Perception s02e11 Episode Script
Curveball
Albert Einstein had a big one.
I am talking about his prefrontal cortex, you perverts.
And that's important because more brain tissue correlates to more intelligence.
The size and the organization of Einstein's brain allowed him to achieve greatness in the fields of physics and quantum mechanics, but the question is was Al born with a special brain that predisposed him to elevated visuospatial and mathematical abilities, or did his brain grow as a result of thousands of hours burning the midnight oil? Most likely, it was a combination natural ability and hard work, something clearly lacking in this room as I've yet to receive anybody's term paper.
Tikka or pho? What the "pho" you talking about? Lunch I'm thinking either Indian or Vietnamese.
- You ready? - Yeah, sure.
Let me get my stuff.
You totally forgot, didn't you? What makes you say that? 'Cause you're hiding a half-eaten sandwich under that file.
Okay.
You got me.
I'm sorry.
I spaced.
I'm just completely swamped here.
Not a problem.
But now I'm gonna force you to watch me try and eat one of those mystery-meat kabobs the guy sells in front of the building.
- Come on.
- All right.
Moretti.
When? Okay.
Yeah, no, I'll be right over.
Listen, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna have to reschedule.
The NTSB needs my help with an investigation down at the rail yard.
What happened? Someone got murdered with a train.
Victim's Henry Wilmyer, 19 years old, from Naperville security guard here at the rail yard.
Sometime after midnight, he was run over by the 12-06 train.
We have any idea who was driving it? Kid named Andre Pritchett, 18 years old.
Wait.
What was he doing driving a train? Well, according to the yardmaster, this Andre's kind of a weirdo.
He's been caught trespassing down here a lot.
A few weeks ago, victim catches him crawling under the fence for like the umpteenth time.
Instead of throwing him out like usual, he roughs him up.
Next thing you know, the kid decides to run him over with a train.
A train's a pretty clunky murder weapon.
Look, I'm just here to give you the facts as I'm required to do.
To be honest, I'm not sure the FBI is even needed here.
It's a pretty straightforward case.
Yeah, well, I'll be the judge of that.
Where's this kid now? Local PD's talking to him.
Tell me why you killed him, damn it! What's wrong with you? Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whatever's going on here needs to stop immediately.
- Says who? - Special Agent Moretti, FBI.
I'm the agent in charge, and questioning suspects is my job.
I was just warming him up for you.
There's a better way of questioning him.
And what way is that? It's not a what.
It's a who.
Here's our esteemed Professor.
I would love to introduce you to Ely Lao and his mother, Carol.
Ely is one of our top academic recruits.
Eli is a neuroscience prodigy.
I wasn't aware we offered a degree program in prodigy.
When he was only 13, Ely programmed the world's largest simulation of a chunk of neural tissue.
We're lucky he's considering CLMU.
Ely could out to be our very own Mark Zuckerberg.
I don't know who that is.
All the ivies are recruiting Ely.
Why am I part of this conversation? Because, Daniel, the opportunity to meet you was a major factor in Ely's decision to visit CLMU.
So I'd like you to sit down, discuss a personalized plan of Love to, but I I very important FBI business.
Dean Haley.
You promised, if we made this trip, Ely would get individualized attention.
Please, call me Paul.
And I assure you, you will be lavished with personal attention.
You all are spending the weekend, right? - Yes.
- Perfect.
Dinner tomorrow.
I will make all the arrangements, and Max here has volunteered to show Ely around campus.
I do not want Ely to miss out on the full college experience.
Meantime, it would be my pleasure to give you a private tour of our fair city.
Andre won't make eye contact.
He's rocking back and forth.
Self-stimulation.
This is incredible.
Where did it come from? It was in his backpack at the scene.
Well, he's obviously fascinated by trains.
Here's his last entry.
"Get uniform.
" "Find keys.
" Sounds like a checklist.
"Take the 12-06.
" What's that? That would be the train he allegedly stole.
Look, I just want to get to the bottom of what happened.
But unfortunately, the Detective who got to Andre first went at him way too hard.
Now he's completely despondent and shut down.
Hi, Andre.
My name's Daniel.
Is it o okay if I sit? I hear you like trains.
There's over 233,000 miles of railroad track in the U.
S.
Last year, trains moved over 3 billion ton-kilometers of freight.
I like them, too.
When I was a kid, I used to make model trains.
I built 87 of them.
That's very impressive.
Did you ever make a model of the 12-06 train? Yeah.
with an output of 2,000 horsepower.
Originates in the joliet station at 4:32 A.
M.
And moves through Matteson, Blue Island, Homewood, Dolton, terminating in the Burnham Station.
Burnham Station isn't that where Henry Wilmyer worked? Mm, bad man.
Bad man! W why was he bad? Mm.
Hurt my arm.
I wanted to see the trains.
Hey! I told you to stay away from here! Look at me! Oh, come on, you get the hell out of here! Come on! Can you tell me what happened to Henry last night? I'm sorry, Andre.
I can't understand what you're saying.
Will you speak louder? Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Andre has autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by communication difficulties, social deficits, and and repetitive behaviors.
He's he's very high-functioning, but he devotes more of his brainpower to his love of trains than he does to forming relationships with other people.
It's made him an expert on anything train-related.
Great.
So he's "Train Man.
" What does that have to do with the fact that he stole one and killed somebody? I don't think he took the train because he wanted to kill anybody.
I think he took it because he was fascinated by it.
- I it was a joyride.
- What about all the times the victim threw him out of the rail yard? I mean, if Andre loves trains so much, wouldn't that really piss him off? I'm telling you, he didn't intend to kill the victim.
Come on, how can you possibly know that? Because he's incredibly detail-oriented.
He made a checklist of every little thing that he was gonna do that day.
Now, if he intended to kill someone, the last item on the list would have been - "run over the security guard.
" - So you're saying that Andre didn't intend to kill the victim.
He only intended to steal the 12-06.
- Yes, but - All right, killing someone during the commission of a felony, whether it's intentional or not, is still murder.
This kid's going to jail.
I want to thank you for helping us make the case, Dr.
Pierce.
Over there is the rec center, and then right here we've got our student union.
And then over there, we've got the cafeteria.
Dude, how about you hook me up with some of these fine older women? Um I'm not your dating service, kid.
Yo, sweater vest.
Real talk.
If you want to score some points with Dean dude, then show me a good time.
And I'll take it into consideration when I decide to come here or not.
All I agreed to do was show you around campus.
Okay? Now, come on.
I'm gonna take you to the science library, and then we can go check out some dorm rooms, okay? Ely? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, I've done plenty to be ashamed of, so you're gonna have to be a lot more specific.
Neuro-typical people just skate through the system, while the neuro-diverse are subjected to widespread abuse and injustice.
- What the hell are you talking about? - Andre Pritchett.
You charged him with felony murder.
The kid who stole the train? I didn't charge him with anything.
- That's not my case.
- Not you, literally.
You, figuratively, as a representative of the United States government.
And now he's shackled in some federal dungeon.
As I understand it, he's out on bail.
Can't you see I'm speaking metaphorically?! Look, I don't know a whole lot about the case, but it sounds to me like the kid stole a train and killed somebody.
Not on purpose.
Well, what do you want me to do about it? I want you to tell whoever's handling the case that from the first time that kid saw a train, he was obsessed.
He can't help himself.
He he just wants to be around them, to see them, to study them, to ride them.
He's not a killer.
Okay.
Maybe I can help.
- If you're driving a car down the street - I don't drive.
Can't you see I'm speaking hypothetically?! You're driving, someone puts a gun to your head, and demands that you run someone over, and you do it.
Legally, you wouldn't be liable because you didn't have a choice.
It's called the defense of compulsion.
It sounds like Andre's condition may have compelled him to operate the train.
Like he had a gun to his head.
