4-03 Angel’s Flight

Angel’s Flight

We just witnessed our own execution.

Broots

Angel’s Flight

We just witnessed our own execution.

Broots

Original air date: October 30, 1999

Written by: Tommy Thompson

Directed by: Chuck Bowman

A tarot-type card showing a demonic angel tossing a young female angel into a raging fire helps Jarod track down a missing teenage girl who has come under the spell of a young magician.

Jarod’s Discoveries: Alcatraz Oysters, Goths

Jarod’s Occupations: San Francisco Police Detective

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod Waxman

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod searches for a missing teenage girl linked to a young magician.

Jarod poses as a San Francisco detective, Jarod Waxman, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl, Jessica (Jessi) Bracken. At Jessi’s home, Jarod questions her widowed, distraught father, Frank Bracken, and examines Jessi’s personal effects in her bedroom. Frank explains that Jessi developed a special interest in angels after her mother died. Jarod discovers a tarot-type card with a demonic angel tossing a young female angel into a raging fire and the words “Gates Of Hell” written on it.
In a defunct wax museum, Jarod sets up makeshift headquarters. He helps the elderly owner, Sam Kelinman, restore figures in the museum. Jarod prepares a surprise package, a faceless wax head, which is the first of a series of packages sent to Miss Parker. Jarod encloses a card sprinkled with juice from Alcatraz oysters. The museum’s old gothic books, resources, and Sam provide Jarod with invaluable research. Sam shudders when Jarod shows him the “Gate of Hell” card found in Jessi’s room. Sam, a Holocaust survivor, tells Jarod that members of the SS used similar symbols of demons and evils on their uniforms.

At the Centre, Broots delivers Jarod’s package to Miss Parker. The enclosed putrid-smelling note card reads “Beware of strangers bearing gifts.” Miss Parker hopes that clues from the package will lead to Jarod’s whereabouts.

Dressed in black, Jarod enters the “Gates of Hell” club. After taking a look at Jessi’s tarot card, a bar patron recommends that Jarod talk to a young magician named Hawk. Sitting at a back booth, Nicholas Hawkings (Hawk) holds court at a table surrounded by enthralled young people and his nervous assistant, Karl Kessler. Hawk performs an eerie magical act of seductive manipulation focusing on very personal revelations of a teenage participant. The group urges Hawk to talk again about the angel’s flight. Jarod steps forward and explains that the term “angel flight” comes from the renown magician Houdini. Houdini felt he was given the power of angels and could soar the heavens and boundaries of the earth. Jarod ingratiates himself with Hawk by saying that he wants to observe him and learn from the best. The group breaks up to meet later at a midnight “Hawk session” at an abandoned warehouse.

Back at the Centre, Broots delivers two more of Jarod’s packages to a frustrated Miss Parker. Inside are eye sockets, eyebrows, orbs, and sterno. When Miss Parker places the eye sockets onto the wax head, the puzzle begins to take focus.

Jarod observes Hawk’s magic act with a mesmerized young girl. Jarod seizes the opportunity to investigate the warehouse and finds computer cables running from a locked room to the space where Hawk performs. Kessler cuts Jarod’s investigation short. Jarod shows an unnerved Kessler Jessi’s tarot card. As Hawk unleashes more traumatic personal information with a traumatized participant, Jarod slips away to the locked room. Inside, Jarod finds a computer loaded with a wealth of personal files on each member of the group that includes each member’s personal wealth. Jarod realizes the ugly truth: Hawk recruits wealthy, disenfranchised young people and then takes them for every penny. Jarod stumbles onto troubling data about Jessi. Moreover, Jarod finds a strong box containing expensive jewelry. He also finds an angel pendant identical to the one Jessi wears in her missing person leaflet.

In a coffee shop meeting with Frank, Jarod learns the truth surrounding the angel pendant. Jessi’s mother committed suicide by jumping off a rooftop. Police found her clutching the angel pendant. As a result, Jessi treasured the pendant and always wore it.

The results of Broots’ homework on Jarod’s packages reveal that the putrid odor on the card came from a rare oyster only found in the San Francisco area, while the faceless head came from an old wax museum. Subsequently, Sidney, Broots, Parker, and Max the Sweeper leave for San Francisco to snare Jarod.

