STORY BY
Steven Maeda
&
Daniel Arkin
TELEPLAY BY
Steven Maeda
DIRECTED BY
Peter Markle
AIRED ON
December 10, 2000
RUNTIME
44 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
438
LAST UPDATE
2024-08-13 08:30:06
PAGE VERSION
Version 3
LIKES
0
DISLIKES
0
SUMMARY
The episode follows the story of Martin Wells, a prominent federal prosecutor who finds himself inexplicably experiencing time in reverse after being accused of murdering his wife. As each day passes backwards, Martin gains more insights into the events leading up to his wife's death, allowing him to piece together clues that could exonerate him and reveal the true killer. Agents Doggett and Scully become involved in the investigation, initially skeptical but gradually convinced by the bizarre circumstances. The episode delves into themes of fate, redemption, and the quest for justice, showcasing Martin's desperate struggle to alter his past and prevent the tragedy that haunts him, while emphasizing the complexities of time and memory in a suspenseful narrative.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
- Redrum is the word "murder" spelled backwards. It was notably used in The Shining by Stephen King. It can also mean, "re-drum" which has been interpreted to mean "to play over again" or "to repeat." Which in the instance of The Shining, past events repeat themselves at the Overlook Hotel.
- Dana Scully is wearing a Swiss made Omega watch.
QUOTES
FILMING LOCATIONS
TOPICS
REVIEWS
Moderob
Written by
Pike on 2015-12-31
★
After a very strong start of the season (five very good episodes), it was logical that this great start would be stopped by a bad episode. "Redrum" is that episode.
The opening sequence is quite interesting. A prison inmate is getting killed, then suddenly time stops and run backwards. What a start!
But unfortunately, this backwards episode is very difficult to follow. This reminds me of the movie "Memento" by Christopher Nolan, with a similar storytelling. "Memento", even though is a great movie, is quite complex to follow as well and the pace is very slow. This is the exact same situation here. The pace is very slow and the main issue is that John Doggett and Dana Scully are almost never to be seen. Whatever the reason (contractual or not), the episode would have been much less boring if Doggett and Scully would have been more present.
There is also almost no outdoor scenes. It feels as oppressing as previous episodes happening in prison, such as The List, a similar boring episode taking place almost entirely in a prison.
I would have much preferred to see an episode where the time would spend backwards for one of the main characters, especially Doggett. Scully would have not believed him at first, but would slowly understand and help him. Doggett would have felt very vulnerable as well and it would have been interesting to see.
But the episode is not so bad, for instance, Mark Snow composed a nice light score that is far from the bad scores of the first four episodes of the season. Also, the resolution of the episode is very well done. The slow-motion scene is very good. But unfortunately, the episode should have ended there and not on the odd 30 seconds epilogue with the cheesy monologue of the inmate.
I give the episode a 1: Bad.
___________________________________________
Good character
Written by
Gruic on 2018-04-14
★
★
★
After tons of episodes focusing on main characters, I'm very happy with that episode, focusing on the character of the week. I like the atmosphere, I like the photography, the colors...
A good one.
TRANSCRIPT
SCENE 1
(Close-up of a complete spider web, a small spider sitting in the middle. A radio sounds from a distance.)
RADIO ANNOUNCER VOICE: Good morning. It is Friday, December 8, and you're tuned in to WXOP, Baltimore's news radio serving all of Maryland and the greater Chesapeake Region, 24-7. We've got your Friday morning trouble spots: A two-car pileup with a fatality, on the 97 at...
(Camera focuses on the face below it. The face belongs to an African-American man, about 40, MARTIN WELLS. He is wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and lying on a prison bunk. There is a fresh scar on his right cheek. He sits up in confusion and touches the wound gingerly. A buzzer sounds. The automatic door to his cell slides open and a TALL GUARD enters.)
TALL GUARD: It's time.
(The GUARDS lead MARTIN WELLS down a hallway. SCULLY and DOGGETT are waiting at the end of the hall. They both look tense. MARTIN WELLS recognizes DOGGETT.)
MARTIN WELLS: John!
DOGGETT: Press got word you're taking him out the Groves Street exit. It looks like Woodstock out there.
SCULLY: I suggest you postpone the transfer. We can get him out later once the crowd disperses.
MARTIN WELLS: Transfer me where?
TALL GUARD: No, they'll camp out for days. We're going ahead with it.
MARTIN WELLS: John. John, what is going on?
(The door is opened and the GUARDS begin leading MARTIN WELLS to a prisoner transfer truck. Reporters and news crews surround them.)
REPORTER: Mr. Wells! Mr. Wells! Why did you do it?
DOGGETT: All right, back up! Back up. Give him some room. Come on, clear out. Back up.
(MARTIN WELLS recognizes an older AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN at the edge of the crowd and calls out to him hopefully.)
MARTIN WELLS: Al!
(With hatred in his eyes, the older man, AL CAWDRY, pulls out a gun and points it at MARTIN WELLS.)
DOGGETT: Down! Weapon!
(Everyone falls to the ground, but it is too late for MARTIN WELLS. AL shoots and hits MARTIN WELLS in the chest. The GUARDS wrestle AL to the ground. SCULLY presses her fingers to MARTIN WELLS' neck to monitor his pulse.)
SCULLY: (sound distorted) Somebody call a medic!
(Sound of heartbeat. Everything in MARTIN WELLS' perspective slows. Heartbeat slows. He looks at SCULLY'S wristwatch, time, 8:20, 44 seconds, date, the 8th, and his eyes close. The watch stops. Heartbeat stops. Then the watch begins moving backwards.)
[OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS]
SCENE 2
(Black screen.)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7 8:23 AM
(MARTIN WELLS wakes up again on the prison bunk. The scar on his cheek looks fresher than it did in the scene from the teaser. Remembering, panicked, he feels under his t-shirt for a bullet wound. Nothing. He looks up and sees the spider just beginning to spin her web. The buzzer sounds and the door slides open. SCULLY and DOGGETT enter.)
MARTIN WELLS: John...
(SCULLY and DOGGETT are all business. SCULLY holds up an evidence bag containing a key card.)
SCULLY: Do you recognize this, Mr. Wells? Have you seen it before?
MARTIN WELLS: Um... yes. Who are you?
(DOGGETT has no patience for the man who seems to know him. MARTIN WELLS is very confused.)
DOGGETT: Don't even ? Martin.
MARTIN WELLS: John, what am I doing here? I'm in this cell, I don't know where I am or how I even got here and everyone's acting like...
DOGGETT: I swear to God, on top of everything else, do not play this with me. I will not be party to some half-assed, 11th-hour insanity defence.
MARTIN WELLS: What? John ?
DOGGETT: (furious) It's time to start telling me the truth!
(MARTIN WELLS stares at DOGGETT, confused. SCULLY is uncomfortable.)
SCULLY: This key card, Mr. Wells... you do recognize it. Is that correct?
MARTIN WELLS: Yes, it's the swipe card that they use at the apartment building. For all I know, it's mine.
SCULLY: It is yours. It was found in the dumpster behind the Strand Hotel.
DOGGETT: You tossed it there, didn't you? You had just enough time to drive to Baltimore and commit the murder.
MARTIN WELLS: Wait. Murder? What murder?
DOGGETT: (accusing) Then drive back to DC. Toss the key card. That way, you could claim it was stolen. Make it look like you spent your whole night watching pay- per-view in your hotel room. Right?
MARTIN WELLS: Please...
(He looks to SCULLY.)
MARTIN WELLS: What murder? What is he talking about?
DOGGETT: Well, maybe this will jog your memory, buddy.
(DOGGETT ruthlessly holds up a colour photo of a young African-American woman, brutally slashed to death with a knife. MARTIN WELLS recoils from the photo in horror, dissolving into tears, hand over his mouth.)
MARTIN WELLS: Vicky. My wife. This isn't happening. This is not happening.
(DOGGETT backs away, not sure what to think of WELLS. The TALL GUARD enters the cell.)
TALL GUARD: Court van is waiting.
SCENE 3
(Black Screen.)
BALTIMORE CIRCUIT COURT
10:12 AM
(Courtroom. MARTIN WELLS is led through the courthouse in chains and orange jumpsuit. He is seated with a young defence lawyer, JANET WILSON.)
JANET WILSON: All right... dignity. That is your strong suit. Play it. Don't lower your eyes. It makes you look guilty.
JANET WILSON: Now, we drew Judge Kinberg. What's your relationship with him?
MARTIN WELLS: Benjamin?
JANET WILSON: First-name basis. Excellent.
BAILIFF: All rise.
(All stand. As if out of habit, MARTIN WELLS is one of the first to stand.)
BAILIFF: I would remind the members of the gallery to turn off all cellular phones and paging devices. Hear ye, hear ye. That all who have business before this court in the State of Maryland draw near and be heard.
(MARTIN WELLS sees the man who shot him in the teaser sitting in the gallery. AL glances at him, then looks away.)
MARTIN WELLS: (softly) Al?
JANET WILSON: What?
MARTIN WELLS: He shot me.
JANET WILSON: Who? Your father-in-law? What are you talking about?
BAILIFF; Circuit court, Department 6-B is now in session, the Honourable Benjamin Kinberg presiding. Thursday, the seventh day of December.
MARTIN WELLS: Thursday? It's not Thursday.
JANET WILSON: Shh!
MARTIN WELLS: (insistent) It's Saturday. Yesterday was Friday and...
JANET WILSON: Today is Thursday. There's no court on Saturday. You know that. (concerned) Martin, do you feel all right?
(JUDGE pounds gavel.)
JUDGE KINBERG: Case Number 8ABX03: District v. Martin Wells. Charge of first- degree murder.
(MARTIN WELLS winces.)
JUDGE BENJAMIN KINBERG: The defence has requested a hearing on bail?
JANET WILSON: (standing) Yes, your Honor, we have. As I'm sure you'd agree, Mr. Wells' status as a prosecutor makes him a target. The court puts his life in danger by keeping him in custody.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY CARTER: Your Honor, I have the assurances of the Baltimore Department of Corrections that Mr. Wells' safety while in custody is not a concern.
JANET WILSON: Furthermore, as your Honor will certainly agree, Mr. Wells is an upstanding citizen and a respected member of the Maryland Bar, held in high esteem by all his peers.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY CARTER: Your Honor, with cold calculation, Martin Wells brutally stabbed his wife in their own home. He poses a threat to the public and should be denied bail.
(She holds up a bloody evidence document.)
JANET WILSON: He doesn't pose a threat to anyone, your Honor and he has two small children who need him at home.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY CARTER: Why? Because their mom's not around.
JUDGE BENJAMIN KINBERG: (warning) Ms. Carter. (he looks at MARTIN WELLS) Martin, I can't tell you how sorry I am to see you on that side of the aisle. I hope you'll forgive me when I do exactly what you as a prosecutor, would demand. Bail is denied. I will, however order Mr. Wells transferred to a more secure facility in the interest of his safety.
