Criminal Minds s13e21 Episode Script

Honey, I know, I know.
It'll only take 15 minutes.
But it's after hours.
Well, he's a new patient.
I haven't met him yet, but when he called, he He sounded desperate, at his wits' end.
And I was only in the parking lot.
You're too nice, honey.
They don't deserve you, Dr.
Uqalla.
That's weird.
I thought I locked this door.
It's probably Callie.
You said she's lazy.
No, I said she was forgetful.
Lazy, forgetful, that's a thin line you're running with there.
Well, just get home soon.
I was gonna grill some steaks.
Maybe you could pick up a bottle of wine or something.
Michael, I think there's someone here.
What do you mean? Like the cleaning crew? No, it's probably just some kids like before.
What if it's not? Stacy, get out of there.
I'm gonna call the cops.
No.
It's fine.
It's fine.
I'll just take care of it.
Don't move.
Don't move.
I've already called the cops.
No! No! Oh! Aah! Stacy! Stacy, what's happening?! Stacy! Talk to me! Are you ok? Stacy, who's there? Stacy, I'm calling the cops! Stacy! Where is it? Stacy, who is that? Tell me where it is.
I I don't know.
Come on.
It's been 3 months.
You guys going steady or what? We're trying not to put labels on anything.
Mm-hmm.
See, you got a glow, though.
It's all over you right now.
Men do not glow.
Lisa's got a drawer at my place.
Ok.
So this is getting serious.
She's got me thinking about next steps.
Oh, all right.
See, that's because your biological clock is ticking, my friend.
Ok.
What about you? You seeing anybody? No.
No.
I mean, you know, not since I broke off my engagement two years ago.
Just not looking for a commitment right now.
I never said anything about commitment.
I got some single army buddies that I could set you up with.
I am not saying no, but I You guys ready? Uh, yeah.
Hey, is Reid back from sabbatical? Uh, no, not yet, but I just talked to him on the phone.
He sends his love.
I'm not saying no, but I don't do blind dates.
I need photos.
Photos.
So where are we headed this time? We are back to the enchantment of New Mexico, which, the last time I was there, was a little less enchanting and a little more cuckoo bananas.
Nevertheless, we persisted.
This time we're going to Taos.
Yesterday, a 38-year-old physician named Stacy Uqalla was found dead in a clinic where she worked.
She had a hole drilled into the left side of her head.
Wait.
There's more disgusting.
Last week, Steve Kante, 40-year-old high school teacher, was found dead in his home.
He was found by a co-worker when he didn't show up at work, and like Stacy, he also had a hole drilled through the left side of his head.
Last year we had a case in Florida.
The guy gave his victims chemical lobotomies.
He used a drill as well.
But the placement here, side of the head, is totally different.
You know, there was a famous experiment in the sixties.
A Dutch professor believed he could induce a permanent high by drilling a small hole in the skull.
Yeah, trepanation.
Human remains from as far back as the neolithic period have shown evidence of such drilling.
It was once thought of as a way to release evil spirits from the body.
And even today, some people still see it as a possible avenue towards higher consciousness.
Or they could just try meditation.
You meditate, Rossi? Oh, yeah.
3 times a week and twice on Sunday.
Taos attracts an interesting wash of transplants and tourists, people trying to get back to nature or find a more spiritual existence.
So, no shortage of people trying to buy crystals, then.
This guy could be some twisted new-age mystic.
Or just some Joe crazy spiraling out of control.
Well, whatever the reason, two bodies in short succession.
Feels like this guy's just getting started.
Taos PD thinks so, and I agree.
Wheels up in 20.
Aah! What the hell? Uhh! Who are you? What do you want? Oh, come on, man, what are you doing? Where is it? I don't know.
What are you talking about? Whoa, please.
Somebody help me! Aah! Where is it? I have no idea what you want! Don't do this.
You did this to yourself.
No! No! Aah! "Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth" "than lies.
" Friedrich Nietzsche.
Stacy Uqalla was a family physician, married, no kids.
She was born and raised in Taos.
She left for medical school but returned later.
Steve Kante, on the other hand, moved to Taos as an adult.
He was divorced and a high school history teacher.
His ex-wife now lives in Minnesota.
She's happily remarried, and the split was amicable.
Looks like Stacy and Steve didn't run in the same social circles.
No sign of disgruntled students or upset patients.
Yeah.
By all accounts, they were both well liked.
Team, you know I want to be the bearer of good news, but let's face it.