If you can prove that, maybe you can get him acquitted.
Wow.
Hi, Andre.
Some amazing trains in here.
What's what's the scale of this one? It's a lifelike H.
O.
scale model.
The locomotive is 1/87th the size of the actual train.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Andre, if it's okay, we we need to ask you a few more questions about why you took the 12-06 train.
Can you help us understand? PN 10-02 was stationary on "T" 32.
Is PN 10-02 a train? Prader National 10-02.
It's pulled by a 4-axle A controlled switchback of PN 13-37 heading southbound on "T" 13 put 10-02 on the lead crossover switch and stationary on "T" 32.
Kid's a nightmare.
He's always hassling me, asking me about the schedules.
I mean, who knew he was dangerous? Would you mind just listening to the recording? We're trying to get to the bottom of what happened.
Sure.
A controlled switchback of PN 13-37 heading southbound on "T" 13 put PN 10-02 on the lead crossover switch and stationary on "T" 32.
No, that can't be right.
Hey, Frank.
Hand me last week's maintenance log, will you? I'll be damned.
The 11-25 train was traveling northbound on the main track.
The 40-94 was traveling southbound, heading right for it.
Now, usually, the 40-94 would divert into the runoff at mile but it couldn't that night because, due to some maintenance, there was already a train parked there.
The 40-94 would have continued to the runoff at mile 7 and diverted there.
It couldn't that night the software that controls the automatic crossover switch was being upgraded, shutting down the switch at mile 7 at exactly the moment the Yes, and and collided with the 11-25 train.
The 11-25 is a passenger train.
Right but they didn't crash, because Andre figured it out.
He tried to tell the yardmaster, but security threw him out, so he came up with his own plan to avert disaster.
He moved the 12-06 train deeper into the runoff at mile 3 to create space for another train to fit.
How, with all the computers and fail-safes, did he catch what everyone else missed? Because when it comes to trains, Andre never gets bored.
He never gets tired or or distracted.
He should be celebrated as a hero, not sent to prison.
Look, it is remarkable, I admit.
- But he still killed Henry Wilmyer.
- I don't think so.
- Why? - Andre is a stickler for details.
Section 1.
20 of the general code of operating rules states that engineers "must ensure a clear track before operating a train.
" Dan Bukowski, the yardmaster, said that Andre's operation of the 12-06 was letter perfect with respect to rail-yard operating procedure better than some veteran employees.
How did Henry get run over? I don't know, but I am guessing those tracks were clear when Andre checked them.
So maybe maybe as he's climbing up into the cab, Henry crawls out onto the tracks and lies down in front of the train.
Why would he do that? Suicide? Maybe he was drunk or on drugs.
There were no drugs in his system.
You're kidding.
This is the whole report? They ran a full panel on him.
Wait a minute.
What what time did they accident occur? Just after midnight.
Why? It says here the body was already in rigor mortis at 12:45 A.
M.
- That's impossible.
- Wait, I I don't get it.
It couldn't happen that quickly.
A body goes into rigor mortis Well, the M.
E.
who examined him at the scene must have made a mistake.
So, when did Henry die? Well, the temperature was cool, the body was mangled we may never know that, but one thing is for certain.
If the body was in rigor, Andre didn't kill Henry.
Henry was already dead when the train ran him over.
Okay, well, then, if Andre didn't kill him, who did? Henry was our pride and joy.
I couldn't have my own children, so Ed, my late husband, and I adopted.
And we spoiled Henry.
He was a ballplayer, I see.
Oh, it was his passion.
During his junior year, some scouts even came out to see him.
They said Henry could go pro one day.
Hmm.
But, uh that was before he started having issues.
What kind of issues? During his senior year, he got busted with some pot.
They kicked him off the team.
Oh, that must have been tough on him.
He was crushed.
He he dropped out.
He started drinking, gambling.
Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to harm your son? A few weeks ago, he came home beat up pretty badly, and he wouldn't tell me who did it, but, um apparently, he owed a lot of money to some bookie at the rail yard.
You know, Donnie used to prosecute a lot of those organized-crime guys.
I bet he knows who's running the books down at the rail yards these days.
Paolo Genardi.
He's been taking bets there for 30 years, and the crafty bastard skates every time we charge him.
Well, thank you.
I owe you one.
Well, I'm free for dinner tonight.
Sure.
Why not? Great.
I'll pick you up around 7:00.
Good luck with Genardi.
What's this about? Henry Wilmyer.
Who the hell is Henry Wilmyer? He's a security guard.
He was murdered.
You're his bookie.
Listen, you could either talk to me now or you can wait until I've had a Rico task force assigned specifically to make your life hell.
What did you say your name was again? It's Moretti.
But you'll get used to it.
It'll be on all of your indictments.
You're Joe Moretti's kid.
I knew it.
I recognized the tone in the "bad cop" bit just now.
How's the old dirtbag doing? Watch it he's retired, but he could still kick your ass.
Come on.
Him and me we go way back.
Oh, really? From all the times he's busted you? Busted me? Joe was one of my best customers.
- It's bullshit.
- What? You don't think cops like to bet the Bulls and the Bears? Look, as a favor to your old man, I'm gonna answer your questions.
Did Henry Wilmyer place bets with you? Not good ones.
He racked up 50 grand in markers.
And when he didn't pay, you killed him.
Why would I kill him? Henry was the type of degenerate sucker that could have put my grandkids through college.
Besides he said he found a way to come up with the cash.
Oh, really? And what was that? He said his brother was gonna give it to him.
Toss it over here.
Hang on.
Got to get my arm loose.
Oh, my God.
You're Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown.
Oh, you can call me "brownie.
" I I know you're just a hallucination, but you might be the greatest hallucination I've ever had.
- Oh, well, I'm just a ballplayer.
- Just a ballplayer? You're a Hall-of-Fame pitcher for the Cubs.
When when when you were the ace of the staff from 1906 to 1910, you guys put up the greatest five-year record of any team in baseball history.
Your your curve ball is legendary.
Well, I did all right with it.
You know, m m m my grandfather saw you in in the 1908 world series.
Yeah, we Pierces have been Cubs fans for over a hundred years.
Wow.
That sure is a long time.
Hey, how many titles we won since then? Not counting 1908? Uh, that would that would be none.
Ooh.
I can't what what are you doing here? Well, you know, I was just I was just looking to toss the onion.
You want to play some catch? Oh, I I I haven't played baseball in years.
Well, why not? I haven't had time.
Oh.
There should always be time for baseball.
Surprisingly, Paolo Genardi did not admit to killing Henry Wilmyer.
Claims that he was having dinner at the time, with a friend who he refused to name.
But he claims that he had no reason to want to kill Henry anyhow because he had supposedly found a way to come up with the 50 grand.
- How? - Said that his brother was gonna give it to him.
I thought Henry was an only child.
Yeah, Paolo's probably just lying to cover his ass.
But since Henry was adopted, I guess it's possible that he had a brother.
I'll have to dig through the adoption files, see if there's any truth to it.
That's why he looked so familiar! Either Henry has a twin, or our corpse just signed a contract to play professional baseball.
Micah Conley was drafted in the 2nd round.
There was talk that he could develop into the next Derek Jeter.
Oh, and he catches one deep to the right wall.
Slides into third.
Looks like he jammed his right Ouch.
Yeah, broke his wrist.
This is a a winter league game in Florida last week.
I read about it in Sports Update, and that's what's been bothering me since I saw Henry's picture.
So Henry was telling the truth about having a brother.
Maybe Conley really was gonna give him the money to pay off the bookie.
Wait.
Why don't we just ask him ourselves? It says right here that Micah's in Chicago having surgery on his wrist with the team's doctors.
I'll just call up his agent and set up an interview.
I know how much you despise going to restaurants, so I have brought dinner to you.
And I've invited Ely and his mother to join us.