MARTIN WELLS: Transferred? No, Ben. You can't do that. I can't be transferred.
(MARTIN WELLS stands and walks urgently toward the bench. He points back toward AL sitting in the gallery.)
MARTIN WELLS: He'll kill me.
JUDGE BENJAMIN KINBERG: Martin.
MARTIN WELLS: Tomorrow morning-- if today is really Thursday-- then tomorrow is Friday, and that's when he's going to do it. He's going to shoot me as I'm being transferred.
JUDGE BENJAMIN KINBERG: Bailiff.
(Two OFFICERS grab MARTIN WELLS.)
MARTIN WELLS: You don't understand! It'll happen! It'll happen! Judge, listen to me! Ben, it'll happen! He's going to kill me! Ben!
(The OFFICERS drag MARTIN WELLS out of the courtroom.)
SCENE 4
(Interrogation room. MARTIN WELLS is sitting at one side of the room in an orange prison jumpsuit. SCULLY and DOGGETT enter.)
SCULLY: Mr. Wells, we understand that you had an interesting morning in court. What is it that you'd like to speak with us about?
MARTIN WELLS: You're John's partner?
(DOGGETT is irritated.)
DOGGETT: For god sakes, Martin. Agent Scully. You know that. You met her yesterday.
MARTIN WELLS: Yesterday?
DOGGETT: Yeah. Yesterday. Wednesday.
MARTIN WELLS: Wednesday?
SCULLY: Are you saying that you don't remember? What is the last thing that you do remember?
MARTIN WELLS: Being shot by my father-in-law.
DOGGETT: You're wasting our time.
(DOGGETT starts to leave, but turns again to listen to MARTIN WELLS. MARTIN WELLS focuses mainly on SCULLY.)
MARTIN WELLS: Listen. I don't know what I experienced. But what if it was a premonition? A glimpse of the future. I mean, you do hear about these kind of things.
SCULLY: Yes... You do.
(SCULLY is reluctant to believe, but is open to the possibility. She sits down.)
SCULLY: Mr. Wells, this shooting aside is there anything else that you remember before that?
MARTIN WELLS: Um... I was in DC... uh... for a sentencing hearing. I was staying at the Strand Hotel like you said.
SCULLY: That was three days ago, Mr. Wells. Are you telling us that you don't remember anything else? Not the murder of your wife?
MARTIN WELLS: No.
(DOGGETT doesn't believe a word.)
DOGGETT: Out of the blue. Charged with murder. You wake up one morning and you can't remember a damn thing. Martin, you haven't offered us one scrap of evidence to support your story. Now, as your friend, I'm going to listen to anything you have to say, but I will not be lied to.
MARTIN WELLS: I'm not lying to you. You're talking to me about key cards. I'm sitting in a jail cell. I don't understand any of this. But I did not... kill Vicky.
SCULLY: If you truly don't remember... then how can you be certain that you didn't?
(MEARTIN WELLS considers this in surprise and fear.)
SCENE 5
(Later. MARTIN WELLS is sitting on his cell bunk. He has flashbacks of broken glass flying back into shape, VICKIE gasping in fear and pain, and a bloody knife rising. He blinks back to the present. He leans back against the wall, despondent. He sees the spider walking across her almost finished web. In a fit of rage, he tears down the web and stomps the little spider to death.)
SCENE 6
(Later, in a visitation room, he sees two young girls being led through the hall of the jail. An Hispanic woman, TRINA, their nanny, is with them. They all have visitor's passes. He smiles happily and kneels to the floor, his arms open.)
MARTIN WELLS: Courtney! Haley! Hey, guys! Oh! It's so good to see you.
(The girls, about 4 and 6, look at the floor and don't run to him. MARTIN WELLS is confused and hurt.)
MARTIN WELLS: Wh...?! Come on! Come on, give Daddy a big hug.
TRINA: Hug your father, ninas.
(Obediently, the girls go to be hugged. He holds them tightly.)
MARTIN WELLS: Mmm...
(He looks up at TRINA.)
MARTIN WELLS: How are they holding up?
TRINA: (tears in her voice) Good. Good, Mr. Wells. They want to know when you're coming home.
(MARTIN WELLS looks at his daughters.)
MARTIN WELLS: Oh. See, um... Daddy has some things that he has to do-- very, very important things. That's why I have to be here right now, but then, guess what? (smiles) I'll be coming home.
(The older girl, COURTNEY looks at the floor.)
COURTNEY: Grandpa says they won't let you come home.
(MARTIN WELLS is shocked and saddened by this. He hugs his girls close again.)
MARTIN WELLS: Oh...
(MARTIN WELLS has another flashback of the glass reforming, Vickie gasping, and of a broken strand of pearls bouncing up. He comes back to the present with a start. He looks up at TRINA.)
MARTIN WELLS: Trina, I need you to get me something out of the apartment-- something from the girls' room.
SCENE 7
(The defence lawyer, JANET WILSON, enters MARTIN WELLS' interrogation room. A guard lets her in.)
JANET WILSON: Thank you.
(She hands him a pastel stuffed bear and closes the blinds. She is uncomfortable.)
JANET WILSON: Why didn't you mention this to me before the bail hearing?
MARTIN WELLS: I hadn't even met you before the bail hearing.
(She stares about him, confused. MARTIN WELLS digs through the animal's stuffing and pulls out a hidden camera recorder.)
MARTIN WELLS: Nanny-cam.
JANET WILSON: Oh, Martin, I wish you'd talked to me about this before. I really don't know if this is a great idea.
