- Sarah Bennett: You know, I hate him. He is ineffectual, incompetent, rude...
- Dylan Bennett: Yeah, well, he's a cop, love. That's how they are.
- Sarah Bennett: Cam's not.
- Dylan Bennett: Well, Cam's not in charge. Vaughn is. So what's the use of butting heads with him, you know?
- Tom Winston: I read your article in the Bulletin.
- Sarah Bennett: Okay. Yeah.
- Tom Winston: Is that what you really think about the Executioner? He's a coward?
- Sarah Bennett: Well, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it.
- Tom Winston: The Executioner doesn't think like you do. You can't shame him. You can't reason with him. All you can do is fuel him and his obsession.
- Sarah Bennett: Yeah? You'd know this how, huh?
- Tom Winston: I was obsessed with your parents. I know you think he can't hurt you, but the last thing you want to do is make that a challenge for him.
- Sarah Bennett: You know, if Trent was the Executioner, that would make sense.
- Robin Turner: Ugh. That boy was seriously disturbed. Norman Bates meets the Unabomber.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: All right, so here's the update. We traced the truck back to Trent McBride. But when my guys got there to question him... they found him dead.
- Sarah Bennett: That's a pit of snakes.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: Brought in a herpetologist; she identified a bunch of difference species. Four of them venomous, the others just common snakes like garter snakes. There's a nasty little thing called a blue racer. Then there's this guy.
- Sarah Bennett: The eastern brown snake.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: All the way from Australia. Second-deadliest snake in the world, right behind the inland taipan. My expert believes that it's the snake responsible for the bite that killed Trent McBride.
- Sarah Bennett: You know, Tom Winston has made more breaks in this case than Chief Vaughn.
- Dylan Bennett: Well, maybe it's time for Tom... to speak to the residents of Waterbury directly.
- Sarah Bennett: Okay, right, Dylan, um, I need you to be my husband right now, not a journalist.
- Dylan Bennett: I'm speaking to you as your husband.
- Sarah Bennett: Are you kidding? That would be like giving Charles Manson his own talk show.
- Dylan Bennett: Then you take it. Seriously, let me interview you. I mean, somebody's gonna do the story on you eventually, right?
- Sarah Bennett: So why not you?
- Dylan Bennett: Your husband. Someone you trust.
- Sarah Bennett: And I could talk about anything?
- Dylan Bennett: Anything. No holds barred.
- Dylan Bennett: Your parents were murdered by Tom Winston nearly 30 years ago. And recently, your grandmother has come to the same fate. If you could look the Executioner in his eyes...
- Sarah Bennett: No. No, I think you mean if I could look him in the mask. He's too much of a coward to show his face.
- Dylan Bennett: ...what would you say?
- Sarah Bennett: I would say... I would say that Brenda Merritt did a terrible thing, and my grandmother deserved to be punished. But you took the law into your own hands and on whose authority?
- Dylan Bennett: And I-I think he would probably say God's authority.
- Sarah Bennett: Well, I'm not really religious, but I think the Bible's pretty clear: "thou shalt not kill"?
- Alison Sutherland: What are you doing for dinner?
- Dylan Bennett: No plans. Why?
- Alison Sutherland: Because you're gonna have dinner with me tonight. Me and Lisa-Ann Follows.
- Dylan Bennett: *The* Lisa-Ann Follows?
- Alison Sutherland: Mm-hmm. She's flying up from New York to cover the murders, needs some local experts, and dinner's our audition.
- [he lets out a snickering laugh]
- Alison Sutherland: You should maybe wear something tighter. Tight.
- Dylan Bennett: I-I can do tight. Yeah, no. Tight's good.
- Robin Turner: I still figure it could be Heather Peterson.
- Sarah Bennett: Yeah, but it wasn't, so who could it be?
- Robin Turner: This town? I think we'll be here 'til next week.
- Sarah Bennett: Well, let's start with who it isn't. You and me, obviously, and anyone who was at your party the night Verna McBride was killed.
- Robin Turner: Well... it's not my little guardian angel who saved my life. It's obviously not Dylan. He was with you the night Verna got sliced and diced.
- Sarah Bennett: No. No, he wasn't, actually. He... he had to go back and work.
- Robin Turner: This is your husband we're talking about. And he's not even from here. His only tie to Waterbury is you. He has zero motive.
- Robin Turner: Chief Vaughn...
- Sarah Bennett: [scoffing laugh] He's either a complete idiot or a suspect, so I'm gonna say both.
- Robin Turner: Cam?
- Sarah Bennett: No. No. Cam is innocent. I mean, I don't have any proof, but...
- Robin Turner: So he could go either way. Like me in university. Uh... June? She was Trent's partner.
- Sarah Bennett: What, you really think June would come up with something this complicated?
- Robin Turner: Reowr!
