8ABX09 Surekill

Scully: They've identified it as 9mm pistol ammunition, teflon-coated armour-piercing. Single round. He was shot, there's no doubt about that.

Doggett: Well, I assume the million dollar question is how.

Scully: Yeah. Well, what do we know about the victim?

Doggett: Carlton Chase. Aged 39. Well-to-do realtor. Single. Lived in the area all his life. Nothing but parking tickets on his record. Came tearing in here last night saying somebody was going to kill him.

Scully: He was right.

Doggett: Except I don't see any bullet holes in the walls.

Scully: Well, the round looks to have entered through the top of his head. [Scully is studying the x-ray when Captain Triguero approaches them]

Captain Triguero: Agents, thanks for coming down so quick. Al Triguero.

Doggett: John Doggett.

Captain Triguero: Nice to meet you.

Doggett: Agent Scully.

Captain Triguero: Agent.

Scully: Hi.

Captain Triguero: I'd appreciate any help you can give us. We got this much figured out so far.

Doggett: The bullet came through the air vent.

Captain Triguero: Yeah, that's how it's looking. There's a little burr on this louver right here where the bullet passed through. You can barely see it, but it's there. So, I'm thinking this is where the killer hid. He somehow crawled into this ventilation system and from here he had a clear line of sight to shoot Chase below.

Doggett: Did anyone hear a gun shot? Seems pretty likely you'd hear one even with a silencer — it's going to echo through the duct-work.

Scully: What's directly above this?

---

[Scully and Doggett are checking the ventilation system with flashlights]

Captain Triguero: I don't understand. How could someone make that shot from here?

Scully: He didn't make it from here. Can I use a pencil?

Captain Triguero: Sure.

[Scully pokes the pencil up through a hole in the roof above the ventilation shaft]

---

[Scully crosses the roof to where the pencil is sticking through]

Scully: Captain! We're going to need your crime scene investigators up here.

Captain Triguero: You got it. [He leaves]

Doggett: So, lucky shot?

Scully: Very. But this victim here stated that he was going to be killed just moments before he was shot, which doesn't sound lucky at all.

Doggett: Guess I can't argue with that.

Scully: What have you got there?

Doggett: Old Godfather trick. [He drops a piece of fabric into an evidence bag] Wrap a towel around a pistol, muffle the sound. The killer was up here all right. So how in the hell did he make that shot?

Scully: Well, there's thermal imaging technology which can pick up body heat through walls. Maybe that's what allowed him to aim.

Doggett: We field-tested that in the Marines. Weighs close to 90 pounds. Has to be cooled with liquid nitrogen. I can't quite see somebody lugging it up that ladder we just climbed. Either way, the rooftop of a police station? It's a pretty ballsy place for a hit.

---

Dwight Cooper: Randall! You avoiding me? Tammi told you I wanted to talk to you, right? You want to tell me what happened last night? Look, Randall, I'm not mad at you necessarily. But I need to know exactly what happened. Any time you decide to do something without telling me first, you could get us both into trouble.

Randall Cooper: I saw him stealing.

Dwight Cooper: Carlton stealing from me?

Randall Cooper: Yeah.

Dwight Cooper: He was skimming. So, where's the money that he was skimming? You see, the thing of it is, Randall — you get the money, then you do your thing. It's a simple equation. That's what I'm talking about when I say you need to talk to me first. It'll probably be okay, but in the future, let's keep the communication lines open. One hand talks to the other, right? [Randall Cooper nods] I brought you a sandwich. Meat loaf the way you like it. Go on, take it, it's got mayonnaise and ketchup.

Randall Cooper: Going out tonight? [Dwight Cooper nods]

---

Doggett: The police station's less than a mile from here.

Scully: Chase ran it on foot. He said that somebody was after him. This is probably where it all started. Oh.

Doggett: What's that?

Scully: Chase did a lot of business with an exterminating company called Triple-A-1 Surekill. Six jobs in one month.