MARTIN WELLS: This tape may have the murderer on it.
JANET WILSON: Whatever happens to be on that tape you know that I am an officer of the court. I have to share this with the prosecution.
MARTIN WELLS: You think I'm guilty?
(She starts to answer. He waves her silent.)
MARTIN WELLS: Let's... let's clear this up right now. Here. My apartment.
(She joins him to look at the small viewfinder window. He is playing it in fast reverse. Police investigators are coming and going rapidly.)
MARTIN WELLS: That... That's the girls' room and this must be the police investigation. What time did the ? murder occur?
JANET WILSON: The official report has the Police arriving at your apartment at 6:20AM Monday morning. Your key card was used at 4:17.
MARTIN WELLS: Which means the killer is somewhere in-between.
JANET WILSON: Wait. There's your wife.
(MARTIN WELLS swallows his emotion at the sight of VICKIE running her hand tiredly through her hair as she leans against the door of the girls' room late at night.)
MARTIN WELLS: Um... we must have missed something. Right there.
(He rewinds and fast forwards again through the police footage. Just before the police arrive, he stops at a figure in the doorway. The figure is familiar.)
JANET WILSON: Martin, that's you.
(JANET WILSON walks away. MARTIN WELLS stares at the image of himself for a moment, then lowers the camera.)
SCENE 8
(Morning. The sounds of a prison wake MARTIN WELLS up. He rubs his head and rises. He looks at the bunk above him. There is no cut on his face. The spider is crawling around, looking for the best place to build her web. The door slides open. The TALL GUARD steps into the cell.)
MARTIN WELLS: (defiantly) I'm not going.
TALL GUARD: How's that?
MARTIN WELLS: I told you. This is the day. If I go, I'll get shot. You cannot transfer me.
TALL GUARD: I don't plan to. Your lawyers want to see you.
(MARTIN WELLS is led into an interrogation room where his lawyer, BRENT TUFELD, 50's, is waiting for him. He is speaking quietly to JANET WILSON.)
BRENT TUFELD: There's my favourite client. Martin, you holding up all right?
(They shake hands.)
MARTIN WELLS: Brent, uh... I've been better.
BRENT TUFELD: We're going to beat this thing. Guaranteed. Martin, I have here one of the finest criminal defence specialists in the country. I want you to meet...
(MARTIN WELLS turns to JANET WILSON.)
MARTIN WELLS: We met. I've been thinking all night about the tape and I don't see you having to turn it over to the prosecution.
JANET WILSON: I'm sorry?
MARTIN WELLS: I obviously showed you that tape in a good faith effort to clear my name, not as an admission of guilt.
JANET WILSON: (confused) Um... Mr. Wells, I'm Janet Wilson. I don't think we've met.
(MARTIN WELLS stares at JANET WILSON.)
BRENT TUFELD: Martin, what is all this about a videotape?
MARTIN WELLS: The... Nanny-cam tape.
(JANET WILSON looks to TUFELD.)
MARTIN WELLS: (to TUFELD) That's why you're here, right?
BRENT TUFELD: I'm here to introduce you to your new attorney.
MARTIN WELLS: (to JANET WILSON) We met yesterday at the bail hearing. Don't you remember?
BRENT TUFELD: Martin, the bail hearing is set for tomorrow.
MARTIN WELLS: What day is this? What... day of the week... is this?
BRENT TUFELD: Wednesday. Wednesday the sixth.
MARTIN WELLS: Yesterday you told me it was Thursday. The day before that it was Friday. (realizing) It's backwards. Everything's going backwards.
(The LAWYERS are confused and concerned.)
BRENT TUFELD: Martin, I think we should have you speak to someone. You're under a hell of a lot of stress. Being locked up in this cesspool really doesn't help.
JANET WILSON: We can have you out of here by tomorrow afternoon. The prosecution's case is weak to say the least. They have no physical evidence tying you to the crime scene.
BRENT TUFELD: Plus, they don't have the key card that was used to access your apartment building.
MARTIN WELLS: (breathing sharply, to himself) The key card...
JANET WILSON: (confidently) Without it, they've got nothing.
SCENE 9
(Prison exercise yard. Several prisoners are playing basketball. A large African American prisoner sees MARTIN WELLS walking through the yard. He leans down and whispers something to an evil looking HISPANIC MAN who is lifting weights. The HISPANIC MAN takes notice. A YOUNG BLACK MAN, SHORTY, sees the look and teases MARTIN WELLS.)
SHORTY: Oh, yeah. (laugh) Somebody likes you, my brother.
(MARTIN WELLS is not amused.)
SHORTY: (sarcastically) Come on, man. I'm just messing with you. What, you ain't got no sense of humour, Counsellor?
MARTIN WELLS: Do I know you?
SHORTY: No, you don't know me. Damn sure put me in here, though.
(MARTIN WELLS recognizes him.)
MARTIN WELLS: Possession with intent. And concealed weapon.
SHORTY: Mm-hmm. That concealed weapon was a pipe wrench. I was on my way to my baby's mama's house to unstick the Pepsi caps from out her garbage disposer, but I told you all that! "Concealed weapon" added six months to my sentence, man. You remember my name?
MARTIN WELLS: (avoiding his eyes) No, I don't remember your name. All I needed to know about you was that you broke the law.
SHORTY: I broke the law. Well, then, I guess that makes you "Wife Killer, Esq."
(MARTIN WELLS turns to face him, angrily. SHORTY laughs without humour. MARTIN WELLS walks away through the yard. As he passes a table where some prisoners are playing dominoes, a GANGBANGER hits him from behind, making him knock the dominoes to the ground. One of the DOMINO PLAYING GANGBANGERS glares at MARTIN WELLS.)