- Sarah Bennett: [laughing] No, okay... okay, that wasn't very nice. I like June, I do.
- Robin Turner: [quasi-patronizingly] Mm. I know.
- Sarah Bennett: She's pretty and she's...
- Robin Turner: [mimicking her] "She's pretty."
- Sarah Bennett: She's sweet, and...
- [seeing him grin]
- Sarah Bennett: I... I'm not making this any better, am I? Okay, I'm gonna stop.
- Sarah Bennett: Say it was Alan Henry. I mean, why would he go around killing people? His son's a cop; he doesn't even have to call 911.
- Robin Turner: Have you ever read the Old Testament? That is one angry father, commanding his followers to spill oceans of non-believer blood. Trust me, Sunday school was dark, scary shit.
- Sarah Bennett: June, what are you doing?
- June Henry: [stripping down to her underwear] Going for a swim. You should come.
- Robin Turner: I forgot my Speedo at home, babe.
- June Henry: [taking off her bra] You don't need a bathing suit.
- Sarah Bennett: OHH! No, no... . oh, wow.
- June Henry: [getting into the water] Come on, Robin. It's not like I haven't seen you naked before. Remember? Pam Simon's pool? We all went skinny dipping.
- Sarah Bennett: Okay, you keep an eye on her.
- June Henry: You hooked up with Andrew in her parents' hot tub.
- Robin Turner: Yeah, she'll be fine. She's got built-in life preservers.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: Now, this original Executioner, the one rotting in jail, have you met him?
- Dylan Bennett: Uh, no, I have not.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: I think you should try to book him.
- Dylan Bennett: Yeah.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: It's ratings dynamite.
- Robin Turner: Tom Winston.
- Sarah Bennett: Well, he's crazy enough, but he's behind bars.
- Robin Turner: So what? Serial killers have groupies. What if Tom is the brains, and he's got someone on the outside being the brawn?
- Sarah Bennett: Yeah, but he doesn't see anybody. I mean, except for me.
- Robin Turner: Yes, he does. Alan Henry.
- Sarah Bennett: [getting it] Alan is his religious counsel.
- Robin Turner: Uh-huh, and these are religious murders, right? No, wait, that doesn't make sense. No, Tom... Tom tried to kill Alan.
- Sarah Bennett: No, he actually didn't. Tom spared him. He told me.
- [seeing his look and realizing something]
- Sarah Bennett: Oh, shit.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: I was living in L.A. when the Grim Sleeper was killing black women. I have had... mass murderers, wife killers, terrorists, kidnappers. You name it, the dregs of society on my show. Takes a lot to shake me. But these killings scare the shit out of me.
- Alison Sutherland: I know exactly what you're saying. When the original murders took place, it was...
- Lisa-Ann Follows: Your wife's parents were the victims?
- Dylan Bennett: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, they were.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: I can't even imagine.
- Dylan Bennett: Oh, it was terrible.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: Actually, I can, because you did such an incredible job telling Sarah's story, all of these stories, bringing them to life.
- Dylan Bennett: Thank you. Uh, you know, with material like this, i-it kind of writes itself, you know?
- Lisa-Ann Follows: Okay. Dylan... if this is gonna work, you need to drop all of the "gee-golly, aw-shucks" polite crap or I'll eat you up and spit you out like a bad piece of sushi. Do you want that? You don't want that.
- Dylan Bennett: These murders have terrorized this community. The Executioner has acted like judge, jury, and hangman. If we don't give a voice to these people, who will? We owe it to them.
- June Henry: Ever since she got here, she's been like... like a stalker. Going for walks together, having private conversations, hugging each other!
- Sarah Bennett: June, Cam and I are just friends.
- June Henry: You want Cam, and you always have!
- Sarah Bennett: June, I'm married, so...
- June Henry: That didn't stop your slut of a mom!
- Sarah Bennett: You would never consider talking to my husband... . would you, for... for the Bulletin?
- Tom Winston: Is there something you want me to do?
- Sarah Bennett: A simple yes or no.
- Tom Winston: On one condition.
- Sarah Bennett: We can't pay you.
- Tom Winston: I'd like a memento.
- Sarah Bennett: What kind of memento?
- Tom Winston: A lock of your hair.
- Sarah Bennett: [disgusted] Forget I asked.
- Dylan Bennett: I don't get it. Why snakes?
- Chief Iain Vaughn: [simultaneously with Sarah] It was sloth. You're thrown into a...
- Sarah Bennett: Because of biblical interest.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: Goes back to the seven deadly sins. Punishment for sloth is being thrown into a pit of vipers. Did I get that right, Sarah?
- Sarah Bennett: So, Trent's not the Executioner. He's a victim.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: Looks that way.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Sloth? It does make sense. Trent McBride is the last person I'd call lazy. I mean, he was June's partner for years. He was a paramedic. He... he competed in a bunch of Ironmans.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: That's why we've got to look into this guy's past, see if he's got any skeletons hanging in his closet.
