d.a.m.o.u.r. d'amour. harry d'amour.
right.
yeah. it's french.
right.
yeah?
how much?
tell him he can keep them. the bellboy looks puzzled.
just kidding.
i've got my life in there.
hello, l.a.
you bet.
nine-eighteen p.m. tapert's either got a great sense of humour or he's paying her to laugh. jesus.
he's finished.
nine twenty-six p.m. he's off again.
superstitious?
what the fuck!?
shit!
don't touch him."
you need an ambulance.
what?
yeah. you could say that.
not much.
hold on.
the puritan?
who is he?
shit.
i'm a private detective. i was hired to follow somebody for a few days. a guy called tapert. insurance fraud.
tapert's got nothing to do with this. he came here to get his palm read.
i got a file on him two inches thick. he's a petty fraudster. this is something else. ever heard of someone called the puritan?
he got up and walked.
i don't think he'd have given a shit.
what?
shit.
go away.
what are you, my mother?
whatever i said, i didn't mean it, okay? i get a few drinks inside me --
then what do you want?
i'm going back to new york in-- shit! i'm outta here.
do i get lunch?
whose is the car?
nah. you're driving it too carefully.
somebody's been smoking in here for months.
havanas. you're not the smoker. so who is?
philip swann?
i saw him in vegas once.
when i can afford to lose. swann's quite a magician.
what's the difference?
any movie stars buried here?
it's not a bad place. warm. great view.
are you sure?
i've signed on for them all in my time. hindu. catholic. you can't have too many saviours.
who is she?
did your husband know quaid?
you don't?
what's the connection?
why not?
and you don't ask questions?
does that mean?
but obviously you still care what happens to him.
he's an illusionist. it's not exactly brain surgery.
sorry. you asked.
where do i sign?
harry.
i'm no bodyguard.
when do you want me to start?
do you?
sure.
you're not listening to me, loomis.
no. i'm taking a couple of weeks' vacation.
i got to go. i'm late.
there's other guys as good as me, loomis.
a couple of weeks.
what?
hey, this is a big deal for me. you know what seats like this cost in new york?
he's good.
there's something wrong.
out of the way! out of the way!
hey!
you did. didn't you?
beats me.
deep shit?
i told you --
all right. it was.
 it was.
deep shit.
--vanished.
are you finished with me?
no. not yet.
are they treating you okay?
i'm sorry i got into this too late. but if you want me to stick around, maybe dig where the cops don't look.
well.  how about some of the other illusionists?
i can be very persuasive.
forget the fee. if i find butterfield, maybe we'll talk about money. if i don't.  . my gamble. either way.  i get to spend some time.  here.
where'd you learn that?
that.
harry d'amour.
i'm in from new york. i came to see swann.
was he taking a lot of risks?
not the walter wilder?
sure. vivovich.
i'd love to.  you know.  hang with some of you guys.
for what?
well.  nobody.
i only wear ties for funerals.
are they all in the business?
have you been in?
you believe that?
heaven and hell?
are you saying that sometimes the miracles are real?
so could you walk on water?
what about swann's miracles?
i heard he was the best.
you tell me. no? i thought you'd maybe have a theory.
i'd like to hear them.
just tell me about swann. or are you too scared?
with what?
great accent, by the way. is it brooklyn?
they go together.
who?
nix?
who is he?
shit!
this is d'amour.
that's okay.
i went up to the magic castle. you were right. he didn't have a lot of fans up there.
why? because he had you?
you didn't marry him for love.
so why did you marry him?
just curious. back to business. ever heard of a man called nix? dorothea?
what about jennifer desiderio?
okay. i'll keep digging.
yes.
desiderio.
what the fuck are you doing here?
why'd you come here?
what for?
you didn't hire me. she did. if she wants me off the job, i want to hear it from her.
left alone? somebody's been murdered.
fuck regrettable! i want to know why.
i like to know why things happen.
no.
lock up, will you?
a mister quaid?
i won't say anything.
what's her problem?
does anybody?
and what does jennifer think's real?
no.
well, you didn't forget me. i just came because i wanted to know if you knew a man called butterfield.