I made sure the caterers have made all of your favorites the chicken coconut soup, the mint and fennel salad Paul, that's very thoughtful.
I I'd be happy to host a dinner for you.
- You would? - Of course not! I i in what alternate universe would I agree to have complete strangers eating in my home? Daniel, I really need your help here.
Fine.
Fine.
Get get Lewicki to help you.
Be back as soon as I can.
Lewicki.
Hello.
Hello.
Dean Haley? Lewicki, I need you to bring Ely back to the house for dinner with Dr.
Pierce.
Oh, o okay.
Great.
W w we'll be right over.
Well, hurry up, because this dinner needs to be perfect.
Gotcha.
Hey, hey, uh, excuse me.
H have you seen a a nerdy kid, about 15, headphones? Yo, Maximus.
Que pasa, bro? Where the hell have you been? I have been looking all over for you, Ely.
Were you just in here smoking weed? No, man.
I don't smoke.
But these brownies sure are tasty.
Mmm.
Oh, hell no.
I didn't even know I had a twin brother until a few days ago.
I just can't believe he's dead.
How did you first hear about Henry? I guess he read some article about me online, sent me a message on Facebook.
Yeah, I told Micah not to respond, that it might be a hoax or a ploy to get money.
I didn't want him to be Manti Te'o'd.
I'm not usually quick to trust people anyway.
But you did finally meet.
Yeah he showed up at my hotel room here in Chicago.
It was like staring into a mirror.
And we ended up hanging out all night, swapping stories.
I couldn't believe how similar we were.
We both hated Okra.
We we both liked "Real Housewives," which is crazy, 'cause no guys like that show.
But the craziest part was how much we both loved baseball.
I couldn't believe it when I found out Henry was really good at it, too.
Could you imagine both of us playing in the same infield? I was gonna see if I could get him a tryout, but He said he had a few things he needed to straighten out first.
Like what? He owed a lot of money to some bookie.
Were you gonna help him pay? Yeah, of course.
I mean, I wanted to.
I spent most of the signing bonus on the condo in Florida and the rest on the Mustang.
I mean, I even offered to sell it, but he said he needed the money right away.
And when was the last time you saw him? Two nights ago, when he left my hotel.
He was on his way to find that bookie, beg him for an extension.
There's no way Paolo could have killed him.
His alibi checks out.
He was seen dining with Frankie Zaccardo, a known mob boss, at the time of Henry's death.
Well, maybe he sent one of his thugs to do it.
Oh.
Way ahead of you.
We're running checks on all of his known associates, but that could take a while.
Meanwhile, I'm starving.
I need to eat some Oh, crap! What? Oh.
I was supposed to have dinner with Donnie like an hour ago.
Great.
I'll go with you.
- Don't you have dinner plans? - I wish Miranda's still on tour, much to the detriment of our budding relationship she's in Paris for Okay, I didn't mean anything about Miranda.
I meant a certain dinner party.
At your house.
Forced idle chitchat at a dinner party you can't leave because it's in your own home is the very definition of hell.
I'm going with you.
You promised Dean Haley.
I am taking you home.
I'm beginning to think Dr.
Pierce is deliberately avoiding us.
No one in their right mind would ever turn down an opportunity to share such delightful company.
Oh.
That's very kind of you, Paul.
But this is about Ely's education, and if Dr.
Pierce isn't interested, well, then Dude! This cauliflower mash is insane.
Max, get involved here.
What's wrong with you, Ely? You're acting strange.
That's 'cause I'm high as balls, mom! And it's the good stuff, too.
The THC is blowing the dopamine right out of my mesolimbic system.
Where did you get marijuana? Max he's been showing me around.
CLMU is awesome! I think we've had enough of CLMU's hospitality.
Uh look, t there's got to be some kind of misunderstanding.
Come on, Ely, we're leaving.
Let's not make any decisions from a hasty Put the mashed potatoes down.
You took him to get drugs? Of course not.
He took off on his own.
I'll deal with you later.
Carol, don't go! Look, ththere's got to be something we could do to get this back on track Don't great! Dr.
Pierce is back.
Am I in time for dessert? Great idea.
I was thinking - S'mores! - No.
Is he high? Paul, did you get him high? I most certainly did not.
And had you been here, you would know that.
I'm sorry I'm late.
II got held up.
Ely.
Carol! Wwait! At least let me take you to the hotel.
Must have been a hell of a dinner party.
Kind of wish I hadn't missed it now.
No, you don't.
Ely is finally asleep.
Someone must have taken advantage of Ely's youth and tricked him into taking drugs, which, I might add, is a very rare occurrence here at CLMU.
Monday, I'm launching an inquiry.
In the meantime, is there anything I can do to to make this up to you? Well you can pour me a drink.
Pity about that poor boy.
You know, you're still my favorite hallucination, but II think we have to have the boundaries discussion.
All that wasted potential.
What are you talking about Micah? 'Cause, you know, his his wrist will recover.
It's not career-ending.
I'm talking about the murder.
And the daggone killer is getting away with it! Are you saying Micah's the killer? 'Cause that would make no sense.
I mean, what motive would he have to kill Henry? He's young, he's good-looking, he's playing professional baseball.
His life's perfect.
Look, it's not all puppies and sunshine, you know.
When I finally made it to the bigs, everyone turned into my best pal overnight.
And there was a lot of bums, fishing for inside dope, playing angles.
But all that noise faded away once I got to the park.
You know you You smell the grass and you hear the crowd.
II get a bang out of it as much as I did when I first come up.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm some holy joe or anything, but at that moment, you realize that you're not alone in this world.
It's a dream come true.
And once you get a taste for it, you do damn near anything to keep the dream alive.
Micah gets to live the dream, but Henry doesn't.
No wonder Henry killed Henry.
"Henry killed Henry.
" Andre.
It's Daniel.
Tell me, the night of the accident, at the rail yard, how many Henrys did you see? Two.
Andre saw two Henrys at the rail yard that night.
Explain that to me.
Okay, after he saw that the tracks were clear, he climbs up into the cab, he starts driving it.
That's when he sees "Henry" throw a body in front of the train.
So, h he can't he can't stop in time.
He runs over it.
When he comes down to see what had had happened, the body is also Henry.
And why didn't Andre tell us this before? From his perspective, he did.
When I interviewed him, he kept repeating the phrase, "killed Henry, killed Henry.
" I thought I thought he meant he killed Henry, but what he was really trying to say was "Henry killed Henry.
" Well, he must have eventually realized that we misunderstood him, so how come he never corrected us? His communication with others is very literal.
We just didn't ask him the right questions.
- Right.
- So you're saying that Micah Conley, this blue-chip prospect, comes to Chicago for surgery, finds out he's got a long-lost twin, and then he kills him? No.
I'm I'm saying Henry, the security guard, killed Micah and is now impersonating him.
Why would Henry want to kill Micah? Because Micah was living the life that Henry always wanted.
Henry was bitter.
He he owed money.
He'd lost his dream.
He hears about Micah, tries to contact him on Facebook.
Micah ignores it because he figures Henry's just another crazy fan.
Then Henry, he gets hurt and offended and thinks, "well, screw him!" I'll I'll I'll take his life," literally and figuratively.
And that takes care of his money problems, because now Paolo, his bookie, thinks he's dead.
Micah was a top prospect, so how the hell could Henry think he could get away with it? Henry was a baseball player, too, but he screwed up before he got his shot.
So maybe he he convinced himself that he was as good as his brother.
Is there proof of any of this? Well, yeah, we have an eyewitness.
No offense, but his condition means he would be a disaster on the stand.
- You see, that - But if there's one thing that I've learned working with the two of you, it's that I should at least entertain the idea that what you're saying is true.
So how can we prove it? Well, it's not like we can just order a DNA test to prove that Micah is really Henry.