- Sarah Bennett: So you're back to square one. How many times is that now?
- Chief Iain Vaughn: Look, I get it, Sarah. You don't like me. You think I suck at my job. Well, lucky for me... I don't give a shit. You have yourself a nice day now.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Well, the truck was found abandoned, not too far from where your grandmother was forced off the road.
- Dylan Bennett: Who did it belong to?
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Trent McBride. Verna McBride's nephew.
- Sarah Bennett: Her nephew?
- Dylan Bennett: There's no way that's a coincidence.
- Sarah Bennett: So you're saying he's the Executioner?
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Well, Trent inherited Verna McBride's entire estate, and he did have a falling out with Justin Faysal over his property.
- Sarah Bennett: But my grandmother...
- Sgt. Cam Henry: We're working on that. We will bring Trent in, and we will question him. This nightmare might finally come to an end.
- Dylan Bennett: You're angry.
- Sarah Bennett: Yeah, of course I'm angry. And I'm sad and I'm upset, but I'm not afraid.
- Dylan Bennett: No?
- Sarah Bennett: When something like this happens... you know, at first you're numb.
- Dylan Bennett: Mm.
- Sarah Bennett: And then when you start to be able to wrap your mind around it, your imagination can take you to some pretty dark places. You think about what your loved ones went through before they died, about how terrified they were, about how much they suffered. And then you find the pain and the rage, and you want revenge. I despise the Executioner's actions, but I don't hate him. Because hate is just fear, and I am not afraid. The Executioner's afraid. He's a coward. Him, Tom Winston, anyone who's ever taken the life of another person... cowards.
- Tom Winston: [reading the article in his prison cell] I'm a coward? I'm a coward? I'M A COWARD?
- [tearing the paper up and throwing belongings around]
- Tom Winston: TOM WINSTON IS A COWARD? HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! DAMN YOU! HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME? YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW ME! YOU FELT PAIN? YOU FELT PAIN? I'M THE COWARD?
- Dylan Bennett: So let's, uh, bury the water symposium stories as far back in the paper as possible.
- Alison Sutherland: It's an important issue up here.
- Dylan Bennett: [pantomiming weighing the two stories] Psycho killer is stalking our town's citizens... shoreline water erosion. Yeah, little bit of a toss-up, right?
- Alan Henry: The McBrides have always been a troubled family. You know, I worked with Trent. I was his youth-group leader. I tried and, to some extent, succeeded in putting him on the right path.
- Tom Winston: You're being sentimental.
- Alan Henry: Of course I'm being sentimental. For Christ's sake... sometimes, Tom...
- Tom Winston: What?
- Alan Henry: Sometimes I forget you're a Christian.
- Tom Winston: Yeah.
- [taking Alan's Bible]
- Tom Winston: "God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth, and he's furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he will reserveth wrath for his enemies." It's not about turning off your emotions, Alan. Grieve for them...
- [giving it back]
- Tom Winston: ...pray for them... but let that bolster and strengthen your faith rather than diminish it. God's work is being done. Open your Bible.
- Alan Henry: Which scripture would you have me...
- Tom Winston: Just open it.
- [doing so, Alan finds the baggie containing the lock of Sarah's hair]
- Tom Winston: Now, you don't owe me anything, but if you revere the truth the way you claim to... you'll do this for me.
- Dylan Bennett: I met with Tom Winston.
- Alison Sutherland: Sarah didn't tell me.
- Dylan Bennett: You called Sarah? Are you kidding me?
- Alison Sutherland: No, she came in, with an actual lead on an actual story. One that I wanted you to write, but instead I did my own shit job of it because you wouldn't answer your phone.
- Dylan Bennett: Okay, I'm here. What is it?
- Alison Sutherland: When I hired you, I took a chance. Yeah, you'd written for some major publications, but you have never run a paper, okay? I hope you don't forget that.
- Dylan Bennett: Send me over what you got; I'll get right on it.
- Sarah Bennett: June, I-I'm sure Cam has told you, but this killer is targeting his victims. So anything in Trent's past, something he might have done...
- June Henry: People will hate him.
- Sarah Bennett: That can't hurt him now. But if you know something, you've gotta speak up.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: I told you, I went through all this footage. I didn't find anything.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Look, top left-hand corner.
- [they see a pair of legs walking on the sidewalk]
- Sgt. Cam Henry: There. That's Trent's ambulance. Now watch closely. She's still there.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: [as the ambulance leaves, another car pulls up] Can you zoom in on this? Blow it up?
- Sgt. Cam Henry: No. Not on this. But that's the intersection.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: [watching Ariel get in] Shit.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: Yeah. She got in the car. Now, I don't have plates, but... it's a start.
