i was merely walking by when-
yes.
i was walking by when i heard a shout. your men came right after.
no.
it doesn't.
american.
what are you getting at?
that's none of your business.
i presume it's a sword.
your murder weapon?
a mystery.
yes.
miss cartwright, what is it i can do for you?
it's not mine.
miss cartwright, unless you have come here to sell the sword, there's very little i can help you with. now if you will excuse me, i have a great deal of work to do.
basil the ii.
-all but one out of a hundred, i know. all left to be led like donkeys back home. now if you will please-
good day, miss cartwright.
where is he?
where!
what name is he using?
how many came?
and the bulgarian?
he knows i'm here. how?
_answer_ me.
my condolences.
home.
he's mistaken.
do you?
i've got all the time in the world. except right now. if you will excuse me, lieutenant.
have you taken to touring small town cemetaries, miss cartwright?
probably.
people like that rarely leave business cards.
i don't know what you're talking about.
you have an active imagination.
miss cartwright, you are involving yourself in matters that do not concern you. i strongly suggest you return to washington and stay out of small town cemetaries.
i doubt that. good day, miss cartwright.
your help may be unneccessary.
not so long.
you've been here from the start.
of sorts.
run!
run!
you'll be safe here. he won't kill in a church.
tradition.
the money in the estate was enough to cover your costs?
his only kid.
we were very close.
when may i expect the cleaners?
sits alone at a corner table. a waitress hovers over him.
lager and lime.
kahn?
sit.
how are you?
how did you find me?
what are you doing here?
and have you something to settle with me?
it's good to see you, kahn.
neuvich, the clown of the crusades.
offered the pope one of his whores.
had a great swing with his blade. for a pope.
he found us even there.
i haven't drunk this much since-
you were never a kid.
you're insane.
how do you do it, kahn? how do you live so full of life for so long?
i've had a few more concerns.
you're wrong.
finished?
where?
at the moment? carl smith.
you needn't worry miss cartwright. i've been at this a very long time.
not your concern.
that bothers you?
he's dead. whatever i may or may not feel means exceedingly little to him now.
you?
have you gone to the police?
why not? i'm sure they'd love to hear your story.
you are being foolish.
go home.
he sees me as a threat.
you shouldn't have come.
we're you followed?
no one knows you're here?
you had to do _nothing_!
you're a fool.
come inside.
you've been listening to rumors.
you are. now.
there's several bedrooms down the hall. take your pick.
richard taupin has become cumbersome. it would be best if he just disappeared.
not all of them.
i go my way and you can write all you want about the big bad mr. taupin.
the only real difficulty comes in changing over the ownership of property i've aquired. that requires certain records and most importantly a personal appearance at the county seat in gettysburg. but that's where you come in.
the less exposure i recieve around government buildings the better. you, as mrs. taupin, will attract considerably less attention than i.
not such a bad trade. the story of a lifetime for a few days work?
same.
no.
i'm sure that's true.
here. the hook should go just below the head, where the meat is toughest.
show you a trick.
fish are creatures of habit. they like their food where they're used to it. at the top, hiding in old leaves.
my father taught me.
yes, he was.
there was a man once. just a simple woodcarver. but he understood. more than anyone he could see to the heart of it. it never ends. today is the same as the first. tomorrow will be the same as today. so much time. and all of it wasted. you love history?
i wish i could.
it will take some time for the forms to clear before you go to gettysburg.
second thoughts?
yes.
they do it each year.
maybe it would do us both good.
my father was something of a junk collector.
here, try this. i suppose they're still making women the same as back then.
a little dusty.
his son. richard.
of sorts.
good evening, mrs. butler.
my father was never one for social whirls.
nothing to be sorry about.
follow me.
yes.
yes.
no. just the child of some lonely girl i gave a ride to. when they died i put them in a grave with my name on it. twenty years later i became the son.
more punch?
at least.
a factor of age.
you won't.
why are you here?
i see.
hardly a reason to run off with a murderer.
you are a very perceptive young woman.
miss cartwright, it's time i showed you something.
miss cartwright?
i had this room built some time ago.
that would be difficult to explain.
i was born conor macleod in the village of ardvrek on the high- land plain of strathnaver in the clan of macleod under the king of scotland. on the eleventh of december, 1408.
i have served in the armies of twelve nations, married nine women, fathered thirty-eight children and buried them all.
i carried that rifle in world war i. this book is a 16th century policy report for the king of austria. the diploma is my con- ference of degree in latin from trinity college. class of 1672. it goes on.
yes.
he is older than i.
sometimes i think it's just for something to do. a conquest to be the last. something to hold onto while everything else around you withers and blows away. some- thing to replace the love that can never work.
perhaps. there is something more. an inheritance.
i didn't kill the watchman.
not the same.
sometimes innocents become involved.
there are differences.
i haven't killed _you_.
no.
come here, brenna.
"brenna". in celtic is means "woman with raven hair". only chieftan's daughters were allowed it.
empty. and fear. fear of those that would kill you and fear of those that would love you. it can never last, and in the end you always end up destroying both.
it's all the same. half lives that never go away.
all of it finished.
gettysburg's an hour's drive at most. you should be back by nightfall.
be careful. don't stay any longer than you have to.
good luck.
are you here?
and if i refuse?
should i care?
let her go.
leave her out of this.
what's the point?
what's the point! you have me, finish it!
tradition.
go to hell.
leave her alone.
don't.
stop. you don't understand.
in mamus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum. auditorium nostrum in nomine domine.
requiescant in pace.
is crying. not from wounds he no longer feels, but from something else.
i can't stand it. oh god, i can't stand it!
the scream of your blood. the shriek of trees. stop it! stop it!
i'm the last. oh christ, i'm the _last one_!
get out.
i'll destroy you. i've destroyed everything i've ever touched! oh god.
_get out_!
the emptyness. the years and years of void. nothingness. bordered only by the quest for ultimate nothingness. who would have guessed?
not power. not control.
life. it is the gift and the under- standing of life.
life is only life when it is bounded by death. the inheritance is death. the gift is the finality of life. to be part of the fabric. the inside. i love you brenna.
it will be horrible. the future. i may die tomorrow or 10,000 tomorrows. i can promise you nothing. nothing but a moment. maybe two. but a moment of love, is that not worth a lifetime?
it's taken me so long. so very long.