When you see this gorgeous visage on the jet, it is both a blessing and a curse.
We have another victim? Yeah.
Ben Montoya.
He's a construction worker for ADG Builders.
His body was found on one of their sites earlier this morning.
I'm sending you the info now.
M.
O.
is an exact match to the previous two victims.
Ben was born and raised on the nearby Jicarilla Apache reservation, but he lived in town with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter.
There's been a spike in hate crimes in the U.
S.
over the past year, and Ben and Stacy both had native American blood.
What if this is racially motivated? Well, it could be, but then how does Steve fit in? It says here he developed an in-depth and controversial course on native American living histories.
It was popular with the students but not the administration or parts of the community.
Garcia, look at the latest victim Ben Montoya.
See if he crossed paths with the others.
On it like stuff on things and whatnot.
Dave, Luke, go to the latest crime scene.
Matt, JJ, talk to the M.
E.
Tara and I will set up with the local PD.
Hi.
Karen Carlsen, Chief of police around here, but please call me Karen.
Emily Prentiss.
This is Dr.
Tara Lewis.
We've got a quiet place for you to set up in the back.
What's your take on all this? Hard to say.
We've been hit as hard as anyone in the last few years.
We've seen a rise in property crime and burglary, but nothing this brutal.
I can only imagine what brings a man to do something like this.
Well, in our experience there's always an explanation, even if it only makes sense to the unsub.
Stacy Uqalla's husband is waiting in our family room, and Ben Montoya's wife is in my office.
We didn't want to start until you all arrived.
Thank you.
Why don't you talk to Ben's wife.
I'll sit down with Stacy's husband.
Yeah, right this way.
Annie's only 3.
She won't even remember him.
But you will.
And you will keep his memory alive for her as she grows up.
Dee, we know your husband grew up on the Jicarilla Apache reservation, but we need you to fill in the details.
Ben's childhood wasn't great.
He suffered a lot of emotional and physical abuse.
When Ben turned 18, he left home and he never looked back.
He found work on a construction crew, and he worked hard.
He worked his way up.
I even thought, not now, but in a couple years he had a real shot at becoming a foreman.
In a couple of years.
Why not now? I don't know.
I just meant that Dee, I can see how proud you are of him.
But we need to know everything.
My husband had a gambling problem.
Ben was in recovery, but he fell off the wagon last month.
He owed $25,000 on credit.
We don't have that kind of money.
And then he asked Stacy, "where is it?" Where is what? I don't know.
There's been break-ins.
People have stolen drugs, prescription pads, but nothing like this, nothing so Ok.
Michael, let's take a step back and walk through it again.
Stacy stayed late because a patient called her and asked to be seen.
But she didn't tell you who it was, his name She wouldn't.
It's a HIPAA violation.
Of course.
But did she give you any other My wife is dead, and we're sitting here talking about confidentiality? I told you this already.
This man was looking for something, something specific.
Why can't you find him? Why haven't you made any progress? Mr.
Uqalla, we're doing our best.
It looks like he used a 3/8-inch high-speed steel drill bit.
Could you tell if it was modified? No, not that we could see.
That would be impossible to track.
Thing is, the killer went through the left temporal lobe, here.
Now, that area controls a lot.
Language, cognition, behavior, memory, and hearing.
But primarily it's involved in auditory perception and holds the primary auditory cortex.
Now, based on my exam of their skulls, I believe the victims were alive as he drilled into them.
The COD on all 3 was the severing of the brain stem.
The unsub was in complete control.
He could have killed them instantaneously.
Sadism 101.
He wanted them to suffer first.
And this guy's consistent, too.
Wow.
Location, the angle, the depth of each wound, they're near matches.
Yeah, he came in with a plan, and he executed it without hesitation.
If that's not a man on a mission, I don't know what is.
Luke and I couldn't find any forensic evidence at the crime scene, but we did talk to Ben's foreman.
He said Ben was well liked and a hard worker.
Yeah, Ben's wife told us something similar.
She also said that Ben had a gambling problem and owed $25,000.
She didn't know to whom.
Stacy's husband said that the unsub was looking for something specific.
Money? Is that what all this is about? Yeah, we're looking into local bookies and loan sharks.
They're mostly small-timers around here, but we're running down the usual suspects.
Garcia, you're on speaker.
What did you find? Some shade of the snarky variety.
Hashtag no judgment, but our first victim Steve Kante left behind a winding trail of oddly timed cash deposits.
None of them are of the same amount.
All of them are under $10.
000.