I mean, they're identical twins.
Their DNA's the same.
Heads up, doc.
You okay? Sorry, doc.
That one got away from me.
Your hand.
It's healed.
What are you talking about? His wrist.
His wr M M Micah Conley broke his wrist in Florida before he came up to Chicago.
So so if Henry killed him and is now impersonating him His wrist will be fine.
Dean Haley? What are you doing here? Hi, Ely.
Uh Just, you know, came by to see if you maybe needed anything.
Are you serious?! You want me to convince my client to get an X-ray so he can prove that he's himself? Not a chance in hell.
Look What if, by some crazy chance, it turns out that Henry really is fooling you and everyone else? Wouldn't you want to know that before you invest any more time or money into a kid who isn't the star that you think he is? Well, I'm no doctor, but that looks like a broken wrist to me.
The scaphoid is broken.
Thanks for the colossal waste of time.
Come on, Micah.
Let's go.
I'll take you back to the hotel.
Could Henry have broken his own wrist? Replicating the same type and positioning of the break would be next to impossible.
I was so sure he was Henry.
I guess we have to accept that we were wrong.
Did I ever tell you why my curveball was so unhittable? It was unhittable 'cause you only had three fingers.
The absence of an index finger put greater pressure behind the ball at point of release, giving it greater spin.
The greater the spin, the less drag pressure under the ball, forcing it to dive quicker.
- It's simple physics.
- Nope.
It was the rabbit's foot.
What? Yeah, I kept it in my left pocket.
You see, I had to pitch a doubleheader against Brooklyn, and my soup bone was was dog-tired going into the second game.
And Mick, the trainer, gave me his lucky rabbit's foot.
I pitched a one-hit shutout.
That day on, never pitched another inning without it.
Well, that's just superstition and ritual.
Baseball's a game of superstition and ritual.
I knew a guy who wouldn't change his skivvies on road trips.
Yeah, wouldn't sit next to him on the bus.
And another fella he'd spun around twice before he batted.
Which had absolutely no bearing or influence on his performance.
Listen we baseball players are a funny breed.
We have to do it the same way every time.
Otherwise, we lose the magic.
You have to do it the same way every time.
Lewicki! What what what is it now, doc? Call Kate.
Tell her we we may not be wrong after all.
Why am I still here? Isn't this harassment or something? The X-ray proves I'm not Henry.
That that was my mistake.
Apologies.
But w w we still have to figure out who actually murdered your brother.
You do want to help us catch his killer, don't you? - Yeah, of course.
- Great.
Help me u understand something here.
Could you could you show him that thing? Yeah.
Okay.
Now, this is you at bat a month ago.
And this is you last week in Florida.
Did you notice anything? Yeah.
Little more turn in my hips, and I would have hit it out.
Hmm.
Bad luck.
M maybe maybe you shouldn't have switched up your routine.
You know, after your waggle, before your set-up, you always tap your helmet.
But this last week in Florida, you didn't.
- Yeah, so? - Well, you've never done it that way before.
It was it was strange.
So we compared dozens of your previous at-bats to, uh, to this one.
Now, normally, you wear one batting glove, but but here you're wearing two.
Y y you like to take three warm-up swings, but but this time, just one.
And you always spit to your left.
But in Florida, it was to your right.
So last week, I mixed it up.
What's the big deal? Well, ballplayers are a funny breed.
They have rituals.
They have to do it the same way every time, or they lose the magic.
Did you honestly think that nobody was gonna figure it out? Figure what out? Micah Conley didn't hit that triple last week.
It was you Henry Wilmyer.
You killed Micah, and now you are impersonating him.
- That's ridiculous! - You got lucky on one pitch, Henry.
What in the world made you made you think you'd you you'd magically be good enough to play in the bigs? I mean, who do you think you are? You're not the great Micah Conley? You're just lowly Henry Wilmyer pothead, gambler, loser.
Your subpar skills would eventually give you away.
How the hell did you think you'd pull this off? I'm good enough, damn it! I hit that ball! So you killed your brother, and you took his place? No.
No, no, no.
That that's not how it happened.
You must have been so jealous of him.
I read this article about Micah, and I I couldn't believe it.
Oh, my God.
I I had a twin brother all this time? So I I I tried to contact him, but he didn't respond.
I figured 'cause he was busy, but I couldn't just let that go.
I mean, this amazing baseball prospect might be my twin.
So, I I I thought, if he could just meet me, you know? I mean, he bragged about this condo he bought on Facebook in Florida, so I I hopped on a bus, and I I tracked him down.
O our first meet happened just like I said, only it happened in Florida, not Chicago.
But we really did end up hanging out all night.
When did you decide that you were gonna try to become him? Switching places was Micah's crazy idea.
We woke up the next morning really hung over.
Micah felt worse than me, and he had a game to play.
So, he decided to let me fulfill my dream of playing in the pros.
I mean, he figured it was just for one minor-league game.
Hmm.
No one would ever know.
Exactly.
And I did it! I mean, sure, I I struck out my first two times at bat, but then my timing came back, and when that chump pitcher hung a curve, I tagged it, man.
And you broke your wrist sliding into third.
The team arranged for me to be flown back to Chicago the next day for surgery with the team's doctor.
They dropped me back off at the condo to pick up my stuff.
Micah saw my wrist and freaked, but I I told him just to chill out, you know? "I it's all good.
Everything will be okay.
" I could just be him until I got better.
Move! That's when we started to fight.
It was an accident.
So, you decided to become Micah Conley permanently.
But you still had his body to worry about.
I was freaking out.
I didn't know what to do.
I figured I needed to get back to Chicago.
My arm felt like hell.
I somehow I got him into the trunk of the mustang, and I just took off.
Wasn't anyone looking for Micah? I I I found his agent's number in his phone.
So I called and said I decided to drive back, not fly.
The club was pissed, but he said he'd smooth it over.
Yeah, but but but to make the switch complete, you had to get rid of you.
You had to kill off Henry Wilmyer.
When I got back to Chicago, I went to my place.
I somehow managed to get Micah into my security uniform.
I went to the rail yard.
First train I saw moving, I threw his body in front of it.
I know it's not fair what happened to Micah.
But I'm the one that should have made it.
Yo, Maximus.
I wanted to catch you before we left.
Oh.
Hey, Ely.
Look, I'm really sorry this place wasn't what you hoped it would be.
Kidding me? CLMU is awesome.
Oh, so you're gonna enroll here? Hell, no.
Why not? Because that asshole boned my mom! - Hey.
- Donnie.
Hey.
Listen, I'm really sorry about the other night, okay? Don't don't worry about it.
You apologized already.
No, but I just want you to know that I look, look.
Obviously, I'm hoping that you want to give us another shot.
But if you don't, just tell me.
I'm a big boy.
I can handle it.
Donnie, it's really not like that.
I do want to have dinner with you.
I'm just a little underwater here.
Okay.
But you got my number.
Come on, Brownie.
Throw it.
And don't take it easy on me.
I want to see that vaunted curveball.
All right, don't be fooled when it looks like it's coming right for your head.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Enough stalling.
Let's see it.
Great even when I'm hallucinating, I can't hit a curveball.
You ever wondered if there's somebody out there exactly like you? A twin or a doppelganger? The world's always been fascinated by them.
In ancient times, doubleness was seen as a manifestation of the supernatural, an invention of the gods.
Twins have been invaluable in neuroscience because studying them gives us insight into how environmental behavior and genetics affect things like brain aging or addiction.
But twin stories touch us on a much deeper level.
Why is that? Are we looking for a more perfect version of ourselves, the person we wish we were Or someone to share our consuming passions? Maybe we're looking for a soul mate, someone to complete our lives.
Whatever its genesis, the desire for a twin is an expression of our need to connect.
Because in this vast and sometimes overwhelming universe, only our relationships with other people can help us not to feel so alone.