Jarod returns to the abandoned warehouse to scrutinize the rooftop. He finds scratches that suggest someone draped over the edge. Jarod follows a blood trail that leads him to the warehouse basement. The trail leads him to a container with an unconscious Jessi Bracken inside. Suddenly, Kessler sticks a gun in Jarod’s neck. However, Jarod convinces Kessler to put away the gun to get Jessi immediate medical attention. Kessler explains that Hawk flipped out when Jessi overheard the two discussing his fraudulent schemes. Kessler thought Hawk was just going to talk to Jessi—not try to kill her. While Sydney, Broots, and Parker burst into the old wax museum, Jarod confronts Hawk on the warehouse rooftop in front of his young participants. Jarod accuses Hawk of manipulating Jessi’s mother’s tragic death to lure Jessi up for a “private reading.” To Kessler’s horror, Jarod goads Hawk into jumping off the roof in an angel flight. However, Jarod placed a giant air bag on the ground to break Hawk’s fall and prevent injury.

Frank Bracken wheels a bruised, bandaged Jessi out of a hospital door. An appreciative Jessi gives the waiting “Detective Waxman” her angel pendant.

Movies

Angel’s Flight Transcript

San Francisco: A man washes windows of an ice cream truck. Jarod approaches


Jarod		I would like a double-dip vanilla with granola sprinkles, please.
Ice cream man		Truck ain’t open.
Jarod		Uh – I have cash money.
Ice cream man		It’s seven-thirty-”in the freakin’ morning. Why don’t you try the Waffle House?
Jarod		Considering the iron, calcium, and lactose in the ice cream, the carbohydrate value of the cone, and the fiber content of the cone, one could, in reality, receive more nutritious ingredients in one -œTasty Surprise- than in an entire bacon and egg breakfast.
Ice cream man		Are you some kind of nut?
Jarod		No. I just like ice cream.
Ice cream man		Yeah…


		San Francisco, a busy street. Jarod eating ice cream. Sees a man posting posters on telephone poles. Poster: -œHave you seen my daughter? Picture of beautiful blond teenager wearing an angel pendant. Jarod watches the man get into his BMW, takes down a poster, throws away his ice cream.

Jarod		Taxi!


		San Francisco, a Victorian-style house. Jarod, with a police detective’s badge, walks into a girl’s bedroom with the man who hung up the poster.


Mr Bracken		I don’t understand. The police looked through my daughter’s room already. What did you say your name was?
Jarod		Waxman. Detective Jarod Waxman.
Mr Bracken		The other officer said a teenager missing less than forty-eight hours wasn’t going to be a high priority case.
Jarod		We…reconsidered the situation. [Looks around daughter’s room, which is decorated with angels.] Was there anything out of the ordinary going on in your daughter’s life before she disappeared? Something bothering her?
Mr Bracken		My wife passed away three years ago, cancer.
Jarod		Jarod: I’m sorry.
Mr Bracken		And it’s been hard for me, but not like it’s been for Jessie. She just barely turned fifteen. She was at an age when a girl really needs her mother. And I guess I just didn’t have the answers that she needed.
Jarod		Maybe she went away with a friend, someone from school.
Mr Bracken		Jessie’s shy. She doesn’t have much of a social life. I don’t know, it’s like she just vanished into thin air.
Jarod		She seemed to have a special interest in angels. [Picks up a book.]
Mr Bracken		Yeah. When her mother passed away, Jessie started collecting them, reading books about them-”that one’s her favorite.
		The Power of Angels, by Dean Magno. [Jarod leafs through book, finds a page-marker, a picture of a large, red demon carrying a white-clad, yellow-haired angel.]
Jarod		Have you see this before?
Mr Bracken		No, never.
		[Jarod turns it over, reads the back.]
Jarod		“Gates of Hell.”
Mr Bracken		That’s Jessie’s handwriting. You’ve got to help me. My daughter’s life is in your hands, Detective.



		San Francisco. Sign over a building: -Hall of Fame Wax Museum.- Inside in a work room, rows of wax heads on shelves, and Jarod working on another with a blank face. An old man with a beard and a cane enters with a bowl.