Doggett: I know that was a requirement of selling a house. [He enters an inner office and sees a gun and bullet casings on the floor] Agent! [Scully joins him] It's a 45. The bullet that killed Chase at the police station was a 9mm. [Sunlight streams in through many bullet holes in the walls] You know, Elvis used to do this to his hotel rooms.

Scully: I think Carlton Chase did this.

Doggett: So who was he shooting at? If it was someone in this room, he damn sure would have hit them.

Scully: Unless it was someone outside.

---

[Dwight Cooper enters a warehouse. The gangbangers inside point their guns at him]

Dwight Cooper: Evening.

First Gangbanger: What? You lost?

Dwight Cooper: Nope. I think this must be the place.

First Gangbanger: What, you a cop?

Dwight Cooper: Oh, hell, no. No, your secret's safe with me fellows. But I will be taking that money off your hands, and the dope.

First Gangbanger: Oh, you're funny. Now, you know what? Chris Rock is funny. And you? You're just dead.

Second Gangbanger: Ah, cap his ass.

Dwight Cooper: Bang. [He points his index finger at one of the gangbangers, there is a silenced shot and the man falls] Bang. [Another gunshot, another man falls] Bang. [Another gunshot, a third man falls. The door opens. Randall Cooper enters with a gun wrapped in cloth, the cloth is burning]

---

Doggett: So which kind of shooting was this? Lucky, coincidental, or some third alternative?

Scully: Well, it's precision marksmanship, that's for sure. These holes line up perfectly with the three victims behind there, which tells me that the shooter was standing right here behind this wall.

Doggett: Consequently he wouldn't be able to see what the hell he was aiming at.

Scully: Unless he could see. The light our eyes can register is only one small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other wavelengths from infra-red to gamma have other properties. X-rays, for instance, can pass through solid objects.

Doggett: Walls, for example. So, you're saying this guy used some kind of x-ray machine. Wait, you're not saying this guy has x-ray vision?

Scully: I am remarking that these wavelengths exist and the only thing that is stopping us from seeing them, if you will, is the biochemical structure of our eyes. I am conjecturing that if this structure were somehow different we'd have the ability to see things that we don't.

Doggett: Calling Clark Kent.

Scully: Okay, so you explain it.

Doggett: Well I can't, so I'm sticking to what I do know.

Scully: Which is?

Doggett: That this was a drug rip-off. Furthermore, it's the fifth drug rip-off in this area for the past two months. This guy's making a living capping local drug dealers.

Scully: And how does a dead real estate agent figure into that?

Doggett: Now, that I don't know — yet — but I did find out one more thing. Sulphuryl fluoride.

---

Scully: Hello?

Doggett: Anybody here? [Dwight Cooper enters the room]

Dwight Cooper: Yeah.

Doggett: Agents Doggett and Scully. FBI.

Dwight Cooper: Dwight Cooper. What can I do for you?

Doggett: Mr Cooper, do you recognise these?

Dwight Cooper: Well I don't recognise much anything except shapes. Tammi! Tammi! Come look at this for me. I got bad peepers. Legally blind since birth. [to Tammi Peyton] This look familiar?

Tammi Peyton: These are ours. Last month's billings for Mr Chase.

Dwight Cooper: Oh. Carlton. He was one of my best clients. I sent him a ham every Christmas 'til he finally told me he was a Jew. He was a nice guy.

Doggett: We found some evidence at a crime scene. A piece of fabric on which we found traces of a chemical — sulphuryl fluoride.

Scully: It's an insecticide used only by licensed exterminators.

Dwight Cooper: Yeah, it's good stuff. We use it. Along with about 200 other outfits in Central Mass.

Doggett: You've done time, haven't you?

Dwight Cooper: Yeah, a long time ago. Now my brother and I are actually members of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, if you can believe that one. Anything else?

Doggett: Yeah, why did Carlton Chase call this office 14 minutes before he was murdered?

Scully: 8:34pm. We found a call to your office billed on Mr Chase's calling card. It was made from a payphone not far from where he was murdered.