- Alison Sutherland: What are you looking for, exactly?
- Sarah Bennett: Well, Sheridan and Market are-are north of here, so a vehicle would pass by here, south, heading towards the hospital, right?
- Alison Sutherland: Probably. It's the most direct route.
- Sarah Bennett: Why did you have CCTV installed outside the paper, anyway?
- Alison Sutherland: You make more enemies than friends in this line of work, especially in a small town.
- Sarah Bennett: [seeing something] Shit!
- Alison Sutherland: What?
- [seeing June in the ambulance's passenger seat]
- Alison Sutherland: That lying bitch was with Trent that night.
- Sarah Bennett: She was. That means she's next.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: Did Trent say where he saw Ariel last? What street was she on?
- June Henry: Sheridan, I think. Just outside of downtown. Sheridan and Market.
- Chief Iain Vaughn: All right, I'm gonna go to the vault, and I'm gonna pull all the closed-circuit TV footage that I filed from that night. Anything on Sheridan Street, I'll go through with a fine-tooth comb again.
- June Henry: I'm sorry.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: You're sorry?
- Sarah Bennett: Cam! Cam, you're not helping.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: June, you're sorry?
- Sarah Bennett: Cam.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: A 15-year-old girl went missing that night, June, and you protected the piece of shit who did that. *You* did!
- Sarah Bennett: I thought writing was your thing.
- Dylan Bennett: Well, it is my thing, darling, but it's a dying thing. What, you don't want me to do it?
- Sarah Bennett: No, I'm just surprised. You know, i-it's TV, it's a big shift.
- Dylan Bennett: Yeah, but it's still journalism. You don't have to watch if it's gonna make you weird.
- Sarah Bennett: Of course I'm gonna watch. I mean, just... you have to wear makeup?
- Dylan Bennett: You'd like that, wouldn't you?
- Alison Sutherland: Where the hell have you been? You leave work. You don't tell me where you're going. You don't answer your phone.
- Dylan Bennett: I was out hunting a story. But if you prefer me sitting at my desk from 9 to 5, we can have that kind of thing...
- Alison Sutherland: No, I'm asking for some common courtesy.
- Dylan Bennett: Yeah, and I'm asking for the same, 'cause I don't really appreciate being made to feel like a teenager cutting class.
- June Henry: It was five years ago. The night Ariel Peterson went missing. Me and Trent, we had worked an 18-hour shift. It was a long, brutal day. I was wiped, so... Trent dropped me off at home. He said he'd take the ambulance back and sign us both out. He told me he drove past Ariel on the way to the hospital. She was drunk. She'd been sick, and... and he knew if he picked her up, his 18-hour shift would turn into 22 by the time they processed her in the hospital. So he made sure she was okay... and left her to walk home. Ask any paramedic. When you come across a kid who's been drinking but who can still make it home, you... you turn a blind eye. Trent never imagined that...
- Chief Iain Vaughn: What? Ariel wouldn't make it home? That she'd just disappear?
- June Henry: No.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: You've known this for five years, June. You never thought to tell us?
- June Henry: I wanted to, but I... I promised Trent. This town would have never forgiven him if I told you what happened.
- Sgt. Cam Henry: So that's it, hmm? That's what you were worried about?
- Sarah Bennett: So, I spoke to Tom Winston.
- Dylan Bennett: And what'd he have to say?
- Sarah Bennett: He said he'd do it.
- Dylan Bennett: Huh.
- Sarah Bennett: For a lock of my hair.
- Dylan Bennett: That's creepy.
- Sarah Bennett: Yeah.
- Dylan Bennett: Wow. For what?
- Sarah Bennett: I don't... I don't know, and I don't wanna know.
- Tom Winston: How much does Sarah know?
- Dylan Bennett: I'm sorry?
- Tom Winston: How much does Sarah know?
- Dylan Bennett: About me being here? Well, she gave me your conditions, that's...
- Tom Winston: How much does Sarah know about you?
- Dylan Bennett: I'm not sure I follow. I'm the one here to interview you, not the other way around.
- Tom Winston: Sarah might have told you. I don't always read the letters that are sent to me...
- [taking some out and sliding them over to him]
- Tom Winston: ...but I do keep them, and I got a great memory... for names.
- [on the top envelope, Dylan sees his own name in the corner designated for return addresses]
- Tom Winston: So again, Dylan, how much does Sarah know?
- Lisa-Ann Follows: I'm attracted to the story for a bunch of reasons. One, it's great drama. Who doesn't love a series of murders in a small town? Two, it's got an incredible backstory.
- Dylan Bennett: Mm-hmm.
- Lisa-Ann Follows: And it's happening in real time. Three, it's not on the radar. Not yet. That's why I wanted to be here first. Trust me, I'm not in Waterbury for the fine dining.