Mr Kleinman		A man with no face? It reminds me of a young man I recently hired to help restore a broken-down old wax museum.
Jarod		Mr Kleinman, I didn’t even hear you come in. [Places wax head in a wooden box.]
Mr Kleinman		Ah! A gift? For a friend?
Jarod		More like… a message.
Mr Kleinman		Ah. Uh-”I brought you a snack!
Jarod		Ooh! I hope it’s ice cream.
Mr Kleinman		Better. A delicacy. Alcatraz oysters. These little beauties you can find only in San Francisco Bay. Go ahead. Eat. Enjoy. Jah. [With an unconvinced look, Jarod tips an oyster into his mouth, wincing.] Eh?
Jarod		Mmm. They’re very good!
		[Mr. Kleinman laughs. Jarod sniffs the liquid in the oyster shell and picks up a card that says, Beware of strangers bearing gifts.]
Jarod		You know what? This just might do the trick. [Drips some of the liquid onto the card.]
Mr Kleinman		You are a very strange young man, Jarod.
Jarod		[putting the card in the box with the head] Not half as strange as the people I’m sending this to.
Mr Kleinman		Jarod, are you sure you wouldn’t want to stay upstairs?
Jarod		[looking around at all the heads] Actually, I spend a lot of time alone. It’s sort of nice to have the company.
Mr Kleinman		Ah.
Jarod		Mr. Kleinman, have you ever seen anything like this before? [Gives him the picture from Jessica’s bedroom.]
Mr Kleinman		[gasping]: Mein Gott! [Sits down abruptly.] Where did you get this?
Jarod		A man I know is searching for his daughter. You have seen it.
Mr Kleinman		Jah. [Pulls up his sleeve, revealing 7534 tattooed on his arm.] I have seen it.
Jarod		You’re a Holocaust survivor.
Mr Kleinman		Members of the SS wore similar symbols on their uniforms. Devils! Demons!
Jarod		This man, he’s worried for his daughter’s safety.
Mr Kleinman		Oh, he should be. He should be scared to death! [Hurries out of the room.]


		San Francisco, nighttime, Goth scenes, with Jarod superimposed over them, trying on Goth clothing, makeup, jewelry, walking among the nightlife, showing Jessica’s card to a bouncer, going into a building labeled Gates of Hell. Inside, an ornate building, loud music, strobe lights, young people in Goth clothing dancing, performing sleight of hand. Jarod stares at a well-built, pretty girl with multiple piercings, tattoos, and black leather clothing.


Girl		Didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to stare?
Jarod		I hardly knew my mother
Girl		See something you like?
Jarod		I’m confused. Doesn’t all that… hurt?
Girl		That’s the idea, Slick.
Jarod		So you enjoy… self-inflicted pain.
Girl		You’re screwing with my head, right?
Jarod		Actually, I’m looking for someone. A young man, a magician.
Girl		[glancing at multiple magicians in the room] Throw a rock, babycakes. [Jarod shows her Jessica’s card.] Yeah, I’ve seen Hawk handing these out to a select few. He’s holding court in the back room. You can’t miss him.
Jarod		Thank you.
Girl		And when you’re finished playing games with the Bird Man, come back. I’ll show you a real magic show.
Jarod		That would be enjoyable. Thank you.


		[Jarod walks through crowd of dancers to the back room, where Hawk, a handsome, charismatic young Black man in black jacket and white lace, is speaking to crowded room. Around a round table sit Gretchen Dalton, Duppy Demetrius, Leslie Johnson, and Scott Schofield.]

Hawk		Most people can’t comprehend the very world they inhabit. They exist, but they don’t experience! They look but they never see. I believe that there are portals, windows to the body, mind, and spirit. Given the perfect exchange of energies, these windows can be opened, passed beyond. I look at you – I look into you. [Gretchen, laughs happily. He kneels beside her, strokes her face.] And I see tremendous sorrow. Emptiness. [He places his hand on her skin.] I want you to think about what was taken from you. Imagine in your mind’s eye the cause of your suffering.
Gretchen		I-”I don’t…
Hawk		Shh. Trust me. I want you to think about the object of your pain. Can you see it?
Gretchen		Yes.
Hawk		I offer you this gift, with all my love. [He removes his hand. Written across the skin of her bare chest is the name Clare.]
Gretchen		Oh, oh my God! How could you-”
Hawk		Who was Clare?
Gretchen		She’s my-”my twin sister…
Hawk		And where is she?
Gretchen		She was killed in a car accident… when we were two. But how could you know that?
Hawk		Simple. Your heart told me.
Duppy		Tell us again about the Angel’s Flight.
Gretchen		What’s the Angel’s Flight?
Jarod		It was a dream the great Houdini had repeatedly throughout his life.
Hawk		Or a nightmare, as some believe.
Jarod		Houdini felt, give the power of angels, he could break free from the boundaries of earth and soar in the heavens like a god. But unfortunately, he wasn’t, and when he died, his dream died with him.
Duppy		Hawk says the Angel’s Flight is attainable.
Hawk		Close enough to touch. I suggest we assemble again at midnight for a reading session. Go with the angels.
		[Everyone files slowly out, whispering about Clare, leaving Jarod, Hawk, and Kessler, an impassive, stocky young man.]
Jarod		They seem to be very… loyal.
Hawk		I offer them something they need. Something their worlds have denied them.
Jarod		Magic?
Hawk		Love.
Jarod		My name is Jarod. I hear you have a great gift-”the ability to touch people.
Hawk		And you desire this gift.
Jarod		I wish to learn. From the best.
Hawk		And why should I open myself to a stranger?
		[Jarod, with a challenging look, goes to the table, takes salt, pours it onto the table, bends down, blows it away, leaving the word LOVE behind on the table.]
Jarod		The perfect exchange of energy.
Hawk		Kessler will show you the way.
		[Kessler writes an address on a napkin.]
Kessler		Midnight.
Jarod		You don’t seem to share Hawk’s believe in the power of angels.
Kessler		Excuse me?
Jarod		When the subject of Angel’s Flight came up, you seemed rather… uncomfortable.
Kessler		Midnight. [Leaves]
		[Jarod takes out a red notebook, opens it to the poster about the missing girl.]
Jarod		Where are you, fallen angel? Where are you?