DOMINO PLAYING GANGBANGER: Yo! Pick 'em up you stumbling bitch.
ANOTHER PLAYER: Come on.
(Reluctantly, MARTIN WELLS kneels down and begins picking up the dominoes. He turns to see the HISPANIC MAN beside him. There is a spider web tattoo on one of his hands in which he is concealing a blade. MARTIN WELLS falls back and screams in pain as the SPIDER-MAN slashes him across the face. MARTIN WELLS rolls on the ground and cries in agony as the other prisoners walk around him, the code of silence in full effect.)
SCENE 10
(Interrogation room. MARTIN WELLS, fresh cut on his face, greets DOGGETT and SCULLY as they enter. DOGGETT winces at the sight of the cut.)
DOGGETT: Aw, geez, Martin. Your face.
MARTIN WELLS: It's all right. Appreciate your coming to see me. Agent Scully, I especially wanted to talk to you.
(SCULLY shakes his hand.)
SCULLY: It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances.
MARTIN WELLS: This is the day we meet... something is happening to me... something I need to try to explain to you, to you both. I'm moving backward in time. Every morning I wake up, it's the day before. For me, yesterday was Thursday, the day before that was Friday, only it's all new to me. Every single morning I wake up, I can only remember what's happened the following day.
(SCULLY thinks about it.)
DOGGETT: Agent Scully, would you mind taking a closer look at his injuries, maybe check his scalp?
MARTIN WELLS: I know this all sounds crazy. But I'm telling you the truth. This cut, for instance. It was on my cheek when I woke up yesterday. I woke up this morning, it wasn't there. But then this afternoon I got cut. I killed a spider in my cell yesterday. First thing this morning, I woke up, it's back again. Because it happened the day before. I haven't actually killed it yet.
SCULLY: Mr. Wells, are you saying that you don't remember the day that your wife was murdered? I'm talking about two days ago, Monday.
MARTIN WELLS: No, I don't... remember it, because for me, it hasn't happened yet.
SCULLY: You do realize that you're not going to be able to prove this, right? I mean, if, uh... if tomorrow is really the day before today, then we won't have had this conversation.
DOGGETT: Oh, for crying out loud.
SCULLY: It means you're going to have to tell us all over again.
DOGGETT: Yeah, well, uh... make sure I skip that freaking meeting.
(In disgust, DOGGETT leaves the cell.)
SCULLY: Mr. Wells, let's say that, that all this is true. Why do you think it's happening?
MARTIN WELLS: I don't know. There has to be a reason.
SCULLY: What reason?
MARTIN WELLS: Something... I'm meant to understand? Although I don't know what it could be.
SCULLY: Maybe you already have the answer within you.
(SCULLY leaves and the door closes. MARTIN WELLS considers.)
SCENE 11
(JANET WILSON stands outside MARTIN WELLS' cell as he prepares to open a thick file that has been delivered to him through the door. She is worried about him.)
JANET WILSON: I'd really prefer to stay while you do this. Martin. I can take you through the chain of evidence.
MARTIN WELLS: I think I've done this before, thank you, Ms. Wilson.
(Reluctantly, she leaves. MARTIN WELLS opens the file on his wife's murder. SHORTY, broom in hand, walks by the cell.)
SHORTY: Mmm-hmm, looking for some loopholes, huh? Yeah, man, get yourself out of here. They just praying that you find that one little technicality so they can let you go.
MARTIN WELLS: I'm not looking for technicalities.
SHORTY: Well, what are you looking for, brother?
MARTIN WELLS: The truth.
SHORTY: The truth? (laughs) You better stick to the technicalities! The truth is going to keep you in here and make you somebody's bitch, that's what the truth's going to do. So put on that engineering hat, Casey Jones, because you've got a whole lot of trains to be pulling...
(He laughs and imitates train whistle and chugging as he walks away.)
SHORTY: The truth!
(Breathing heavily, MARTIN WELLS pulls out the photos of the murder. He sobs as he forces himself to look at the images of his dead wife.)
(Flashback of the glass reforming, blood seeping back into his dead wife, the bloody knife held by a man with a spider web tattooed on his hand.)
MARTIN WELLS: (gasping through his pain) I know who did it.
SCENE 12 (Black Screen)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5
8:42 AM
(MARTIN WELLS wakes up disoriented on a couch in a modestly nice house. He has sheets and a pillow. He see that the TV is on, but muted. He rushes to the remote and turns the volume up. A news report, WKPZ, channel 9 is showing footage of MARTIN WELLS, eyes down, being taken away in the back of a police car.)
TV REPORTER: ...claims he arrived home from a business trip to discover the body of his wife in their living room. Apparently, Wells is now in seclusion at the home of a friend. Baltimore police are giving no indication whether he is a suspect in the murder or if there are indeed any suspects at this time. However, Channel 9 News has learned police are focusing their investigation on the whereabouts of an electronic key card, much like this one. The card in question belongs to Martin Wells. It was used by the killer to enter the Calvert House apartment building through the garage entrance. Wells claims no knowledge of the whereabouts of his key card...
(DOGGETT enters the front door holding two styrofoam cups of coffee. He is such a manly man that he won't even make coffee. He hands one to MARTIN WELLS.)
DOGGETT: Not something you want to wake up to.
TV REPORTER: ...and suggests it may have been stolen.
(MARTIN WELLS clicks the sound off again.)
DOGGETT: How you feeling?