what about philip swann?
why's that?
what is?
swann?
who's not?
is he the puritan?
and he's dead?
jennifer!
jesus.
jesus.
i want to speak to dorothea.
when will she be in?
billy? it's harry. suppose i wanted to get into the repository at the magic castle?
you've done this before.
how?
you heard right.
yeah. she was killed in a car crash. her lawyer was driving. she was filing for divorce.
my life was too weird for her.
billy? this was on miller's forehead. any idea what it is?
what have we got here?
grab the files!
that would have kept you out of the magic circle. which was presumably the idea. these are about nix.
you go through these. go on!
wait a minute.
that's butterfield.
at a guess? the puritan. nix.
a nix specialty?
maybe they're not tricks.
what did vinovich say? something about walking a path between --
that's because he knew. he'd seen these files and knew.
okay. hold it right there.
hokey enough for you?
i'm coming.
ah, shaddup!
thanks, billy.
yeah, i know.
dorothea?
shut up!
i didn't leave. i was just digging around.
jennifer desiderio, for one. she threw herself in front of a car this afternoon.
why don't you tell me the truth?
nix ran some kind of cult, right? some kind of charlie manson deal?
he was the real thing, right?
stuff?
he taught all this to swann?
so swann was performing magic. not illusions? and what? you thought he should be using it to cure cancer, not making millions.
too much fame. yeah, i guess that'd turn anybody's head. including yours.
you said you weren't with him for love.
what then?
he thought nix was coming back, didn't he?
it's okay.
i'm here, aren't i?
nothing's going to happen to you.
nothing you don't want.
don't be. nix can't hurt you now.
i'm sure. he's dead.
and they all came.
quaid and jennifer--
it's okay.
valentin?
what the hell-?
aah!
valentin! get some lights on!
somebody you know?
which goes first? my face or your heart?
find valentin! find him! get him in here!
no.
it's all right. it's not hurting.
plaster doesn't bleed.
it looks like you're not a widow after all.
you rigged the illusion to fail, right?
you paid off the doctor. you set up the fake body. yes?
and then.  because i was getting too close to something -- --or someone, you called swann
was that swann's idea?
nix is dead and buried, for fuck's sake.
i want to see swann face to face.
maybe valentin's right. we should let it alone.
he went to all that trouble to be dead. maybe we should let him stay that way.
i knew you wouldn't be able tn stay away.
you had to see who wept for you the most.
a lot of people are going to be really pissed off when they discover you're still alive.
look, ma, no wires.
how the fuck do you do that?
i don't think so. you need me alive.
be careful. funerals make me trigger-happy.
you know, it's such a fucking waste. you can do shit most of us can only dream about, and you go around pretending it's some trick.
or murdered, like nix.
maybe he doesn't see it that way. maybe he's digging his way out of the hole you put him right now. that's what you're hiding away from, isn't it?
oh yeah?
so nix won't come looking for her?
and she shot him i i think that'd piss me off if i were nix.
help me.
listen. if he's back from the dead, then he is some kind of god. and he'll find you, wherever the fuck you are. and if he's just another phony messiah, then you can stage the greatest come-back in history.
can we go?
oh jeez.
didn't know you read minds.
is that all?
and you're not?
and he didn't have them?
is that all?
and you believed him?
dorothea?
did she know where nix was buried?
who else did? did valentin?
jesus!
they got here before us.
shit!
swann? swann!
shit.
swann!
swann!
give me a hand. i got valentin.
we've got to get you to a hospital.
shut up. we've lost enough lives already.
what about?
 no.
nobody's better off this wav!
in my time, and nobody else's.
jesus.  what the hell's going on in there?
fuck.
you didn't try hard enough.
hang on!
i've got to help him.
nix has got to have a weak spot. everybody's got a fucking weak spot.
oh god!
oh god.  oh god.
dorothea!
dorothea! dorothea!
no! no! no!
 oh.  god.
yes?
i.  have.  to.
there.  there!
i'm okay. i'm okay.
he did something with the ground.
can you do it?
try.
get out of here!
i think so.
what the fuck?
out! out!
it's finished.