Dwight Cooper: Wow. I don't know what to tell you. We're all gone home by that time and there wasn't any message on our machine.

Doggett: All right. We'll be in touch if we have any further questions. [He and Scully leave]

Dwight Cooper: Tammi. What do you know about that? About Carlton calling here.

Tammi Peyton: He, I guess he must have left a message.

Dwight Cooper: Well, what did it say?

Tammi Peyton: I didn't hear it. I was reaching for the play button and I hit the erase button by mistake. I should have told you. I was just afraid that I lost us some business, maybe.

Dwight Cooper: Come here, baby. You know I can't see worth a damn. I just want to have a look at your eyes. The eyes are the windows of the soul. They tell you everything you need to know about a person. So tell me, are you lying?

Tammi Peyton: No, Dwight.

Dwight Cooper: That's all I needed to know.

---

Doggett: Dwight Cooper. Arrested in 1986.

Scully: For Grand Theft Auto.

Doggett: Right. How does a legally blind guy steal a car?

Scully: Well, I assume that he had a partner doing the driving.

Doggett: The brother he mentioned — Randall Cooper. [He calls up another police record] They were arrested together. Although Randall apparently didn't serve much time.

Scully: They share the same birthday. They're twins.

Doggett: I hate twins. Twins never rat each other out.

Scully: Well, maybe there's someone in that office who will.

---

Dwight Cooper: Hey, Tammi, you're here early. You know you accidentally left your car running? You must have been in a real hurry to get in here and make the coffee. What you got there? Can I see? [He grabs the cash box]

Doggett: Dwight Cooper? FBI! Dwight Cooper. Warrant to search. Have someone read it to you.

Dwight Cooper: What the hell are you looking for?

Doggett: Evidence related to the murder of Carlton Chase, et al. What's in the box?

Dwight Cooper: You got me.

Doggett: What's the combination?

Tammi Peyton: I don't remember.

Doggett: So much for the easy way. [He levers the cash box open with a screwdriver, it's empty]

Dwight Cooper: You owe me for that. You know, I run a clean business here. You're not going to find anything that's going to say otherwise.

[Scully enters the office]

Scully: I wouldn't be so sure. Can you explain these, Mr Cooper? [She's holding a bundle of folders containing invoices]

---

Scully: Okay, Randall. Let's talk about your exterminating company. It's just the three of you, right? You and your brother and Tammi Peyton? So, how is it that your little company billed over $700,000 to Chase Realty last year? Seven hundred thousand. That's a lot of dead rats. I think that you and your brother and Carlton Chase were in a whole other business together.

---

Doggett: Man, I got to get into the bug business. I had no idea you could make so much dough killing things that creep around behind walls. You are quite the entrepreneur.

Dwight Cooper: I'm just a regular Joe. Providing a public service.

---

Scully: Randall?

Randall Cooper: I'm just a regular Joe. Provide a public service.

Scully: Is that what your brother just said to Agent Doggett? You know why I said that, don't you? Because somehow, you can see through that wall. You can see your brother behind me and you can read his lips. I don't know what gives you the ability, but I know how you use it. You shoot drug dealers from places where they can't see you, and then you and Dwight rob them. That's how you make all that money, isn't it?

Randall Cooper: No. We're exterminators.

Scully: Yeah. You certainly are. And talking to you now, I think that the whole thing is Dwight's idea. It's time to be your own man, Randall. It's time to think for yourself.

---

Dwight Cooper: You tell them anything?

Randall Cooper: No, I said what you said.

Dwight Cooper: Well, we got a problem. It needs to be taken care of.

---

Tammi Peyton: I just keep the books.

Doggett: You keep the books on a whole lot of blood money going through that office. Now, come on — we're supposed to believe you didn't know what was going on — the drug rip-offs, the murders?

Tammi Peyton: I don't know about anything of that. Dwight doesn't tell me anything. I just book the cash receipts. I don't ask where they're from. I know not to ask.

Scully: Look. Here's where I get confused and I am hoping that you can help me out. Carlton Chase.