MARTIN WELLS: Disconnected from reality, but I guess I'd better get used to it. Oh, um... thank you. I assume you... let me spend the night here, right? Thank you.
DOGGETT: Like I said, no problem.
(MARTIN WELLS begins putting on his shoes.)
MARTIN WELLS: So that makes today... Tuesday, the day after the murder. John... I know who did it now.
(DOGGETT sits and stares at him, perhaps surprised at how calm and rational MARTIN WELLS is.)
DOGGETT: You know who killed Vicky?
MARTIN WELLS: Mmm. Latino, maybe 40, five-ten, 185 pounds. He's got a tattoo of a spiderweb on his left hand.
DOGGETT: Martin, last night you told me you had no idea who did this.
MARTIN WELLS: Yeah, now I do. Well, trust me. I mean, I-I don't know his name but you can find him in the Baltimore city lockup. Call them. They can ID him based on what I just told you.
(DOGGETT goes to the kitchen phone and calls. MARTIN WELLS turns the volume back up. AL CAWDRY, the father-in-law, is now begin interviewed.)
AL CAWDRY: I just want to say my daughter was an exceptional person... (pause) ...One who was loved by everyone who knew her.
TV REPORTER: Sir, have the police identified any suspects in your daughter's death?
AL CAWDRY:: They're not telling us much.
TV REPORTER: What about rumours that your son-in-law is the prime suspect? What are your thoughts on that?
(AL CAWDRY begins to cry, and cannot answer.)
TV REPORTER: Reporting from the Calvert House Apartments this is Brian Blakeley. Back to you in the studio.
(MARTIN WELLS lowers his own eyes in pain, and turns the volume down again as DOGGETT hangs up and come back to the living room.)
DOGGETT: No prisoner fitting that description has been processed in the past 36 hours.
MARTIN WELLS: He's in there. He's got to be there.
DOGGETT: Sorry, Martin, he's not.
MARTIN WELLS: It must be too soon. He must not get arrested until later today-- Tuesday. That's how he could have been with me in lockup on Wednesday.
DOGGETT: Martin, you have seriously lost me. If you're trying to admit something to me or to yourself, I want you to just come out with it.
MARTIN WELLS: There's a reason all this is happening. Maybe I already have the answer.
DOGGETT: Well, how's that?
MARTIN WELLS: There's something in my apartment that you need to see, John.
(DOGGETT is sceptical.)
SCENE 13
(Black Screen.)
CALVERT HOUSE APARTMENTS
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
11:18 AM
(Very nice, expensive high-rise apartment. DOGGETT and MARTIN WELLS enter.)
DOGGETT: Where is it?
MARTIN WELLS: Uh, the girls' bedroom, right there.
(While DOGGETT goes to look in the room to the left, MARTIN WELLS slowly walks into the living room. Crime scene investigators have left their marks all over the place. MARTIN WELLS looks down at the shattered coffee table. In flashback, he sees the murder in reverse. The glass and table reassemble as VICKY rises screaming, pearls rising, bloody knife descending. He is jerked back to the present as DOGGETT enters carrying the stuffed animal containing the NannyCam.)
DOGGETT: Is this it?
(Later, the DOGGETT and MARTIN WELLS watch the tape on a small TV/VCR monitor.)
MARTIN WELLS: My daughters were at their grandparents'... thank god. Their bedroom door was open with a clear view of the front hallway. The nanny-cam is motion-activated so it should have caught anyone coming in or out of the house.
(Police investigators come and go quickly as the tape rewinds. DOGGETT stops it when MARTIN WELLS appears in the door.)
MARTIN WELLS: There I am. Nobody else on the tape between my wife and the police. I don't understand it.
DOGGETT: I'd say this makes you look more innocent than guilty. Look, there-- in the mirror...
(DOGGETT points to a bright reflection in the dresser mirror.)
DOGGETT: ...the sun. Your wife comes home before the murderer enters the building AT 4:17 AM. Her time of death is fixed shortly after that, well before sunrise. You came home later... when the sun was already up.
MARTIN WELLS: The killer turned off the tape.
DOGGETT: The only question is how?
MARTIN WELLS: There's a remote control for the nanny-cam. It's in a drawer by the front door but nobody else knew about it except for... Vicky... and me.
DOGGETT: Are you sure about that?
(MARTIN WELLS thinks.)
SCENE 14
TRINA GALVEZ RESIDENCE
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
12:36 PM
(Small house on a lower income residential street. MARTIN WELLS knock at the door. DOGGETT step up and pounds much more forcefully on the door. Oh, so manly!)
DOGGETT: FBI! I saw your curtains move. I know you're in there.
(TRINA, the nanny for MARTIN WELLS' daughters nervously opens the door, the security chain still in place.)
TRINA: M-Mr. Wells, I...
MARTIN WELLS: Trina, you knew about the Nanny-cam, didn't you? You told the killer about it. You must have given him my key card, too.
TRINA: Mr. Wells, I-I-I wasn't even there that night.
(DOGGETT has placed his palm against the center of the door. He unholsters his gun.)
DOGGETT: First thing you're supposed to say is: "What nanny-cam?"
(DOGGETT kicks the door open. TRINA screams and falls back. The HISPANIC SPIDERWEB MAN was standing behind the door holding a knife. He falls to the floor and DOGGETT punches him and restrains him. DOGGETT holds the tattooed hand up for MARTIN WELLS to see.)
DOGGETT: Is this your guy?
(MARTIN WELLS nods.)
TRINA: (crying hysterically) I'm so sorry, Mr. Wells. He said he'd hurt my family. He made me give him your key card.
