The Skeptic

Miss Deaver?

It's Deputy Lura, Ma'am.

Got a phone call from this house.

Somebody hung up.

Everything all right?

Miss Deaver?

Somebody in there?

I can hear you, you know.

Miss Deaver, is that you?

Jesus!

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

My aunt died.

Did she?

Yeah, they just found her.

Looks like her heart.

Oh, God, that's awful.

Look at the bright side.

We got the house.

What is the matter with you?

Oome on, Robin.

Don't suddenly act like we were all close.

That woman was cold as hell to us.

That's not the point.

What is the point, Robin?

The point is, when someone just dies, it's not a time to bad-mouth them.

It's a time to say a prayer and count your own blessings.

I am countin' my blessings.

I get the house.

Marlene Deaver was not a great Oatholic.

But she was a great bingo player.

But I'm guessing God will take her, because where it counted,

she loved her neighbor with the best of them.

You've got to be kiddin' me.

He doesn't show up for his own aunt's funeral?

- He's in mourning. He's just probably runnin' a little late.

He looks in a good mood.

Someone should make sure he knows that she didn't pull through.

He's very strong, Oarl.

Hello, Oarl.

Sorry for your loss, Bryan.

What?

Oh. Oh, yeah.

It's a sad day.

So what'd I miss?

- Her eternal soul being lifted up into heaven.

Oh, shit.

I really wanted to catch that.

Hey, do you want to take a ride with me later?

I'll drop you back. - Where?

My aunt's house.

I just got the key from the sheriff.

Thank you.

I may stop by.

Bryan Becket.

Thank you for doing this, Father.

She would've appreciated it.

Well, at least she came on time.

You don't take any of this seriously, do you?

What?

Religious ritual, the church.

Hey.

I'd love to take the church seriously,

but it's kind of hard with the Pope runnin' around

wearin' those hats.

- You want to know what I think your problem with death is?

Not really.

You don't believe in anything, you know?

You don't believe in a higher power.

You don't believe in the afterlife, nothin'.

You're right.

Life would be easier if I were gullible.

You think I'm gullible, Becket?

Sully, you believe in everything.

I don't believe in everything.

- Yes, you do. - No.

- Okay, didn't you once tell me you believed in the Loch Ness monster?

They're gonna catch that sucker.

You'll see.

Scottish scientists went down in that lake using sonar, Beck.

And their results were inconclusive.

Wrong!

They picked up a large moving mass changing directions in organic patterns.

So what else could it be?

I don't know.

I don't know what the military was covering up at Roswell.

Does that make it aliens?

- No, but alien bodies on the ground made it aliens.

You know what your problem is, Sully?

- What? - You were raised Oatholic.

Oh, here we go.

Really, I mean it.

How big a stretch can it be believing in the Loch Ness monster

once you bought the Holy Trinity?

There it is. - Oh, my God.

It's a monster.

She lived there alone?

I wouldn't be caught dead alone in there.

Oreep me out.

I can't wait to get in there.

Hear there's all kinds of antiques, even a wine cellar.

- You hear? Oh, that's right.

This is the aunt that didn't like you, so she never invited you over.

I don't care if she didn't like me.

She's dead now.

I'm invitin' myself over.

Yeah, but why didn't she like you?

Don't know.

- You know, I got to admit, I find this all very, very intriguing.

- Yeah, well you also find astrology intriguing, and it's not.

Wow.

How rich was she?

She wasn't rich.

This house is the last of the old family money.

Yeah, but it's yours to sell, right?

Yep.

- You know, I heard about all the great parties she used to have up here.

You were never invited, not even once?

Look at this.

This is a genuine Iroquois vase just sitting here.

Did you offend her in some way

to insult her religious beliefs or somethin'?

'Oause, you know, you're known for that.

The woman wasn't religious, Sully.

She went to church every Sunday, Bryan.

- Yeah, so did all those people in Salem who burned the witches.

Yeah, right there, that comment?

That's the kind of thing that might offend someone that was human.

I wasn't offensive, Sully.

I was sweet and thoughtful,

and I was the lawyer in the family.

Get you out of a parking ticket, manslaughter, whatever you need.

Solid mahogany.

- Yeah, but, you know, something still doesn't add up, you know?

You got your classic mystery here.

Don't you see that?

- Yeah, it's right up there with crop circles.

- Okay. You know what?

I don't care how high your IQ test scores were.

You lack common curiosity, and that's a flaw.

It is.

And I've got it.

You know, I'm curious all day long.

I'm like a two-year-old.

- You want to hear my theory on my aunt?

You have a theory?

- I don't think she was the saint that everybody thought she was.

I think she was hiding something about herself or about her past.

And she feared being around someone like me,

someone who was smart and shared her blood.

I just might figure it out.

That's a pretty juicy theory.

It's right up your alley.

What do you think, Sul?

- Sully! Sully!

Hey!

Sully?

Sully.

Where's your juice?

Where's your juice?

Where's your ju... okay.

I got it.

All right, just hang on, pal.

You're gonna be fine.

Let's just get some juice in you.

- There's something upstairs in the closet

behind the crucifix.

What?

Oome on.

Sip this.

Sip it.

Good, good.

That better?

- Yeah. - Feelin' better?

Is it working? - Mm-hmm.

Good.

You didn't eat today, did you?

No.

Well, God damn it, Sully.

You can't take those pills and not eat.

How long's it gonna take you to learn that?

Apparently a little while longer.

Yeah, have a little more.

- Okay. Yeah.

Oh.

- What was that you were blabbing about?

A closet upstairs with a crucifix?

Did I say something?

Did I say something weird?

What's this?

I think it was on the desk.

All right, come on.

You need food.

Hey.

You and I need to have a little talk.

Man to man?

Man to man.

Now, your mom and I told you that my Aunt Marlene died, right?

Her heart got old.

Yeah.