Doggett: We think Chase was Dwight's fence. He sold the drugs your boss stole. Together they had a good thing going, so why then was Chase killed? Seems like bad business.

Scully: Unless the reason wasn't business. Unless it was personal.

Tammi Peyton: Am I under arrest?

---

Doggett: Tammi Peyton's phone records. Found something interesting.

Scully: Calls to Carlton Chase.

Doggett: All of them late night. What do you want to bet they weren't discussing escrow accounts.

Scully: So Dwight Cooper learns that something's going on between his girlfriend and Carlton Chase.

Doggett: And he kills him, or he orders him killed assuming Randall's the trigger man.

Scully: Maybe not.

Doggett: What do you mean?

Scully: Maybe Dwight's not the one who's jealous.

---

Tammi Peyton: I know it was you. You still need help Randall.

---

Tammi Peyton: Well I made a reservation for the three o'clock bus. Go wait for me? It's right over there, the Big Sky Express. Be back right after I get the money. I know you took that book to protect me from Dwight. I need my book, Randall. I can't get my money without it. [Randall Cooper hands her the book] I'll be back in half an hour, okay? I'll meet you by the bus. Randall, you know I'm coming back, you saved me from Carlton. I owe you. Randall. I'll meet you by the bus.

---

Scully: Clothes are gone. Tammi left in a hurry. Maybe she thought someone was after her.

Doggett: If someone's after you, you don't pack, you leave with what you're wearing.

Scully: You think she planned to go?

Doggett: I do. The question is where.

Scully: Who are you calling?

Doggett: Whoever Tammi called last.

Automated Message: [on phone] Welcome to Concordia Bus Lines. Our menu options have changed. For Reservations, Press 1.

---

Dwight Cooper: So this is how you did it. You kept two sets of books. You've been ripping me off for months. There's $100,000 difference here. Explains why you were in such a hurry the other morning.

Tammi Peyton: Dwight!

Dwight Cooper: Shut up! Randall should have killed you, not Chase. Or maybe you and Carlton were working together.

Tammi Peyton: It wasn't like that. When Carlton found out about the money he blackmailed me. He made me... do things.

Dwight Cooper: Aw. I bet you put up a big fight. Now, wait a minute, if Carlton wasn't stealing from me then why did Randall kill him?

Tammi Peyton: Dwight. You don't understand.

Dwight Cooper: No, no, no. I do understand. My brother was sweet on you. He killed Carlton because he knew what was going on between the two of you.

Tammi Peyton: No! No!

[Randall Cooper enters the office]

Dwight Cooper: [to Randall Cooper] Where the hell you been? Mmm? I got something for you to do. Randall, get over here. [He pulls a gun]

Tammi Peyton: Dwight, no!

Dwight Cooper: [to Randall Cooper] Take it. [He puts the gun in Randall Cooper's hand] She ripped us off, Randall, and you knew it.

Tammi Peyton: No, Randall.

Dwight Cooper: What did you think? That the two of you were going to run off into the sunset together? She used you. Look at me, Randall. I am the one who loves you. Not her. Not anybody else. Because we're blood, that's thicker than anything. I'm going to walk away now. I'm going to think hard about how I can forgive you. You know what you got to do. [He leaves the office]

Tammi Peyton: Randall. You're not going to do this. Randall. Please. I was coming back for you.

Randall Cooper: No, you weren't.

Tammi Peyton: Randall! No!

[Randall Cooper shifts his aim from Tammi Peyton's head just before he fires. The bullet travels through the walls, straight into Dwight Cooper's forehead]

---

Doggett: Agent. Has he said anything?

Scully: No. A County DA came in and he declined representation. Aside from that, he's been uncommunicative.

Doggett: APB on Tammi Peyton is a wash so far. The Bureau in Montana is on alert.

Scully: He watched her everyday. Wherever she was. A man who could look at anything in the world and he chooses her. He must have seen something in her that she could not see herself.

Doggett: Well, if you're suggesting he could see into her heart, Agent. I think we're are out of FBI territory on this one. I'll be out front.