(MARTIN WELLS won't look at her. TRINA sobs. MARTIN WELLS stares at the man on the floor.)
SCENE 15
(Police station. MARTIN WELLS watches through a window as DOGGETT interviews the SPIDERWEB MAN. DOGGETT comes out of the room.)
DOGGETT: His name is Cesar Ocampo. He's got a full sheet-- assault and narcotics. He knows the drill. He's a clam.
MARTIN WELLS: We'll have Trina's testimony against him.
DOGGETT: Or maybe we won't. He's got her so scared we can't count on her.
MARTIN WELLS: John, let me go in and talk to him. Please.
(DOGGETT stares at MARTIN WELLS.)
DOGGETT: He says he only wants to talk to you.
(MARTIN WELLS enters the interrogation room.)
MARTIN WELLS: Why?
CESAR OCAMPO: You don't know? You got my name, my record, and you can't figure it out?
MARTIN WELLS: Cesar Ocampo-- I don't know you. I never prosecuted you.
CESAR OCAMPO: Hector Ocampo, my brother.
MARTIN WELLS: What was the charge?
CESAR OCAMPO: Possession with intent. $50 worth of rock. It was his third strike, remember?
MARTIN WELLS: Yeah, I remember. I did my job.
CESAR OCAMPO: You sent him up for life!
MARTIN WELLS: I did my job! I do it ten times a week every week of the year... and for this, my wife was murdered? You take away my dignity, my reputation, my life, because your dirtbag brother is where he belongs?!
CESAR OCAMPO: Brady V. Maryland. Hey, you know what I'm talking about. Brady V. The State of Maryland. Prosecution's got to turn over exonerating evidence. You had the word of three people that wasn't Hector's rock. It was in a jacket that wasn't even his, left beside him in the club. You knew that. You knew that and you suppressed the evidence.
MARTIN WELLS: Are you trying to tell me that your brother is not a drug dealer?
CESAR OCAMPO: My brother was a busboy when you sent him up. He had two strikes on him. He wasn't dealing no more. You sent him up for who he used to be... and 'cause it was easy. You broke the law.
(MARTIN WELLS considers.)
MARTIN WELLS: I tell you what we'll do. You're going to be convicted of my wife's murder one way or another. Plead out now and I'll look into your brother's case. Maybe I'll find a way to recommend a reduced sentence. Time served. You want justice? So do I.
CESAR OCAMPO: My brother is dead. Hung himself in a jail cell a couple weeks ago.
(DOGGETT: opens the door to the interrogation room.)
DOGGETT: Martin... A word.
(MARTIN WELLS looks back at CESAR OCAMPO, then follows DOGGETT back into the hall. Two other investigators are waiting.)
DOGGETT: I'm sorry, Martin. I tried to talk them out of it, but they think they have a case.
HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: Sir, turn around, please.
(The HOMICIDE DETECTIVE begins cuffing a resigned MARTIN WELLS and leading him away.)
HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: Martin Wells, you are under arrest for the murder of Vicky Wells. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney.
(DOGGETT watches them go.)
SCENE 16
MONDAY, DECEMBER 4
STRAND HOTEL
WASHINGTON, DC
2:07 AM
(Dark hotel room. MARTIN WELLS wakes up suddenly. He rubs his face, looks around the room. Remains of room service sit near the bed. Clock reads 2:08. MARTIN WELLS picks up the phone and dials.)
MARTIN WELLS: Come on, honey, pick up.
(Ringing continues. MARTIN WELLS is getting more frantic.)
MARTIN WELLS: Pick up!
VICKY WELLS: (voice on phone) Hey, there.
(At the sound of her voice, MARTIN WELLS sighs in relief.)
MARTIN WELLS: (on phone) Vicky...
(He tenses again when he realizes that it is the machine.)
VICKY WELLS: (voice on phone) This is the Wells' residence, home of Martin, Vicky, Courtney and Haley. We can't come to the phone right now. So, please leave a message.
MARTIN WELLS: (on phone) Honey, this is Martin. Pick up the phone. Vicky, pick up the phone. Pick up the phone!
(He lowers the phone to his lap.)
MARTIN WELLS: It's not 4:00 yet.
(He holds the phone to his mouth again.)
MARTIN WELLS: Vicky, please, when you get this, get out of the apartment, go to your parents' house and wait for me to call. I'm on my way back to the city.
(He hangs up and goes to leave the hotel.)
SCENE 17
(Later. MARTIN WELLS knocks loudly at DOGGETT's front door. DOGGETT, having just woken up, turns on a table lamp and opens the door. He is wearing what looks like a Marine or FBI dark t-shirt. A dog barks from a yard nearby.)
MARTIN WELLS: John, I need your help.
DOGGETT: Martin?
(He lets MARTIN WELLS in and shuts the door.)
MARTIN WELLS: Vicky's going to be murdered inside of two hours.
DOGGETT: (confused) Vicky? You mean your wife?
MARTIN WELLS: I called the Baltimore police but I can't tell if they thought I was a crank. I need you to call them. Now, I can describe the suspect, his name... everything.
DOGGETT: Well, how do you know all this?
MARTIN WELLS: I haven't got time to explain it. You wouldn't believe it anyway.
DOGGETT: Now, Martin, you see, now, that's a bad sign because it's two-something in the morning. I haven't seen you in three years. You got to give me something more to go on.
MARTIN WELLS: This is all happening for a reason. I... I'm being given a second chance.
DOGGETT: A second chance to do what?