I am talking about his prefrontal cortex, you perverts.
And that's important because more brain tissue correlates to more intelligence.
The size and the organization of Einstein's brain allowed him to achieve greatness in the fields of physics and quantum mechanics, but the question is was Al born with a special brain that predisposed him to elevated visuospatial and mathematical abilities, or did his brain grow as a result of thousands of hours burning the midnight oil? Most likely, it was a combination natural ability and hard work, something clearly lacking in this room as I've yet to receive anybody's term paper.
Tikka or pho? What the "pho" you talking about? Lunch I'm thinking either Indian or Vietnamese.
- You ready? - Yeah, sure.
Let me get my stuff.
You totally forgot, didn't you? What makes you say that? 'Cause you're hiding a half-eaten sandwich under that file.
Okay.
You got me.
I'm sorry.
I spaced.
I'm just completely swamped here.
Not a problem.
But now I'm gonna force you to watch me try and eat one of those mystery-meat kabobs the guy sells in front of the building.
- Come on.
- All right.
Moretti.
When? Okay.
Yeah, no, I'll be right over.
Listen, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna have to reschedule.
The NTSB needs my help with an investigation down at the rail yard.
What happened? Someone got murdered with a train.
Victim's Henry Wilmyer, 19 years old, from Naperville security guard here at the rail yard.
Sometime after midnight, he was run over by the 12-06 train.
We have any idea who was driving it? Kid named Andre Pritchett, 18 years old.
Wait.
What was he doing driving a train? Well, according to the yardmaster, this Andre's kind of a weirdo.
He's been caught trespassing down here a lot.
A few weeks ago, victim catches him crawling under the fence for like the umpteenth time.
Instead of throwing him out like usual, he roughs him up.
Next thing you know, the kid decides to run him over with a train.
A train's a pretty clunky murder weapon.
Look, I'm just here to give you the facts as I'm required to do.
To be honest, I'm not sure the FBI is even needed here.
It's a pretty straightforward case.
Yeah, well, I'll be the judge of that.
Where's this kid now? Local PD's talking to him.
Tell me why you killed him, damn it! What's wrong with you? Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whatever's going on here needs to stop immediately.
- Says who? - Special Agent Moretti, FBI.
I'm the agent in charge, and questioning suspects is my job.
I was just warming him up for you.
There's a better way of questioning him.
And what way is that? It's not a what.
It's a who.
Here's our esteemed Professor.
I would love to introduce you to Ely Lao and his mother, Carol.
Ely is one of our top academic recruits.
Eli is a neuroscience prodigy.
I wasn't aware we offered a degree program in prodigy.
When he was only 13, Ely programmed the world's largest simulation of a chunk of neural tissue.
We're lucky he's considering CLMU.
Ely could out to be our very own Mark Zuckerberg.
I don't know who that is.
All the ivies are recruiting Ely.
Why am I part of this conversation? Because, Daniel, the opportunity to meet you was a major factor in Ely's decision to visit CLMU.
So I'd like you to sit down, discuss a personalized plan of Love to, but I I very important FBI business.
Dean Haley.
You promised, if we made this trip, Ely would get individualized attention.
Please, call me Paul.
And I assure you, you will be lavished with personal attention.
You all are spending the weekend, right? - Yes.
- Perfect.
Dinner tomorrow.
I will make all the arrangements, and Max here has volunteered to show Ely around campus.
I do not want Ely to miss out on the full college experience.
Meantime, it would be my pleasure to give you a private tour of our fair city.
Andre won't make eye contact.
He's rocking back and forth.
Self-stimulation.
This is incredible.
Where did it come from? It was in his backpack at the scene.
Well, he's obviously fascinated by trains.
Here's his last entry.
"Get uniform.
" "Find keys.
" Sounds like a checklist.
"Take the 12-06.
" What's that? That would be the train he allegedly stole.
Look, I just want to get to the bottom of what happened.
But unfortunately, the Detective who got to Andre first went at him way too hard.
Now he's completely despondent and shut down.
Hi, Andre.
My name's Daniel.
Is it o okay if I sit? I hear you like trains.
There's over 233,000 miles of railroad track in the U.
S.
Last year, trains moved over 3 billion ton-kilometers of freight.
I like them, too.
When I was a kid, I used to make model trains.
I built 87 of them.
That's very impressive.
Did you ever make a model of the 12-06 train? Yeah.
with an output of 2,000 horsepower.
Originates in the joliet station at 4:32 A.
M.
And moves through Matteson, Blue Island, Homewood, Dolton, terminating in the Burnham Station.
Burnham Station isn't that where Henry Wilmyer worked? Mm, bad man.
Bad man! W why was he bad? Mm.
Hurt my arm.
I wanted to see the trains.
Hey! I told you to stay away from here! Look at me! Oh, come on, you get the hell out of here! Come on! Can you tell me what happened to Henry last night? I'm sorry, Andre.
I can't understand what you're saying.
Will you speak louder? Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Henry, killed Andre has autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by communication difficulties, social deficits, and and repetitive behaviors.
He's he's very high-functioning, but he devotes more of his brainpower to his love of trains than he does to forming relationships with other people.
It's made him an expert on anything train-related.
Great.
So he's "Train Man.
" What does that have to do with the fact that he stole one and killed somebody? I don't think he took the train because he wanted to kill anybody.
I think he took it because he was fascinated by it.
- I it was a joyride.
- What about all the times the victim threw him out of the rail yard? I mean, if Andre loves trains so much, wouldn't that really piss him off? I'm telling you, he didn't intend to kill the victim.
Come on, how can you possibly know that? Because he's incredibly detail-oriented.
He made a checklist of every little thing that he was gonna do that day.
Now, if he intended to kill someone, the last item on the list would have been - "run over the security guard.
" - So you're saying that Andre didn't intend to kill the victim.
He only intended to steal the 12-06.
- Yes, but - All right, killing someone during the commission of a felony, whether it's intentional or not, is still murder.
This kid's going to jail.
I want to thank you for helping us make the case, Dr.
Pierce.
Over there is the rec center, and then right here we've got our student union.
And then over there, we've got the cafeteria.
Dude, how about you hook me up with some of these fine older women? Um I'm not your dating service, kid.
Yo, sweater vest.
Real talk.
If you want to score some points with Dean dude, then show me a good time.
And I'll take it into consideration when I decide to come here or not.
All I agreed to do was show you around campus.
Okay? Now, come on.
I'm gonna take you to the science library, and then we can go check out some dorm rooms, okay? Ely? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, I've done plenty to be ashamed of, so you're gonna have to be a lot more specific.
Neuro-typical people just skate through the system, while the neuro-diverse are subjected to widespread abuse and injustice.
- What the hell are you talking about? - Andre Pritchett.
You charged him with felony murder.
The kid who stole the train? I didn't charge him with anything.
- That's not my case.
- Not you, literally.
You, figuratively, as a representative of the United States government.
And now he's shackled in some federal dungeon.
As I understand it, he's out on bail.
Can't you see I'm speaking metaphorically?! Look, I don't know a whole lot about the case, but it sounds to me like the kid stole a train and killed somebody.
Not on purpose.
Well, what do you want me to do about it? I want you to tell whoever's handling the case that from the first time that kid saw a train, he was obsessed.
He can't help himself.
He he just wants to be around them, to see them, to study them, to ride them.
He's not a killer.
Okay.
Maybe I can help.
- If you're driving a car down the street - I don't drive.
Can't you see I'm speaking hypothetically?! You're driving, someone puts a gun to your head, and demands that you run someone over, and you do it.
Legally, you wouldn't be liable because you didn't have a choice.
It's called the defense of compulsion.
It sounds like Andre's condition may have compelled him to operate the train.
Like he had a gun to his head.
If you can prove that, maybe you can get him acquitted.