		The Centre, Blue Cove, Delaware. Broots enters a busy atrium carrying a large box. Miss Parker and Sydney are walking toward him.


Miss Parker		Don’t even talk to me, unless it’s good news.
		[Broots shakes his head, turns away.]
Miss Parker		Broots.
Broots		You’re not going to be happy. It’s not good news.
Miss Parker		Any sign of Jarod?
Broots		It’s like he vanished into a black hole.
Miss Parker		Kind of like your personal life?
Broots		Oh, tell me about it.
Sydney		[looking over at where Mr. Lyle is sniffing cigars with an Asian woman and a man holding a bottle of wine] That’s odd, isn’t it?
Miss Parker		What, the girl?
Sydney		The cigar. Lyle doesn’t smoke.
Broots		Oh, yeah, well, that’s a gift. [They stare at him.] Jerry, the guy with the glass eye who works down in Transportation-”well, he told me that Mr. Lyle is expecting some Centre hotshot from the West Coast.
Miss Parker		Marble-eye Jerry give you a name?
Broots		Not that I can remember.
Miss Parker		[Tugging at Broots’ bright green shirt] That makes him about as worthless as this shirt, doesn’t it? What, did Don Ho have a garage sale? [WalKs away to the elevators.]
Broots		Don Who?
Sydney		The box: what’s in it?
Broots		Oh, yeah! Miss Parker, this box is for you!


		Sydney’s laboratory. Miss Parker opens the box to reveal the blank wax head.

Broots		Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.
Miss Parker		-œBeware of strangers bearing gifts.-
Broots		Oh, I bet it’s from Jarod.
Miss Parker		Gee, you think?
Broots		Maybe he’s talking about Lyle?
Sydney		Cigars and champagne?
Miss Parker		Maybe. What are you up to now, Jarod?


		San Francisco, nighttime. Stage makeup, Jarod in full Goth outfit painting something, boxing it up with a card, studying up on sleight of hand. He goes to a decrepit warehouse, finds a locked door with a grotesque gargoyle.

