to be Natalie for a while.
- Have you taken your meds today? - Yes, I'm taking your damn meds, which is ironic, because if I wasn't taking them, I wouldn't be back in the looney bin.
- You're not making any sense.
- I'm making perfect sense.
I have a puzzle that I can't solve.
Now, normally, I would work it out with Natalie, but she's gone, so I need you to be her.
I'm your Doctor.
I don't think that's advisable.
Please! I need to know that my damn brain still works.
Even when I'm on the meds, otherwise I don't I don't know if I can do this.
The C.
E.
O.
Of Verteron wanted Ryland in, so they manipulated the avionics to crash Paulson's plane, then, to tie up loose ends, they got rid of a reporter and an engineer who were onto the plot.
Then the Governor decides he's going to appoint the Senator's widow, so they blackmail her into dropping out, they get Ryland elected.
The one thing I can't figure out is why they killed Ryland when they've gone to all this trouble to put him in office.
This sounds like the kind of paranoid conspiracy theory that landed you in the hospital in the first place.
But I'm not delusional now.
Then simplify your thinking.
You went to med school.
You know Occam's Razor.
When faced with competing hypotheses, choose the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.
So what? So you're making a lot of assumptions for which you have no evidence.
What did you actually see with your own eyes? Senator Ryland, a man with no history of clotting, stroking out.
- It happens.
- Yeah, but something is telling me it wasn't accidental.
- A voice in your head? - No, not a voice Not in my head His voice.
What do you mean? Ryland He said he couldn't eat salmon.
Well, some people can't eat salmon because of adverse drug reactions.
Yes! Yes! That's good.
People on Coumadin.
And Coumadin's a blood thinner used prevent strokes.
You said he didn't have a history of clotting.
John Kennedy covered up his Addison's disease.
Ryland certainly wouldn't want the voters knowing that he had a life-threatening condition.
Another assumption.
Would you go with me on this? Okay, fine.
Ryland was secretly using Coumadin.
Then he shouldn't have stroked.
He wouldn't be the first patient to go off his meds, would he? If he went off his meds, why was he avoiding salmon? Maybe he didn't know he was off his meds.
Maybe somebody switched them out.
He'd be a ticking time bomb.
Who would do that? You know, you're not as good at this as Natalie But you are not half bad.
Sources close to the Governor say he intends to appointment Victoria Ryland to serve out her late husband's term.
You see? I'm right.
I'm right! She killed her husband to get his Senate seat! How could she even be sure that they governor would appoint her? He was gonna appoint Paulson's widow when he died.
It's a long-standing tradition.
Of the 200 women that have ever served in congress, over 40 were Congress-men's widows.
- Daniel, calm - Don't tell me to calm down.
I see it now.
This wasn't some, some grand conspiracy to murder Paulson and rig the election.
This was the work of one very clever, very ambitious woman.
What? I just talked to my friend in I.
T.
B.
She ran a discreet credit check on Victoria Ryland.
Turns out she had the front of her car repaired the day after the reporter was run off the road.
That's That's proof.
Why do you look so depressed? Because it's circumstantial.
Get a warrant.
Get a warrant.
You will find that the Rylands were buying Coumadin from Mexico, and that little prescription bottle you find will be filled with fake pills.
No Judge is gonna give me a fishing license to go after a woman who's about to be a Senator.
You're telling me there's a woman who murdered her husband to get a seat in The United States Senate, and there's nothing we can do about it? I refuse to accept that.
Daniel, just promise me you're not gonna do anything crazy.
I'd like speak to Mrs.
Ryland, please.
You'll have to make an appointment.
Will you please tell the Senator in waiting that if she cares at all about her political future, she'll see me now? It's all right, John.
Show Dr.
Pierce to my study.
I'm sorry about your husband's death.
- Thank you.
- But I know you killed him.
You went to Senator Paulson's office to seduce him.
When he responded, you acted like you were being raped.
We assumed it was security footage, but I'm betting you taped the whole thing on your cellphone.