Wow.
Hi, Andre.
Some amazing trains in here.
What's what's the scale of this one? It's a lifelike H.
O.
scale model.
The locomotive is 1/87th the size of the actual train.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Andre, if it's okay, we we need to ask you a few more questions about why you took the 12-06 train.
Can you help us understand? PN 10-02 was stationary on "T" 32.
Is PN 10-02 a train? Prader National 10-02.
It's pulled by a 4-axle A controlled switchback of PN 13-37 heading southbound on "T" 13 put 10-02 on the lead crossover switch and stationary on "T" 32.
Kid's a nightmare.
He's always hassling me, asking me about the schedules.
I mean, who knew he was dangerous? Would you mind just listening to the recording? We're trying to get to the bottom of what happened.
Sure.
A controlled switchback of PN 13-37 heading southbound on "T" 13 put PN 10-02 on the lead crossover switch and stationary on "T" 32.
No, that can't be right.
Hey, Frank.
Hand me last week's maintenance log, will you? I'll be damned.
The 11-25 train was traveling northbound on the main track.
The 40-94 was traveling southbound, heading right for it.
Now, usually, the 40-94 would divert into the runoff at mile but it couldn't that night because, due to some maintenance, there was already a train parked there.
The 40-94 would have continued to the runoff at mile 7 and diverted there.
It couldn't that night the software that controls the automatic crossover switch was being upgraded, shutting down the switch at mile 7 at exactly the moment the Yes, and and collided with the 11-25 train.
The 11-25 is a passenger train.
Right but they didn't crash, because Andre figured it out.
He tried to tell the yardmaster, but security threw him out, so he came up with his own plan to avert disaster.
He moved the 12-06 train deeper into the runoff at mile 3 to create space for another train to fit.
How, with all the computers and fail-safes, did he catch what everyone else missed? Because when it comes to trains, Andre never gets bored.
He never gets tired or or distracted.
He should be celebrated as a hero, not sent to prison.
Look, it is remarkable, I admit.
- But he still killed Henry Wilmyer.
- I don't think so.
- Why? - Andre is a stickler for details.
Section 1.
20 of the general code of operating rules states that engineers "must ensure a clear track before operating a train.
" Dan Bukowski, the yardmaster, said that Andre's operation of the 12-06 was letter perfect with respect to rail-yard operating procedure better than some veteran employees.
How did Henry get run over? I don't know, but I am guessing those tracks were clear when Andre checked them.
So maybe maybe as he's climbing up into the cab, Henry crawls out onto the tracks and lies down in front of the train.
Why would he do that? Suicide? Maybe he was drunk or on drugs.
There were no drugs in his system.
You're kidding.
This is the whole report? They ran a full panel on him.
Wait a minute.
What what time did they accident occur? Just after midnight.
Why? It says here the body was already in rigor mortis at 12:45 A.
M.
- That's impossible.
- Wait, I I don't get it.
It couldn't happen that quickly.
A body goes into rigor mortis Well, the M.
E.
who examined him at the scene must have made a mistake.
So, when did Henry die? Well, the temperature was cool, the body was mangled we may never know that, but one thing is for certain.
If the body was in rigor, Andre didn't kill Henry.
Henry was already dead when the train ran him over.
Okay, well, then, if Andre didn't kill him, who did? Henry was our pride and joy.
I couldn't have my own children, so Ed, my late husband, and I adopted.
And we spoiled Henry.
He was a ballplayer, I see.
Oh, it was his passion.
During his junior year, some scouts even came out to see him.
They said Henry could go pro one day.
Hmm.
But, uh that was before he started having issues.
What kind of issues? During his senior year, he got busted with some pot.
They kicked him off the team.
Oh, that must have been tough on him.
He was crushed.
He he dropped out.
He started drinking, gambling.
Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to harm your son? A few weeks ago, he came home beat up pretty badly, and he wouldn't tell me who did it, but, um apparently, he owed a lot of money to some bookie at the rail yard.
You know, Donnie used to prosecute a lot of those organized-crime guys.
I bet he knows who's running the books down at the rail yards these days.
Paolo Genardi.
He's been taking bets there for 30 years, and the crafty bastard skates every time we charge him.
Well, thank you.
I owe you one.
Well, I'm free for dinner tonight.
Sure.
Why not? Great.
I'll pick you up around 7:00.
Good luck with Genardi.
What's this about? Henry Wilmyer.
Who the hell is Henry Wilmyer? He's a security guard.
He was murdered.
You're his bookie.
Listen, you could either talk to me now or you can wait until I've had a Rico task force assigned specifically to make your life hell.
What did you say your name was again? It's Moretti.
But you'll get used to it.
It'll be on all of your indictments.
You're Joe Moretti's kid.
I knew it.
I recognized the tone in the "bad cop" bit just now.
How's the old dirtbag doing? Watch it he's retired, but he could still kick your ass.
Come on.
Him and me we go way back.
Oh, really? From all the times he's busted you? Busted me? Joe was one of my best customers.
- It's bullshit.
- What? You don't think cops like to bet the Bulls and the Bears? Look, as a favor to your old man, I'm gonna answer your questions.
Did Henry Wilmyer place bets with you? Not good ones.
He racked up 50 grand in markers.
And when he didn't pay, you killed him.
Why would I kill him? Henry was the type of degenerate sucker that could have put my grandkids through college.
Besides he said he found a way to come up with the cash.
Oh, really? And what was that? He said his brother was gonna give it to him.
Toss it over here.
Hang on.
Got to get my arm loose.
Oh, my God.
You're Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown.
Oh, you can call me "brownie.
" I I know you're just a hallucination, but you might be the greatest hallucination I've ever had.
- Oh, well, I'm just a ballplayer.
- Just a ballplayer? You're a Hall-of-Fame pitcher for the Cubs.
When when when you were the ace of the staff from 1906 to 1910, you guys put up the greatest five-year record of any team in baseball history.
Your your curve ball is legendary.
Well, I did all right with it.
You know, m m m my grandfather saw you in in the 1908 world series.
Yeah, we Pierces have been Cubs fans for over a hundred years.
Wow.
That sure is a long time.
Hey, how many titles we won since then? Not counting 1908? Uh, that would that would be none.
Ooh.
I can't what what are you doing here? Well, you know, I was just I was just looking to toss the onion.
You want to play some catch? Oh, I I I haven't played baseball in years.
Well, why not? I haven't had time.
Oh.
There should always be time for baseball.
Surprisingly, Paolo Genardi did not admit to killing Henry Wilmyer.
Claims that he was having dinner at the time, with a friend who he refused to name.
But he claims that he had no reason to want to kill Henry anyhow because he had supposedly found a way to come up with the 50 grand.
- How? - Said that his brother was gonna give it to him.
I thought Henry was an only child.
Yeah, Paolo's probably just lying to cover his ass.
But since Henry was adopted, I guess it's possible that he had a brother.
I'll have to dig through the adoption files, see if there's any truth to it.
That's why he looked so familiar! Either Henry has a twin, or our corpse just signed a contract to play professional baseball.
Micah Conley was drafted in the 2nd round.
There was talk that he could develop into the next Derek Jeter.
Oh, and he catches one deep to the right wall.
Slides into third.
Looks like he jammed his right Ouch.
Yeah, broke his wrist.
This is a a winter league game in Florida last week.
I read about it in Sports Update, and that's what's been bothering me since I saw Henry's picture.
So Henry was telling the truth about having a brother.
Maybe Conley really was gonna give him the money to pay off the bookie.
Wait.
Why don't we just ask him ourselves? It says right here that Micah's in Chicago having surgery on his wrist with the team's doctors.
I'll just call up his agent and set up an interview.
I know how much you despise going to restaurants, so I have brought dinner to you.
And I've invited Ely and his mother to join us.