Hawk		Welcome, my friends, to the midnight session. Let us begin.
		[Hawk stands in a pentagram surrounded by occultist symbols, Gretchen Dalton, Duppy Demetrius, Leslie Johnson, and Scott Schofield sitting around the edges, others gathered outside the circle of light. He puts out his hand to Leslie.]
Hawk		Please, stand. [He pulls a coin out of her hair with a simple sleight-of-hand trick.] Common, I know. Read the date on this coin.
Leslie		Nineteen-ninety-four.
Hawk		Nineteen hundred and ninety-four. That has special meaning for you, doesn’t it?
Leslie		Yes.
Hawk		Why?
Leslie		Because that’s the year my mother died.
Hawk		Turn the coin over.
		[The back of the coin reads, I luv you Puppy. Mom.]
Leslie		She… she used to call me her puppy.
Hawk		Yes. She’s with you. [Whispers in her ear.] She’ll always be with you.
Leslie		Thank you.
		[Applause. Hawk stretches out his hands to accept it.]
Kessler		I see you found your way.
Jarod		I wasn’t sure which way to go. [Reaches out to touch the locked door.]
Kessler		Obviously not that way.
Jarod		Tight security. Protecting magic secrets?
Kessler		Hawk likes to keep his personal life… personal. I suggest you join the others. The reading’s already started.
Jarod		Can I ask you something?
Kessler		If I said no, would you walk away?
Jarod		Probably not.[Pulls out Jessica’s card.] Look familiar?
Kessler		Where did you get that?
Jarod		I like to keep my personal life… personal.
Kessler		You don’t want to miss the session.
Jarod		Of course not.
Hawk		Your name?
Scott		Uh… Scott.
Hawk		Stand up, Scott. It’s alright. I won’t bite. [Scott, clutching backpack, stands up.] You can put that down. [Scott puts it down, walks to center of pentagram. Hawk walks around him.] You’re new here.
Scott		Yes.
Hawk		You’re nervous.
Scott		Little bit.
Hawk		And you’re also bleeding.
Scott		Bleeding?
Hawk		[putting his hand on Scott’s chest]Inside. You were betrayed, hurt by someone you trusted, someone you loved.
Scott		I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Hawk		Yes, you do. [Puts one hand around the back of Scott’s neck, the other on his forehead.] It’s alright. It’s alright. We love you. [Whispers of agreement from the others. Scott gasps as Hawk’s hand touches his forehead. Hawk holds him tightly.] You couldn’t believe it when it started. You wanted to scream, but you were afraid, confused.
Scott		Please don’t.
Hawk		You were so young, vulnerable. It was like a nightmare, the way he came at you, so much anger.
Scott		I can’t do this.
Hawk		You thought if you closed your eyes it would stop, but it didn’t stop, did it, Scott? It got more violent and angry.
Scott		No… no…
Hawk		You’re afraid to tell anyone, afraid to say the name, terrified that no one would believe you.
Scott		I was afraid.
Hawk		You were only a boy. [Pulls him out of the circle of light.] And he was so powerful, so terrifying.
Scott		I wanted him to stop hitting me… I wanted to say his name…
Hawk		I know you did. [Pulls him up to a full-length mirror, the others following.]And now you can. Now you can say it for the entire world to hear.
Scott		I can’t …
Hawk		Say it.
Scott		I can’t.
Hawk		Say it, Scott! Say it and end the nightmare forever!
Scott		I can’t! I can’t…
Hawk		Shh. It’s alright. I’ll say it for you. [Removes his hand so Scott can see his forehead in the mirror, with the glowing word DAD written across it.] It was your father. It was your father who beat you, Scott.
Scott		[covering the word, sobbing]I never wanted it to happen.
Hawk		I know you didn’t, Scott. I know you didn’t. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.
		[The others rush to Scott, surrounding him, whispering soothingly. Hawk stands aside.]
Jarod		You should try that on me.
Hawk		Maybe I will.
Jarod		You think you helped him.
Hawk		Everyone has secrets. Demons they keep hidden. And sometimes if you don’t stop them, they eat you alive, a piece at a time. What about you, Jarod? What kind of demons are you hiding inside?
		[Jarod looks uncomfortable. Hawk walks around him and begins to walk out.]
Hawk		That’s all for tonight. Mr. Kessler will collect your offerings.


		The Centre, Miss Parker’s office. Broots is opening another box, next to the blank wax head, which now has ears. Sydney comes in.

Sydney		Another rush delivery from Jarod?
Broots		Yeah, number three.
Miss Parker		Great, now your boy’s yanking my crank on an hourly basis.
Sydney		Jarod never plays these games without substantial motivation.
Miss Parker		It’s a head made of Sterno. What is it this time?
Broots		Wow. Another giant leap into the Twilight Zone. [Holds up wax eyes and nose.]
Miss Parker		[grabbing it from him] You were saying something about motivation?
Sydney		Substance, Parker. And there’s another note/ .[Pulls note from box.] See no evil.
Broots		In the box with the ears, the note was, Hear no evil.
Miss Parker		Anything else on the identity of Lyle’s mystery arrival?
Sydney		Nothing on the grapevine.
Miss Parker		[plastering eyes to the wax head] Well, at least we have Mr. Potato Head.
Broots		Cool.


		San Francisco, the warehouse, nighttime. Jarod breaks in, uses lock picks to open the locked door. A room full of occult images, and a desk with a computer. Jarod gets on the computer, opens a file called Followers. It contains images of Gretchen, Leslie, Scott, and Duppy, with information on each one, including Gretchen’s sister and Scott’s abuse. There is a file on Jessica Bracken which says, -Notes: Mother committed suicide.

Jarod		I finally found you, Jessica.
		[Jarod searches the desk, finds a box full of jewelry and money, including Jessica’s angel pendant. Jarod looKs disturbed and angry. He leaves, observed by Hawk and Kessler.]
Hawk		Kill the son of a bitch.


		San Francisco, daytime, an outdoor coffee shop. Mr. Bracken and Jarod (in neat suit and tie) sitting at a table over coffee.