You were probably intending to blackmail the Senator into not running for re-election, but when his plane crashed, you saw an opportunity.
You blackmailed his wife instead so your husband could run.
When some reporter started asking questions, you ran him off the road.
Then, once your husband got elected, you switched his Coumadin with sugar pills and waited for him to stroke out.
If I wasn't in mourning, I might even find that funny.
The FBI found your car-repair bill.
And if that were evidence of a crime, the FBI would be here Not you.
Yeah, well, that's true.
That's true.
Everybody at the FBI thinks I'm crazy, which I am.
And they wouldn't touch this anyway.
It's a political mine field.
Then why are you here? Because I may not be able to send you to prison, but I can damn well stop a murderer from becoming a Senator.
What are you talking about? Unless you call a press conference announcing your intention to turn down the Governor's appointment, I'm gonna go to the Star-Herald with my own story.
"Dr.
Daniel Pierce is resigning his consulting" "position with the FBI because the Bureau refuses" "to investigate allegations that Victoria Ryland," "murdered her husband to secure a Senate seat.
" No paper will run that story.
Really? You care to bet your reputation and your career on that? You killed one of their own reporters.
They might not be able to pin a crime on you, but they'll start asking questions about the rape video and why you and your husband were buying Coumadin from Mexico.
So, you can bow out gracefully Or you can get dragged through the mud.
I'm gonna be at The Star-Herald at 9:00 A.
M.
If you haven't spoken to the press by then, I will.
And I'll give them the story of the decade.
I can see myself out.
Out of the car! Hands where I can see them! You okay? Ah.
Yeah, I'm good.
What did you do to my bike?! How's it going? If you're asking me if I'm off my rocker, the answer is Not at the moment.
We served a search warrant on Victoria.
You were right.
We found Coumadin bottles filled with sugar pills.
U.
S.
Attorney's charging her with both murders.
Great.
So we'll have another special election, and we'll get some other criminal representing us in Washington.
Well, if it wasn't for you, she would've gotten away with it.
It's Wesley that deserves the credit.
If he didn't come to me with his wild conspiracy theory, nobody would've ever looked behind the curtain.
So maybe he didn't die for nothing.
Thank you For not giving up on me, even when I was at my worst.
You gave me a scare, you know.
I know.
I know, and even though I'm doing better, there's no guarantee that my symptoms Won't come back, so I I understand if you don't want me working cases.
Let's make a deal.
No more secrets.
Your symptoms come back, you tell me.
Dr.
Newsome.
I'm assuming your firm grasp on reality means that you're taking your meds.
Yeah, I thought a pill a day was supposed to keep the Doctor away.
Max told me where to find you.
I came by to say that the meds aren't enough.
If you want to stay healthy, you're gonna need regular talk therapy.
And apparently, you make house calls.
Actually, I've been thinking.
Given your long-standing Relationship with Natalie, I don't think it's appropriate for me to continue to be your psychiatrist.
Well, maybe you can recommend somebody who's not an insufferable bore.
Just because I can't be your Doctor Doesn't mean I can't be your friend.
If you need one.
I can't help wondering If I had actually had the nerve to approach you all those years ago, would you have given me the time of day? I don't know.
But one thing you'll find out pretty quick is that I'm nobody's fantasy girl.
Um, if we're gonna be friends, one thing you'll figure out pretty quick is that I may need help once in a while, but I really hate it when people give me the answers.
Sometimes the billions of neurons firing in our brains Help us concoct elaborate scenarios.
We imagine ourselves with a dream girl or landing a dream job An astronaut, rock star Even a United States Senator.
But fantasies can turn dark.
We start to believe there's a monster under the bed Or that evil forces are aligning themselves against us.
All these fantasies Good and bad Stem from an evolutionary imperative.
Our brains are exploring potential outcomes that might help us achieve our goals or avoid danger.
But if we allow fantasy to overtake our thinking We can miss the reality that's right in front of us.
And sometimes Reality's not so bad.