I made sure the caterers have made all of your favorites the chicken coconut soup, the mint and fennel salad Paul, that's very thoughtful.
I I'd be happy to host a dinner for you.
- You would? - Of course not! I i in what alternate universe would I agree to have complete strangers eating in my home? Daniel, I really need your help here.
Fine.
Fine.
Get get Lewicki to help you.
Be back as soon as I can.
Lewicki.
Hello.
Hello.
Dean Haley? Lewicki, I need you to bring Ely back to the house for dinner with Dr.
Pierce.
Oh, o okay.
Great.
W w we'll be right over.
Well, hurry up, because this dinner needs to be perfect.
Gotcha.
Hey, hey, uh, excuse me.
H have you seen a a nerdy kid, about 15, headphones? Yo, Maximus.
Que pasa, bro? Where the hell have you been? I have been looking all over for you, Ely.
Were you just in here smoking weed? No, man.
I don't smoke.
But these brownies sure are tasty.
Mmm.
Oh, hell no.
I didn't even know I had a twin brother until a few days ago.
I just can't believe he's dead.
How did you first hear about Henry? I guess he read some article about me online, sent me a message on Facebook.
Yeah, I told Micah not to respond, that it might be a hoax or a ploy to get money.
I didn't want him to be Manti Te'o'd.
I'm not usually quick to trust people anyway.
But you did finally meet.
Yeah he showed up at my hotel room here in Chicago.
It was like staring into a mirror.
And we ended up hanging out all night, swapping stories.
I couldn't believe how similar we were.
We both hated Okra.
We we both liked "Real Housewives," which is crazy, 'cause no guys like that show.
But the craziest part was how much we both loved baseball.
I couldn't believe it when I found out Henry was really good at it, too.
Could you imagine both of us playing in the same infield? I was gonna see if I could get him a tryout, but He said he had a few things he needed to straighten out first.
Like what? He owed a lot of money to some bookie.
Were you gonna help him pay? Yeah, of course.
I mean, I wanted to.
I spent most of the signing bonus on the condo in Florida and the rest on the Mustang.
I mean, I even offered to sell it, but he said he needed the money right away.
And when was the last time you saw him? Two nights ago, when he left my hotel.
He was on his way to find that bookie, beg him for an extension.
There's no way Paolo could have killed him.
His alibi checks out.
He was seen dining with Frankie Zaccardo, a known mob boss, at the time of Henry's death.
Well, maybe he sent one of his thugs to do it.
Oh.
Way ahead of you.
We're running checks on all of his known associates, but that could take a while.
Meanwhile, I'm starving.
I need to eat some Oh, crap! What? Oh.
I was supposed to have dinner with Donnie like an hour ago.
Great.
I'll go with you.
- Don't you have dinner plans? - I wish Miranda's still on tour, much to the detriment of our budding relationship she's in Paris for Okay, I didn't mean anything about Miranda.
I meant a certain dinner party.
At your house.
Forced idle chitchat at a dinner party you can't leave because it's in your own home is the very definition of hell.
I'm going with you.
You promised Dean Haley.
I am taking you home.
I'm beginning to think Dr.
Pierce is deliberately avoiding us.
No one in their right mind would ever turn down an opportunity to share such delightful company.
Oh.
That's very kind of you, Paul.
But this is about Ely's education, and if Dr.
Pierce isn't interested, well, then Dude! This cauliflower mash is insane.
Max, get involved here.
What's wrong with you, Ely? You're acting strange.
That's 'cause I'm high as balls, mom! And it's the good stuff, too.
The THC is blowing the dopamine right out of my mesolimbic system.
Where did you get marijuana? Max he's been showing me around.
CLMU is awesome! I think we've had enough of CLMU's hospitality.
Uh look, t there's got to be some kind of misunderstanding.
Come on, Ely, we're leaving.
Let's not make any decisions from a hasty Put the mashed potatoes down.
You took him to get drugs? Of course not.
He took off on his own.
I'll deal with you later.
Carol, don't go! Look, ththere's got to be something we could do to get this back on track Don't great! Dr.
Pierce is back.
Am I in time for dessert? Great idea.
I was thinking - S'mores! - No.
Is he high? Paul, did you get him high? I most certainly did not.
And had you been here, you would know that.
I'm sorry I'm late.
II got held up.
Ely.
Carol! Wwait! At least let me take you to the hotel.
Must have been a hell of a dinner party.
Kind of wish I hadn't missed it now.
No, you don't.
Ely is finally asleep.
Someone must have taken advantage of Ely's youth and tricked him into taking drugs, which, I might add, is a very rare occurrence here at CLMU.
Monday, I'm launching an inquiry.
In the meantime, is there anything I can do to to make this up to you? Well you can pour me a drink.
Pity about that poor boy.
You know, you're still my favorite hallucination, but II think we have to have the boundaries discussion.
All that wasted potential.
What are you talking about Micah? 'Cause, you know, his his wrist will recover.
It's not career-ending.
I'm talking about the murder.
And the daggone killer is getting away with it! Are you saying Micah's the killer? 'Cause that would make no sense.
I mean, what motive would he have to kill Henry? He's young, he's good-looking, he's playing professional baseball.
His life's perfect.
Look, it's not all puppies and sunshine, you know.
When I finally made it to the bigs, everyone turned into my best pal overnight.
And there was a lot of bums, fishing for inside dope, playing angles.
But all that noise faded away once I got to the park.
You know you You smell the grass and you hear the crowd.
II get a bang out of it as much as I did when I first come up.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm some holy joe or anything, but at that moment, you realize that you're not alone in this world.
It's a dream come true.
And once you get a taste for it, you do damn near anything to keep the dream alive.
Micah gets to live the dream, but Henry doesn't.
No wonder Henry killed Henry.
"Henry killed Henry.
" Andre.
It's Daniel.
Tell me, the night of the accident, at the rail yard, how many Henrys did you see? Two.
Andre saw two Henrys at the rail yard that night.
Explain that to me.
Okay, after he saw that the tracks were clear, he climbs up into the cab, he starts driving it.
That's when he sees "Henry" throw a body in front of the train.
So, h he can't he can't stop in time.
He runs over it.
When he comes down to see what had had happened, the body is also Henry.
And why didn't Andre tell us this before? From his perspective, he did.
When I interviewed him, he kept repeating the phrase, "killed Henry, killed Henry.
" I thought I thought he meant he killed Henry, but what he was really trying to say was "Henry killed Henry.
" Well, he must have eventually realized that we misunderstood him, so how come he never corrected us? His communication with others is very literal.
We just didn't ask him the right questions.
- Right.
- So you're saying that Micah Conley, this blue-chip prospect, comes to Chicago for surgery, finds out he's got a long-lost twin, and then he kills him? No.
I'm I'm saying Henry, the security guard, killed Micah and is now impersonating him.
Why would Henry want to kill Micah? Because Micah was living the life that Henry always wanted.
Henry was bitter.
He he owed money.
He'd lost his dream.
He hears about Micah, tries to contact him on Facebook.
Micah ignores it because he figures Henry's just another crazy fan.
Then Henry, he gets hurt and offended and thinks, "well, screw him!" I'll I'll I'll take his life," literally and figuratively.
And that takes care of his money problems, because now Paolo, his bookie, thinks he's dead.
Micah was a top prospect, so how the hell could Henry think he could get away with it? Henry was a baseball player, too, but he screwed up before he got his shot.
So maybe he he convinced himself that he was as good as his brother.
Is there proof of any of this? Well, yeah, we have an eyewitness.
No offense, but his condition means he would be a disaster on the stand.
- You see, that - But if there's one thing that I've learned working with the two of you, it's that I should at least entertain the idea that what you're saying is true.
So how can we prove it? Well, it's not like we can just order a DNA test to prove that Micah is really Henry.
I mean, they're identical twins.