So he knows how to stay off the IRS' radar.
Cash deposits of various amounts at irregular intervals.
Steve could have been a bookie on the side.
Maybe even Ben's.
I know bookies like to skim off the top.
What if he did and got caught? Maybe that's what got him killed.
What about Stacy? Stacy had some trouble with her student loans.
When she got out of med school, she diligently tried to pay them down over the last 10 years.
Besides that, nothing stands out.
Maybe she saw something she shouldn't have and somebody's afraid she'll talk.
It's certainly possible.
Let's follow this money trail, see where it takes us.
It could lead us to some kind of enforcer.
That's all of them.
I need you to get me the building blueprints for everything between Route 68 and State Road 240.
Not a problem, but you'll need written permission from the property owners, copies of the grant deeds, and the licensed architect or engineer on record for each of them.
You know, if you call the city, they'll tell you how to get started.
No, I need the blueprints now.
I understand that, and I would love to give them to you, but unfortunately, before I can Sir, you need to calm down or I'm going to ask you to leave.
Excuse me, I need help finding a book.
Of course.
Right this way.
I need you to get me the building blueprints for everything between Route 68 and State Road 240.
I'm talking to you.
Bye.
No! So Alma Hernandez was leaving for the night when the unsub followed her, came up behind her, threw her against her car.
But he didn't kill her.
Why? Too public? Maybe he needed more time.
Alma's finished with the EMTs.
Physically she's fine.
Shaken up more than anything.
Alma's deaf, and I don't have a sign interpreter out here yet, but she does read lips.
I can sign.
I'm happy to get started if that's all right.
Of course.
Karen, you said the other librarians - and staff are still inside? - Yeah.
I'm gonna take a look.
And then what happened? He held you down on the trunk, put a drill to your head, but you tried to sign to tell him that you didn't understand.
That you're deaf.
No! No! No Did he say anything? You're lucky.
He said that you were lucky? Lucky how? I don't know.
Because I can't hear? Ok.
So he didn't say anything else? He only touched your ear? Ok.
Thank you, Alma.
You did great.
You gave us so much help.
You're welcome.
Stay positive, ok? Ok.
Hey.
Thank you.
So I was talking with the head librarian Elizabeth Tappin.
She's been working with a sketch artist.
She thinks the man that attacked Alma also showed up at the library earlier.
He was looking for blueprints from the nineties.
If this guy's some kind of enforcer, why does he need blueprints? What's he looking for? That's a good question.
You know, something interesting came up during my interview.
While attacking her, the unsub discovered that Alma is deaf, and it stopped him in his tracks.
I think it in his mind it made her an innocent, you know? Some kind of a victim.
The M.
E.
did say the unsub was targeting the auditory system of the brain.
Maybe that's what this is all about, destroying his victims' hearing.
It's the one constant in each of these kills.
So, people who can hear are at fault.
People who can't aren't.
Yeah, but hear what? I mean, what does the ability to hear have to do with maps and blueprints of Taos from the nineties? A lot, actually.
I think this is starting to come together.
Have you ever heard of a phenomenon involving low-frequency sound waves called the hum? I'm sure many of you know that the hum was first reported here in Taos in the early nineties.
It's been described as a whir, a buzzing sound, or persistent rumbling.
We've been dealing with those hum folks for years now.
It's never driven anyone to murder before.
That's true, but Taos is not the only place where the hum has been heard.
And worldwide, violent acts have been committed by those who claim to hear it.
That's right.
In 2013, a man in Washington DC, killed 12 people.
Now, he claims that his actions were driven by an ultra-low-frequency attack.
And just last year in Cuba, diplomats were forced out of the U.
S.
embassy due to illness believed to be caused by a sonic device.
There is a medical condition, called misophonia, which causes its sufferers to react with panic or even extreme rage, at everyday sounds, like chewing, humming, even breathing.
Not everyone who hears the sound is going to react violently.
But, given the right set of preconditions, violence is absolutely possible.
So, we need to focus our efforts on people in the area who have reported hearing the hum.
We need to re-examine our unsub's earlier victims and see if they have any specific connection to the phenomenon.
Based on eyewitness accounts, we know we are looking for a physically fit adult male.
Sketch artists have created a composite of this man's face.
This needs to be distributed far and wide, TV, Internet, social media.
Someone has seen this man.
We know because of the maps and blueprints he's requested, his ultimate goal is to find the source of this hum.
So to that end, we need to explore possible targets in the area, locations he may be drawn to.