MARTIN WELLS: I prosecuted a man named Hector Ocampo. I suppressed evidence. See, he was innocent of the crime he was charged with.
DOGGETT: Martin, anything you say to me...
MARTIN WELLS: ? you have to report. (impatient) I put him away, he died in prison, his brother wants revenge, and it is as simple as that.
DOGGETT: You could be disbarred for what you're telling me. You could go to prison, lose everything; do you understand?
MARTIN WELLS: I understand that I can save Vicky.
DOGGETT: Hold on a minute.
(DOGGETT picks the phone up and dials. He watches as MARTIN WELLS runs back out the door.)
(MARTIN WELLS gets into his car and drives rapidly on wet streets through the dark city. He arrives at the apartment building in Baltimore. Several flashing police cars are sitting out front. Panicked, MARTIN WELLS runs upstairs to his apartment. He sighs in relief. Everything is intact. Two COPS are in the living room.)
MARTIN WELLS: You got here in time.
LEAD COP: Are you Martin Wells?
MARTIN WELLS: Yeah.
(MARTIN WELLS looks around the apartment.)
MARTIN WELLS: Vicky? Vicky?
LEAD COP: There's nobody here. We checked. What exactly are we looking for?
MARTIN WELLS: My wife's going to be attacked here tonight. It happens... the killer's going to use my key card to enter at 4:17.
LEAD COP: It's 4:20 now.
MARTIN WELLS: I don't understand. Where is she?
LEAD COP: Tell you what. We'll take a few sweeps through the neighbourhood... keep our eyes peeled. We're a phone call away if you need us.
(The two COPS leave. MARTIN WELLS thinks a moment, then presses one of the speed dials on the phone.)
MARTIN WELLS: Come on. Come on!
AL CAWDRY: (on phone) Hello?
MARTIN WELLS: (on phone) Al, it's Martin.
AL CAWDRY: (on phone) Martin? What time is it?
MARTIN WELLS: (on phone) Al... (he clears his throat) ? is-is Vicky there?
AL CAWDRY: (on phone) No. The kids are here. Vicky left hours ago.
(MARTIN WELLS looks up in fear at the sound of someone at the door.)
AL CAWDRY: (on phone) Isn't she home yet?
(The doorknob moves.)
AL CAWDRY: (on phone) Martin?
(MARTIN WELLS hang up the phone. [CARRIK: Why not just leave the connection open?] He gets a chef's knife from the kitchen and stands behind the front door. It opens and he raises the knife threateningly. VICKIE screams. He lowers the knife in relief. She gasps as they calm down.)
VICKY WELLS: Martin, you scared the hell out of me!!
(He hugs her tightly.)
VICKY WELLS: Honey, why aren't you in DC? What the...
MARTIN WELLS: Where have you been?
VICKY WELLS: I-I got a flat on the way back from my... Honey, you're scaring me. What's wrong?
MARTIN WELLS: We're in trouble. We have to get out of here right now.
VICKY WELLS: What?!
(MARTIN WELLS turns to lead her out of the apartment, but stops when he sees the knob moving again.):
MARTIN WELLS: (whisper) Vicky! Get in the bedroom. Lock the door. You call the cops and don't come out till I say it's over.
(She doesn't understand, but lets him push her back toward the bedroom. He turns off the light and closes the door behind her.)
(MARTIN WELLS cautiously makes his way back to the front door. It is half open. No sign of who ever has come in. He slowly walks to the girls' bedroom. It is empty. He walks back into the living room. CESAR OCAMPO attacks him from behind and MARTIN WELLS drops the knife. The two men fight. CESAR OCAMPO knocks MARTIN WELLS to the ground then kicks him viciously as MARTIN WELLS futilely tries to get to his knife. VICKY WELLS has come out of the bedroom. She screams.)
VICKY WELLS: Oh, my god, Martin!
(CESAR OCAMPO grabs the knife and runs toward VICKY.)
VICKY WELLS: Martin! No!!!
(CESAR OCAMPO grabs VICKY, breaking her necklace. The pearls fall as he knocks her to the floor, shattering the coffee table. She screams. MARTIN WELLS is badly hurt. He can only watch as CESAR OCAMPO picks up the knife and prepares to slit VICKY's throat.)
MARTIN WELLS: No!
(VICKY looks desperately at MARTIN WELLS.)
VICKY WELLS: Martin!
(MARTIN WELLS can do nothing.)
VICKY WELLS: Martin!
MARTIN WELLS: (desperately screaming) No!
(Sound of two gunshots. CESAR OCAMPO falls to the floor revealing DOGGETT, gun out, standing in the doorway. SCULLY enters behind him. VICKY is sobbing. She and MARTIN WELLS grasp hands and then cling desperately to each other.)
(SCULLY kneels down and checks CESAR OCAMPO. The prognosis is not good.)
DOGGETT: You said something about a second chance. Was this it?
(MARTIN WELLS nods. VICKY sobs. MARTIN WELLS looks at SCULLY's Omega watch. It is stopped at 4:39:52. Date is the 4th. As he watches, it begins ticking forward again.)
SCENE 18
MARYLAND STATE PENETENTIARY
THREE MONTHS LATER
(Clock reads 12:16. MARTIN WELLS is sitting in a prison cell staring at the wall.)
MARTIN WELLS: (voiceover) The passage of time in prisons is not in a cell of brick and mortar but in one of hopes dashed and tragedies unaverted. How precious, then, the chance to go back only to discover that in facing the past you must face up to yourself... that exiting the prison of time doesn't free you from the prison of your own character... one from which there is no escape.
[THE END]
No history.