Their DNA's the same.
Heads up, doc.
You okay? Sorry, doc.
That one got away from me.
Your hand.
It's healed.
What are you talking about? His wrist.
His wr M M Micah Conley broke his wrist in Florida before he came up to Chicago.
So so if Henry killed him and is now impersonating him His wrist will be fine.
Dean Haley? What are you doing here? Hi, Ely.
Uh Just, you know, came by to see if you maybe needed anything.
Are you serious?! You want me to convince my client to get an X-ray so he can prove that he's himself? Not a chance in hell.
Look What if, by some crazy chance, it turns out that Henry really is fooling you and everyone else? Wouldn't you want to know that before you invest any more time or money into a kid who isn't the star that you think he is? Well, I'm no doctor, but that looks like a broken wrist to me.
The scaphoid is broken.
Thanks for the colossal waste of time.
Come on, Micah.
Let's go.
I'll take you back to the hotel.
Could Henry have broken his own wrist? Replicating the same type and positioning of the break would be next to impossible.
I was so sure he was Henry.
I guess we have to accept that we were wrong.
Did I ever tell you why my curveball was so unhittable? It was unhittable 'cause you only had three fingers.
The absence of an index finger put greater pressure behind the ball at point of release, giving it greater spin.
The greater the spin, the less drag pressure under the ball, forcing it to dive quicker.
- It's simple physics.
- Nope.
It was the rabbit's foot.
What? Yeah, I kept it in my left pocket.
You see, I had to pitch a doubleheader against Brooklyn, and my soup bone was was dog-tired going into the second game.
And Mick, the trainer, gave me his lucky rabbit's foot.
I pitched a one-hit shutout.
That day on, never pitched another inning without it.
Well, that's just superstition and ritual.
Baseball's a game of superstition and ritual.
I knew a guy who wouldn't change his skivvies on road trips.
Yeah, wouldn't sit next to him on the bus.
And another fella he'd spun around twice before he batted.
Which had absolutely no bearing or influence on his performance.
Listen we baseball players are a funny breed.
We have to do it the same way every time.
Otherwise, we lose the magic.
You have to do it the same way every time.
Lewicki! What what what is it now, doc? Call Kate.
Tell her we we may not be wrong after all.
Why am I still here? Isn't this harassment or something? The X-ray proves I'm not Henry.
That that was my mistake.
Apologies.
But w w we still have to figure out who actually murdered your brother.
You do want to help us catch his killer, don't you? - Yeah, of course.
- Great.
Help me u understand something here.
Could you could you show him that thing? Yeah.
Okay.
Now, this is you at bat a month ago.
And this is you last week in Florida.
Did you notice anything? Yeah.
Little more turn in my hips, and I would have hit it out.
Hmm.
Bad luck.
M maybe maybe you shouldn't have switched up your routine.
You know, after your waggle, before your set-up, you always tap your helmet.
But this last week in Florida, you didn't.
- Yeah, so? - Well, you've never done it that way before.
It was it was strange.
So we compared dozens of your previous at-bats to, uh, to this one.
Now, normally, you wear one batting glove, but but here you're wearing two.
Y y you like to take three warm-up swings, but but this time, just one.
And you always spit to your left.
But in Florida, it was to your right.
So last week, I mixed it up.
What's the big deal? Well, ballplayers are a funny breed.
They have rituals.
They have to do it the same way every time, or they lose the magic.
Did you honestly think that nobody was gonna figure it out? Figure what out? Micah Conley didn't hit that triple last week.
It was you Henry Wilmyer.
You killed Micah, and now you are impersonating him.
- That's ridiculous! - You got lucky on one pitch, Henry.
What in the world made you made you think you'd you you'd magically be good enough to play in the bigs? I mean, who do you think you are? You're not the great Micah Conley? You're just lowly Henry Wilmyer pothead, gambler, loser.
Your subpar skills would eventually give you away.
How the hell did you think you'd pull this off? I'm good enough, damn it! I hit that ball! So you killed your brother, and you took his place? No.
No, no, no.
That that's not how it happened.
You must have been so jealous of him.
I read this article about Micah, and I I couldn't believe it.
Oh, my God.
I I had a twin brother all this time? So I I I tried to contact him, but he didn't respond.
I figured 'cause he was busy, but I couldn't just let that go.
I mean, this amazing baseball prospect might be my twin.
So, I I I thought, if he could just meet me, you know? I mean, he bragged about this condo he bought on Facebook in Florida, so I I hopped on a bus, and I I tracked him down.
O our first meet happened just like I said, only it happened in Florida, not Chicago.
But we really did end up hanging out all night.
When did you decide that you were gonna try to become him? Switching places was Micah's crazy idea.
We woke up the next morning really hung over.
Micah felt worse than me, and he had a game to play.
So, he decided to let me fulfill my dream of playing in the pros.
I mean, he figured it was just for one minor-league game.
Hmm.
No one would ever know.
Exactly.
And I did it! I mean, sure, I I struck out my first two times at bat, but then my timing came back, and when that chump pitcher hung a curve, I tagged it, man.
And you broke your wrist sliding into third.
The team arranged for me to be flown back to Chicago the next day for surgery with the team's doctor.
They dropped me back off at the condo to pick up my stuff.
Micah saw my wrist and freaked, but I I told him just to chill out, you know? "I it's all good.
Everything will be okay.
" I could just be him until I got better.
Move! That's when we started to fight.
It was an accident.
So, you decided to become Micah Conley permanently.
But you still had his body to worry about.
I was freaking out.
I didn't know what to do.
I figured I needed to get back to Chicago.
My arm felt like hell.
I somehow I got him into the trunk of the mustang, and I just took off.
Wasn't anyone looking for Micah? I I I found his agent's number in his phone.
So I called and said I decided to drive back, not fly.
The club was pissed, but he said he'd smooth it over.
Yeah, but but but to make the switch complete, you had to get rid of you.
You had to kill off Henry Wilmyer.
When I got back to Chicago, I went to my place.
I somehow managed to get Micah into my security uniform.
I went to the rail yard.
First train I saw moving, I threw his body in front of it.
I know it's not fair what happened to Micah.
But I'm the one that should have made it.
Yo, Maximus.
I wanted to catch you before we left.
Oh.
Hey, Ely.
Look, I'm really sorry this place wasn't what you hoped it would be.
Kidding me? CLMU is awesome.
Oh, so you're gonna enroll here? Hell, no.
Why not? Because that asshole boned my mom! - Hey.
- Donnie.
Hey.
Listen, I'm really sorry about the other night, okay? Don't don't worry about it.
You apologized already.
No, but I just want you to know that I look, look.
Obviously, I'm hoping that you want to give us another shot.
But if you don't, just tell me.
I'm a big boy.
I can handle it.
Donnie, it's really not like that.
I do want to have dinner with you.
I'm just a little underwater here.
Okay.
But you got my number.
Come on, Brownie.
Throw it.
And don't take it easy on me.
I want to see that vaunted curveball.
All right, don't be fooled when it looks like it's coming right for your head.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Enough stalling.
Let's see it.
Great even when I'm hallucinating, I can't hit a curveball.
You ever wondered if there's somebody out there exactly like you? A twin or a doppelganger? The world's always been fascinated by them.
In ancient times, doubleness was seen as a manifestation of the supernatural, an invention of the gods.
Twins have been invaluable in neuroscience because studying them gives us insight into how environmental behavior and genetics affect things like brain aging or addiction.
But twin stories touch us on a much deeper level.
Why is that? Are we looking for a more perfect version of ourselves, the person we wish we were Or someone to share our consuming passions? Maybe we're looking for a soul mate, someone to complete our lives.
Whatever its genesis, the desire for a twin is an expression of our need to connect.
Because in this vast and sometimes overwhelming universe, only our relationships with other people can help us not to feel so alone.