Starting with the area between State Road 240 and Route 68.
Now, this unsub will not stop until he finds the source, and anyone who gets in his way is in danger.
So let's get to work.
Thank you.
Ooh! - Jake Owens? - Who are you? Well, we know he sought his victims out.
He called and arranged for Stacy to come back to the clinic.
And she could have treated him or failed to treat him in the past.
He also wanted blueprints from the librarians, and when they couldn't give them to him, he lashed out, attacked Alma.
Our unsub believes the hum is housed in a physical structure, so maybe he thought that Ben, because he was a builder, had something to do with the construction.
That still leaves Steve Kante.
He still doesn't fit in.
He will.
We just don't have all the pieces yet.
But here's the thing.
This place drove the unsub mad.
The easiest thing to do would be to move.
Why does he stay? Whatever the reason, it would have to be significant, extremely personal.
Do you think it's real, the hum? Reports have surfaced worldwide, which makes me think there might be something to it.
And our unsub thinks that it is, so we have to take it and him seriously.
There was an incident in Russia in the fifties that I think may be similar to what's happening here.
There were 9 hikers who were found dead on the side of a mountain with no apparent manner of death.
What do you mean? Well, they were found in various states of undress, subzero temperatures.
They had minor injuries, but no one could explain why they died.
A recent theory talks about something called infrasound, in the form of a vortex.
Vortex the repeating pattern of vibrations due to air flow? Right.
The theory is the hikers found themselves trapped due to bad weather, but they were in a naturally occurring wind tunnel.
Those low-frequency vibrations because of the wind created a vortex which in turn triggered panic.
The hikers weren't just scared, they were driven mad, driven to their deaths by the sound.
Go ahead, Garcia.
Mmm.
So I've been reading message board after message board, and let me tell you Hot take don't read the comments.
Also, I've discovered something called nitro cold brew coffee.
I think the military developed it to keep soldiers up for weeks at a time feeling great.
Also I have a lead.
Ok, let's hear it.
Ha ha.
Pun intended.
So the nexus of the local hum heroes is a guy named Terry Rossett.
He's a social worker slash counselor, and I called him, and he's on his way to you right now.
Thanks, Penelope.
And, Garcia, maybe lay off that cold brew.
Cool story, brah.
Never.
Bye.
Thanks for coming in.
Uh, we understand you work with people who hear the hum.
Yeah, I was sort of the first guy around here to take them seriously.
My goal has always been to give them the tools to deal with their affliction, so we tend to work on strategies of minimization and that kind of thing.
Do you recognize this man? No.
Ok, what about these 3? Um No, but this guy, I know the name.
How so? Steve Kante is something of a hobbyist.
He constructs what he calls a hum-canceling box.
It looks sort of like a coffin.
He sells it to sufferers worldwide.
Does it work? Oh, I'd be damn surprised if it does.
But these are desperate people.
He's preying on their vulnerability.
The boxes aren't exactly cheap.
Well, it explains Steve's cash deposits and our unsub's anger if he bought one and it didn't work.
Yeah.
So reports of the hum here in Taos date back to the early nineties.
We believe our unsub is trying to locate the source.
Do you have any idea how all this got started? Take your pick.
Stoned hippies, government mind control experiments, underground UFO bases.
However, a few years back, the USGS did a study of the region and found that this area does have elevated electromagnetic field.
That's interesting.
Caused by what? The electrical grid I think is what they decided.
Something about how the power lines are arranged.
That makes sense.
It could be where the unsub's headed to next.
Turn the power off in district one.
What are you talking about? It's the source.
Shut it down.
Why are you doing this? Shut it down! Hurry up.
Guys, I just spoke to the city engineer.
He said back in the early nineties, the city retrofitted these 4 substations in district one.
We should split up.
What the hell? We're too late.
It's off.
I did what you wanted.
Quiet.
No.
No, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No.
Hey! Ohh! Ohh! No! No! No! Aah! Damn.
I've got my people securing the scene.
We should take a look at the security footage, see how he got in and out of here.
Maybe we can see his vehicle, even a license plate.
Jake Owens.
He's an engineer at the power plant.
It looks like the unsub used the same size drill bit, but this time he stabbed him several times in the neck, chest, and face.
Jake must have really pissed him off.
He didn't even have a chance to defend himself.
This guy's losing it.
Ok, but why now? Well, if the unsub thought this was the source of the hum, he'd need someone like Jake to help him turn off the power.
Which he did.
But he still snapped and killed him.