Mr Bracken		I was excited to get your call, even if it was a bit cryptic. You found something out about Jessie?
Jarod		I’m still working on the case. Mr. Bracken, you told me that your wife passed away from an illness.
Mr Bracken		That’s right.
Jarod		That’s not what really happened, is it? Look, I want to help you find your daughter, but we’re running out of time. If I’m going to help you, you’re going to have to tell me the truth.
Mr Bracken		Sarah was vibrant-”she was so full of life. Then she got sick. All that life just slowly drained out of her. She tried to take the treatment, but…it was too late. I don’t know why she went out on that roof-”I don’t know…what she was thinking when she jumped. The police found her body in the alley the next morning. She was still clutching her angel pendant in her hand.
Jarod		And that’s how Jessie became obsessed with angels.
Mr Bracken		Yeah. I’m sorry… I should have told you the truth. I just, uh, I didn’t think that it would… Find my little girl! Detective…please. She’s all I have left.


		The Centre, Miss Parker’s office. Miss Parker adds a mouth to the wax head.


Broots		-œSpeak no evil.-
		[Sydney, Miss Parker, and Broots back away to examine the face.]
Sydney		Anybody recognize him?
Broots		Yeah, he kind of looKs like Gilligan.
Miss Parker		Gilligan?
Broots		Yeah, you know. The Skipper and the Professor and Mary Ann and-”and Ginger
Miss Parker		Oh, you grew up in a trailer park, didn’t you?
Broots		No, I did not. It was a mobile home.
Miss Parker		It’s obvious Jarod is trying to keep us busy chasing Mr No-Name’s identity while he skips along free as he pleases. The question is, why all the effort.
Sydney		What about the notes?
Miss Parker		Jokes without punch lines.
Sydney		Maybe a warning.
Miss Parker		[examining a grease or water stain on one of the cards] What is that?
Broots		[looking at other cards]It looKs like a water stain.
Miss Parker		[sniffing it, makes sound of disgust] It smells like low tide.
Broots		[sniffing the others] Wow! They all smell the same.
Sydney		Maybe Jarod’s just dropping breadcrumbs.
Miss Parker		[giving card to Broots]Have these cards analyzed.
Broots		Okay.
		[Miss Parker and Sydney lean down to examine the head.]
Miss Parker		Who are you, pal?


		San Francisco, in the workshop of the wax museum. Jarod examines Jessica’s pendant, her picture, a newspaper article about her mother’s death. In her photograph, Sarah Bracken wears the same pendant. Jarod sighs and tosses aside the red notebook, picKs up a book.]
Jarod		-œA History of Fallen Angels.- Fallen…angels.
		Memory flashback
Duppy		Hawk says the Angel’s Flight is attainable.
Hawk		Close enough to touch.
Mr. Bracken		I don’t know why she went out on that roof-”I don’t know…what she was thinking when she jumped.


		San Francisco, a rooftop. Jarod in Goth clothing walKs around, looking, finds tracks leading to a set of steps up to a ledge. He looKs down several stories. Jarod back on the ground, looking around, finds blood, goes inside, goes down a service elevator, follows blood, finds Jessica in white, bloodied, unconscious or dead, covered loosely with a tarp.


Jarod		Jessica.
Kessler		[cocking gun, sticking it in Jarod’s back] I hoped you were smarter. Why couldn’t you just walk away and let this thing finish?
Jarod		The same reason that you couldn’t sit at that table with Hawk and talk about Angel’s Flight. He did this, didn’t he? What happened? Jessie Bracken didn’t have enough to offer? Or she found the computer files that Hawk keeps on the others? The wealthy, disenfranchised young people that were recruited off the streets by you. That’s the game, isn’t it? Dazzle them with magic, and then take them for every penny you can.
Kessler		I told Hawk that we should just cut and run, but it was never only about the money for him. Angel’s Flight was just the last act of the play. I swear sometimes the guy really thinks he’s going to fly.
Jarod		What happened to her?
Kessler		[still pointing the gun, shaking] Hawk flipped out a couple of days ago, and Jessie heard us talking about the scam. I just though he was going to talk to her-”I never thought he’d kill her!
Jarod		He didn’t.
Kessler		What?
Jarod		She’s still alive. Give me the gun and help me get her out of here.
Kessler		Hawk… I…
Jarod		If you let her die, there is no magic in the world that is going to save you. Now, give me the gun.
Kessler		All she wanted was somebody to care about her, somebody to watch over her.
Jarod		[pulling out the angel pendant and holding it up]Somebody did. Now, give me the gun.
		[Kessler gives him the gun. Jarod hurries to pick Jessie up and carry her out. She looKs like the angel carried by the demon on her card.]


		San Francisco. Jarod and Kessler work together, researching Hawk’s police record, working on magic tricks, faking Jarod’s murder by Kessler, testing the effects of a high fall on a dummy.