So it didn't work.
My guess is, this is his last, best hope.
So, where does he go from here? He's going to have to reboot his investigation.
Which means we'll need to do the same.
Yeah? Yeah.
Ha ha ha! Oh, my god.
Taos is beautiful! Oh, I just know we're gonna love it here.
Me, too.
I love you.
No! No! No! I cross-referenced local people who claim to hear the hum with the 4 victims.
I got 5 guys who are a match, but they all have super solid alibis.
So we know for a fact that our unsub is male.
And we've speculated that he most likely hears the hum, but only 2% of the population can hear it.
So what if his connection to all of this was, I don't know, one step removed? Maybe somebody close to him hears it.
A parent, a girlfriend, a wife.
Whoever it is, they may be the reason he stayed in Taos.
Ok, Garcia, use those same parameters but check for women this time.
Mama's systems are upgraded and purring.
What if this is a madness shared by two? Folie a deux.
We've seen it before in criminal partnerships where two or more people share the same delusion or belief system.
Yeah, but we know this guy's working alone.
Delusional disorders are complex.
Usually when two or more people share a belief system, it's because their lived experience has brought them to the same conclusion.
But I have read about cases where a belief was induced, where the beliefs of one person penetrate the other and consume them.
Like passing on a virus.
So you're saying maybe the unsub couldn't hear this a year ago, but he can hear it now? With the amount of rage he's shown, I'd bet anything that he hears it now.
I've got 3 women who could be a match.
First one lives out of state.
Second died 3 years ago in a car accident.
Third has posted a lot on hum hearer message boards and chat rooms.
She abruptly stopped posting about a year ago.
Hey, hey, her last post was exactly a year before the first murder.
No sign of her since.
Her disappearance could be his stressor.
Ok, who is she? Uh, Sarah Sands, local sculptor, moved to Taos 3 years ago to be an artist in residence at the art collective there.
Was Sarah married? Yeah.
To a Caleb Sands.
He works at a solar panel company.
Sending his photo now.
Whoa! They're a match.
Caleb's our unsub.
We need an APB out on him immediately.
Here's his work and home address.
Thanks, Garcia.
I need you to unplug everything.
I already did.
Well, but what about the blender? - Yes.
- And your alarm clock? It's in a box in the garage.
The fan.
The fan in the back bedroom.
I can feel it buzzing.
Sarah.
It's like it's pounding my head from the inside out, Caleb! If it's getting worse, maybe we should try just Just turn the fan off! Honey, honey, we got rid of it two months ago.
Do you remember? No.
Why can't you make it stop? Why can't you make it stop? Make it stop.
Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop! Aah! There aren't any missing person reports for Sarah.
It's like she was here one day, then vanished the next.
Garcia, what did you find? Sarah was an only child.
Her parents died a few years ago.
She's got no extended family.
Why didn't they just leave town? They couldn't afford it.
Also, Caleb was in the middle of a 3-year contract with the company he worked for.
What about her friends? What do they say? Apparently Caleb wrote them saying Sarah had left town to get the help she needed and any contact would, quote, "threaten her recovery.
" Threaten is an interesting word to use.
It feels like he's covering something up.
It sure does.
Maybe Sarah left him and Caleb had a difficult time admitting it.
Or, and I hate to say it, she's dead.
What if Sarah was his first victim? But I have no death certificate for Mrs.
Sands.
Still At any point, did Sarah's posts start to shift? Yeah.
About 4 months before she disappeared, they start being more full of pain and fear and desperation.
I keep thinking about Caleb's choice of weapon.
It's so specific.
Garcia, did Sarah mention a drill? Not specifically, but Whoa, check this out.
A month before she vanished, she posted this: "I wonder how much more of this I can take.
There has to be a way I can make it stop.
" A pretty obvious cry for help.
All right, we're about two minutes out from Caleb's house.
Great.
We're landing at his office in 5.
Circle back as soon as you can.
Sarah? Oh, my god.
Sarah! Honey? Babe.
Babe, will you grab my book for me? It's by the bed.
Do you see the situation? I'm 7 months pregnant.
I'm not waddling back there to get a book.
Oh, yeah.
I totally forgot.
I must have slept through the last 6 months.
Mm.
And you're gonna sleep for the next 6 months keep asking me to do anything other than have this child of yours.
Hey, I hope you're not as stubborn as your mom.
Aah! Aah! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who are you? Prentiss and Rossi searched Caleb's apartment.
They found the drill and tons of evidence, but Caleb's nowhere to be seen.
So we struck out on all fronts.
Ok, let's just think about this for a second.
Our unsub shut the power down in district one, but he doesn't live in district one.
Maybe he did once with Sarah.
This could be where she started hearing the noise.
Talk to me with your face, Tara Lewis.
Garcia, we need you to do some more digging.
I was born with a shovel in my hand.
No, a backhoe.
Ok, look, we know Caleb and Sarah couldn't leave town, but what if they moved around inside of town, maybe in an attempt to escape the hum? Yeah.
We know that they had to live inside district one at some point.
Ok, I'm looking.
I am looking and there's nothing I can see.
No, wait! No! I can see it, I can see it! Ok.
The art collective Sarah worked for owns a house in district one, and that house was provided to artists in residence and Sarah was one of those.
That could be why it didn't come up before.
The house wasn't in their names.
That's gotta be it.
Caleb's inside.
The door's been busted in.
Dispatch says homeowners haven't answered our calls.
Hopefully we're not too late.
Set up a perimeter.
We're going to need backup with EMTs standing by.
There's no telling what's going on inside.
Caleb just wants to be heard, validated.
I'll get him talking.
We'll go from there.
Take whatever you want.
Don't don't hurt us.
Please, please.
Uhh! It's here! Uhh! I know it is! Uhh! Caleb Sands, FBI! Put down the weapon.
Don't come any closer.
You don't understand.
This is where it is.
It has to be here.
It has to be.
This is where she was infected.
I have to find it.
Put the ax down.
Stop right there! Ok.
Ok.
We know about the hum, Caleb, and about your wife.
Sarah? We know you did everything you could.
Ear plugs, sound machines, doctors, Steve Kante's box.
But nothing helped.
You you can hear that? You can hear it, right? Hey! Caleb, I know what it feels like to watch someone slip away, to feel powerless as they lose their grip on themselves and on you and on reality.
And suddenly, everything you ever planned for, everything you ever wanted, is on hold, consumed by their needs and their illness.
And the worst part about it is there's no way out.
That's what it feels like, right? You've been trapped here for the past year, ever since Sarah disappeared.
I wanted to help her, and I couldn't.
I didn't know how.
And then she was gone.
She was gone.
She didn't leave Right? She didn't.
She didn't run away.
It all got to be too much.
So she ended it.
It was this place.
This place killed her.
We never should have come here.
I know you loved her.
Ok.
I know you never would have hurt her.
You took care of her.
You wrapped her up.
You buried her.
I wanted to believe her.
But I couldn't hear it.
I couldn't hear it Until she died.
Caleb, you have to give me the ax.
Now It's all I can hear.
She never would have wanted this.
She never would have wanted you to hurt these innocent people.
I know you tried to help her.
You feel guilty that you didn't do more, but it's time to let go, ok? It's time to let Sarah go.
Now all I can hear is The sound of that drill and of her screaming.
She's She's Of her screaming.
It's ok.
It's ok.
It's over.
It's ok.
I love you.
Hey.
You guys all right? Come on, let's get you checked out.
"Holding on is believing" "that there's only a past.
Letting go is knowing that there's a future.
" Daphne Rose Kingma.
I mean, can you imagine being driven mad by a single sound? The sound of a fork scraping against metal makes my skin crawl.
Will sings in the shower.
Nineties alt-rock.
Oh, my god.
It would drive anyone crazy.
The way Rossi swirls his whiskey, ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass.
I know, the finer things in life.
Have I ever told you about the time I was having drinks with the king of Sweden? What? Ok, wait.
The last time you told this story, wasn't it the, uh, the mayor of Stockholm? Yeah, you lost 20 grand that night.
20 grand? Folie a deux.
You really connected with him.
Yeah.
Thanks.
How'd you come up with that? Experience.
Um Before I was engaged to Douglas, I was married once.
My husband and I were both in grad school, and we we really struggled.
I was teaching, he was writing his thesis and working nights, and He started taking uppers to stay awake.
And I just watched him turn into somebody that I didn't recognize.
But the whole time, he was convinced he had it all under control, and I believed him.
And we thought that we could handle his addiction.
That was our delusion, our folie a deux.
By the time we got help, we just couldn't get back what we'd lost.
You know? The future that we had once seen for ourselves was gone.
I'm sorry.
That must have been a tough thing to go through.
Yeah.
Well, it's not something I bring up at dinner parties.
Anyway I didn't even know you'd been married.
What you don't know about me could fill a book, my friend.