		The Centre, Miss Parker’s office.

Broots		Miss Parker, not only has Jarod topped off Mr. Potato Head with a nice hairpiece, I just found out that the stains on the card were made by oysters.
Sydney		Oysters?
Broots		Uh huh.
Miss Parker		What are you saying? Jarod was a sloppy eater?
Broots		The residue was left by a very specific shellfish, found only in the San Francisco Bay.
Sydney		I think Jarod wanted us to find him.
Miss Parker		San Francisco is a big city.
Broots		Well, I started thinking about the head Jarod left. So I scraped some of the wax, and I had it analyzed. It is used almost exclusively for the construction of human replication.
Sydney		Wax museum.
Broots		Touché, Syd. So, I called the Frisco area and found one defunct wax museum. And when I called, this is what I got. [Activates a small tape recorder.]
Jarod’s voice		Hello, Sydney, Broots, and, as always, Miss Parker. I assume since you’re listening to this recording you’ve figured out my current location. I realize things got a little fishy along the way, but you realize timing is everything in the run-for-your-life business. I won’t keep you longer than necessary. I realize you have a plane to catch. I just ask two things. First, bring along the wax head; I think you’ll find it enlightening. And second, don’t forget to buckle your seatbelts! Happy landings.
Sydney		Good work, Broots.
Broots		[pleased]Oh, thanks, Sydney.
Miss Parker		But let’s not polish each other’s doorknobs quite yet. Get the jet fired up. We’re going to California.
Broots		Yes, ma’am.
Miss Parker		Broots?
Broots		Yes, ma’am?
Miss Parker		Don’t wear that shirt. It makes me nauseous.
Broots		[looking down at his yellow polyester shirt]Yes, ma’am.
Miss Parker		[defensively, catching Sydney’s eye]It does!


		San Francisco, nighttime. Sam the Sweeper bursts into the wax museum’s workroom, gun at the ready, followed by Miss Parker, Mr. Kleinman, Sydney, and Broots.


Mr Kleinman		I have told you: he is gone!
Miss Parker		Sweep it.
Sam		Yes, Miss Parker.
Mr Kleinman		Was that a gun? Who are you people?
		[Miss Parker looKs at the angel and demon books Jarod has left. Broots examines the wax heads.]
Sydney		You were saying that Jarod helped you remodel the museum.
Mr Kleinman		Kleinman: An artist he is, sent here by the angels.
Miss Parker		So I see.
Mr Kleinman		He redesigned the movie star exhibit, the Presidential Study, and my Rose Robe. And he even added a new display. Jarod calls it … Centre of Shame.
Miss Parker		Show me.
		[Mr Kleinman leads them down a hallway lined with red velvet curtains.]
Mr Kleinman		I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, but something tells me you will.
		[He switches on a light. The display is three wax figures with the heads of Broots, Miss Parker, and Sydney, their wrists in chains, standing in a pillory.]
Broots		[laughing] Hey! It’s us!
Sydney		Incredibly lifelike.
Miss Parker		It just gets weirder and weirder.
		[Standing next to the imprisoned three is a headless man in a monk’s robe holding a bell-pull. Miss Parker grabs the wax head from Broots and inserts it into the figure’s neck. As she does, it clicks into place.]
Broots		Uh oh. This can’t be good.
		[The three figures with their necks in the wooden pillory fall forward until they are parallel to the floor. The wax man pulls the bell-pull, and a guillotine falls, severing the three heads so that they fall into three straw-lined baskets. Everyone watches in shock.]
Mr Kleinman		I’ll be damned.
Broots		We just witnessed our own execution.
Miss Parker		Let’s get out of here.
		[They leave, Broots making sure to take the wax head.]


		San Francisco, nighttime. Hawk, in long black cloak, is on the rooftop Jarod investigated, with the crowd of his followers, including Gretchen, Duppy, Leslie, and Scott. They are all giving money and jewelry to Kessler.]


Hawk		Welcome to the Angel’s Flight. As I look at you all tonight, I’m filled with divine energy. The belief in the possibility of the impossible-”that faith is what separates the leaders from the followers, the enlightened from the blind, the gods from the mortals. With your strength and spirit, all things are possible.[He goes up the steps to the ledge and activates a button with his boot. A red light shines on him as he stretches out his hands like wings. His foot looKs for something that isn’t there.]
Jarod		Looking for your safety line, Hawk?[He throws it to the ground.]
Hawk		Jarod!
Jarod		You seem surprised to see me.
Hawk		I saw the shirt. Kessler shot you.
Jarod		Ah, ah, ah! The first rule of magic. Never believe what you see.
Gretchen		Hawk! What’s going on?
Jarod		It seems our friend Hawk here isn’t exactly the magic-man he pretends to be. You want to tell them, or should I?
Hawk		[quietly] Go to hell.
Jarod		You first. [He hands papers to the group.]
Duppy		What’s that?
Jarod		It’s you! And you…and you. It’s all of you. Go ahead, take a look. Hawk had a personal file on each and every one of you. He knew who you were, who you are, where you’re from, how much you had to offer. [Holds up a handful of jewelry.] He knew your deepest fears, your darkest secrets. He knew you better than you knew yourselves. And in return for his amazing insights, you gave him whatever you had of value. And why not? He saw into your souls, right?
Scott		Why?
Jarod		Money! Unfortunately, not all of you were so easily led. [He pulls out Jessica’s card and lays it on the ledge by Hawk.] That’s why he killed Jessie Bracken. She stumbled onto your computer room, discovered your little scam. And that’s it. She had to go. So you dragged her up here, and you threw her off the roof.
Hawk		You can’t prove anything.
Jarod		[holding up Jessica’s pendant] Can’t I? The next time you toss someone off a building, you better make damn sure you clean up after yourself. So, you still think that you’re worthy to fly with the angels, Hawk? Or is this just the pathetic curtain call of a half-baked magic show? What are you waiting for? Divine intervention?
Hawk		[smiling, spreading out his arms]My final gift to you. [He falls backward off the roof.]
Kessler		[rushing with everyone to the ledge] Son of a bitch! You killed him!
Jarod		Ah, ah, ah! Remember what I told you! The first rule of magic: never believe what you see.
		[He activates a light, which reveals Hawk down on the ground struggling out of a huge inflated landing pad.]


		The Centre, Sydney’s laboratory. The wax head is in its box on a table.


Miss Parker		I hate to say it, but Jarod has me stumped this time.
Sydney		There must be something that we’re not seeing.
		[A man in blue and black catches an elevator. His face is not shown.]
Broots		Eyes, nose, ears, mouth: it all seems to be there.
		[The man walKs down a corridor.]
Broots		See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I don’t know what it means, but it gives me a bad feeling. [He closes the box as Mr. Lyle enters.]
Mr Lyle		Good, you’re all still here
Miss Parker		Where else?
Mr Lyle		As you may or may not know, the Triumvirate has decided to become more hands-on in the pursuit of Jarod, and in an effort to protect the integrity of that pursuit, an element has been added to act as a safeguard or a safety net, if you will.
Miss Parker		Why don’t you just say it: a new player?
Mr Lyle		You can think of him as a one-man internal affairs division. Mr Cox?
		[The man in blue and black enters. He is short, handsome, smiling, and very distinctively dressed. He is the living image of the wax head.]
Miss Parker		Cox?
Mr Cox		It’s with an X. I hope we get to know each other better in the coming days.
Miss Parker		No doubt.
Mr Lyle		I hate to be rude, but we really have to leave if we’re going to make that next appointment.
		[They leave. Miss Parker stares at Sydney and Broots. Broots is squeezing Sydney’s shoulder. Miss Parker opens the box with the wax head.]
Broots		That answers that.
Sydney		Brings us to the bigger question: who is Mr Cox?
Miss Parker		Jarod already answered that. [Memory flashback to the guillotine severing the wax Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots heads.] He’s the Grim Reaper.


		San Francisco, daytime, a hospital. Jarod meets Mr. Bracken as he pushes a much-bandaged Jessica in a wheelchair out of the hospital


Jarod		Hi.
Mr Bracken		Hey, Detective Waxman, I was hoping we would see you again.
Jarod		Well, I was on my way out of time, and I thought I would stop by and say goodbye. You look good.
		[Jessie smiles.]
Mr Bracken		The doctor says it’s a miracle she wasn’t killed.
Jessica		My dad says that you saved my life. I don’t know how to thank you.
Jarod		[grinning] Seeing you sitting there smiling is thanks enough.
Mr Bracken		They said the man who did this confessed to running the scam all over the country. It’s good to know he won’t be hurting anyone else’s children.
Jessica		Detective, I know it’s not the same as saving your life, but I thought maybe you’d like to have this. [She gives him the angel pendant.] It helped keep me safe. I hope it will do the same for you.
Jarod		I’ll keep it close. Thank you.
Mr Bracken		Bye.
Jarod		Bye.

		[Jarod looKs at the pendant with a smile as they walk away. Pan to white statue of an angel. Fade to black.]